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A bstract In this paper, we attempt to derive “positivity” bounds on Photon and Gluon Effective Field Theories (EFTs) at one loop level. While for the Photon case, the one loop amplitude is IR finite and well defined in the forward limit, earlier studies failed to obtain a dispersive bound on dimension-12 operators due to the dependence of the “arc integral” on the artificial low-energy scale. We show that this awkward dependence can be taken care of by analysing the ultra-violet (UV) side of dispersion relation closely. In particular, we derive an IR safe and RG improved bound at 1-loop. Thereafter, we perform a similar analysis on the Gluon EFT, which has additional complications due to ill-defined forward limit and IR divergences at 1-loop. We show that even in this case, one can get a meaningful bound at 1-loop.

The Conference of Parties (COP) of the multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) provides a platform at a specific periodicity (one, two or three years) to review work of the Convention in question. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a ‘universal’ convention with 198 parties. The 28th annual meeting of the COP (UNFCCC) was held in Dubai (UAE) during 30 November - 13 December 2023. The UN provides ‘secretariat’ support to the UNFCCC, hence the usage of prefix ‘United Nations’. It is called a ‘framework convention’ since it was adopted with a bare skeleton on 09 May 1992. It required ‘fleshing out’ of the UNFCCC with required elements to make it work for the “‘ultimate objective” of “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (Article 2). It led to the adoption of the (“related legal instruments”) 1997 Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Agreement. The climate change regime now comprises these three legal instruments that seek to address the global climate problematique. Whereas COP27 (Sharm El-Shaik; 06–21 November 2022) was known for adoption of the decision on “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters, COP28 unveiled the first global climate ‘stocktake’. This took place on the heels of UNEP Emissions Gap Report (20 November 2023) that issued warming that “world is heading for a temperature rise far above the Paris Agreement goals unless countries deliver more than they have promised”. The UNEP report called for the GHG emissions (by 2030) to “fall by 28 per cent for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42 per cent for the 1.5°C pathway”. Thus, there is a big chasm between what is laid down in the climate change regulatory framework, what is scientifically ordained and what is actually given effect on the ground by the states Parties. After 30 years (1994–2024), the resultant ‘conundrum’ presents a challenge at this juncture of planetary crisis. It calls for the state Parties to the global climate change regime to engage in a major course correction in the current global climate change regulatory approaches for securing our planetary future.

At the Stockholm + 50 (June 2–3, 2022) event, the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres warned the assembled world leaders that we have not kept our promises on the environment since our consumption is “at the rate of 1.7 planets a year” and the “global well-being is in jeopardy.” It set the global alarm bells ringing for the global decision-makers. The gathering storms indicate smoldering of a planetary-level environmental crisis. It appears, the humankind has literally sleepwalked into an existential planetary crisis. Does this planetary crisis cast shadows of the coming events before as we enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century? Can we reverse the planetary crisis? What lies in store for the planetary future with rapidly “depleting time”? This ‘moment of truth’ posits some existential questions for the humankind. It is in this context that this paper modestly engages in preliminary prognosis as well as search for prospects for our planetary future. It calls for ideating on the nature and content of the planetary crisis and moots some initial workable proposals to augment ‘low-hanging’ instrumentalities for securing future of the humankind and the planet Earth. The Pact for the Future, outcome document of the UN Summit of the Future (New York; September 22–23, 2024), reflected in the UNGA (resolution 79/1 of September 22, 2024) is indicative of the limits of multilateralism at work as it is neither inspiring nor adequate for a decisive course correction and attaining the intended objectives for a robust planetary future. With some 59 conflicts raging in the world that jeopardize the lives of one-fourth (2 billion) of the global population (8 billion) and 700 million people (2024) facing undernourishment (hunger), we need many more concrete ideas along with an effective blueprint of international environmental governance to enable walking-the-talk for salvaging our planetary future.

Background Penetration and participation of real life implementation of lifestyle change programs to prevent type 2 diabetes has been challenging. This is particularly so among low income individuals in the United States. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of financial incentives on attendance and weight loss among Medicaid beneficiaries participating in the 12-month Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). Methods This is a cluster-randomized controlled trial with two financial incentive study arms and an attention control study arm. Medicaid beneficiaries with prediabetes from 13 primary care clinics were randomly assigned to individually earned incentives (IND; 33 groups; n  = 309), a hybrid of individual- and group-earned incentives (GRP; 30 groups; n  = 259), and an attention control (AC; 30 groups; n  = 279). Up to $520 in incentives could be earned for attaining attendance and weight loss goals over 12 months. Outcomes are percent weight loss from baseline, achieving 5% weight loss from baseline, and attending 75% of core and 75% of maintenance DPP sessions. Linear mixed models were used to examine weight change and attendance rates over the 16 weeks and 12 months. Results The percent weight change at 16 weeks for the IND, GRP, and AC participants were similar, at − 2.6, − 3.1%, and − 3.4%, respectively. However, participants achieving 5% weight loss in the IND, GRP, and AC groups was 21.5, 24.0% (GRP vs AC, P  < 0.05), and 15.2%. Attendance at 75% of the DPP core sessions was significantly higher among IND (60.8%, P  < 0.001) and GRP (64.0%, P  < 0.001) participants than among AC (38.6%) participants. Despite substantial attrition over time, attendance at 75% of the DPP maintenance sessions was also significantly higher among IND (23.0%, P  < 0.001) and GRP (26.1%, P  < 0.001) participants than among AC (11.0%) participants. Conclusions Financial incentives can improve the proportion of Medicaid beneficiaries attending the 12-month DPP and achieving at least 5% weight loss. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02422420 ; retrospectively registered April 21, 2015.

INTRODUCTION Mucosal‐associated invariant T (MAIT) cells recognize microbial antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex class I‐like molecule (MR1) and are elevated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) model mouse brains; MAIT cell‐deficient AD mice have reduced brain pathology, supporting the importance of the gut–brain axis in AD. How the MR1/MAIT cell axis impacts cognition and the microbiome remains unknown. METHODS Novel object recognition/placement, Y‐maze, and Barnes maze were used to determine memory changes in wild‐type (WT), MR1 KO, 5XFAD, and 5XFAD/MR1 KO mice. Fecal samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. RESULTS 5XFAD/MR1KO mice did not display the cognitive deficits observed in 5XFAD. There were relative abundance differences in the fecal microbiota between 5XFAD and 5XFAD/MR1 KO mice, and male 5XFAD/MR1 KO mice had increased microbiome alpha diversity compared to 5XFAD mice. DISCUSSION Our data suggest that the MR1/MAIT cell axis negatively affects cognition and impacts gut microbiome diversity. These results further support a detrimental role for the MR1/MAIT cell axis in AD. Highlights 5XFAD mice lacking major histocompatibility complex, class I‐related (MR1) and mucosal‐associated invariant T (MAIT) cells had no deficits in recognition memory. Compared to 5XFAD, there was improved learning in the Barnes maze by female 5XFAD/MR1 knock‐out (KO) mice. There was an increased abundance of Campylobacterota in male 5XFAD/MR1 KO versus 5XFAD mice. Six of nine linear discriminant analysis effect size–identified distinguishing features were higher in 5XFAD/MR1 KO mice.

One of the most critical decisions in corporate finance is to decide about the source of fund to be employed. The mix of debt – equity used to generate funds is termed as Capital Structure (CS). Research on Capital Structure and its impact on financial performance has gained momentum from the pioneering article of Modigliani and Miller (1958). Since then it has been one of the most debated and controversial aspects of corporate finance. Researchers have contributed in form of theories as well as empirical findings to study the relation between capital structure and financial performance. Current paper reviews the existing studies in the area of CS and financial performance and also propose a conceptual model that describes the interrelationship between CS and financial performance based on detailed discussion of widespread literature. This model reckons important variables of financial performance affected by CS which help research scholars in further investigation. Researchers can use this model to perform empirical testing to fill the research gaps identified and enrich the existing literature.

Present research paper examines the determinants of capital structure decision of Indian food processing industry and assesses the moderating effect of firm size on this relationship. Using financial data of 40 firms for 10 years (2009–10 to 2018–19), panel least square regression analysis has been performed for data analysis. Based on regression results, the study concludes tangibility, tax rate, and cash flow as significant determinants of long-term borrowing for overall sample firms. On the other hand, tangibility, liquidity and profitability are significant factors affecting short-term borrowings of selected companies. Further, the study confirms that size of the firm moderates the effect of selected determinants on debt ratio of different categories of firms. It is, further, found that small size firms employ more debt with increasing profitability whereas medium and large size firms tend to reduce their debt levels with increasing profitability. The research findings will enhance understanding of capital structure determinants by probing the moderating impact of company size on it. The findings will be helpful to corporate managers in forming their borrowing strategies based on the relative size. Further, they can identify important factors to be considered while choosing debt or equity or in case of debt either short term or long term.

Background The immature lungs of very preterm infants are exposed to supraphysiologic oxygen, contributing to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease that is the most common morbidity of prematurity. While the microbiota significantly influences neonatal health, the relationship between the intestinal microbiome, particularly micro-eukaryotic members such as fungi and yeast, and lung injury severity in newborns remains unknown. Results Here, we show that the fungal microbiota modulates hyperoxia-induced lung injury severity in very low birth weight premature infants and preclinical pseudohumanized and altered fungal colonization mouse models. Instead of fungal communities dominated by Candida and Saccharomyces , the first stool microbiomes of infants who developed BPD had less interconnected community architectures with a greater diversity of rarer fungi. After using a pseudohumanized model to show that transfer to the neonatal microbiome from infants with BPD increased the severity of lung injury, we used gain and loss of function approaches to demonstrate that modulating the extent of initial neonatal fungal colonization affected the extent of BPD-like lung injury in mice. We also identified alterations in the murine intestinal microbiome and transcriptome associated with augmented lung injury. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that features of the initial intestinal fungal microbiome are associated with the later development of BPD in premature neonates and exert a microbiome-driven effect that is transferable and modifiable in murine models, which suggests both causality and a potential therapeutic strategy. 7tBaiGhHzrwGBbT1j3n_5h Video Abstract

Objective We report here on the management and outcomes of neonates born to mothers with active perinatal SARS-CoV-2 infection. Study design In this prospective study, eligible neonates were enrolled in a database to track in-hospital outcomes and followed up outpatient periodically till 2 months of age to assess for late onset symptoms of infection. Results From April 2020 to February 2021, 67 mothers with perinatal SARS-CoV-2 infection and 70 at-risk neonates were included. Two neonates (3%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 within 48 h of life but remained asymptomatic during hospitalization and at all follow-up periods. Three infants were reported to have a febrile illness in 2 months follow up period, none of which was attributable to SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion Our data supports the emerging evidence which describes a probable low risk of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We also demonstrate a low risk of post-natal transmission or late-onset symptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2.

A comparative study of inkjet-printed graphene films (IPGFs) with mechanically exfoliated, highly crystalline graphene platelets have been conducted. Inkjet-printed graphene films were obtained using liquid-phase exfoliation of bulk graphite, while crystalline, residue-free graphene was obtained from highly-oriented-pyrolytic-graphite (HOPG) using mechanical exfoliation through a viscoelastic transfer process. Optical absorption spectroscopy was used to infer the density of platelets in the graphene-based ink dispersion. Temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy revealed the presence of the defect D-band peak in the IPGFs, which was not observed in the HOPG-based samples at room temperature, confirming the higher crystalline quality of the latter. Full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of the G-band was measured to be ~ 26.4 cm−1 for IPGFs compared to ~ 18.6 cm−1 for HOPG-based samples. Moreover, the D-band intensity decreased as temperature increased up to 600 °C for IPGFs, suggesting the possibility of annealing effects that may arise at these temperatures to reduce defect densities. In both HOPG-based samples and IPGF patterns, the G-band and G′-band red-shifted with increasing temperature which can be attributed to elongation of the C–C bond due to thermal expansion, resulting in the anharmonic coupling of the phonon modes. Moreover, a power study demonstrated the IPGFs even with printing passes as low as 10 passes, dissipate ~ 1.03 mW of power at 1 V, which was similar to the power dissipated in the HOPG samples (~ 1.05 mW at 1 V) suggesting good adherence of graphene platelets and high conductivity in IPGFs, which suggests that the inks are favorable for use in interconnects for device platforms in printed electronics. A natural follow-on from this work, was the use of the conductive graphene inks as an interconnect in devices, specifically WS2-based photodetectors, where prototype devices were fabricated and characterized that are also discussed here.