Serena Williams splayed on a throne for Sports Illustrated, Ashley Harkleroad bending over on Playboy, and Anna Kournikova gazing sultrily on Penthouse, Maxim, and FHM—these are just a few examples of women tennis players showing copious amounts of glistening skin on newsstands since the early 2000s. Since the emergence of the Virginia Slims Tour and its provocative slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” in 1970, it has been clear that sex and women’s tennis are a tight match. But the shared cultural history of sex and tennis precedes the 1970s and the Sexual Revolution. Focused on the period of 1874 to 1960, this article, a prehistory, follows the progression of the intimate and sexy imagery of women tennis players by examining everyday objects and occurrences—parties, paintings, postcards, photography, news and lifestyle magazine covers, pin-up art, film art, victory celebrations, exhibition tours, and panties—to reveal the sometimes shocking yet common and open ways in which women’s participation in tennis was sexualized. Women tennis players carried out their careers in a culture whose paradoxical exaltation and sexualization of their sport brought visibility and opportunities unheard of for women in less expensive and contact sports. Whether embracing, accepting, or recoiling at the situation, all navigated sexualized events, innuendos, and expectations. Part of “the golden age of American sports,” World War II, Wimbledon, and the battle over civil rights, this history casts light and shadow on tennis’s reputation and status as a space of sophistication and liberation for women.

Long-term unemployment (LTU) is a challenge for both jobseekers and public employment services. Statistical profiling tools are increasingly used to predict LTU risk. Some profiling tools are opaque, black-box machine learning (ML) models, which raise issues of transparency and fairness. The present paper investigates whether interpretable models could serve as an alternative, using administrative data from Switzerland. Traditional statistical, interpretable, and black-box models are compared in terms of predictive performance, interpretability, and fairness. It is shown that explainable boosting machines, a recent interpretable model, perform nearly as well as the best black-box models. It is also shown how model sparsity, feature smoothing, and fairness mitigation can enhance transparency and fairness with only minor losses in performance. These findings suggest that interpretable profiling provides an accountable and trustworthy alternative to black-box models without compromising performance.

This article examines Japan’s contemporary commercial whaling industry through the lens of “demand for demand,” i.e., efforts to 1) stimulate whale product consumption and 2) preserve the domestic industry, via public subsidy if necessary. Focusing on Shimonoseki, Japan’s principal pelagic whaling port, it analyzes strategies aimed at overcoming intergenerational whale meat consumption differences, particularly via the city’s public school lunch program. The article speculates that whale consumption is unlikely to recover and proposes a novel theoretical model for future research on the subject. I suggest that Japan has undergone an irreversible social regime shift away from whale-eating norms.

This research proposes a systematic method for design ideation with large language models (LLMs), grounded in the design operation model inspired by Christopher Alexander’s pattern language (PL). Design operation refers here to a tree of thought for the step-by-step definition of the design context behind a design problem, the functional requirements, the physical attributes of alternative solutions and the generation of design alternatives that synthesize those attributes. To examine how the design operation improves LLM performance for design ideation, we implemented an architectural design ideation case study and compared four prompt methods for generating design alternatives. The four prompt methods are designed with and without the design operation and the PL. Respective prompts generated 100 design alternatives which were evaluated both by human experts and through computational diversity metrics. The results showed that prompts using the PL tend to generate design alternatives whose creativity is highly rated by humans, but are strongly influenced by the given knowledge and lack diversity, whereas prompts incorporating the design operation have the potential to enhance validity and feasibility and attribute diversity.

When doing politics online, representatives are increasingly subject to insults, threats, and offensive comments. But in what ways is citizen–elite toxicity a challenge for political equality? Bridging research in communication research and gendered political violence, we theorize that inequality in politicians’ exposure and reaction to online toxicity can arise from their identity, role, or online behavior. Analyzing a full sample of Twitter conversations between citizens and candidates (N = 875,028) during the 2021 German national election, we estimate how candidates’ identity, role, and online behavior correlate with the frequency, form, and consequences of toxicity that they are exposed to. We find most support for our behavioral hypotheses, indicating that citizen–elite communications often function as counter-speech: right-wing parties’ candidates and those who tweet toxically themselves receive more toxic replies, and doing so reduces their tweet activity in the following days. Although the frequency and consequences of toxicity do not vary by candidates’ role and identity, we show that the form of attack does: Frontbencher candidates are more often personally insulted, whereas candidates from marginalized groups and culturally left-wing parties more often receive attacks directed at their party or policy propositions. In sum, this article reveals a complex and nuanced picture of how citizen–elite toxicity affects political equality online.

With the collapse of the regime in Syria in late 2024 and the end of a brutal civil war, Syrian higher education faces a series of challenges as it adjusts to a post-authoritarian, but Islamist, government. Institutions of higher education were significantly degraded during the war and universities became sites of resistance, surveillance, torture, and violence. This article assesses the Middle East Studies Association’s failure to adequately engage with Syrian higher education during this period and argues for a renewed effort to build connections and engage in professional dialog with counterparts in the country. At the same time, it highlights renewed threats to academic freedom and new problems including heightened sectarianization, creeping gender apartheid, and unclear legal guidance for higher education. It concludes with specific proposals including the development of Arabic-language resources on academic freedom and the expression of solidarity with the Syrian people as they rebuild their country.

Seasonal variation in temperature and precipitation affects food availability for organisms. Tropical bats are trophically diverse, representing many feeding guilds, and can represent about half of mammalian diversity in tropical areas. Stable isotope analysis of nitrogen (δ15N) in animal tissues permits inference on phenology of diet and trophic level through repeated sampling of a single tissue over time or by simultaneous sampling of multiple tissues that vary in isotopic turnover rate. The goal of our study was to use multi-tissue stable isotope analysis to investigate the phenology of diet (i.e., trophic-level switching) in bats. We sampled tissues of museum specimens from five tropical bat species representing different trophic guilds (insectivores, frugivores) and movement capacities (wide-ranging, narrow-ranging). We measured δ15N in three metabolically latent (hair, skin, bone) and four active (heart, kidney, spleen, liver) tissues and generated mathematical model predictions of expected δ15N values of these tissues based on their foraging guild. Specifically, we predicted that species with more sedentary movement patterns (i.e., narrow-ranging species) would have high among-tissue variation in δ15N and species that move further and more often (i.e., wide-ranging) would have less δ15N variation among tissues. Our results supported our predictions and suggest that the phenology of diet is detectable by multi-tissue isotope analysis using δ15N.

This study investigates how structured co-design approaches foster team mental models (TMMs) sharedness in interdisciplinary design teams engaged in information visualization projects. Interdisciplinary collaboration faces challenges including communication barriers, diverse domains and complex informational environments that hinder shared understanding and cohesion. Drawing from literature on team mental models, team cognition and co-design practices, the study formulates four research questions related to specific interventions, integrative activities, evocative artifacts, framing guides and guided reflexivity. An exploratory mixed-methods approach involved two design teams through brainsketching workshops, with one experiencing structured co-design interventions and an unfacilitated group without interventions. Data analysis integrated qualitative verbal protocol coding with quantitative transition matrices to capture sequential interaction patterns. Chi-square analysis revealed distinct behavioral patterns, with the intervention group exhibiting richer communicative sequences. Findings reveal that integrative activities enhanced early team integration and supported divergent thinking. Evocative artifacts facilitated semantic alignment and novel idea development, while framing guides helped establish adaptive decision-making. Guided reflexivity encouraged procedural strategies around complex problem spaces. The unfacilitated group experienced difficulties, particularly in task framing and reflection processes. This research contributes a procedural framework mapping verbal activity types to team cognition stages, offering approaches for fostering TMMs in interdisciplinary design contexts.

Spatial risk models for Lassa fever (LF) generally predict the primary reservoir, Mastomys natalensis, is restricted to rural landscapes. This study integrates multispecies biotic interactions and anthropogenic land-use into a high-resolution framework to evaluate LF’s urban potential. I implemented an integrated multispecies occupancy model to reconstruct the reservoir’s realized niche, accounting for sampling bias and invasive rodent competitors. A socio-economic filter, proxied by night-time lights, was introduced to model the dampening effect of urban infrastructure on spillover. Annual infections were estimated using a demographic compartmental model incorporating empirical seroreversion rates. Results indicate high biological hazard across the peri-urban fringes of major West African cities. However, an infrastructure-driven socio-economic shield decouples this hazard from human incidence in dense urban cores. Accounting for spatial shielding and antibody waning yields an estimated 2.6 million annual Lassa virus infections. Comparing predictions to clinical data reveals substantial surveillance gaps, identifying highly suitable silent districts in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with zero reported cases. LF possesses the biological potential to become a peri-urban disease; addressing these surveillance gaps at the peri-urban interface is a critical public health priority.

Framed within Social Interdependence Theory, this study investigated how learner factors (interaction mindsets and task perceptions) relate to learner engagement, task completion, and lexical learning. One hundred and five L2 learners of English completed an interaction-mindsets questionnaire and a lexical pre-test, performed two interactive tasks (i.e., collaborative spatial planning task vs. asymmetric visual comparison task), completed an engagement questionnaire, and participated in a post-test and a debriefing. Learner interactions were coded for engagement (semantically engaged talk, responsiveness, LREs), while survey and interview data were analyzed using inferential statistics and thematic analysis. Our results showed that interaction mindsets predicted various dimensions of engagement (i.e., cognitive, social, and emotional) and lexical learning. Most learners viewed tasks positively despite their differing foci. Follow-up tests revealed the impact of task type on engagement, which in turn predicted task completion. The results evidence links between learner factors, engagement, and learning outcomes, which highlights the need to foster positive interaction mindsets and task perceptions to enhance engagement and learning.

A quality improvement project was implemented across a large primary care network to decrease antibiotic use and improve guideline-concordant therapy for acute sinusitis. The multifaceted intervention included education, EHR decision support, and individual prescriber feedback with peer comparison. The program was associated with improvements in guideline-concordant prescribing.

Several groups in democratic polities are legally excluded from voting. Are they thus also excluded from democratic representation? In this article, we focus on the political inclusion of underage youth and migrants. We theorize that proxy representation of their interests might occur through two mechanisms: mechanical or solidarity representation. Drawing on parallel citizen and politician surveys in 14 countries (N citizens = 27,465; N national politicians = 1,185), we find that both groups have some preferences that are not automatically matched by either the general electorate or politicians. While underage youth’s preferences are at least matched by young voters (aged 18 to 25 years), this is not the case for migrant non-voters. Second, we show that citizens and politicians largely consider youth, children, and future generations – but not migrants – to deserve political representation equal to that of adult citizens. In sum, our evidence suggests proxy representation is a weak alternative to enfranchisement, especially for the migrant population.

This study investigates the relationship between trauma and caregiver depression in Haiti, a country burdened by ongoing political unrest, natural disasters, and economic hardship. A preponderance of evidence shows the substantial impact of caregiver mental health on child development and intergenerational vulnerability. This cross-sectional analysis examined data from the Grandi Byen randomized controlled trial, including 480 caregiver-infant dyads in Cap-Haitien. Depression risk was assessed using the Zanmi Lasante Depression Symptom Inventory (ZLDSI), and trauma exposure was measured with a survey adapted from the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5). Negative binomial and ordinal logistic regression models assessed the relationship between caregiver trauma and depression, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions. The analysis revealed that trauma exposure was significantly associated with higher odds of depression risk (OR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.001, 1.193). Household composition was identified as a protective factor for depression (OR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.664, 0.910). Trauma exposure was significantly associated with caregiver depression in Haiti, likely exacerbating the mental health challenges faced by caregivers in the context of political, economic and environmental stressors. Given the limited mental health data available in Haiti, this study provides essential insights into the trauma and challenges Haitians experience amidst ongoing crises.