Introduction to the Special Issue: ‘The public good of higher education: A comparative study’ by Brewis, E, Marginson, S

“…It concludes with a summary of the research outcomes across the eight countries, including similarities and differences, and a generic transpositional analysis that integrates the separate findings into a single overall picture of the contribution of higher education to the public good in the eight countries.…”

Temperatures, conflict and forced migration in West Asia and North Africa by Abdel Ghany, J

“…This study examines whether extreme temperatures influence bilateral forced migration between countries within West Asia and North Africa through their potential to increase armed conflict. The findings suggest that extreme temperatures in two consecutive years, defined as the upper 10% of the country-specific annual mean temperature distribution, cumulatively increase the probability of armed conflict by 42.5% in the following year ( p = 0.07). …”

Energy transfer in the spatial evolution of double-wave-group focusing by Zhou, B, Ding, K, Xiao, Y, Wang, L, Tang, T

“…Fluids <strong>35</strong>(3), 037118 (2023)], the energy transfer in the spatial evolution of double-wave-group focusing is highlighted based on a fully nonlinear numerical wave tank with the high-order spectral method. The findings reveal that a sea state with a narrower intermodal distance or an uneven distribution of the bimodal spectrum tends to induce larger waves. …”

"Workhorses": exploring how internal medicine residents learn efficiency by Ting, J

“…Data were analyzed using inductive reflexive thematic analysis.</p> <p><strong>Findings:</strong> Nine residents participated. Efficiency was a multifaceted skill involving a combination of clinical knowledge, mental organization, social skills, and an unwavering focus on maximizing patient safety and care. …”

Unpacking the politics of Nature-based Solutions governance: making space for transformative change by Hafferty, C, Tomude, E, Hirons, M, Wagner, A, McDermott, C

“…Drawing from interviews and a survey with NbS practitioners and policy makers in the UK, we critically unpack the interplay between techno-scientific and market-oriented approaches, risk and uncertainty, and participatory governance processes in shaping transformative NbS. Our findings demonstrate that, despite numerous efforts to rethink and reframe NbS, there remains a need to make space for different conceptualisations, practices, and alternative approaches to transformation. …”

Secret collusion among AI agents: multi-agent deception via steganography by Motwani, SR, Baranchuk, M, Strohmeier, M, Bolina, V, Torr, PHS, Hammond, L, Schroeder de Witt, C

“…We propose a formal threat model for AI agents communicating steganographically and derive rigorous theoretical insights about the capacity and incentives of large language models (LLMs) to perform secret collusion, in addition to the limitations of threat mitigation measures. We complement our findings with empirical evaluations demonstrating rising steganographic capabilities in frontier single and multi-agent LLM setups and examining potential scenarios where collusion may emerge, revealing limitations in countermeasures such as monitoring, paraphrasing, and parameter optimization. …”

A paradox of school social organization: positive school climate, friendship network density, and adolescent violence by Pinchak, NP

“…Strikingly, however, there is evidence that a more positive school climate is associated with increases in violence among youth attending schools with a high density of friendship ties. These findings suggest that efforts to reduce violence by fostering cohesion among youth in their schools and other social contexts can be undermined by youth network processes.…”

A core in a star-forming disc as evidence of inside-out growth in the early Universe by Baker, WM, Tacchella, S, Johnson, BD, Nelson, E, Suess, KA, D’Eugenio, F, Curti, M, de Graaff, A, Ji, Z, Maiolino, R, Robertson, B, Scholtz, J, Alberts, S, Arribas, S, Boyett, K, Bunker, AJ, Carniani, S, Charlot, S, Chen, Z, Chevallard, J, Curtis-Lake, E, Danhaive, AL, DeCoursey, C, Egami, E

“…The physical processes that establish the morphological evolution and the structural diversity of galaxies are key unknowns in extragalactic astrophysics. Here we report the finding of the morphologically mature galaxy JADES-GS+53.18343−27.79097, which existed within the first 700 million years of the Universe’s history. …”

Normative and informational confidence matching by Friedemann, M, Bang, D, Yeung, N

“…Conversely, in a scenario in which feedback was readily available and a joint decision-making rule was enforced, participants aligned their confidence reports with their partner’s but did not adjust their information seeking behaviour, hinting at normative factors influencing the public display of confidence matching. These findings highlight the flexibility and contextsensitivity of confidence, thereby underscoring the importance of factoring in social contexts and the adaptive nature of confidence when studying metacognitive processes.…”

Anchoring charge selective self-assembled monolayers for tin-lead perovskite solar cells by Zhang, Z, Zhu, R, Tang, Y, Su, Z, Hu, S, Zhang, X, Zhang, J, Zhao, J, Xue, Y, Gao, X, Li, G, Pascual, J, Abate, A, Li, M

“…Overall, this work highlights the underexplored potential of SAMs for perovskite photovoltaics and provides essential findings on the influence of their structural modification.…”

Selection against domestication alleles in introduced rabbit populations by Andrade, P, Alves, JM, Pereira, P, Rubin, C-J, Silva, E, Sprehn, CG, Enbody, E, Afonso, S, Faria, R, Zhang, Y, Bonino, N, Duckworth, JA, Garreau, H, Letnic, M, Strive, T, Thulin, C-G, Queney, G, Villafuerte, R, Jiggins, FM, Ferrand, N, Andersson, L, Carneiro, M

“…This limited parallelism is probably explained by extensive standing genetic variation resulting from domestication together with the complex mixed ancestry of introduced populations. Our findings shed light on the selective and molecular mechanisms that enable domestic animals to re-adapt to the wild and provide important insights for the mitigation and management of invasive populations.…”

International differences in conservation priorities are more complicated than Global North-Global South divisions by Mutinhima, Y, Sibanda, L, Rono, B, Kulunge, S, Kimaili, D, Dickman, A, Madsen, E, Mandoloma, L, Tacey, J, Allred, S, Hare, D

“…Moreover, variation among local publics (i.e., living in high biodiversity areas of rural sub-Saharan Africa) was greater than among distant publics. Our findings illuminate how ideological divisions may complicate international biodiversity conservation, especially around controversial topics such as culling, hunting, and protected areas management. …”

Building the city of God: imperial patronage and local influence in Jerusalem from Theodosius I to Justinian (379-565 ad) by Klein, K

“…This manifested itself not only in imperial building projects, but also in the exchange of theological concepts and ideas. One of my key findings about this traffic is that the cult of saints was introduced to Jerusalem from Constantinople, while, in contrast, the veneration of the Virgin Mary originated in the holy city and reached the capital from there. …”

Features of digital media which influence social interactions between adults and children aged 2–7 years during joint media engagement: a multi-level meta-analysis by Mathers, SJ, Kolancali, P, Jelley, F, Singh, D, Hodgkiss, A, Booton, SA, Malmberg, L, Murphy, VA

“…We used robust variance estimation to conduct multilevel meta-analyses of 15 experimental studies (n = 627 parent–child pairs; k = 190 effects). Findings suggest that digital design can shape adult-child interactions (g = 0.56, k = 170), particularly the quality of parental language input (g = 1.1, k = 86). …”

The size inherited age effect on radiocarbon dates of alluvial deposits: redating charcoal fragments in a sand-bed stream, Macdonald River, NSW, Australia by Wood, R, King, F, Esmay, R, Chen, Q, Schneider, L, Dotte-Sarout, E, Fallon, S, Fryirs, K, Gillespie, R, Blong, R

“…This study returns to a sample from the Macdonald River to date individual charcoal fragments and finds the inherited age may be more than 1700 years (mode 250 years) older than the collection date. …”

Exploring the awareness and implementation of data journalism in Malaysian online newsrooms by Sarveshwaran Arumugam, Zaliza Nor Sarmiti Sarmidi

“…Data was analysed using thematic analysis, identifying patterns from the interview transcripts to understand how data journalism is understood and implemented. The findings of this this study show that some of these newsrooms see any story involving data as data journalism, while some perceive data journalism as more towards investigative journalism involving overhauling projects. …”
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Developing and validating a digital literacy assessment: bridging the digital divide among adolescents in Sabah, Malaysia by Shakira Arbine, Mohamad Shukri Abdul Hamid

“…This tool underwent rigorous validation through Rasch analysis, confirming its effectiveness in measuring various dimensions of computer literacy, including basic skills and Microsoft Office proficiency. The findings provided insights into the instrument’s performance and scoring, refining its items and confirming reliability and validity. …”
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Challenges in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Malaysia by Diana Suwardi, Suhana Saad

“…The data were analyzed using NVivo Version 14 software through thematic analysis, which generated relevant codes, categories, themes, and domains. The findings reveal seven key strategic issues in PPP project management, such as accountability; incentives and assistance; values, norms, and prevalence; standards and procedures; good and moral governance; duties and roles; and laws and regulations. …”
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Acoustic characteristics of Chinese first-level vowels production by Kazakh learners by Zhao, Zhongxing, Mahfoodh, Omer Hassan Ali, Boh, Phaik Ean

“…This rigorous approach aimed to minimize variability and ensure the accuracy of the findings. The acoustic data were then analyzed using Mini-Speech Lab software, focusing on extracting the formant frequencies (F1 and F2) of the seven vowels. …”
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A systematic literature review of resilience approaches in small and medium tourism-based sector by Rohini Shakthinathan, Velan Kunjuraman

“…Through content analysis, this study can be divided into six categories: (a) social support, (b) technology innovation, (c) government support, (d) diversification of economic activities, (e) personal resources and (f) leadership and communication. The findings significantly contribute to the tourism small and medium-sized enterprises in creating resilience-based sustainable tourism, and society’s well-being apart from contributing to the COVID-19 tourism resilience literature. …”
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