Nuclear physics for cultural heritage

We report about the expert review, published by the Nuclear Physics Division of the European Physical Society (NPD EPS), which aims to provide the public with a popular and accessible account of the latest developments in the field of nuclear physics application for cultural heritage. The contributions from a range of leading specialists explain how applied atomic and nuclear techniques can be used to obtain information that can help us to understand the way of life in ancient times and how they can be used to conserve cultural heritage treasures. This topical review draws heavily on European work and is extensively illustrated with important discoveries and examples from archaeology, pre-history, history, geography, culture, religion and curation. It outlines key advances in a wide range of cross-disciplinary techniques and has been written with the minimum of technical detail so as to be accessible by as wide as possible audience. The large number of groups and laboratories working in the study and preservation of cultural heritage using mainly nuclear physics methods across Europe indicates the enormous effort and importance paid by society to this activity

Historical ‘signposts’ and other temporal indicators in the Czech lexicon

This article posits that the Czechs employ a great many historical markers, previously applied to other events of national importance, which help to shape collective memory and right the ‘wrongs’ of the past. It is argued that these temporal indicators share a number of clearly defined characteristics, and that their use is too systematic and calculated to be merely a function of the constraints of the lexicon. The first part of the study considers in detail questions of semantics (especially the distinction between denotation and connotation), the lexicographical sources available to the researcher, and the lexical ‘signpost’ in context, while the second part focuses on practical examples of lexical re-appropriation since 1918, with particular reference to dictionaries and the Czech National Corpus.University of Wolverhampto

Study of secondary instability of precursor magnetic island in COMPASS density limit disruptions

A systematic study of COMPASS density limit disruptions (DLDs) was carried out to analyze the relation between the precursor magnetic island and its secondary instability (SI). In all of these plasmas, the SI was always found present at the onset of energy confinement erosion. The duration of this erosion was shorter for precursor quasi-locked island than for rotating island, and the larger the island amplitude, the shorter the duration. It was also found, at the onset of the erosion of energy confinement, an inverse relation between the magnetic island amplitude and its rotation frequency, showing that erosion can start at different values of precursor island amplitude, depending on what is its rotation frequency. DLDs occur either with smaller precursor island rotating faster or larger island rotating slower (quasi-locked). (c) 2020 Author(s)