We investigate the properties of the linear two-way fixed effects (FE) estimator for panel data when the underlying data generating process (DGP) does not have a linear parametric structure. The FE estimator is consistent for some pseudo-true value and we characterize the corresponding asymptotic distribution. We show that the rate of convergence is determined by the degree of model misspecification, and that the asymptotic distribution can be non-normal. We propose a novel autoregressive double adaptive wild (AdaWild) bootstrap procedure applicable for a large class of DGPs. Monte Carlo simulations show that it performs well for panels of small and moderate dimensions. We use data from U.S. manufacturing industries to illustrate the benefits of our procedure.

In some divided societies, identity-based groups engage in ‘contentious rituals’, such as public parades or commemorative events, to cultivate the group’s collective social memory and build solidarity. We examine whether and how such rituals perpetuate group divisions in post-conflict societies, drawing on evidence from a case study of parading in Northern Ireland. Every year, contentious parades in this post-conflict society have the potential to raise tensions between the two major communities, Catholics and Protestants. Using a mixed-methods design, we show that parades in Northern Ireland are detrimental to intergroup attitudes. Our research design relies on compiling geolocated data on over 55,000 parades (2002–22), analyses of both nationally representative longitudinal surveys (2003–19) and an original survey fielded in 2022, and insights from qualitative fieldwork conducted during the height of the parading season in 2023.

To what extent should workers in physically demanding jobs be given the possibility of earlier retirement? This is one of the many pressing pension reform issues that ageing societies face. This article examines the extent to which such special treatment is supported by the general public. We uniquely combine a representative survey (2,136 respondents) with a vignette study to explore what respondents in the Netherlands consider a fair public pension age for 29 jobs that differ by level of physical demand. We also examine whether these pension ages are associated with other attributes that are important in an ageing society, such as the presence of chronic health conditions and informal care-giving responsibilities – such attributes may affect support for the special provisions for workers in physically demanding jobs – and control for stereotypical views about older workers. The findings reveal notable differences in public pension ages, indicating that workers in highly physically demanding jobs should be given the opportunity to retire earlier and those working in physically ‘light’ jobs should work slightly beyond the standard public pension age. We compare these differences to existing special retirement programmes for physically demanding or arduous jobs. Interestingly, non-work factors – namely, chronic health conditions and care-giving responsibilities – weigh more heavily in deciding a fair or reasonable public pension age. This suggests that organizations and policy makers facing an ageing society will have to deal with a broader set of problems than can be solved by offering early retirement programmes for specific jobs.

In this précis of Radical Skepticism and Epistemic Intuition (Oxford 2021), I highlight the book’s main lines of argument and provide an overview of each of the book’s three parts. I explain how: part I identifies the best kind of argument for radical skepticism and objects to one of the two main ways of responding to it; part II presents my version of the other main way of responding to that skeptical argument (a version that relies heavily on epistemic intuition); and part III defends epistemic intuition (and, thereby, my response to radical skepticism) from several important objections.

Emerging labour crises highlight the detrimental impact of overtime work cultures, such as the 996 working system, which violates the Labour Law of China and mirrors modern labour slavery. Simultaneously, despite China’s Three-Children Policy aimed at increasing national labour force growth, the national fertility rate has remained persistently low over the past decade. Workers require family time and financial security to plan for having children. Changes in family structures and fertility expectations, shaped by social pressures and the government’s advocacy, heavily impact labourers’ household financial behaviour. In response to a high-pressure overwork environment, labourers adopt conservative financial strategies to safeguard their families’ well-being and birth plans. This cautious approach often involves avoiding digital financial tools associated with riskier investments. This study examines the intersection of labour overwork, fertility, and the adoption of digital finance in shaping Chinese families’ investments. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study analyses the panel data from 7,582 family observations in China between 2018 and 2020. The findings reveal that although digital finance positively influences household financial investment, the 996 work system acts as a moderator to shape this relationship negatively. Moreover, fertility in households further weakens this relationship. These findings provide critical theoretical insights into the dynamics of labour history by portraying a modern slavery picture of overworked labourers and their families in China: too exhausted and financially strained to have babies. It offers practical insights for policymakers aiming to improve labour policies, fertility rates, and household financial resilience.

Can monuments to victims of authoritarian regimes promote more tolerant societies? We look into the case of Stolpersteine, small memorials commemorating victims of the Nazi regime in Germany. Unlike other monuments, Stolpersteine are dedicated to specific individuals who were victims of Nazi violence. In a pre-registered survey experiment, we showed treated individuals pictures of the stones. Our results show that exposure to Stolpersteine strongly increased negative emotions and reduced positive ones. The results on attitudinal and quasi-behavioral outcomes are mixed, likely driven by ceiling effects. We find a positive effect on tolerance toward the only minority group that faces low tolerance in the control group. However, there is no statistically significant effect for other groups.

This article examines the effectiveness of using virtual reality training environments for procedural training in fourth generation airliners. It is based on a study that assessed whether the training outcomes from a current recurrent training course for FAA certificated airframe and power plant technicians, which used a full flight simulator (FFS) to deliver and assess training, differed from the same training delivered using a virtual reality (VR) device. The study used an experimental design with three groups, and two within-group measures of training effectiveness. The control group followed the current training programme and was assessed in the FFS, while the second group was trained using a VR device and was subsequently assessed in the FFS. Training effectiveness was assessed using a modified Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS) tool that measured both cognitive and psychomotor aspects of learning alongside the time to successful completion of the assessed task was also measured. The population sampled for the study were all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificated airframe and power plant technicians who were engine-run qualified; a total sample of 100 was used to achieve a 95% confidence interval (p < 0.05). The hypothesis under test was that there is no difference in test performance between the three groups. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) analysis was performed using the GEARS scores and time to completion as variables, and the null hypothesis was retained. The VR system, as tested, was found to provide equivalent task performance to the traditional training method. Recommendations for future research and ongoing application of the specific experimental methodology were provided.

This paper reports the discovery and follow-up of four candidate redback spider pulsars: GPM J1723$-33$, GPM J1734$-28$, GPM J1752$-30$, and GPM J1815$-14$, discovered with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) from an imaging survey of the Galactic Plane. These sources are considered to be redback candidates based on their eclipsing variability, steep negative spectral indices, and potential Fermi $\gamma$-ray associations, with GPM J1723$-33$ and GPM J1815$-14$ lying within a Fermi 95$\%$ error ellipse. Follow-up pulsation searches with MeerKAT confirmed pulsations from GPM J1723$-33$, while the non-detections of the other three are likely due to scattering by material ablated from their companion stars. We identify possible orbital periods by applying folding algorithms to the light curves and determine that all sources have short orbital periods ($\lt$24 h), consistent with redback spider systems. Following up on the sources at multiple radio frequencies revealed that the sources exhibit frequency-dependent eclipses, with longer eclipses observed at lower frequencies. We place broad constraints on the eclipse medium, ruling out induced Compton scattering and cyclotron absorption. Three sources are spatially consistent with optical sources in the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey imaging, which may contain the optical counterparts. Each field is affected by strong dust extinction, and follow-up with large telescopes is needed to identify the true counterparts. Identifying potential radio counterparts to four previously unassociated Fermi sources brings us closer to understanding the origin of the unexplained $\gamma$-ray excess in the Galactic Centre.

We describe the asymptotic behaviour of large degrees in random hyperbolic graphs for all values of the curvature parameter $\alpha$. We prove that, with high probability, the node degrees satisfy the following ordering property: the ranking of the nodes by decreasing degree coincides with the ranking of the nodes by increasing distance to the centre, at least up to any constant rank. In the sparse regime $\alpha>\tfrac{1}{2}$, the rank at which these two rankings cease to coincide is $n^{1/(1+8\alpha)+o(1)}$. We also provide a quantitative description of the large degrees by proving the convergence in distribution of the normalised degree process towards a Poisson point process. In particular, this establishes the convergence in distribution of the normalised maximum degree of the graph. A transition occurs at $\alpha = \tfrac{1}{2}$, which corresponds to the connectivity threshold of the model. For $\alpha < \tfrac{1}{2}$, the maximum degree is of order $n - O(n^{\alpha + 1/2})$, whereas for $\alpha \geq \tfrac{1}{2}$, the maximum degree is of order $n^{1/(2\alpha)}$. In the $\alpha < \tfrac{1}{2}$ and $\alpha > \tfrac{1}{2}$ cases, the limit distribution of the maximum degree belongs to the class of extreme value distributions (Weibull for $\alpha < \tfrac{1}{2}$ and Fréchet for $\alpha > \tfrac{1}{2}$). This refines previous estimates on the maximum degree for $\alpha > \tfrac{1}{2}$ and extends the study of large degrees to the dense regime $\alpha \leq \tfrac{1}{2}$.

Effective waterhemp management in crop rotations that include sugar beet requires a proactive approach, starting with robust weed management in the preceding crop. Sugar beet is vulnerable to weeds due to its poor competitiveness during its early growth stages and a limited availability of effective herbicide options within this rotation. This research aimed to evaluate multi-tactic weed management strategies, including planting soybean in narrow rows with low- and high-input treatments, and a high-input treatment plus harvest-time weed seed control (HWSC) simulation, on waterhemp control and seed production in soybean, and their effects on waterhemp density in the following sugar beet crop. Field experiments were conducted from 2021 to 2023 in Franklin, Moorhead, and Rosemount, Minnesota. Soybean planted in narrow rows closed the canopy earlier at Franklin in 2021 and at Moorhead in 2022. Soybean row spacing did not affect waterhemp control, density, biomass, or seed production at any site-year. A high-input treatment consisting of flumioxazin applied preemergence followed by (fb) an early postemergence application of lactofen + acetochlor fb a late-postemergence application of 2,4-D + glyphosate provided ≥95% waterhemp control at harvest at all site-years and seed production was reduced to 0 seeds m−2 at Franklin and Rosemount. At those locations, waterhemp control at harvest was comparable among all high-input herbicide treatments. Soybean planted in narrow rows yielded 9.4% and 18.5% more than soybean planted in wide rows at Franklin and Rosemount, respectively, while no yield difference was observed at Moorhead. Waterhemp emergence in the subsequent season’s sugar beet crop fell by 72% to 92% at the Franklin site in 2022, Moorhead in 2023, and Rosemount in 2023 after high-input herbicide treatments. However, adding HWSC to a high-input treatment did not result in a further reduction of waterhemp density. In this research, 1 yr of effective waterhemp control with high-input herbicide treatments in soybean reduced waterhemp emergence in the following season’s sugar beet crop.

Ice sheets and glaciers flow through basal sliding and internal deformation, each governed by physical laws commonly expressed as power-law relations. These formulations include coefficients—the sliding coefficient and rate factor—whose values and units depend on the respective exponents. This dependency complicates the systematic exploration of parameter space, especially in ensemble simulations. To address this, we propose dimensionless formulations of both sliding and flow laws, in which the coefficients are of order unity and decoupled from the exponents. This separation simplifies sensitivity studies and parameter variations. The dimensionless laws are straightforward to implement in existing models; we demonstrate this with the SICOPOLIS ice-sheet model using three test simulations in an idealized set-up. These simulations illustrate that independent variation of exponents and coefficients is feasible and practical, supporting the use of dimensionless laws in efforts to better constrain ice dynamics in past and future climate scenarios.

We study the hypersimplex under the action of the symmetric group $S_n$ by coordinate permutation. We prove that its equivariant volume, given by the evaluation of its equivariant $H^*$-series at $1$, is the permutation character of decorated ordered set partitions under the natural action of $S_n$. This verifies a conjecture of Stapledon for the hypersimplex. To prove this result, we give a formula for the coefficients of the $H^*$-polynomial. Additionally, for the $(2,n)$-hypersimplex, we use this formula to show that trivial character need not appear as a direct summand of a coefficient of the $H^*$-polynomial, which gives a family of counterexamples to a different conjecture of Stapledon.

How do populist publics visually represent themselves, and how have shifts in visual technologies altered this process? While research on the visual politics of populism has largely focused on ‘top-down’ uses of imagery by populist leaders and parties, less attention has been paid to how ‘the people’ depict themselves from the ‘bottom up’. This article addresses this gap by theorising the concept of the visual self-mediation of ‘the people’ and tracing its evolution across two emblematic episodes in which contested claims to popular sovereignty were visually enacted: the 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt against Hugo Chávez and the 2021 US Capitol riots. Through a structured, diachronic comparison, the article identifies a broader historical shift – from televisual mediation of ‘the people’, dependent on elite controlled platforms, to digitally enabled self-mediation, wherein publics broadcast themselves as ‘the people’ in real time via smartphones and social media. It analyses how populist publics visually presented themselves, as well as the intended and unintended audiences for these visuals. In foregrounding this transformation, the article contributes to ongoing debates in visual politics, media ecologies, and populism by illustrating how digital infrastructures have reconfigured the visibility, performativity, and legitimacy of populist publics in the twenty-first century.

This retrospective study investigates two questions: (a) whether speech sound difficulties, reported by parents looking back on their children’s early speech sound skills and concurrently at ages 7–8, can predict language comprehension and early reading challenges in children identified as poor readers and (b) whether there is a relationship between the type of speech errors and language comprehension and early reading skills in these children. Two hundred twenty-eight children identified as poor readers were assessed on reading and language comprehension. The findings revealed that children whose parents reported early speech sound difficulties, and those with speech sound difficulties at ages 7–8, had significantly poorer language comprehension compared to children without a history of speech sound difficulties. This difference in language comprehension skills persisted after controlling for phoneme awareness. Additionally, both delayed and disordered speech errors significantly predicted difficulties in language comprehension compared to children without speech sound difficulties.

This article explores the experiences of social participation among Indigenous, migrant and older people with disabilities in Chile. While substantial evidence shows the importance of social participation in ageing policy, research on how diverse groups of older people in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) perceive and engage in it is limited. The article examines the participatory practices of these populations and the challenges they face in accessing and being included in their chosen spaces of engagement. Six focus groups were held with key informants from government offices and community-based organizations, and individual in-depth interviews were conducted with older people. The collected data were then analysed using an inductive content analysis approach. Findings show that several historical and structural factors influence social participation among the three studied groups, particularly their vulnerability to precarity and discrimination in the Chilean context. The dominant perspective of key informants on social participation – as a means of staying healthy, keeping busy and finding contentment – should be contrasted with the actual social, cultural and economic circumstances. Indeed, most of the older participants in this study stated that they use social participation as a means of exercising agency, as it allows them to develop significant and supportive relationships that facilitate their daily lives and provide opportunities for individual and collective empowerment. This article contributes to the development of social gerontology in the Global South by integrating diversity into research design and enhancing understanding of the conditions under which people in Chile age and participate in society.

Climate change affects not only temperatures but also rainfall patterns, which can either accentuate or mitigate the effects of warming on water stress in terrestrial insects. Water stress is more likely to affect eggs and larvae due to their small size. Hemlock looper (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) overwinters as eggs, and first-instar larvae must move to settle on host trees in the spring. Their survival depends both on their energy and water reserves that remain after overwintering and on the abiotic conditions present each spring. The effects of humidity (40, 60, and 80%) on the hatching success, time to hatch, and lifespan of unfed first-instar hemlock looper larvae were assessed at two temperatures, at 10 °C and at 22 °C. Lower humidity levels reduced hatching success and increased time to hatch, suggesting that humidity modulates development. On the other hand, higher temperatures reduced hatching success and time to hatch. The survival probability of unfed first-instar larvae was not influenced by ambient humidity but was longer for larvae from eggs reared at high humidity and 10 °C, suggesting that the physiological state of larvae at the time of hatching influences their survival. The ecological significance of these results and how they can influence our management tools are discussed.