bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Son of the Manse with a Missionary Zeal
Authors: Webber David M.
Published: May 2018

This introductory chapter opens by exploring Gordon Brown’s upbringing as ‘a son of the Manse’ and his burning desire for social justice. This chapter reveals a clear lineage between the young socialist tramping the streets of Edinburgh and the man who would end up becoming Britain’s most powerful Chancellor of the Exchequer. Driven by his Christian faith, the influence of his parents, and a deep compassion for the most vulnerable in society, Brown took his mission to change the world very seriously indeed. As this book will go on to show, Brown’s steadfastness to end global poverty would see the former Chancellor and Prime Minster design a model of political economy that not only oriented Britain towards the ‘opportunities’ presented by globalisation, but one that could also be exported to meet the challenges faced by some of the poorest countries in the world.
Capitalising upon Globalisation
Authors: Webber David M.
Published: May 2018

Having mapped out in the previous chapter, New Labour’s often contradictory and even ‘politically-convenient’ understanding of globalisation, chapter 3 offers analysis of three key areas of domestic policy that Gordon Brown would later transpose to the realm of international development: (i) macroeconomic policy, (ii) business, and (iii) welfare. Since, according to Brown at least, globalisation had resulted in a blurring of the previously distinct spheres of domestic and foreign policy, it made sense for those strategies and policy decisions designed for consumption at home to be transposed abroad. The focus of this chapter is the design of these three areas of domestic policy; the unmistakeable imprint of Brown in these areas and their place in building of New Labour’s political economy. Strikingly, Brown’s hand in these policies and the themes that underpinned them would again reappear in the international development policies explored in much greater detail later in the book.
Aristotle
Authors: Backman Jussi
Published: May 2018

Homo Sacer, Giorgio Agamben’s transformative twenty-year project in political ontology, is framed at its very outset in terms of Aristotelian philosophy – read, as we will see, from a strongly medieval, Heideggerian and Arendtian perspective. As a locus classicus of the juxtaposition of the two Greek terms for life, zoe (‘the simple fact of living common to all living beings’) and bios (‘the form or way of living proper to an individual or a group’), Agamben (HS 1–2) cites a passage in Aristotle’s Politics that notes that there is a certain ‘natural delight (euemeria) and sweetness’ in the ‘mere fact of being alive itself’ (to zen auto monon), which makes human beings hold on to it for its own sake, provided that the mode of life (bios) that this being-alive amounts to is not fraught with excessive difficulty.
Paul the Apostle
Authors: Jennings Ted
Published: May 2018

By far the majority of Agamben’s books (about 23) make reference to Paul’s letters, often at key points in discussions of concepts that he finds important for his own work as a thinker of the political. This reliance upon Paul in the context of political philosophy goes back to Spinoza (and we should recall that Agamben has held the Baruch Spinoza chair at the European Graduate School). In his Theological-Political Treatise of 1670 Spinoza identified Paul as the most philosophical of the biblical writers and made use of Paul’s thought to advance a view of the constitution of a liberal or secular republic. Agamben also makes significant use of Paul, but this time as the major thinker of a messianic politics, a thinking with which Agamben identifies his own work.
While in his reading of Paul Agamben occasionally refers to modern theologians such as Barth and Moltmann, as well as modern biblical scholars, the most important intellectual context within which he reads Paul is provided, on the one hand, by Carl Schmitt with his reflections on political theology and, on the other, by Walter Benjamin, especially
the latter’s theses ‘On the Concept of History’.
Immanuel Kant
Authors: Brophy Susan
Published: May 2018

Agamben’s complicated engagement with Immanuel Kant celebrates the brilliance of the German idealist’s thought by disclosing its condemnatory weight in Western philosophy. Kant was writing in the midst of burgeoning industrial capitalism, when each new scientific discovery seemed to push back the fog of religion in favour of science and reason; meanwhile Agamben’s work develops in concert with the crises of advanced capitalism and borrows significantly from those philosophers who endured the most demoralising upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century. Whatever lanugo Kant was eager for us to shed in the name of individual freedom,1 Agamben sees in this crusade for civic maturity a surprising prescience: ‘[I]t is truly astounding how Kant, almost two centuries ago and under the heading of a sublime “moral feeling,” was able to describe the very condition that was to become familiar to the mass societies and great totalitarian states of our time’ (HS 52). To a remarkable extent, Agamben finds that Kant’s transcendental idealist frame of thought lays the philosophical foundation for the state of exception.
Plato
Authors: Ojakangas Mika
Published: May 2018

There are not many books by Agamben in which Plato does not figure. In The Man Without Content (MC 52–64), Agamben discusses the Platonic discrepancy between politics and poetry; in Stanzas, he examines Plato’s conceptions of love (S 115–21) and phantasm (S 73–5); in Infancy and History (IH 73), Agamben takes up Plato’s concept of time (aion and chronos), while in The End of the Poem (EP 17) he examines Plato’s criticism of tragedy. In Language and Death (LD 91–2), he gives an account of Socrates’ ‘demon’ and Plato’s Idea (eidos) – though he investigates the latter more thoroughly in Potentialities (PO 27–38), in which he also briefly touches upon Plato’s doctrine of matter (khôra) (PO 218). In Idea of Prose (IP 120–3) and The ComingCommunity (CC 76–7), it is the Platonic Idea again that is under scrutiny, albeit more implicitly than in Potentialities. In Homo Sacer (HS 33–5), Agamben offers an interpretation of Plato’s treatment of Pindar’s nomos basileus fragment and the sophistic opposition between nomos and physis, whereas in The Sacrament of Language (SL 29) he touches on Plato’s critique of oath. In The Signature of All Things (ST 22–6), Agamben gives an account of Plato’s ‘paradigmatic’ method, while in Stasis (STA 5–12) we find an analysis of Plato’s conception of civil war (stasis).
Jacques Lacan
Authors: Restuccia Frances L.
Published: May 2018

Agamben only sporadically alludes to psychoanalysis and invokes psychoanalytic concepts. He does so most prominently in Stanzas, where he dedicates Part III to ‘geniisque Henry Corbin et Jacques Lacan‘ (S 61); refers to ‘the Lacanian thesis according to which […] the phantasm makes the pleasure suited to the desire’, in order to elaborate a point in Plato about desire and pleasure relying on images in the soul (S 74); and takes up melancholia and fetishism – both of which, it is important to note, circumvent lack. But Agamben is by no means ‘psychoanalytic’. He presents and employs melancholia and fetishism as paradigms for accessing the inaccessible (perhaps we can say that he plays with them). Melancholia, in Agamben, becomes an ‘imaginative capacity to make an unobtainable object appear as if lost’ so that it ‘may be appropriated insofar as it is lost’ (S 20), a strategy for saving the unsavable that evolves into his conception of the messianic. And, although Agamben is preoccupied with ‘a zone of non-consciousness’, he underscores that it is ‘not the fruit of a removal, like the unconscious of psychoanalysis’ (UB 64)
Karl Marx
Authors: Whyte Jessica
Published: May 2018

In the concluding volume of his Homo Sacer project, The Use of Bodies, Giorgio Agamben briefly turns to Marx to distinguish his own account of what he terms ‘inoperativity’ from a Marxist account of production. Accepting Marx’s account of the decisive relationship between production, social relationships and culture, he nonetheless suggests that Marx neglected the forms of inoperativity that exist within every mode of production, opening it to a new use. ‘One-sidedly focused on the analysis of forms of production, Marx neglected the analysis of the forms of inoperativity’, he writes, ‘and this lack is certainly at the bottom of some of the aporias of his thought, in particularly as concerns the definition of human activity in the classless society’ (UB 94). Agamben’s reference to Marx is typically brief and enigmatic, and he neither expands on the claim that Marx, the thinker of the classless society, neglected inoperativity, nor identifies the aporias to which he refers. Nonetheless, in these brief and enigmatic remarks we find the crystallisation of a position developed in works stretching back to Agamben’s first book, The Man Without Content. Marx remains a subterranean influence on Agamben’s thought, and the diverse accounts of his work throughout Agamben’s oeuvre oscillate between critiques of his supposed productivism and praise for his thematisation of a non-substantive, self-negating subject.1 It is in the course of this oscillation that Agamben has clarified his own accounts of both political subjectivity and inoperativity.
Simone Weil
Authors: Marovich Beatrice
Published: May 2018

Few of Giorgio Agamben’s works are as mysterious as his unpublished dissertation, reportedly on the political thought of the French philosopher Simone Weil. If Weil was an early subject of Agamben’s intellectual curiosity, it would appear – judging from his published works – that her influence upon him has been neither central nor lasting.1 Leland de la Durantaye argues that Weil’s work has left a mark on Agamben’s philosophy of potentiality, largely in his discussion of the concept of decreation; but de la Durantaye does not make much of Weil’s influence here, determining that her theory of decreation is ‘essentially dialectical’ and still too bound up with creation theology. 2 Alessia Ricciardi, however, argues that de la Durantaye’s dismissal of Weil’s influence is hasty.3 Ricciardi analyses deeper resonances between Weil’s and Agamben’s philosophies, ultimately claiming that Agamben ‘seems to extend many of the implications and claims of Weil’s idea of force’,4 arguably spreading Weil’s influence into Agamben’s reflections on sovereign power and bare life.
Introduction: Plato’s Nightmare
Authors: Marmysz John
Published: May 2018

This introductory chapter examines the “problem” of nihilism, beginning with its philosophical origins in the ideas of Plato, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger. It is argued that film is an inherently nihilistic medium involving the evocation of illusory worlds cut loose from objective reality. This nihilism of film is distinguished from nihilism in film; the nihilistic content also present in some (but not all) movies. Criticisms of media nihilism by authors such as Thomas Hibbs and Darren Ambrose are examined. It is then argued, contrary to such critics, that cinematic nihilism is not necessarily degrading or destructive. Because the nihilism of film encourages audiences to linger in the presence of nihilism in film, cinematic nihilism potentially trains audiences to learn the positive lessons of nihilism while remaining safely detached from the sorts of dangers depicted on screen.
Introduction: Encounters
Authors: Marmysz John
Published: May 2018

The initial encounter with nihilism is commonly experienced as dreadful and debasing. It announces itself as a threat to our highest ideals, evaporating our confidence in the valued and cherished ‘truths’ upon which we previously grounded our sense of self, world and purpose. With this crisis we find ourselves suddenly at sea, adrift in the blackness of an unfamiliar, threatening and mysterious domain where nothing is certain, nothing possesses meaning, and the world seems unreal. The guideposts that we previously relied upon and had faith in can no longer be trusted, and we are lost....
Rooting for the Fascists in Avatar
Authors: Marmysz John
Published: May 2018

This chapter explores James Cameron’s filmAvatar, suggesting that in the utopian culture of the film’s heroes, the Na'vi, Cameron has created a world in which the cultural overcoming of nihilism is made possible by a form of fascism in which individuals are subsumed to the collective. The chapter discusses the philosophy of fascism, as well as drawing on nine principles of Nazi psychology, outlined by Jay Y. Gonen in his book The Roots of Nazi Psychology, in order to demonstrate the robust similarity between the Na’vi culture depicted in the film and the fascist/Nazi worldview. It is argued that by stripping fascism of its familiar face, Cameron has made this way of thinking appealing to a new generation of viewers seeking a way out of the nihilistic predicament of contemporary times. The popularity of the film, furthermore, indicates American enthusiasm for, and susceptibility to, fascist ways of thought.
Yukio Mishima and the Return to the Body
Authors: Marmysz John
Published: May 2018

In this chapter, the life, work and philosophy of the Japanese author Yukio Mishima are explored. It is argued that the most interesting and profound properties of Mishima’s thought, his writings, and of the films associated with his thought and writings, are those that leave us with a sense of the open-ended struggle involved in his effort to define himself. The chapter examines some of Mishima’s most important literary works – including Confessions of a Mask, Temple of the Golden Pavilion, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, Patriotism, and The Sea of Fertility – as well as cinematic interpretations of these works by directors such as Paul Schrader, Lewis John Carlino, and Yukio Mishima himself. It is concluded that for Mishima, the defeat of nihilism was ultimately realized in his suicide by ritual seppuku.
Health
Authors: Kristiansen Maria , Sheikh Aziz
Published: May 2018

Human happiness and well-being are, to a large extent, dependent upon the health of the individual. Similarly, healthy populations are an important prerequisite for societal progress and prosperity (Marmot et al., 2010; World Health Organization, 2015). In order to maximise individual and societal well-being, it is important that the health of all members and sections – that is, irrespective of age, sex/gender, disability, ethnicity, faith or any other protected characteristic – is maximised. A growing body of evidence, however, points to substantial, persistent differences in health outcomes between different ethnic and religious groups. In this chapter, we discuss the health profile of Muslims living in Scotland, outline some of the factors shaping health among this diverse group and consider ways of addressing the healthcare needs of Muslims within the context of Scottish healthcare services.
Representation
Authors: Alibhai Fayaz S.
Published: May 2018

The year 2013 saw the thirtieth Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF), where it was expected that 200,000 people would be in attendance over the course of 17 days for some 700 events involving ‘[m]ore than 800 authors from around the world’ (BBC, 2013). Despite its size, the festival, set in Charlotte Square Gardens, manages to feel like a tented village community. Children laugh and loll about on a low wooden dais, eating ice cream from the stall inside the gardens, their parents sitting beside them. This study draws from ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2013 and focuses on Edinburgh, where comparatively little research on Muslims has so far been undertaken. In doing so, it explore the representation of Islam within the confines of one of Britain’s most widely acclaimed literary festivals, the EIBF. It begins by examining the festival as a public square. It then discusses the festival’s production of an ‘Islamicate’ space. Finally, it analyses how the festival may be conceived as a representation of Islamicate space.
Staging Devils and Witches: Had Shakespeare Read Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft?
Authors: Kapitaniak Pierre
Published: May 2018

Pierre Kapitaniak follows up on Laroque’s study by turning to witchcraft and demonology. Doing so, he examines the tenuous line distinguishing superstition from science, and analyses the staging of devils and witches in Shakespeare’s drama. Despite legends about King James I ordering it to be burnt, Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft, was an ongoing success from the moment it was published, more often meeting with approval than with condemnation. Among those who approved of Scot’s ideas and who plundered them eagerly, were several generations of London playwrights. In The Discoverie of Witchcraft they found the buds of inspiration for all their supernatural figures that became so successful on Elizabethan and Jacobean stages, and one can only wonder whether the slow evolution from the usual supernatural paraphernalia (ghosts, demons, witches and wizards) towards more and more unbelievable figures, is not due to Scot’s widespread influence. Kapitaniak thus tries to reassess whether undisputable traces of Scot’s treatise can be found and ascertained in Shakespeare’s plays, and if his findings yield no easy conclusion, they offer fascinating hypotheses.
‘More, I prithee, more’: Melancholy, Musical Appetite and Medical Discourse in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
Authors: Iselin Pierre
Published: May 2018

Pierre Iselin broaches the subject of early modern music and aims at contextualising Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s most musical comedies, within the polyphony of discourses—medical, political, poetic, religious and otherwise—on appetite, music and melancholy, which circulated in early modern England. Iselin examines how these discourses interact with what the play says on music in the many commentaries contained in the dramatic text, and what music itself says in terms of the play’s poetics. Its abundant music is considered not only as ‘incidental,’ but as a sort of meta-commentary on the drama and the limits of comedy. Pinned against contemporary contexts, Twelfth Night is therefore regarded as experimenting with an aural perspective and as a play in which the genre and mode of the song, the identity and status of the addressee, and the more or less ironical distance that separates them, constantly interfere. Eventually, the author sees in this dark comedy framed by an initial and a final musical event a dramatic piece punctuated, orchestrated and eroticized by music, whose complex effects work both on the onstage and the offstage audiences. This reflection on listening and reception seems to herald an acoustic aesthetics close to that of The Tempest.
An Attempt at a Speculative Ontology or an Alternative to Possible-God Theologies
Authors: Tritten Tyler
Published: May 2018

After announcing the unabashedly speculative and ontological aim of this book, this chapter critiques the possible-God theology and “weak theology” of Richard Kearny and John Caputo respectively. Instead, the prospect of an eternally actual, but contingent, God is posed.
Boutroux’s Alternative: An Ontology of the Fact
Authors: Tritten Tyler
Published: May 2018

Boutroux, approximately 150 years prior to Meillassoux, already argued for the contingency of laws of nature, as well as truths of logic and mathematics. Boutroux, however, does not espouse factiality, namely, the necessity of contingent beings, but he rather offers a veritable ontology of the fact. Boutroux does not abandon necessity, but he does show how all necessity is itself consequent, that is, a matter of fact. He does this by arguing for the laws of nature as nothing but the habit of nature, which springs not from chance but from spontaneity. Being bottoms out in pontaneity rather than in simple randomness.
Just Visiting? The Weakening of Social Protection in a Mobile World
Authors: Banting Keith , Koning Edward
Published: May 2018

Recent scholarship has become increasingly attentive to the way different welfare states include or exclude newcomers. Much of this literature has focused on the access to benefits granted to immigrants with a permanent status. While this emphasis is understandable, it ignores the growing ranks of individuals who do not settle permanently, either because they are only given temporary status or because they choose to move on. This paper helps to fill this gap by comparing four countries that are very different in the way they treat temporary migrants: Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. We find that migrants on a temporary permit are among the most weakly protected in each of these countries, but that the exclusion is more severe in countries where politicians face considerable political pressure to appear tough on immigration and where there are few institutional protections to protect temporary residents from such pressures. These findings highlight both the fragility of social protection in a world of mobility and the importance of firmly entrenched protections of equal treatment.
The Formation of a Budding Man Alone: The God Boy (Murray Reece, 1976)
Authors: Fox Alistair
Published: May 2018

This chapter analyses the earliest of the New Zealand coming-of-age feature films, an adaptation of Ian Cross’s novel The God Boy, to demonstrate how it addresses the destructive impact on a child of the puritanical value-system that had dominated Pākehā (white) society through much of the twentieth century, being particularly strong during the interwar years, and the decade immediately following World War II. The discussion explores how dysfunction within the family and repressive religious beliefs eventuate in pressures that cause Jimmy, the protagonist, to act out transgressively, and then to turn inwards to seek refuge in the form of self-containment that makes him a prototype of the Man Alone figure that is ubiquitous in New Zealand fiction.
An Immigrant Filmmaker Substitutes an Alternative Vision of Adolescence: The Scarecrow (Sam Pillsbury, 1982)
Authors: Fox Alistair
Published: May 2018

By comparing Sam Pillsbury’s cinematic adaptation of Ronald Hugh Morrieson’s The Scarecrow (1963) with the original, this chapter shows how the filmmaker, who was raised in the USA and immigrated to New Zealand in his teens, empties the source novel of the moral ambiguities and transgressive elements that had made the original a genuinely New Zealand work, in so far as it reflected puritan guilt over transgressive impulses in the face of repression, and thus turned the story into a genre film that that is much more anodyne in its vision.
A Māori Girl Watches, Listens, and Learns – Coming of Age from an Indigenous Viewpoint: Mauri (Merata Mita, 1988)
Authors: Fox Alistair
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines Merata Mita’s Mauri, the first fiction feature film in the world to be solely written and directed by an indigenous woman, as an example of “Fourth Cinema” – that is, a form of filmmaking that aims to create, produce, and transmit the stories of indigenous people, and in their own image – showing how Mita presents the coming-of-age story of a Māori girl who grows into an understanding of the spiritual dimension of the relationship of her people to the natural world, and to the ancestors who have preceded them. The discussion demonstrates how the film adopts storytelling procedures that reflect a distinctively Māori view of time and are designed to signify the presence of the mauri (or life force) in the Māori world.
Conclusion
Authors: Fox Alistair
Published: May 2018

The conclusion reaffirms the essential role played by cinema generally, and the coming-of-age genre in particular, in the process of national identity formation, because of its effectiveness in facilitating self-recognition and self-experience through a process of triangulation made possible, for the most part, by a dialogue with some of the nation’s most iconic works of literature. This section concludes by point out the danger posed, however, by an observable trend toward generic standardization in New Zealand films motivated by a desire to appeal to an international audience out of consideration for the financial returns expected by funding bodies under current regimes.
Introduction
Authors: Petek Joseph
Published: May 2018

This introductory chapter situates Whitehead’s book Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect within his wider philosophical work and examines some of its key themes. It examines the odd omission of the concept of ‘prehension’, so central to his theory of perception elsewhere (both before and after the publication of Symbolism), explores the problem of error in symbolism and Whitehead’s approach to it, notes possible connections of the book to present-day discussions of ecology, and shows how symbolism underwrites a dialectical relationship between humans and culture. It also introduces and summarizes each of the following chapters.
A Dog’s Life: Thought, Symbols and Concepts
Authors: Bell Jeffrey
Published: May 2018

Recent work in the philosophy of language has emphasized the importance of ‘stimulus-independent’ representational abilities in understanding both the nature of concepts and the extent to which concepts play a role in the thoughts of non-humans. This recent work dovetails in significant and interesting ways with Terrence Deacon’s work on symbols and with more recent work in continental philosophy on symbolism, language, actor-network theory, and analytic work in the philosophy of skill. It is in light of this work that this chapter revisit Whitehead’s book Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect. In particular, it argues that the claim of many commentators, both early and late, that Whitehead is a panpsychist is a mistake, and relies upon an understanding of experience and subjectivity that Whitehead seeks to account for rather than presuppose. In his account of experience and subjectivity, it is rather a non-subjective, pre-individual process of individuation that allows for the possibility of an identifiable subjective experience, and hence for the claims of panpsychism. Whitehead’s understanding and account of these processes is able to account for an indeterminate variety of types and degrees of experience, and in a way that avoids both a reductive materialism and a reductive panpsychism.
Introduction: The Love of Lacan (Derrida, Žižek)
Authors: Morgan Wortham Simon
Published: May 2018

This introduction sets the scene by recognising that more recent reinvestments in the ‘political’ facility and prospects of psychoanalysis, frequently routed through debates around Lacanianism, display a tendency to dismiss ‘poststructuralism’ (and, indeed, any vestige of a ‘poststructuralist’ Lacan), as they attempt sharp distinctions between, say, a materialism supposedly capable of addressing ‘political’ issues today versus unwanted traces of a longstanding idealism with which ‘deconstruction’ can now be historically aligned. Reviewing some of Derrida’s writing on Lacan, the introduction moves on to assess the dismissal of ‘poststructuralism’ that one finds, for example, in Žižek’s recently published doctoral thesis, originally from 1982. Since the ‘political’ implications of this dismissal are far from simply ‘progressive’, the introduction asks questions about the ‘politics’ of the performative in both Derrida’s and Žižek’s texts on Lacan.
What is a Complex? Freudian Resistances
Authors: Morgan Wortham Simon
Published: May 2018

This chapter evaluates the question of the ‘complex’ in a range of scientific, political and psychoanalytic contexts, asking not only where lines of connection and demarcation occur among specific distributions of meaning, value, theory and practice; but also probing the psychoanalytic corpus, notably Freud’s writings on the notion of a ‘complex’, in order to reframe various implications of the idea that this term tends to resist its own utilisation as both an object and form of analysis. This section establishes connections between three sets of theoretical questions: the common practice of describing modernity and its wake in terms of a drive towards increasing complexity; the meaning and cultural legacy of phrases such as ‘military-industrial complex’ and sundry derivations in the political sphere; and the intricacies and ambiguities subtending the term ‘complex’ within psychoanalytic theory. As a concept that Freud both utilised and repudiated, the provocative power of the term ‘complex’ is linked to the way it thwarts various attempts at systemization (providing nonetheless an apparatus of sorts through which contemporary science, Slavoj Žižek, Noam Chomsky, Freud, Eisenhower, and post-war politics can be articulated to one another).
Fleeced: Derrida and ‘the Deciding Discourse of Castration’
Authors: Morgan Wortham Simon
Published: May 2018

This chapter explores the relationship of deconstruction to psychoanalysis, and reads the Genet column of Glas in terms of the deconstructibility of ‘the deciding discourse of castration’, as Derrida puts it. The fleece that Genet imagines Harcamone wearing in The Miracle of the Rose takes centre stage, as much as Genet’s flowers. The fleece is both garb and pelt, at once a talismanic scalp, a part that has been brutally cut away, and a covering used to shield or shelter what is vulnerable or exposed. It is both something stolen, and a protective barrier against loss. To get ‘fleeced’ already carries a double and ambiguous set of possible meanings, then, and Derrida puts it to work in the interests of a double-sexed deconstruction of castratability. If the erection cannot ‘fall’ without re-elevating the entire edifice or column of that phallogocentrism of which castration would paradoxically form an uncastratable part, Derrida’s insertion of a deconstructive ‘hole in erection’ exposes to a powerfully deciphering reading this tale of castration’s uncastratability. The chapter reads into the Hegel column of Glas precisely this deconstructibility of a ‘deciding discourse of castration’, notably in terms of the Hegelian interpretation of Antigone’s politics.
‘Qualifications, knowledge and courage’: Dutch Military Engineers, c.1550–c.1660
Authors: Swart Erik
Published: May 2018

Between 1572 and 1648 the cutting edge of military engineering science moved from Italy and France to the Netherlands where the 80 year struggle of the United Netherlands against the power of Imperial Spain proved a great school of military engineering. It also saw the start of a tendency towards professional specialisation that had already begun in Italy after 1550. Systematic mathematical training distinguished the engineers from mere artisans. Publication of text books spread knowledge of their methods but relatively modest pay encouraged emigration by engineer products of a culture oriented towards lucrative foreign markets.
Cartography and Conflict: The Board of Ordnance and the Construction of the Military Landscape of Scotland, 1689–1815
Authors: Anderson Carolyn J.
Published: May 2018

Scotland generated four Jacobite risings from 1689 to 1745, plus Franco-Jacobite invasion threats in 1708 and 1744. British military mapping was the responsibility of the London-based Board of Ordnance. After the 1707 Act of Union the Scottish Ordnance Office came under London control and received additional staff. Road making was initiated, associated with Generals George Wade and William Roy. Originally fortress-oriented, the Drawing Room in the Tower of London shifted to producing topographical surveys, oriented after 1746 towards transportation, development and integration.
Military Engineers and the Rise of Imperial Russia
Authors: Davies Brian
Published: May 2018

Before 1690 the Muscovite state was handicapped by its lack of knowledge of western engineering techniques and especially of mathematics and geometry. From the time of Peter the Great it moved rapidly to close the gap with the appointment of experienced foreign engineers, translation work, and the establishment of military academies. Originally lagging behind their Polish-Lithuanian enemies in gunnery and cartography, the Russians had by the eighteenth century introduced a new technical vocabulary into Russian and established good schools of navigation, gunnery, cartography and artillery.
The Civilian Contribution of the Spanish Royal Engineers, 1500–1800
Authors: Buisseret David
Published: May 2018

Rather neglected until recently, Spanish military engineers now have been studied in detail revealing that the Habsburg and Bourbon kings, from small beginnings in the sixteenth century, sustained an exceptionally large number of military engineers in the 17th and 18th centuries – over 600 in Europe and over 100 in the New World. Trained in mathematics, surveying, architecture and cartography they built a limited number of great forts, usually to defend strategic ports like Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Portobelo, and Cartagena de Indias. However, fortification was hardly necessary in the major capitals far from coastlines so their greatest, most enduring, achievements lay in cartography, road and water engineering, town planning and architecture.
Short-Term Effects of Biochar Amendment on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Rainfed Agricultural Soils of the Semi–Arid Loess Plateau Region
Authors: Yeboah Stephen , Lamptey Shirley , Cai Liqun , Song Min
Published: May 2018

In rainfed agricultural ecosystems in northwest China, improving soil fertility and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are key factors for developing sustainable agriculture. This study determined the short-term effects of different biochar amendment rates on diurnal and seasonal variations of GHG emissions in the Loess Plateau to produce a background dataset that may be used to inform nutrient management guidelines for semiarid environments. Biochar produced by pyrolysis at 300–500 °C from maize straw was applied at rates of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 t ha−1 (T0, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5), respectively. The results indicated that in the first year after the application, T3, T4, and T5 treatments increased soil organic carbon (0–10 cm) by 54.7%, 56.3%, and 56.9% compared to the other treatments. In the first, year, biochar amendment decreased diurnal CH4 and N2O flux by an average of 17–119% compared to T0, among which T3 had the lowest mean value. T3 and T4 also had similar mean CO2 flux, which was 33% lower than T0. Application of 30 t ha−1 biochar produced the lowest cumulative CO2 and N2O emissions of 2300 and 4.07 kg h−1, respectively. Biochar amendment showed no effect on grain yiel but reduced the global warming potential and GHG emission intensity by an average of 23% and 25%, respectively. The biochar application rate of 30 t ha−1 under the conditions of this study may be an appropriate rate for improving soil C sequestration and mitigation of GHG emissions in the first year after its application to soils on semi–arid Loess Plateau.
Agrobiodiversity for Adaptive and Yield Traits in Romanian and Italian Barley Cultivars across Four Continental Environments
Authors: Rizza Fulvia , Vasilescu Liliana , Badeck Franz-W. , Morcia Caterina , Alberici Renzo , Bude Alexandru , Alionte Eliana , Petcu Eugen , Baronchelli Marina , Faccini Nadia , Pagani Donata , Terzi Valeria
Published: May 2018

Within temperate climates the frequency and severity of high and low temperature stresses vary with continentality. The current study reports on the assessment of the performance of 49 barley cultivars across four environments. The cultivars stem from 50 years of breeding activities in Romania and Italy, in two temperate climates that differ in continentality. The plants were phenotyped through stress monitoring, measurements of yield and yield related traits as well as laboratory stress tolerance tests. Genotypes for alleles of vernalisation and photoperiod genes were determined. These genes were significantly associated with frost damage in the field and frost tolerance in laboratory tests. Grain yield (GY) was more closely correlated with the number of grain sinks than with the degree of grain filling indicating major limitations in the vegetative growth phase and during grain initiation. High temperature stress during the grain filling phase significantly reduced GY. Frost damage due to freezing temperatures below −10 °C when plants were not protected by snow cover significantly reduced GY of sensitive cultivars. The characterisation of environmental cues that cause stresses with yield penalties as well as the susceptibility of genetically different cultivars lay the ground for future targeted selection.
Application of a Protocol Based on Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to Manage Unowned Urban Cats on an Australian University Campus
Authors: Swarbrick Helen , Rand Jacquie
Published: May 2018

In August 2008, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, commenced a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program to manage the population of approximately 69 free-roaming unowned urban cats on its Kensington campus. The goals of the program included an ongoing audit of cats on campus, stabilization of cat numbers through TNR, and a subsequent reduction in cat numbers over time while maintaining the health of remaining campus cats. Continuation of the TNR program over nine years resulted in a current population, as of September 2017, of 15 cats, all desexed (78% reduction). Regular monitoring of the cats through a daily feeding program identified a further 34 cats that immigrated on to campus since initiation of the program; these comprised 28 adult cats (16 unsocialized, 12 socialized) and six solitary kittens. In addition, 19 kittens were born on campus, 14 of which were born to immigrant pregnant females. Unsocialized adult immigrants were absorbed into the resident campus population. Where possible, socialized adult immigrants, solitary kittens, and campus-born kittens were removed from campus through rehoming. Overall, reasons for reductions in the cat population (original residents, immigrants, campus-born kittens; n = 122) included rehoming or return to owner (30%), death/euthanasia (30%) and disappearance (29%). This successful animal management program received some initial funding from the university to support desexing, but was subsequently funded through donations, and continues with the university’s approval and support.
Experimental Study on Radiation Noise Frequency Characteristics of a Centrifugal Pump with Various Rotational Speeds
Authors: Guo Chang , Gao Ming , Lu Dongyue , Guan Hongjun
Published: May 2018

To investigate the radiation noise frequency characteristics of a centrifugal pump under various rotational speeds, a noise measurement system was established in a soundproof room. Sixteen monitoring points were evenly arranged in a circumferential direction around the pump and the sound pressure levels (SPLs) at different monitoring points were measured by a microphone, then the changing patterns of radiation noise in a wide frequency range and at certain frequencies were studied. The results reveal that the SPLs reach a maximum between 1000 and 2000 Hz, while SPLs are lower in other frequency ranges. Additionally, the acoustic energy was introduced to determine the proportion of radiation noise in different frequency ranges to overall noise. When rotational speed increases from 1700 to 2900 rpm, the proportion of acoustic energy between 1000 and 2000 Hz is higher than 0.50 and shows an increasing trend. Meanwhile, the proportion between 0 and 1000 Hz is about 0.30 and decreases gradually, while that between 2000 and 8000 Hz is about 0.12 and shows little change. Also, the increase in radiation noise at high frequency is higher than that at low frequency. This study could provide theoretical guidance for research regarding radiation noise prediction and control technology at different frequencies of centrifugal pumps.
TRSDL: Tag-Aware Recommender System Based on Deep Learning–Intelligent Computing Systems
Authors: Liang Nan , Zheng Hai-Tao , Chen Jin-Yuan , Sangaiah Arun Kumar , Zhao Cong-Zhi
Published: May 2018

In recommender systems (RS), many models are designed to predict ratings of items for the target user. To improve the performance for rating prediction, some studies have introduced tags into recommender systems. Tags benefit RS considerably, however, they are also redundant and ambiguous. In this paper, we propose a hybrid deep learning model TRSDL (tag-aware recommender system based on deep learning) to improve the performance of tag-aware recommender systems (TRS). First, TRSDL uses pre-trained word embeddings to represent user-defined tags, and constructs item and user profiles based on the items’ tags set and users’ tagging behaviors. Then, it utilizes deep neural networks (DNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to extract the latent features of items and users, respectively. Finally, it predicts ratings from these latent features. The model not only addresses tag limitations and takes advantage of semantic tag information but also learns more advanced implicit features via deep structures. We evaluated our proposed approach and several baselines on MovieLens-20 m, and the experimental results demonstrate that TRSDL significantly outperforms all the baselines (including the state-of-the-art models BiasedMF and I-AutoRec). In addition, we also explore the impacts of network depth and type on model performance.
High Power and Short Pulse Width Operation of Passively Q-Switched Er:Lu2O3 Ceramic Laser at 2.7 μm
Authors: Wang Li , Huang Haitao , Shen Deyuan , Zhang Jian , Tang Dingyuan
Published: May 2018

Using a low non-saturable loss Bragg-reflector-based semiconductor saturable mirror, a passively Q-switched Er:Lu2O3 ceramic laser at 2.7 μm demonstrated short pulse-width and efficient operation, generating stable pulses of 70 ns pulse-width and ~71 kHz repetition rates. Over 692 mW of average output power was measured, corresponding to a pulse energy of ~9.8 μJ. In a modified resonator design of reduced round-trip time, pulses of 32 ns duration were generated. The achieved results suggest that Er:Lu2O3 ceramic could be a promising gain medium for efficient and high power pulsed laser generation at 2.7 μm. The prospects for further improvement in laser performance at this wavelength are discussed.
Flexible Hydrogen Peroxide Sensors Based on Platinum Modified Free-Standing Reduced Graphene Oxide Paper
Authors: Song Run-Min , Li Zhan-Hong , Wei Peng-Ju , Zhao Xue-Ling , Chen Cheng , Zhu Zhi-Gang
Published: May 2018

In this article, we report a facile method to fabricate free-standing reduced graphene oxide paper (rGOP) by vacuum filtration. Pt nanoparticles were electrodeposited on reduced graphene oxide paper to construct a sensitive and flexible hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensor. The properties of Pt/rGOP were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The electrochemical characterizations of the resulting sensor were carried out by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The Pt/rGOP hybrid electrode had an excellent electrochemical property, with superb electrocatalytic activity, a large electrochemical active surface area, flexibility and high stability. The linear ranges of the as-prepared sensor for H2O2 detection were divided into two linear sections: 0.2 μmol/L to 2.0 mmol/L and 2.0 to 8.5 mmol/L, with a detection limit of 100 nmol/L (S/N = 3) and a response time of less than 5 s. The proposed sensor has great potential to become a reliable and flexible tool in biosensor and point-of-care medical devices.
A User-Centred Well-Being Home for the Elderly
Authors: Rodrigues Nuno , Pereira António
Published: May 2018

Every single instant a person generates a large amount of information that somehow is lost. This information can assume a large diversity of means, such as an oral word, a sneeze, an increase in heartbeat or even facial expressions. We present a model which promotes the well-being of the elderly in their homes. The general idea behind the model is that every single experience may mean something, and therefore may be recorded, measured and even have adequate responses. There is no device that provides a more natural interaction than a human body and every one of us, sends and receives useful information, which sometimes gets lost. Trends show that the future will be filled with pervasive IoT devices, present in most aspects of human life’s. In this we focus on which aspects are more important for the well-being of a person and which devices, technologies and interactions may be used to collect data directly from users and measure their physiological and emotional responses. Even though not all the technologies presented in this article are yet mainstream, they have been evolving very rapidly and evidence makes us believe that the efficiency of this approach will be closely related to their advances.
Estimating the Influence of Housing Energy Efficiency and Overheating Adaptations on Heat-Related Mortality in the West Midlands, UK
Authors: Taylor Jonathon , Symonds Phil , Wilkinson Paul , Heaviside Clare , Macintyre Helen , Davies Michael , Mavrogianni Anna , Hutchinson Emma
Published: May 2018

Mortality rates rise during hot weather in England, and projected future increases in heatwave frequency and intensity require the development of heat protection measures such as the adaptation of housing to reduce indoor overheating. We apply a combined building physics and health model to dwellings in the West Midlands, UK, using an English Housing Survey (EHS)-derived stock model. Regional temperature exposures, heat-related mortality risk, and space heating energy consumption were estimated for 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s medium emissions climates prior to and following heat mitigating, energy-efficiency, and occupant behaviour adaptations. Risk variation across adaptations, dwellings, and occupant types were assessed. Indoor temperatures were greatest in converted flats, while heat mortality rates were highest in bungalows due to the occupant age profiles. Full energy efficiency retrofit reduced regional domestic space heating energy use by 26% but increased summertime heat mortality 3–4%, while reduced façade absorptance decreased heat mortality 12–15% but increased energy consumption by 4%. External shutters provided the largest reduction in heat mortality (37–43%), while closed windows caused a large increase in risk (29–64%). Ensuring adequate post-retrofit ventilation, targeted installation of shutters, and ensuring operable windows in dwellings with heat-vulnerable occupants may save energy and significantly reduce heat-related mortality.