Over the past decade, high rental prices have become an increasingly serious problem in major Western European cities. While political science research has started to explore the broader political consequences, the local effects on renters in particular remain understudied. Furthermore, little is known about the influence of additional local characteristics that potentially impact the political consequences of high rental prices. This study addresses these research gaps by examining how local rental prices affect renters’ satisfaction with the local public administration, using large-N geocoded survey data collected in forty neighborhoods across ten major German cities. Multilevel regression results reveal a negative relationship between high rental prices and satisfaction with the local public administration that is not offset by greater rental housing availability or the provision of public services. In practical terms, these findings highlight the far-reaching consequences of high rental prices for the political satisfaction of renters, underlining the need for policies that ensure affordable urban housing.

The Covid-19 pandemic entailed a historic high in public spending. Some of these resources were channeled through interest organizations, such as business groups and non-profits. In this paper, we gauge potential inefficiencies in their distribution. Funds may be distributed according to the logic of rent-seeking, whereby organizations use lobbying to extract benefits from the state, or a pluralist logic of disturbances, where funding allocation follows organizational grievances. These two logics might even interact, meaning that organizations in need ought to signal their needs through lobbying first. We use data from two survey waves in eight European polities to test these arguments. Our findings provide support for theories of rent-seeking, showing that lobbying activities are associated with increases in public funding, whereas organizations’ needs and survival fears are not. However, our exploration of interaction effects nuances this picture. Our study sheds light on important dynamics behind resource allocation when crisis-related public spending is high.

This essay offers an ecocritical reading of decolonial love. It traces how, in Díaz’s fiction, people introject (post)colonial violence, redeploying its misogynist, masculinist, and sometimes violently hypersexual and racialized dynamics in their most intimate relationships. Díaz shows the connection between this kind of toxicity and the historical and economic forces that are laying waste to the planet.

A long-term physical health condition (LTC) is one ‘that cannot currently be cured but can be controlled with medication and/or other therapies’. Around 30% of people with an LTC have mental health co-morbidities. Systematic reviews suggest adapted cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) produces positive outcomes for LTC clients compared with control conditions. However, limited research includes long-term follow-ups or the client’s voice, preventing conclusions about mechanisms of change or sustainability. This qualitative study explored long-term health experiences of CBT for adults with LTCs in UK primary care, and what elements of CBT participants deemed responsible for change. The sample included 10 individuals with an LTC. Findings were constructed through inductive-deductive reflexive thematic analysis, integrating participant-led narratives with psychological theory. Four themes were identified: a validating and normalising therapeutic relationship, lack of therapist skill and knowledge of LTCs, adjusting to and accepting LTC, and de-catastrophising LTC-specific beliefs. Participants discussed the importance of both common and specific factors. A trusting therapeutic relationship was essential, while collaboratively applying techniques to promote adjustment and acceptance was necessary for long-term gains. The study highlights embedding health psychology theory and third-wave approaches within a process-based, transdiagnostic framework enhanced through LTC-specific training and supervision. By attending to identity disruption, illness representations, values conflict, and low self-efficacy, therapists can deliver interventions that consider the lived realities of LTCs.

Key learning aims

1. (1) To explore how participants understood and described the emotional, cognitive, and identity-related changes that occurred following CBT, with particular attention to long-term adjustment and meaning making.

2. (2) To identify which therapeutic processes participants perceived as most helpful or unhelpful, including both CBT-specific strategies and common relational factors, and how these were thought to influence change.

3. (3) To contextualise participants’ accounts within broader health psychology and process-based frameworks, considering how their narratives reflect mechanisms highlighted in models such as the Self-Regulatory Model, the Transdiagnostic Model of Adjustment to LTCs, and third-wave approaches.

This study investigates how rural women’s leadership, grounded in traditional knowledge and daily ecological practices, contributes to environmental education and strengthens both family and community sustainability within the emerging model of rural tourism in Morocco. The research is framed by international environmental commitments, notably the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which emphasise the value of local communities in preserving natural resources and transmitting ecological knowledge. The central question examines the extent to which rural women, through their leadership and embodied knowledge, foster environmental learning and reinforce the socio-ecological resilience of households and communities. The study mobilises theoretical approaches from environmental education, experiential and social learning and socio-ecological systems theory to analyse the interplay between knowledge transfer, community engagement and biodiversity protection. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative design based on semi-structured interviews, participant observation and thematic analysis supported by NVivo software. Conducted in the Taounate region, the study targets women participating in rural ecotourism initiatives. Findings reveal that women act as key agents of informal environmental education, ensuring the transmission of traditional knowledge, promoting sustainable practices and enhancing collective ecological awareness. Their leadership reinforces natural resource conservation and contributes to the long-term sustainability of families and local communities while aligning local practices with global environmental commitments positioning them as essential actors in bridging local practices with global environmental sustainability agendas.

The AVOID Frailty framework, developed by the Canadian Frailty Network, promotes five evidence-based behaviors to reduce frailty risk in older adults: physical activity, vaccination, medication optimization, social interaction, and nutrition. Although widely adopted, its deficit-based framing may limit engagement and appeal. This commentary proposes a positively framed alternative, the THRIVE Strategy for Lifelong Wellness, which retains the core behavioral focus of AVOID while adding a sixth pillar, engaging the mind, to reflect evidence on cognitive and emotional well-being in aging. We further recommend shifting from the language of frailty prevention and healthy aging towards lifelong wellness, a more inclusive and empowering concept. Drawing on health communication theory and aging research, we argue that gain-framed messages are more motivating, less stigmatizing, and relevant across the life course. By emphasizing thriving rather than avoiding decline, the THRIVE strategy offers a holistic and potentially more effective framework for promoting sustained well-being across adulthood and later life.

This study investigates the emergence of metaphorical meanings in abstract visual symbols within an ‘alien language’ artificial language learning game. Findings reveal that participants extend concrete meanings to abstract meanings based on metaphorical mappings proposed by Conceptual Metaphor Theory, but not consistently across all cases. When multiple salient mappings are possible, participants’ choices exhibit greater variability. Certain mappings, such as SAD IS DOWN and ANGER IS FIRE, are particularly salient and chosen frequently, whereas others, like POWERFUL IS UP, show less consistency. Additionally, some unexpected mappings were observed. While some could be explained via post hoc analysis, others remain unexplained. Experimental manipulations to enhance the salience of metaphorical mappings did not significantly alter participant responses. Overall, results suggest that participants spontaneously engage in semantic and metaphorical meaning extensions, supporting the idea that these cognitive mechanisms underpin polysemy and the conventionalisation of new word senses. Participants make choices for semantic extensions in a motivated manner, with some extensions being based on conceptual metaphorical mappings, and others on other types of salient associative mappings. This study contributes to theories of language evolution that highlight the central role of metaphor in shaping meaning extensions and the cultural emergence of linguistic structure.

We establish large sets of Anderson localized states for the quasi-periodic nonlinear Schrödinger equation on $\mathbb Z^d$, thus extending Anderson localization from the linear (cf. Bourgain [Geom. Funct. Anal., 17(3):682–706, 2007]) to a nonlinear setting, and from the random (cf. Bourgain-Wang [J. Eur. Math. Soc., 10(1):1–45, 2008]) to a deterministic setting. Among the main ingredients are a new Diophantine estimate of quasi-periodic functions in arbitrary-dimensional phase space, and the application of Bourgain’s geometric lemma in [Geom. Funct. Anal., 17(3):682–706, 2007].

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended contact precautions for healthcare personnel caring for COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic. However, current scientific evidence points to transmission through small respiratory droplets or aerosols and not contaminated fomites as the dominant routes of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We believe science shows there is no benefit and thus only negative consequences to patients, the environment, and the U.S healthcare system associated with ongoing contact precautions for patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, and we advocate for updated guidelines reflecting current science.

This article examines planning for the United States Bicentennial in Washington, DC, focusing on the work of the DC Bicentennial Assembly in the early 1970s, as well as the Nixon administration’s response. While the national bicentennial is often remembered through large federal celebrations on the National Mall, planning in the capital became a venue for local political engagement and advocacy. I show how Washington residents used bicentennial planning to articulate claims about representation, citizenship, and the city’s political future, framing the anniversary as an opportunity to press for greater local control and a more meaningful realization of democratic ideals in the nation’s capital. Federal officials, meanwhile, sought to channel commemorative activity into redevelopment efforts that targeted tourists and visitors, putting forth a different vision for the city. The resulting bifurcation, characterized by Nixon as a “civic schizophrenia,” remains in the present day.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate knowledge about multiple-birth families among midwives and public health nurses working in maternity and child health clinics in Finland. The data were collected with a Finnish language questionnaire in spring 2022. Because relevant questionnaires did not exist, we created a new questionnaire based on existing knowledge and practices. The questionnaire assessed three themes of multiple-birth knowledge relevant for the target population. The response rate was 50% and the number of respondents was 72. A total of 92 items were assessed and these showed high levels of consistency within themes. The respondents had substantial variation in their levels of multiple-birth family knowledge concerning different themes (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < .001). Post-hoc pairwise comparisons revealed many significant differences between themes, the two themes of knowledge of speech development of twins and breast feeding having the lowest level of knowledge, while interaction and support expected by the parents having the highest level of knowledge. The respondents had good knowledge of only five themes of multiple-birth family knowledge. Of all the themes, only knowledge about breast feeding was not significantly related to other themes, except for a weak correlation (r = .264, p < .05) with knowledge about caring for twins and understanding the situation. The age, educational level and work experience of respondents did not significantly affect their scores (all p > .1). Although the respondents had knowledge about early interaction, bonding and supporting the growth and development of child, its application is insufficient or lacking because of the special needs of multiple birth families. Further research is required on the effectiveness of training interventions and on nursing in different nursing contexts.

This reflective practitioner essay asks what it means to teach law ‘as a conversation’ and who is heard as speaking law within that conversation. Drawing on teaching notes from an elite Indian law school writing classroom, the article analyses a staged counter-factual dialogue among four legal thinkers (Nicholas J. McBride, Patricia J. Williams, Kiruba Munusamy and Angela D. Gilmore). ‘Counter-factual pedagogy’ names a method that stages an ‘as-if’ encounter that is structurally unlikely within conventional legal education in order to make institutional defaults newly visible, including neutrality as epistemic rigour, professionalism as merit and doctrinal learning as separable from social power. The article reads the exercise through five literature-informed lenses (voice, neutrality, performance, justice, discomfort). No student quotations, paraphrases or artefacts are reproduced.