How do sensory experiences shape the words we learn first? Most studies of language have focused on hearing children learning spoken languages, making it challenging to know how sound and language modality might contribute to language learning. This study investigates how perceptual and semantic features influence early vocabulary acquisition in deaf children learning American Sign Language and hearing children learning spoken English. Using vocabulary data from parent-report inventories, we analyzed 214 nouns common to both languages to compare the types of meanings associated with earlier Age of Acquisition. Results revealed that while children in both groups were earlier to acquire words that were more strongly related to the senses, the specific types of sensory meaning varied by language modality. Hearing children learned words with sound-related features earlier than other words, while deaf children learned words with visual and touch-related features earlier. This suggests that the easiest words to learn are words with meanings that children can experience first-hand, which varies based on children’s own sensory access and experience. Studying the diverse ways children acquire language, in this case deaf children, is key to developing language learning theories that reflect all learners.

With widespread childhood vaccination, young healthcare workers likely have HBV immunity. This cross-sectional, serological aimed to determine the proportion of healthcare trainees with anti-HBs ≥10 mIU/mL after accidental exposure and compare it to self-reported vaccination. We found 77.2% prevalence of anti-HBs, thus, awareness of immunity is vital in resource-limited settings.

This paper critiques the use of the term ‘evil’ in philosophical discussions of the problem of evil. We argue that what is commonly identified as ‘evil’ in this debate is better as ‘misfortune.’ The division between moral and natural evil equivocates between agentic and non-agentic ‘evil,’ undermining its coherence as a unifying concept. Evil events are necessarily caused by evildoers, which are non-existent in events of natural evil. By contrast, ‘misfortune’ places the focus on the victim regardless of the source, better capturing what philosophers intend with the prior term ‘evil.’ Our more precise definition of ‘evil’ satisfies Jean Nabert’s notion of evil as the unjustifiable while also being sufficiently distinct from badness. What distinguishes ‘evil’ from mere badness is moral erasure, which is the perception of other human beings as objects unworthy of moral consideration. While a bad person causes misfortunes as a trade-off in pursuit of a perceived good, an evil person is either completely indifferent to their victim’s misfortunes, or malicious by deliberately causing misfortunes for pleasure’s sake. Our distinction between ‘misfortune’ and ‘evil’ clarified as (im)moral, indifferent, or malicious challenges the assumption that evil, as traditionally framed, poses a direct contradiction to God’s existence.

Recent years have witnessed an increasing trend toward the formalization of circular migration. This formalization is perceived as a mutually beneficial win-win arrangement: host countries secure labor, source countries establish a reliable system of remittances that contribute to development, and migrants are positioned as individuals attaining access to secure and better employment. Labor contractors have been made important in this context, as they play a role in forming linkages, managing a steady supply of workers, managing bureaucratic procedures, training workers, and becoming a buffer between labor and capital. While the dominant debate has been on blaming the labor contractors for the exploitation of migrant workers and creating precarious forms of work, this paper uses racialization theory to locate their role against the backdrop of enforcing return, fragmented labor management, upward capital concentration, and downward labor outsourcing. Using the case of Thai migrant workers who work seasonally in the berry farms of Sweden, it highlights a fundamental contradiction in the current regime of transient servitude: migrant worker is desired, yet the individuals embodying it are not. In so doing, an array of contractual and extra-contractual mechanisms is employed, which reinforces deeply racialized ideologies, stereotypes, and institutions. The use of labor contractors is one such mechanism. Utilizing racialization theory, the thesis identifies enforced return of migrants and the pursuit of an ideal worker as crucial components in the formalization of transnational circular migration. Deportation, rather than being an ultimate objective of enforcing return, serves to deepen the inherent vulnerability experienced by workers who grapple with the understanding that their deportability is an intrinsic aspect of their existence. This reinforcement further amplifies deeply entrenched racialized forms of insecurity, where laborers form a permanent labor force of the temporarily employed. To ensure that migrant workers are at the forefront of recruitment for specific types of low-paying and precarious work, employers strategically employ racialized narratives, portraying them as invaluable assets by emphasizing their perceived strong “work ethic” and reliability. This depiction elevates them to the status of “good workers,” surpassing the local labor alternative. It underscores that capital’s demand extends beyond a mere requirement for labor power; it necessitates labor power that can be exploited.

There is a consensus in international lawyers’ analyses on jurisdiction, that jurisdiction doctrine is unworkable. Extraterritorial jurisdiction is no longer exceptional; at the same time, it is almost impossible to distinguish between territorial and extraterritorial jurisdiction. Legal experts have had three reactions to this crisis of extra/territorial jurisdiction. Some of them continue to pretend that nothing is wrong, and territorial jurisdiction is well and alive: this can be called ‘zombie territoriality’. Others acquiesce to the end of territoriality by affirming a type of limitless jurisdiction based on ‘genuine connections’, ‘substantial links’, or the like. Thirdly, some lawyers have set different limits for different sub-domains of international law, thereby fragmenting the law of jurisdiction and creating different meanings of ‘territoriality’ for international criminal law, international financial law, antitrust law, human rights law, etc. In this explosion of jurisdictional sub-domains, territoriality is strict in human rights law and refugee law, but remarkably flexible in criminal law and antitrust law. Is there any way out of this crisis of jurisdiction? Limitless jurisdiction seems to be winning out, but some scholars have tried to reformulate non-intervention or self-determination as substantive bulwarks against extraterritoriality. Developing multilateral institutions would also prevent jurisdictional overreach. In truth, though, all the proposed ways out of the crisis of jurisdiction mean the end of jurisdiction doctrine. It may be time to accept that we now live in a post-jurisdictional system of international law.

Richard Nixon won a narrow popular and electoral vote victory in 1968. This article investigates whether newspaper endorsements, which heavily favored Nixon, were pivotal in his victory. Utilizing the shift in endorsements between 1964 and 1968, we find a sizable endorsement effect. This estimated effect was large enough to be pivotal: eliminating Nixon’s endorsement advantage would have deprived him of an Electoral College victory, resulting in a contingent election. Alternatively, if newspapers had endorsed his opponent, Hubert Humphrey, at the same rates they endorsed Johnson in 1964, Humphrey would have won the Electoral College.

Sporobolus natalensis (Steud.) T. Durand & Schinz. and Sporobolus pyramidalis P. Beauv., generally known as giant rat’s tail grasses, are two significant weed species that invade summer fields and pastures in the eastern regions of Australia. This study was conducted to examine seed germination behavior, seedling emergence, and the response of these species to various herbicides. Seed germination and seedling emergence were assessed in response to environmental factors, including alternating temperature regimes (15/5, 20/10, 25/15, 30/20, and 35/25 C), light conditions (dark and light/dark), osmotic potentials (0, −0.1, −0.2, −0.4, −0.8, and −1.6 MPa), and seed burial depths (0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 cm). Furthermore, the efficacy of several post-emergence herbicides was evaluated in pots under outdoor environmental conditions. Germination was higher under light/dark (12-h light/12-h dark) conditions than under continuous darkness (24 h). The seeds of both species exhibited significantly higher germination (>95%) under 12-h light at higher temperatures (35/25 C) compared with low (20/10 C) or medium (25/15 C) temperatures. The osmotic potential required to inhibit 50% of maximum germination was −0.77 MPa for S. natalensis and −0.59 MPa for S. pyramidalis. Seedling emergence decreased with increasing burial depth, with no emergence observed from seeds buried at depths of 4 cm. Applying herbicides significantly reduced both species’ seedling survival and dry matter. The most effective herbicides for controlling spring-germinated S. pyramidalis and S. natalensis were haloxyfop, clethodim, butroxydim, glyphosate, glufosinate, and paraquat, which provided satisfactory control of both species. The findings from this study can be used to develop effective management strategies for controlling S. pyramidalis and S. natalensis in agricultural systems.

The word “thug” entered the common English language in a slew of texts published in London across the 1830s. These works—narrative accounts as well as social histories—cataloged the so-called cult of Indian thugs, a newly “discovered” band of highway robbers believed to operate throughout the Indian subcontinent. This essay traces a literary and cultural history of these representations; yet, I argue, many of their roots are to be found less in Indian social history than in the existing discursive structures of London. In particular, medico-literary frameworks of sensibility—in existing use to construct and mediate metropolitan sensationalism—came, consequentially, to inform both these imperial representations and the associated conceptualizations of national boundaries.

Patient and public involvement (PPI) increasingly features in the shaping, design, and conduct of mental health research. This review identifies and synthesizes evidence of barriers and facilitators of PPI in mental health research within university settings. The search strategy followed PRISMA guidance and involved keyword searches in eight peer reviewed databases, grey literature, hand searching two journals, requests to national mental health organizations, and backwards and forwards citation searching. We included primary mental health studies on patient and public involvement, with data on facilitators and barriers. Data were extracted capturing author, date and country of publication, study aim, participant and research team composition, data collection and analysis methods, and levels of PPI. Quality appraisal was conducted using the CASP Checklist for Qualitative Research, with an additional item on intersectionality. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis, before holding a peer-debriefing session with a lived experience working group. The final dataset included 51 articles that were either of a qualitative design or contained analyzed qualitative data. Barriers and facilitators were grouped around the following themes: the structure of the research environment, organizational culture, and individual needs. Good practice exists, but the wider research environment and power imbalances within universities constrain PPI. For PPI in mental health research to reach its full potential, the redistribution of power, building capacity for all, the provision of safe working environments, and widening inclusion in the research process are necessary. This review involved researchers with lived experience of mental ill health.

This short essay considers Kathy Psomiades’s recent book, Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology and the Novel, from a feminist perspective.

This study challenges the predominantly positive view of entrepreneurial team diversity by exploring its negative effects on start-up survival across different development stages. Drawing on secondary data from interviews of failed start-ups retrieved from the Failory database, triangulated with additional publicly available sources of evidence, the research employs an inductive qualitative analysis grounded in the Gioia method and a retrospective approach, to examine which demographic, informational, personality, and cognitive diversity characteristics contribute to failure during the idea, product development, and launch stages. Findings reveal that personality and cognitive diversity are critical in idea development, personality and informational diversity during product development, and personality and demographic diversity during the launch stage. Adopting a dynamic perspective, the study deepens the understanding of team dynamics and venture survival in the entrepreneurial context. The findings guide managers and policymakers on leveraging diversity as a strategic asset while addressing challenges throughout the venture’s lifecycle.

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, was crushed by Antarctic sea ice and sank in November 1915. Since then, it has been widely considered that Endurance was the strongest polar ship of its time and was lost because ice tore away the rudder. Based on expedition diaries, Shackleton’s correspondence, and structural analysis, this paper shows that Endurance was not among the strongest ships of its time and that the rudder was not the main cause of the vessel sinking. While the final reason was tearing off the keel, Endurance sank because the vessel was simply crushed in compression by ice. This is not surprising, Endurance was not designed for compressive conditions in the Antarctic pack ice, but for easier conditions at the ice edge in the Arctic. The weakest part of its hull was the engine room area, which was not only larger than in other early Antarctic ships but also lacked beams to give strength against compression by ice. Comparison with other wooden polar ships is not favourable for Endurance: ships designed for compressive pack ice were stronger. It is also evident from archive research that Shackleton was well aware of the weaknesses of Endurance even before his expedition set sail for Antarctica.

Cognitive neuroscientists typically posit representations that relate to various aspects of the world, which philosophers call representational content. Anti-realists about representational content argue that contents play no role in neuroscientific explanations of cognitive capacities. In this paper, I defend realism against an anti-realist argument due to Frances Egan, who argues that for content to be explanatory it must be both essential and naturalistic. I introduce a case study from cognitive neuroscience in which content is both essential and naturalistic, meeting Egan’s challenge. I then spell out some general principles for identifying studies in which content plays an explanatory role.