Greening prosperity stripes across the globe

This paper is motivated by the urgency of climate change mitigation and the crucial importance of communicating the need for it. Our approach relies on using comparative visualizations in terms of maps and stripes in color for all countries across the globe that can easily be conveyed and understood even by nonspecialists. It proposes an intuitive novel measure of what we refer to as ‘greening prosperity stripes’, defined to be visually comparable across countries over time along a brown- to-green pallette depicting the ratio of real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita, based on annual data from the World Bank since 1990. We illustrate our findings along both cross-section and time- series dimensions, acknowledging that images and colors speak louder than words and affect emotionally, thereby hoping to raise awareness and mobilize immediate climate policy action worldwide. Moreover, the greening prosperity world maps and stripes by country, possibly updated online every year, can be used to track progress toward the goal of net zero clearly and compellingly

Enhancing the safety and shelf life of beef and plant-based burgers by combining High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) with nisin or a blueberry-derived product

The growing demand for sustainable and healthy dietary options has led to significant interest in plant-based meat alternatives though traditional meats, such as beef, remain dominant in the protein market. High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) stands out as a promising technology improving food safety and extending shelf life, while combining HHP with clean-label additives offers potential for process optimization. This study investigates the synergistic effect of HHP combined with nisin (500 IU/g) or blueberry-derived product (4 %) in beef and plant-based burgers to control L. monocytogenes and extend shelf life under slight temperature abuse. In plant-based burgers, HHP (600 MPa, 3 min) combined with additives, effectively delayed L. monocytogenes growth for 104 days during storage, outperforming HHP alone. At lower pressures (300–500 MPa), HHP combined with nisin or blueberry product significantly enhanced pathogen reduction in both matrices, achieving a synergistic effect of up to 1.4 log reduction. HHP (600 MPa), with or without the additives, also extended the storage period of non-inoculated plant-based burgers, maintaining the natural microflora below 3 log CFU/g for 83 days. The blueberry product notably influenced the physicochemical properties (e.g. pH, color) of both matrices, while HHP significantly affected the color of beef burgers. This study provides novel insights into the potential applications of HHP combined with natural antimicrobials, highlighting its effectiveness in plant-based meat alternatives and the significant role of the matrix in the synergistic effect. Future research should focus on sensory analysis and consumer acceptance to align these advancements with market demands

Picturing Herakles’ athloi and parerga in late Archaic and early Classical Athens

Herakles was single most important figure decorating Athens’ late Archaic pottery. These images crystallize his role as paradigm of victory. Through his sheer athleticism, Herakles serves as a role model for athletes, which in part explains his relevance on Attic vases with Panathenaic imagery alongside the boar, deer, bull, and especially lion labors. Both his status as an athletic hero and the pots, especially the sketchy late black-figure wares, would have increased his renown among Athenians and others, fans and other participants in festivals, especially the Panathenaia. For images of Herakles’ role in the Gigantomachy and/or other battles with giants bring him closer to Athena and thus to Athens, literally in the case of Alkyoneus, who he encounters at Pallene, the gates of Athens. In Nemean Ode 1.67-72, Pindar celebrates Herakles’ part in the Gigantomachy alongside his apotheosis and marriage to Hebe, which become entwined in his worship at Gargettos by Pallene, on the outskirts of Athens. Here the tyrant Peisistratos or his marketing manager seemingly brought myth, religion, and politics together: Pallene was both the site of his routing of forces and the starting point of his procession to the Akropolis with Athena/Phyia. Boardman and others have explained Herakles’ overwhelming importance in the vases of Archaic Athens vis-à-vis his connection to Athena, which was deliberately employed by Peisistratos and his sons. No less important, however, are Herakles’ growing roles—through the examples of his labors—in the Panathenaia, as an athlete and victor, also in the Gigantomachy, which became the foundational myth of the Panathenaia. We know that Herakles’ labors, parerga, and much else, were played out on stage in late Archaic and early Classical Athens and beyond. Although the relevant plays have not survived, enough fragments and titles remain to show the importance of Herakles as both tragic and comic character on the Athenian stage. Images on Athenian ceramics, decorated with mythic and historic images known in late Archaic and early Classical Athens, witness this story-telling culture through which Athenians embraced Herakles, alongside Theseus, as one of their own

The decline of neoliberal hegemony: the US Fentanyl epidemic as a case study

This chapter offers an intervention and refinement to the criminological discussion about neoliberal political practices, using the case study of American political responses to the fentanyl epidemic

Knowledge spillover of innovation: entrepreneurial difference

This paper extends the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship and innovation to explain how firms of different ages (startups vs. incumbents) and sizes (small vs. medium/large) benefit differently from external knowledge collaboration. Drawing on the distinction between active (formal) and passive (informal) spillovers, we examine how the intensity of knowledge collaboration influences two key innovation outcomes: product innovation and new market entry. Using a panel dataset of 27,685 UK firms (2005–2015), we show that the gains from knowledge spillovers for all types of firms are subject to diminishing marginal returns as collaboration intensity increases, while the findings between startups and incumbents are more nuanced than between small and medium/large firms. The benefits from knowledge spillover of innovation vary by knowledge spillover type, intensity, and mode of engagement, as well as innovation outcome. These findings refine the knowledge spillover theory by emphasizing the importance of firm age over size (entrepreneurial difference) in moderating innovation outcomes

Journal ratings changes: implications for author diversity and research characteristics

Concerns have been raised in the business and management literature regarding the role of journal rating lists. Rather than simply reflecting journal performance, these lists may influence the nature of scholarly work produced and published. This study investigates the impact of upgrades and downgrades and inclusions and removals, respectively, to two widely used journal rating sources -- the Academic Journal Guide and the Financial Times List -- on author and paper characteristics. We analyse a large sample of articles, spanning all sub-fields in business and management, published over a 12-year period. Our analysis indicates that female authors publish significantly more in journals that experience downgrades or removal from these lists compared to journals that maintain or improve their ratings. We also observe that authors affiliated with African universities are less represented in journals that have newly entered or been upgraded on these lists. However, our findings do not show a significant effect of journal list recompositions on the most commonly employed research methods. We observe that list entry and rating upgrades are associated with significantly improved article readability. Overall, our results contribute to the ongoing discussion regarding the effects of journal lists on publication outcomes, particularly for groups that are already underrepresented in academic publishing

Learning enhanced ensemble filters

The filtering distribution in hidden Markov models evolves according to the law of a mean-field model in state–observation space. The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) approximates this mean-field model with an ensemble of interacting particles, employing a Gaussian ansatz for the joint distribution of the state and observation at each observation time. These methods are robust, but the Gaussian ansatz limits accuracy. Here this shortcoming is addressed by using machine learning to map the joint predicted state and observation to the updated state estimate. The derivation of methods from a mean field formulation of the true filtering distribution suggests a single parametrization of the algorithm that can be deployed at different ensemble sizes. And we use a mean field formulation of the ensemble Kalman filter as an inductive bias for our architecture. To develop this perspective, in which the mean-field limit of the algorithm and finite interacting ensemble particle approximations share a common set of parameters, a novel form of neural operator is introduced, taking probability distributions as input: a measure neural mapping (MNM). A MNM is used to design a novel approach to filtering, the MNM-enhanced ensemble filter (MNMEF), which is defined in both the mean-field limit and for interacting ensemble particle approximations. The ensemble approach uses empirical measures as input to the MNM and is implemented using the set transformer, which is invariant to ensemble permutation and allows for different ensemble sizes. In practice fine-tuning of a small number of parameters, for specific ensemble sizes, further enhances the accuracy of the scheme. The promise of the approach is demonstrated by its superior root-mean-square-error performance relative to leading methods in filtering the Lorenz ‘96 and Kuramoto-Sivashinsky models

Vocabulary in listening and speaking

This chapter explores the critical role of vocabulary in second language (L2) learning, emphasizing its influence on listening and speaking proficiency. It examines how vocabulary knowledge supports comprehension and production, highlighting the interplay between receptive and productive skills. Drawing on theoretical models and empirical evidence, the chapter discusses vocabulary acquisition through listening and speaking, including the impact of factors such as lexical coverage, individual differences, and technology-enhanced tasks. By synthesizing current research, it offers insights into vocabulary’s centrality in L2 learning and suggests implications for future research