Task-based language teaching (TBLT), an instructional approach for promoting real world communicative language use, has gained substantial attention among researchers and educators of additional languages, traditionally referred to as second languages (L2) and foreign languages (FL). Existing research on TBLT and tasks, predominantly conducted with adult learners, has primarily examined how meaning-focused tasks enhance (or do not enhance) learners’ communicative abilities in the target language and how different task implementations yield different outcomes (Ellis, 2017).

We present the discovery of a large-scale, limb-brightened outflow, extending at least 30 kpc above and below the star-forming disk of the edge-on galaxy ESO130-G012 (D = 16.9 Mpc). Partially obscured by Galactic foreground stars and dust, this optically unremarkable, low-mass galaxy reveals one of the largest known hourglass-shaped outflows from the full extent of its bright stellar disk. The outflow was discovered in 944 MHz radio continuum images from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) obtained as part of the “Evolutionary Map of the Universe” (EMU) project. Its height is at least 3× that of the stellar disk diameter (∼10 kpc), while its shape and size most resemble the large biconical, edge-brightened FUV and X-ray outflows in the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 3079. The large-scale, hourglass-shaped outflow of ESO130-G012 appears to be hollow and originates from the star-forming disk, expanding into the halo with speeds close to the escape velocity before likely returning to the disk. Given ESO130-G012’s modest star formation rate, the height of the outflow is surprising and unusual, likely made possible by the galaxy’s relatively low gravitational potential. Follow-up observations are expected to detect hot gas inside the bipolar outflow cones and magnetic fields along the X-shaped outflow wings. Neutral gas may also be lifted above the inner disk by the outflow.

This introduction paper for our special issue on Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) situates the important theme of CMNE growth within the context of rapid technological innovation, intensified geopolitical tensions, and trade wars in the global business environment of the mid-2020s. Using this context as a backdrop, we discuss the growth of CMNEs to derive implications for international business (IB) theory. We review key theoretical perspectives that inform prior research on CMNEs and outline the key challenges confronting CMNEs’ international expansion, as gauged against prior research. We summarize key theoretical insights from the eight papers included in this special issue. We then illustrate how future research can be informed by an explicit consideration of the international sanctions and geopolitical tensions in which CMNEs operate, as well as by the growing technological, linguistic, and ideological distance between China and European and North American countries, which influences CMNEs’ international strategies. We conclude by noting that at this critical juncture in CMNEs’ development, there are substantial opportunities for the IB community to broaden research and challenge existing theories by capturing the latest trends in the international expansion of CMNEs.

Political science concerns topics that can be highly relevant for politicians. Political science research and education offer insights that can help incumbents win elections or govern better. At the same time, the discipline provides knowledge that can be used to challenge politicians in office, for example, on how to organise mass protests or effective opposition parties. Therefore, politicians in power may have mixed feelings about the existence of political science departments. Some will encourage their establishment, while others – perhaps especially autocrats – may try to contain their presence or control their location. We study the existence and placement of political science units at universities across the world and assess the extent to which these features vary with regime type. Using large-N data on university subdivisions, we examine cross-national variation in existence and within-country variation in the location of political science departments. We find surprisingly few substantial differences along the democracy–autocracy continuum: Political science units, on average, are no more frequent in democracies. Across regime types, political science units are about equally likely to be located at public (versus private) institutions, and similarly likely to be placed at universities closer to the capital.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) tracking one moving target in an oilfield environment with dynamic obstacles has been studied. Firstly, the UAV tracking one target is modeled mathematically, including the oilfield environment, the UAV kinematic model, the moving target model and so on. Considering the oilfield environment with dynamic obstacles, the chance-constraint method is incorporated into the distributed model predictive control (DMPC) to realise the target tracking and avoid the obstacles in the environment. Secondly, to obtain high-quality control-input sequences, the improved salp swarm algorithm (ISSA) is designed as the solver for the chance-constraint DMPC, integrating the sine-tent-cosine chaotic mapping in the initialisation, the differential mutation operation in the leader-position updating and the nonlinear adaptive inertia weights in the follower-position updating. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed method has great performance in tracking the moving target in an oilfield environment with dynamic obstacles.

Since the 1960s, increasing numbers of women have won the highest office in the world’s democracies despite clear gender effects in gaining office. But does reelection show the same gendered effects? Recent research suggests that compared to male leaders, women leaders often come to high office in more difficult conditions; enter with lower approval ratings; and experience more rapid decline in ratings over time. We know little, however, about the conditions that affect their odds of reelection. Does the type of office—president or prime minister—matter? Do economic and political conditions during their tenure affect their odds of success? We analyze gender and leader reelection across electoral democracies in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia,1960–2023. We show that among leaders eligible to run, men and women have roughly equal odds of winning. We also find that women run somewhat more often than men.

Legged robots operating in irregular environments are often subjected to compound disturbances such as tilts and vibrations, which can degrade attitude stability and motion reliability. This paper presents a real-time disturbance-adaptive control framework for a hexapod robot. The proposed system integrates quaternion-based attitude estimation using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), a double-threshold pose classifier, and a modular gait library and is implemented on an embedded controller with a 2 ms control-loop latency. Analytical verification and laboratory experiments demonstrate that the proposed control loop achieves uniform ultimate boundedness (UUB) under deterministic hybrid disturbances composed of controlled tilt and vibration, with a mean recovery time of 5.7 s. These results demonstrate that a lightweight rule-based controller can ensure reliable posture recovery within the experimentally validated laboratory scenarios, providing a foundation for future extensions to more complex environments. The main contributions of this work are (1) a disturbance-adaptive gait selection architecture for quasi-static stabilization, (2) a noise-robust EKF-based attitude estimation and double-threshold pose determination scheme, and (3) a concise Lyapunov-based stability analysis demonstrating UUB of the closed-loop system.

Various strategies across food systems are needed for a systemic change, with dietary shifts representing a meaningful pathway—particularly in high-income nations. Plant-based analogues (PBAs) that mimic animal-based foods, represent a promising strategy to facilitate such shifts because they require minimal behaviour adjustments. This review aims to synthesise nutritional, health and environmental evidence on PBAs by examining their benefits, challenges, and research gaps to inform and support evidence-based policy and practice. PBAs generally have lower greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use than their animal-based counterparts. Nutritionally, PBAs are complex, varying across product brands, product types, processing techniques and primary ingredients. The limited health evidence shows that consumption of plant-based meat analogues tends to be associated with positive health outcomes, while consumption of some plant-based drinks can be linked to micronutrient deficiencies. Fortified PBAs can contribute to daily recommended intakes and sometimes provide more micronutrients than their animal-based counterparts, while also providing more fibre, and less energy and saturated fat. Despite these potential benefits, debates persist around processing classifications and their health implications. Given this complex landscape, assessing what kind of role PBAs could play in our food systems will demand product-specific evaluation, targeted dietary recommendations, and expanding the range of healthier PBAs. To advance the field and accelerate dietary shifts without unintended consequences, critical considerations include strengthening the nutritional evidence-base, classifying PBAs further for dietary recommendations and informed regulatory approaches, understanding processing effects and use of additives, and standardising environmental outcomes and research beyond single ingredients.

Speculative xenomusicology explores alternative music theories, imagining the physical and cognitive affordances of alien musical life. Exoplanets are actively studied in astronomy, and though there is no direct evidence of xenobiology, particularly of more advanced musical intelligences, potential alien music may still be considered in advance in the same way that exobiologists speculate on the conditions for alien life. In particular, a generative system is presented which creates imagined xenomusic based on altering human memory constraints and links the organisation of the sound to the parallel generation of an alien language. Microtonal pitch, complex rhythm, timbral material and spatialisation within putative alien architectures are all considered. This alien ‘analysis by synthesis’ can provide new musical adventures and new understanding of the possibilities of music theoretical space, regardless of any eventual ontological resolution of xenocultures.

What did the bishop of Montevideo Mariano Soler and the Chilean politician Carlos Walker Martínez wish to see in the East in the late nineteenth century? As representatives of an ultramontane culture, both travellers provide a perspective on global Catholicism from the Orient. Their journeys inspired reflections on prophecies, the biblical origins of the Americas and the challenges posed by science, liberalism and secularisation. Through an analysis of their works, this article examines the place of the Orient in their discourses and imaginaries, highlighting how they enrich our understanding of a shared Catholic and travel culture in South America.