Recently a new type of generative artificial intelligence, agentic artificial intelligence, has been developed that extends product capabilities to act autonomously. Although agentic artificial intelligence systems offer a unique approach to supporting physicians, the products also pose many validity, privacy and security risks. Physicians need to understand the basic features of agentic artificial intelligence.

The integration of large language models (LLMs) into KUKA industrial robots offers a promising pathway toward intuitive natural language control and a higher level of intelligence. However, existing methods face two primary challenges: their reliance on predefined motion primitives and the syntactic fragility imposed by the strict constraints of proprietary KUKA Robot Language (KRL). To address these challenges, we propose MIKI (multi-agent integrated KUKA interface), a decoupled dual-agent framework that bridges high-level reasoning and low-level syntactic verification for industrial robot programming. The controller agent incorporates a chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning mechanism to systematically decompose abstract human instructions into logical intermediate steps. By leveraging a visual toolchain, it translates these reasoned plans into a sequence of executable actions, each embedded with precise world coordinates. Subsequently, the code generation agent employs a syntax-guided iterative refinement process, underpinned by an ANTLR4 parser, to transform these actions into verified and executable KRL code. Experimental results demonstrate that this closed-loop approach substantially improves the syntactic success rate of code generation from 0.61 to 0.89. Furthermore, the framework achieves an average success rate of 0.6 across five desktop manipulation tasks of varying complexity using a physical KUKA robotic arm, validating its effectiveness in bridging high-level cognitive reasoning with deterministic industrial execution.

The article analyzes ethno-demographic trends in the contemporary Russian Federation, first of all, from the point of view of the probability of the development of separatist aspirations in ethnic autonomies within it. In recent decades, due to the shrinking opportunities to maintain the identity of indigenous peoples, assimilation processes have intensified among many of them (primarily the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group, as well as peoples whose is subjected to persecution in Russia, such as Ukrainians). Because of the assimilation, the share of the Russian ethnic majority in the country’s population is growing. At the same time, in the national republics of the North Caucasus and Siberia, the number of indigenous peoples is growing. In general, there is a process of ethnic separation: “Russian” regions are becoming ethnically more and more “Russian,” while 13 out of 21 republics are getting more and more “non-Russian.” Russian aggression in Ukraine also increases the likelihood of destabilizing Russia in the future, as the ideology of the “Russian World” politicizes inter-ethnic relations within Russia itself, making ethnic minorities second-class citizens.

Understanding the dynamics of host-parasite interactions is essential for uncovering the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping natural populations. In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal patterns of prevalence of the cestode Schistocephalus solidus in 4 Alaskan populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) over 11 years (1996 to 2006). Additionally, we assessed host tolerance through key indicators such as the Parasite Index and the presence of fibrotic scar tissue, a specialized form of resistance in this system. We observed fibrosis formation in both infected and uninfected fish across all populations, with notable year-to-year variability in Cornelius Lake. Here, fibrosis prevalence ranged from 9% in 1997 to 63% in 1998, coinciding with the highest cestode prevalence recorded in this population. Willow Lake stickleback displayed persistently high Parasite Indices, with parasite weights occasionally exceeding host eviscerated weights, and experienced a potential epizootic from 2000 to 2005. Cestode prevalence remained stable in Rocky and Cornelius Lakes and was consistently low in Lazy Lake. Our findings demonstrate significant variation in cestode prevalence, parasite burden, and resistance mechanisms among populations and between years. Importantly, the decoupling of fibrosis formation from infection status highlights the multifaceted nature of host-parasite interactions. Our study emphasizes the value of long-term datasets in revealing spatial and temporal patterns in host-parasite dynamics. Future research integrating ecological and genetic frameworks will be critical for elucidating the drivers of resistance and tolerance and their evolutionary implications.

The analysis and interpretation of radiocarbon dates can involve many steps, such as switching between units or time-scales, assessing the impacts of contamination, applying marine or other offsets, inspecting calibration curves, calibrating dates, extracting probabilities from calibrated distributions, and analysing and plotting multiple dates. Here, we present rice, a new open-source R package which, together with other packages such as rbacon, Bchron, coffee and clam, enables users to perform such calculations within R, thus allowing most of the steps from data entry to calibration, age-modeling and subsequent analysis and interpretation of time-series to be performed within a single widely-used, multi-platform, transparent and open-source software environment. All calculation steps are documented and can be inspected, and users can also write new/enhanced functions. The package could thus prove useful in both educational and research settings.

The accuracy and precision of radiocarbon dating largely depend on the quality of sample preparation prior to measurement. Proper selection of material, identification of potential contaminants, and application of appropriate purification procedures are the basis of reliable 14C analyses. Modern preparation laboratories not only support the process of obtaining reliable results but also play a key role in integrating the scientific community and educating future geochronologists. In 2025, a new Laboratory of Preparation for Radiocarbon Dating (LBC14) was established at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland. The laboratory has been adapted for the selection and purification of macroscopic organic samples, such as charcoal, wood, peat, organic sediments, macrofossils, and bone—both unburned and cremated. The protocols used are acid-base-acid (ABA), ultrafiltration, and apatite preparation, modified according to the material’s state of preservation. The paper presents the scope of the new laboratory, the procedures used, and the first results of dating performed at the AMS Laboratory at ETH Zurich. The presented initiative is an important step towards the development of 14C research infrastructure in Poland and the construction of sustainable, interdisciplinary standards for working with dating material.

Environmental water delivery is implemented globally to redress the ecological impacts of river regulation and consumptive water use. Allocation must balance the competing (and often conflicting) needs of humans, a diversity of water-dependent species and abiotic processes in the managed system. To optimize water allocation for conservation we developed a novel optimization framework that integrated a genetic algorithm with an integrated systems model to refine near-optimal allocations that maximize outcomes for a shrub (Duma florulenta), tree (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and tree frog (Ranoidea raniformis) in one of the world’s most regulated catchments: the Murray–Darling Basin (Australia). Our algorithm weighted 16 wetland attributes and optimized those weights to prioritize allocation over a 25-year forecast window. The best-performing solutions required no additional resources but improved outcomes for the two priority plants and doubled the surviving frog populations. Modifying the multi-user model to only consider R. raniformis improved outcomes for that species at the expense of the two plant species, highlighting the risks of allocating a shared resource through a single-species lens. We demonstrate the value of optimization and multi-species approaches as decision-support tools for environmental water allocation and similar resource allocation problems in conservation.

To address the problems of insufficient adaptability of photovoltaic (PV) cleaning robots in mountainous environments, where it is challenging to balance cleaning repeatability and cleaning integrity, this paper proposes a three-legged compound mobile mechanism and conducts optimization of its key parameters. First, the topological structure of the mechanism is designed based on the locomotion mode of inchworms. Combined with the requirements of PV panel cleaning tasks and the characteristics of cleaning methods, a compound motion mode integrating linear cleaning and rotational cleaning is adopted to determine the final structural configuration of the mechanism. Second, considering the relationship between the key parameters of the mechanism and the robot’s cleaning repeatability as well as cleaning integrity, a comprehensive performance index is constructed. The genetic algorithm is introduced for parameter optimization. Simulation results show that the optimal solution occurs at the larger step length and the maximum unilateral width of the cleaning mechanism within the valid interval. Finally, a prototype was fabricated for experiments. The results demonstrate that the robot can maintain stable adsorption on inclined and undulating PV panels, and the actual cleaning path is consistent with the theoretical trajectory, verifying the effectiveness of the design and the accuracy of the theoretical analysis in this paper.

We examine how relative exposure to negative economic shocks across racial groups impacts racial animus and voting patterns. Guided by group position theory, we argue that when dominant groups experience greater economic harm than nondominant groups within the same labor markets, racial animus intensifies. In the US context, the historically central boundary between white and Black Americans provides the most meaningful test of this mechanism. Using data from US commuting zones (2000 to 2020), we focus on the impact of the China shock on anti-Black racial animus. We measure relative exposure as the gap in import exposure between white and Black workers. Our findings show that negative economic shocks disproportionately affecting white workers, compared to Black workers, lead to increased anti-Black animus and increased Republican presidential vote share, even when controlling for overall import exposure. Taken together, these findings suggest that it is economic decline relative to another group that generates racial animus and outwardly racist behavior, as well as influences political behavior.

The genus Argyrolobium (Genisteae, Fabaceae) remains taxonomically problematic, exhibiting extensive morphological variation and unresolved phylogenetic relationships. This study presents the first molecular characterization of Argyrolobium roseum (Cambess.) Jaub. & Spach from India, integrating morphological observations with phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear ITS and plastid rbcL sequences. Phylogenetic trees reconstructed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference recovered Argyrolobium as paraphyletic, with A. uniflorum and A. roseum sister to Dichilus + Melolobium, while A. zanonii aligned with the Cytisus–Genista complex. Morphologically, A. roseum differs from the African and Mediterranean species of Argyrolobium by its prostrate habit, few-flowered racemes, glabrous foliage and variable corolla coloration. The present study provides preliminary evidence suggesting possible evolutionary divergence of A. roseum from South African and Mediterranean congeners, highlighting the need for broader taxon and molecular sampling to further clarify relationships within Argyrolobium.

A political framing of mental health emphasizes political conditions as contributing causal factors to psychiatric conditions. In this paper, I will argue that highlighting political factors matters for three reasons. First, it can further our understanding of the causal genesis and provenance of psychiatric conditions. Second, it can indicate alternative interventions, including those targeting the political sphere or the broader community rather than just the individual. Third, it can point to inadequacies in existing psychiatric diagnoses and reorient clinicians and researchers towards novel diagnostic categories. The case study used to support these claims is the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.

Platform firms have disrupted markets and challenged regulatory frameworks, but a new phase is emerging in which governments increasingly regulate these firms and firms engage with regulation strategically. This article examines how interactions between governments and firms shape the employment classification of platform workers. Drawing on case studies of California (United States), Spain, and Denmark, I show that welfare regime characteristics structure the regulatory environment that firms confront, whereas their competitive calculations shape their strategic responses. The analysis identifies three distinct configurations: successful firm override of government initiatives to classify workers as employees, resulting in a hybrid worker category (California); mixed firm responses to government initiatives aimed at employee classification, ultimately leading to universal employee status (Spain); and voluntary employee classification in the absence of specific government mandates (Denmark). These findings challenge assumptions that platform firms uniformly resist regulation and demonstrate how welfare state institutions and firms’ competitive strategies jointly shape worker classification outcomes.

This paper quantitatively examines the effect of globalization on the natural rate of interest in developed economies, including Japan, the US, and the euro area. By incorporating into the model the variables that capture global economic and financial trends, such as demand and supply of safe assets and cross-border spillovers, with a smooth-transition framework, we account for the existence of nonlinear regime change of their coefficients, driven by globalization. Our findings indicate that along with the progress of globalization, (i) the impact of global factors rapidly increased around 2000 and (ii) the commonly observed decline in the natural rate of interest can be largely attributed to these global factors. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating global factors such as demand and supply of safe assets and global spillovers, with their increasing impact, alongside domestic factors such as productivity and demographics, when investigating developments in the natural rate of interest.

Ageing of the population is an ineluctable process with major implications. We review effects of ageing on housing markets and related policy issues. Demographic effects are detectable for housing, with the working population tending to drive prices up while retired groups restrain it but only to a limited degree. The elderly desire bequests and precautionary saving and prefer not to sell or borrow against existing property. Among policy issues are availability of equity extraction loans, transaction costs for elderly households wishing to trade down and factors underlying availability of alternative and more suitable housing for elderly people.