We derive an accurate estimate for the diffusive evaporation rates of multiple droplets of different sizes and arbitrary contact angles placed on a horizontal substrate. The derivation, which is based on a combination of Green's second identity and the method of reflections, simply makes use of the solution for the evaporation of a single droplet. The theoretical results can serve as a guide for future computational and experimental studies on the collective evaporation of arrays of droplets, as well as similar multi-body, diffusion-dominated transport problems.

The study aims to assess whether supplementation with the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 (HN001) can reduce the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled parallel trial was conducted in New Zealand (NZ) (Wellington and Auckland). Pregnant women with a personal or partner history of atopic disease were randomised at 14–16 weeks’ gestation to receive HN001 (6×109 colony-forming units) (n 212) or placebo (n 211) daily. GDM at 24–30 weeks was assessed using the definition of the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) (fasting plasma glucose ≥5·1 mmol/l, or 1 h post 75 g glucose level at ≥10 mmol/l or at 2 h ≥8·5 mmol/l) and NZ definition (fasting plasma glucose ≥5·5 mmol/l or 2 h post 75 g glucose at ≥9 mmol/l). All analyses were intention-to-treat. A total of 184 (87 %) women took HN001 and 189 (90 %) women took placebo. There was a trend towards lower relative rates (RR) of GDM (IADPSG definition) in the HN001 group, 0·59 (95 % CI 0·32, 1·08) (P=0·08). HN001 was associated with lower rates of GDM in women aged ≥35 years (RR 0·31; 95 % CI 0·12, 0·81, P=0·009) and women with a history of GDM (RR 0·00; 95 % CI 0·00, 0·66, P=0·004). These rates did not differ significantly from those of women without these characteristics. Using the NZ definition, GDM prevalence was significantly lower in the HN001 group, 2·1 % (95 % CI 0·6, 5·2), v. 6·5 % (95 % CI 3·5, 10·9) in the placebo group (P=0·03). HN001 supplementation from 14 to 16 weeks’ gestation may reduce GDM prevalence, particularly among older women and those with previous GDM.

We consider the stability of a long free film of liquid composed of two immiscible layers of differing viscosities, where each layer experiences a van der Waals force between its interfaces. We analyse the different ways in which the system can exhibit interfacial instability when the liquid layers are sufficiently thin. For an excess of surfactant on one gas–liquid interface, the coupling between the layers is relatively weak and the instability is manifested as temporally separated rupture events in each layer. Conversely, in the absence of surfactant, the coupling between the layers is much stronger and the instability is manifested as rupture of both layers simultaneously. These features are consistent with recent experimental observations.

Ongoing software developments for creating three-dimensional (3D) printed crystallographic models seamlessly from Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF) data (*.cif files) are reported. Color versus monochrome printing is briefly discussed. Recommendations are made on the basis of our preliminary printing efforts. A brief outlook on new materials for 3D printing is given.

Human behaviour, like everything else, has causes. Most of the time, those causes can be described as reasons. Human beings perform actions because they have reasons for performing them. They are capable of surveying the options available and then selecting one based upon those reasons. But invariably occasions arise in which the reasons known to the agent fail to single out a determinate option. When reasons cannot determine the option to select on their own, the agent must resort to some form of non-reasoned decision-making (NRDM). This paper distinguishes four different forms of NRDM – picking, randomizing, deferring and judging. Each form may be appropriate under different circumstances. The paper concludes by laying out the theoretical assumptions upon which this account of NRDM rests.

Complementing a multitude of activities around the International Year of Crystallography, we report here on a few resources that are helpful for integrating basic crystallography into interdisciplinary college education. We concentrate on four resources with which we are directly involved. The Crystallography Open Database (COD) features currently more than 295,000 entries and has over the last decade developed into the world’s premier open-access source for the structures of small molecules and small to medium sized unit cell crystals. ‘Educational offshoots’ of the COD with approximately a thousand entries combined provide structural information on small molecules, selected macromolecules, crystal structures, grain boundaries, and crystal morphologies in the well documented Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF) file format. This information can be displayed interactively on the website http://nanocrystallography.research.pdx.edu and freely downloaded. Files that allow for the printing of selected database entries on any 3D printer have been added to this site and are also freely downloadable. These files were created with the programs Cif2VRML and WinXMorph that convert CIF files directly into 3D printing files. Interested college educators are invited to visit our open access crystallography resource portal and suggest other resources that should receive wider exposure over this portal.

The excavations at Kilise Tepe in the 1990s inevitably left a range of research questions unanswered, and our second spell of work at the site from 2007 to 2011 sought to address some of these, relating to the later second and early first millennia. This article gathers the architectural and stratigraphie results of the renewed excavations, presenting the fresh information about the layout and character of the Late Bronze Age North-West Building and the initial phases of the Stele Building which succeeded it, including probable symbolic practices, and describing the complex stratigraphic sequence in the Central Strip sounding which covers the lapse of time from the 12th down to the seventh century. There follow short reports on the analyses of the botanical and faunal materials recovered, a summary of the results from the relevant radiocarbon dating samples and separate studies addressing issues resulting from the continuing study of the ceramics from the different contexts. Taken together, a complex picture emerges of changes in settlement layout, archi¬tectural traditions, use of external space, artefact production and subsistence strategies during the centuries which separate the Level III Late Bronze Age settlement from the latest Iron Age occupation around 700 BC.

We present experimental results on the role of flexibility and aspect ratio in bio-inspired aquatic propulsion. Direct thrust and power measurements are used to determine the propulsive efficiency of flexible panels undergoing a leading-edge pitching motion. We find that flexible panels can give a significant amplification of thrust production of $\mathscr{O}(100{\unicode{x2013}} 200\hspace{0.167em} \% )$ and propulsive efficiency of $\mathscr{O}(100\hspace{0.167em} \% )$ when compared to rigid panels. The data highlight that the global maximum in propulsive efficiency across a range of panel flexibilities is achieved when two conditions are simultaneously satisfied: (i) the oscillation of the panel yields a Strouhal number in the optimal range ( $0. 25\lt \mathit{St}\lt 0. 35$ ) predicted by Triantafyllou, Triantafyllou & Grosenbaugh (J. Fluid Struct., vol. 7, 1993, pp. 205–224); and (ii) this frequency of motion is tuned to the structural resonant frequency of the panel. In addition, new scaling laws for the thrust production and power input to the fluid are derived for the rigid and flexible panels. It is found that the dominant forces are the characteristic elastic force and the characteristic fluid force. In the flexible regime the data scale using the characteristic elastic force and in the rigid limit the data scale using the characteristic fluid force.

This vitally important article sets out the obstacles and opportunities for the protection of archaeological sites and historic buildings in zones of armed conflict. Readers will not need to be told that modern munitions are devastating and sometimes wayward, nor that cultural heritage once destroyed cannot simply be rebuilt. The author makes a vivid case for the role of respect for the past in mitigating hostility and so winning the peace as well as aiding the victory, and guides us through the forest of players. Agencies so numerous, so obscure and so often ineffective might prompt the response ‘a plague on all your acronyms’. All the more important, then, that the author and his associates continue their campaign and are supported by everyone who believes that cultural property has a value that lies beyond sectional interests.