Neuromorphic vision-based robotic tactile sensors fuse touch and vision, enabling manipulators to efficiently grip and identify objects. Precise robotic manipulation requires early detection of slips on the grasped object, which is crucial for maintaining grip stability and safety. Modern closed-loop feedback technologies use measurements from neuromorphic vision-based tactile sensors to control and prevent object slippage. Unfortunately, most of these sensors measure and report data-based rather than model-based information, resulting in less efficient control capabilities. This work proposes physical and mathematical modeling of an in-house-developed neuromorphic vision-based robotic tactile sensor that utilizes a protruded marker design to demonstrate the model-based approach. This sensor is mounted on the UR10 robotic manipulator, enabling manipulation tasks such as approaching, pressing, and slipping. The neuromorphic vision-based robotic tactile sensor-derived mathematical model revealed first-order system behavior for three manipulation-related actions under study. Experimental robotic manipulator grasping work is conducted to verify and validate the sensor’s derived mathematical FOS model. Two data analysis approaches, temporal and spatial–temporal model based, are adopted to classify the manipulator-sensor actions. A long short-term memory (LSTM) temporal classifier is engineered to exploit the sensor’s derived model. Also, the LSTM spatial–temporal classifier is designed using an event-weighted centroid of the region-of-interest features. Both LSTM methods successfully identified the robotic actions performed with an accuracy of more than 99%. Additionally, quantitative slip rate estimation is carried out based on centroid estimation, and qualitative assessment of pressing force is performed using a fuzzy logic classifier.

Lorenz dominance is a classical criterion for comparing income distributions with respect to inequality and social welfare. However, its binary nature, in which one distribution either dominates another or does not, often leads to inconclusive results when empirical Lorenz curves intersect. To overcome this limitation, we introduce the Lorenz dominance index (LDI), a continuous measure that quantifies the extent to which one Lorenz curve lies above another. The LDI provides an interpretable assessment based on the population, allowing for the evaluation of partial or near dominance and improving its usefulness in empirical settings. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the LDI and propose a nonparametric bootstrap procedure to construct confidence intervals and perform inference. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the estimator’s strong performance in finite samples and its nominal coverage. An application to household income data from China highlights the practical value of the LDI in distributional analysis.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a key treatment for adolescent depression and anxiety, yet their sexual side-effects are often overlooked. Although well-documented in adults, sexual side-effects in adolescents remain under-researched and rarely discussed in clinical practice. This lack of awareness can contribute to distress, self-esteem issues and treatment non-adherence. Adolescence is a crucial time for sexual development, making recognition of sexual side-effects particularly important. However, young patients may not report these effects because of embarrassment or unawareness, and clinicians may avoid the topic because of discomfort or time constraints. By addressing sexual side-effects proactively, as highlighted in this article, clinicians can improve patient engagement, treatment or management adherence and overall mental well-being.

It has long been recognized that the “Irish Question” was also an imperial question. The vast Irish diaspora in the settler colonies ensured that Home Rule had enormous consequences for the wider empire. But scholars have yet fully to appreciate the part that political elites in the self-governing Dominions played in this story. This article explores the role of colonial statesmen in Anglo-Irish affairs. Figures like Australia’s Billy Hughes or South Africa’s Jan Smuts were able to navigate the emotional complexities of Irish nationalist politics in a manner that transcended British party politics. In the process, they framed “colonial” Home Rule as a compromise between British rule and independence. This article shows how Irish nationalist politics became enmeshed with imperial politics in a manner that blurred the line between the local, national, imperial, and global.

Political meritocracy is the idea that the political system should aim to select and promote public officials with superior ability and virtue. The ideal was developed in pre-Qin Chinese history by Confucianism and other schools of political thought. A similar ideal is put forward in Plato’s Republic but political meritocracy has been central the Chinese political thinking for about 2,500 years. It was institutionalized in imperial China by means of a complex bureaucratic system designed to select and promote superior public officials that lasted more than two millennia. The imperial system collapsed in 1912 but the meritocratic bureaucratic system has been reestablished in form (but not content) over the last four decades in China.

Policy is often seen as the synthesis of economic and political interests of the most influential players operating in material economic structures such as industrial sectors and markets. However, this is not always the case as the formation of policies often depends only partially on the inputs from economic structures, while greater influence is exercised by the internal logics of policy processes and by shared beliefs among policymakers and the society. This paper explores this issue through a comparison of the UK and US liberalisation policies of the natural gas sector.

For many First Peoples, language is indissociable from living relationships within interspecies communities where humans are not the only ones who feel, think, listen and speak. Words not only carry meanings attributable to human language but also carry the spirit of a place, as both a material and metaphysical transmission of sentience across species and generations. This article draws on ecolinguistic research into the Indigenous language of the Dayak Ngaju people and its role in regenerating peatland forests in Central Kalimantan. The study employs an Indigenous research methodology led by the first author, who is a PhD student and member of the Dayak Ngaju community. This methodology situates Dayak Ngaju language within an animistic reality inclusive of nonhuman creatures, objects and spiritual beings. Attending to the complexities of Indigenous PhD studies, the article proposes the cultivation of “new animisms,” which recognise the future-making pedagogies of Indigenous ontologies and ecolinguistic systems.

Why did the United States return to the gold standard in 1879, and why did the ensuing Gilded Age feature a high level of financial instability? While existing scholarship adopts an economic development model of monetary policy that emphasizes material interests in explaining government retrenchment during Reconstruction, this paper argues that the confluence of state interests in cheap borrowing and financial elites' interest in debt monetization led to the outsourcing of monetary policy and the financial instability of the Gilded Age.

The evaluation of the role of face masks in preventing respiratory infections is a paradigm case in synthesising complex evidence (i.e. extensive, diverse, technically specialised, and with multilevel chains of causality). Primary studies have assessed different mask types, diseases, populations, and settings using different research designs. Numerous review teams have attempted to synthesise this literature, in which observational (case–control, cohort, cross-sectional) and ecological studies predominate. Their findings and conclusions vary widely.

This article critically examines how 66 systematic reviews dealt with mask efficacy studies. Risk-of-bias tools produced unreliable assessments when—as was often the case—review teams lacked methodological expertise or topic-specific understanding. This was especially true when datasets were large and heterogeneous, with multiple biases playing out in different ways and requiring nuanced adjustments. In such circumstances, tools were sometimes used crudely and reductively rather than to support close reading of primary studies and guide expert judgments. Various moves by reviewers—excluding observational evidence altogether, assessing risk but not direction of biases, omitting distinguishing details of primary studies, and producing meta-analyses that combined studies of different designs or included studies at critical risk of bias—served to obscure important aspects of heterogeneity, resulting in bland and unhelpful summary statements.

We draw on philosophy to question the formulaic use of generic risk-of-bias tools, especially when the primary evidence demands expert understanding and tailoring of study quality questions to the topic. We call for more rigorous training and oversight of reviewers of complex evidence and for new review methods designed specifically for such evidence.

This paper addresses the challenges and preparedness strategies for health care systems in responding to nuclear and radiological emergencies. It emphasizes the critical role of medical centers in pre-incident preparedness, immediate response, and long-term care, focusing on the need for coordinated efforts between local, state, and federal agencies. Key components include specialized training, resource allocation, triage protocols, and the integration of networks like the Radiation Injury Treatment Network and the American Burn Association. This paper highlights the importance of resilience through collaboration, infrastructure planning, and community support to manage mass casualties and mitigate long-term health consequences. It underscores the lessons learned from historical responses and contemporary challenges, advocating for a proactive approach to enhance health care system readiness in the face of catastrophic events.

This paper studies the ‘liberal solidarity’ of Léon Bourgeois through two fundamental and interlinked ‘liberal solidarist principles’: (i) social debt and (ii) the quasi-contract. No real work has been proposed in economics in English in the context of Bourgeois’s work. It is this shortfall that we wish to fill in this article by restoring a little-known ancient thought and proposing an initial contribution to investigating future avenues of research in institutional economics. The solidarism of the Third French Republic allows us to rethink social democratic liberalism from an open and ongoing view of institutions as the driving force behind both individual rights and the collective order. Bourgeois solidarism is an interesting doctrine for rethinking from a moral perspective the role of human duty in economics and, more largely, in society.

Political crises play a pivotal role in shaping political secularization across sub-Saharan Africa. Côte d’Ivoire, located in the heart of French-speaking West Africa, exemplifies how such crises can catalyze secularist dynamics at the political level. From the early 1990s through the 2020s, especially following the near-overthrow of the government by armed rebels in 2002, it became increasingly apparent to many politicians that institutional religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim, should step back from political involvement. This process of secularization, driven by politicians, remains confined to the political sphere and has yet to permeate broader society and culture. This paper is based on fieldwork and data collected in Côte d’Ivoire between 2017 and 2020, including interviews, archival material from political parties, major newspapers, and religious organizations. Resources from the Pew Research Center further inform this research.

Opposing electoral democracy in the Chinese context, Bell advocates a political model on which national leaders are selected by political elites rather than by voters.1 Even though deeply disappointed by the current national leadership in the past decade, Bell places his hopes on future generations of Chinese leaders (112). For him, the issue for the political system in China is improvement rather than fundamental reform. He remains hopeful that “China’s political future is likely to be shaped by both Communism and Confucianism” (104). In maintaining such a view, he overlooks a much deeper problem with the current political system in China.

The growing use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and dual GIP/GLP-1 agonists has intensified debate over the role of pharmacotherapy in addressing obesity. While these drugs can support short-term weight loss, access remains limited, costly and unequal across health systems. Weight regain after cessation and recent price increases, such as for tirzepatide in the United Kingdom, underscore the fragility and inequity of drug-focused approaches. Reliance on medication risks diverts attention from structural drivers of obesity, including the widespread availability, marketing and placement of ultra-processed and high-fat, salt or sugar products and limited access to healthy, minimally processed foods. Population-level action, including mandatory reformulation, marketing restrictions, improved affordability and expanded access to nutritious foods, is essential. Medications may support individuals, but only comprehensive food-system reform can sustainably reduce obesity and diet-related disease.