Immiscible and incompressible liquid–liquid flows are considered in a Taylor–Couette geometry and analysed by direct numerical simulations coupled with the volume-of-fluid method and a continuum surface force model. The system Reynolds number $Re \equiv r_i \omega _i d / \nu$ is fixed to $960$, where the single-phase flow is in the steady Taylor vortex regime, whereas the secondary-phase volume fraction $\varphi$ and the system Weber number $We \equiv \rho r_i^2 \omega _i^2 d / \sigma$ are varied to study the interactions between the interface and the Taylor vortices. We show that different Weber numbers lead to two distinctive flow regimes, namely an advection-dominated regime and an interface-dominated regime. When $We$ is high, the interface is easily deformed because of its low surface tension. The flow patterns are then similar to the single-phase flow, and the system is dominated mainly by advection (advection-dominated regime). However, when $We$ is low, the surface tension is so large that stable interfacial structures with sizes comparable to the cylinder gap can exist. The background velocity field is modulated largely by these persistent structures, thus the overall flow dynamics is governed by the interface (interface-dominated regime). The effect of the interface on the global system response is assessed by evaluating the Nusselt number $Nu_{\omega }$ based on the non-dimensional angular velocity transport. It shows non-monotonic trends as functions of the volume fraction $\varphi$ for both low and high $We$. We explain how these dependencies are closely linked to the velocity and interfacial structures.

We study an optimal investment problem under a joint limited expected relative loss and portfolio insurance constraint with a general random benchmark. By making use of a static Lagrangian method in a complete market setting, the optimal wealth and investment strategy can be fully determined along with the existence and uniqueness of the Lagrangian multipliers. Our numerical demonstration for various commonly used random benchmarks shows a trade-off between the portfolio outperformance and underperformance relative to the benchmark, which may not be captured by the widely used Omega ratio and its utility-transformed version, reflecting the impact of the benchmarking loss constraint. Furthermore, we develop a new portfolio performance measurement indicator that incorporates the agent’s utility loss aversion relative to the benchmark via solving an equivalent optimal asset allocation problem with a benchmark-reference-based preference. We show that the expected utility performance is well depicted by looking at this new portfolio performance ratio, suggesting a more suitable portfolio performance measurement under a limited loss constraint relative to a possibly random benchmark.

There are conflicting views about the humaneness of the handbow as a recreational hunting method for deer. Some claim that it is the most humane hunting method, whilst others report higher wounding rates and crippling losses than with the rifle. This commentary summarises the factors affecting the likelihood of a quick death, the types of equipment commonly used, the vital target areas, the influence of blood loss on blood pressure and brain function and the prevalence of wounding during routine bowhunting. Some requirements in Bowhunters Association Codes of Conduct are also described. It is concluded that where bowhunting is allowed, Codes of Conduct should emphasise the hunters' responsibility to track and despatch injured animals, and adherence to the Codes should be encouraged, if not enforced.

This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3053 studies of which 2948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results.

The relationships between pathology severity and pain severity are reviewed using the literature available for humans. The aim is to help veterinary radiologists, physicians and pathologists recognise the disorders in which severity of a lesion is likely to be related to the severity of pain or to incipient pain. Specific features or lesions within the following conditions showed a relationship with pain score, which was usually assessed with a visual analogue scale: inflammation; pancreatitis; ileitis; mucositis; fasciitis; synovitis; arthritis; lower back pain; disc herniation; sciatica; scoliosis; myalgia; cancer; arteriosclerosis; skin ulcers; mastalgia; skin and oral neuropathies; endometriosis; hepatopathy and chronic pulp diseases of the teeth. As experience with magnetic resonance imaging grows, there will be further opportunities to look for quantitative relationships in humans between pathology and pain severities. This information will be useful to veterinarians and other people working with animals in evaluating pain in animals in their care.

Singapore’s Progressive Wage Model, introduced in 2012 and mandatory in the cleaning industry since 2015, is a skills- and productivity-based approach to redesigning jobs and restructuring wages in the largely outsourced cleaning, security and landscaping sectors. Focusing on cleaning work in the food and beverage industry, this case study examines some early outcomes of this national drive to reduce wage inequality by improving the pay and conditions of commodified work in a sector subject to outsourcing-based cost competition. Based on interviews with cleaners, supervisors and managers, the findings suggest that in general, government and the trade union and employers’ association have worked together, to set wages and conditions transparently. Nevertheless, enforcement issues mean that cleaners remain vulnerable. They have limited information about their employment benefits and face various types of poor conditions, some sanctioned by and others in violation of labour laws. These vulnerabilities have structural roots, including rent imbalances and cheap sourcing, factors that commodify jobs. The implementation of the Progressive Wage Model may have helped de-commodify cleaning jobs for Singaporeans and permanent residents, but such outcomes are still dependent on non-systemic and unenforceable factors such as the kindness of individual supervisors. While a promising start has been made, Singapore’s initial efforts to improve incomes and conditions in low-wage work will nevertheless require stronger regulatory commitment.

A total of 560 cattle and water buffalo were examined at livestock markets in Bangladesh. The aim was to assess the frequency of nose and tail injuries that could have occurred during handling and transport. The frequency of nose piercing was 64%, and 69% of the cattle and 54% of the water buffalo had rubbing or tearing injuries at the nostrils from nose ropes fitted through the pierced hole. Almost half of the nose-pierced animals (47%) had lacerations and ulcerations where the nose rope had rubbed against the nose. Pus at the nostril was observed in 56% of the animals, and 57 and 58% had severe and extended nose injuries, respectively. Nose injuries were more severe in imported Hariana cattle compared with exotic and local breeds. In cattle plus water buffalo, 39% had tail injuries of which the two major abnormalities were absent tail end (2%) and kinked tail (98%). Tail injuries were more common in cattle (51%) than water buffalo (15%). Among the cattle breeds, the frequency of tail injuries in Hariana was 65%. In conclusion, the cattle and water buffalo experienced a number of serious injuries and this calls for greater attention to be paid to handling methods in draught animals in south Asia.

The effects of presumed long distance transport on blood parameters were examined in cattle and water buffalo exported from India to Bangladesh. The aim was to assess the welfare of the animals in terms of the frequency of dehydration, metabolic depletion and muscle injury or activation, when they reached their destination. The physiological indicators were total plasma protein, serum sodium, plasma glucose, serum non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and serum creatine kinase (CK). Ninety-eight cattle and 57 water buffalo were randomly selected from 24 trucks as they arrived at the market between 0700 and 1000h each day during the hot season (April). In the majority of animals, all five blood variables were higher than published normal values. In all the cattle, total plasma protein concentration, serum NEFA concentration and serum CK activity were higher than the normal range and these values were higher than normal in over 84% of the buffalo. Seventy-two percent of all the animals were hypernatraemic. About 90% of the buffalo and 86% of the cattle were hyperglycaemic. There were no differences in total plasma protein and serum sodium between cattle and water buffalo. By contrast, cattle had significantly higher NEFA and CK and lower glucose than water buffalo. It was evident that this long distance export trade was associated with dehydration, lipolysis and muscle injury or activation. It is recommended that both cattle and water buffalo are given adequate feed and water whenever they are off-loaded from vehicles during the course of journeys.

This study assessed the welfare of rats (Rattus norvegicus) poisoned with a lethal dose of the methaemoglobin (MetHb) inducing compound para-aminovalerophenone (PAVP). Twenty rats were orally gavaged with either PAVP (treated) or the vehicle only (control). Spontaneous and evoked behaviours were recorded and blood samples collected post mortem for analysis of MetHb%. Female and male rats received a mean (± SEM) dose of 263 (± 3) and 199 (± 6) mg PAVP kg−1, respectively. Mean (± SEM) time to death was 67 (± 16) and 354 (± 71) min for female and male rats, respectively. Control animals did not show any signs of intoxication. The time to death from methaemoglobinaemia in rats was significantly shorter than that reported for anticoagulants and there were no obvious signs of distress or pain.

Labour markets in Australia have long been segmented by gender and race. This study compares two highly gendered and racially segmented labour markets, home-based family day care workers and garment homeworkers. The comparative cases examine the broader trends of migration, production and consumption that reinforce gender and racial stereotypes, and discourses that underpin representations that women workers are ideally suited to such work. We theorise the gender and racialised inequalities of homework based on the literature on invisibilisation and social reproduction to explore the vulnerable position of migrant women and the consequences of having limited options, such as legal and social protections and any capacity to collectively organise. Our analysis examines the roles and responses of institutions and conceptualises the socio-political factors that affect the characterisation of homework as non-work or as self-employed entrepreneurial activities. By mapping the differing regulatory trajectories of these two groups of homeworkers in terms of regulation and representation, we find both similarities and differences. While garment homeworkers have achieved recognition through legislation and social mobilisation, their circumstances leave them less likely to access such rights. By contrast, the failure to recognise family day care homeworkers, has left them to market forces.

The culling of injured and non-viable pigs (Sus scrofa) (neonate to breeding stock) is a routine and necessary procedure on most farms. Usually, pigs are culled using one of the following methods: blunt-force trauma (manual and mechanical), captive-bolt stunners, electrical stunning and electrocution or carbon dioxide. Manual blunt-force trauma is one of the most widely used methods due to its low or absent operational and investment costs. However, as a method, it has serious limitations, which include the risk of incomplete concussion, pain, and distress. Manual blunt-force trauma is also aesthetically unpleasant to operators and wider society. To address these issues there has been significant recent research into the development of alternatives to manual blunt-force trauma, these include: captive-bolt stunners, on-farm, gas-based controlled atmosphere systems, low atmospheric pressure systems and electrical stunning. Some of these are currently in commercial use while others are still in the developmental phase. This review brings together the relevant research in this field, evaluating the methods in terms of mechanism of action (mechanical and physiological), effectiveness and animal welfare.

This paper summarises the findings from five studies in eight countries on over 1,500 cattle slaughtered commercially by the halal or shechita methods without stunning. It reports the number of cuts applied to the neck, the cutting methods and the frequency of complications during the bleeding period. Complications during the bleeding period that occurred in some cattle included: (i) delay in the time to collapse, which was interpreted as late loss of consciousness; (ii) premature arrest of bleeding from the carotid arteries due to false aneurysm formation; and (iii) blood entering the respiratory tract during bleeding. These features are important as they determine or reflect the duration of consciousness following the cut and the potential for protracted suffering from wound nociception or blood irritating the respiratory tract. When cattle were not restrained following the halal cut, they took on average 20 s to collapse. Fourteen percent stood up again after an initial collapse, and 1.5% took more than 4 min before their final collapse. Eight percent took 60 s or longer to collapse, and those animals were more likely to have false aneurysms in the severed ends of the carotid arteries. False aneurysms, which were at least 3 cm in diameter, formed in the severed cardiac ends of the carotid arteries in 10% of cattle slaughtered by halal or shechita. Some false aneurysms formed in the severed ends of the carotid arteries within 7 s of the halal cut, and in 10% of the cattle bloodflow came to a halt in one of the arteries within 10 s. On average, the false aneurysms developed within 21 s. Nineteen percent of cattle slaughtered by shechita and 58% of cattle slaughtered by halal had blood lining the mucosa of the trachea. All animals had blood lining the glottis. In both situations there could be a sense of respiratory tract irritation from the blood. It is proposed that severing the carotids at the position in the neck which corresponds to C1 will reduce the frequency of false aneurysm formation and subsequent arrested bloodflow from the severed arteries, and it will deafferent the respiratory tract reducing the transmission of potentially unpleasant sensory signals associated with blood contaminating the upper and lower parts of the tract. Most cattle subjected to halal and shechita have the neck cut at a position which corresponds to C2 to C4, and changing to a cut at C1 could partly reduce the potential for suffering during slaughter without stunning.

This study examined the sources of glare and range in luminance levels in eleven UK cattle abattoirs, and the effect of reflected glare from a footbath on balking behaviour of cows in a milking parlour. At the abattoirs, the mean luminance levels decreased from 240,000 cd m−2 outdoors to 100 cd m−2 in the stunning pen. In five of the abattoirs, the luminance of the glare from wet floor surfaces was three times higher than the luminance from the surrounding darker areas, and the luminance of the glare from shiny metal surfaces was ten times higher than the luminance from the adjacent darker areas. In the glare study, frequency of balking increased significantly from 10 to 23% when reflected glare increased from 0 (no lightbulb) to 873 cd m−2 (100 W bulb), but significantly fewer animals balked during the afternoon milking than at the morning milking times.

The current study aims to make welfare-based recommendations for gun/cartridge combinations and shooting positions that will ensure death of the sheep (horned, unhorned, rams and ewes), without the need for either sticking or pithing. The study examined the pathophysiology of captive-bolt gun (CBG) injuries that result in incomplete concussion leading to death. Behavioural, brainstem and cranial/spinal responses were examined along with gross pathology in 489 animals (116 polled ewes, 134 horned ewes, 117 polled rams and 122 horned rams) following a variety of CBG-cartridge combinations. Shooting horned rams was more challenging than unhorned sheep, partly because minor movements of the head at the time of shooting can result in deflection of the gun by the horns. Marksmanship was the definitive factor: 100% of animals that showed signs of incomplete concussion were found to have been shot incorrectly. The findings will have application when it is necessary to kill sheep on farms for disease control or euthanasia purposes.

Puntilla is a traditional slaughter method in which a knife is plunged into the back of the neck to sever the spinal cord. The aim is to produce immediate collapse of the animal. Puntilla is not condoned as a stunning method by the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) because there is concern that the animal could be conscious during and after the neck stab. Nonetheless, it is still used in some developing countries. The effectiveness and humaneness of puntilla followed by neck sticking was examined at two slaughterhouses in Bolivia. Twenty llamas (Lama glama) and 309 cattle were observed during routine puntilla without stunning. The number of neck stabs was recorded, and then brain and spinal functions (rhythmic breathing, palpebral reflex and eyeball rotation) were assessed. In addition, the presence of specific cognitive responses (such as responses to a threat stimulus and noise, as well as to flavours and odours), were also assessed in cattle. Breed, sex, live weight, body condition score and the slaughterman's experience were recorded. Repeat stabbing was needed to penetrate the foramen ovale in 45% of the llamas and two of them attempted to stand following collapse after the initial stab. All llamas showed rhythmic breathing movements at the flank following puntilla and before sticking, and 95% had a positive palpebral reflex at the same time. Twenty-four percent of the cattle needed repeat stabbing. Repeat stabbing was significantly less frequent with experienced slaughtermen, and more frequent in heavyweight animals (> 380 kg). Brain and spinal responses were present in 91% of the cattle following the stabs. When cattle attempted to stand after a neck stab they were more likely to have rhythmic breathing, positive palpebral response and responsiveness to threat, noise and brief air stimulus applied to the face. These findings indicate that it is difficult in practice to penetrate the spinal cord with a single puntilla stab. Some nerve pathways are often functional after the neck stab and therefore it is highly likely that the animals remain conscious in at least some modalities for the next part of the slaughter procedure. The challenge in developing countries, however, is to find a strategy that encourages use of a method which limits suffering whilst being accessible for routine slaughter practice.

In a series of experiments the welfare of para-aminovalerophenone (PAVP) sub-lethally poisoned rats (Rattus norvegicus) was assessed. The experiments: (i) examined the acute methaemoglobin (MetHb) profile over time; (ii) refined the LD50 estimate for PAVP in adult female rats; (iii) developed and validated three neurological tests; and (iv) assessed rats for neurological deficit following prolonged methaemoglobinaemia. The results from the first three experiments were used to refine the sub-lethal study. In the sub-lethal experiment 20 rats were gavaged with a single dose of 40 mg kg−1 PAVP (based on an LD50 estimate of 43.3 mg kg−1). Control rats (n = 10) were treated with the carrier only. Eleven (surviving) PAVP-treated rats and controls were assessed over a two-week period. Rats were tested for forelimb grip strength, stability on an inclined plane and the ability to remove tape wrapped around a forepaw in order to determine deficits in motor functions and sensorimotor integration. Signs of recovery began 3-6 h post-dosing, with all animals showing no outward signs of poisoning within 48 h, and over the 14-day post-treatment monitoring period they gained weight and increased their food consumption. There was no significant overall difference in performance between PAVP-treated and control rats in any of the three neurological tests. In the inclined plane test, performance of sub-lethally PAVP-poisoned rats appeared to be temporarily impaired with treated animals slipping at a lower angle than controls on day two. During the tape removal test, four PAVP-treated rats failed to remove the tape within the 3-min time limit on one occasion each (4/77 occasions) up to seven days post-dosing. The severity and duration of signs following acute sub-lethal PAVP poisoning appeared to be lower than those reported for existing rodenticides. It is likely that the results presented in this study extend to other MetHb-inducers.

Drawing on the adaptive control hypothesis, we examined whether older adults’ bilingual interactional contexts of conversational exchanges would predict important indices of executive functions (EF). We assessed participants’ engagement in each bilingual interactional context – single-language, dual-language, and dense code-switching – and their performance on a series of nonverbal EF measures. Sixty-nine healthy older adults (Mage = 70.39 years; ages 60–93) were recruited from local community centers. We found that the dense code-switching context was associated with enhanced overall EF, but not individual facets of EF (inhibitory control, shifting, and updating). These findings held true when we controlled for a host of covariates. Our findings shed light on aging bilinguals’ interactional contexts as crucial bilingual experiences that modulate overall EF. Given that bilingualism is a multidimensional construct, rather than a unidimensional variable, our study underscores the importance of more fine-grained operationalisation of bilingualism when studying its impacts on EF.