Explore the vast range of titles available.

In October 1962, the fate of the world hung on the American response to the discovery of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba. That response was informed by hours of discussions between John F. Kennedy and his top advisers. What those advisers did not know was that President Kennedy was secretly taping their talks, providing future scholars with a rare inside look at high-level political deliberation in a moment of crisis.Talk at the Brinkis the first book to examine these historic audio recordings from a sociological perspective. It reveals how conversational practices and dynamics shaped Kennedy's perception of the options available to him, thereby influencing his decisions and ultimately the outcome of the crisis. David Gibson looks not just at the positions taken by Kennedy and his advisers but how those positions were articulated, challenged, revised, and sometimes ignored. He argues that Kennedy's decisions arose from the intersection of distant events unfolding in Cuba, Moscow, and the high seas with the immediate conversational minutia of turn-taking, storytelling, argument, and justification. In particular, Gibson shows how Kennedy's group told and retold particular stories again and again, sometimes settling upon a course of action only after the most frightening consequences were omitted or actively suppressed. Talk at the Brinkpresents an image of Kennedy's response to the Cuban missile crisis that is sharply at odds with previous scholarship, and has important implications for our understanding of decision making, deliberation, social interaction, and historical contingency.

The proceedings and resolutions from three enlarged plenums of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern) in 1922-23. Valuable for understanding the world revolutionary movement in Lenin's time, as well as the subsequent evolution of the Comintern.

Using eight thousand public companies, we study the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 and other contemporary reforms on directors and boards, guided by their impact on the supply and demand for directors. SOX increased directors' workload and risk (reducing the supply), and increased demand by mandating that firms have more outside directors. We find both broad-based changes and cross-sectional changes (by firm size). Board committees meet more often post-SOX and Director and Officer (D&O) insurance premiums have doubled. Directors post-SOX are more likely to be lawyers/consultants, financial experts, and retired executives, and less likely to be current executives. Post-SOX boards are larger and more independent. Finally, we find significant increases in director pay and overall director costs, particularly among smaller firms.

We compare the trading performance of independent directors and other executives. The findings reveal that independent directors earn positive substantial abnormal returns when they purchase their company stock, and that the difference from the same firm's executives is relatively small at most horizons. We also find that executives and independent directors make higher returns in firms with the weakest governance, the gap between these two widens in such firms, and that independent directors sitting on the audit committee earn higher returns than other independent directors at the same firm. Independent directors also earn significantly abnormal returns when they sell the company stock in a window before bad news and around earnings restatements.

Marie Byrd Land is a volcanically active province that overlaps with the Amundsen Sea Embayment, a region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that is experiencing particularly rapid ice mass loss. We locate 34 previously undetected seismic events (ML 1.2–3.2) and identify 251 additional similar events from 2019 to 2024 in eastern Marie Byrd Land. Located at crustal depths and of magmatic or tectonic origin, these events significantly expand the known geographic extent of such seismicity in West Antarctica. Seismicity is primarily located at Mount Takahe, ∼25 km south of the Crary Mountains, and ∼50 km west of the Kohler Range. Long‐period earthquakes at Mount Takahe have seismic characteristics consistent with active magmatic transport at crustal depths beneath the volcano. Glacio‐volcanic feedback due to ongoing ice mass loss may increase eruption frequency from active Marie Byrd Land volcanic systems, possibly perturbing future ice mass loss rates.

Aldosterone dysregulation plays an important pathogenic role in hard-to-control hypertension. In several studies, baxdrostat, an aldosterone synthase inhibitor, reduced the seated systolic blood pressure of patients with uncontrolled or resistant hypertension. In this phase 3, multinational, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we recruited patients with a seated systolic blood pressure of between 140 mm Hg and less than 170 mm Hg despite the receipt of stable treatment with two antihypertensive medications (uncontrolled hypertension) or three or more such medications (resistant hypertension), including a diuretic. After a 2-week placebo run-in period, we randomly assigned patients with a seated systolic blood pressure of 135 mm Hg or more in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive baxdrostat at a dose of 1 mg, baxdrostat at a dose of 2 mg, or placebo once daily for 12 weeks. The primary end point was the change in seated systolic blood pressure from baseline to week 12. A total of 796 patients underwent randomization and 794 received 1-mg baxdrostat (264 patients), 2-mg baxdrostat (266 patients), or placebo (264 patients) in addition to background therapy. At 12 weeks, the change from baseline in the least-squares mean seated systolic blood pressure was -14.5 mm Hg (95% confidence interval [CI], -16.5 to -12.5) with 1-mg baxdrostat, -15.7 mm Hg (95% CI, -17.6 to -13.7) with 2-mg baxdrostat, and -5.8 mm Hg (95% CI, -7.9 to -3.8) with placebo. The estimated difference from placebo (placebo-corrected difference) was -8.7 mm Hg (95% CI, -11.5 to -5.8) with 1-mg baxdrostat and -9.8 mm Hg (95% CI, -12.6 to -7.0) with 2-mg baxdrostat (P<0.001 for both comparisons). A potassium level of more than 6.0 mmol per liter was reported in 6 patients (2.3%) with 1-mg baxdrostat, in 8 patients (3.0%) with 2-mg baxdrostat, and in 1 patient (0.4%) with placebo. Among patients with uncontrolled or resistant hypertension, the addition of baxdrostat to background therapy resulted in a significantly lower seated systolic blood pressure at 12 weeks than placebo. (Funded by AstraZeneca and others; BaxHTN ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT06034743.).

Purpose The paper aims to explore the development of the halal industry in Thailand. It endeavours to investigate the main factors behind the country’s success as one of the largest exporters of halal-certified foods and products in the Southeast Asian region, in spite of the fact that Thailand is a non-Muslim-majority country. Only 4.3 per cent of the 69-million population of Thailand is Muslims. Design/methodology/approach In articulating the issue objectively, qualitative research method was adopted. This paper used structured literature study by analysing various subjects of halal pertaining to Thailand’s halal sector. At the same time, several in-depth interviews with the corresponding halal authorities in Thailand, as well as site visits, were also conducted. We also undertook observations in several sites in Thailand to analyse the issue further. Findings Findings from the research show that the strong presence of Thailand in the global halal industry is because of its bustling tourism industry that helps to bolster the country’s halal branding, its uniformity of halal definition and standards and effective support to the local SMEs. Practical implications This research implies that the standardisation of halal in a country is imperative in the Muslim-majority or Muslim-minority countries. This study gives a benchmark for the non-Muslim-majority countries which endeavour to embark on the halal industry. Muslim-minority counties that envision to succeed in the global halal market could emulate Thailand’s approach in branding itself as a recognised non-Muslim-majority country in producing certified halal foods and products. Originality/value The paper provides guidelines and standards for Muslim-minority countries that envision success in the global halal market.

Does the president or Congress have more influence over policymaking by the bureaucracy? Despite a wealth of theoretical guidance, progress on this important question has proven elusive due to competing theoretical predictions and severe difficulties in measuring agency influence and oversight. We use a survey of federal executives to assess political influence, congressional oversight, and the policy preferences of agencies, committees, and the president on a comparable scale. Analyzing variation in political influence across and within agencies reveals that Congress is less influential relative to the White House when more committees are involved. While increasing the number of involved committees may maximize the electoral benefits for members, it may also undercut the ability of Congress as an institution to collectively respond to the actions of the presidency or the bureaucracy.

The Annual General Meeting of the Charles S. Peirce Society was held in conjunction with the Eastern Division Meeting of the APA on Jan 17, 2024, at the Sheraton Times Square in New York City. At the discretion of President Yi Jiang, Executive Director Aaron B. Wilson chaired the meeting and called it to order at 12:01pm. Wilson presented the following report from the executive committee. Report from the Editor-in-Chief of the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society was presented and nominations and elections for the Executive Committee were also conducted.

This paper investigates US executive compensation and governance. I find on average executive pay is positively correlated to firm performance and firm size. Executive pay contracts contain significant equity incentives. The use of restricted stock has become more important over time. Stock options remain an important part of executive pay. Compensation committees are generally independent and there is little evidence they result in 'too high' CEO pay. The Dodd-Frank Act changed the corporate governance landscape. Firms use compensation consultants that are generally engaged by the board and not management. 'Say-on-Pay' gave shareholders a non-binding mandatory vote on executive pay. Typically, stockholders endorse executive pay plans with very few resolutions failing.