Research participants should be informed of genetic test results that could impact their health, particularly when they have expressed interest in receiving such information. Furthermore, the return of genetic test results is essential to improve trust, transparency, and health equity. However, investigators often encounter barriers in returning genetic test results to research participants. We examined genomic research at a large, research-intensive medical school and found less than 6% of protocols included plans to return results to participants. This study describes our development of protocols for returning primary and secondary genetic test results and implementation of a Genomic Return of Results (gROR) service. This arose through a collaboration with experts in community engagement, genetics, and pathology to consider consent adequacy, analytical/clinical validity, and clinical utility when returning results. The gROR service reduces investigator burden and provides participants with genetic information and guidance to address any potential health risks. Genetic results are returned by a genetic counselor at no cost to participants or their family. Investigator costs are subsidized to incentivize the delivery of actionable genetic test results to research participants. Our approach prioritizes transparency, accessibility, and informed decision-making, thereby promoting equitable sharing of genetic knowledge and personalized healthcare interventions.

Do governing elites who engage in undemocratic practices face accountability? We investigate whether American state legislators who publicly acted against the 2020 presidential election outcome sustained meaningful sanctions in response. We theorize that repercussions for undemocratic activities are selective – conspicuous, highly visible efforts to undermine democratic institutions face the strongest ramifications from voters, other politicians, and parties. In contrast, less prominent actions elicit weaker responses. Our empirical analyses employ novel data on state legislators’ anti-election actions and a weighting method for covariate balance to estimate the magnitude of punishments for undemocratic behavior. The results indicate heterogeneity, with the strongest consequences targeting legislators who appeared at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, and weaker penalties for lawmakers who engaged in other forms of antagonism towards democracy. We conclude that focusing sanctions on conspicuous acts against democratic institutions could leave less apparent – but still detrimental – efforts to undermine elections unchecked, ultimately weakening democratic health.

We introduce and study a class of generalized Meixner-type free gamma distributions $\mu _{t,\theta ,\lambda }$ ($t,\theta>0$ and $\lambda \ge 1$), which includes both the free gamma distributions introduced by Anshelevich and certain scaled free beta prime distributions introduced by Yoshida. We investigate fundamental properties and mixture structures of these distributions. In particular, we consider the Gibbs distribution $\frac {1}{\mathcal {Z}_{t,\theta ,\lambda }} \exp \{-V_{t,\theta ,\lambda }(x)\}$ associated with a family of potentials $V_{t,\theta ,\lambda }$, and show that $\mu _{t,\theta ,\lambda }$ maximizes Voiculescu’s free entropy with potential $V_{t,\theta ,\lambda }$ for parameters $t,\theta>0$ and $1\le \lambda <1+t/\theta $. This result substantially extends the range of classical-free correspondences obtained the potential function, differing from those arising from the Bercovici–Pata bijection. Moreover, we identify algebraic relations involving noncommutative random variables distributed as free gamma distributions.

This article examines Paul’s view of the law with attention to the figure of the pedagogue. It suggests that the law stands in a redemptive-historical role to the coming of Christ. It accomplishes this through a comparison between Seneca’s Moral Epistles and Paul. Seneca’s discussion is a helpful heuristic to elucidate Paul’s teaching on Jewish law. Paul highly values the Jewish law and explains that it leads humans to Christ as a pedagogue, although the law itself does not have the power to make righteous. Scholars offer arguments in support of positive or negative attitudes toward the pedagogue, but the pedagogue’s basic role was to bring a child to the age of maturity and rationality. Paul’s thesis is to argue that the Jewish law functions, historically and ethically, to lead one to Christ. This interpretation suggests that the law plays a positive redemptive-historical role in Galatians 3:19–4:11.

Intrinsic capacity, introduced by the WHO, represents a shift in focus from treating disease to maintaining physical and mental capacities individuals as they age. It encompasses five interrelated domains: vitality, sensory, cognition, psychology, and locomotion. Vitality refers to the body’s physiological reserve and is shaped by processes such as energy metabolism, immune function, and neuromuscular integrity. By definition, vitality is closely linked to nutritional status, which plays a central role in maintaining resilience and health in older adults. However, integrating nutritional status into the vitality domain presents several challenges due to inconsistent definitions and varied measurement approaches. This review examines these challenges and explores possibilities for integrating nutritional status in the vitality domain. The absence of standardised nutrition-related indicators limits comparability across studies and constrains the practical application of intrinsic capacity in both research and clinical contexts. To strengthen the role of intrinsic capacity in nutritional monitoring, it is essential to reach consensus on which nutritional indicators to include and how to score them consistently. Addressing these methodological challenges will support the use of intrinsic capacity in identifying early signs of nutritional decline and guiding timely interventions to promote healthy ageing.

Public perceptions of immigration are often inaccurate, yet research lacks conceptual clarity and valid measurement of these misperceptions. Prior work focuses mainly on population innumeracy (misestimating immigrant shares) and cannot distinguish genuine misperceptions from mere guessing. We introduce a survey module that captures multiple dimensions of immigration-related perceptions alongside respondents’ confidence in their estimates. Using population survey data from Switzerland, we develop confidence-weighted indicators that separate misperception from guessing. Although inaccurate perceptions are widespread across several immigration domains, they are less prevalent than often assumed; guessing accounts for a substantial share of observed inaccuracy. This measurement strategy enables more precise empirical tests of theories linking perceptions to political attitudes and behavior.

This paper is interested in the spread of an autocratic ideology and the emergence of a societal belief. It is often assumed that the greater the capacities of an autocratic regime to inculcate an ideological belief into the minds and hearts of subordinate citizens, the more an autocratic ideology is shared in a given society. The extent of an ideological belief is explained by a direct and immediate function of its indoctrination capacities. The paper does not question this top–down, macro–micro approach, but argues that the spread of an ideology also depends on stabilizing micro–micro interactions and micro–macro linkages. In this light, the paper makes use of James Coleman’s famous explanatory model and theorizes the different partial mechanisms. It pays particular emphasis on the micro–macro mechanism. Borrowing insights from epidemiology, it argues that three classes of parameters should be taken into closer consideration: timing, contact structure, and the contagiousness of an ideology. In empirical terms, the paper illustrates its theoretical reasoning with the dissemination of the North Korean Juche ideology from the 1950s to the early 1970s, which represents an extreme case of a rapidly ideologizing autocracy. The paper relies on secondary sources as well as archival material retrieved from the former embassy of the German Democratic Republic in Pyongyang.

Although forests play a vital role in US climate strategies, US forest area is expected to decline in the coming decades. Policymakers can help arrest or reverse that decline by strengthening incentives for forest carbon sequestration. Increased funding for afforestation, restoration, and bioenergy and wood products market development will likely benefit the forest sector unevenly across geographic, commercial, and demographic dimensions. This review explores the effects of policies – particularly incentives for afforestation and reforestation, carbon credit market participation, and wood products utilization – on US forest communities. We describe this policy landscape and use various data to investigate effects on diverse stakeholders, with special emphasis on the implications for disadvantaged and forest-dependent communities.

Afforestation policies in the South-Central region could significantly enhance carbon dioxide removal while reshaping rural dynamics. Forest carbon credit markets, though crucial for climate goals, may disadvantage small forest owners and communities, instead favoring large corporate entities. Policies promoting wood products in the South-Central region could benefit forest-dependent, high-poverty communities. We also note how policy implementation might ensure an equitable distribution of climate-related benefits among stakeholders in the forest sector.

The meaning of equality is highly contested. As a result, courts across different jurisdictions have developed distinct doctrinal approaches to operationalize the concept. This article argues that four primary equality frameworks can be identified, each reflecting not only different understandings of equality but also varying degrees of judicial deference to the legislature and executive. The first is the equality-as-non-discrimination model, which predominates in most common law jurisdictions and dominates the theoretical discourse on equality. The second, prevalent in many continental European jurisdictions, is the equality-as-reasonableness model, under which courts apply a relatively strict standard of review, even in cases that do not involve suspect classifications. The third, the positive-equality model, recognizes that courts can derive positive obligations from the principle of equality. Finally, the deferential model largely entrusts the definition and implementation of equality to the legislature and executive. This article highlights the normative strengths and weaknesses of each model, arguing that no single approach holds an absolute normative advantage over the others. Instead, the suitability of a particular model depends on the societal and institutional context in which a court operates.