We construct a measure (fLMA) of the extent to which neighboring firms hire similar types of workers, based on the similarity between the labor profile of a firm and that of its locality. We show that a firm’s innovation is positively related to fLMA. The enhanced labor mobility induced by higher fLMA is an important channel for this positive relation. This relation is stronger when firms have increased outside job opportunities for employees, increased knowledge spillovers via coworkership, and more employee stock options. Innovation is higher when intellectual property ownership is with employers, not employees. This effect increases in fLMA.

This paper investigates the permanent effect on total factor productivity (TFP) of temporary shocks. We estimate a structural vector autoregression to test the predictions of endogenous growth models over the business cycle. According to theory, the stock of technological knowledge promotes its flow as researchers “stand on the shoulders of giants.” Therefore, if R&D investment is pro-cyclical—as data show and theory predicts—a recession leads to a temporary deviation of the R&D level from its trend, thus reducing new knowledge creation. The lost technological advancements cause the economy to follow a parallel but permanently lower growth path. Our findings align with the primary theoretical prediction. Quantitatively, the US economy forgoes approximately 1.3% in TFP following an increase in cyclical unemployment that peaks at 1 percentage point above the mean. The historical variance decomposition shows a strong positive effect during the boom of the late 1960s and strong negative effects around the Volcker disinflation period and the Great Recession. Finally, we estimate the effects on R&D of a TFP shock to differentiate between different explanations on how the R&D pro-cyclicality arises. Our results align with models where financial frictions or nominal rigidities drive it.

Drone technology and digital image analysis have enabled significant advances in precision agriculture, especially in site-specific treatment of weed escapes in crop fields. This study evaluated a pipeline for weed detection in multispectral drone imagery, along with site-specific herbicide application, using a remotely piloted aerial application system (RPAAS) targeting late-season weed escapes in rice with a selective postemergence rice herbicide, florpyrauxifen-benzyl. The efficacy of the RPAAS-based herbicide application with geocoordinates of weed escapes obtained manually or based on image analysis was compared with conventional backpack broadcast spray. The weed species targeted were barnyardgrass, Amazon sprangletop, yellow nutsedge, and hemp sesbania. A Python-based rice–weed detection model was developed using the canopy height model and spectral reflectance of weeds and rice plants. Results indicate that the accuracy of image-based detection for late-season weed escapes in rice was highest for hemp sesbania (95%), followed by Amazon sprangletop (87%) and yellow nutsedge (74%), with barnyardgrass showing the lowest accuracy at 62%. The study found that the backpack broadcast method had the highest efficacy in weed control, followed by the RPAAS method using manually obtained geocoordinates and those based on image analysis. Site-specific herbicide application using RPAAS resulted in a 45% reduction in herbicide compared to the broadcast backpack application. Moreover, the RPAAS site-specific application method for late-season treatment minimized the field area affected by herbicide injury and protected rice grain yields compared to the broadcast method. Overall, the utility of unmanned aerial sprayer–based detection and site-specific treatment of late-season weed escapes in rice has been demonstrated in this research, but further improvements in weed detection efficacy and the accuracy of targeting plants with RPAAS are necessary.

In the early 1970s, Christopher Stone and Peter Singer influentially rejected the anthropocentrism of liberalism, contending that animals and nature deserved moral and legal consideration independent of humans. This article historicizes the emergence of nonhuman personhood by showing how they and other writers attempted to dismantle liberalism’s anthropocentrism at a dynamic time in humanist politics. Writers asserted nonhuman personhood as a continuation of 1960s liberation movements, employing the narrative of a “natural” extension of rights and equality from marginalized humans to nonhumans. This determinism, however, obscured nonhumans’ specific inability to make political claims. Drawing on the incipient 1970s human rights movement, writers circumvented this problem of political agency by emphasizing nonhumans’ capacity to suffer. Suffering allowed humans to see themselves in nonhumans and thus recognize their personhood. This turn to empathetic identification as the driver of historical change inaugurated an anti-anthropocentric humanism that extended personhood beyond humanity but reinscribed a more fundamental distinction between those able and those unable to make political claims. Drawing on both 1960s challenges to humanism and 1970s humanist preoccupation with suffering, anti-anthropocentric humanism preserved the very limitations of liberal politics into a new definition of personhood that effaced political agency from both personhood and history.

Kongish Daily, a Facebook page promoting Kongish – a creative, critical, and colloquial form of Hong Kong English with Cantonese inflections – has attracted a following in social media over the past decade. It has also sparked interest among sociolinguists interested in (post-)multilingual developments in East Asia. This study is built on Hansen Edwards’s (2016) premise that Hong Kong English would gain wider acceptance in Hong Kong as the cultural identity of local language users shifted amidst sociocultural transformations. We first provide an overview of the Kongish phenomenon, followed by a qualitative study involving 30 active Kongish users from diverse age groups, genders and occupations. Through semi-structured interviews, we explore users’ perceptions of language and identity. Our findings support Hansen Edwards’s prediction regarding the strengthening of Hong Kongers’ cultural identification, while revealing an evolving, counter-stereotypical Hong Kong culture as well as an opinion divide on the future trajectory of Kongish.

Harm reduction is one of the most controversial and widely discussed approaches in public health and social policy, addressing a broad range of pressing societal issues, including drug addiction, sex work, alcohol and tobacco use, and homelessness. Surprisingly, however, harm reduction has received very little philosophical scrutiny. In this article, I aim to fill this gap. First, I provide a systematic analysis of the core features and normative commitments of harm reduction. Second, I propose a novel, relational egalitarian justification for harm reduction. I argue that the provision of harm reduction services is not solely or primarily a matter of mitigating the negative consequences associated with high-risk behaviours. Rather, most fundamentally, it is the appropriate response to the status of vulnerable individuals as equal members of society.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming nearly every domain of science, and scholarly publishing is no exception. From automated language editing to machine-assisted peer review and large-scale content analysis, AI tools are increasingly embedded in scientific writing and publishing. The response from the scientific community has ranged from cautious optimism to outright skepticism. This viewpoint aims to articulate an editorial perspective on the integration of AI into scientific writing and publishing, evaluating both the opportunities and tensions that arise, and offering principles for navigating the road ahead.

Words in Tagalog/Filipino can be either penult-prominent or ultima-prominent. Scholars have been divided on whether the language has stress, or only phonemic vowel length in penults and default phrase-final prominence. Using a corpus of Original Pilipino Music, we find that both prominent penults and prominent ultimas are set to longer notes and stronger beats, even in phrase-medial position. We further find that among pre-tonic syllables, those that would plausibly attract secondary stress are mostly set to longer notes and stronger beats. Text-setting does not faithfully reflect differences in phonetic cues between the two types of prominence, nor is it sensitive to presumed phonetic differences between high and low vowels. We conclude that songwriters’ text-setting decisions reflect phonological stress in Filipino, and that both penult-prominent and ultima-prominent words bear stress.

Grice’s foundational conversation model has inspired a range of influential developments, with various approaches to merging the maxims. This paper addresses unresolved controversies and circular dependencies that have fuelled assumptions of interdependence among the principles. It provides a revision of both Grice’s cooperative principle and the principles of truthfulness, relevance, informativeness and clarity, and extends them to include a principle of social conformity, which I collectively refer to as the TRICS-Principles. I demonstrate that the TRICS-Principles operate independently of each other at different levels and show the extent to which the other principles may function under the umbrella of a flouted principle of truthfulness. Furthermore, I distinguish the principle of social conformity from the concept of politeness, offering a nuanced perspective on their relationship. Finally, I provide new insights into factors influencing shifts in the prioritisation of the TRICS-Principles.

Acute infection with Toxoplasma gondii in pregnant people can lead to vertical transmission to the foetus and congenital toxoplasmosis. As part of risk assessment, the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis among pregnant people must be quantitatively elucidated. Herein, we investigated the risk of primary T. gondii infection during pregnancy in Japan, estimating the incidence of T. gondii infection among pregnant people as well as that of congenital toxoplasmosis. We used a compartment model that captured the infection dynamics in pregnant people, analysing prescription data for spiramycin in Japan, together with local serological testing results and the screening rate of primary T. gondii infection during pregnancy. The nationwide risk of T. gondii infection pregnant people in Japan was estimated to be 0.016% per month. Among prefectures investigated, the risk estimate was highest in Tokyo with 0.030% per month. Nationally, the number of T. gondii infections among pregnant people in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 was estimated to be 1507, 1440, and 1388 infections, respectively. The nationwide number of cases of congenital toxoplasmosis in each year was estimated at 613, 588, and 567 cases, respectively. Our study indicated that T. gondii infection continues to place a substantial burden on public health in Japan.

Recent academic contributions explore the integration of Digital Twins (DTs) within smart Product-Service System (sPSS). This integration aims to innovate business propositions, hardware and services. However, gaps persist in developing DT environments to support early-stage collaborative innovation for sPSS, and limited studies explore how real-time synchronized digital replicas enhance value co-creation in this area. This paper addresses this gap by presenting a framework and practical example of integrating value-driven decision support into early sPSS conceptual design. A case study on the development of the Smart Electric Vehicle (SEV) conducted with a global automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) demonstrates the framework’s efficacy. Through qualitative data analyses based on experimental validation in a case company, the DT proves effective in aiding decision makers in selecting value-adding configurations within specific scenarios. Furthermore, the DT serves as a visual decision-making tool, fostering collaboration across diverse teams within the automotive company. This collaboration facilitates value creation across practitioners with varied backgrounds, emphasizing the DT’s role in enhancing early-stage innovation and co-creation processes in the sPSS domain.

This article examines the social and political impacts of President Nayib Bukele’s 2023 opening of a megaprison in El Salvador by analyzing his government-funded international public relations campaign. We chronicle how the design of the prison, along with policies for arresting, detaining, and prosecuting Salvadorans for alleged gang-related crimes, offers a mirage of transparency that obstructs the visibility needed to protect the human rights of Salvadorans. Our analysis places empirical accounts of conditions in El Salvador in conversation with the largely Twitter/X-based public relations campaign announcing the new prison. We show how the campaign works to justify an alarming degradation of democratic principles and practices during the current régimen de excepción (state of exception). Bukele rationalizes an iron-fist-style approach to gang violence while simultaneously silencing political opposition and obfuscating the expanding scope of state human rights violations. We argue that the trade-offs being made in El Salvador between increased safety for some and human rights violations for others ultimately contribute to the corrosion of democracy. Moreover, we discuss how Bukele’s tough-on-crime populism simultaneously produces and exports an “authoritarian playbook” for wider regional democratic erosion in line with Bukele’s model.

In Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks with conviction on the need for and importance of community. King depicts American society and modern civilization as a great “world house” that is inhabited, inherited—and imperiled. Behind the metaphor of the world house is a prophetic vision and dream—the realization of what he called the “beloved community.” In this article, the author considers King’s beloved community ideal through a housing lens. Engaging with King’s metaphor, the author frames the beloved community as an apologetic for integrated community. The author views the metaphor of the world house as a significant means to expand understanding of beloved community, elevate housing as a moral-ethical concern, and engender radical structural solutions that can be realized through racial justice in the housing sector.

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on reactionary internationalism by linking it with scholarly discussions on civilisation and civilisationism, which have mostly been running in parallel trajectories. By doing so, it attempts to address the question of how the radical right, rooted in numerous particularisms, such as cultural, national, and religious, has managed to foster a global movement with an internationalist ideology that poses a significant challenge to the liberal international order. Through an analysis of the relevant literature and a case study of the Serbian radical right, this article tries to elucidate this question and bridge the gap between the two debates by demonstrating that civilisationism forms the core of reactionary internationalism, unifying the radical right from the West to the East. This article examines the Serbian case and its history of civilisational and geopolitical reactions as a possible paradigm for the contemporary radical right in general. Furthermore, it explores the role of Russian revisionism and war in Ukraine in shaping this civilisational discourse, specifically considering the narratives built around the Serbian foreign fighters’ network in Ukraine. An additional contribution of this article is that it provides a non-Western perspective on civilisation, religion, and nationalism.

La labor periodística de Francisco Castañeda reconoce antecedentes formales tanto con los espectadores de la prensa moral europea, como con ciertas estrategias de la prensa porteña. Sus colaboraciones en los periódicos de Antonio Valdés permiten identificar un proceso de intervención en lo público signado por la sátira y la ficción que se desarrolla de manera progresiva a lo largo de la década de 1810. Su actuación en la prensa alcanza su máxima expresión en el período entre 1820 y 1823, con una producción propia en la que se destaca el lugar central de la ficción como modo de comprender la realidad política, la sátira como herramienta pedagógica y el montaje de fragmentos como método de resignificación crítica tanto de los textos como de la realidad.

Brun’s constant is the summation of the reciprocals of all twin primes, given by

$$ \begin{align*}B=\sum_{p \in P_2}{\bigg( \frac{1}{p} + \frac{1}{p+2}\bigg)}.\end{align*} $$

While rigorous unconditional bounds on B are known, we present the first rigorous bound on Brun’s constant under the assumption of GRH, yielding $B < 2.1594$.

This article documents the legal and social history of “distress for rent” (also known as rent distraint) in early Republic New York, a legal tool that allowed landlords whose tenants were in arrears to seize tenants’ belongings and sell them to offset the cost of the unpaid rent. Rent distraint was a practice and topic around which New Yorkers contested ideological and practical conceptions of class, the rights of property, the role of law, and welfare. In 1811, New York City officials began tracking tenants in arrears of rent, creating a deep archive of documents that reveal the nuances of landlord-tenant relations and subsistence in this period. This article follows that paper trail, exploring distraint in this context as a legal remedy, as an experience with major impacts on individuals’ lives, and of efforts to reform the law and the lived experience of law. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, poor, middling, and wealthy New Yorkers were engaged in knowledge exchange around distraint and the social categories and experiences associated with it. Their stories document a materialist sensibility that crossed class lines and was attuned to the practical dimensions of working people’s living conditions.

There is a tendency in academia to expect humanities graduates to have an innate understanding of the significance of their educational training, even in the midst of a diminishing regard for their chosen subjects within educational policy and public discourse. This pedagogical reflection explores the experience of two tutors and eight students on a final-year module called “The Public Role of the Humanities.” Grounded in the pedagogical principle that the Liberal Arts offers interdisciplinary education for engaged citizenship, its remit is to explore the ways in which arts and humanities perspectives play a vital role in all walks of public life. The module is designed to help students understand how they can bring their educational training to bear not just on future careers but also on the kinds of paid jobs and volunteering roles in which they are already engaged. The students each create a podcast reflecting on this topic. In this article, we discuss the shared experience of thinking about the public humanities, including situations where issues and disagreements arose. We draw conclusions about how to move beyond defensive discourse about value and instead integrate interdisciplinary insights and approaches with daily living and working practices.