bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early-life enrichment in American mink (Neogale vison): Enrichment of the perinatal environment improves maternal nest building and reduces stereotypic behaviour
Authors: Clark Gabrielle B , Díez-León María , Meagher Rebecca K
Published: January 2025

Pens for farmed mink (Neogale vison) commonly include separate nesting areas to provide privacy and warmth in the perinatal period. However, standard bedding materials may not be sufficient to allow intrinsically motivated nest-building behaviours in dams. Further, these materials may not produce optimal nest structures for the rearing of kits. In the present study, we provided extra, relatively high-quality nest-building materials and a chewable sisal rope enrichment for mink dams in the perinatal period (a group enriched at whelping; EW). The effects of these enrichments on various measures of welfare and maternal behaviour were compared to those of mink dams in standard housing (SH) and mink dams whose kits were enriched later in development (EK). EW dams performed less stereotypic behaviour and built higher quality nests than dams of other housing conditions, although dams’ basal faecal cortisol metabolite levels (FCM) were not affected. The stress responsiveness of these dams’ offspring was later assessed by sampling FCM before and after a handling event, however, this event did not appear to induce a measurable stress response and thus no conclusions could be drawn regarding effects of perinatal enrichment on HPA-axis development. Overall, provision of higher quality nest-building materials and a chewable rope enrichment benefited dam stereotypic behaviour and nest building in the perinatal period. We present suggestions for future studies to further investigate whether perinatal enrichment can impact maternal care and offspring HPA-axis development in mink.
Manipulation of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability on a heavy–light interface via successive shocks
Authors: Zhai Zhigang , Chen Chenren , Xing Yinuo , Li Jiaxuan , Cao Qing , Wang He , Luo Xisheng
Published: January 2025

The manipulation of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability growth at a heavy–light interface via successive shocks is theoretically analysed and experimentally realized in a specific shock-tube facility. An analytical model is developed to forecast the interface evolution before and after the second shock impact, and the possibilities for the amplitude evolution pattern are systematically discussed. Based on the model, the parameter conditions for each scenario are designed, and all possibilities are experimentally realized by altering the time interval between two shock impacts. These findings may enhance the understanding of how successive shocks influence hydrodynamic instabilities in practical applications.
Meeting of the Minds: Reshaping Citizens’ Rights and Duties
Authors: Bambrick Christina , Stobb Maureen
Published: January 2025

How might constitution-makers write “transformative constitutions”? Scholars and policymakers have looked to constitutional design as a mechanism for societal change, for example, promoting democracy, equality, and social rights. In these efforts, accountability has most often been limited to government actors. Yet, constitution-makers are increasingly introducing the “horizontal” application of rights, a potent tool for transformation whereby private actors also gain constitutional rights obligations. We argue that a key predictive element in introducing this mechanism is a meeting of the minds in constitution-making processes, where interests and mutual commitments from a broad cross-section of society are expressed at the negotiating table. We test our theory, employing cross-national data concerning the adoption of horizontal application over time, and examples from specific countries’ experiences. Our findings support our theory, suggesting that powerful articulation of interests by expert professionals in inclusive processes is a significant factor in reshaping citizen duties and, thus, transforming society.
Assessing Public Trust in Ghana’s Courts
Authors: Acheampong Joseph Ofori , Cann Damon M.
Published: January 2025

Much of the research on public trust in courts focuses on countries with strong rule of law traditions and clear judicial norms. Less is known about such attitudes in young democracies with developing judicial institutions. To address this, we examine public confidence in Ghana’s court system. Ghana’s courts have faced various scandals, from judges’ personal conduct to separation of power conflicts. Using Afrobarometer data, we evaluate public attitudes toward Ghana’s courts. We find that Ghanaians generally have low trust in their courts, with factors such as partisanship, education, standard of living, and gender strongly influencing trust.
People with Libyan names in Mesopotamian texts
Authors: Karlsson Mattias
Published: January 2025

In terms of foreign relations, ancient Libya is regularly tied to Egypt and Egyptology. It is rarely linked to Mesopotamia, the other great river-based civilization of the region. Nevertheless, there are a number of people with Libyan names mentioned in Assyrian-Babylonian texts. Proceeding from the premise that it is relevant to talk of a Libyan ethnicity also in this period of intermingling of Egyptians and Libyans and that personal names are meaningful and express identity on the part of the name giver, the people with Libyan names in question are presented and discussed from various biographic and demographic viewpoints in the present article.
The Turing heritage for plant biology: all spots and stripes?
Authors: Siero Eric , Deinum Eva E.
Published: January 2025

In ‘The chemical basis of morphogenesis’ (1952), Alan Turing introduced an idea that revolutionised our thinking about pattern formation. He proposed that diffusion could lead to the spontaneous formation of regular patterns. Here, we discuss the impact of Turing’s idea on plant science using three well-established examples at different scales: ROP patterning inside single cells, epidermal patterning across several cells and whole vegetation patterns. Also at intermediate levels, e.g., organ spacing, plants look surprisingly regular. But not all regular patterns are Turing patterns, careful observation and prediction of the patterning process—not just the final pattern—is critical to distinguish between mechanisms.
Translating Rousseau Between Venice and Istanbul: Enlightenment and Connected History in an Armenian Music Treatise (1812)
Authors: OLLEY JACOB
Published: January 2025

This article discusses a music treatise written in 1812 by the Catholic Armenian polymath Minas Bzhshkean (1777–1851). The article focuses on the historical and intellectual context in which the idea of notational reform emerged within the Armenian diaspora. Bzhshkean was born in the Ottoman Empire but educated at the Mekhitarist monastery of San Lazzaro in Venice, which was the leading intellectual centre of the Armenian Enlightenment. By discussing Bzhshkean’s use of sources from multiple cultural and intellectual traditions (including European authors such as Rousseau), the article provides a new perspective on music and Enlightenment in global context.
Liberatory Images: A Palestinian Film Series
Authors: Sikand Nandini
Published: January 2025

“[O]n the one hand, Palestinians stand against invisibility, which is the fate they have resisted since the beginning; and on the other hand, they stand against the stereotype in the media: the masked Arab, the kufiyya, the stone-throwing Palestinian – a visual identity associated with terrorism and violence.”
Internationalist Islam and the Question of Palestine
Authors: Nasir M. Bilal
Published: January 2025

Following the al-Qassam Brigade breach of the “Iron Wall” barrier, Muslim Americans participated in protest movements across the United States in support of Palestinian liberation. Many of the Muslim American youth involved in such spaces of have drawn on religion to advance the issue of Palestine in U.S. urban centers, such as Los Angeles. However, instead of invoking those iterations of American Islam emerging from West or South Asian communities, protestors have turned to Black Islam to forge an internationalist politics of solidarity. This essay examines events held in the aftermath of 10/7 in solidarity with Palestine at Islah, a predominantly Black American mosque located in South Central LA, to consider how Muslim Americans engage with Islam as an ethical and political site from which to launch critiques against Zionism and US imperialism. Specifically, it probes how Black Islam can be best understood as Internationalist or Third World Islam, which deems coalition-building with non-Muslims to advocate for the oppressed in the US and the Global South an Islamic virtue. Attending to invocations of Malcolm X, I document how Muslim Americans are increasingly looking to Black radicalisms by way of Islam to establish a revolutionary politics that links the dismantling of policing at home to decolonization abroad, most notably in Palestine.
$C^*$
-ALGEBRAS OF UNSATURATED FELL BUNDLES OVER ÉTALE GROUPOIDS
Authors: HOLKAR ROHIT DILIP , HOSSAIN MD AMIR
Published: January 2025

Consider a possibly unsaturated Fell bundle

$\mathcal {A}\to G$

over a locally compact, possibly non-Hausdorff, groupoid G. We list four notions of continuity of representations of

$\mathit {C_c}(G;\mathcal {A})$

on a Hilbert space and prove their equivalence. This allows us to define the full

$\mathit {C}^*$

-algebra of the Fell bundle in different ways.
Clastic sedimentary record impacted by carbonate bioclasts in the Late Ediacaran
Authors: Osés Gabriel L , Afonso Jhon W L , Wood Rachel A , Freitas Bernardo T , Romero Guilherme R , Paula-Santos Gustavo M , Caetano-Filho Sergio , Pacheco Mírian L A F , Rodrigues Cleber L , Silva Tiago F , Amorim Kamilla B
Published: January 2025

Clastic sedimentary systems and their characteristics are assumed not to have been modified by carbonate bioclastic grains until the Phanerozoic. Here, we show that the presence of carbonate bioclasts produced by disintegrated biomineralizing metazoans modified fine-grained siliciclastic facies in the Late Ediacaran Tamengo Formation, Brazil, ca. 555–542 Ma. The analysis of both polished sections and thin sections shows that sand-sized carbonate bioclasts (< 2 mm) derived from the Ediacaran metazoan Corumbella created diverse sedimentary features later found in the Phanerozoic record, such as bioclastic-rich horizontal and low-angle cross-laminations, erosive pods and lenses, bioclastic syneresis cracks, ripples preserved by bioclastic caps, microbial lamination eroded and filled with bioclasts, and entrapped bioclasts within microbial mats. These sedimentary features would have hardly been recorded in fine siliciclastic facies without the sand-sized bioclasts. Based on these features, together with other sedimentary evidence, Corumbella depositional settings in the Tamengo Fm. are reinterpreted as mid-ramp, subtidal settings. The multi-component organization of the skeleton of Corumbella favoured disarticulation to yield a sand-sized bioclast, so in turn creating a new complexity to shallow marine clastic settings typical of Phanerozoic marine depositional systems.
Norm expressivism and punishment in International Relations
Authors: Baciu Cornelia
Published: January 2025

Although expressivism has been studied in relation to criminal justice since the emergence of modern international criminal law, an expressivist perspective in norms and criminal justice research resurfaced in the past decades, inviting a new viewpoint on the dynamic interplay between norms and symbolic action in International Relations (IR). Situated as an account of punishment, expressivism has been criticised for being too abstract and lacking an immanent meaning or for its dialectic position in relation to punishment. Addressing this theoretical shortcoming, this article remediates our understanding of expressivism, establishing new knowledge of the meaning of norm expressivism in IR and clarifying the relationship between expressivism and notions of punishment in criminal justice and norm research. To this end, it hermeneutically deconstructs the rhetoric of country delegates at the United Nations in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It examines crucial examples of expressivism: disagreement pronouncements, denunciation of norm violation, postulation of guilt, and penal analogies. While criminal justice research posits expressivism as a distinct account of punishment, the novelty of this article consists in illustrating how, even in the absence of prosecution in the courtroom, expressivist rationales can have a reinforcing effect on the international legal order.
Theories of Ideology: Origins, Development, and Prospects
Authors: Buchanan Allen , Levinson Elizabeth
Published: January 2025

This essay provides a comprehensive and critical introduction to ideology. It traces the origins and development of various conceptions of ideology, articulating both what they have in common and their differences. Among the distinctions that we develop are the contrasts between pejorative and nonpejorative conceptions, functionalist and causal conceptions, and conceptions that limit ideologies to supporting existing oppressive orders and those that allow for ideologies that challenge such orders. We also explain the role that ideologies can play in either preventing or facilitating social movements to overturn or improve existing institutions. The concluding section of this essay provides a list of important topics for future research on ideology and emphasizes that, in each case, an interdisciplinary approach is needed to understand them fully.
The Cognitive Complexity of Ideologies and the Ambitious Aspirations of Ideologists
Authors: Bendor Jonathan
Published: January 2025

Some ideologies, such as liberalism, conservatism, and socialism, are complex symbolic structures. Mastering them requires specialization, and because we are all amateurs in almost all symbolically rich domains, most people are not ideologically sophisticated. Instead, they reason about politics in a maturationally natural way, via friend-foe representations and inferences based on those representations (for example, friends of foes are foes). However, even complex ideologies are much simpler than the political, economic, and social systems that they are supposed to represent. Hence, all ideologies are inaccurate to varying degrees. More subtly, all are incomplete in various ways; in particular, they fail to anticipate some crucial events (for example, global warming), which leads to unanticipated value trade-offs and strategic conundrums. Ideologists sometimes adapt to incompleteness via recombinant innovation, producing hybrid ideologies (for example, ecosocialism). In turn, this tends to produce inconsistencies between new and old parts of an ideology. Thus, inaccuracy, incompleteness, and inconsistency are not pathologies of political belief systems. They are the inevitable result of ideologists grappling with a reality that is far more complex than their symbolic constructions can be. Therefore, evaluations of ideologies that identify errors, incompleteness, or inconsistency at a single point in time are often unenlightening. Following Imre Lakatos, evaluations should focus on how a sequence of ideologies—an ideological tradition—evolves.
The Demand and Supply of False Consciousness
Authors: Kogelmann Brian
Published: January 2025

Why do oppressive social and political systems persist for as long as they do? Critical theorists posit that the oppressed are in the grip of ideology or false consciousness, leading them voluntarily to accept their servitude. An objection to this explanation points out that we have no account of how the ruling class’s ideology comes to dominate. One common reply says that the ruling class’s ideology comes to dominate because they control major organizations such as schools, churches, and news agencies. This response is seriously flawed, I argue. I then explore an alternative, neglected answer: The ruling class’s ideology dominates because believing it is good for the oppressed. After sketching some details, I explore the implications of this account for critical theory as a research program.
Why are some articles highly cited in applied linguistics? A bibliometric study
Authors: Zhang Sai , Aryadoust Vahid
Published: January 2025

This study investigated factors influencing the citations of highly cited applied linguistics research over two decades. With a pool of 302 of the top 1% most cited articles in the field, we identified 11 extrinsic factors that were independent of scientific merit but could significantly predict citation counts, including journal-related, author-related, and article-related features. Specifically, the results of multiple linear regression models showed that the time-normalized article citations were significantly predicted by the number of authors, subfield, methodology, title length, CiteScore, accessibility, and scholar h-index. The remaining factors did not exhibit any statistical significance, including the number of references, funding, internationality, and geographical origin. The combined predictive power of all these factors (R²=.208, p<.05) verifies the role of nonscientific factors contributing to high citations for applied linguistics research. These results encourage applied linguistics researchers and practitioners to recognize the underlying forces affecting research impact and highlight the need for a reward system that exclusively favors sound academic practices.
The relationship between working memory, production, and comprehension: evidence from children’s errors in complex wh questions
Authors: Lutken C. Jane , Legendre Geraldine
Published: January 2025

English-speaking children sometimes make errors in production and comprehension of biclausal questions, known as “Scope-Marking Errors”. In production, these errors surface as medial wh questions (e.g., What do you think who the cat chased? (Thornton, 1990)). In comprehension, children respond to questions like How did the boy say what he caught? by answering what was caught (de Villiers & Roeper, 1995). These errors resemble wh-scope marking questions, attested in languages like German. Together, these errors suggest temporary adoption of multiple UG-licensed grammars (e.g., Yang, 2002). However, Lutken et al. (2020) found that children who make these errors in production do not necessarily make errors in comprehension and vice versa. They suggest these errors stem from children’s immature processing mechanisms. This article examines children’s production, comprehension, and processing capabilities, specifically working memory (WM). We find a correlation between WM and error rate and suggest separate causes for production and comprehension errors.
Gravity-aided navigation using Viterbi map matching algorithm
Authors: Li Wenchao , Gilliam Christopher , Wang Xuezhi , Kealy Allison , Greentree Andrew D. , Moran Bill
Published: January 2025

In Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)-denied environments, aiding a vehicle's inertial navigation system (INS) is crucial to reducing the accumulated navigation drift caused by sensor errors (e.g. bias and noise). One potential solution is to use measurements of gravity as an aiding source. The measurements are matched to a geo-referenced map of Earth's gravity to estimate the vehicle's position. In this paper, we propose a novel formulation of the map matching problem using a hidden Markov model (HMM). Specifically, we treat the spatial cells of the map as the hidden states of the HMM and present a Viterbi style algorithm to estimate the most likely sequence of states, i.e. most likely sequence of vehicle positions, that results in the sequence of observed gravity measurements. Using a realistic gravity map, we demonstrate the accuracy of our Viterbi map matching algorithm in a navigation scenario and illustrate its robustness compared with existing methods.
A calibration method for accelerometer combination on centrifuge based on norm-observation method
Authors: Wang Shi-ming , Li Meng-zhen , Zhang Xiao-long
Published: January 2025

To realise the overall calibration of the error model coefficients of accelerometers in an inertial combination and to improve the navigation accuracy of the inertial navigation system, a norm-observation method is applied to the calibration, especially for the quadratic coefficient of the accelerometer. The Taylor formula is used to expand the solution of the acceleration model, and the intermediate variables with error model coefficients are obtained using the least square method. The formulas for calculating the quadratic term coefficient, scale factor and bias of the accelerometer are given. A 20-position method is designed to calibrate the accelerometer combination, the effectiveness of the method is verified by simulation, and the effects of installation misalignment and rod-arm error on calibration accuracy are analysed. The results show that the installation misalignments and rod-arm errors have little influence on the coefficient calibration, less than 10−8, and can be neglected in a practical calibration process.
Enhancing the function of the aids to navigation by practical usage of the deep learning algorithm
Authors: Sim Yoontae , Chae Chong-Ju
Published: January 2025

Information is provided to navigators through advanced onboard navigation equipment, such as the electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS), radar and the automatic identification system (AIS). However, maritime accidents still occur, especially in coastal and inland water where many navigational dangers exist. The recent artificial intelligence (AI) technology is actively applied in navigation fields, such as collision avoidance and ship detection. However, utilising the aids to navigation (AtoN) system requires more engagement and further exploration. The AtoN system provides critical navigation information by marking the navigation hazards, such as shallow water areas and wrecks, and visually marking narrow passageways. The prime function of the AtoN can be enhanced by applying AI technology, particularly deep learning technology. With the help of this technology, an algorithm could be constructed to detect AtoN in coastal and inland waters and utilise the detected AtoN to create a safety function to supplement watchkeepers using recent navigation equipment.
Trends in general practitioner consultations for hand foot and mouth disease in England between 2017 and 2022
Authors: Bednarska Natalia G. , Smith Sue , Bardsley Megan , Loveridge Paul , Byford Rachel , Elson William H , Hughes Helen E. , de Lusignan Simon , Todkill Daniel , Elliot Alex J.
Published: January 2025

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a contagious communicable disease, with a high incidence in children aged under 10 years. It is a mainly self-limiting disease but can also cause serious neurological or cardiopulmonary complications in some cases, which can lead to death. Little is known about the burden of HMFD on primary care health care services in the UK. The aim of this work was to describe trends in general practitioner (GP) consultations for HFMD in England from January 2017 to December 2022 using a syndromic surveillance network of GPs. Daily GP consultations for HFMD in England were extracted from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2022. Mean weekly consultation rates per 100,000 population and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Consultation rates and rate ratios (RR) were calculated by age group and sex. During the study period, the mean weekly consultation rate for HFMD (per 100,000 registered GP patients) was 1.53 (range of 0.27 to 2.47). In England, children aged 1–4 years old accounted for the largest affected population followed by children <1 years old. We observed a seasonal pattern of HFMD incidence during the non-COVID years, with a seasonal peak of mean weekly rates between months of September and December. HFMD is typically diagnosed clinically rather than through laboratory sampling. Therefore, the ability to look at the daily HFMD consultation rates provides an excellent epidemiological overview on disease trends. The use of a novel GP-in-hours surveillance system allowed a unique epidemiological insight into the recent trends of general practitioner consultations for HFMD. We demonstrate a male predominance of cases, the impact of the non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a change in the week in which the peak number of cases happens post-pandemic.
Pre- and post-harvest temperatures influence the germination response to supra-optimal temperature in contrasting tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) MAGIC genotypes
Authors: Mohammad Abdulsatar , Ly Vu Benoît , Ly Vu Joseph , Bizouerne Elise , Buitink Julia , Leprince Olivier
Published: January 2025

Seeds rely on temperature to adjust their germination timing by modulating primary and secondary dormancy. The knowledge regarding an intraspecific variation in the germination responses to supra-optimal temperatures during imbibition within the Solanum lycopersicon species and its relation with pre- and post-harvest environments is limited. Here, we studied the impact of imbibition at 35°C in 17 genotypes selected from a multiparent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) population. We discovered a high genetic variability in the germination responses to heat, leading to thermotolerance, thermoinhibition or thermodormancy with different depths. While thermodormancy appeared more profound than primary dormancy, there was no correlation between the deepness of primary and thermodormancy. Post-harvest treatments influenced considerably germination at supra-optimal temperatures. Dry storage beyond the apparent loss of primary dormancy led to an increased proportion of thermotolerant or thermoinhibited seeds at the expense of thermodormancy in a genotype-dependent manner, thereby revealing cryptic genetic variation. Prolonged cold imbibition also led to increased thermodormancy in genotypes that produced thermotolerant and thermoinhibited seeds. The thermal history before and after flowering influenced primary dormancy and the germination response to heat during imbibition in a genotype-dependent manner, with high temperatures leading to increased thermotolerance or thermoinhibition at the expense of thermodormancy, suggesting transgenerational plasticity despite the domestication of the species. The high potential of the MAGIC population for quantitative trait loci mapping and causal polymorphism identification will be helpful in deciphering the regulatory mechanisms that lead to the plasticity of thermoinhibition or thermodormancy, as well as their connection to the parental environment.
Ritual time: the seasonal calendar and religious festivals in Archaic and Republican central Italy
Authors: Moser Claudia
Published: January 2025

Time, place, and the rhythm of the seasons, essential constituents of ancient ritual, collaboratively shaped and channeled the experience of religious performance. Focusing on agricultural and civic time reckoning, this article investigates the orientations of the monuments at the extra-mural Sanctuary of the Thirteen Altars at Lavinium and their coordination with viticultural activities amid the shifting social and religious circumstances of the 6th and 5th c. BCE. The article will argue that the 6th- and 5th-c. altars were aligned in such a way as to face sunrise at a particular location on the horizon on two very particular days in the seasonal year. The altars at Lavinium, playing an important role in the emerging urban community's economic life, will be shown to be themselves a form of agentic seasonal timekeeping that closely determined the integration of local agricultural, religious, and economic practices.
Still Marginalized? Gender and LGBTQIA+ Scholarship in Top Political Science Journals
Authors: Piscopo Jennifer M.
Published: January 2025

Is political science research that explores gender and LGBTQIA+ politics still underrepresented in the discipline’s top journals? This article examines publication trends in gender research and LGBTQIA+ research in five top political science journals, between 2017 and 2023 (inclusive). I find that gender research and LGBTQIA+ research together account for 5% to 7% of published research in the selected top journals; however, most of this research is on gender politics rather than LGBTQIA+ politics. Overall, gender research and LGBTQIA+ research largely appears in top journals when it conforms to disciplinary norms about methods and author gender. The majority of published gender and LGBTQIA+ research is quantitative. Men author gender research at rates almost three times their membership in the American Political Science Association’s Women, Gender, and Politics research section and also are overrepresented as authors of LGBTQIA+ research. This study suggests that editorial teams’ signaling influences which manuscripts land at which journals.
The Power of Trump’s Big Lie: Identity Fusion, Internalizing Misinformation, and Support for Trump
Authors: Moniz Philip , Swann William B.
Published: January 2025

Former president Trump has maintained broad support despite falsely contending that he was the victim of electoral fraud, also known as the “big lie.” We consider both the antecedents of this phenomenon and its consequences. We propose that Trump supporters’ already established deep personal alignment—identity fusion—with their leader predisposed them to believe the lie. Accepting it then set the foundation for other identity-protecting beliefs and attitudes. Using a three-wave panel of Trump supporters, we found that the more fused they were before the 2020 election, the stronger their belief in the big lie grew between 2021 and 2024. Accepting the big lie helped solidify fusion with Trump and had consequences for related attitudes. Belief in the big lie predicted downplaying the criminal charges against Trump and supporting his antidemocratic policy agenda. Fueled by and fueling further fusion, belief in the big lie is a primary component of a larger narrative that emboldens Trump and justifies antidemocratic behavior.
Identifying Spillovers of Trade Agreements through Impact Assessments: A New Database
Authors: Baldwin Richard , Donato Giovanni , Reverdy Camille
Published: January 2025

In the past decades, a backlash against globalization has been brewing, especially in advanced economies. Despite this backlash being only partly determined by trade, we observe an increasing demand for transparency on procedures, methodologies, and results. Impact assessments (IAs) aim at identifying expected effects of trade agreements and at highlighting policymakers' concerns, thus representing an important tool to foster public acceptance. To help us identify spillovers of trade liberalization, we construct a country and sector-specific database of impact assessments. This database provides an overview of the evolution of the coverage and methodological approaches taken by the EU and US for their IAs. We rely on official EU and US sources over the period 1990–2023. We first observe differences in terms of methodology and institutional framework within and between the two regions. Secondly, the coverage of non-trade outcomes has evolved over time both for the EU and the US, with the inclusion of more labour, environmental, and human rights indicators as well as cross-cutting issues. We observe that the depth of the evaluation is correlated with the partner country's social protection and environmental performance. Lastly, we find that the inclusion of a sector in the analysis is driven by economic reasons in the EU but by political reasons in the US.
Introduction to the Special Issue on Package Treaties
Authors: Sieber-Gasser Charlotte , Laurens Noémie
Published: January 2025

Globalization generates benefits for nations around the world, but it also creates winners and losers within nations. As former WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy puts it: ‘Globalization works because it is painful, and it is painful because it works’.1 This is why international economic integration inevitably creates a collective action problem; opposition by losers may thwart policies that would benefit nations overall.
PACOPED QL: Development and evaluation of the quality-of-life scale for children with life-threatening illnesses
Authors: Riera-Negre Laia , Varona Javier , Rosselló Maria Rosa , Verger Sebastià
Published: January 2025

Objectives

This study aims to validate the Palliative and Complex Chronic Pediatric Patients QoL Inventory (PACOPED QL), a new quality-of-life (QoL) assessment tool for pediatric palliative patients with complex chronic conditions. The goal is to create a comprehensive and inclusive instrument tailored to this unique population, addressing the gap in existing tools that do not meet these specific needs.

Methods

The validation process included a literature review and consultations with experts. A pilot study refined the items, followed by a cross-sectional study involving pediatric palliative patients and their caregivers. Statistical analyses, such as Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency and exploratory factor analysis for structural validity, were utilized.

Results

The PACOPED QL, comprising 50 items across 8 domains and 6 subdomains, demonstrated strong reliability with Cronbach’s alpha and Guttman split-half reliability both exceeding .9. Validity assessments confirmed its suitability for children with complex illnesses. The tool was refined through expert consultations and pilot testing, reducing items from an initial 85 to a final 50, ensuring relevance and clarity.

Significance of results

The PACOPED QL shows strong reliability and validity in assessing QoL in pediatric palliative patients. Its comprehensive structure makes it a promising tool for clinical practice and research, addressing a critical need for a tailored assessment in this population. The instrument’s robust psychometric properties indicate its potential utility in improving the QoL assessment and care for children with life-threatening illnesses. Further studies are encouraged to confirm its effectiveness across various settings.
The Post Office at Prayer? Auditing Risk and Practice: A Safeguarding Appraisal
Authors: Billenness Clive Stephen , Harper Rosie , Sewell Martin , Scorer Richard
Published: January 2025

Multiple instances of safeguarding failures and criticisms of poor process and weak governance have afflicted the Church of England for many years, despite repeated assurances that ‘Lessons would be learned’. An Independent Safeguarding Board has been formed and then abolished without being replaced. A report by Professor Alexis Jay, former Chair of Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, recommending the creation of two independent charities to oversee Church safeguarding has been passed to a Response Group and is being resisted by various groups within the Church. This article examines issues of the management of safeguarding within the overall governance of the organisation, compares issues within the Church with those which have been exposed by the Post Office Horizon scandal and considers the potential role of the audit function to concern itself with safeguarding matters as part of its oversight of risk management and corporate governance.
From Inclusion to Transformation: Politics & Gender as a Critical Actor for Intersectional Political Science
Authors: Christoffersen Ashlee , Siow Orly
Published: January 2025

The popularization of intersectionality within political science, feminist scholarship, and activism has constituted nothing less than a paradigm shift (Hancock 2007a). Politics & Gender has been a critical actor in enabling change within our discipline. However, this development has been hard won and there remains much to be done to operationalize intersectionality in line with Black feminist theory, and to center women of color and other intersectionally marginalized groups within scholarship. This article both traces the evolution of intersectional approaches within Politics & Gender over two decades and articulates pathways for future gender and politics research which aims to employ intersectionality. We employ quantitative and qualitative analysis of articles’ foci on different inequality structures and categories, their methodological approaches, and how they employ the concept of intersectionality. Subsequently, we argue in favor of approaches which center rather than include diverse intersectionally marginalized groups, emphasize the normative commitments of Black feminist theory to transformative justice rather than liberal inclusion, analyze intersectional structures and institutions as well as individual experience and identity, treat the constitution of categories and groups as contextual and contingent, dare to address the dangers of “women” as a theoretical starting point, and challenge fundamental raced-gendered assumptions of liberal democracy.
Understanding the Policy Priorities of Republican Women in the US House of Representatives
Authors: Swers Michele L. , Thomsen Danielle M.
Published: January 2025

We take a deep dive into the sponsorship and cosponsorship activity of Republicans in the US House of Representatives from 1993–2014 to examine how ideology and gender influence the policy priorities of Republican legislators on issues associated with women, as well as on the party-owned issue of tax policy. We expect that Republican women are cross-pressured since assumptions about their policy expertise as women conflict with the policy reputation of the Republican Party. As a result, Republican women’s policy choices are impacted by their ideology in a way that is different from their male counterparts. Moreover, our analysis of which members’ bills move through the legislative process demonstrates that beyond their own policy preferences, women are strategic party actors. Thus, women are only more likely to see action on their women-focused and anti-abortion proposals, the two areas that define the partisan divide over women’s place in society.
Law, time, and (in)justice after empire: Germany's objection to colonial reparations and the chronopolitics of deflection
Authors: Graf Sinja
Published: January 2025

Debates on reparations for colonial atrocities highlight the relationship between international law, political time, and (in)justice. This paper examines Germany's foreclosure of reparation claims raised by descendants of survivors of its 1904–8 colonial genocide. The analysis draws on parliamentary interpellation records (1989–2021) around the question of German reparations to Namibia's Ovaherero and Nama. I argue that Germany mobilizes temporal rules of international law, especially the non-retroactivity of the Genocide Convention, to deflect from such claims. This strategy first confines the political question of colonial reparations to the international legal realm, only to then invalidate it via the temporal rule of law's non-retroactivity. I argue that this strategy enables a ‘chronopolitics of deflection’, by which Germany has pointed away from colonial reparations while directing attention to development assistance payments to Namibia. The paper relates these findings to theories of political time, arguing that Germany's reliance on the non-retroactivity of the Genocide Convention yields what I call a ‘projection of history as normatively temporalized time’. The paper concludes with critiques of the relationship between international law and colonial reparations, arguing that current invocations of inter-temporal and non-retroactive international law implicitly reiterate colonial law, thereby locking in place an unjust legal past.
The hydra and the sword: Constitutional amendments, political process, and the BBI case in Kenya
Authors: Bhatia Gautam
Published: January 2025

This study examines the landmark rulings in the “BBI Case”, adjudicated successively by the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court of Kenya, from the perspective of comparative political process theory [“CPPT”]. The BBI case involved a constitutional challenge to a set of seventy-four proposed constitutional amendments to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. It raised a host of issues, ranging from the applicability of the basic structure doctrine, the role of the President in initiating constitutional change, Presidential immunity, and Fourth Branch institutions, among others. This paper analyses two crucial issues in the case: the articulation – for the first time in its history – of a process-oriented basic structure doctrine, by the High Court and the Court of Appeal; and the concurrent holding of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court prohibiting the President of Kenya from initiating a constitutional amendment through the “popular initiative” route. It argues that on these issues, the Kenyan courts’ reasoning constitutes a creative, unique, and valuable contribution to CPPT, in the context of constitutional change. When faced with the possibility of abusive amendments within the framework of a two-tiered amendment process, the Kenyan courts responded by setting out rigorous procedural constraints upon the amendment power. As a corollary, the role of the judiciary under this approach is not to invalidate or veto abusive constitutional amendments, but to ensure that they pass through a substantive, rich, and deep process of public participation.
The Indian Supreme Court and constitutional amendments: insights for the debate on the comparative political process theory and the comparative representative reinforcement theory
Authors: Sethi Amal
Published: January 2025

Comparative Political Process Theory or Comparative Representative Reinforcement Theory (CPPT/CRRT) is an emerging scholarly field that theorizes about the courts’ role in the broader comparative universe. Considered an intellectual descendent of John Hart Ely’s work in the American context, CPPT/CRRT emphasizes the courts’ role in preventing democratic backsliding, promoting equality, enhancing the efficacy of democratic institutions, fostering deliberative processes, and addressing the failures of majoritarian politics. CPPT/CRRT scholars generally advocate broadening judicial powers and capabilities to fulfill these roles. This article examines the practicality of such judicial responsibilities through the lens of the review of constitutional amendments in India. It concludes that, despite the theoretical aspirations of CPPT/CRRT, courts are unlikely to meet these expectations in practice due to their institutional limitations. The positive outcomes of judicial interventions tend to be more modest than the protective and proactive actions envisioned by CPPT/CRRT proponents. Moreover, the modest benefits also come at the cost of the potential adverse impacts that an empowered judiciary may impose on the constitutional fabric. Consequently, this article suggests a need for recalibration of CPPT/CRRT scholarship wherein its goals are moderated and its aspirational objectives balanced against the potential adverse effects of an empowered judiciary on constitutional systems.
Postemergence giant ragweed management as affected by soil and cover crop management, soybean planting time, and preemergence herbicide application
Authors: Chudzik Guilherme , Nunes Jose J. , Arneson Nicholas J. , DeWerff Ryan P. , Ferreira Victor de Sousa , Proctor Christopher , Stoltenberg David E. , Conley Shawn , Werle Rodrigo
Published: January 2025

Early soybean planting and cover crop adoption in the U.S. Midwest prompt investigation into the impact of these practices on weed community dynamics and best management practices. While previous research has explored different aspects of giant ragweed control, the specific integration among soil management practices, including cover crop adoption, soybean planting timing, and herbicide use, has not been thoroughly investigated. This study assessed the effects of soil management, soybean planting time, and preemergence (PRE) herbicide application on giant ragweed control and soybean yield in Wisconsin and Nebraska in 2022 and 2023. The study included a factorial arrangement of four soil management treatments (conventional tillage, no-till, and fall-planted cereal rye early terminated and terminated at planting [planting green]), two soybean planting times, and two PRE herbicide treatments (PRE and no PRE). POST herbicides were applied when ∼50% of giant ragweed plants within each treatment reached ∼10 cm in height. In Nebraska, cereal rye and tillage treatments without a PRE had at least 67% lower giant ragweed density than no-till at POST. In no-till, densities were at least 60% lower with PRE compared to no PRE. In Wisconsin, cereal rye did not reduce giant ragweed density at POST compared to no-till, likely due to relatively low biomass accumulation. In contrast, delayed soybean planting reduced giant ragweed density for most treatments but lowered soybean yield in no-till and planting-green treatments. The PRE herbicides had either no effect or positive effects on reducing giant ragweed density and increasing soybean yield. Overall, this study suggests that soil management and soybean planting timing are crucial for effective giant ragweed management in Wisconsin, where biotypes with a long emergence window during the spring and summer are present, while in Nebraska, soil management and soybean planting timing are less critical due to giant ragweed biotypes with an early and short emergence window in the spring.
Optimizing pyroxasulfone-coated fertilizer in cotton
Authors: Dean Brock A. , Cahoon Charles W. , Collins Guy D. , Jordan David L. , Taylor Zachary R. , Forehand Jacob C. , de Sanctis Jose S. , Lee James H.
Published: January 2025

Two studies were conducted in 2022 and 2023 near Rocky Mount and Clayton, NC, to determine the optimal granular ammonium sulfate (AMS) rate and application timing for pyroxasulfone-coated AMS. In the rate study, AMS rates included 161, 214, 267, 321, 374, 428, and 481 kg ha−1, equivalent to 34, 45, 56, 67, 79, 90, and 101 kg N ha−1, respectively. All rates were coated with pyroxasulfone at 118 g ai ha−1 and topdressed onto 5- to 7-leaf cotton. In the timing study, pyroxasulfone (118 g ai ha−1) was coated on AMS and topdressed at 321 kg ha−1 (67 kg N ha−1) onto 5- to 7-leaf, 9- to 11-leaf, and first bloom cotton. In both studies, weed control and cotton tolerance to pyroxasulfone-coated AMS were compared to pyroxasulfone applied POST and POST-directed. The check in both studies received non-herbicide-treated AMS (321 kg ha−1). Before treatment applications, all plots (including the check) were maintained weed-free with glyphosate and glufosinate. In both studies, pyroxasulfone applied POST was most injurious (8% to 16%), while pyroxasulfone-coated AMS resulted in ≤4% injury. Additionally, no differences in cotton lint yield were observed in either study. With the exception of the lowest rate of AMS (161 kg ha−1; 79%), all AMS rates coated with pyroxasulfone controlled Palmer amaranth ≥83%, comparably to pyroxasulfone applied POST (92%) and POST-directed (89%). In the timing study, the application method did not affect Palmer amaranth control; however, applications made at the mid- and late timings outperformed early applications. These results indicate that pyroxasulfone-coated AMS can control Palmer amaranth comparably to pyroxasulfone applied POST and POST-directed, with minimal risk of cotton injury. However, the application timing could warrant additional treatment to achieve adequate late-season weed control.