This paper presents a review of new research carried out within the borders of modern Albania in the last 10 years. It offers a roughly geographical outline – albeit incomplete – of recent discoveries from prehistory to the Middle Ages and attempts to place them in the wider context of current research in the field. Beyond pointing the reader to newly published surveys, archaeological excavations, and bodies of materials, it aims at giving an overall picture of the type and range of available data, current trends, choice of methodologies and approaches, and possible lines of enquiry within a key region for the archaeology of the Balkans and the Mediterranean as a whole.

This Research Communication describes the frequency of occurrence of P. fluorescens, P. putida and P. aeruginosa in raw goat milk stored at 4 and 9°C, to evaluate the spoilage potential and capacity of these species and the presence of the aprX gene, responsible for the synthesis of metalloprotease aprX. Samples of raw goat milk stored at 4 and 9°C for 72 h were plated on Pseudomonas CFC agar base (25°C for 48 h). The presence of P. fluorescens, P. putida, P. aeruginosa and aprX gene were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. The isolates were evaluated for their proteolytic and lipolytic spoilage capacity and potential using milk agar (10%) and tributyrin agar base (1%), respectively (21°C for 72 h). A total of 184 strains of Pseudomonas spp. were obtained. At both temperatures, P. fluorescens was the most frequent, mostly proteolytic, and the only one to express high proteolytic and lipolytic potentials. Regardless of the temperature, all isolated strains of P. putida were lipoproteolytic, with a predominance of protease synthesis. Strains of P. aeruginosa (4,3%) were isolated occasionally (4.3% of total isolates) but only at 4°C, and 75% of these were lipoproteolytic. The storage temperature of raw goat milk influenced the frequency of P. aeruginosa, but not its spoilage potential. The presence of the aprX gene was verified in most strains isolated from all species at the two temperatures evaluated, although some of these strains did not express proteolytic capacity. Most isolates of Pseudomonas spp. showed lipoproteolytic capacity, which emphasizes the importance of ensuring low initial populations of this genus in raw chilled goat milk when it is used to produce dairy products.

Emil Boroghină founded the Shakespeare Festival in Craiova in 1994 with the longer-term intention of making it an international festival of significant, indeed world, standing. This article, written in honour of Boroghină and dedicated to him, offers an overview of the Festival’s programming and related details from its triennial period to its present biennial existence. It draws particular attention to Boroghină’s selected outstanding directors (‘great directors, great productions’, in his words, and the title of one of his editions) without, however, losing sight of the Festival’s varied theatre activities, especially in the celebratory year of 2024.

In this article I explore three ways of reflecting on faith in God's providence and correlative understandings of prayer. My study suggests a praxeological understanding of the doctrine of providence as tacit knowledge. First, I present the soteriological dialogical approach of Catherine of Siena, from her late medieval Dialogue on providence. Secondly, I analyse the quietist vitalist approach of the early modern English philosopher Anne Conway in her Principles of Philosophy. Thirdly, I reflect on the critical, non-interventionist approach of the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil. I conclude by discussing the interrelation between providence and prayer.

Given two vectors $\overrightarrow u= {({u_1},\,\,{u_2},\,{u_3})^t}$ and $\overrightarrow y= {({v_1},\,{v_2},\,{v_3})^t}$ in ${{\mathcal{R}}^3}$, the cross product $\overrightarrow u\times \overrightarrow v $is defined as follows (see [1] or [2]):

$$Algebraic{\rm{ }}definition{\rm{:}}\,\,\overrightarrow u\times \overrightarrow v \, = \,\left[ {\matrix{ {{u_2}{v_3}} \hfill &-\hfill & {{u_3}{v_2}} \hfill\cr{{u_3}{v_1}} \hfill &-\hfill & {{u_1}{v_3}} \hfill\cr{{u_1}{v_2}} \hfill &-\hfill & {{u_2}{v_1}} \hfill\cr} } \right].$$

With a history of over six hundred years, Kun Opera is one of the oldest types of opera still actively performed in China today. In some Kun Opera plays, the story is set in a garden, which becomes an important narrative motif. Such plays were frequently staged in gardens, usually for private gatherings. The twenty-first-century revival of this type of garden Kun Opera took place during a strong wave of cultural tourism, aligning cultural preservation with economic development. A prototypical example is Six Records of a Floating Life, which, since 2018, has been performed at Canglang Pavilion, one of the classical gardens of Suzhou. An inventive yet historically informed production of garden Kun Opera, Six Records of a Floating Life provides an immersive aesthetic and more broadly cultural experience, situating Kun Opera in the economic, cultural, and social context of contemporary life.