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Governing the deep: economic, ecological, and legal perspectives on deep-sea mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction
No full textEnvironmental protection is a critical consideration for activities in the ocean to ensure the long-term sustainable use of marine resources, prevent irreversible ecological harm, and fulfill international legal obligations. In this article, we examine how economic interests in deep-sea mining, emerging scientific knowledge about environmental impacts, and recent legal developments under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shape States’ negotiation positions in the development of the Mining Code within the International Seabed Authority. We undertake a rigorous multidisciplinary review of economic, environmental, and legal literature to identify and critically assess the key factors influencing States’ strategies during these complex negotiations. By analyzing each domain, we clarify how competing economic imperatives, evolving scientific evidence on biodiversity and carbon cycle disruption, and shifting legal norms independently inform the negotiation process and its implications for the Mining Code’s substantive content and governance mechanisms. Drawing on recent jurisprudence from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which elucidates the relationship between UNCLOS and international climate frameworks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement, we highlight the increasing prominence of environmental protection within States’ legal duties. We argue that this evolving legal context supports the prioritization of precautionary and protective measures in the Mining Code and encourages cautious approaches that address scientific uncertainty and climate-related risks. This may include delaying the adoption of the Code or integrating stronger safeguards to prevent ecosystem collapse and promote responsible marine stewardship
Programmable axial-twist coupling and poynting effect through constitutive mode control in tubular origami metamaterials
No full textFour papers on monetary policy uncertainty and central bank communication
No full textThis thesis presents four essays on monetary policy uncertainty, expectations, perceptions, and central bank communication.The first essay develops a Twitter-based index of monetary policy uncertainty for South Africa, addressing the absence of high-frequency measures in emerging markets. Using a shock-restricted structural VAR, the analysis identifies a link between policy uncertainty and stock market volatility, that is, uncertainty shocks increase volatility in the short run, while volatility shocks also feed back into uncertainty. This provides the first high-frequency measure of monetary policy uncertainty that uses social media in South Africa.The second essay examines the causal relationship between subjective monetary policy uncertainty and subjective stock market volatility using a novel dataset on French households. To address endogeneity concerns, the analysis applies high-dimensional instrumental variable methods, such as IV-Lasso. The results show that higher perceived monetary policy uncertainty leads to significantly higher reported stock market volatility. These findings provide micro-level evidence that uncertainty about monetary policy shapes perceptions of financial market risk, with implications for monetary policy transmission through expectation channels.The third essay evaluates whether French households form policy rate expectations consistent with the Full Information Rational Expectations benchmark. It documents systematic deviations in the form of perception gaps and forecast errors. These biases are shown to influence household behaviour, particularly saving decisions, where larger perception gaps are associated with a lower probability of being in higher saving bands. This evidence supports theories of bounded rationality and limited attention.The final essay applies large language models to central bank press releases and speeches to analyse the content and tone of communication. The results show that communication priorities vary across institutions and affect how policy is perceived by markets and households. This essay demonstrates that central bank communication operates as a policy tool in its own right and illustrates the potential of modern computational methods in the study of monetary policy.<br/
Eye movements and the processing of function words in Brazilian Portuguese
No full textResearch on eye movements during reading has focused on content words (CW), with comparatively less attention paid to function words (FW). This thesis investigated how CW and FW are processed during the reading of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), a language where both classes can carry syntactic information related to gender and number. We combined secondary analyses of eye movement data from the RASTROS corpus of natural reading in BP with three controlled eye-tracking experiments and one error-detection task. The corpus analyses in Study 1 replicated well-established word length, frequency, and predictability effects on fixation times and skipping rates. Differences between classes were limited to very early processing, where short FW were skipped more often than short CW. We interpret this as reflecting the redundancy of gender and number marking in BP, where syntactic information is readily and transparently repeated on the word following the FW. The differences in skipping rates were limited to short words because parafoveal word class identification is more likely for short words. The first experiment in Study 2 used the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm to replace parafoveal previews of target CW with syntactically illegal articles. Results showed a pattern similar to English, where syntactically illegal article previews were skipped more often than the correct target words, consistent with the ease of processing of highly frequent articles. The second experiment in Study 2, an error detection task, showed that participants detected the repetition of articles more than 90% of the time, highlighting how readers of BP are sensitive to ungrammatical repetitions of articles, in contrast with recent findings in English, where the error was noticed less than half the time. In Study 3, again using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm, we examined parafoveal processing of syntactic gender information in article-noun phrases. Gender-incongruent parafoveal previews of the article (Experiment 1) produced no preview benefits or display change effects on the article-noun region, indicating that readers ignored the article. In contrast, manipulating gender information on the previews of the noun (Experiment 2) showed that gender information was acquired parafoveally from the noun, word n+2, when following a short article. This suggests that BP readers prioritise gender information from the upcoming noun, ignoring articles during parafoveal processing. In contrast, previous research in German showed readers seem to use gender information from both articles and nouns. Overall, the thesis demonstrates that proficient BP readers strategically allocate parafoveal attention away from short FW toward CW, suggesting that readers of different languages might employ different strategies to engage with syntactic parafoveal processing
Towards an inclusive future for the lingerie industry: redefining gendered representations of 'sexiness' and eliminating stereotypes within an interdisciplinary framework
No full textAmid recent movements toward greater inclusivity, diversity, and authenticity in fashion, the lingerie industry faces unique challenges and opportunities in reshaping its perceived (mis)representation of gender and sexuality. A multifaceted and interdisciplinary theoretical framework is used to analyse the role of major lingerie brands - Victoria’s Secret, Aerie, and Savage X Fenty - and their actions in defining, (re)shaping and sometimes reiterating traditional representations of femininity and sexuality. By integrating perspectives of feminist theories, gendered brand identity, and inclusive marketing practices, this framework reveals how key factors interact and intersect across brand strategy and operations within the lingerie sector, with sometimes unintended impacts. Divided into distinct levels - cultural, institutional and consumer – brands are challenged to adopt more authentic and diverse portrayals of femaleness by considering consumer-facing elements and underlying cultural and institutional factors that influence brand image and reputation. From these actionable insights, long-term strategies can be planned and carefully implemented through brand operations on inclusivity, paving the way for brands as potential advocates for progressive social change on gender and beauty
Implementation of a self-management approach (ETMI) for low back pain in a public healthcare system
No full textImportance: self-management is recommended first-line care for chronic low back pain (CLBP). However, implementation of structured self-management models in large public health maintenance organizations (HMO) remains scarce.Objective: to determine the feasibility of implementing the enhanced transtheoretical model intervention (ETMI) in a public HMO in Israel and to compare outcomes of patients who received ETMI-guided vs usual physiotherapy care.Design, setting, and participants: in this cohort study, all physiotherapists in 13 outpatient physiotherapy clinics in a public HMO were trained in ETMI in 2022. Data were extracted for all eligible patients aged 18 years and older with CLBP who attended an associated physiotherapy center between January 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023.Exposure: ETMI is a self-management approach focused on reassurance, addressing unhelpful beliefs, and encouraging recreational physical activity, delivered without passive treatments or prescribed exercises. ETMI trains physiotherapists to guide patients in managing their pain independently, helping them avoid future reliance on medical services, medication, or imaging when pain recurs.Main outcomes and measures: implementation outcomes were reach (physiotherapist uptake of ETMI), adoption (number of patients who received ETMI), and fidelity. Clinical outcomes were patient-reported function (0-100), pain (0-10) and fear-avoidance beliefs (0-100), assessed at baseline and discharge.Results: a total of 128 physiotherapists (mean [SD] age, 37.5 [9.3] years; 63 [49.2%] female) were invited to attend ETMI training, 109 (85.1%) attended, and 70 (64.0%) delivered the intervention at least once. Fidelity to ETMI-guided care was good. Of 4193 patients (mean [SD] age, 56.3 [16.7] years; 2454 [58.5%] female), 711 (17.0%) received ETMI-guided care. A total of 1624 patients (39.0%) had complete data and were included in the analysis. Compared with usual care, ETMI was associated with greater improvement in function scores (mean [SD] change, 12.0 [13.7] vs 15.7 [14.1]; adjusted mean difference (aMD), 3.3; 95% CI, 1.5 to 5.1), and fear-avoidance scores (-4.4 [22.7] vs -8.9 [23.8]; aMD, -4.3; 95% CI, -1.7 to -7.0) with no differences observed for pain scores (-1.7 [2.4] vs -2.0 [2.4]; aMD, -0.0; 95% CI, -0.3 to 0.3). ETMI patients had fewer sessions (mean [SD], 5.0 [4.2] vs 6.3 [4.5]; aMD, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.6 to 1.8; P < .001).Conclusions and relevance: in this cohort study, the implementation of ETMI was feasible and associated with better patient outcomes in fewer treatment sessions than usual care, although its reach was limited
Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) at different cortical targets on cognition in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): an exploratory analysis
No full textTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) holds promise as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Patients with OCD show impairment in specific domains of cognitive flexibility and response inhibition. We previously reported that tDCS produced a positive clinical effect on OCD symptoms. Here, we report a secondary analysis of neurocognitive data. In this randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, crossover, multicenter feasibility study, adults with a diagnosis of OCD according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) received three courses of clinic-based tDCS, targeting the left orbitofrontal cortex (L-OFC), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), and sham, randomly allocated and delivered in counterbalanced order. Cognitive assessments were conducted before and 2-h after the first stimulation in each arm. Nineteen adults were recruited. tDCS of both the L-OFC and SMA significantly improved cognitive inflexibility, while sham treatment did not (paired-sample t test, baseline vs. 2-h after stimulation). No significant effect of tDCS was found for motor impulsivity (stop-signal reaction time) in any of the three arms. In a small sample of patients with OCD, a single administration of tDCS to the L-OFC and SMA produced a rapid improvement in cognitive inflexibility but not in motor impulsivity. A definitive randomized, controlled trial of tDCS targeting both the OFC and SMA, including cognitive markers, is indicated.</p
Ableist institutions and party selection processes: exploring the political recruitment of disabled candidates
No full textPolitical parties in the UK and elsewhere have, to varying degrees, tried to diversify the pool of candidates from which they can select. Attempts to eradicate the range of institutional and cultural barriers experienced by candidates from under-represented groups, such as women and racially minoritized communities, are beginning to bear fruit. However, less attention has been paid to the specific processes and norms which might make it harder for disabled people to get selected as candidates for elected office. Accordingly, this study takes the UK as its case study to address two inter related questions: 1) what are the political parties doing to make candidate selection more accessible for disabled people?; and 2) what are the experiences of disabled people who participate in the candidate selection process? Drawing upon qualitative analysis of formal party rules and processes, alongside interviews undertaken with over 80 disabled candidates, politicians, and party activists from across the political spectrum, we find a great deal of variation in party approaches. We also identify gaps between formal rules adopted to ensure accessibility and the experiences of disabled candidates. Along the way we also note some of the methodological and empirical challenges of studying candidate selection processes in relation to disability
Towards the development of next-generation MergoTM — a nucleic acid-based delivery platform
No full textNucleic acids offer great potential for therapeutic and drug delivery applications, but their clinical translation is hindered by several biological barriers. This thesis addresses some of these challenges by optimising Sixfold's Mergo system, a self-assembled RNA construct, for the in vivo delivery of siRNAs. Focusing on stability, cellular uptake, endosomal escape, and off-target effects, we performed a comprehensive investigation of Mergo's performance in different biological matrices.To ensure efficient delivery of intact therapeutics, stabilising Mergo systems against nucleolytic degradation is essential. Through detailed analysis of Mergo and other RNA constructs in biological matrices, we identified vulnerable regions and implemented strategies to enhance nuclease resistance. These strategies included specific chemical modifications and the design of novel linkers engineered for controlled siRNA release at the target site.Further investigation focused on the critical steps of cellular uptake and endosomal escape, which are known bottlenecks for nucleic acid-based therapies. While cellular uptake of Mergo was readily achieved, endosomal escape was identified as the rate-limiting steps for Mergo in vitro.Finally, to assess the safety and efficacy of Mergo, we employed a combination of in silico, in vitro, and in vivo studies to evaluate both on- and off-target effects. This work not only provided preliminary insights into Mergo's potential for therapeutic delivery but also established a valuable methodology for evaluating future RNA-based delivery systems and therapeutics.In summary, this thesis investigates the challenges and opportunities of the Mergo delivery system. By addressing key barriers, this work aims to accelerate the development of Mergo as a promising delivery platform for clinical applications. Furthermore, as Mergo is RNA-based, this research contributes to a broader understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the RNA delivery and therapeutics field
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