Legumes are a large and diverse family of plants that provide us with food, feed, fuel and feedstocks for industry. They can use atmospheric di-nitrogen for growth, via symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) with bacteria called rhizobia, making them key to sustainable agricultural systems. There are opportunities to increase SNF in legumes to help tackle critical challenges related to the overuse of fertilizer nitrogen in agriculture. The last two decades have seen enormous progress in our understanding of the genetics of SNF, although this is yet to be leveraged to improve SNF in legumes. In principle, two main plant-based approaches exist to improve SNF, one involving genetic engineering and the other using existing natural variation in this complex trait. These approaches are not mutually exclusive and now is an opportune time to attempt to increase SNF in legumes via plant genetics and genomics.

This article advances the ‘historical turn’ in Europeanization research by tracing the intellectual trajectory of Europeanization within the broader intellectual movements and debates. Using collocation and temporal analyses, the study identifies key patterns and significant shifts in the usage of Europeanization in social-humanities discourse over the past century. Initially, Europeanization referred to outward cultural changes, later evolving into a more inward-looking focus on policy and politics. Europeanization emerges as a multifaceted, multidirectional, and often contested process, marked by reversibility and adaptability. It is best understood as a complex, long-term, and non-linear process of interaction and diffusion, spanning racial, cultural, social, economic, political, as well as spatial and historical dimensions.

Corruption is observed in various processes of human activities, from governance to private life. An important element of preventing corruption is the implementation of codes of ethics, which by the very nature of these codes declare high ethical standards and principles and are consistent with the applicable laws. The effectiveness of codes of ethics in the field of labour relations as a tool for preventing corruption is also reinforced by other auxiliary anti-corruption instruments. The purpose of this article is to determine the role of codes of ethics in shaping corporate culture, outline the importance of ethical principles in labour relations, conduct a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of codes of ethics in the field of labour relations in the framework of corruption prevention, and analyse the application of comprehensive codes of ethics and disciplinary codes as a stimulating tool for the effectiveness of the codes of ethics. As a result, we have drawn conclusions about the importance of using other auxiliary tools alongside codes of ethics to increase efficiency, and in the course of studying the problematic aspects of implementing codes of ethics in the framework of corruption prevention, we have formulated recommendations for their elimination.

This article discusses the history of wine in (what is now) Portugal, within the global history of the region. The Phoenicians brought wine and viticulture to the southern and western coasts of Iberia in the eighth century bce. The Romans expanded viticulture to the entire Peninsula in the late second century bce. Wine survived the ‘Barbarian’ invasions and centuries of Islamic rule. A revival of viticulture followed the capture of Lisbon by Afonso Henriques in 1147. In the early days of the age of exploration, Portugal developed trade routes to Africa, India, the Far East, and South America. The long-distance sailing was facilitated by the colonization of the Madeira and Açores (Azores) archipelagos. The wines produced there became famous, especially in England and North America. The fortification of wine in the late seventeenth century resulted in the emergence of modern Madeiras and Ports. Following the 1755 ‘Lisbon’ earthquake, Pombal imposed strict geographical delimitations and winemaking rules in the Douro. Napoleon’s Peninsular War devastated the Portuguese economy, and then viticulture was badly hit by oïdium and phylloxera, the First World War, the Great Depression, Prohibition, and the Second World War. Portuguese wines finally emerged on the world scene after the Salazar dictatorship.

Earth System Science stands as the future operating framework to monitor the pulse of the Earth, and to diagnose and address the challenges of global change. Magmatism and volcanism are primary processes connecting the solid Earth to the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. In addition to regulating the Earth system, they are both an unavoidable source of hazards and a tremendous resource of energy and raw materials. Accessing magma is the necessary next step in the exploration of our planet. It will enable us to develop next-generation geothermal energy (magma energy), to transform volcano monitoring strategies, and perhaps even to alleviate volcanic activity. Recent exploratory geothermal drilling activities around the world have serendipitously encountered shallow magma bodies in the Earth. Following these remarkable magma drilling occurrences, the Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT) has been established in Iceland in order to create the first magma observatory – a world-class international in situ magma laboratory with access to the magma-rock-hydrothermal boundary through wells suitable for advanced studies and experiments. Here we review the importance of magma in the Earth system, present the multifaceted need for magma observatories and introduce the benefits of KMT as we enter a new generation of energy demands and resilience strategies.

Infertility affects 10–15% of couples at the age of conception. Mounting evidence supports that not only are paternal factors crucial during fertilization, but also for embryogenesis. This review aims to provide some clues about the contribution of male factors to reproductive success and live birth, as such contributions can be as important as that of the female. Semen is composed of two fractions: sperm and seminal plasma. Regarding the former, the integrity of sperm components (i.e., centrioles, DNA integrity and methylation, histone-to-protamine ration, specific proteins, etc.) has been proven to be essential for some of the events occurring upon engulfment of the spermatozoon into the oocyte cytoplasm. The metabolic status of sperm also seems to shape their potential fertilizing capacity. Furthermore, seminal plasma appears to modulate the female reproductive tract, and has been suggested to support embryo implantation. In spite of the aforementioned, it remains largely unaddressed how paternal factors interact with maternal ones, and whether the latter may mask the former. While assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are useful to rescue infertility, a better understanding about the contribution of semen to fertilization, embryo development and implantation can increase the efficiency of these techniques, and address further the causes of total fertilization failure, implantation deficiency and recurrent miscarriage.

This study investigates the reflections on the trio of exchange rate, nominal interest rate and inflation, on Turkey’s Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP). In the analysis using annual time series data covering the years 1985–2020 obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute, the Vector Autoregression (VAR) and Nonlinear Autoregressive Distribution Lag (NARDL) models are used with restricted variables. The existence of cointegration also encourages the application of the Vector Error Correction (VECM) model to examine the causal relationships between these variables. Nonlinear ARDL test results and other tests reveal some long-term effects. Research results show that inflation-based growth does not occur in the short term and negatively affects growth in the long term. Due to Turkey’s significant current account deficit and heavy reliance on imported energy and inputs, currency devaluation is ineffective in boosting exports, highlighting the challenges of promoting export growth under these economic conditions. Moreover, it turns out that policies that reduce interest rates, as well as the depreciation of the Turkish lira against the exchange rate due to inflation, harm the economy in general. These effects serve as a crucial wake-up call for proponents of the export-led growth model.

This article presents the critical importance of technological progress in strengthening Ukraine’s national security. It examines the intersection of technology, economic growth, and societal wellbeing, highlighting the role of innovation and investment in this context. The main objective is to analyse how technological modernization and a shift towards an innovative economic model can strengthen national security. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses, historical, and comparative methods to evaluate the impact of factors such as governance, economic systems, and emerging threats, including extremism, on national security. This multifaceted strategy offers a comprehensive understanding of internal and external influences on security dynamics. The findings suggest that national resilience against security threats is dependent on technological innovation. Additionally, it is important to effectively address non-conventional threats and adapt to global trends. This article argues that national security in the modern era is multifaceted and requires a comprehensive strategy that integrates technological innovation with economic and social policies. It suggests that a proactive approach towards innovation and investment can significantly contribute to safeguarding national interests in a rapidly changing global landscape.

The last 15 years have witnessed a wave of nostalgia for the recent past in Greece. This nostalgia is boosted by social media, especially Facebook, and revolves around the rising counsumer standards that the country experiences in the first three decades after its entry in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1981. Drawing on media material and surveys, this article discusses this phenomenon, focusing on whether this nostalgia represents a cultural response to Europe and Europanization. Through a historically empathetic analysis, the article argues that this critique focuses on participation in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), a choice that Greek society largely sees as harmful. In this vein, the drachma, Greece’s currency until 2002, is viewed nostalgically and identified with prosperity.

To honour the memory of Albert Bandura and David Magnusson, a few years after their deaths, the current status and perspectives of research on Personality is addressed. There is a growing demand for psychological knowledge to enable our societies to value their human capital. To this end, contemporary research on Personality moves beyond traditional rivalries among competing theories and addresses the whole personality by focusing on the unique properties that account for humans as agentic and moral beings, and for the social conditions that enable us to unveil and nurture the best of our humanity.

We have increasingly sophisticated ways of acquiring and communicating knowledge, yet, paradoxically, we are currently facing an unprecedented global ignorance crisis that affects our personal and societal well-being, as well as the stability of our democracies. There are two key triggers to this crisis, i.e. two crucial obstacles to learning: first, the widespread sharing of disinformation, which, in conjunction with an overly trusting audience, contributes to widely spread false beliefs, and correspondingly reckless political and social behaviour. At the same time, though, and at least as critical, is the prevalence of knowledge resistance and distrust in expertise. What we need to solve this high-stakes puzzle is a social epistemological framework that is able to explain the complex mechanisms underlying these surprising and unprecedented epistemic phenomena. This article will aim to sketch the contours of such a framework.

Exploring the fundamental constituents of the matter around us and in the Universe, as well as their interactions, is among the premier goals of physics. Investigating ultrarelativistic collisions in particle accelerators has delivered answers to these questions many times in the past decades. In this article we focus on the research aimed at recreating the matter that filled the Universe in the first microsecond after the Big Bang – but this time in collisions of heavy ions. In particular, we discuss the technique called femtoscopy, which provides us with a tool to understand the space–time structure of particle creation in heavy-ion collisions. We use Lévy-stable distributions to investigate this structure and explore its dependence on particle momentum and collision energy.

Truth is a property of our statements and of our thoughts, but also what these aim at, and a norm for our thinking in general. But how to understand this normative tie between belief and truth? Norms by themselves seem unable to motivate or to guide us. These difficulties are stated, and the answer given is that the norm of belief is actually knowledge, which explains why we value it, and how it can also be a value.

In this article, I provide a brief account of my first decade of involvement in European science policy, of what I believe are the key structural issues in that landscape, and where I propose possible adjustments to address these issues.

This article compares two different ways in which German industries, during the half century before 1914, managed to integrate useful results from scientific research: At the time, on the one hand there was single-firm-based industrial research, and on the other the cooperation of science, business, and government in the Emperor William Society for the Advancement of Sciences (1911) out of which, after the Second World War, the Max Planck Society emerged. On this basis, the article discusses similarities and tensions between capitalism and the sciences which, in spite of some structural similarities, follow different logics.