The content of Kant’s Enlightenment text has received much critical reception, but the very stance Kant takes as its author has been largely ignored. Similarly, there has been much critical discussion of Horkheimer and Adorno’s “Dialectic of Enlightenment” in terms of the theses they (purportedly) endorse, while their authorial voice has mostly received either no attention or been criticised as problematically rhetorical. In this paper, I take a different approach, focusing on the two respective writerly stances. I suggest that Kant’s text harbours an implicit epistemic authoritarianism, in contrast to the self-therapeutic stance Adorno and Horkheimer’s text exemplifies.

AI’s growing role in finance challenges traditional expectations of transparency and theoretical understanding. While machine learning (ML) models enhance financial decision-making, they remain largely agnostic to established financial theories, producing knowledge and ignorance in ways that differ from traditional models like VaR, DCF, and Black-Scholes. This essay explores the decoupling of AI models from theoretical financial knowledge and the resulting forms of ignorance. Using 22 semi-structured interviews, we investigate how ML models generate epistemic uncertainties. We focus on causal ignorance: AI systems, including those supported by XAI, fail to provide genuine causal explanations. Because understanding causation is inherently theoretical, AI-driven finance remains theory-agnostic and marked by theoretical ignorance. We explore how this ignorance differs from that of traditional models and what it implies for the role of theory in finance. Finally, we present three possible scenarios for the future of theory in finance and outline directions for further research.

Motivated by recent breathtaking progress in the synthetic study of Lorentzian geometry, we investigate the local concavity of time separation functions on Finsler spacetimes as a Lorentzian counterpart to Busemann’s convexity in metric geometry. We show that a Berwald spacetime is locally concave if and only if its flag curvature is nonnegative in timelike directions. We also give another characterization of nonnegative flag curvature by the convexity of future (or past) capsules, inspired by Kristály–Kozma’s result in the positive definite case. These characterizations are new even for Lorentzian manifolds.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has described the UK economy as being in its worst state since 1945. Unlike the Labour Government of 1945, Reeves has rejected Beveridge-style public investment, in part because of claims of public support for fiscal restraint. We report findings of innovative, iterative mixed-methods survey (1) n = 693; 2) n = 10; 3) n = 2200) analysis of a programme for progressive tax reform designed to achieve comparable post-war outcomes conducted between November 2023 and January 2024 of adult UK residents. We analyse the findings of survey 3 to assess public support for the policy, impact of narratives and associations with demographic, socio-economic and health data. We find high levels of support for tax and spend, particularly where burdens are placed on wealth and business; significant impact of four narratives to persuade initial opponents to support the policy thematically organised around absolute gains, relative gains, security and environmental benefit; and clear associations between risk of destitution and various other socio-economic characteristics, health status and levels of support. We present structural equation modelling (SEM) of these associations and find moderately strong positive correlations with levels of support for key infrastructural policies. This suggests high levels of support for progressive taxation.

Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas L.) is a problematic weed in cereal farms in Ireland, necessitating continuous herbicide use to protect crop yields. In 2022, poor control with acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors and auxin-mimic herbicides was reported by growers/advisors in two resistance-suspect populations, namely PAPRH-R1 and PAPRH-R2. In this study, we quantified their resistance to both herbicide modes of action and investigated the underlying mechanisms. ALS inhibitor dose–response experiments revealed that both populations had ED50 and GR50 resistance indices (RIs) above 120 to thifensulfuron + tribenuron, mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron + amidosulfuron, and metsulfuron, and values of 4 to 13 to florasulam + pyroxsulam. Results of 2,4-D dose–response assays revealed higher resistance in PAPRH-R2 (ED50 and GR50 RI > 9.1) than PAPRH-R1 (ED50 and GR50 RI > 3.4). ALS gene sequencing detected Pro-197 mutations in all sequenced plants from both resistant populations. Pretreatment with piperonyl butoxide (PBO, a cytochrome P450 inhibitor) reversed 2,4-D resistance with GR50, the more sensitive response parameter, decreasing from 680.8 to 84.9 g ha−1 in PAPRH-R1 and from 2,508.9 to 456.8 g ha−1 in PAPRH-R2, both well below the recommended label rate of 1,000 g ha−1. The 14C-2,4-D assays ruled out reduced absorption or translocation as resistance mechanisms. Sensitivity screening further revealed incomplete control with other postemergence foliar herbicides tested at half and full recommended label rates, except for fluroxypyr + halauxifen, which provided complete control of PAPRH-R1 at the full rate, and glyphosate, which provided complete control of PAPRH-R1 and PAPRH-R2 at both rates. This is the first report of multiple resistance in P. rhoeas in Ireland involving ALS target-site mutations and likely P450-mediated 2,4-D metabolism. As cultural/nonchemical control of broadleaf species is difficult, the continued availability of preemergence or autumn residual herbicides, together with effective auxin mimics and stewardship practices, will remain essential for managing these species, including P. rhoeas, in cereal crops.

Readings of the history of penal expertise trace its rise to the late nineteenth century and its decline to the late twentieth century, with the crumbling of the welfare state. Despite stark differences along Whiggish and Foucauldian lines in evaluations of that history, a consensus has emerged that the penal-welfare complex peaked around mid-century, dependent on correctional experts. Most studies of that phenomenon have focused on the institutionalization and “treatment” of “problem” populations while neglecting the role of penal expertise in critiques of capital punishment. When Britain and Canada undertook major inquiries into the death penalty in the 1950s, they turned to the world’s foremost expert on the subject: sociologist Thorsten Sellin. Yet, these government-appointed studies devalued his academic capital in favor of the lived expertise of police. By examining the contestation of Sellin’s sources, methods, and conclusions, this paper puts the chronology of penal welfarism and its experts into question. Not simply a case of ill-informed opinion prevailing over criminological evidence, the dismissive treatment of this penal expert highlights the need to apply a more capacious understanding of contending forms of expertise at numerous points in penal history, rather than setting the devaluation of penal expertise in the recent past.

The present study investigated how initial proficiency impacted development in adolescent learners’ L2 speaking. The study reports on a longitudinal study with dense measurements with twelve adolescent L2 English learners. The participants were tested every week throughout their first year of secondary school (30 datapoints). The participants’ learning trajectory was modeled using generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). Results showed large differences in development between various lexical and syntactic measures and between individual learners. The learners’ initial proficiency had a significant impact on their development. Overall, more periods of growth were observed in lexical measures than in syntactic measures. In line with previous results, some stabilization was observed once learners reached a certain proficiency level, but this stabilization was dependent on task type. Closed tasks lead to a ceiling effect in some measures, whereas more open tasks give learners from various proficiency levels opportunities to demonstrate their L2 English speaking skills.

Although conditional cash transfers are a cornerstone of Latin American welfare states, little is known about the public opinion dynamics that sustain or challenge their long-term viability. Drawing on original, nationally representative surveys conducted in 2022 in seven Latin American democracies (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru), this article examines public support for cash transfers toward children across three dimensions: existence (yes/no), breadth (who should receive them) and adequacy (benefit levels). Across all countries, we find widespread support for such transfers, challenging the notion that only universal policies can create broad social support. However, preferences for expansion vary significantly across countries, with only partial alignment with existing coverage: support is highest in countries with extensive and minimal program coverage. Logistic regression models reveal that gender and household composition (living with children and being of reproductive age) are strong predictors of individual preferences, in addition to ideology and income. These findings contribute to existing scholarship by highlighting the role of gender and household composition in shaping social policy preferences.

This paper explores how unrecognised separatist entities in Eurasia – de facto regimes such as Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – engage with international law. It examines whether, and to what extent, these regimes comply with international law, analysing court decisions and legislation to move beyond simplistic views of non-recognition or assumed legality. The findings reveal that de facto regimes tend to mirror the international law approaches of the states they are most closely connected to – whether the territorial state (e.g. Ukraine) or an outside state exercising effective control over the entity (e.g. Russia or Armenia). This pattern is explained by the theory of “acculturation to statehood”: through sustained legal and institutional interaction, these regimes internalise and replicate the legal systems of their reference states. The study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of de facto regimes in the international legal order.

Free community pet clinics (FCPCs) are instrumental in providing healthcare services for pets in resource-constrained communities. These programmes are typically single-day and coupled with limited opportunity for post-operative follow-up, the likelihood of compromise on the welfare of the sterilised pets becomes apparent. The objective of this study was to identify welfare and ethical challenges associated with dog sterilisation clinics conducted in Kampala Metropolitan Area, Uganda, from May to October 2023. We evaluated the welfare of 46 dogs sterilised at the FCPCs. We collected data using a questionnaire combined with observations and checklists at all stages, including arrival, pre-surgical evaluation, post-surgical recovery, and follow-ups at 7 and 30 days post-surgery. Dogs transported to the clinics by motorcycle moved the longest distance (9.5 km; range: 7.2–11 km), followed by those brought by car (3.8 km; range 3.8–4 km) and lastly by walking (2.0 km; 1–3 km). During the pre-surgical waiting period and post-surgical recovery, 91.3 and 63.0% of dogs, respectively, did not receive any provisions. The Animal Welfare Assessment Grid (AWAG) tool evaluated the impact of physical, psychological, and procedural factors on dog welfare and revealed that procedural events had the most negative impact. In the follow-up, one week post-surgery, a significant percentage of dogs were healing normally (73.7%) while infection at the surgical site was reported in 15.4%. Assessing the behavioural change of dogs by 30 days post-operatively, 46.4% reportedly had increased aggression levels. These findings highlight crucial welfare and stress control points for dogs sterilised at free community clinics, which may influence the outcome of the surgery and later interactions with healthcare professionals.

We prove that the spectrum of Van Douwen families is closed under singular limits. For any maximal eventually different family Raghavan defined in [10] an associated ideal which measures how far the family is from being Van Douwen. Under CH we prove that every ideal containing $\mathrm {Fin}$ is realized as the associated ideal of some maximal eventually different family. Finally, we construct maximal eventually different families with Sacks-indestructible associated ideals to prove that in the iterated Sacks-model every $\aleph _1$-generated ideal containing $\text {Fin}$ is realized.

As democratic institutions around the world confront rising authoritarian pressures, the imperative to understand when and how citizens justify illiberal governance has increased. This study investigates how ideological orientations condition the relationship between populist attitudes and public support for martial law, drawing on the unprecedented 2024 declaration of martial law in South Korea as a focal case. Using original, nationally representative survey data, we find that populist attitudes do not uniformly predict support for martial law; rather, their influence is fundamentally shaped by respondents’ ideological leanings. Among citizens with strong populist orientations, those on the ideological right exhibit a significantly greater propensity to endorse martial law, whereas their counterparts on the left display pronounced resistance to such authoritarian measures. These findings highlight the ideologically contingent nature of populist attitudes and show how populism can serve to either legitimize or challenge authoritarianism, depending on individuals’ ideological orientations.