The rapid proliferation of AI systems has outpaced regulatory and insurance frameworks, leaving risks from unpredictable rogue AI behaviors unaddressed. While academic debates prioritize existential threats, this article shifts focus to governing present-day AI through AI Risk Bonds: market-driven instruments inspired by catastrophe bonds. These bonds securitize AI-related liabilities, using investor scrutiny to price risks based on a system’s expected impact and behavioral predictability. By dynamically adjusting bond yields, higher risks escalate capital costs for developers, incentivizing proactive risk mitigation. The mechanism addresses regulatory blind spots via market oversight, disperses liability through capital markets, and reduces moral hazard by linking financing to risk profiles. Complementing initiatives like the EU AI Act, this framework balances innovation with precaution, tethering profitability to risk minimization for responsible AI development.

At least three meanings of the word reduction have been theorized by philosophers: epistemic, ontological, and methodological reductions. In this article, I suggest a fourth meaning to complement the literature: the axiological meaning. Theorizing reduction as an epistemic value refers to the normative pull that reduction sometimes has on scientific reasoning. The example of genetic reductionism in evolutionary biology shows that in cases of underdetermination of theory by evidence, reduction can influence theory acceptance just like other values do. I suggest that reduction, in this context, is involved in a value trade-off that also features parsimony and explanatory power.

Bioluminescence is a predominant phenomenon in marine environments, the production of light by living organisms through enzyme-mediated chemical reactions involving luciferin, the light-emitting substrate and luciferase, the enzyme that catalyses its oxidation. In the deep sea, bioluminescence is not merely a visual trait but a critical ecological function supporting prey capture, mate recognition, communication and other species interactions. Recent evidence indicates that plastic exposure can alter bioluminescent responses through ingestion, tissue stress, oxidative damage and interference with chemical signalling pathways. This is of growing concern because plastic debris and microplastics are increasingly detected from surface waters to abyssal environments, making them bioavailable to deep-sea organisms. Since many deep-sea organisms depend on bioluminescence for survival and reproduction, any impairment of light production mechanisms can influence not only individual fitness but also prey–predator interactions, trophic transfer and ecosystem functioning. This letter highlights plastic pollution as an emerging threat to deep-sea bioluminescence and calls for long-term monitoring and policy attention to protect biological light-mediated ecological processes in the deep ocean.

Axisymmetric cylindrical configurations of the magnetic field are used to confine and guide plasmas in fusion and electric propulsion devices, where plasma equilibria are established as a balance between plasma pressure, magnetic stress (pressure) and inertial forces due to azimuthal plasma rotation and axial flow rotation. Most generally, in an axially inhomogeneous case, plasma rotation and azimuthal magnetic field are related via Alfvén wave type coupling. We show that, for a special case of a current-free nozzle and, therefore, absence of the azimuthal plasma rotation, the plasma flow along the magnetic surface can be analysed independently of the exact shape of the magnetic surface. The velocity of the transonic plasma flow is determined by the magnitude of the magnetic field on the magnetic surface, while the actual shape of the magnetic surface is determined by the solution of the generalised Grad–Shafranov equation that includes the inertial forces. These analytical results are confirmed with numerical simulations that highlight the contribution of the inertial forces to plasma acceleration and equilibrium. Implications for the flows in the magnetic nozzle for the electric propulsion and open mirrors for fusion are discussed.

Economic literature has long interpreted sharecropping as a feudal relic and a barrier to agrarian development. Alternative readings, however, have examined its role in risk sharing, the equitable allocation of inputs for efficient management and factors affecting productivity. This article tests the hypothesis that sharecropping represented an institution and a tool of agrarian colonization, particularly following major land reclamation projects. The focus is on a productive central area of Italy, the Val di Chiana in southern Tuscany (19th–20th). The analysis is based on the processing of data derived from archive and national statistical sources, and the methodology combines spatial and productivity analysis (farm and territorial scale). The results indicate that Tuscan sharecropping was able to promote ‘specific’ processes of reorganization and development of agriculture.

Friedrich Hayek regarded Bernard Mandeville as a founding father of the intellectual lineage to which he belonged. This article offers a countergenealogy of his debt to Mandeville. By reading the two philosophers in parallel, it finds continuities beyond those that Hayek himself identifies, notably in their theorizations of evolutionary progress from animals through human savages to bourgeois civilization. Submission to the market, for Hayek, is essential to the civilizing process. The article reconstructs Mandeville’s arguments concerning the similarities between animals and the “lower” classes and races, via the allegory of the beehive. Hayek, likewise, tended to anthropomorphize insects and other animals. In his conception of the evolutionary ladder, robins compare favorably to some human groups. In such ways, the article suggests, ideologies of class and race left an imprint on Mandeville’s and Hayek’s philosophies of nature and human evolution.

In the field of second language (L2) research, interest in applying meta-analytic techniques has gained momentum in recent years. Considering the potentially far-reaching impact of meta-analyses, they must adhere to rigorous methodological practices and a high level of transparency regarding decisions made throughout the meta-analytic process. This study empirically assessed the methodological and reporting practices of 224 L2 meta-analyses published across 99 journals. To conduct systematic coding, a comprehensive instrument was developed, comprising 39 items that each address a key aspect of meta-analytic methodology or reporting practice. The overall findings provided an overview of current practices, identifying both strengths and areas for improvement. Based on the findings, recommendations were offered for improving methodological rigor and transparency in L2 meta-analyses. Additionally, the comprehensive coding instrument developed in this study offers a valuable resource for the systematic evaluation of methodological and reporting practices in future L2 meta-analytic research.

In the early 1950s, the People’s Republic of China sought to fuel economic recovery by rapidly disseminating high-yield Stoneville cotton. To preserve genetic purity, Shandong authorities mandated the strict eradication of mixed planting. In 1952, this top-down standardisation was stymied by the unsuitable agrarian conditions of Cangshan County and the rational risk-aversion of its peasantry, triggering the ‘Cotton Uprooting Incident’ and the coercive measures that accompanied it. This article argues that the incident reveals two analytically distinct but mutually reinforcing failures: the universalising tendencies of mid-century agronomic science, which assumed the uniform applicability of improved varieties regardless of local conditions, and the structural imperatives of centrally planned administration, which cascaded rigid quotas down the bureaucratic hierarchy without regard for local agrarian realities. By examining the agronomic profiles of competing cotton varieties, the resilience-promoting function of traditional mixed cultivation, and peasant survival strategies, this study illuminates how the obsessive pursuit of genetic purity transformed a paradigmatic scientific limitation into an administrative catastrophe. The political fallout, which catalysed the nationwide ‘New Three-Anti Campaign’ against grassroots commandism, exposes an early moment of institutional self-correction that would be progressively eliminated as the political climate radicalised toward the Great Leap Forward.

Adolescence is marked by increased risk for psychopathology, alongside behavioral changes such as greater screen time. Adolescents who experience distressing psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are particularly vulnerable to the onset of psychopathology and often report exposure to negative life events. This study examined how screen time and recent negative life events contribute to trajectories of PLE distress using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®. Latent Growth Mixture Models identified PLE distress trajectories over five timepoints. Linear mixed-effects models assessed how screen time, recent negative life events, and their interactions predicted these trajectories. Sensitivity analyses were conducted examining the influence of cumulative stress. Three PLE distress trajectories emerged: increasing, decreasing, no distress. The increasing and decreasing PLE distress trajectories reported similar amounts of daily screen time. However, youth in the increasing PLE distress trajectory reported more recent negative life events, and associations between more weekend texting and social media use at ages 11–12 and PLE distress levels at ages 13–14 were strongest for people who were exposed to more recent negative life events (but not cumulative stress). These findings suggest that more proximal adverse life experiences may have an impact on screen time and PLE distress levels.

This article explores the phenomenon of dog-whistle politics within the context of Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner’s rhetoric, focusing on how coded language is employed to promote ethnonationalist and far-right ideologies in contemporary European political discourse. By conducting a detailed qualitative content analysis of Sellner’s 2024 book Remigration: Ein Vorschlag (Remigration: A Proposal), the study investigates the extent to which ostensibly neutral terms can function as linguistic vehicles for exclusionary, racist, and antisemitic messages to a specific, ideologically aligned audience. While Sellner’s primary influence remains German/Austrian, his tactics reflect global far-right strategies. We thus contextualize his rhetoric through selective comparison with other far-right figures to illuminate shared communication logics. The findings reveal how coded language may shape public discourse while navigating social and legal constraints, with significant implications for political communication, media practices, and policymaking.

We consider the numerical solution of high-frequency scattering problems modelled by the Helmholtz equation with a bounded obstacle. Although the analysis of this problem dates back at least 50 years, over the past decade or so, tools and techniques from semiclassical analysis have provided a new perspective and been used to settle several long-standing open problems in this area. Semiclassical analysis works in phase space (i.e. position and frequency) and describes rigorously the extent to which solutions of high-frequency PDEs are dictated by the properties of the corresponding geometric optics rays.

The goals of the article are (i) to give a introduction to semiclassical analysis aimed at non-experts and (ii) to showcase some of the numerical analysis results about finite element methods, boundary element methods and domain decomposition methods obtained using semiclassical techniques.

Archaeological data literacy is an integral part of the stewardship of the archaeological record. From paper notes, and their digital surrogates, to time and power intensive computer-based modeling and simulations, archaeologists of all kinds require data literacy to do their jobs and preserve the work of previous generations. Yet, archaeological data literacy lacks explicit education in current archaeological training despite the demand for these skills in academic research contexts and in private sector and government mandated archaeology. In this review, we reflect on the places hiring archaeologists expect data literacy skills to be taught and frame this call in terms of a need to incorporate explicit data skills in archaeological education. We also suggest that the cultivation of data literacy skills should be part of the continuing education of archaeologists as the field becomes increasingly data and technology oriented.

The well of Junia Rufina has long been one of the main features of the archaeology of Roman Butrint. This paper aims at offering a chronological and cultural context for its dedication by inserting it into contemporary urban and historical developments. The monumentalization of the well in the 2nd c. CE illustrates how increased access to and architectural display of water was a main aspect of urban policy in the newly founded province of Epirus, in line with the rest of the Greek world. The role of Rufina, on the other hand, can be understood in the light of the cultural policies of the time, and as a manifestation of the power and prestige attached to female patronage in highly networked families throughout the Empire at the time of Hadrian.