High-energy, short-pulse laser-driven proton–boron (p–11B) fusion has attracted growing interest due to its aneutronic character and potential for clean energy generation. In this study, we report on two experimental campaigns carried out at the LFEX laser facility using petawatt-class laser systems (energy $\sim$1.2–1.4 kJ, pulse duration 2.7 ps, peak intensity $\sim$(2–3) × 1019 W/cm2). The experiments explored the influence of complex target geometries – including spherical, cylindrical and wedge-shaped configurations – on α-particle yield. Our results demonstrate that spherical targets can enhance α-particle production by up to two orders of magnitude compared to planar targets of identical composition and also lead to a noticeable shift of the α-particle energy spectrum toward higher values. Furthermore, we implemented a novel diagnostic technique for unambiguous α-particle detection using a CR-39 detector integrated into a Thomson parabola spectrometer. Particle-in-cell simulations performed with the Smilei code provide additional insight into the role of self-generated magnetic fields in modulating particle dynamics. These simulations highlight the critical interplay among target geometry, confinement effects and fusion efficiency. Overall, our findings underscore the potential of optimized target designs to significantly enhance fusion yield and α-particle output in p–11B fusion, with promising implications for the development of laser-driven α-particle sources and advanced clean energy concepts.

This paper studies the dynamic extraction problem of an exhaustible common-pool resource. We build on classical closed-economy growth models with intertemporally maximizing, infinitely lived dynasties exhibiting a constant population growth rate. Utility is obtained from periodic consumption based on the fixed-rate capital and the extraction of the resource, and from the amenity values derived from the standing resource stock. The resource contributes to both consumptive and amenity utilities, while different generations are interconnected by intergenerational altruism. Dynamic allocation of the natural resource is determined by a benevolent social planner. This allows us to examine intra-generational inequity issues in combination with the intergenerational concerns. We demonstrate how the optimal allocation of the resource depends on the population growth, wealth level, inequality, ecological vulnerability of the resource and rivalry on the amenity value. Our results highlight the trade-offs between reducing the degree of inequality and preserving the ecological values of the resource.

Identifying use-related residues from stone artefacts has become increasingly important in determining starchy plant exploitation over time and in different locales. Standard methods for processing residues samples are widely available but there is no clear consensus on suitable methods for attributing unknown starch grains to known plant taxa. We revisit the case study of a flaked stone artefact (K/76/S29B) recovered from Phase 1 (c. 10,000 ka) at Kuk Swamp in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Starch grains from taro (Colocasia esculenta) were identified in the residue extraction, but there were other grains that could not be attributed a plant origin at that time. The new analysis applied robust statistical methods, categorial attributes and expert input. In addition to C. esculenta, kudzu bean (Pueraria montana var. lobata) was identified, representing the earliest use of kudzu bean in the PNG highlands. Importantly, we also determined that starch grains from C. esculenta and Dioscorea esculenta are morphologically indistinguishable. We turned to other attributes of potential contributing plant taxa in determining distinguishing features: habit/growing requirements; the sedimentary context of the archaeological find; and environmental settings. Cultural use of both plants, artefacts and artefact technologies can be critical elements in confident identification outcomes, as exemplified here.

Let ${\mathscr {G}} $ be a special parahoric group scheme of twisted type over the ring of formal power series over $\mathbb {C}$, excluding the absolutely special case of $A^{(2)}_{2\ell }$. Using the methods and results of Zhu, we prove a duality theorem for general ${\mathscr {G}} $: there is a duality between the level one twisted affine Demazure modules and the function rings of certain torus fixed point subschemes in affine Schubert varieties for ${\mathscr {G}} $. Along the way, we also establish the duality theorem for $E_6$. As a consequence, we determine the smooth locus of any affine Schubert variety in the affine Grassmannian of ${\mathscr {G}} $. In particular, this confirms a conjecture of Haines and Richarz.

Refreezing is a critical component of the mass balance of glaciers in Svalbard, yet the processes and changes under a warming climate are not fully understood. Here, we investigate changes in firn properties of the Austfonna ice cap, Svalbard, using a combination of observations and model simulations. We analyze firn stratigraphy and density from five newly retrieved and 11 previously retrieved firn cores, collected at elevations ranging from 506 m a.s.l. to 791 m a.s.l. between 1958 and 2022. All cores exhibit frequent ice layers that indicate persistent refreezing of meltwater; however, no ice slabs (layers exceeding 1 m) were observed. A 13-year-long firn temperature time series from a site near the summit (773 m a.s.l.) shows that annual water percolation reaches depths of 7 m to over 13 m. A notable transition in the firn thermal regime occurred in 2013, transitioning from cold to temperate conditions above the firn-ice interface despite the seasonal cooling occurring in the upper firn layers. Simulations using the CryoGrid community model from 2009 to 2022 corroborate this thermal shift and suggest the development of a firn aquifer multiple times since 2013, with increasing duration and thickness over time.

Recruitment of participants for research is often difficult in primary care, especially children and adolescents. Poor recruitment often leads to extension or discontinuation of randomized controlled trials involving patients. This study describes the impact of media recruitment compared to recruitment via general practitioners (GPs) on characteristics of 152 children aged 7–17 years with functional abdominal pain (FAP) and irritable bowel syndrome. Demographics, clinical and psychosocial characteristics were compared. No clinically relevant differences were found, except for longer pain symptom duration and more diagnoses of FAP in children recruited via media compared to children recruited by their GP. Our results suggest that recruitment via media is effective to recruit children in primary care without inducing relevant baseline characteristic differences and this might decrease research recruitment load for GPs. Subgroup analyses on recruitment method are recommended because recruitment strategy might induce differences in unknown baseline characteristics between groups.

Bayesian estimates from experimental data can be influenced by highly diffuse or “uninformative” priors. This paper gives examples of how diffuse priors can affect estimates, and discusses how practitioners can use their expertise to critique and select a prior.1

The Cold War is often depicted in binary terms: communists against anti-communists, the left against the right, or the free world versus the communist world. However, during the latter part of the Cold War, particularly following the 1979 war between China and Vietnam, earlier Cold War binaries no longer applied, and new alliances were established. These alliances often brought people with the same enemies together, despite having little in common ideologically. This article examines the historical circumstances and Cold War geographies of ethnic Khmu anti-Lao PDR and anti-Vietnamese insurgents, including their alliances with right-wing governments in Thailand and the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC). As neutralists, these Khmu occupied a political space rarely discussed in relation to the Cold War. Although the PRC provided training, weapons, and supplies to the neutralist Khmu between 1979 and 1983, later their political leader, General Kong Le, had a falling out with the Chinese, and the PRC stopped supporting his largely ethnic minority soldiers. However, up until 1989, the Thai government continued to allow the Khmu to maintain bases in Thailand for launching military operations inside Laos, until the Thai government adopted the “Battlefield to Marketplace” policy. Some Khmu continued resisting inside northwestern Laos during the early 1990s, but with declining numbers of soldiers and decreased outside support, armed resistance ended in 2003. It is critical that the geographies and alliances of the later Cold War be differentiated from those of the earlier years of the Cold War. This transnational insurgency deserves attention.

Children are known to derive more implicatures when the required alternative is made salient through contrast or when it is made contextually relevant through a story or a Question Under Discussion. We investigated the exclusivity implicature of three disjunctions (sau “or”, sau… sau, and fie…fie “either…or”) in child Romanian, an understudied language in the previous literature. Three experiments reveal that the mere presence of the stronger alternative, that is, simply hearing unrelated conjunctive statements in the course of the experiment, is not enough to boost implicatures. Rather, implicatures increase as a result of both access to alternatives and contextual relevance (expressed through conjunctive questions such as Did the hen push the train and the boat?). Interestingly, the boost in implicatures was observed only for sau-based disjunctions, not for fie…fie, which we conjecture may be due to children treating the latter as ambiguous between disjunction and conjunction.

Miocene lacustrine clay deposits formed in the Şile region of Türkiye rest unconformably on Cretaceous andesite, basaltic andesite, basalts and rare dacites. Factors controlling the genesis of this sequence include: (1) sediment provenance, (2) tectonic uplift and climatic regimes during syn- and post-depositional times, (3) burial diagenesis and (4) changes from surface weathering alterations (i.e. oxidation and hydrolysis reactions) in the critical zone. Clay minerals are dominated by kaolinite and illite, with their relative abundances varying in relation to the proximity of coal seams, stratigraphic sequence and in an overlying sand-rich fluvial deposit. Variations in the mineral abundances reveals cyclothem-like sequences with patterns of fining upwards (i.e. increasing clay mineral abundance) capped by thin coal seams. The Clay Mineral Alteration Index values for the Şile clay sequence indicate a slight trend of decreasing chemical weathering intensity up-section, which is consistent with regional geological data for terrain uplifting and a drying climate during the Miocene. Critical zone processes have modified the mineral and chemical assemblages, as evidenced by the appearance of iron oxides putatively formed from recent oxidation of the ferrous minerals siderite and pyrite, which are not found in the upper sections. Taken together, the evidence indicates that the clay minerals are derived from a combination of prior weathering of basement rocks, diagenesis after deposition and modern critical-zone weathering. The degree of each process is dependent on depositional history, stratigraphic position and depth below the land surface, all under the changing influences of tectonic uplift and regional climate. The Şile deposits provide an economical clay resource that could be important to the ceramics industry of Türkiye.

All orthodox believers accept that ‘God’s ways are not our ways’ and that ‘the peace of God passes all understanding’. The sceptical theist tries to apply these principles to the mystery of evil in the world, by arguing that we cannot tell what the divine purpose might be in the sufferings that we cannot explain. There is a danger that an undisciplined putting of evil into the fog of mystery might free our understanding too much from rational constraint. I argue that by combining sceptical theism with the way that Peter van Inwagen deploys the fact of our fallen nature to explain Divine withdrawal, we can give a rational account of the limitations there are on how we can judge God’s justice.

Cross-gender behaviour gradually entered the spheres of aetiology and diagnosis during the eighteenth century with reference to scattered instances of male cross-dressing. But well into the nineteenth century, “gender identity” (a mid-twentieth-century term) remained a poorly theorised instance of medicalisation. Late eighteenth-century concepts of “dynamic hermaphroditism” accounted for gender-nonconforming behaviours and aspirations, but could not account for the observed heterogeneity in disparities between sexed body and mind. Increasingly substantive contributions to aetiology were seen during the late 1870s and 1880s, particularly in response to Carl Westphal’s convoluted, 1869 concept of “contrary sexual feeling” (conträre Sexualempfindung). Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s notion of metamorphosis sexualis paranoica provided one of the most authoritative approaches to the question of gender identification in “sexual inversion”. The notion, which took the first seven German editions of his Psychopathis sexualis to achieve a definitive formulation, needs to be seen in light of Krafft-Ebing’s earlier conceptions of sexual delusion, which straddled the realms of the experienced sexual body and sense of self. Moreover, Krafft-Ebing was not the first to outline a theory of non-cisgender identity, as demonstrated by the mid-1880s work of Théodule-Armand Ribot and Rudolph Arndt, as well as various significantly earlier approaches to what had been considered the “monomania of sexual transformation”.