Previous studies show how religious affiliation and activity often facilitate the integration of migrants and their descendants, strengthens their sense of belonging, and increases their acceptance in the host society. However, the characteristics of immigrants who benefit from the church’s help in the integration process remain largely unknown. This article addresses this gap in the literature and analyzes the ways in which the Neo-Protestant Church supports Romanian migrants in their integration in the US. We use primary data from an online survey conducted in September-November 2021 and semi-structured interviews conducted in 2022 with Romanian immigrants in the US. The results indicate that the church provides extensive help to people who are involved in religious organizations or associations, and to those who frequently attend religious services.

Technology is of increasing importance for international cooperation, yet theory development in rationalist International Relations has not kept pace. I develop a theoretical framework for explaining cooperative outcomes in the international regulation of technology. I propose that uncertainty and the distribution of material capacities create a severe international collective action problem for novel technologies, which precludes robust cooperative outcomes and thus limits joint gains from the appropriation of technological benefits and from the mitigation of technological risks. While the severity of the collective action problem attenuates over time, in principle enabling greater ambition in cooperative outcomes, sociotechnical lock-in reduces the capacities and incentives of state actors to deviate from pre-existing rules. This leads to incremental change whereby rules harden over time but do not change significantly in terms of their regulatory substance. While early regulatory interventions are hampered by collective action problems, late interventions are constrained by lock-in. These temporal dynamics create a tendency towards systemic inefficiency in international technology regulation. I illustrate this argument using the cases of nuclear power and synthetic biology.

The growth of knowledge and research practices in any discipline is characterised by a trade-off between depth and breadth: we can either invest efforts to learn a little about many things, or learn a lot about few things. In parasitology, breadth of knowledge corresponds to research on biodiversity and taxonomy: the discovery and description of an increasing number of new species. In contrast, depth of knowledge comes from focused research on a few model species, about which we accumulate much detailed information. Breadth and depth of knowledge are equally important for progress in parasitology. In this essay, focusing on trematodes, I demonstrate that current research is rapidly broadening our knowledge (high rate of new trematode species being discovered) but not deepening that knowledge at a comparable rate. The use of model species, with caveats, appears to offer a promising avenue for deeper knowledge. I present a case study illustrating how it is possible to develop new model trematode species at low cost to increase the depth of our understanding in areas including host-parasite ecological dynamics, co-evolution, and responses to environmental and climatic changes. The take-home message serves as a call to action to parasitologists, emphasising the need to focus as much effort on depth of knowledge as we currently invest in breadth of knowledge.

Separate from their feelings of national pride, Americans may also feel proud of the state where they live. I explore the political consequences of these feelings of state pride. I propose that when people feel proud of the state they reside in, they are more willing to empower their state governments to take action to address state challenges. Using survey responses from a module of the 2020 Cooperative Election Study, I find that people who express greater pride in their state are more likely to advocate for state spending on social programs. Feelings of state pride are also associated with support for policy devolution and the belief that state governments should have more influence over policymaking within the federal system. State governments have incentives to try to cultivate feelings of state pride, as those who feel proud of their state are more willing to empower their state government to effect change.

We consider the relationship between the Mahler measure $M(f)$ of a polynomial f and its separation $\operatorname {sep}(f)$. Mahler [‘An inequality for the discriminant of a polynomial’, Michigan Math. J. 11 (1964), 257–262] proved that if $f(x) \in \mathbb {Z}[x]$ is separable of degree n, then $\operatorname {sep}(f) \gg _n M(f)^{-(n-1)}$. This spurred further investigations into the implicit constant involved in that relationship and led to questions about the optimal exponent on $M(f)$. However, there has been relatively little study concerning upper bounds on $\operatorname {sep}(f)$ in terms of $M(f)$. We prove that if $f(x) \in \mathbb {C}[x]$ has degree n, then $\operatorname {sep}(f) \ll n^{-1/2}M(f)^{1/(n-1)}$. Moreover, this bound is sharp up to the implied constant factor. We further investigate the constant factor under various additional assumptions on $f(x)$; for example, if it has only real roots.

This article is a tribute to Dieter Henrich, the outstanding German philosopher, who died in December 2022. It begins by reviewing his life, academic career and general approach to philosophy. It then tracks the development of his theory of subjectivity, beginning with his classic article of the 1960s on ‘Fichte’s Original Insight’. Subsequent sections of the article consider critiques of Henrich’s position by prominent contemporaries and his response to them, his defence of the possibility of a metaphysics grounded in modern subjectivity, and his philosophy of religion.

Medium to small petrels that mostly nest in burrows or crevices represent a large fraction of the world’s seabirds, yet their population trends are largely unknown. This lack of knowledge, which has implications for conservation planning, results mostly from methodological difficulties and from the approaches that have been used for their monitoring. Here, we present the surveying scheme created to monitor Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris borealis breeding numbers at their largest known colony, Selvagem Grande (Portugal). We defined 60 circular plots at fixed locations on this 2.45 km2 island and counted nests with eggs annually at the end of laying. Results show that the population increased at 1.45% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.72–2.01%) per year between 2009 and 2023. We estimate that the current population size is 38,830 pairs (95% quantile CIs = 34,373–43,713). To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first systematic information (using fully repeatable methods and providing CIs for the estimates) on population trends of Cory’s Shearwaters, one of the most abundant seabirds in the warm temperate and subtropical North Atlantic and one of the most studied petrels globally. Monitoring using the approach detailed here requires two days of work (by 2–3 persons) per year. Our results and simulations indicate that this is a powerful methodology, with narrow confidence limits for estimated trends and an ability to detect small population changes over short time spans. We suggest that more monitoring protocols similar to this one (with necessary site-specific adaptations, particularly for potential colony expansion where suitable habitat exists) should be developed and implemented in a range of colonies with crevice and burrowing nesting petrels to improve our knowledge on the population status of a broad fraction of the world’s seabirds.

Popular insurance models of judicial independence contend that electoral competition induces executives to establish or maintain independence as insurance against the risks associated with losing office. Existing accounts, however, focus only on variation in the likelihood of losing office, treating risks associated with losing as constant. This inattention to the model’s causal logic limits theoretical development and empirical conclusions. We model the demand for insurance rather than simply the likelihood of losing office, with empirical implications tested via instrumental variables. This paper offers a major development of the insurance account, with important implications for the study of judicial independence.

This article describes the results of the Progetto di ricerca di interesse nazionale (Research Project of National Interest [PRIN]) ‘Il brigantaggio rivisitato’ (‘“Brigantaggio” Revisited’), which investigated the practices and imagery of brigandage (and the fight against it) in modern and contemporary Italy from a Euro-Atlantic perspective. A large community of scholars, both within Italy and further afield, tackled numerous historiographical issues: forms of rural criminality in the modern age; the profile of the brigands (both male and female); their level of politicisation and relationship with the Legitimists and the Catholic Church; the reaction of the security forces and the unification movement; the evolving definition of the word ‘brigand’; the politics and military strategy of the post-unification anti-brigandry campaign; and the interaction between the local dimension and global view of banditry and irregular warfare. In-depth work was also conducted on the image of the bandits spread through visual and material culture by the media and on their performative consequences in different eras, through to their present-day reuse.

Changes in climate patterns have a significant impact on agricultural production. A comprehensive understanding of weather changes in arable farming is essential to ensure practical and effective strategies for farmers. Our research aimed to investigate how different fertilization interacts with environmental factors, examine their effects on wheat yield and varietal response over time, minimize nitrogen (N) fertilizer using alfalfa as a proceeding crop, and recommend an optimum N dose based on the latest weather conditions. A long-term experiment including 15 seasons (1961–2022) was studied, where a wheat crop followed alfalfa with different N applications. Our results indicated that the average temperature in the Caslav region has increased by 0.045°C per year, more significantly since 1987. Moreover, precipitation slightly decreased by 0.247 mm, but not significantly. The average November temperatures are gradually rising, positively affecting wheat grain yield. July precipitation negatively impacted grain yield only in years with extraordinary rainfall. Additionally, new wheat varieties (Contra, Mulan, Julie) yielded statistically more than the old variety (Slavia). Effectively managing nitrogen under various climate conditions is essential for promoting plant growth and reducing environmental N losses. The optimal N dosage was determined at 65 kg/ha N, resulting in an average yield of 9.1 t/ha following alfalfa as a preceding crop. Alfalfa reduces the need for N fertilization and contributes to sustainable conventional agriculture. Our findings will serve as a foundation for designing future climate change adaptation strategies to sustain wheat production.

In working towards meeting the rapidly rising demand for livestock products in the face of challenges such as climate change, limited forage land availability and inadequacies in water availability and quality, it is imperative to consider sustainability in farm or grazing land management and water resources conservation as well as biodiversity management and conservation, etc. Geophysics, GIS, remote sensing, etc., have been useful tools. Emerging technologies such as biotechnology, advanced sensor technologies, machine learning algorithms, internet of things, artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics, etc., are also being employed in agriculture and other aspects of human concerns. There are potentials for better utilization of these emerging technologies and more in livestock production and management. However, a limitation is that relevant knowledge and skills are still relatively inadequate, especially in developing countries; hence the need for this review, which is an enhancement of knowledge for research and improved productivity. Efforts should be made to advance in knowledge and skills acquisition so as to optimize this development for improved livestock production and management.

This contribution summarises the scientific discussions that developed during a one-year cycle of international and interdisciplinary seminars focusing on the relationship between migration and citizenship in Italy. We considered human mobilities in their relation to the politico-administrative institutions of the state and observed the latter's attempt to define and govern them. The relative marginality of the Italian case in the literature about state building, nation building and citizenship is an opportunity to examine these processes with fresh eyes. The first section is a critical analysis of the policies regulating access to Italian citizenship. The second examines the entanglement between external and internal migrations and how they are governed, considering various administrative borders and statuses such as Italian municipal residency. The third section addresses the role of different field actors (from street-level bureaucrats to legal practitioners and activists) in shaping or negotiating the borders of citizenship while implementing the law.

Prehistoric humans seem to have preferred inhabiting small river basins, which were closer in distance to most settlements compared to larger rivers. The Holocene landscape evolution is considered to have played a pivotal role in shaping the spatiotemporal patterns of these settlements. In this study, we conducted comprehensive research on the relationship between landscape evolution and settlement distribution within the Huangshui River basin, which is a representative small river in Central China with numerous early settlements, including a prehistoric city known as the Wangjinglou site (WJL). Using geoarchaeological investigations, optically stimulated luminescence dating, pollen analysis, and grain-size analysis, we analyzed the characteristics of the Holocene environment. The results indicate the presence of two distinct geomorphic systems, namely the red clay hills and the river valley. The red clay hills, formed in the Neogene, represent remnants of the Songshan piedmont alluvial fan that was eroded by rivers. There are three grades of terraces within the river valley. T3 is a strath terrace and formed around 8.0 ka. Both T2 and T1 are fill terraces, which were developed around 4.0 ka and during the historical period, respectively. The sedimentary features and pollen analysis indicate the existence of an ancient lake-swamp on the platform during 11.0–9.0 ka. This waterbody gradually shrank during 9.0–8.0 ka, and ultimately disappeared after 8.0 ka. Since then, the development of large-scale areas of water ceased on the higher geomorphic units. River floods also cannot reach the top of these high geomorphic units, where numerous prehistoric settlements are located, including the Xia–Shang cities of the WJL site. Our research demonstrates that landscape stability supported the long-term and sustainable development of ancient cultures and facilitated the establishment of the WJL ancient cities in the region.

Reducing nitrogen (N) fertilizer application is a sustainable practice in rice production. The effects of reducing N fertilizer input on grain yield and rice quality of early- and late-season dual-use rice (ELDR) in South China remain uncertain. Therefore, a short-term field trial was conducted with a high-yielding ELDR cultivar (Yuehesimiao, YHSM) and a low-yielding ELDR cultivar (Meixiangzhan 2, MXZ). The rice was cultivated with a 20% reduced N application rate (RN2), a 10% reduced rate (RN1) and the conventional N application rate (CN). In the early season, compared to CN, RN2 reduced the grain yield of YHSM and MXZ by an average of 16.1 and 6.6%, respectively, while RN1 lowered YHSM grain yield by 11.2% on average and had no effect on MXZ yield. In addition, RN2 decreased the milling and eating qualities of the two cultivars in the early season, while RN1 did not alter their milling, appearance or eating qualities. In the late season, neither RN2 nor RN1 affected grain yield or rice quality for both cultivars. Therefore, short-term reductions of 10 and 20% in N application could maintain grain yield and rice quality at current N fertilizer application rates in the late season. However, the early-season results only recommended a 10% reduced N fertilizer application rate for low-yielding ELDR cultivars to sustain grain yield and rice quality. The findings of this study can provide a theoretical basis for N management of ELDR in South China.

We show that for a Noetherian ring A that is I-adically complete for an ideal I, if $A/I$ admits a dualizing complex, so does A. This gives an alternative proof of the fact that a Noetherian complete local ring admits a dualizing complex. We discuss several consequences of this result. We also consider a generalization of the notion of dualizing complexes to infinite-dimensional rings and prove the results in this generality. In addition, we give an alternative proof of the fact that every excellent Henselian local ring admits a dualizing complex, using ultrapower.

For an integer $k \geq 2$, let $P_{n}^{(k)}$ be the k-generalised Pell sequence, which starts with $0, \ldots ,0,1$ (k terms), and each term thereafter is given by the recurrence $P_{n}^{(k)} = 2 P_{n-1}^{(k)} +P_{n-2}^{(k)} +\cdots +P_{n-k}^{(k)}$. We search for perfect powers, which are sums or differences of two k-generalised Pell numbers.