This paper examines why, some 25 years beyond the Belfast-Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland (NI) remains a highly polarised society despite the return of devolution (in February 2024) after a 2-year hiatus. Using the theoretical lens of social capital, it draws on the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey and the World Values survey (the latter conducted for the first time in NI) to examine levels of trust as a pre-requisite to reconciliation between the two main communities. The research finds a high degree of trust towards people of another religion and limited affective polarisation across the main political parties. Yet government community relations policies appear to have had limited impact over time and may contribute to ‘bad social capital’ through bonding within communities at the expense of ‘the other’. The paper considers tackling social and economic inequalities, common to both communities, as a means of bridging social capital.

As interstate cyberconflict intensifies, the intersection of national security, cybersecurity, and International Relations (IR) theory has emerged as a critical venue for scholarly inquiry. Yet due mainly to epistemological problems, IR theory has been limited in examining how it informs the maximization of strategic cyberpower and in testing key realist concepts and assumptions against cyberactualities, risking theoretical stagnation and conceptual infertility in the study of statecraft and cybersecurity. I seek to bridge these theory-testing and conceptual gaps by assessing offensive realism’s assumption about the scope of hegemonic expansion in cyberspace using the crucial case of the United States. I argue that offensive realism has meaningful explanatory and predictive power in cyberspace but sometimes lacks this power under conditions assumed by the theory, emphasizing the need to modify offensive realism’s understanding and scope conditions of hegemony. The US pursues global, not regional, cyberhegemony using offensive strategies to maximize its cyberpower for cybersecurity. Therefore, I critically examine defensive realism and cyber persistence theory as alternative structural perspectives on the pursuit of security in cyberspace and introduce a modified conceptual framework for hegemony to adapt offensive realism to cyber-realities. This conceptual innovation can potentially contribute to policy making and help to build a cyber-specific version of offensive realism.

Residual herbicides are primarily degraded in the soil through microbial breakdown. Any practices that result in increased soil biological activity, such as cover cropping (between cash crop seasons), could lead to a reduced persistence of herbicides in the soil. Furthermore, cover crops can also interfere with herbicide fate by interception. Field trials were conducted between 2020 and 2023 in a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation to investigate the influence of cover crop (cereal rye [Secale cereale L.] and crimson clover [Trifolium incarnatum L.]) use on soil enzyme activities (β-glucosidase [BG] and dehydrogenase [DHA]), its effect on the concentration of residual herbicides (sulfentrazone, S-metolachlor, cloransulam-methyl, atrazine, and mesotrione) in the soil, and the interception of herbicides by cover crop residue. The use of cover crops occasionally resulted in increased BG and DHA activities relative to the fallow treatment. However, even when there was an increase in the activity of these two enzymes, increased degradation of the residual herbicides was not observed. The initial concentrations of all residual herbicides in the soil were significantly reduced due to interception by cereal rye biomass. Nevertheless, significant reductions in early-season weed biomass were observed when residual herbicides were included in the tank mixture applied at cover crop termination relative to the application of glyphosate plus glufosinate. Results from this research suggest that the use of cereal rye or crimson clover as cover crops (between cash crop seasons) do not impact the persistence of residual herbicides in the soil or reduce their efficacy in controlling weeds early in the growing season.

This article presents a sociolegal study of decisions by a Canadian immigration tribunal on appeals for “humanitarian and compassionate” relief from criminal deportation. Drawing on the work of Émile Durkheim, we argue that the appeal decisions serve two legitimating functions. On the one hand, they seek to demonstrate the state’s capacity to ensure that the large-scale admission of mostly economic immigrants does not threaten the solidarity of Canadian society. On the other, the decisions address concerns about the justifiability of deportation by making vivid the moral incompetence of unsuccessful appellants, hence their unsuitability for membership.

This article explores the relationship between musical aesthetics and evolving submarine imaginaries in an age of unprecedented threats to the ocean. The discussion is structured around two case studies: Björk's performance of the song ‘Oceania’ at the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics, and John Luther Adams's 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean for orchestra. In these examples, culturally and historically situated visions of the ocean are modulated by compositional and sonic devices that ground oceanic imaginaries in bodily sensation. Björk and Adams cultivate an oceanic aesthetics: musical sensations that align with the phenomenology of submersion or that address the materiality and ecology of the undersea. Throughout the article the author asks what music and musicology can offer to the interdisciplinary endeavours dubbed the ‘blue humanities’. A turn to music foregrounds listening as a mode of perception and scholarly enquiry less defined by terrestrial categories. Music and sound-based art can be an intellectual resource in cases where visual terms and frameworks have a tough time accounting for the specificity of the oceanic environment.

The search for missing persons requires the implementation of national plans that integrate a combined judicial and humanitarian approach. This article examines how national search plans in Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru have incorporated international standards on the search, exhumation, recovery, protection, identification, and restitution of human remains of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance. Through a comparative analysis between the search plans and international humanitarian and human rights law instruments, common elements in the regulation of these matters are identified. The research reveals that the national normative frameworks of the search plans incorporate international standards in a detailed and precise manner, but the effective implementation of these standards in practice is problematic. The study concludes that, despite normative advances, significant challenges remain in the search for and recovery of victims of enforced disappearance, requiring a renewed commitment by States to comply with their international obligations. By addressing these critical issues, the article not only contributes to the academic debate, but also invites attention to the need to imagine new interdisciplinary strategies aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of efforts to search for victims of enforced disappearance in diverse transitional contexts.

Jerry Ellig was a unique character and a great economist. He believed in one thing, using economic analysis to help solve problems. He became an expert at Regulatory Impact Analyses and how they helped governments to choose the best option to do just that, all the while recognizing the problems that government has with necessarily much less information than markets. He believed in holding governments to account for achieving results including periodic lookbacks to see what they were doing. What was great about Jerry is that he had fun doing all of this both on the job and at his beloved Tiki bars.

Infant mortality, a reflection of socioeconomic and health conditions of a population, is shaped by diverse factors. This study delves into a pre-industrial population, scrutinizing neonatal and post-neonatal deaths separately. Family factors such as mortality crises, religion, and legitimacy are also explored. Data of 9,086 people obtained through multigenerational information from ecclesiastic records from 1603 to 1908 were analysed by means of a joinpoint regression analysis. Death risk was assessed with univariate and multivariate Cox Proportional Hazard models. Early neonatal mortality was 5.6% of births and showed a gradual and steady increase from 1630 to 1908, with no substantial improvement over the three centuries analysed. Late neonatal (4.3% of births) and post-neonatal mortality (18.7% of births) shared a different pattern, showing a decline between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, and an increase by the 20th century that could be caused by socioeconomic factors and the impact of several epidemics. In the historical population of Hallstatt, infant survival was influenced by the sex of the newborn, the death of the mother and the precedent sibling, and by the birth interval. Environmental and cultural factors, such as mortality crises and religion, influenced late neonatal and post-neonatal mortality, but not early neonatal mortality. The results highlight the need to independently assess early neonatal mortality in studies of infant mortality in historical populations, and to use as complete time periods as possible to capture differences in mortality patterns.

We conducted a pilot study of implementing community health workers (CHWs) to assist patients with hypertension and social needs. As part of clinical care, patients identified as having an unmet need were referred to a CHW. We evaluated changes in blood pressure and needs among 35 patients and conducted interviews to understand participants’ experiences. Participants had a mean age of 54.1 years and 29 were Black. Twenty-six completed follow-up. Blood pressure and social needs improved from baseline to 6 months. Participants reported being accepting of CHWs, but also challenges with establishing a relationship with a CHW and being unclear about their role.

This paper examines the impact of financially constrained intermediate inputs on within-industry total factor productivity loss. Utilizing exogenous tax reforms in China as a natural experiment, our difference-in-difference analysis reveals that reduced tax burdens lead to increased firm-level intermediate inputs, particularly among financially constrained firms. We incorporate financially constrained intermediate inputs into a partial equilibrium model of firm dynamics. Our calibration suggests that financially constrained intermediate inputs play a quantitatively more important role in accounting for misallocation than financially constrained capital. The presence of financially constrained intermediate inputs introduces a downward bias in the measurement of value-added productivity, especially for firms in the top decile of gross-output productivity. As a result, the average “efficient” levels of capital and labor for the top decile firms in the standard Hsieh and Klenow (2009) exercise are lower than what is truly efficient.

Post COVID-19 condition (PCC) refers to persistent symptoms occurring ≥12 weeks after COVID-19. This living systematic review (SR) assessed the impact of vaccination on PCC and vaccine safety among those with PCC, and was previously published with data up to December 2022. Searches were updated to 31 January 2024 and standard SR methodology was followed. Seventy-eight observational studies were included (47 new). There is moderate confidence that two doses pre-infection reduces the odds of PCC (pooled OR (pOR) 0.69, 95% CI 0.64–0.74, I2 = 35.16%). There is low confidence for remaining outcomes of one dose and three or more doses. A booster dose may further reduce the odds of PCC compared to only a primary series (pOR 0.85, 95% CI 0.74–0.98, I2 = 16.85%). Among children ≤18 years old, vaccination may not reduce the odds (pOR 0.79, 95% CI 0.56–1.11, I2 = 37.2%) of PCC. One study suggests that vaccination within 12 weeks post-infection may reduce the odds of PCC. For those with PCC, vaccination appears safe (four studies) and may reduce the odds of PCC persistence (pOR 0.73, 95% CI 0.57–0.92, I2 = 15.5%).

Combine modifications for harvest weed seed control like the Redekop Seed Control Unit (SCU) and the integrated Harrington Seed Destructor (iHSD) have been successfully used to kill problematic weed seeds in small grain production in Australia. These seed impact mills could have a fit in U.S. soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] production. Testing the seed kill rate of problematic weed species in soybean is important for confirming the efficacy of the mills. Additionally, the mills may be affected by changes in crop yield and harvest residue moisture, which can have an impact on chaff flow rate and chaff moisture, respectively. This research aimed at determining the seed kill percent for problematic weeds and how varying chaff flow rates and chaff moisture content in soybean chaff affect the seed kill rate and horsepower draw of two different impact mills, the Redekop SCU and the iHSD. All testing was conducted using stationary test stands. Chaff flow rate and chaff moisture levels tested ranged from 0.5× to 2× standard combine throughput and 11.7% to 28.6% moisture, respectively. All tested species were killed at >98% by both mills. Increasing chaff flow rate resulted in a decrease in seed kill for all tested species with the iHSD and only common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) with the Redekop SCU. Increasing chaff moisture only resulted in a decrease in seed kill for Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) with the iHSD. Data evaluating the horsepower needed to power the mills also indicated that chaff flow rate and chaff moisture resulted in a significant increase in horsepower draw. With generally high kill rates (>98%) and the ability to kill weed seeds at >98% in less than ideal harvest conditions (i.e., high-moisture chaff), seed impact mills could be used in soybean production to reduce weed seed inputs into the soil seedbank during harvest.

Different participatory mechanisms for the representation of Indigenous peoples have been proposed across states. Since their creation in 1867, the Māori electorates in the national Parliament have led to dedicated representation for Māori (Indigenous peoples of New Zealand). However, only half of Māori choose to vote on the Māori roll, the remainder choosing to vote on the General roll, illustrating that roll choice is not based simply on group representation. This survey aimed to ask Māori (N = 1,958) in their own words why they made their roll choice. Through a deductive codebook thematic analysis, a range of codes were constructed around the reasoning behind roll choice. Māori on the Māori roll made their choice because they valued Māori representation; as an expression of their identity; to support the electorates; as a strategic choice; or they had been influenced by others or through education. Those on the General roll felt their roll was the default or a more familiar option; the Māori roll had less of an impact; it was a strategic choice, or they appreciated greater candidate variety; or they valued the smaller geographic electorate size. Some felt Māori no longer needed separate representation or felt less connected to their identity as Māori. The results have implications for both Māori and Indigenous representation through dedicated representational mechanisms.