We study experimentally contests in which players make investment decisions sequentially, and information on prior investments is revealed between stages. Using a between-subject design, we consider all possible sequences in contests of three players and test two major comparative statics of the subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium: The positive effect of the number of stages on aggregate investment and earlier-mover advantage. The former prediction is decidedly rejected, as we observe a reduction in aggregate investment when more sequential information disclosure stages are added to the contest. The evidence on earlier mover advantage is mixed but mostly does not support theory as well. Both predictions rely critically on large preemptive investment by first movers and accommodation by later movers, which does not materialize. Instead, later movers respond aggressively, and reciprocally, to first movers’ investments, while first movers learn to invest less to accommodate those responses.

Colombia’s armed conflict has deeply impacted women’s mental health, particularly in rural and marginalised areas, where violence has become normalised. Despite legal recognition of mental health as a right, access to care remains limited due to geographic, cultural, systemic and security barriers. Mental health programmes lack continuity and funding, while professional training, availability and research in trauma-informed care are still insufficient. Institutional mistrust and ongoing threats further silence women’s suffering. This paper describes the current state of mental health services for women affected by armed conflict in Colombia and reflects on the persistent challenges.

European societies are increasingly grappling with the often violent and deceitful circumstances through which now-treasured artefacts made their way from their colonies to museums in the metropole. This article shows this emerging norm of colonial heritage restitution by describing key norm components and assessing the norm’s current strength. Moreover, the article analyses the norm’s implementation in two European states to better understand how and why states implement the colonial heritage restitution norm. The comparison shows that Belgium and the United Kingdom have implemented the norm differently and incompletely: while both states have seen extensive discourse surrounding colonial heritage restitution as a moral duty to right past wrongs among civil society and museums, domestic legal changes and museum policies have varied due to different institutional contexts and government positions on heritage restitution. The paper attests to the critical role of national governments’ norm support for explaining divergent implementation, while other domestic actors such as museums and civil society groups are advocating for heritage restitution. The paper contributes to emerging research on museums as norm entrepreneurs in International Relations and transitional justice in established democracies.

Bounce-averaged theories provide a framework for simulating relatively slow processes, such as collisional transport and quasilinear diffusion, by averaging these processes over the fast periodic motions of a particle on a closed orbit. This procedure dramatically increases the characteristic time scale and reduces the dimensionality of the modelled system. The natural coordinates for such calculations are the constants of motion (COM) of the fast particle motion, which by definition do not change during an orbit. However, for sufficiently complicated fields – particularly in the presence of local maxima of the electric potential and magnetic field – the COM are not sufficient to specify the particle trajectory. In such cases, multiple domains in COM space must be used to solve the problem, with boundary conditions enforced between the domains to ensure continuity and particle conservation. Previously, these domains have been imposed by hand, or by recognising local maxima in the fields, limiting the flexibility of bounce-averaged simulations. Here, we present a general set of conditions for identifying consistent domains and the boundary condition connections between the domains, allowing the application of bounce-averaged theories in arbitrarily complicated and dynamically evolving electromagnetic field geometries. We also show how the connections between the domains can be represented by a directed graph, which can help to succinctly represent the trajectory bifurcation structure.

Future telecommunication systems are set to revolutionize connectivity, driven by advancements in technologies like 6 G, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT). However, this evolution brings significant challenges. Traditional silicon-based transistors struggle to meet demands for efficiency and power handling. Indium Phosphide (InP)-based Double Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (DHBTs) deliver excellent performance at sub-mm-wave frequencies while minimizing power loss and heat generation. Additionally, achieving reliable large-signal performance in high-frequency applications requires accurate large-signal modelling and advanced testing techniques, such as load-pull measurements. In this paper, we report the comparison between two InP/GaAsSb Double Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (DHBTs) with different collector epitaxial designs in terms of their small- and large-signal performance. The effect of the epitaxial design on the small- and large-signal performances is investigated and load-pull measurements in G-band are performed to assess the great power-handling and efficiency capabilities of the InP/GaAsSb DHBT technology. For both of the designs, THz cut-off frequencies with Power-Added Efficiency (PAE) > 30% are achieved. Moreover, the value of PAE = 39.2% reached in G-band represents the highest among any technology. Finally, the two different epitaxial designs are thermally characterized to investigate the effect of different layers on the thermal and RF-performances.

Anonymous online surveys using financial incentives are an essential tool for understanding sexual networks and risk factors including attitudes, sexual behaviors, and practices. However, these surveys are vulnerable to bots attempting to exploit the incentive. We deployed an in-person, limited audience survey via QR code at select locations in North Carolina to assess geolocation application use among men who have sex with men to characterize the role of app usage on infection risk and behavior. The survey was unexpectedly posted on a social media platform and went viral. Descriptive statistics were performed on repeat responses, free-text length, and demographic consistency. Between August 2022 and March 2023, we received 4,709 responses. Only 13 responses were recorded over a 6-month period until a sharp spike occurred: over 500 responses were recorded in a single hour and over 2,000 in a single day. Although free-text responses were often remarkably sophisticated, many multiple-choice responses were internally inconsistent. To protect data quality, all online surveys must incorporate defensive techniques such as response time validation, logic checks, and IP screening. With the rise of large language models, bot attacks with sophisticated responses to open-ended questions pose a growing threat to the integrity of research studies.

The integration of multiple linguistic modules – syntax, semantics and pragmatics – poses a persistent challenge for adult second language (L2) learners, as posited by the interface hypothesis (IH). This study examines how crosslinguistic influence impacts L2 learners’ acquisition and processing of Korean quotative constructions at the syntax–semantics–pragmatics interface. Using offline acceptability judgment and online self-paced reading tasks, we compared Japanese- and Chinese-speaking learners of Korean. The results revealed that Japanese-speaking learners outperformed Chinese-speaking learners in offline tasks, demonstrating native-like sensitivity to case-marking constraints, likely due to the structural similarities between Japanese and Korean. However, neither learner group exhibited sensitivity to case-marking violations during real-time processing, unlike native Korean speakers. These findings suggest a dissociation between explicit knowledge and online processing abilities, supporting the IH and emphasizing the persistent challenges of integrating multiple linguistic domains in L2 processing. This study underscores the role of crosslinguistic influence in facilitating explicit knowledge acquisition while revealing its limitations in fostering native-like automaticity in online processing.

This article examines the contributions of Bert Bolin, the first chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to the collective understanding of the panel’s nature, operations and results, as well as his efforts to safeguard the credibility of the IPCC process in the face of criticism. Based on the scholarship on expertise and its relationship with the political process, I argue that Bolin’s contribution to that process can be summarized in three points. First, he acted as a mediator between producers of climate change knowledge and its users, in this case governments and corporations. Second, he selected and emphasized some of the information provided by the IPCC and used it to advocate for immediate action to tackle climate change. Third, he played a major role in legitimizing the IPCC as the best possible assessment organization, especially through boundary work. Additionally, it is suggested that Bolin’s role in the advisory process was not static but changed within an evolving political and social context. Through this case study, I aim to contribute to the scholarship that examines how environmental problems are defined and brought into the political arena, and the role of experts in this complex process.

All societies throughout time have shown a greater or lesser degree of superstition when facing the traumatic event of death. Roman society was no exception, especially when numerous religious currents participated in the funerary rituals, sharing their own conception and beliefs. The following lines present a brief overview of children’s death, especially premature ones, from the early Imperial to the late Imperial period, when they became more highly regarded. It is followed by the traumatic or marginal deaths of some individuals whose behaviour, illnesses or ways of dying were suspicious for their closest people: the article closes with the treatment given to certain women. All the deaths in this research aroused suspicions among their relatives or the authorities, who did not hesitate to practise rituals to calm them in the afterlife and ensure that they did not return to life as evil spirits. In this article we will focus on the practices that developed in the city of Onoba and its hinterland or influential area; a Roman colony located in the westernmost part of the province of Baetica, a port city of enormous importance for the Empire given its importance as a gateway for minerals coming from the Urium mines.

This paper examines the complex political-economic processes that shape contemporary forced displacement from Guatemala to the U.S. The study was driven by the following research question: How does capitalism and the historical context of forced migration in Guatemala relate to the creation and development of migrant-led organizations in the U.S. and the various types of leadership and political participation? Examining the political economy of Guatemalan migration to the Greater Los Angeles region and the activities of migrants and community organizations, I argue that neoliberal capitalism not only provokes the displacement of Guatemalan migrants as a social class of people from multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds, but it has also contributed to the emergence of distinct political Guatemalan diaspora organizations in the U.S. at the community, national, and transnational level. Furthermore, due to historical social relations in Guatemala, organizations have emerged in Southern California along ethnic, racial, and gender lines. Moreover, activism emerges within destination countries because exploitation and exclusion take on distinct forms beyond the specific economic and political forces that generate displacement in migrants’ origin countries. As such, these organizations have made significant contributions by safeguarding the human rights of Guatemalan migrants in the U.S. and have emerged based on the differences and inequalities faced by indigenous communities compared to non-indigenous (mestizo/ladino) groups as they and their organizations endure processes of “exclusionary inclusion” in the U.S.

Scholarship on Roman political thought and its legacy, especially anglophone, has rapidly expanded over the last decade. The main drivers of this renewed attention to Roman political ideas and institutions are an historical interest in the collapse of the Roman republic; a philosophical interest in republicanism; and a growing sensitivity to the originality of Roman thinkers, especially Cicero, in contrast to the older view that they were simply derivative of the Greeks. In this essay I will discuss recent publications on Cicero and Roman political ideas. After offering an overview of key themes in this new scholarship, I seek to suggest promising directions for future research and encourage the growing interest in Roman political thought and Cicero in particular. Cicero provides a fascinating link between ideas, institutions and action on the ground and he is therefore with good reason at the centre of much of the rapidly expanding literature on Roman political thought. In addition, given his interest in developing a theory of justice as the foundation of the state (res publica), a focus on Cicero will help explore the legacy of republicanism from the angle of his ideas about justice while paying attention to scholarship placing these ideas into their historical and institutional context.

After the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU) issued new domestic rules across a variety of financial services. Different politics and policy-making processes generated regulatory incompatibilities, and conflicts emerged as each side insisted the other adapt to its approach. Yet our original data covering eleven sub-sectors show that in a predominant cluster of cases, the two jurisdictions had by 2020 made adjustments and adopted integrationist regulation, which fosters cross-jurisdictional interoperability for financial companies through harmonization (increasing similarity and compatibility) or deference (accepting the regulation of other jurisdictions). The pattern has broad and surprising implications for the future of global finance in an era of rising economic nationalism and populist politics. Why, then, did Washington and Brussels move beyond the standoffs? What accounts for the integrationist turn? Our novel explanation features a “mutual accommodation” causal mechanism driven by the development in both jurisdictions of “border-policing” capacities, builds on a new generation of IPE research that is attentive to complexity and temporal process in accounting for global governance outcomes, and provides a pathway for qualitative researchers seeking to balance many new methodological and transparency demands.

We present the flexible delivery of picosecond laser pulses with up to 20 W average power over a 3-m-long sample of anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (AR-HCF) for laser-micromachining applications. Our experiments highlight the importance of optical-mode purity of the AR-HCF for manufacturing precision. We demonstrate that compared with an AR-HCF sample with a capillary to core (d/D) ratio of approximately 0.5, the AR-HCF with a d/D ratio of approximately 0.68 exhibits better capability of high-order-mode suppression, giving rise to improved micromachining quality. Moreover, the AR-HCF delivery system exhibits better pointing stability and setup flexibility than the free-space beam delivery system. These results pave the way to practical applications of AR-HCF in developing advanced equipment for ultrafast laser micromachining.

The “revolutionary script” of Leninism was foundational to how the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC) and Amilcar Cabral imagined the course of decolonization. Under-utilized archives and party documents highlight that the impact of the political-organizational model of Lenin was an early source of inspiration for PAIGC leaders, a fact which historians have not investigated in detail. The manner in which Leninism influenced the PAIGC was neither linear nor dogmatic, however. Dating from early exposure to Marxist texts in underground study circles to aborted attempts at launching armed struggle, party leaders constantly improvised upon the script with which they based their anti-colonial revolution.