For decades, in most states with a party registration option, the percentage of voters registering as unaffiliated with a major political party has steadily increased. But who are these registered voters in these polarized partisan times, and why might they register without a major party? We address these questions by drawing on parallel large-N original surveys of registered voters in two southeastern states experiencing a notable rise in registered independents but with different electoral rules for unaffiliated registrants. The closed primary rule in Florida reflects a much greater share of major party registrants versus North Carolina, which has a semi-closed primary rule. Nevertheless, even with these different primary laws, in both states we find that the decision not to register with a major party strongly covaries with identity as a political independent. Hence, registration rules may alter registration patterns, but individuals claiming to be less attached to a major party are markedly more likely to manifest this position by registering unaffiliated.

We present a multidimensional data analysis framework for the analysis of ordinal response variables. Underlying the ordinal variables, we assume a continuous latent variable, leading to cumulative logit models. The framework includes unsupervised methods, when no predictor variables are available, and supervised methods, when predictor variables are available. We distinguish between dominance variables and proximity variables, where dominance variables are analyzed using inner product models, whereas the proximity variables are analyzed using distance models. An expectation–majorization–minimization algorithm is derived for estimation of the parameters of the models. We illustrate our methodology with three empirical data sets highlighting the advantages of the proposed framework. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the performance of the algorithm.

Sudden annual rises in radiocarbon concentration have proven to be valuable assets for achieving exact-year calibration of radiocarbon measurements. These extremely precise calibrations have usually been obtained through the use of classical χ2 tests in conjunction with a local calibration curve of single-year resolution encompassing a rapid change in radiocarbon levels. As the latest Northern Hemisphere calibration curve, IntCal20, exhibits single-year resolution over the last 5000 years, in this study we investigate the possibility of performing calibration of radiocarbon dates using the classical χ2 test and achieving high-precision dating more extensively, examining scenarios without the aid of such abrupt changes in radiocarbon concentration. In order to perform a broad analysis, we simulated 171 sets of radiocarbon measurements over the last two millennia, with different set lengths and sample spacings, and tested the effectiveness of the χ2 test compared to the most commonly used Bayesian wiggle-matching technique for temporally ordered sequences of samples such as tree-rings sequences, the OxCal D_Sequence. The D_Sequence always produces a date range, albeit in certain cases very narrow; the χ2 test proves to be a viable alternative to Bayesian wiggle-matching, as it achieves calibrations of comparable precision, providing also a highest-likelihood estimate within the uncertainty range.

This article examines Ottoman–Portuguese commercial agreements in Basra during the century after 1622 and the legal ambiguities that they engendered. On two separate occasions, the Portuguese established a factory in Basra: first in 1624 during the reign of the Afrāsiāb pasha (who governed in the name of the Ottomans from 1612 to 1667) and once again in 1690 when the city was ruled again by Ottoman governors (Ottoman direct rule was restored in 1667). Yet there were myriad issues that supplied cause for disputation between the two parties, not least the legal status of the factory itself. On the face of it, both the Portuguese and the Ottoman functionaries in Basra operated according to divergent models of extraterritorial trading privileges. After a century of expansion on the coasts of Africa and the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had grown accustomed to the model of the factory (feitoria), in both those places in which the Portuguese governed in their own name and those in which they traded at the sufferance of African and Asian rulers. On the other hand, over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Ottomans had granted so-called capitulations to European powers in the Mediterranean, which were governed by norms that were distinct from the factory model of Africa and Asia. Basra brought these two models into interaction and disrupted the straightforward implementation of either model. Frequent moments of misunderstanding and manoeuvring between the two sides were the result.

Recent governmental figures have demonstrated that the number of students taking an examination in A-Level Music across England has fallen by 41% in eleven years (Ofqual, 2023a). Furthermore, areas with lower POLAR ratings (i.e. historical rates of participation in higher education) and greater levels of deprivation correlate with lower uptake of A-Level Music (Whittaker et al., 2019). These findings have profound implications for equitable access to music education, especially at advanced levels. Against this challenging background, Sandbach School, the Love Music Trust and the Royal Northern College of Music have sought to respond by creating a new partnership approach to A-Level Music. Since September 2019, this specialist course has drawn students together from all over Cheshire whose access to A-Level Music has been geographically limited. Specifically aiming to facilitate progression into higher education, this course provides the young musicians with musical enrichment activities that are additional to the core curriculum, including performance opportunities, advanced musicianship classes, chamber music and instrumental tuition at the Royal Northern College of Music. This article presents a critical discourse analysis of data collected from these students and their teachers, contextualising their experiences within a broader analysis of recent socio-cultural trends and the associated political climate that has impacted on the provision of music education within English schools. Findings point to an important rearticulation of the meaning of ‘Music Hub’, where putting schools at the centre and enriching this provision through strategic partnerships with local ensembles, music services and higher education institutions can build musical cultures and communities that better enable equitable access to high-level music education and progression pathways into higher education.

Ocean radiocarbon (14C) is a proxy for air-sea exchange, vertical and horizontal mixing, and water mass identification. Here, we present five pre- to post-bomb coral Δ14C records from West Flower Garden Bank and Santiaguillo reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, Boca de Medio, and Isla Tortuga near the Cariaco Basin north of Venezuela. To assess basin-wide Δ14C variability, we compiled the Atlantic Ocean reef-building surface coral Δ14C records (24 corals and 28 data sets in total) with these new records. Cumulatively, the Δ14C records, on their independent age models, reveal the onset of post-bomb Δ14C trends in 1958 ±1 to 2 years. A general decrease in maximum Δ14C values occurs with decreasing latitude reflecting the balance between air-sea gas exchange and surface water residence time, vertical mixing, and horizontal advection. A slightly larger atmospheric imprint in the northern sites and relatively greater vertical mixing and/or advection of low-14C waters influence the southern Caribbean and eastern Atlantic sites. The eastern Atlantic sites, due to upwelling, have the lowest post-bomb Δ14C values. Equatorial currents from the eastern Atlantic transport low Δ14C water towards the western South Atlantic and southern Caribbean sites. Decadal Δ14C averages for the pre-bomb interval (1750–1949) for the low latitude western Atlantic are relatively constant within analytical (3–5‰) and chronological uncertainties (∼1–2 years) due to mixing and air-sea exchange. The compiled Δ14C records provide updated regional marine Δ14C values for marine reservoir corrections.

Recognition of a word and its meaning benefits from the sensorimotor information about concepts. However, this phenomenon has been underexplored in second-language (L2) speakers who may rely on more “shallow” representations. Using a megastudy dataset, I investigated how sensorimotor strength affects first-language (L1) and L2 word recognition performance. Bayesian hierarchical regressions revealed that variables associated with physical sensations (interoceptive strength, motor action) and communication experience (head or mouth movement, auditory strength) produced strong effects in both groups. On the other hand, variables associated with concrete objects (visual, haptic experience) and with taste/smell (olfactory, gustatory experience) influenced L1 word recognition performance to a larger extent than in L2. In L2, reliance on semantic information during word recognition was reduced, with stronger effects of lexical variables compared to L1. The findings provide implications for understanding L2 processing mechanisms and demonstrate the usefulness of megastudy datasets in investigating L2 conceptual representations.

The growing trend of depoliticisation of constitutional court appointments across Europe – Shortcomings of depoliticised appointment models in constituting an optimal constitutional court – Strategic politicisation of appointment procedures as a solution for a more optimal constitutional court – Proposal of a baseline template drawing from different European practices – Implications for constitutional court reform in Europe

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug worldwide. In countries with repressive drug policies, the costs of its prohibition plausibly outweigh the benefits. We conduct a cost–benefit analysis of cannabis legalization and regulation in the Czech Republic, taking into consideration alternative scenarios designed using parameters from the known effects of cannabis legalization in selected U.S. states, Canada, and Uruguay. Our analysis focuses on tax revenues, law enforcement costs, the cost of treatment and harm reduction, and the value of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Under all the projected scenarios, the identified benefits of legalizing cannabis for personal use exceed the potential costs. The estimated net social benefit of legalization is in the range of 34.4 to 107.6 million EUR per year (or between 3.2 and 10.1 EUR per capita), depending on the size of the cannabis market and the development of cannabis prices after legalization.

The 1970s saw the rise of two unrelated and yet affine historical concepts: Late Antiquity (Brown 1971) and Post-Modernism (Lyotard 1979). It is almost as if the breakdown of Antiquity in the way it had been traditionally understood, clearly delineated from the Middle Ages and the Byzantine Empire, heralded the dissolution of the Modern Western self-understanding and everything that went with it. For Byzantine studies, it came with a flora of textual rediscoveries; but the gate that had opened onto the spiritual meadows of Late Antiquity could also be used to approach and contextualize Islam in a new way.

Dietary guidelines often combine plant and animal protein intake recommendations, yet evidence suggests they may have distinct associations with health. This study aimed to examine relationships between animal and plant protein intake, using different classification approaches, and diet quality and obesity. Plant and animal protein contents of foods reported by 7637 participants (≥ 19 years) during the 2011–2012 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey were estimated using Australian food composition databases. Usual animal, plant and total protein intakes were estimated using Multiple Source Methods. Diet quality was assessed using the 2013-Dietary Guidelines Index (DGI), and obesity measures included BMI and waist circumference (WC). Multiple linear and logistic regressions were performed and adjusted for potential confounders. Plant and animal protein intakes were positively associated with DGI scores (plant protein: men, β = 0·74 (95 % CI: 0·64, 0·85); women, β = 0·78 (0·67, 0·89); animal protein: men, β = 0·15 (0·12, 0·18); women, β = 0·26 (0·22, 0·29)). These associations were consistent when examining high-quality plant protein (high-protein-containing plant-based foods with comparable nutritional values to animal proteins) and non-dairy animal protein intakes. Plant protein intake was inversely associated with BMI and WC in men but not women. Animal protein intake was positively associated with BMI in both sexes and WC in men only. Men’s plant protein intake was inversely associated with obesity (OR = 0·97 (0·96, 0·99)) and central obesity (OR = 0·97 (0·95, 0·98)). Further studies are needed to examine the influence of different animal protein sources by accounting for energy intake and sex-specific associations.