ABSTRACT This comment focuses on the contradictions inherent in current conceptualizations and practices associated with Open Science and highlighted by the preceding set of articles. Using Longino’s Critical Contextual Empiricism (CCE), it argues that Open Science offers the potential for realization of the norms envisioned in CCE, but that the economic forces capitalizing on aspects of the call for Open Science and the current global context erode the capacity to realize the fourth norm of equality of intellectual authority. This is a matter of both justice and epistemic reliability.

Emergency departments occupy a unique position in the healthcare system: they are often where the consequences of upstream policy manifest most acutely. Structural competency-a framework for understanding how economic, political, and historical forces shape health-offers emergency medicine educators a practical means of preparing trainees to recognize and respond to those forces. This framework is grounded in five core domains: recognizing structures that shape clinical interactions, developing an extra-clinical language of structure, rearticulating "cultural" presentations in structural terms, observing and imagining structural interventions, and developing structural humility. In this current political climate, structural competency can serve as a catalyst for training reform, particularly in areas where recent legislative changes have directly impacted patient care: reproductive health, immigration enforcement, and gender-affirming care. Drawing on published curricula, institutional experience, and a growing body of evidence documenting the structural barriers facing emergency department patients, we outline how the five domains of structural competency translate into specific educational interventions such as didactic teaching, simulation, community engagement, and systems-level initiatives. By focusing on practical strategies that extend beyond the bedside, this commentary highlights the importance of equipping trainees to navigate policy-driven challenges and deliver equitable care. Structural competency is therefore not an abstract framework but a practical tool for equipping residents to provide equitable care in a rapidly changing sociopolitical environment.

Arts and humanities educators have been urged in recent years to remain attentive to the political, economic, and ideological forces shaping their institutions, their work, and their students’ expectations. The arts landscape continues to face challenges such as global pandemics, online learning, and changing student populations. In continuing to be mindful and engage with teaching and learning as a collective, we must persevere and share both our successes and challenges in the arts and humanities teaching and learning space. At Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), at the University of Sydney, Australia, we have a workforce of expert musicians who mentor tertiary music students within a variety of disciplines including music composition, performance, musicology, etc. In their roles as practice-focused educators, these musicians have significant experience of teaching and learning, yet many have had no opportunities to engage in formal training as higher music educators. In order to provide formal training as an essential component of an academic’s growth and development, institutions have established short-term postgraduate programs, such as the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education). We present two examples of how this formal training has led to significant innovations within our faculty’s teaching practice. The importance of encouraging arts practitioners to engage in this training has established a framework of excellence in our tertiary music institution and challenges music educators to refocus on the significance of teaching and learning in music degrees globally.

ABSTRACT In the context of Donald Trump’s return to office and the escalating geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China, this study provides timely insights into how macro-level political and economic forces intersect with micro-level agency in shaping the decisions and lived experiences of Chinese international students. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of geopolitical economy and student self-formation, this article critically examines how global power dynamics and structural constraints influence international students’ educational trajectories. Based on the semi-structured interviews with 38 Chinese students at a U.S. public research university, the study finds that their decisions to study abroad are shaped by concerns about personal safety, financial constraints, and restrictions on international mobility. However, these students are not merely passive recipients of these external challenges; they actively navigate these political and economic uncertainties by leveraging transnational social networks and digital resources, exploring alternative educational and career pathways, and adapting their aspirations in response to shifting global landscapes. By highlighting the entanglement of geopolitics, race, and higher education, this study calls for a geopolitical turn in higher education research to better theorize how international students are positioned not only through race and class, but also through nation-state rivalry and global restructuring.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how and to what extent real-world asset (RWA) tokens – digital representations of physical assets traded on blockchain platforms – are becoming integrated with traditional financial markets, rather than remaining segmented digital instruments. Using a comprehensive empirical framework designed to capture dynamic, asymmetric, and horizon-specific spillovers, we analyse interactions between major categories of RWA tokens and conventional financial assets from January 2022 to April 2025. We document three main findings. First, RWA tokens exhibit substantial and state-dependent spillover connectedness with traditional markets, indicating that tokenized assets are embedded within broader financial dynamics rather than operating in isolation. Second, spillover transmission is structurally asymmetric: traditional assets serve as central hubs in the network, while most RWA tokens function as peripheral, price-taking nodes. Third, and most distinctively, multiscale analysis reveals that spillover connectedness is dominated by long-horizon components, indicating that the integration of RWA tokens with traditional financial markets is primarily driven by fundamental economic forces rather than short-term speculative trading. This paper provides among the first systematic multiscale evidence on the integration of RWA tokens with traditional financial markets. The findings have implications for financial stability monitoring and for investors seeking to manage risk in portfolios that include tokenized assets.

This paper introduces the Societal Health & Nursing Framework as a sociologically informed approach that expands nursing's focus from individual patients and families to the broader societal conditions influencing health and illness. Grounded in sociology, public health ethics, social determinants of health, intersectionality, and socioecological models, the framework offers nurses a shared language and structure to address upstream drivers of health inequities. Nursing practice is increasingly shaped by social, political, and economic forces that extend beyond individual clinical encounters. Although the International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics affirms nurses' responsibility to promote human rights, health equity, and social justice, these ethical commitments are not consistently translated into everyday practice or education. By situating health within cultural and structural contexts, the Societal Health & Nursing Framework provides a unified vocabulary and conceptual foundation to promote holistic, culturally responsive care and strengthens nursing's role in advocacy, policy engagement, and global citizenship. Integrating this framework into nursing education and practice reinforces nursing's social mandate to advance health equity and societal well-being.

Despite increasing interest in the Energy Trilemma, the political and economic forces shaping energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability remain underexplored, especially in developing regions. This study addresses this gap using a two-stage empirical strategy that combines high-dimensional variable selection with fixed-effects panel estimation to identify the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators most strongly associated with the three dimensions of the Energy Trilemma in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The analysis reveals two central patterns. First, foundational investments in human capital, social inclusion, and infrastructure consistently support more robust energy systems. Second, structural vulnerabilities arise from short-lived, narrow-based economic booms and from political incentives that prioritize short-term subsidized affordability over long-term energy security and environmental sustainability. Overall, the findings demonstrate how broader development trajectories shape energy outcomes and offer policy-relevant insights for strengthening energy transitions in developing regions. • Examines how political and economic conditions shape the Energy Trilemma in LAC. • Uses LASSO selection with fixed-effects panel estimation for SDG-trilemma links. • Finds long-term investments crucial for energy security and sustainability. • Uncovers trade-offs between poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. • Shows political incentives for subsidized affordability undermine long-term goals.

When the digital economy becomes deeply intertwined with conventional industries, this integration contributes substantially to the overall economy’s healthy and rapid expansion. Within this context, the way industrial digitalization talents cluster together emerges as a critical determinant. Against this backdrop, the current study undertakes a systematic assessment of both the size and the concentration patterns of such talents. To this end, we draw upon several analytical tools, including the compilation of input-output tables, the derivation of digital consumption coefficients, and the application of location entropy techniques. Using these methods, we compute agglomeration indices for industrial digitalization talents across 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities over the period 2011–2023. Subsequently, informed by the distinctive features of this talent category, we implement a regression framework to evaluate how economic conditions, industrial structures, cultural settings, and quality-of-life variables collectively shape talent agglomeration. Our empirical findings indicate that, across different provincial-level jurisdictions, industrial digitalization talents clustering continues to be shaped primarily by economic and environmental forces. Nevertheless, as cross-regional integration proceeds, the influence of economic growth on talent agglomeration exhibits a declining trend. These observations suggest the necessity for fresh policy initiatives aimed at fostering a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle linking industrial digitalization and the corresponding talent clustering process.

This paper argues that educational leadership plays a pivotal role in harmonizing technological innovation with ecological, authentic, and human-centered learning processes. The integration of technology into the field of sustainable education is strongly related to the authenticity of its content. School leaders help to integrate technology as an important pillar for understanding learning and turning students into an active effort to contribute to the learning process, because through this effort the achievement of the desired goals can occur. Through the Ecological-Authentic Leadership for Technology Integration Model, technology becomes a tool that strengthens ecological connections, authentic learning and justice-oriented leadership, and educational leaders become architects of sustainable communities in which human, economic, and technological forces reinforce one another.

The petroleum business functions at the intersection of complex legal, economic, and geopolitical forces, making its relationship with law both extensive and indispensable. This report explores the multifaceted connection between law and the petroleum industry by examining the regulatory frameworks that govern exploration, drilling, production, refining, and distribution activities. It analyses how national legislation, international conventions, environmental mandates, and contractual obligations shape operational decisions and business strategies across the petroleum value chain. The study highlights the importance of licensing regimes, health and safety standards, dispute-resolution mechanisms, and cross- border trade regulations in maintaining industry stability and accountability. Furthermore, it discusses emerging legal challenges related to sustainability, carbon reduction policies, and global energy transitions that are reshaping the future of petroleum enterprises. By understanding these legal dimensions, stakeholders can better navigate risks, enhance compliance, and achieve sustainable and responsible growth in a highly regulated global market.

Ten years of clinical genetic therapies for sickle cell disease: Current and future directions.

Persistent health inequities continue to shape population health outcomes across diverse political and economic contexts, despite sustained policy attention to the social determinants of health. Across countries with varying income levels and health system designs, disparities in housing stability, food security, access to care, and preventable morbidity remain resistant to reform. These enduring patterns suggest that barriers to health equity are not merely technical or programmatic, but are embedded within broader systems of governance, power, and institutional design. This editorial focuses primarily on the United States, not as an assertion of exceptionalism, but as a theoretically informative case for examining how elite capture and structural inertia operate within highly unequal, market-oriented democracies. The United States combines pronounced income inequality, fragmented governance, and extensive private sector involvement in social provision, creating conditions under which power concentration and institutional delay are particularly visible. Similar dynamics have been documented in other contexts with high inequality or constrained state capacity, including Brazil and the United Kingdom, where reform efforts have likewise been shaped by political contestation, administrative bottlenecks, and fiscal constraint. The mechanisms articulated here are therefore analytically transferable beyond the United States, even as their specific expressions vary across settings. This editorial introduces the SIECHI model, or Structural Inertia and Elite Capture in Health Inequity, as a conceptual framework for understanding how political economic forces and institutional resistance jointly suppress progress on the social determinants of health. Rather than treating stalled reform as evidence of policy failure alone, the model conceptualizes inequity as an emergent outcome of reinforcing structural dynamics that persist even when formal policy change occurs.

This study examines the structural determinants of agricultural employment in Türkiye between 1988 and 2022, with a particular focus on the interactions among migration, agricultural land use, foreign trade, and minimum wage dynamics. The analysis aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying the long-term decline in agricultural labor and to assess the role of socioeconomic and policy-related factors in this transformation. Johansen cointegration and Granger causality methods are employed to identify both long-run equilibrium relationships and short-run dynamics affecting agricultural employment. The results show that rising minimum wages and the contraction of agricultural land have a negative impact on agricultural employment, while agricultural foreign trade and migration inflows contribute positively. A 1% increase in agricultural land corresponds to a 0.9% decrease in agricultural employment (AgrEmp), and a 1% increase in minimum wages leads to a 9.7% reduction in AgrEmp. Conversely, a 1% increase in agricultural foreign trade is associated with an approximately 0.7% rise in AgrEmp, indicating that trade expansion supports labor integration. Short-run VECM results indicate that agricultural foreign trade and international migration actively contribute to restoring short-term equilibrium. Causality analysis reveals the presence of both unidirectional and bidirectional relationships, suggesting that migration and trade expansion act as key drivers of agricultural employment, whereas land shrinkage and wage increases accelerate the reallocation of rural labor toward non-agricultural sectors. The findings indicate that agricultural employment in Türkiye is shaped by structural economic forces and policy interventions that influence labor mobility across sectors. The study highlights the importance of integrating land-use management, trade incentives, and wage regulation within a coherent rural development framework to mitigate employment losses, enhance labor productivity, and strengthen the resilience of the agricultural sector.

In Pakistan, marriage has traditionally occurred at an early age and is deeply embedded in cultural, religious, and familial norms. However, the latest social changes have brought about an apparent rise in the late marriage involving especially in semi-rural areas like Swabi. This change has created a social concern among women particularly because of the stigma that exists to date, gender expectations and family issues. The objective of the study is to examine the socio-cultural, and economic forces that cause a late in marriage in District Swabi as well as to investigate the interaction between modernization and traditional norms and its effects on the marriage decision. A qualitative research design was adopted and the tools used to collect data were in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with unmarried men and women of marriageable age. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and include social-economic and educational backgrounds. The thematic analysis of data was done in a deductive inductive approach based on the Modernization Theory. The results indicate that delayed marriage in Swabi is a complex issue which is determined by various issues which are interrelated such as; cultural pressures in terms of dowry and cost of marriage, authority of parents, gender inequality, economic instabilities, career and educational interests, exposure to media and social value changes. Although modernization has promoted individual growth and economic self-sufficiency, especially in the case of women, there are still conventional norms that govern the time of getting married and in most cases restrain and curtail individual freedom. The late of marriage in District Swabi is not just a personal decision, but a socially organized phenomenon, which is determined by the presence of both modern ambitions and traditional restrictions. The policy interventions should be geared towards reducing the price of marriage, increasing gender equality, making the marriage process easier and increasing awareness among the community so that they too can be able to make marriage decisions on time and at free will.

The question of how to appropriately respond to migration linked to climate change is increasingly being debated in academia, in government and policy circles, and, crucially, in international legal and climate policy forums. These debates often center on data and on understanding the true numbers of people who might migrate in the context of climate change, and how much of this migration can accurately be linked to climate change, or on the security and logistical concerns associated with responding to this “challenge,” or on the appropriate legal box into which people migrating in this context can be shoved. Too often, what gets left out of these debates is the genuine lived experiences of the people whose homes and ways of life are threatened in a changing climate, and the historical and current economic, social, and cultural forces that created that threat. In this Article, I add to the growing body of literature that is remedying this oversight by looking at climate change-related migration through a climate justice lens, and particularly by calling attention to the racialization of the “climate migrant” and the ways that racialized colonial and neocolonial systems have shaped who is subject to migration in the context of climate change and how they are received and perceived. This inquiry unites work on the racialized nature of international migration law and governance with work on the racialized nature of climate change impacts and policy, and particularly those proposing climate change reparations and migration as reparation. I argue that these considerations of the impact of race and colonialism on climate change-related migration, and the related need for a reparative justice approach, have been particularly absent just where they are most needed: in the international community’s efforts, through the United Nations Framework on Convention on Climate Change and related processes, to craft a meaningful global response to the climate crisis. Including a reparatory justice perspective in the international response to climate change-related migration will ensure that that response more effectively addresses the concerns and needs of affected individuals and communities and forges a future that does not perpetuate the injustices of the past.

Architecture exists at a moment of instability as economic forces narrow professional agency, as knowledge domains challenge disciplinary boundaries, and as calls for decolonisation and sustainability demand epistemological reorientation. Architectural education occupies a strategic position within these dynamics, simultaneously shaped by professional uncertainty and actively constructing alternative futures. This article examines contemporary architectural education as an experiential lens through which a perceptive understanding of how the discipline negotiates transformation can be developed. It draws on a global survey of 345 architecture schools across 159 countries, conducted by the Architectural Education Commission of the International Union of Architects (UIA), and investigates institutional responses to economic constraints, transdisciplinarity, technological transformation, labour precarity, and ethical imperatives. Employing a nine-dimensional framework and six thematic lenses to map global patterns, the findings reveal a convergence–divergence paradox where schools converge around studio pedagogy (78%), national accreditation (92%), and professional degrees (62%), while diverging substantially in thematic priorities. Near-universal engagement with allied disciplines (99%) and SDG integration (88%) contrast sharply with limited efforts at decolonisation (29%) and a health focus (26%), revealing selective adoption of key ethical imperatives. The analysis unveils systematic gaps between declared commitments and enacted practices, with high adoption rates masking shallow implementation, a pattern evidenced by the gap between near-universal SDG declarations (88%) and the persistence of individual-authorship assessment structures (76–78%). Regional patterns reflect resource stratification, reinforcing colonial or dominant knowledge hierarchies. The study concludes that architecture’s agency remains constrained where schools perform transformation rhetorically while reproducing conventional professional formation structurally.

In the year 2050, the elderly population in the world is projected to reach 2 billion in hibitants, distributed across 195 countries. About 80 percent of the world’s elderly are expected to reside in low and medium income countries (WHO, 2020). The elderly has been rapidly increasing approximately 21.1% of the total population. Furthermore, life expectancy has significantly risen, although the elderly remain highly vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study aims to shed light on the complex relationship between health, income, and family dynamics on the work participation of the elderly. We will investigate the collective impacts of health status, income, and number of family members on the elderly workforce in the job market. We will also explore the influence of health on economic activity within the job market during the Covid-19 pandemic in Palu City. The primary data for this research were gathered from respondents through the distribution of questionnaires. By utilizing multiple linear regression and ANOVA, our analyses found some significant results regarding the influence of health, on economic income, and the number of family members on the activities of the elderly in the job market during the Covid-19 pandemic. The elderly health variable, together the income and number of family members, showed a positive and significant impacts on the work participation of the elderly during the pandemic in Palu City, Central Sulawesi.

It has been well documented that the impacts and force of European colonialism were built upon the subjugation of Indigenous people and their lands, the consequences of which are both long-enduring and devastating. Yet the same logics and discourse continue to be employed around the potential benefits of space expansionism – both economic and military – and contribute to the rationale offered to justify the conquest of outer space. Space expansionism relies on imperial claims over resources, involves activities that subjugate marginalized peoples, contributes to the growing climate catastrophe and exacerbates existing inequalities where spacefaring countries – the most powerful states on Earth – are engaged in efforts to not only consolidate power but to emerge as the dominant military and economic force, often at the expense of local and/or Indigenous populations. Here, drawing from post-colonial studies and politics of exclusion, we examine the inherent harms to the colonial mission of the space industry as a capitalist-colonial project and demonstrate how the same colonial logics of old are being used to justify state and private expansionism into space.

Urban growth is a defining feature of the 21st century, yet its trajectories are shaped not only by demographic and economic forces but also by physical geographic constraints. Here we analyze 7385 cities worldwide from 1990 to 2020 using global satellite-derived urban footprint data and gridded socioeconomic datasets. We construct two indicators—the share of barriers and nonconvexity—to quantify the extent and spatial configuration of undevelopable land, and estimate their impacts using panel regression models. We show that cities with higher geographic constraints experience slower horizontal expansion, lower population and GDP growth, and reduced expansion elasticity, but adapt through greater increases in built-up height and density. Differences between the Global North and South reveal convergence in constraint levels as urbanization accelerates. These findings highlight the critical role of geographic constraints in shaping long-term urban development trajectories. Geographic constraints systematically limit the horizontal expansion of urban areas but promote denser, taller urban development worldwide, according to an analysis that uses urban and climate data, geographic and growth urban metrics, and a statistical approach

This study assessed the influence of economic and technological factors on the business performance of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Resource Dependency Theory formulated by Pfeffer and Salancik (1978). A descriptive survey research design was adopted with a population of four hundred and twenty-seven staff of DMBs in Adamawa State. Taro Yamani's sample determination formula was employed to select a sample size of two hundred and seven, and Bowley's proportional allocation formula was used to apportion respondents across the DMBs. Two instruments were used for data collection, namely, the Influence of Environmental Factors on Business Performance (IEFBP) and Business Performance Indicators (BPI). Data were analysed using mean, standard deviation, and linear regression at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that economic factors moderately influence the business performance of DMBs in Adamawa State, as indicated by a grand mean of 2.85 against 2.50 as the decision rule. Similarly, technological factors moderately influence the business performance of DMBs in Adamawa State, as indicated by a grand mean of 2.92. However, regression analysis showed no statistically significant relationship between both economic or technological factors and business performance (p > 0.05). The study recommends that DMBs keenly observe trending economic forces and embrace technological innovations and digitization to promote their business performances.