Speleothem records of Indian monsoon provide climatic context to societal changes in Indian subcontinent over the last 5700 years. The vast Indo-Gangetic Plain in South Asia has been home to some of the world’s oldest civilizations, whose fortunes ebbed and flowed with time—plausibly driven in part by shifts in the spatiotemporal patterns of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. We use speleothem oxygen isotope records from North India to reconstruct the monsoon’s variability on socially relevant time scales, allowing us to examine the history of civilization changes in the context of varying hydroclimatic conditions over the past 5700 years. Our data suggest that significant shifts in monsoon rainfall have occurred in concert with changes in the Northern Hemisphere temperatures and the discharges of the Himalayan rivers. The close temporal relationship between these large-scale hydroclimatic changes and the intervals marking the significant sociopolitical developments of the Indus Valley and Vedic civilizations suggests a plausible role of climate change in shaping the important chapters of the history of human civilization in the Indian subcontinent.
Humanity is at a critical juncture, marked by rapid technological advances and the pursuit of higher civilization stages on the Kardashev scale. This study explores humanity's potential progression toward Type I and Type II civilizations, defined by planetary and stellar-scale energy utilization. Building on Kardashev's framework, we propose refinements that integrate energy consumption, information processing, construction mass, and population dynamics. Using machine learning, we analyze global energy data to project humanity's energy future, emphasizing exponential growth in renewable and nuclear sources, and incorporate stellar classifications and insolation flux data from the Planetary Habitability Laboratory to establish benchmarks for habitable exoplanets orbiting G, K, and M stars. Our simulations suggest humanity could plausibly reach Type I status by 2271 CE through planetary-scale energy harnessing, advanced computation, and sustainable population management. Under optimistic assumptions of technological progress and resource use, Type II status may emerge between 3200-3500 CE, contingent on breakthroughs in stellar-scale infrastructures such as Dyson swarms or Matrioshka Brains and sustained interplanetary integration. To better track these trajectories, we introduce the Civilization Development Index (CDI), a modified Kardashev metric balancing contributions from energy, information, construction, and population, and demonstrate its robustness under varying assumptions. This study presents an interdisciplinary framework for understanding humanity's long-term trajectory as a multiplanetary civilization, while highlighting both promise and uncertainty. Recognizable existential risks, the so-called "Great Filters", may delay or prevent this pathway, underscoring the urgency of global sustainability and resilience today.
Objective. Find out how the authors-compilers of the Kyiv Chronicle of the first quarter of the 17th century perceive “enemies” and by what means they materialize their vision of the “hostile”. Methodology. The study uses critical, comparative-historical methods, a historical-anthropological approach, and hermeneutic analysis. Scientific novelty. The research explores two perspectives on the perception of the “enemy” from the viewpoint of two authors of the Kyiv Chronicle of the first quarter of the 17th century: a clergyman and a nobleman. The source base, used by the authors-compilers of the Kyiv Chronicle, has been clarified. A new interpretation of some dates contained in the text of the monument has been proposed. Conclusions. The Kyiv Chronicle of the first quarter of the 17th century is a valuable source for studying the worldview of early modern individuals, particularly the issue of theirperception of the “enemy” and the “hostile”. The review of the chronicle block compiled by Kyrylo Ivanovych, the churchwarden of Uspenska Church in Kyiv, shows that beneath the chronicler’s apparent indifference to external events and focus on Kyiv’s internal life and ecclesiastical matters lies a significant interest in key events of prolonged confrontations with the Moscowites and Tatars. Kyrylo Ivanovych consciously selected information from his sources about specific events of the Lithuanian-Moscowites wars and clashes with the Tatars. The chronicler delineated the beginnings of the struggle with the Moscowites and Tatars and marked the end of the war with the Moscowites. Moscowites and Turks are unequivocal enemies for Kyrylo. Under certain circumstances, Poles also fall into the category of “enemy”. The author of the final part of the chronicle, an unnamed Orthodox nobleman, unlike his predecessor, used various means - mystification, “information warfare” tools, and poetic forms - to create a series of vivid “hostile” images - Moscowites, Tatars, and Ottoman Turks.
SETI is not a usual point of departure for environmental humanities. However, this paper argues that theories originating in this field have direct implications for how we think about viable inhabitation of the Earth. To demonstrate SETI's impact on environmental humanities, this paper introduces Fermi paradox as a speculative tool to probe possible trajectories of planetary history, and especially the "Sustainability Solution" proposed by Jacob Haqq-Misra and Seth Baum. This solution suggests that sustainable coupling between extraterrestrial intelligences and their planetary environments is the major factor in the possibility of their successful detection by remote observation. By positing that exponential growth is not a sustainable development pattern, this solution rules out space-faring civilizations colonizing solar systems or galaxies. This paper elaborates on Haqq-Misra's and Baum's arguments, and discusses speculative implications of the Sustainability Solution, thus rethinking three concepts in environmental humanities: technosphere, planetary history, and sustainability. The paper advocates that (1) technosphere is a transitory layer that shall fold back into biosphere; (2) planetary history must be understood in a generic perspective that abstracts from terrestrial particularities; and (3) sustainability is not sufficient vector of viable human inhabitation of the Earth, suggesting instead habitability and genesity as better candidates.
Abdurrohman Kasdi, Abdul Karim, Umma Farida
et al.
This article focuses on the history of the development of waqf (endowment) in the Middle East and its role in pioneering contemporary Islamic civilization. Waqf has been a supporting pillar for the upholding of the social-religious institutions of society for centuries. The method taken in this research is the historical-phenomenological approach. The result shows that waqf began to be known and practiced since the Prophet Muhammad built the Quba and the Nabawi Mosque. The same was further promoted by the Righteous Caliphs (Khulafa al-Rashidin) and the caliphs afterward. In the next period, waqf became rapidly developing in the Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, and Syria. The development of waqf is not only in religious facilities but also in agricultural land, plantations, educational institutions, apartments, money, and shares. All of them are managed productively, and their use varies greatly. Waqf played an urgent role even in pioneering contemporary Islamic civilization. There are two patterns of management of waqf assets for the development of Islamic civilization: first, the development of waqf for social activities, such as waqf for social justice, people's welfare, education development, health facilities, public policy advocacy, legal assistance, environmental preservation, the development of arts and culture and other programs; second, development of economic value, such as for the development of trade, industry, property purchase, and other economic activities.Keywords: Endowments, Development of Waqf, Social Activities, Contemporary Islamic Civilization
Research objectives: This article raises the question of the authorship of the work “Jami al-tawarikh”, written in Kasimov at the beginning of the 17th century. The author of this work is Kadyr Ali-bek, an associate of the Kasimov Khan Uraz-Muhammad.
Research materials: The main source behind this study is the Kazan and St. Petersburg lists of “Jami al-tawarikh”, as well as a study dedicated to this work and the personality of Kadyr Ali-bek.
Results and novelty of the research: An analysis of the text, “Jami al-tawarikh”, and scientific works about Uraz-Muhammad Khan, the Kasimov Khan, has led to the idea that the work’s author may not be Kadyr Ali-bek. This assumption is based on a different reading of the text in places where authorship is mentioned. In addition, the present version arose from the insertion of text in the work’s various parts. The language is heterogeneous, parts of the composition differ in terms of the presence of borrowings, and we see different levels of the Tatar language. As well, considering the personality of Kadyr Ali-bek, and his role under the Kasimov Khan, it can be assumed that the author of “Jami al-tawarikh” was another person, and Kadyr Ali-bek was a copyist.
Auxiliary sciences of history, History of Civilization
The article is devoted to the consideration of the ancestral legends of the Russian nobility contained in the genealogy record collections of the second half of the 19th century. An
attempt was made to identify noble families, the origin of which is associated with the era of Dmitry Donskoy and the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. The most famous genealogy record collections compiled by A. Bobrinskii, V. Arsen'ev, P. Dolgorukov, A. Lobanov-Rostovskii, V. Rummel', M. Yablochkov, and V. Chernopyatov are used as sources for the analysis. Ancestral legends of Russian noble families are considered as part of family memory. Special attention is paid to the reflections of famous historical figures of the Battle of Kulikovo era, such as Metropolitan Cyprian, Prince Dmitry Olgerdovich, Prince Andrei Olgerdovich, and Sergius of Radonezh, in the family legends of the Russian nobility. The introduction presents the characteristics of ancestral memory and analyzes the approaches to it by individual researchers. The main part of the article deals with ancestral legends preserved in genealogy record collections of the second half of the 19th century, with special emphasis on the historical figures of the 12th – 15th centuries, mentioned therein. In the final part of the article, a conclusion is made about the great popularity of the name of Prince Dmitry and his associates, participants in the Battle of
Kulikovo, among the Russian nobility of the 18th – 19th centuries. The preferences of the people of the 19th century could not but tell on the legends that existed in the second half of the 19th century, which is also reflected in the diversity of legends about the origin of one and the same noble family. The analysis of the ancestral legends of the Russian nobility presented in the genealogy record collections makes it possible to understand the mechanisms of formation and transformation of the ancestral memory of Russian nobles over several centuries and also gives a vivid description of the worldview of the Russian nobility in the second half of the 19th century.
History of Civilization, History (General) and history of Europe
Muhammad Zubair Khan, Oleg E. Peil, Apoorva Sharma
et al.
In the rapidly expanding field of two-dimensional materials, magnetic monolayers show great promise for the future applications in nanoelectronics, data storage, and sensing. The research in intrinsically magnetic two-dimensional materials mainly focuses on synthetic iodide and telluride based compounds, which inherently suffer from the lack of ambient stability. So far, naturally occurring layered magnetic materials have been vastly overlooked. These minerals offer a unique opportunity to explore air-stable complex layered systems with high concentration of local moment bearing ions. We demonstrate magnetic ordering in iron-rich two-dimensional phyllosilicates, focusing on mineral species of minnesotaite, annite, and biotite. These are naturally occurring van der Waals magnetic materials which integrate local moment baring ions of iron via magnesium/aluminium substitution in their octahedral sites. Due to self-inherent capping by silicate/aluminate tetrahedral groups, ultra-thin layers are air-stable. Chemical characterization, quantitative elemental analysis, and iron oxidation states were determined via Raman spectroscopy, wavelength disperse X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry measurements were performed to examine the magnetic ordering. These layered materials exhibit paramagnetic or superparamagnetic characteristics at room temperature. At low temperature ferrimagnetic or antiferromagnetic ordering occurs, with the critical ordering temperature of 38.7 K for minnesotaite, 36.1 K for annite, and 4.9 K for biotite. In-field magnetic force microscopy on iron bearing phyllosilicates confirmed the paramagnetic response at room temperature, present down to monolayers.
The article examines the genre of magtal in the aspect of the greatness of bladed weapons on the examples of magtal poems in the poetry of Aksen Suseev, David Kugultinov and Mikhail Honinov. If “Uldin magtal” (“The Greatness of the Sword”) is included in A. Suseev’s poem “Teegin urn” (“Son of the Steppes”, 1939) as part of three magtals addressed to the greatness of the hero, horse and his weapons, before 12 songs-chapters, then D. Kugultinov’s poems “Aakun shor-uld taig” (“The sword-cane of Oka”, 1956) and M. Honinov’s “Khazg Chashkin ir ...” (“The blade of the Cossack saber ...”) are separate magtals dedicated to the heroes of fellow countrymen. A. Suseev and D. Kugultinov have magtals addressed to the hero of the Civil War O.I. Gorodovikov, M. Honinov — the hero of the Patriotic War B.B. Gorodovikov, defenders of the Fatherland. Comparative-typological analysis of folklore analogues in the epic “Dzhangar” and literary magtals revealed both common and different in the glorification of the hero through the glorification of his weapons — sword, saber, Cossack saber.
Where is the limit? For some Colombians, narrating their traumatic experience of violence has become an act of resistance. This is how Colombian artists understand their artistic commitment and “intentions”. How can artists put into images, in the sense of representation, the un-representable (Rancière)? The role of the spectator then becomes the focus of the questioning: Who observes? Through a selection of works by three Colombian artists (Doris Salcedo, Oscar Muñoz and Erika Diettes), this article analyzes, first of all, the meaning(s) that a work takes on when it is conceived by the artist for both the spectator who is part of the same context and for the one who is completely decontextualized from it. Then, secondly, the way in which this same work, initially thought of in a more local and particular sense, can become more universal and globalized.
We examine the effect of civil war in Syria on economic growth, human development and institutional quality. Building on the synthetic control method, we estimate the missing counterfactual scenario in the hypothetical absence of the armed conflict that led to unprecedented humanitarian crisis and population displacement in modern history. By matching Syrian growth and development trajectories with the characteristics of the donor pool of 66 countries with no armed internal conflict in the period 1996-2021, we estimate a series of growth and development gaps attributed to civil war. Syrian civil war appears to have had a temporary negative effect on the trajectory of economic growth that almost disappeared before the onset of COVID19 pandemic. By contrast, the civil war led to unprecedented losses in human development, rising infant mortality and rampantly deteriorating institutional quality. Down to the present day, each year of the conflict led to 5,700 additional under-five child deaths with permanently derailed negative effect on longevity. The civil war led to unprecedent and permanent deterioration in institutional quality indicated by pervasive weakening of the rule of law and deleterious impacts on government effectiveness, civil liberties and widespread escalation of corruption. The estimated effects survive a battery of placebo checks.
Victoria Basualdo, María Alejandra Esponda, Silvia Nassif
Este artículo analiza procesos de investigación y judicialización de casos de responsabilidad empresarial en delitos de lesa humanidad durante la última dictadura en Argentina (1976-1983). En particular, estudia cuatro casos de empresas agroindustriales: dos ingenios azucareros ubicados en las provincias de Tucumán (ingenios La Fronterita y Concepción) y otro en Jujuy (ingenio Ledesma), y una empresa yerbatera y de producción de té en la provincia de Corrientes (Las Marías). El artículo subraya que todos estos casos incluyen no solo trabajo fabril sino también rural, caracterizado por una mayor precarización de las relaciones laborales y una mayor explotación. Se enfatizan las potencialidades de estos estudios, pero también los obstáculos y limitaciones de estos procesos de Memoria, Verdad y Justicia debido al fuerte poder empresarial y las dificultades de la organización obrera y sindical.
History of Civilization, History (General) and history of Europe
Arnaud Mazier, Alexandre Bilger, Antonio E. Forte
et al.
In this paper, we develop a framework for solving inverse deformation problems using the FEniCS Project finite element software. We validate our approach with experimental imaging data acquired from a soft silicone beam under gravity. In contrast with inverse iterative algorithms that require multiple solutions of a standard elasticity problem, the proposed method can compute the undeformed configuration by solving only one modified elasticity problem. This modified problem has a complexity comparable to the standard one. The framework is implemented within an open-source pipeline enabling the direct and inverse deformation simulation directly from imaging data. We use the high-level Unified Form Language (UFL) of the FEniCS Project to express the finite element model in variational form and to automatically derive the consistent Jacobian. Consequently, the design of the pipeline is flexible: for example, it allows the modification of the constitutive models by changing a single line of code. We include a complete working example showing the inverse deformation of a beam deformed by gravity as supplementary material.