This note offers a preliminary survey of archives containing photographic material – both digitized and nondigitized – related to northern Ghana. Despite the region’s historical marginalization, this condition has not necessarily resulted in a scarcity of sources. On the contrary, numerous archives preserve rich and underexplored photographic documentation. By identifying and describing key collections across institutions such as the White Fathers phototèque, the Ministry of Information in Accra, the University of Cambridge, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Imperial War Museum, the National Archives in London, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, this note seeks to illuminate underexplored visual sources.

How do voters react to new political actors? Recent research suggests that radical right party success can provoke electoral backlash. We argue that such backlash is not exclusive to the radical right but can emerge whenever new political actors disrupt the status quo. With very distinct policy positions and behaviour, Green parties were early disruptors of post-war party systems in Europe. Using first-difference and difference-in-differences designs with voting records from Germany, we show that Green party success provoked a conservative backlash. After the Greens entered state parliaments, the Christian Democrats gained support. Using additional evidence from election surveys, we find that Green party success reinforces feelings of animosity among conservatives, mainly driven by disapproval of the Greens’ behaviour. These results highlight a broader pattern of backlash against new disruptive political actors. Our findings are especially relevant as polarization and party system fragmentation intensify across many established democracies.

Climate policy remains inadequate even among leaders like the European Union. This is largely due to opposition from fossil fuel producers and heavy industrial sectors that are existentially threatened by decarbonisation. The rise of green industrial policy promises to advance climate policy by reducing this opposition and mobilising corporate supporters. But can climate policy strategies actually shift the balance of interest group mobilisation among expected winners and losers simply by using different policy instruments? I theorise that policy strategies (de)mobilise corporate interests through regulatory targeting. Corporations directly targeted by a proposed policy are more likely to lobby because of policy-specific informational advantages and more certain and immediate impacts. Compared to traditional climate policies that impose direct costs on fossil fuels, green industrial policies should therefore demobilise high-carbon firms and mobilise their low-carbon counterparts. I collect and code novel data on all corporate responses to online consultations in European Union climate and energy policy from 2017 to 2022. Dyadic regression analyses confirm that low-carbon sectors lobby mostly on green industrial policies while high-carbon sectors mobilise more around traditional climate policies, and that stakeholders are more likely to lobby when directly targeted by policies. These results document that climate policies can indeed determine climate politics, a finding that has implications for other policy areas characterised by business conflict and for interest group scholarship more broadly.

Climate change, urban expansion, and agricultural intensification are increasingly threatening the Netherlands’ in situ archaeological heritage, necessitating the use of advanced methodologies for effective detection, mapping, characterizing, and monitoring of archaeological sites. Over the past decade, significant advancements in sensor technologies for remote sensing and geophysics have emerged that offer more effective, noninvasive solutions in both terrestrial and maritime contexts. Despite their potential, the application and integration of these techniques in Dutch archaeological heritage management remain limited. The ARCfieldLAB project, launched in September 2022 as part of the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science, aims to bridge this gap. Its aims are to create a digital platform to disseminate knowledge on innovative sensor technologies, establish a network of archaeological practitioners and sensor specialists, and support multisensor case studies. It has generated strong enthusiasm for this initiative and for cross-disciplinary collaborations on national and international scales. Key challenges include the need for integration into the official Dutch archaeology quality standard protocols and the requirement of metadata standards and data archiving guidelines. Addressing these issues will require continuous investment and a long-term commitment but will have a significant positive impact on the effectiveness and quality of Dutch archaeological fieldwork.

Using high-fidelity numerical simulations based on a lattice Boltzmann framework, the advection-enhanced transport of a passive scalar from a prolate spheroid in simple shear flow has been thoroughly investigated across various parameters, including the spheroid’s aspect ratio, particle-to-fluid density ratio, Reynolds number (defined as ${\textit{Re}}=\textit{GR}^{2}/\nu$, where $G$ is the flow shear rate, $R$ is the radius of a sphere of the same volume as the spheroid and $\nu$ is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid) and Schmidt number (defined as $\textit{Sc}=\nu /D$, where $D$ is the diffusivity of passive scalar transport). The Reynolds number is constrained to the range of 0 ≤ Re ≤ 1, where the prolate spheroid tumbles around its minor axis, aligned with the vorticity axis, in an equilibrium state. Several key findings have emerged: (i) particle inertia significantly influences the uniformity of the spheroid’s tumbling, affecting flow patterns around the spheroid and, consequently, the modes of scalar transport; (ii) both uniform and non-uniform tumbling generate a scalar line in the fluid with elevated scalar concentration, which sweeps through the wake region and merges with clusters of previously formed scalar lines; (iii) fluid passing over the spheroid carries the passive scalar downstream along these scalar lines; (iv) variations in the uniformity of spheroid tumbling result in distinct flow patterns and scalar transport modes, leading to different transport rates; (v) within the studied parameter ranges, increased particle inertia enhances the scalar transport rate; (vi) when particle inertia is minimal, the dimensionless scalar transport rate for different aspect ratios converges to a common dependence on the Péclet number. These phenomena are analysed in detail.

Regular physical activity for adults is associated with optimal appetite regulation, though little work has been performed in adolescents. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted a study examining appetite across a range of physical activity and adiposity levels in adolescent males. Healthy males (N=46, 14-18 years old) were recruited across four body weight and activity categories: normal weight/high active (n=11), normal weight/low active (n=13), overweight, obese/high active (n=14), overweight, obese/low active (n=8). Participants from each group completed a six-hour appetite assessment session on Day 0, followed immediately by a 14-day free-living physical activity and dietary assessment period on Days 1-14, and a fitness test session occurring between Days 15-18. Subjective and objective assessment of appetite, resting energy expenditure, body composition using dual energy absorptiometry‘, and thermic effect of feeding was conducted on Day 0. Physiological variables in the normal weight low active group that were different than their peers included lower fat-free mass, cardiorespiratory fitness, glucose/fullness response to a standardized meal, thermic effect of feeding in response to a standardized meal, lower self-rated fullness and satiety, and higher self-rated hunger to a standardized meal. Conversely, the overweight, obese high active group displayed better subjective appetite responses, but higher insulin responses to a standardized meal. Taken together, these results suggest that physical inactivity during adolescence has a negative impact on metabolic health and appetite control which may contribute to future weight gain.

Popular narratives suggest that the effects of Christian nationalism should be more heavily concentrated among white Americans. The academic literature on Christian nationalism largely reflects this take, often asserting that it is effectively white Christian nationalism. We question such pronouncements, as they have come without systematic analysis across the broad range of issue areas needed to justify subgroup segmentations. Utilizing national oversamples of Black and Latino Christians (alongside white Christians), we assess the relationship between standard measures of Christian nationalism and attitudes toward policies that vary in their degree of racialization. Our findings qualify typical narratives: consistent with a theory of Christian nationalism as sacralized in-group protection, we find effects that diverge by racial groups on racialized issues but otherwise converge. We close by discussing the implications of these findings and offering suggestions for future work linking race with Christian nationalism.

In recent years, measuring hair cortisol concentration in dairy cows has gained popularity as a welfare indicator. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of measuring hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in dairy cows as an indicator of dairy cow welfare. A total of 290 cows from six commercial herds located in Spain, Italy and Finland (two herds each) were included in the study. A hair sample was taken from each cow and cut into two parts (study period T1 and T2). HCC was measured using an automated assay based on a competitive solid phase chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay. Data relevant to each animal and its welfare (animal-based assessment according to the Welfare Quality protocol, veterinary treatments, meteorological data, cows’ parity and stage of lactation) were collected during the study. The welfare data were used to categorize cows into three welfare classes at each study period (T1 and T2), representing animals with good, medium and poor welfare. Analytical validation of the HCC automated assay was performed on a sub-sample of collected hair and included determination of accuracy, precision, sensitivity and stability of the method. A linear mixed model was fitted to explore the associations between log transferred HCC and welfare class, herd, stage of lactation, parity and season. The results of analytical validation showed that the HCC automated assay method was accurate and able to measure HCC in a linear manner with inter- and intra-assay precision with CVs less than 15%. HCC was explained by the variables herd, cow parity and study period (T1 or T2). We found no evidence that lactation stage and welfare class explained HCC at the individual animal level. This study highlights the challenges of using HCC as an indicator of animal welfare on commercial farms.

Iron mining waste is produced from the iron ore mining operations of El Ouenza Mine (north-east Algeria), and it is not currently recycled to preserve the environment. The current study aims at developing sustainable clay bricks by mixing clay with different proportions of iron mining waste (ranging from 10 to 50 wt.%) and fired at 850°C and 950°C. Addition of 30 wt.% Iron mining waste had a positive effect on the physical and mechanical properties of the fired clay bricks. Linear shrinkage, water absorption and porosity were reduced, while compressive and flexural strengths were increased. Furthermore, up to 30 wt.% of iron mining waste addition to the mixtures improved compressive and flexural strengths to 59.17 and 10.06 MPa, respectively, when the bricks were fired at 950°C. According to their thermal conductivity, the bricks with 10–50 wt.% iron mining waste are considered as thermal insulators, with thermal conductivity values ranging from 0.45 to 0.56 W m–1 K–1. Adding 30 wt.% of iron mining waste can lead to the production of eco-friendly bricks with high mechanical and thermal properties, generating economic and environmental benefits.

Alors que la constitutionnalité de la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État était contestée devant la Cour supérieure du Québec, détournant les regards pour les orienter vers la question du port de symboles religieux dans la fonction publique, se jouait un autre enjeu de laïcité sur un terrain inattendu. Les politiques gouvernementales de gestion de la pandémie de COVID-19 allaient en effet mettre à l’épreuve deux principes aux fondements de la laïcité québécoise – la séparation des Églises et de l’État ; la liberté de conscience et de religion –, sans que ces atteintes ne soient diagnostiquées comme telles. Cet article se penche sur cet impensé des débats récents sur la laïcité québécoise à partir d’un rappel de ses fondements historico-juridiques, puis d’une analyse des effets du dispositif juridique mis en place pour lutter contre la COVID-19 sur l’autonomisation de l’État à l’égard du religieux et la liberté de conscience et de religion.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has been heralded by some as a transformational force in education. It is argued to have the potential to reduce inequality and democratize the learning experience, particularly in the Global South. Others warn of the dangers of techno-solutionism, dehumanization of learners, and a widening digital divide. The reality, as so often, may be more complicated than this juxtaposition suggests. In our study, we investigated the ways in which GenAI can contribute to independent language learning in the context of Pakistan. We were particularly interested in the roles of five variables that have been shown to be particularly salient in this and similar contexts: learners’ Generative Artificial Intelligence-mediated Informal Digital Learning of English (GenAI-IDLE) participation, AI Literacy, Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) and Foreign Language Boredom (FLB), and their second language Willingness to Communicate (L2 WTC). Employing a structural equation modelling approach, we surveyed 359 Pakistani English as a foreign language (EFL) learners to investigate their interrelationships between variables. The results demonstrate that EFL learners’ GenAI-IDLE activity directly and positively influences AI literacy and FLE. Students’ AI literacy and FLE play a chain-mediating role in the relationship between GenAI-IDLE participation and L2 WTC. However, FLB lacks predictive power over L2 WTC. We discuss the implications of these results for language learning, in particular in low-resource contexts.

In the realm of data-to-text generation tasks, the use of large language models (LLMs) has become common practice, yielding fluent and coherent outputs. Existing literature highlights that the quality of in-context examples significantly influences the empirical performance of these models, making the efficient selection of high-quality examples crucial. We hypothesize that the quality of these examples is primarily determined by two properties: their similarity to the input data and their diversity from one another. Based on this insight, we introduce a novel approach, Double Clustering-based In-Context Example Selection, specifically designed for data-to-text generation tasks. Our method involves two distinct clustering stages. The first stage aims to maximize the similarity between the in-context examples and the input data. The second stage ensures diversity among the selected in-context examples. Additionally, we have developed a batched generation method to enhance the token usage efficiency of LLMs. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared to traditional methods of selecting in-context learning samples, our approach significantly improves both time efficiency and token utilization while maintaining accuracy.

We prove two results concerning percolation on general graphs.

• • We establish the converse of the classical Peierls argument: if the critical parameter for (uniform) percolation satisfies $p_c<1$, then the number of minimal cutsets of size n separating a given vertex from infinity is bounded above exponentially in n. This resolves a conjecture of Babson and Benjamini from 1999.

• • We prove that $p_c<1$ for every uniformly transient graph. This solves a problem raised by Duminil-Copin, Goswami, Raoufi, Severo, and Yadin, and provides a new proof that $p_c<1$ for every transitive graph of superlinear growth.

A previous controlled study showed advantages of 2% Chlorhexidine Gluconate-Alcohol (CHG) over Povidone-Iodine-Alcohol in preventing infections after peripheral venous catheter placement. We applied these findings in a real-world before/after healthcare intervention and found that introduction of CHG disinfection was not associated with a major change of incidence in local skin complications.

Glide-snow avalanches release at the soil-snow interface and are currently difficult to predict. This is mostly due to a limited understanding of the release process and a lack of data, particularly of the snowpack and underlying soil conditions prior to release. Here, we synthesize the current process understanding on the source of interfacial water—a key factor in glide-snow avalanche release—in a simple explanatory model. The model classifies days with and without glide-snow avalanche activity using thresholds applied to proxies including snow liquid water content (LWC), soil temperature, soil LWC and meteorological parameters. These proxies were measured on Dorfberg (Davos, Switzerland) in the 2021/22 to 2023/24 seasons. The best-performing thresholds for the snow, soil and meteorological time series were determined through quasi-random sampling and were in line with previous field studies. Soil temperature and snow LWC were the most relevant variables to explain avalanche occurrence. These results demonstrate the importance of combining snow, soil and meteorological data for improving the forecasting of glide-snow avalanche activity.

Interfaces subjected to strong time-periodic horizontal accelerations exhibit striking patterns known as frozen waves. In this study, we experimentally and numerically investigate the formation of such structures in immiscible fluids under high-frequency forcing. In the inertial regime – characterised by large Reynolds and Weber numbers, where viscous and surface tension effects become negligible – we demonstrate that the amplitude of frozen waves scales proportionally with the square of the forcing velocity. These results are consistent with vibro-equilibria theory and extend the theoretical framework proposed by Gréa & Briard (2019 Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 064608) to immiscible fluids with large density contrasts. Furthermore, we examine the influence of both Reynolds and Weber numbers, not only in the onset of secondary Faraday instabilities – which drive the transition of frozen wave patterns toward a homogenised turbulent state – but also in selecting the dominant wavelength in the final saturated regime.