What shapes fossil-fuel investment and divestment decisions? What are pension funds’ climate-related considerations? And how do conceptions of portfolio risk influence these issues? Danish pension funds constitute a rare and understudied cohort of investors who have undertaken comparatively progressive fossil-fuel investment decisions. Simultaneously, diversification and market rationality have frequently been invoked as obstacles to divestment and active ownership. Using the Danish experience, this article conducts an archaeological analysis of the concept of portfolio risk, unearthing the various ways in which it has shaped fossil-fuel investment decisions. The analysis identifies five key aspects through which the concept has hampered Danish pension funds’ active ownership and fossil-fuel divestment decisions (sector diversification, externalities, market rationality, dispersed ownership, and passive index investing). The article argues that these discursive aspects have reinforced a passive tendency within finance capitalism to bolster the status quo, thereby supporting prevailing market actors and the continued extraction of fossil fuels.

This meta-analysis assesses the relationship between vitamin D supplementation and incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). Pubmed, Web of science, Ovid, Cochrane Library and Clinical Trials were used to systematically search from their inception until July 2024. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were employed to assess the association between vitamin D supplementation and MACEs. This analysis included 5 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Pooled results showed no significant difference in the incidence of MACEs (HR: 0.96; p=0.77), expanded MACEs (HR: 0.96; p=0.77) between the vitamin D intervention group and the control group. Further, the vitamin D intervention group had a lower incidence of myocardial infarction (MI), but the difference was not statistically significant (HR: 0.88, 95%CI: 0.77-1.01; p=0.061); nevertheless, vitamin D supplementation had no effect on the reduced incidence of stroke (p=0.675) or cardiovascular death (p=0.422). Among males (p=0.109) and females (p=0.468), vitamin D supplementation had no effect on the reduced incidence of MACEs. For participants with a body mass index (BMI)<25 kg/m2, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.782); notably, the vitamin D intervention group had a lower incidence of MACEs for those with BMI≥25 kg/m2 (HR: 0.91, 95%CI: 0.83-1.00; p=0.055). Vitamin D supplementation did not significantly contribute to the risk reduction of MACEs, stroke and cardiovascular death in the general population, but may be helpful for MI. Notably, effect of vitamin D supplementation for MACEs was influenced by BMI. Overweight/obese people should be advised to take vitamin D to reduce the incidence of MACEs.

While the claim that moral ignorance exculpates is quite controversial, the parallel claim with respect to non-moral ignorance seems to be universally accepted. As a starting point, we can state this claim as follows:

Non-moral Ignorance Exculpates: If an agent did everything that could be reasonably expected of her to inquire into some empirical issue as to whether P, the seeming truth of P played the appropriate role in the agent’s motivation to Φ, and the agent would not have merited blame for Φ-ing if P had been the case, then the agent does not merit blame for Φ-ing.

In this paper, I aim to accomplish two tasks. First, I argue that NMIE is false in certain cases in which, by Φ-ing, the agent violates a course-grained, reasonable community norm without knowing that doing so is in everyone’s best interests. Second, I argue that, while moral ignorance, like non-moral ignorance, does not exculpate when community norms are violated in this manner, it does exculpate when they are not. With these two tasks accomplished, we will see the striking parallels in the manner in which both moral and non-moral ignorance exculpate.

Global discussions around the risks, benefits and governance of solar radiation modification (SRM) in the climate change response portfolio are accelerating, but the topic remains nascent in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In 2023, a US start-up (Make Sunsets) performed a small-scale, non-research deployment of SRM in Baja California, Mexico, without prior permission or community engagement. Their actions prompted Mexico to announce its intention to ban SRM experimentation, underscoring the need for governance to prevent irresponsible practices that could discredit legitimate research. We perform an empirical and ethical analysis of the landscape of academic discussions and media coverage on SRM in the LAC region, focusing on the Make Sunset case. Our analysis leads us to three conclusions: first, a lack of regulations in LAC that fosters mistrust, fuels perceptions of neo-colonialism and restricts potentially valuable and responsible research; second, we argue that the theatrical Make Sunsets case is not ethically justified in light of the diversity of risks associated with it; third, we offer foundational, participatory recommendations to promote effective, transparent and sustainable governance of SRM, including LAC in global conversations.

Technological developments and affordable price structures have increased the usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across almost all sectors, hence increasing demand. Since UAVs can fly and perform various tasks without requiring a human operator, the most dangerous and time-consuming tasks previously performed by humans in many sectors are now accomplished by using UAVs. The increased use of UAVs has also introduced critical safety and security risks, including airspace congestion, collisions and malicious use, and therefore, identifying and assessing the risks associated with UAVs and finding ways to mitigate them is of great importance. This qualitative study investigates the safety and security risks posed by the increased use of UAVs and discusses ways to mitigate these risks. Semi-structured interviews with aviation professionals, including pilots, air traffic controllers and academicians, were conducted, and the collected data were analysed by using MAXQDA 24 qualitative analysis software. The results indicate that 86% of participants emphasised air traffic density as a major safety concern, while 71% underlined the need for dedicated air corridors and robust legal frameworks to reduce collision risks. These insights suggest that the safe integration of UAVs into current aviation systems demands a multifaceted strategy involving regulatory interventions, such as clearly defined UAV flight zones and essential technological enhancements. Overall, the study underscores the urgent need for coordinated efforts–legal, technological, and inter-institutional–to ensure the secure incorporation of UAVs into national airspace.

Despite international calls to abolish the use of segregation in prisons, the practice has been defended by some Canadian correctional workers as a sometimes-necessary practice to preserve prisoner and staff safety. Informed through a lens of risk and the socio-legal literature on segregation, the current interview study explores perspectives on segregation from 28 correctional officers (COs) employed in provincial correctional services at a prison in Atlantic Canada. COs expressed a need to continue using segregation—albeit less often and under reformed contexts—to ensure safety for prisoners and staff and preserve prisoner accountability. Findings indicate COs recognize the structural, situational, and personal factors and complexities that shape decisions to impose segregation. They call for increased available resources to improve prisoner safety, dignity and wellness, prevent harm and self-injury, and reduce the use of segregation. We conclude with recommendations for provincial and territorial correctional institutions to consider moving forward.

The justifiably famous “Asian disease” experiment (ADE) by Tversky and Kahneman established that choices involving uncertainty can be dependent on framing. Description emphasizing gains induced much higher preference for choices in which outcomes were described as certain rather than probabilistic, as compared to description emphasizing losses. The vignette for the ADE involved disease mitigation, and the COVID pandemic gave it much-enhanced realism and immediacy. An attempt to replicate the ADE during the pandemic, however, failed to produce the original results. Other, contemporaneous replications, by contrast, matched the original, leaving open the question of when such framing effects occur.

Risk was incorporated into monetary aggregation over thirty-five years ago, using a stochastic version of the workhorse money-in-the-utility-function model. Nevertheless, the mathematical foundations of this stochastic model remain shaky. To firm the foundations, this paper employs richer probability concepts than Borel-measurability, enabling me to prove the existence of a well-behaved solution and to derive stochastic Euler equations. This measurability approach is less common in economics, possibly because the derivation of stochastic Euler equations is new. Importantly, the problem’s economics are not restricted by the approach. The results provide firm footing for the growing monetary aggregation under risk literature, which integrates monetary and finance theory. As crypto-currencies and stable coins garner attention, solidifying the foundations of risky money becomes more critical. The method also supports deriving stochastic Euler equations for any dynamic economics problem that features contemporaneous uncertainty about prices, including asset pricing models like capital asset pricing models and stochastic consumer choice models.