This article unifies two adjectival phenomena of Germanic languages: the double definiteness of Norwegian, Swedish, and Faroese, and the attributive-only inflection of West Germanic adjectives. I argue that the functional head Agr(eement) is responsible for both. Since Agr can perform only one of these two functions in a given language (the second definiteness marker of Scandinavian and the attributive inflection of West Germanic), these two phenomena are in complementary distribution.*

The European Union (EU) is facing an ongoing challenge to its institutional and political legitimacy. The 2014 European Parliament elections marked a decisive step towards bringing the EU closer to its citizens by increasing the personalization of EU politics. Under the slogan ‘this time it’s different’, the idea was that the ‘winning’ lead candidate (Spitzenkandidat) of the EP elections would become the new President of the European Commission (EC). However, the selection of von der Leyen as EC President after the 2019 EP elections neglected this process. Inspired by procedural fairness theory, we investigate the impact of the Spitzenkandidaten process on citizens’ satisfaction with democracy in the EU. In a first study, we use observational survey data to examine whether Europeans reacted negatively when the Spitzenkandidaten process was ignored in 2019. In a second study, we investigate how the Spitzenkandidaten process could be salvaged to increase citizens’ satisfaction with EU democracy. We focus on the involvement of citizens through a primary system to select potential Spitzenkandidaten and the binding nature of the results of the EP elections to determine the EC President. Our two studies show the low impact of the Spitzenkandidaten process: Member state governments are able to override the results of the Spitzenkandidaten process without having to fear a (large) public backlash. Increasing citizen participation through a European primary does not affect this conclusion. In summary, we find very little evidence for the relevance of procedural fairness for citizens’ evaluation of the EU and the Spitzenkandidaten process.

The circular recovery and reuse of nutrients from wastewater is vital for achieving sustainability goals and the European Green Deal objectives. This study investigates the selective recovery of ammonium (NH4+) using a zeolitic tuff rich in chabazite zeolite. We focused on targeting its applicability for farm-scale applications from different anaerobic digestates undergoing various pre-treatments (screw compression, microfiltration and centrifugation). The results were compared with a zeolitic tuff rich in phillipsite and chabazite from a previous study. The tested wastewaters included swine, cattle and municipal solid waste digestates. Adsorption isotherms and kinetics were evaluated, considering key factors such as initial NH4+ concentration, contact time, competing ions (e.g. K+), total solids content and pre-treatment strategies. The adsorption process followed the Freundlich model, indicating heterogeneous multilayer sorption, whereas the kinetic data aligned with pseudo-first-order and intraparticle diffusion models. NH4+ removal efficiency was inversely correlated with K+ levels and solids content, with livestock-derived digestates enabling the greatest nitrogen recovery per gram of zeolitic tuff due to their favourable composition and kinetics. Among the tested pre-treatments, centrifugation proved most effective, improving active site accessibility. A preliminary field-scale trial using microfiltered swine digestate at a 3% solid-to-liquid ratio demonstrated the feasibility of batch operation, with an estimated nitrogen recovery of 715 kg N year–1. This work lays the foundation for future comparisons with other zeolitic tuffs, such as those rich in clinoptilolite, and it supports the principle of nutrient circularity in agriculture by reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers.

Theorists conceptualize reactive aggression as emotional (especially angry) and proactive aggression as unemotional (although it is unclear whether relations between proactive aggression and emotion are null or negative). Goals of the current study were to: (a) examine links between reactive aggression and a range of emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, and anxiety), and (b) include neutral emotion to address whether proactive aggression is unrelated or negatively related to emotion. To assess emotion, playgroups of four same-sex, unfamiliar, nine-year-old children (N = 158; 52.5% males; racially/ethnically diverse) interacted as round-robin dyads while completing challenging and cooperative tasks; observers coded emotions second-by-second. To assess both behavioral and observational reactive-versus-proactive aggression, children completed video games with virtual peers. Reactive aggression was positively related to happiness, anger, and anxiety and negatively related to neutral emotion, for at least one task and one aggression measure. Proactive aggression was positively related to neutral emotion but negatively related to happiness, for both tasks and aggression measures. Findings enhance theoretical understanding of: (a) reactive aggression as broadly emotional by relating it to happiness and anxiety as well as anger, and (b) proactive aggression as unemotional by linking it to the display of neutral emotion and the lack of display of happiness.

This article examines Turkey’s position as an aid recipient during the Cold War, benefiting from assistance provided by both the United States and the Soviet Union. Adopting a comparative approach, this study investigates the impact of these investments on the development of two major iron and steel plants: the Ereğli Iron and Steel Plant (ERDEMİR), constructed with American financial and industrial support, and the İskenderun Iron and Steel Plant (İSDEMİR), established with Soviet assistance. Both projects sparked political controversy in Turkey during the 1960s and 1970s, shaped not only by the ideological rivalries of the Cold War but also by material realities on the ground. In terms of the conditions attached to aid, transfer of technology, and ownership structures, there were significant differences between the support offered by the capitalist and socialist countries. These differences were evident in the cases of ERDEMİR and İSDEMİR, where two distinct models were used for practical testing. This article argues that comparing the construction and operation of these plants provides valuable insights into the nature of Cold War aid and contributes to the broader global literature on the subject.

Inductive wireless power transfer (WPT) systems require compensating capacitors to operate efficiently. However, these capacitors can introduce additional costs, weight, and losses, particularly at MHz-range operating frequencies. To mitigate these issues, self-resonant coils can be used by exploiting the parasitic capacitances inherent in double-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs). In this work, a double-layer coil for a self-resonant series WPT system is developed for operation at the AirFuel standard frequency of 6.78 MHz. Unlike conventional design methods adopted for self-resonant coils, mainly based on analytical formulations, the proposed approach employs Finite Element Method simulations that couple electro-quasistatic and magneto-quasistatic formulations. This approach enables accurate evaluation of the self-resonant frequency (SRF) as well as the current distribution along the PCB layers, revealing significant non-uniformity. Building on this insight, copper trace length is reduced to save material while maintaining performance in terms of operating frequency. Both the full-trace and reduced-trace coils are fabricated and tested, showing good agreement with simulations. Notably, the proposed reduction in the copper trace affects the SRF by only 3% compared with the full-trace design.

In this paper, we prove a property of kernels of Brauer characters. We propose a candidate for the kernels of Isaacs’ partial characters, and we show that this candidate has the same property.

Scientific discoveries and precision medicine research, especially efforts to identify individually tailored approaches to healthcare considering individual variability in genetics, environmental, and lifestyle factors, have the potential to transform health. This goal is especially critical for those who experience social injustices and substantial health disparities. Yet the inclusion of adults with intellectual disability in precision medicine research, a growing field in clinical and translational genomic research, raises ethical, social, and legal concerns about their ability to make informed decisions to participate, and subsequently whether this population should be excluded altogether or enrolled only via proxy consent. Both practices demand scrutiny and are sometimes without legal or ethical justification. Supported decision-making, a reasonable accommodation and relatively recent legal and ethical construct, can facilitate first-person consent and maintain the prospective participant’s position as the decision-maker. As such, supported decision-making is a promising development with critical implications for consent to precision medicine research. Using findings from our national survey with adults with intellectual disability and a legal analysis, our academic-community research partnership developed recommendations and a tool for using supported decision-making for enrollment in precision medicine research. We conclude with persistent challenges that need resolving to ensure the responsible inclusion of adults with intellectual disability in precision medicine research, and clinical research more generally.

Interaction with humans in early life is known to influence animal behaviour, stress responses, and welfare, but whether animals perceive gentle handling as emotionally positive remains unclear. Here, we used a conditioned place preference paradigm widely used in affective neuroscience but rarely implemented in poultry, to assess whether chicks experience positive emotions when gently handled. Twenty Hy-Line W-80 chicks were tested in a two-chamber apparatus distinguished by colour cues. Following baseline preference assessment, chicks were exposed to conditioning sessions in which chambers were paired with either gentle handling treatment (soft stroking and calm talking) or a neutral human presence (static and silent). Chicks received six 5-min sessions of each treatment across 12 days, on alternating days (one session per day), and colour-treatment pairings were counterbalanced across individuals. Post-conditioning preference was assessed over three consecutive days. Chicks consistently spent more time in the chamber previously associated with gentle handling across test days. Importantly, chicks did not show an aversion to the neutral chamber. These results indicate that gentle human contact acquired positive associative value rather than merely reducing aversion. These findings provide experimental evidence that human-animal interactions can function as rewarding stimuli in poultry, which has implications for husbandry practices and welfare assessment frameworks.