Ostrich (Struthio camelus) eggshell (OES) beads are well documented as a medium of delayed exchange and social networking between hunter-gatherer societies in southern Africa. For thousands of years, OES objects played a role in glossing social difference and establishing networks of reciprocal obligation. However, there is less clarity on the reasons for use of OES as the base material. While some sources consider the birds’ spiritual power to be key, this contribution considers a complimentary perspective from within southern African |Xam idiom: that the normative associations of ostriches and ostrich eggs are significantly referenced through this material choice. In |Xam archival ethnography, ostriches appear as highly socialized resources, drought-resistant and responsive to careful population management, making it possible to call upon the species as a fallback resource in difficult times. Accordingly, just as humans call upon the birds in vulnerable moments, OES encodes notions of trust, care and interdependence into objects made from it.

In pursuit of innovation, firms increasingly rely on technological acquisitions to access diverse, non-redundant knowledge. However, the effectiveness of such acquisitions, especially those involving geographically distant targets, remains uncertain. Existing research typically treats the acquiring firm as a unitary actor, overlooking the internal geographic structure of corporate groups. Drawing on economic geography and network theory, this study examines how the geographic distance of both headquarters and R&D subsidiaries from the target affects post-acquisition innovation. Based on 346 domestic technological acquisitions by Chinese corporate groups, we find that the headquarters-target distance impedes innovation due to integration challenges, while the subsidiary-target distance promotes it by providing heterogeneous knowledge. Headquarters-target proximity further strengthens the positive effect of subsidiary-target distance, highlighting their complementary roles in the recombination of diverse knowledge. However, geographic dispersion within the corporate group negatively moderates both distance effects by increasing coordination burden and diminishing the marginal returns to knowledge diversity. These findings provide valuable insights into how corporate groups reconfigure their geographic R&D networks by technological acquisitions to leverage geographic distance.

This article examines the enduring connections between past and present in world history by analyzing recurrent social mechanisms and evolving practices that enact them. While sociology has traditionally emphasized discontinuities and social change, I argue that some foundational mechanisms persist across time and space, yet they appear under varying practices. Drawing from Charles Tilly’s framework of mechanisms and repertoires of practices, I identify six recurrent mechanisms in world-historical processes: threat attribution, group identification, subordination, affinity bridging, rebellion, and commodification. Then, I provide a broad historical narrative tracing their gradual emergence, beginning with threat attribution in early hominid evolution, group identification in the Upper Paleolithic, and subordination with the transition to agrarian civilizations. During the Axial Age, institutional entrepreneurs and their followers developed affinity bridging and rebellion, which emerged as a reaction to subordination, first manifesting through religious movements and later through secular political practices. I then combine these mechanisms to briefly discuss further historical processes, including the trajectories of Islam and Christianity, the European conquest of Hispanic America, the rise of modern society (where I discuss the intensification of commodification), and the evolving global order following World War II. This perspective views human history as structured by both continuity and change between the past and the present: while mechanisms persist and recur, they are enacted through historically specific and evolving repertoires of practices.

Gowers and Hatami initiated the inverse theory for the uniformity norms $U^k$ of matrix-valued functions on non-abelian groups by proving a 1%-inverse theorem for the $U^2$-norm and relating it to stability questions for almost representations. In this paper, we take a step toward an inverse theory for higher-order uniformity norms of matrix-valued functions on arbitrary groups by examining the 99% regime for the $U^k$-norm on perfect groups of bounded commutator width.

This analysis prompts a classification of Leibman’s quadratic maps between non-abelian groups. Our principal contribution is a complete description of these maps via an explicit universal construction. From this classification we deduce several applications: A full classification of quadratic maps on arbitrary abelian groups; a proof that no nontrivial polynomial maps of degree greater than one exist on perfect groups; stability results for approximate polynomial maps.

This article develops an evaluative framework for community-rooted justice systems through comparative analysis of South Africa’s Community Advice Offices (CAOs) and Bolivia’s constitutionally recognised Indigenous jurisdictions. Departing from courtroom-centric approaches that have dominated access-to-justice scholarship, the study employs socio-legal methodology synthesising ethnographic research, constitutional texts and institutional analyses. The examination reveals that both systems derive legitimacy from relational embeddedness rather than formal legal authority, resolve disputes holistically within social networks and navigate ongoing tensions between community autonomy and state regulation. From these practices, five evaluative dimensions emerge inductively: accessibility, responsiveness, legitimacy, empowerment and sustainability. The framework offers conceptual tools for assessing alternative justice mechanisms on their own terms, contributing to a shift from descriptive legal pluralism toward evaluative pluralism attentive to how communities themselves produce and experience justice.

Evidence suggests that trilobites experienced moderate diversification during the middle Permian, of which Pseudophillipsia Gemmellaro, 1892 is the most successful, with an unusually high number of species. However, it remains unclear whether their abundance reflects a stratigraphic trend or is specific to their habitat. To address this, we conducted a taxonomic study of Pseudophillipsia from the middle Permian (Capitanian) Kamiyasse Formation of the Southern Kitakami Terrane, Japan, and examined the burial processes to understand their habitat. Careful taxonomic analysis identified two species, Pseudophillipsia (Pseudophillipsia) spatulifera Kobayashi and Hamada, 1980 and Pseudophillipsia (Carniphillipsia) cf. Pseudophillipsia (Carniphillipsia) raggyorcakaensis Qian, 1981. The trilobites occur in both sandstone and mudstone, preserved as complete outstretched or enrolled specimens as well as disarticulated specimens, the majority of which are pygidia. Sedimentary facies indicate that the sandstone layer was formed in a shallow marine environment close to the lower shoreface, whereas the mudstone layer represents a slightly deeper environment, occasionally altered by storm flows. Based on biostratinomic features, the outstretched specimens with convex-up orientation must be autochthonous, whereas the enrolled specimens are interpreted as para-autochthonous, likely transported by storm flows. The greater the bioturbation, the greater the likelihood of the trilobite skeleton being disarticulated, particularly in mudstone layers. These findings suggest that Pseudophillipsia (Pseudophillipsia) spatulifera inhabited both sandy and muddy substrata, whereas Pseudophillipsia (Carniphillipsia) cf. Pseudophillipsia (Carniphillipsia) raggyorcakaensis was restricted to sandy environments. Given the limited geographic extent of the Kamiyasse Formation, we hypothesize that the appearance of Pseudophillipsia reflects a change in the sedimentary environment.

Longitudinal mental health assessments in mobile health (mHealth) settings are useful for monitoring subjects’ mental health statuses but are often difficult to analyze because they generally appear on an ordinal scale and at unequal time intervals. In this article, we explore the use of Gaussian processes (GPs) and hierarchical modeling techniques to understand mental health trajectories based on repeated multi-item mHealth surveys on a Likert scale. We introduce the GP model for health trajectories, which is based on item response theory. In the study of trajectories, a subject’s longitudinal collection of mHealth responses can be thought of as a single high-dimensional observation. We show how the GP is flexible enough to capture trends in individual trajectories even with the challenges associated with high-dimensional data. We also demonstrate how basis splines can be used to effectively capture nonlinear trends in the mean function of the GP. The high-dimension and ordinal nature of the data often make sampling from the posterior distribution in a Bayesian setting too slow to be practical. We show that using a Hilbert approximation for the GP trajectories can facilitate efficient sampling. We apply these methods to a longitudinal study that monitored college students’ self-esteem.

Similar to pipelines used in oil and gas development, telecommunications networks of cable, satellite, fibre optic and wireless infrastructure extend deep into Indigenous territories as a form of “extractivism” (Greer, 2019). These developments raise barriers to substantive reconciliation between settler states, corporations and Indigenous peoples. Yet despite important analyses of corporate policy discourses regarding how natural resource extraction impacts reconciliation, there are few studies of such rhetoric in the context of telecommunications. In this article we analyse publicly available “reconciliation” policies of four commercial telecommunications providers. Drawing from theories of reconciliation and extractivism, we find these policies strategically constrain symbolic and material understandings of reconciliation in ways that support the status quo and prioritize profit accumulation and symbolic partnerships over substantive reconciliation. Existing corporate reconciliation frameworks fail to recognize the desires of Indigenous peoples for self-determination over digital infrastructures in ways that might improve—and ideally, transform—their relationships with telecommunications providers.

The BJPsych Open thematic series is devoted to recent advances in the study of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in youth. Together, this body of work reveals new insights that, if replicated, could be translated into clinical practice, enhancing our abilities to understand and treat young people presenting with NSSI.

This article examines the wellbeing implications of activation policies, focussing on the lived experiences of long-term unemployed jobseekers with public employment services. Using a phenomenological approach and the theory of sustainable wellbeing as a framework, the article explores how activation services function as either need satisfiers or barriers across four wellbeing dimensions: having, loving, doing, and being. Drawing on twenty-four individual and four focus group interviews in the city of Espoo in Finland, the findings highlight the potential of group activities in enhancing wellbeing, particularly in the doing dimension through providing meaningful activity and fostering a sense of autonomy and capability. At best, providing meaningful activity could lead to improvements in the being dimension of wellbeing, such as improved self-image and functional ability, creating a self-reinforcing circle of wellbeing. However, to offer successful need satisfiers, group activities had to also support the loving dimension by offering experiences of social relatedness. Additionally, the interviewees’ lived experiences highlight conditionality as a need barrier, as jobseekers may prioritise maintaining basic material needs over engagement, fearing benefit loss. Ultimately, the article argues for a holistic approach to welfare policy design, considering the interplay of different wellbeing needs to create more inclusive support structures.

This article explores how asset confiscation and redistribution mechanisms can enhance the operational efficiency and accountability of Ukraine’s patrol police, with the Odesa region serving as a case study. Drawing on comparative insights from the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Canada, the research employs a mixed-methods approach combining legal, empirical, and statistical analysis (2019–2023). The findings indicate that, although patrol police performance and transparency have improved, the lack of a structured framework linking recovered criminal assets to local policing initiatives constrains long-term sustainability. Adapting international best practices, the study proposes legislative and institutional reforms to ensure that confiscated assets are transparently reinvested in patrol operations, officer training, and community safety programmes. The results contribute to ongoing discussions on aligning Ukraine’s asset recovery mechanisms with EU standards and strengthening public trust through accountable resource management.

A la caída de Teotihuacan, la ciudad no queda en total abandono; grupos culturales continuaron viviendo sobre las ruinas, reutilizando espacios y áreas a las que quizás, en algún momento, no les era permitido acceder. Hacia 600-650 dC comienza a prevalecer un nuevo complejo cerámico Coyotlatelco integrado por formas, diseños y estilos, y caracterizado por la decoración rojo sobre café. En el 800-850 dC el complejo cerámico Mazapa se encuentra en el área; sus formas y estilos (la decoración con líneas ondulantes y la olla blanco levantado cuyo origen se remonta a la región del Bajío) la hacen diferente. De 1390 dC a 1520 dC, el Complejo cerámico Azteca II, III tardío, IV y contacto está presente en Teotihuacan. Toda esta intensa actividad que se dio sobre la antigua urbe se ve reflejada en los túneles que se encuentran al este de la Pirámide del Sol. De 1987 a 1996, Linda R. Manzanilla lleva a cabo un proyecto interdisciplinario donde excava extensivamente cuatro túneles, y registra diferentes actividades al interior de ellos. Con el análisis detallado de la cerámica se pudieron identificar, ubicar cronológicamente y conformar los complejos cerámicos Coyotlatelco, Mazapa y Azteca en Teotihuacan.

Informed by institutional theories of microfoundations, this study elucidates how employment service caseworkers negotiated the configuration of welfare conditionality based on age, thereby establishing a microfoundation for policies aimed at extending job-seeking lives. Through conducting in-depth interviews with twenty-four frontline social workers and a context-mechanism-outcome analysis, the findings uncover how service providers incorporated age-specific considerations and redefined the meanings of work in later life. While organisational adjustments extended the service goals and mobilised extra resources, structural constraints forced caseworkers to adopt pragmatic attitudes towards workfare measures. Consequently, a ‘more-than-employment’ approach to older jobseekers was formulated concerned with age, relationship, and health. This research contributes to social policy studies by theorising welfare conditionality as a product of negotiated configuration that crafts the microfoundation of activation policies. Empirically, this study enriches the literature by linking extending job-seeking lives and older claimants to welfare conditionality within Hong Kong’s work-first model.

The article probes the analytical utility of the increasingly popular concept of ‘cognitive warfare’. It proceeds by reflecting writings associated with the concept’s mainstream meaning against selected insights from general strategic theory and affective science and finds cognitive warfare problematic in multiple aspects. From the perspective of general strategic theory, cognitive warfare misrepresents the nature of the challenge at hand, blurs the distinction between core aspects of strategic effort, and draws on questionable rather than sound strategic thought. From an affective science perspective, it relies on an increasingly outdated paradigm for explaining the human mind, provides little insight into how cognition shapes behaviour, and overlooks the beneficial roles of emotions in maintaining social cohesion. Integrating these perspectives, the article argues that information aggression is better understood as attempted subversion centred on specific emotions. The presented argument allows practitioners to better understand the nature of the challenges they face and to develop appropriate remedies, and academics to study the subject in a more focused manner.

In recent decades, theorists of disability rights have made the moral and legal case for supported decision-making. Whereas surrogate decision-making, the long upheld legal standard, looks to a third party to make a decision for a person deemed to lack the capacity to make that decision for themselves, support in decision-making empowers that person to make their own decisions. In this article, we argue for a significant shift in the norms governing enrollment in clinical trials. Rather than assume that support is only appropriate for individuals who cannot independently make sufficiently informed enrollment decisions, we propose “support in decision-making for all” when research protocols are beyond a certain risk threshold. Drawing inspiration from the universal design movement and feminist insights about autonomy, we argue that making support in decision-making the presumption has substantial expressive and practical benefits, and better empowers all potential research participants to make more informed, autonomous decisions.