Biochar, when used as soil amendment, could enhance soil health, plant growth, and farm profitability while offsetting adverse effects of environmental pollution. Yet the adoption rate of biochar among agricultural producers remains extremely low. Message framing has been shown to play an important role in forming positive attitudes and generating desirable outcomes. To understand the effect of message framing in promoting biochar, we conducted a randomized experiment through an online survey of crop producers located in Eastern South Dakota. The results showed that participants who read a message about the benefits of adopting biochar from an economic perspective expressed higher interest in learning about biochar; no such effect was observed among participants who read a message about the benefits of adopting biochar from a stewardship perspective. Compared with the control group, economic and stewardship frames increased farmers’ likelihood of adopting biochar in the next 5 years, by 10.6% and 10.8%, respectively. Our findings illustrate the importance of message framing in encouraging farmers to adopt conservation practices that are rarely used. To promote future adoption of conservation practices such as biochar, it is important to highlight both economic and stewardship benefits when conveying information to farmers.

The objective of this study was to develop and validate an educational comic book designed to promote healthy eating among caregivers of young children. The study was conducted in four phases: (1) literature review and script development; (2) creation of the initial version of the comic book, including illustrations, layout and design, and calculation of the Flesch Readability Index (FI); (3) expert validation of the initial version and calculation of the Content Validity Index (CVI); and (4) adaptation of the comic book based on expert suggestions, recalculation of the FI, and pilot testing (CVI) with a lay population. A total of 64 volunteers participated in the validation process, including 14 expert judges and 50 caregivers responsible for feeding children aged 0 to 5 years. Statistical analysis included descriptive measures and inferential testing using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The FI score for the initial version was 85.0%, indicating a reading level classified as “easy to understand.” After expert evaluation, the CVI reached 94%, reflecting high agreement among participants. In the revised version, the FI remained high at 84.7%, reinforcing the “easy to understand” reading level, while the CVI increased to 98% following the pilot test, demonstrating strong consensus among participants. A significant improvement in knowledge regarding healthy eating was observed after reading the comic book (p < 0.05). The comic book was validated for appearance, content and readability, showing a positive impact on caregivers’ knowledge about healthy eating practices. It represents an accessible and effective resource that can be integrated into community-based nutrition education programmes.

We tested whether people engage in proportional thinking when comparing the value of the lives of people in different countries, specifically, whether people consider a certain number of lost lives in a smaller country to be equivalent to the loss of a larger number of lives in a country with a larger population. We found evidence for this form of proportional thinking in Study 1, and in Studies 2–3 we further observed that it is modulated by motivated reasoning: In Study 2, there was more proportional thinking when it benefited the ingroup (1 ingroup life equals 4 outgroup lives) than when it benefited the outgroup (1 outgroup life equals 4 ingroup lives). In Study 3, there was more proportional thinking when it benefited the victim in a war (1 victim life equals 4 aggressor lives) than when both countries were victims. Study 3 also showed that this form of proportional thinking is more prevalent when thinking about collectives (1,000 lives in the smaller country are equivalent to 4,000 lives in the larger country) versus individuals (1 life in the smaller country is equivalent to 4 lives in the larger country).

The creation of the Administrative Review Tribunal represents a critical redesign of Australia’s federal administrative review system. In this article, we draw on a novel dataset from the Kaldor Centre Data Lab to question the government’s justifications for retaining separate codified procedures and other restrictive rules for the new tribunal’s migration and protection jurisdictions. Our data analysis reveals that historically, there is no evidence that the codification of procedures increases the efficiency or certainty of decision-making. This approach may in fact have the opposite effect, contributing to both inefficiencies and unfairness for applicants. The government’s decision to retain separate procedures for migration and protection applicants represents a missed opportunity and may undermine the new tribunal’s objectives.

Botanical supplements occupy a regulatory grey area between food and medicine within the European Union, a situation that has given rise to a series of interrelated challenges. This paper highlights regulatory dysfunctions across several dimensions: definitional voids in EU food law, unclear food–medicine classification boundaries, fragmented market access rules, and inadequate safety monitoring systems. These regulatory gaps impose costs on business operators, restrict consumer access, and result in uneven protection across Member States. The article also focuses on safety concerns, which are, however only one element of this broader puzzle. To address such systemic difficulties, the paper proposes the introduction of harmonised pre-market notification and post-market surveillance mechanisms, with a specific focus on botanical supplements. These measures could help reconcile market accessibility with stronger consumer protection while supporting innovation. Admittedly, they may not resolve all regulatory challenges, particularly the thousands of health claims that remain on hold. Nevertheless, they might offer a practical foundation for addressing long-term, often overlooked safety concerns related to botanicals. It remains to be seen whether they could also contribute to resolving the interconnected regulatory issues in this sector, potentially paving the way for broader reform.

Since the 1970s, the concepts of ‘systemic context’ and ‘archaeological context’, developed within the framework of behavioural archaeology by Michael Schiffer, have significantly influenced archaeological reasoning and language. However, these fundamental theoretical foundations have undergone few substantial changes over the years, and a re-evaluation of the notion of systemic context could prove beneficial, especially for archaeologists working on deeply stratified sites that have hosted human occupation for centuries, such as urban sites. This paper proposes a shift from the current understanding of systemic context to a palimpsestic perspective, wherein multiple systemic contexts are viewed as sequential time-slices. Each slice represents a living system within a specific time frame, varying in width depending on the accuracy of our chronological phasing. By replacing a single, non-temporally defined systemic context with a sequence of chronologically framed systemic contexts, each characterized by distinct cultural and ecological attributes, we can better address issues that are typical of studying urban sites from both archaeological (residuality, false residuality, phasing, etc.) and historical perspectives (rhythms of change, urban development or contraction, etc.).

For each integer $d\geq 2$, let $\mathrm {M}_d$ denote the moduli space of maps $f: \mathbb {P}^1\to \mathbb {P}^1$ of degree d. We study the geometric configurations of subsets of postcritically finite (or PCF) maps in $\mathrm {M}_d$. A complex-algebraic subvariety $Y \subset \mathrm {M}_d$ is said to be PCF-special if it contains a Zariski-dense set of PCF maps. Here we prove that there are only finitely many positive-dimensional irreducible PCF-special subvarieties in $\mathrm {M}_d$ with degree $\leq D$. In addition, there exist constants $N = N(D,d)$ and $B = B(D,d)$ so that for any complex algebraic subvariety $X \subset \mathrm {M}_d$ of degree $\leq D$, the Zariski closure $\overline {X \cap \mathrm {PCF}_d}$ has at most N irreducible components, each with degree $\leq B$. We also prove generalizations of these results for points with small critical height in $\mathrm {M}_d(\overline {\mathbb {Q}})$.

This study investigates consumer preferences for two emerging food waste reduction technologies – gene editing and all-natural spray coating – applied to apples. Using a discrete choice experiment with a nationally representative sample of U.S. consumers (n = 413), we estimate willingness to pay for gene-edited apples, spray-coated apples, and untreated apples. A generalized mixed logit model in willingness to pay space reveals that consumers exhibit the highest WTP for gene-edited apples ($2.45/lb), followed by spray-coated apples ($2.37/lb), with untreated apples valued least ($1.79/lb). Latent Class Analysis identifies three consumer segments: Price-Sensitive Skeptics, Sustainability-Oriented Consumers, and Selective Technology Adopters. Sustainability-Oriented Consumers showed the strongest support for both technologies, while Selective Technology Adopters displayed a clear preference for gene editing. Behavioral attitudes, rather than demographic variables, were the main drivers of segmentation. These findings suggest that tailored marketing strategies and policy interventions, including sustainability messaging, pricing incentives, and educational outreach, can support the adoption of food waste-reducing technologies. Overall, consumers are receptive to both gene-edited and spray-coated apples, though concerns about biotechnology and price sensitivity remain. Results offer insights for producers, retailers, and regulators aiming to enhance fresh produce sustainability and reduce food waste along the supply chain.

As a racialized group that is subject to discrimination, US Latinxs are often considered “natural” coalitional partners for Black-led civil rights struggles. Although the BLM movement may serve as a potential site for cross-racial coalition building because both Latinxs and Blacks suffer from racial profiling by law enforcement, the development of a shared status across group boundaries hinges on the interpretation by Latinxs of both their personal- and group-level discrimination experiences. Using the 2020 CMPS, I explore how multiple dimensions of Latinx racial group consciousness (perceptions of discrimination, intra- and intergroup commonality, and racial identity) shape their cross-racial alliances with Black social movements. Results from multivariate analysis show that Latinxs who acknowledge Black Americans’ continued struggle against racial discrimination in both American society and the Latinx community are positively oriented toward the BLM movement. Findings also reveal contrasting effects for inter- and intragroup commonality: the former is strongly and consistently predictive of increased support for the BLM Movement, whereas the latter is associated with decreased support. These findings underscore both the opportunities and challenges for Latinx–Black political coalition building.

Balister, the second author, Groenland, Johnston, and Scott recently showed that there are asymptotically $C4^n/n^{3/4}$ many unordered sequences that occur as degree sequences of graphs with $n$ vertices. Combining limit theory for infinitely divisible distributions with a new connection between a class of random walk trajectories and a subset counting formula from additive number theory, we describe $C$ in terms of Walkup’s number of rooted plane trees. The bijection is related to an instance of the Lévy–Khintchine formula. Our main result complements a result of Stanley, that ordered graphical sequences are related to quasi-forests.

Significant and widespread surface melt is prevalent across glaciers and ice caps, and such surface melt is transmitted through complex supraglacial pathways. The efficiency with which this water transits across glaciers and ice caps is important since it is by these networks that water is removed from the system, constituting mass loss. Here, we use remote sensing to explore mass loss of the Barnes Ice Cap in Arctic Canada since the 1980s alongside a detailed investigation of supraglacial drainage evolution, focussing on the central-southern outlet which is the fastest moving part of the ice-cap. The Barnes Ice Cap is almost entirely covered in a network of supraglacial channels from the highest to lowest elevations. These channels exhibit extraordinary stability over many years and are re-used annually. We also observe significant and widespread surface lowering across most of the Barnes Ice Cap, yet erosion by flowing water in these channels is of sufficient magnitude to ensure they persist rather than re-establishing anew each year. As a result, efficient routing of water across and off the ice cap is likely re-initiated quickly each year, removing large volumes of water from the glacier system.

This comparative study explores the relationship between political and personal religious attitudes and their impact on reconciliation and tolerance in conflicts. Using survey data from 2,171 respondents across Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, the research highlights the mediating role of religious conflict perception in shaping attitudes toward reconciliation. The findings challenge deterministic views of religion’s role in protracted conflict, showing that while political–religious attitudes correlate with a rejection of reconciliation, personal religious attitudes do not. Rather, the interplay of religious attitudes, justice perceptions, and conflict narratives shapes these attitudes. In internal political conflicts, the adoption of religious attitudes does not always correlate with intolerance. The study integrates constructivist and instrumentalist perspectives, demonstrating that the role of religion in conflict is context-dependent. It also shows that, regardless of religious affiliation, political and personal religious orientations similarly influence attitudes toward reconciliation and tolerance, offering important insights for intergroup and conflict resolution strategies.

How do citizen interest groups influence policy in domains dominated by political and economic elites? Recent research suggests their success hinges on outsider strategies to pressure policymakers, such as mobilizing public opinion. In contrast, a feminist platform named Platform for Equal and Non-transferable Birth and Adoption Leave (PPiiNA) built insider alliances with female politicians across party lines to make paternity and maternity leave equal and non-transferable in Spain in 2019. This article explores this case in depth by tracing almost 20 years of policy evolution through parliamentary documents and interviews. Against employer opposition and the absence of trade unions, the case corroborates the relevance of women in politics by illustrating how descriptive representation can open insider channels of influence to feminist advocacy groups. Nonetheless, the approval of the reform ultimately depended on left-wing governing power, while policy formulation was dominated by political elites and employer groups, limiting the capacity of cross-partisan feminist alliances to shape final policy output.