We conducted an intercept survey with beef cattle farmers using paper and electronic modes to examine administration mode effects. Three outcomes were measured: (1) preferences for H-2A reforms using a discrete choice experiment, (2) responses to closed-ended questions regarding labor, and (3) survey process measures such as completion time and respondent experiences. Results show that closed-ended responses and utility scales were comparable across modes, while mean preference estimates differed. Respondents in the paper mode spent more time, paid closer attention, and reported higher satisfaction. We recommend the paper mode for complex instruments that require greater participant engagement.

In the early seventeenth century, the Greek Jesuit Hermodorus Rhegius (1579–1655) compiled a collection of Greek proverbs which constitutes important evidence for early modern Greek language and culture. Little is known about Hermodorus aside from his pastoral and educational work across the Aegean islands, primarily on Chios. For over two centuries, his proverbs were known mainly through the work of Charles Du Cange, who cited twenty-seven of them. The early twentieth century, however, saw three additional proverbs uncovered in a manuscript in the National Library of France (Français 9467), and a recent discovery in the Médiathèque d’Orléans (MS 0422) has added ninety more. This article revisits Hermodorus’ legacy in light of this new evidence and presents an edition of all 120 proverbs attributed to his collection, thereby enlarging the corpus fourfold. Tracing the collection’s textual history for the first time, this study also reveals a small network of scholars in early modern France with a keen interest in Greek proverbs.

Given the shift to technology-mediated communication, this study investigated the factors that influence Chinese EFL learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in the second language (L2) in MOOCs. While most previous studies conceptualized L2WTC as a unified construct, this study made a first attempt to distinguish its oral and written dimensions, thereby addressing an underexplored gap and capturing the complexities of both modes in online learning environments. Data were collected through questionnaires from 323 Chinese undergraduate EFL learners and complemented by semi-structured interviews with 24 learners representing high, medium, and low levels of oral and written L2WTC. Unexpectedly, the results indicated that trait-like factors (perceived communicative competence and foreign language anxiety) negatively impacted both forms of L2WTC, whereas the influence of context-specific factors (teacher support and classroom environment) was more complex. Teacher support positively affected oral L2WTC but had a limited impact on written L2WTC. The positive aspects of the classroom environment, such as its flexibility and technological use, enhanced both oral and written L2WTC, though technical difficulties and a lack of peer connection also emerged as barriers to communication. These findings provided new insights for research in online learning environments and further suggested strategies to promote positive factors while mitigating negative ones to enhance oral and written L2WTC.

This article examines the roles of nonhumans in the development, testing, and administration of COVID-19 vaccines. I show how specific groups of nonhumans, particularly primates, were strategically made visible and invisible to American publics, and how some groups were rendered more valuable than others. By studying the narratives of science that circulated during the pandemic, I argue that COVID-19, and the US response to it, illustrate a central facet of modern crisis, namely, that the current moment is marked by a growing awareness of human exposure to and vulnerability with nonhuman beings, coupled with an active and persistent denial of togetherness. To be a human subject in the twenty-first century involves acknowledging the interconnectedness that constitutes everyday life, while living in ways that openly reject this reality.

This article examines what motivates elected representatives to engage with citizens in organised settings, specifically investigating the role of anticipatory representation – aligning policies with future voter preferences. Using representation theory, the study involves in-depth interviews with representatives in three Norwegian municipalities, focusing on their perception of public meetings as avenues for listening, convincing, and deliberating. The findings suggest that anticipatory representation minimally influences politicians’ attendance at these meetings. Instead, they view public meetings primarily as opportunities to listen to citizens rather than as platforms for persuasion or policy deliberation. Despite often disliking the confrontational aspects of these meetings, politicians attend to demonstrate presence and show interest in their constituents. Thus, the main motivation for their participation is the chance to exhibit responsiveness, rather than engaging in argumentative or deliberative exchanges. This research sheds light on the dynamics of politician–citizen interactions in democratic settings.

In this paper, we give a complete list of strongly tempered anomaly-free hyperspherical Hamiltonian spaces-those that are dual to symplectic vector spaces under the relative Langlands duality. We show that the period integrals attached to the list contain many previously studied Rankin-Selberg integrals and period integrals, thus giving a new conceptual understanding of these integrals. The list also proposes many new interesting period integrals to study.

The influence of the maternal antenatal environment on infant growth and development beyond the neonatal period is not well understood. This study investigated associations between maternal cardiometabolic health and lifestyle on infant growth during the first year of life. This sub-study of the longitudinal Microbiome Understanding in Maternity Study included 87 mother-infant dyads. Maternal anthropometrics were collected at each trimester. Lifestyle was assessed through the Australian Eating Survey (Trimester T1 and T3) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (T1, T2 and T3). Infant anthropometrics were measured at birth, 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months. Changes in weight, weight-for-age z-score, length-for-age z-score, rapid weight gain and conditional weight gain (CWG) were determined. Multiple linear regression was used to assess associations between maternal parameters and infant growth, adjusting for common confounders. Maternal T1 weight (CWG: p = 0.03), T3 weight (CWG: p = 0.03) and GWG (weight z-score change: p = 0.031) were positively associated with increased infant growth from 0 to 6 months. Greater maternal fat mass was associated with increased CWG (p = 0.042) from 6 weeks to 6 months. Higher quality maternal T1 diet was associated with increased infant growth (weight z-score change: p = 0.022, CWG: p = 0.013) from 0 to 12 months. Increased maternal physical activity was associated with increased CWG (p = 0.022) and length z-score change (p = 0.024) from 0 to 12 months in T1, and increased CWG from 6 to 12 months in T2 (p = 0.014) and T3 (p = 0.047). Markers of maternal cardiometabolic health risk and healthier lifestyle were associated with increased infant growth. Further investigation is required to confirm findings and investigate links with future health sequelae.

Using Wine Spectator’s Top 100 lists for 1988–2025, this note applies Bai–Perron structural break tests to regional and country shares and identifies three distinct periods: 1988–1997, 1998–2015, and 2016–2025. Real prices decline across phases, with the sharpest drop in the most recent period, while scores remain stable and concentration falls sharply between the first two periods and then levels off. Turnover also declines in the most recent period, indicating reduced year-to-year movement in regional representation. Robust regressions confirm that prices are lower in periods with lower concentration. The findings extend earlier JWE studies by providing a longer horizon and a structural break perspective on long-run changes in representation and pricing.

Single-particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) has enabled rapid advances in our understanding of membrane protein structure and function. The primary goal during the development of cryo-EM was to perform experiments equivalent to X-ray crystallography, but without needing to crystallize the protein of interest first. However, exciting recent progress in single-particle cryo-EM has come from relaxing assumptions and constraints related to the homogeneity of samples. These assumptions and constraints, which were necessary for crystallization, include that all molecules imaged have the same composition and are in the same conformation, that the specimen consists of only one species, and that the specimen is derived from a solution of isolated protein particles. Here, I discuss the study of membrane protein complexes within lipid bilayers by single-particle cryo-EM. I point out the value and recently achieved capability of studying membrane proteins in lipid vesicles, and in particular endogenous membrane proteins in vesicles prepared from their native lipid bilayer.

Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) help voters make informed choices by aligning their policy preferences with party positions. This study examines whether VAA exposure enhances young citizens’ ideological knowledge – understanding political dimensions and party positions. A randomized experiment (n = 2308) in Belgium (Flanders) tested whether VAA exposure improved young voters’ ability to place a fictional party on the left-right axis. We replicate these effects in an additional observational study (n = 1221) tracking effects of natural VAA exposure during the campaign. We find that VAAs increase ideological knowledge, helping participants more accurately classify a fictional party as left- or right-wing. Exposure to a youth-targeted VAA has particularly strong effects. The impact is greater for politically less sophisticated individuals, suggesting an equalizing effect. These findings indicate that VAAs’ political learning benefits extend further than previously documented, contributing not only to policy-specific knowledge but also to a broader understanding of ideological structures.

This study examines the role of cultural connectivity in the evolving dynamics of Korea–Japan relations. Since the dramatic downturn in 2019—the worst since the 1965 normalization— there has been a significant shift. In the post-COVID era, the expansion of cultural exchanges, driven by Gen-Z influence and rising consumption of cultural content, has redefined this relationship. This is evident in the growing prominence of Korean culture in Japan, increased Japanese tourism among Koreans, and the shift from a hierarchical to a more symmetrical relationship. Through this lens, we explore how shared values bolster cooperation and how strengthening cultural ties foster a more sustainable future.

Life history theory seeks to understand how organisms distribute energy between physiological functions across the life course. A central assumption is that energy allocation involves “trade-offs” between competing functions relating to defence, maintenance, reproduction and growth. Constraints on human energy expenditure may produce trade-offs during energetic stress, affecting functions critical for homeostasis, survival and reproduction. While there is some evidence for binary trade-offs between two functions in humans, no studies have tested physiological resource prioritisation across multiple functions under energetic constraint. This study empirically assessed multiple human life history trade-offs and the proximate biological mechanisms underpinning them. We recruited 147 ultra-endurance athletes (107 male, 40 female) participating in four environmentally diverse multiday ultramarathons and one multiweek ocean rowing event. The severe energetic demands of these competitions provide a valuable opportunity to provoke and observe detectable trade-offs. We found evidence of trade-offs across multiple functions. Specifically, investment in (as indexed by immune biomarkers) was broadly prioritised relative to investment in storage, reproduction and maintenance. Our results enhance current understanding of the role of phenotypic plasticity in human adaptability and have implications for athlete health and performance as well as the emerging discipline of evolutionary public health.

Over the last few decades, linguistic gender-fair forms have become increasingly used by individuals and official institutions. In the French-speaking sphere, this has led to heated discussions among politicians and other stakeholders, some of whom claim that these forms render texts illegible and inaccessible to the general public. However, the processing of gender-fair forms in reading has been the topic of a few empirical studies. In the present paper, we add to this small body of research by reporting results from a pre-registered eye-tracking study where 58 native French-speakers read short texts which included a masculine form (voisins), complete double form (voisines et voisins), or contracted double form (voisin·es). Consistent with previous findings, the complete double forms were not more costly to process. In contrast, contracted double forms led to increased processing costs in intermediate and late stages of processing, but had no effect on the early stages of processing. Our data also indicate that the processing of contracted double forms becomes easier over time, and that it is facilitated by positive attitudes towards gender-fair language. These findings provide important insights that enlighten the current debate and should therefore be considered in the elaboration of official guidelines regarding gender-fair language.

It is possible that the traditional linear format of the novel is no longer sufficient to tell more-than-human stories about global energy use and Anthropogenic thinking. How can academic and research findings be brought into public consciousness to challenge damaging fossil fuel ideologies? These notions reference deep-time: the fossil part of fuel. Telling stories, suggests Anthony Nanson, possesses an important “consciousness-enhancing function…and has a part to play in public debates on the environment and energy.” Erin James asks whether the Anthropocene calls for new narratives that “can help bridge imaginative gaps” and consequently “have important real-world consequences.” What if the written text were fragmentary or digital or accessed randomly; if words ran a different way on the page; if fiction were mixed with fact, or illustration with poetry? I examine the approach of a graphic novel (Here, McGuire 2014), film-poem (The Green Hollow, Sheers 2018) and eco-biographical memoir (The Outrun, Liptrot 2016) in referencing more-than-human timescales. I consider whether a geological imaginary provokes reading and writing of fossils, landforms, literary forms, structures, traces, and futures in a manner that, Marco Caracciolo suggests, ruptures the linearity of protagonists’ experience of reality and their sense of demarcation between human and nonhuman.

In recent debates about the proper approach towards the interpretation of contract terms insufficient attention has been paid to the history of the subject. A close examination of that history shows that there are strong traces of both textual and contextual approaches. The balance between them is not however constant. Opposing factors have pulled in different directions at various times. It is not true to say that before modern times judges were necessarily wedded to the text of contracts. In fact, there is a very prominent seam of contextualism.