This article investigates the DDIS scandal in Denmark through the lens of Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, focusing on the performative dimensions of the case and its portrayal in the media. We explore how this scandal, situated in a Scandinavian high-trust context, contributes to broader debates on intelligence accountability – an area predominantly examined in Anglo-Saxon settings. Drawing on a qualitative document analysis of media coverage, we argue that the scandal, whether framed as an intelligence or political affair, reveals a breakdown in dramaturgical discipline among key actors, challenging public perceptions of legitimacy and control. However, this breakdown has not yet translated into significant changes in intelligence practices or societal norms regarding intelligence oversight. Reflecting on de Blic and Lemieux’s notion of scandals as tests of societal norms, we find that pre-existing norms of high trust in intelligence authorities remain largely unaffected. Instead, criticism was absorbed through a reframing of the scandal as a complex, political, and person-centred issue, with the primary implication being increased secrecy and political control rather than enhanced accountability.

We examine the response of the exchange rate to monetary policy shocks using structural vector autoregression (SVAR). The SVAR approach in this study differs from previous studies by incorporating uncertainty measures and employing shock-restricted identification constraints. Using structural shocks that are in accordance with the event and external variable constraints, we demonstrate that the US exchange rate appreciates immediately in response to contractionary monetary policy shocks, with the maximum appreciation occurring within one to two months. Our finding highlights the importance of allowing contemporaneous interaction between interest rate and exchange rate, as facilitated by the shock-restricted SVAR, and accounting for uncertainties to address the puzzle of the exchange rate response.

In the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMed) region, the transition to low-carbon power must be achieved while ensuring security of supply, affordability and development. Using the Just and Sustainable Energy Transition framework and a neo-institutional lens, we analysed 470 study–country–family observations (2000–2025) across 11 jurisdictions and 7 instrument families to create an institutional mechanism map. Three regularities stand out. Systems performance signals dominate in nine countries, primarily through time-differentiated pricing, settlement discipline and codified connection, queuing and curtailment rules. Financing and integration risks are often addressed together where auctions, revenue-support schemes, published access terms and standardised long-term contracts coexist with system rules. Equity-related signals arise where prosumer compensation and reconciliation rules influence participation and cost sharing at the retail margin. These patterns provide an interpretive basis for sequencing constraint-led reforms in SEMed power systems that target binding risks while respecting fiscal and distributional constraints.

Despite its vast human and natural resources, Nigeria continues to grapple with many socio-political and economic crises that have challenged the nation’s internal security and territorial integrity. These challenges underscore a significant deficit of social justice. Using phenomenological descriptive and analytical research design, this study explores the role of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in the pursuit of social justice in Nigeria. The study found that the church has risen to challenge the culture of social injustice in Nigeria, taking the lead and paving the way in the campaign of building “a nation where peace and justice shall reign”. The Anglican Church in Nigeria has played a significant role in promoting social justice through advocacy, education, and community development.

L’objectif de cet article est de reconstruire la critique deleuzienne de Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel en la réinscrivant dans la problématique rectrice de Différence et répétition : non pas celle de l’ontologie de la différence positive, mais celle du rapport entre la métaphysique de la différence et l’empirisme transcendantal. Gilles Deleuze critique Hegel au nom d’un nouveau sensualisme, d’un autre pluralisme et d’un anti-rationalisme (voire d’un néo-pragmatisme original). Ainsi, contre Hegel, Deleuze défend les droits de l’immédiat, l’extériorité des relations, et l’existence de pensées singulières créatrices de sens, qui se déploient à travers l’invention contingente de problématiques originales.

Iodine is a component of thyroid hormones and essential for neurological development. Objective: to evaluate the iodine nutritional status of pregnant women residing in Veneto and the possible role of thyroglobulin (Tg) as a proxy.

528 pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy were consecutively enrolled in this cross-sectional study, and were asked to provide an early-morning spot urine sample (for UI/Creat) and a blood sample (for thyroid function and Tg). They also completed a questionnaire. Infant anthropometric data at birth were obtained.

Median UI/Creat was 112.8 μg/g. 34.1% of women had a UI/Creat ≥150 μg/g. Iodized salt (IS) was used by 76.9% of women, iodine containing supplements (ICS) by 74.2%, and cow’s milk was regularly consumed by 46.0%. At multivariable analysis, regular cow’s milk consumption and ICS use were significant predictors of UI/Creat ≥150 μg/g (odds ratio (OR) 1.57, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06-2.32, and OR: 2.83, 95% CI: 1.66-4.82, respectively). The median Tg value was lower among the iodine-sufficient than among the iodine-deficient women (P = 0.005). At multiple linear regression analysis, Tg was among the factors associated with weight (β = -81.83, P <0.001) and length (β = -0.3, P <0.01) at birth, although weakly. Tg was a factor associated with pre-term delivery (OR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.20-1.92).

Regular use of cow’s milk and ICS were factors associated with UI/Creat ≥150 μg/g. Tg was associated with iodine status and pregnancy outcomes, although it had only a modest discriminative ability for sufficiency.

High-energy, sugar-rich diets are associated with obesity and pancreatic disorders. We investigated the effects of consumption of a high-fat and high-fructose diet (HFFrD) on gene expression related to insulin synthesis, inflammation, and apoptosis in pancreatic β-cells. Weaned Wistar rats were fed either a control diet (CD; 11% kcal from fat and 0% from fructose) or an HFFrD (48% kcal from fat and 33% from fructose) for 22 weeks; after a 6-hour fast, animals were euthanized. Body weight and total fat were recorded. Serum analyses included: glucose, insulin, triglycerides, malondialdehyde (MDA), TNFα, IL-6, IL-10, and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). Pancreatic islets were analyzed for gene expression linked to insulin synthesis, inflammation, and apoptosis. Pancreatic assessments included TUNEL assay and immunohistochemistry. HFFrD increased body weight, total fat, MDA, insulin, HOMA-IR, AGEs, triglycerides, and IL-6 concentrations in both sexes. Gene expression revealed sex-dependent differences: Glut2, Gck, Khk, Ins2 and the transcription factor Mafa were downregulated in males but upregulated in females. Pdx1 expression increased in females, whereas NeuroD1 increased in males. Pro-inflammatory markers (Il-1β, Il-6) increased in both sexes, whereas Il-10 decreased in males and increased in females. Bax/Bcl2 ratio decreased in males but increased in females; antioxidant and apoptotic markers Nrf2 and Casp3 increased in females. Endocannabinoid receptors (Cnr1, Cnr2) increased in both sexes. HFFrD altered the expression of genes involved in insulin synthesis, inflammation, and apoptosis in a sex-specific manner. Compared with males, females showed lower vulnerability, possibly because of adaptive responses in insulin synthesis signaling influenced by sex hormones.

Supported decision-making is rapidly gaining attention as an alternative to guardianship and other forms of surrogate decision-making for people with cognitive disabilities. This article provides an overview of the legal status of supported decision-making in the United States, with particular attention to how states are recognizing supported decision-making in different legal contexts. It then explores how the law of supported decision-making applies to clinical research. It explains that although federal research regulations and guidance do not explicitly address formal supported decision-making, individuals may use supported decision-making to make decisions about participating in clinical research and researchers may be required to allow such use under federal laws that protect against disability discrimination. It then concludes by considering legal barriers to greater use of supported decision-making and how these barriers might be overcome.

In the field of agroecology, on-farm experimentation often involves ‘co-design’ activities. This participatory openness exacerbates the challenges associated with the researcher’s stance and the use and goals of experimental approaches. To shed light on this situation and improve upon it, we conducted a reflective and comparative analysis of five agroecological projects involving co-design that were carried out by the co-authors. The aim was to identify and discuss how the use of co-design expanded and diversified the role of on-farm experimentation in scientific research. Three main themes arose from the analysis; each encompassed findings, lessons learned, and considerations to clarify the framework of collaborative on-farm experimentation. The first theme was related to the adaptable, contingent, and transdisciplinary nature of the examined projects. The projects followed a step-by-step design framework. The different phases of each project were completed using various methods and participation modalities, either sequentially or jointly. Farm fields and ponds were important places for social interactions and observations that fueled the ongoing processes of diagnosis, technique adaptation, and evaluation, and the development of shared assumptions and statements among academics and non-academics. The second theme addressed the different experimental approaches used and their relationships to scientific demonstration, depending on the objective of diagnosis and evaluation. We identified and conceptualized three approaches that were taken in the analyzed projects: practice-centered, ecosystem services-centered, and product-centered approaches. The third theme emphasized elements related to the transformative capacity of co-design activities with on-farm experimentation. It emphasized the influence of technical feasibility, expected gain, perceived risk, and the degree of systemic innovation required. Transformative capacity was associated with the conditions and development of the learning process, rather than the success of the innovative practices. This implies changes in farming practices that extend well beyond the project’s duration and are inadequately documented.

On March 25, 1994, the Boston Police Department executed a “no-knock” raid that ended in the death of Reverend Accelyne Williams, a seventy-five-year-old retired Black Caribbean minister. Acting on a faulty tip, a thirteen-member SWAT team stormed into the wrong Dorchester apartment, wrestled Williams to the ground, and triggered a fatal stress-induced heart attack. His death became a defining tragedy in Boston’s history of police violence and raised urgent questions about accountability. This article situates the Williams case within the broader history of Black Boston’s freedom struggle against police civil rights violations from the early twentieth century to the 1990s. Through a controlled case comparison of four major incidents, we analyze how moments of police brutality became catalysts for Black political mobilization, ministerial activism, and community resistance. The study addresses three central questions: How does the Williams case fit within the trajectory of Boston’s racial justice struggles? How do such incidents illuminate the city’s persistent racial inequality and segregation? And what can these histories teach us about the broader U.S. movement to “police the police”? Drawing on original archival research, we demonstrate that police abuses have consistently spurred waves of organized resistance in Boston, shaping both local and national debates on civil rights. We identify key historical breaks, continuities, and paradoxes in the struggle for accountability, showing how the demand to “police the police” has long been central to Black political life.