This article examines the position of the Slovak minority in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during the Second World War, focusing on the tension between official discourses of interstate friendship and local experiences of insecurity. Drawing on extensive archival sources, including diplomatic correspondence and administrative and security reports, it shows how ethnic Slovaks were formally portrayed as members of a friendly nation while remaining exposed to administrative exclusion, stigmatization, and violence in peripheral regions. Inspired by selected insights from Brubaker, Wimmer, and Kalyvas — used as heuristic points of reference rather than deductive frameworks — the article conceptualizes this ambivalent position as that of a “frenemy” minority: symbolically included yet structurally marginalized. It argues that the deterioration of the Slovak community’s security from 1942 onward resulted from an uncoordinated syncretism of centrally implemented policies of ethnic exclusion and processes of state degradation, manifested in fragmented authority and the brutalization of local actors. By highlighting the gap between declared friendship and practical neglect, the article contributes to debates on minority governance under fascist rule and on the effects of weak state capacity and localized violence in wartime authoritarian contexts.

For an $\omega $-categorical theory T and model $\mathcal {M}$ of T we define a hierarchy of ranks, the n-ranks for $n < \omega $ which only care about imaginary elements “up to level n,” where level n contains every element of M and every imaginary element that is an equivalence class of an $\emptyset $-definable equivalence relation on n-tuples of elements from M. Using the n-rank we define the notion of n-independence. For all $n < \omega $, the n-independence relation restricted to $M_n$ has all properties of an independence relation according to Kim and Pillay [17] with the possible exception of the symmetry property. We prove that, given any $n < \omega $, if $\mathcal {M} \models T$ and the algebraic closure in $\mathcal {M}^{\text {eq}}$ restricted to imaginary elements “up to level n” which have n-rank 1 (over some set of parameters) satisfies the exchange property, then n-independence is symmetric and hence an independence relation when restricted to $M_n$. Then we show that if n-independence is symmetric for all $n < \omega $, then T is rosy. An application of this is that if T has geometric elimination of imaginaries and the algebraic closure in $\mathcal {M}$ restricted to elements of M of 0-rank 1 (over some set of parameters from $M^{\text {eq}}$) satisfies the exchange property, then T is superrosy with finite $U^{{{\unicode{x00FE}} }}$-rank.

As drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used in different scenarios, a variety of potential risks and safety challenges have arisen. One of the threats is that an increasing number of UAV encounter events are found near the airport in recent years, which pose significant dangers to manned aircraft and result in accidents. However, only a few studies examine the impacts of these events and propose effective countermeasures to enhance safety. To unveil the risks of UAV risk events (incidents or accidents) and examine the mechanism with risk factors, this study uses a tree-augmented naive Bayes network (TAN-BN). This method analyses the relationships among risk factors and UAV accidents/incidents to assess the efficacy of risk mitigation measures. Environmental, technological and human factors are simultaneously considered in constructing the Bayesian network. The analysis results reveal 12 specific risk factors that are significantly associated with UAV accidents/incidents in UAV operation scenarios, among which flight control system failure (the most critical factor), remote communication failure, other aircraft approaching, loss of electrical power, adverse weather, electromagnetic interference, operational errors, violations and risk factors leading to loss-of-control in flight are recognised as the most prominent factors. Based on these, five targeted risk mitigation measures are comprehensively implemented and evaluated. Moreover, a case study using UAV operation data near the Guanghan airport is introduced to justify the generalisability of the proposed TAN-BN model and the effectiveness of risk mitigation measures.

Policing has become a popular topic of inquiry in social science literature, but much of this attention has been confined to traditional forms of policing, focusing on state and municipal police departments or, in the case of schools, have focused on disciplinary policies. In seeking to expand the contours of what the scholarly community defines as police, we focus our attention on the origins of K-12 school policing. Specifically, using a multi-modal historical approach, we provide a history of when and why police were stationed in schools in cities throughout the United States. Focusing on the sequencing of events, we show that when the dominant White status quo is challenged by the movement of Black people into formerly White dominated areas and demands are made for education equity from those groups, the state responds by bolstering fears of violence from Black youth and implementing punitive state structures in the form of placing police officers in schools.

Selenium (Se) is a crucial element involved in various physiological processes and is essential for maintaining an active endogenous anti-oxidant system. This study aimed to examine the effects of different Se concentrations on oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, and immunity in juvenile Sobaity seabream (Sparidentex hasta). Juvenile S. hasta, averaging 14.6 ± 1.7 cm in length and 87.4 ± 5.6 g in weight, were exposed to waterborne Se concentrations from 0 (control group) to 400 µg L−1 for 2 and 4 weeks. Concentrations of 320 and 400 µg L−1 were considered for the toxicity threshold test. Results indicated a significant increase in superoxide dismutase and glutathione S-transferase activity in the liver and gills following exposure. Additionally, the highest Se levels led to a notable rise in glutathione in both tissues. Catalase activity varied across different fish organs, with the liver showing the highest levels. Neurotoxicity assessments revealed that Se exposure decreased acetylcholinesterase activity in muscle and brain tissues. Moreover, high Se concentrations significantly boosted plasma and kidney lysozyme activity, indicating enhanced non-specific immune responses, although they also reduced peroxidase and anti-protease activities. These changes serve as effective indicators for evaluating Se toxicity in aquatic ecosystems.

After more than 30 years of developer-led archaeology, the concept of ‘pacification’, the standard model of the invasion period in south-eastern Britain since the mid-twentieth century, can be reconsidered. The following is not about forts as such; it is about quality of evidence. It reviews proposed early forts south-east of the Fosse Way and concludes that few are genuine; some alternative functions are put forward. A broader explanation for the absence of early forts is offered in the context of friendly kingdoms: prior to the Claudian invasion, treaties may have been put in place between Rome and the polities of Verlamion and Silchester, which created a buffer zone to ensure the invasion’s success.

Contemporary just war theory is increasingly remote from the grounded realities of warfare. This is problematic because it diminishes the utility of just war theory as an action-guiding framework. This article asks how just war theorists can better incorporate the lived experience of war into their analysis. The argument it develops places war writing front and center. Drawing inspiration from Martha Nussbaum’s argument that moral philosophers should use the literary works of writers such as Henry James to fill out and work through their own positions, it proposes that just war theorists should engage war memoirs in a similar manner. This argument is substantiated via a close reading of Frank Richards’s World War I memoir, Old Soldiers Never Die. By incorporating experience into their ethical frame, this article concludes, just war theorists will be better able to account for the ambiguity and messiness of combat—ambiguity and messiness that simply fall out of the frame when the ethical questions that war generates are examined from a detached perspective.