Several disciplines, such as economics, law, and political science, emphasize the importance of legislative quality, namely well-written legislation. Low-quality legislation cannot be easily implemented because the texts create interpretation problems. To measure the quality of legal texts, we use information from the syntactic and lexical features of their language and apply these measures to a dataset of European Union legislation that contains detailed information on its transposition and decision-making process. We find that syntactic complexity and vagueness are negatively related to member states’ compliance with legislation. The finding on vagueness is robust to controlling for member states’ preferences, administrative resources, length of texts, and discretion. However, the results for syntactic complexity are less robust.

Soon after its introduction in 1987, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become a technique widely employed in diagnostic medical devices and forensic science with the intention of amplifying genetic information. PCR prescribes that each of its cycles must include a heating subprocess at 95 °C or more (denominated DNA denaturation and provided for allowing a claimed orderly separation of the two complementary nucleotides strands), which can produce significant damage to DNA, caused by high-speed collisions with surrounding molecules. Since such disruption should be prevented in order to reliably employ PCR, a study of the mechanics of such loss of structural integrity is herein presented, preceded by a review of the fundamental literature which has elucidated the effects of molecular agitation on DNA fragmentation. The main conclusion of this retrospective survey is that the body of examined theoretical and experimental evidence consistently and redundantly confirms scarce resilience and significant loss of structural integrity when DNA is heated at temperatures above 90 °C, even for 1 minute. Such conclusion contradicts the claimed paradigm of PCR fidelity and raises the concern that, at least for long sequences, if PCR can amplify some information, such amplified information may be unreliable for diagnostic or forensic applications, since it originates from sequences of nucleotides subjected to random fragmentation and reaggregation. Such a low-reliability scenario should be preventively considered in the various fields where DNA amplification methodologies are employed which provide for high-temperature heating under conditions equal to or similar to those prescribed by the PCR protocols reviewed in this study.

What could be called a digital turn has amplified conversations around publics, literary cultures, and African literature’s broadened genres. Drawing on conceptual frameworks and debates from literary, cultural, and media studies, Adeoba examines the literary imaginations and ekphrastic practices that emerge from the digital cultures of African Twitter users. Adeoba argues that crowdsourced verse demonstrates the creative agency of digitally connected everyday people and newer modes of sociality enabled by African poetry in digital contexts. Crowdsourced verse presents opportunities to examine the digital publics of African literature and their contributions to the body of literary works circulating in digital spaces.

Imperfect information on food safety and risk has created a system with less safety than the public wants. Consumers cannot pay for the level of safety they desire. Tort under-compensates for foodborne illness due to difficulty proving causation. When market controls are ineffective at producing the level of safety desired by consumers, the classic approach is government regulation. However, government regulators face challenges that impede the translation of scientific knowledge into regulatory controls. This often results in an equilibrium of private interests and bureaucratic interests rather than the public interest. To restore republican deliberation on food safety we need greater citizen involvement in the decision-making. Access to the courts is an effective means for citizens to participate directly in the decisions affecting food safety; thus, a private cause of action to our national food safety laws is proposed.

This work has the aim of dissecting the legal and policy dress designed for the new “Green” Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2023–27) across the proposed CAP Strategic plans (CSPs) of the EU member states. The analysis is carried out through the lens of a special inquiry: the consistency and coherence between the CAP and the perspective of the Green Deal and its satellite strategies, among all the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F) and Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, for transition to a resilient and Sustainable food system. The F2F proposes a roadmap of interventions and sets specific goals to reach such a transition. Within these interventions, a renewed CAP is the first stage through which the direction undertaken by the EU can be measured. Following the new CAP delivery model, this work will investigate the national CSPs and address the consistency of the CAP financial instruments utilised to fulfill the social, economic and environmental objectives of the CAP according to the ambition of the F2F and other key strategies.

This study explores the dynamics of flexible ribbons with an added weight $G$ at the tail in uniform flow, considering key parameters like inflow Reynolds number ($Re_u$), mass ratio ($M_t$) and aspect ratio (${A{\kern-4pt}R}$). For two-dimensional ribbons, a simplified theoretical model accurately predicts equilibrium configurations and forces. Inspired by Barois & De Langre (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 735, 2013, R2), we introduce an important control parameter ($C_G$) that effectively collapses normalized forces and angle data. Vortex-induced vibration is observed, and Strouhal number ($St$) scaling laws with $C_G$ are identified. In three-dimensional scenarios, the model effectively predicts lift, but its accuracy in predicting drag is limited to situations with small $Re_u$ values. The flow along the side edges mitigates pressure differences, thereby suppressing vibration and uplift, particularly noticeable in the case of narrow ribbons. This study offers new insights into the dynamics of flexible bodies in uniform flow.

Previous studies have shown that low-frequency vortex oscillations occur around a hemisphere–cylinder body at different angles of attack, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. In this study, we examine the origin of the vortex oscillation using numerical simulations and global linear stability analysis. The vortex oscillation is reproduced using numerical simulations, and the oscillatory modes are computed through dynamic mode decomposition (DMD). We obtain the base flow through a selective frequency damping method, which exhibits a pair of steady leeward vortices over the body. The four unstable modes are computed using a modified Arnoldi iteration. The antisymmetric mode with a Strouhal number of 0.105 is discovered to be responsible for the alternate oscillation of the vortex pair, and the mode with a Strouhal number of 0.220 corresponds to the in-phase vortex oscillation. Their frequencies have good agreement with the modes of DMD. The other two unstable modes with higher frequencies, one antisymmetric and one symmetric, are harmonic frequencies of the above two modes. The study conclusively verifies that the vortex oscillation over a hemisphere–cylinder body originates from a global flow instability.

The real estate business on sandy coasts and coastal dunes has increased dramatically over the last decades because of the growing demands for leisure activities which, consequently, have yielded important economic gains. Such ravaging exploitation results in the replacement of sandy ecosystems with tourism-oriented settlements, infrastructure, and facilities. As the sandy beaches and coastal dunes become deteriorated or eliminated, their protective role is lost, and the hydrometeorological risks to which the increasing human coastal populations are exposed grow, especially in a climate change scenario with increasing storminess. Furthermore, when possible, the expansion of the tourism industry continues searching for new, unspoiled locations, and the cycle begins again. This situation leads to the dilemma of coastal management: should we continue with the over-exploitation of sandy coasts for growing economic benefits? Or should we preserve the coasts for protection against the impact of increasing storms and sea level rise and to benefit biodiversity? Although scientific evidence demonstrates the relevance of protecting the coasts, coastal development plans continue to ignore these findings. What are the key drivers for these trends? We first looked for scientific evidence of the appraisal of the esthetic beauty of the beach and coastal dunes, as highly important drivers of urbanization and coastal environmental change. We then looked for evidence that demonstrated how coastal dunes offer storm protection Finally, we examined if the conservation of beaches and coastal dunes can be compatible with non-intrusive tourism. In summary, through the literature review and our own data, we show how different alternatives may help achieve a more sustainable coastal tourism by combining economic necessities with environmental concerns.

This paper presents a pioneering pilot implementation of group dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for adolescents with maladaptive coping in Qatar's child and adolescent mental health services. The project highlights the positive effect on patient satisfaction and the potential for early intervention with adolescents displaying emotional dysregulation. This pioneering initiative was consistent with local cultural values, stressing the importance of interconnectedness in mental health interventions. The impact of the initiative stresses its significance in diverse cultural contexts, urging further adoption regionally for improved mental health outcomes, particularly among adolescents displaying features of an emerging emotionally unstable personality disorder.

Understanding settling motion of coral grains is important in terms of protection of coral reef systems and resotoration of the associated ecosystems. In this paper, a series of laboratory experiments was conducted to investigate the settling motion, using optical microscopy to measure shape parameters of coral grains and the particle-filtering-based object tracking to reconstruct the three-dimensional trajectory. Three characteristic descent regimes, namely, tumbling, chaotic and fluttering, are classified based on the three-dimensional trajectory, the spiral radius variation and the velocity spectrum. It is demonstrated that if one randomly picks up one coral grain, then the probabilities of occurrence of the three regimes are approximately $26\,\%$, $42\,\%$ and $32\,\%$, respectively. We have shown that first, the dimensionless settling velocity generally increases with the non-dimensional diameter and Corey shape factor and second, the drag coefficient generally decreases with the Reynolds number and Corey shape factor. Based on this, the applicability of existing models on predicting settling velocity and drag coefficient for coral grains is demonstrated further. Finally, we have proposed extended models for predicting the settling velocity. This study contributes to better understanding of settling motion and improves our predictive capacity of settling velocity for coral grains with complex geometry.