University of Nova Gorica

Heritage language research has predominantly examined immigrant communities where cross border relocation reduces input and typically renders the heritage language 'weaker'. This study instead examines heritage Slovene in a non immigrant, border shift context, where speakers remain in place but are incorporated into a new state creating an 'in situ' heritage setting with different input dynamics. We compare two such Italian communities, Gorizia-Trieste and Natisone, which differ in the degree of schooling and broader institutional support for Slovene. Using a production task targeting Genitive of Negation and pronominal clitic placement, we compare heritage and monolingual speakers. The Gorizia-Trieste group benefiting from sustained institutional backing patterns closely with monolinguals, whereas the Natisone group shows restructuring in Genitive of Negation and elevated clitic omission, consistent with reduced input and increased processing demands. These results indicate that in border shift settings, strong institutional support can mitigate heritage divergence and challenge simple 'strong vs. weak language' characterizations, with some communities approaching balanced bilingual profiles.

The collapse of large-amplitude primordial curvature perturbations into planetary-mass primordial black holes generates a scalar-induced gravitational wave background in the mu Hz frequency range that may be detectable by future Lunar Laser Ranging and Satellite Laser Ranging data. We derive projected constraints on the primordial black hole population from a null detection of stochastic gravitational wave background by these experiments, including the impact of the standard model electroweak phase transition on the abundance of planetary-mass primordial black holes. We also discuss the connection between the obtained projected constraints and the recent microlensing observations by the HSC collaboration of the Andromeda Galaxy. Document Number: CERNTH-2026-021.

Modified gravity theories constitute viable alternatives to the standard cosmological model for explaining the observed late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe. The Effective Field Theory of Dark Energy (EFTofDE) is an efficient framework to describe a wide range of such theories with a limited number of parameters. To robustly constrain them by comparison with clustering and weak lensing data from upcoming large-scale structure surveys, high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations are required to obtain accurate predictions for the matter distribution on non-linear scales. We introduce two new N-body simulation codes for EFTofDE cosmologies: PySCo-EFT, a Python-based particle mesh code, and ECOSMOG-EFT, a RAMSES-based code with adaptive mesh refinement. We consider Horndeski models with a luminal gravitational wave speed. We use iterative solvers and multigrid schemes to solve for the additional scalar field equation in both codes, incorporating the non-linear Vainshtein screening mechanism. We present validation and convergence tests of the codes. We obtain a sub-0.5 percent agreement with linear theory on large scales and a similar agreement between the two codes on non-linear scales. The dominant numerical effects on the matter-power-spectrum boost are mass resolution, finite-volume effects, refinement threshold, and starting redshift, but they are limited to below 2

Hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) is a promising semiconductor for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting because of its favorable band gap. However, the challenge of improving PEC performance by constructing effective and stable cocatalysts on the surface of alpha-Fe2O3 persists. This study presents a simple approach for fabricating active alpha-Fe2O3 photoanodes coated with cerium-doped metal-organic framework (MOF) films. By adjustment of the Fe and Ce compositions of the MOFs, it was feasible to enhance the band gaps and band positions of the alpha-Fe2O3/MOF heterojunction. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (Fe K-edge XANES and EXAFS and Ce L3-edge XANES), along with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, was employed to investigate the oxidation states of Fe and Ce, as well as their local structural environments in the MOF, providing insights into the enhanced water oxidation performance. The alpha-Fe2O3/MIL-53(Fe): x Ce thin film exhibited a photocurrent density of 2.3 mA cm-2 at 1.23 V vs RHE, up to four times that of the pristine alpha-Fe2O3 photoanode. The MIL-53(Fe) catalyst, loaded with 2.7% Ce, exhibits enhanced PEC activity, relating to the reduced recombination of photogenerated carriers, increased active sites, and improved charge separation and transfer efficiency. This study offers novel views of the advancement of MOF-based composites for PEC water oxidation.

High-entropy fluorite oxides offer exceptional tunability of structure and functionality through controlled multi-cation substitution. In this work, Ce-Zr-Pr-Sm-Eu-based high-entropy oxides, with systematically varied Pr content, were synthesized using a modified sol-gel citrate method to investigate the influence of Pr incorporation on lattice structure, defect formation, and photocatalytic performance. All compositions crystallized in a single-phase cubic fluorite structure, where increasing Pr concentration induced gradual lattice expansion and microstrain due to the substitution of larger Pr3+ ions. Morphological and surface analyses revealed porous nanostructures at moderate Pr levels, while excessive Pr promoted densification and reduced surface accessibility. Spectroscopic studies confirmed the coexistence of Pr3+/Pr4+ and Ce3+/Ce4+ redox couples, strong 4f-2p orbital hybridization, and enhanced defect-related electronic states that narrowed the optical bandgap. The optimized Pr-doped composition exhibited almost 100% degradation of methylene blue under UV light over 30 min, untypical for semiconductors with a narrower bandgap, and is enabled by efficient charge separation and redox cycling between Ce and Pr centers.