The blow-up of the anticanonical base point on a del Pezzo surface S of degree 1 gives rise to a rational elliptic surface $\mathscr {E}$ with only irreducible fibers. The sections of minimal height of $\mathscr {E}$ are in correspondence with the $240$ exceptional curves on S. A natural question arises when studying the configuration of these curves: if a point on S is contained in “many” exceptional curves, is it torsion on its fiber on $\mathscr {E}$? In 2005, Kuwata proved for the analogous question on del Pezzo surfaces of degree $2$, where there are 56 exceptional curves, that if “many” equals $4$ or more, the answer is yes. In this paper, we prove that for del Pezzo surfaces of degree 1, the answer is yes if ‘many’ equals $9$ or more. Moreover, we give counterexamples where a non-torsion point lies in the intersection of $7$ exceptional curves. We give partial results for the still open case of 8 intersecting exceptional curves.

This article addresses power-sharing constitutions that include powers of veto wielded by discrete ethnonational groups. Such constitutional arrangements – seen, for example, in Northern Ireland and Bosnia – have often prompted severe deadlock, a problem that in turn threatens democratic functioning and raises the risk of renewed communal violence. We consider the use of ‘umpires’ of power-sharing constitutional systems to vet the use of vetoes and (potentially) to prevent their overuse or misuse. Power-sharing umpires are not uncommon in practice. However, as yet there is little scholarship evaluating how, in substance, power-sharing veto umpires should approach their task. Relying on deliberative democracy theory, the article outlines three forms of ‘deliberative agreement’ that, in principle, deeply divided groups may reach in the course of policymaking. It goes on to explain how existing proportionality doctrines drawn from federalism and rights cases can be imported into the power-sharing context to ‘scaffold’ these broad ideals. This approach, it is argued, may provide a more detailed, coherent and practically workable approach to umpiring power-sharing constitutions.

The so-called “Prakhon Chai Hoard” is one of Southeast Asia’s most infamous cases of looting. The story begins in 1964 when a cache of Buddhist bronzes from Northeast Thailand appeared on the international art market via the auction house Spink & Son, London. They quickly ended up in museums and private collections throughout the US and Europe. The exact findspot was unclear but soon became associated with an unidentified temple in Prakhon Chai district in Buriram province. The moniker “Prakhon Chai Hoard/bronzes” subsequently took hold, becoming commonplace in museum displays, dealer/auction house catalogs, and art historical discourse. However, in 2002, it was revealed the temple in question was Plai Bat II in Lahan Sai district.

This article untangles the many myths and misunderstandings surrounding this act of looting. It does so by reviewing the extant literature in light of information revealed by criminal investigations into the late Douglas Latchford from 2012 onwards, and presenting conclusions drawn from our decade-long documentation of villager testimonies at Plai Bat II (2014–2024).

This study investigated the effect of phonological neighborhood density (PND) on the lexical encoding of perceptually confusable segmental contrasts and the extent to which the precision of encoding is modulated by phonetic categorization and vocabulary size. Korean learners of English and native speakers of American English completed an auditory lexical decision task that contained words and nonwords with /ɛ/, /æ/, /f/, and /p/ (/æ/ and /f/ do not exist in Korean), two phonetic categorization tasks (/ɛ/−/æ/ and /f/−/p/), and a vocabulary test. For the Korean group, participants’ categorization of /f/−/p/ was the only significant predictor of /f/−/p/ nonword rejection. For /ɛ/−/æ/, nonword versions of high PND words were rejected more accurately than low PND. Additionally, vocabulary size and phonetic categorization significantly interacted so that as perception abilities improve, the benefits that come from having a large vocabulary grow as well.

Since Cannon, inspired by Bernard’s discussion of the conditions required for free and independent life, introduced the term homeostasis, many have embraced it as the main theoretical principle guiding physiology and medicine. Nonetheless, critics have argued that homeostasis is too limiting and have advanced a variety of alternative concepts such as heterostasis, rheostasis, and allostasis. We argue that the critics target a much narrower understanding of homeostasis put forward by the cyberneticists and that Bernard and Cannon embraced a far broader understanding that can accommodate the alternatives advanced by the critics and provide an integrated theoretical framework for physiology.

Statistical learning, that is, our ability to track and learn from distributional information in the environment, plays a fundamental role in language acquisition, yet little research has investigated this process in older language learners. In the present study, we address this gap by comparing the cross-situational learning of foreign words in younger and older adults. We also tested whether learning was affected by previous experience with multiple languages. We found that both age groups successfully learned the novel words after a short exposure period, confirming that statistical learning ability is preserved in late adulthood. However, the two groups differed in their learning trajectories, with the younger group outperforming the older group during the later stages of learning. Previous language experience did not predict learning outcomes. Given that implicit language learning mechanisms are shown to be preserved over the lifespan, the present data provide crucial support for the assumptions underlying claims that language learning interventions in older age could be leveraged as a targeted intervention to help build or maintain resilience to age-related cognitive decline.

This article explores the oral narratives about Samuel Ezekiel Divekar (1730–97), an officer in the British army and a member of the Bene Israel Indian Jewish community, who was released from the prison of Tipu Sultan (1751–99) by the Muslim ruler’s mother, Begum Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa. These foundational narratives are compared with non-native colonial and other sources, including manuscripts, books, letters and reports located in libraries and archives, in order to see whether there is any synchronicity between the different versions. Of particular interest is the gender dimension in which Divekar’s release from prison was facilitated by a Muslim woman, reminiscent of the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Egypt. Although prominent in the Bene Israel communal narrative, the Begum’s role is reflected neither in colonial records nor in other accounts (notably, in Cochin Jewish letters). Finally, the question of whether Divekar brought a Torah scroll to the Gate of Mercy synagogue (so named to commemorate the compassion of the Begum) established in 1796 in Bombay is discussed. The article demonstrates that the analysis of subaltern oral narratives can enrich our understanding of history by giving a voice to marginalised groups, and focusing on suppressed narratives about gender.