The crisis in interethnic relations in the late perestroika period affected not only the Union republics but also individual regions of the RSFSR. The most critical situation developed in the North Caucasus, where each re-public had its own complex specifics and approached problems differently. The experience of the official au-thorities of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic can be cited as an example of one of the most effective ap-proaches to resolving problems of national policy and interethnic relations. Analysis of the actions of the Su-preme Council of the Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR and specific government officials in the late 1980s and early 1990s revealed that the factors that contributed to their effectiveness were, first and foremost, a firm and clear stance during periods of opposition activity (rallies, protests) and a willingness to support the initiatives and pro-jects of national movements. Furthermore, the authorities did not shy away from public discussions of contro-versial issues of historical memory. Certainly, there were mistakes, but they were not critical, and the authorities managed to preserve the unity of the republic.

The article examines “The Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, the Young Oprichnik, and the Merchant Kalashnikov” focusing on its evaluation within the history of Russian criticism and the works of Russian philologists. The research aims to identify the historical-literary strategies and literary descriptions of the text that border on “myth”, which have maintained their influence and shaped the specific interpretations of “The Song…” over time. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that “The Song…” has not yet been studied from a historical-functional perspective; furthermore, issues related to the polyphony surrounding the work’s title, genre, and ideological problems have not previously been the subject of specialized scholarly discussion. As a result of this research, it was established for the first time that within the reception model of “The Song…”, the title was primarily subjected to “deformation”, leading to an interpretation where the image of Kalashnikov became disproportionately dominant, resulting in subjective and often mythologized portrayals. This, in turn, led to a “correction” of the author’s original intent and the formation of controversial opinions regarding the Orthodox origins of the poem. The study identifies two opposing scholarly approaches to the interpretation of the text: 1) the monologization of its artistic form and themes, and 2) a drive toward an objective description of its architectonics while accounting for the author’s function.

The article examines the phenomenon of Russian social liberalism, a once influential move­ment that emerged in the 1900s. The author traces its ideological origins (including the works of P.I. Novgorodtsev (with the idea of ​​​​the “revival of natural law”), the legacy of V.S. Solovyov, the “critical Marxism” of P.B. Struve, and others), its transformation and fate in the 20th century. The revolutions of 1917 and the Civil War destroyed the political prospects of social liberalism in Russia, but gave impetus to the formation of a social liberalism program in the Russian emigra­tion. After flourishing in the 1920s and 1930s, Russian social thought in emigration was sup­planted by the destruction of liberal freedom and the dictates of social control. The text reflects the controversial opinions of L.I. Petrazhitsky, P.I. Novgorodtsev, P.B. Struve, S.N. Bulgakov, N.A. Berdyaev, and others on issues of “natural law”, the conflict between the legal ideal and his­torical law, etc. Analyzing the origins of Russian social liberalism, the author emphasizes the sig­nificance of German idealistic philosophy – Kantian liberalism, the dialectic of G.W.F. Hegel, and especially the socialism of J.G. Fichte – over the British tradition. The author points to the special role of Fichte, with his ideas of national revival, socialism, protectionism, in the development of Rus­sian social liberalism. Fichte’s reflections on the national idea bring him closer to Slavophilism, the pochvennichestvo of F.M. Dostoevsky, and the “Russian idea” of V.S. Solovyov. Overall, the author emphasizes that the ideas of Kant and Fichte continue to play an important role in social and political thought, which seeks to link economic realism with political idealism. The article notes the role of the ideas of the German jurist and legal philosopher R. Stammler, who provoked a renewed debate on natural law. As the author emphasizes, today social liberalism has given way to more polarized models of governance, political, and social programs.

While global welfare debates prioritize recipient empowerment, existing studies have stated controversial opinions regarding whether and how could social assistance shape recipients’ prosocial behaviors—a critical gap given rising inequality. From the theoretical perspective of institutional logics, this study examines how different forms of social assistance impact recipients’ philanthropic behaviors, and examines China’s unique state-society dynamics to reveal how authoritarian governance impacts institutional logics. Using nationally representative data, the results of analyses show that state assistance strengthens the constraints of economic conditions on individual giving, and charitable assistance has no effect overall, while mixed assistance weakens the positive effect of self-efficacy and perceived reciprocity. The findings redefine empowerment debates by highlighting institutional hierarchy’s role considering unbalanced state-society relation. These insights advance comparative welfare literature and offer actionable pathways for coordinating state-NGO efforts of social assistance in authoritarian contexts in order to promote the full development of recipients.

Spain’s transfer pricing landscape for intangibles is defined less by domestic rules and more by an OECD-anchored DEMPE scrutiny. This theoretical approach creates practical gaps – such as valuation evidence and allocation over long development cycles – which, in turn, drive audit controversy. With a number of hot-button issues, contemporaneous documentation and proactive dispute resolution strategies (MAPs/APAs) become decisive. This article is part of a special issue of the International Transfer Pricing Journal on the DEMPE concept in domestic transfer pricing practice. The other articles include the General Report and contributions on Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the United States.

BackgroundIn fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT), maternal antibodies react with alloantigen expressed on fetal platelets, leading to their clearance via antibody-dependent phagocytosis. In Caucasians, most FNAIT cases are caused by anti-HPA-1a antibodies. In contrast, anti-HLA class I antibodies are rarely found in FNAIT, but are frequently implicated in cases of platelet transfusion refractoriness (PTR). This phenomenon leads to ongoing debate regarding the role of anti-HLA class I antibodies in FNAIT. In this study, we investigated the platelet clearance mediated by anti-HLA class I antibodies in whole blood both in vitro and in vivo.MethodsClearance of opsonized platelet was analyzed by platelet phagocytosis assay and by antibody administration to Balb/c female mice.ResultsTo mimic FNAIT conditions, whole blood was pretreated with anti-HLA antibodies before the phagocytosis of anti-HPA-1a antibody-opsonized platelets. Compared to untreated whole blood, anti-HLA-ABC and anti-HLA-DR IgG antibodies inhibited the phagocytosis of anti-HPA-1a-antibody-opsonized platelets. Similar results were obtained with purified monocytes, indicating that anti-HLA-ABC antibodies bound to monocytes can interfere with antibody-mediated platelet phagocytosis. Furthermore, the administration of anti-MHC-I antibodies to mice led to a significant decrease in the platelet count within 24 h. However, anti-αIIbβ3 antibody administration resulted in significantly higher platelet clearance over different time points. Analysis of antibody-bound platelets showed the presence of anti-αIIbβ3 antibodies on the platelet surface, but not on monocytes. In contrast, anti-MHC-I antibodies were found on both platelets and monocytes. Interestingly, monocytes exhibited higher levels of anti-MHC-I binding than platelets (87.0% vs. 25.5%), most likely because platelets express significantly fewer HLA class I antigens than monocytes, as indicated by our flow cytometric analysis of whole blood.ConclusionsThese results indicated that anti-MHC-I antibodies preferentially bind to monocytes rather than platelets in whole blood and can be cleared by monocytes via endocytosis. Furthermore, we found that the presence of anti-HLA class I antibodies did not significantly influence platelet clearance induced by anti-αIIbβ3 antibodies. The question of whether these observations can explain the controversial opinions regarding the relative roles of anti-HLA class I and anti-αIIbβ3 antibodies in FNAIT requires further assessment in a murine model of FNAIT.

ABSTRACTThis article develops a multidimensional approach to capture the multiple dimensions of welfare states around the world. We know a lot about why we need to take the multidimensional character of welfare states seriously. There is, however, no consensus in the literature on which dimensions to focus on. Nor is there agreement among welfare state researchers on how to bring them together in a single framework. We aim to advance the literature by developing a framework based on the key dimensions of overall size, coverage, programmatic composition, and generosity. We bring them together in the study of a middle‐income country, Turkey, to capture multiple dimensions of the same welfare state. To do this, we analyse data on social spending and social rights in a complementary way. For social spending, we rely on the OECD's Social Expenditure Database. For social rights, we rely on original data on Turkey that we generated for three social rights databases: Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP), Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset 2 (CWED 2), and Social Assistance and Minimum Income Protection Interim Dataset (SaMip). We aim to make three main contributions. First, we develop a multidimensional framework to provide a holistic analysis of welfare state development. Second, we introduce an original dataset on social rights in Turkey. Third, we highlight the value of our multidimensional approach by helping resolve hot button issues on welfare state change in post‐1980 Turkey. We conclude that this multidimensional approach is capable of effectively capturing the complex dimensions of contemporary welfare states.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how confrontational (i.e. provocative or challenging messages) and nonconfrontational (i.e. inclusive, low-provocation messages) brand activism message framing influence perceived authenticity, brand attitudes, belief congruence and purchase intentions, focusing on addressing physical disability as a sociopolitical issue. Design/methodology/approach The study is conducted online with 917 German participants. They are randomly assigned to confrontational or nonconfrontational brand activism framing using fictitious press releases. Data are analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to evaluate and compare the effects of the two message framings. Findings Authenticity positively affects brand attitude and purchase intention in both nonconfrontational and confrontational scenarios. Belief congruence only influences brand attitude in the nonconfrontational framing. The confrontational framing decreases perceptions of authenticity and belief congruence but increases purchase intention compared to the nonconfrontational approach. Research limitations/implications By jointly modeling authenticity and belief congruence, this study helps to demarcate the boundaries of message framing in brand activism and expands brand activism research beyond frequently researched hot-button issues. It enriches prior work by demonstrating that the specific framing of a brand-activist message can have a decisive impact on brand outcomes. Practical implications Organizations should prioritize authenticity in brand activism to enhance brand attitudes, strategically use nonconfrontational framing for attitude improvement, and consider confrontational messaging when aiming to boost purchase intentions, especially for less polarizing sociopolitical issues. Originality/value This study addresses two key gaps in brand activism literature by quantitatively comparing confrontational and nonconfrontational framing and by focusing on physical disability, an underexplored sociopolitical issue.

Abstract How do courts function in an environment of political polarization? This Article aims to gain insight into this question through a comparative case study of three countries—India, Brazil, and Israel—examining the challenges that political polarization posed to their supreme courts and the way each of them chose to respond to them. Among the findings of the comparative study are striking similarities in the trajectories of political polarization, and of court reactions, in the three countries. One important difference, however, comes out of the analysis—the difference between a judicial path of wide versus narrow support. India’s Supreme Court chose to retain its popularity during polarization relying on what I call “wide public support.” It did so by being careful not to vex the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, India People’s Party) government on the most sensitive issue for its voters—its campaigns against Muslims and Muslims’ rights. The Israeli Supreme Court, on the other hand, chose a path that I call “narrow public support” by promoting a liberal conception of human rights across the board, including in hot button issues, such as security, Arab and Palestinian rights, law and religion, and immigration policy. It has thus lost the support of the right-wing, conservative, and religious parts of the population while solidifying the support of its liberal base. Brazil’s Supreme Court had also lost support among hardline right-wing Bolsonaro supporters and became a major point of contention in the fight between Left and Right, but this is a relatively recent development, and it remains to be seen whether the Court would be able to regain general support after the age of Bolsonaro.

The paralysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) has become a systemic crisis for the multilateral trading system. This paper uses literature review and case analysis to analyze the issue. It concludes that while the 2019 suspension of the Appellate Body was directly caused by US obstruction of appointments, its deeper roots lie in the conflict between the mechanism's inherent flaws and the restructuring of global economic power. Firstly, procedural delays result in an average case processing time far exceeding the 90-day limit stipulated in the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU). Secondly, the AB has had to deal with the issue of 'overreach in rulings,' including encroaching on the mandates of other WTO bodies and exceeding its authority in reviewing factual issues. Thirdly, the mechanism struggles to reconcile the shifting balance between unilateralism and multilateralism. To address the DSM's predicament, this paper proposes a dual-track optimization path: in the short term, establishing a "Multi-party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement" (MPIA) in accordance with Article 25 of the DSU as a temporary substitute for the paralyzed AB; and in the long term, undertaking systemic restructuring of the mechanism. This includes introducing qualified majority voting to break the deadlock in judgement appointments, reasonably extending time limits to suitcase complexity, and drawing on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) model to curb judicial overreach. B The paper aims to analyze the viability of this optimization path as an interim solution.

Objective. To analyze the effectiveness, advantages, limitations and prospects of antireflex endotracheal tube for perioperative tracheal intubation. Material and methods. Original questionnaire was presented to anesthesiologists from 6 intensive care units of two multi-field hospitals of Vladivostok city. Survey results were processed using descriptive statistics. Results. A sociological survey of anesthesiologists was devoted to antireflex endotracheal tube for general anesthesia in 302 elective and 133 emergency surgeries. A 2% lidocaine solution was used for local anesthesia of tracheal mucosa above the cuff. The respondents noted lower intraoperative need for anesthetics in 59.5% of responses, analgesics in 35% of responses and muscle relaxants in 61% of responses. More than half of participants (78%) observed more stable intraoperative hemodynamic effects. Lower consumption of drugs for general anesthesia naturally led to early post-anesthetic rehabilitation in 54% of cases. Local anesthesia of antireflex endotracheal tube site eliminated unpleasant sensations after extubation in 68% of cases. The majority of respondents saw prospects of antireflex endotracheal tube for prevention and treatment of post-intubation syndrome (75%), local anti-inflammatory therapy (84%) and accelerated postoperative rehabilitation (89%). Conclusion. Antireflex endotracheal tube meets the criteria for effectiveness and safety of patient treatment along with traditional airway management. Respondents identified the main advantages of this tube: no reaction upon awakening, no negative hemodynamic response following tracheal extubation after surgery and smooth recovery of consciousness in early postoperative period. About 90% of participants indicated possible inclusion of this tube into fast track protocols. Although the advantages of antireflex endotracheal tube are recognized by most anesthesiologists, there are controversial opinions on the quality of this product and availability in hospitals.

Across the nation, political candidates increasingly have engaged publicly with contemporary education issues, in part seeking to attract new voters. Meanwhile, political polarization has grown, including in public opinion regarding controversial education policy topics. In this context, we examine the education policy preferences of marginal voters, those who altered their voting behaviors between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, by applying data representative of U.S. adults and granular data from Missouri’s voters, an increasingly conservative state with an active education policy agenda. Across a wide policy landscape, marginal voter stances stood out consistently only with respect to their opposition of policies limiting curricula related to race and ethnicity. We find little evidence indicating marginal voters vary from stable voters on additional hot-button issues including Critical Race Theory, school choice expansion, and transgender athlete participation. This evidence contributes to growing debate concerning the role of political polarization in contemporary education policy.

Cyclic β-(1→2)-d-glucan (CβG) is a unique carbohydrate derivative produced by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Brucella. Controversial opinions regarding the use of CβG in brucellosis diagnosis have been published. Herein we report the first synthesis of spacered oligo-β-(1→2)-d-glucosides related to the fragments of CβG and containing up to 5 glucose units. Although the desired di- and trisaccharides could be obtained using standard methods, the synthesis of tetra- and pentasaccharides required substantial effort. The obtained oligosaccharides exhibited complex dependencies of their NMR spectral data on the chain length, explained by a tendency to form helical structures. Despite high production of the CβG by Brucella, antibodies to β-(1→2)-d-glucosides detected in human sera are not related to the brucellosis. However, the antibodies to CβG were raised after immunization by BSA-conjugate of penta-β-(1→2)-d-glucoside and allowed detection of CβG, which opens a way towards the development of the new brucellosis diagnostic kit.

The dedicated control of gene abundance is essential for both biological and pathological processes in mammals. Multiple layers of gene expression regulation, including transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, and post-translational regulation, collectively determine the highly dynamic equilibrium of functional protein abundance. Epigenetic modifications play indispensable roles in fine-tuning gene expression at either DNA, RNA, or protein level. To date, over 170 chemical modifications have been identified in RNA, with N6-methyladenosine (m6A) emerging as the most abundant and functionally significant modification in messenger RNA (mRNA). Many proteins have been identified as m6A-related proteins such as “writer” (deposition), “eraser” (removal) and “reader” (recognition). The dynamic m6A abundance (controlled by writer and eraser) together with reader proteins determine mRNA fate/metabolism, including transcription, alternative splicing, nuclear export, mRNA stability, and translation. Here, we summarize the latest findings on m6A-associated molecular mechanisms, emerging technologies for mapping m6A, and the roles of m6A-related proteins in both normal and malignant contexts. We further discuss/review the controversial opinions and open debates, and translational/clinical potential of m6A/m6A-related proteins as therapeutic targets, highlighting remaining questions and research directions in RNA m6A modifications.

From the expert opinion practice: Controversial expert opinion cases in the field of military medicine from a consultant physician's point of view

Childfree has become a phenomenon that has just been discussed in Indonesia after one of the influencers from Indonesia who lives in Germany named Gita Savitri gave a statement doing childfree, as well as a controversial opinion so that it became a trending topic on Twitter around the end of January to early February 2023. The term childfree refers to someone who has no desire to have children. This study aims to find out the opinions of various scholars about childfree law in Islam and the opinions of S1 students at State University of Malang as the most active academic group in using social media. This study used quantitative methods and literature reviews using references from journals and articles discussing childfree issues that are currently being discussed in Indonesia and using questionnaires with a population of all students in all universities in Indonesia, with a total of 64 respondents. The questionnaire was disseminated through social media platforms, namely WhatsApp.The results of this study stated that the majority of Ulema forbid. The majority of students are aware of the issue of childfree, but do not plan to do and support childfree. This proves that student decisions tend to be positively correlated with the opinions of scholars regarding childfree.

Changes in grassland vegetation coverage (GVC) and their causes in the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor (CMREC) region have been a hot button issue regarding the ecological environment and sustainable development. In this paper, multi-source remote sensing (RS) data were used to obtain GVC from 2000 to 2023 based on random forest (RF) regression inversion. The nonlinear characteristics such as the number of mutations, magnitude of mutations, and time of mutations were detected and analyzed using the BFAST model. Driving factors such as climatic factors were introduced to quantitatively explain the driving mechanism of GVC changes. The results showed that: (1) RF model is the optimal model for the inversion of GVC in this region. The R2 of the RF training set reached 0.94, the RMSE of the test set was 12.86%, the correlation coefficient between the predicted and actual values was 0.76, and the CVRMSE was 18.07%. (2) During the period of 2000–2023, the number of mutations in GVC ranged from 0 to 5, and there were at least 1 mutation in 58.83% of the study area. The years with the largest proportion of mutations was 2010, followed by 2016, accounting for 14.57% and 11.60% of all mutations, respectively. The month with the highest percentage of mutations was October, and followed by June, accounting for 31.73% and 22.19% of all mutations, respectively. (3) The sustained and stable positive effect was shown by precipitation on GVC before and after the maximum mutation. Wind speed was a negative effect on GVC in areas with more severe desertification, such as Inner Mongolia, China and parts of Mongolia. On the other hand, GVC was reduced by the wind speed before and after the maximum mutations. Therefore, to guarantee the ecological security of the CMREC, governments should formulate new countermeasures to prevent desertification in the region according to the laws of nature and strengthen international cooperation.

Angkor Wat is the supreme masterpiece of Khmer architecture, built by King Sūryavarman II during the 12th century A.D. Jane Przyluski hypothesized that Angkor Wat was the tomb of King Sūryavarman II. On the other hand, George Cœdès thought that Angkor Wat complex was habitation in the form of a celestial palace. According to Henri Parmentier, though the buildings and constructions in Angkor Wat temple complex are majestic, they are geometrically out of place. The temple complex is non-symmetrical, as the complex’s center is left-aligned. The above controversial opinions inspire a deep examination of the geometric system of the architectural and structural design of Angkor Wat. This research investigates the architectural planning and frame structures of Angkor Wat stone temple complex using a Hindu grid system. The study was based on field survey data of the temple complex and Hindu ancient texts, specifically the Vāstu Śāstra. PhotoModeler Pro5 and Polycam for iOS-4.0.5 were utilized to render three-dimensional (3D) images of the entire temple complex. The analysis finds the geometric code (suitable module) used in the planning of 2.75 m × 2.75 m in the metric system (1 Phyeam 1 Hat 1 Thnob in) the local Cambodian measuring system). The geometric code (2.75 m × 2.75 m) highlights the design diagram and construction of the temple complex. The research also unveiled the use of a center-shifting technique where the vertical axis running through the center is deliberately left-aligned, to avoid numerical fractions occurring in the grid modules. The technique gives rise to the asymmetry of the temple complex. The findings led to understanding the symbolic meaning of spatial organization of the layout and plan of Angkor Wat design, which was meant to be a suitable residence for the god on earth, the king, and his citizens. Moreover, it also means the final abode of King Sūryavarman II after his death, represented by the image of Lord Viṣṇu.

Movements like #Arab Spring, #Black First, #Me Too and #Nirbhaya march have left prominent marks on the way social media can facilitate communication interactions among people of the country. It created a platform of connection, expression, and empower-ment, enabling individuals to share their voices, build communities, and drive social change. It has become an essential tool for con-nection and learning, yet its potential to shape legal awareness and foster civic engagement among students, remains underexplored, particularly in educational contexts. This study examines how Mumbai students, who have always been pinned on the commercial forefront and with little whereabouts on the socio-political landscape, engage with the Romeo and Juliet law—a recent and contro-versial legal issue—through social media.

This paper explores how special and differential treatment (S&DT) provisions in the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) have been used by developing countries since Dr Roessler first addressed this question in 2004. As WTO Members are currently discussing how to reform the WTO dispute settlement system, it also examines which flexibilities developing countries consider important going forward. It concludes that procedural advantages have been used by developing countries to alleviate the costs of participating in disputes, but that the main hurdle faced by developing countries, which is access to the system, can most effectively be overcome through technical assistance – as confirmed by current reform discussions and as already foreseen by Dr Roessler in 2004.