This study investigates whether adult learners can simultaneously acquire the sounds, words, and grammar of a novel language through cross-situational statistical learning (CSL). English-speaking participants were exposed to an artificial language with unfamiliar phonology and varying morphological salience. Results showed measurable acquisition of nouns and verbs, but limited learning of adjectives and case markers. Importantly, only participants in the high-salience condition showed sensitivity to morphosyntactic violations, suggesting that perceptual salience enhances awareness of grammatical structure. A word–picture matching task revealed that learners encoded phonolexical forms imprecisely: while clearly deviant items were rejected, minimally different lures were often accepted. Finally, individual differences in phonolexical precision were only weakly associated with phonetic discrimination ability. These findings demonstrate the power and limits of CSL in second-language learning and highlight the importance of perceptual cues for acquiring complex L2 structure.

Antibiotic overprescribing remains common in pediatric outpatient care. We evaluated Medicaid claims–based provider report cards as a scalable stewardship tool. Quarterly audit and feedback improved guideline concordance, diagnostic appropriateness, and reduced cefdinir use; highlighting claims-based electronic feedback as a sustainable outpatient antimicrobial stewardship strategy suitable for statewide implementation.

Sungmoon Kim’s criticism largely misunderstands liberal polycentrism and the cultural knowledge problem that motivates it. In his attempt to defend a pragmatic Confucian democracy, he doubles down on precisely the monocentric thinking that polycentrism transcends. He conflates liberal polycentrism with standard political liberalism. Kim seems to think that our position merely seeks a neutral state in which Confucianism is contained within small social worlds. While our framework does adhere to state neutrality, it is not merely a management strategy for pre-existing differences. It is grounded in cultural experimentation in the face of ongoing social change. We are not simply trying to carve out maximum space for plurality because people disagree. Rather, we recognize that we do not, and cannot, know how these differences will interact, revise, and evolve to produce new cultural pathways beyond what exists. Kim misses this point, and it is not a small one.

Over a hundred fast radio burst (FRB) host galaxies have now been identified, enabling both comparisons of host redshift with FRB dispersion measure to study the cosmological distribution of ionised gas, and analyses of host properties in order to identify FRB progenitors. The standard method for determining the most likely FRB host galaxy in an optical image is the Bayesian framework Probabilistic Association of Transients to their Hosts (PATH), which accounts for uncertainties in the radio localisation, and simplified prior distributions on the host being observable. In this work we extend PATH, incorporating physically-motivated priors that are based on expectations about FRB host galaxy magnitudes. We develop three different models for the apparent r-band magnitude distribution based on an FRB’s expected host galaxy redshift, P(mr|z) and combine these with expectations for redshift based on an FRB’s dispersion measure, P(z|DM). We fit the parameters of these prior models using host galaxy candidates for 32 FRBs detected by the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) in incoherent sum (ICS) mode by the Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients (CRAFT) survey.

Employing PATH with the new priors on the host magnitudes, we find increased confidence in the most probable hosts of all ASKAP ICS FRB host galaxies. All three models predict similar distributions of FRB host magnitudes at low redshift (z ∼ 0.1), and we confirm previous results that the true FRB host galaxy distribution is fainter than expected for a star-formation-weighted distribution (p-value of 0.12%). However, a mass-weighted distribution provides an even worse fit (p-value of 10−9). Tests against more FRBs in the z > 0.5 range, where the models differ, and extensions of the models to account for e.g. host metallicity, may help to resolve these uncertainties in the FRB host distribution.

This paper contributes to this special issue by exploring the act of capitulation to populist authoritarianism, focusing on American universities under Donald Trump’s second administration. Despite threats to funding and autonomy, especially around health-related issues, many universities capitulated. Yet, while universities might be seen as especially vulnerable due to their dependence on federal funds and international students, we show that actors with far greater power exhibited similar behaviour. Elements of the legal profession enabled authoritarian legalism, while corporations, once defenders of democratic norms, largely retreated into silence or complicity. Drawing on contemporary and historical examples, we situate these responses within broader patterns of democratic backsliding. Institutions are shown to be vulnerable to legal manipulation, financial coercion, and ideological alignment. Yet, resistance persists. Some universities have fought back through litigation, and judges have blocked unconstitutional orders despite personal risk. The paper reframes institutions not as passive structures but as active agents that can either resist or enable authoritarianism. It argues that democratic commitment is not inherent but must be cultivated and defended. Ultimately, democracy requires ongoing engagement, ethical leadership, and a willingness to bear short-term costs for long-term preservation.

This article recovers the international thought of Merze Tate, the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in government from Harvard’s Radcliffe College. I reconstruct Tate’s classical realist approach and show how she applies it to the causes of disarmament failure and views race war as a challenge to global racial hierarchy. Tate’s realist approach highlights an alternative approach to racism in international politics that centers the international distribution of power. I make my argument through a close reading of Tate’s early writings in the 1930s and 1940s and compare it to contemporary writings by W.E.B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, and E.H. Carr. The article makes three contributions: it recovers Tate’s intellectual legacy and advances recognition of early twentieth-century black women thinkers; it develops the Howard School of International Relations’ contributions to IR theory; and it enriches our understanding of racism in the international system.

One of the central divides in epistemology is between internalist and externalist theories of justification. As ‘justification’ is a normative term, one might wonder if work in semantics on normative terms can resolve the debate. Contextualism, saying that normative terms have hidden parameters fixed by the context, is a popular view in semantics. I will argue that much of the internalism/externalism debate about justification in epistemology can be dissolved by contextualism.

This article explores the management of correspondence between British MPs and the public, examining how citizens have used letter-writing as a tool to seek assistance, advocate for policies, and express support or dissent. It highlights how MPs and their staff triaged correspondence, distinguishing between ‘authentic’ expressions of public concern and orchestrated lobbying. It also considers the strategies employed by letter-writers to maximize their impact, from carefully crafted appeals to emotional rhetoric, frequently made in the knowledge that intermediaries would process their communications. The increasing volume of correspondence, facilitated partly by technological advances, reflects the enduring perception of letter-writing as an effective means of political engagement. While much scholarly work has focused either on a quantitative analysis of letter numbers and outcomes or a qualitative analysis of the substance of letters on controversial issues, this article shifts the focus to the broader processes of correspondence management and voter-politician interactions. By analysing how MPs and their assistants assessed, prioritized, and responded to communications, we provide new insights into the evolving relationship between representatives and the public. We suggest that correspondence was a means through which voters demonstrated their authenticity to politicians - and not just the other way round.

One argument that all explanations are causal explanations is that no extant analysis of non-causal explanations can respect mandatory restrictions on explanation. After articulating two such restrictions, Asymmetry and Directionality, we consider how they work with respect to an explanation from network theory that applies to both social and brain networks. We argue that there are two viable ways to make sense of this explanation. One approach is broadly ontic, while another is pragmatic.

This study examines prosecutorial resistance to democratic backsliding in Poland (2016–23) using Šipulová’s three-dimensional analytical framework. Despite facing greater structural vulnerabilities than judges – hierarchical subordination, immediate retaliation risks and weaker formal protections – Polish prosecutors developed sophisticated resistance strategies combining on-bench actions (challenging illegitimate orders, refusing transfers) with off-bench mobilisation (professional associations, media engagement, coalition-building with judges and civil society). Based on interviews with eleven prosecutors, the research reveals a paradoxical effectiveness pattern: minimal immediate political impact coupled with significant long-term achievements. While unable to prevent institutional capture, prosecutors elevated their professional standing, fostered unprecedented interprofessional solidarity and raised societal awareness about prosecutorial independence. The study demonstrates that prosecutorial resistance functions as democratic preservation rather than immediate political opposition, maintaining institutional memory and professional standards crucial for future democratic reconstruction.

Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) have been shown to improve growth, development and survival among young children in low-resource settings. One hypothesised pathway is through improvements in intestinal health, including modulation of the gut microbiome and reductions in environmental enteric dysfunction (EED). This study examined the effects of SQ-LNS on the gut microbiome and markers of EED and systemic inflammation among young children in Lusaka, Zambia. We conducted intention-to-treat analyses of 302 children aged 27–35 months in a 2 × 2 cluster-randomised trial. Serum biomarkers of EED (soluble CD14, intestinal fatty acid-binding protein) and inflammation (α-1-acid glycoprotein and C-reactive protein) were assessed in 240 children via the Micronutrient and Environmental Enteric Dysfunction Assessment Tool. Differences by SQ-LNS assignment were assessed using unadjusted and adjusted ordinary least squares regression models. Rectal swab samples from 299 children underwent 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Taxonomic profiles were visualised using stacked bar plots, alpha diversity was quantified using Shannon diversity indices and beta diversity was assessed using non-metric multidimensional scaling based on Bray–Curtis dissimilarity matrices. We found that SQ-LNS had no significant effect on EED or inflammation biomarkers and was not associated with differences in gut microbiome α diversity, beta diversity or overall microbial community composition. In exploratory analyses, Enterococcus abundance was lower among children receiving SQ-LNS. Overall, 18 months of SQ-LNS supplementation was not associated with broad changes in intestinal health among young Lusakan children. These findings suggest that the benefits of SQ-LNS operate through pathways other than intestinal health, such as improved nutrient availability.

Blockchain is frequently proposed as a solution to tenure insecurity, administrative inefficiencies, and corruption, where conventional land reforms have fallen short. However, evidence of its institutional effectiveness remains limited. Drawing on Williamsonian transaction cost economics and an analytical autoethnographic research design, we undertake a comparative analysis of blockchain’s ability to curb opportunism and safeguard the interests of land-transacting parties relative to Ghana’s customary and statutory land-governance structures. Our findings show that while blockchain performs well at some ex ante safeguards, it offers no clear advantage over existing governance structures at the ex post stage. Of the seven identified forms of post-transaction opportunism that buyers often face, blockchain was superior only in minimising hold-up risks. We conclude with implications for policymakers and technologists considering blockchain adoption.