Aviation has a significant contribution to climate change, which is poised to increase in the coming years due to increasing demand in air travel. The A321 APPU aircraft could offer a significant improvement as it offers a synergistic combination of two interesting technologies – a fuel-flexible hydrogen combustion system combined with boundary layer ingestion, by introducing a hydrogen-powered auxiliary power and propulsion unit (APPU). This turboshaft engine is located in the tail cone and powers a boundary layer ingestion propulsor, producing approximately 15% of the thrust. To improve the efficiency of the APPU, the feasibility of the steam ijection and recovery (SIR) cycle is evaluated. This semi-closed water cycle can reduce fuel consumption and NOx emissions. Both the baseline and the SIR APPU are modelled in pyCycle, an open-source gas turbine parametric analysis tool. The baseline APPU engine was found to have a thermal efficiency of 45% and a mass of around 500 kg. The SIR cycle can reduce fuel consumption by up to 7% and decrease NOx emissions by approximately 33%, with an increase in engine mass of approximately 15%.

We prove a quantitative isoperimetric inequality for nearly spherical domains in the Bergman ball in $\mathbb{C}^2$. We prove a Fuglede-type theorem for such sets. This result is a counterpart of a similar result obtained for the hyperbolic unit ball, and it provides the first result on the isoperimetric phenomenon in the Bergman ball.

This article examines the reality of “let the adjudicator judge” by investigating how Chinese judges are held accountable for their judgments under the expanded ex post case review system. We examine the first three years of the implementation of this headline initiative in a grassroots court (Court T) located in a major city in China. Our data include the internal quarterly reports produced by the court’s case review committee and interviews with judges. The assessments went beyond legal analysis, commenting on matters such as work ethic, diligence and moral sensibilities. Frontline judges view the review system as subjective and arbitrary. The new mechanism, however, alters the power dynamics between senior judges and their subordinates. While frontline judges no longer require pre-approval from senior judges, they rely on the goodwill of those same seniors to navigate the review process. Within this ostensibly freer framework, frontline judges are subjected to a more diffuse but pervasive form of discipline. Our analysis reveals how the adjudication committee, far from being sidelined, has shifted its role, concentrating ex ante supervision on a minority of difficult cases while holding judges accountable through ex post reviews of flawed judgments. The article further underscores the challenges of disentangling legal analysis from political supervision in a framework of authoritative legality.

Recent advances in ancient DNA and isotope analysis have enabled archaeologists to detect migration events in the distant past. Yet, novel approaches evaluating the cultural impact of these migrations are lacking. As a result, archaeologists continue to debate problematic culture-historical scenarios in which migrants rapidly supplant passive indigenous communities. This study outlines a bottom-up, quantitative approach to prehistoric migrations. This approach uses Bayesian chronological modelling to investigate whether migrating and indigenous communities co-existed. In addition, a novel probabilistic comparison of ceramic technology traces whether cultural knowledge is exchanged between potters in these communities. This approach is applied to the emergence of Corded Ware communities in the Netherlands during the 3rd millennium BC. The outcomes demonstrate that this process was not a rapid replacement of indigenous groups by migrants, as sometimes stated. Instead, migrants likely co-existed with indigenous communities for centuries, learned ceramic production from them, and incorporated this knowledge into the production of characteristic Corded Ware ceramics. Furthermore, the outcomes suggest this scenario was likely commonplace for prehistoric migration in the 3rd and 4th millennia BC. As such, this study provides new approaches and insights which enable archaeologists to shed light on prehistoric migration, talk back to archaeogenetics on an equal footing, and contribute to broader societal debates on migration.

How does identity threat affect mass political participation during times of autocratization? Building on social identity and group threat literatures, we theorize that perceived threats to Hong Konger identity increase voter turnout; however, the political salience of this threat is contingent on the degree of autocratization. We test this argument utilizing the case of Hong Kong, whose ongoing incorporation into the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has entered an unprecedented era of autocratization. We argue that threats to Hong Konger identity came to mobilize voter participation, especially as autocratization progressed in Hong Kong. Hong Kongers resisted during this period of political change through their intention to turn out to vote. We conducted three original experiments during different transitionary periods of Hong Kong’s autocratic shift. We find that priming identity threat had no effect on voter turnout before Hong Kong’s autocratic divergence. However, once more extreme forms of autocratization began, Hong Kongers assigned to an identical identity threat treatment were substantially more likely to report a higher likelihood of voting. This mobilizing effect persisted in a third experiment. Our results suggest a paradox where citizens’ propensity to vote increases when faced with perceived shrinking opportunities to participate in elections during times of authoritarian transition.

Micronutrient deficiencies are modifiable risk factors for CVD, yet their relative importance and combined effects across populations require further characterisation. We performed a binational analysis integrating cross-sectional data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2007–2018; n 3848) and prospective data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, 2011–2018; n 11 391). Associations of specific micronutrient biomarkers (vitamin D, folate, vitamin B12, Ca and Fe) and dietary patterns with CVD were assessed using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards models and restricted cubic splines. A composite micronutrient deficiency score evaluated cumulative risk. In NHANES, Fe deficiency was independently associated with prevalent CVD after full adjustment (OR 1·49, 95 % CI: 1·09, 2·01), with a population prevalence of 23·4 %. Although most prevalent (33·1 %), vitamin D deficiency showed no independent association. Nonlinear analyses revealed a U-shaped relationship for Fe (P-nonlinearity = 0·003) and an inverse association for vitamin D (P-nonlinearity < 0·001). A dose–response relationship was observed for cumulative deficiencies; participants with ≥ 2 deficiencies had 91 % higher CVD odds (OR 1·91, 95 % CI: 1·20, 2·99). In CHARLS, frequent consumption of fruits/vegetables (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 0·81, 95 % CI: 0·70, 0·93), nuts (aHR 0·82, 0·71, 0·95) and fish (aHR 0·85, 0·74, 0·98) was associated with reduced incident CVD risk. Fe deficiency is an underrecognised independent risk factor for CVD, and multiple concurrent deficiencies synergistically increase risk. Plant-based dietary patterns are consistently protective. Findings advocate for Fe status screening in cardiovascular risk assessment and emphasise holistic nutritional approaches.

This article studies the commissive use of can in conditionals such as I can do the dishes, if you like. Its main goal is to spell out the semantic building blocks of what we call offer-can, arguing that the seemingly speech act interpretation is a feature of the conditional statement as a whole rather than the modal itself. To achieve this, we disentangle authority and ability at the semantic level (in agreement with Copley 2009), and single out the notions of “issue to be solved” and “preferred solution worlds” as epistemic basis and bouletic ordering, respectively, for modal quantification. We propose a comparison between the conditional offer and other non-conditional conditionals, and offer some thoughts regarding permission-can and can-you-pass-me-the-salt questions, arguing for authority shift in questions, in a way akin to the interrogative flip in questions with evidentials and epistemic modals.

Transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation yields favourable outcomes, and clinically significant conduction disturbances are rare. A 52-year-old man with repaired tetralogy of Fallot, systemic sarcoidosis, and pre-existing conduction disease developed atrioventricular block requiring permanent pacing 3 days after Harmony valve implantation for severe pulmonary regurgitation without peri-procedural conduction changes. Post-procedural left ventricular loading conditions may have contributed to this complication.

The contemporary listening environment is characterised by extensive mediation, in which environmental recordings are continually detached from their original contexts and reconfigured elsewhere. Earlier soundscape research used the term schizophonia to describe the separation of sound from its source and the consequent result of a disembodied and unsettling sonic experience. However, this framing has come under growing criticism for regarding mediation as a defect. This article proposes an alternative concept, ‘mediated auditory dislocation’, to describe an analytically non-normative condition in which environmental sounds are recorded, displaced from their original time and place, and re-embedded within new audiovisual and interactive settings. The argument is developed through a practice-based case study of Shifting Horizons (Bai 2025), an interactive VR audiovisual soundscape work. The case study shows how control over sonic layering, electroacoustic processing, and audiovisual coupling allows listeners to reconfigure the relation between recorded sound and its mediated presentation, making mediation itself available for comparative and reflexive listening. The article concludes by introducing a three-layer collaborative media model that clarifies how VR can support comparative and reflexive listening through parameterised layer control. The model is proposed as a transferable analytic heuristic, intended to be tested and refined across further VR soundscape works.

The elderly are an overlooked cohort in early modern urban spaces. Where studies of old age have tended to focus on the spaces of the home or the hospital, studies of street space and urban mobility have often not considered age, or have focused on youth groups. This article examines the relationship between urban space and mobility, and old age in early modern Venice. It shows how elderly people used urban spaces and were a visible presence in the early modern city. In so doing, it demonstrates that attending to how and where elderly people moved can shed light on strategies for self-sufficiency and on histories of disability and care, as well as shedding new light on how urban populations used city spaces.