bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Functional brain imaging using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography in 138 patients with Kleine–Levin syndrome: an early marker?
Authors: Dudoignon Benjamin , Tainturier Laure-Eugénie , Dodet Pauline , Bera Géraldine , Groos Elisabeth , Chaumereuil Charlotte , Maranci Jean-Baptiste , Kas Aurélie , Arnulf Isabelle
Published: June 2021

Kleine–Levin syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by relapsing-remitting episodes of severe hypersomnia, cognitive impairment, apathy, derealization and behavioural disturbances. Between episodes, most patients experience normal sleep, mood and behaviour, but they may have some residual abnormalities in brain functional imaging; however, the frequency, localization and significance of abnormal imaging are unknown, as brain functional imaging have been scarce and heterogenous [including scintigraphy 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (FDG-PET/CT) and functional MRI during resting state and cognitive effort] and based on case reports or on group analysis in small groups. Using visual individual analysis of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography at the time of Kleine–Levin syndrome diagnosis, we examined the frequency, localization and clinical determinants of hypo- and hypermetabolism in a cross-sectional study. Among 179 patients with Kleine–Levin syndrome who underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography, the visual analysis was restricted to the 138 untreated patients studied during asymptomatic periods. As many as 70% of patients had hypometabolism, mostly affecting the posterior associative cortex and the hippocampus. Hypometabolism was associated with younger age, recent (<3 years) disease course and a higher number of episodes during the preceding year. The hypometabolism was more extensive (from the left temporo-occipital junction to the entire homolateral and then the bilateral posterior associative cortex) at the beginning of the disorder. In contrast, there was hypermetabolism in the prefrontal dorsolateral cortex in half of the patients (almost all having concomitant hypometabolism in the posterior areas), which was also associated with younger age and shorter disease course. The cognitive performances (including episodic memory) were similar in patients with versus without hippocampus hypometabolism. In conclusion, hypometabolism is frequently observed upon individual visual analysis of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography during asymptomatic Kleine–Levin syndrome periods; it is mostly affecting the posterior associative cortex and the hippocampus and is mostly in young patients with recent-onset disease. Hypometabolism provides a trait marker during the first years of Kleine–Levin syndrome, which could help clinicians during the diagnosis process.
Chronically elevated branched chain amino acid levels are pro-arrhythmic
Authors: Portero Vincent , Nicol Thomas , Podliesna Svitlana , Marchal Gerard A , Baartscheer Antonius , Casini Simona , Tadros Rafik , Treur Jorien L , Tanck Michael W T , Cox I Jane , Probert Fay , Hough Tertius A , Falcone Sara , Beekman Leander , Müller-Nurasyid Martina , Kastenmüller Gabi , Gieger Christian , Peters Annette , Kääb Stefan , Sinner Moritz F , Blease Andrew , Verkerk Arie O , Bezzina Connie R , Potter Paul K , Remme Carol Ann
Published: June 2021

Aims

Cardiac arrhythmias comprise a major health and economic burden and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, including cardiac failure, stroke, and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Development of efficient preventive and therapeutic strategies is hampered by incomplete knowledge of disease mechanisms and pathways. Our aim is to identify novel mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmia and SCD using an unbiased approach.

Methods and results

We employed a phenotype-driven N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis screen and identified a mouse line with a high incidence of sudden death at young age (6–9 weeks) in the absence of prior symptoms. Affected mice were found to be homozygous for the nonsense mutation Bcat2p.Q300*/p.Q300* in the Bcat2 gene encoding branched chain amino acid transaminase 2. At the age of 4–5 weeks, Bcat2p.Q300*/p.Q300* mice displayed drastic increase of plasma levels of branch chain amino acids (BCAAs—leucine, isoleucine, valine) due to the incomplete catabolism of BCAAs, in addition to inducible arrhythmias ex vivo as well as cardiac conduction and repolarization disturbances. In line with these findings, plasma BCAA levels were positively correlated to electrocardiogram indices of conduction and repolarization in the German community-based KORA F4 Study. Isolated cardiomyocytes from Bcat2p.Q300*/p.Q300* mice revealed action potential (AP) prolongation, pro-arrhythmic events (early and late afterdepolarizations, triggered APs), and dysregulated calcium homeostasis. Incubation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with elevated concentration of BCAAs induced similar calcium dysregulation and pro-arrhythmic events which were prevented by rapamycin, demonstrating the crucial involvement of mTOR pathway activation.

Conclusions

Our findings identify for the first time a causative link between elevated BCAAs and arrhythmia, which has implications for arrhythmogenesis in conditions associated with BCAA metabolism dysregulation such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and heart failure.
L’histoire immobile?A reappraisal of French economic growth using the demand-side approach, 1280–1850
Authors: Ridolfi Leonardo , Nuvolari Alessandro
Published: June 2021

We construct a new series of GDP per capita for France for the period 1280–1850 using the demand-side approach. Our estimates point to a long-run stability of the French economy with a very gradual acceleration toward modern economic growth. In comparative perspective, our new estimates suggest that England and France were characterized by similar levels of economic performance until the second half of the seventeenth century. It is only after that period that the English economy “forges ahead” in a consistent way.
A thematic analysis to examine the feasibility of EHR-based clinical decision support for implementing Choosing Wisely® guidelines
Authors: Douthit Brian J , Staes Catherine J , Del Fiol Guilherme , Richesson Rachel L
Published: June 2021

Objective

To identify important barriers and facilitators relating to the feasibility of implementing clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) as clinical decision support (CDS).

Materials and Methods

We conducted a qualitative, thematic analysis of interviews from seven interviews with dyads (one clinical expert and one systems analyst) who discussed the feasibility of implementing 10 Choosing Wisely® guidelines at their institutions. We conducted a content analysis to extract salient themes describing facilitators, challenges, and other feasibility considerations regarding implementing CPGs as CDS.

Results

We identified five themes: concern about data quality impacts implementation planning; the availability of data in a computable format is a primary factor for implementation feasibility; customized strategies are needed to mitigate uncertainty and ambiguity when translating CPGs to an electronic health record-based tool; misalignment of expected CDS with pre-existing clinical workflows impact implementation; and individual level factors of end-users must be considered when selecting and implementing CDS tools.

Discussion

The themes reveal several considerations for CPG as CDS implementations regarding data quality, knowledge representation, and sociotechnical issues. Guideline authors should be aware that using CDS to implement CPGs is becoming increasingly popular and should consider providing clear guidelines to aid implementation. The complex nature of CPG as CDS implementation necessitates a unified effort to overcome these challenges.

Conclusion

Our analysis highlights the importance of cooperation and co-development of standards, strategies, and infrastructure to address the difficulties of implementing CPGs as CDS. The complex interactions between the concepts revealed in the interviews necessitates the need that such work should not be conducted in silos. We also implore that implementers disseminate their experiences.
Practical Knowledge without Luminosity
Authors: Beddor Bob , Pavese Carlotta
Published: June 2021

According to a rich tradition in philosophy of action, intentional action requires practical knowledge: someone who acts intentionally knows what they are doing while they are doing it. Piñeros Glasscock (2020) argues that an anti-luminosity argument, of the sort developed in Williamson (2000), can be readily adapted to provide a reductio of an epistemic condition on intentional action. This paper undertakes a rescue mission on behalf of an epistemic condition on intentional action. We formulate and defend a version of an epistemic condition that is free from any luminosity commitments. While this version of an epistemic condition escapes reductio, it comes with substantive commitments of its own. In particular, we will see that it forces us to deny the existence of any essentially intentional actions. We go on to argue that this consequence should be embraced. On the resulting picture, intentional action is not luminous. But it still entails practical knowledge.
Reboot: a straightforward approach to identify genes and splicing isoforms associated with cancer patient prognosis
Authors: dos Santos Felipe R C , Guardia Gabriela D A , dos Santos Filipe F , Ohara Daniel T , Galante Pedro A F
Published: June 2021

Nowadays, the massive amount of data generated by modern sequencing technologies provides an unprecedented opportunity to find genes associated with cancer patient prognosis, connecting basic and translational research. However, treating high dimensionality of gene expression data and integrating it with clinical variables are major challenges to perform these analyses. Here, we present Reboot, an integrative approach to find and validate genes and transcripts (splicing isoforms) associated with cancer patient prognosis from high dimensional expression datasets. Reboot innovates by using a multivariate strategy with penalized Cox regression (LASSO method) combined with a bootstrap approach, in addition to statistical tests and plots to support the findings. Applying Reboot on data from 154 glioblastoma patients, we identified a three-gene signature (IKBIP, OSMR, PODNL1) whose increased derived risk score was significantly associated with worse patients’ prognosis. Similarly, Reboot was able to find a seven-splicing isoforms signature related to worse overall survival in 177 pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients with elevated risk scores after uni- and multivariate analyses. In summary, Reboot is an efficient, intuitive and straightforward way of finding genes or splicing isoforms signatures relevant to patient prognosis, which can democratize this kind of analysis and shed light on still under-investigated cancer-related genes and splicing isoforms.
Decline, Renewal, and the Invention of Christian Progress
Authors: Watts Edward J.
Published: June 2021

The emperor Diocletian stabilized the Roman Empire in the 280s and early 290s by creating the tetrarchy, a system of shared imperial authority in which four emperors each operated in a different region of the empire. Panegyrists celebrated Diocletian, Maximian, and their colleague Constantius I for restoring Roman prosperity and peace. By the early 300s, imperial attention shifted to maintaining the new order. This change prompted a series of strong imperial interventions in Roman life that culminated with the Great Persecution of Christians. It ended just before the emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Christian authors like Eusebius and Lactantius celebrated this event, but Constantine nevertheless framed his new religious policies not as a break with the past but as a restoration of the worship of the one original God away from which Roman polytheism had drifted.
Old Rome, New Rome, and Future Rome
Authors: Watts Edward J.
Published: June 2021

Eastern Roman control of central Italy became increasingly tenuous as the eighth century progressed. The result was a series of popes gradually exercising greater independence from Constantinople. By the middle of the century, popes had begun using the rhetoric of Roman restoration to provide grounds for papal assumption of territorial control over stretches of central Italy taken from the Lombards by the Franks. Papal temporal authority then rested on a forged document called the Donation of Constantine, a document whose claims underpinned Leo IIl’s crowning of Charlemagne as Roman emperor in 800. Although Charlemagne’s Roman imperial title was manufactured, his new Western Roman Empire was framed as a restoration of traditional Western Roman prerogatives that had fallen away—and his new capital at Aachen embodied this transition with buildings constructed from old Roman materials taken from Italy.
Imperial Women of Rome
Authors: Boatwright Mary T.
Published: June 2021

This book explores the constraints and opportunities of the women in the Roman emperor’s family from 35 BCE, when Octavia and Livia received unprecedented privileges from the state, to 235 CE, when Julia Mamaea was assassinated with her son Severus Alexander. Historical vignettes feature Agrippina the Younger, Domitia Longina, and some others as the book analyzes the history of Rome’s most eminent women in legal, religious, military, and other key settings of the principate. It also examines the women’s exemplarity through imaging as well as their presence in the city of Rome and in the empire. Evidence comes from coins, inscriptions, papyri, sculpture, and law codes as well as ancient authors. Numerous illustrations, maps, genealogical trees, and detailed tables and appendices complement the text. The whole reveals imperial women’s fluctuating but persistent marginalization and lack of agency despite their potential, even as it elucidates Rome’s imperial power, legal system, family ideology, religion and imperial cult, court, capital city, and military customs.
Forgiveness
Authors: Warmke Brandon , Nelkin Dana Kay , McKenna Michael
Published: June 2021

This chapter introduces the notion of forgiveness. It discusses the nature of forgiveness, including foundational issues such as moral wrongdoing, moral blameworthiness, and standing to forgive. It articulates several accounts of the nature of forgiveness, including emotion accounts, revenge and punishment-forbearance accounts, and performative accounts, and discusses the difference between monist and pluralist accounts. Turning to the norms of forgiveness, the chapter discusses several moral questions raised in the philosophical literature on forgiveness. The chapter concludes by summarizing and contextualizing the chapters in this volume.
Forgiving as a Performative Utterance
Authors: Swinburne Richard
Published: June 2021

When A wrongs B, A incurs an obligation to make atonement to B by apologizing with repentance, making reparation, and perhaps also doing a bit more for B, which I call “penance.” For B to forgive A (in the morally most important sense of “forgive”) is for B to promise to treat A in the future as someone who has not wronged B. It is normally good for B to forgive A after A has made at least some attempt at making atonement, but B has no obligation to forgive. To wrong someone is analogous to occurring an (unauthorized) debt to the person, and forgiving is deeming the debt to have been paid. Christ taught that, in order to forgive humans, God requires them to apologize with repentance. But God requires no reparation or penance (apart from that provided for us by Christ’s life and death) and imposes a condition on forgiving us—that we should forgive other humans who seek our forgiveness.
The Recent History of Veteran Recruitment and Retention
Authors: Rosser Lisa
Published: June 2021

Setting the historical context for this book, this chapter describes the recent history of civilian veteran employment, relaying how the high military veteran unemployment rate in 2010 generated concern and reactions from the government and the public and the private sectors. It then provides examples of how government and companies worked together to improve the employment situation of military veterans through legislation, corporate hiring programs, and corporate partnerships but faced limited success because too few companies were involved. The current situation of veteran employment and retention is outlined, with examples provided of why military veterans may choose to leave civilian employment and suggestions offered to address the issues veteran employees may have in their jobs so that employers can do a better job of retaining them in their workforces.
Why Hire Veterans?
Authors: Haynie J. Michael
Published: June 2021

In order for employers to get the full benefit of hiring military veterans, they need to understand why it is in their best interest to employ and retain these individuals. This chapter presents and expands on the typical understanding of what it means to hire a veteran. It defines the skills and knowledge veterans bring to the organization along with the value associated with decisive efforts to integrate veterans into the civilian workforce. This chapter explores and outlines the subsequent impact of these decisions on a company’s organizational culture and competitive advantage in the marketplace (e.g., how veteran hiring contributes to the corporate bottom line by examining the return on investment of these decisions), looks at the current trends in the marketplace for veteran talent, provides suggestions on hiring veterans, and presents recommendations on how employers can advance the success of veterans in the workplace, including veterans with disabilities and injuries.
The Soft Skills Veterans Bring to the Workforce
Authors: Hayes Theodore L. , Hogan Robert
Published: June 2021

One of the benefits of hiring military veterans is the skill set they bring to the civilian workforce. Veterans are keenly aware, through leadership examples and training, of the importance of dealing with other people’s productively and of managing one’s own behavior. Working effectively with others and managing one’s own behavior are examples of nontechnical or “soft” social skills that can be measured by personality assessments. Examples of the types of attributes that personality assessments test for include the “big five factors” of personality (conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion) as well as political skill. Taken together, these soft social skills reflect one’s capacity to get along with others and one’s capacity to compete with others; both getting along and getting ahead are empirically related to work success. Veterans have an advantage in civilian organizations in terms of using their soft social skills for personal and team growth by finding meaning in work.
Hiring and Employing Wounded and Disabled Veterans
Authors: Young Judy , Stern Lisa , Geller Daniel
Published: June 2021

Some members of the military may leave the service with physical and/or psychological injuries or wounds. This chapter offers business leaders and human resource professionals a blueprint for hiring and retaining wounded warriors and veterans with disabilities in civilian organizations by providing an overview of the intersection between disability, veteran status, and employment. It contextualizes the employment picture of this population, addresses misconceptions surrounding their capabilities, and provides employers a road map for how to help them successfully reintegrate into the civilian workforce. The chapter provides guidance on tackling obstacles faced by both employers and veterans throughout the hiring process and addresses and dispels the myths related to job performance. Key issues of disability disclosure and reasonable accommodation are indicated, followed by promising practices for hiring and retaining veterans with disabilities. The chapter concludes by outlining federal laws pertaining to the employment of veterans with disabilities along with additional resources for employers.
Veteran Affinity Groups and Mentoring Programs
Authors: Poteet Mark L. , Allen Tammy D.
Published: June 2021

This chapter provides guidance and best practices on corporate veteran affinity groups and mentoring programs and how they can increase the retention, engagement, and satisfaction of veteran employees in civilian organizations. It begins by defining these programs and outlining their benefits in general. It then outlines specifically how such programs can address challenges veterans face in the workplace, thus benefitting both companies and veteran employees. Then specific issues and steps to take in creating such programs are discussed. The chapter concludes with overall recommendations and best practices companies can follow to leverage the power of these programs. Short case examples of different companies’ programs are provided to illustrate key points.
Error Detection and Representational Mechanisms
Authors: Bielecka Krystyna , Miłkowski Marcin
Published: June 2021

This chapter defends a mechanistic and teleosemantic view of naturalized intentionality that underlies the role of error detection via coherence checking. Representational mechanisms serve the biological functions of representing, which are related to the semantic value of representation: its truth or falsity, its being vacuous or satisfied, or its accuracy. If representational mechanisms contain (or interact with) error-detection mechanisms, the semantic value of representation is causally relevant. As long as semantic value is causally relevant in cognitive explanations, the content of representation is arguably causally relevant, which vindicates the notion of mental representation in contemporary scientific research. Error detection is understood mechanistically in terms of coherence checking, which is purely computational and does not presuppose any semantic function. This chapter analyzes this conceptually and demonstrates that this account is descriptively adequate by citing a recent experiment on zebra finches, even though discrepancy detection is not always related to intentionality.
What Should We Teach?
Authors: Schrier Karen
Published: June 2021

Chapter 3 delves into the specific civics and ethics skills and knowledge that are necessary to teach. It dives into US standards, approaches, and frameworks, including the college, career, and civic life (C3) framework for social studies state standards; the civics assessment framework; the 10 proven practices for civics education; connected civics; action civics; and the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework. It also includes the Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues framework from the United Kingdom. From these frameworks, the chapter poses three different themes and nine guiding questions. The three themes are real-world knowledge and action; connection and community; and critical thinking and inquiry, and the nine questions form the basis for the subsequent chapters in the book.
Kant's Doctrine of Virtue
Authors: Timmons Mark
Published: June 2021

This book is a reader’s guide to Kant’s final work in moral philosophy, The Doctrine of Virtue, Part II of the 1797 Metaphysics of Morals. The guide has five parts plus a conclusion. Part I, “Background,” includes two chapters: 1. “Life and Work” and 2. “Philosophical Background.” Part II, “General Introduction to The Metaphysics of Morals,” covers the introduction to the entire work and includes three chapters: 3. “On the Idea of and Necessity for a Metaphysics of Morals,” 4. “Mental Faculties, the Moral Law, and Human Motivation,” and 5. “Preliminary Concepts and Division of the Metaphysics of Morals.” Part III, “Introduction to The Doctrine of Virtue,” includes four chapters covering Kant’s dedicated introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue: 6. “The Doctrine of Virtue as a Doctrine of Ends,” 7. “General Ends that Are Also Duties,” 8. “Radical Evil and the Nature of Virtue,” and 9. “The Science of Ethics.” Part IV, “The Doctrine of Elements,” is devoted to Kant’s system of duties of virtue that represents his normative ethical theory. It contains six chapters: 10. “Perfect Duties to Oneself as an Animal Being,” 11. “Perfect Duties to Oneself Merely as a Moral Being,” 12. Imperfect Duties to Oneself,” 13. “Duties of Love to Other Human Beings,” 14. “The Vices of Hatred and Disrespect,” and 15. “Friendship.” Part V, “The Doctrine of Methods of Ethics and Conclusion,” includes chapter 16 “Moral Education and Practice.” The book’s conclusion reflects on the significance of The Doctrine of Virtue for understanding Kant’s ethics.
Deep Disagreements and Political Polarization
Authors: Ridder Jeroen de
Published: June 2021

In deep disagreements, parties disagree about relatively fundamental underlying moral or epistemic principles and therefore see each other as less than fully rational or morally subpar. The chapter argues that deep disagreements lead to both cognitive and practical polarization, especially when they concern matters that are central to people’s social identities: deeply disagreeing parties will think less of each other and tend to treat each other worse. This, in turn, entrenches their disagreement even further, resulting in a vicious feedback loop. Support for the claims made here comes from both conceptual connections between deep disagreement and polarization as well as widely established empirical results in psychology and political science.
The Question of Consent’s Scope
Authors: Dougherty Tom
Published: June 2021

This chapter frames this book’s inquiry by discussing the question of what fixes the scope of consent and the methods to use in order to answer this question. The question of the scope of consent is a question about which moral changes are brought about by consent. When someone’s consent is valid, it releases the consent-receiver from duties. This book sets to one side the questions of which duties we have and which conditions must be met for consent to be valid. Instead, this book asks a downstream question. Phrased in terms of duties, this question is: of all the duties from which the consent-giver can release the consent-receiver, what determines the duties from which the consent-receiver is released by the consent-giver’s valid consent? To answer that question, this book will use four methods. First, this book will adopt the comparative method in moral philosophy by comparing the pros and cons of three rival accounts. Each account is made up of a view of consent, a principle for consent’s scope, and an argument that supports this view and principle. Second, this book will develop and evaluate these accounts by adopting the method of cases, which involves considering accounts’ implications for various cases. Third, this book will look at bigger-picture arguments. Fourth, this book will inform our discussion by drawing on work in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, and epistemology.
The Permissive Intention Principle
Authors: Dougherty Tom
Published: June 2021

This chapter exploits the Autonomy Argument to motivate the Permissive Intention Principle for the scope of consent. According to this principle, the scope of consent is determined by the mental content of a consent-giver’s ‘permissive intentions’. These are intentions to release another person from duties that they owe to the consent-giver. The Autonomy Argument supports the Permissive Intention Principle because there is little value to the consent-giver controlling whether they consent unless they also control what they consent to. Since permissive intentions are propositional attitudes, we can think of these intentions’ contents in contrastive terms. These intentions distinguish two sets of possible interactions, according to whether someone intends to permit these interactions. That gives us a clear way of thinking about the contents of permissive intentions without adopting the idea that someone consents ‘under a description’.
Challenges to EU Legality in the Field of Asylum and Migration Law
Authors: Brouwer Evelien
Published: June 2021

‘EU legality’ in EU migration and asylum laws can be considered as a double-edged sword. This chapter describes how, on the one hand, the CJEU, by the mere application of general principles of EU law, offered in its case-law important criteria strengthening the rights and legal protection of third-country nationals while, on the other hand, more recent developments show that the EU legislator, but also the CJEU, almost artificially excludes migration laws or decisions from the legal framework of the EU. It will be argued that developments of ‘re-nationalization’, the application of mutual trust, and the externalization of EU asylum and migration policies, challenge the applicability of general principles of EU legality, including the protection of fundamental rights and the right to effective judicial protection.
Semitic Monotheism
Authors: Stroumsa Guy G.
Published: June 2021

Ernest Renan remains the most important figure in the French study of religion. His attitudes to both Judaism and Islam must be understood against the backdrop of his notion of the two main races of humankind, the Semitic and the Indo-European, an idea which he had already developed in his early work on the Semitic languages and which continued to inform his thought throughout his life. In Renan’s view, the Semites represent a lower combination of human nature. They had for him no mythology, no epics, no science, no philosophy, no fiction, no plastic arts, no civil life … In other words, the Semites did not develop any of the fields that the Europeans understand as integral to a true living culture. In religion, the lack of myths (due to the monotony of their native deserts) meant a paucity of gods.
Sacrifice Compared
Authors: Stroumsa Guy G.
Published: June 2021

Although most major social anthropologists came from Britain, the new sensitivity to ritual among students of religion, it appears, was felt more powerfully in France than elsewhere. This chapter considers the conditions in which a new intellectual sensitivity to sacrifice appeared towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the immense implications of this sensitivity on new approaches to religion. Although reflection on sacrifice dates back to antiquity, it is only with the emergence of the science of religion as an academic discipline after the mid-nineteenth century that it became grounded in theoretical approaches to religion. We will see how Durkheim’s most gifted students dealt with sacrifice, and call attention to the broader political context, from the Dreyfus Affair to the First World War.
Like Two Fountains
Authors: Balberg Mira , Weiss Haim
Published: June 2021

Chapter 1 focuses on the aging body, and particularly on aspects of gender and sexuality of the aging body. Following a discussion of ancient medical theories regarding aging processes and their echoes in rabbinic texts, the chapter analyzes two rabbinic accounts regarding biblical figures whose bodies managed to defy the laws of aging. The first part of the chapter analyses the narrative of Abraham and Sarah’s return to their youth (BT Baba Metzi‘a 87a) and the vicissitudes through which their bodies went before and after the birth of Isaac, whereas the second part examines one story about King David’s sexuality in his old age (BT Sanhedrin 22a). The chapter argues that through the use of semi-mythical figures, the rabbis reveal both their desire to undo the processes of aging and their profound conviction that aging must ultimately be accepted.
Raise My Eyes for Me
Authors: Balberg Mira , Weiss Haim
Published: June 2021

Chapter 4 examines relationships among older and younger rabbis in the setting of the study house, focusing on the role of eyes, looks, and gazes in narrative depictions of old age. In the first story analyzed in the chapter, a young rabbi, upon gazing at an older rabbi who is dancing publicly, feels shame and self-consciousness as though his own body is implicated in the body of the old man and is put on display (BT Kettubot 17a). In the second story, an aging rabbi is the object of the harsh and merciless gaze of others but also appears capable of destroying the one who gazes at him with his own gaze (BT Baba Qamma 117a). The gaze in this story is a destructive force but also proves, in the end, to have a redeeming power.
Epilogue
Authors: Balberg Mira , Weiss Haim
Published: June 2021

The Epilogue offers a brief theoretical-methodological reflection on the book by discussing the interpretive and analytical principles that guided its readings. This book sought to bring old age and aged persons into the discourse on rabbinic culture—to bring them from the shadows to the light, so to speak—and thus to enrich existing conversations on the wonderfully manifold fabric of this culture. Focusing on three key literary terms that have been critical for this work—excess, overreading, and estrangement—the epilogue accounts for an understanding of rabbinic literature as literature, and charts out the ways in which this investigation of old age helps illuminate the psychological sophistication and literary deftness of rabbinic narrative art more broadly.
Introduction
Authors: Stockhausen Ulrike Elisabeth
Published: June 2021

The introduction outlines how American evangelical Christians have responded to refugees and immigrants to the United States since the early 1960s and into the twenty-first century. It sketches the evangelical theology of hospitality, which drove this activism into the late 1980s, and notes the significant shift which took place in evangelical immigration attitudes in the 1990s. While political leanings have always shaped evangelicals’ practical responses and political positions on immigration, mainstream evangelicals’ alliance with the Republican Party profoundly impacted their theology of hospitality as the Grand Old Party shifted toward a hard-line position on immigration. The introduction provides historical context for this activism and introduces the main question which drives the book: Why did evangelicals for many years embrace an immigrant- and refugee-friendly theology, only to replace their scriptural convictions with a more skeptical interpretation of the biblical record once the issue became subject to a deeply polarized political debate?
Addressing Illegal Immigration
Authors: Stockhausen Ulrike Elisabeth
Published: June 2021

This chapter introduces the varying evangelical responses to undocumented immigrants in the 1980s. Evangelicals’ views of the Reagan administration impacted their responses to the issue of undocumented immigration. Progressive evangelicals expressed their opposition to President Reagan’s Central America policies by supporting the movement to provide church sanctuary to people who fled the civil wars in Central America. In contrast, conservative evangelicals emphasized the need to act within the confines of the law. They became part of the legalization program provided by the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the Evangelical Task Force on Legalization, run by World Relief. At the same time, they closely followed the fate of Pentecostal Christians in the Soviet Union and sponsored Soviet refugees. Apart from legal concerns, what differentiated mainstream evangelicals’ and progressive evangelicals’ responses to undocumented immigrants in the 1980s was their willingness to take a public position against the Reagan administration’s foreign policy.
Introduction to the Health of a Population
Authors: Atun Rifat
Published: June 2021

Chapter 1 conceptualizes a health system as a collection of interacting elements that are designed to produce outputs that lead to better population health. A system’s elements both “hang together” as a whole and continually interact and affect each other as they interoperate to produce their final result. Systems thinking is one of the most important disciplines enabling one to understand and characterize systems that display dynamic complexity. Systems thinking in health is a framework for seeing interrelationships and repeated events rather than individual activities, for discerning patterns of change, understanding responses to policies, and for deciphering human behavior within health systems and over time.
So What? Who Cares?
Authors: Atun Rifat
Published: June 2021

In Chapter 9, the closing chapter, the authors raise four “So what?” issues that our fellow learners and aspiring health system designers should address: getting good value for money while simultaneously satisfying individual consumers of care and guaranteeing that all citizens can access the health care their nation provides; understanding the system’s developmental life cycle and capitalizing on a zone of innovation available in existing health system design; comprehending what reconceptualization means and giving some examples of what it might look like; and appreciating that a high-value health system needs to be owned by all and requires each and every citizen to do their part in preserving, protecting, and sustaining it.
Conservative Party-Building in Latin America
Authors: Loxton James
Published: June 2021

Where do strong conservative parties come from? While there is a growing scholarly awareness about the importance of such parties for democratic stability, much less is known about their origins. In this groundbreaking book, James Loxton takes up this question by examining new conservative parties formed in Latin America between 1978 and 2010. The most successful cases, he finds, shared a surprising characteristic: they had deep roots in former dictatorships. Through a comparative analysis of failed and successful cases in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Loxton argues that this was not a coincidence. The successes inherited a range of resources from outgoing authoritarian regimes that, paradoxically, gave them an advantage in democratic competition. He also highlights the role of intense counterrevolutionary struggle as a source of party cohesion. In addition to making an empirical contribution to the study of the Latin American right and a theoretical contribution to the study of party-building, Loxton advances our understanding of the worldwide phenomenon of “authoritarian successor parties”—parties that emerge from authoritarian regimes, but that operate after a transition to democracy. A major work, Conservative Party-Building in Latin America will reshape our understanding of politics in contemporary Latin America and the realities of democratic transitions everywhere.
The Jihadis and the Family
Authors: Khosrokhavar Farhad
Published: June 2021

Chapter 4 examines the ways in which the circumstances and dynamics of a family can affect the decisions and behavior of its members, including decisions leading to jihadism. Regarding Europeans jihadis, in many cases the analysis of their family background sheds light on their radicalization. Some configurations, such as the single-parent family or stepfamily, play a role in young people’s radicalization, particularly broken families, especially among Muslims living in ghettoized neighborhoods. Some people used family as the setting for their violent action: brothers, sisters, cousins, and, more exceptionally, fathers or mothers. For others, coming from broken families, jihadi violence was a continuation of family violence. In some cases, members of crisis-stricken families (brothers, cousins) were reconciled through their joint participation in jihadi action. Three types of families in crisis can be mentioned: the headless patriarchal family, the neo-traditional family, and the stepfamily. All of them are marked by the crisis of authority in the home, which can lead to feelings of guilt (self-blame) or injustice. These feelings, in some cases, can contribute to a person’s involvement in jihadism. One can also distinguish jihadi “fratriarchy” (brotherhood), and “jihadophile” families.
Enraged, Rattled, and Wronged
Authors: Anderson Kristin J.
Published: June 2021

Chapter 6 explores the backlash to social progress by the entitled. Dominant group members are not accustomed to being bossed around. They tend to be ill-equipped to adapt to changing circumstances, and their resistance to change comes in many forms, with a range of consequences to themselves and others. Dominant group members are both highly sensitive to criticism and object to being sidelined. The history of divide and rule by elites toward poor and working people begins Chapter 6. This history helps us understand why a less-educated working- or middle-class White person comes to share a sense of the same group position to that of wealthy and influential Whites rather than working- or middle-class people of color. Some White people have so internalized their superiority over people of color, that even Whites who are in economic distress support legislation and politicians that have no intention of aiding them. They reject government assistance that they desperately need, they refuse to sign up for the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) because they believe that these initiatives help undeserving minorities. These White people are dying of Whiteness. And politicians capitalize on this White racial resentment. The entitled resentment of those who feel their superior status is undermined manifests in various ways. White fragility and fragile masculinity are emotionally hyperbolic reactions by dominant group members when they are asked to acknowledge the existence of racism and sexism.
Lack of Competition in U.S. Markets
Authors: Drobak John N.
Published: June 2021

Chapter 3 shows that many product markets in the United States are not competitive, resulting in the firms’ ability to earn excess profits by charging higher prices to consumers. It analyzes the competitiveness of U.S. markets in four different ways. First, it examines the profitability of business firms to determine if their profits are so high that we can conclude that they operate in markets lacking competition. It uses the profits of the iPhone and the airline companies to illustrate this. Second, it looks at the increasing consensus by many economists that markets are becoming less competitive. These commentators include President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, Joseph Stiglitz, and Paul Krugman. Third, it shows how an examination of the conduct of the firms in an industry can help us assess the competitiveness of that industry. Finally, it analyzes the concentration of the firms in a market as a way to determine competitiveness, examining the many studies over the past few years that show greatly increased concentration in many markets. Based on these four perspectives, the chapter argues that there is strong evidence of a lack of competition in many markets, which shifts the burden to those who oppose government regulation to demonstrate that there actually is viable competition that sufficiently constraints the firms.
Postscript
Authors: Drobak John N.
Published: June 2021

Chapter 10 shows the commonality between other economic propositions and the two economic beliefs that are at the heart of this book, that U.S. markets are competitive and that the primary responsibility of corporations is to make money for its shareholders. Many people believe statements just because economists make them. Some people take these statements to be absolute truths, even though they are only opinions drawn from economic narratives disputed by many economists. Yet, despite this rejection, policymakers, members of the media, and laypeople still believe that they are true. John Quiggin and other economists refer to these views as “zombie economics” because they “still walk among us.” The chapter considers three of these: trickle-down tax policy, austerity, and privatization. No serious economist supports trickle-down tax policy, while the benefits of the other two propositions are disputed by a good number of economists. One of the lessons of this book is the need to question economic propositions put forth by policymakers as the absolute truth.
On God as an Agent
Authors: Abraham William J.
Published: June 2021

This chapter contains the central contention of this volume, namely, that Christian theology and philosophy should conceive of God as an agent. It briefly outlines the intellectual and spiritual territory in which the claim “God is an agent” appears, some of which has been discussed in previous volumes: thus the chapter offers a recapitulation. Then it portrays the claim that God is an agent schematically, in dialogue with Thomas Reid. Then it discusses the motivation for thinking about God as an agent that recurringly appears in Christian theology and philosophy. Next, it raises a caution for thinking about God as an agent, and then it concludes by responding to central objections to this view.
Particular Providence and Divine Actions
Authors: Abraham William J.
Published: June 2021

This chapter draws on the logic of personal agency to cast light on one dimension of particular providence, namely, cases where God acts to bring good out of good and to bring good out of evil. It argues that certain special acts of God exhibit a certain purposiveness visible to the outsider as coincidences and interpreted by believers as divine actions. It argues that attention to the details of specific divine actions like the shocking stories in the introduction to the chapter helps us resolve the enigma of particular providence and its relation to human freedom.
Salvation, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and Experience of God
Authors: Abraham William J.
Published: June 2021

This chapter begins by charting the failure of Herbert Asbury’s conversion, using this as a point of departure to review two classical ways to provide a taxonomy of divine action for the Christian life, especially the experience of the Holy Spirit. The Christian tradition imparts a variety of concepts like sanctification, theosis, holiness, baptism in the Spirit, and union with Christ to speak of the experience of the Christian believer. Furthermore, the tradition speaks of the action of the church and the action of other believers on Christians. By attending to the concepts of divine and human agency, this chapter provides a way forward through this debate.
Learning and Memory
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter addresses the process of learning and memory in the animal and human brain. Learning is central to the development of a child into an adult, but also to the progression of human culture over time. But the ability to learn is also bound up with the capacity to remember. Speculation about the nature of human memory stretches back at least 2,400 years to Plato's attempts to understand this process. However, the eighteenth century English philosopher David Hartley was the first to link memories to the nervous system. While changes to the synaptic structure of a neuron clearly play an important role in the initial formation of memories, there is increasing evidence that altered expression of genes underpins long-term memory formation. The chapter then considers the role of the hippocampus in memory. The dynamic interaction of the hippocampus and the cortex may be key to the ability of the brain to form new associations between people, places, and objects.