We consider a toy model of rate-independent droplet motion on a surface with contact angle hysteresis based on the one-phase Bernoulli free boundary problem. We introduce a notion of solutions based on an obstacle problem. These solutions jump “as late and as little as possible”, a physically natural property that energy solutions do not satisfy. When the initial data is star-shaped, we show that obstacle solutions are uniquely characterized by satisfying the local stability and dynamic slope conditions. This is proved via a novel comparison principle, which is one of the main new technical results of the paper. In this setting we can also show the (almost) optimal $C^{1,1/2-}$-spatial regularity of the contact line. This regularity result explains the asymptotic profile of the contact line as it de-pins via tangential motion similar to de-lamination. Finally we apply our comparison principle to show the convergence of minimizing movements schemes to the same obstacle solution, again in the star-shaped setting.

The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (1942–1945) caused the loss of 500,000–1,000,000 Filipino lives—a tragedy largely erased from Japanese visual media. A 2017 study of Japanese television and a 1980–2023 study of Japanese films found Filipino victims scarcely represented or omitted entirely. Unlike Chinese and Korean victims, whose narratives remain visible owing to activism and diplomatic pressures, Filipino experiences have been marginalized. This study reveals Japan’s selective war memory and advocates for addressing overlooked histories and fostering inclusive media representation to enhance societal cohesion and strengthen Japan’s international relations.

Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) frequently results in inappropriate antimicrobial use. Urinalysis (UA)-driven reflex urine culture order sets can reduce inappropriate urine cultures. Most special indications on free text overrides within a (UA)-driven reflex culture protocol were inappropriately defined and rarely symptom-based. Eliminating the “other” indication could strengthen diagnostic stewardship and reduce unnecessary urine cultures.

The discovery of radiocarbon (14C) peaks in AD 774–775 and AD 993–994 sparked the search for other anomalous events, leading to the identification of one around 660 BC. However, the ∼660 BC event appears to show a more prolonged increase, raising the question whether the event is qualitatively different. To investigate this, we measured high-latitude tree rings from Finnish Lapland, expected to be highly sensitive to energetic particle events. We measured the 14C content of full rings, as well as their separated earlywood and latewood components. We found that the 14C concentrations start rising already in the latewood of 665 BC and reach almost its full intensity by 664 BC. This rapid increase is similar to that at another high-latitude site (Yamal, Russia) but contrasts with that of low-latitude sites, which show a later peak. The earlier increase of the 14C at high-latitude tree rings compared to lower latitudes is consistent with similar observations for the AD 774 and AD 993 Miyake events. Based on carbon-cycle box modeling, the structure of the subsequent amplitude increase can be explained by either single or double initial 14C pulses. The fast increase coupled with a slower subsequent peak structure suggests similar mechanisms behind the high-latitude observations, i.e., tropospheric 14C production and/or a fast component of polar air flow across the tropopause combined with the full stratospheric-tropospheric CO2 exchange. Our results strongly emphasize the need for dynamic carbon cycle models to understand the observed differences between high- and lower-latitude data.

Concerns about the environmental impact of animal-source foods have led to a shift towards plant-based alternatives (PBA). While dairy products and seafood are rich in iodine, an essential nutrient for thyroid function and cognitive development, PBA often lack iodine fortification. As the market expands, there is increasing concern that individuals replacing dairy products and seafood with unfortified PBA may be at risk of iodine deficiency. This study assessed changes in the iodine fortification of plant-based milk, yogurt, cheese and seafood alternatives through a cross-sectional survey of UK supermarkets (2020–2024). Supermarkets were surveyed online each December, and product nutrition and ingredient data were extracted. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of PBA increased by 55 %, with 466 PBA identified in 2024, including milk (n 246), yogurt (n 81), cheese (n 110) and seafood alternatives (n 29). Iodine fortification was inconsistent: in 2024, 48 % of non-organic milk alternatives were fortified, while only 5 % of non-organic yogurt and 4 % of cheese alternatives contained iodine. In comparison, 28 %, 6 % and 0 % of non-organic milk, yogurt and cheese alternatives were fortified with iodine in 2020. No fortified seafood alternatives were identified. Fortified PBA provided 75–83 % of the iodine content of cow’s milk, but most remained poor iodine sources. Although iodine fortification has increased, it lags behind that of calcium and vitamin B12 (48 % v. 88 % and 71 %, respectively). Given iodine’s critical role in health, clearer public health guidance and improved fortification policies are needed. Increased reliance on PBA may exacerbate iodine insufficiency in the UK without intervention.

The Finnish parental leave system has undergone numerous reforms to encourage fathers’ leave uptake, in part to redress unequal divisions of early childcare, yet many fathers have not taken full advantage of it. Leave is usually taken from the workplace, and though workplace factors are often cited as typical barriers to uptake, they remain understudied compared to policy and individual-level motivators. We systematically investigated the association of important workplace structural characteristics and parental leave decisions of private-sector-employed first-time fathers in 2013–2017, using Finnish register data and a multilevel Bayesian approach. While the probability of taking father’s quota varied by workplace gendered structures and competitiveness, these differences were due to the selection of fathers into workplaces on individual-level characteristics, rather than resulting from differing workplace structures. Workplace educational level was important, but only for tertiary-educated fathers: highly-educated fathers in low-educated environments were less likely to take longer leaves, suggesting that replaceability may be the main mechanism behind the differences. These findings suggest that differing workplace contexts have less to do with structural factors than with workplace cultures and fathers’ individual situations, calling for further study on the interplay of individual and contextual factors in usage of paternal leave entitlements.

How does the politicization of identities like race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation shape populist activism on the left? In this article, I demonstrate that left-wing populists engaged in identity politics resort to two contrasting – but not incompatible – types of activism: identity-based advocacy and identity-based threat construction. The paper examines these types of activism by studying how four major populist leaders on the left – two leaders each from Europe (Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Sahra Wagenknecht) and Africa (Ousmane Sonko and Julius Malema) – have positioned themselves vis-à-vis specific identity groups. Building on the distinction between identity-based advocacy and threat construction, the article conceptualizes different types of identity-based populist references. The paper thereby contributes to existing research as it detects how left-wing populist leaders integrate identity politics into the discursive construction of the elite vs. the people antagonism. Finally, by facilitating comparative cross-area research on a specific branch of leftism, the paper also goes beyond existing debates about leftist identity politics.

This paper argues that to liberal authoritarianism – defined here as a liberal technique of government fusing authoritarianism with liberalism for the purpose of the ‘free market’, following Hermann Heller – corresponds a form of dual constitutionalism or fragmented legality. Dual constitutionalism, originally a colonial technique of governance, relies on a liberal constitution enshrining a state of exception which suspends it on specific matters, territories, and during certain times. It can be either military – called in France the ‘state of siege’, the continental version of the British Martial Law – or civilian – the ‘state of emergency’. In the case of France, liberal authoritarianism has witnessed several declinations since the French Revolution, flourishing in the liberal colonialism of the late 19th century, then the full-fledged liberal authoritarianism of the interwar period, and eventually in the neoliberal authoritarianism of the 4th and 5th republic. Focusing on the relationship between France and its Algerian colony during the Third Republic (1870–1940), one of the most liberal periods ever in French history, it documents how the State of Exception was used to establish a legalised state of dictatorship where all executive, legislative and judicial powers were vested in the hands of a governor, in order to force the creation of markets by breaking down collective land ownership and use and other non-liberal economic customs of the local population, using, in particular, the legal tool of the ‘sequestre’ which allowed the State to forcibly expropriate land and seize assets of the local population without compensation, forced labour and internment camps – all in order to incentivise ‘free enterprise’ by the colonisers. Many of these legal tools and techniques migrated back to the metropolis when the Third Republic officially dissolved into a Nazi State in 1940, through legal means and in accordance with the constitutional procedures of the Third Republic.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the most urgent global health challenges of our time. However, it is also a human rights and environmental crisis deeply entwined with climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Historically, AMR was framed as a public health challenge, with little consideration given to its environmental factors and human rights implications. In this article, we examine AMR through the lens of the right to a healthy environment, exploring whether a normative human rights framework could open up new avenues to seek justice and accountability for the environmental drivers of AMR. Drawing on recent developments in international law, we suggest that this newly recognized right widens the narrative of AMR, drawing attention to the role of microbial environments in the global ecosystem and compelling more holistic responses that extend beyond public health interventions to address the underlying structural inequalities and environmental drivers of AMR.

Ethics has become a central concern in applied linguistics, with researchers from both qualitative and quantitative paradigms increasingly engaging with ethical considerations. While methodological guidelines have been proposed to support ethical research practices (De Costa, 2024), it remains unclear to what extent these are implemented and reported. Narrative inquiry, in particular, poses complex ethical challenges due to its relational and often deeply personal nature. Although qualitative traditions have long led ethical reflections in applied linguistics, ethical enactment and transparency in narrative inquiry remain inconsistent. To explore this issue, we conducted a methodological synthesis of 332 narrative inquiry studies published between 2012 and 2023, examining ethical practices across study design, recruitment, data collection, and analysis. Findings reveal that while issues like anonymity were commonly addressed, other areas – such as IRB approval, participant incentives, considerations for vulnerable populations, and data sharing – showed marked variation. Drawing on current literature, we propose empirically grounded recommendations to strengthen ethical reporting in narrative research. Rather than associating macro-ethics and micro-ethics with specific paradigms, we integrate both to explore how ethical principles are enacted in context. Given the relational and situated nature of narrative inquiry, this review responds to a timely need for more transparent and reflexive ethical practice in the field.

In recent decades, the extent of ice-free areas has been increasing in the South Shetland Islands (Maritime Antarctica). The coastal sector is one of the zones most significantly affected by glacial retreat, with newly exposed land surfaces undergoing a wide variety of post-glacial environmental processes. Coastal areas are characterized by both continental and marine ice dynamics, which in turn have major influences on the morphology and processes shaping coastal landforms. A detailed geomorphological analysis was carried out at Spanish Cove, south-west Livingston Island, which constitutes a boulder beach close to the Spanish Antarctic Station Juan Carlos I. This research provides a classification of the existing coastal landforms in this sector, as well as an analysis of the recent behaviour of the area using drone surveys, material size measurements obtained through semi-automatic techniques and hardness analysis using a durometer. This study represents one of the first attempts to classify the Antarctic coastal environment and offers a basis for understanding the potential evolution of such environments over the coming decades under global change and the rapid transformation of present-day glaciated landscapes.

Circadian syndrome (CircS) appears to be a better predictor for CVD than metabolic syndrome, and n-3 fatty acids are generally suggested to alleviate negative health outcomes. This study aims to investigate the association between n-3 intake and CircS and examine the effect modification by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. In this cross-sectional study, data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2018 were analysed (n 12 028). Survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression was applied to analyse the associations of n-3 intake with CircS and its components. Subgroup analyses examining the effect modification by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors were followed by a restricted cubic spline investigating the non-linear associations between n-3 intake and CircS by race. The weighted prevalence of metabolic syndrome and CircS was 45·8 and 37·3 %, respectively. Overall, no significant associations were found between the intake of total n-3, EPA or DHA and CircS. However, n-3 intake was associated with a lower risk of depression – a component of CircS. Comparing extreme quartiles of n-3 intake (highest v. lowest), the OR (95 % CI) for depressive symptoms was 0·77 (0·64, 0·90). Among the Black, those in the highest quartile of n-3 intake were more likely to have CircS, with the OR (95 % CI) of 1·36 (1·02, 1·82). No association between n-3 intake and CircS in the total study population was observed. However, n-3 intake was inversely associated with depressive symptoms in American adults. Interactions between race and n-3 intake in relation to CircS were also identified.

The prehistoric cultural material at the Lodoso Site, a Middle Archaic to Late Prehistoric campsite near Driscoll, Texas, is dominated by irregularly shaped heat-hardened fragments of earth called burned clay objects (BCOs). These artifacts are a common component of coastal plain archaeology in Texas and elsewhere in the state. Many such sites, especially those situated in sandy soils, do not preserve charcoal well, which renders dating the occupations challenging. The clayey matrix of the Lodoso Site does preserve charcoal, which presents an opportunity to assess the suitability of luminescence dating of burned clay objects by thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and directly compare those results with charcoal collected from the same excavation provenience, as well as OSL dating of the sedimentary matrix. The TL and OSL results generally track together well but are consistently slightly older than charcoal collected from the same level. The charcoal dates suggest the midden formed between approximately 1500 and 2300 years ago, whereas the luminescence ages suggest formation occurred between 2000 and 3000 years ago. Where the luminescence ages occur out of stratigraphic order, so do the paired charcoal samples, indicating that this is a result of pedoturbation. The results of both radiocarbon and luminescence dating indicate that the midden is a diachronic feature resulting from use over a prolonged period rather than the product of a single burning event.

We show sharp well-posedness with analytic data-to-solution mapping in the semilinear regime for dispersion-generalized KP-I equations on $\mathbb {R}^2$ and $\mathbb {R} \times \mathbb {T}$. On $\mathbb {R}^2$ we cover the full subcritical range, whereas on $\mathbb {R} \times \mathbb {T}$ the sharp well-posedness is strictly subcritical. We rely on linear and bilinear Strichartz estimates which are proved using decoupling techniques and square function estimates. Nonlinear Loomis-Whitney inequalities are a further ingredient. These are presently proved for Borel measures with growth condition reflecting the different geometries of the plane $\mathbb {R}^2$, the cylinder $\mathbb {R} \times \mathbb {T}$, and the torus $\mathbb {T}^2$. Finally, we point out that on tori $\mathbb {T}^2_\gamma $, KP-I equations are never semilinear.

In this study, we explore L1 and L2 speakers’ use of degree modifiers (DMs) aika/melko/ihan and quite/rather/fairly in a cross-linguistic setting, with academic Finnish and English as languages of interest. As a method, we apply a multivariate approach that considers the constructional features of the DMs. The statistical modelling showed reliably that, in both languages, L1 and L2 speakers made partially different choices when using the DMs. The model predicted the DM use of both languages well, although it explained the variation of the Finnish DMs better. In general, the English L2 use of the DMs was closer to English L1 use than was the case in Finnish, where the populations had a clearly different favourite among the three DM variants. The results suggest that the examined DM group is more fixed in academic Finnish, whereas in academic English the choice between the examined DM variants is more open.

Perron and Quinn gave independent proofs in 1986 that every topological pseudo-isotopy of a simply-connected, compact topological 4-manifold is isotopic to the identity. Another result of Quinn is that every smooth pseudo-isotopy of a simply-connected, compact, smooth 4-manifold is smoothly stably isotopic to the identity. From this he deduced that $\pi _4(\operatorname {\mathrm {TOP}}(4)/\operatorname {\mathrm {O}}(4)) = 0$. A replacement criterion is used at a key juncture in Quinn’s proofs, but the justification given for it is incorrect. We provide different arguments that bypass the replacement criterion, thus completing Quinn’s proofs of both the topological and the stable smooth pseudo-isotopy theorems. We discuss the replacement criterion and state it as an open problem.