In this paper, we demonstrate wideband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) at sub-mmW frequencies with full electronic data and carrier generation. We present the first stringent examination of OFDM-waveform design in a fully electronic experimental setup. Operating at 309 GHz center frequency and modulated channel bandwidths of 2 and 10 GHz, the performance of single-carrier waveforms is compared to OFDM signals with varying modulation formats and subcarrier settings. In addition to the investigation of the gross data rate, which is resulting in 20 Gbit/s for OFDM and 40 Gbit/s for single-carrier, we give one of the first demonstrations of joint communication and sensing with OFDM-signals at sub-mmW frequencies, as the distance between transmitter and receiver isdetermined by examination of the received signal.

The article “Defining Early Health Technology Assessment: Building Consensus Using Delphi Technique” offers a useful definition of early HTA (eHTA) as an assessment to inform development, research, or investment decisions. From a lifecycle HTA (LC-HTA) perspective, we emphasize that eHTA should be viewed as part of a broader, continuous evidence and decision-making process rather than a stand-alone activity. Integrating eHTA within LC-HTA strengthens alignment across phases of technology development, supports anticipatory evidence planning, and promotes adaptive reassessment over time—enabling more coherent, learning-oriented HTA systems.

The increase in national courts’ reliance on foreign and international law sources, labeled ‘transnational communication’, has established domestic judges as influential, independent actors in the international legal arena that may promote domestic application and enforcement of international human rights. While studies on judicial globalization have emphasized the role judges play, we argue that to acquire a well-rounded understanding of judicial globalization, we should direct focus beyond judges as sole participants in this dialogue and examine other actors that affect the proliferation of transnational communication. We assess the role of litigant and amicus parties on U.S. courts’ engagement in global judicial dialogue in a twofold manner; through statistical analysis of an original dataset of international law citations in all U.S. Supreme Court litigation between 1946 and 2024, and by tracing the flow and language of citations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child through state and federal courts, as well as litigant and amicus briefs. We show that litigants and amici are significant actors in the process of judicial globalization by being more likely than judges to bring international law arguments and be the ones to initiate this dialogue, thus forcing courts to participate and interpret international legal principles.

Existing approaches to quantitative epidemiologic methods commonly used in conflict and other emergency settings risk retraumatizing research participants. However, little guidance exists regarding how to mitigate these risks. Here we draw on literatures addressing ethical considerations in 2 similar activities—the use of qualitative research methodologies in research with survivors of violence and trauma, as well as witness protection strategies during tribunal proceedings. We recommend preliminary standards and best practices for participant protection from retraumatization associated with quantitative epidemiological methods adapted from existing practices for qualitative research and in tribunal contexts that should be refined in partnership with the affected communities.

This article introduces a strategy for the large-scale corpus analysis of music audio recordings, aimed at identifying long-term trends and testing hypotheses regarding the repertoire represented in a given corpus. Our approach centers on computing evolution curves (ECs), which map style-relevant features, such as musical complexity, onto historical timelines. Unlike traditional approaches that rely on sheet music, we use audio recordings, leveraging their widespread availability and the performance nuances they capture. We also emphasize the benefits of pitch-class features based on deep learning, which improve the robustness and accuracy of tonal complexity measures compared to traditional signal processing methods. Addressing the frequent lack of exact work dates (year of composition) in historical corpora, we propose a heuristic method that aligns works with timelines using composers’ life dates. This method effectively preserves historical trends with minimal deviation compared to using actual work dates, as validated against available metadata from the Carus Audio Corpus, which spans 450 years of choral and sacred music and contains 5,729 tracks with detailed metadata. We demonstrate the utility of our strategy through case studies of this corpus, showing how ECs provide insights into stylistic developments that confirm expectations from musicology, thus highlighting the potential of computational studies in this field. For example, we observe a steady increase in tonal complexity from the Renaissance through the Baroque period, stable complexity levels in the 19th and 20th centuries, and consistently higher complexity in minor-key works compared to major-key works. Our visualizations also reveal that vocal music was more complex than instrumental music in the 18th century, but less complex in the 20th century. Finally, we conduct comparative analyses of individual composers, exploring how historical and biographical contexts may have influenced their works. Our findings highlight the potential of this strategy for computational corpus studies in musicological research.

Photoconductive antennas (PCAs), known for their broad bandwidth, high data rates, and simple structure, are gaining significant attention in terahertz (THz) applications. Over the past decade, THz PCAs have been extensively researched, demonstrating diverse applications across multiple fields. This paper provides a comprehensive review of PCA theory and design, along with an in-depth analysis of their relative advantages. Additionally, various strategies for enhancing antenna efficiency are discussed, focusing on material selection and geometric design. This review aims to offer researchers a consolidated resource, presenting key insights into the challenges and advancements in PCA research.

This paper contests the neglect of the non-solidarity of the new Latin American republics as a causal factor in the international isolation of Haiti during the early nineteenth century, and the consequent imposition of European neocolonialism in the region. Moreover, in doing so, the paper also unearths the historically ambiguous relationships of non-intervention and regionalist internationalism to empire in Latin America. Whereas these two principles have since been recognized by scholars as key, anti-imperialist features of Latin American international law, this paper argues that, in the context of Colombian–Haitian (dis)engagement during the mid-1820s, they were used to legitimize the refusal of anticolonial solidarity to Haiti when it was needed most, thereby enabling French and wider European imperialism.

Is narrative entertainment simply a form of recreation, or does it have meaningful effects on public opinion? Building on prior reviews, we present a meta-analysis of 377 findings from 77 experiments evaluating the persuasive effects of narrative radio, television and film, including a growing body of work from low- and middle-income countries. Our sample includes both entertainment-first narratives – popular media created primarily to entertain but which may incidentally shape audiences’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviors – and education-first narratives designed by policymakers to inform, persuade or motivate public action. Using a hierarchical-effects model, we assess narrative media’s influence across a wide range of settings and issue domains. The results suggest that narrative entertainment is quite influential, with sizable persuasive effects that remain apparent weeks after initial exposure. A smaller literature reports head-to-head tests of the relative effectiveness of narrative vs non-narrative messages; although inconclusive, the evidence suggests that narratives may be only slightly more persuasive than non-narrative messages. If true, this finding would imply that the main advantage of narratives may be their ability to attract and engage large and diverse audiences. We conclude by calling attention to gaps in the literature and proposing avenues for further research.

By eliminating spoken words and more novel musical and staging effects used in the original Ghost Opera, Tan Dun’s Concerto for String Quartet and Pipa offers an analytical opportunity to show how he uses more conventional musical techniques to depict an intercultural and personal ritual. Yet, studying Tan’s usage of borrowed musical elements illuminates the commonalities and irreconcilable differences between Eastern and Western sounds. The construction of such an intercultural soundscape nonetheless requires a distinction between Chinese and Western musical practices. The Chinese sounds used in this work are also mediated by the Chinese state or Tan himself from rural communities through modernist and Orientalist means, while Tan’s compositional approach remains centred on Western-based musical means. This shows Tan’s agency to both place Chinese peasant culture at the periphery and elevate such elements to high art for Western audiences.

Connections between heaps of modules and (affine) modules over rings are explored. This leads to explicit, often constructive, descriptions of some categorical constructions and properties that are implicit in universal algebra and algebraic theories. In particular, it is shown that the category of groups with a compatible action of a truss T (also called pointed T-modules) is isomorphic to the category of modules over the ring $\mathrm {R}(T)$ universally associated to the truss. This is widely used in the explicit description of free objects. Next, it is proven that the category of heaps of modules over T is isomorphic to the category of affine modules over $\mathrm {R}(T)$ and, in order to make the picture complete, that (in the unital case) these are in turn equivalent to a specific subcategory of the slice category of pointed T-modules over $\mathrm {R}(T)$. These correspondences and properties are then used to describe explicitly various (co)limits and to compare short exact sequences in the Barr-exact category of heaps of T-modules with short exact sequences as defined previously.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact on SARS-CoV-2 transmission prevention of mask wearing by index cases and their household contacts. A prospective study of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to household contacts aged ≥18 years was conducted between May 2022 and February 2024 in Spain. Contacts underwent a rapid antigen test on day zero and a real-time polymerase chain reaction test 7 days later if results were negative. The dependent variable was SARS-CoV-2 infection in contacts. Index case and contact mask use effects were estimated using the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). Studied were 230 household contacts, mean (standard deviation) age 53.3 (16.6) years, and 47.8% (110/230) women. Following index case diagnosis, 36.1% of contacts (83/230) used a mask, and 54.3% (125/230) were exposed to a mask-wearing index case. Infection incidence in contacts was 45.2% (104/230) and was lower in contacts exposed to mask-wearing index cases (36.0% vs. 56.2%; p < 0.002). The logistic regression model indicated a protective effect for contacts of both index case mask use (aOR = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.15–0.65) and vaccination (aOR = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.08–0.77). Index case mask use reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission to contacts, while mask effectiveness was not observed for contacts.

For a brief moment in the late-1950s, British policymakers and key African politicians shared a vison: an East African Federation of Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda. For British officials, one of the leading advantages would be transforming the colonial King’s African Rifles into a federal army. This aspect of the plans has rarely been recognised, but this article shows that British planning for the KAR became inextricably intertwined with federal thinking. Late colonialism was a time of alternative federal visions in addition to increased interventionism as British officials foresaw the end of colonial rule and sought to remake African institutions. A federal army was a key aim in such plans. This article argues that although no federation or federal army came into being, planning for them substantively shaped the military inheritance of the region at independence. Uganda and Tanganyika achieved independence with armies that were not fully autonomous, while Kenya took most of the shared colonial facilities. Thus, the article highlights the impact late colonial plans could have even when these did not come to fruition.

The purpose of this study is to discuss possible solutions to stated problems and to reflect on the prospects for the resumption of military justice in Ukraine. The research formulates solutions for overcoming the negative consequences for the judiciary of the armed aggression by Russia against Ukraine. With regard to the limited institutional and human resources of international tribunals such as the International Criminal Court, the main burden of the investigation and trial of cases arising from military legal relations will be placed on the Ukrainian judicial system. International tribunals play a more global role, which is imposing responsibility on the organisers of armed aggression against Ukraine and placing sanctions on the military and political leaders of the aggressor country. For the judiciary of Ukraine, the best way to resolve this significant problem is to restore the system of military courts, which were voluntarily liquidated in 2010. The restoration of military courts will make it possible to unload pressure from the system of courts of general jurisdiction, to ensure prompt resolution of hundreds of thousands of cases of compensation for damage caused to citizens and businesses as a result of the hostilities, as well as the just trial of criminal proceedings for military and war crimes.

To better understand language teacher turnover, this study closely replicates and extends McInerney et al.’s (2015) research, which found that teacher commitment predicted turnover intentions to schools (44.2%) and the profession (45.2%) among Hong Kong schoolteachers (N = 1,060). Given the relatively stable employment conditions in that context, the generalizability of these findings to more mobile populations, such as expatriate native English-speaking teachers (NESTs), remains uncertain. In this replication, (1) the population was changed to NESTs in East Asia, and (2) subgroup comparisons were extended to reflect distinctions relevant to the replication sample. Additionally, results were directly compared to the original. A total of 215 NESTs participated. Results showed similar directional patterns but stronger effects: commitment explained 51.8% of variance in turnover intentions to schools and 59.7% to the profession. Affective commitment was the strongest predictor, though NESTs reported lower commitment and higher turnover intentions than in the original study.

Researchers across disciplines increasingly use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to label text and images or as pseudo-respondents in surveys. But of which populations are GenAI models most representative? We use an image classification task—assessing crowd-sourced street view images of urban neighborhoods in an American city—to compare assessments generated by GenAI models with those from a nationally representative survey and a locally representative survey of city residents. While GenAI responses, on average, correlate strongly with the perceptions of a nationally representative survey sample, the models poorly approximate the perceptions of those actually living in the city. Examining perceptions of neighborhood safety, wealth, and disorder reveals a clear bias in GenAI toward national averages over local perspectives. GenAI is also better at recovering relative distributions of ratings, rather than mimicking absolute human assessments. Our results provide evidence that GenAI performs particularly poorly in reflecting the opinions of hard-to-reach populations. Tailoring prompts to encourage alignment with subgroup perceptions generally does not improve accuracy and can lead to greater divergence from actual subgroup views. These results underscore the limitations of using GenAI to study or inform decisions in local communities but also highlight its potential for approximating “average” responses to certain types of questions. Finally, our study emphasizes the importance of carefully considering the identity and representativeness of human raters or labelers—a principle that applies broadly, whether GenAI tools are used or not.

We construct surfaces with arbitrarily large multiplicity for their first nonzero Steklov eigenvalue. The proof is based on a technique by Burger and Colbois originally used to prove a similar result for the Laplacian spectrum. We start by constructing surfaces $S_p$ with a specific subgroup of isometry $G_p:= \mathbb {Z}_p \rtimes \mathbb {Z}_p^*$ for each prime p. We do so by gluing surfaces with boundary following the structure of the Cayley graph of $G_p$. We then exploit the properties of $G_p$ and $S_p$ in order to show that an irreducible representation of high degree (depending on p) acts on the eigenspace of functions associated with $\sigma _1(S_p)$, leading to the desired result.