bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Scaling laws for properties of random graphs that grow via successive combination
Authors: Grindrod Peter
Published: June 2022

We consider undirected graphs that grow through the successive combination of component sub-graphs. For any well-behaved functions defined for such graphs, taking values in a Banach space, we show that there must exist a scaling law applicable when successive copies of the same component graph are combined. Crucially, we extend the approach introduced in previous work to the successive combination of component random sub-graphs. We illustrate this by generalizing the preferential attachment operation for the combination of stochastic block models. We discuss a further wide range of random graph combination operators to which this theory now applies, indicating the ubiquity of growth scaling laws (and asymptotic decay scaling laws) within applications, where the modules are quite distinct, yet may be considered as instances drawn from the same random graph. This is a type of statistically self-similar growth process, as opposed to a deterministic growth process incorporating exact copies of the same motif, and it represents a natural, partially random, growth processes for graphs observed in the analysis of social and technology contexts.
The importance of transesophageal echocardiography evaluation in a patient with acute limb ischaemia
Authors: Carrington Mafalda , Briosa Alexandra , Quadrado Marco , João Isabel
Published: June 2022

This a case of a patient with acute limb ischaemia in whom thorough transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) evaluation depicted a patent foramen ovale and allowed for the detection of a large thrombus arising from an atherosclerotic calcified plaque in the thoracic aorta. We aim to illustrate the importance of performing TEE when systemic emboli are suspected and to not neglect thoracic aorta evaluation when a potential intracardiac cause has been detected.
Three-dimensional topographic effects on infrasound propagation across Ascension Island
Authors: Khodr Codor , Green David N , Azarpeyvand Mahdi
Published: June 2022

Narrowband harmonic infrasound signals within the 1–8 Hz passband, generated by wind turbines on Ascension Island, have been recorded at four microbarometers located at distances of between 1.8 and 4.6 km from the source along different azimuths. Across one month of recordings in October 2010, amplitude ratios between the four recordings show temporal stability but deviate from the ratios expected for propagation across a flat plane. Using a recently developed 3-D parabolic equation method, that can incorporate realistic topography as a lower boundary, it is shown that these time-independent amplitude ratio deviations can be, in part, explained by acoustic interactions with topography that has scale lengths on the order of a few hundreds of metres. These interactions comprise both 2-D barrier effects that reduce sound levels behind high topography, and 3-D diffractive effects that increase sound levels behind topographic obstacles. For the Ascension Island case study, amplitudes along two of the four paths can be successfully modelled using a 2-D model, indicating that barrier effects dominate for these path geometries. Amplitude ratios along a third path, and the frequency-dependence of these ratios, are better simulated using a 3-D model that captures the out-of-plane diffractive effects around a prominent hill. The fourth path is poorly modelled using the 3-D model, which overpredicts acoustic amplitudes in this case. We hypothesize that this mismatch is likely to be due to a simplified description of the wind turbine source term. This study provides further observational confirmation that topographic interactions need to be considered when interpreting locally propagating infrasound, and shows that for harmonic narrowband sources a parabolic equation solver incorporating realistic boundary conditions provides an efficient method for simulating topographic interactions.
Measuring the phase of ambient noise cross correlations: anisotropic Rayleigh and Love wave tomography across the Oman Mountains
Authors: Wiesenberg L , Weidle C , El-Sharkawy A , Timkó M , Lebedev S , Meier T
Published: June 2022

Ambient seismic noise tomography has, over the last two decades, developed into a well-established tool for imaging seismic properties of the Earth’s crust. Fundamental mode Rayleigh and Love wave phase velocity dispersion curves can be measured from ambient noise cross-correlation functions (CCF) either using a high-frequency approximation theory, or by fitting the spectrum of the CCF to a Bessel function. Here, we advance the latter approach and present an automated algorithm that fits the phase of the Hankel function to the phase of the causal symmetric part of the CCF in order to determine phase velocity curves as continuous functions of frequency. Synthetic tests verify the reliability of the proposed method in the presence of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Moreover, usage of the phase allows for robust phase velocity measurements at longer periods than when using the zero crossings of the Bessel function only and is, therefore, particularly useful at short inter-station distances. In the frequency domain, acceptable bandwidths of smooth phase velocity curves are obtained in an automated procedure using a set of fine-tuned quality criteria. We apply the method to 2.5 yr of continuous waveform data recorded by 58 temporary and permanent broad-band seismic stations in northern Oman. We obtain 1072 and 670 phase velocity curves for Rayleigh and Love waves, respectively, in the period range of 2–40 s. The data are inverted for isotropic and azimuthally anisotropic period-dependent phase velocity maps. Synthetic reconstruction tests show that the phase velocity maps have a lateral resolution of ∼30 km. The results suggest distinctly different middle to lower crustal architecture between the northern and eastern Oman Mountains. Azimuthal anisotropy shows contrasting fast propagation orientations in the shallow and deep crust, which we attribute to stress-induced and structural anisotropy in the upper crust and to lattice-preferred orientation in the lower crust.
Surface-wave tomography using SeisLib: a Python package for multiscale seismic imaging
Authors: Magrini Fabrizio , Lauro Sebastian , Kästle Emanuel , Boschi Lapo
Published: June 2022

To improve our understanding of the Earth’s interior, seismologists often have to deal with enormous amounts of data, requiring automatic tools for their analyses. It is the purpose of this study to present SeisLib, an open-source Python package for multiscale seismic imaging. At present, SeisLib includes routines for carrying out surface-wave tomography tasks based on seismic ambient noise and teleseismic earthquakes. We illustrate here these functionalities, both from the theoretical and algorithmic point of view and by application of our library to seismic data from North America. We first show how SeisLib retrieves surface-wave phase velocities from the ambient noise recorded at pairs of receivers, based on the zero crossings of their normalized cross-spectrum. We then present our implementation of the two-station method, to measure phase velocities from pairs of receivers approximately lying on the same great-circle path as the epicentre of distant earthquakes. We apply these methods to calculate dispersion curves across the conterminous United States, using continuous seismograms from the transportable component of USArray and earthquake recordings from the permanent networks. Overall, we measure 144 272 ambient-noise and 2055 earthquake-based dispersion curves, that we invert for Rayleigh-wave phase-velocity maps. To map the lateral variations in surface-wave velocity, SeisLib exploits a least-squares inversion algorithm based on ray theory. Our implementation supports both equal-area and adaptive parametrizations, with the latter allowing for a finer resolution in the areas characterized by high density of measurements. In the broad period range 4–100 s, the retrieved velocity maps of North America are highly correlated (on average, 96 per cent) and present very small average differences (0.14 ± 0.1 per cent) with those reported in the literature. This points to the robustness of our algorithms. We also produce a global phase-velocity map at the period of 40 s, combining our dispersion measurements with those collected at global scale in previous studies. This allows us to demonstrate the reliability and optimized computational speed of SeisLib, even in presence of very large seismic inverse problems and strong variability in the data coverage. The last part of the manuscript deals with the attenuation of Rayleigh waves, which can be estimated through SeisLib based on the seismic ambient noise recorded at dense arrays of receivers. We apply our algorithm to produce an attenuation map of the United States at the period of 4 s, which we find consistent with the relevant literature.
Repair of contained ventricular rupture with infected intrapericardial thrombus
Authors: Hasan Dania , DeBoard Zach M
Published: June 2022

Contained left ventricular rupture, or pseudoaneurysm, is a rare entity resulting from adhesions confining the defect to a localized portion of the pericardial space. Concomitant infection is even more infrequent. We present the first-known case of a patient with an infected intrapericardial thrombus from a left ventricular rupture.
Genetic architecture underlying variation in floral meristem termination in Aquilegia
Authors: Min Ya , Ballerini Evangeline S , Edwards Molly B , Hodges Scott A , Kramer Elena M
Published: June 2022

Floral organs are produced by floral meristems (FMs), which harbor stem cells in their centers. Since each flower only has a finite number of organs, the stem cell activity of an FM will always terminate at a specific time point, a process termed floral meristem termination (FMT). Variation in the timing of FMT can give rise to floral morphological diversity, but how this process is fine-tuned at a developmental and evolutionary level is poorly understood. Flowers from the genus Aquilegia share identical floral organ arrangement except for stamen whorl number (SWN), making Aquilegia a well-suited system for investigation of this process: differences in SWN between species represent differences in the timing of FMT. By crossing A. canadensis and A. brevistyla, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping has revealed a complex genetic architecture with seven QTL. We explored potential candidate genes under each QTL and characterized novel expression patterns of select loci of interest using in situ hybridization. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to dissect the genetic basis of how natural variation in the timing of FMT is regulated, and our results provide insight into how floral morphological diversity can be generated at the meristematic level.
Preston’s universal formula for avian egg shape
Authors: Biggins John D , Montgomerie Robert , Thompson Jamie E , Birkhead Tim R
Published: June 2022

Nearly 70 years ago, Preston published a pioneering study in which he provided formulae for the shapes of birds’ eggs. One of these formulae is universal in that it provides an almost perfect representation for all eggs, even pyriform ones, and is better than all other formulae published since. This essentially perfect representation of egg shape is obtained by estimating the parameters in Preston’s universal formula by least squares, using hundreds of measurements of the egg’s radii along its entire length. Preston’s universal formula can also be used to obtain an equation for avian egg shape that uses just 5 measurements (the length and 4 appropriately spaced diameters). The equation based solely on these 5 measurements provides an egg shape that is virtually indistinguishable from one based on hundreds of measurements. We demonstrate the usefulness of Preston’s formulations using digital photographs of eggs. Our perspective is that, despite a number of subsequent approaches, Preston’s original one has not been bettered and should be the standard for studying avian egg shape.
Yoga and Meditation
Authors: Godrej Farah
Published: June 2022

This chapter speaks to the theoretical concerns that animate this project. It addresses a number of debates—both historical and contemporary—that set the stage for what follows in the rest of this book. It shows us why we should care about yoga and meditation in prisons, walking the reader through the broad sweep of commentaries that reveal the darker, more insidious possibilities that lurk within yogic and meditative practices, particularly when they are taught to those routinely targeted by unequal or oppressive forms of power. Here, we find that the dangers of co-optation are very real; but so are the emancipatory possibilities. The chapter points to the emergence of newer, more activist versions of yoga and meditation, which produce a kind of individual self-cultivation that is thoughtfully critical and politically challenging.
Stage Five and Neoliberal Statebuilding
Authors: Richmond Oliver P.
Published: June 2022

This chapter outlines how a neoliberal retrenchment entangled with geopolitics and the advent of the War on Terror in the 2000s undermined the international architecture in stage five.
Stage Six
Authors: Richmond Oliver P.
Published: June 2022

This chapter examines two alternatives for stage six, arising from stage five and its concerns about intervention, which in turn opened up the potential to outline the possible dynamics of a new emerging stage. Firstly, stage six might require a more complex and emancipatory framework for peace suited to advanced conceptions of justice and sustainability. Or alternatively, following on from the retrenchment of stage five, stage six might herald the re-emergence of counter-revolutionary forces, based upon on stratification and domination, reviving the geopolitical order of stage one.
Existential Media
Authors: Lagerkvist Amanda
Published: June 2022

This chapter synthesizes the key discussions in the opening part of the book and provides an outline of the main contours of the project of existential media studies. It argues for a broad media concept and a literal understanding of the postdigital. It describes existential media studies as a philosophically, ethically, and politically motivated project, challenging the forgoing of our shared existential vulnerability, in media theory and beyond. It is a theoretical and ethical methodology in line with the field of critical disability studies. It proposes a different subject for media studies and a different human after posthumanism: the coexister, who remolds existence in humble self-realization and in care for the world, practically and ethically, while also being a cocreator of the contemporary digital limit situation. Deeply entangled, coexisters still possess the capacity to act, choose, respond, and take responsibility, yet within limits and never in isolation. The coexister is the principal inhabitant of the digital ecology, and our principal subject in media studies is not a being in full control. The chapter defines existential media and their four key properties: First, they are world-makers and our infrastructures of being, enabling yet setting limits for our movement and dwelling. Second, they throw us into a particular yet uncertain world, and this involves opening limits: features of indeterminacy, anticipation, and ambivalence. Third, they activate our shared vulnerability and deep sense of dependence and relationality. Finally, they demand responsive action, critique, ethical choice, even an either/or on behalf of the coexisters.
Anticipatory Media
Authors: Lagerkvist Amanda
Published: June 2022

This chapter summarizes the key deliberations in the book and frames the existential issues at stake in the digital limit situation by discussing how in the present age, AI (artificial intelligence) emerges as both a medium to and message about (or even from) the future, eclipsing all other possible prospects. Interrogating how AI succeeds in presenting itself as an arrival on the human horizon at the end times, the chapter scrutinizes the “inevitability” of AI-driven abstract futures and probes how such imaginaries become living myths, by attending to how the technology is embedded in broader appropriations of the future tense. Reclaiming anticipation existentially, by turning to the lessons drawn from the mourners, the coexisters, and by conceiving of anticipatory media as another form of existential media, the chapter offers an invitation beyond the prospects and limits of “the new AI era” of predictive modeling, exploitation, and dataism. It submits that the present moment of technological transformation and of escalating multifaceted and interrelated global crises is a digital limit situation in which there are entrenched existential and politico-ethical stakes of anticipatory media. The chapter suggests that attending to them as a “future present,” opening up horizons of “futurability,” and taking responsible action constitute our utmost capability and task. The chapter concludes that precisely here lies the assignment ahead for pursuing a postdisciplinary, integrative, and generative form of humanities and social sciences as a method of hope that engages AI designers in the pursuit of an inclusive and open future of existential and ecological sustainability.
Unity and Universality, Locality and Diversity According to Baptist Thinking about the Church
Authors: Fiddes Paul S.
Published: June 2022

It is the distinctive Baptist way of being the church not to legislate for the relation between the universal and the local church. There is no formulated division of responsibilities between local congregation and a trans-local assembly of churches gathering together. There can only be a covenantal relationship, which in Baptist tradition is a matter of mutual trust. The local church has the liberty to make its own decisions under Christ, but has an obligation to listen to the wisdom of the wider church as it also discerns the mind of Christ. While this can be effective, sometimes the local church fails to listen, especially where it is rich in its own resources and feels that it does not need the help of others to operate successfully. Receptive Ecumenism can help Baptists in this situation learn from specific aspects of Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican theology and practice.
Receptive Ecumenism and the Dynamics of Development within Pentecostalism
Authors: Kärkkäinen Veli-Matti
Published: June 2022

This chapter investigates the potential for a Pentecostal vision of Christian unity in the framework of Receptive Ecumenism. In order to help situate Pentecostalism, it first considers difficulties and obstacles on the way to seeking for Pentecostal engagement with ecumenism, including some of the unique features of that kind of enterprise. Second, it presents one of the classical ecclesiological notions, namely apostolicity, as a viable bridge for helping Pentecostal and other churches connect with the ecumenical task in general and the paradigm of Receptive Ecumenism in particular. Third, in a constructive proposal, it suggests three interrelated tasks on the way towards a mutual engagement in Receptive Ecumenism by both Pentecostals and others.
Foundations and Openings for Ecclesial Learning
Authors: Bolen Donald
Published: June 2022

This chapter looks first to the ecclesiological foundations for ecumenical engagement set forward at Vatican II and subsequently developed in authoritative Catholic teaching. It enquires into the intrinsic consistency of Receptive Ecumenism with Catholic ecclesiology. A Catholic perspective on the relevance of the Lund Principle—that Christian churches do all things together except where deep differences require that we act separately—is proposed. Bringing these perspectives together with observations from half a century of dialogues, the chapter suggests that as helpful as Vatican II’s framework for ecumenical engagement is, there are unanswered questions and necessary work remaining, which could be facilitated by a commitment to ecclesial learning from other Christian communities.
The Call to Holiness
Authors: Chapman David M.
Published: June 2022

This chapter applies the methods of Receptive Ecumenism to investigate what Catholics and Methodists can learn and receive from each other concerning the call to holiness in relation to personal Christian discipleship, the ecclesial character of grace, the church as means of grace, and holy living and holy dying as a vocation to sanctification and fullness of life. It draws on The Call to Holiness: From Glory to Glory (Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Catholic Church, 2016) and Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate on ‘The Call to Holiness in Today’s World’ (2018). As well as identifying areas of theological convergence, the chapter considers respective potential learning in service of ecclesial reform through the transformation of structures, spiritual and liturgical practices, and Christian service in the world. Each section concludes by posing questions for further study.
Finnish Luther Studies, Lutheran Dialogues, and Ecclesial Learning
Authors: Saarinen Risto , Hietamäki Minna
Published: June 2022

The ‘New Finnish Interpretation of Luther’, a project initiated by Tuomo Mannermaa in the 1980s, has grown to be an influential research venture which influences both Reformation studies and current ecumenical theology. Risto Saarinen first outlines briefly the basic ideas and claims of this school. He then investigates its ecumenical influence in the Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogue, the Lutheran–Orthodox dialogue, and the Anglican–Lutheran Porvoo communion. Minna Hietamäki discusses in more detail how the so-called differentiated consensus method relates to this trend and the ways in which it has similarities with Receptive Ecumenism. Hietamäki also introduces the more recent Finnish ecumenical project, ‘Reason and Religious Recognition’, an approach aiming to understand how genuinely different theological convictions can co-exist within an ecumenical frame, and reflects on how this might serve to develop the theology and practice of Receptive Ecumenism.
Not Problems but Pioneers
Authors: Ryan Diane
Published: June 2022

Interchurch families, where the couple are active members of different Christian denominations, are described as ‘laboratories of unity’ (Pope Benedict XVI) and as living ‘in their marriage the joys and difficulties of the path to Christian Unity’ (Pope John Paul II). The relevance of Receptive Ecumenism to such families (and vice versa) was noted at the First International Conference in 2006, and aspects of this relationship have subsequently been explored in short articles. However, no substantive account of the potential receptive ecclesial learning in this context has been published. This chapter provides a basis for further work by presenting three interlocking perspectives. First, the existing literature on interchurch families is critically situated in relation to key principles of Receptive Ecumenism. Second, the author’s experience as a partner and parent in an interchurch family is related to the ‘domestic’ and ‘institutional’ church. And, third, a more systematic perspective is offered through examining interchurch families as a sign and sacrament of unity.
Learning to Love Differently Well
Authors: Nicholls Linda C.
Published: June 2022

Over the past fifty years emerging social changes in the understanding and expression of human sexuality have challenged the church to reflect and respond. The Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion have been engaged in discernment on these emerging issues both internally in Anglican family relationships and externally with ecumenical partners. Handling disagreement and dialogue on such sensitive issues necessitates new approaches and structures, such as a process of ‘Continuing Indaba’ in the Anglican Communion. Elements of Receptive Ecumenism are present in the journey of discernment on issues of human sexuality in ecumenical conversations and in internal dialogue within the Anglican Communion and within the Anglican Church of Canada, particularly in its relationship with Indigenous peoples. This chapter traces the use of elements of Receptive Ecumenism in this discernment.
Unlikely Siblings?
Authors: Medina Néstor
Published: June 2022

This chapter articulates a Latina/o Pentecostal ethical response to Marian devotion. It makes a three-fold point. First, it argues that the Catholic devotion to Mary presents Pentecostals with unique ethico-theological challenges to and opportunities for understanding the mystery of the divine, both by drawing on the embodied experience of women and through using female language to re-imagine the mystery of God. Second, it proposes that when Mary’s life and experience of divine conception are understood pneumatologically, she becomes the ethical model for understanding the activity of the Spirit in the life of believers. And third, it insists that discussions on Mary provide the opportunity for ethically reclaiming the embodied experience of women, which can inevitably lead to changing present ecclesial structures. The Catholic practice of Marian devotion is a unique entry point for a Latina/o Catholic and Latina/o Pentecostal ethico-theological dialogue.
Australian Practices of Receptive Ecumenism
Authors: Hawkes Geraldine
Published: June 2022

Over eleven years and across seventeen traditions state-wide and beyond, the South Australian Council of Churches (SACC) has had an intentional focus on Receptive Ecumenism. The self-critical ethic of Receptive Ecumenism is not so much a diminishment of identity as being called forth into the fullness of what it is to be ‘church’. This chapter describes how SACC nurtured and nourished the way of Receptive Ecumenism in a range of ecclesial settings. These include practical and spiritual resources, workshops, conversations, and presentations. At the heart of this approach is a willingness to invite people in all arenas of church to join the journey with a new disposition of listening, learning, and loving.
Two-Eyed Vision
Authors: O’Brien John
Published: June 2022

Reception of the Sufi tradition, as exemplified by the both/and hermeneutic of Ibn al-’Arabi, can enrich Receptive Ecumenism on the part of the Catholic tradition. Sufism posits similarity as a corrective to incomparability. For its own part, Catholicism might reflect on Mystery as a corrective to conceptualization. Difference can be the fruit of foundational experiences giving rise to traditions or interpretations that cannot be adequately rationalized without comparable experience. Ecumenical receptivity is an inner moment in Christian theology, because attention to the self-disclosure of God in all things is co-extensively attentiveness to that self-communication both within one’s own tradition and outside it.
What Prevents Christian Churches from Learning?
Authors: Astley Jeff
Published: June 2022

Building on the work of John Hull on adult Christian education, this chapter reflects on the educational themes of critical openness, learning, and teaching, together with the virtues of humility, hospitality, and friendliness, so as to explore some of the problems and possibilities of ecumenical learning between local Christian communities. It draws on the author’s study of the literature on Christian education, and his empirical and theoretical research on the ordinary (in the sense of non-specialist and non-academic) theology of the majority of Christians, who are formed in Christ through their everyday lives, loves, and worship.
Living Church
Authors: Watkins Clare
Published: June 2022

This chapter takes up the suggestion of Receptive Ecumenism that there is a particular challenge in integrating the academic and ecclesial worlds of ecumenical dialogue and theology with the living of Christian unity on the ground. The fracture identified here resonates strongly with the central concerns of practical theology. Drawing on practical theological work using the methodology of Theological Action Research, the chapter describes how specific contributions to ecumenical learning, at all levels, might be furthered through attention to practices. The argument is made for a more thoroughly integrated approach to ecumenical learning across ecclesial traditions; one which recognizes, in line with adult learning insights, that it is the enabling of learning through shared practices and concerns that is most fruitful, sustainable, and transformative. The implications for effective learning and ecclesial change in Receptive Ecumenism present challenges for both academy and church, as the demand is made to integrate the experiences and realities of ecumenical practice with our conversations.
Chariot of Fire
Authors: Whittaker Jason
Published: June 2022

The Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marked a moment when British society was becoming more divided than at any point in the previous century, with an increasingly conservative majority seeking to make Britain great while other sections of society, whether disaffected youth or striking miners, became increasingly cynical of attempts to build Jerusalem. This chapter examines the ways in which the ‘Jerusalem’ hymn was used both as a symbol of Thatcherite Britain and resistance to it, beginning with the song’s adoption by those involved in the punk and New Wave scenes in film and music, as well as later in Chariots of Fire.
Ideational stabilization in policy practice
Authors: Zuber Christina Isabel
Published: June 2022

This chapter complements the analysis of discursive stabilization in the preceding chapter by studying how ideas become ingrained in the routines and practices of policy implementation in the administrative sphere. An analysis of direct legacies shows how Catalonia’s educational institutions and street-level bureaucrats transitioned from catering to internal migrants to catering to those from abroad, thereby upholding the Catalan idea of integration. This is followed by an analysis of indirect legacies, showing how ideational consensus helped Catalan governments set up new administrative structures and routines for managing immigrant integration. Catalonia’s stable policy practices are then contrasted with a more interrupted policy path in South Tyrol, where internal migrants were never integrated into the regional majority community of German speakers.
Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy
Authors: Wilson Catherine
Published: June 2022

According to his own exposition, the chief targets of Kant’s critical philosophy were determinism, atheism, and materialism. These positions, a source of existential anxiety for his contemporaries, were associated with the eighteenth-century radical Enlightenment in Europe, whose representatives included Locke, La Mettrie, Buffon, Hume, Maupertuis, Holbach, Herder, and the Göttingen materialists. Appealing to the powers of nature and to empirical enquiry, these philosophers typically ridiculed academic metaphysics, rejected appeals to incorporeal substances, emphasized the animal-human continuum, grounded ethics and law in convention and utility, and challenged the legitimacy of worldly hierarchies and priestly authority. The present study focuses on Kant’s transcendental idealism and his theory of human nature. Reversing certain more familiar characterizations, it shows how the critical philosophy was intended to constitute a bulwark against a radical naturalism while leaving space for nonthreatening investigations in physics, chemistry, and the sciences of life. It substantiates earlier claims that Kant was, at best, a proponent of ‘moderate Enlightenment’, while offering a cleared pathway to comprehension through his famously complicated expositions. The reader is further encouraged to reflect critically on Kant’s philosophical relevance for us, given that our present concerns and anxieties are so different from his. The most progressive and humane positions, from our current perspective, with respect to scientific explanation, mind-body relations, altruism, economic and criminal justice, animals, women, warfare, non-Europeans, and evolution, were in fact held by Kant’s implied and declared opponents.
Introduction
Authors: Wilson Catherine
Published: June 2022

Kant is a difficult author whose philosophy is more often treated as a self-contained, coherent, but somewhat esoteric system than as a set of intelligible responses to intellectual, moral, and cultural challenges of mid-to-late eighteenth century German culture. The present study argues that rather than being in the forefront of Enlightenment philosophy, Kant resisted the newly emerging naturalistic image of the human being. Faced with developments in cosmology and earth history, the sciences of life, anthropology and moral psychology, that appeared to favour a form of pessimistic hedonism, Kant aimed to reconstruct a metaphysics of the supersensible that would be invulnerable to empiricist criticism.
The Idea of a Political Settlement
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian
Published: June 2022

In the past, political settlements analysis (PSA) has suffered from a lack of conceptual clarity. In this chapter we provide an extended conceptual discussion, ultimately defining a political settlement as an ongoing agreement among a society’s most powerful groups over a set of political and economic institutions expected to generate for them a minimally acceptable level of benefits, which thereby ends or prevents generalized civil war and/or political and economic disorder. The authors provide an extended and nuanced defence of this definition, arguing that in contrast to most extant versions, it is both theoretically fertile and consistent with commonsense understandings of a political settlement. Universally applicable, the concept is compatible with many different and distinct political settlement theories, frameworks, and hypotheses, yet it directs attention to what should be PSA’s distinctive contribution: an analysis of how the problem of violence shapes ruling elites’ commitment to different sorts of development policy, or not as the case may be. The chapter also briefly introduces a new typology of political settlements, based on two novel dimensions: the social foundation and the power configuration of the settlement.
Collective-action Problems and Development
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian
Published: June 2022

This chapter takes a further step towards enhancing political settlement analysis’s formal rigour. It offers a framework that permits systematic inquiry into relationships between distributions of power, institutional evolution, and prospects for resolving a series of context-specific collective-action problems that often hinder inclusive development. Specifically, this chapter argues that economic and social development require resolving two types of collective-action problems: first-order problems of free riding and second-order problems of coordination and enforcement. Furthermore, political settlements address the most fundamental collective-action problem of development—preventing outright internal warfare—but do so in distinct fashions depending on their specific configuration. To illustrate, we introduce a new four-quadrant typology of political settlements based on two dimensions: the social foundation—the powerful groups included in the settlement—which can range from narrow to broad, and the power configuration among such groups, which can range from concentrated to dispersed. For each quadrant, we proceed to explore the accompanying collective-action problems, related developmental challenges, and the associated implications for elite commitment to, and state capacity for, economic and social development.
Describing Political Settlement Evolution in a Single Country
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian
Published: June 2022

This chapter provides an extended illustration of the authors’ new approach by applying it to South Africa, a country that, since 1960, has experienced all four types of settlement. The emphasis is on showing how empirical developments in that country are reflected in the country codings, and also how the concepts provide a helpful language for explaining what is observed. On the one hand, there is a broad story of South Africa transitioning between settlement types, and on the other, by lifting the hood and examining the construction of these variables, a more precise and fine-grained analytical narrative than more conventional accounts provide is arrived at.
Testing the Relations between Political Settlements, Conflict, and Development
Authors: Kelsall Tim , Schulz Nicolai , Ferguson William D. , vom Hau Matthias , Hickey Sam , Levy Brian
Published: June 2022

This chapter bolsters the external validity of the authors’ findings by subjecting them to large-N analysis, using the 2,718 country-years in their forty-two-country dataset, helping to address some of the challenges to PSA outlined in Chapter 1, and placing political settlements analysis more squarely within the social scientific mainstream. After looking at some initial descriptive statistics linking the authors’ concepts to major political economy outcomes including conflict onset and coup propensity, a regression analysis is run of political settlement variables against economic growth and infant mortality reduction, proxies for economic and social development. In support of their theory, the authors find a strong statistical relationship between power concentration and economic development, as well as between the social foundation and social development. Further, power concentration and breadth of social foundation reinforce each other when it comes to driving economic and social development. Also some support is found for the authors’ typological categorical variables. To wit, narrow-concentrated settlements tend to grow the fastest, followed by broad-concentrated, then broad-dispersed and narrow-dispersed political settlements, while for social development, broad-concentrated settlements perform best, closely followed by broad-dispersed and narrow-concentrated settlements, with narrow-dispersed settlements trailing the pack.
Probability and Distribution Theorems and Their Applications in Risk Management
Authors: Bandyopadhyay Arindam
Published: June 2022

Probability concepts and distribution theorems provide the risk managers with effective tools to gain insights into the nature of uncertainty. This chapter explains the basic probability and distribution concepts and demonstrates how they can be useful in measurement and management of various risks. Various probability measures and their application rules have been demonstrated using numerous examples. In this chapter, we have illustrated how to interpret and use discrete as well as continuous distributions to predict loss ranges with the use of confidence interval. Understanding of nature and pattern of loss distributions is essential to estimate risk capital. The idea of distributions is also helpful to perform various useful statistical hypothesis tests to get more insights.
Epilogue
Authors: Xinyue Bobby
Published: June 2022

The Epilogue summarizes the core arguments of the book and explores how the main points of this study could be extended by offering a succinct reading of Horace’s Odes 4. Horace’s final book of lyric poetry is underpinned by tensions between the unstoppable passage of time and the desire for timelessness, between absence and presence, finality and perpetuity. It will be argued that the poet’s depiction of Augustus’ divinity in Odes 4.5 encapsulates these tensions, through which Horace subtly raises the issue that the aetas of Augustus—both his biological age and the political concept of ‘the age of Augustus’ (tua, Caesar, aetas, 4.15.4)—will have to come to an end at some point. As Horace frames the divinization of Augustus as the symbolic culmination of a glorious historical process on the one hand, and the transitional point to a future without Augustus on the other, Odes 4 renders apparent the problem of identifying the peace and stability of Rome with the life of Augustus—the problem of putting the hopes and fears of the state in one mortal man.
Managing Arts in Times of Pandemics and Beyond
Authors: Damodaran A.
Published: June 2022

The work seeks to provide a management perspective about museums, theatres, and related organizations (like auction houses) from the angles of philosophy, policy, organizational design, economics, and technology. The work seeks to examine the unprecedented crisis engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic on arts organizations across the world and the management strategies adopted to handle the pandemic. The work delves into the immense significance of digital technologies such as streaming technologies, algorithm-driven sales, and information storing digital ledgers like blockchains in guiding the fortunes of the arts organization both during and beyond the phase of pandemics. The key message of the book is that art organizations will not be the same even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Arts organizations that have for long relied on the real world of exhibitions and performances will be tempted to straddle in both the real and virtual models. Their revenue earnings models will also be more diversified than at present, so would their reach to their customers. Further the advent of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) based on blockchain platform Ethereum, it is argued, will turn democratize the world of creation, collection, and consumption thus nudging extant institutions to change their prevalent methods of doing business in arts works.
Design of Arts Organizations
Authors: Damodaran A.
Published: June 2022

This chapter discusses the design of arts organizations in terms of their operational processes. Based on a closer look at the organizational features and dynamics of three museums, and four theatres drawn from India, Russia, Japan, USA, and Canada, the chapter explains how arts organizations can be classified into ‘closed-loop’, ‘open-loop’, and ‘linear’ organizations. The chapter proceeds to categorize the seven arts organizations in terms of their distinct governance and business models. It is observed that arts organisations that rely on their own creative resources for running their activities tend to adopt a ‘closed-loop’ approach, while those which are adept at borrowing creative resources from external sources tend to be ‘open loop’ in structure. It is arged that organizational design influences the patterns of control that managers of exercise over their personnel. Further, it is contended that performance evaluation systems which are not sensitive to design of arts organizations will fail to assess the true worth of these organizations to its stakeholders.
The Future of Arts Organizations
Authors: Damodaran A.
Published: June 2022

The final chapter surveys the impact of COVID-19 on arts organizations. It is observed that the advent of COVID-19 in early 2020 had pushed many arts organizations to transition to digital streaming media to relay their live shows. The transition resulted in a phenomenal expansion in their customer base. To a large extent, the switch-over enabled these organizations to tide over the losses brought about by the cancellation of live shows during the lockdown phase. Indeed many large museums had shifted to virtual visits during the lockdown phase of COVID-19. Many of them were able to amplify their virtual experience, thanks to digital imaging technologies. Though these Museums reverted to the pre-pandemic routines during the latter half of 2020, they did not completely abandon their forays into the virtual world. Another development during the pandemic years was the sale of art works through blockchain platforms that minted non-fungible crypto tokens. Although, it is conceded that large arts organizations are in a better position to take advantage of digital platforms and technologies, it is also argued that with better business models, it is possible for small arts organizations to avail these technologies.
Civil Service Effectiveness
Authors: Somanathan T. V. , Natarajan Gulzar
Published: June 2022

This chapter provides an analytical framework for assessing the effectiveness of civil services. It defines four criteria in this regard—preservation of constitutional order, impartial implementation of rule of law, realization of the will of elected governments, and promotion of economic development. It then makes an assessment of the Indian civil service in terms of the four criteria and examines the causes for the shortfalls in performance. It identifies behaviours which are encouraged and discouraged and provides a framework for the associated incentive structure within the civil service. Finally, it explores recent trends affecting the civil service, including institutional factors as well as the dramatic changes in the role and expectations of governments.
Addressing Policymaking Challenges—I
Authors: Somanathan T. V. , Natarajan Gulzar
Published: June 2022

The chapter makes suggestions on addressing policymaking challenges. It identifies three categories of policymaking challenges—structural, competence and management, and process related—and makes suggestions on each. On the structural side, it proposes reduction in fragmentation, separation of policymaking from implementation, and decentralisation and delegation of authority. It also discussed two of the commonly suggested reforms on new public management approaches and performance-based pay. It proposes some specific reforms on personnel management and postings, especially among and of the IAS officers. It discusses the issue of lateral entry into the IAS and makes some suggestions on an incentive-compatible mechanism.
Becoming Better Policymakers—Behavioural Change
Authors: Somanathan T. V. , Natarajan Gulzar
Published: June 2022

This chapter is concerned about specific behavioural traits and conceptual frameworks that can enhance the quality of program design as well as certain others found in implementers, which can be detrimental in policymaking. Certain commonly observed biases that detract from objectivity and professionalism are also discussed. The chapter also discusses certain conceptual frameworks which enhance our ability to understand complex issues, diagnose problems, and figure out effective solutions. The discussion covers illustrative examples of how these traits and frameworks can help officers implement programs more effectively. While written with IAS officers primarily in mind, given their idiosyncratic career progression, these attributes are relevant as much to all civil servants occupying policymaking roles.
Pico della Mirandola on Trial
Authors: Copenhaver Brian P.
Published: June 2022

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) has been a beacon of progress in modern times, and the celebrated Oration on the Dignity of Man has been the engine of his fame. But he never wrote a speech about the dignity of man. The prince’s speech announced quite different projects: persuading Christians to become Kabbalists in order to annihilate themselves in God; and convincing philosophers that their path to saving wisdom was concord rather than disputation. This book about Heresy, Freedom, and Philosophy shows that Pico’s work, before and after he wrote the Oration, was in no way progressive—or ‘humanist’—in its ideas, and that his main authorities were medieval clerics and theologians, not secular Renaissance intellectuals. The evidence is Pico’s Apology, his self-defense against heresy charges: this public polemic reveals more about him than the famous speech that he never gave and that deliberately kept its message secret. The orator’s method in the Oration was esoteric, but the defendant in the Apology made his case openly in a voice that was academic and belligerent, not prophetic or poetic. Perhaps because of its size and presentation, the Apology has been read less than Pico’s other writings: as far as I know, the last book devoted entirely to it appeared more than five centuries ago.