A national food guide for the UK, providing food based dietary guidelines was first issued in 1995. It was last revised and published as the Eatwell Guide in 2016. The Guide is a pie-chart indicating the proportions of foods from different food groups that should make up the ideal diet from a health perspective. The number of segments for the pie chart, the names of the food groups that comprise those segments, and the list of individual foods that fit into the wider food groups was in essence decided in around 1995 and have remained essentially unchanged since then. The 2016 edition of the guide - the Eatwell Guide - was the first to employ optimisation modelling to calculate the angles of the segments of the pie chart. This was a significant improvement to the scientific basis to the guide. But still the Eatwell Guide leaves much to be desired and it is time for its revision. This review paper outlines the aims of the guide, provides a brief history of the Eatwell Guide, outlines its strengths and weaknesses and suggests some ways by which the Eatwell Guide might be improved.

On 25 February 2024, the final text of the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement was released, marking a pivotal moment in the reform of International Investment Law (IIL). This article examines the trajectory of IIL through the lens of three distinct phases – investment protection, liberalization, and, now, investment facilitation – arguing that this latest phase represents a ‘third configuration’ of the field. While past reforms have struggled with legitimacy crises and governance limitations, investment facilitation introduces a ‘risk-capacity’ approach that prioritizes trust-building, regulatory coherence, and sustainable investment governance. By analyzing the well-designed mechanisms of the IFD Agreement, this article demonstrates how investment facilitation transforms IIL from a power-driven framework into a capacity-enhancing system, reducing its marginalization and fostering inclusivity among World Trade Organization (WTO) members. Finally, this study outlines potential next steps for the IFD Agreement, emphasizing its role as a blueprint for future multilateral investment governance.

The opioid overdose crisis has become a global public health emergency, claiming more than 100,000 lives each year. In North America, shifting opioid prescribing practices in response to the crisis have profoundly affected people living with chronic pain, who now face reduced access to prescription opioids. Against this backdrop, pain stakeholders have become increasingly active in policymaking arenas to shape how opioids and pain are understood. This study examines the Canadian Pain Task Force (CPTF) — a federal advisory body charged with creating a national pain strategy — by analyzing its reports, public and patient consultations, and internal documents. Through qualitative framing analysis, we find that stakeholders overwhelmingly depicted the overdose crisis as the result of illicit and irresponsible opioid use, while positioning stigma as both a driver and consequence of the crisis that compounded the challenges faced by people with chronic pain. From these problem definitions flowed policy proposals centered on expanding opioid access, reducing stigma, and advancing patient-centered care. These findings demonstrate how pain stakeholders shape, and are simultaneously shaped by, opioid policy debates — with consequences for both overdose prevention and chronic pain management.

The partial transposition from quantum information theory provides a new source to distill the so-called asymptotic freeness without the assumption of classical independence between random matrices. Indeed, a recent paper [10] established asymptotic freeness between partial transposes in the bipartite situation. In this paper, we prove almost sure asymptotic freeness in the general multipartite situation and establish a central limit theorem for the partial transposes.

During the Fascist period, the extractive industry played an important role in Italy’s economic and political landscape, and sulphur was considered the autarkic mineral par excellence. This article reveals how the rhetoric surrounding the vigorous extraction of sulphur in Sicily was part of a larger project of reconstruction and reorganisation, which involved the division of land, reclamation efforts, military operations and colonisation. Drawing on examples of visual and written narratives from public reports, essays, illustrated magazines and exhibitions of the time, the article demonstrates that extraction was both the actual site of resource extraction and the Fascist extractive logic of consensus. The use of specific discourses and definitions enabled and justified the portrayal of humans and lands as extractable resources, creating images and imaginaries that normalised exploitation and transformation, and the regime’s extractive force.

This study investigated the interaction between oral task enjoyment and task repetition and the effect of this interaction on second language learners’ speech complexity, accuracy, and fluency. In the context of task-based language teaching, task enjoyment is a context-specific, situational emotion that arises during task performance and is hypothesised to enhance engagement, motivation, and overall task performance, whereas task repetition is a classroom procedure shown to improve fluency, and possibly also complexity and accuracy. Fifty-two Polish young adult learners of L2 English completed the Oral Task Enjoyment Scale before exact task repetition. Their oral task performances were analysed before and after immediate exact task repetition. Results from Generalized Linear Model analysis reveal that 1) task repetition enhances lexical diversity and marginally improves fluency, 2) higher levels of oral task enjoyment positively influence learners’ lexical diversity, correct verb forms, and speech rate, yet 3) its interaction with task repetition is not significant, suggesting that task repetition benefits are consistent across different levels of enjoyment. These findings imply that task repetition is an effective strategy for improving language performance, regardless of learners’ emotional engagement with the task.

Despite the substantial evidence linking particulate matter exposure to adverse health outcomes, a large portion of the global population, particularly in low-income countries, continues to rely on highly polluting fuels, such as wood, for cooking and heating. This study evaluates the immediate effects of wood-burning restrictions, which are triggered by air quality warnings, on levels of fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM10) particulate matter in southern Chile. Using a difference-in-differences design that incorporates pre-policy data, we provide plausible causal estimates indicating that wood-burning restrictions lead to significant reductions in hourly PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations during the most severe air quality warning. Additional analyses, including a regression discontinuity design, further support these findings. While our analysis suggests that wood-burning restrictions are effective, they may not be sufficient to reduce air pollution concentrations to levels that are considered safe for public health.

Large-scale disasters, particularly when handled poorly, often spark popular outrage and threaten an autocrat’s hold on power. Autocrats frequently employ blame-shifting strategies to redirect public anger and weather these storms. We examine whether blame shifting after a large-scale disaster helps or hurts an autocrat’s popularity through a mixed-methods research design in the electoral autocracy of Turkey in April–July 2023, following the February 2023 earthquakes. An online survey experiment (n = 3,839) identifies the effects of blaming the aftermath of the earthquakes on the opposition, a force majeure, private construction companies, or a government minister, while focus groups explore the mechanisms behind these effects. We find that blaming the opposition or a force majeure leads to a backlash, especially among those more able to critically evaluate information. Focus groups reveal that these backlash effects are driven by voters’ dismay at electoral opportunism and the incumbent’s polarizing language following a large-scale disaster.

Let $ K $ be a compact subset of the d-torus invariant under an expanding diagonal endomorphism with s distinct eigenvalues. Suppose the symbolic coding of K satisfies weak specification. When $ s \leq 2 $, we prove that the following three statements are equivalent: (A) the Hausdorff and box dimensions of $ K $ coincide; (B) with respect to some gauge function, the Hausdorff measure of $ K $ is positive and finite; (C) the Hausdorff dimension of the measure of maximal entropy on $ K $ attains the Hausdorff dimension of $ K $. When $ s \geq 3 $, we find some examples in which statement (A) does not hold but statement (C) holds, which is a new phenomenon not appearing in the planar cases. Through a different probabilistic approach, we establish the equivalence of statements (A) and (B) for Bedford–McMullen sponges.

A bandpass filter with reconfigurable band traps operating in the S-band with a wide tuning range for the transmission zeros is presented in this article. The filter employs a main transmission line path comprising two different step impedance resonator structure, with stopband formation achieved through four quarter-wavelength resonators coupled to both ends of the main path. These resonators folded into open-ring to decrease the area of the circuit, are loaded with reconfigurable elements (SMV2020), controlled via a voltage-based control system. The voltage control system, which is designed by microcontroller unit (MCU)-AT32F421K8T7, can change the power supply voltage linearly to make this filter system flexible. The filter is fabricated on a Rogers 4350 substrate with a relative dielectric constant of 3.66, a loss tangent of 0.004, and a thickness of 0.762 mm and simulated in high-frequency structure simulator. The filter demonstrates favorable passband characteristics on either side of the stopband, achieving an in-band insertion loss of less than 1 dB and a return loss exceeding 12 dB. The reconfigurable stopband spans from 2.1 to 3.0 GHz, with a stopband return loss greater than 13 dB and an out-of-band rejection exceeding 50 dB.

This paper presents a wideband balanced reflectionless filter based on the half-wavelength ring resonator. The proposed structure is simple and easy for manufacture. The design procedures are elaborately introduced. To promote understanding, the analysis of differential-mode (DM) and common-mode (CM) equivalent circuits are given. The corresponding equations are derived. For validation, a design example is fabricated and tested. The measured results verify its ability of transmitting DM signals and eliminating undesired CM signals. Specifically, the 21.6-dB CM suppression bandwidth can reach up to 273%, while the CM absorption bandwidth can reach up to 195%. The proposed balanced reflectionless filter exhibits excellent DM matching level, CM suppression level, and wide reflectionless bandwidth.

Electrical contacts are critical components in all connector systems, as they enable the flow of electrical current. However, power contacts are increasingly subjected to various forms of degradation due to the high input power demands of modern electrical circuits. One of the primary causes of damage is the electrical arc, which can lead to erosion and oxidation of contact surfaces, ultimately resulting in electrical insulation failure. In industries such as aerospace, this type of failure can be mission-critical, especially in scenarios where in-orbit repair is not possible. Therefore, the design and choice of contact material must be carefully considered. Based on theoretical studies of arc-related phenomena, we conducted experimental tests focusing on the optimisation of hemispherical contact using samples made from various pure and coated materials. The contact surfaces in these tests were composed of high-conductivity base such as copper (Cu) and aluminum (Al), and were also coated with noble metals such as gold (Au) and silver (Ag). These materials are commonly used in sectors including aerospace, automotive and general industrial applications. To ensure a fair comparison, all contact samples were manipulated and tested under consistent conditions that reflect their real-world operational environments. The resulting arc parameters were identified and analysed through modeling to determine the most suitable contact design and material most capable of withstanding arc-related degradation over the mission duration, thus ensuring longer service life in applications were a continuous monitoring and repair are not feasible. The results show that repetitive exposure to high input power significantly damages contacts surfaces. Furthermore, the use of coated materials effectively extends the lifespan of the electrical contacts. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses support these findings, revealing that high-power input increases erosion rates and leaves pronounced marks on the contact surfaces.