Legal action by communities affected by climate change against high carbon corporate emitters is on the rise. At the same time, with the acceleration of a transition to a net-zero carbon economy, communities impacted by the implementation and operation of renewable energy projects are increasingly challenging shortcomings in the shift to renewable energy through ‘just transition litigation’. This strategy aims to ensure that respect for human rights is at the heart of the new energy paradigm, and that human rights abuses by the fossil fuel and mining sectors are not replicated. Progressive legislative reforms may also contribute to ensuring a fast and fair transition. This article examines how legal action and legislation may provide communities and rights-holders with pathways to climate justice – and sheds light on the need for a rights-centred approach by corporate actors and governments to the new energy transition.

We introduce self-divisible ultrafilters, which we prove to be precisely those $w$ such that the weak congruence relation $\equiv _w$ introduced by Šobot is an equivalence relation on $\beta {\mathbb Z}$. We provide several examples and additional characterisations; notably we show that $w$ is self-divisible if and only if $\equiv _w$ coincides with the strong congruence relation $\mathrel {\equiv ^{\mathrm {s}}_{w}}$, if and only if the quotient $(\beta {\mathbb Z},\oplus )/\mathord {\mathrel {\equiv ^{\mathrm {s}}_{w}}}$ is a profinite group. We also construct an ultrafilter $w$ such that $\equiv _w$ fails to be symmetric, and describe the interaction between the aforementioned quotient and the profinite completion $\hat {{\mathbb Z}}$ of the integers.

The discussion of narrative in mashups typically involves how a preexisting message is reinterpreted by the incorporation of new musical material. However, many scholars note how DJ Earworm's technique of creating new lyrics through the combination of samples from up to fifty different tracks conveys an original message that is distinct from its borrowed sources. In his various interviews, DJ Earworm elaborates that his mashups are original compositions that act as musical time capsules that capture the zeitgeist of the age. Nevertheless, DJ Earworm only provides brief commentary on the meaning of his mashups and there is no close examination of these narratives in the literature. This raises the question: To what degree do DJ Earworm's mashups reflect cultural issues in American society? By merging Zbikowski's concept of conceptual integration with Almén's theory of musical narrative, this paper will demonstrate how DJ Earworm's mashups show a consistent pattern of having complex narratives with cultural messages that resonate with contemporary issues in American society, including fossil fuel dependence, income inequality, and political and racial division.

We study the possible structures which can be carried by sets which have no countable subset, but which fail to be ‘surjectively Dedekind finite’, in two possible senses, that there is surjection to $\omega $, or alternatively, that there is a surjection to a proper superset.

Arithmetic quasidensities are a large family of real-valued set functions partially defined on the power set of $\mathbb {N}$, including the asymptotic density, the Banach density and the analytic density. Let $B \subseteq \mathbb {N}$ be a nonempty set covering $o(n!)$ residue classes modulo $n!$ as $n\to \infty $ (for example, the primes or the perfect powers). We show that, for each $\alpha \in [0,1]$, there is a set $A\subseteq \mathbb {N}$ such that, for every arithmetic quasidensity $\mu $, both A and the sumset $A+B$ are in the domain of $\mu $ and, in addition, $\mu (A + B) = \alpha $. The proof relies on the properties of a little known density first considered by Buck [‘The measure theoretic approach to density’, Amer. J. Math. 68 (1946), 560–580].

The common dandelion (Taraxacum campylodes G.E.Haglund) is known for its medicinal properties and as a non-toxic, highly nutritious edible plant. Even though the herb is mostly collected in the wild, the food and pharmaceutical industries prefer cultivated plant material. Cultivation offers the possibility to achieve predictable yields, ensure the botanical identity of the plants and products can be certified according to organic or biodynamic standards; therefore the interest in domestication is growing. Due to the scarcity of research on dandelion cultivation in agricultural systems, the current study focused on determining the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of 13 wild populations from Latvia in an organic farming system. Populations collected at Gluda, Priekuli, Mundigciems, Marupe as well as variety TA008 had the highest dry root weight (>100 g per plant) and exceeded the root weight of variety Nouvelle more than two-fold. The highest concentration of chlorogenic acid (CHA) (0.12%) and chicoric acid (CCA) (0.15%) was found in the wild population collected in Turaida. The wild populations from Marupe and Mundigciems had a high average root weight as well as a relatively high CHA and CCA content, making them suitable for commercial growing. The present study examined the feasibility of cultivating wild dandelion populations in an organic farming system. The results revealed a high degree of variation within and between populations; therefore, dandelion wild populations can be used for domestication, breeding and selection of accessions most suitable for the pharmaceutical or food industries.

Drawing upon Parker, Bindl, and Strauss' [(2010). Making things happen: A model of proactive motivation. Journal of Management, 36(4), 827–856] model of proactive motivation, we provide an explanation for how employees who exhibit a high need for achievement can take a proactive initiative through the expression of voice. Importantly, the extent to which employee voice can bring about desired changes depends largely on how positively received the behavior is by those in higher positions, such as supervisors. In this regard, we further highlight the facilitating role of supervisor developmental feedback in shaping the effectiveness of voice behavior. Data from 392 independently matched subordinate–supervisor dyads from Japan provide empirical support for proposed relationships as follows: (a) there is a positive mediating relationship between the need for achievement, employee voice, and supervisors' evaluations of employee task performance and discretionary work effort, and (b) the mediating relationship becomes stronger when supervisor developmental feedback is high. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.

We show that products of sufficiently thick Cantor sets generate trees in the plane with constant distance between adjacent vertices. Moreover, we prove that the set of choices for this distance has non-empty interior. We allow our trees to be countably infinite, which further distinguishes this work from previous results on patterns in fractal sets. This builds on the authors’ previous work on graphs and distance sets over products of Cantor sets of sufficient Newhouse thickness.

The aim of this study was to analyse whether specialised musical training influences auditory discrimination, working memory, learning strategies and academic performance. Sixty students (30 with at least four years of musical training and 30 without) of the same socioeconomic level were compared. Significant differences were found between students with and without musical training in terms of learning strategies, working memory and academic performance (p= <.05). This study shows the benefits of musical training offered at specialised centres, the development of students’ cognitive skills and the contributions of neuroscience to improving professional practice.

The influence of the method of evaluating developmentally competent oocytes on their viability after cryopreservation still needs to be better understood. The objective of this study was to determine the cleavage and embryo developmental rates after parthenogenetic activation of cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) selected by different concentrations of brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) and cryopreservation. In the first experiment, COCs were separated into groups and incubated for 1 h in medium containing BCB (13 μM, 16 μM, or 20 μM). The control group was not exposed to BCB staining. In the second experiment, COCs were divided into four groups: 13 μM BCB(+), 13 μM BCB(−), fresh control (selected by morphologic observation and immediately in vitro matured) and vitrified control (selected by morphologic evaluation, vitrified, and in vitro matured). In the first experiment, the 13 μM BCB group displayed greater development rates at the morula stage (65.45%, 36/55) when compared with the other groups. In the second experiment, cleavage (47.05%, 72/153) and morula development (33.55%, 51/153) of the control group of fresh COCs were increased compared with the other groups. However, when comparing morula rates between vitrified COC control and BCB(+) groups, the BCB(+) group had better results (19.23%, 5/26 and 64.7%, 11/17, respectively). Our best result in rat COC selection by BCB staining was obtained using a concentration of 13 μM. This selection could be a valuable tool to improve vitrification outcomes, as observed by the BCB(+) group that demonstrated better results compared with the vitrified COC control.

Experimental data on the effects of lifestyle interventions on fetal neurodevelopment in humans remain scarce. This study assessed the impact of a pregnancy nutrition+exercise intervention on offspring neurodevelopment at 12 months of age. The Be Healthy in Pregnancy (BHIP) randomized controlled trial (RCT) randomly assigned pregnant persons with stratification by site and body mass index (BMI) to bi-weekly nutrition counselling and high dairy protein diet, walking goal of 10,000 steps/day plus usual prenatal care (UPC; intervention group) or UPC alone (control group). This study examined a subset of these mothers (> 18 years, singleton pregnancy, BMI <40 kg/m2, and enrolled by ≤12 weeks gestation) and their infants (intervention = 42, control = 32), assessing cognition, language, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive functioning at 12 months using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development third edition (BSID-III) as the outcome measure. We also examined if maternal factors (prepregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain (GWG)) moderated associations. Expressive language (MD = 9.62, 95% CI = (9.05–10.18), p = 0.03, ƞ2p = 0.07) and general adaptive composite (GAC) scores (MD = 103.97, 95% CI = (100.31–107.63), p = 0.04, ƞ2p = 0.06) were higher in infants of mothers in the intervention group. Effect sizes were medium. However, mean cognitive, receptive language, motor, and social-emotional scale scores did not differ between groups. A structured and monitored nutrition+exercise intervention during pregnancy led to improved expressive language and general adaptive behavior in 12-month-olds, but not cognitive, receptive language, motor, or socioemotional functioning. While these experimental data are promising, further research is needed to determine the clinical utility of nutrition+exercise interventions for optimizing infant neurodevelopment.