Low-density polymer foams pre-ionized by a well-controlled nanosecond pulse are excellent plasma targets to trigger direct laser acceleration (DLA) of electrons by sub-picosecond relativistic laser pulses. In this work, the influence of the nanosecond pulse on the DLA process is investigated. The density profile of plasma generated after irradiating foam with a nanosecond pulse was simulated with a two-dimensional hydrodynamic code, which takes into account the high aspect ratio of interaction and the microstructure of polymer foams. The obtained plasma density profile was used as input to the three-dimensional particle-in-cell code to simulate energy, angular distributions and charge carried by the directional fraction of DLA electrons. The modelling shows good agreement with the experiment and in general a weak dependence of the electron spectra on the plasma profiles, which contain a density up-ramp and a region of near-critical electron density. This explains the high DLA stability in pre-ionized foams, which is important for applications.

The amplitude modulation coefficient, $R$, that is widely used to characterize nonlinear interactions between large- and small-scale motions in wall-bounded turbulence is not compatible with detecting the convective nonlinearity of the Navier–Stokes equations. Through a spectral decomposition of $R$ and a simplified model of triadic convective interactions, we show that $R$ suppresses the signature of convective scale interactions, but is strongly influenced by linear interactions between large-scale motions and the background mean flow. We propose an additional coefficient that is specifically designed for the detection of convective nonlinearities, and we show how this new coefficient, $R_T$, quantifies the turbulent kinetic energy transport involved in turbulent scale interactions and reveals a classical energy cascade across widely separated scales.

The scale-dependent variability of convective velocities and structure inclination angles in wall-bounded turbulence was studied experimentally via space–time energy spectrum measurements. We found that the variability of convection velocities for large-scale motions (LSMs) decreased inversely with streamwise wavenumbers, and that the variability trend was not fully explained by earlier applications of Kraichnan's ‘random-sweeping’ model of turbulence that assumed perfect scale separation. By analytically extending the random-sweeping model to allow for a dominant large scale in the random-sweeping signal that can interact with other LSMs, we showed how scale interactions can explain the variability trend in convection velocities for LSMs. The variability in convection velocities was also shown to correlate with the scale-dependent inclination angles of coherent structures that were obtained via cross-spectral analysis. Large-scale motions tended to exhibit shallower inclination to the wall with increasing convection velocity, while small-scale motions and those far from the wall exhibited the reverse behaviour. We proposed that these two opposite relationships between inclination angle and convection velocity can be explained in terms of a balance between opposing effects of the mean shear and the coherent structure geometry. Descriptions and models of convection velocity variability effects are useful both for modelling turbulence spectra and explaining the geometry of coherent structures.

A resolvent-based model was used to predict the phase-difference profile between velocity and stress coherent motions measured in a high Reynolds number channel flow as a proxy for predicting large- and small-scale turbulent interactions. The resolvent model is based on the transfer-function approach for scale interactions in wall turbulence proposed in Jacobi et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol 914, 2021, pp. 1–27), but incorporates a quasi-empirical weighting scheme to construct composite mode shapes that represent the realistic dispersion of convection velocities associated with the large scales of turbulence. The weighting scheme was derived from the observed similarity between the spectral region where the resolvent operator is low rank and the streamwise spectral energy density of wall-bounded turbulence, and was found to be superior to both single-convection velocity models and models based on linearly weighted modes, when compared with cross-spectral phase calculations from a channel flow computation. The ability to predict the phase relationship between large-scale coherent motions and their associated stress fluctuations allows for refining and extending resolvent-based models of turbulence to describe small-scale features of wall-bounded flows.

The north-western Negev is an under-researched ecotonal region. We excavated two late Middle Palaeolithic open-air sites and recovered rich lithic industries that could be refitted, as well as remains of fauna, and charcoal. Palaeoenvironmental information and dates indicate interesting inter-site differences.

Large-scale inertial particle clustering in a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) was investigated experimentally by two-colour particle-image velocimetry and particle-tracking velocimetry measurements in the wall-parallel plane of the log layer. The particle clusters were detected by Voronoi tessellation and a new application of a technique based on the spatial wavelet transform. Anisotropic wavelets spanning the range of measurable, large-scale particle clusters were applied to experimentally measured particle fields, and significance testing was used to identify hierarchies of particle clusters. Unlike the Voronoi tessellation, which primarily identified small-scale clusters, the wavelet technique also found a significant amount of anisotropic, large-scale clusters on the scale of the large-scale motions (LSMs) of the momentum field. The large-scale clusters were shown to be composed of a hierarchy of smaller clusters of varying degrees of isotropy. In addition to the cluster size distribution, the particle velocities within the clusters were studied as a function of cluster size. Larger clusters exhibited faster particle convection speeds, consistent with observations of the convection speeds of LSMs, thus providing additional evidence for the hypothesis that particles in the TBL accumulate on and are transported by large-scale, attached coherent structures.

Perturbation of the laminar boundary layer by free-stream travelling waves was shown to produce highly-localized skin friction modification via steady streaming. The forced boundary layer flow was calculated numerically and studied as a function of the phase speed, frequency and amplitude of the perturbations. Upstream-travelling waves always produced negative streaming, whereas downstream-travelling waves produced positive or negative streaming that varied with forcing strength and streamwise location. The sign of the resultant streaming was explained in terms of the inclination of the induced velocity modes, which evolved spatially in response to the streamwise variation and overlap of the Stokes and critical layers.

There is absence knowledge about the effects of lactation trimester and parity on eating behavior, production and efficiency of dairy cows. Objective of this study was to identify and characterize in 340 dairy cows, the 20% high efficient (HE), 20% low efficient (LE) and 60% mid efficient (ME) cows according to their individual residual feed intake (RFI) values, within and between lactation trimesters and between 1st and 2nd parities. Efficiency effect within each lactation trimester, was exhibited in daily dry matter intake (DMI), eating rate and meal size, that were the highest in LE cows, moderate in the ME cows and lowest in the HE group. Daily eating time, meal frequency, yields of milk and energy-corrected milk (ECM) and BW were similar in the three efficiency groups within each trimester. The lower efficiency of the LE cows in each trimester attributes to their larger metabolic energy intake, heat production and energy losses. In subgroup of 52 multiparous cows examined along their 1st and 2nd trimesters, milk and ECM production, DMI, eating behavior and efficiency traits were similar with high Pearson’s correlation (r=0.78 to 0.89) between trimesters. In another subgroup of 42 multiparous cows measured at their 2nd and 3rd trimesters, milk and ECM yield, DMI and eating time were reduced (P<0.01) at the 3rd trimester, but eating rate, meal frequency and meal size remained similar with high Pearson’s correlation (r=0.74 to 0.88) between trimesters. In subgroup of 26 cows measured in 1st and 2nd parities, DMI, BW, milk and ECM yield, and ECM/DMI increased in the 2nd lactation, but eating behavior and RFI traits were similar in both parities. These findings encourage accurate prediction of DMI based on a model that includes eating behavior parameters, together with individual measurement of ECM production. This can be further used to identify HE cows in commercial herd, a step necessary for potential genetic selection program aimed to improve herd efficiency.

Background. Psychiatric disorders are purported to play a role in the aetiology of violent crime, but evidence for their role in sexual offending is less clear. The authors investigated the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and personality disorders in elderly incarcerated sex offenders compared with elderly non-sex offenders.

Method. One hundred and one sex offenders and 102 non-sex offenders aged over 59 years were interviewed using standardized semi-structured interviews for psychiatric illness (the Geriatric Mental State) and the personality disorder (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV personality disorders). Data on demographic, offence and victim characteristics were collected.

Results. Six per cent of the elderly sex offenders had a psychotic illness, 7% a DSM-IV major depressive episode and 33% a personality disorder; and 1% had dementia. These prevalence figures were not different from the elderly non-sex offenders interviewed in this study. Differences emerged at the level of personality traits with sex offenders having more schizoid, obsessive–compulsive, and avoidant traits, and fewer antisocial traits compared with non-sex offenders.

Conclusions. Elderly sex offenders and non-sex-offenders have similar prevalence rates of mental illness. However, elderly sex offenders have increased schizoid, obsessive–compulsive, and avoidant personality traits, supporting the view that sex offending in the elderly is associated more with personality factors than mental illness or organic brain disease.

The northernmost conifers in the world are located well above the Arctic Circle in the Taymir region of northern Siberia and have been recording the thermal environment for centuries to millennia. The trees respond to temperatures beyond the narrow season of actual cambial cell division by means of root growth, photosynthesis, lignification of cell walls, and other biochemical processes. Data from annual tree-ring widths are used to reconstruct May–September mean temperatures for the past four centuries. These warm-season temperatures correlate with annual temperatures and indicate unusual warming in the 20th century. However, there is a loss of thermal response in ring widths since about 1970. Previously the warmer temperatures induced wider rings. Most major warming and cooling trends are in agreement with other high-latitude temperature reconstructions based on tree-ring analyses with some regional differences in timing of cooling in the late 18th century and of warming in the late 19th century.

The zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer over a flat plate was perturbed by a temporally oscillating, spatial impulse of roughness, and the downstream response of the flow field was interrogated by hot-wire anemometry and particle-image velocimetry. The key features common to impulsively perturbed boundary layers, as identified in Jacobi & McKeon (J. Fluid Mech., 2011), were investigated, and the unique contributions of the dynamic perturbation were isolated by contrast with an appropriately matched static impulse of roughness. In addition, the dynamic perturbation was decomposed into separable large-scale and small-scale structural effects, which in turn were associated with the organized wave and roughness impulse aspects of the perturbation. A phase-locked velocity decomposition of the entire downstream flow field revealed strongly coherent modes of fluctuating velocity, with distinct mode shapes for the streamwise and wall-normal velocity components. Following the analysis of McKeon & Sharma (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 658, 2010, pp. 336–382), the roughness perturbation was treated as a forcing of the Navier–Stokes equation and a linearized analysis employing a modified Orr–Sommerfeld operator was performed. The experimentally ascertained wavespeed of the input disturbance was used to solve for the most amplified singular mode of the Orr–Sommerfeld resolvent. These calculated modes were then compared with the streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations. The discrepancies between the calculated Orr–Sommerfeld resolvent modes and those experimentally observed by phase-locked averaging of the velocity field were postulated to result from the violation of the parallel flow assumption of Orr–Sommerfeld analysis, as well as certain non-equilibrium effects of the roughness. Additionally, some difficulties previously observed using a quasi-laminar eigenmode analysis were also observed under the resolvent approach; however, the resolvent analysis was shown to provide reasonably accurate predictions of velocity fluctuations for the forced Orr–Sommerfeld problem over a portion of the boundary layer, with potential applications to designing efficient flow control strategies. The combined experimental and analytical effort provides a new opportunity to examine the non-equilibrium and forcing effects in a dynamically perturbed flow.

The zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer over a flat plate was perturbed by a short strip of two-dimensional roughness elements, and the downstream response of the flow field was interrogated by hot-wire anemometry and particle image velocimetry. Two internal layers, marking the two transitions between rough and smooth boundary conditions, are shown to represent the edges of a ‘stress bore’ in the flow field. New scalings, based on the mean velocity gradient and the third moment of the streamwise fluctuating velocity component, are used to identify this ‘stress bore’ as the region of influence of the roughness impulse. Spectral composite maps reveal the redistribution of spectral energy by the impulsive perturbation – in particular, the region of the near-wall peak was reached by use of a single hot wire in order to identify the significant changes to the near-wall cycle. In addition, analysis of the distribution of vortex cores shows a distinct structural change in the flow associated with the perturbation. A short spatially impulsive patch of roughness is shown to provide a vehicle for modifying a large portion of the downstream flow field in a controlled and persistent way.

The authors explore the arrival of the earliest Gravettian in north-west Europe, using new high precision radiocarbon dates for bone excavated at Maisières-Canal in Belgium to define a short-lived occupation around 33 000 years ago. The tanged points in that assemblage have parallels in British sites, including Goat's Hole (Paviland). This is the site of the famous ochred burial of a young adult male, confusingly known as the ‘Red Lady’, now dated to around 34 000 BP. The new results demonstrate that this British ‘rich burial’ and the Gravettian with tanged points may belong to two different occupation horizons separated by a cold spell.

Background: Challenges to wills on the basis of lack of testamentary capacity and/or undue influence are likely to increase over the next generation. Since contemporaneous assessment of testamentary capacity can be a powerful influence on the outcome of such challenges, there will be an associated increase in requests for expert assessment of testamentary capacity. There is a need to provide such potential experts with the knowledge and guidelines necessary to conduct assessments that will be helpful to the judicial system.

Methods: A subcommittee of the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) task force on “Testamentary Capacity and Undue Influence” was formed to establish guidelines for contemporaneous assessment of testamentary capacity.

Results: The task-specific criteria for testamentary capacity as outlined by Lord Chief Justice Cockburn in the well-known Banks v. Goodfellow case are described. Additional issues are identified for probing and documentation. This is designed to determine whether the testator can formulate a coherent, rational testamentary plan that connects his/her beliefs, values and relationships with the proposed disposition of assets. Rules of engagement by the expert assessor are defined as well as an approach to the clinical examination for testamentary capacity resulting in a clear and relevant report.

Conclusion: Guidelines for experts who are asked to provide a contemporaneous opinion on testamentary capacity should help to inform disputes resulting from challenges to wills. A consistent clinical approach will help the courts to make their determinations.

Demonstration of matching a laser ion source to the GSI RFQ-Maxilac linear accelerator and the acceleration of a 1.8-mA current beam of Ta10+ ions up to 45 keV/u energy is presented. A 10J/μs CO2 laser has been used to produce a hot plasma plume, emitting highly charged tantulum ions. The correct geometry and potential distribution of the matching section has been designed in accordance with the results of computer simulations by using the AXCEL code. Measurements of the charge state distribution of the accelerated beam indicate that it contains about 70% Ta10+ and 30% Ta11+ ions.

Hypercholesterolaemia is a common finding in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). To investigate the type, frequency and pathophysiological mechanisms of changes in lipoprotein metabolism in AN we performed a cross-sectional study in fifty-eight female patients (mean age 24·2 years, BMI 15·3 (SD 1·5) kg/m2) and fifty-eight healthy age-matched controls (CO; BMI 22·2 (SD 1·7) kg/m2). Total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were higher in AN (5·5 (SD 1·3) v. 5·0 (SD 0·8) mmol/l, P=0·023; 3·6 (SD 1·1) v. 3·2 (SD 0·7) mmol/l, P=0·025 respectively). LDL particles were significantly more enriched in cholesterol and triacylglycerol in AN. In multiple regression analysis with LDL-cholesterol as the dependent and BMI, total body fat ( %), lathosterol:cholesterol ratio (endogenous cholesterol synthesis), 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one (bile acid synthesis), non-esterified glycerol, free triiodothyronine and free thyroxine as independent variables, BMI was the only significant predictor in CO (R2 0·36, overall P=0·001). In AN the variability of LDL-cholesterol was significantly predicted by total body fat, free thyroxine, BMI, free triiodothyronine and non-esterified glycerol (R2 0·55, overall P<0·001). Subgroup analysis between restricting (AN-R) and binge-eating–purging patients (AN-B) indicated that in AN-R changes in lipoproteins, BMI and total body fat were more pronounced. AN-R patients had lower bile acid synthesis than AN-B (P=0·02). We conclude that elevated cholesterol concentrations in AN are generally due to an increase in LDL-cholesterol, which is mostly determined by the severe loss of body fat and the resulting changes in thyroid hormones, increased lipolysis and decreased endogenous cholesterol synthesis with resulting decrease in LDL removal. The clinical subtype of AN plays a major role in the mechanisms leading to hypercholesterolaemia.

This paper presents two-dimensional numerical simulations of heating of matter with intense heavy ion beams. It has been shown that it is very advantageous to irradiate the target with two different beams simultaneously, a main high intensity bunched beam of a heavy element like uranium and an unbunched low intensity beam of a lighter element like argon. The main beam is used to heat the target while the second beam is used as a diagnostic tool.

Influence of the shape of the focal spot on compression and heating of matter has also been studied using an elliptic focal spot with an ellipticity of 1.5 (semimajor axis is along y-axis and is 1.5 times the semiminor axis which is along x-axis). It has been found that the temporal behavior of the development of density, pressure, and temperature profiles along different directions is quite different, which is not the case with a circular focal spot.