We report a lab experiment to study subjects’ preferences over their ordinal rank in an earnings distribution. Following an assignment of unequal earnings, subjects can select a monetary transfer from exactly one individual to another, not including themselves. This can potentially change their own position in the distribution, as well as influence overall inequality. The experiment varies whether the initial earnings assignment is random or is affected by preliminary competition. It also varies the reference group from a complete to a partial network. A majority of observed transfers reduce inequality by moving earnings from those with the highest rank to the lowest rank in the distribution. Rank-improving transfers are substantially more common for preliminary competition losers than winners. Transfers to individuals outside of the reference group are not uncommon, and they usually target as the source the individuals high in the income distribution. While generally weak overall, own rank preferences appear to be more common among men than women.

Identifying actionable stewardship targets in immunocompromised patients is challenging due to limited data and high morbidity. One approach could be targeting therapy with limited evidence, like cytomegalovirus immune globulin (CMV-IGIV). We implemented a drug restriction program that increased appropriate use of CMV-IGIV, highlighting a unique stewardship opportunity in immunocompromised populations.

This editorial explores dual harm – the co-occurrence of self-harm and aggression – particularly among forensic populations. Historically approached as two separate and even opposing behaviours, emerging evidence shows that those who engage in self-harm and aggression experience greater adversity and poorer outcomes. This underscores the importance of enhancing our understanding of dual harm. We review key developments within the field, including how dual harm may be best conceptualised and managed, and identify critical gaps in the literature. In order to improve the care and outcomes of those who engage in self-harm and aggression, emphasis is placed on adopting more integrated approaches that consider the duality of these behaviours, as well as the complex needs of this high-risk group, within research and practice.

This introduction grounds the middle-income (MI) trap by looking at the empirical realities of firms, sectors, national, and subnational institutions embedded in global value chains (GVCs). While MI-trap scholarship has shed light on macro-structural constraints, it often overlooks international production structures and micro-level agency. GVC research, in turn, captures firm strategies and governance structures but tends to underplay the role of domestic institutions and political coalitions. This Special Issue brings these two traditions into dialogue in order to examine how upgrading is (partially) attained—or how it fails—in MI countries.

The articles in the Issue focus on six countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Malaysia, and Mexico—to analyze how public and private actors pursue upgrading strategies under MI-trap conditions. We develop a typology of Actors’ Upgrading Strategies along two dimensions: loci of agency (state vs. firm/chain) and modes of action (transformative vs. adaptive). This yields four conceptual categories: Transformative Policy Entrepreneurs, Adaptive Policy Implementers, Transformative Firm Upgraders, and Incremental Firm Repositioners. Collectively, the contributions offer a more textured and politically attuned understanding of upgrading under the MI trap in a world of GVCs, and bring us closer to understanding what it means to be caught in—or to find pathways out of—the trap.

Delving into fraternal succession, intermarriage practices, and levirate marriages of the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577), this article demonstrates that these practices served as pillars of stability for the imperial family. In this exploration, Empress Dowager Lou 婁太后 (501–562) emerges as the central figure behind these practices, playing a pivotal role in their implementation and wielding immense power as kingmaker. Starting from before the official reign of the Northern Qi, she personally chose her husband, laid the groundwork for him to become regent of the preceding Eastern Wei (534–550) court, and controlled the succession system to seat her own sons as emperors of the Northern Qi. Drawing on her Xianbei 鮮卑 roots, Empress Dowager Lou enforced an agenda of Inner Asian practices and politics in her pursuit to consolidate the rule and identity of the Northern Qi imperial family.

Generative AI systems’ output as speech – Constitutional coverage for AI speech in the absence of a (human) speaker – Right of individuals to receive information as a perspective for framing constitutional coverage of generative AI output – Implications of constitutional coverage for content policing and content moderation by private platforms – Trends in the interpretation of existing content moderation regimes and their applicability to generative AI systems.

This paper is a single-project meta-analysis of four experiments that model charitable giving as individual contributions to a multiplicity of competing threshold public goods. We pool 17,136 observations at the individual level to summarize the project and investigate the role of learning, gender, and risk attitude, since the included studies are inconclusive in this regard. We find that equally effective coordination devices are the existence of a single contribution option that stands out on its merits, learning, and delegation as long as the intermediary is formally obliged to pass along a high enough percentage of the transferred resources. Women delegate less than men, and consequently prefer direct contributions. Risk tolerance increases overall donations but decreases individual earnings. We discuss possible implications of our findings.

The article explores the interplay between imperialism and ethnonationalism, revealing how these seemingly conflicting ideologies coalesced in Russian political thought. The period of 1989–1994 saw a struggle between civic nationalism, which sought to redefine Russia within its existing borders, and imperialist-nationalist currents that viewed Soviet disintegration as a geopolitical catastrophe. Within this ideological conflict, the “time bomb” metaphor emerged as a potent rhetorical device, encapsulating anxieties about territorial fragmentation and national decline. The study identifies Russian émigré intellectual Gleb Rahr as a key figure in introducing the metaphor, later popularized by figures such as Dmitry Rogozin and Vladimir Putin.

This study presents high-power mode-selective operation in a large-mode-area (LMA) fiber laser. A spatial mode-adaptive control system incorporating a 5×1 photonic lantern was employed to facilitate mode conversion between the LP01 and LP11 modes. The coherence length between the five single-mode arms and the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold in the amplifier were well balanced by tuning the seed linewidth. In addition, the specific design of the fiber amplifier’s bending radius enabled stable mode-selective output with high mode purity. Consequently, a near-fundamental mode control was achieved in a 42-μm LMA fiber laser, yielding a beam quality M2 factor of 1.97 at an output power of 1 kW. Subsequently, a stable LP11 mode laser output with an output power of 219 W and an optical conversion efficiency of 75% was obtained. This research provides a significant technical foundation for the mode-selective operation of high-power LMA fiber lasers.