This article critically assesses the popular nineteenth-century universal history textbook Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern, by Alexander Fraser Tytler. Educators on both sides of the Atlantic found the text to be a useful and authoritative source of universal history appropriate for secondary and tertiary students for decades, indicating a shared vision for human history centering Europe as the apotheosis of human civilization. Over time, publishers and educators creatively adapted the work by inserting new research, enhancing coverage of national history, and adding religious content. American educators retrofitted the work to provide an origin story for the United States in which America was the heir to European civilization. The sustained success of Tytler’s narrative in the United States demonstrates that Eurocentric world histories have been deeply entwined with American education since the emergence of history as a school subject, providing a civilizational framing that complemented the ideology of American exceptionalism.

One argument that all explanations are causal explanations is that no extant analysis of non-causal explanations can respect mandatory restrictions on explanation. After articulating two such restrictions, Asymmetry and Directionality, we consider how they work with respect to an explanation from network theory that applies to both social and brain networks. We argue that there are two viable ways to make sense of this explanation. One approach is broadly ontic, while another is pragmatic.

This study examines prosecutorial resistance to democratic backsliding in Poland (2016–23) using Šipulová’s three-dimensional analytical framework. Despite facing greater structural vulnerabilities than judges – hierarchical subordination, immediate retaliation risks and weaker formal protections – Polish prosecutors developed sophisticated resistance strategies combining on-bench actions (challenging illegitimate orders, refusing transfers) with off-bench mobilisation (professional associations, media engagement, coalition-building with judges and civil society). Based on interviews with eleven prosecutors, the research reveals a paradoxical effectiveness pattern: minimal immediate political impact coupled with significant long-term achievements. While unable to prevent institutional capture, prosecutors elevated their professional standing, fostered unprecedented interprofessional solidarity and raised societal awareness about prosecutorial independence. The study demonstrates that prosecutorial resistance functions as democratic preservation rather than immediate political opposition, maintaining institutional memory and professional standards crucial for future democratic reconstruction.

In this paper, I distinguish between three different roles that symmetries play in physics practice that are not always distinguished in the philosophical literature and which seem to clash with each other. I then propose that the best way to make sense of these roles requires introducing a distinction between two different kinds of symmetries. One kind concerns invertible transformations that map solutions to solutions. The other is associated with the fact that one can use the same equation to model a system in many different frames.

Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) have been shown to improve growth, development and survival among young children in low-resource settings. One hypothesised pathway is through improvements in intestinal health, including modulation of the gut microbiome and reductions in environmental enteric dysfunction (EED). This study examined the effects of SQ-LNS on the gut microbiome and markers of EED and systemic inflammation among young children in Lusaka, Zambia. We conducted intention-to-treat analyses of 302 children aged 27–35 months in a 2 × 2 cluster-randomised trial. Serum biomarkers of EED (soluble CD14, intestinal fatty acid-binding protein) and inflammation (α-1-acid glycoprotein and C-reactive protein) were assessed in 240 children via the Micronutrient and Environmental Enteric Dysfunction Assessment Tool. Differences by SQ-LNS assignment were assessed using unadjusted and adjusted ordinary least squares regression models. Rectal swab samples from 299 children underwent 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Taxonomic profiles were visualised using stacked bar plots, alpha diversity was quantified using Shannon diversity indices and beta diversity was assessed using non-metric multidimensional scaling based on Bray–Curtis dissimilarity matrices. We found that SQ-LNS had no significant effect on EED or inflammation biomarkers and was not associated with differences in gut microbiome α diversity, beta diversity or overall microbial community composition. In exploratory analyses, Enterococcus abundance was lower among children receiving SQ-LNS. Overall, 18 months of SQ-LNS supplementation was not associated with broad changes in intestinal health among young Lusakan children. These findings suggest that the benefits of SQ-LNS operate through pathways other than intestinal health, such as improved nutrient availability.

Through a qualitative analysis of case studies from Boston in the 1970s and 1980s, this article explores how police officers exploited sex workers in pursuit of department goals and personal desires, all while attracting opposition from sex workers and their allies, who likened cops to pimps. Examining police-sex worker interactions documented in the commercial press, alternative media, appellate court rulings, and police documents, this article incorporates the police-as-pimp metaphor to elucidate the nature of police discretion in the context of sex work. When dealing with sex workers, officers proved willing to choose lawlessness if it helped them accomplish other personal and professional goals. Yet this article goes beyond condemning individual police officers as pimp like. Rather, the metaphor applies to entire law enforcement institutions, whose structures and norms facilitated state exploitation of sex workers.

Blockchain is frequently proposed as a solution to tenure insecurity, administrative inefficiencies, and corruption, where conventional land reforms have fallen short. However, evidence of its institutional effectiveness remains limited. Drawing on Williamsonian transaction cost economics and an analytical autoethnographic research design, we undertake a comparative analysis of blockchain’s ability to curb opportunism and safeguard the interests of land-transacting parties relative to Ghana’s customary and statutory land-governance structures. Our findings show that while blockchain performs well at some ex ante safeguards, it offers no clear advantage over existing governance structures at the ex post stage. Of the seven identified forms of post-transaction opportunism that buyers often face, blockchain was superior only in minimising hold-up risks. We conclude with implications for policymakers and technologists considering blockchain adoption.

The rapid proliferation of AI systems has outpaced regulatory and insurance frameworks, leaving risks from unpredictable rogue AI behaviors unaddressed. While academic debates prioritize existential threats, this article shifts focus to governing present-day AI through AI Risk Bonds: market-driven instruments inspired by catastrophe bonds. These bonds securitize AI-related liabilities, using investor scrutiny to price risks based on a system’s expected impact and behavioral predictability. By dynamically adjusting bond yields, higher risks escalate capital costs for developers, incentivizing proactive risk mitigation. The mechanism addresses regulatory blind spots via market oversight, disperses liability through capital markets, and reduces moral hazard by linking financing to risk profiles. Complementing initiatives like the EU AI Act, this framework balances innovation with precaution, tethering profitability to risk minimization for responsible AI development.

At least three meanings of the word reduction have been theorized by philosophers: epistemic, ontological, and methodological reductions. In this article, I suggest a fourth meaning to complement the literature: the axiological meaning. Theorizing reduction as an epistemic value refers to the normative pull that reduction sometimes has on scientific reasoning. The example of genetic reductionism in evolutionary biology shows that in cases of underdetermination of theory by evidence, reduction can influence theory acceptance just like other values do. I suggest that reduction, in this context, is involved in a value trade-off that also features parsimony and explanatory power.

Bioluminescence is a predominant phenomenon in marine environments, the production of light by living organisms through enzyme-mediated chemical reactions involving luciferin, the light-emitting substrate and luciferase, the enzyme that catalyses its oxidation. In the deep sea, bioluminescence is not merely a visual trait but a critical ecological function supporting prey capture, mate recognition, communication and other species interactions. Recent evidence indicates that plastic exposure can alter bioluminescent responses through ingestion, tissue stress, oxidative damage and interference with chemical signalling pathways. This is of growing concern because plastic debris and microplastics are increasingly detected from surface waters to abyssal environments, making them bioavailable to deep-sea organisms. Since many deep-sea organisms depend on bioluminescence for survival and reproduction, any impairment of light production mechanisms can influence not only individual fitness but also prey–predator interactions, trophic transfer and ecosystem functioning. This letter highlights plastic pollution as an emerging threat to deep-sea bioluminescence and calls for long-term monitoring and policy attention to protect biological light-mediated ecological processes in the deep ocean.

Axisymmetric cylindrical configurations of the magnetic field are used to confine and guide plasmas in fusion and electric propulsion devices, where plasma equilibria are established as a balance between plasma pressure, magnetic stress (pressure) and inertial forces due to azimuthal plasma rotation and axial flow rotation. Most generally, in an axially inhomogeneous case, plasma rotation and azimuthal magnetic field are related via Alfvén wave type coupling. We show that, for a special case of a current-free nozzle and, therefore, absence of the azimuthal plasma rotation, the plasma flow along the magnetic surface can be analysed independently of the exact shape of the magnetic surface. The velocity of the transonic plasma flow is determined by the magnitude of the magnetic field on the magnetic surface, while the actual shape of the magnetic surface is determined by the solution of the generalised Grad–Shafranov equation that includes the inertial forces. These analytical results are confirmed with numerical simulations that highlight the contribution of the inertial forces to plasma acceleration and equilibrium. Implications for the flows in the magnetic nozzle for the electric propulsion and open mirrors for fusion are discussed.

The green bug aphid, Schizaphis graminum, is one of the most serious pests of wheat which cause considerable yield loss in wheat fields. At present, beneficial microorganisms such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) need to be incorporated into wheat production to diminish the high risk of heavily insecticide application for environment and health hazards. This study aimed to assess the influence of several PGPR strains, Pseudomonas geniculata, Azospirillum oryzae, Pseudomonas brassicacearum, and Azotobacter chroococcum, applied as seed treatments of wheat, on the life table parameters and foraging behaviour of the green aphid, S. graminum. We investigated the physiological and biochemical responses of wheat plants under aphid stress to elucidate the induced resistance conferred by PGPRs. Preference tests revealed that plants treated with A. chroococcum were the least favoured by aphids at 24 h post-infestation. Furthermore, biological parameters of the aphids exhibited significant variation across treatments, with the highest values recorded in the control group and the lowest in plants treated with A. chroococcum. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm) of the aphids was diminished following the application of PGPR, with the lowest rm observed in the A. chroococcum treatment. The highest concentrations of proteins, carbohydrates, total phenols, and antioxidant enzymes were detected in infested plants treated with A. chroococcum 72 h post-infestation. According to our results, A. chroococcum emerged as the most effective treatment for enhancing both antixenosis and antibiosis resistance in wheat against S. graminum, suggesting its significant potential for integration into pest management strategies in wheat cultivation.

Economic literature has long interpreted sharecropping as a feudal relic and a barrier to agrarian development. Alternative readings, however, have examined its role in risk sharing, the equitable allocation of inputs for efficient management and factors affecting productivity. This article tests the hypothesis that sharecropping represented an institution and a tool of agrarian colonization, particularly following major land reclamation projects. The focus is on a productive central area of Italy, the Val di Chiana in southern Tuscany (19th–20th). The analysis is based on the processing of data derived from archive and national statistical sources, and the methodology combines spatial and productivity analysis (farm and territorial scale). The results indicate that Tuscan sharecropping was able to promote ‘specific’ processes of reorganization and development of agriculture.