Industrial concentration has increased in recent years with large companies consolidating their dominant positions. Concentrated markets are thought to benefit large firms as they earn elevated profits and gain political influence. Antitrust law is the main policy tool to reduce concentration. Calls to strengthen antitrust have come from the political left and the right, yet we know little about public support for such policies. We test how economic, moral, and democratic concerns influence support for antitrust. We find that the public does not respond to the consumer price benefits of antitrust but is moved by arguments invoking concerns for fairness and the importance of maintaining democratic institutions. We find that Republicans and Democrats often respond in divergent ways, with Republicans being less supportive of antitrust when informed that it could punish successful companies, whereas Democrats are more concerned about using antitrust to curb corporate influence. The findings accord with a general concern on the left for limiting business influence in politics and a concern on the right for maintaining business growth.

This is the first report of Jurassic brachyurans and anomurans from the territory of Russia. These findings come from the Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) reef limestones of the North Caucasus. The anomuran Gastrosacus wetzleri von Meyer, 1851 was collected from the locality near the Urup River and is the first find of this species outside of western Europe. The dromiacean crab, Goniodromites aliquantulus Schweitzer, Feldmann, and Lazăr, 2007, was discovered from another locality near the Kamennomostsky village. This species was first described from the Oxfordian of Romania. Findings of fossil remains of Goniodromites aliquantulus and Gastrosacus wetzleri from the Oxfordian of the North Caucasus indicate an interconnected paleobiogeographical community of decapod faunas in the Late Jurassic in the Tethys basins.

Can the “us versus them” dynamic in politics undermine support for democracy even in the absence of strong party identification? While much is known about affective polarization in the USA, its impact on democratic commitment in other contexts remains understudied. We examine Chile’s 2022 plebiscite, where voters decided whether to approve or reject a new constitution amid low levels of party trust and identification. Through an experiment using an unobtrusive primer, we successfully induced short-term affective polarization, heightening animosity across multiple dimensions. Our findings show that individuals primed to this polarization significantly reduced their support for democracy, mirroring patterns observed in the USA. These results emphasize the importance of studying affective polarization, especially in regions with fragile democratic histories.

Research on stress damage induced by weaning and its underlying mechanisms in squabs is notably scarce. The study was designed to uncover the potential mechanisms behind the intestinal epithelial barrier impairment due to early weaning (EW) in squabs by evaluating the function of intestinal epithelial barrier, the balance of T helper cell (Th) subsets, and the link between them. A total of 160 hatched squabs were randomly assigned to two groups: one received artificial pigeon milk starting from day 7 post-hatching, while the other group continued to be nourished by their parent pigeons. Ileal tissue and serum samples from eight replicates were gathered for analyses at intervals of 1, 4, 7, 10, 14, and 21 days after weaning. Results showed that body weight of squabs in the EW group decreased significantly from 1 day after weaning and continued throughout the experiment period. The serum endotoxin, diamine oxidase of weaned squabs increased significantly. The mRNA expression of ileal tight junction proteins of weaned squabs was significantly downregulated at multiple time points from 1 to 21 days after weaning. Compared to squabs in the control group, the weaned squabs exhibited immune imbalances of Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg in ileum, characterized by abnormal expression of specific transcription factors of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg, as well as abnormal concentrations of differentiation-inducing cytokines and effector cytokines. Mantel tests showed that the changes of factors related to the differentiation of Th17/Treg cell subsets were significantly correlated with the diamine oxidase, endotoxin level, and the CDLN1 mRNA expression. Summarily, EW could lead to impaired growth, compromised intestinal epithelial barrier function and an imbalance in the differentiation of Th cell subsets in squabs, among which the dysbalance between Th17 and Treg cells appeared to be more closely associated with the damage of the intestinal epithelial barrier function in early weaned squabs.

The bilingual advantage hypothesis, which associates bilingualism with benefits in executive functioning (EF), has been challenged by studies demonstrating inconsistent results. Considering explicit calls to revise the hypothesis, research has turned toward understanding which specific bilingualism-related aspects might impact bilinguals’ EF. Notably, patterns of everyday language use, referred to as interactional contexts in the adaptive control hypothesis (ACH), have emerged as a prominent factor modulating the association between bilingualism and EF. This scoping review synthesizes findings from 49 studies investigating interactional contexts and bilinguals’ EF. The results indicate that the current literature is highly heterogeneous regarding the operationalization, measurement, experimental manipulations of interactional contexts, the EF tasks employed and sample characteristics. This variability limits definitive conclusions about the adaptation of bilinguals’ EF to the demands of interactional contexts. More studies with comparable research designs and clearer predictions on the associations between EF domains and bilinguals’ language-use patterns are needed.

In the philosophy of religion, ‘de jure objections’ is an umbrella term that covers a wide variety of arguments for the conclusion that theistic belief is rationally impermissible, whether or not God exists. What we call ‘modal Calvinism’ counters these objections by proposing that ‘if God exists, God would ensure that theistic belief is rationally compelling on a global scale’, a modal conditional that is compatible with atheism. We respond to this modal Calvinist argument by examining it through the lenses of probability, modality, and logic – particularly, we apply analytical tools such as possible world semantics, Bayesian reasoning, and paraconsistent models. After examining various forms of the argument, we argue that none can compel atheists to believe that serious theistic possibilities worth considering would involve the purported divine measure.

New fiscal histories of the United States are in a state of efflorescence. Revisionist work infused with economic heterodoxy and social histories of capitalism have rescued fiscal topics from staid institutionalists, producing work that should enrich the study of inequalities of all stripes. By assembling a collection of recent works on money, public debt, and taxation—subjects treated in isolation within the literature, but which form a totality in practice—this review attempts a composite portrait of the United States’ fiscal state formation in the long run. Present in the foreground and at each stage is real estate: the iconic plot of farmland or single-family home.

This article proposes a new statistical model to infer interpretable population-level preferences from ordinal comparison data. Such data is ubiquitous, e.g., ranked choice votes, top-10 movie lists, and pairwise sports outcomes. Traditional statistical inference on ordinal comparison data results in an overall ranking of objects, e.g., from best to worst, with each object having a unique rank. However, the ranks of some objects may not be statistically distinguishable. This could happen due to insufficient data or to the true underlying object qualities being equal. Because uncertainty communication in estimates of overall rankings is notoriously difficult, we take a different approach and allow groups of objects to have equal ranks or be rank-clustered in our model. Existing models related to rank-clustering are limited by their inability to handle a variety of ordinal data types, to quantify uncertainty, or by the need to pre-specify the number and size of potential rank-clusters. We solve these limitations through our proposed Bayesian Rank-Clustered Bradley–Terry–Luce (BTL) model. We accommodate rank-clustering via parameter fusion by imposing a novel spike-and-slab prior on object-specific worth parameters in the BTL family of distributions for ordinal comparisons. We demonstrate rank-clustering on simulated and real datasets in surveys, elections, and sports analytics.

Evidence indicates hypervitaminosis A may be attributed to overconsumption of natural preformed vitamin A (VA) and overlapping VA intervention strategies. Hypervitaminosis A can disrupt metabolic processes; however, the extent and mechanisms of these impacts are not well understood. This study aims to assess metabolic differences related to hypervitaminosis A and VA supplementation by performing metabolomics analysis. A subsample of South African preschoolers participating in the country’s VA supplementation programme was selected. Participants were divided into two groups: adequate VA (n 15; 0·59–0·99 µmol/g total liver reserve and high VA (n 15; ≥ 1·0 µmol/g total liver reserve). Serum samples were collected at baseline and 28 d after consuming a 200 000 IU VA supplement. Lipidomics and oxylipins assays were conducted using ultraperformance LC-MS. At baseline, unsaturated lysophosphatidylcholines and unsaturated phosphatidylcholines were significantly lower in the high VA group (P < 0·05). A group-by-time interaction with VA supplementation was observed for polyunsaturated lysophosphatidylcholines and polyunsaturated phosphatidylcholines (P < 0·05). Additionally, a group effect was noted for oxylipins, and a time effect in response to VA supplementation was seen with decreased arachidonic acid and lipoxygenase- and non-enzymatically derived oxylipins (P < 0·05). Hypervitaminosis A is associated with modifications in lipids involved in cell structure and signalling, particularly unsaturated lysophosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylcholines. Further research is needed to identify the mechanisms behind these modifications, their physiological effects and their potential as biomarkers of elevated vitamin A status.

This chapter is based on the assumption that conflicts between separate ethnolinguistic identities and imperial cultures have existed throughout history, and often played important roles. The four-volume work, Literature: A World History, serves as a starting-point for a discussion of the effects of such conflicts on various literatures. Examples are taken from, in particular, literatures written in Iranian and Slavonic languages, but the Chinese, Arabic and Turkic/Turkish impact on various literatures is also mentioned. Finally, it is questioned what this four-volume work has done to address the problem of literature and such conflicts, and what can be done to avoid spreading narratives that are – perhaps unconsciously – imperialistic. After all, this work is written in English, the most broadly used imperial language ever, and it is questioned what it means that it is being presented in this language.

Maya Blue is a unique hybrid pigment created by combining organic indigo with the inorganic clay mineral palygorskite. First used for architectonic decoration in the Terminal Preclassic, it became widespread in the Late Classic on figurines, murals, and elite ceramics. Unlike indigo, it is notable for its durability and resistance to degradation by acids, alkalines, organic solvents and fading. The authors analyzed 17 samples of Maya Blue on pottery from the Late-Terminal Classic periods, a.d. 680–860, from Buenavista del Cayo, Belize. Using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), it was determined that the palygorskite in these samples likely came from Sacalum, Yucatan, some 375 km away. The authors suggest several routes by which palygorskite might have been transported from Yucatán to Buenavista. The pigment or knowledge of how to produce it likely was conveyed through high-status exchanges rather than commercial trade. Maya Blue held significant cultural and religious importance. It symbolized water and rain and was associated with the god Chaahk. Maya Blue appeared initially at Buenavista on architecture and rare imported ceramics but its use gradually increased on locally produced Belize Valley wares. Use at Buenavista peaked in the early 9th century before disappearing around a.d. 860. The study demonstrates the potential of trace element analysis in identifying long-distance social interactions in ancient Mesoamerica.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of acoustic filtering and modality on speech-in-noise recognition for Spanish-English late bilinguals (who were exposed to English after their 5th birthday) and English monolinguals. All speech perception testing was conducted in English. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were estimated at 50% recognition accuracy in an open-set sentence recognition task in the presence of speech-shaped noise (SSN) in both low-pass and no-filter conditions. Consonant recognition was assessed in a closed-set identification task in SSN in four conditions: low-pass and no-filter stimuli presented in auditory-only (AO) and audiovisual (AV) modalities. Results indicated that monolinguals outperformed late bilinguals in all conditions. Late bilinguals and monolinguals were similarly impacted by acoustic filtering. Some data indicated that monolinguals may be more adept at integrating auditory and visual cues than late bilinguals. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.