Many studies argue that the World Bank grants favorable loan conditions to allies of its powerful principals. These studies typically use the count of conditions as a proxy for how demanding loans are on borrowers, even though some conditions are more difficult to comply with than others. We propose a new operationalization: a measure of conditionality stringency in Bank loans constructed using Latent Semantic Scaling. Using this new measure, we find little evidence of a generalizable influence of powerful principals. Instead, the stringency of loan conditions is associated with bureaucratic assessments of risk. To facilitate future research, we provide a new dataset of World Bank loan condition texts and our measure of text stringency for all loans in the dataset.

In many authoritarian regimes, multiparty elections are held in which the opposition can potentially defeat the incumbent. How do ordinary citizens perceive the integrity of elections in such regime environments? We argue that government supporters adopt the incumbent’s narrative to consider elections fair and legitimate. By contrast, opposition supporters regard elections in such systems as biased and not meaningful. We provide evidence from large cross-country public opinion data and the unexpected 2018 Turkish snap election announcement to examine long- and short-term patterns of perceived electoral integrity. We find that the partisan gap in perceived electoral integrity is more substantial under electoral authoritarianism than under democratic rule. The partisan gap grows in autocratizing political systems, and these perceptions are mostly stable in the short term, even at times of radically increased salience of electoral competition. Our study yields implications for the dynamics between elites and citizens in autocracies in which elections remain a critical source of regime legitimacy.

Why do citizens fail to punish political candidates who violate democratic standards at the ballot box? Building on recent debates about heterogeneous democratic attitudes among citizens, we probe how divergent understandings of democracy shape citizens’ ability to recognize democratic transgressions as such and, in turn, affect vote choice. We leverage a novel approach to estimate the behavioural consequences of such individual-level understandings of democracy via a candidate choice conjoint experiment in Poland, a democracy where elections remained competitive despite an extended episode of backsliding. Consistent with our argument, we find that respondents who adhere less strongly to liberal democratic norms tolerate democratic violations more readily. Conversely, voters with a stronger liberal understanding of democracy are more likely to punish non-liberal candidates, including co-partisan ones. Our study identifies political culture, particularly the lack of attitudinal consolidation around liberal democracy, as a missing variable in explaining continued voter support for authoritarian-leaning leaders.

What determines why some protest events last only a single day while others can stretch over multiple days? This study presents the first cross-national quantitative analysis of the factors that shape protest event duration. This study argues that protest event duration is the function of factors that increase momentum (e.g. protest size, location and participants) while also examining whether repression attenuates such momentum. Using the Armed Conflict Location Event Data, this study employs two multilevel statistical methods to examine the factors that matter. First, the study examines the day-by-day factors that shape whether a protest will continue the next day. Second, the study examines the overall duration of events. The analyses find strong support that protests in capitals and urban areas, as well as protests featuring students, labour unions and professional organizations, last longer, while repression does truncate events.

Two studies were conducted in 2022 and 2023 near Rocky Mount and Clayton, NC, to determine the optimal granular ammonium sulfate (AMS) rate and application timing for pyroxasulfone-coated AMS. In the rate study, AMS rates included 161, 214, 267, 321, 374, 428, and 481 kg ha−1, equivalent to 34, 45, 56, 67, 79, 90, and 101 kg N ha−1, respectively. All rates were coated with pyroxasulfone at 118 g ai ha−1 and topdressed onto 5- to 7-leaf cotton. In the timing study, pyroxasulfone (118 g ai ha−1) was coated on AMS and topdressed at 321 kg ha−1 (67 kg N ha−1) onto 5- to 7-leaf, 9- to 11-leaf, and first bloom cotton. In both studies, weed control and cotton tolerance to pyroxasulfone-coated AMS were compared to pyroxasulfone applied POST and POST-directed. The check in both studies received non-herbicide-treated AMS (321 kg ha−1). Before treatment applications, all plots (including the check) were maintained weed-free with glyphosate and glufosinate. In both studies, pyroxasulfone applied POST was most injurious (8% to 16%), while pyroxasulfone-coated AMS resulted in ≤4% injury. Additionally, no differences in cotton lint yield were observed in either study. With the exception of the lowest rate of AMS (161 kg ha−1; 79%), all AMS rates coated with pyroxasulfone controlled Palmer amaranth ≥83%, comparably to pyroxasulfone applied POST (92%) and POST-directed (89%). In the timing study, the application method did not affect Palmer amaranth control; however, applications made at the mid- and late timings outperformed early applications. These results indicate that pyroxasulfone-coated AMS can control Palmer amaranth comparably to pyroxasulfone applied POST and POST-directed, with minimal risk of cotton injury. However, the application timing could warrant additional treatment to achieve adequate late-season weed control.

Mitochondrial trifunctional protein deficiency is a long-chain fatty acid disorder that may include manifestations of severe cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias. The pathophysiology for the severe presentation is unclear but is an indicator for worse outcomes. Triheptanoin, a synthetic medium chain triglyceride, has been reported to reverse cardiomyopathy in some individuals, but there is limited literature in severe cases. We describe a neonatal onset of severe disease whose clinical course was not improved despite mechanical support and triheptanoin.

Several metrics exist for matching the size of donor to recipient in paediatric cardiac transplantation. Different centres employ different metrics for size-matching to determine the viability of donor hearts. Inconsistent evidence exists, with limited consensus as to the metric for size-matching that is most predictive of outcomes after cardiac transplantation. Furthermore, any metric must function within the tight timeline available for the assessment of the suitability of the donor. At the time of the writing of this paper, the most commonly used metric for size-matching in paediatric cardiac transplantation is the donor-to-recipient body weight ratio. In this article, we review published literature evaluating commonly used metrics for size-matching in paediatric cardiac transplantation, including weight, height, body surface area, and imaging parameters.

Several neural networks have been proposed in the general literature for pattern recognition and clustering, but little empirical comparison with traditional methods has been done. The results reported here compare neural networks using Kohonen learning with a traditional clustering method (K-means) in an experimental design using simulated data with known cluster solutions. Two types of neural networks were examined, both of which used unsupervised learning to perform the clustering. One used Kohonen learning with a conscience and the other used Kohonen learning without a conscience mechanism. The performance of these nets was examined with respect to changes in the number of attributes, the number of clusters, and the amount of error in the data. Generally, the K-means procedure had fewer points misclassified while the classification accuracy of neural networks worsened as the number of clusters in the data increased from two to five.

An experiment was conducted in 2022 and 2023 near Rocky Mount and Clayton, NC, to evaluate residual herbicide-coated fertilizer for cotton tolerance and Palmer amaranth control. Treatments included acetochlor, atrazine, dimethenamid-P, diuron, flumioxazin, fluometuron, fluridone, fomesafen, linuron, metribuzin, pendimethalin, pyroxasulfone, pyroxasulfone + carfentrazone, S-metolachlor, and sulfentrazone. Each herbicide was individually coated on granular ammonium sulfate (AMS) and top-dressed at 321 kg ha−1 (67 kg N ha−1) onto 5- to 7-leaf cotton. The check plots received the equivalent rate of nonherbicide-treated AMS. Before top-dress, all plots (including the check) were treated with glyphosate and glufosinate to control previously emerged weeds. All herbicides except metribuzin resulted in transient cotton injury. Cotton response to metribuzin varied by year and location. In 2022, metribuzin caused 11% to 39% and 8% to 17% injury at the Clayton and Rocky Mount locations, respectively. In 2023, metribuzin caused 13% to 32% injury at Clayton and 73% to 84% injury at Rocky Mount. Pyroxasulfone (91%), pyroxasulfone + carfentrazone (89%), fomesafen (87%), fluridone (86%), flumioxazin (86%), and atrazine (85%) controlled Palmer amaranth ≥85%. Pendimethalin and fluometuron were the least effective treatments, resulting in 58% and 62% control, respectively. As anticipated, early season metribuzin injury translated into yield loss; plots treated with metribuzin yielded 640 kg ha−1 and were comparable to yields after linuron (790 kg ha−1) was used. These findings suggest that with the exception of metribuzin, residual herbicides coated onto AMS may be suitable and effective in cotton production, providing growers with additional modes of action for late-season control of multiple herbicide–resistant Palmer amaranth.

Metabolic and inflammatory dysfunction is prevalent in middle-aged people with major mood disorders, but less is known about young people. We investigated the trajectories of sensitive metabolic (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance [HOMA2-IR]) and inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein [CRP]) in 155 young people (26.9 ± 5.6 years) accessing mental health services. We examined demographic and clinical correlates, longitudinal trajectories and relationships with specific illness subtypes. Additionally, we compared the HOMA2-IR with fasting blood glucose (FBG) for sensitivity. We observed a significant increase in HOMA2-IR and CRP over time with higher baseline levels predicting greater increases, although the rate of increase diminished in those with higher baseline levels. Body mass index predicted increases in HOMA2-IR (p < 0.001), but not CRP (p = 0.135). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that higher HOMA2-IR levels were associated with 2.3-fold increased odds of the “circadian-bipolar spectrum” subtype (p = 0.033), while higher CRP levels were associated with a reduced risk of the “neurodevelopmental psychosis” subtype (p = 0.033). Standard FBG measures were insensitive in detecting early metabolic dysregulation in young people with depression. The study supports the use of more sensitive markers of metabolic dysfunction to address the longitudinal relationships between immune-metabolic dysregulation and mood disorders in young people.

Pinyon–juniper woodlands are dry ecosystems defined by the presence of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon pine (Pinus spp.), which stretch over 400 000 km2 across 10 US states. Certain areas have become unnaturally dense and have moved into former shrub and grasslands, while others have experienced widespread mortality. To properly manage these woodlands, sites must be evaluated individually and decisions made based on scientific information that is often not available. Many species utilize pinyon–juniper woodlands, including the pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), named for its mutualism with pinyon pine, whose population has declined by c. 2.2% per year from 1966 to 2022, an overall decrease of c. 71%. To increase the likelihood of further research progress, we propose a tool to model the distribution of pinyon pine at a finer scale than current woodland classification tools in the northern US Great Basin: a random forest model using geographical, ecological and climate variables. Our results achieved an accuracy of 93.94%, indicating high predictive power to identify locations of pinyon pine in north-eastern Nevada, the south-eastern corner of Oregon and southern Idaho. These findings can inform managers and planners researching pinyon pine, pinyon–juniper woodlands and potentially the pinyon jay.

Seismic imaging in 3-D holds great potential for improving our understanding of ice sheet structure and dynamics. Conducting 3-D imaging in remote areas is simplified by using lightweight and logistically straightforward sources. We report results from controlled seismic source tests carried out near the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide investigating the characteristics of two types of surface seismic sources, Poulter shots and detonating cord, for use in both 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys on glaciers. Both source types produced strong basal P-wave and S-wave reflections and multiples recorded in three components. The Poulter shots had a higher amplitude for low frequencies (<10 Hz) and comparable amplitude at high frequencies (>50 Hz) relative to the detonating cord. Amplitudes, frequencies, speed of source set-up, and cost all suggested Poulter shots to be the preferred surface source compared to detonating cord for future 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys on glaciers.