HAPS Reference Architecture Series: HAPS Advantages in an Era of Satellite Connectivity

HAPS offer an economical way to support a range of use cases, including greenfield connectivity in areas where there are no terrestrial networks and filling in gaps in cellular coverage. (These gaps are known as “white spots” and offer additional challenges by being typically small and geographically non-contiguous areas.) HAPS can typically provide connectivity of between 50 and 100 Mbps per beam, with a peak of 200 Mbps. As a result, each beam can support ~2,000 concurrent voice calls. HAPS can support automotive-related, public safety and agricultural use cases, as well as other commercial services. Automotive use cases include emergency calls, the remote unlocking of shared cars, the provision of safety-related traffic information, such as road hazard warnings, vehicle software updates and in-car entertainment. HAPS can also connect various environmental sensors to provide early warnings of natural disasters, while agricultural use cases include crops and soil health monitoring, geo-fencing (to detect movement into and out of the farm) and livestock tracking. In the aftermath of a disaster, HAPS can help affected communities overcome terrestrial communication blackouts. By enabling swift and efficient communication, HAPS can enhance situational awareness, support search and rescue efforts and aid in the recovery and rebuilding process. HAPS can also extend coverage out to sea, supporting tourism and recreation, offshore energy, mineral extraction, shipping and other parts of the marine economy

An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of R&D Expenditures and Climate Change on Wheat Productivity: Evidence from China, India, and Pakistan

This study examines how research and development (R&D) expenditures, temperature fluctuations, and rainfall variability influenced wheat productivity in China, India, and Pakistan from 1996 to 2018. Drawing on data from FAOSTAT, the Pakistan Economic Survey, and World Development Indicators, we employ Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models to explore short- and long-run dynamics. Our findings indicate that R&D investments do not exert a significant short-run effect but play a pivotal role in boosting wheat yields over the long run. Specifically, a 1% increase in R&D expenditure correlates with a 10% rise in wheat productivity across the three countries, although the returns vary—6% in China, 17% in India, and 12% in Pakistan—due in part to differences in innovation adoption and infrastructure. Additionally, a 1% temperature rise is associated with a 4% decrease in long-run yield, while variability in rainfall disrupts sowing schedules and reduces water availability during critical growth stages, further constraining productivity. These findings underscore that while climate factors pose significant risks to wheat yields, sustained investments in agricultural R&D and improved resource management are essential for enhancing food security in South Asia

Lattice Calculation of Short-Range Contributions to Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay π−→π+ee\pi^-\to\pi^+ ee at Physical Pion Mass

Neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decays provide an excellent probe for determining whether neutrinos are Dirac or Majorana fermions. The short-range matrix elements associated with the $\pi^- \rightarrow \pi^+ ee$ process contribute at leading order in the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay channel $nn \to ppee$ through pion exchange between nucleons. However, current lattice calculations show notable discrepancies in predicting these short-range contributions. To address this issue, we perform a lattice QCD calculation of the $\pi^- \rightarrow \pi^+ ee$ matrix elements using domain wall fermion ensembles at the physical pion mass generated by the RBC/UKQCD Collaboration. To mitigate contamination from around‑the‑world effects, we develop a new method to reconstruct and subtract them directly from lattice data. We then perform a nonperturbative renormalization using the RI/SMOM approach in $(\gamma_\mu,\gamma_\mu)$ and (\slashed{q},\slashed{q}) schemes. Compared with previous studies, this work reduces the uncertainties in the matrix elements and provides an independent cross-check that helps to reconcile the discrepancies among previous lattice calculations

International actors’ promotion of peacebuilding in Colombia through online subsidies: the role of spatial framing

This paper explores the geographical nature of the promotion of peacebuilding efforts by international actors cooperating in Colombia through information published daily in their newsrooms online. This article contends that such promotion is spatially rooted as it links to narratives about places targeted for intervention, and how these places ought to be transformed. Accordingly, the notion of spatial framing is put forward as a methodological way to assess the promotion of meanings about targeted places for peace transformation. Drawing on qualitative spatial framing analysis of online subsidies analysed with the help of NVivo software, the work explores the ways in which key post-conflict donors (United States, European Union, the United Kingdom) promoted a narrative about national and local spaces of peacebuilding transformation in the transitional period in two periods between November 2016 and February 2024. The article argues that the international actors depicted spaces in function of a normative continuum between rural (less developed) and urban (more developed) spaces and promoted spatial transformation consistent with principles of state-building and market development

Misrecognition or recognition? A critical discussion of care experience as a protected characteristic

The work critically discusses the basis for enshrining care experience as a protected characteristic. Including care experience as a protected characteristic was a recommendation in an independent review, and now several local councils have voted to adopt this as policy. Despite this, there has been little discussion by social workers and academics of the extent to which care experience fulfils the criteria of having a stable definition, evidence of historical and enduring discrimination, and whether such legislative changes have been discussed with the care-experienced population. This research discusses the current evidence base, with reference to academic and grey literature, and finds that there is some fulfilment of the three tenets underpinning the UK Equality Act 2010. Crucially, while this is a means for care-experienced people to be legally recognised, there is a danger that without consultation, this could lead to misrecognition. Recommendations are made to improve the evidence base

The unspoken experiences of ethnography: overcoming boundaries of (un)accepted behaviours

Qualitative methods generally, and ethnography in particular, have emerged as the most immersive research methodology within the everyday life of research participants. However, the relationships established in the field may impinge on levels of intimacy that are perceived to be inappropriate by the ethnographer. Based on the ethnographic fieldwork conducted as a Doctoral researcher with older Italians in Newcastle upon Tyne, this paper foregrounds the position of the ethnographer when interactions with participants involve experiencing of sexual harassment. Within a discussion of the safety of the researcher, this work firstly deliberates on issues that oscillate between the ‘field’ and the ‘self’. Secondly, this article discusses issues of access, positionality and challenges of conducting research through ethnographic fieldwork. Finally, it elaborates on the emotional, psychological and social dimensions of the harassment, bringing the ‘body’ and its varying perceptions to the fore. This work constitutes an original contribution to the discussion on the precarity of working in a community setting in close contact with research participants, and how that shapes the idea of research fieldwork. The author highlights the varying nature of the ethnographic field and suggests the growing need to reflect on the ‘unspoken risks’ of fieldwor

Domestic violence and abuse within Roma and Traveller communities: a scoping review

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is a global human rights problem. This scoping review focuses on the characteristics, impacts and risk and protective factors for DVA within Roma and Traveller communities. Applying a socio‐ecological model for thematic analysis, this review underscores the pervasive influence of patriarchal and gendered norms, which manifest at the individual, family and community levels and prevent women from escaping abusive relationships. No studies on men as victims/survivors were included. The normalisation of DVA within familial and communal settings and a deficiency in specialised support tailored to the unique requirements of Roma and Traveller women are interconnected factors associated with this complex issue. Through critical analysis of current social work practices, we identify such implications as the need for improved knowledge and sensitivity around cultural norms, enhanced understanding of the barriers to disclosure and enhanced understanding of both the risk and protective factors for victims/survivors from Roma and Traveller communities

Financial Literacy, Financial Development and Economic Growth

While significant progress has been made in exploring the importance of financial literacy, its impact on economic growth and financial development from a macroeconomic point of view, remains thinly understood. This paper provides fresh evidence on the relationship between financial literacy, financial development and economic growth. We utilise a novel dataset for 61 countries over the period 1999-2014 and employ a panel quantile regression model. We provide strong evidence that higher financial literacy levels lead to higher GDP per capita growth and the size of the impact is higher at lower quantiles of the conditional growth distribution. As financial development increases, its positive impact on economic growth diminishes, indicating an inverted U-shaped relationship. High levels of financial literacy mitigate the diminishing returns of financial development on GDP per capita growth by an average of 7.41%. Interestingly, in higher quantiles of the conditional growth distribution, the mitigating effect increases to 9.23%

Individuating experience moderates the effect of implicit racial bias on eye movements to other race faces: a cross-cultural study

The present cross-cultural study investigated gaze behaviour in the context of assessing the aesthetic value of figurative paintings depicting White and East Asian individuals in social scenes. Across three experiments, we examined how implicit racial attitudes and self-reported individuating experiences influenced gaze patterns when participants evaluated their liking of these paintings. Despite no requirement to inspect faces in the paintings, the results revealed that participants with negative implicit attitudes toward other-race individuals and limited individuating experience with those groups, spent more time fixating on other-race faces. This relationship between implicit attitudes and individuating experience in guiding gaze behaviour was consistent across both British and Chinese participants, despite differing definitions of same- and other-race faces between the groups. Our findings suggest that gaze behaviour during the aesthetic evaluation of figurative paintings is shaped by an interaction between attitudinal and experiential factors, which operates across cultural contexts

The Apocalyptic Mary: The Labour of Creation and the End of the World

This article argues for the philosophical and theological importance of the image of Mary as the ‘woman clothed with the sun’ in Revelation 12. It proposes to approach Mary as an apocalyptic figure: specifically, as an embodied sign, in whom the boundary between earth and heaven is crossed. As such, she troubles the very binary distinctions she is often used to reinforce: between male and female, earth and heaven, active God and passive creation, past and future. In dialogue with important reflections on the apocalyptic in continental philosophy of religion (including Derrida and Taubes), the article argues that Mary as the apocalyptic sign can challenge the pretensions of either secular philosophy or self-certifying theology to comprehend the relationship between God, humanity and creation. In reading Mary as both a liminal and a cosmic figure, her symbolic potential to disrupt dualisms is rooted in her own semiological ambivalence. The article concludes that this reading opens up new possibilities for an ‘intense Mariology’ in ways that challenge our notions of creation, labour and the limits of the world