The interface of science and law is a territory frequently occupied by policymakers. In facilitating this interface, epistemic communities have become significant influencers in policymaking, especially at the European Union (EU) level, as a result of its complex multilevel governance system. In this article we assess the quality and nature of interactions between epistemic communities and EU stakeholders on the Horizon-funded project ‘PrecisionTox’, by deploying the concept of epistemic communities developed by Haas, as well as the learning modes of epistemic communities as presented and adapted by Dunlop. The overarching goal of PrecisionTox is to advance the safety assessment of chemicals by establishing a new, cost-effective testing paradigm built from evolutionary theory, which entails reduction, replacement, and refinement of mammalian testing (the 3Rs). The study shows that EU-funded projects can provide an excellent platform for building epistemic communities and forging alliances with EU policymakers, especially when novel technologies may be unlocked and socialized. This study also explores the early interaction of policymakers with epistemic communities through different forms of learning to better understand the complexities surrounding these new technologies in order to set an agenda for policy interventions.

Excavation at the site of Bhagatrav yielded four layers of cultural deposits: the lowermost being the Sorath Harappan, the upper two are medieval, and layer three caps the Sorath Harappan layer. A horn-deity painted dish was found in a stratified context at the lowest level. The medieval deposit includes turquoise glazed and celadon wares, followed by an abundance of Monochrome Glazed Ware, which is otherwise known as Khambhat ware. The date of the Sorath Harappan layer of the site, the time and space of the horn-deity motif in the Harappan world, and the date of Khambhat ware have long been subjects of discussion. With the help of a series of absolute dating (radiocarbon and luminescence), this paper attempts to place the site, horn-deity motif, and the Khambhat ware in the cultural chronology of Gujarat.

Despite 30 years of research on economic inequality, the question of whether government ideology affects inequality remains unresolved. As rising inequality poses a major challenge to contemporary democracies, we ask: (when) do parties matter regarding inequality? Our systematic analysis finds that research is divided, with a tendency toward a pessimistic “no.” We decipher the factors that account for this split in theoretically predictable ways. We assess the roles played by the type of inequality, the time horizon, and the impact of policy channels. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of 393 TSCS-regression findings show how the type of inequality and a neglect of top incomes, a focus on short- rather than long-term effects, and the inclusion of policy channels that absorb the effects of parties strongly codetermine the results. Effects septuple depending on how these factors are combined. We draw three lessons that, when combined, foster a shift toward a more optimistic perspective on the latitude of politics.

Halloysite nanotubes (often abbreviated as HNTs) are technologically important owing to their unique structural and morphological features. Some of these features pre-exist in the naturally hydrated halloysite-(10 Å) parent clay mineral; others may develop during its dehydration towards halloysite-(7 Å). This is the first infrared spectroscopic study of the transition to halloysite-(7 Å), which, in combination with X-ray diffraction (XRD), aimed at advancing the structural description of the process. Three cylindrical and two polygonal halloysite-(10 Å) samples, in both their H- and D-forms, were measured by attenuated total reflectance (ATR), non-invasively and in situ, following step-wise equilibration from 70% relative humidity (RH) to <10% RH and back to 70% RH at ambient temperature. This approach allowed for recording the spectrum of the dehydrating (but not rehydrating) interlayer in the νO–D range, without interference from the inner νOH groups, or from the inner-surface νOH of anhydrous interlayers already present in the parent material. Besides the well-known ‘hole’ H2O species, a new type of H2O-decorated defect was detected at frequencies normally dominated by the inner νOH. This defect is linked to the microenvironment created by the detachment between layer packets and forming ‘crevices’ or ‘slits’ upon dehydration. In addition, the study of the νSi–O spectrum demonstrated that the dehydration of halloysite-(10 Å) leads to the parallel formation of localized, ordered, kaolinite-like domains co-existing with regions of accumulated disorder. The as-produced halloysite-(7 Å) had a non-ideal, open structure that resisted rehydration because the kaolinite-like domains do not rehydrate and act as permanent cross-links.

Nitrogen (N) is the most significant nutrient affecting crop growth and development for all types of crops, except legumes. The goal of this study was to optimize the N level for cotton grown in a semi-arid environment to enhance growth and development, determine N status, and increase seed cotton yield and biomass. Two independent field experiments each three years in duration were conducted, from 2007 to 2009 (Exp.-I) and 2018 to 2020 (Exp.-II). Experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The N treatments in Exp.-I were comprised of 0, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 kg N/ha, while treatments in Exp.-II were comprised of 0, 70, 140, 210 and 280 kg N/ha. A wide range of data sets for cotton traits were recorded, including canopy height, leaf area index, the N status of the leaf and stem, seed cotton yield and time-series biomass data. The higher N rates 240 and 280 kg N/ha performed better for all these traits. However, the highest leaf N contents were recorded for 210 kg N/ha. Based on these results, it is suggested that under semi-arid conditions, slightly higher rates than optimum or recommended N rates could be applied as a strategy by cotton growers for a higher seed cotton yield. The findings of this study may also increase profitability in other cotton-growing areas that have similar weather conditions.

Democratic electoral systems characteristically take a Count-and-Report Approach to enfranchised citizens’ failure to turn out in political elections: The number of non-votes is counted and publicly reported, but non-votes are given no effect in the allocation of political offices. We morally assess this model in the context of legislative elections, and argue that it is pro tanto less desirable than another, counterfactual model which we label Proportional Non-Voter Sortition. This model provides that citizens’ non-votes shall be legislatively represented by legislators who are selected by lot from the non-voting part of the demos, and whose share of seats is proportional to the aggregate rate of non-voting in the legislative election. Our assessment of the two models specifically turns on the claim that a democracy’s legislature should reflect the full diversity of political views that exists within its demos (legislative inclusivity), and it offers two reasons to expect that Proportional Non-Voter Sortition serves legislative inclusivity better than the Count-and-Report Approach: 1) Proportional Non-Voter Sortition uniquely incentivizes political parties to integrate non-voter views into their political agendas and mobilisation activities; and 2) Proportional Non-Voter Sortition additionally enables the legislative articulation and advocacy of non-voter views by placing people in the legislature who are descriptively representative of non-voters. Through our discussion of different models for the post-electoral management of non-votes, we contribute to a body of normative democratic theorizing about citizens’ non-voting, but raise a distinct question that so far has remained unexplored.

This paper presents a novel compact self-quintuplexing antenna using a half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide cavity to implement multi-operation wireless services. The proposed antenna design incorporates five triangular protrusions of different dimensions, assembled with SIW to function as the radiating elements. Each radiator supports the one-eighth mode of the SIW cavity. The resonance frequencies of radiators are 3.63, 4.44, 5.23, 6.21, and 7.05 GHz. Each radiator operates at a distinct frequency due to the differing dimensions and is independently driven by 50 Ω microstrip lines. The measured reflection coefficients and isolation among any two ports are less than −10 dB and better than 23.6 dB, respectively. The measured gains at their respective resonant frequencies are 5.66, 4.84, 5.03, 7.08, and 6.59 dBi. The front-to-back ratio is better than 8.7 dB in each band. The difference of co-to-cross-polarization is greater than 19.3 dB.

Here we consider the discrete time dynamics described by a transformation $T:M \to M$, where T is either the action of shift $T=\sigma$ on the symbolic space $M=\{1,2, \ldots,d\}^{\mathbb{N}}$, or, T describes the action of a d to 1 expanding transformation $T:S^1 \to S^1$ of class $C^{1+\alpha}$ (for example $x \to T(x) =\mathrm{d} x $ (mod 1)), where $M=S^1$ is the unit circle. It is known that the infinite-dimensional manifold $\mathcal{N}$ of Hölder equilibrium probabilities is an analytical manifold and carries a natural Riemannian metric. Given a certain normalized Hölder potential A denote by $\mu_A \in \mathcal{N}$ the associated equilibrium probability. The set of tangent vectors X (functions $X: M \to \mathbb{R}$) to the manifold $\mathcal{N}$ at the point µA (a subspace of the Hilbert space $L^2(\mu_A)$) coincides with the kernel of the Ruelle operator for the normalized potential A. The Riemannian norm $|X|=|X|_A$ of the vector X, which is tangent to $\mathcal{N}$ at the point µA, is described via the asymptotic variance, that is, satisfies

$ |X|^2 = \langle X, X \rangle = \lim_{n \to \infty}\frac{1}{n} \int (\sum_{i=0}^{n-1} X\circ T^i )^2 \,\mathrm{d} \mu_A$.

Consider an orthonormal basis Xi, $i \in \mathbb{N}$, for the tangent space at µA. For any two orthonormal vectors X and Y on the basis, the curvature $K(X,Y)$ is

\begin{equation*}K(X,Y) = \frac{1}{4}[ \sum_{i=1}^\infty (\int X Y X_i \,\mathrm{d} \mu_A)^2 - \sum_{i=1}^\infty \int X^2 X_i \,\mathrm{d} \mu_A \int Y^2 X_i \,\mathrm{d} \mu_A ].\end{equation*}

When the equilibrium probabilities µA is the set of invariant Markov probabilities on $\{0,1\}^{\mathbb{N}}\subset \mathcal{N}$, introducing an orthonormal basis $\hat{a}_y$, indexed by finite words y, we show explicit expressions for $K(\hat{a}_x,\hat{a}_z)$, which is a finite sum. These values can be positive or negative depending on A and the words x and z. Words $x,z$ with large length can eventually produce large negative curvature $K(\hat{a}_x,\hat{a}_z)$. If $x, z$ do not begin with the same letter, then $K(\hat{a}_x,\hat{a}_z)=0$.

Perceptualism is a prominent theory analyzing emotions as perceptual experiences of value. A long-standing challenge to perceptualism says that emotions cannot be perceptual because they are subject to normative assessments in terms of reasons and rationality, while perceptual experiences are not. I defend perceptualism from this charge. My argument begins by distinguishing two forms of normative assessment: fundamental and non-fundamental. Perceptualism is compatible with the latter (i.e., non-fundamental reasons and rationality); even sensory experiences are so assessable. I next argue that emotions are only non-fundamentally assessable. Following this argument, I outline a perceptualist-friendly theory of emotions as non-fundamentally normatively assessable.

So much has been written about Frederick W. Lanchester over the years, it is hard to imagine finding something new to discuss about his efforts in aerodynamics. Many of the previous Lanchester Memorial Lectures discussed topics such as wing aerodynamics, aircraft concepts and design, unsteady rotor aerodynamics, aerodynamics research and a wide variety of other related aerodynamic topics. However, there has never been a lecture about Lanchester’s book Aerodynamics as a tool for aerodynamics education in the early 20th century. The lecture will discuss his book relative to other aerodynamics books before and after 1907, and uncover how Lanchester’s book had a very distinct, and important, contribution to make for aerodynamic education.

The present article is concerned with the Lyapunov stability of stationary solutions to the Allen–Cahn equation with a strong irreversibility constraint, which was first intensively studied in [2] and can be reduced to an evolutionary variational inequality of obstacle type. As a feature of the obstacle problem, the set of stationary solutions always includes accumulation points, and hence, it is rather delicate to determine the stability of such non-isolated equilibria. Furthermore, the strongly irreversible Allen–Cahn equation can also be regarded as a (generalized) gradient flow; however, standard techniques for gradient flows such as linearization and Łojasiewicz–Simon gradient inequalities are not available for determining the stability of stationary solutions to the strongly irreversible Allen–Cahn equation due to the non-smooth nature of the obstacle problem.

In this paper, pulse splitting approach is proposed to simultaneously reduce the sidelobe level (SLL) of fundamental signal and maximum sideband levels (SBLs) of harmonic signals for time-modulated linear array (TMLA). This is achieved by controlling only the periodic switching time sequence of each element of the TMLA. In pulse splitting, the on–off switching sequence of each radiating element is characterized by multiple rectangular sub-pulses within the modulation period which increase the degrees of freedom in order to better synthesize the desired fundamental pattern with simultaneous suppression of harmonic or sideband radiation. A genetic algorithm is employed to optimize the switch-on and switch-off instants of each sub-pulse for each element for 16-element uniform amplitude, phase, and space linear antenna array. The simulation results reveal that the proposed method can achieve the desired patterns with very low SLL and SBLs compared with previous published results.

Objections to the orthodox doctrine of an eternal hell often rely on arguments that it cannot be a person’s own fault that she ends up in hell. The article summarizes and addresses three significant arguments which aim to show that it could not be any individual’s fault that they end up in hell. I respond to these objections by showing that those who affirm a classical picture of sin have Moorean reasons to reject these objections. That classical perspective holds that all (serious) sin involves choosing eternal destiny apart from God and that no sin could possibly be caused by God. Consequently, it is necessary for ending up in hell that someone commit a serious sin, and it is sufficient for ending up damned that one persists forever in sin. Since the objections conflict with Moorean commitments central to the classical perspective, those who hold to such a classical perspective on sin would have good reason to reject all these arguments, which involve assumptions that would entail that such a perspective is false.

Given a group G acting faithfully on a set S, we characterize precisely when the twisted Brin–Thompson group SVG is finitely presented. The answer is that SVG is finitely presented if and only if we have the following: G is finitely presented, the action of G on S has finitely many orbits of two-element subsets of S, and the stabilizer in G of any element of S is finitely generated. Since twisted Brin–Thompson groups are simple, a consequence is that any subgroup of a group admitting an action as above satisfies the Boone–Higman conjecture. In the course of proving this, we also establish a sufficient condition for a group acting cocompactly on a simply connected complex to be finitely presented, even if certain edge stabilizers are not finitely generated, which may be of independent interest.

Nilpotency concepts for skew braces are among the main tools with which we are nowadays classifying certain special solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation, a consistency equation that plays a relevant role in quantum statistical mechanics and in many areas of mathematics. In this context, two relevant questions have been raised in F. Cedó, A. Smoktunowicz and L. Vendramin (Skew left braces of nilpotent type. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 118 (2019), 1367–1392) (see questions 2.34 and 2.35) concerning right- and central nilpotency. The aim of this short note is to give a negative answer to both questions: thus, we show that a finite strong-nil brace B need not be right-nilpotent. On a positive note, we show that there is one (and only one, by our examples) special case of the previous questions that actually holds. In fact, we show that if B is a skew brace of nilpotent type and $b\ \ast \ b=0$ for all $b\in B$, then B is centrally nilpotent.

Extant literature shows that small conversations with strangers can help improve individuals’ wellbeing while reducing feelings of loneliness. Nevertheless, previous studies on talking to strangers tend to focus on young participants in controlled experimental settings, leaving a gap in understanding older adults’ experiences and their likelihood of adopting talking to strangers as part of their daily healthy ageing practices. Considering the problem of worsened social isolation and loneliness among older people during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is even more important to include them in the promotion of social inclusion through micro-conversations with strangers. To understand older adults’ attitudes and experiences of talking to strangers, this study interviewed 19 older people based on their trial of talking to strangers over a three-month period. Findings reveal that their willingness and confidence varied by age and gender, with retired individuals being more active in engaging with strangers. Time constraints and lack of self-efficacy were identified as barriers, particularly among those still working or with caregiving responsibilities. Rather than personal gains, the act of kindness towards others was emphasised as the key motive. These insights are valuable for policy makers and organisations supporting older people’s wellbeing, highlighting the potential for older individuals to serve as conversation initiators, promoting mutual kindness and wellbeing in communities.

The family Streblidae is a significant grouping of dipteran insects within the superfamily Hippoboscoidea, which parasitizes the body surface of bats. With the global spread of bat-related pathogens in recent years, Streblidae has gained increasing attention due to its potential for pathogen transmission. A sample of Brachytarsina amboinensis was sequenced on the B. amboinensis were obtained, compared with available Streblidae mitogenomes, and the phylogeny of Hippoboscoidea was reconstructed. The results indicate that the mitochondrial genome of B. amboinensis exhibits a relatively high degree of conservation, with an identical gene count, arrangement, and orientation as the ancestral insect's genome. Base composition analysis revealed a strong bias towards A and T in the base composition. Selection pressure analysis indicated strong purifying selection acting on cox1. Pairwise genetic distance analysis showed that cox1 evolved at a relatively slow rate. Regarding phylogenetic relationships, the constructed phylogenetic trees using Bayesian inference and Maximum Likelihood methods supported the monophyly of the Hippoboscoidea, Glossinidae, Hippoboscidae, and Nycteribiidae clades, with high nodal support values. Our research confirmed the paraphyly of the families Streblidae. In the familial relations between Nycteribiidae and Streblidae, New World Streblidae share a closer kinship with Nycteribiidae. This contrasts with prior findings which indicated that Old World Streblidae share a closer kinship with Nycteribiidae. This study not only enhances the molecular database for bat flies but also provides a valuable reference for the identification and phylogenetic analysis of Streblidae.

This study addresses a significant knowledge gap in the literature by examining the relationship between religious involvement and subjective wellbeing (SWB) among older adults in Taiwan, a cultural context that has been underrepresented in existing research, with a focus on gender and age differences. Using data collected in Taichung City in 2017 (N = 645), this study measured religious involvement through religious affiliation, religiosity and frequency of religious participation, and assessed SWB via life satisfaction and happiness. Findings revealed no significant association between religious involvement and life satisfaction. However, religious participation was positively correlated with happiness. Gender differences were observed: Buddhism and Taoism were positively associated with life satisfaction among males, whereas religiosity and religious participation were significantly related to life satisfaction and happiness among females. Age disparities were also found, with religiosity significantly relating to both life satisfaction and happiness in the old-old group (70–89 years) but not in the young-old group (60–69 years). These findings highlight the nuanced associations between religious involvement and SWB, emphasising the importance of considering gender and age variations in future research. Future studies should further explore the cultural contexts that shape these relationships and examine other potential mediating factors to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how religious involvement influences wellbeing across different demographic groups.

Historiographic studies of transnational environmental law (TEL) are increasingly relevant as scholars and practitioners search for ways in which to deliver more quickly and efficiently effective regulation that is responsive to global environmental issues. This article uses new and original archival research to better locate the Convention for the Preservation of Wild Animals, Birds and Fish in Africa (1900 London Convention) in its legal-scientific historical context. Most of the scholarship on this topic draws on historian John M. MacKenzie's groundbreaking analysis of what he called ‘the hunting cult’ and its role in the imperial advance into India, Africa, and elsewhere. When viewed through the dual lens of legal history and the history of science, the late 19th and early 20th centuries represented a period of transition during which a new science-based perspective advanced by evolutionary biologists was embraced by science-minded policymakers, and expressed in domestic law and foreign policy aimed at the preservation of endangered species and the protection of biodiversity. The 1900 London Convention is an early example of a modern TEL instrument informed by science and by values that today most recognize as being critically important and universal. The new history in this article also resonates as an example of how polarizing political narratives can delay law reform and the importance of maintaining focus on collaborative problem solving and science-based regulation of complex transnational environmental issues.