Late Quaternary loess-paleosol sequences in the Armenian highlands represent key terrestrial archives for reconstructing past climate variability. Related proxy data are essential both for understanding the environmental and cultural history of the Caucasus area - a global biodiversity hotspot and archaeological key region - and for benchmarking Earth system models. However, robust quantitative paleoclimate records remain scarce for this climatically and topographically complex area. Here, we present a combined approach integrating (1) stable isotope analysis (δ 18 O, δ 13 C) of land snail shells with transfer functions build on modern calibration datasets and (2) probabilistic climatic niche modeling. For the latter, assemblage-weighted climatic optima are derived from species-specific response curves based on modern species distribution data. Our results reveal predominantly xerophilous faunas associated with colder glacial phases, and mesophilous high-grass to forest-steppe assemblages during interstadial and interglacial intervals. δ 18 O shell was used to reconstruct δ 18 O precipitation signals, which in this study area strongly correlate with temperature. Growing season temperature estimates, based on modern empirical relationships, suggest a mean difference of ∼4.9 °C between glacial minima and interglacial maxima, while precipitation reconstructions from climatic niche modeling suggest a shift from ∼511 mm to ∼770 mm. This study provides the first mollusk-based quantitative reconstructions of Late Quaternary temperature and precipitation in the Caucasus area, demonstrating the potential of integrated mollusk proxies as powerful tools for resolving glacial-interglacial climate dynamics. • Land snail shell isotopes and climatic niche modeling provides new insights into Late Quaternary climatic conditions. • First mollusk-based quantitative reconstructions of temperature and precipitation for the Southern Caucasus. • Palaeoclimate reconstructions indicate glacial-interglacial growing season temperature contrasts of up to ∼5 °C. • PDF-based climatic niche modeling indicates a shift from ∼511 mm during glacial minima to ∼770 mm during interglacial maxima.

As a complex space that integrates historical culture and ecological functions, the assessment of green space ecosystem service values and the optimization of spatial patterns in urban heritage parks are key issues for the coordinated development of urban ecological construction and cultural heritage conservation. Taking Xi'an Daming Palace Relic Park as the study area, this paper adopts remote sensing interpretation, GIS spatial analysis, the equivalent factor method, landscape metrics, and the minimum cumulative resistance model to systematically evaluate four categories of ecosystem services---supply, regulation, support, and culture---provided by the park's green spaces. It also analyzes the current status and core problems of the ecological pattern and proposes targeted optimization strategies. The results show that the total ecosystem service value of green spaces in Daming Palace Relic Park exhibits strong spatial heterogeneity, with cultural and regulatory services as the main contributors. The park's green spaces face issues such as patch fragmentation, insufficient corridor connectivity, and unbalanced structural composition. Accordingly, optimization strategies are put forward from four aspects: core patch improvement, ecological corridor construction, green space structure adjustment, and coordinated layout of heritage and ecological zones. After optimization, the ecosystem service values of the park's green spaces are expected to rise significantly, and the rationality of the ecological pattern and compatibility with heritage conservation will be effectively enhanced. This study provides a practical basis for ecological protection and sustainable management of Daming Palace Relic Park, and also offers a reference for evaluating ecosystem service values and optimizing spatial patterns in similar urban heritage parks.

Alina Bako presents Marius Turda's 2024 book, “În căutarea românului perfect: Specific național, degenerare rasială și selecție socială în România modernă” [In search of the perfect Romanian: National specificity, racial degeneration, and social selection in modern Romania] (published by Polirom), as a landmark and indispensable synthesis in the field of Romanian cultural and intellectual history studies. Marius Turda, a professor at Oxford Brookes University (UK) and a leading international expert on eugenics, racism, and biopolitics in Central and Eastern Europe, delivers a rigorous, evidence-based demythologization of modern Romanian history. At the core of his argument lies a stark conclusion: the notion of a “perfect Romanian” - an idealized, biologically and culturally pure national archetype - has never truly existed and was always a constructed fantasy rooted in anxiety, exclusion, and pseudoscientific ambition. Instead, Turda advocates for a healthier alternative: a tolerant, civic-oriented form of patriotism grounded in inclusion, democratic values, and critical self-reflection rather than ethnic or racial essentialism. The book meticulously brings together two dominant yet conflicting visions of Romanian identity that emerged in the 19th and especially the 20th centuries. On one side, romantic and literary discourses - prominent in the works of writers, poets, and cultural critics - celebrated the Romanian peasant as the embodiment of authentic national virtues: simplicity, moral purity, and deep connection to the land and traditions. On the other side, emerging medical, anthropological, and eugenic discourses expressed profound alarm over perceived "racial degeneration," demographic decline, and biological “weakness” among the population. Medicine was increasingly reframed not merely as a healing profession but as a “national science” tasked with engineering biological improvement through selective reproduction, social hygiene policies, and interventions aimed at strengthening the Romanian “race”. Turda examines these ideas with scholarly impartiality and nuance, situating Romania firmly within broader European trends. He shows how interwar eugenics, scientific racism, and antisemitism were not marginal or uniquely Romanian phenomena but part of a continent-wide intellectual current embraced by scientists, politicians, and cultural figures. In Romania, this manifested in exclusionary policies and rhetoric targeting Jews, Roma communities, people with disabilities, and other groups deemed “undesirable" or “degenerative”. Eugenic nationalism gained particular momentum after the creation of Greater Romania in 1918, finding enthusiastic support among prominent intellectuals such as Mihai Eminescu (in his proto-nationalist writings), Octavian Goga, Emil Cioran (in his early, controversial phase), and numerous physicians, biologists, and anthropologists who promoted ideas of racial purification and social selection. The analysis does not stop at the interwar period. Turda traces the persistence and adaptation of these discriminatory logics into the post-World War II era, including under communist rule, where certain biopolitical concerns were reframed in ideological terms while discriminatory practices against minorities and “socially unfit” individuals continued in different forms. By placing Romanian debates in transnational context, the book demonstrates how local ideas about national specificity and racial improvement circulated within - and were influenced by European networks of eugenic thought, from German Rassenhygiene to Anglo-American sterilization movements and French degeneration theories. Ultimately, În căutarea românului perfect functions as both a scholarly contribution and a vital educational and civic tool. It urges Romanian society to confront uncomfortable aspects of its past, dismantle lingering national obsessions with ethnic purity and biological exceptionalism, and prevent the repetition of historical abuses rooted in exclusion and pseudoscience. The book's significance has been widely recognized: in 2025, it was awarded the prestigious Observator Cultural Prize in the Essay/Publicistics category, affirming its impact on contemporary Romanian intellectual discourse. Through this meticulously researched and courageously honest volume, Marius Turda invites readers into an open, unflinching dialogue about the making (and unmaking) of modern Romania.

Data of cultural history of malaria in Hungary

This study aims to examine the application of the storytelling method in Islamic Cultural History learning to increase student enthusiasm and retention at an Islamic Elementary School (MI) in Pekalongan Regency. The background to this research stems from low student interest in Islamic Cultural History lessons, which are often delivered monotonously, resulting in students being less active and having difficulty remembering the material. The storytelling method is considered capable of creating an interactive and meaningful learning atmosphere through the power of stories in conveying historical and religious values. This study used a qualitative literature approach with a literature review method. The research subjects were MI students, and data were collected through several journal references and articles. Data analysis was conducted thematically with a focus on increasing student enthusiasm and retention. The results showed that the application of storytelling had a positive impact on student learning motivation. Stories about Islamic figures, told expressively, captured students' attention and built emotional engagement, thus facilitating their recall of historical events. In conclusion, the storytelling method has proven effective in improving the quality of Islamic History learning, particularly in terms of student engagement and memory retention.

The camellias of Caserta: botanical rarities, cultural histories, and landscape memory

ABSTRACT This essay investigates the reception of William Gilbert’s foundational work on magnetism, De Magnete, through a comprehensive analysis of extant copies of its early modern printed editions (1600, 1628, 1629, 1633). By employing a hybrid methodology combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to readers’ annotations, this study charts patterns of engagement with Gilbert’s text across diverse contexts and intellectual traditions. While celebrated for its experimental innovations and practical applications in navigation, it also elicited cosmological and humanist interests. Statistical analyses of readers’ marks demonstrate a skewed distribution of engagement, with the majority of annotations concentrated in a small fraction of extant copies. This study moreover contributes to the historiography of early modern science by illustrating the methodological potential of combining large-scale digital datasets with close textual analysis, advocating for more systematic, collaborative approaches to the history of reading and book culture. In addition, a near-complete census of copies of De magnete is provided.

Abstract Building on the articles in this special issue and Hannah M. Strømmen’s biblical assemblages framework, this article suggests two key directions for future research on cultural and reception histories of Bible. First, it advocates for deeper investigation into socio-technical dimensions. Within the framework of biblical assemblages, technologies should not be understood simply as tools used by human actors but as assemblages of human and non-human agents embedded within larger assemblages, interacting with other agents to shape cultural meanings and social organizations of power. Second, it calls for increased attention to biblical affects. Analyzing Bibles exclusively as discursive objects, byproducts of language, misses the precognitive, extralinguistic forces of biblical affects that shape individual and collective experiences, relationships, and socio-political organizations. Just as religions come to life and exist as networks of affects, so do Bibles.

Review: <i>Bear with Me: A Cultural History of Famous Bears in America</i> , by Daniel Horowitz

How can residents’ cognitions enrich village tourism planning? Field research in three atypical traditional villages of southern Anhui, China

Objective/context: This article studies how depictions of automobile culture changed over time in the Mexican press. Publications sponsored automobile-oriented events, which garnered widespread popularity. Although most Mexicans could not afford to own a car and automobility remained a pastime mainly for the middle and upper classes, its portrayal in the Mexican press allowed more people to imagine their country’s emergent car culture. Methodology: This article draws on news reports, advertisements, and images related to automobility in the Mexican press; the author applies social, cultural, and gender history methodologies to examine the topic. Originality: This work makes an original contribution to the literature by drawing a through line between two distinct historical eras and connecting this history to a broader global understanding of the origins of automobilism in Mexico. It also suggests that interest in motorsport emerged much earlier than commonly believed. Conclusions: The Mexican press played a crucial role in promoting automobility to Mexican audiences and organizing racing events and other spectacles for public participation.

In this paper, deep learning, 3D scene modeling, and resource sharing platform are used to solve the protection and inheritance challenges faced by red cultural resources due to age erosion. Firstly, a triple-domain transformation network based on variational autoencoder (VAE) is introduced to realize historical photo restoration. The point cloud simplification algorithm with limited normal precision is adopted in the 3D reconstruction, and the point cloud data is woven into a 3D model by the partitioning algorithm. Finally, based on the resource management strategy of “distributed storage, centralized management”, the physical resources are distributed and the key index information is centrally managed to achieve standardized resource sharing. The photo restoration model based on VAE has PSNR=38.98 and SSIM=0.912 in the red cultural history RealPhoto dataset, which is 6.24% and 6.17% higher than the second place TDT model. In the subjective evaluation, more than 82.96% of users rated the VAE restoration effect as the first place. For 3D reconstruction, the partitioning algorithm leads the average performance on the ShapeNet dataset across the board, with a CD value and F1 score of 0.32 and 83.91, respectively, which are both better than the point-by-point insertion method and the triangular mesh growth method. In the resource sharing efficiency test, even if the amount of resources increases to 5000, the uploading efficiency of the hybrid model in this paper is still stabilized at a high level of 93.4%, and in the anti-jamming test, its network request acceptance rate is kept at 100%.

Rural cultural memory is not only an important construction of rural cultural history and tradition, but also a link of cultural inheritance, and rural ancient architecture as an important material carrier of rural history and culture, as well as the memory space of rural culture and spirit, has a unique value. The “exogenous” drawings of ancient rural buildings (the exogenous drawings of ancient buildings in this study refer to the visual information system of ancient buildings, such as traditional boundary paintings, illustrations showing the construction techniques of ancient buildings, examples of ancient structural engineering, and landscape representations of the main body of ancient buildings). It records and contains rich rural cultural and historical pictorial information. Through archaeological analysis of historical images and case comparisons, we attempt to construct an interpretive framework to decode the layers of historical information in the pictographs. The study takes rural cultural memory as the perspective, and the inheritance of “exogenous drawing” aesthetics of ancient rural buildings extends the structure and creatively revitalizes the cultural genes. At the same time, under the intervention of the development of digital technology, the study explores the multidimensional social and cultural values of the exogenous drawings of ancient rural buildings and the various possible forms of rural cultural narratives. The research focuses on the retention and development of rural cultural memory and the transformation of its bearing forms, aiming to build a memory ecosystem for the development of humanistic rural cultural protection in the new era and provide an effective path for rural cultural protection.

This study aims to analyze the implementation of a behavioristic approach in classroom management in the subject of Islamic Cultural History (SKI) and to identify the supporting and inhibiting factors in its implementation. The behavioristic approach emphasizes the formation of learning behavior through planned stimulus, response, and reinforcement mechanisms.This research employed a qualitative descriptive approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and observations involving the SKI teacher and Grade VII students at SMPIT Darul Muttaqien Parung, Bogor Regency. Data analysis was conducted using the Miles and Huberman model, including data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing, and was validated through technique triangulation. The findings indicate that the behavioristic approach is implemented through academic, material, and psychological stimuli, as well as reinforcement in the form of rewards and educative consequences. This implementation contributes to the development of students’ discipline, activeness, and responsibility. However, the behavioristic approach is not applied mechanically, but is adapted through the integration of Islamic values, thus supporting not only observable behavior but also the process of value internalization. Supporting factors include teacher consistency, positive reinforcement, and the contextualization of learning materials. In contrast, inhibiting factors include students’ perceptions, differences in individual characteristics, and limited instructional time. Therefore, the behavioristic approach contributes to shaping learning behavior and needs to be complemented with other approaches to support deeper value internalization.

ABSTRACT Historical streets are the core carriers of urban cultural identity, and their long-term existence not only depends on the protection of material heritage, but also on whether they can achieve a dynamic balance between inheriting historical culture, adapting to contemporary functional needs, and promoting social and economic vitality. The current evaluation practice often falls into two misconceptions: equating “street vitality” (i.e. human activity intensity) with overall health, or using fragmented indicators, is difficult to systematically diagnose the comprehensive sustainability of the street. This study proposes a comprehensive evaluation system based on the “Time-Space-People” theoretical framework, aimed at scientifically measuring the comprehensive sustainable status of historical streets. Taking nine representative historical streets in Beijing as case studies, it integrates Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Entropy Weight Method (EWN) for combined weighting, and uses Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model to complete comprehensive evaluation. The results showed that Qianmen Street had the best overall condition, while Liulichang Cultural Street had the weakest. The overall performance of commercial streets is better. This study provides urban managers with operational and multidimensional diagnostic tools to assist in developing refined renewal strategies that balance protection and revitalization.

As the political, military and cultural center of Northeast China during the Republican Period, Shenyang preserves a large number of celebrity residences of military and political figures of the Fengxi Clique. These buildings are important carriers of regional modern historical culture and architectural art. At present, the Republican Period celebrity residences in Shenyang generally suffer from insufficient protection, single spatial function, traditional exhibition methods, low digitalization level and lack of long-term operation mechanism. Guided by historical building protection, cultural inheritance and urban renewal, this paper systematically sorts out the resource distribution, architectural characteristics and multiple values of Republican Period celebrity residences in Shenyang. Focusing on innovative means such as VR immersive experience, digital restoration and scene construction, it constructs an activation and utilization system of “protection first, digital empowerment, function regeneration, cultural tourism integration and long-term operation”. It also puts forward construction strategies and implementation paths suitable for Shenyang’s regional climate and cultural characteristics. The research aims to promote the transformation of Republican Period buildings from “static protection” to “dynamic inheritance”, realize the coordinated development of historical heritage protection, cultural value communication and cultural industry cultivation, and provide theoretical reference and practical reference for the activation and utilization of historical and cultural resources in old industrial cities.

Abstract This article tracks the activities of an array of ‘colonial‐imperialist’ figures to assess the effects of the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660 on the character of the English imperial polity. It advances three intertwined arguments that contradict the common view of Charles II and James II as pursuers of ‘absolutism’ bent on securing their control of a growing English Empire. Firstly, it emphasizes that the Restoration did not constitute a benchmark in the history of imperial political culture. Secondly, it shows that the impetus for governmental involvement in overseas affairs continued to derive primarily from those ‘outsiders’ calling on patrons and other ‘higher placed’ connections for extraordinary assistance, whether in the form of legal imprimatur for their activities or the provision of gunpowder and fleets. And thirdly, it argues that the administration of the seventeenth‐century English imperial state remained correspondingly in the hands of these extra‐governmental networks.

Global urban development has fully entered the stage of stock renewal, and the synergy between public health and historic heritage conservation has become a core issue of urban sustainable development in the post-pandemic era. As special spatial units carrying urban cultural memories, historic districts generally face problems such as chaotic traffic functions, a lack of slow traffic spaces, and insufficient public health support. Existing studies lack a public health-oriented special evaluation system and a sustainable renewal path adapted to their characteristics. This paper systematically sorts out eight core impact paths of street built environment elements on public health and constructs a healthy street evaluation system for historic districts, including six dimensions (transportation facilities, green squares, ancillary facilities, street-front commerce, urban furniture, and street network) and 30 core elements combined with the spatial and cultural characteristics of historic districts. Taking five typical streets in the Liuhe Area of Hankou Historic District as an empirical case, a comprehensive evaluation is carried out using a combination of quantitative surveys, questionnaire surveys, and spatial analyses. The results show that the overall health performance of street space in the study area is low, with extremely unbalanced development across dimensions. The core shortcomings are concentrated in incomplete slow traffic systems, lack of public spaces, prominent parking chaos, and fragmented historic styles, and the health problems of streets with different functional types show significant typological differentiation characteristics. Based on this, this paper proposes five systematic renewal strategies, transportation system optimization, public space improvement, landscape system perfection, historic style activation, and long-term mechanism construction, for achieving the synergistic goals of historic culture conservation, public health promotion, and urban sustainable development. This study not only enriches the theoretical system of research on healthy spaces in historic districts but also provides a referable evaluation framework and practical approach for modern historic districts in China and other similar historic districts with comparable spatial textures and functional characteristics.

ABSTRACT This article examines historians’ multifaceted engagement with the concept of presentism. Traditionally associated with distortive historical practice, presentism has, in recent decades, been increasingly subjected to a more ambivalent discourse – one attentive not only to its shortcomings and fallacies but also to its merits and productive potential. The article argues that fully accommodating this polyvalent discourse requires framing presentism through the lens of present-centeredness, enabling a reading across both ‘vicious’ and ‘virtuous’ conceptualizations of the term. By elaborating on four iterations – motivational, narrative, strategic and pluralist presentism – the article brings to light the stakes of reassessing the long-standing hostility toward presentism. In addition to justifying historians’ use of conceptual and analytical resources not rooted in the past, exploring legitimate forms of presentism helps articulate history’s value and contribution amid present-day concerns and predicaments. However, within a broader historical culture, these efforts remain contested and constrained by alternative historical engagements not bound by the strict present–past dichotomy characteristic of professional history. Therefore, a proper assessment of historians’ preoccupation with presentism requires a dialogue with contemporary theories of historical time and temporality, as developed in this article through the discussion of two illustrative examples.

Studies on the application of the Market Place Activity (MPA) model in teaching Islamic Cultural History (SKI) at the Madrasah Aliyah level remain limited, as does in-depth exploration of students’ responses to this model in the context of Islamic history. This study aims to analyze the process of implementing the MPA model at MAN 2 Kebumen and its impact on the cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions of students’ responses. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach involving the SKI teacher, the vice principal for curriculum, and students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. The results showed that the implementation of the MPA model was carried out systematically through the stages of planning, implementation, and evaluation. This model helped students master the material in the cognitive dimension, increased enthusiasm and communication skills in the affective dimension, and demonstrated the effectiveness of process evaluation through non-test techniques in monitoring student engagement and oral mastery of the material, although the aspect of written assessment still requires optimization. These findings indicate that the MPA model is a strategic alternative for modernizing SKI instruction, which has thus far been dominated by the lecture method, while also providing a theoretical contribution to the development of Islamic pedagogy literature and practical implications for educational institutions in strengthening more active history learning.