Abstract: In the mid-1950s, the world’s space law practitioner, Andrew G. Haley, proposed the concept of Metalaw, the law governing interactions between all beings in the Universe, as he represented the American Rocket Society in the International Astronautical Congress, the single largest gathering of space-faring nations. Haley, with experience in radio communications law dating back to the 1930s, played a pivotal role in addressing the international allocation of radio frequencies in space. Haley was, too, an agile mediator with the Soviet Union and its bloc, acting across various organizations and forums. This article, in contextualizing Haley’s introduction of Metalaw, shows how the onset of the Space Age coincided with the emergence of a contact scenario involving extraterrestrial intelligence enabled by the corresponding techno-scientific capabilities of the time. It demonstrates how extraterrestrial intelligence discursively addressed outer space regulation as a bone of contention between the two geopolitically divided parts, a regulation upon which the US’s global satellite system would depend. The analysis in this article recounts the birth of the Metalaw concept at the intersection of outer space imaginary, law, international organizations, science and technology, diplomacy, the Space Race, the Cold War, and radio astronomy’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Abstract: Erasure is not forgetting; it is memory that has lost its path of return. This paper proposes a five-mode typology of structural erasure through Silencing, Reclassification, Compression, Substitution, and Tactical Forgetting as mechanisms by which memory systems fail. Historical erasure is not an incidental lapse in collective memory but a structured process shaped by social, institutional, and cultural gatekeeping. To examine how significant ideas and figures become omitted, the study applies this typology to five distinct cases from different periods and regions. Sophie Germain faced early denial of formal recognition that stifled her mathematical achievements and later reduced them to a token identity. Rosalind Franklin produced critical X-ray data on DNA, yet her work was overshadowed by a narrative that reassigned her contributions to Watson, Crick, and others while limiting her legacy to a single discovery. In Peru, María Elena Moyano was acknowledged only after her assassination; her socialist feminist activism was recast into a depoliticized image of martyrdom. Nwanyeruwa led the 1929 Aba Women’s War in colonial Nigeria, yet her leadership was obscured by British reclassification that renamed a coordinated uprising as a mere riot. Paul Robeson, once a global icon of radical internationalism and civil rights, was reclassified and his wide-ranging legacy compressed into a narrow, sanitized story that mirrored gendered cases where complex contributions were reduced to one attribute. By placing these cases together, the paper shows that modes of erasure overlap, change through time, and reinforce entrenched patriarchal, racial, and ideological hierarchies. Recognizing historical erasure as a systematic, multistage process rather than a series of isolated oversights identifies the points where collective memory becomes distorted or blocked. In doing so, the five-mode typology provides a conceptual framework linking media studies, archival research, and historiography. It offers scholars a concrete tool for corrective action through archival reform, analytical transparency, and historical repair.

Abstract: Fish consumption has well-publicised health benefits but, in the United Kingdom, present-day consumption is limited to a narrow range of species. The history of fish consumption remains under-examined yet could provide insights as to why British consumers ended up with such a restricted palette. Using a domestic magazine published over the past century, I examine the prominence of different fish species in published recipes, with the aim to glean insights into changing societal tastes. Sub-sampling of issues published from 1923-2025 provided 1190 fish recipes containing 66 species or species categories. The most frequently mentioned were salmon (n=207), prawns (n=205), haddock (n=112), anchovy (n=108), cod (n=96) and tuna (n=81). Of these, salmon, prawns, anchovy and haddock remained consistently visible throughout the time series. In contrast, mentions of herring, sole and oyster declined while the frequency of tuna and cod mentions increased. While the total number of species per decade did not change over time, fewer species began to dominate published fish recipes from the 1970s, and the composition of species differed significantly in latter decades. These findings suggest that, while some species have a long record of cultural visibility, associated with persistent consumer preferences, the present domination of British cuisine by a narrow range of fish species has limited historical precedence. While sources prevent an explanation of the drivers of change, the timings suggest both market and ecological drivers played a role in the occurrence of fish species within British recipes. Future research should explore whether these patterns persist across a broader selection of sources and determine the relationship between the visibility of fish in published recipes and the strength of consumer preference.

Abstract: Non-alignment was officially born at a conference in Brijuni, Croatia (then Yugoslavia) in 1956 and then formalized in Belgrade in 1961. Yet its origins go back to the independence struggle of Indonesia in 1945-49 and especially to diplomacy around the Korean War in 1950-53. During that conflict, United States unilateralism pushed India, Indonesia and Burma (now Myanmar) into forming an Asian bloc aligned for diplomatic purposes in the goal of peace. The search for peace in turn formalized a bloc of Asian states that would initiate the Bandung Asian-African conference of 1955 and finally the Non-Aligned Movement. This article explores the emergence of non-alignment in the alte 1940s and early 1950s as a conscious rejection of both Cold War alignment, and earlier European concepts of neutralism in favour of an “active and independent” non-aligned diplomacy that would lead to the emergence of a bloc of non-aligned states.

Abstract: In 2023 David Barrado Navascués published Cosmography in the Age of Discovery and the Scientific Revolution, arguing among other points that a wave of rationalism that began with Pico della Mirandola’s Disputations Against Astrological Revolution swept astrology out of the universities. This argument is reductive. Instead, the historical record shows that in regions of Europe such as France and England judicial astrology—the form of the discipline used to make predictions—became increasingly associated with riot, unrest, civil war, and perhaps most damning in the eyes of Early Modern intellectuals in these areas, the lower classes. As a result, intellectuals such as Pierre Gassendi and the Fellows of the Royal Society of Science in England adopted a mechanical model of the cosmos that did not require celestial influences. The influence of the latter body was particularly important, as its prestige—and the concomitant prestige of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society—undercut the reputation of astrology, since the journal would accept no astrological paper. These changes in England were in large part the result of the appropriation of astrological forecasting by those who lacked a university degree during the English Civil War (1642-46). Thus, the lapsing of astrology as an academic discipline owed more to social and cultural factors than to any rising tide of scientific rationalism.

Abstract: In this work I would like to analyze how the Romanian Civil Code balances traditional civil law principles with modern needs for contractual flexibility, especially in light of European harmonization trends. This work highlights a foundational principle in civil law, positions Romania in the wider European legal context and involves comparative analysis with French, German, or Italian codes.

Abstract: This paper examines the historical and contemporary drivers of innovation in rocket propulsion aiming to identify the strategic, scientific, economic, and geopolitical factors that have most significantly influenced technological progress. Research relies on open-source datasets, government and agency reports, mission case studies, and peer-reviewed publications to illustrate how propulsion technologies have met mission demands over time. The analysis identified four primary categories of innovation drivers: geopolitical competition, scientific freedom and institutional R&D support, international collaboration, and commercial disruption. Each driver is examined across distinct historical eras, from post-WWII missile development and the Cold War Space Race to present-day megaprojects and private-sector breakthroughs. The study asserts that propulsion advancement is not necessarily constrained by scientific knowledge alone, but by the sociopolitical context that either accelerates or suppresses engineering implementation. Accordingly, it argues that sustainable propulsion innovation will require environments that combine long-term scientific autonomy with focused strategic urgency. Key findings highlight the catalytic effect of competition (e.g., U.S.-Soviet and U.S.-China space rivalries), the reactivation of dormant propulsion concepts such as nuclear thermal engines, and the pivotal role of cost-efficiency and environmental considerations in shaping next-generation systems. The paper concludes by outlining specific recommendations for future work: improved access to proprietary commercial data, more granular modeling of propulsion-system life cycles, and expanded research into cross-border governance mechanisms for nuclear and fusion propulsion. Together, these directions aim to bridge historical insight with actionable foresight to help accelerate the propulsion development further.

Abstract: This study examines the interrelations between energy transitions and industrial development in the nineteenth-century United States, using the iron industry as a case study. Through a detailed historical framework the analysis delineates three sequential yet overlapping energy transitions—anchored in anthracite, bituminous coal, and Great Lakes iron ore—each exhibiting distinct interplays between fuel, technology, and product markets. Shaped by an exceptional territorial expansion and resource diversity the American case shows that industrial transitions in energy-intensive sectors often hinge on new products and shifting societal demands. Finally, the findings reveal a non-linear causality: from fuel enabling industrial expansion, to technological innovation stimulating further coal resource extraction, and finally to dematerialization, whereby efficiency gains mitigate total fuel consumption. In hindsight, the study reveals the historical layers of the United Stares Rust Belt.

Abstract: Industrial heritage has emerged in recent decades as a distinctive category within cul-tural heritage, though its aesthetic significance remains underexplored. Unlike tradi-tional monuments with long historical resonance, industrial remains are often recent, standardized, and seemingly devoid of unique cultural symbolism. Yet, in Chi-na—where industrial production expanded massively under both demographic pres-sures and the Maoist planned economy—these sites now constitute one of the world’s largest inventories of heritage. This study builds on earlier discussions of heritage aes-thetics by systematically analyzing the foundations of aesthetic value in industrial heritage, combining historical, functional, and identity-driven perspectives. Drawing on long-term field research, archival documentation, and policy analysis, it examines how adaptive reuse projects—from Beijing’s 798 Art District to Shougang Park and the reconfigured factories of Shanghai and Wuhan—redefine the visual and social signifi-cance of former industrial sites. The methodology integrates heritage aesthetic theory with case-based evidence to assess three key components: technological-historical traces, landscape transformation, and collective memory. Results indicate that aes-thetic value rarely arises from static preservation but is constructed through refunc-tionalization, where industrial ruins acquire renewed meaning as cultural parks, crea-tive hubs, or community spaces. Moreover, large-scale Chinese practices reveal that industrial heritage possesses not only visual appeal but also profound identity-based resonance for generations shaped by the “factory managing community.” By situating industrial heritage within the broader aesthetic system of cultural heritage, this re-search demonstrates that its value lies in the synthesis of function, memory, and land-scape, and that China’s experience provides a compelling framework for rethinking global approaches to industrial heritage aesthetics.

Abstract:

This article focuses on ponds and reservoirs (PRs) in Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Sanuki is a region in the Seto Inland Sea with low annual rainfall. In 1999, there were 14,619 PRs in the 1,877-square-kilometer area. Mannō-ike, the largest PR, is said to have been constructed at the beginning of the ninth century by Kūkai, one of Japan's most prominent Buddhist monks. Such huge man-made structures could have been achieved only through collective human labor. The motivation to build large PRs was driven by the risk of drought. However, it is important to note that there were many more small PRs managed by individuals or families than one might imagine. PRs can range in size from huge to small and in location from mountainous areas to mountain foothills and plains. Rather than hard clustering, which classifies PRs according to a single logic, this article takes a new, historically holistic approach by using soft clustering to analyze the classification mechanism by considering the "Living Spaces," the world of all living organisms, including humans, and quantifying its complex logic.

Abstract: This article provides first-hand evidence for the existence of a global musical culture that was already present in the Bronze Age. The studied prehistoric music connects the Near East with India, the Caucasus, and the Mediterranean across thousands of miles of impenetrable mountains, highland plateaus, and deserts. The material that is discussed in detail in the article includes the Hymn to Nikkal and the Rig Veda. The Hymn to Nikkal is the oldest musical score that has yet been unearthed. It was found on the east coast of the Mediterranean. The Rig Veda is a collection of tens of thousands of verses dating from the same Bronze Age period as the Hymn to Nikkal. These verses have been passed down to us in an oral tradition in India. The study of the musical connection between the Hymn to Nikkal and the Rig Veda, together with the ramifications that surround it, suggests that the Bronze Age saw the emergence of a global musical culture. The statistical evidence discussed in the present article comes as close to certainty as mathematically possible. Overall, the idea of a global musical culture in the Bronze Age will strongly impact multiple fields of research including evolutionary linguistics and the study of cultural evolution and diversification, as well as the broader understanding of the human condition.

Abstract: The figure of Íñigo Ibáñez de Arteita exemplifies military and social advancement during the transition from the 15th to the 16th century. Drawing upon archival materials from Lequeitio, notarial records from Valencia and Barcelona, and royal sources such as the Registro General del Sello and the proceedings of the Royal Chancery, this study examines his multifaceted profile. It introduces his family roots in the Basque town of Lequeitio and traces his trajectory—from his roles as merchant, transporter, and pirate in the Medi-terranean and Atlantic, to his service as captain in the Catholic Monarchs’ fleet stationed in the Strait of Gibraltar, and as second-in-command in the 1495 expedition to Italy. His paradigmatic evolution enables an analysis of the rise of an extraordinary figure from one of the leading bourgeois families of Biscay, who—thanks to substantial real estate holdings, influential social and political networks, and remarkable nautical exper-tise—came to command one of the earliest permanent war fleets of his time.

Abstract: History tries to make sense of disparate data trying to create a discourse of a sequence of events with crisp cause-effect relationships. This is specially difficult for the change of historical ages that signal an epochal shift in a specific part of the world that concerns all aspects of life, from economy to politics and religion. In this research it is fruitful to look at data and follow a well established methodology to claim when something happened and how. This is what we are doing in this paper, where we use historical coin hoard data, a proxy for economic activity and commerce, to establish when the shift from Antiquity to the Middle Ages occurred in a peripheral part of the Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula. We will apply different changepoint analysis methods to a time series created from that data to establish when the economic collapse that produced that change occurred, and work back from that result to actual historical events to find its proximal causes. This paper not only tries to settle that boundary, but also proposes a methodology for applying it to other sequence of historical events.

Abstract: This paper explores the origins and diffusion of child emigration and institutionalisation models in mid‑19th-century America and early‑20th-century Britain through the experiences of two influential philanthropists: Charles Loring Brace and Kingsley Fairbridge. Drawing on Brace's 1850 European “Grand Tour” to Germany and Fairbridge’s 1903 journey from Southern Rhodesia to London, it examines how their encounters with reform institutions like Rauhe Haus and the Inner Mission inspired distinct emigration schemes. Brace’s American Children’s Aid Society initiated “orphan trains,” placing children in rural Protestant foster homes based on Christian family values. Conversely, Fairbridge founded farm schools in Australia under the Child Emigration Society, combining agricultural training with imperial settlement. Both schemes reflected a shared idealisation of countryside environments as corrective spaces for urban poverty, yet diverged in motives: Brace’s rooted in religious and social reform, and Fairbridge’s in colonial population strategy. Through comparative historical analysis, the paper highlights the transatlantic flow of reform ideas and situates child emigration within broader social welfare and imperial networks.

Abstract: This study presents an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to the in-vestigation of the village of El Arellano. Founded in the late 18th century as part of Carlos III's colonization project for Sierra Morena and Andalusia, El Arellano was facing loss due to its current abandonment. By combining techniques such as historical and UAV aerial photogrammetry, archaeological prospection, analysis of historical sources, and remote sensing within a GIS environment, we have significantly advanced the material and historical understanding of the village. This has allowed us to identify its internal structure and historical evolution. This research not only provides a solid foundation for planning future investigations but also serves to rescue this settlement from oblivion and introduce it to the general public.

Abstract: The standard account of the Scientific Revolution follows a gradual, Eurocentric trajectory from Copernicus to Newton, who ultimately developed the laws of mechanics in his Principia Mathematica. This history, while celebrating a monumental accomplishment, often omits the vital intellectual underpinnings established centuries ago. Challenging this truncated history, this essay contends that the conceptual underpinnings of Newtonian mechanics—specifically the concepts of inertia, acceleration, and gravitational attraction—was not generated ex nihilo in 17th-century Europe. This article will show that by studying the work of thinkers like Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham, Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi, and al-Khazini, they not only preserved Greek science but also critically challenged and enhanced it, creating precursor ideas to inertia and gravity. It will next follow the spread of these ideas into medieval Europe, where they directly affected the philosophers who set the groundwork for Galileo and finally Newton. Newton's synthesis requires acknowledging the crucial contributions of the Islamic scientific tradition, which have been overlooked, and therefore, mechanics is not considered an "Arabic innovation" in the modern sense.

Abstract: Rationality has long been considered the quintessence of humankind. However, psychological experiments revealing reliable divergences in performances on reasoning tasks from normative principles of reasoning have cast serious doubt on the venerable dogma that human beings are rational animals. According to the standard picture, reasoning in accordance with principles based on rules of logic, probability theory, etc., is rational. The standard picture provides the backdrop for both the rationality and irrationality thesis, and, by virtue of the competence-performance distinction, diametrically opposed interpretations of reasoning experiments are possible. However, the standard picture rests on shaky foundations. Jean Piaget developed a psychological theory of reasoning, in which logic and mathematics are continuous with psychology but nevertheless autonomous sources of knowledge. Accordingly, logic, probability theory, etc. are not extra-human norms, and reasoners have the ability to reason in accordance with them. In this paper, I set out Piaget’s theory of rationality, using intra- and interpropositional reasoning as illustrations, and argue that Piaget’s theory of rationality is compatible with the standard picture but actually undermines it by denying that norms of reasoning based on logic are psychologically relevant for rationality. In particular, rather than logic being the normative benchmark, I argue that rationality according to Piaget has a psychological foundation, namely the reversibility of the operations of thought constituting cognitive structures.

Abstract: The aim of this article is to explore particular dynamics of a handful of past articles and book chapters that managed to illuminate contexts within sport that ultimately transcend it in certain ways. John Hughson published five articles/chapters on the Bad Blue Boys ultras that followed a club called Sydney Croatia in Australia’s now defunct National Soccer League. The present author wrote several articles about the MCF (Melbourne Croatia Fans), the ultras of the sister club of Sydney Croatia known as Melbourne Knights (originally Melbourne Croatia). We observe here two groups of young Croatian-Australian men, part of the Diaspora of Croatians that left the country, mostly in the communist era and afterwards, that aim to construct workable hybrid identities for themselves in an Anglo-majority nation on the other side of the globe. They fight on two fronts--against an Anglo, corporate-style administration that effectively bans their clubs for reasons of ethnicity from the new national-league; and against the Serbian youth that often live in the adjacent or nearby suburbs and follow Serbian-origin clubs.

Abstract: The central question of the article is whether the now globally widespread risk of miscommunication about authoritarianism and totalitarianism contributes to the creation of distorted and misleading memories. This 'widespread' information increasingly comes into conflict with 'historical science', which is faced with the difficulty of maintaining a desirable distance from the object of study, especially considering that totalitarianisms and authoritarianisms have undergone transformations over time, while retaining certain ideological cores that oppose liberal democracy. The communication of fascism has undergone continuous evolution, adapting to social, political and cultural transformations. Today, the most insidious risk is that its ideology is spread in the form of distorted, minimised or even romanticised narratives, especially through youth and subcultural channels. The trivialisation of violence, in the Italian Fascist case, the mythologisation of its symbols and historical distortion are powerful tools that allow authoritarian ideologies to infiltrate and sediment themselves in broader social contexts. The communication of fascism, when manipulated or presented under the guise of an ambiguous 'freedom of expression', thus becomes a fertile ground for the spread of intolerance, racism and discrimination. This phenomenon, which also involves cultural forms such as music and language, represents an urgent challenge to our historical memory.

Abstract: Rural culture is the essence of rural tourism[1]. As a critical material carrier for the inheritance and preservation of rural culture, public cultural spaces have emerged in recent years as a new driving force for the development of rural cultural tourism. Against the backdrop of China’s rural cultural tourism development, this study explores the construction of rural public cultural spaces centered on traditional culture, aiming to investigate new mechanisms for their development in the new era. To this end, the study takes Moganshan, China as a case study and employs a literature review, ArcGIS spatial analysis, and questionnaire surveys. By integrating historical literature, spatial distribution data of cultural heritage, and analyses of various groups’ perspectives on constructing rural public cultural spaces, it systematically examines three critical issues in current practices: an insufficient exploration of indigenous traditional culture[2], unreasonable planning and utilization[3], and an imperfect mechanism for public participation[4]. The findings indicate that rural areas in China possess abundant and distinctive conventional cultures, which are vividly reflected in cultural heritage distributed across different regions. Moreover, in the new era, diverse groups have shown great attention to rural culture—not only endorsing the construction of public cultural spaces centered on traditional rural history and culture but also asserting that innovative public cultural spaces can promote the development of rural cultural tourism. Based on these outcomes, the study proposes three new models for constructing rural public cultural spaces: recreational cultural space, cultural heritage space, and cultural creative space, thereby offering fresh perspectives for advancing rural cultural tourism.