bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Legitimization of Greed—Heartbreak to Workers
Authors: Drobak John N.
Published: June 2021

Chapter 7 discusses the changes in norms that have made it acceptable to make as much money as possible in any legal way, even at great harm to labor and communities. The chapter also considers the role of the media in glorifying the wealthy, along with its constant reporting of stock prices—which reinforces the belief that corporations exist only for shareholders. The chapter shows how the quest for wealth this century has led to a large, growing disparity in both income and wealth. Then the chapter examines the imprecision of unemployment statistics, showing how the statistics (1) overlook people who are not seeking work, and (2) disregard the change in pay and benefits when displaced workers take new jobs. In trying to assess the permanence of the harm caused to displaced workers, the chapter examines retaining programs under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which was designed to help workers who lost their jobs as a result of outsourcing. In what may be a surprising result, a number of studies have shown that retraining generally does not improve the employment prospects of displaced workers. Finally, the chapter looks at the tragic effects on two communities from the closing of an automobile manufacturing plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, and the shrinkage of a glass manufacturing company in Lancaster, Ohio.
India and the Silk Roads
Authors: Lally Jagjeet
Published: June 2021

India and the Silk Roads is a global history of a continental interior, the first to comprehensively examine the textual and material traces of India’s caravan trade with central Asia. But what was the fate of these overland connections in the ages of sail and steam? This book brings the world of caravan trade to life—a world of merchants, mercenaries, pastoralists and pilgrims, but also of kings, bureaucrats and their subjects in the countryside and towns. Their livelihoods did not become obsolete with the advent of ‘modern’ technologies and the consequent emergence of new global networks. Terrestrial routes remained critically important, not only handling flows of goods and money, but also fostering networks of trade in credit, secret intelligence and fighting power. With the waning of the Mughal Empire during the eighteenth century, new Indian kingdoms and their rulers came to the fore, drawing their power and prosperity from resources brought by caravan trade. The encroachment of British and Russian imperialism into this commercial arena in the nineteenth century gave new significance to some people and flows, while steadily undermining others. By showing how no single ruler could control the nebulous yet durable networks of this trading world, which had its own internal dynamics even as it evolved in step with global transformations, this book forces us to rethink the history of globalisation and re-evaluate our fixation with empires and states as the building blocks of historical analysis.
Environment
Authors: Lally Jagjeet
Published: June 2021

This chapter introduces the structure and organisation of caravan trade. Focusing on the environment, it opens by connecting the wave of political flux and state-building to the shock of the Little Ice Age, which hit Afro-Eurasia around the mid-seventeenth century. It then sketches the broad geography and circulatory pattern along the north-south routes from the Eurasian interior to the Indian subcontinent. It shows that exchange was based on specialisation and interdependence between the arid zone that stretched from central Asia to the Indo-Afghan frontier and the wet zone of monsoon south Asia, and was subject to seasonal rhythms, with climate shaping when—and through which routes—it was hospitable to pass. It also demonstrates that ecological change—as well as economic and political factors—could shift patterns of specialisation and thereby affect trade, illustrated through a case study of the Indo-central Asian horse trade.
Knowledge
Authors: Lally Jagjeet
Published: June 2021

Over the nineteenth century, imperial rivalry and fears over the security of India’s northern borders led to the steady accumulation of knowledge about caravan trade and the trading world. This chapter shows that the Indo-Afghan frontier and central Asia were of critical significance to the testing of scientific mapping and modern intelligence, ethnography and genealogy, making the spaces and networks of caravan trade fundamental to the finessing of the British Indian state’s technologies of power. Yet, the epistemic anxiety resulting from information asymmetry and the flows of mobile agents through this space—especially during the ‘Great Game’—precipitated schemes to sedentarise populations and transform them into cultivators and soldiers, in turn integrating western Punjab’s economy more deeply into that of the British Empire at the cost of connections into the Eurasian interior.
Technology
Authors: Lally Jagjeet
Published: June 2021

By the latter decades of the nineteenth century, caravan trade first showed signs of growth before entering a period of decline and reorientation. This chapter evaluates the causes of the relative and absolute decline of trade, focusing on productive and transport technologies (including railways, steamships and telegraph lines), the rapid development and diffusion of which were the hallmarks of the era of the New Imperialism. The impact of technological change was ambivalent, with the modern nowhere supplanting more archaic motilities; instead, the existing pattern of trade was undermined where new technologies interacted with wider economic changes, particularly the institution of protectionism in Russian Central Asia. This is examined by returning to three of the most important commodities flowing through the networks of caravan trade: indigo, silk and textiles.
Using international human rights law to mobilize for children’s rights and reproductive rights in Ireland
Authors: de Búrca Gráinne
Published: June 2021

This chapter uses the experimentalist framework to examine two processes of social change in Ireland in recent decades—children’s rights reform and reproductive rights reform—which included the engagement of domestic advocacy groups with international human rights law as a key element of those campaigns. In the case of child rights, a coalition of hitherto separate organizations and groups came together following Ireland’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and re-oriented their work and advocacy around the idea of children’s rights. By bringing issues before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and requiring the government to engage repeatedly with the Committee and with the meaning and consequences in practice of the obligations taken on under the Convention, they injected fresh impetus into existing campaigns, opened a public conversation about children’s rights, and placed Ireland’s practices and attitudes towards children and the family in the context of international standards. In the case of abortion law reform which was a bitterly divisive and difficult issue in Ireland, domestic activists drew upon and engaged with a variety of international human rights institutions and laws over decades to keep pressure on the government and the state to introduce change, as well as to create public awareness of the suffering of specific women and to highlight existing and emerging international norms on reproductive rights. Both campaigns ultimately succeeded in pressing for the adoption of a range of important legislative and policy reforms.
Negotiated Contracts for Cloud Services
Authors: Kuan Hon W , Millard Christopher , Walden Ian , Ward Conor
Published: June 2021

This chapter examines negotiated contracts for cloud services. Given that the use of cloud services has now become widely accepted and in light of the fact that providers' standard contract terms have evolved if not improved, do customers still deem it necessary to seek to negotiate contracts and if so, which issues are typically focused on? Are providers willing to negotiate or have they hardened their attitudes to negotiation? The chapter outlines providers' perspectives on cloud contract terms and customers' perspectives on cloud contracts including the role of integrators. It looks at the factors that customers take into account when considering specific terms, including whether or not to negotiate the terms in question or look at other methods of risk mitigation. The fact that data breach response and liability for data breaches tops the list of most-negotiated terms suggests that cloud providers and customers are still grappling with the General Data Protection Regulation's (GDPR) requirements and trying to come up with terms that will satisfy both customers' and providers' needs.
Information Ownership in the Cloud
Authors: Reed Chris
Published: June 2021

This chapter discusses information ownership in the cloud. The law has struggled with ownership of digital information precisely because it is no longer recorded in permanent form on a physical object which can be owned. The law attempts to solve this problem by creating legal rights in some types of information, in the form of intellectual property rights. However, intellectual property rights are highly limited in scope in order to prevent the monopolisation of information. Thus, disputes over information ownership, and negotiations involving transfer of digital information, can be surprisingly difficult to resolve. The chapter then looks at copyright, database right, and the protection of confidential information. It shows that owning property rights in information, most likely copyright and database right, has little importance in terms of the cloud relationship. Cloud computing does, however, create some risks to confidential information because each player in the cloud is handing over some element of control to other players.
Digital Assets in Clouds
Authors: Michels Johan David , Millard Christopher
Published: June 2021

This chapter examines digital assets in clouds. When storing data on a provider's servers, the customer effectively shares control of that information with the provider. The chapter reviews the extent to which the law of property may impose obligations on cloud providers with respect to customers' digital assets. It focuses on a subset of digital assets, namely information uploaded by a customer to a cloud service, which can be called 'customer data'. Customer data typically takes the form of digital files such as documents, databases, emails, photographs, or audio and visual content. The chapter first considers the extent to which cloud customers have property rights in respect of customer data. It then studies the legal implications of the absence of property rights for the obligations of cloud providers and customers.
Responsibilities of Controllers and Processors of Personal Data in Clouds
Authors: Kamarinou Dimitra , Millard Christopher , Turton Felicity
Published: June 2021

This chapter outlines the roles and responsibilities of controllers and processors of personal data in clouds. The realisation of the rights of data subjects whose personal data are processed in cloud computing environments depends, in large part, on whom they may be exercised against. The concepts of 'controller' and 'processor' play a crucial role in this respect since they determine who is responsible for compliance with the core obligations set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The chapter then addresses the fundamental question of what constitutes a controller or processor and looks at the circumstances in which two or more controllers may be characterised as joint controllers. It considers the contractual rights and obligations of controllers and processors. The chapter also analyses the allocation of responsibility for compliance with a range of GDPR obligations, including security, breach notification requirements, requirements relating to Data Protection Impact Assesments (DPIA), consultations with data protection regulators, record-keeping, and audits. Finally, it examines the role of Data Protection Officers (DPO) and at the role of supervisory authorities in enforcing compliance with the GDPR.
Accessing Data in the Cloud
Authors: Walden Ian
Published: June 2021

This chapter describes the legal framework governing law enforcement access to data in a cloud environment, giving particular attention to developments in the European Union, the United States, and international law, specifically the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention (Cybercrime Convention). The Convention addresses the investigation and prosecution of cybercrime within the domestic jurisdiction, as well as facilitating international co-operation against transborder cybercrimes. The provisions represent a certain consensus among the signatories about the appropriate exercise of law enforcement powers in cyberspace, including a cloud environment. However, the exercise of law enforcement agency (LEA) powers raises a number of jurisdictional questions. Each of these issues presents a boundary issue for LEAs, cloud service providers, and cloud users; a boundary between lawful and unlawful behaviours or regulated and unregulated activities. The chapter looks at how and when those boundaries apply and what mechanisms and procedures have been adopted, or are proposed, to address the needs of LEAs in a cloud environment.
Global Middle Ages
Authors: Holmes Catherine
Published: June 2021

This chapter considers societies and cultures outside western Europe from the early thirteenth to later fifteenth centuries by focusing with particular intensity on eastern Mediterranean societies. Rather than offering micro-surveys of a series of different contexts, some close to Europe and others further away, the chapter considers the late medieval world in global terms. The discussion focuses on the creation, projection, and realization of power by rulers during a period which has traditionally been associated with widespread turbulence and disintegration, and yet in which certain commonalities of political structures and culture can also be perceived. The global approach is comparative and largely political, but it also analyses dynamics which relate more to connectedness on social, economic, and cultural levels, and which also often involved movement over scales of all sorts: local, regional, transregional and even intercontinental. The principal relationship examined is between those with aspirations to high, supralocal power, and those who peopled the more fluid, fractured, and sometimes highly mobile formations that typify so much of the economic, social, religious, and cultural landscape of the late medieval centuries.
Introduction
Authors: Fine Gail
Published: June 2021

This chapter outlines the main themes of the essays that follow. It also occasionally corrects or clarifies them, and sometimes it discusses more recent literature than they do. One central theme is cognitive conditions and their contents. For example, is epistêmê knowledge as it is conceived of nowadays? Are doxa and dogma belief as it is conceived of nowadays? This chapter also asks whether Plato and/or Aristotle countenances some version of a Two Worlds Theory; and whether ancient skeptics countenance subjective states and/or external world skepticism. It also explains some key distinctions used throughout, such as that between concept and conception.
The ‘Two Worlds’ Theory in the Phaedo
Authors: Fine Gail
Published: June 2021

Plato is often thought to hold the Two Worlds Theory, according to one version of which there is knowledge only of forms and belief only of sensibles; one can’t know sensibles or have beliefs about forms. One such dialogue is the Phaedo. However, Chapter 4 argues that the Phaedo countenances both belief about forms and knowledge of sensibles; and so it rejects the Two Worlds Theory. The chapter also asks whether the Phaedo argues that, if knowledge is possible at all, we can have it only when discarnate.
Skeptical Dogmata: Outlines of Pyrrhonism I 13
Authors: Fine Gail
Published: June 2021

This chapter asks whether, in PH 1.13, Sextus says that Pyrrhonian skeptics have some, or no, dogmata. The chapter distinguishes an internal from an external question. The internal question asks whether Sextus says that skeptics have any dogmata; and, if he says they do, what dogmata does he takes them to have? The external question asks whether dogmata are beliefs in the sense of taking to be true. The chapter argues that dogmata are beliefs in that sense. It also argues that, according to I 13, Sextus allows that skeptics have beliefs, though only about how they are appeared to.
Descartes and Ancient Skepticism: Reheated Cabbage?
Authors: Fine Gail
Published: June 2021

Chapter 13 considers a variety of ways in which Pyrrhonian skepticism has been thought to differ from Cartesian skepticism: that is, from the sort of skepticism Descartes describes in (among other places) Meditation 1. For example, it has been argued that Pyrrhonian skepticism disavows belief, whereas Cartesian skepticism disavows only knowledge. It has also been argued that Pyrrhonian skepticism is less extensive than Cartesian skepticism is, and that Pyrrhonian but not Cartesian skepticism is a way of life. This chapter argues, however, that Pyrrhonian skepticism is closer to Cartesian skepticism than it is often taken to be, siding with Descartes in his statement that what is new is not the skepticism he describes, but his refutation of it.
Sextus and External World Skepticism
Authors: Fine Gail
Published: June 2021

Chapter 14 discusses the scope of Pyrrhonian skepticism and how it compares with the scope of Cartesian skepticism, with a focus on external world skepticism. At least three general views have been held. First, some commentators think that Pyrrhonian skepticism is less extensive than Cartesian skepticism is. Secondly, Descartes denies that there is a difference in the scopes of ancient and Cartesian skepticism. Thirdly, Hegel thinks that ancient skepticism is more extensive than the skepticism from Descartes’s day to his own is. This chapter argues that the Pyrrhonian skeptics and the Cyrenaics countenance external world skepticism in a recognizable sense. Hence, contrary to a familiar view, Descartes is not the first philosopher to expound external world skepticism.
Divine Action and the Preferential Option for the Poor
Authors: Abraham William J.
Published: June 2021

This chapter engages some strains of recent liberation theology and its claims about divine action, most of all God’s “preferential option for the poor.” It contends that any serious treatment of divine agency and action cannot ignore this powerful strain in theology, especially its desire to place divine liberation at the center of God’s actions. These claims can be understood in a variety of ways, and the chapter proposes to answer this problem by looking at how liberation theology conceives God, what it means for God to liberate the oppressed, the central warrants for that claim, and the problems that arise from it. It undertakes this task by looking at Victorio Araya’s God of the Poor.
Divine Action and the Charge of Sexist Discourse
Authors: Abraham William J.
Published: June 2021

This chapter responds to a serious objection to traditional canonical Christian theology: that it depicts God in sexist terms. Not only this, but the tradition holds that a male figure is at the heart of the faith itself. The chapter lists several complaints by modern critics of traditional Christian “male-centered” language. Engaging the concerns of feminist philosophers Elizabeth Johnson and Sarah Coakley, the chapter argues that there is no good reason to change the canonical Trinitarian and Christological language. This position will require courage, but it is argued that the consequences for jettisoning the traditional language will be far worse than keeping them.
Mind and Matter
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter discusses different views on the basis of human consciousness. A major problem with much popular speculation about the biological roots of consciousness is that those who advocate a gene-based view of consciousness often appear to have little understanding of modern genetics, while speculation about how brain structures shape that consciousness often bear little resemblance to emerging knowledge about the complexity of an actual human brain. There is a common thread here, which is that idealised genes and brains have been substituted for real ones. Unfortunately, because of this tendency, it is not clear how much we have really advanced forwards from René Descartes and his belief that the human mind was an unknowable entity, or for that matter, the behaviourists with their view that the human mind could be treated as a black box. In contrast, to understand human consciousness, there is a need to understand real genes, real brains, and how these have evolved in humans compared to other species.
Tool and Symbol
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter examines the emergence of tool use and human language in human brain evolution. Increasing use and design of tools made possible by the bipedalism of our proto-human ancestors was a key step in the development of language. Indeed, communal tool use ‘helped to bring the members of society together by increasing the cases of mutual support and joint activity’. During this process, ‘the reaction of labour and speech on the development of the brain and its attendant senses, of the increasing clarity of consciousness, power of abstraction and of conclusion, gave both labour and speech an ever renewed impulse to further development’. The chapter then considers the studies which assess the fundamental differences in terms of language capacity between humans and apes. While the behaviourist view that human language acquisition is simply an accumulation of conditioned reflexes now looks incorrect, recent studies have also challenged the view of a biological basis for a ‘universal grammar’ shared by all humans. Instead, increasing evidence points to both human biology and the process of growing up in a specific human society as being factors of equal importance in the formation of language.
Growth and Development
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter assesses the linked processes of brain growth and development. Each human life begins with the union of a sperm and an egg. Embryogenesis is the process by which the fertilized egg divides repeatedly to produce the 37 trillion cells that make up a person. But embryo development is about far more than just this dramatic increase in cell number. It also involves the formation of all the specialised cell types of the body, and their organization into tissues and organs. Initially, the embryo is just a ball of cells called a blastocyst. But then a dramatic transformation takes place called gastrulation, which is a key event in the formation of a human being. While these are the gross structural changes underlying brain development, equally important are the cellular changes. The development of the human brain occurs at such a rapid rate that a newborn baby’s brain has almost the same number of neurons as that of an adult. However, brain growth continues after birth due to the creation of new glial cells and connections between neurons.
Thought and Language
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter explores how language helps human beings to group, distinguish, and differentiate between things in the world around them. In other words, what is the basis of conceptual thought, and how does this relate to language capacity as a whole? On the one hand, behaviourists have argued that human beings start life as a ‘blank slate’, and our language capacity is something that we learn by exposure to the language of others. On the other, Noam Chomsky proposed that humans are born with an innate capacity for language, as shown by the ease with which children rapidly learn a wide vocabulary, but also by their remarkable capacity for linking words together in complex grammatical structures. The chapter then looks at developments in the search for a biological basis for human language. Studies suggest that language in humans involves a complex interplay between a number of different genes, FOXP2 being a key one, which affect the connections between neurons in specific parts of the brain. However, it still remains unclear whether FOXP2 gene affects neurons involved in language processing per se or those that control muscles involved in speech.
Creativity and Imagination
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter describes another aspect of human uniqueness—the links between consciousness, creativity, and imagination. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky believed that human consciousness is transformed by social interactions, particularly through language, in a similar fashion to how tools have allowed us to transform the natural world. Vygotsky saw imagination as no less influenced by this social input than other aspects of consciousness. To deal with a changing environment, he argued that the human brain ‘combines and creatively reworks elements of this past experience and uses them to generate new propositions and new behaviour [making] the human being a creature oriented toward the future, creating the future and thus altering his own present’. Vygotsky thought that imagination was particularly stimulated in the developing child through the process of play. Some aspects of adult human culture have attributes in common with play, including the link with imagination.
Mind and Machine
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter explores how future technologies might impact on human consciousness. It begins by discussing how new techniques are continuing to add to the understanding of the human mind. There are many exciting technologies available now to the neuroscientist, such as genomic analysis, optogenetics, gene editing, and brain organoids. To what extent could such technologies be used to investigate the model of human consciousness outlined in this book? The chapter then considers whether artificial intelligence might come to rival that of human beings, and possible interfaces between human and machine intelligence. Our growing ability to develop functioning robots raises the question of whether an artificial human brain might be used to control such a robot, creating in effect a cyborg. However, the creation of such an entity could make a big difference in terms of an artificial brain’s sense of identity in the world, as well as its rights.
Epilogue
Authors: Parrington John
Published: June 2021

This chapter returns to the various alternative views about human consciousness first mentioned at the start of this book, and assesses how this book’s account compares to, and hopefully builds on, these other viewpoints. The view of human consciousness developed in this book can explain the uniqueness of our species’ conscious awareness, but in an entirely materialistic fashion. This approach views language—the system of abstract symbols linked in a grammatical structure but also one that connects the individual to the world outside via word meaning—and other forms of human culture like music, art, and literature, as a material force that has reshaped human brain functions at every level. This has led to a qualitative shift in such functions, compared to that of every other species, including our closest animal cousins, the great apes. Unlike a purely ‘bottom up’ approach to human brain function, this view sees language, as well as other mediators of human culture, as imposing both structural and dynamic changes in our brains. Structurally, it sees the different brain regions, as well as their interconnections, as altered in humans. The chapter then reflects on what impact, if any, might this approach to understanding human consciousness have on diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
Party System Closure
Authors: Casal Bértoa Fernando , Enyedi Zsolt
Published: June 2021

The Introduction starts with some examples of pairs of old and new democracies, some larger, some smaller, some in the East, some in the South, and illustrates how party system development can differ despite very similar background conditions. We then proceed to identify four main factors that differ within each pair, as possible explanations of the way party politics in general, and partisan interaction in particular, evolved in different countries. After stating the aims of the book and how it builds on previous studies, we summarize its main conceptual, operational, and methodological innovations, putting specific emphasis on the importance of history and a combination of large- and small-N studies. Finally, we explain the logic and structure of the book with a brief summary of the content of each chapter.
Party System Closure in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Casal Bértoa Fernando , Enyedi Zsolt
Published: June 2021

The fifth chapter identifies the most important common trends across time in closure, contrasting core and periphery countries, various macro-regions of Europe, and different time periods. Dividing the total time span into smaller blocs allows us to control for the age of the party systems, and to see how time-bound the identified configurations are. We analyse here how the three components of closure combine across the party systems, and how the degree of closure, the trajectories of closure, and the party system types are related to each other. The chapter reveals the association between the degree of closure, the way that competition is structured, and the cross-temporal pattern of the closure figures. Multipolar and tripolar systems are found to be more open than bipolar and grand coalition ones, with centre-based and two-plus-one systems in the middle. As far as party trajectories are concerned, a process of ‘continuous growth’ leads to higher levels of closure than the ‘maturation and decay’, ‘mid-life crisis’, and ‘stop and go’ patterns.
Size Does Matter
Authors: Casal Bértoa Fernando , Enyedi Zsolt
Published: June 2021

The eighth chapter looks into inter-temporal and cross-sectional differences in the effective number of parliamentary parties, and analyses the covariation between closure and fragmentation. The chapter allows us to revisit classical debates in comparative politics about the merits and vices of two- and multi-party systems. After showing how the inter-war and post-Cold War years were more fragmented than other periods, we find that concentrated systems tend to breed stability, and if they do not, then they often do not survive. And yet, there is only a moderate, far from deterministic, relationship between closure and fragmentation. In particular, we found that the recent proliferation of parties in the West poses a challenge to party system institutionalization.
Oesophageal disorders
Authors: Ambrose Tim
Published: June 2021

This chapter covers core curriculum topics relating to disorders of the oesophagus. A diagnostic and therapeutic approach to symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease is covered including physiology testing and the role of anti-reflux surgery. Other benign conditions causing dysphagia and chest pain are presented incorporating disorders of motility, infections, and the management of eosinophilic oesophagitis and oesophageal stricturing. Coverage is given to the investigation and management of patients with foreign body or caustic substance ingestions. There is particular focus on the investigation and management of oesophageal malignancy including in palliative stages, along with the various stages of Barret’s oesophagus. This includes diagnostic features, surveillance intervals and management of dysplasia associated with Barrett’s. Additional curriculum material regarding disorders of the oesophagus will also be covered in the mock examination chapter.
Biliary disorders
Authors: Ambrose Tim
Published: June 2021

This chapter covers core curriculum topics relating to disorders of the biliary tract including physiology and biochemistry of bile formation and the pathogenesis of gallstones; complications of gallstones disease including biliary colic, acute cholecystitis, biliary obstruction, and cholangitis, and options for operative and non-operative management. Material is also provided on conditions of the gallbladder including adenomyomatosis, gallbladder polyps, and porcelain gallbladder; primary sclerosing cholangitis and other causes of cholangitistumours of the bile duct, gall bladder, and ampulla; indications and complications of endoscopic and radiological treatment of biliary disease including endoscopic retrograde choalngiopancreatography, cholangioscopy, and Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography. There is also discussion on the diagnosis and management of biliary complications after liver transplantation. Additional curriculum material regarding disorders of the biliary tract will also be covered in the mock examination chapter.
Pancreatic disorders
Authors: McGregor Colleen
Published: June 2021

This chapter covers core curriculum topics relating to pancreatic disorders. This includes the investigation and management of acute pancreatitis incorporating knowledge on aetiology, staging of acute pancreatitis, complications including pseudocyst and walled off necrosis, nutritional support, and role of imaging and endoscopy. The chapter also covers genetic pancreatic disorders, anatomical variants of the pancreas, and describes the different cell types of the pancreas. These is also an emphasis on the aetiology and complications of chronic pancreatitis including pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and chronic pain. Finally the chapter also covers the presentation, diagnosis and management of benign and malignant pancreatic tumours. Additional curriculum material regarding pancreatic disorders will also be covered in the mock examination chapter.
The neutral relativistic scalar field
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

This chapter introduces the relativistic quantum field theory (QFT) of the neutral scalar boson field. It is a local, relativistic invariant, theory for a real field extension of the non-relativistic field theory of the Bose gas. Locality is a property that plays a central role in most of this work. The QFT is discussed both from the viewpoint of real-time evolution and statistical physics. The holomorphic formalism leads to representations of the S-matrix in terms of field integrals. The S-matrix elements are related to the continuation to real time of various kinds of Euclidean correlation functions. It is argued that the massive φ4 QFT has the quantum Bose gas with a pair potential, in the grand canonical formulation, as a non-relativistic limit.
Introduction to renormalization theory and renormalization group (RG)
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

A straightforward construction of a local, relativistic quantum field theory (QFT) leads to ultraviolet (UV) divergences and a QFT has to be regularized by modifying its short-distance or large energy momentum structure (momentum regularization is often used in this work). Since such a modification is somewhat arbitrary, it is necessary to verify that the resulting large-scale predictions are, at least to a large extent, short-distance insensitive. Such a verification relies on the renormalization theory and the corresponding renormalization group (RG). In this chapter, the essential steps of a proof of the perturbative renormalizability of the scalar φ4 QFT in dimension 4 are described. All the basic difficulties of renormalization theory, based on power counting, are already present in this simple example. The elegant presentation of Callan is followed, which makes it possible to prove renormalizability and RG equations (in Callan–Symanzik's (CS) form) simultaneously. The background of the discussion is effective QFT and emergent renormalizable theory. The concept of fine tuning and the issue of triviality are emphasized.
Relativistic fermions: Introduction
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

Some basic concepts needed for the discussion of Fermi fields have been introduced earlier, as in quantum mechanics (QM) with Grassmann variables, a representation by field integrals of the statistical operator e<συπ>−βH</συπ> for the non-relativistic Fermi gas in the formalism of second quantization, and an expression for the evolution operator. Here, it is first recalled how relativistic fermions transform under the spin group. The free action for Dirac fermions is analysed, the relation between fields and particles explained, an expression for the scattering matrix obtained, and the non-relativistic limit of a model of self-coupled massive Dirac fermions derived. A formalism of Euclidean relativistic fermions is then introduced. In the Euclidean formalism: fermions transform under the fundamental representation of the spin group Spin(d) associated with the SO(d) rotation group (spin 1/2 fermions for d = 4). As for the scalar field theory, the Gaussian integral, which corresponds to a free field theory is calculated. Then the generating functional of correlation functions is obtained by adding a source term to the action. The field integral corresponding to a general action with an interaction expandable in powers of the field, can be expressed in terms of a series of Gaussian integrals, which can be calculated, for example, with the help of Wick's theorem. The connection between spin and statistics is verified by a simple perturbative calculation. The appendix describes a few additional properties of the spin group, the algebra of γ matrices, and the corresponding spinors for Euclidean fermions.
The renormalization group (RG) approach: The critical theory near four dimensions
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

In Chapter 14, the singular behavior of ferromagnetic systems with O(N) symmetry and short-range interactions, near a second order phase transition has been determined in the mean-field approximation, which is also a quasi-Gaussian approximation. The mean-field approximation predicts a set of universal properties, properties independent of the detailed structure of the microscopic Hamiltonian, the dimension of space, and, to a large extent, of the symmetry of systems. However, the leading corrections to the mean-field approximation, in dimensions smaller than or equal to four, diverge at the critical temperature, and the universal predictions of the mean-field approximation cannot be correct. Such a problem originates from the non-decoupling of scales and leads to the question of possible universality. In Chapter 9, the question has been answered in four dimensions using renormalization theory, and related renormalization group (RG) equations. Moreover, below four dimensions, in an expansion around the mean-field, the most singular terms near criticality can be also formally recovered from a continuum, low-mass φ4 field theory. More generally, following Wilson, to understand universality beyond the mean-field approximation, it is necessary to build a general renormalization group in the form of flow equations for effective Hamiltonians and to find fixed points of the flow equations. Near four dimensions, the flow equations can be approximated by the renormalization group of quantum field theory (QFT), and the fixed points and critical behaviours derived within the framework of the Wilson-Fisher ϵ expansion.
O(N)-symmetric vector models for N large
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

So far, universal properties of O(N) symmetric critical systems have been derived within the framework of the formal ϵ = 4−d expansion. Therefore, it is reassuring to verify that the results obtained in this way remain valid, at least in some limiting case, even when ϵ is not infinitesimal. Here it is shown in the example of the O(N) symmetric (ϕ2)2 field theory, the same universal properties can also be derived at fixed dimension in the large N limit and, more generally, order by order in an 1/N expansion. Moreover, large N techniques are also useful, because they provide an insight into other non-perturbative questions, including issues relevant to four-dimensional physics like renormalons and triviality. Using a large N expansion, we exhibit a remarkable relation between the (ϕ2)2 field theory and the non-linear σ-model, valid to all orders.
Abelian gauge theories: The framework of quantum electrodynamics (QED)
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

This chapter is devoted Abelian gauge theory, whose physical realization is quantum electrodynamics (QED). Since many textbooks deal extensively with QED, the chapter focusses mainly on the more formal properties of Abelian gauge theories. First, the free massive vector field is considered, because its quantization does not immediately follow from the quantization of the scalar field, and thus requires a specific analysis. If the vector field is coupled to a conserved current, it is possible to construct a field theory with fermion matter renormalizable in four dimensions. In this case, a massless vector limit can be defined, and the corresponding field theory is gauge invariant. To directly quantize a gauge theory starting directly from first principles, it is necessary to introduce gauge fixing. The formal equivalence between different gauges is established. The Abelian gauge symmetry, broken by gauge-fixing terms, leads to a set of Ward–Takahashi (WT) identities which are used to prove the renormalizability of the quantum field theory (QFT). Renormalization group (RG) equations follow, and the RG β-function is calculated at leading order. As an introduction to the Standard Model of particle physics, the Abelian Landau–Ginzburg–Higgs model is described, where the gauge field is coupled to a complex scalar field with a non-zero expectation value, leading to a model that classically also describes a superconductor in a magnetic field.
Large-momentum behaviour in quantum field theory (QFT)
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

Renormalization group (RG) equations are used to characterize the large momentum behaviour of renormalized quantum field theories (QFT), assuming implicitly that such a universal large momentum physics can be defined, something which, beyond perturbation theory is not obvious. Since the initial effective QFT is valid only up to an energy-momentum scale much smaller than some cut-off, large momentum means much larger than the renormalization scale, but still much smaller than the cut-off scale. The existence of this large momentum physics implies the existence of a crossover scale between low and large momentum physics. One theoretic reason for discussing the large momentum behaviour is the apparent connection between the existence of consistent interacting renormalized QFTs and the presence of ultraviolet (UV) fixed points. The absence of identified UV fixed points in infrared-free QFTs, like the φ4 field theory or quantum electrodynamics (QED), leads to the triviality issue. The physics reason is that in collisions it is observed that quarks, fundamental particles of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, behave like free particles at the shortest distances presently accessible (the property of asymptotic freedom). This property can be explained by RG arguments if the free theory is an attractive UV fixed point. Therefore, the identification of QFTs where the free theory is an UV fixed point is important, and this has led to examine the large momentum behaviour of all QFTs renormalizable in four dimensions. It is shown that only theories having a non-Abelian gauge symmetry can be asymptotically free. As an application, the total cross section of electron–positron annihilation into hadrons at large momentum is calculated.
A few solvable two-dimensional quantum field theories (QFT)
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

The chapter is devoted to several two-dimensional quantum field theories (QFT), whose properties can be determined by non-perturbative methods. The Schwinger model, a model of two-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED) with massless fermions, illustrates the properties of confinement, spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, asymptotic freedom and anomalies, properties one also expects in particle physics from quantum chromodynamics. The equivalence between the massive Thirring model, a fermion model with current–current interaction, and the sine-Gordon model is derived, using the bozonisation technique. The bosonization technique, based on an identity for Cauchy determinants, establishes relations, specific to two dimensions, between fermion and boson local field theories. Several generalized Thirring model are also discussed. In the discussion of the O(N) non-linear σ-model, it has been noticed that the Abelian case N = 2 is special, because the renormalization group (RG) β-function vanishes in two dimensions. The corresponding O(2) invariant spin model is especially interesting: it provides an example of the celebrated Kosterlitz–Thouless (KT) phase transition and will be studied elsewhere. This chapter also provides the necessary technical background for such an investigation.
Metastable vacua in quantum field theory (QFT)
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

The methods to evaluate barrier penetration effects, in the semi-classical limit are generalized to quantum field theory (QFT). Since barrier penetration is associated with classical motion in imaginary time, the QFT is considered in its Euclidean formulation. In the representation of QFT in terms of field integrals, in the semi-classical limit, barrier penetration is related to finite action solutions (instantons) of the classical field equations. The evaluation of instanton contributions at leading order is explained, the main new problem arising from ultraviolet divergences. The lifetime of metastable states is related to the imaginary part of the ‘ground state’ energy. However, for later purpose, it is useful to calculate the imaginary part not only of the vacuum amplitude, but also of correlation functions. In the case of the vacuum amplitude, the instanton contribution is proportional to the space–time volume. Therefore, dividing by the volume, one obtains the probability per unit time and unit volume of a metastable pseudo-vacuum to decay. A scalar field theory with a φ4 interaction, generalization of the quartic anharmonic oscillator is discussed in two and three dimensions, dimensions in which the theory is super-renormalizable, then more general scalar field theories are considered.
The Wondrous Town Hall of Amsterdam
Authors: Bussels Stijn
Published: June 2021

Laudatory poems describe how the Amsterdam Town Hall evokes a wondrous combination of dismay and delight in everyone who visits the building. This chapter sees these laudatory poems as interesting loci to observe how criticism in the Dutch Golden Age relied on the rich concept of wonder to explore the overwhelming impact of art and architecture, as well as to laud the patrons, founders, and owners of art and architecture. Moreover, this chapter clarifies how thinking about the impact of art and architecture bloomed in the Netherlands thanks to the appropriation of ancient rhetorical and poetical thought, such as (pseudo-)Longinus’ treatise Peri hypsous.
Présence d’espritin Action in Seventeenth-Century France
Authors: Gilby Emma
Published: June 2021

This chapter contributes to the story of how and where criticism functions in early modern France by analysing descriptions of présence d’esprit or ‘presence of mind’, which emerge in the mid-1650s as a way of signalling quick thinking. Présence d’esprit is clearly associated with the salons, where it is required for participation in literary and linguistic games, and emerges simultaneously at a crucial juncture in Blaise Pascal’s Lettres provinciales (1656–7), where it is used to shine a satirical light on the casuistry of the Jesuits. In both contexts, the attribution of présence d’esprit can be both negatively and positively accented. It crystallizes anxiety about the privileging of spontaneity and instinct over careful curation and the work of scholarship. These ambivalent views, mirroring changing attitudes to ‘la critique’, also demonstrate the complex interweave of poetics, rhetoric, and theology in the early modern period, and the places they share.