Unlike with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in clinical research, little has been said about the ethical principles that should regulate the use of RCTs in experimental development economics. One well-known principle in clinical research ethics is the principle of clinical equipoise. Some recent commentators suggest that an analogue of clinical equipoise should play a role in experimental development economics. In this article, I first highlight some difficulties with importing the concept to experimental development economics. I then argue that MacKay’s (2018, 2020) notion of policy equipoise avoids these difficulties and has a role to play in experimental development economics.

Increasing sustainability expectations requires support for the design of systems that are reactive in minimizing potential negative impact and proactive in guiding engineering decision-making toward more value-robust long-term decisions. This article identifies a gap in the methodological support for the design of circular systems, building on the hypothesis that computer-based simulation models will drive the development of more value-robust systems designed to behave positively in a changeable operational environment during the whole lifecycle. The article presents a framework for value-robust circular systems design, complementing the current approaches for circular design aimed at increasing decision-makers’ awareness about the complexity of circular systems to be designed. The framework is theoretically described and demonstrated through its applications in four case studies in the field of construction machinery investigating new circular solutions for the future of mining, quarrying and road construction. The framework supports the development of more resilient and sustainable systems, strengthening the feedback loop between exploring new technologies, proposing innovative concepts and evaluating system performance.

Opposition control (OC) is a reactive flow-control approach that mitigates the near-wall fluctuations by imposing blowing and suction at the wall, being opposite to the off-wall observations. We carried out high-resolution large-eddy simulations to investigate the effects of OC on turbulent boundary layers (TBLs) over a wing at a chord-based Reynolds number (${Re}_c$) of $200 \ 000$. Two cases were considered: flow over the suction sides of the NACA0012 wing section at an angle of attack of $0^{\circ }$, and the NACA4412 wing section at an angle of attack of $5^{\circ }$. These cases represent TBLs subjected to mild and strong non-uniform adverse pressure gradients (APGs), respectively. First, we assessed the control effects on the streamwise development of TBLs and the achieved drag reduction. Our findings indicate that the performance of OC in terms of friction-drag reduction significantly diminishes as the APG intensifies. Analysis of turbulence statistics subsequently reveals that this is directly linked to the intensified wall-normal convection caused by the strong APG: it energizes the control intensity to overload the limitation that guarantees drag reduction. The formation of the so-called virtual wall that reflects the mitigation of wall-normal momentum transport is also implicitly affected by the pressure gradient. Control and pressure-gradient effects are clearly apparent in the anisotropy invariant maps, which also highlight the relevance of the virtual wall. Finally, spectral analyses indicate that the wall-normal transport of small-scale structures to the outer region due to the APG has a detrimental impact on the performance of OC. Uniform blowing and body-force damping were also examined to understand the differences between the various control schemes. Despite the distinct performance of friction-drag reduction, the effects of uniform blowing are akin to those induced by a stronger APG, while the effects of body-force damping exhibit similarities to those of OC in terms of the streamwise development of the TBL although there are differences in the turbulent statistics. To authors’ best knowledge, the present study stands as the first in-depth analysis of the effects of OC applied to TBL subjected to non-uniform APGs with complex geometries.

This article examines the evolution of the role played by the number and gender of siblings in the survival and biological well-being of individuals in rural Spain during the twentieth century. Our aim is to test how two fundamental theories – the cooperative breeding hypotheis and the resource dilution hypothesis – about how the number of siblings affect the individual come together in this area of study during a period of economic, health, and social transformation. We used a sample of 19,331 individuals born between 1900 and 1979 from 14 rural villages, for whom data on sibling count and various family and environmental variables are available. Using these data, we ran several statistical models to discover the effects of siblings on survival. In addition, we studied the long-term effect of siblings on height using height data from 2,783 male conscripts. Our results show that the number of siblings positively influenced survival, either through the cooperation of older siblings in the care of their younger brothers and sisters or through parents exhibiting higher offspring survival abilities. However, increased reproductive success may come with a disadvantage. The biological well-being, as measured by height, of male conscripts was significantly lower among individuals with more siblings in the early decades of the study. Conversely, in the later decades, the negative relationship between sibship size and height was not statistically significant when the number of living siblings was fewer than five.

Soil health is a term used to describe the general state or soil quality in an agroecosystem. The study of aggregate formation pathways has been successfully used to assess soil quality, especially chemistry, particularly in measuring the impact of different forms of use and management on soil health. This study aimed to (i) verify the contribution of biogenic (Bio) and physicogenic (Phy) aggregates to soil fertility; (ii) evaluate the total carbon (TC), nitrogen (TN), phosphorus (TP), and potassium contents and their respective stoichiometric ratios in these aggregates; and (iii) analyse the relationship between the P fractions (labile, moderately labile, and non-labile) and these aggregates. Three management systems were evaluated (permanent pasture, PP; no-tillage system, NT; and no-tillage + Urochloa system, NT+B) as well as a reference area (Atlantic Forest biome vegetation, NF). All the sample areas are located on soils with a sandy texture in the surface horizons. Aggregates were separated, identified, and classified according to their genesis into Bio (biotic factors) and Phy (abiotic factors). Only the PP system had significant increase in the values of TC, TN, TP, TK, and organic and inorganic P. The NT+B system favoured a proportional increase in TC content compared to the aggregates of the NF and NT areas, especially in the subsurface layer (ranging from 31 to 44%). For Bio aggregates, there were increments in TC and TN contents compared to Phy ones, especially in the NT and NT+B systems (8 to 30% for TC and 56 to 239% for TN). Bio aggregates also had the lowest values of C/N ratio in the surface layer (< 30), highest values of C/P ratio in the subsurface layer (> 33), and greater participation of the organic form of P in TP in the surface layer (between 26 and 42%). The chemical attributes in the aggregates were affected differently by the soil management systems, especially PP and NT+B systems. The results verified for Bio aggregates strengthen the hypothesis that these structural units are important sources of nutrients for the soil and reiterate the importance of studying the formation pathways in assessment soil health.

The scholarly and popular commonsense about corruption in the Philippines is that the country has always been corrupt. Seventy-eight years of corruption as an independent state (1946–2024) may as well have been a thousand. Lay and scholarly accounts explain this continuity with respect to traditional values and premature democratization. In both accounts, corruption is all but genetic to Philippine culture or politics. To be sure, continuity is self-evident if we are looking only at corruption scandals—but scandals have been accompanied by anti-corruption movements, broadly speaking. The two have gone hand-in-hand historically, suggesting that we need to understand them together. Taking them together, that is, focusing on their dialectic, produces, as I will show, a history of change. Specifically, how Filipinos relate to corruption has changed. They have become less tolerant of it in general and learned to embrace an anti-corruption model of politics. How scholars and policymakers conceive of corruption has changed. They have come to adopt a view of corruption as a generic social problem, effectively disembedding it from society. These developments have enabled a more intolerant approach such that, today, the greater danger lies in an anti-corruption “fundamentalism” leading to the rejection of politics altogether. Viewed as a whole, the history of corruption/anti-corruption has been a popular struggle over what politics should look like, and thus we might read their dialectic as driving the progress of political modernization from below.

The Indo-West Pacific region serves as the primary habitat for the majority of extant hexapodid crabs. The hexapodids boast a rich evolutionary history dating back to the Cretaceous, marked by a significant radiation throughout the Cenozoic, while the Paleocene–Miocene of tropical America emerges as a pivotal center of radiation, evidenced by reported hexapodid species in Barbados, Panama, Peru, Trinidad, and Venezuela. Through an examination of the paleocarcinological collection at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, a new genus and species within Hexapodidae is described and illustrated. Rodneyellus feldmanni, the newly described taxon, is named in honor to Dr. Rodney Feldmann for his unwavering commitment to fossil crustacean research. This report marks the inaugural documentation of Hexapodidae in Brazil, encompassing both fossilized and extant representatives. Furthermore, the Pirabas Formation emerges as a critical locus for comprehending the contemporary distribution of decapod crustaceans across tropical America.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/9792bc1e-d06e-490b-a8e6-c23ee1c11fb1

Dispersion in spatio-temporal random flows is dominated by the competition between spatial and temporal velocity resets along particle paths. This competition admits a range of normal and anomalous dispersion behaviours characterised by the Kubo number, which compares the relative strength of spatial and temporal velocity resets. To shed light on these behaviours, we develop a Lagrangian stochastic approach for particle motion in spatio-temporally fluctuating flow fields. For space–time separable flows, particle motion is mapped onto a continuous time random walk (CTRW) for steady flow in warped time, which enables the upscaling and prediction of the large-scale dispersion behaviour. For non-separable flows, we measure Lagrangian velocities in terms of a new sampling variable, the average number of velocity transitions (both temporal and spatial) along pathlines, which renders the velocity series Markovian. Based on this, we derive a Lagrangian stochastic model that represents particle motion as a coupled space–time random walk, that is, a CTRW for which the space and time increments are intrinsically coupled. This approach sheds light on the fundamental mechanisms of particle motion in space–time variable flows, and allows for its systematic quantification. Furthermore, these results indicate that alternative strategies for the analysis of Lagrangian velocity data using new sampling variables may facilitate the identification of (hidden) Markov models, and enable the development of reduced-order models for otherwise complex particle dynamics.

For a group G, a subgroup $U \leqslant G$ and a group A such that $\mathrm {Inn}(G) \leqslant A \leqslant \mathrm {Aut}(G)$, we say that U is an A-covering group of G if $G = \bigcup _{a\in A}U^a$. A theorem of Jordan (1872), implies that if G is a finite group, $A = \mathrm {Inn}(G)$ and U is an A-covering group of G, then $U = G$. Motivated by a question concerning Kronecker classes of field extensions, Neumann and Praeger (1990) conjectured that, more generally, there is an integer function f such that if G is a finite group and U is an A-covering subgroup of G, then $|G:U| \leqslant f(|A:\mathrm {Inn}(G)|)$. A key piece of evidence for this conjecture is a theorem of Praeger [‘Kronecker classes of fields and covering subgroups of finite groups’, J. Aust. Math. Soc. 57 (1994), 17–34], which asserts that there is a two-variable integer function g such that if G is a finite group and U is an A-covering subgroup of G, then $|G:U|\leqslant g(|A:\mathrm {Inn}(G)|,c)$, where c is the number of A-chief factors of G. Unfortunately, the proof of this theorem contains an error. In this paper, using a different argument, we give a correct proof of the theorem.

Despite internet use potentially reducing loneliness among older adults during the Covid-19 pandemic, quantitative research in this area is limited. Our study addresses this gap by exploring how internet use affects loneliness worsening in old age across Europe from a gendered perspective. We adopt a comprehensive approach, considering individual and contextual factors. Using multi-level modelling, we analyse data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (Wave 8 and Corona Survey 1), supplemented by the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker and the Eurostat Digital Agenda Scoreboard Key Indicators. The empirical analysis has revealed gender-specific differences in the relationship between internet use and the worsening of loneliness among older people during the pandemic, with internet use contributing to increased loneliness for older women, but not for men. In addition, our study indicates that while the contextual factors, namely the severity of the contingency measures and the quality of the internet connection, are not moderators of the relationship between internet use and loneliness worsening, the stringency index specifically exacerbates loneliness in women. These findings contribute to the development of more effective and targeted interventions to combat loneliness worsening and promote wellbeing among older women, particularly in the context of global health crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Objectives/Goals: Unhealthy lifestyle habits may increase medical students’ risk for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and non-alcoholic fatty pancreatic disease (NAFPD). This study aims to investigate how these lifestyle factors affect liver and pancreas health in preclinical medical students using diagnostic ultrasound imaging. Methods/Study Population: Using diagnostic ultrasound imaging, we propose a research study to evaluate the anatomical changes of the liver and pancreas associated with lifestyle among medical students in UCC. Forty-two (42) medical students from the Central University of the Caribbean who are in their preclinical years will be recruited to perform an abdominal ultrasound. To measure the diameter of the right liver lobe, we will employ the craniocaudal measurement method established by Riestra. et al. (2018). The parameter established by Rumack et al. (2011) will be utilized to assess liver texture and categories by Lee JS et al. (2009) to pancreas fat infiltration grades. Results/Anticipated Results: This study expects to reveal a significant correlation between the lifestyles of preclinical medical students and the health of their liver and pancreas, particularly in size and texture. We anticipate identifying specific lifestyle factors – such as dietary habits and physical activity levels – that contribute to the prevalence of hepatic and pancreatic steatosis. Additionally, we expect to highlight the need for targeted interventions to promote healthier lifestyles among medical students to mitigate risks associated with MAFLD and NAFPD. Discussion/Significance of Impact: This study is significant for monitoring changes in liver and pancreas health, preventing complications, and improving health quality while reducing future costs. It may guide the creation of tailored wellness programs for medical students, enhancing their well-being and contributing to better healthcare practices and educational strategies.

Objectives/Goals: We aim to enhance risk prediction in kidney transplantation outcomes by improving models of peptide antigen presentation of mismatched HLA molecules. HLA-derived peptides presented by HLA Class II to T-cells can activate an immune response, ultimately leading to graft failure. We aim to improve peptide prediction by modeling antigen processing. Methods/Study Population: T-cell epitope models for HLA mismatching struggle to predict which peptides are presented because antigen processing by proteases is not well modeled. We model antigen processing of HLA Class II proteins using 3D HLA structures (crystallography data) to create an HLA-specific antigen processing likelihood (APL) model. APL uses conformational stability measurements such as b-factor, COREX, solvent accessible surface area, and sequence entropy to predict cleavage sites from proteolysis. We will integrate APL into a T-cell epitope prediction tool for HLA-derived peptides based on donor and recipient HLA genotypes. Finally, we will associate the risk of graft failure with counts of these peptides derived from APL-integrated prediction models using a historical kidney transplant cohort from 2000 to 2023. Results/Anticipated Results: We expect that applying APL could reduce false-positive peptide binders influencing risk prediction scores. We anticipate improved peptide prediction accuracy compared to existing tools such as NetMHCIIPan, which assumes all possible peptides are equally likely to emerge from antigen processing. NetMHCIIPan is currently used by PIRCHE-II HLA mismatch risk algorithm. We expect that merging antigen processing (APL) and peptide-binding (NetMHCIIPan) models into a unified model would enhance risk stratification for graft failure. Current risk stratification still leads to poor outcomes post-transplant, especially for minority population groups. Our model can identify an alternative pool of well-matched donors and has the potential to improve equity for non-White minority candidates. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Improving the understanding of how HLA matching contributes to kidney transplant outcomes can better stratify risks for kidney transplant recipients, enable personalized treatment, and ultimately improve outcomes for those undergoing kidney transplantation to treat renal diseases.