Emerging research indicates that mātauranga Māori (Indigenous Māori knowledge and worldview) can meaningfully inform leadership practices and organisational decision-making, contributing to economic, social, and environmental outcomes. However, research investigating the potential link between organisations that integrate mātauranga Māori into their practices and employees’ perceptions of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) remains unexplored. This rich case study within an Aotearoa/New Zealand secondary school collected data from multiple sources to examine how mātauranga Māori shaped perceptions and the enactment of PSC. It found that mātauranga Māori has a reciprocal relationship with PSC and can act as a complementary framework by embedding tikanga (Māori cultural values) that enable relational trust, collective responsibility, and a holistic approach to psychological health and safety. This study’s contribution advances the PSC literature by demonstrating that Indigenous perspectives offer novel insights and cultural value in PSC development, reinforcing the importance of culturally responsive practices for employees’ well-being.

ASP(Q) extends Answer Set Programming (ASP) with Quantifiers over answer sets. In this paper, we focus on the class of ASP(Q) programs with two quantifiers and weak constraints, denoted as 2-ASP$^w$(Q). 2-ASP$^w$(Q) is a practically relevant fragment of ASP(Q) that is expressive enough to capture optimization problems up to the class $\Delta ^P_3$. On the theoretical side, we provide a complete complexity characterization of the main computational tasks for 2-ASP$^w$(Q) programs, including tight completeness results and the analysis of nontrivial cases that have not been addressed in previous works. On the practical side, we introduce novel strategies for computing (optimal) quantified answer sets in the CASPER system, that rely on a Counterexample-Guided Abstraction Refinement (CEGAR) technique tailored to ASP(Q). An experimental evaluation on hard benchmarks from different application domains shows that the proposed techniques are effective in practice.

This study investigates Grow-It-Yourself (GIY) biomaterial kits as tools for supporting material experience in design education. A GIY kit incorporating algae-, bacteria-, and fungi-based materials was developed through iterative material tinkering. The GIY kit was investigated for its potential in a workshop with 18 senior industrial design students, whose interactions were captured through surveys and a design concept assignment. Findings reveal that the biomaterials derived from three organisms produced distinct and contrasting sensory profiles: algae derived materials were the most positively received, bacterial cellulose elicited the most complex response, pairing tactile interest with strong sensory discomfort, and mycelium materials were predominantly described as organic. Behavioral attributions reflected participants’ awareness of material characteristics and prompted relational modes of thinking. The study demonstrates that GIY kits can function as a mediator for material experience, capable of activating sensory perception, meaning attribution, and design ideation simultaneously in educational settings.

Globally the tropical aquatic aquarium trade is a multi-million-dollar industry. Although marine ornamental fish and invertebrates are the main focus, tropical freshwater ornamental species including invertebrates (classed by the sector as semi-aquatic, such as land crabs) are also traded. Land crabs include both brachyurans (true crabs) and anomurans (false crabs, including hermit crabs). These are sourced from wild populations and/or tank-bred for use as ornamental commodity species. This global trade is unregulated and the full extent of the brachyuran land crab trade is unknown. Land crabs are important ecosystem engineers, and collection for the tropical freshwater/semi-aquatic aquarium industry is believed to be detrimental to their wild populations. We undertook the first systematic survey of the e-commerce of brachyuran land crabs, allowing us to document which species are traded globally and to what extent within the tropical freshwater/semi-aquatic aquarium industry and/or the exotic pet trade. Focusing on English language websites, we identified 15 sellers, based in the UK, USA and continental Europe. Twenty-three species were available for purchase, sold under 61 vernacular names, with listings that could not be identified to species falling into three genera. In five cases, a single vernacular name was used to refer to multiple species within or across genera. We recommend that comprehensive monitoring of this trade should be established, to understand the effects of land crab collection on their populations and whether any of the traded species could become invasive.

Indoor mould growth remains a persistent challenge in UK housing, affecting occupant health and building performance. Current mitigation strategies are largely reactive or dependent on energy-intensive HVAC systems, underscoring the need for low-energy, materially driven design approaches. This paper presents Searamica, a biodesign-led retrofit framework integrating biomaterial development, environmental simulation, computational modelling, and robotic fabrication to address mould growth as an architectural and material systems problem. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and a modified Valtion teknillinen tutkimuskeskus (VTT) mould growth model generate spatial environmental fields representing mould risk conditions, which, integrated with material properties, inform morphological generation and material distribution rules. These rules guide the deployment of a hygroscopic, antifungal seaweed-based biomaterial (SBM) within a functionally graded wall system. Material testing indicates a Moisture Buffering Value (MBV) of 2.14 g·m⁻2·%RH⁻¹. NORDTEST room scale simulations show relative humidity (RH) increases limited to 3.75% compared to gypsum assemblies. The project establishes a transferable and transdisciplinary framework for designing site-specific, fabricable retrofit interventions using biomaterials to mitigate mould growth and support passive indoor moisture regulation.

This paper introduces the Granular Trade and Production Activities (GRANTPA) database, which covers international trade flows for 3,124 products and 247 countries over the period 1995–2019 as well as domestic trade flows and production data for the same number of products and years for a subset of 35 European economies. The original data sources that we employ are Eurostat’s Comext and Prodcom databases. A gravity application delivers a large set of product-level ‘home bias’ estimates, which cannot be obtained without domestic trade flows. The average estimates on the standard gravity variables in our model (e.g., distance) are comparable to those from the related literature. However, our disaggregated estimates are very heterogeneous across products, thus highlighting the importance of our new database.

Externally controlled single-arm trials are critical to assess treatment efficacy across therapeutic indications for which randomized controlled trials are not feasible. A closely-related research design, the unanchored indirect treatment comparison, is often required for disconnected treatment networks in health technology assessment. We present a unified causal inference framework for both research designs. We develop an estimator that augments a popular weighting approach based on entropy balancing—matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC)—by fitting a model for the conditional outcome expectation. The predictions of the outcome model are combined with the entropy balancing MAIC weights. While the standard MAIC estimator is singly robust where the outcome model is non-linear, our augmented MAIC approach is doubly robust (DR), providing increased robustness against model misspecification. This is demonstrated in a simulation study with binary outcomes and a logistic outcome model, where the augmented estimator demonstrates its DR property, while exhibiting higher precision than all non-augmented weighting estimators and near-identical precision to G-computation. We describe the extension of our estimator to the setting with unavailable individual participant data for the external control, illustrating it through an applied example. Our findings reinforce the understanding that entropy balancing-based approaches have desirable properties compared to standard “modeling” approaches to weighting, but should be augmented to improve protection against bias and guarantee double robustness.

We consider a fragment of Higher-Order Datalog with negation and argue that it generalizes the familiar and important fragment of Linear Datalog. We investigate the expressive power of this fragment, establishing a tight connection with the hierarchy of space complexity classes. In particular, we demonstrate that for all $k \ge 1$, the $(k+1)$-order fragment of Stratified Linear Higher-Order Datalog$^\neg$ captures $(k-1)-\textsf {EXPSPACE}$. This result suggests that restricting programs to linear recursion shifts the expressive power of the corresponding fragments from time to space, generalizing the classical result that (Stratified) Linear Datalog captures NL. Unlike the first-order setting where an ordering assumption is required to capture $\mathsf{NL}$, our results hold without any such assumption on the input database. The proof relies on simulating space-bounded Turing machines using Stratified Linear Higher-Order Datalog$^\neg$ programs and providing a space-efficient evaluation of the query program. We argue that identifying such computationally well-behaved fragments is a crucial step toward paving the way for practical implementations of Higher-Order Datalog.

According to one influential line of thought, quasi-realism is faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, if the quasi-realist project of saying everything the realist wants to say is successful, quasi-realism collapses into realism. On the other hand, if the quasi-realist stops short of saying everything the realist wants to say, quasi-realism fails to realize its explanatory ambitions. In a recent paper, Bart Streumer argues that there is a way for the quasi-realist to avoid this problem by endorsing the first horn of the dilemma. More specifically, Streumer argues that quasi-realism could be true although we are unable to believe it, and that our inability to believe it could be evidence for its truth. In this paper, we first argue that Streumer’s argument is unsuccessful. We then argue that Streumer’s argument is unsuccessful for an interesting reason; namely for how it invites the exploration of an underappreciated theoretical alternative along broadly pragmatist lines, which we outline in the final section of the paper. What hinges on this invitation is nothing less than the question of what contemporary debates in metaethics and metanormativity are all about.

What if linguistic anthropological studies of sensory evaluation began not with wine connoisseurship but with scat identification? Focusing on Sino-Tibetan community-science collaborations on the Tibetan Plateau, this paper examines wildlife scat—a crucial indicator for Indigenous experts and conservation biologists. In everyday life, Tibetans and Han Chinese rarely agree on shit; yet, collaborative scat identification sustains a scientific chronotope that suspends macro-level ethnonational frictions. Analyzing an English-language scatological manual alongside a Mandarin-Amdo Tibetan interactional transcript, I investigate the specialized linguistic repertoire used to calibrate scat observation. By examining how speakers simultaneously describe perception (“sensation”) and judge species origin (“ontology”), I argue that adjectival predicates function as dynamic interactional operators—a phenomenon I term adjectival deixis. Ultimately, this paper delineates two core functions of adjectival deixis: chronotope projection and referent configuration. In doing so, it reveals how referential practice drives intersubjective sensory calibration and rapport-making, co-constituting language-use and materiality.

Nitrous oxide is being investigated as a treatment for therapy-resistant depression, yet its environmental implications as a potent greenhouse gas are largely unaddressed. A single 1 h treatment generates ∼150 kg CO2-equivalents, rising to ∼7.8 t per patient-year, highlighting the need to incorporate environmental externalities into evaluation.

Violinists rely on violin crafters, or luthiers, to adjust their instruments’ acoustics. To do so, luthiers not only alter violins’ material forms but also talk with violinists about perceived and desired timbres—qualities of sound that lack standards of measure and are notoriously difficult to describe. This paper undertakes a linguistic anthropological analysis of a violin adjustment session in the Northeastern United States, showing that despite such difficulties, luthiers communicate successfully with violinists about timbre through situated practice. While luthiers sometimes use standard, enregistered cross-modal or synesthetic metaphors for timbre that can be analyzed in terms of lexical semantics, I emphasize that they also improvise on a wider repertoire of emergent and embodied semiotic strategies. By listening beyond the lexical and the enregistered, this paper synthesizes an interdisciplinary approach for research on communication about timbre, sound, and the senses.

Biodesign is an emerging field that brings together a wide range of practices, connecting fundamental research, applied sciences, and creative approaches. Within this spectrum, a tension exists between instrumental uses of biological processes and a growing sensibility that acknowledges the agency of living materials and organisms. This study proposes Reconciliation as a guiding concept for biodesign, understood not as a metaphorical gesture but as a concrete and plural perspective that promotes species coexistence and conservation. We contextualise Reconciliation through Restoration, Reciprocity, and Relationality as distinctive yet interconnected design and ecological principles that extend beyond normative human exchange, promoting multispecies coexistence. Through a mix of reflexive thematic synthesis and the analysis of selected case studies derived from the authors’ own projects, employed as a practice-based methodological inquiry and primary source of empirical and reflective insight, we explore how Reconciliation is enacted and experienced in practice. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework to address Reconciliation in biodesign, offering guiding concepts and key questions to discuss and support ecological flourishing in multispecies collaborations.

The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) framework highlights the link between adverse early-life environments and later risk for non-communicable disease (NCDs). DOHaD research has primarily focused on maternal health and, more recently, paternal health. However, it is increasingly clear that investment in the adolescent window may afford the best opportunity to break the transgenerational cycle of NCDs. Data on DOHaD understanding in adolescents remains limited, and in the context of this article, there remains a paucity of research undertaken with adolescents in Oceania, particularly Pacific adolescents, who experience a disproportionately high NCD burden. NCDs represent a complex health issue and therefore multisectoral approaches and collaborative partnerships across different disciplines, health and social professions and communities is required. Due to the significance of DOHaD research and the importance of investing in our children and adolescents for the future, we developed a framework called Taumafa Kava to guide DOHaD-related research in Pacific communities across Oceania. This framework is based on a Tongan Taumafa Kava ceremony and it is an introduction to the cultural significance of the methysticum plant root (kava) and its relevance in highlighting a shared responsibility to serve Pacific Peoples well in DOHaD research. Furthermore, it is a call to action highlighting the importance of understanding the need to deliver DOHaD research that is inclusive of Pacific knowledges, cultures, languages, identities and contexts. This framework has been applied in a research project to showcase the potential for this approach to be utilised in DOHaD-related research in Pacific communities.

The relationship between the economy and ontological security studies (OSS) has remained underexplored. This paper seeks to rectify that by demonstrating how consumption and mass consumerism affect several dynamics related to the creation of ontological (in)security. It does so by arguing that citizens’ economic expectations are generated by a state’s position in international recognition hierarchies of mass consumerism and living standard; if fulfilled, citizens gain system trust and a sense that their social environment is stable and enduring, while the ongoing misrecognition of those economic expectations generates grievances and discontent and erodes state legitimacy. The paper therefore highlights the importance of trust, and its structural embeddedness, for processes of creating ontological security. These arguments are illustrated with two interrelated case studies – the early Cold War competition between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic – to provide a higher standard of living to their respective citizens. This paper therefore reinforces the need to further explore how transnational and global economic processes shape citizens’ everyday relationship to and perception of the state.

This article examines Yujin Nagasawa’s claim that the problem of evil challenges atheists as well as theists. Nagasawa says many atheists hold a ‘modest optimism’ about life, but this optimism clashes with how the world really is if nature is systemically tied to suffering. I explore this ‘axiological expectation mismatch’ through engagement with two short stories: H. P. Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu and Ursula K. Le Guin’s Those Who Walk Away from Omelas. Both stories imagine universes in which there really seems to be an epistemic, emotive, and pragmatic problem of evil for atheists. These stories help test common objections to Nagasawa and suggest there can be a threshold of badness beyond which local gratitude and optimism become hard to sustain. I further argue that common presentations of the evolutionary problem of evil for theists indeed require portraying animal lives and our environment in highly negative terms, leading to the problem of evil for atheists. This supports Nagasawa’s contention that there is some symmetry between theism and atheism on the problem of evil. The comparison with the imagined worlds of Lovecraft and Le Guin highlights how our engagement with literature can advance philosophical discussion, much like thought experiments.

Biodesign education increasingly incorporates living materials into studio teaching, yet biomineralisation processes such as Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) remain largely confined to laboratory contexts. Typically framed as a protocol requiring sterility, specialised equipment, and microbiological expertise, MICP is rarely positioned as a design-operable material system. This paper argues that the gap lies not in feasibility, but in how biological complexity is structured for studio engagement.

Drawing on workshops conducted at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, the study adapts MICP to unsterile studio conditions and develops a Boundary Conditions Framework through analysis of student fabrication decisions and material outcomes. The framework identifies outer, permeability, and material boundary conditions as spatial and material variables that regulate mineral formation. Rather than reproducing laboratory optimisation, students engaged microbial processes through mould design, interface permeability, and aggregate configuration, demonstrating a transferable strategy for studio-based biodesign education

This study proposes a territorial-scale model to estimate flows of reusable building components by sequentially evaluating technical, logistical, and economic feasibility. It translates reuse barriers—such as disassembly potential, residual performance assessment, transportability, storage conditions, and costs—into measurable indicators. By aggregating component-level data into territorial indicators, the model links component-scale characteristics to overall territorial material flows, providing a framework to assess and compare reuse potential across territories.