bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Particularist but Codifiable Virtue Ethics
Authors: Swanton Christine
Published: September 2021

Moral particularism of the kind developed by Jonathan Dancy is treated as a topic in meta-ethics. Until it is applied to a suitable type of normative theory criticisms which have assailed it are difficult to rebut. This chapter aims to apply Dancy’s particularism to target centred virtue ethics, showing how many of these criticisms are off the mark. At the core of these criticisms is that of uncodifiability. Virtue ethics is held to be codifiable through the virtue rules which encode virtue-reasons for action, reasons which are argued to be particularist in Dancy’s sense. That is it is possible even for reasons expressed through the thick virtue concepts to switch valence. In the course of the argument a virtue ethical view of right action (the target-centred view) is further developed.
An Epistemology for Target Centred Virtue Ethics
Authors: Swanton Christine
Published: September 2021

This chapter provides an epistemology for virtue ethics—target-centred virtue epistemology, arguing that we all need the epistemic virtues rather than relying on the wisdom of a virtuous agent. It thus contrasts target-centred virtue epistemology with qualified agent virtue epistemology. Epistemic virtues are understood in terms of their epistemic targets rather than primarily in terms of virtuous epistemic motives. The chapter argues that virtue epistemology is a branch of virtue ethics, and that epistemic virtues should be understood as not isolated from ethical virtue but are instead ‘virtues proper’. It discusses too the evidential status of “moral intuitions” in relation to target-centred virtue epistemology, and deleterious social factors in the transmission of beliefs such as the network and contagion social epistemic models, in relation to personal epistemic virtue.
Fresh Water in International Law
Authors: Boisson de Chazournes Laurence
Published: September 2021

This book, now in its second edition, addresses the diverse ways in which international law governs the uses, management, and protection of fresh water. The regulation of fresh water has primarily developed through the conclusion of treaties concerning international watercourses. Yet a number of other legal regimes also apply to the governance of fresh water. In particular, there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of fresh water to environmental protection. The development of international human rights law and international humanitarian law has also proven crucial for ensuring the sound and equitable management of this resource. In addition, the economic uses of fresh water feature prominently in the law applicable to watercourses and other sources of water, while water itself has become an important element of the trade and investment regimes. These bodies of rules and principles not only surface in an array of dispute settlement mechanisms, but also stimulate wider trends of institutionalization. The book investigates the origin and scope of these bodies of norms as they apply to fresh water, and demonstrates how they connect and adapt to one another, forming an integrated body of international principles. This approach is accompanied by a detailed analysis of the practice of states and of international organizations, taking into account the activities of the many non-state actors involved in the treatment of fresh water, and of the many jurisdictions which have been confronted with water issues.
Regulation of Fresh Water Uses
Authors: Boisson de Chazournes Laurence
Published: September 2021

Chapter 2 traces the evolution of fresh water regulation. It identifies the various uses of fresh water that have been subject to legal rules, including boundary delimitation along international watercourses, navigation, fishing, irrigation, energy production, other industrial uses, and recreational purposes. Areas where conflicts of uses arise are also highlighted, and the way in which these are sometimes resolved by the law is explained, with an emphasis on the importance of human needs and the notion of minimum flow. The major treaties that purport to govern international watercourses, such as the UN Watercourses Convention of 1997, which entered into force in 2014, as well as other sources of fresh water and their accompanying legal regimes, are similarly presented.
Dispute Settlement and Fresh Water
Authors: Boisson de Chazournes Laurence
Published: September 2021

The resolution of disputes related to issues of fresh water scarcity, degradation, and access to water are evident in practice. There is a staggering diversity of institutions with judicial or quasi-judicial authority over these matters, as well as diplomatic means which can help settle these various disputes. A trend towards variation and multiplication of available mechanisms for resolving water-related disputes can be observed. As a consequence of both inter-state and mixed-party disputes concerning water, international courts and tribunals have amassed growing bodies of decisions in water law, and their reliance on the case law of other jurisdictions suggests an evolving harmonization in this field. This cross-fertilization among traditional dispute settlement bodies has progressed concurrently with the development of novel procedures tailored to the uniquely collective interests at stake in natural resource disputes.
Looking Ahead
Authors: Boisson de Chazournes Laurence
Published: September 2021

The body of principles and rules of international law applicable to fresh water has developed in many different directions. Regulation, economization, environmentalization, humanization, and institutionalization are the foremost. While they are discernible from one another, they are also intertwined. The apparent clashes between some of them—in particular, environmental and human concerns on one hand, and economic concerns on the other—are palpable in certain contexts. The method for preventing these clashes relies on the promotion of an integrated and coherent approach to apprehending the environmental, economic, social, and cultural facets of fresh water. In this context, the critical role that the notion of integrated water resources management can play is explored in this chapter.
Angels and Anchoritic Culture in Late Medieval England
Authors: Easterling Joshua S.
Published: September 2021

This book examines vernacular and Latin anchoritic writings in England (c.1170–1400) as these participated within late medieval negotiations between the distinct, and at times divergent, cultures of religious reform and spiritual charisma. It argues that admonitory (or regulatory), devotional, and hagiographic works composed for anchorites transmit, together with their intertexts, the urgent need within orthodox culture to manage the various and potentially unruly spiritualities so often associated with late medieval charismatics, including anchorites. So too, this study traces through the images of embodiment and angelic mediation a set of religious and cultural tensions around the efforts by religious (esp. clerical, monastic, and mendicant) elites to align individual and charismatic gifts (1 Cor. 12:8–11) with the widespread calls for obedience and submission to church authorities. This masculine suspicion of spiritual gifts was strategically framed within a discourse about (and in defence of) the clerical, Eucharistic, and ecclesial body, often in reaction against the increasingly acute threat of religious dissent. Related to these developments were the dominant narratives of corporate unity that marshaled images of angels—at once the messengers of charismatic power and the celestial associates of orthodox culture—as well as the Pauline text on angelic transfiguration (2 Cor. 11:14) to articulate major challenges at the level of institutional authority and spiritual power. Underwriting the fragile boundary between heresy and orthodoxy, mainstream figurations of charisma and the angelic image worked on behalf of a culture of reform and/as transformation in its efforts to secure the clerical and ecclesial body from corruption and falsification.
The Angel, the Confessor, and the Anchoress
Authors: Easterling Joshua S.
Published: September 2021

Chapter 4 examines thirteenth- and fourteenth-century guidance texts for anchoresses, including Ancrene Wisse and Richard Rolle’s The Form of Living, as well as the Latin vita of Margaret the Lame (d. 1250), anchoress of Magdeburg. In these writings, as elsewhere, the Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38) functions as a remarkable and versatile textual resource that, with its dazzling array of metaphors, came to represent the routinely conflict-ridden relationship between angels, female penitents, and confessors. As visionary anchoresses faced insistent calls for subordination, their angelic capacity to resemble their confessors and to appropriate their spiritual knowledge and discernment undermined those same calls. I argue that these anchoritic writings, and even the many narratives of anchorites from Caesarius of Heisterbach’s thirteenth-century Dialogue of Miracles, draw on the Annunciation in negotiating the uneasy relations between personal inspiration and the imperatives of subordination.
The Multiple Meanings of Prosperity and Poverty in Tanzania
Authors: Howland Olivia , Noe Christine , Brockington Dan
Published: September 2021

This book focuses heavily on changing patterns in ownership of assets. In other analyses where assets are used to investigate change then one of the standard means of investigating wealth and poverty is to construct asset indices to examine patterns across space and over time. Assets are important to local definitions of poverty and wealth in rural Africa. Yet their use in asset indices can miss locally valued change. The chapter presents data from seventeen villages across Tanzania to explore differences in the meaning of wealth and poverty across the country. Despite limitations in our site selection we found considerable diversity that makes a single asset index difficult to compile. Current abbreviated asset indices risk counting assets that do not matter locally.
Self-Made Farmers and Sustainable Change?
Authors: Östberg Wilhelm , Mduma Joseph , Brockington Dan
Published: September 2021

We studied livelihood changes and poverty dynamics over a twenty-five-year period in two villages in central Tanzania. The villages were, from the early 1990s and 2000s, strikingly poor with between 50 per cent and 55 per cent of families in the poorest wealth groups. Twenty-five years later much has changed: people have become substantially wealthier, with 64 per cent and 71 per cent in the middle wealth groups. The new wealth had been generated locally, from farming, particularly of sunflowers as a cash crop. This goes against a conventional view of small-scale farming in Tanzania as being stagnant or unproductive. The area of land farmed per family has increased, almost doubling in one village. People have made money, which they invest in mechanized farming, improved housing, education of their children, livestock, and consumer goods. Improved infrastructure and local entrepreneurs have played key roles in the area’s transformation. Locally identified wealth rankings showed that most villagers, those in the middle wealth groups and above, can now support themselves from their land, which is a notable change to a time when 71 per cent and 82 per cent in each village respectively depended on casual labour for their survival. This change has come at a cost to the environment. By 2016, the village forests have largely gone and been replaced by farms. Farmers were concerned that the climate was turning drier because of deforestation. Satellite data confirms extensive forest loss in this location. Studying the mundane—the material used in roofs, the size of farms, and so on—made it possible to trace and understand the radical transition the area has experienced.
Digital Health Interventions for Community Health Worker Training, Ongoing Education, and Supportive Supervision
Authors: Wasunna Beatrice , Holeman Isaac
Published: September 2021

According to the World Health Organization’s No Health Without a Workforce report, the global shortage of community health workers (CHWs) is expected to reach 12.9 million by 2035. This shortfall raises pressing questions about how CHWs are recruited, trained, and supported as front-line care providers. Lay people become CHWs in a variety of ways; they might be chosen by a non-governmental organization or a government programme, elected by community members, or simply volunteer themselves at the right time and place. After recruitment, CHWs typically undergo training, and the scope and quality of this training can vary enormously. Often, limited funds are stretched to conduct trainings in person at facilities that may or may not be readily accessible for health workers, and refresher trainings are often cut in times of budget shortfall. While there may be no simple solution to these challenges, many now look to the use of digital technologies as a promising opportunity. Digital health interventions have come to play a growing role in healthcare in the last decade, yet the uses of technology for training, ongoing education, and supportive supervision remain understudied in lower-income settings. In this chapter, we examine a case study of digital health interventions in Nepal. We examine matters of baseline literacy and access to technology, the interweaving of technology and health system design issues, and prospects for integrating digital and face-to-face education and support. While the role of technology is easily overstated, we nonetheless argue that new digital workflows can address real implementation challenges if designed in a human-centred manner.
Impulsivity
Authors: Selikowitz Mark
Published: September 2021

This chapter describes impulsivity (the difficulty in being able to think before acting) in ADHD. The chapter describes behavioural inhibition mechanisms in the brain and related theories, manifestations of impulsivity (e.g. the tendency to act without thinking, compulsive destruction tendencies, situations or games requiring sharing, cooperation, and restraint), and the management of impulsivity. Management options includes cognitive therapy, which has limited success, and medication, which usually plays a dramatic role in controlling impulsivity. Furthermore, environmental changes and modification of goals are important ways of helping the child with ADHD. Those who come interact with the child with ADHD need to understand that impulsive behaviour is not completely under the child’s control.
Unconventional treatments
Authors: Selikowitz Mark
Published: September 2021

There are no quick and easy ways of overcoming ADHD; more importantly, there are no outright cures. Many misguided or dishonest individuals promote all manner of alternative ‘treatments’ for ADHD. The media often play an active role in irresponsibly promoting discredited treatments. If you plan to start any treatment, first be certain that you understand the risks involved. You should obtain reliable information from your child’s doctor before becoming involved in any treatment. This chapter explores unconventional treatments for ADHD, including the evaluation of alternative treatments, the role of the media, and some widely promoted treatments (dietary treatments, herbal treatments, technological treatments, exercise programmes, manipulation of the spine, and meditation).
‘Council Acts’ and the Variations of Conciliar Documentation and Recording Patterns
Authors: Graumann Thomas
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines the variations of types of conciliar records and underlying recording practices. The examination distinguishes different textual genres and styles employed for the reporting and recording of conciliar decisions and discussions, such as ‘canons’ holding on to (for the most part disciplinary) rulings; ‘anathemas’; ‘decrees’ (horoi); ‘expositions (ektheseis)’ and ‘creeds’ that formulate the summary judgement of the assembly, frequently on matters of orthodoxy; and the conventional reporting in the form of conciliar letters. Recording not just of decisions but also of discussion in direct speech is sporadic. Significant flexibility in the recording styles can be observed both between councils and even in the same council; it represents purposeful choices by council leaders and secretaries. The chapter argues that these cannot be fully aligned or explained by the need for quasi-legal scrutiny in some disciplinary cases as opposed to doctrinal deliberation on other occasions.
Examining the Records
Authors: Graumann Thomas
Published: September 2021

A synodical trial conducted in Constantinople in AD 448 against the archimandrite Eutyches produced protocols of eight sessions. Challenged by the condemned Eutyches for their alleged manipulation, two imperial commissions investigated these records and tested their reliability and veracity. The chapter analyses the inquiries’ investigation into the different types of documents coming before them and the resultant discussions between secretaries, bishops, and officials about the crucial relationship between ‘originals’ and ‘copies’ of such records and their respective standing and proper use in a legal altercation. The technical vocabulary used in these discussions for such documents is analysed. The disputes further show by what visual features the status of documents could be identified and evaluated. They allow inferences as to the production process and the keeping and storage of records.
Original Acts and Documents at Chalcedon (AD 451)
Authors: Graumann Thomas
Published: September 2021

The analysis of document-reading conducted at the first session of Chalcedon brings to light the deliberate use of different textual objects that is decisive for understanding the session. The imperial instructions for the earlier council of Ephesus (449 AD) were read from a codex, shown to be a government register of imperial correspondence and independent of the acts of the council that contain the same texts again. The acts of the Ephesine Council, by contrast, were recited from a different document, which can be identified as the unpublished draft-original of its record. It is called a schedarion and comes in the physical shape of a (sc)roll. The use of this format, shown as characteristic of original conciliar acts, is assessed for its practical utility, the reading strategies consequent upon it, and the symbolic charge the council-rolls gain as objects.
Denmark: How to Form and Govern Minority Coalitions
Authors: Christiansen Flemming J.
Published: September 2021

Not much has changed in Denmark in the past few decades when it comes to the institutional setting and government formation: Danish governments remain predominantly of the minority form, most of them coalitions; the formal institutions of the constitution and the procedures for government formation have not been altered, and neither has the party system changed much. Likewise, the number of portfolios remain steady at around twenty. Yet, the internal workings of Danish governments have changed. Based on interviews with leading former ministers, the chapter shows how, over the last thirty years, Danish coalition governance has shifted towards more centralized decision-making through hierarchical coordination committees and oversight from the office of the prime minister and the ministry of finance. Actual decision moves away from the model of full individual responsibility for ministers found in the constitution. Furthermore, Danish governments now usually remain in office for the full term. All of this indicates that the Danish case provides a scenario in which political parties have developed a form to make minority governments function effectively.
Intersectionality in the State Reporting Process
Authors: Bond Johanna
Published: September 2021

The human rights treaty bodies have increasingly engaged in intersectional analysis in the context of the reporting process, through which states that have ratified the treaty must report to the treaty body on their efforts to fulfil the treaty’s obligations. This chapter takes a deep dive into the reporting process, using CEDAW as a case study, to explore the extent to which intersectionality has surfaced in the Committee’s responses to state reports. This offers a barometer for assessing the Committee’s acceptance of intersectionality as an analytical framework more generally. The first half of the chapter discusses trends in the state reporting process, looking specifically at the frequency with which the Committee considers intersectionality in its analysis. This analysis reveals that the Committee is trending toward using an intersectional lens more consistently. Although it is impossible to draw definitive causal links between the discursive framing of intersectionality by various actors and the committee’s willingness to adopt an intersectional framework in any particular case, it is useful to think about how NGOs, reporting governments, and the committee itself may push the UN’s dialogue toward a more fulsome embrace of intersectionality in the decades to come.
Taking a Gamble
Authors: Elliott Andrew C. A.
Published: September 2021

Gambling is an ancient human activity. We indulge ourselves by allowing ourselves to experience the dangers and thrills of chance in a somewhat controlled way. The history of lotteries and related games is explored. The chances of drawing various poker hands are laid out. The role of probability in horse racing is described, and how the odds quoted are not strictly statements of probability, but terms on which business is to be done. Political prediction betting markets give us a further interpretation of probability as a way of expressing strength of opinion in a quantifiable, albeit flawed way. Wagers encourage boasters to put their money where their mouth is, and so to quantify their degree of belief.
Last Chance
Authors: Elliott Andrew C. A.
Published: September 2021

The most important questions of life are indeed, for the most part, really only problems of probability.

Pierre-Simon Laplace

Life is no simple game. There is no book of rules. But if we are smart, we can figure out some strategies that lead to better choices. We can interpret the clues that help us tell bad paths from good. Understanding the nature of chance and keeping a sense of proportion and perspective are essential to choosing well. But there are no guarantees of success, and even the canniest of players can find their strategy undone by a bad roll of the dice....
Function words and polarity
Authors: Greco Matteo
Published: September 2021

Function words are commonly considered to be a small and closed class of words in which each element is associated with a specific and fixed logical meaning. Unfortunately, this is not always true as witnessed by negation: on the one hand, negation does reverse the truth-value conditions of a proposition, and the other hand, it does not, realizing what is called Expletive Negation. This chapter aims to investigate whether a word that is established on the basis of its function can be ambiguous by discussing the role of the syntactic derivation in some instances of so-called Expletive Negation clauses, a case in which negation seems to lose its capacity to deny the proposition associated with its sentence. Both a theoretical and an experimental approach has been adopted.
Expressive questions in English and French
Authors: Celle Agnes , Jugnet Anne , Lansari Laure
Published: September 2021

This chapter explores expressive questions in English and French. It is usage-based and draws upon a sample of naturally occurring data. It focuses on what the hell questions in English and mais qu’est-ce que questions in French. A distinction is made between two types of expressivity, which have been labeled emotional expressivity and iconic expressivity. They both convey intensification and may operate at the lexical, discursive, semantic, or syntactic levels. In what the hell questions, the left periphery is a core area for activating expressivity, while in mais qu’est-ce que questions, expressivity markers are varied and not restricted to the left periphery. Iconic expressivity is claimed to be unrelated to the speaker’s emotional attitude and triggered by enactment markers.
A comparison of expressives and miratives
Authors: Rett Jessica
Published: September 2021

There is a strong and vocal tradition of expressives being characterized as denoting conventional implicatures (Potts 2005 et seq.), and some have taken the category of expressives to include exclamation (Zimmermann 2007). But there’s also a tradition of analyzing exclamations and other mirativity markers at the illocutionary or speech-act level (Sadock and Zwicky 1985; Faller 2002; Rett 2011). In this chapter, I address two related questions: What, if any, are the empirical differences between expressives and miratives? And what, if any, are the theoretical differences between conventional implicatures and illocutionary content? Ultimately, I initiate a turf war over expressives: I argue that while they were initially characterized as a subtype of conventional implicature, they are more naturally grouped with emotive, or illocutionary, content.
Cross-linguistic variations in the interpretation of tense in mirative sentences
Authors: Sawada Osamu , Sawada Jun
Published: September 2021

This chapter investigates the interpretation of tense in Japanese mirative sentences using nante/towa and considers cross-linguistic variations of mirativity in terms of tense. In Japanese, when nante or towa is combined with a proposition that contains the so-called non-past form ru, the sentence becomes ambiguous as having both a non-past (future/present) reading and a past reading. Based on a theory by Sawada and Sawada (2019), we argue that this ambiguity of tense is due to the conventional implicature of nante/towa: nante/towa can take a ‘non-tensed’ proposition p and conventionally implies that (i) p is settled (i.e., p is/was true or predicted to be true) and (ii) the speaker did not expect such p. It will be shown that a basic analysis of nante/towa can apply to the English exclamatory that-clause, which also presents an ambiguity of tense, and at least partially to the Korean mirative tani sentence in which a past-oriented meaning can be represented based on the stem form of a verb.
French reason-comment ‘how’ questions
Authors: Brunetti Lisa , Yoo Hiyon , Tovena Lucia , Albar Rachel
Published: September 2021

This chapter discusses some semantic/pragmatic aspects of French questions starting with comment ‘how’ and having an interpretation of reason (similar to reason ‘why’), and investigates if and how these properties are reflected by prosody. With reason-comment questions, the speaker doubts that the proposition characterizing the event described in the question can be true, and asks the hearer to help her to revise her expectations about it, by giving her some reasons that make the existence of the event conceivable. The speaker’s doubt is often accompanied by additional emotions, such as indignation, exasperation, etc. In order to analysze the prosody of these questions, we conducted a production experiment comparing the reason and the manner reading of comment-questions. Results confirmed that prosodic cues allow us to distinguish between the two interpretations. In utterances with a reason reading, the expression of questioning force is important, even where accompanied by expressions of expectation disconfirmation and surprise.
The Empires of the East
Authors: Mortimer Sarah
Published: September 2021

The early sixteenth century saw the rise of three distinct Islamic empires, ruled by the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. In each, rulers had to find ways to legitimize their authority and their expansionist agenda, co-opting elites while also responding to the exigencies of economic change and military developments. The Ottomans became increasingly identified with Sunni Islam and the Safavids with Shi’ite interpretations of faith, but all three empires were religiously heterogeneous and they needed to cultivate an administrative structure and ideal of service which was not simply tied to a particular spiritual path. In the Ottoman empire there was an important debate about the relationship between those policies and principles which seemed necessary for stability and prosperity, and the demands of the divine law as understood by religious elites. The Mughal emperor Akbar, on the other hand, countered religious orthodoxy with his own version of saintliness and divine favour. In contrast to the lands of Western Europe, there was little interest in developing a concept of natural law whose purpose was earthly flourishing rather than spiritual fulfilment. Political thinking in the Islamic empires tended to emphasize universal principles, although in the Ottoman lands there came to be a recognition of the particular circumstances and challenges faced by that Empire.
Laws, Liberties, and the Will of the People
Authors: Mortimer Sarah
Published: September 2021

From the 1560s, tensions between Protestant and Catholics escalated and this was accompanied by a wave of writing on political and religious ideas, especially in France and the Netherlands. There was a renewed interest in the nature and origins of authority within the political sphere, particularly the importance of the ‘people’ and the ways in which their will could be both represented and controlled. This chapter considers some of the key texts of resistance theory written in the 1560s and 1570s, including Francogallia and the Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos in France, and George Buchanan’s De Jure Regni apud Scotos in Scotland. Discussions of liberty and privileges in the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt are also considered; here historically based arguments began to be supplemented by appeals to wider principles of morality and natural law. The election of Henry of Valois to the Polish throne provides one example of elective monarchy in practice. This chapter discusses the role of religion and of legal arguments in the development of resistance theories. It also highlights some of the practical and conceptual difficulties in appealing to popular sovereignty, especially in a period of deep confessional divisions, and shows how the authority of magistrates could be understood in different ways.
Global Policy Initiatives to Regulate Business Responsibility and Human Rights
Authors: George Erika
Published: September 2021

In view of the shortcomings of corporate law and international law, this chapter argues that pragmatic global policy instruments can provide a strong foundation for promoting changes in business practices and providing greater protection by closing the governance gaps that place human rights and the environment at risk. This chapter traces the trajectory of international policy initiatives advanced to address the governance gap culminating in the endorsement of the UN Framework and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which seek to translate human rights issues into corporate responsibility imperatives. Based on the author’s analysis of primary UN documents and commentaries; interviews with different stakeholder constituencies in the policymaking process, including corporate representatives and rights activists; ethnographic research, including participation in and observations of the annual proceedings of the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights; and interviews with members of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the chapter will show that while the consensus formed around global policy instruments is fragile, certain aspects of the Framework appear to be gaining traction as authoritative among those stakeholders best situated to address or avoid human rights abuses.
Information and AccountabilityRegulating the Corporate Social Responsibility to Respect Human Rights through Ranking and Reporting
Authors: George Erika
Published: September 2021

This chapter argues that regulation can occur through rankings and reporting by providing information about risks to rights allowing concerned citizens to exercise informed choice. This chapter examines the emergence and evolution of selected ranking and reporting frameworks in the expanding realm of business and human rights advocacy. Specifically, it examines how indicators in the form of rankings and reports evaluating the conduct of transnational corporate actors can serve as regulatory tools with potential to bridge a global governance gap that places human rights at risk. It explains the conditions that have led to coordination and collaboration among those entities engaged in creating reporting frameworks and rankings while nevertheless relying upon the competitive impulses of the business enterprises being ranked to assert influence. It also identifies why the businesses being ranked have been slow to deploy effective counterstrategies despite efforts to contest emerging reporting requirements. It considers the interaction of selected business and human rights indicators with recent laws regulating supply chain transparency in the United States and with recent global policy initiatives calling for business enterprises to conduct human rights impact assessments. It reviews some of the methodological and moral risks raised with respect to ranking rights. In conclusion, the chapter argues that in the ecology of global governance, these new business and human rights indicators will provide rights advocates with greater power and have the potential to play an important role in solidifying emerging soft law standards and in strengthening corporate self-regulation. The strategic use of indicators in the business and human rights realm could ultimately prove to make the commitments contained in voluntary codes of conduct to respect human rights obligatory.
Deregulation of phenylalanine biosynthesis evolved with the emergence of vascular plants
Authors: El-Azaz Jorge , Cánovas Francisco M , Barcelona Belén , Ávila Concepción , de la Torre Fernando
Published: September 2021

Phenylalanine (Phe) is the precursor of essential secondary products in plants. Here we show that a key, rate-limiting step in Phe biosynthesis, which is catalyzed by arogenate dehydratase, experienced feedback de-regulation during evolution. Enzymes from microorganisms and type-I ADTs from plants are strongly feedback-inhibited by Phe, while type-II isoforms remain active at high levels of Phe. We have found that type-II ADTs are widespread across seed plants and their overproduction resulted in a dramatic accumulation of Phe in planta, reaching levels up to 40 times higher than those observed following the expression of type-I enzymes. Punctual changes in the allosteric binding site of Phe and adjacent region are responsible for the observed relaxed regulation. The phylogeny of plant ADTs evidences that the emergence of type-II isoforms with relaxed regulation occurred at some point in the transition between nonvascular plants and tracheophytes, enabling the massive production of Phe-derived compounds, primarily lignin, a hallmark of vascular plants.
Pain Conditions and Suicide Attempts in Military Veterans: A Case-Control Design
Authors: Boska Rachel L , Bishop Todd M , Ashrafioun Lisham
Published: September 2021

Objective

Specific pain conditions such as back pain and migraines are associated with increased risk of suicide mortality after accounting for key covariates. The purpose of the current study was to assess the associations of specific pain conditions with suicide attempts.

Design

Case-control

Setting

Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

Subjects

Individuals who utilized VHA services with a record of a suicide attempt (N = 30,051) in Fiscal Years 2013 and 2014 were identified and propensity score matched with controls with no such record (N = 30,051).

Methods

Data on pain condition diagnoses (back pain, arthritis, migraine, headaches, psychogenic pain, neuropathy, fibromyalgia) psychiatric diagnoses, medical comorbidity, and demographics were extracted from VHA medical record and suicide surveillance datasets.

Results

Unadjusted logistic regression analyses found that each of the pain conditions were associated with suicide attempts (e.g., back pain: Odds ratio [OR]=3.25, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]=3.12–3.39). After adjusting for mental health conditions, medical comorbidity, and each of the pain conditions, the effects were attenuated across pain conditions; however, remained significant for each of the pain conditions except for fibromyalgia. Specifically, back pain (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.19–1.32), migraines (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.14–1.46), headaches (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.19–1.48), and neuropathic pain (OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.33–1.74) were each associated with increased odds of a suicide attempt. Fibromyalgia was the only pain condition associated with re-attempt status (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.08–1.45).

Conclusions

Specific pain conditions are associated with increased odds of suicide attempts even after including key covariates.

Limitations

Limitations of the study include the retrospective study design and lack of examination into additional variables including prescription opioid use, pain intensity, and pain duration. The case-control design also limits the ability to draw causal or temporal conclusions.
Efficacy and safety of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Deng J , Zhou F , Ali S , Heybati K , Hou W , Huang E , Wong C Y
Published: September 2021

Background

Ivermectin became a popular choice for COVID-19 treatment among clinicians and the public following encouraging results from pre-print trials and in vitro studies. Early reviews recommended the use of ivermectin based largely on non-peer-reviewed evidence, which may not be robust. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the efficacy and safety of ivermectin for treating COVID-19 based on peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies (OSs).

Methods

MEDLINE, EMBASE and PubMed were searched from 1 January 2020 to 1 September 2021 for relevant studies. Outcomes included time to viral clearance, duration of hospitalization, mortality, incidence of mechanical ventilation and incidence of adverse events. RoB2 and ROBINS-I were used to assess risk of bias. Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. GRADE was used to evaluate quality of evidence.

Results

Three OSs and 14 RCTs were included in the review. Most RCTs were rated as having some concerns in regards to risk of bias, while OSs were mainly rated as having a moderate risk of bias. Based on meta-analysis of RCTs, the use of ivermectin was not associated with reduction in time to viral clearance, duration of hospitalization, incidence of mortality and incidence of mechanical ventilation. Ivermectin did not significantly increase incidence of adverse events. Meta-analysis of OSs agrees with findings from RCT studies.

Conclusions

Based on very low to moderate quality of evidence, ivermectin was not efficacious at managing COVID-19. Its safety profile permits its use in trial settings to further clarify its role in COVID-19 treatment.

Protocol registration

The review was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021275302).
Risk Premium Shocks Can Create Inefficient Recessions
Authors: Di Tella Sebastian , Hall Robert
Published: September 2021

We develop a simple flexible-price model of business cycles driven by spikes in risk premiums. Aggregate shocks increase firms’ uninsurable idiosyncratic risk and raise risk premiums. We show that risk shocks can create quantitatively plausible recessions, with contractions in employment, consumption, and investment. Business cycles are inefficient—output, employment, and consumption fall too much during recessions, compared to the constrained-efficient allocation. Optimal policy involves stimulating employment and consumption during recessions.
The high prevalence of abnormal magnetic resonance imaging findings in non-neuropsychiatric patients with persistently positive anti-phospholipid antibodies
Authors: Wan Liyan , Liu Tingting , Chen Tongtong , Chi Huihui , Zhou Zhuochao , Tang Zihan , Hu Qiongyi , Teng Jialin , Sun Yue , Liu Honglei , Cheng Xiaobing , Ye Junna , Su Yutong , Lu Yong , Yang Chengde , Shi Hui
Published: September 2021

Objectives

Thrombosis occurring in the central nervous system is common in APS patients, leading to neuropsychiatric symptoms. We investigated the prevalence of silent brain abnormalities on MRI in primary APS (PAPS) patients and aPL carriers and assessed the association between the vascular risk factors, aPL profile, clinical manifestations and MRI abnormalities.

Methods

We consecutively included 44 PAPS patients, 24 aPL carriers and 23 healthy controls with comparable age and gender in a single-centre, observational, cross-sectional study. None of the patients had a history of stroke, transient ischaemic attack, migraine, dementia, epilepsy or bipolar disorders. On cerebral MRI, we assessed the imaging features and location of abnormality. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify the risk factors contributing to the MRI abnormalities.

Results

A total of 38 (55.88%) patients had abnormal MRI findings, while only one healthy control showed some abnormalities. Lacunes were the most frequent MRI abnormality in the aPL-positive group [31/68 (45.59%)], which were followed by white matter hyperintensities [20/68 (29.41%)]. In the study population, age [odds ratio (OR) 1.086, P = 0.016] and LA positivity (OR 5.191, P = 0.002) were independent associated factors with brain MRI abnormalities. When analysed in only the aPL-positive group, age (OR 1.116, P = 0.007), female gender (OR 7.519, P = 0.025) and thrombocytopenia (OR 8.336, P = 0.047) were the significant independent risk factors with abnormal MRI.

Conclusions

PAPS patients and aPL carriers showed a high prevalence of brain MRI abnormalities, indicating an increased cerebrovascular risk, which emphasized attention to silent cerebral lesions in persistently aPL-positive patients.
Coordination Between Trunk Muscles, Thoracolumbar Fascia, and Intra-Abdominal Pressure Toward Static Spine Stability
Authors: Bojairami Ibrahim El , Driscoll Mark
Published: September 2021

Study Design.

Numerical in-silico human spine stability finite element analysis.

Objective.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of major torso tissues toward static spine stability, mainly the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF), abdominal wall with its intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), and spinal muscles inclusive of their intramuscular pressure.

Summary of Background Data.

Given the numerous redundancies involved in the spine, current methodologies for assessing static spinal stability are limited to specific tissues and could lead to inconclusive results. A three-dimensional finite element model of the spine, with structured analysis of major torso tissues, allows for objective investigation of static spine stability.

Methods.

A novel previously fully validated spine model was employed. Major torso tissues, mainly the muscles, TLF, and IAP were individually, and in combinations, activated under a 350N external spine perturbation. The stability contribution exerted by these tissues, or their ability to restore the spine to the unperturbed position, was assessed in different case-scenarios.

Results.

Individual activations recorded significantly different stability contributions, with the highest being the TLF at 75%. Combined or synergistic activations showed an increase of up to 93% stability contribution when all tissues were simultaneously activated with a corresponding decrease in the tensile load exerted by the tissues themselves.

Conclusion.

This investigation demonstrated torso tissues exhibiting different roles toward static spine stability. The TLF appeared able to dissipate and absorb excessive loads, the muscles acted as antagonistic to external perturbations, and the IAP played a role limiting movement. Furthermore, the different combinations explored suggested an optimized engagement and coordination between different tissues to achieve a specific task, while minimizing individual work.

Level of Evidence: N/A
Concurrent Disorders Management in Psychiatric Care: Opportunities and Challenges
Authors: Danilewitz Marlon , Bahji Anees , Lamba Wiplove , Chopra Nitin , George Tony P.
Published: September 2021

Despite increased awareness of the prevalence and burden of substance use disorders, there is limited access to addiction treatment services in Canada, including in psychiatric settings. While substance use disorders are highly comorbid and confer a poorer prognosis on psychiatric illnesses, psychiatric services are often ill-equipped in managing comorbid addictions. While there has slowly been an increase in recognition of this deficit in psychiatric training, there continues to be a deficit in concurrent disorder services in psychiatric care. A potential strategy to address this gap in clinical services is a concurrent disorder consult model. Herein, we outline a model for improved access to addiction treatment in psychiatric care and outline considerations for developing concurrent disorder consult services.
Association of SLC22A1 rs622342 and ATM rs11212617 polymorphisms with metformin efficacy in patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Chen Peixian , Cao Yumin , Guo Yali , Xu Qi , Wang Xiaozhu , Zhang Liuwei , Liu Zhike , Chen Dafang , Chen Shiyi , Chen Shenren
Published: September 2021

Metformin is the first-choice oral anti-hyperglycemic drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. There are controversies about the association of SLC22A1 rs622342, which was not reported in the Chinese population, and ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) rs11212617 polymorphisms with metformin efficacy in T2DM. Our study was to investigate the effects of the two single nucleotide polymorphisms on the efficacy of metformin in T2DM of Han nationality in Chaoshan China. After enrollment, 82 newly diagnosed T2DM patients went on 2-month metformin monotherapy. According to BMI before treatment, the patients were divided into a normal weight group (≥18.5 and <25 kg/m2) and an overweight group (BMI ≥ 25 and <30 kg/m2). T-test, Pearson χ2 test, and regression analysis, which adjusted for age, BMI, sex, the dose of metformin, education, tea drink, smoking, and sweet, were used to evaluate the effects of rs622342 and rs11212617 on several variables, such as fasting plasma glucose (FPG). Compared with the AA or CC genotype, patients with AC genotype of rs622342 achieved greater reduction in Δ60FPG and Δ(60–30)FPG (P = 0.00820, 0.00089, respectively). For 11212617, the reduction in Δ30FPG and Δ60FPG was significantly different among patients with the AC genotype (P = 0.00026, 0.00820, respectively). Our results indicated that common variants of SLC22A1 rs622342 and ATM rs11212617 were associated with the efficacy of metformin in T2DM of Han nationality in Chaoshan China.