This article examines the experience and transformation of the late Yuan Huizhou scholar Zhao Pang (1319–1369) during the transition from the Yuan dynasty to the Ming. In contrast to his reputation as a reclusive scholar devoted to his studies of the classics, and to later appraisals that viewed him as a Yuan “remnant,” Zhao actively engaged with the transition as it happened in his home region. Recovering this history from the writings in his collected works, this article reveals his attitude toward the powers that governed Huizhou in this period and shows both how his attitude remained consistent and how it changed. In place of the framework of loyalty and dynastic identity, this article proposes that local literati like Zhao Pang are better interpreted through local realities, and put in the context of the forms of literati writing and political participation that developed in the specific political system of the Yuan.

Since the early 1980s, the Supreme Court of India has recognised a wide catalogue of unenumerated rights as functional extensions of the right to life stipulated in Article 21 of the Constitution of India, including a right to shelter. For the most part, the right has meant unenforceable state duties and access to administrative justice under Article 32 of the Constitution, in ways that substantively deviate from the standards envisaged under Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and which find a paradigmatic example of constitutionalisation in Section 26 of the Constitution of South Africa. This relatively uncontested understanding of the right is, however, complicated by a line of High Court decisions, most notably Sudama Singh and Ajay Maken, which heavily rely on international human rights standards and South African constitutional jurisprudence to expand the procedural guarantees afforded in forced evictions. Far from being a general trend, this interpretative approach has the merit of exposing key deficiencies in the traditional right to shelter approach and creatively counterweighing the otherwise constitutionally pre-eminent unconditional prohibition of encroachments on public land.

The Royal Historical Society’s June 2024 Update to the ‘Race Ethnicity & Equality in UK History: A Report and Resource for Change’ notes some important progress in terms of increased ethnic and racial diversity amongst history students and staff but acknowledges that more work is needed to both sustain and further advance these changes. In this Comment we argue that colleagues and the RHS should prioritise the development of critical pedagogies in history university education and evidence their impact on student outcomes. We share reflections on and data from our collaborative work between September 2021 and August 2024 developing an innovative module with the highly diverse history student cohort at SOAS, University of London, to help colleagues consider how they might undertake related projects in their own institutions.

This paper considers option valuation under finite mixture models in a discrete-time economy. Specifically, the Esscher transform is employed to select a pricing kernel. Novel finite mixture models with negative-shifted Gamma and negative-shifted inverse Gaussian distributions are developed. A hybrid finite mixture model that allows different parametric forms for component distributions is introduced to incorporate model uncertainty. An empirical characteristic function estimation method is employed to estimate the finite mixture models. Closed-form pricing formulas for a European call option are obtained for some finite mixture models. Empirical examples using data on the Bitcoin-USD prices are provided to illustrate an application of the proposed models to value Bitcoin options.

In the seventeenth century, Chinese philologists rejected imperial orthodoxy and sought to return to the ways of antiquity through textual criticism; they described their approach using a first century phrase: “Seeking Truth from Facts” (shishi qiushi, 實事求是). Two centuries later, Mao Zedong appropriated this phrase to encapsulate his approach towards revolutionary work, which privileged the first-hand investigation of local socioeconomic conditions. In between these episodes, shishi qiushi was found in automobile advertisements, missionary translations, and on the gates of Confucian academies. Since the 1700s, Chinese intellectuals have found shishi qiushi strangely alluring, and employed the phrase to describe their intellectual and moral commitments. To explain this longevity, this article provides a genealogy of shishi qiushi and argues that the phrase came to be associated with the epistemic values of reflexivity, expertise, and syncretism. These qualities became valued by Chinese intellectuals as they navigated a rapidly changing world.

Credibility theory provides a fundamental framework in actuarial science for estimating policyholder premiums by blending individual claims experience with overall portfolio data. Bühlmann and Bühlmann–Straub credibility models are widely used because, in the Bayesian hierarchical setting, they are the best linear Bayes estimators, minimizing the Bayes risk (expected squared error loss) within the class of linear estimators given the experience data for a particular risk class. To improve estimation accuracy, quadratic credibility models incorporate higher-order terms, capturing more information about the underlying risk structure. This study develops a robust quadratic credibility (RQC) framework that integrates second-order polynomial adjustments of robustly transformed ground-up loss data, such as winsorized moments, to improve stability in the presence of extreme claims or heavy-tailed distributions. Extending semi-linear credibility, RQC maintains interpretability while enhancing statistical efficiency. We establish its asymptotic properties, derive closed-form expressions for the RQC premium, and demonstrate its superior performance in reducing mean square error (MSE). We additionally derive semi-linear credibility structural parameters using winsorized data, further strengthening the robustness of credibility estimation. Analytical comparisons and empirical applications highlight RQC’s ability to capture claim heterogeneity, offering a more reliable and equitable approach to premium estimation. This research advances credibility theory by introducing a refined methodology that balances efficiency, robustness, and practical applicability across diverse insurance settings.

We study the pricing of foreign silver coins circulating in China during the period from 1866 to 1924. Spanish and Mexican silver dollar coins often traded at prices substantially larger than their bullion value. These premiums are associated with global economic and political conditions, proxies for Chinese political and banking uncertainty, and seasonal production cycles and market conditions for China’s export commodities. Diagnostic tests using the value of copper money and imports often confirm our interpretation. Our evidence suggests how rational currency traders, bankers, merchants, farmers and consumers sustained an informal monetary system during this era.

The apparent inconsistency in state practice on the identification of governments, especially since the early 1990s, has led to the suggestion that there exists no settled international legal framework comprised of objective criteria for identifying the government of a state. The logical conclusion, defended by some, is that recognition is constitutive of governmental status.1 This raises theoretical and practical concerns, for example on the freedom of each state to choose its government and on the number of states that must accord recognition for a specific claimant to enjoy governmental status. Against this background, the present essay suggests2 that there exists an objective international legal framework for identifying the government of a state. It first discusses conceptual, practical, and other factors in favor of this position. It then describes the relevance of recognition of governmental status to ascertaining this framework, before discussing the content and rationalization of the elements comprising this framework. It suggests, in contrast to most pieces in this symposium,3 that effective control is not as significant as it once was in assessing governmental status.

We report a nearly complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Echinostoma caproni (Egyptian isolate), which was reassembled and thoroughly annotated from whole-genome sequencing data available from Sequence Read Archive (accession No. ERS055227). Although a mitogenome of E. caproni has previously been deposited in GenBank (accession No. AP017706), it represents a partial sequence lacking the transfer RNA (tRNA)-Ser2 and possessing only a short non-coding region. In contrast, the newly reconstructed mitogenome in this study is 14,549 bp in length and comprises 12 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and a 1,256 bp non-coding region containing 4 repeat units. The annotated sequence has been deposited in the Third Party Annotation database in GenBank (accession No. BK071757). Phylogenetic inference based on mitogenomic data indicates that E. caproni is closely related to E. miyagawai strains. This improved mitogenome provides a reliable genomic resource for comparative mitogenomic analyses and phylogenetic studies within the family Echinostomatidae.

America’s history and culture wars have escalated at pace since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. And while the President’s second term has been marked by a rapid stream of executive orders and supporting remarks, articles, and statements affecting all aspects of life, it has demonstrated a particular interest in the nation’s cultural assets and has coalesced on the Smithsonian Institution. This article argues that Trump’s attention to the Smithsonian Institution has arisen because 2026 is the 250th anniversary of American independence. It presents archival evidence from the Smithsonian alongside contemporary analysis to demonstrate that the political playbook being utilized by President Trump has an extensive history. To make its point, the article offers a case study of The West as America, an exhibition that was shown in 1991 at the Smithsonian and generated such political controversy that it ended up being the subject of extensive questioning in Congress. The article aims to show the clear similarity between political and public responses to the 1991 exhibition—which was designed to commemorate a national anniversary but occurred in a period of heightened history wars—with conservative attempts to regulate culture in 2025, ahead of “America 250.” It exemplifies how important historical inquiry is in informing decisions and responses to processes of cultural production in the current era.

Canadian political scientists have often taken a normative approach to political institutions like the constitution, the electoral system, and Parliament. An assumption that institutional reform can itself be a solution to political problems is also reflected in general public commentary and at times has been openly encouraged and supported by the Canadian state itself. This approach has many strengths but also deficiencies, particularly the degree to which it replicates existing understandings of the state, focused on the distribution of power among white men. The study of political institutions in Canada must continue growing to incorporate and integrate a greater diversity of perspectives, including interrogating and challenging their very foundations.