bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Debt capital markets, the genesis of crises and the role of regulation
Authors: Bavoso Vincenzo
Published: December 2024

This chapter draws attention to the causal links between the crises that have swept financial markets over the past forty years, and their underlying common denominators, which are identified with abuses of debt capital markets. This is done by constructing a taxonomy of crises and scandals, and the role that debt capital markets play in fuelling instability and crises. While this analysis draws on examples from the global financial crisis of 2008 and the panic of 2020, this chapter develops a stronger understanding of financial innovation, which is in turn rooted in the discussions conducted in Chapter 4. This discussion unveils a crucial aspect of this book, which is the centrality of unfettered financial innovation in fuelling the growth of debt capital markets. Questions on the regulatory environment within which this process takes place emerge at the end of this chapter, and are reprised in greater detail in the next ones.
Critiquing regulation and policy-making in debt capital markets
Authors: Bavoso Vincenzo
Published: December 2024

This chapter provides a detailed analysis of the post-2008 regulatory architecture in debt capital markets, reflecting at the same time on the policy direction that informs this area of financial markets. The starting point of the chapter follows from the discussion conducted in Chapter 6, and delves into the various prospectus and transparency rules governing financial markets, and the extent to which they are relevant in debt capital markets. The focus then moves on to regulatory corrections in more specific areas of debt capital markets, such as the Securitization Regulation at the EU level, and other relevant aspects of the markets analysed in Chapter 4. Specific emphasis is also laid on the impact of Basel III on debt capital markets, and the overall approach to the regulation of financial products. As announced, this chapter provides an assessment on the fitness of the regulatory architecture engineered after 2008, as well as the underlying policy direction, both globally (through Basel and FSB) and regionally (at the EU level).
Elementary Properties of Light
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

This chapter introduces the basic properties of light, starting with a description of the cosmic microwave background left over from the Big Bang. The wave nature of electromagnetic radiation is treated using Maxwell’s Equations, followed by the quantum or particle interpretation. A short history of attempts to measure the speed of light is presented with the description of a novel experiment demonstrating the constancy of the speed of light. Circularly polarized light is illustrated by observations of left-circularly polarized light reflected from insects. Emphasis is placed on the units employed to quantify the energy and wavelength of light, e.g., eV, cm−1, nm, MHz, and how light energies correspond to the properties of molecules (bond energies, ionization potentials, electron affinities). The chapter concludes with the generation of light by non-laser sources and the electronic devices used for light detection, which underpin the design of lasers and their applications.
General Characteristics of Lasers
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Lasers are based on the efficient and controlled emission of light from atomic and molecular excited states. All atoms and molecules have excited states, but not all are suitable for laser materials. This chapter describes the fundamental concepts of light emission and its efficiency for different kinds of molecules in different regions of the spectrum. The Einstein kinetic treatment of absorption, spontaneous emission, and stimulated emission is introduced, as are the concepts of collisional quenching, non-radiative relaxation, and quantum yields. Laser cavities, cavity modes, amplification, coherence, and laser gain are explained.
Nonlinear Optics
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Many of the experiments described in this book involve pulsed lasers and nonlinear interactions between light and matter. Other chapters involve multiphoton excitation and ionization of atoms and molecules, or harmonic generation and stimulated electronic Raman scattering, all nonlinear optical effects. This chapter gives an elementary treatment of second harmonic generation and sum-frequency mixing in optically active crystals, along with a brief summary of the history of nonlinear optics. Third harmonic generation in gases is briefly discussed with regards to multiphoton ionization spectroscopy. Two experiments on the nonlinear optical rotary dispersion (ORD) of chiral liquids are summarized. In addition, new experiments on the nonlinear ORD are described for chiral crystals of sodium chlorate and sodium bromate.
Laser Safety
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Lasers present significant laboratory safety hazards including the potential for contact with toxic and corrosive chemicals, exposure to lethal high voltages, and burns to the skin or eyes. Safe operation of these devices requires an understanding of the chemicals, electrical devices, and principles of optics and spectroscopy, as well as basic awareness, care, and common sense in the lab. This chapter introduces the hazards, explaining how and why they occur, especially including unanticipated problems not immediately evident to most users. The different dangers of pulsed versus continuous lasers are explained, as well as the dangers posed by lasers in different regions of the wavelength spectrum. Specific details are provided for safety equipment as well as safe operating principles and procedures that make it possible to perform laser experiments while avoiding accidents and/or injuries.
The Speed of Sound in Gases, Liquids, and Solids
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

The speed of sound in three phases of matter is determined by focusing a pulsed laser into a gas, liquid, or solid to produce a sharp sound pulse. The time for this sound to travel a known distance through these materials is then measured to determine the sound velocity. These measurements use electronic detection of sound with microphones and detection of light with photodiode or photomultiplier tubes, and employ time-resolved data collection with digital oscilloscopes. These measurements are then used along with well-developed theories to determine heat capacity ratios for gases and compressibilities for liquids and solids. Sound velocities for multi-component gases are also considered. Measurements of the speed of sound in human breath provides a direct determination of the mole fraction of carbon dioxide. This result is used to determine the human contribution to the CO2 greenhouse effect, with a surprising result.
Multiphoton Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Metal Carbonyls
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Metal carbonyls are volatile inorganic complexes with applications in homogeneous catalysis and photolithography. The strong photochemical activity of these systems for ultraviolet light absorption is well known. In this chapter, pulsed UV laser excitation of these complexes is carried out within the ion source of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The resulting multiphoton processes produce dissociation and ionization. The experiment demonstrates the application of multiphoton ionization and the rich variety of fragmentation/ionization processes that can be induced. Isotopically resolved mass spectra provide clear illustrations of the natural abundances of metal isotopes. The energetics of ionization and dissociation are discussed in light of the photon energies in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum.
Quantum Chemistry Calculations
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Lasers are employed in this book to obtain many molecular properties, from IR and Raman vibrational frequencies, to molecular energy levels, to optical rotary dispersion values. This chapter introduces the student to the calculation of these quantities using readily available quantum chemistry programs. An elementary treatment of the methods of quantum chemistry, including different levels of theory and basis sets, is followed by example calculations. References to free online programs such as GAMESS, Avogadro, and other commercial programs are included. Examples using the Gaussian program are designed to walk the student through from start to finish in completing specific calculations. The advantages and disadvantages of wavefunction methods versus density functional theory are discussed, as well as the importance of electron correlation and how it is handled by different methods.
Multiphoton Ionization and Third Harmonic Generation in Alkali Atoms
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Experiments involving resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) of alkali atoms contained in a heat pipe are discussed with reference to the quantum defect theory modification of the hydrogen atom energy levels. Quantum defects for the ns and nd levels are extracted from the data. This experiment is an excellent introduction to atomic spectroscopy and the selection rules involved. Ionization potentials are extracted from the Rydberg spectra. In the second part of this chapter a Raman shifter is employed to produce IR photons for multiphoton excitation of the low-lying p states of cesium. Three-photon excitation also produces third harmonic generation. The use of heat pipes for the production of alkali metal atom vapor is discussed as well as the use of a simple pick-up wire for ion detection.
Electronic Absorption Spectroscopy of Molecular Iodine
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Electronic absorption spectroscopy of molecular iodine is performed in essentially every physical chemistry laboratory in the world using a conventional UV-vis spectrometer. In this experiment a tunable dye laser is employed to record a spectrum for the X1Σg+ → B3Π0u+ transition in iodine vapor contained in a long glass cell. The absorption data is presented in a Birge–Sponer plot to extract the molecular constants ωe and ωexe. The dye laser is also capable of resolving rotational levels as well as going to higher vibrational levels in the 3Π0u+ state. The effects of anharmonicity and potential energy curves deviating from Morse function behavior are discussed.
Raman Spectroscopy Under Liquid Nitrogen
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Laser Raman spectroscopy has been a powerful tool for the characterization of molecules for many years. This chapter describes a novel technique for the recording of Raman spectra under liquid nitrogen (RUN) which reduces sample burning and increases resolution. An introduction to the theory of Raman spectroscopy is followed by a description of how to perform RUN spectroscopy with examples using CCl4, CS2, and uranocene. Computations using the Gaussian program are also described to model the spectra for the molecules studied. The calculation of isotopic distributions is also treated and applied to the interpretation of the spectra. The RUN method provides improved resolution which is demonstrated to provide improved information from Raman spectra.
Optogalvanic Spectroscopy
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Electrical discharges represent a delicate balance of excitation and relaxation processes that determine the charge density present and the current which flows through the gas. Optical excitation can disrupt this delicate balance, increasing or decreasing the charge which flows. Optogalvanic spectroscopy measures the charge through a discharge and how it changes with optical excitation from a tunable laser. In this chapter, an experimental configuration is described for the study of neon atomic spectroscopy using this effect. The apparatus described is generally applicable for the study of optogalvanic spectroscopy of many atomic, molecular, or ionic species.
Semiconductor Quantum Dots
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Semiconductor quantum dots provide new materials with many practical applications deriving from their unusual optical properties. This experiment explores the absorption, emission, and fluorescence lifetimes of CdTe quantum dots, relating their spectroscopy to theoretical ideas from the theory of quantum confinement. The spectral properties are studied as a function of particle size, illustrating how absorption and emission can be manipulated for different applications. Emission spectra and fluorescence lifetimes are demonstrated to vary significantly with particle size.
Raman Spectroscopy Applied to Molecular Conformational Analysis
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

Conformational isomers represent one form of stereoisomer in which the two structures can be interconverted by simple rotations about a single bond. Such conformational isomers are called rotamers and play a role in many areas of Chemistry. In this experiment the 1,2-dichloroethane rotomer molecule is studied using Raman spectroscopy at temperatures ranging from room temperature to that of liquid nitrogen. The anti and gauche forms are clearly differentiated in the Raman spectra. The enthalpy difference, ΔHf, between the anti and gauche forms is then determined from a van ‘t Hoff plot. Calculations of the Raman spectra and the ΔHf are carried out using the Gaussian program and excellent agreement between experiment and theory is seen.
Diffraction of Light from Blood Cells
Authors: Compton Robert N. , Duncan Michael A.
Published: December 2024

The picture on the front of this book shows the diffraction pattern from a laser beam passing through a pinhole. The experiment in this chapter uses Babinet’s principle to analyze the diffraction of laser light from human blood cells. Babinet’s principle states that diffraction of light from an opaque body is the same as that from a hole of the same size. Diffraction from a collection of objects (a hole, a disk, a slit, and a wire) is treated theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. Using this theory, the mean diameter of blood cells (erythrocytes) is determined from the diffraction of light from a blood smear on a microscope slide. Finally, the diffraction of light from red blood cells in the eye (floaters) is discussed at length.
Conclusion
Authors: Cigno Alessandro , Rosati Furio C.
Published: December 2024

The positive analysis carried out in the theoretical part of the present book clearly shows that high child labour, high fertility, low education and high infant mortality are the joint outcome of a complex set of interactions within and between families. The policy recipes offered by the theory are correspondingly complex, typically including several measures at the same time. The empirical analyses reviewed in the applied part of the book are broadly consistent with the theoretical predictions, but they also show that the policies carried out in practice with the specific purpose or curbing child labour or encouraging education have often disappointing results, generally due to imperfect understanding of the underlying mechanisms or inadequate implementation.
Human behavioural ecology
Authors: Brown Gillian R. , Lala Kevin N.
Published: December 2024

This chapter describes the sub-field of Human Behavioural Ecology. After briefly setting out the history of the sub-field, the chapter describes three key concepts of this approach, namely the flexibility of behaviour, formal models and hypothesis testing, and adaptive trade-offs. It then describes examples of Human Behavioural Ecology research through four case studies on the topics of foraging strategies and optimal group size, marriage practices and subsistence patterns, trade-offs between the quantity and quality of offspring, and cooperative childcare. A critical evaluation then examines the distinction between adaptive behaviour and adaptations, before covering three discussion topics: the importance of behaviour versus psychological mechanisms, the possibility of suboptimal behaviour, and Human Behavioural Ecology’s piecemeal approach. The chapter describes the strengths of the Human Behavioural Ecology perspective and clear advances in our understanding of human behaviour that have been gained through this research approach, as well as examining its potential limitations.
Evolutionary psychology
Authors: Brown Gillian R. , Lala Kevin N.
Published: December 2024

This chapter describes the sub-field of Evolutionary Psychology. After briefly setting out the history of the sub-field, the chapter describes three key concepts of this approach, namely evolved psychological mechanisms, the environment of evolutionary adaptedness, and domain specificity. It then describes examples of Evolutionary Psychology research through four case studies on the topics of psychological mechanisms for detecting cheaters, sex differences in mate preferences, violence and risk-taking behaviour, and disgust. A critical evaluation section then covers three discussion topics: evaluating the concept of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness, advances in evolutionary biology, and domain-general psychological traits. The chapter describes the contributions that have been made by Evolutionary Psychology research, as well as examining its potential limitations, particularly in relation to the issue of inferring past selection that might have acted on ancestral human populations and the potential overemphasis on domain-specific mental processing, plus accusations of evolutionary storytelling.
Cultural evolution
Authors: Brown Gillian R. , Lala Kevin N.
Published: December 2024

This chapter describes the sub-field of Cultural Evolution. After briefly setting out the history of the sub-field, the chapter describes three key concepts of this approach, namely the definition of culture, parallels between biological and cultural evolution, and types of cultural learning. It then describes examples of Cultural Evolution research through three case studies on the topics of experimental investigations of social learning and cumulative culture, language evolution, and the evolution of complex societies. A critical evaluation section then covers three contemporary discussion topics: the question of whether minds select culture, the debates surrounding replication versus attraction, and the similarities and differences between biological and cultural evolution. The chapter describes the strengths of the Cultural Evolution perspective, which include a strong foundation in mathematical modelling and a burgeoning amount of empirical research, as well as examining areas where questions about cultural evolutionary processes are perhaps yet to be answered.
Colonial and Nationalist Construction of Language
Authors: Dechamma CC Sowmya
Published: December 2024

This chapter explores how the languages of minority were and are constructed firstly by the colonizers as administrators, missionaries, and linguists and secondly by the nationalist elite. Going against the grain of dominant narratives around languages and minorities, this chapter argues that there cannot be a neat understanding of how languages and people are represented by these categories. While there are very enabling representations by the colonizers, there are equally disempowering narratives by the nationalist elites. The chapter largely uses texts written by colonizers and nationalists during mid to late nineteenth Century to early twentieth Century and analyses how these narratives frame people who speak minoritized languages in terms of caste, race, and purity is what this chapter explores.
Three Writers, Three Languages, and the Contradictions of a Kodava Identity
Authors: Dechamma CC Sowmya
Published: December 2024

This chapter emphasizes the notion of translation as representation. This inevitably brings the language question into the picture and allows us to see how languages and peoples who speak them are part of these strategies that represent them. It also allows us to see the strategies of translation that are used by those represented to engage, negotiate, resist in a manner that ruptures the narrative, complicates the identities of not only the represented but that of the representer as well. The chapter seeks to do this by using three texts written by Kodava men in the early twentieth century in three different languages.
The Political Logic of Cultural Revival
Authors: Robinson Amanda Lea
Published: December 2024

Since 2008, prominent members of the Lhomwe ethnic group — a large but politically marginalized community in Malawi — have waged an aggressive campaign to revive their lost cultural heritage, including their language, names, foods, and dances. Existing research has linked such processes of “inventing tradition” to the strategic actions of political elites who benefit from mobilizing members of marginalized ethnic communities for political ends. Yet, because existing research has focused primarily on elite incentives, we know less about how such elite-led efforts translate into lasting cultural change and active political support among regular people. The Political Logic of Cultural Revival, through an in-depth study of the Lhomwe revival, argues that political elites invest in such revivals when doing so will bear political returns via increased ethnic visibility. Ethnopolitical leaders benefit from having the identity of their group members easily visible to others, because such visibility ties those individuals' fate to that of the larger group. Elite-led cultural revivals serve as a powerful tool for reifying distinctive group characteristics and incentivizing the adoption of related ethnic markers by (1) engendering demand for cultural distinctiveness by stoking group-based pride and (2) supplying the means to achieve it through explicit cultural instruction. Using a plethora of original data sources, The Political Logic of Cultural Revival provides a deep description of the (re)invention of a lost culture, as well as a general theory about how ethnic visibility is related to the practice of ethnic politics.
The Lhomwe in Context: Ethnicity and Politics in Malawi
Authors: Robinson Amanda Lea
Published: December 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the changing role of ethnicity in Malawian politics and society over time, with a particular focus on the historical reasons for the Lhomwe ethnic group’s loss of cultural distinctiveness and lack of political mobilization. The chapter is organized around four different eras: precolonial migration and conquest, British colonialism and missionary interventions, cultural suppression under authoritarianism, and electoral competition under multiparty democracy. The chapter then chronicles the radical rise of the Lhomwe ethnic group’s political relevance in the wake of the cultural revival, and situates this change within the broader context of ethnic politics in Malawi.
Group-Based Pride and the Adoption of Ethnic Markers
Authors: Robinson Amanda Lea
Published: December 2024

This chapter evaluates the success of the elite-led cultural revival at increasing the ethnic visibility of members of the Lhomwe group. It shows that the revival has increased pride in Lhomwe identity among the majority of group members. Using survey data, it then shows that such pride has induced increased ethnic visibility via ethnic signals, with group members participating in ethnic activities, wearing ethnic clothing, and learning the group’s lost language. An original longitudinal dataset of children’s names shows that the revival has had a more modest effect on an important ethnic signal: the inter-generational investment in ethnic visibility via the provision of ethnically distinct names. In particular, there has been only a slight increase in the use of ethnic names since the revival, and it has been concentrated mostly among urban residents. The chapter concludes that while more modest and flexible markers of ethnic identity, such as patterns of dress, modes of association, or other contextual signals of identity, can be induced from above, many people are still hesitant to permanently mark themselves or their children in ways that tether them to ethnopolitical elites.
Beyond Visibility
Authors: Robinson Amanda Lea
Published: December 2024

This chapter considers other potential political returns to ethnic revivals – beyond visibility – and evaluates them within the Lhomwe revival. First, the chapter focuses on whether the revival-induced ethnic pride has had a direct effect on ethnic party support. While there is evidence of such “pride as patronage,” this mechanism is likely to be more ephemeral than support generated by ethnic visibility. Second, it considers the goal of increasing the visibility of the ethnic group itself rather than just its members, arguing that this has secured Lhowmes a seat at the proverbial table of Malawian politics. Third, the chapter shows how the cultural revival has redefined who is considered a member of the group, thereby expanding the group’s size. Fourth, the chapter documents the the revival’s success in creating a Lhomwe chieftaincy and situates such efforts within the literature on political intermediaries.
Corporate Purpose, Corporate Social Responsibility, and ESG
Authors: Binder Jens-Hinrich , Hopt Klaus J. , Kuntz Thilo
Published: December 2024

The introduction starts by providing the background for the present volume. It explains that over the last twenty years or so, the prevailing view of corporations as serving shareholders’ interest has met with increasing criticism. Policy-makers and various scholarly movements, ranging from corporate purpose over corporate social responsibility through environmental, social, and corporate governance, have been questioning the overarching social and economic functions especially of the large public corporation and ensuing normative implications for their business activity. Whereas the debate is international in character, however, there is no uniformity in ideas and approaches on both sides of the Atlantic. The comparative perspective offered in this volume brings to light fundamental differences of how these concepts are operationalized in the United States’ corporate laws and scholarship on the one hand and within the European Union on the other.
Corporate Purpose: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations/Confusions
Authors: Spamann Holger , Fisher Jacob
Published: December 2024

Does it matter if corporate leaders pursue a broader, social corporate purpose rather than a narrow, shareholder-centric one, and can legal and governance levers influence their choice? Theoretically—and limited by substitution, regulation, and legitimacy—socially-minded corporate decision-making can benefit society ex post, while commitment to either purpose may be required to motivate various constituencies’ contributions ex ante. Empirically, however, even structural measures like employee co-determination have barely detectable effects, let alone mere exhortations such as those in (unenforceable) nuances of (misunderstood) fiduciary duties. Many arguments for or against (particular) corporate purpose(s) are fallacies, red herrings, or, for empirics, cherry-picking.
ESG Regulation, CSR, and Corporate Purpose
Authors: Esser Irene-marié , MacNeil Iain
Published: December 2024

Corporate purpose has emerged in recent years as a key issue in the transition towards sustainability. In this chapter, we focus on corporate purpose as a legal principle and how it might promote sustainability in corporate governance. We start by reviewing what corporate purpose means and then move on to address some key questions, namely whose interests should be encompassed by corporate purpose, who should decide about corporate purpose, and what legal technique should be used to implement corporate purpose? We focus primarily on the UK, which provides a good test of the capacity of private ordering to set, implement, and adjust corporate purpose.
ESG and the Ethical Dimension
Authors: Osterloh-Konrad Christine
Published: December 2024

In ESG and the Ethical Dimension, Christine Osterloh-Konrad explores some philosophical implications of the current debates on ESG and corporate purpose by linking them to the fields of individual and social ethics. She firmly rejects the personhood theory of the corporation which treats legal entities as moral persons in their own right; instead, she focuses on the morality of individuals and stresses the importance of leaving enough leeway for virtuous behaviour by managers. Her view on mandatory ESG reporting is rather sceptical because this regulatory tool relies on pressure through moral condemnation by the public, thus obscuring the boundary between law and morality.
Corporate Purpose in the United States 1800–2000
Authors: Wells Harwell
Published: December 2024

This chapter documents how over the last two centuries Americans have debated the purposes for which corporations can be created and the ends they should pursue. It shows that ‘corporate purpose’ has always been a questioned and contested concept in the United States, and that even in eras when one understanding of the business corporation’s purpose has been dominant, there have been dissenting voices pushing to rework the institution. It also shows that accounts of corporate purpose have rarely been neutral. In these debates disputants had normative as well as positive goals, and their accounts of corporate purpose rested as much on idealized or hoped-for visions of the corporation as on currently existing ones.
Sustainability and Competition Law
Authors: Thomas Stefan
Published: December 2024

Competition fosters sustainability to the extent that consumers integrate the impact of consumption on the environment in their purchasing decisions. Conceptual challenges arise when competition law ventures to consider sustainability effects beyond the consumers’ willingness to pay for it. Agencies around the world and antitrust scholarship seek to find ways in which such negative externalities can be balanced against economic consumer welfare under a coherent metric. The chapter discusses various concepts and points out their potential and their limitations. An important conclusion is that balancing individual economic rent against sustainability in an antitrust concept is a matter of rent distribution. One can make the argument that such distributive exercises are best handled by the legislator. The chapter concludes with a conceptualization of how national legislators can occupy a more prominent role in solving the conflict despite the overarching rule of EU primary law.
Theories of Justice and Rights
Authors: Mackie J. L.
Published: December 2024

John Leslie Mackie (1917–81) was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. His published works spanned many areas, but he is not well known as a political philosopher. In the late 1970s, however, Mackie turned his attention to issues concerning justice. In a series of writings Mackie built a case for a unique right-based approach to political philosophy, in part by delivering incisive critiques of theories dominant at the time. His most comprehensive work in this area is Theories of Justice and Rights—a previously unpublished manuscript that finally sees the light of day in this volume. Also included are two of Mackie’s previously published papers, written during the same period: ‘Can There Be a Right-Based Moral Theory?’ (1978) and ‘Rights, Utility, and External Costs’ (1985). Some of Mackie’s arguments in these works draw on the metaethical conclusions in his seminal book Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977). The editorial introduction of this volume canvasses the initially puzzling relation between Mackie’s moral error theory and his account of justice and rights, addresses some exegetical queries, and connects to present-day debates. In addition, the introduction provides summaries of Mackie’s theory of rights, his critique of Rawls’s liberalism, and of Nozick’s libertarianism.
Justice and Reciprocity
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Justice and Reciprocity examines the place of reciprocity in egalitarianism, focusing on John Rawls’s conception of ‘justice as fairness’. Reciprocity was central to justice as fairness, but Rawls wasn’t fully explicit about the concept or its diverse roles. The book’s main thesis is threefold. First, reciprocity is not simply a fact of human psychology or a duty to return benefits, but a limiting condition on general duties. Second, such conditions are a natural consequence of thinking of equality as a relational value. However, third, we can identify limits on this conditionality, which explain how some duties of justice can be unconditional. The book explores the ramifications of this argument in a series of debates about distributive justice in which Rawls’s theory has played an organizing role: the justice of productive incentives, duties to future generations, unconditional basic income, and global justice. In each domain, thinking about reciprocity as a limiting condition rather than simply a duty helps explain otherwise puzzling aspects of justice as fairness, in some cases making the view more plausible, but in others underlining limits of the view that will be unappealing to egalitarians of a more unilateral bent. The overall aim of the book is to show that reciprocity involves more than returning benefits, and that limiting justice with reciprocity conditions need not make justice implausibly undemanding. In this way, I hope to rehabilitate reciprocity for egalitarianism.
Reciprocity and Egalitarianism
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Reciprocity and Egalitarianism argues that reciprocity is both a source for and a constraint on egalitarianism. The chapter explores the tension between the two in John Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness. Most discussion has been devoted to reciprocity as a strategy, motivation, or duty; less attention has been paid to the distinct notion of reciprocity as a limiting condition, and how it might be related to reciprocity as an ideal. Rawls’s account of reciprocity is predominantly factual and psychological and so doesn’t directly address the questions of the rationale for, and extent of, justice’s conditionality. Jiwei Ci’s account of justice’s conditionality provides a useful starting point but focuses too much on limiting the costs of justice, doesn’t distinguish different forms of conditionality (proportional and bilateral), and doesn’t provide a principled account of how duties of justice can be unconditional.
Reciprocity as Motivation
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Reciprocity as Motivation examines the role of reciprocity as a fact of human psychology in justice as fairness. Rawls assumed that evolution had built into human nature a tendency to respond in kind, making his conception more stable than utilitarianism. The chapter explains why this aspect of Rawls’s theory is empirically plausible, but normatively unsatisfying. We need an ethical account of reciprocity, not merely a factual one, as a limiting condition, not merely a duty. Questions about conditionality are camouflaged by Rawls’s focus on principles of justice for a well-ordered society. However, the chapter argues that it is because justice is partly conditional on reciprocity that ideal theory has priority over non-ideal theory. We need a justification for this conditionality, however, and an account of its limits.
Reciprocity as Duty
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Reciprocity as Duty explores the role that the duty of reciprocity plays in justice as fairness. Some have argued that justice as fairness generalizes this duty from individual interactions to the social system as a whole. If justice were simply a matter of proportionality in reciprocating benefits, however, we would have no duties of justice to those incapable of benefitting others. The duty of reciprocity can’t ground an egalitarian theory of justice because we need a prior account of justice to specify the duty in question. This ‘priority’ objection applies to a series of views that appeal to reciprocity in the service of egalitarianism, both popular and academic. Thinking of reciprocity as a limiting condition helps answer the objection that justice as fairness threatens to leave many with severe disabilities beyond the scope of justice.
Reciprocity as Limiting Condition
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Reciprocity as Limiting Condition explains how and why duties can be conditional on reciprocity. The chapter defines reciprocity as symmetry of oriented properties, and identifies two forms of non-accidental reciprocity: explanatory, when one relation is a condition for the other to hold, and aspirational, when symmetry is valued without being required for the relations to hold. If conditional, duties are conditional on willingness to comply, not likelihood of benefit. In principle, an equal system of rights could be symmetrically unconditional, reciprocity being valued but not essential for the corresponding duties to be binding. If we think of duties as being owed to others, however, then in the presence of imperfect compliance, a system of fully unconditional duties would license forms of interpersonal authority that are inconsistent with people standing in relations of equality. The chapter identifies a number of limits on conditionality, however, some of which follow from reciprocity itself.
Cooperation, Competition, and Incentives
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Cooperation, Competition, and Incentives examines the assurance problems that confront egalitarian economics, if contributive obligations are conditional on reciprocity. The chapter sets the debate about the justice of productive incentives with respect to Rawls’s theory in the context of the assurance problems that confront proposals for a cooperative, reciprocity-based economy, focusing on Serge-Christophe Kolm, Joseph Carens, and G. A. Cohen. The so-called ‘basic structure restriction’ on the difference principle’s scope of application is best seen as a proxy for reciprocity conditions on contributive obligations. We can admit that some duties of justice are not conditional, e.g. the duty not to be racist, while maintaining that obligations of productive contribution are.
Future Generations
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Future Generations aims to dispel the non-reciprocity problem that allegedly confronts justice as fairness in the context of intergenerational justice. Solving the non-reciprocity problem by finding heretofore unrecognized forms of cooperation between generations leads back to the objection that the difference principle would prohibit intergenerational saving. If we think of reciprocity as a limiting condition rather than a duty, however, the question to ask about future generations is not whether they have benefitted us, but whether we have sufficient confidence that they would fulfil their duties were they in our place. Perhaps not, but we are largely protected from actual failures of reciprocity by the fact that we will be dead. The distributive form of the non-reciprocity problem is not a problem, but a solution—to the no-saving problem. However, maximizing versions of the intragenerational difference principle will still forbid intergenerational saving.
Global Justice
Authors: Lister Andrew
Published: December 2024

Global Justice rejects Rawls’s explicit reasons for refusing to globalize justice as fairness, but argues that this refusal can be explained by the need for assurance in order for duties conditional on reciprocity to be binding. Equality is aspirationally global in scope, but limited in the demands it places upon us when institutions sufficient to ensure general compliance are lacking. The chapter explores the ways that a number of prominent theories avoid the conclusion that lack of assurance renders our duties of global justice non-binding: Thomas Pogge’s strict negative duty not to participate in the imposition of institutions that cause excess severe poverty; Iris Marion Young’s social connection model of responsibility; and Aaron James’ account of justice in trade.
Perception and Cognition of Music
Authors: McAdams Stephen
Published: December 2024

Perception and Cognition of Music: The Sorbonne Lectures presents revised and updated materials delivered in four distinguished lectures at the Université Paris-Sorbonne in 2009 and the Université de Montréal in 2010, originally published in French. It aims to bridge the fields of music psychology, music theory, and music analysis by considering several aspects of music listening through the lens of cognitive psychology. Auditory grouping processes play a role in organizing the continuous incoming sensory information into events, streams of events, and segments of streams that form musical units. Perceived properties of events and streams depend on how the incoming information is organized. Special attention is given to timbre as an understudied musical parameter, which can be a strong structuring force and form-bearing element in music through orchestration practice. The development of systems of abstract knowledge built on different musical parameters within a given culture focuses on the cognitive processing of pitch systems and structures and their role in the mental representation of hierarchical event structures in listeners’ minds. Finally, given that music is a temporal art par excellence, the temporality of music listening is explored through a collaborative project involving a composer, psychologists, and musicologists around the conception and creation of a musical work and the perception and affective response it engenders in a live-concert experiment. Each chapter concludes with elements for reflection to expand the necessary transdisciplinary approach that music scholarship needs.
The temporality of music listening
Authors: McAdams Stephen
Published: December 2024

Music, as with other temporal arts, unfolds in time and thus engages attentional, mnemonic, and affective processes in the experience of form. The project around The Angel of Death for piano, chamber ensemble, and computer-processed sound by Roger Reynolds addressed the conception, creation, and realization of musical materials and form, as well as the perception, memory, and affective response to them in live in-concert experiments. Real-time recognition of musical materials appearing in the piece revealed certain limits for materials recurring in different instrumentations, but also demonstrated the effects of large-scale musical form on instantaneous responses and structure perception in line with the composer’s intentions. Real-time reporting of emotional force reactions revealed divergences between perceptual and affective forms in the piece, opening the door to considerations of the multidimensionality of musical experience in time.
Introduction
Authors: Mayer Benoit
Published: December 2024

This chapter introduces this monograph on environmental assessment as a tool for climate change mitigation. It does so by presenting the book’s context, objective, method, and structure. Most jurisdictions across the world have sought to assess the climate impact of proposed activities as a way to mitigate climate change but, in doing so, they have faced several issues. The book aims to document the use of environmental assessment as a tool for climate change mitigation, to analyse the main issues faced when doing so, and to evaluate potential solutions. It does so mainly by relying on comparative legal analysis, namely through a global survey of national practice complemented by more thorough case studies.
Appraising Significance
Authors: Mayer Benoit
Published: December 2024

The assessment of significance plays a vital role at several stages of an environmental assessment procedure. Yet, this assessment is problematic with regard to climate impacts because no single activity directly causes any concrete harm. This chapter shows that courts, national agencies, lawmakers, and project proponents across the world have come up with multiple methods to determine the significance of climate impacts. Simple but rudimentary approaches, such as an absolute emission threshold, may be appropriate for the preliminary assessment of significance at the screening and scoping stages of the environmental assessment. For what concerns the substantive decision-making stages, however, more sophisticated methods include the use of empirical and normative benchmarks as well as economic valuation instruments such as the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions.
Poplar leaf bud resin metabolomics: seasonal profiling of leaf bud chemistry in Populus trichocarpa provides insight into resin biosynthesis
Authors: Piirtola Eerik-Mikael , Overy David P , Constabel C. Peter
Published: December 2024

Trees in the genus Populus synthesize sticky and fragrant resins to protect dormant leaf buds during winter. These resins contain diverse phenolic metabolites, in particular, hydroxycinnamate esters and methylated flavonoids. Populus trichocarpa leaf bud resin is characterized by methylated dihydrochalcone aglycones. To determine how the resin profile is influenced by seasonal changes, P. trichocarpa lateral leaf bud extracts and secreted surface resin were collected monthly over a 1-year cycle. The dihydrochalcones in both sets of extracts were quantified using ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS), and other chemical changes were monitored using nontargeted metabolomics by UPLC–high-resolution MS (UPLC–HRMS). The results indicate that the dihydrochalcone content changes over the seasons and that biosynthesis occurs concomitant with bud development in the summer months. Nontargeted metabolomics data confirmed a pattern of dramatic changes in the summer and further suggested additional periods of substantive biochemical change in the resin. While overall patterns of surface-extracted resin matched those of whole bud extracts, some of the dynamics were shifted in the surface resin samples. This study provides the basis for the use of dihydrochalcones and other identified resin components as metabolic markers for more detailed investigations of resin biosynthesis, secretion, and movement to the bud surface.
Public perceptions of the US innovation system: moderate support but compelling need for reform
Authors: Budge Jason A , Harthorn Barbara Herr , Kandlikar Milind , Satterfield Terre , Halcomb Laura
Published: December 2024

Science and innovation policy in the USA often frame publics as the beneficiaries of new technologies, but little research has yet engaged publics on their views of the innovation system (IS)—the combined efforts of government, industry, and universities to produce and promote new technologies. Based on a national public survey (n = 3,010), we identify three dimensions of public judgments about the IS with public policy implications: (1) US publics hold moderate confidence in the IS to produce benefits for them and to respond to public input; (2) they are slightly more critical of innovation-related environmental harm and the accrual of benefits to large corporations; and (3) they strongly support reforms to ensure safe, responsible, and affordable technological innovation. Multivariate regressions indicate variance of judgments by social location and worldviews, finding equity and justice aspects particularly salient in views on the IS. We discuss implications for innovation policy.