We prove a result that relates the number of homomorphisms from the fundamental group of a compact nonorientable surface to a finite group G, where conjugacy classes of the boundary components of the surface must map to prescribed conjugacy classes in G, to a sum over values of irreducible characters of G weighted by Frobenius-Schur multipliers. The proof is structured so that the corresponding results for closed and possibly orientable surfaces, as well as some generalizations, are derived using the same methods. We then apply these results to the specific case of the symmetric group.

The aim of this study was to understand how and why relational welfare works to support young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). It builds on research discussing the limitations of work-first and human capital strategies in social policy while responding to calls for theory-driven insights into initiatives that move beyond employability and rapid employment. The material for this realist evaluation includes programme documents, fieldnotes and 75 interviews with practitioners and participants in community-based multicomponent initiatives delivered by Swedish municipalities. These data were scrutinised against programme theories while integrating literature on relational welfare as underpinned by co-creation and capability approaches. The results illustrate how flexible, challenging and coordinated programming strengthen beings and doings of young people in NEET situations while improving their wellbeing by overcoming isolation and forming a future orientation. The study provides guidance for supporting NEET-situated young people through a relational approach to welfare. It also offers a model against which local initiatives provided to a youth group high on the policy agenda can be mapped.

Developing effective, sustainable strategies that promote social inclusion, reduce isolation, and support older adults’ wellbeing continues to be important to aging communities in Canada. One strategy that targets community-living older adults involves identifying naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) and supporting them through supportive service programs (NORC-SSPs). This qualitative descriptive study utilized semi-structured interviews to explore how older adults living in a NORC supported by an SSP, sought to build, and maintain, a sense of community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis revealed how changes in context prompted changes in the program and community, and how despite lack of in-person opportunities participants continued to be together and do occupations together in creative ways that supported their sense of community. NORC-SSPs, like Oasis, play an important role in supporting older adults’ capacity to build strong, resilient communities that support wellbeing, during a global pandemic and in non-pandemic times.

Dietitians working at evacuation shelters conduct weighed food records (WFR) for multiple days for dietary assessment. Because the menus in evacuation shelters do not change much from day to day, this study examined whether 1- and 2-d WFR are sufficient for dietary assessment at shelters and identified dietary components that can influence the number of assessment days. Overall, twenty-six WFR were collected from ten shelters in Kumamoto Prefecture, and the amounts of energy; protein; vitamins B1, B2 and C and salt were calculated. Correlation analysis and paired sample tests were conducted to examine significant differences between ‘one- and two-consecutive- or non-consecutive-day WFR’ and ‘three-consecutive-day WFR’, which were set as the standard in this study. Additionally, the (CV for the categories by meal and dish were calculated to examine the variables that affected the large variations. As a result, 1-d WFR had significant positive correlations with the standard; thus, it could be used for the triage of shelters requiring nutrition assistance as a substitute for 3-d WFR. Two-consecutive-day and non-consecutive-day WFR showed a stronger correlation with the standard compared with the 1-d WFR. For energy and nutrients and dish categories, ready-to-eat foods had larger CV than boxed meals or foods from hot meal services. Whenever the meals included ready-to-eat foods, a two-non-consecutive-day WFR is recommended considering large between-day variations. Salty soup or beverages affected the variation of some nutrients. Our result would help municipalities to consider the number of WFR during emergency.

The past decade has been marked by cuts in public funding of adult social care alongside an increased policy focus within the UK on extending working lives through ‘50 PLUS Choices’. This study uses the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009/10–2018/19) to examine the relationship between informal care provision and labour market participation. The analysis focusses on mid-life, a period of life course characterised by both the uptake of informal care provision responsibilities and withdrawal from the labour market. Across the observation period, employment increased amongst both mid-life carers and non-carers, but the gap widened – with carers being much less likely to be employed. Discrete-time survival models assess the effect of caregiving on the likelihood of changing from full-time to part-time work or leaving work altogether. A range of indicators of caregiving, including care intensity, type of care provided and relationship to the person cared for, are all associated with reduced employment. The analysis supports the argument that policies promoting higher labour force participation amongst older workers are incompatible with cuts in funding for adult social care; to realise ‘50 PLUS Choices’, older working carers need to be better supported in juggling the competing demands of care and work.

This paper addresses the problem of patriarchy in Hegel’s Philosophy of Right by focusing on his conceptualization of family life. The question is not whether the social order envisaged by Hegel is patriarchal or not: his account of the domestic relations between the sexes, in the first place, leaves no doubt about the fact that what he has in mind is a society ruled by men at all levels, while women have no access to public life broadly conceived (from the labour market to corporations and political affairs). The point is rather to ask what kind of patriarchal order this is. Through an analysis of Hegel’s joint criticism of both the social contract and the marriage contract, I intend to show how a specifically modern form of patriarchal rule, understood as pure masculine domination, has emerged as the product of the contractualist interpretation of social relationships. Hegel helps us indeed acknowledge that a peculiar kind of dominion, one that systematically places the structure of arbitrariness at the heart of politics, is inscribed in the rationale of contractualism in so far as it has progressively become the theoretical basis of legitimate authority in modern European states. Patriarchy, in this context, surfaces as the negation of traditional patriarchal rule: it consists in the formalistic and thus arbitrary absolutization of a masculine order that is no longer articulated in society’s constitutional arrangement but is ideologically subsumed from an unproblematized social experience. Hegel’s patriarchal order, on the contrary, remains a strictly political-constitutional feature of the organization of ethical life. Although his views in this regard are both despicable and unviable for us, then, his speculative contribution concerning the conceptual framework of social domination can help us better frame modern and contemporary forms of patriarchy.

Cascading employment is an increasingly prevalent yet understudied form of employment arrangement, where an employer places a worker in a client’s workplace through a sequence of labour intermediaries, with no direct contractual relationship between the worker’s employer and the end client. In this article, cascading employment is conceptualised as a distinct and normalised form of precarious work and differs from ‘triangular employment’ in several dimensions. The study reported herein draws on interviews with U.S.-based IT workers and stakeholders engaged in cascading employment. Findings reveal three key dimensions of cascading employment: multilayeredness, hierarchical fissuring, and relationship heterogeneity. These dimensions contribute to the aspects of precariousness of employment, including diluted income, heightened employment uncertainty, reduced worker control over working conditions, and limited legal protections. Moreover, the precariousness of cascading employment stems from the complexity of the employment arrangements, not merely from factors such as contract type, employment status, and industry, which are typical in explaining precariousness. Therefore, ‘complexity of employment arrangements’ should be recognised as a crucial criterion for employment precariousness. ‘Complexity’ can be measured by the number of actors involved, the extent of fissuring in employer costs and responsibilities, and the variety and intensity of inter-actor relationships.

This paper aims to explore the feasibility of providing boundary layer propulsion and flow control by means of embedded aerofoils that are oscillating in the pure plunge mode. To this end, Navier-Stokes calculations of the low-speed flow over a flat plate with an oscillating small foil in close vicinity to the plate were performed to determine the influence of the wall distance, Reynolds number, and reduced frequency on the aerofoil thrust. The simulations were extensively validated against water tunnel experiments at Reynolds numbers between 440 to 5,940. Good agreement was obtained in terms of mean streamwise velocity profiles and the vortical wake patterns. Results indicate that the thrust increases from its value in unbounded flow with decreasing distance from the plate. The propulsive efficiency exhibits a consistent peak at a non-dimensional plunge velocity of about 0.55. For wall distances between one-half to one chord lengths, vortex pairs are shed in a slightly upward deflected direction independent of the starting motion of the aerofoil. As the wall distance increases further, these vortex pairs change into the well-known reverse Karman vortex street. Example calculations for a flat plate with two foils mounted close to the plate trailing edge and oscillating in counterphase confirm the device’s efficacy.

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with cognitive, behavioural, and developmental impairments throughout the lifespan of affected individuals, but there is limited evidence on how early this impact can be identified through routinely collected childhood data. This paper explores the relationship between PAE and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP), a statutory teacher-based summative assessment of early development in relation to learning goals. This analysis uses the Born in Bradford dataset, a UK based cohort (n = 13,959; full dataset), which collected self-reported PAE from 11,905 mothers, with 19.8% reporting drinking alcohol at some point during pregnancy. Coarsened exact matching was conducted to examine relationships between patterns of PAE and children achieving a ‘Good Level of Development’ on the EYFSP, a binary variable assessed at 4–5 years of age, controlling for known confounders, including deprivation, mother’s education, exposure to other teratogenic substances, and child’s age at assessment. Additionally, we examined EYFSP sub-scores to identify specific developmental deficits associated with PAE.

The key finding is a statistically significant association between PAE at a level of consuming 5 or more units of alcohol (equivalent to 50 ml or 40 g of pure alcohol) at least once per week from the 4th month of pregnancy onwards and lower EYFSP scores when accounting for established confounding variables. These findings highlight that the detrimental impact of alcohol during pregnancy can be identified using statutory educational assessments. This has implications internationally for prevention work, policy, and commissioning of support services for people impacted by PAE.

Based on Hegel’s thesis of the ‘end of art’, this paper aims to explore how to study Hegel’s philosophy of literature by carrying out a dialogue with Francesco Campana. In his recent book, The End of Literature, Hegel, and the Contemporary Novel (2019), Campana demonstrates how literature resists its end by continuous self-transformation and provides a framework of ‘philosophization’–‘poetry’–‘ordinariness’ in understanding the contemporary novel. While, to some extent, I agree with him on the understanding of the ‘end of art’ thesis, I object to his idea that ‘philosophization’ and ‘ordinariness’ are two poles between which poetry moves. I defend the view that, from the perspective of Hegel’s absolute and taking Hegel’s philosophy as a totality, ‘philosophization’ and ‘ordinariness’ are inseparable. Furthermore, I emphasize the significance of Hegel’s thesis of the ‘end of art’, which I argue lies in revealing the problem of modern subjectivity. Literature, as a unique form of art, also reveals this problem and helps to solve it. Therefore, in the study of Hegel’s philosophy of literature, I insist on adopting the perspective of Hegel’s absolute and taking Hegel’s philosophy as a whole so that we can build connections among different disciplines and among different art-forms and art-types. With this perspective, I make some proposals, which include several paradigms for the study of Hegel’s philosophy of literature. Finally, in terms of the thesis of the ‘end of art’, I maintain that the study of Hegel’s philosophy of literature is to address the problem of modern subjectivity.

The present study investigated whether dietary n-3 very-long-chain PUFA (n-3 VLC-PUFA) could increase skin and bone mineralisation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in vivo and examined their potential effects on human osteoblast proliferation and differentiation in vitro. Atlantic salmon were fed different dietary levels of n-3 VLC-PUFA, and changes in tissue n-3 VLC-PUFA composition, skeletal morphology, skin and bone mineral content, bone mineral density (BMD) and gene expression patterns were examined. Additionally, in vitro experiments using human foetal osteoblast cells were conducted to investigate the potential influence of n-3 VLC-PUFA supplementation on cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and cytokine expression. The results demonstrated that increasing the dietary levels of n-3 VLC-PUFA increased the mineral content of vertebrae and BMD in salmon, with subtle yet significant impacts on the expression of genes involved in bone-related processes. Furthermore, in vitro experiments showed a potential contextual influence of n-3 VLC-PUFA supplementation on gene expression of osteogenic markers and cytokine expression. Our findings indicate for the first time that n-3 VLC-PUFA may influence processes related to bone mineralisation.

The current scholarship on Ku Hung-Ming (1857–1928) as a translator and a historical figure has been constrained by identity politics and has viewed his translations and writings as a passive response to the challenge of the Western powers from a Chinese nationalist, or as a process of Ku's identity-building. This article goes beyond these constraints and recognises Ku as an active critic of Western modernity. By drawing on narrative theory, it investigates Ku's three broad choices regarding his translated Confucian classics—translation directionality, the invocation of Goethe, and the use of language mixing on the title pages and/or in the front matter—to demonstrate that Ku's translation agenda was to critique Western modernity. This article constitutes a paradigm shift in the research on Ku's translation of Confucian classics, and challenges what I call the ‘eccentricity thesis’ in Ku Hung-Ming studies to raise awareness of Ku as a critic of modernity.

A growing number of analysts use the term “judicial populism” to refer to judicial behavior that they find problematic, but they apply it to divergent phenomena and find it objectionable for different reasons. What, then, is judicial populism, and when and why should it be of concern? Taking a deductive approach, I argue that judicial populism is best understood as a performance/discursive style, analytically distinct from judicial activism. Like judicial activism, it is a gradational concept, and both populism and activism may present in judicial behavior to different degrees and in different combinations. To illustrate, I develop a grid matrix with an X-axis that runs from maximal restraint/deference to maximal creativity/dominance in the content of judicial rulings (the “what”) and a Y-axis that runs from maximally removed and technocratic to maximally proximate and publicly oriented in the performance or communication of the judicial role (the “how”). This two-dimensional framework enables nuanced comparison of judicial behavior in disparate times, places, and issue areas, illuminating relative variations and trends therein. It also helps to illustrate that, from a pluralist and deliberative democratic perspective, it is not judicial populism per se that should trouble democrats but, rather, populist behavior taken to extremes.

What is a populist judge, and when do judges embrace populism? Populist judges bypass legal and procedural constraints, seek an unmediated relationship with the public, and claim to represent the public better than political elites. Judicial populism can emerge in response to institutionalized dissonance in the political system. Dissonant institutionalization facilitates contestation between state institutions and can undermine the legitimacy of political institutions. This legitimacy crisis can imbue judges with a belief in their role as representatives of the public interest. In Pakistan, the dissonance caused by unresolved differences between the civil-military bureaucracy and the elected political leadership—differences that were embedded into the constitutional framework, facilitated the rise of judicial populism. I outline the key features of judicial populism and study the dynamics surrounding the rapid expansion of populist jurisprudence between 2005 and 2019 in Pakistan, with a focus on public interest litigation that became the cornerstone of the judiciary’s populist turn. Through case analysis, archival research, and semi-structured interviews, I discuss features of the populist approach to jurisprudence and trace how dissonance within Pakistan’s political system created new opportunities for the judiciary and changed judicial role conceptions within the legal and judicial community.