Every country must allocate final decision-making authority over different issues/subjects within its boundaries. Historically, many scholars working on this topic implicitly assumed that identifying the features providing entities with justified claims for authority and the entities possessing those features would also identify which groups should have which powers (or vice versa). However, many candidate allocative principles select multiple entities as candidates for some sub-state authority and yet fail to explain which powers each should possess. Further work must explain which groups should possess which powers when and what to do when two groups can make equally-valid authority claims using the same principle. Subsidiarity, the principle under which authority should presumptively belong to the entity representing those ‘most affected’ by its exercise and capable of addressing underlying problems, is one of the few principles focused on identifying which groups should have which powers. Unfortunately, subsidiarity alone does not provide guidance on many issues/subjects. Useful subsidiarity-related guidance relies on balancing underlying justificatory interests, which do the real allocative work. Another allocative principle remains necessary. A deflationary account of subsidiarity’s allocative potential nonetheless provides insights into how to articulate a new principle and accounts of subsidiarity that can fulfill other moral roles.

‘Practical’ approaches to human rights hold that analysis of legal human rights must attend to the practice(s) of international human rights law and that the nature and justification of international human rights is best determined by attending to their role(s) in international human rights law’s system of normative practices, not analogous moral rights outside it. These core tenets plausibly explain the apparent normativity of international human rights law despite controversies about the status of many ‘rights’ in the ‘International Bill of Rights’. Yet plausible practical approaches require clear and compelling accounts of which practices qualify as human rights practices. Most existing accounts view ‘responses’ to claims made in the name of the international legal community as key to the identification of human rights. Activities by domestic governments and non-governmental actors qualify as relevant practices. While understandable, these ‘responsive’ accounts of practice create more problems than they solve. This work accordingly promotes a largely unexplored account on which ‘human rights practices’ are strictly defined by international legal doctrine. This ‘doctrinal’ account of practice is most likely to maintain practical approaches to human rights’ potential benefits without generating an unduly expansive rights register or adopting strong theoretical commitments about the nature of law.

The role of fire in the management of degraded areas remains strongly debated. Here we experimentally compare removal and infestation of popcorn kernels (Zea mays L. – Poaceae) and açaí fruits (Euterpe oleracea Mart. – Arecaceae) in one burned and two unburned savanna habitats in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. In each habitat, a total of ten experimental units (five per seed type) were installed, each with three treatments: (1) open access, (2) vertebrate access, and (3) invertebrate access. Generalized linear models showed significant differences in both seed removal (P < 0.0001) and infestation (P < 0.0001) among seed type, habitats and access treatments. Burned savanna had the highest overall seed infestation rate (24.3%) and invertebrate access increased açaí seed infestation levels to 100% in the burned savanna. Increased levels of invertebrate seed infestation in burned savanna suggest that preparation burning may be of limited use for the management and restoration of such habitats in tropical regions.

COVID-19-related controversies concerning the allocation of scarce resources, travel restrictions, and physical distancing norms each raise a foundational question: How should authority, and thus responsibility, over healthcare and public health law and policy be allocated? Each controversy raises principles that support claims by traditional wielders of authority in “federal” countries, like federal and state governments, and less traditional entities, like cities and sub-state nations. No existing principle divides “healthcare and public law and policy” into units that can be allocated in intuitively compelling ways. This leads to puzzles concerning (a) the principles for justifiably allocating “powers” in these domains and (b) whether and how they change during “emergencies.” This work motivates the puzzles, explains why resolving them should be part of long-term responses to COVID-19, and outlines some initial COVID-19-related findings that shed light on justifiable authority allocation, emergencies, emergency powers, and the relationships between them.

We prove two main results on Denjoy–Carleman classes: (1) a composite function theorem which asserts that a function $f(x)$ in a quasianalytic Denjoy–Carleman class ${\mathcal{Q}}_{M}$, which is formally composite with a generically submersive mapping $y=\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}(x)$ of class ${\mathcal{Q}}_{M}$, at a single given point in the source (or in the target) of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$ can be written locally as $f=g\circ \unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$, where $g(y)$ belongs to a shifted Denjoy–Carleman class ${\mathcal{Q}}_{M^{(p)}}$; (2) a statement on a similar loss of regularity for functions definable in the $o$-minimal structure given by expansion of the real field by restricted functions of quasianalytic class ${\mathcal{Q}}_{M}$. Both results depend on an estimate for the regularity of a ${\mathcal{C}}^{\infty }$ solution $g$ of the equation $f=g\circ \unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$, with $f$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}$ as above. The composite function result depends also on a quasianalytic continuation theorem, which shows that the formal assumption at a given point in (1) propagates to a formal composition condition at every point in a neighbourhood.

Assessing changes in adolescents’ BMI over brief periods could contribute to detection of acute changes in weight status and prevention of overweight. The objective of this study was to analyse the BMI trajectory and the excessive weight gain of Brazilian adolescents over 3 years and the association with demographic and socio-economic factors. Data regarding the BMI of 1026 students aged between 13 and 19 years were analysed over 3 consecutive years (2010, 2011 and 2012) from the Adolescent Nutritional Assessment Longitudinal Study. Linear mixed effects models were used to assess the BMI trajectory according to the type of school attended (public or private), skin colour, socio-economic status and level of maternal schooling by sex. Associations between excessive weight gain and socio-economic variables were identified by calculation of OR. Boys attending private schools (β coefficient: 0·008; P=0·01), those with white skin (β coefficient: 0·007; P=0·04) and those whose mothers had >8 years of schooling (β coefficient: 0·009; P=0·02) experienced greater BMI increase than boys and girls in other groups. Boys in private schools also presented higher excessive weight gain compared with boys attending public schools (P=0·03). Boys attending private schools experienced greater BMI increase and excessive weight gain, indicating the need to develop specific policies for the prevention and reduction of overweight in this population.

Recent studies suggest that sand can serve as a vehicle for exposure of humans to pathogens at beach sites, resulting in increased health risks. Sampling for microorganisms in sand should therefore be considered for inclusion in regulatory programmes aimed at protecting recreational beach users from infectious disease. Here, we review the literature on pathogen levels in beach sand, and their potential for affecting human health. In an effort to provide specific recommendations for sand sampling programmes, we outline published guidelines for beach monitoring programmes, which are currently focused exclusively on measuring microbial levels in water. We also provide background on spatial distribution and temporal characteristics of microbes in sand, as these factors influence sampling programmes. First steps toward establishing a sand sampling programme include identifying appropriate beach sites and use of initial sanitary assessments to refine site selection. A tiered approach is recommended for monitoring. This approach would include the analysis of samples from many sites for faecal indicator organisms and other conventional analytes, while testing for specific pathogens and unconventional indicators is reserved for high-risk sites. Given the diversity of microbes found in sand, studies are urgently needed to identify the most significant aetiological agent of disease and to relate microbial measurements in sand to human health risk.

Numerical cognition is based on two components - number processing and calculation. Its development is influenced by biological, cognitive, educational, and cultural factors. The objectives of the present study were to: i) assess number processing and calculation in Brazilian children aged 7-12 years from public schools using the Zareki-R (Battery of neuropsychological tests for number processing and calculation in children, Revised; von Aster & Dellatolas, 2006) in order to obtain normative data for Portuguese speakers; ii) identify how environment, age, and gender influences the development of these mathematical skills; iii) investigate the construct validity of the Zareki-R by the contrast with the Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The sample included 172 children, both genders, divided in two groups: urban (N = 119) and rural (N = 53) assessed by the Zareki-R. Rural children presented lower scores in one aspect of number processing; children aged 7-8 years demonstrated an inferior global score than older; boys presented a superior performance in both number processing and calculation. Construct validity of Zareki-R was demonstrated by high to moderate correlations with Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The Zareki-R therefore is a suitable instrument to assess the development of mathematical skills, which is influenced by factors such as environment, age, and gender.

The provocation defence, which militates against full legal responsibility for unjustified killings in several common law jurisdictions, has been the subject of considerable controversy during recent decades. Much of the criticism focused on substantive legal issues. This article examines the philosophical bases for the defence in hopes of establishing a theoretical groundwork for future debate on the legal defence. The defence originated on desert bases and continues to be understood on those grounds. This article thus examines it in light of two dominant desert-based theories of punishment originating with Aristotle and Immanuel Kant respectively.

Ultimately, the best theory of punishment and the best theory of defence are provided by different approaches. The more plausible and robust Kantian theory of punishment can nonetheless be supplemented by the Aristotelean theory of defence as a continent sociological morality to create a more nuanced account of defence that better explains both excuses in general and the provocation defence in particular. From a substantive legal perspective, this position justifies continued use of the provocation defence in our imperfect legal order, but the partial excuse of provocation will not exist in the ideal legal order. An ideal political order will sufficiently control its citizens’ emotions such that the defence cannot be justified. A partial excuse of provocation is only necessary in the interim.