This article examines three high-profile House ethics cases involving former Speakers James Wright (1988–1989) and Newt Gingrich (1994–1997) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (1997–2004). The analysis of the filing and disposition of charges in the three cases provides some evidence for the “politics-by-other-means” or “partisan-ethics-wars” framework that is sometimes used to evaluate ethics enforcement in Congress. However, the analysis also provides evidence of bipartisan agreement both in the ethics committee and on the floor. The article highlights the areas of bipartisan consensus and the principles behind that consensus. In paying attention to the content of the cases, it also highlights an important change in ethics investigations over time, specifically an increase in “political gain” cases. The article thus calls attention to aspects of House ethics investigations that are undervalued and inadequately addressed by the partisan-ethics-wars framework.

Can the best arguments for a privation theory of evil be parodied, with equal plausibility, as arguments for a privation theory of good? The privation theory of evil claims that evil has no positive existence, and it is but a privation of good. The privation theory of good claims the opposite. I approach this topic as one element in the so-called evil-God Challenge. Stephen Law has argued that the epistemic support for belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, and morally perfect God (theism) is on a par with the epistemic support for belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, but completely evil-God (maltheism). In fact, he concludes, the arguments for an evil God are symmetrical with, and isomorphic to, those for a good God. The privation theory of evil has often been used to defend theism against the argument from evil. Thus, part of the evil-God Challenge is to evaluate arguments for the privation theory of evil for their vulnerability to maltheist parody. I consider a broad range of arguments for the privation theory of evil, and I argue that most of them are vulnerable to parodic neutralization. Furthermore, I argue that although the thesis of the convertibility of being and goodness is often held to entail the privation theory of evil, or to be entailed by it (or to be equivalent to it), it is independent of the privation theory. I do find that David Oderberg’s recent argument for the privation theory of evil resists any easy maltheist parody, but I argue that it has a defect. I sketch an argument according to which his good-as-fulfillment account is compatible with a perfectly evil god. My tentative conclusion is that the privation theory of evil enjoys little more plausibility than does the privation theory of good.

Three new species of Ypresian (early Eocene) Odonata are described: Paradysagrion sosbyae gen. and sp. nov. from the Klondike Mountain Formation at Republic, Washington, United States of America, and Dysagrionites allenbyensis sp. nov. and Allenby gen. and sp. A from the Allenby Formation near Princeton, British Columbia, Canada. All three are assigned to the Dysagrionidae and Cephalozygoptera but only tentatively, as key diagnostic morphology is missing from their incomplete fossils. The definition of the collective genus Dysagrionites is broadened to include odonates tentatively assigned to the Dysagrioninae (Dysagrionidae) that are distinct as species but have unclear nominal genus affinity.

This paper focuses on a group of Old Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang that are currently in the Stein and Pelliot Collections, some of which will be reordered and reunited. These texts were previously believed to concern the offering to the seven Tathāgatas or the texts about the former aspirations of the seven Buddhas. However, as my study shows, they actually pertain to liturgies for the seven Tathāgatas including Bhaiṣajyaguru. Based on earlier studies, this research seeks to establish a stronger connection between “pre-canonical” texts and canonical works in Tibetan and Chinese, and to establish a hitherto unknown link in the chain of the textual transmission of this liturgy. After revealing the structure of the liturgy, it seeks to fill the gap between the Bhaiṣajyaguru-sūtra itself and the religious practices of worshipping the seven Tathāgatas including Bhaiṣajyaguru. These are done through a two-dimensional textual analysis, i.e.: 1) identifying the connection between the Old Tibetan materials and the Tibetan canonical version; and 2) analysing the process of the liturgicalization of the sūtra.

Increased rehabilitation intensity, the number of minutes of therapy per day, is associated with improved outcomes. However, it is unclear whether males and females receive the same inpatient stroke rehabilitation intensity. A sub-analysis of a retrospective population-based cohort study of adults (5877 females, 6893 males) with stroke discharged to inpatient rehabilitation between 2017 and 2021 was conducted. The mean rehabilitation intensity was 75.86 min/day for males and 73.33 min/day for females (p < .0001). Males <80 years of age were more likely to receive higher rehabilitation intensity than females. Future research should explore what factors account for this sex difference.

A demonstration of a fully onboard method for generating background oriented schlieren (BOS) data on a jet exhaust is presented. Readily available commercial camera equipment is used to capture in-flight imagery of a miniature jet engine exhaust mounted on a custom-built model aircraft. The setup for image acquisition and processing algorithms are described. A new process for registration of images to reduce the degrading effects of vibration and flexure of the airframe are developed and presented along with the underpinning BOS algorithm. Results show that jet flows can be visualised using this technique using a contained system on a single aircraft and demonstrate how a simple technique, such as BOS, can be democratised to such an extent that the cost of conducting in-flight jet measurements can be reduced to the budget of any model aircraft flyer.

3D printed orthomode transducer (OMT) integrated with a 3D printed lens antenna is presented in this work. The OMT integrated with the lens antenna covers the range of 54–80 GHz, the radiator can handle a fractional bandwidth of 38%. Fused filament fabrication printing process is used for the domed elliptical profile lens antenna and polyjet printing process is used for fabrication of the OMT. The simulated radiation efficiency of the antenna remains above 90% for the entire bandwidth and the structure shows a gain of above 16 dBi.

The Suicide Cognitions Scale (SCS) has demonstrated considerable promise as a risk screening tool, although it has yet to be validated for use with adolescents or in Spanish-speaking populations. The aim of this study was to develop a Spanish version of the 16-item SCS-Revised (SCS-R) and to examine its psychometric properties in a sample of adolescents. Participants were 172 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 15.32, SD = 1.57) and currently in residential care. They completed the Spanish SCS-R and a series of other psychological measures. The psychometric properties of the SCS-R were examined through factor analyses and testing of convergent/discriminant validity and construct validity. Factor analyses supported a bifactor structure, indicating that SCS-R items were primarily measuring a common underlying latent variable. SCS-R scores were positively correlated with multiple indicators of psychopathology and other suicide risk factors (e.g., depression, hopelessness) but negatively correlated with protective factors (e.g., believing that one’s mental pain will eventually end). Importantly, SCS-R scores differentiated adolescents in residential care who had previously attempted suicide from those who had only thought about suicide. Scores also differentiated adolescents who had previously attempted suicide from those who had previously only engaged in non-suicidal self-injury. This constitutes further evidence that the SCS-R measures a construct that distinguishes suicidal thought from action and is specific to suicidal forms of self-harm. Overall, the results suggest that the Spanish SCS-R is a potentially useful tool for identifying adolescents at risk of attempting suicide in residential care.

For a member of Congress to be a successful lawmaker, they must work collaboratively with their colleagues. Previous work has found that interpersonal relationships among lawmakers are a key predictor of legislative collaboration—particularly among members from opposing parties. In the wake of the events of January 6, 2021, many Democratic lawmakers claimed that their relationships with some of their Republican colleagues were irretrievably broken and they would be unable to continue collaborating with members who voted against certifying electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election. Using data on original cosponsorship and legislative effectiveness from the 115th to 117th Congresses (2017–22) we find that Republican lawmakers who voted against the certification of electoral votes lost bipartisan collaborators and saw a drastic decrease in their legislative effectiveness in the 117th Congress.

We consider linear-fractional branching processes (one-type and two-type) with immigration in varying environments. For $n\ge0$, let $Z_n$ count the number of individuals of the nth generation, which excludes the immigrant who enters the system at time n. We call n a regeneration time if $Z_n=0$. For both the one-type and two-type cases, we give criteria for the finiteness or infiniteness of the number of regeneration times. We then construct some concrete examples to exhibit the strange phenomena caused by the so-called varying environments. For example, it may happen that the process is extinct, but there are only finitely many regeneration times. We also study the asymptotics of the number of regeneration times of the model in the example.

We prove that any increasing sequence of real numbers with average gap $1$ and Poisson pair correlations has some gap that is at least $3/2+10^{-9}$. This improves upon a result of Aistleitner, Blomer, and Radziwiłł.

This article contends that liberty was already a globally connected concept during the late Middle Ages, and the Euro-American Enlightenment conception of liberty was only one of the many products of the global medieval legacies. Developing a network approach to concepts and applying it to primary sources in ten languages across Afro-Eurasia, I map how thinkers from different parts of the world contributed to the formation of the network. Recognizing this global network of liberty allows researchers to rediscover overlooked conceptualizations of liberty—as evidenced by examples of the Mongol Empire and its translingual politics with/in Europe, Persia, and China. Once innovations in specific contexts are placed back into the global network, revealed are global patterns of valorizing liberty, considering it either essential to possess or warranting caution. Both the findings and methodologies presented here prompt scholars to revisit the foundations of modern political thought from a global standpoint.