We prove that among the set of pairs ($C^2$-diffeomorphism, $C^1$-potential), there exists a $C^1$-open and dense subset such that either the Lagrange spectrum is finite and the dynamics is a Morse–Smale diffeomorphism or the Lagrange spectrum has positive Hausdorff dimension and the system has positive topological entropy. We also prove that such dichotomy does not hold for typical systems when replacing the Lagrange by the Markov spectrum.

Countries in Africa face serious and worsening poverty brought about by historical and recent factors including the global economic downturn and national debt crises. Different actors have tested several mechanisms with the promise to alleviate poverty. Bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) and social assistance programmes in the form of cash transfers are such models. Despite the hype associated with the models, both demonstrate little achievement in the promotion of well-being in Africa, but instead, businesses are profiting at the expense of the poor. In this paper, we argue that the two models are precursors, handmaidens and the embodiment of the financialisation of social policy in Africa. Drawing on field interviews in Kenya, we demonstrate how the models have enabled financialisation of social policy through a narrative of financial inclusion of the poor, integration of market players in social protection, and through motives to orient the poor towards service-oriented markets.

We study the restriction of the absolute order on a Coxeter group W to an interval $[1,w]_T$, where $w\in W$ is an involution. We characterise and classify those involutions w for which $[1,w]_T$ is a lattice, using the notion of involutive parabolic subgroups.

We classify generic unfoldings of germs of antiholomorphic diffeomorphisms with a parabolic point of codimension k (i.e. a fixed point of multiplicity $k+1$) under conjugacy. Such generic unfoldings depend real analytically on k real parameters. A preparation of the unfolding allows to identify real analytic canonical parameters, which are preserved by any conjugacy between two prepared generic unfoldings. A modulus of analytic classification is defined, which is an unfolding of the modulus assigned to the antiholomorphic parabolic point. Since the second iterate of such a germ is a real unfolding of a holomorphic parabolic point, the modulus is a special form of an unfolding of the Écalle–Voronin modulus of the second iterate of the antiholomorphic parabolic germ. We also solve the problem of the existence of an antiholomorphic square root to a germ of a generic analytic unfolding of a holomorphic parabolic germ.

To my mind, every Indigenous archaeology practiced across the length and breadth of the world is uniquely situated within its own socio-cultural and political milieu. In this respect, no processes within its practice are identical in nature. Proceeding a step further from Felix Acuto’s experience of Latin American Indigenous archaeology, this discussion piece examines the nature of the Indigenous community’s involvement in archaeological research within a South Asian context, locating the frame within Northeast India, particularly Nagaland. This takes a rather more interesting turn when the engagement constitutes an archaeology ‘with, for and by Indigenous peoples’ themselves who belong to a certain Indigenous community, who are either inside or outside of the participant community. Engaging local people in archaeological excavations has long been commonplace in Indian archaeology. In most of excavations by John Marshall and Mortimer Wheeler of Harappan urban sites, one cannot fail but notice the ubiquitous frame of black-and-white photographs – local workers clad in white dhoti and turbans, seen in various working postures and gaits inside the trenches, aiding in daily routine digs with brushes and brooms, circular trays filled with soil and occasional scatterings of pickaxes and spades. With shifting powers from the British Raj and Indian archaeologists now taking charge of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) after Wheeler’s departure, it is still disheartening to notice that such imageries continue to persist in numerous field reports even within a post-colonial experience (for a critical appraisal, see Avikunthak 2021). What the images evoke is the sort of community engagement that the country has experienced for more than 150 years of Indian archaeology in practice. One may never know clearly for sure what the nature and extent of the local people’s participation in such large-scale digs was during colonial times, but this entices us to ask the few obvious questions – is such research made explicit within a participatory praxis, or can it be equally engaging and collaborative with equitable research aims? Or did such initiatives dismantle power structures and relations between local workers and the archaeologists leading the excavations? Until recently, community consultation and engagement have rarely been a part of the archaeological research agenda in India, with a few exceptions addressed by Rizvi (2006; 2020), Selvakumar (2006), Jamir (2014) and Menon and Varma (2019). Unfortunately, even today, archaeology in South Asia continues to demonstrate a lack of collaborative archaeological practice and instead continues to replicate colonial models of interaction with local communities (Rizvi 2008, 127). I, however, view the role of Indigenous community engagement in archaeological research as a starting point for decolonizing archaeological practice in Northeast India, particularly in Nagaland (Jamir 2024). Therefore, to underscore a contrast, I wish to draw a few case examples from the region of Northeast India.

Using data from the 2018–2019 National Congregations Study, I explore the relationship between women’s descriptive and substantive representation in American religious congregations. In particular, I examine the relationship between the presence of clergywomen or gender inclusive leadership policies (i.e., congregational policies allowing women to serve as the head pastor or priest) and a congregation’s participation in “women’s issues” political activism. Statistical analysis reveals partial support for my hypotheses. Collective gender representation, as demonstrated through the presence of gender inclusive leadership policies within a congregation, predicts pro-LGBT activism and the number of “women’s issues” a congregation pursues. This project serves to extend understanding of 1) how descriptive gender representation relates to the substantive representation of women’s interests in religious congregations and 2) the comparability of women’s leadership across political and religious contexts.

Understanding today’s conflicts and compromises requires addressing the entanglement between material processes and the viewpoints of a variety of collective actors: how they understand themselves and the economy within which they act, what objectives they perceive it affords to them, and what constraints it imposes. The structural approach to economic analysis, which builds on the traditions started by Physiocracy and classical political economy, offers a vantage point to understand material processes. The paper proposes three directions to generalise it, thus making it more suitable to address the entanglement between such processes and the emergence and viewpoints of collective actors.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) early value assessment (EVA) was launched in 2022 as a process to assess new technologies that have the potential to meet an unmet need or demand. The recommendations that result from the process are best viewed as a type of managed entry agreement – that is, time-limited and conditional on further evidence being generated. This commentary, from authors in PenTAG (an external assessment group involved in assessing medical technologies for NICE, based at the University of Exeter), explores the challenges that have arisen during 3 years of performing EVAs, offers some thoughts on EVA’s role in evidence generation, and their fit in NICE’s wider evidence landscape. The commentary identifies areas for potential improvement in terms of timelines, scoping and protocol development, searching, reviewing, and economic modeling. Many of the suggested changes are relatively minor tweaks to the process, or requests for clearer guidance or expectation management. We conclude that, with some changes to the EVA process and its accompanying guidance, the assessments could become more efficient. In summary, the EVA represents NICE’s life cycle approach in their HealthTech program, wherein evidence is collected along the life cycle to help monitor initial assumptions and recommendations made. The process is designed to continuously capture incremental innovation over the lifetime of a medical device. As such, EVAs reflect a small but important shift in how health technology assessment is practiced.

Monsters may frighten but also fascinate us in their weird and unfamiliar ways. As Gramsci once observed, periods of radical transformation are also times of monsters. AI fits the description. It is a bewildering entity, consisting of hard - and software, depending on infrastructures that need huge amounts of energy and water. It defies clear definition, yet seeps into every corner of our lives. Big Tech warns of existential risks while pursuing Artificial General Intelligence, AGI. However, real challenges today lie in how AI threatens to substitute rather than augment human capabilities.

This essay examines the deployment of an AI-based interdisciplinary approach. It has proven spectacularly successful, as exemplified by AlphaFold2's breakthrough in protein folding. This approach operates frictionlessly, combining knowledge domains with remarkable efficiency and speed. It seems to vindicate a technocratic dream of problem-solving without the messiness and time needed for human deliberation. Yet, when this artificial interdisciplinarity enters the social world, it encounters what it seeks to eliminate: friction.

Friction, however, is not an obstacle to overcome but an essential feature of human existence. The physical world requires friction for movement; the social world needs it for creativity, conflict resolution, and meaningful cooperation. Certainly, too much friction can bring havoc, and too little can lead to a standstill. But as AI continues its co-evolutionary trajectory with humanity, we must resist the seductive promise of a frictionless world run by automated efficiency.

Instead, we need to cultivate a humanistic culture of AI interdisciplinarity - one that bridges sciences and humanities while preserving human curiosity, deliberation, and epistemic diversity. Bringing friction back means taking the time to reconsider shared goals, acknowledging conflicts, and maintaining spaces for genuine human creativity. Only by embracing friction can we ensure that AI augments rather than diminishes what makes us human.

Theories of representative democracy emphasize the importance of electoral pledges for informed voting and government accountability. Recent studies have highlighted citizens’ tendency to impose electoral punishments when parties fail to fulfill their pledges. However, conditions under which citizens consider non-fulfillment acceptable have received little attention. Specifically, multiparty government makes it less likely that an individual party fulfills its pledges, but whether citizens take such obstacles into account when evaluating the acceptability of non-fulfillment has remained largely untested. We theorize that both the coalition negotiation context and the negotiation outcome influence citizens’ evaluations. To test our hypotheses, we conducted two vignette experiments in Finland and Germany. The results revealed that, regardless of their opinion about the substance of a pledge, voters were more accepting of unfulfilled pledges when party or coalition characteristics created obstacles to fulfillment. The findings suggest that voters possess a nuanced understanding of the constraints of coalition government.