Former president Trump has maintained broad support despite falsely contending that he was the victim of electoral fraud, also known as the “big lie.” We consider both the antecedents of this phenomenon and its consequences. We propose that Trump supporters’ already established deep personal alignment—identity fusion—with their leader predisposed them to believe the lie. Accepting it then set the foundation for other identity-protecting beliefs and attitudes. Using a three-wave panel of Trump supporters, we found that the more fused they were before the 2020 election, the stronger their belief in the big lie grew between 2021 and 2024. Accepting the big lie helped solidify fusion with Trump and had consequences for related attitudes. Belief in the big lie predicted downplaying the criminal charges against Trump and supporting his antidemocratic policy agenda. Fueled by and fueling further fusion, belief in the big lie is a primary component of a larger narrative that emboldens Trump and justifies antidemocratic behavior.

People frequently engage in dishonest behavior, which entails costs to society. A common advice to increase honesty is to enhance observability. However, previous research produced conflicting findings, making it unclear when and why observability increases honesty. Here we show that observability enhances honesty when observers can gossip to relevant others (i.e., to future interaction partners who can influence the gossip target’s outcome), because it increases reputational concern. In 2 incentivized and pre-registered studies, participants privately rolled a die 30 times and were informed that reporting higher numbers would lead to higher outcomes (total N = 1608; 28650 observations). We manipulated observability and gossip. Both studies revealed that gossip to relevant others decreased dishonest reporting, whereas mere observation did not. Importantly, reputational concern partly mediated the impact of gossip on dishonesty. Moreover, gossip influenced recipients’ trust in gossip targets, with messages denoting dishonesty swaying trust more than messages denoting honesty. Our findings demonstrate when and why observability promotes honesty.

Time, place, and the rhythm of the seasons, essential constituents of ancient ritual, collaboratively shaped and channeled the experience of religious performance. Focusing on agricultural and civic time reckoning, this article investigates the orientations of the monuments at the extra-mural Sanctuary of the Thirteen Altars at Lavinium and their coordination with viticultural activities amid the shifting social and religious circumstances of the 6th and 5th c. BCE. The article will argue that the 6th- and 5th-c. altars were aligned in such a way as to face sunrise at a particular location on the horizon on two very particular days in the seasonal year. The altars at Lavinium, playing an important role in the emerging urban community's economic life, will be shown to be themselves a form of agentic seasonal timekeeping that closely determined the integration of local agricultural, religious, and economic practices.

Models for slow flow of dense granular materials often treat the medium as incompressible, thereby neglecting the role of Reynolds dilatancy. However, recent particle simulations have demonstrated the presence of a significant coupling between the volume fraction and velocity fields. The model of Dsouza & Nott (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 888, 2020, R3) incorporates dilatancy and captures the coupling, but it has thus far lacked experimental validation. In this paper, we provide the first experimental demonstration of dilatancy and its coupling to the kinematics in a two-dimensional cylindrical Couette cell. We find a shear layer near the inner cylinder within which there is significant dilation. Within the shear layer, the azimuthal velocity decays roughly exponentially and the volume fraction rises with radial distance from the inner cylinder. The predictions of the model of Dsouza & Nott (2020) are in good agreement with the experimental data for a variety of roughness features of the outer cylinder. Moreover, by comparing the steady states resulting from different initial volume fraction profiles (but having the same average), we show the inter-dependence of the velocity and volume fraction fields, as predicted by the model. Our results establish the importance of shear dilatancy even in systems of constant volume.

Is political science research that explores gender and LGBTQIA+ politics still underrepresented in the discipline’s top journals? This article examines publication trends in gender research and LGBTQIA+ research in five top political science journals, between 2017 and 2023 (inclusive). I find that gender research and LGBTQIA+ research together account for 5% to 7% of published research in the selected top journals; however, most of this research is on gender politics rather than LGBTQIA+ politics. Overall, gender research and LGBTQIA+ research largely appears in top journals when it conforms to disciplinary norms about methods and author gender. The majority of published gender and LGBTQIA+ research is quantitative. Men author gender research at rates almost three times their membership in the American Political Science Association’s Women, Gender, and Politics research section and also are overrepresented as authors of LGBTQIA+ research. This study suggests that editorial teams’ signaling influences which manuscripts land at which journals.

Consider a possibly unsaturated Fell bundle $\mathcal {A}\to G$ over a locally compact, possibly non-Hausdorff, groupoid G. We list four notions of continuity of representations of $\mathit {C_c}(G;\mathcal {A})$ on a Hilbert space and prove their equivalence. This allows us to define the full $\mathit {C}^*$-algebra of the Fell bundle in different ways.

Debates on reparations for colonial atrocities highlight the relationship between international law, political time, and (in)justice. This paper examines Germany's foreclosure of reparation claims raised by descendants of survivors of its 1904–8 colonial genocide. The analysis draws on parliamentary interpellation records (1989–2021) around the question of German reparations to Namibia's Ovaherero and Nama. I argue that Germany mobilizes temporal rules of international law, especially the non-retroactivity of the Genocide Convention, to deflect from such claims. This strategy first confines the political question of colonial reparations to the international legal realm, only to then invalidate it via the temporal rule of law's non-retroactivity. I argue that this strategy enables a ‘chronopolitics of deflection’, by which Germany has pointed away from colonial reparations while directing attention to development assistance payments to Namibia. The paper relates these findings to theories of political time, arguing that Germany's reliance on the non-retroactivity of the Genocide Convention yields what I call a ‘projection of history as normatively temporalized time’. The paper concludes with critiques of the relationship between international law and colonial reparations, arguing that current invocations of inter-temporal and non-retroactive international law implicitly reiterate colonial law, thereby locking in place an unjust legal past.

The development of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) is progressing rapidly within the maritime industry. Degree Two of MASS (MASS-DoA2), balancing human oversight and autonomous efficiency, will likely gain regulatory approval and industry acceptance. MASS-DoA2 possesses different control modes to adapt to various scenarios. However, the control-switching mechanisms among operators at shore control centres, autonomous navigation systems and number of seafarers onboard remain ambiguous, which poses a new risk that may significantly influence navigation safety. This study focuses on MASS-DoA2 and carries out a systematic review of autonomous ship guidelines. A questionnaire was designed based on the review findings, and a survey was carried out among captains and researchers in related fields. The review identified 11 control-switching scenarios with suggested takeover agents and the switching process and outlined the priority relationship between various takeover agents. Finally, a control-switching framework for MASS – DoA2 is proposed. It can serve as a theoretical framework for research on MASS's dynamic degree of autonomy and provide a reference for maritime regulatory authorities in establishing MASS – DoA2 control-switching mechanisms.

Studying complexes of cryptic or pseudocryptic species opens new horizons for the understanding of speciation processes, an important yet vague issue for the digeneans. We investigated a hemiuroidean trematode Lecithaster salmonis across a wide geographic range including the northern European seas (White, Barents, and Pechora), East Siberian Sea, and the Pacific Northwest (Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan). The goals were to explore the genetic diversity within L. salmonis through mitochondrial (cox1 and nad5 genes) and ribosomal (ITS1, ITS2, 28S rDNA) marker sequences, to study morphometry of maritae, and to revise the life cycle data. Mitochondrial markers showed that L. salmonis is likely divided into six lineages (referred to as operational taxonomic units, OTUs), which often occur in sympatry, sometimes in a single host specimen. Variation in rDNA was not consistent with that in the mitochondrial markers. Morphometric analysis of maritae was performed for four out of six OTUs; it showed that some OTUs had significant differences from the others, but some did not. The effect of host species on the morphometric characteristics cannot be excluded. Intramolluscan stages were identified for two OTUs; they differed clearly by the structure of cercariae and also by the species of the first intermediate host. The case of L. salmonis is instructive in how different criteria for species delimitation can contradict each other. We regard this as a sign of recent or ongoing speciation and suggest using the name Lecithaster cf. salmonis. The most promising criteria to differentiate genetic lineages within L. cf. salmonis are first intermediate hosts and morphological characteristics of the cercariae: shape of the delivery tube and caudal cyst, and length of the filamentous appendage.

Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is a zoonotic disease caused by Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. Diagnosing CE primarily relies on imaging techniques, and there is a crucial need for an objective laboratory test to enhance the diagnostic process. Today, cell-free DNAs (cfDNAs) have gained importance regarding their biomarker potential. This study aims to investigate the diagnostic capabilities of different cfDNA targets (Echinococcus-specific repeat sequences (mgs-4 and mgs-12) and partial fragment of repetitive sequence (EG1 Hae III)) and evaluate their diagnostic effectiveness when compared to a frequently used commercial E.granulosus-specific IgG ELISA. Seventy-six confirmed hepatic CE patients and healthy controls were included in the study. The EG1 Hae III region was assessed using nested PCR, whereas real-time PCR was employed to investigate other cfDNA targets. Analysis of the cfDNA-targeted tests indicated that mgs-4 demonstrated the highest diagnostic efficacy in distinguishing CE patients from healthy controls, achieving a sensitivity of 60.5% (p = 0.002). Combining ELISA with the mgs-4 target led to an increased sensitivity of 72.4% for distinguishing between CE patients and the control group. The sensitivity rates for ELISA and the three cfDNA targets varied among the groups. Active CE patients showed sensitivity rates of 52.9%, 52.9%, 23.5%, and 52.9% for ELISA, mgs-4, mgs-12, and EG1 Hae III assays, respectively. In contrast, inactive cyst patients displayed sensitivity rates of 21.4%, 66.7%, 19%, and 42.9% for the corresponding assays. The mgs-4, either alone or in combination with ELISA, demonstrated notably higher sensitivity values for CE diagnosis in all group comparisons compared to serology.

Comparative Political Process Theory or Comparative Representative Reinforcement Theory (CPPT/CRRT) is an emerging scholarly field that theorizes about the courts’ role in the broader comparative universe. Considered an intellectual descendent of John Hart Ely’s work in the American context, CPPT/CRRT emphasizes the courts’ role in preventing democratic backsliding, promoting equality, enhancing the efficacy of democratic institutions, fostering deliberative processes, and addressing the failures of majoritarian politics. CPPT/CRRT scholars generally advocate broadening judicial powers and capabilities to fulfill these roles. This article examines the practicality of such judicial responsibilities through the lens of the review of constitutional amendments in India. It concludes that, despite the theoretical aspirations of CPPT/CRRT, courts are unlikely to meet these expectations in practice due to their institutional limitations. The positive outcomes of judicial interventions tend to be more modest than the protective and proactive actions envisioned by CPPT/CRRT proponents. Moreover, the modest benefits also come at the cost of the potential adverse impacts that an empowered judiciary may impose on the constitutional fabric. Consequently, this article suggests a need for recalibration of CPPT/CRRT scholarship wherein its goals are moderated and its aspirational objectives balanced against the potential adverse effects of an empowered judiciary on constitutional systems.

This article examines sermons for the crusade against the Hussite king of Bohemia, George of Poděbrady, preached by Thomas Harder, an Augustinian canon and parish priest in Klosterneuburg, in the summer of 1467. These texts give us a direct insight into how preachers in fifteenth-century parishes might have dealt with the general commission to publicize the crusade, as they incorporate the crusade agenda into the pastoral content. Like his twelfth and thirteenth-century predecessors, Thomas Harder knew how to exploit the penitential and edifying potential of the crusade, combined with concerns for individual religious improvement and moral reform. Through an analysis of intertextual links, this study shows that he also systematically gathered, processed and disseminated topical information relevant to the fight against Bohemian heresy. Although he followed in the footsteps of high medieval crusade preachers in the themes he addressed, he also drew on more contemporary and local sources to inform his discourse and provide explanation of the immediate political circumstances.

Why could politicians of religious minority backgrounds become national leaders in some countries soon after modern representative institutions were adopted, whereas in some other countries, almost all the national leaders have been from the religious majority background for decades if not centuries? I argue that the most important factor explaining the incidence of national leaders of a religious minority background or lack thereof is whether the main adversary in the constitutive conflict that established the nation-state was of the same religious sectarian background or not. Nations established in a constitutive conflict against an adversary of the same religion are much more likely to have national leaders of a religious minority background. Furthermore, political leaders of religious minority backgrounds have three “secular” paths out of their marginality, which is also determined by the combination and nature of the primary external and internal conflict of the nation. I examine these paths through the cases of Britain (liberalism), France (socialism), and Hungary and Italy (nationalism). Finally, I examine a world-historical example of pattern change, the rise of Catholic-origin national leaders in previously Protestant-led Germany, which was due to a new constitutive conflict (World War II and the Holocaust) that altered the national-religious configuration.