bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Politics of Immersion
Authors: Hirst Aggie
Published: May 2024

This chapter examines the second driver of wargaming: flow and immersion. It argues that the immersion generated in different game types serves to apprehend players in a state of unreflexive engagement. The chapter begins by conceptualizing immersion and its associated “flow state.” It then turns to the CoP’s accounts of the power of immersion in their activities, showing that for many it is vital for efficacious wargaming because it generates and prolongs player focus, confers game validity, and improves the extent to which the game’s lessons are internalized and experienced as “real.” The chapter then examines how immersion functions as a tool of player subjectification. It sets out how a state of immersion can be cultivated through the use of narrative, the (apparent) exercise of choice, and encouraging the player to refer to their in-game persona in the first person. In doing so, it shows how immersion circumvents self-reflective capacities and instills reflex actions.
A Select Genealogy of Black Feminist Frameworks for Identities and Oppressions
Authors: Belle Kathryn Sophia
Published: May 2024

Chapter 1, “A Select Genealogy of Black Feminist Frameworks for Identities and Oppressions: ‘If we are not careful the work we are doing now is going to have to be “rediscovered” at some point,’ ” offers a selective genealogy of Black feminist frameworks for identity and oppression that underscores the creation of discourses and vocabularies that express our existence and experience. It is argued that Black women have a matrilineal legacy of creating discourses and vocabularies to express our existence and experience going back (at least) to Lucy Terry and Phillis Wheatley (in the context of eighteenth-century colonial America), and furthermore, that Black women have been offering what I would now characterize as feminist frameworks for identity and oppression going back to Maria Stewart in the early nineteenth century (1831) that continues until today.
Abolition and Suffrage in the United States
Authors: Belle Kathryn Sophia
Published: May 2024

Chapter 7, “Abolition and Suffrage Movements in the United States: ‘They undertook a campaign in favor of blacks,’ ” takes up claims made by Alva Myrdal in “A Parallel to the Negro Problem” and by Beauvoir in The Second Sex about the abolition and suffrage movements in the United States. Both situate (white) women’s early political engagements within the abolitionist movement and assert that white women fought for abolition only to be betrayed by Black men on the issue of suffrage. It is argued that a more nuanced understanding of the abolition and suffrage movements in the United States is made possible when we shift from Myrdal’s and Beauvoir’s narratives (which center white women) to the counternarratives offered by Ida B. Wells, Angela Davis, bell hooks, and Paula Giddings (all of whom recover the leadership roles of Black women and men in the abolition and suffrage movements). These issues have been examined for decades but have reemerged with renewed interest and insight during the two hundredth anniversary of woman’s suffrage in the United States.
The Emergence of Exemplars
Authors: Haufe Chris
Published: May 2024

There are obstacles confronting the recovery of scientific rationality from Kuhn’s image of science that have nothing to do with his references to faith. Kuhn leans heavily on the normative role of paradigms, which he later considered to be most closely associated with the notion of exemplar. The process and substance of exemplification is not something on which Kuhn spends any time, and the picture indirectly implied by some of his remarks suffers from a number of defects. This chapter examines the process of exemplification, drawing on the work of Nelson Goodman and looking closely at an illustrative episode in the history of mathematics.
Retributivism Is Too Morally Risky
Authors: Kolber Adam J.
Published: May 2024

For standard retributivists to inflict punishment, they must believe not only that a defendant is guilty but that all other prerequisites for deserved punishment are satisfied as well. For example, they must believe offenders have free will, even though philosophers have debated the topic for centuries. And they must believe offenders can be punished proportionally, even though no one has convincingly determined how to assess proportionality. These retributivist commitments, along with several others, are clearly controversial. One would be hard-pressed to believe a single one—let alone the conjunction—with the 95 percent or 99 percent confidence frequently attributed to the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard used to assess guilt. Reasonable retributivists, Kolber argues, face too much uncertainty to justify punishment under the standard of proof they would likely set for themselves. At the same time, they also face too much uncertainty to confidently refrain from punishing, making it difficult for standard retributivists to provide guidance in the here and now.
Communicating with Your Child
Authors: Deutsch Robin M.
Published: May 2024

Parenting children who do not communicate much to their parents can be difficult. There are a number of reasons children may not communicate with their parents, such as temperament, trauma, or developmental changes. In this chapter the author considers strategies to connect with uncommunicative children, as well as indicators that suggest seeking professional help.
Strategies for Discipline and Limit Setting
Authors: McKee Laura G. , Forehand Rex
Published: May 2024

Providing positive discipline can be challenging and bewildering to parents of toddlers, tweens, and teens, especially with new theories about parenting in the news all the time. However, there are several sound approaches that cut through the confusion, are supported by science, and have stood the test of time. In short, a RARE parent is what you want to be: one who is regulated, attuned to your child, and knows how to respond effectively. Positive discipline is built on the foundation of a warm and trusting parent-child relationship, and includes clear expectations and directions, attention and praise for on-target child behaviors, and consistent consequences for off-target behaviors.
Parental Conflict
Authors: Malik Neena M. , Lindahl Kristin M.
Published: May 2024

Disagreements occur in all intimate relationships. Intense and unresolved parental conflict, however, presents a threat to children’s well-being. This chapter discusses how arguing between parents can be harmful to children and how the effects can differ based on the child’s age, temperament, and gender. The chapter outlines steps that parents can take to minimize the impact of parental conflict and provides resources for help.
Time and Change
Authors: Bardon Adrian
Published: May 2024

We measure weight with a scale, and temperature with a thermometer. When we measure time—say, with a clock—what is it that we measure? To some scholars in the ancient world, the answer was that what we call time is simply the measure of change. What is real is a changing universe; time is derived from, and is used to track, regular changes and motions. The leading proponent of this view was the celebrated Greek philosopher Aristotle, who was both Plato’s most accomplished student and himself a teacher of Alexander the Great. His philosophical opponents on this issue were Parmenides and Zeno, who denied the reality of change—and thus denied the reality of time as well.
Unum esse regnum
Authors: Smolin Nathan Israel
Published: May 2024

Chapter 5 turns to the life and thought of Lucifer of Cagliari. In section 5.1, Lucifer’s reception in ancient and scholarly sources is reviewed and criticized for its overwhelming negative animus. Lucifer’s corpus is then analyzed work by work in sections 5.2–5.6. Across these works, Lucifer engages perceptively with the Constantinian ideology of rulership, identifying and denying the various means of divine or charismatic authority claimed by Constantine and Constantius while gradually transferring these prerogatives to the office of bishop. This view of political and religious authority is based on Lucifer’s stark Nicene belief in a total identity of divinity and power shared among multiple divine persons in a single cosmic kingdom made immediately manifest in the Church on earth. In the process Lucifer innovates a totally new genre of Imperial invective and asserts the right and duty of bishops to criticize and if necessary delegitimate Christian Emperors.
Building a Social Science
Authors: Madden Kirsten , Persky Joseph
Published: May 2024

Just as the Industrial Revolution in Britain suggested a promise of superabundance, David Ricardo, Robert Malthus, and their colleagues formalized classical political economy with its emphasis on scarcity, self-interest, and private accumulation of capital. At the same time, Robert Owen took a different path, arguing that the new technologies open a new world. In effect, he turns the classical political economy on its head. Building his new social science, Owen emphasizes abundance, public spiritedness, and communal accumulation of capital. Although the history of the cooperative movement is well documented, the social psychology, architecture, and logic of its varied attempts at theorizing a social science stand in need of reappraisal. The chapters of our book describe, often restate, and in places reconstruct the social science of cooperation—from Robert Owen, through William Thompson and Anna Doyle Wheeler, J. S. Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill, the Christian Socialists, the consumer cooperative movement, the Women’s Cooperative Guild, William Morris, and the Guild Socialists. Each of these writers makes theoretical assumptions concerning social psychology, proposes institutional structures, and then derives consequences for the material economy, happiness, and human development. Some postulate a feedback mechanism strengthening and stabilizing an enlarged self-interest. Sparked by the intellectual optimism and fellow-feeling of the early British cooperative theorists, we start to rebuild their humane social science. While enriching our understanding of intellectual history, we hope our analyses of these theories also carry insights relevant to the present—insights concerning employment relations, persistent inequality, and low levels of human development.
Contacts and Exchanges
Authors: Sarti Laury
Published: May 2024

Understanding how the Carolingian west was related to the Byzantine empire requires looking at how both worlds were connected. The term “connectivity” defines the options available to connect two regions, a concept that allows studying the potentials beyond singular examples. This chapter takes a quantitative approach by focusing on the frequency of exchanges and a qualitative perspective by assessing the intensity of any such contact. It reassesses the connectivity between the said regions once belonging to the Roman empire by discussing travel routes and conditions, diplomatic exchanges, and voyages related to the clergy. The chapter argues that although exchanges between the Frankish west and the Byzantine empire intensified from the second half of the eighth century, the two were never connected by frequent or regular exchanges.
The Present in the Past
Authors: Sarti Laury
Published: May 2024

The Roman past is usually conceived as foreign to the Franks. Although the Frankish world as we know it emerged from within the Roman empire, any earlier history belonging to the time before the Franks had entered Roman territory and their convergence with the empire is either lost or was subsequently reframed to fit into Roman history. This chapter discusses the place of the Franks in this history by assessing the Frankish perceptions of the past and by retracing the origins and further evolution of their historical identity. It argues that while the Franks self-confidently retained their gentile identity, they considered themselves part of the multiethnic ancient Roman world and its history. The first section focuses on the perception of time and history and how the Frankish world was designed to fit into the Roman past. The second discusses the Frankish treatment of Antiquity and its role as a past shared with the remaining parts of the empire.
Introduction: Greeks Drawing Lots: The Practice and the Mindset of Egalitarianism
Authors: Malkin Irad , Blok Josine
Published: May 2024

Ancient Greeks drew lots within a broad spectrum of practices and conventions, reflecting the values, practices, and egalitarian mindset that were prevalent for nearly three centuries before the appearance of the lot as the salient feature of Athenian democracy. Greeks often turned to random choices by drawing lots to ensure equality and fairness and avoid undue influence and corruption. Being the first book of its kind to discuss drawing lots, the Introduction defines the purpose and framework of the book and its use of evidence from archaeology, myth, poetry, drama, ritual, historiography, and political thought and practice. It stresses vocabulary and key concepts, such as horizontal society, the egalitarian mindset, equal portions and the relation to ideas of equality and fairness, mixture and integration of citizens, the role of the gods, and the relevance to modern democracies. A road map of the contents of parts I and II is provided.
When Does the Lot Reflect the Will of the Gods?
Authors: Malkin Irad , Blok Josine
Published: May 2024

The role of the gods in drawing lots appears on a spectrum, from the explicit expectation of intervention to invoking them and sanctioning the procedure lotteries. Lotteries assume unpredictable, unmanipulated results, and the gods, while presiding over the drawing of lots, were not expected to determine their results. On one end of the spectrum, we find explicit divination (lot oracles), and on the other, mundane and daily procedures. With lot oracles one expected confirmation or denial between options or a choice from a list. The chapter discusses the role of the gods in drawing lots, types of inspiration, and non-oracular, institutional lot drawing at Delphi. A discussion of Hermes and Lachesis, the moira of drawing lots, and moira in general, clarifies their role in lot drawing. Special attention is devoted to analyzing evidence and traditions of drawing lots (including bean oracles and direct, inscribed inquiries) about Delphi, Dodona, and Delphi’s own history.
Drawing Lots for Polis Office
Authors: Malkin Irad , Blok Josine
Published: May 2024

This chapter charts how drawing lots for the polis offices was introduced and gradually spread in ancient Greece. The first known case was in early sixth-century Athens, where the statesman Solon introduced allotment from preselected, elite candidates. But his innovation had only limited success and was soon largely abandoned. Following a wave of initiatives across the Greek world to increase the political power of the demos around 500, poleis diverged more prominently than before into oligarchies and democracies. Some oligarchies adopted drawing lots for office to solidify the equality and coherence of their own circle. Among the democracies, Athens is by far the best known and best documented. In 508/7, Cleisthenes created the framework for Athens’ democracy, drawing lots to mix the citizens into new subgroups. Solon’s system of allotment was reintroduced in 487, and after the 460s, the lot was applied widely to polis office and governance in Athens. Many other democratic poleis came to use allotment for office, but none equaled Athens in the scale and duration of the practice. Besides political offices, cultic offices were drawn by lot in several poleis. This ancient use of the lot in Athens probably supported Solon’s introduction of lots for political office; in other poleis, the same pattern possibly played a role. Dedicated Endnotes discuss Solon’s laws and different accounts of them in our sources, drawing lots in the Ancient Near East, the diagramma (constitutional decree) for Cyrene, the body politic in Cleisthenes’s system, and clay tokes from Athens for allotment of offices.
What Affects Sustained Cooperation?
Authors: Pokharel Atul
Published: May 2024

This chapter moves further into the details of irrigation systems. It first presents a grounded account of one system and illustrates how collective action becomes necessary at each stage of using and maintaining it over time. It then connects these features into patterns that appear across the systems in this sample. Next, it uses this to explain how these systems in Nepal had all the requirements of successful collective action before presenting some unexpected results that show variation in their success over 30 years. It then shows how the level of cooperation relates to the variables included in Ostrom’s collective action–focused framework. It shows that none of them prove adequate for explaining cooperation over time before examining the implications of this unexpected result. This chapter sets up the puzzle that motivates the rest of the book.
Conclusion
Authors: Benson Jonathan
Published: May 2024

This conclusion provides an overview of the book’s epistemic justification of democracy and how it provides a robust response to the new democratic scepticism. It restates how the epistemic abilities of democracy are only produced through the interaction of many different institutions, and how they are therefore dependent on taking a systemic perspective. While any one democratic institution cannot possibly possess epistemic values superior to all of its alternatives, a systemic approach can identify divisions of labour and emergent properties which produce epistemic values at the system level. The conclusion also discusses the interdisciplinary nature of this systemic model and the ways it builds on the problems and critiques of the sceptics. It then ends by considering possible ways of improving the intelligence of contemporary democracies and discusses promising new developments, such as the increasing experimentation with more permanent and influential uses of sortition and random selection.
The End of the Institutionalist
Authors: Bellantoni Christina
Published: May 2024

Donald Trump’s presidency accelerated what had been slowly happening in the Senate. People from both parties who had been willing to work together had increasingly less incentive to do so, even institutionalists who had always revered traditions and decorum over combative politics. At the same time, the Washington ecosystem and especially the news media did nothing but fan the flames. Using a mix of first-person narrative and reporting, this chapter explores the concept of moderation in the Senate, which among Republicans simply came to translate as “not Trump.” The Senate continued on after Trump—and has even accomplished big, bipartisan things under President Biden. But it’s broken. Shattered, even. Trump’s time in office gave no one the incentive to pick up the pieces. In the end, the chapter concludes that the Trump-era Senate prompted the end of the institutionalist.
Introduction
Authors: Zhao Jingyi Jenny
Published: May 2024

The Introduction sets out the main aims and objectives of the study and enters into a nuanced discussion of the methodology of comparison. It deals with the issues of intelligibility and incommensurability, showing how they can be overcome by taking shame-related conceptual clusters from each case and situating them in terms of the wider ethical frameworks of Aristotle and Xunzi. Engaging with the existing literature on ‘shame’ from a variety of disciplines, it argues that a cross-cultural comparative approach based on detailed analysis of major philosophical figures from the classical traditions of Greece and China has the potential to free us from certain presuppositions and fundamentally change the way we think about shame and the emotions.
Between War and the Text
Authors: Sutton Rebecca
Published: May 2024

How do international humanitarian law (IHL) rules circulate “down” from normative sites like courtrooms and “up” from operational conflict settings? Where does IHL pedagogy fit in? To elucidate the everyday life of IHL, this chapter introduces three realms in which IHL’s principle of distinction circulates: the Intellectual, Pedagogical, and Kinetic realms. The discussion centers the Pedagogical realm, a sphere of practice with a strong normative aspect, in which legal rules are taught, learned, and questioned through teaching and trainings. The chapter proposes that many accounts of how IHL works are impoverished by their neglect of this crucial site, which lies between war and the text. Focusing first on civil-military trainings, the chapter pursues distinction “down” to the Central African Republic, and “up” to the Hague. Treating judges, field-based practitioners, and training participants alike as “lawmakers,” the chapter illuminates how differently situated actors forge IHL’s (multiple) meaning(s) in everyday practice.
A Prologue to Law of War Unmaking
Authors: Watts Sean
Published: May 2024

This chapter addresses the underexplored subject of how and why States terminate or “unmake” law of war treaties and treaty provisions. It identifies legal mechanisms and practices, both established and emerging, for the repeal, expiration, or abandonment of treaty-based laws of war. After surveying treaty termination procedures, both general and specific to the law of war, the chapter catalogs States’ exercises of unmaking through both formal and informal means. It then identifies forces that may explain why States and other actors involved in law of war formation have not seized on unmaking with the regularity and rigor they have with respect to law-making. The chapter is meant to inspire a more refined and regular unmaking practice by States.
Misunderstanding historical linguistics
Authors: Laakso Johanna
Published: May 2024

Since the nineteenth century, findings of historical linguistics have been used for shedding light on the past and, in this connection, also in national identity building. This has created tensions between pre-scientific, romantic narratives and the mainstream academic views on linguistic prehistory. Somewhat surprisingly, not only laypeople but even academic “maverick” linguists sometimes propagate pseudolinguistic views seemingly tailored to support popular ideas about a glorious national past. This chapter analyzes three such cases and the reasons behind the misuse of data, methods, and terminology. While two of them seem to be mainly connected to Hungarian Anti-Finno-Ugrism, one of them represents similar problems in Finland and Estonia.
Borrowing and historical-linguistic ideology
Authors: Laakso Johanna
Published: May 2024

Loanword research connects the history of a language to the ethnocultural reality in which the language users lived. As a consequence, it can provide valuable connections to other historical disciplines. However, the same connections also make loanword research susceptible to ideological pressures. This chapter presents some examples of how ideologies and (ethno)political preconceptions may influence loanword research. One such ideology is the so-called prestige determinism hypothesis, the belief that loanwords travel from cultures on a (supposedly) higher level to their lower-level neighbours rather than vice versa. This chapter shows that such ideologies and biases not only are unwarranted but that they may lead linguists to ignore important evidence or misinterpret the evidence.
Orphaned Catholics
Authors: Forlenza Rosario , Thomassen Bjørn
Published: May 2024

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Italian political system entered a period of dramatic transformation as the result of a series of international and domestic crises, including the end of the Cold War, the emergence of regionalism, and the political corruption scandals known as Tangentopoli (Bribesville). Christian Democracy terminated its existence in 1994 and the Catholic church launched a new political and cultural project that aimed at reaffirming the role of Catholicism in the public sphere without the mediation of a single political party. These wider transformations, leading into the present period, are the focus of this chapter.
Luigi Settembrini, According to Himself
Authors: Capra Andrea , Graziosi Barbara
Published: May 2024

This chapter, the first in Part I ‘Autobiography and Revolution’, starts by showing that, in the Risorgimento, personal memoir and adventurous fiction played an outsized role in inspiring revolutionary action. A systematic comparison between The Neoplatonists and Settembrini’s Memoirs then uncovers close parallels between the two, showing that, for Settembrini, the past was a source of happiness, a place where recollections of early childhood and memories of ancient Greece blended into one uncorrupted sense of wonder and wellbeing. The classical past not only provided inspiration for the utopian future, but offered a means of building resilience in the present, which was marked by political failure, near execution, incarceration, fear, and physical pain. Nostalgia, in other words, was an important resource, motivating revolutionary action and the ability to withstand its consequences.
The Neoplatonists by Aristaeus of Megara
Authors: Capra Andrea , Graziosi Barbara
Published: May 2024

In his ‘translator’s preface’, Settembrini warns readers about the obscenity of the upcoming tale and criticizes modern hypocrisy: ‘Platonic love’ was invented to hide affairs between men. In ch. 1, two boys (true ‘neoplatonists’, i.e. young followers of Plato) grow up loving each other. In ch. 2 they teach their Platonic teacher a lesson in equality and reciprocity—in a hilarious scene of sexe à trois; then meet the lovely Hymnis, discover heterosexuality (ch. 3), learn more about her (ch. 4), and about how to pleasure a woman without demanding what ‘brings no advantage to her’ (ch. 5). In ch. 6, Hymnis bids farewell to them and one boy falls in love with another girl. In ch. 7, both demonstrate their valour in war. In ch. 8, they get married, ‘love and honour’ their wives, while continuing to love each other and have sex together, in a lifelong bisexual arrangement.
Conclusions
Authors: González Campañá Núria
Published: May 2024

This chapter summarizes the main arguments of the book and reflects on the scope of EU constitutional ambitions. In other words, whether the EU can or cannot fully develop its constitutional ambitions since national identity remains much stronger than European identity. The chapter explores first that there is no conflict between international law and EU law regarding secession within EU Member States highlighting the controversial customary right to self-determination. Next, it reviews the criteria of consent and lawfulness and EU law and practice on secession. Then, it explores the EU deferential approach to secessionism and the consequences that can be drawn from it.
What Are Personalist Parties?
Authors: Frantz Erica , Kendall-Taylor Andrea , Wright Joseph
Published: May 2024

This chapter lays out what personalist parties are. It posits that personalism in political parties can be captured by the extent to which the party organization is a vehicle to advance the leader’s personal political career such that the leader has more control over the party than do other senior party elites. Next, it details the book’s approach to measuring ruling party personalism and the original data collection effort underlying it. It highlights how this measure of ruling party personalism incorporates information that predates the leader’s assumption to power, such that it is not endogenous to incumbent leaders’ behaviours once in office. This means that party personalism is measured exogenously to the outcome studied in the book, namely democratic backsliding. The chapter then reviews related concepts and measures, paying particular attention to populism, before offering basic facts and features of personalist parties. It shows that ruling party personalism has risen globally but finds little evidence that increasing political polarization or declining public support for democracy explain its rise.
International Treaties and Obligations
Authors: Hooton Brian
Published: May 2024

In this chapter, the role of the Euratom Treaty, and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), in the commercial use of special fissile materials (SFM) is explained. The Euratom Treaty embraces assurance of supplies, assurance of use in civil activities, safety standards, research, and promotion of the commercial use of nuclear materials. The safeguards activities carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors are also described. The procedures used in nuclear material accountancy to confirm compliance with the treaty in a timely manner are given. The main nuclear accounts for depleted uranium, natural uranium, low enriched uranium (LEU), high enriched uranium (HEU), and plutonium are defined. Bilateral agreements between states providing and using nuclear materials have obligations as a condition of supply, and the monitoring of these obligations by a system of pool accountancy is explained.
Self and Cosmos
Authors: Graf Chiara
Published: May 2024

This chapter treats the prefaces to books 3 and 1 of Seneca’s Natural Questions. These prefaces elevate a feeling which this chapter refers to as “integrated wonder,” a specular self-love that is born from the ability to see oneself as part of a broader cosmos, while also preserving an intact and distinct sense of self. Integrated wonder is predicated upon the ability to see beyond appearances and grasp the continuity between one’s own faculty of reason and the rationality of the cosmos. However, this chapter also destabilizes this conception of subject-affirming wonder, pointing out certain passages in these prefaces that call into question the efficacy of seeing below the surface. Future chapters will build on this initial destabilization, suggesting that surface appearances—and the subject-obliterating emotions that arise therefrom—can be didactically effective.
Rights
Authors: Craig Paul
Published: May 2024

This chapter analyses the place of rights in public law from the mid-16th to 19th centuries. The focus is on rights that would commonly be protected in a bill of rights. The chapter begins with rights, fundamental law, and constitutional review. There is discussion of the early case law in which Coke CJ posited the idea that the courts might declare statute void for violation of fundamental law. This is followed by consideration of rights, collateral challenge, and administrative law. The focus then shifts to examination of rights, negative residual liberties, and public law. The last section of the chapter is concerned with continuity and change in the 20th to 21st centuries. The issue is considered from five related perspectives: rights and the common law, rights and statute, rights and the Human Rights Act 1998, rights and EU law, and rights and legal theory.
Epilogue
Authors: Craig Paul
Published: May 2024

The final chapter of the book is the epilogue. It is not a conclusion that summarizes all arguments in the book. It is rather a short chapter that offers some reflections on the central themes of the book. The chapter is structured in accord with the book as a whole, with reflections on its four constituent parts. The principal thought in relation to the central theme of the book is surprise that the dominant view concerning the absence of administrative law in England prior to the early/mid-20th century has persisted so long. The errors relating to that thesis were evident from the abundance of both case law and regulatory statute dating from the mid-16th century onwards, which is the period covered by this book.
Moral Necessitism and Scientific Contingentism
Authors: Bhogal Harjit
Published: May 2024

Here is a puzzling phenomenon. Moral theories are typically thought to be necessary. If act utilitarianism is true, for example, then it is necessarily true. However, scientific theories are typically thought to be contingent. If quantum field theory is true, it’s not necessarily true—the world could have been Newtonian. The aim of this chapter is to explore this discrepancy between domains. In particular, it will suggest that necessitism, about both moral and scientific domains, is naturally motivated by `internality’ intuitions. In effect, these internality intuitions tell against the explanatory role of certain `external’ entities—like moral or scientific principles. The chapter suggests that perhaps these internality intuitions are more compelling in the moral case than the scientific case. If so, this would rationalize the combination of moral necessitism and scientific contingentism.
The Stuff That Matters
Authors: Laskowski N. G.
Published: May 2024

On one way of talking about a traditional metaethical topic, realists accept that some items appear on the list of what exists in the moral or more broadly normative domain of inquiry. They then divide over whether those items are like what science and experience suggest that all other items on the list of what exists across all domains are like—naturalistic and secular. Reductive naturalists answer this further question affirmatively. Why don’t nonnaturalists? This chapter explores the answer that it’s because normative entities are “just too different” in the sense that they are countably different things. However, it is argued that this answer rests on the subtle presupposition that the normative domain doesn’t also contain uncountable entities of the sort that analytic metaphysicians call “stuff”. Taking intuitions of difference seriously points the way to a novel form of metaethical reductive naturalism. The key is to identify the stuff that matters.
Offence Guidelines—Introduction
Authors: Ashford Mark , Branston Gareth , Redhouse Naomi
Published: May 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the youth-specific offence sentencing guidelines which appear in the Magistrates’ Court Handbook. In applying the Sentencing Children and Young People — Overarching Principles definitive guideline, which must be considered alongside any offence-specific guideline, the court is urged to make an individualistic decision based on a full assessment of the young person. The equivalent adult guideline only becomes relevant to the courts’ deliberations once the court has followed all of the steps set out in the youth-specific offence guideline and has decided that a custodial sentence is unavoidable. Indeed, it is important that the court does not consult an adult guideline too early in the sentencing process. This would be to ignore the important principles applicable to youths and designed to emphasize the necessity for an individualistic approach for young defendants.
Jurisdiction of the Youth Court
Authors: Ashford Mark , Branston Gareth , Redhouse Naomi
Published: May 2024

This chapter highlights the jurisdiction of the youth court. According to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, s 46, ‘no charge against a child or young person, and no application whereof the hearing is by rules made under this section assigned to youth courts, shall be heard by a magistrates’ court which is not a youth court’. All criminal charges against a child or young person are assigned to the youth court unless there is an adult co-defendant. The youth court has power in certain cases to send a youth defendant to the Crown Court for trial or to commit them for sentence. In addition, section 18 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 assigns applications for gang injunctions to the youth court.
Remand Periods
Authors: Ashford Mark , Branston Gareth , Redhouse Naomi
Published: May 2024

This chapter explores remand periods. Prior to conviction: the remand period to police cells is 24 hours; remand to custody for maximum of eight clear days on first remand; subsequent remand to custody for up to 28 clear days provided the next stage in the proceedings will be dealt with; subsequent remand to custody for up to 28 clear days if the defendant is already in custody serving a sentence and will not be released before that date; and remand on bail for eight days, or longer if the defendant consents. Following a sending to the Crown Court, the magistrates have the power to adjourn for a period up to the date of trial. The Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, s 129 allows for the remands of persons not produced before the court due to illness or accident. The court must have ‘solid grounds’ to justify an opinion that failure to be produced was due to illness or accident. With regard to post-conviction, the remand period is maximum three weeks if in custody, four weeks if on bail.
Financial Order Enforcement
Authors: Ashford Mark , Branston Gareth , Redhouse Naomi
Published: May 2024

This chapter discusses the court that enforces financial penalties against an offender. It explores the consideration of the court to make the financial penalties the responsibility of the parent or guardian, depending on the age of the offender. It also details how a court may deal with a fine defaulter, such as conducting a means enquiry, allowing further time to pay, remitting of all or part of the fine, and making an attachment of earnings order. The chapter points out that there is no power to make a fines collection order, a deduction from benefit order, or to order time in custody in default of payment for an offender under the age of 18. It mentions the attendance centre order, which is made where the court would have power to impose imprisonment in default of payment.
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
Authors: Ashford Mark , Branston Gareth , Redhouse Naomi
Published: May 2024

This chapter highlights the Rehabilitation of Offenders 1974 Act that establishes a scheme whereby a person convicted of a criminal offence can be rehabilitated. It points out that the rehabilitation for an offender is achieved by deeming that offences are spent after a certain period of time. It also details how the 1974 Act deems that the offender be treated as if they were never convicted of the offence once the conviction is spent. The chapter reveals that spent convictions do not need to be declared when applying for employment or for financial services and that convictions are never spent for the purposes of criminal proceedings. It implies that the length of time before a conviction is spent depends on the sentence passed and not the offence.
Surcharge
Authors: Ashford Mark , Branston Gareth , Redhouse Naomi
Published: May 2024

This chapter looks at different rates of applicable surcharge depending on the age of the offender on the date of the commission of the offence. The court must impose a surcharge order on any case relating to any offence committed on or after 1 April 2007. It also notes the reduction of a surcharge if the offender is not able to pay both the surcharge and compensation. The chapter reviews the consideration of the court when dealing with an offender that has insufficient means to pay the surcharges. It points out how a court will not deal with a person if the person is discharged or if it makes an order under the Mental Health Act 1983 in respect of that person.
The Bright Side of Political Uncertainty: The Case of R&D
Authors: Atanassov Julian , Julio Brandon , Leng Tiecheng
Published: May 2024

We use close gubernatorial elections as a quasi-natural experiment to document a positive effect of political uncertainty on firm-level R&D. This finding is in contrast to the existing literature documenting a negative impact of political uncertainty on capital investment. We examine potential mechanisms and find that our results are consistent with the growth option view of R&D investment. The effect is stronger for politically sensitive and high-tech industries.The results are robust to different proxies for political uncertainty shocks. As predicted by models of investment under uncertainty, the real effects of political uncertainty critically depend on the type of the investment. JEL G18, G38, O31, O32
Biophysical modeling and diffusion kurtosis imaging reveal microstructural alterations in normal-appearing white-matter regions of the brain in obstructive sleep apnea
Authors: Hashim Zia , Gupta Mansi , Neyaz Zafar , Srivastava Shivani , Mani Vinita , Nath Alok , Khan Ahmad Raza
Published: May 2024

Study Objectives

Studies have indicated that sleep abnormalities are a strong risk factor for developing cognitive impairment, cardiomyopathies, and neurodegenerative disorders. However, neuroimaging modalities are unable to show any consistent markers in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. We hypothesized that, compared with those of the control cohort, advanced diffusion MRI metrics could show subtle microstructural alterations in the brains of patients with OSA.

Methods

Sixteen newly diagnosed patients with moderate to severe OSA and 15 healthy volunteers of the same age and sex were considered healthy controls. Multishell diffusion MRI data of the brain, along with anatomical data (T1 and T2 images), were obtained on a 3T MRI system (Siemens, Germany) after a polysomnography (PSG) test for sleep abnormalities and a behavioral test battery to evaluate cognitive and executive brain functions. Diffusion MRI data were used to compute diffusion tensor imaging and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) parameters along with white-matter tract integrity (WMTI) metrics for only parallel white-matter fibers.

Results

OSA was diagnosed when the patient’s apnea–hypopnea index was ≥ 15. No significant changes in cognitive or executive functions were observed in the OSA cohort. DKI parameters can show significant microstructural alterations in the white-matter region, while the WMTI metric, the axonal-water-fraction (fp), reveals a significant decrease in OSA patients concerning the control cohort.

Conclusions

Advanced diffusion MRI-based microstructural alterations in the white-matter region of the brain suggest that white-matter tracts are more sensitive to OSA-induced intermittent hypoxia.
Cardiovascular Disease and Dementia: Exploring Intersections, Risks, and Therapeutic Challenges
Authors: Huang Lillian , Meir Juliet , Frishman William H. , Aronow Wilbert S.
Published: May 2024

This review examines the complex bidirectional relationship between cardiovascular disease and various dementia subtypes, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, and diabetes mellitus are strongly linked to the development of dementia. Emerging evidence indicates that cognitive decline can exacerbate cardiovascular risks through heightened inflammatory responses and compromised autonomic regulation. Additionally, this review explores trials that investigate the impact of cardiovascular medications, such as antihypertensive and statin therapies, on cognitive outcomes, as well as studies examining how dementia treatments like anticholinesterases affect cardiovascular health. This review emphasizes the importance of early identification of at-risk individuals, integrated care approaches, and lifestyle interventions aimed at reducing both cardiovascular disease and dementia risk, ultimately aiming to enhance patient outcomes and quality of life.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviate Mouse Sepsis-Induced Cardiomyopathy by Inhibiting the NR1D2/LCN2 Pathway
Authors: Jiang Cheng , Wang Shengbao , Wang Cunbao , Chen Gang , Xu Jing , You Chongge
Published: May 2024

Sepsis is characterized as a systemic inflammatory response syndrome resulting from infection, leading to the development of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy (SICM) is a frequently encountered condition in clinical settings. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess inherent immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory attributes, rendering them a promising therapeutic approach to reestablish the equilibrium between anti-inflammatory and proinflammatory systems in septic patients. Consequently, MSCs are frequently employed in clinical investigations. In this study, the author established a mouse SICM model through cecal ligation and puncture and administered MSCs through the tail vein. Following successful modeling, the myocardial function and histopathological changes were detected by echocardiography, hematoxylin–eosin staining, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,, and other experiments. As a result, MSCs demonstrated the ability to enhance myocardial function, promote cardiac tissue repair, suppress inflammatory response, reduce levels of myocardial injury markers, and mitigate oxidative stress. In addition, transcriptome and proteome analyses were conducted. Through differential expression analysis, functional enrichment analysis, and multiomics association analysis, it was revealed that the transcriptional factors nuclear receptor subfamily 1 (NR1D2) and target gene lipocalin 2 (LCN2) played key roles in mediating the effects of MSCs on SICM. JASPAR website and ChIP-qPCR experiment were used to predict and confirm the targeting relationship between them. Subsequent cell coculture experiments and a series of experiments confirmed that MSCs attenuated cardiomyocyte injury by downregulating the expression of NR1D2 and its downstream target gene LCN2. In conclusion, MSCs alleviate mice SICM through inhibiting NR1D2/LCN2 pathway.
Free Vascularized Fibula Graft as Primary Salvage Procedure for Acute Cervical Osteomyelitis Caused by Epidural Abscess
Authors: Ciosek Timothy A. , Sørlie Andreas , Munch-Ellingsen Jens , Solberg Tore K. , Weum Sven , de Weerd Louis
Published: May 2024

Acute cervical osteomyelitis due to an epidural abscess and pyogenic spondylodiscitis in an immunosuppressed patient with progressive myelopathy is a challenge for the reconstructive surgeon. This report presents our novel approach to treat such a condition in a 56-year-old patient in whom antibiotic treatment and decompression of the medulla by laminectomy of C4–C6 failed. Under general anesthesia, debridement of all infected tissue, including anterior corpectomy of C4–C6, was performed. Simultaneously, a free vascularized fibula graft (FVFG) was harvested, adapted to the bone defect, and anastomosed to the superior thyroid artery and external jugular vein. The graft was stabilized with an anterior plate. A scheduled posterior stabilization was performed 1 week later. Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from bone samples and was treated with antibiotics. The postoperative course was uncomplicated besides a dorsal midline defect 6 weeks postoperatively that was closed with a sensate midline-based perforator flap. Five years on, the patient is infection free, and regular control computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scan images show progressive fusion and hypertrophy of the fibula to C3/C7 vertebrae. An FVFG combined with posterior stabilization could be a promising primary salvage procedure in cases with progressive myelopathy caused by acute cervical osteomyelitis due to spinal infection. The FVFG contributes to blood circulation, delivery of antibiotics, and an immunological response to the infected wound bed and can stimulate rapid fusion and hypertrophy over time.