bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Digital Media Activities and Connective Actions
Authors: Lee Francis L. F , Chan Joseph M
Published: March 2018

This chapter examines the role of digital media activities in the dynamics of the Umbrella Movement. It demonstrates how the participants of the movement engaged in a wide range of digital media activities, some of which were integral to the dynamics of the occupation. Digital media activities allowed participants to construct their own modes of participation. Digital media activities were found to relate to higher degrees of involvement in the Umbrella Movement at the individual level, but higher degrees of involvement were found to relate to lower levels of willingness to listen to the central organizers of the occupation. An analysis of social media contents also found a significant degree of decentralization of the protest campaign. Digital media activities therefore both empowered the movement and introduced forces of decentralization that constrained the organizers’ capability of negotiating with the targets.
Conclusion
Authors: Lee Francis L. F , Chan Joseph M
Published: March 2018

The concluding chapter summarizes the account of the Umbrella Movement provided in the book. It discusses the implications of the analysis on several key issues in the study of media and social movements, including the origin of connective action, the power and limitations of digital media and connective action, the significance of movement frames, and the relationship between digital media and mainstream media. The implications are discussed by referring not only to the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong but also to other similar protest campaigns around the world in previous years. The chapter ends with some updates about happenings in the movement scene in Hong Kong after 2014.
Introduction
Authors: Levien Michael
Published: March 2018

This introductory chapter provides the context of India’s “land wars” and growing global interest in “land grabs.” It then details and critiques the three main theories of the relationship between dispossession and capitalism, which it calls the modernization, proletarian redemption, and predatory theories of dispossession. After documenting the shortcoming of each, it argues that dispossession is a social relation of coercive redistribution that it is organized into socially and historically specific regimes. The key to a comparative sociology of dispossession is to examine how distinct regimes of dispossession interact with diverse agrarian milieux. The book studies the interaction between India’s neoliberal regime of dispossession and the agrarian milieu of “Rajpura,” and argues that the result is dispossession without development. After explaining the book’s methodology and fieldsite, the chapter concludes with an overview of the book.
Community and Communities
Authors: Alexander Gregory S.
Published: March 2018

The primary focus of this chapter is on communities as a social institution, though it pays some attention to the normative concern here as well. Community is both a normative and a conceptual language. In this respect, its meaning is more than the layperson’s common usage referring to just those persons who are within one’s immediate circle. One can be a member of a community in different senses, some more closely fitting the more familiar usage of the term than others. We may use the language of community in the normative sense to evaluate the obligations that we owe members of races other than our own, where special relationships exist. Such relationships may carry responsibilities to those persons.
Of Buildings, Art, and Sperm
Authors: Alexander Gregory S.
Published: March 2018

The right to destroy is one of the least discussed twigs in the proverbial bundle of rights constituting ownership. The right in its broader sense includes not simply the Hohfeldian privilege to destroy but also the privilege to use and its correlative duty to preserve and maintain and implicates some of the most contentious and difficult issues in property law today, including historic preservation, the right of artists to alter or even destroy their work, and the right to destroy frozen sperm, embryos, and other human tissue. This chapter discusses these three controversies in relation to whether owners have a right to destroy what they own and whether they have obligations to preserve their property. The aim is to show how the human flourishing theory provides an illuminating framework for analyzing what is at stake in disputes over an owner’s asserted right to destroy something owned.
Race and Property
Authors: Alexander Gregory S.
Published: March 2018

The question of what obligations, if any, property owners, both institutional and individual, morally owe to descendants of slaves is usually framed in terms of reparations for past wrongs. This chapter tries to reframe the topic. The basis of owner obligations is not reciprocity but interdependence. Using Georgetown University’s measures to atone for its slave-owning and slave-trading past as a vehicle for discussion, this chapter examines several aspects of this very large and deeply important topic. It raises the possibility that even white individuals whose ancestors apparently did not own slaves nor profit from slave trading may owe moral obligations to members of the African American community to enable development of their necessary human capabilities. These obligations would not be based on restitution but on what Bernadette Atuahene calls “dignity restoration.”
Institutional Legacies
Authors: Porta Donatella della , Andretta Massimiliano , Fernandes Tiago , Romanos Eduardo , Vogiatzoglou Markos
Published: March 2018

Chapter 3 addresses the institutional legacy (that is, the set of formal and informal rules that regulate the exercise of power in a political regime) of the transition to democracy, particularly those institutional dimensions that are more relevant for social movements—what social movement studies have defined as political opportunities. After setting the theoretical framework by specifying the main qualities of democracy the research has addressed, the chapter covers the legal and constitutional provisions on civil (especially protest) rights, political rights (right to resistance, majoritarian versus consensual assets), and social rights as well as practices—particularly with regard to protest, citizens’ participation, protest policing, and concertation.
Georgia
Authors: Marat Erica
Published: March 2018

This chapter focuses on police reform efforts in Georgia. After years of top-down police reform in Georgia, led by president Saakashvili, brutal violence in Gldani prison in 2012 generated public outcry against policing regimes in the country. The new government elected in the aftermath of the scandal promised sweeping changes. Georgian NGOs have been able to use this window of opportunity to challenge the new government to reduce its reliance on surveillance of political opponents and on militarized police units to contain antigovernment protests. New venues for collaboration between the ministry and civil society emerged from the process of drafting new police legislation. This experience became an important reference point for measuring the degree of police accountability to the public in the long term, even as civil society was gradually distanced from the Interior Ministry’s day-to-day work.
Administrative Matters
Authors: Armstrong Pat , Winters Wendy
Published: March 2018

All research requires administrative work. Such administrative matters become more complex when the project involves a large team from different disciplines, when the project involves more than one country, and when team ethnographies are central to the work. Using the specific example of one project, this chapter sets out the administrative matters we had to address, what we learned about how to address them, why we did it that way, and the limitations and advantages of our approach. It also considers what we had to do when developing the project, and how the issues and our strategies changed over time. Although our seven-year project involved a team of 26 faculty members from six different countries, along with over 60 students, many of the issues we faced are relevant for projects of any size.
Different EyesAn RN/Sociologist and an Historian Invite You on a Tour of Our Fieldnotes
Authors: Choiniere Jacqueline , Struthers James
Published: March 2018

In this chapter a nurse/sociologist and an historian discuss how their academic backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives shaped both what they saw and what they overlooked during the process of conducting ethnographic research for this project. For both authors, doing ethnography was a new endeavor, although each had published on long-term residential care within their own disciplines. The chapter highlights how an historical gaze focused one author’s attention toward the significance of location, sense of place, cultural memory, and origin stories in writing fieldnotes on the nursing homes he visited. The nurse/sociologist concentrated on issues surrounding the gendered division of labor, health and safety, workplace accountability, and differing emphases upon social as opposed to medical care. Over time, through conversations with team members and each other, their fieldnotes increasingly incorporated shared perspectives on the significance of location, heritage, workplace practices and tensions between social and medical care.
The Rhetoric of New Atheism
Authors: Glausser Wayne
Published: March 2018

New atheists face an old problem that entangles them with their theist opponents. The fundamental cosmological question—why does the world exist?—cannot be answered in scientific terms. As questions of cause slip into infinite regress, new atheists, like the theists they resist, must posit that something simply exists: something must be granted exemption from causal reasoning. This chapter first examines new atheists’ responses to the aporia described above, then analyzes several rhetorical tropes they deploy to supplement science proper. These tropes include paralepsis, a sarcasm cluster (apodioxis, tapinosis, diasyrmus), pathopoeia, and the linked tropes of catachresis and metalepsis. Especially with the last three tropes, new atheists find themselves entangled with the religious discourse they mean to supplant.
Varieties of Continua
Authors: Hellman Geoffrey , Shapiro Stewart
Published: March 2018

Two historical episodes form the background to the research presented here: the first is the remarkably rapid transition in the course of the nineteenth century from the ancient Aristotelian view that a true continuum cannot be composed entirely of points to the now standard, entirely punctiform frameworks for analysis and geometry found in modern texts (stemming from the work of Bolzano, Cauchy, Weierstrass, Dedekind, Cantor, et al.). The second is the mid-to-late twentieth-century revival of pre-limit methods in analysis and geometry using infinitesimals, viz. non-standard analysis due to Abraham Robinson, and the more radical smooth infinitesimal analysis based on intuitionistic logic. One goal of the present work is to develop a systematic comparison of these and related including (alternatives constructivist and predicative conceptions), balancing various trade-offs, helping articulate a modern pluralist perspective. A second main goal (pursued in the opening chapters) is to develop thoroughgoing regions-based theories of classical continua that are mathematically equivalent (inter-reducible) to the currently standard, punctiform accounts of modern texts. Although in this project the work has been preceded by various writings, as explained below, it is believed the theories developed here are more streamlined, unified, and comprehensive than others in the contemporary literature. Finally, the book considers various limitations of the systems developed and some of the more striking implications for contemporary philosophy stemming from the pluralism take we our work to support.
The Classical Continuum without Points
Authors: Hellman Geoffrey , Shapiro Stewart
Published: March 2018

This chapter develops a “semi-Aristotelian” account of a one-dimensional continuum. Unlike Aristotle, it makes significant use of actual infinity, in line with current practice. Like Aristotle, this account does not recognize points, at least not as parts of regions in the space. The formal background is classical mereology together with a weak set theory. The chapter proves an Archimedean property, and establishes an isomorphism with the Dedekind–Cantor structure of the real line. It also compares the present framework to other point-free accounts, establishing consistency relative to classical analysis.
From Necessary Abstracta to Necessary Concreta
Authors: Pruss Alexander R. , Rasmussen Joshua L.
Published: March 2018

An argument for a necessary being is developed on the basis of the existence of abstracta. This argument has two parts. First, reasons are put forward in support of the necessary existence of abstracta. These reasons include (among others) an argument for the necessary existence of necessary truths and arguments for the necessary existence of certain properties and mathematical entities. Second, reasons are given for thinking that if there were necessary abstracta, they would be grounded in necessary concreta. Included is an Aristotelian argument and a conceptualist‐based argument supported by Russell's paradox of propositions. It is suggested that the arguments of both parts are independently plausible, and thus that the arguments together could move one to accept the conclusion: abstracta depend on a necessary being.
The Major Crime Review Team
Authors: Allsop Cheryl
Published: March 2018

This chapter begins to present findings from the in-depth research conducted with one cold case review team. Here we will see the reliance on DNA in cold case review work, and of equal importance how detective skills are required to capitalize on the opportunities advances in DNA profiling techniques can bring to cold cases. The Major Crime Review Team at the centre of this study will be introduced and the cold case review processes followed by the team will be explained, noting the generic review processes and commonalties of approach, as well as noting any variations in approach depending on the nature of the case being reviewed.
Semiotic mediation at the heart of organizing
Authors: Lorino Philippe
Published: March 2018

This chapter starts with the critique of the representationalist mainstream, based on the reality/representation dichotomy, narrating two cases. In the first case, a merger between two mass distribution companies raises a conflict between two distinct views of the logistics mission, conveyed by performance indicators. In the second case, the efforts of a construction company to improve work safety were hampered by the separation between project design and planning, on the one hand, and on-site construction, on the other, instantiated in the day-to-day work situations by a few conventional wisdoms. The pragmatist alternative to dualist representationalism, the semiotic mediation of situated activity, is presented. It responds to the need to relate the singular act, performed here and now, with broader meaning-making perspectives, rooted in history and sociality, and to continuously redefine the situation. The chapter puts forward Peirce’s theory of thirdness and triadic sign, and examines how it can be applied to organized activity.
Inquiry
Authors: Lorino Philippe
Published: March 2018

This chapter narrates the efforts of a hospital cardiology department to create its country’s first chronic heart failure (CHF) multidisciplinary unit. With an average treatment cost that was too high, threatening their required funding, the department’s actors strove to reduce it. They analyzed collective activity, made exploratory hypotheses about cost drivers, and developed new performance measurements to verify their hypotheses. This is an example of the social process of inquiry. The chapter presents the pragmatist definition of inquiry, a non-dualist and relational framework, recursively articulated with the concept of habit. It integrates action and thought, narrative and logical thought. The respective roles of the three types of inference identified by Peirce are analyzed: abduction, deduction, and induction. The chapter highlights the mediated and mediating nature of inquiry, illustrated in the hospital case by the reengineering of management indicators, and closes with the major differences between inquiry and the mainstream problem-solving framework.
Introduction
Authors: McHugh Conor , Way Jonathan , Whiting Daniel
Published: March 2018

This chapter offers an overview of some of the key issues that arise when thinking about the substantive and explanatory connections between epistemic normativity—the norms that govern belief and inquiry—and practical normativity—the norms that govern action and decision making. In doing so, it indicates in which contributions to this volume these issues receive attention.
Reasoning with Reasons
Authors: Star Daniel
Published: March 2018

Many think it is a truism that, whatever else they are, normative reasons are the kind of things that we reason with. Agents use reasons as guides to determine what to do, as well as to determine what to believe, or not believe. Jonathan Way and others have argued for a stronger claim that reasons just are premises in practical or theoretical reasoning. This chapter argues that, while it is true that reasons are the kind of things that function as premises in practical or theoretical reasoning, this is compatible with understanding reasons to be evidence that we ought to do or believe certain acts or propositions. Furthermore, once this option is on the table, it is attractive to suppose that it provides a deeper analysis of what it is to be a reason than the reasons-as-premises-in-reasoning view does.
Notation and terminology
Authors: Caramello Olivia
Published: March 2018

The terminology and notation used in this book is essentially standard and borrowed from [55], if not stated otherwise; some specific notations that we shall employ are as follows:

– The category of sets and functions between them will be denoted by Se...
Introduction
Authors: Caramello Olivia
Published: March 2018

This book is devoted to a general study of geometric theories through the associated classifying toposes.

A central theme of the book is a duality, established in Chapter 3, between the subtoposes of the classifying topos of a geometric theory T over a signature ∑ and the (syntactic-equivalence classes of) ‘quotients’ of the theory ...
Classifying toposes and the ‘bridge’ technique
Authors: Caramello Olivia
Published: March 2018

This chapter consists of two parts. The first part reviews the fundamental notion of classifying topos of a geometric theory and discusses the appropriate kinds of interpretations between theories which induce morphisms between the associated classifying toposes; the theoretical presentation is accompanied by a few concrete examples of classifying toposes of theories naturally arising in mathematics. A characterization theorem for universal models of geometric theories inside classifying toposes is also established. The second part presents the general unifying technique ‘toposes as bridges’. This technique, which allows one to extract ‘concrete’ information from the existence of different representations for the classifying topos of a geometric theory, is systematically exploited in the course of the book to establish theoretical results as well as applications. The ‘decks’ of topos-theoretic ‘bridges’ are normally given by Morita equivalences, while the ‘arches’ are given by site characterizations of topos-theoretic invariants.
A duality theorem
Authors: Caramello Olivia
Published: March 2018

This chapter presents a duality theorem providing, for each geometric theory, a natural bijection between its geometric theory extensions (also called ‘quotients’) and the subtoposes of its classifying topos. Two different proofs of this theorem are provided, one relying on the theory of classifying toposes and the other, of purely syntactic nature, based on a proof-theoretic interpretation of the notion of Grothendieck topology. Via this interpretation the theorem can be reformulated as a proof-theoretic equivalence between the classical system of geometric logic over a given geometric theory and a suitable proof system whose rules correspond to the axioms defining the notion of Grothendieck topology. The role of this duality as a means for shedding light on axiomatization problems for geometric theories is thoroughly discussed, and a deduction theorem for geometric logic is derived from it.
Concepts and Cases
Authors: McCrudden Christopher
Published: March 2018

This chapter begins by briefly setting out the book’s purpose, which is to introduce an interpretation of how religion and human rights interrelate in the legal context, and how this relationship might be reconceived. The context for the author’s argument is the increasingly fraught area of judicial reasoning in human rights litigation involving religious arguments, what he terms ‘religious litigation’. It goes on to clarify the meaning of the terms ‘human rights’, ‘judicial reasoning’, ‘religion’, and ‘religious litigation’. This is followed by several cases from the UK, European Convention on Human Rights, and the US that illustrate some of the tensions between religious positions and secular understandings of human rights.
The Epistemological Problem
Authors: McCrudden Christopher
Published: March 2018

This chapter considers the second problem that dominates religious litigation, how we are to understand normative systems other than those to which we ourselves are committed, what I term the epistemological problem. Can those involved in legal interpretation, such as judges, understand a religious system sufficiently to be able to adjudicate when conflicts arise that depend on an understanding of that system. It was thought to be a basic principle of English law, for example, that the courts will not seek to adjudicate questions of religion, embodying a principle of abstention. More recently, that previous reticence has been replaced with a willingness in courts in the UK and elsewhere to adjudicate contested issues touching on the religious sphere. The chapter considers the various approaches adopted by the courts and suggests that none of these is satisfactory, which helps explain, at least in part, why so many different approaches are identifiable.
The Ontological Problem
Authors: McCrudden Christopher
Published: March 2018

This chapter deals with the third of three problems that dominate religious litigation, the ontological problem, which arises in two particular respects in the relationship between human rights law and religion. The first respect is in the need to give content to the ‘human’ in ‘human rights’, and we see religions and legal interpretation giving diverse, and sometimes conflicting, answers to this question. One of the contested sites of this conflict is over how we are to understand the idea of ‘human dignity’, which is seen by several religions and by the human rights system as a foundational concept for the understanding of human rights. The second respect in which the ontological problem arises has to do with a specific element in what it means to be human, namely the place of religion in that understanding. Is religion central to our view of what it means to be human, and are protections for religion central, therefore, to the human rights enterprise? Or should we, rather, view religion as marginal, or even contrary to our conception of what it means to be fully human, and query whether religion should be part of human rights protections at all?
Environmental DNA
Authors: Taberlet Pierre , Bonin Aurélie , Zinger Lucie , Coissac Eric
Published: March 2018

Environmental DNA (eDNA), i.e. DNA released in the environment by any living form, represents a formidable opportunity to gather high-throughput and standard information on the distribution or feeding habits of species. It has therefore great potential for applications in ecology and biodiversity management. However, this research field is fast-moving, involves different areas of expertise and currently lacks standard approaches, which calls for an up-to-date and comprehensive synthesis. Environmental DNA for biodiversity research and monitoring covers current methods based on eDNA, with a particular focus on “eDNA metabarcoding”. Intended for scientists and managers, it provides the background information to allow the design of sound experiments. It revisits all steps necessary to produce high-quality metabarcoding data such as sampling, metabarcode design, optimization of PCR and sequencing protocols, as well as analysis of large sequencing datasets. All these different steps are presented by discussing the potential and current challenges of eDNA-based approaches to infer parameters on biodiversity or ecological processes. The last chapters of this book review how DNA metabarcoding has been used so far to unravel novel patterns of diversity in space and time, to detect particular species, and to answer new ecological questions in various ecosystems and for various organisms. Environmental DNA for biodiversity research and monitoring constitutes an essential reading for all graduate students, researchers and practitioners who do not have a strong background in molecular genetics and who are willing to use eDNA approaches in ecology and biomonitoring.
Conjugated and aromatic molecules
Authors: Eland John H.
                            D. , Feifel Raimund
Published: March 2018

In the vast majority of conjugated and aromatic molecules, the outermost occupied orbitals are either of π character or non-bonding lone pairs belonging to heteroatoms. These are the orbitals from which double ionisation gives rise to most of the distinct bands that can be discerned in their spectra. Double photoionisation spectra of ethylene, butadiene, pyrrole, furan, thiophene, benzene, hexafluorobenzene, toluene, pyridine, pyrazine, pyrimidine, pyridazine, naphthalene, azulene, quinoline, biphenyl, TDME, iron pentacarbonyl, ferrocene, and TMPPD are presented with analysis where possible. The effects of inner valence Auger effects are also emphasised, which can greatly increase the intensity of double photoionisation. In this chapter, the molecules are ordered mainly in the usual way by number of atoms, then by molecular weight, but the authors have put closely related molecules together where possible.
Probabilistic Knowledge
Authors: Moss Sarah
Published: March 2018

Traditional philosophical discussions of knowledge have focused on the epistemic status of full beliefs. This book argues that in addition to full beliefs, credences can constitute knowledge. For instance, your .4 credence that it is raining outside can constitute knowledge, in just the same way that your full beliefs can. In addition, you can know that it might be raining, and that if it is raining then it is probably cloudy, where this knowledge is not knowledge of propositions, but of probabilistic contents. The notion of probabilistic content introduced in this book plays a central role not only in epistemology, but in the philosophy of mind and language as well. Just as tradition holds that you believe and assert propositions, you can believe and assert probabilistic contents. Accepting that we can believe, assert, and know probabilistic contents has significant consequences for many philosophical debates, including debates about the relationship between full belief and credence, the semantics of epistemic modals and conditionals, the contents of perceptual experience, peer disagreement, pragmatic encroachment, perceptual dogmatism, and transformative experience. In addition, accepting probabilistic knowledge can help us discredit negative evaluations of female speech, explain why merely statistical evidence is insufficient for legal proof, and identify epistemic norms violated by acts of racial profiling. Hence the central theses of this book not only help us better understand the nature of our own mental states, but also help us better understand the nature of our responsibilities to each other.
The case for probabilistic assertion
Authors: Moss Sarah
Published: March 2018

This chapter develops and defends the thesis that we can assert probabilistic contents. The chapter begins by recounting some familiar arguments against the standard view that we only ever assert propositions. A probabilistic theory of assertion is then defended with three novel arguments. These arguments are less empirical than familiar arguments against the standard view, and more foundational in character. It is argued that probabilistic contents of assertion provide a unified account of how we communicate probabilistic beliefs and full beliefs, a unified account of belief and assertion, and an adequate account of how probabilistic beliefs can figure in joint reasoning and guide our collective actions. The chapter concludes with some remarks about probabilistic models of communication, as well as remarks about the conclusions that we should draw from contemporary debates about the semantics of epistemic modals.
Epistemic modals and probability operators
Authors: Moss Sarah
Published: March 2018

This chapter defends a semantics for epistemic modals and probability operators. This semantics is probabilistic—that is, sentences containing these expressions have sets of probability spaces as their semantic values relative to a context. Existing non-truth-conditional semantic theories of epistemic modals face serious problems when it comes to interpreting nested modal constructions such as ‘it must be possible that Jones smokes’. The semantics in this chapter solves these problems, accounting for several significant features of nested epistemic vocabulary. The chapter ends by defending a probabilistic semantics for simple sentences that do not contain any epistemic vocabulary, and by using this semantics to illuminate the relationship between credence and full belief.
Factivity
Authors: Moss Sarah
Published: March 2018

It is natural to wonder whether we might use traditional notions of epistemic possibility or evidential probability to address the case for probabilistic knowledge in chapter 5, without embracing the revisionary thesis that we can know probabilistic contents. This chapter spells out the shortcomings of several such proposals. For instance, it is argued that these proposals fail to predict that probabilistic knowledge is factive. The second half of the chapter explores this notion of factivity at length. It is argued that ascriptions of probabilistic knowledge can themselves have probabilistic contents. The theory of epistemic vocabulary defended in this book is compared and contrasted with existing expressivist and relativist theories of epistemic modals. Finally, it is argued that the analog of truth for degrees of belief is not agreement with objective chance, but rather truth itself.
Advancing Human Development
Authors: Stewart Frances , Ranis Gustav , Samman Emma
Published: March 2018

The book provides a comprehensive account of the human development (HD) approach to development. It shows how it emerged as a consequence of defects in earlier strategies, especially growth maximization. The book investigates the determinants of success and failure in HD across developing countries over the past forty years. Cross-country investigations show broad determinants of success and failure, while country studies give detailed examples of the policies and politics of HD. HD is multidimensional, and the book points to the importance of social institutions and social capabilities as essential aspects which are often overlooked. Yet the widely cited Human Development Index does not measure these aspects nor many of the other important dimensions of HD. The book analyses political conditions which are critical factors underlying performance on HD. The final chapter surveys global progress on multiple dimensions over a forty-year period and shows that there has been marked and pervasive improvement in many of them, including basic HD—life expectancy and infant mortality, education and incomes—as well as political freedoms. But there has been deterioration on some dimensions—with rising inequality in many countries and worsening environmental conditions. The book concludes with challenges to the approach—in particular insufficient attention has been paid to the macroeconomic conditions and economic structure needed for sustained success; and social institutions and political conditions have also been neglected. But the biggest neglect is the environment—with worsening global environmental conditions potentially threatening future achievements on HD.
Interviewing players
Authors: Bromley Steve
Published: March 2018

Interviews provide direct insight into the player’s behaviours, motivations, and understanding of how the game works. This chapter explores the preparation of an interview, interviews during the session, final interviews, and interview tips. It concludes with a discussion of data capture and analysis, as well as thoughts on the future of the method.
Social Network Analysis in Games User Research
Authors: Pirker Johanna
Published: March 2018

This chapter is an introduction to social network analysis with a focus in the context of player and in-game data. An overview of the key elements for network analysis is presented along with a discussion of the possibilities that can be realized through the use of networks and advice on using networks for Games User Research to understand player behaviour in a social context.
Experts and Peer Disagreement
Authors: Lackey Jennifer
Published: March 2018

It is often argued that widespread disagreement among epistemic peers in a domain threatens expertise in that domain. This chapter sketches two different conceptions of expertise: the expert-as-authority and the expert-as-advisor models. While it is standard for philosophers to understand expertise as authoritative, such an approach renders the problem posed by widespread peer disagreement intractable. This chapter argues, however, that there are independent reasons to reject both this model of expertise and the central argument offered on its behalf. The chapter then develops an alternative approach—one that understands expertise in terms of advice—that not only avoids the problems afflicting the expert-as-authority model, but also has the resources for a much more satisfying response to the problem of widespread peer disagreement.
Pragmatic Encroachment and Theistic Knowledge
Authors: Benton Matthew A.
Published: March 2018

If knowledge is sensitive to practical stakes, then whether one knows depends in part on the practical costs of being wrong. When considering religious belief, the practical costs of being wrong about theism may differ dramatically between the theist (if there is no God) and the atheist (if there is a God). This chapter explores the prospects, on pragmatic encroachment, for knowledge of theism (even if true), and of atheism (even if true), given two types of practical costs: namely, by holding a false belief, or by missing out on a true belief. These considerations set up a more general puzzle of epistemic preference when faced with the choice between two beliefs, only one of which could become knowledge.
Moderate Modal Skepticism
Authors: Strohminger Margot , Yli-Vakkuri Juhani
Published: March 2018

This chapter examines moderate modal skepticism, a form of skepticism about metaphysical modality defended by Peter van Inwagen in order to blunt the force of certain modal arguments in the philosophy of religion. Van Inwagen’s argument for moderate modal skepticism assumes Yablo’s (1993) influential world-based epistemology of possibility. This chapter raises two problems for this epistemology of possibility, which undermine van Inwagen’s argument. It then considers how one might motivate moderate modal skepticism by relying on a different epistemology of possibility, which does not face these problems: Williamson’s (2007) counterfactual-based epistemology. Two ways of motivating moderate modal skepticism within that framework are found unpromising. Nevertheless, the chapter also finds a way of vindicating an epistemological thesis that, while weaker than moderate modal skepticism, is strong enough to support the methodological moral van Inwagen wishes to draw.
Clausewitz and the Eighteenth-Century Context of Partisan Warfare
Authors: Scheipers Sibylle
Published: March 2018

Clausewitz was an ardent analyst of partisan warfare. In 1810 and 1811, he lectured at the Berlin Kriegsschule, the war academy, on the subject of small wars. Clausewitz’s lectures focused on the tactical nature of small wars. However, the eighteenth-century context was by no means irrelevant for Clausewitz’s further intellectual development. On the contrary, he extrapolated from his analysis of the tactical nature of small wars their strategic potential, as well as their exemplary nature for the study of war as such. The partisan, in Clausewitz’s eyes, possessed exemplary qualities in that he acted autonomously and, in doing so, had to draw upon all his human faculties. As such, he was the paradigmatic antagonist to the regular soldier who displayed a ‘cog mentality’ fostered by the Frederickian military system.
The Consolidation of a Calendar-Reform Debate in the Thirteenth Century
Authors: Nothaft C. Philipp E.
Published: March 2018

This chapter follows the story of calendar reform from the end of the twelfth to the end of the thirteenth century, showing how during this period the problem was popularized via two different categories of computus text: the pedagogically oriented ‘vulgar’ or ecclesiastical computus and the astronomically refined ‘philosophical’ computus. Authors whose contributions to the debate are looked at in greater detail include Alexander Neckam, John of Sacrobosco, Robert Grosseteste, Robert Holcot, Campanus of Novara, Giles of Lessines, and Roger Bacon, who is well known for having directed a reform appeal to Pope Clement IV (1265–8). Attention is also paid to an obscure group of Franciscan scholars active in the 1270s to 1290s, who are noteworthy for their knowledge of the Jewish calendar, and to an anonymous treatise of 1276, which contains the first fully developed proposal to restore the Roman calendar.
Soft Keyboard Performance Optimization
Authors: Bi Xiaojun , Smith Brian , Ouyang Tom , Zhai Shumin
Published: March 2018

Optimization techniques have played a vital role in improving the performance (i.e., input speed and accuracy) of soft keyboards. This chapter introduces the challenges, methodologies, and results of keyboard performance optimization. Leveraging the robust human motor control phenomena manifested in text entry, we used the Metropolis random walk algorithm, and Pareto multi-objective optimization method to optimize the keyboard layout and a soft keyboard decoder. The optimization led to layouts that shorten finger travel distance and improve the input speed as well as accuracy over the Qwerty layout, and a soft keyboard decoder with improved correction and completion ability.
The Central Role of Cognitive Computations in Human-Information Interaction
Authors: Fu Wai-Tat , Chin Jessie , Liao Q. Vera
Published: March 2018

Cognitive science is a science of intelligent systems. This chapter proposes that cognitive science can provide useful perspectives for research on technology-mediated human-information interaction (HII) when HII is cast as emergent behaviour of a coupled intelligent system. It starts with a review of a few foundational concepts related to cognitive computations and how they can be applied to understand the nature of HII. It discusses several important properties of a coupled cognitive system and their implication to designs of information systems. Finally, it covers how levels of abstraction have been useful for cognitive science, and how these levels can inform design of intelligent information systems that are more compatible with human cognitive computations.
Inequality and Economic Segregation
Authors: Halliday Daniel
Published: March 2018

This chapter develops the idea of economic segregation as a type of injustice. Its approach consists in a sort of hybrid between luck egalitarianism, incorporating a concern about an individual’s prospects being dependent on unchosen conditions of family background, and social egalitarianism, with its emphasis on injustice being a feature of group difference. Special attention is paid to the way segregation occurs when nonfinancial capital becomes concentrated into different groups, typically according to the prior existence and endurance of group-based wealth inequalities. Having laid out this concern, brief consideration is given to whether the problem might be wholly solved through institutional reforms other than taxation.
Libertarianisms
Authors: Halliday Daniel
Published: March 2018

This chapter considers various arguments both for and against taxing inherited wealth, each of these being associated with some or other type of libertarian outlook. Libertarianism in the Lockean guises (‘left’ and ‘right’ varieties) is distinguished from its classical liberal alternative, which downplays the Lockean emphasis on private property rights in favour of a more defeasible case for small government and low taxation. These different perspectives generate a variety of quite different arguments about inheritance, some more persuasive than others. Some attention is paid to the common claim that inheritance taxes ‘punish’ virtue and generosity. It is then argued that a Rignano scheme may be particularly attractive in light of certain left-libertarian commitments and as a way of accommodating a classical liberal concern about perpetual savings.
‘The Laughter of Satan’
Authors: Oates Rosamund
Published: March 2018

This chapter explores the ideas at the heart of Puritanism, examining Tobie Matthew’s early radicalism. Using the controversies over vestments in 1564–6 and the visit of Elizabeth I to the University of Oxford in 1566, the chapter shows that the idea of ‘edification’ became a central principle of Puritanism. This chapter explores the spiritual demands of edifying reform and shows how it drove English Puritans into conflict with the monarch and the Established Church. It demonstrates that Matthew’s Puritanism was rooted in the experience of Marian exiles, and that he drew on their Calvinism and their resistance texts to justify his potentially seditious view of godly magistracy and rebellion.
The Intersection of Security and Justice in Global Governance
Authors: Durch William , Larik Joris , Ponzio Richard
Published: March 2018

Security and justice are both essential elements in humanity’s quest not only to survive but to thrive with dignity; neither is sustainable alone. Security is merely the appearance of order in a framework of structural violence unless tempered or leavened by concepts of justice that include human rights, human dignity, and other normative limits on the use of power. The pursuit of justice, whether at the personal, community, national, or international level can be crippled if not matched, in turn, by means to sustain security at each level. This complementarity of security and justice—despite their inherent tensions—is the core conceptual framework of the book. Achieving “just security,” we argue, is essential to the success of any global governance enterprise or architecture.
Overcoming the Paradox of Conflict Prevention
Authors: Newman Edward , Aloyo Eamon
Published: March 2018

Progress in conflict prevention depends upon a better understanding of the underlying circumstances that give rise to violent conflict and mass atrocities, and of the warning signs that a crisis is imminent. While a substantial amount of empirical research on the driving forces of conflict exists, its policy implications must be exploited more effectively, so that the enabling conditions for violence can be addressed before it occurs. Violence prevention involves a range of social, economic, and political factors; the chapter highlights challenges—many of them international—relating to deprivation, inequality, governance, and environmental management. Prevention also requires overcoming a number of acute political obstacles embedded within the values and institutions of global governance. The chapter concludes with a range of proposals for structural conflict prevention and crisis response, as well as the prevention of mass atrocities.
Intervention and Peace Operations
Authors: Sebastián Sofía
Published: March 2018

The hybrid and transnational nature of current conflicts poses one of today’s most pressing global security challenges, with crises ranging from western Africa to the Himalayas. This chapter evaluates the policies, strategies, and mechanisms in place in conflicts that encompass transnational security threats such as terrorism, organized crime, and cross-border sectarian insurgencies in the context of UN peace operations. International efforts aimed at addressing these threats have been ad hoc and piecemeal. Further work needs to focus on maximizing the use of existing regional initiatives and reinforcing the policy, operational, and political support for UN missions operating in these environments. The chapter draws from the Malian conflict to reflect on these issues.
From “Inconvenient Truth” to Effective Governance
Authors: Passarelli Richard , Michel David , Durch William
Published: March 2018

The Earth’s climate system is a global public good. Maintaining it is a collective action problem. This chapter looks at a quarter-century of efforts to understand and respond to the challenges posed by global climate change and why the collective political response, until very recently, has seemed to lag so far behind our scientific knowledge of the problem. The chapter tracks the efforts of the main global, intergovernmental process for negotiating both useful and politically acceptable responses to climate change, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, but also highlights efforts by scientific and environmental groups and, more recently, networks of sub-national governments—especially cities—and of businesses to redefine interests so as to meet the dangers of climate system disruption.
Unearthing Under-Governed Territory
Authors: Stoett Peter J.
Published: March 2018

This chapter looks at whether and how international organizations and criminal law can help us deal effectively with transnational environmental crimes and, more broadly, with environmental insecurity and injustice. It explores the question of whether the climate change justice agenda can benefit from the expanded pursuit of transnational environmental crime. The chapter asks whether international environmental law, refurbished, act as a mitigating factor in climate change. It concludes that while current international legal instruments can help spur additional action, by themselves, they will prove inadequate. Consequently, one idea proposed is a new international environmental court to deter all forms of ecocide.
The Challenge of Sustaining Peace
Authors: Tschirgi Necla , de Coning Cedric
Published: March 2018

While demand for international peacebuilding assistance increases around the world, the UN’s Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA) remains a relatively weak player, for many reasons: its original design, uneasy relations between the Peacebuilding Commission and Security Council, turf battles within the UN system, and how UN peacebuilding is funded. This chapter examines the PBA’s operations since 2005, against the evolution of the peacebuilding field, and discusses how the PBA can be a more effective instrument in the UN’s new “sustaining peace” approach. To do so, it would have to become the intergovernmental anchor for that approach, without undermining the intent that “sustaining peace” be a system-wide responsibility, encompassing the entire spectrum of UN activities in peace, security, development, and human rights.