Are nuclear weapons useful for coercion, and, if so, what factors increase the credibility and effectiveness of nuclear threats? While prominent scholars like Thomas Schelling argue that nuclear brinkmanship, or the manipulation of nuclear risk, can effectively coerce adversaries, others contend nuclear weapons are not effective tools of coercion, especially when designed to achieve offensive and revisionist objectives. Simultaneously, there is broad debate about the incorporation of automation via artificial intelligence into military systems, especially nuclear command and control. We develop a theoretical argument that nuclear threats implemented with automated nuclear launch systems are more credible compared to those implemented via non-automated means. By reducing human control over nuclear use, leaders can more effectively tie their hands and thus signal resolve, even if doing so increases the risk of nuclear war and thus is extremely dangerous. Preregistered survey experiments on an elite sample of United Kingdom Members of Parliament and two public samples of UK citizens provide support for these expectations, showing that in a crisis scenario involving a Russian invasion of Estonia, automated nuclear threats can increase credibility and willingness to back down. From a policy perspective, this paper highlights the dangers of countries adopting automated nuclear systems for malign purposes, and contributes to the literatures on coercive bargaining, weapons of mass destruction, and emerging technology.

How does China strategically allocate foreign aid to increase its influence on South China Sea disputes? We posit that China uses foreign aid as a tool of strategic appeasement to manage militarized interstate disputes, particularly targeting claimant states with smaller winning coalitions that are more susceptible to aid influence. The results of our empirical analysis show that China is more likely to allocate aid to the ASEAN SCS claimants with a smaller winning coalition. These findings not only support the notion of foreign aid as a strategic tool employed by China to mitigate tensions in the South China Sea but also highlight the vulnerability of certain recipient states. This article contributes to the foreign assistance and conflict literature by examining the conditionality of claimant donors’ decisions to provide foreign aid to other claimant recipients.

Women tend to be underconfident about their financial knowledge. In this longitudinal study, we tested two interventions intended to raise financial confidence and engagement in positive financial management behaviors among young Canadian women (N = 1119). One intervention included a brief educational task, teaching participants definitions of financial terms. Another intervention challenged social beliefs about financial competence by prompting participants to describe and browse other women’s stories about financial competence experiences on a website. Directly after the interventions, financial confidence ratings from women assigned to either or both of the intervention conditions were about 6% higher than ratings in a control condition. This effect persisted one week later, though a month later the size of the effect had dropped to non-significance. Confidence was linked to better financial management behaviors and more savings. Results also showed that participants in all conditions reported higher financial confidence and better financial management behaviors at later vs. earlier surveys. We conclude that simply reporting on financial attitudes and behaviors over time can increase women’s financial confidence and recommend fostering discourse about finances to close the gender gap in financial confidence.

Based on the High Magnetic field Helicon eXperiment (HMHX), considering parabolic distribution and Gaussian distribution of radial plasma density, the HELIC code was used to study the parameter optimisation design of a helicon wave plasma (HWP) source. Some parameters (antenna type, radio frequency, discharge gas, plasma radius, magnetic field) were selected. The results show that a half-helix antenna is the excitation antenna and a frequency of 13.56 MHz is the most commonly used power source for HMHX. Argon and nitrogen are selected as discharge gases to achieve the best effect of power deposition. In order to realise hydrogen–HWP discharge, a new antenna with plasma radius of 10.5 mm and antenna radius of 13.5 mm can be designed. For the new antenna, when the magnetic field intensity is 1000 Gs, the best discharge effect can be achieved. The results of this paper can provide guidance for the design of a plasma source for HWP discharge under different conditions in the future.

Welwitschia mirabilis, a unique gymnosperm native to Namibia and Angola, is a keystone plant species in the Namib Desert. It represents the only extremely long-lived non-clonal plant species occurring under hyperarid desert conditions, yet limited attempts have been made to accurately determine its age. Here, we present radiocarbon dates from a dead, sectioned Welwitschia of moderate size. We find the outer caudex tissue growth to progressively increase in age from the leaf base towards the ground level in this dwarf tree, while the inner cortex tissue becomes younger. Our sampling strategy revealed that the oldest tissue from this Welwitschia, found at the base of the caudex in the middle of the lobe, was dated to 531 ± 20 14C years, suggesting a vertical growth rate of approximately 0.47 to 0.67 mm/year. These findings can serve as a basis for future dating of larger, living individuals.

This article examines the adoption of voting methods designed to support individuals with intellectual disabilities in elections. It focuses on two widely used approaches, frequently explored in scholarly discourse: assisted voting and proxy voting. Both of these voting methods rely on third-party involvement and therefore require the consideration of the prohibition of plural voting in the Australian Constitution. The article concludes that while assisted voting and a limited form of proxy voting-where the proxy must strictly follow the elector’s explicit instructions-are constitutional, proxy voting becomes unconstitutional if the elector is unable to communicate their electoral judgment. Assisted voting therefore emerges as the most practical and constitutionally compliant option.

Given a number field F with ring of integers $\mathcal {O}_{F}$, one can associate to any torsion free subgroup of $\operatorname {SL}(2,\mathcal {O}_{F})$ of finite index a complete Riemannian manifold of finite volume with fibered cusp ends. For natural choices of flat vector bundles on such a manifold, we show that analytic torsion is identified with the Reidemeister torsion of the Borel-Serre compactification. This is used to obtain exponential growth of torsion in the cohomology for sequences of congruence subgroups.

Surrogacy, the engagement of third parties to perform biological roles, presents complex regulatory dilemmas. It raises questions about the ethics of commercializing human reproduction, especially when viewed through natural and cultural lenses. This article discusses the relevance of geopolitics in regulating artificial reproductive technology (ART) in Nigeria. It espouses the traditional health norm development approach to reproductive governance and dwells on surrogacy as a gendered concept, as it affects different categories of people in different ways in Nigeria. It examines Nigeria’s dominant cultural and religious ideologies against the extant legal framework, including family laws and judicial authorities. The article identifies the loopholes and relevance of geopolitics in the development of ART norms in Nigeria. There have been attempts to regulate ART to exclude recognizing surrogacy. The article concludes that the uncoordinated regulation is due to the geographical and socio-political norm development experience in the country. It recommends a cautious re-evaluation of the regulation of surrogacy through adopting Eager’s norm development approach. This position aims to redress the challenges confronting women in reproduction, in line with international norm development.

It is often thought that compulsory retirement funding gains support from paternalistic considerations. This paper examines this claim. I argue that compulsory retirement funding is more coherent when understood as an attempt at temporal smoothing than counterfactual insurance. An implication is that any paternalistic case for retirement funding faces problems that are more severe than they would be if compulsory retirement funding were insurance. I label these the problems of ‘inverted bias’ and of the ‘arbitrariness of income from labour’. The paper then makes some suggestions about how these points about paternalism bear on the problem of justice in retirement funding.

This paper examines the role of interviews in Australian protection visa decision-making, arguing that while not a statutory requirement, interviews are often constructively required to ensure procedural fairness and achieve reasonable satisfaction. The analysis explores the evolution of departmental policy from an initial presumption favouring interviews to a more exceptionalist approach driven by administrative efficiency. It argues that this shift creates tension with the underlying legal framework and risks legal error. Analysis of key cases such as Plaintiff S157/2002, Saeed, and Chen, alongside departmental policy, suggests that failure to make obvious inquiries or engage with applicants directly, particularly regarding credibility, can constitute jurisdictional error. The paper calls for balanced procedures that identify when interviews are necessary while maintaining efficient processing.

Between 1898 and 1923, a series of disputes erupted among fishing communities in the British Gold Coast Colony (modern-day Ghana) following the introduction of larger and more productive sea fishing nets. All along the coast, fishers debated the environmental and economic consequences of adopting the nets, which debates shifted across African and colonial forums. Focusing on these disputes, this article interrogates the ways in which sites of fishing innovations and experimentation became sites of intense conflict and negotiation throughout the Gold Coast Colony as different groups debated and contested technological change. In the process, voices advocating for caution within the fishing industry were effectively marginalised through the manoeuvring of net advocates while the introduction of colonial arbitration within the realm of fisheries offered new challenges to the authority of African leaders within the marine space.

This paper investigates the everyday use of coins at the Roman Red Sea ports of Berenike and Myos Hormos, challenging their conventional interpretation as mere indicators of trade prosperity. Adopting a contextualized approach, the paper analyzes coin finds alongside non-numismatic evidence – including ceramics, botanical and zoological remains, and epigraphic records – to uncover their role in daily economic activities. The study demonstrates how coins functioned across diverse settings such as marketplaces, industrial zones, religious sites, and residential areas, highlighting their integration into the economic, social, and cultural fabric of the ports. Beyond serving as a medium of exchange, coins played crucial roles in taxation, service payments, and religious offerings. By reconstructing the transactional dynamics of the ancient ports, the paper provides new insights into the interactions between residents and visitors, enriching our understanding of daily life in these vibrant hubs through a holistic archaeological perspective.

This article examines the relationship between acts harmful to the enemy (AHTTE) – the first criterion for the loss of special protection for medical units and transports under international humanitarian law – and the requirements for classification as a military objective, which governs the loss of general protection for civilian objects. The analysis begins by clarifying the articulation between special and general protection, then outlines the legal consequences of losing special protection alone. The definition of AHTTE is examined, with particular attention to hospital shielding, and it is then assessed whether such acts always meet the cumulative conditions of Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol I for becoming military objectives: effective contribution to military action and definite military advantage. The article argues that AHTTE do not always meet these conditions, and that certain acts contribute too indirectly or speculatively to justify targeting. The conclusion emphasizes that this analysis does not preclude the application of other rules governing the conduct of hostilities.

Many affluent democracies have pledged to achieve ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Achieving these targets would denote important national contributions to the international goal of keeping global warming ‘well below’ 2°C as agreed in the 2015 Paris agreement. Yet pursuing the necessary long-term decarbonisation policies influencing individuals’ everyday lives will require a considerable and enduring level of political leadership. But what enables or constrains politicians to perform such leadership? To date, little is known about the factors influencing politicians’ willingness to advocate for decarbonisation measures in the short-term for the long-term gain of climate change mitigation. This study draws on rare data of consumers’ carbon footprints, parliamentary speechmaking, and qualitative elite interviews in a mixed-methods research design to study how the intensity of constituents’ consumption-based carbon emissions influences the decarbonisation-focused behaviour of members of parliament (MPs) in the UK. Our quantitative findings reveal that MPs pay considerably less attention to decarbonisation issues when they represent carbon-intense constituencies. Moreover, this effect is particularly pronounced for Conservative MPs and amplified in marginal seats. The qualitative interview evidence helps to contextualise these quantitative findings, suggesting that MPs consider the decarbonisation of lifestyles a crucial political challenge and that their electoral considerations and party-political contexts play an important role in how they handle this challenge. Overall, our study draws a sobering picture of politicians’ willingness to sacrifice short-term electoral gains for the long-term prospect of net zero, especially for those MPs representing constituencies that could make high-impact contributions to nationwide emission cuts.

The diffusion of agricultural technologies, such as biofortified crops, is often non-linear, characterised by adoption, discontinuation, and re-adoption. This study examines the factors shaping these dynamic patterns for high-iron beans (HIBs) in Uganda. Based on cross-sectional survey data, we employed a multinomial logit model to categorise and analyse farmer adoption status. The results reveal that a combination of socio-economic and institutional factors significantly influences adoption behaviour. Specifically, the gender and age of the household head, as well as participation in off-farm income, were key socio-economic predictors. Regarding institutional factors, access to reliable markets and the presence of payback schemes emerged as the primary drivers. These findings suggest that overcoming adoption barriers requires addressing both the demographics of farmers and systemic constraints. We recommend a strategic pivot towards decentralising seed production by establishing certified community seed enterprises and enhancing training programmes that focus on both agronomic practices and market linkages to ensure the sustained cultivation of HIBs.