In recent years, the question of naturalism in the study of religions has been increasingly debated. Primarily, these discussions converge in the widely held view that naturalism is the only way for religious studies as an academic enterprise to exclude supernaturalist assumptions from its methodology. While I fully agree with this view, I argue that naturalism is usually formulated with the help of metaphysical assumptions, which are problematically embodied in the location problem, that is, the problem of how to locate certain phenomena, such as meanings and values, in the order of nature. By unfolding the dynamic between the elements of the location problem, I show that the kind of naturalism based on Wittgenstein’s thought prevents the location problem from arising and can serve as a balanced version of naturalism for use in the study of religion. While metaphysical naturalism often leads to dilemmas, within Wittgenstein’s kind of naturalism, it seems possible both to maintain anti-supernaturalism in the study of religion and to resist the metaphysical temptations hidden in our assumptions about language. These two features make Wittgenstein’s naturalism truly methodological.

Reducing crude protein in amino acid-adequate diets for broiler chickens is effective in reducing nitrogenous emissions and competition for resources between the food and feed sectors. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the literature on the relevance of nonessential amino acids in low-protein diets for broiler chickens. Glycine and serine, due to their interconvertibility summarized as glycine equivalents (Glyequi), limit growth when dietary crude protein is reduced below 19% in up to 3-week-old birds. Considering essential amino acids and the variable Glyequi requirements enables the reduction of dietary crude protein to ∼16% without compromising growth. Variation in Glyequi requirements likely occurs predominantly from varying amounts of uric acid formed. Other influences seem to exert lower impacts on dietary Glyequi requirements. Asparagine or glutamine is probably the growth-limiting amino acid when crude protein is reduced below 16%. Alternatively, non-specific amino-nitrogen may be lacking in such diets. The current potential to reduce dietary crude protein when using free essential and nonessential amino acids enables to increase the efficiency of nitrogen utilization to a value above 80%. This coincides with reduced uric acid synthesis and energy expenditure for nitrogen excretion. The lower nitrogen excretion via the urine results in a lower energy expenditure. Hence, dietary energy may prospectively be reduced once the energy-sparing effect is quantified, thereby further reducing the competition for resources between food and feed.

Scholars increasingly conceptualize populism by whether politicians use people-centric and anti-elite appeals that pit a homogeneous people against a corrupt elite. These appeals reflect “thin” ideology because they offer no programmatic content and thus politicians must pair these appeals with more substantive positions, termed their “host” (or thick) ideology, which often consists of nativism on the right (e.g., espousing anti-immigrant positions) and socialism on the left (e.g., prioritizing redistribution). An emerging literature has thus sought to estimate whether populists garner support due to their thin ideology or their substantive host ideology. To date, no research has validated whether populism treatments (1) truly operationalize populist thin ideology, and (2) do so without manipulating host ideology. Results from three conjoint validation experiments fielded in both the United States and the United Kingdom show that thin ideology treatments successfully manipulate the underlying concepts but caution that some operationalizations also affect perceptions of host ideology.

Several proposals to modernize obligations and contracts law in the Spanish Civil Code have not succeeded. However, Spanish contract law has evolved through judicial interpretation, which has reformulated existing rules and recognized new ones. This article deals with major transformations in general contract law and special contracts. Additionally, the Civil Code has been affected by its interaction with EU law, as interpreted by the CJEU. Updating the Civil Code in this manner has created conceptual obscurity and has increased legal uncertainty. Formal modernization of the Civil Code would be welcome, provided it treats Spanish private law as an integral part of the pluralistic legal order of the EU.