This paper draws on two seemingly disparate moments – standing witness to protest in Guatemala and unpacking programme design in New York City – to explore the connections, linkages and methodological insights brought forward by front-line organisers. These individuals, though not typically recognised as policy experts, offer crucial knowledge that challenges dominant approaches to law and policy. Turning to their actions and framing, this paper argues that these organisers share a deep and urgent analysis of institutional and state violence. Their perspectives highlight the inadequacies of conventional institutional lenses, which often exclude or dismiss such grassroots expertise. The paper emphasises the importance of how these voices are heard and responded to, particularly given the historical and ongoing marginalisation of such knowledge holders. Drawing on multiple examples, it critiques institutional investments in spatial and bureaucratic schemes that deflect responsibility for violence, and that distance possibilities for accountability. This raises the question of what orientation or sensibility is necessary to engage with and to listen to these collective voices differently, especially from within administrative and bureaucratic systems. Grappling with the possibilities and limitations of what a category of ‘activist-scholar administrator’ could mean, this paper identifies three key lessons: the need for bureaucratic imagination, an iterative approach and expanded analytical frameworks. I argue that much more thinking and action are needed to navigate bureaucratic systems – whether in universities or state institutions – in ways that centre community knowledge and respond meaningfully to calls for broader accountability.

This commentary responds to a case study of a drawing group on a perinatal psychiatric ward, framing it as a threshold practice: one that invites creative presence between clinician and mother, between symptom and symbol. The commentary highlights the therapeutic potential of shared non-verbal creative acts, but points to the potential for aesthetic coercion and the ethical tensions that arise when clinicians step into aesthetic space alongside patients. It argues that arts interventions in mental health require neither romanticisation nor reductive measurement, but a critical and generative mode of engagement attuned to thresholds, relationships and the fragile work of recovery.

Commodity grades seem like innocuous measures of quality and thereby escape scrutiny as to their origin, purpose, and effect. Drawing on the National Live Stock and Meat Board’s executive meeting minutes and US Food Administration (USFA) records, this essay contextualizes and politicizes government beef grading. The USFA played a key role in the lead-up to government beef grading and in the creation of the Meat Board. USFA messaging as well as a post war depression curtailed consumption of feedlot-derived beef. In response, industry leaders formed a trade association called the Meat Board that acted as a liaison between industry and public sector scientists and helped bring about government beef grading. Beef grading emerged in the broader context of a campaign launched by the USFA to modernize meat retailers. At the same time, breeders, feeders, and western ranchers pushed for government beef grading in response to low prices and as a panacea. The Meat Board also cooperated with agricultural scientists in coordinating research to boost feedlot-derived beef. Rather than industry cooptation of science, this essay shows an alignment of vision in a mutually beneficial relationship. These actors, furthermore, used government beef grading to protect the feedlot system of production.

Biofilm formation is a prevalent contamination source in the dairy processing industry. It enhances the tolerance of bacterial cells and elevates the risk of product spoilage. Moreover, biofilms can present significant challenges to dairy processing equipment, thereby threatening the safety and efficiency of operations. In the dairy product processing environment, biofilms typically appear as mixed biofilms. Compared to single-species biofilms, mixed biofilms are characterized by high diversity, complex spatial distribution, strong antibiotic resistance and high adaptability to environmental conditions. Consequently, it is essential to comprehensively understand the formation mechanisms and characteristics of mixed biofilms and develop effective control strategies. This review provides an overview of the formation of common microbial biofilms and their mixed biofilms during dairy processing, describes the cellular interactions and characteristics, and finally outlines current common biofilm control measures. All of these efforts aim to provide valuable insights for reducing risks associated with mixed biofilms in the dairy environment.

The primary aim of this paper is to give topological obstructions to Cantor sets in $\mathbb{R}^3$ being Julia sets of uniformly quasiregular mappings. Our main tool is the genus of a Cantor set. We give a new construction of a genus g Cantor set, the first for which the local genus is g at every point, and then show that this Cantor set can be realized as the Julia set of a uniformly quasiregular mapping. These are the first such Cantor Julia sets constructed for $g\geq 3$. We then turn to our dynamical applications and show that every Cantor Julia set of a hyperbolic uniformly quasiregular map has a finite genus g; that a given local genus in a Cantor Julia set must occur on a dense subset of the Julia set; and that there do exist Cantor Julia sets where the local genus is non-constant.

Body-centric and body-worn applications have gained much more attention due to the emergence of wearable electronics. Antenna designs suitable for body-centric communications have then become a crucial part of any wearable system. This article introduces an ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna with dimensions of 24 × 18 × 0.8 mm3, designed using a flexible jean substrate. Using a slotted patch and defected ground, a wide impedance bandwidth of 15 GHz was achieved. A novel multiple input multiple output (MIMO) configuration with extended swastika-shaped connected ground is proposed to improve the reliability in body-centric communication. Frequency selective surface (FSS) is deployed to reduce specific absorption rate (SAR) and also to achieve directional radiation pattern at a specified frequency range to support both on- and off-body communications. A novel approach of corner-connected inter-rotated square rings was used to achieve wideband response. With the proposed FSS, the antenna renders a good peak gain of 9.1 dB, with the efficiency ranging from 72% to 94% in the UWB spectrum. The FSS proposal also helped in bringing down the SAR within the limits. All the MIMO diversity parameters reported remain good enough, ensuring link reliability. Real-time on-body measurements were carried out at various body parts. The path loss obtained while using the proposed antenna is considerably minimal. Satisfactory results were obtained from the time domain analysis carried out, which ensures good pulse similarity and minimum phase variations.

In the past five years the UK food system has been severely impacted by a combination of events including the pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, and the cost-of-living crisis. The resulting escalation of food prices has increased levels of food insecurity however much research has focused on families. Food aid providers have reported increasing numbers of older adults seeking support to access food(1). Food insecurity in older adults is affected by an accumulation of factors that can amplify the impact of financial threats to exacerbating their susceptibility to food poverty, including decline in functional ability and reduced social networks(2). Traditionally, services like Meals on Wheels or lunch clubs safeguarded the food security of older adults; however, austerity policies have led to their decline, further compromising older people’s ability to access nutritious food. Prolonged food insecurity increases risk of malnutrition/undernutrition. A scoping review aimed to map current academic knowledge of pensioner age experience of using food aid in the UK and other OECD member countries.

Four databases: Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL were searched using predefined search terms identifying 4762 papers. Screening of abstracts and full text papers resulted in 30 academic articles that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and were included in the review.

Most of the studies (16 studies) were undertaken in the USA, 8 in the UK, in Australia and 1 in the Netherlands. Most of the studies used qualitative methods (n=22), two were quantitative, and six used mixed methods. Included identified the following 4 themes: (1) Social and Emotional Benefits (12 Studies): Many individuals use food aid services not just for accessing food but also for social support and interaction; (2) Stigma (16 Studies): Stigma and shame were barriers for older people using food aid. Lack of knowledge about available services are significant barriers to accessing support; (3) Quality and Suitability of Food (8 Studies) : There are concerns about the quality and suitability of food provided, particularly for those with dietary restrictions or cultural preferences; and (4) Challenges Accessing Food Support (13 Studies): Challenges to accessing food aid include transport especially in rural areas, mobility affects ability to carry food home. Language barriers affected ability to engage with infrastructure.

The scoping review highlights the challenges PAH face when accessing food aid services. In the short term, in order to better meet the nutritional needs of the Increasing numbers of PAH needing support to address food insecurity requires food aid services to respond to their specific needs. Longer term, policy makers need to address the issues driving PAH to food aid. Further research is needed to explore the wider cost of food insecurity across the food, health and social care system.

In this article, we study the $L_p$ Gauss image problem for C-pseudo-cones, where C is a pointed closed convex cone in $\mathbb {R}^n$ with vertex at the origin and having nonempty interior. We first establish the existence of solutions for a Borel measure supported on compact subsets, and then prove a general existence theorem for $p>0$ via approximation. In addition, we prove a uniqueness theorem for $p<0$ under appropriate assumptions.

Food and Nutrition Security is heavily threatened by the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, and Pakistan is no exception. The most vulnerable segments including women and low wage workers are mainly relying on free or subsidized meals served by public and private sector managed food distribution networks (FDNs). These FDNs are mainly relying on wheat flour, which could be used as a fortification vehicle to provide essential nutrients after fortification for Zn, Fe, Folic acid and B12, during post COVID period. The aim of this project was to ensure that wheat flour, procured by selected FDNs, was replaced with high quality fortified wheat flour in daily distribution meals, so that more nutritious foods would reach the most vulnerable segments in Pakistan.

This pilot project executed through different private sector managed food distribution networks (FDNs), industrial distribution networks (IDNs), and ration distribution networks (RDNs), and their regular wheat flour was replaced with quality fortified wheat flour. After selection and agreement with flour mills and FDNs, their employees were capacitated to produce and serve quality fortified flour. Alongside the provision and monitoring of quality fortified wheat flour, supplied to FDNs, the fortification quality was also assessed for fortification compliance, through analysis of added iron content.

The agreements were signed with 11 flour mills, 11 FDNs, 6 RDNs, and 6 IDNs in 4 cities of Punjab i.e. Faisalabad, Lahore, Multan and Gujranwala; and 1 city of Sindh i.e. Karachi. Likewise, in total 858 people from these flour mills, FDNs and provincial regulatory authorities were capacitated to provide quality fortified flour. During the project period June to December 2021 around 1,722 tons of quality fortified flour was produced by selected flour mills and 8.6 million fortified meals were served to the vulnerable consumers (61.50% males and 38.50% females). Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the average content of added iron in case of all flour mills complied with the recommended fortification standards of Punjab Food Authority i.e. ≥15 mg/kg.

Micronutrient fortified wheat flour provision to vulnerable populations through these FDNs is one of the best strategy to be adopted both by government as well as private sector to compliment the basic nutrition of vulnerable segments.

The goal of this study is the presentation and evaluation of settlement patterns in the region between the Minoan palatial centres of Knossos and Malia, mainly on the north coast of Heraklion, during the second millennium BCE. The approach is based on new archaeological data from large- and small-scale rescue excavations and supervised digging activities in the context of public or private construction projects. Existing archaeological knowledge of this particular region is also taken into consideration. Following a chronological sequence, a Prepalatial (Middle Minoan [MM] IA) long wall, which is located 250 m south of the hill of Paliochora at Amnissos and belongs to a wider architectural planning of access control from the coast of Amnissos to the hinterland, is presented along with a contemporary rural installation in Stalida. An extensive settlement in the area of the Amirandes Hotel in Kato Gouves is dated mainly to the Protopalatial period and shows close affinities with Malia. Of the same date and cultural orientation is the extensive occupation near Agriana, which continues to exist in the early Neopalatial period. The Minoan settlement at Kastri in Chersonesos is dated to MM IIIB, while an earlier Protopalatial phase was also identified. A number of other sites in the district of Gouves are dated to Late Minoan (LM) III. A unique example of continuous habitation from LM IB to LM IIIB was excavated near the local primary school in Gournes. The decrease of sites in MM IIIB–LM IA and the scarcity of LM IB settlements, in contrast to the density of Protopalatial installations, confirm the centralisation of the habitation model during the late Neopalatial period, probably due to the expansionist policy of Knossos. However, the balance of power of the two palatial centres over the region under discussion shifted through time, with Malia having control of most of the area during the Protopalatial period and Knossos expanding its influence during the Prepalatial, Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods.

This is an extended review of Jonathan Owens, Arabic and the Case against Linearity in Historical Linguistics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) that addresses several important issues in the methodology of historical Arabic linguistics.

Back in 1982, when I started studying with Samuel Scheffler, a major subject of debate was whether – and, if so, exactly why and how – the existence of agent-relative reasons for action justifies making fundamental changes to consequentialist moral theory. How dramatically the tables have turned in the years since! Now the question tends to be whether – and, if so, exactly why and how – agent-neutral reasons for action can have a significant role to play in contractualist moral theory. In the first half of this paper, I offer some arguments for thinking that agent-neutral reasons do exist and that they are more basic than reasons of other sorts. In the second half of the paper, I offer some arguments for thinking that such reasons, being more basic, must have a central role to play in contractualist moral theory.

Expert groups have recommended that adults over 65 years should aim for 1.0-1.2 grams (g) of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (g/kg/d) to support health and functionality(1). However, data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2016-2019) showed 50.2% of over 65-year-olds consumed below 1.0 g/kg of adjusted body weight per day(2). Identifying barriers and facilitators to optimising protein intake in older adults is crucial for dietary intervention. This systematic review thus aimed to evaluate modifiable determinants of protein intake amongst community dwelling adults aged over 65 years.

The protocol was registered on the PROSPERO database (CRD42023399243). Eligible studies included community dwelling older adults within Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Comprehensive searches were conducted in CINAHL, AMED, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and EMBASE, followed by backward and forward citation chasing and a search for grey literature. The latest search date was July 2024. Searches identified 2316 publications for screening once duplicates were removed. These were screened by two independent reviewers and quality assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal tool (version 2018). A meta-analysis was not possible due to substantial heterogeneity in the reporting of both protein consumption and the measurement of determinants.

Sixty publications were included in the final analysis, reporting 54 quantitative studies. The majority of studies were cross-sectional and presented a lesser quality of evidence. Age range of participants was 65-103 years. Protein intake was reported as amount consumed per day, or a criterion applied to determine low intake which varied from 0.75 g–1.1g/kg/d. There was evidence from multiple lesser-quality cross-sectional studies that lower financial income (n=4), increased physical limitations (including an increased number of limitations in activities of daily living, reduced mobility or being housebound, n=5), dental problems (n=8) and poor appetite (n=7) are associated with suboptimal or lower protein intake. For men only, living alone appeared to determine lower protein consumption (n=2). In contrast, higher self-perceived health-status (n=3), increased physical activity (n=7), lunch club attendance (n=3) and increased dietary knowledge (n=3) were associated with a higher protein intake. Poor appetite in older adults may be expected to reduce protein intake as food consumption decreases, however evidence suggested that the diet also became less protein dense.

In conclusion, determinants of protein consumption in community dwelling older adults are multifactorial, ranging across influences from socioeconomic, physical health, lifestyle and knowledge domains. These areas are likely to interact with one another, and all should be considered for future research, clinical practice and public health. There is a need for practical dietary interventions that consider affordability and accessibility for optimal uptake, additionally these need to be underpinned by increased dietary knowledge specific to older adults.

Myostatin (MSTN), a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, negatively regulates skeletal muscle growth in vertebrates. In teleosts, gene duplication has produced mstn1 and mstn2 paralogues, which often differ in structure and expression. This study compares mstn1 and mstn2 in two high-value mariculture-relevant carangids of the Indo-Pacific region, Trachinotus mookalee and Trachinotus blochii. We report, for the first time, the complete gene structures of mstn1 and mstn2 in T. mookalee (3777 bp from Tm-mstn1 and 2075 bp from Tm-mstn2) and describe their counterparts in T. blochii (3836 bp from Tb-mstn1 and 2147 bp from Tb-mstn2). Notably, mstn1 and mstn2 shared only ∼53% sequence identity within the same species. Interestingly, we noted a CA-repeat tandem sequence in intron 2 (35 bp in Tm-mstn1 and 47 bp in Tb-mstn1), providing a potential microsatellite marker. Promoter analysis suggested more complex transcriptional regulation in T. blochii, with a greater number of transcription factor binding sites (47 vs. 43) and E-box motifs (4 vs. 2). Predicted miRNA binding site revealed both shared (14) and species-specific sites (two sites in Tm-mstn1, and one in Tb-mstn1), indicating differential post-transcriptional regulation. These molecular differences were verified through differential mstn1 expression, with higher mstn1 expression in T. blochii muscle, which might be the reason for the enhanced muscle growth in T. mookalee. The mstn2 expression patterns supported its role in neuroendocrine and reproductive regulation. Overall, this study provides new molecular insights into species-specific growth differences and highlights the functional divergence of mstn genes in marine carangids.

Citizens’ opinions about politicians are shaped by their perceptions of politicians’ personalities, characters, and traits. While prior research has investigated the traits voters value in politicians, less attention has been given to the traits politicians project in their public communication. This may stem from challenges in defining politicians’ public personality traits and measuring them at scale using computational text analysis. To address this challenge, we propose a computational approach that builds on public statements (personality cues) to infer politicians’ personalities from textual data. To do so, we operationalize two key political traits—agency and communion—using a theory-driven, domain-specific framework. We then compare various computational text analysis methods for extracting these traits from a large corpus of politicians’ parliamentary speeches, social media posts, and interviews. We validate our approach using a comprehensive set of human-labeled data, functional tests, and analyses of how prominently personality traits appear in the statements of German politicians and in the 2024 U.S. presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Our findings indicate that prompting based techniques, particularly those leveraging advanced models such as DeepSeek-V3, outperform supervised and semisupervised methods. These results point to promising directions for advancing political psychology.

Flavour enhancement has been identified as a potential strategy to counteract the loss of taste in pureed foods(1,2), making them more palatable and recognisable for older people(3). However, it is unclear whether flavour enhancement with protein fortification of pureed diets can influence appetite and dietary intake. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the influence of flavour-enhanced and protein-enriched pureed meals on perceived appetite, palatability, and intake in older people.

Forty-one healthy older people were recruited in Reading, UK to partake in a randomised, crossover study involving three study days. Participants consumed a standard breakfast, followed by one of three ad-libitum pureed lunches (high protein (HP), high-protein-with-aroma (HP-Aro) or low-protein (LP)) and three hours later an ad-libitum pureed buffet-style meal. Intake of the ad-libitum meals were measured by weighing food leftovers, perceived appetite and palatability were rated using a visual analogue scale and remaining intakes for the day assessed using food diaries.

SPSS was used to carry out all statistical analysis. Differences in energy and macronutrient intake between the three ad-libitum pureed lunch meals were examined using repeated measures analysis of variances (RM-ANOVA) with pair-wise comparisons (Bonferroni corrected). This test was also applied to assess the effects of these meals on subsequent intake at the ad-libitum buffet meal and total day intake. Post-lunch appetite sensations were analysed using Friedman’s test with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Changes in self-reported palatability ratings between the three pureed lunch meals were evaluated using RM-ANOVA with pair-wise comparisons (Bonferroni corrected). Statistical significance was accepted at p<0.05 in all analysis.

Participants’ intake of ad-libitum pureed lunch was significantly higher when they consumed the HP+Aro pureed meal compared to the HP and LP pureed meals (p<0.001). Protein fortification with or without flavour enhancement significantly reduced energy intake (EI) and macronutrient intake at subsequent ad-libitum meal (p<0.001). Even though protein fortification did not affect EI for the rest of the day, it led to greater total protein intake (p<0.001). However, participants had higher total EI, carbohydrate and fat intake across the study day when they had LP pureed lunch compared to when they had HP pureed lunch (p<0.001) but no difference occurred between the LP and HP + Aro conditions (p=0.72).

Protein fortification led to significantly greater satiety (p<0.001) and fullness (p=0.04) post lunch. Palatability ratings were significantly improved with flavour enhancement (p<0.05).

The study suggested that intakes and liking of pureed meals are greater through the combination of flavour enhancement and protein fortification among older people. Also, although protein fortification could suppress appetite which might lead to reduced EI across the whole day, this may be mitigated by the combined addition of the flavour enhancer.