diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 7888680..0d1a83c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ env:
         # Also see DAILY_COMMIT below
         - BUILD_COMMIT=master
         - PLAT=x86_64
-        - NP_BUILD_DEP="numpy==1.13.3"
+        - NP_BUILD_DEP="numpy==1.14.5"
         - CYTHON_BUILD_DEP="Cython==0.29.14"
         - PYBIND11_BUILD_DEP="pybind11==2.4.3"
-        - NP_TEST_DEP="numpy==1.13.3"
+        - NP_TEST_DEP="numpy==1.14.5"
         - UNICODE_WIDTH=32
         - MANYLINUX_URL="https://5cf40426d9f06eb7461d-6fe47d9331aba7cd62fc36c7196769e4.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com"
         - WHEELHOUSE_UPLOADER_USERNAME=travis-worker
@@ -19,13 +19,11 @@ env:
         - DAILY_COMMIT=master
 
 language: python
-# Default Python version is usually 2.7
-python: 3.5
-sudo: required
-dist: trusty
+dist: bionic
 services: docker
+os: linux
 
-matrix:
+jobs:
   exclude:
       # Exclude the default Python 3.5 build
       - python: 3.5
@@ -33,14 +31,14 @@ matrix:
     - os: linux
       env:
         - MB_PYTHON_VERSION=3.6
-        - NP_BUILD_DEP=numpy==1.13.3
-        - NP_TEST_DEP=numpy==1.13.3
+        - NP_BUILD_DEP=numpy==1.14.5
+        - NP_TEST_DEP=numpy==1.14.5
     - os: linux
       env:
         - MB_PYTHON_VERSION=3.6
         - PLAT=i686
-        - NP_BUILD_DEP=numpy==1.13.3
-        - NP_TEST_DEP=numpy==1.13.3
+        - NP_BUILD_DEP=numpy==1.14.5
+        - NP_TEST_DEP=numpy==1.14.5
     - os: linux
       env:
         - MB_PYTHON_VERSION=3.7
@@ -71,8 +69,8 @@ matrix:
       language: generic
       env:
         - MB_PYTHON_VERSION=3.6
-        - NP_BUILD_DEP=numpy==1.13.3
-        - NP_TEST_DEP=numpy==1.13.3
+        - NP_BUILD_DEP=numpy==1.14.5
+        - NP_TEST_DEP=numpy==1.14.5
     - os: osx
       language: generic
       env:
diff --git a/_distributor_init.py b/_distributor_init.py
index 8f6e1da..b339063 100644
--- a/_distributor_init.py
+++ b/_distributor_init.py
@@ -22,5 +22,42 @@
     libs_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
                                              '.libs'))
     if os.path.isdir(libs_path):
-        for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join(libs_path, '*dll')):
-            WinDLL(os.path.abspath(filename))
+        # for Python >= 3.8, DLL resolution ignores the PATH variable
+        # and the current working directory; see release notes:
+        # https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.8.html#bpo-36085-whatsnew
+        # Only the system paths, the directory containing the DLL, and 
+        # directories added with add_dll_directory() are searched for 
+        # load-time dependencies with Python >= 3.8
+
+        # this module was originally added to support DLL resolution in
+        # Python 3.8 because of the changes described above--providing the
+        # absolute paths to the DLLs allowed for proper resolution/loading
+
+        # however, we also started to receive reports of problems with DLL
+        # resolution with Python 3.7 that were sometimes alleviated with
+        # inclusion of the _distributor_init.py module; see SciPy main 
+        # repo gh-11826
+
+        # we noticed in scipy-wheels repo gh-70 that inclusion of
+        # _distributor_init.py in 32-bit wheels for Python 3.7 resulted
+        # in failures in DLL resolution (64-bit 3.7 did not)
+        # as a result, we decided to combine both the old (working directory)
+        # and new (absolute path to DLL location) DLL resolution mechanisms
+        # to improve the chances of resolving DLLs across a wider range of
+        # Python versions
+
+        # we did not experiment with manipulating the PATH environment variable
+        # to include libs_path; it is not immediately clear if this would have
+        # robustness or security advantages over changing working directories
+        # as done below
+
+        # we should remove the working directory shims when our minimum supported
+        # Python version is 3.8 and trust the improvements to secure DLL loading
+        # in the standard lib for Python >= 3.8
+        try:
+            owd = os.getcwd()
+            os.chdir(libs_path)
+            for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join(libs_path, '*dll')):
+                WinDLL(os.path.abspath(filename))
+        finally:
+            os.chdir(owd)
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 9806d71..e6c8959 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ environment:
       OPENBLAS_32_SHA256: 06e3d38f01119afe5d6630d7ad310a873f8bede52fe71f2d0e2ebf3476194892
       OPENBLAS_64_SHA256: 4d496081543c61bfb8069c1a12dfc2c0371cf9c59f9a4488e2e416dd4026357e
       CYTHON_BUILD_DEP: Cython==0.29.14
-      NUMPY_TEST_DEP: numpy==1.13.3
+      NUMPY_TEST_DEP: numpy==1.14.5
       PYBIND11_BUILD_DEP: pybind11==2.4.3
       TEST_MODE: fast
       APPVEYOR_SAVE_CACHE_ON_ERROR: true
@@ -61,12 +61,12 @@ environment:
     - PYTHON: C:\Python36
       PYTHON_VERSION: 3.6
       PYTHON_ARCH: 32
-      NUMPY_BUILD_DEP: numpy==1.13.3
+      NUMPY_BUILD_DEP: numpy==1.14.5
 
     - PYTHON: C:\Python36-x64
       PYTHON_VERSION: 3.6
       PYTHON_ARCH: 64
-      NUMPY_BUILD_DEP: numpy==1.13.3
+      NUMPY_BUILD_DEP: numpy==1.14.5
 
 init:
   - "ECHO %PYTHON% %PYTHON_VERSION% %PYTHON_ARCH%"
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ install:
   # Replace numpy distutils with a version that can build with msvc + mingw-gfortran.
   - ps: |
       $PYTHON_VERSION = $env:PYTHON_VERSION
-      If ($PYTHON_VERSION -ne 3.8) {
+      If ([System.Version]"$PYTHON_VERSION" -lt [System.Version]"3.8") {
       $NumpyDir = $((python -c 'import os; import numpy; print(os.path.dirname(numpy.__file__))') | Out-String).Trim()
       rm -r -Force "$NumpyDir\distutils"
       mv numpy-distutils\numpy\distutils $NumpyDir
@@ -166,17 +166,14 @@ build_script:
   - cd scipy
   - git checkout %BUILD_COMMIT%
   # we use a distribution file to assist in loading
-  # DLLs with recent Python versions (>= 3.8)
+  # DLLs
   - ps: |
-      $PYTHON_VERSION = $env:PYTHON_VERSION
-      If ($PYTHON_VERSION -eq 3.8) {
-          cd ..
-          $cwd = Get-Location
-          ls $cwd
-          rm -Force $cwd/scipy/scipy/_distributor_init.py
-          mv $cwd/_distributor_init.py $cwd/scipy/scipy/
-          cd scipy
-      }
+      cd ..
+      $cwd = Get-Location
+      ls $cwd
+      rm -Force $cwd/scipy/scipy/_distributor_init.py
+      mv $cwd/_distributor_init.py $cwd/scipy/scipy/
+      cd scipy
   # Append license text relevant for the built wheel
   - type ..\LICENSE_win32.txt >> LICENSE.txt
   # Copy over additional DLLs to bundle to the wheels.
@@ -209,14 +206,7 @@ build_script:
 
 before_test:
   # Install test requirements.
-  - python -m pip install pytest pytest-xdist pytest-faulthandler pytest-env Pillow mpmath
-  - ps: |
-      $PYTHON_VERSION = $env:PYTHON_VERSION
-      If ($PYTHON_VERSION -eq 3.8) {
-          python -m pip install matplotlib==3.2.0rc1
-      } Else {
-          python -m pip install matplotlib
-      }
+  - python -m pip install pytest pytest-xdist pytest-faulthandler pytest-env Pillow mpmath matplotlib
 
   # Upgrade numpy to the version used for testing
   - python -m pip install "%NUMPY_TEST_DEP%"
diff --git a/multibuild b/multibuild
index 0c4a992..2a3f785 160000
--- a/multibuild
+++ b/multibuild
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 0c4a9920fa4635419fcea61f10d6dc0cd50e3639
+Subproject commit 2a3f785096d791a5cd07c4320a041e37a055be5c