The evolution of the colour of Othello’s skin-tone is a surprisingly accurate cultural barometer of attitudes towards race in the eyes of scholars. A significant portion of the critical literature is focused upon the Moor’s complexion as one of the main variables within the play. Yet the fact that the script has itself become a variable, and not a constant, has been neglected. This text’s transformation can be traced alongside the ratification of racial laws. In Jacobean England, Antebellum American, and Imperial Germany, audiences respectively experienced Othello committing divergent crimes, ranging from murder-suicide, to marriage, to simply existing. These countries’ racial legislation coloured the various audience interpretations of the Moor. While Othello’s actions were always the same, the public projected their own attributed meanings onto the play – a practice analogous to a living Rorschach test. This article explores the concept of using a metaphorical Rorschach test as a tool for the historicization of the many colours of Othello.

We emphasise the existence of two distinct neurophysiological subtypes in schizophrenia, characterised by different sites of initial grey matter loss. We review evidence for potential neuromolecular mechanisms underlying these subtypes, proposing a biologically based disease classification approach to unify macro- and micro-scale neural abnormalities of schizophrenia.

We introduce the notions of quasi-Laurent and Laurent families of simple modules over quiver Hecke algebras of arbitrary symmetrizable types. We prove that such a family plays a similar role of a cluster in quantum cluster algebra theory and exhibits a quantum Laurent positivity phenomenon similar to the basis of the quantum unipotent coordinate ring $\mathcal {A}_q(\mathfrak {n}(w))$, coming from the categorification. Then we show that the families of simple modules categorifying Geiß–Leclerc–Schröer (GLS) clusters are Laurent families by using the Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt (PBW) decomposition vector of a simple module $X$ and categorical interpretation of (co)degree of $[X]$. As applications of such $\mathbb {Z}\mspace {1mu}$-vectors, we define several skew-symmetric pairings on arbitrary pairs of simple modules, and investigate the relationships among the pairings and $\Lambda$-invariants of $R$-matrices in the quiver Hecke algebra theory.

The paper analyses the potential impact on monetary policy transmission stemming from the adoption of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Bank funding conditions and potential profitability effects are the main channels through which CBDC could have a bearing on monetary policy transmission via banks. As is the case for banknotes, the central bank balance sheet identity operates in effect as an aggregate consistency restriction that prevents CBDC from creating funding scarcity for the banking system as a whole. However, without policy neutralising actions, the new resulting bank funding mix might be less favourable for banks, thus potentially leading to suboptimal outcomes from a monetary policy perspective, such as restrictions in credit supply. Analysing the transmission channels through which banks obtain the necessary reserves suggests that a CBDC could have a material impact on bank lending conditions only if some relevant frictions, such as collateral constraints or liquidity shortages, materialise. Adverse funding conditions, such as those arising from lower bank liquidity or difficulty to access central bank funding or to tap the bond market, further paired with a large demand for CBDC, could affect bank lending conditions and the transmission of monetary policy. Importantly, even in this case, careful design, and implementation, as well as attentive communication can limit an unwarranted tightening coming from funding and liquidity tensions due to the rollout of CBDC. In addition, the central bank could take specific action to prevent or neutralise unwarranted impacts in order to maintain its desired monetary policy stance. In the longer term, a digital euro could support the digitalisation of the euro area banking sector, levelling the playing field for banks more exposed to competition from new players like big tech firms.

For the first time in the Indian subcontinent, a series of royal burials with chariots have been recovered from the Chalcolithic period at the archaeological site Sinauli (29°8′28″N; 77°13′1″E), Baghpat district, western Uttar Pradesh, India. Eight burials were excavated from the site; among them a royal burial with copper decorated legged coffin (lid with a series of anthropomorphic figures) and headgear has also been recovered. Among these remarkable discoveries, three full-sized chariots made of wood and copper, and a sword with a wooden hilt, made this site unique at historical ground. These cultural findings signify that the ancients from this place were involved in warfare. All these recovered exclusive antiquities also proved the sophistication and the high degree of craftsmanship of the artisans. According to the 14C radiocarbon dating and recovered material culture, the site date back to 4000 yr BP (∼2000 BCE) and is thought to belong to Ochre-Coloured Pottery (OCP)/Copper Hoard culture. This culture was believed to develop in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab and was contemporary to the late phase of the Indus civilization. Altogether, the findings indicate that the time period of this culture is plausibly contemporary to Late Indus, Mesopotamian and Greece civilizations.

In 1926, an official delegation of prominent Muslim scholars from the Soviet Union visited Mecca. The delegation came to the holy city just a few months after the Soviet Union had become the first country to recognize the rule of ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ʿAbd al-Rahman al Saʿud (1875–1936; Ibn Saʿud) over the Hijaz. The delegation’s members attended an international Muslim congress, met with Saudi officials, and performed the hajj. Before departing they issued a statement supporting Saudi sovereignty, noting that Ibn Saʿud had “purified the [Islamic] holy lands” from the rule of the Hashemite dynasty (r. 1916–24), the Saudis’ predecessors. The Saudi state warmly welcomed this Soviet support, publishing the delegation’s statement in Umm al-Qura (est. 1924), their official weekly.1

This article investigates two recent modern kunqu productions, Dang Nian Mei Lang [The Young Mei Lanfang] and Qu Qiubai (its title is the name of its protagonist), both produced by Jiangsu Kunqu Theatre House. Despite the obstacles faced by kunqu during its process of modernization, these two productions have accomplished a number of aesthetic breakthroughs: a unique form of fictional realism on the stage; its implicit use of conventionalization (that is, conventional, classical kunqu modes and their attendant aesthetic outlook); and the incorporation of recognizably up-to-date modern elements (‘fashion’) in the stage work. Meanwhile, these impressive aesthetic innovations signal, as well as facilitate, kunqu’s re-entry into the landscape of contemporary Chinese theatre as a forceful agent of cultural intervention.