We apply a synthesis review to revisit the concept, measurement, and operationalisation of social inclusion and exclusion in the context of comparative social policy, integrating the vast literature on the concepts, with the aim of elucidating a clearer understanding of the concepts for use by scholars and policymakers around the planet. In turn, we outline the conceptual development of the concepts, how they have been operationalised through social policy, and how they have been measured at the national and individual levels. Through our review, we identify limitations in extant conceptualisation and measurement approaches and suggest directions for refining conceptual and measurement frameworks to enhance their utility in social inclusion policy, emphasising the concepts’ multidimensional, multilevel, dynamic, and relational essence and highlighting their connection to related concepts such as social capital, social integration, and social citizenship.

We give a notion of boundary pair $(\mathcal{B}_-,\mathcal{B}_+)$ for measured groupoids which generalizes the one introduced by Bader and Furman [BF14] for locally compact groups. In the case of a semidirect groupoid $\mathcal{G}=\Gamma \ltimes X$ obtained by a probability measure preserving action $\Gamma \curvearrowright X$ of a locally compact group, we show that a boundary pair is exactly $(B_- \times X, B_+ \times X)$, where $(B_-,B_+)$ is a boundary pair for $\Gamma$. For any measured groupoid $(\mathcal{G},\nu )$, we prove that the Poisson boundaries associated to the Markov operators generated by a probability measure equivalent to $\nu$ provide other examples of our definition. Following Bader and Furman [BF], we define algebraic representability for an ergodic groupoid $(\mathcal{G},\nu )$. In this way, given any measurable representation $\rho \,:\,\mathcal{G} \rightarrow H$ into the $\kappa$-points of an algebraic $\kappa$-group $\mathbf{H}$, we obtain $\rho$-equivariant maps $\mathcal{B}_\pm \rightarrow H/L_\pm$, where $L_\pm =\mathbf{L}_\pm (\kappa )$ for some $\kappa$-subgroups $\mathbf{L}_\pm \lt \mathbf{H}$. In the particular case when $\kappa =\mathbb{R}$ and $\rho$ is Zariski dense, we show that $L_\pm$ must be minimal parabolic subgroups.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) are a group of complex disorders marked by pathophysiological mechanisms involving protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. Irrespective of extensive research advances, NDDs have become a serious global concern and persist as a major therapeutic challenge. In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, have established a pivotal role in combating NDDs. The altered expression of miRNAs is reported to be associated with the progression of various NDDs. This review aims to discuss miRNA biogenesis; dysregulation in NDDs, specifically Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; their potential as biomarkers; and promising therapeutic targets. Additionally, there are various emerging technologies discussed that are advanced approaches to enhance miRNA-based diagnostics and therapeutics.

Let $A\ \mathrm{and}\ B$ be subsets of $(\mathbb {Z}/p^r\mathbb {Z})^2$. In this note, we provide conditions on the densities of A and B such that $|gA-B|\gg p^{2r}$ for a positive proportion of $g\in SO_2(\mathbb {Z}/p^r\mathbb {Z})$. The conditions are sharp up to constant factors in the unbalanced case, and the proof makes use of tools from discrete Fourier analysis and results in restriction/extension theory.

Highlights from the International Symposium on Twins, held at the University of Crete on May 23−24, 2025, are summarized. The symposium, organized by Dr Maria Markodimitraki, Professor in the Department of Preschool Education at the University of Crete, attracted scholars and practitioners from Greece and around the world. Meetings with a pair of reunited monozygotic female twins, and a female twin in search of her sister, also from Greece, are described. This review is followed by summaries of twin research on neonatal outcomes, growth discordance and restriction, and romantic partners and alcohol use. Human interest stories include a book documenting the extraordinary lives of identical twins Celia and Mamaine Paget, a museum wing honoring the lost Rockefeller twin, a remarkable conjoined twinning case in India, the death of an Australian sports icon, and a most unusual triplet birth.

Effective performance of oil-based drilling fluids (OBFs) in demanding high-temperature environments hinges on the stability of their rheological properties. However, conventional organoclays (OCs) utilized to control these properties often exhibit thermal degradation at elevated temperatures, necessitating the development of more robust alternatives. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a high-temperature-resistant OC to enhance OBF rheological stability. To address the thermal instability issues of conventional quaternary organo-montmorillonites (OMts), which manifest as interlayer structural collapse and particle aggregation, an innovative dual modification strategy was developed through the synergistic combination of quaternary ammonium intercalation and silane grafting. Montmorillonite (Mnt) was modified with dioctadecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (1821) and stearyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (1827) at a mass ratio of 2:1 to yield 1821+1827-OMt, which was subsequently further modified with dodecyl trimethoxy silane (DTMS) to form 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt. Comparison of the properties of 1821+1827-OMt and 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt after high temperatures revealed the following. (1) Thermogravimetric (TG) and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) analysis and gel volume tests demonstrated that the Si–O–Si bonds in 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt were thermally stable up to ~440°C, and the gel volume of the 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt suspension remained stable at 100 mL following high-temperature aging treatments. (2) X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis revealed that 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt exhibited a larger basal spacing and larger nitrogen content compared with ungrafted 1821+1827-OMt. (3) The suspension containing 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt demonstrated enhanced thermal stability at 260°C, evidenced by its narrower rheological parameter ranges of apparent viscosity (6–12 mPa s), plastic viscosity (5–9 mPa s), and yield point (1–3 Pa), compared with those of the suspension containing 1821+1827-OMt. (4) Optical microscopy demonstrated that 1821+1827+DTMS-OMt exhibited greater resistance to agglomeration at high temperatures than 1821+1827-OMt. The high-temperature-resistant OC developed in this study overcomes the thermal instability of traditional OCs, providing a robust approach for enhancing the efficiency and reliability of oil-based drilling fluids in high-temperature drilling applications.

In March 1933, the United States Congress declared beer up to 3.2 percent alcohol by weight to be “non-intoxicating,” thus allowing it to be produced and sold while the nation was still under the 18th Amendment’s ban of intoxicating liquors. Brewers had long argued that beer was a temperance beverage that should be regulated with a lighter touch than harder liquor. In fact, the declaration that 3.2 beer was non-intoxicating opened several markets that would otherwise have been closed to brewers. In the decades that followed Repeal, 3.2 beer continued to be treated differently than stronger alcohol with respect to who, when, where, and how it was legally available. This paper explores the important—and continuing—role that 3.2 beer has played in the post-Prohibition United States.

In this paper we study the optimal multiple stopping problem with weak regularity for the reward, where the reward is given by a set of random variables indexed by stopping times. When the reward family is upper semicontinuous in expectation along stopping times, we construct the optimal multiple stopping strategy using the auxiliary optimal single stopping problems. We also obtain the corresponding results when the reward is given by a progressively measurable process.

World-historical analyses often view the “Asian” empires that survived into the twentieth century (the Russian, Qing, and Ottoman empires) as anomalies: sovereign “archaic” formations that remained external to the capitalist system. They posit an antagonistic relationship between state and capital and assume that modern capitalism failed to emerge in these empires because local merchants could not take over their states, as they did in Europe. Ottoman economic actors, and specifically the sarraf as state financier, have accordingly been portrayed as premodern intermediaries serving a “predatory” fiscal state, and thus, as external to capitalist development. This article challenges these narratives by uncovering the central role of Ottoman sarrafs, tax-farmers, and other merchant-financiers in the expanding credit economy of the mid-nineteenth century, focusing on their investment in the treasury bonds of Damascus. I show how fiscal change and new laws on interest facilitated the expansion of credit markets while attempting to regulate them by distinguishing between legitimate interest and usury. I also discuss Ottoman efforts to mitigate peasant indebtedness and the abuse of public debt by foreigners, amid the treasury bonds’ growing popularity. In this analysis, global capitalism was forged in the encounter between Ottoman imperial structures, geo-political concerns, and diverse, interacting traditions of credit, while the boundaries between public and private finance were being negotiated and redefined. Ultimately, Ottoman economic policies aimed to retain imperial sovereignty against European attempts to dominate regional credit markets—efforts often recast by the latter as “fanatical” Muslim resistance.

Beryl crystals from hydrothermal veins in the Colombian emerald mining district, were examined to understand their growth and dissolution processes. Chemical analysis reveals minor substitution of Al by Na, Mg and the colouring elements V, Cr and Fe. Growth features include characteristic indentations on (0001) and a ridge-and-valley structure on the second-order prism, which is also observed on rare conical growth faces. Zoning is the primary internal growth feature, investigated in cross sections parallel to the main growth directions, the a- and c-axes of beryl. All crystals show sector zoning, with enrichment of Na and Mg in the c-sector, whereas Al and most of the trace elements measured are concentrated in the a-sector. H2O and CO2 molecules in the crystal structure were identified by infrared spectroscopy. Two types of H2O are present, with the H–H vector aligned (type I) and perpendicular (type II) to the c-axis, with H2O II predominant in the c-sector. CO2 is present in both sectors, decreasing from core to rim, and is higher in the a-sector. Variable sector boundaries suggest irregular changes in the growth rate in the two growth directions. The substitution (VIMg+channelNa)c-sector = (VIAl+channel□)a-sector creates a pattern of stripes, originating at the steps of the sector boundaries. Etch pits as a result of dissolution are arranged in chains, typically forming etching channels, but the overall amount of dissolution is minor. The arrangement of the etch pits indicates that they formed on dislocation bundles, which originate at the sector boundaries. The observations indicate rapid crystallisation with skeletal growth in [0001] is responsible for the distribution of elements in sectors, and are consistent with a closed-system behaviour in the veins.