bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Experience-based effects
Authors: Chaves Rui P. , Putnam Michael T.
Published: January 2021

This chapter presents experimental evidence suggesting that the acceptability of certain island violations is contingent on the prior experience that speakers have with both main situation type described by the proposition itself, and the particular syntactic construction in which it is conveyed. Highly coherent and prototypical complex structures more easily lend themselves to licensing extraction from otherwise deeply embedded positions, and comprehenders can adapt to the frequency of the input in order to overcome the processing difficulty caused when the input is unusual and inconsistent with their prior experience. Acceptability ratings thus range from highly acceptable to unacceptable, suggesting that the plausibility of the proposition itself, the degree to which the extracted phrase plays a role in the main action, and the frequency of such dependencies create a malleable acceptability cline. Acceptability differences likely stem from the proposition itself, the world knowledge it evokes, and the degree to which the extracted relevant matters for the main state-of-affairs that the utterance conveys.
What’s New? How to Refine our Assessments of Party Novelty
Authors: Haughton Tim , Deegan-Krause Kevin
Published: January 2021

Scholars have disagreed over how to assess and measure what constitutes a ‘new’ political party. The different understandings of newness matter because they are used in attempts to measure the overall instability of party systems, often producing widely varying results for volatility calculations. There are multiple approaches to assessing novelty. Some are rooted in studying party origins, while others are based on party attributes, and there is a wide range of views on the thresholds for what counts as new. Combining the origin and attribute approaches provides the best way of understanding the degree of change. The chapter assesses parties on a multi-level range of change from ‘Continuation’ through to ‘Inception’. This range permits both stricter and looser definitions to be used to determine the level and extent of newness in a political system, and thus works around the problem of inconsistent evaluations of parties and conflicting methods of classification.
The Living and the Dead
Authors: Haughton Tim , Deegan-Krause Kevin
Published: January 2021

Although the party systems of Central Europe have witnessed significant turbulence, some parties have survived. Endurance is more common among parties that built well-developed organizational structures, took a clear ideological stance as a standard-bearer on a major enduring issue divide of politics, and developed internal institutional structures that allow for a passing of the leadership baton when leaders had outlived their usefulness. In contrast, many new parties created in Central Europe do not have these characteristics. Their chances of survival are often diminished further by participation in government when they find it hard to deliver on their promises. Given the way that new parties begin, it is therefore not much of a surprise that most do not survive for more than a few election cycles. A few new parties were able to survive, but they did so mainly by actively choosing to acquire characteristics of the long-established parties.
Conclusion
Authors: Röger Maren
Published: January 2021

This chapter shows firstly, that sexual politics was a central element of policy on race and ethnicity in the occupied Polish territories and was thus at the core of German policy. Second, by looking at commercial, consensual, and forced intercourse, one can see the extent of the occupiers' power. They had the authority to determine the sexual integrity of Polish people, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, women or men: i.e. the power to respect or infringe on this integrity. Third, sexuality was an important arena in the negotiations between the institutions of occupation society and their members. The consolidation of Nazi power was based on concessions in this area, made both to their own men and, to a more limited extent, the Polish population.
The Ethos of Modern Democracy and the Church [1957]
Authors: Böckenförde Ernst-Wolfgang , Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

This article is a passionate call on the Catholic Church to accept democracy on substantive, not only instrumental grounds, and to grant Catholic believers independence in their electoral choices. Böckenförde here lays out his democratic theory, which is formally built on the three cornerstones of majority rule, individual liberty, and equality, whereby the latter two constrain the former and guard majority rule from degenerating into majority despotism. In the long term, the formal features of democracy alone will not suffice to sustain democratic politics, however. What is required, according to Böckenförde, is an ethos among the citizenry and its leaders to remain committed to these formal values. The first goal of every citizen must therefore be to ensure that the formal features of democracy are guaranteed and safeguarded, not that his or her personal values are politically realized. Democracy requires, Böckenförde lays out, a genuine willingness to compromise, not as a tactical manoeuvre because one is not (yet) strong enough to govern alone, but as a genuine concession and renunciation because one accords also to one’s political opponent the right to his own political convictions.
The Fundamental Right of Freedom of Conscience [1970]
Authors: Böckenförde Ernst-Wolfgang , Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

This article has been described as constituting the liberal core of Böckenförde’s constitutional thought. Böckenförde lays out why he regards freedom of conscience to be the basis of all modern individual liberties, and indeed, as the basis of the modern concept of freedom itself. The article builds on his work on religious freedom to argue that only in modernity can religion be chosen freely and the believer be free in her/his belief. The modern state draws its justification from the non-identification with the moral convictions of its citizens and therefore from the distinction between legality and morality. In other words, the state prescribes what is legal (or not) but leaves questions of morality to individual citizens and to society. Looking back at the constitutional history of this particular freedom and the different connotations attached to it in West European and German legal documents from the 1500s until 1970, Böckenförde analyses how freedom of conscience was slowly and progressively carved out as a right emanating from deepening notions of religious freedom gained successively in peace agreements that ended the confessional wars in Europe. The article contains the kernel for three core contributions Böckenförde developed later: his insistence on the distinction between state and society directed against the Smend school, his critique of the value-based grounding of law directed against Federal Constitutional Court jurisprudence following the (in)famous Lüth Decision of 1958, and his notion of secularity as requiring ‘open encompassing neutrality’ as opposed to ‘distancing neutrality’ between religion and state.
Remarks on the Relationship between State and Religion in Hegel [1982]
Authors: Böckenförde Ernst-Wolfgang , Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

Is and can religion be seen as a foundation of the modern state? In this article Böckenförde discusses the relationship between state and religion while reviewing Hegel’s main writings on this question. Reconstructing Hegel’s concept of the state, Böckenförde points out that for Hegel, the state is simultaneously universal and historical. It is more than the political system or government—it is the polity in general and the structured form in which the people exist. Moreover, the state is the materialization of the ethical idea as such and the manifestation of how ‘truth’ in history became reality. In Hegel’s view, ‘truth’ is ultimately God’s will in the world. Further, for Hegel, state and religion are two forms of the same substance: reason. Morality and reason are closely intertwined in Hegel. Religion is a source of morality for the people, and the state and the Church are the institutional manifestations of reason. Böckenförde shows that Hegel identifies individual conscience as the core of each person’s freedom; however, Hegel denies a right to an aberrant conscience, indicating a very limited notion of freedom. Finally, Böckenförde discusses Hegel’s philosophy in light of the state today with its separation of state and religion. Since today’s state does not consider religion as part of its foundation, in Hegel’s view it would ‘stand freely in the air’. Böckenförde concludes, contrary to Hegel, that only the democratic process and the people’s agreement on the things that cannot be voted upon can form the basis of the state.
The Secularized State
Authors: Böckenförde Ernst-Wolfgang , Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

In this article Böckenförde contrasts his concept of open encompassing neutrality (found in most Scandinavian countries and in Germany) with that of distancing neutrality, as practised in France. While the latter champions negative religious freedom, open encompassing neutrality aims for a balancing of negative and positive religious freedom. Religious freedom for Böckenförde is multidimensional and includes the right to have (or not) a religious faith (freedom of belief), to affirm (or not) this faith privately and openly (freedom to profess), to exercise (or not) one’s religion publicly (freedom of worship), and to join together (or not) in religious communities (religious freedom of association). The correlate to these individual and group rights is the open and overarching principle of the state’s neutrality towards religion and other worldviews, entailing a prohibition on the state justifying law on religious grounds. Furthermore, it requires the state not to privilege religion over non-religion and one religious faith over another. Siding with the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court (at a time when he was not a sitting judge), Böckenförde underlines that even religious communities who reject the democratic state have the right to be recognized and legally protected. What matters is not whether communities accept or reject the state, but whether they obey or violate its laws. This was the court’s view on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it must also be applied, Böckenförde writes, to religious fundamentalists who do not accept the secular order, as long as they do not violate any laws.
Böckenförde on the Relationship Between Theology, Law, and Political Theory
Authors: Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

Part III comprises four articles dealing with the relation between theology, law, and political theory. Throughout all of these, Böckenförde clearly distinguishes between the demands on the individual that arise from religion, positive state law, and politics respectively. He also points out that religious legal concepts and state law need not be irreconcilably opposed to each other—there is the possibility of reconciliation between the truth-claims of revealed religion and the positivity of modern state law, as long as religious claims do not claim to be universally binding. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church and the democratic constitutional state share common ground in the recognition of the freedom of the individual. The chapters reflect Böckenförde’s personal belief and attitude, expressed in the motto ...
A Christian in the Office of Constitutional Judge [1999]
Authors: Böckenförde Ernst-Wolfgang , Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

In this personal reflection, Böckenförde portrays the dilemma he faced during his tenure as a judge on Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court: trying to bridge his Christian Catholic spirituality with his work as a high-ranking public servant in a secular state. He describes his struggle with the Catholic teachings prior to Second Vaticanum, which at that time still defined the state as ideally Catholic and demanded every believer in public office to act as a vanguard for Christian natural law. But by committing himself to the public good, Böckenförde sidestepped the requirement of the Catholic Church and fully embraced the democratic, religiously neutral political order. Böckenförde justified his position (deviant in the eyes of the Church) by insisting on the strict neutrality demanded from a judge. He pointed to the so-called Church Compromise of the Weimar Republic (Weimarer Kirchenkompromiss), which established the neutrality of the state with regard to religion, and which was re-adopted in West Germany after 1949. He also relinquished his consultative role in the Central Committee of Catholics once he was nominated to the Constitutional Court. Even in cases affecting abortion, he only dealt with the issues at hand as a judge, not as a Catholic. In his view, Christian spirituality can manifest itself in faithfulness to one's office and an integrity that is open to the world.
Böckenförde on the Right to Life, Human Dignity, and its Meta-positive Foundations
Authors: Künkler Mirjam , Stein Tine
Published: January 2021

Part IV contains three articles that reflect Böckenförde’s stance on the right to life, human dignity, and the meta-positive foundations of constitutional law. Over a period of four decades, he repeatedly dealt with the issues of protecting the unborn child on the one hand and women’s right to self-determination on the other. He did so in the context of both abortion law and bioethics against the backdrop of new medical-technological developments, such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. As in the articles contained in ...
Capitalizing the world
Authors: Kalra Aashish , Ramgopal Vinode B.
Published: January 2021

In capital-poor economies, redistributing what little capital there is can leave everyone poorer. In such societies, the challenge of getting capital to the poor can seem truly hopeless. Capitalization of public sector especially in the context of public–private partnerships can be crucial. India’s case shows that India did not jump on the bandwagon of privatization in the early 1990s. Increasing capitalization in India seen from the capital account suggests that the multiplier effect of capital on economic growth must be significant. Capitalization is a powerful mechanism to rebuild institutional authority. It capitalizes the bottom of the pyramid in a bold singular act; however, many challenges remain.
All that glitters is not white gold
Authors: Sidebottom Richard
Published: January 2021

For the majority of sub-Saharan Africa’s young population, the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative has translated as growth without jobs. While it may seem axiomatic that engagement with global markets forms part of the remedy to this malaise, it is far from evident that previous development pathways remain open. This chapter discusses the example of the cotton, textiles, and apparel sectors—sectors which have played a major role in the economic history of each of BRICS countries—currently seen as a conduit through which sub-Saharan Africa can generate labour-intensive growth. The sector is symptomatic of the continent’s development profile: low production yields; small manufacturing presence; persistence of poverty. The chapter endeavours to take a holistic approach combining global with local; supply side with demand side; technical with institutional; and contemporary with historical—and analyses how these drivers interact with dynamic loci of power that frame shifting rules of the game that govern sub-Saharan Africa countries’ entrance to the arena.
Publicness and human development
Authors: Comim Flavio
Published: January 2021

Publicness is far from being a consecrated concept in the human development or capability literature. Instead, it is common to find references to other expressions about ‘public’ such as ‘public reason’ or ‘public reasoning’, ‘public values’, and ‘public goods’. It is important to examine the key concept of ‘public reason’ in Rawls and how it has been discussed by Sen and Nussbaum. However, a concrete concern of this chapter is how to think more broadly in terms of publicness from a human development perspective. In order to make this discussion more concrete, the chapter considers the context of BRICS in terms of the provision of public goods, defining three different levels of publicness. By doing so, it dialogues with what Nussbaum called ‘the institutional side of political emotions’ in societies that have been going through key economic and societal transformations. The public sphere of human development is easier to theorize than to see reflected in concrete indicators.
Early childhood and human development
Authors: Garibotto Giorgina
Published: January 2021

This chapter aims to relate the human development and capabilities approach to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the understanding that these approaches complement each other when addressing early childhood public policy. First sections focus on analysing both approaches and their contributions to early childhood. Focus is also on presenting the situation of the country and region where the analysed case was applied. Second is presented a case of early childhood policy whose design and implementation is based on both approaches. The following sections provide an account of the content of early childhood policy in Uruguay, in particular the case of Uruguay Crece Contigo [Uruguay Grows up with You]. The results obtained through such policy are then presented. Finally, by way of conclusion, the results obtained in the programme are analysed with the tools provided by the human development and capabilities approach and the rights approach.
Beyond cash transfers
Authors: Parsons Kenia
Published: January 2021

In international development, social protection policies vary from targeting the poor through social safety nets to universal rights-based policies. This chapter argues that the rise of cash transfers as a development strategy, under the social safety net approach, tips the debate towards a residualist state, following the neoliberal path of minimum state intervention. Cash transfers are ‘hijacking’ or taking precedence over other types of social assistance policies. This diverts attention from other social spending required to address the multidimensional aspects of poverty. Moving the development debate beyond cash transfers, this chapter briefly analyses how social spending and the taxation system address poverty, placing social assistance as a mediator policy to protect rights and not as an end policy to fight poverty.
Equality of opportunity in Brazil and India
Authors: da Silva Porto Sabino , Alcalde Bernardo Frederes Krämer , Bagolin Izete Pengo
Published: January 2021

The purpose of this chapter is to assess inequality in educational opportunity for Brazil and India by using a non-parametric measure which calculates the degree of association between different distributions. The chapter features a brief introduction to the debate over the theory of equality of opportunity and over morally unacceptable well-being inequalities. Results show that there is inequality of opportunity for gender and ethnicity in contemporary Brazil in spite of the country’s clear advancement towards greater equality of opportunity among the youngest. Results for India are similar. The data also suggest a less intense reduction in educational opportunity inequality among Indians of the youngest age cohorts. The outcomes, which serve as means to assess the degree of effort exerted by individuals, might be closer to the notion of functionings and follow Sen’s approach, a goal that has lately been pursued with relative success in the deprivation and poverty multidimensional evaluation literature.
Inequality and crime in Latin America
Authors: Roepke Catalina Droppelmann , Trajtenberg Nicolás
Published: January 2021

In the field of criminology social inequality has long been theorized to be associated with crime. This issue has been extensively studied and empirical research has shown that income inequality and low socio-economic status are positively associated with crime perpetration and victimization. Latin America constitutes a particularly interesting case study to analyse the association between crime and inequality. Simultaneously, it is considered to be one of the most unequal and violent regions on the planet. Therefore, it might be tempting to conclude that inequality must play a major role in the explanation of this region’s high levels of crime and violence. While this possibility cannot be rejected, the overall goals of this chapter are to analyse and discuss this complex relationship, focusing not only on how inequality might explain crime and violence, but also on how criminal justice institutions stigmatize, label, and reproduce social inequalities and social exclusion.
Russia’s green development
Authors: Ulybina Olga
Published: January 2021

This chapter discusses the effect of the concepts of environmental sustainability, ecological safety, and green growth on the state of the natural environment and the lives of the people in Russia. The chapter focuses on trends and cases in environmental pollution (air, forests, water, and soil), climate change, the energy sector, and the Arctic. Over the three post-Soviet decades, Russia has gone through many changes in environmental governance. The main environmental achievements concern increased energy efficiency and a reduction in the extent of industrial pollution. However, overall progress towards a greener society has been slow, hindered by the reliance of the national economy on natural resource extraction, political inertia, limited public environmental control, poor law enforcement, and insufficient respect for civil rights. We highlight the policy gap in the area of environmental justice and frame ‘green growth’ problems as ‘environmental justice’ problems.
Governing dynamics of a changing global economic order
Authors: Mohan Deepanshu
Published: January 2021

The global economic governance architecture has in recent decades undergone a deep metamorphosis with respect to the institutional arrangements responsible for the economic needs of a growing, developing world. The international financial institutions formed during the Bretton Woods era (mid-1940s) such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization have long served as multilateral institutions in charge of addressing critical issues in the international financial system. However, the rise of larger developing economies (for example India, China, Brazil) has allowed these countries to enjoy greater roles in the global economic and political landscape. This chapter provides a comprehensive account of some ‘old’ and ‘new’ institutional arrangements that shape the governing dynamics of a new global economic order; it further argues for a (re)defined institutional approach to developmental growth that is useful in designing financial lending policies for developing economies to accomplish a more robust, inclusive growth process.
United Nations? BRICS and international peacekeeping
Authors: Jackson Paul
Published: January 2021

The role of BRICS in international affairs has been steadily expanding, particularly in security and peacekeeping. Active involvement in international affairs illustrates a broader desire and acknowledgement that BRICS see their own future as being deepening integration with the international system itself. However, this integration does not necessarily mean complete assimilation without any change and many of the BRICS advocate alternative ways of dealing with international issues that theoretically differentiate them from the Western international system. This chapter examines peacekeeping as an expression of this dilemma. Concentrating on Brazil, but drawing wider conclusions about assimilation and complementarity between BRICS and the international security architecture, the chapter illustrates some of the dilemmas faced within intervention and discusses the claim that BRICS offer an alternative way of keeping the peace in countries like Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Emerging powers coalitions
Authors: Sweet Cassandra
Published: January 2021

Theory on how developing countries gain leverage at international trade emphasizes the importance of ‘coalitions’. This chapter examines the strategies pursued by India and Brazil in the latest rounds of World Trade Organization negotiations, focusing on discussions in Bali (2013) and Nairobi (2015). This chapter comes to terms with the fragility of ‘emerging powers’ alliances, examining the ability of India and Brazil to advance common projects in multilateral negotiation and bilateral trade cooperation. A decade ago a resurgence of key developing countries led many scholars to suggest a rebalancing in the politics of global trade governance. A more critical view on the reach of rising powers’ influence is presented, showing how areas for developing countries cooperation today no longer hinge on broad political coalitions or terms of tariff reduction, but micro-level policy issues regarding local food stocks policies, regulatory practices, and intellectual property.
Economic, political, and social transformation in Brazil
Authors: Tankha Sunil
Published: January 2021

Brazil’s current economic and political crises are not merely manifestations of corruption and economic mismanagement but are a persistent feature of the country’s economic, political, and social structures. This chapter elaborates a historical narrative analysis which shows the underlying dynamics of the formation and re-formation of political alliances as the country balances conservative and modernizing ideations and interests. In this scheme, because Brazil has not yet in its social sphere resolved its demographic debt nor completed in its economic sphere a structural transformation, the country lurches between competing economic and social approaches and discourses, always progressing but with a considerable degree of disorder.
Elements of a Sustainable World
Authors: Evans John
Published: January 2021

We have 118 known chemical elements as our palette in our context of sustaining our world. Our context is considered in terms of the four spheres of the ancient world: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This book shows how chemical principles can be used to understand the pressures on our world spanning from greenhouse emissions through freshwater supplies to energy generation and storage. The supply of the chemical elements is key to their contribution to alleviating these pressures. Most synthetic and radioactive elements are not available in sufficient supply to contribute in this. Some solutions, such as wind turbines, batteries, fuel cells and automotive exhaust remediation pose questions about sustainable supplies of critical elements. With an eye on the target of the IPCC of capping the temperature anomaly to 1.5 oC (RCP2.6), options for carbon capture and storage, and the generation of energy and element supply from the sea are assessed. The consequences of the escape of plastics and pharmaceuticals into the wider environment for water integrity are also considered. This book is designed around providing a one semester course for students who have entered at least the second level of university chemistry. It provides explanations and entries to current environmental issues. For students of environmental science, it provides an understanding of the chemical principles underpinning the causes and possible solutions to these issues. Each chapter has a set appropriate study questions.
Earth: Minerals to Materials
Authors: Evans John
Published: January 2021

The periodicity shown by selected elements in the s-, p-, d- and f-blocks in the Periodic Table is considered. The particular elements chosen include those with significant levels of use that can affect greenhouse gas emissions - either up or down. These include lithium, aluminium, silicon, iron, cobalt, platinum, neodymium and uranium. The means of extraction, formation and purification of the solid elements are discussed. The structural chemistry and energetics involved are elaborated, and estimations of the embodied energy of the elements presented. In terms of properties, the basis of magnetic materials is introduced; in terms of process, the concept of exergy is introduced. The large scale structural materials cement and glass are also discussed.
Fire
Authors: Evans John
Published: January 2021

Approaches towards substituting fossil fuel sources of their products, energy and petrochemicals are elaborated. Synthesis gas (CO/H2) provides an intermediate for reconverting waste (from plastics and biomass) as well as carbon fuels into petrochemicals from methanol to petrol to waxes. Energy sources such as nuclear power and photovoltaic cells are explained. Modes of forming hydrogen and avoiding the release of greenhouse gases to afford a green fuel are explained. Electrochemical methods provide secondary energy sources are alternatives are compared: e.g. by powering transport using fuel cells or batteries. The demands of these technologies on the supplies of key elements like lithium and cobalt are discussed to understand whether developments may or may not be sustainable.
Prospects for Planet Earth
Authors: Evans John
Published: January 2021

Here the elemental spheres are considered against the context of plant Earth in 2019. There is good evidence that the global population might reach 11.2 billion by 2100 and stabilise later. The greenhouse emissions per person may have stabilised but the overall direction for anthropogenic emissions is upward. The protections to achieve a limit of 1.5 oC by 2100 envisaged a sharp drop in emissions in the 2020s, and that is not yet projected. Polar ice loss is increasing and annual sea level rise is ca. 3.4 mm. Energy consumption in 2018 was dominated by fossil fuel sources. However, the annual growth rate in renewable energy provision was ca. 15% in that year; the annual growth in solar power generation was ca. 30%. Wind and solar power are evidently the technologies available to effect reductions in emissions in the coming decade.
Study Guide
Authors: Evans John
Published: January 2021

8.1
Overview
294

8.2
Chapter 1: Planet Earth
295

8.3
Chapter 2: The Palette of Elements
303

8.4
Chapter 3: Earth
309

8.5
Chapter 4: Air
313

8.6
Chapter 5: Fire
318

8.7
Chapter 6: Water
325

8.8
Chapter 7: Prospects
331

This book emanated from a course given within Chemistry degrees of the University of Southampton entitled ‘Sustainable Chemistry’. This was an optional course and could be taken by BSc students in their third year, MChem students variously in third or fourth years, and also by postgraduate students (MSc or MPhil). Mine was the first half of the course, its more general section. The course had a high uptake. The majority of the assessment was through a two-hour examination, but a significant component was by two short literature projects. Within each half of the course a small group (about four students) were given a topic about which they would provide a joint report (a three-page report as a pdf file) and five-minute presentation to the class using PowerPoint or pdf files. The assessment was based on criteria for the report, the presentation, and by peer assessment of their colleagues’ contributions. For this section of the course the topic was a particular element. For the allocated element the supply, production, application, long-term hazards, and possible alternatives were to be addressed. The reason for this is that it is a topic that needed to be owned by personal investigation....
Commissioning and a Population Approach to Health Services Decision-Making
Authors: Sin Julie
Published: January 2021

The book explores the vital link between population health (what the health system is aiming for) and the commissioning of health services (the process of securing services) and how this can be achieved. It covers the key opportunities for applying a population approach to the nuts and bolts of commissioning, as well as to the more strategic challenges in commissioning practice. It includes fundamental concepts needed in a commissioner’s repertoire of skills and competencies, and also more applied scenarios to navigate in practice. The emphasis is on a solid foundation for practice for those who work in commissioning, those whose work supports commissioning functions, public health professionals working in the quality and commissioning arena, and students studying in this area. It is particularly relevant to current developments in whole-system thinking and a population approach. Core concepts or ‘navigation tools’ are included to help with common challenges in commissioning such as the scoping of a health issue from a population perspective, making sense of different types of evidence, purposeful use of health intelligence, effective preventive opportunities, prioritization, quality issues for commissioners, and other applied topics that have to be navigated in practice. Whilst each topic is a salient component in itself, in combination the collection forms a comprehensive armoury for commissioning for health gain and decision-making for populations. These vantage points are useful whatever the structural system of the day because issues about finite health resources, securing quality health services, and reducing amenable health inequalities will always be pertinent.
Commissioning Needs a Population Perspective
Authors: Sin Julie
Published: January 2021

This chapter looks at the synergistic relationship between the concepts of commissioning and population health gain, and some practical ways to enable this connectivity. In simple terms, commissioning refers to securing services for the population, and a whole population perspective is clearly integral to this effort. This chapter introduces four key perspectives of a population approach that can be applied to any health issue in the commissioning sphere. These are the consideration of Epidemiological context, effective Preventive opportunities, a focus on addressing Inequities in access and outcomes of care, and a whole Care pathway and System perspective. (The acronym ‘EPICS’ can be used to aid recall if needed). Application of these would be underpinned by using an evidence-based approach. Together these summary perspectives offer a quick schema to scope any health topic in practice which can be used as needed for the task in-hand. Examples are given.
The Basic Commissioning Cycle
Authors: Sin Julie
Published: January 2021

In this chapter, the core purpose of commissioning is presented and there is an orientation to the key stages of the commissioning cycle. These ‘stages’ or key parts of the cycle are those of problem definition and needs assessment, prioritization and planning, procurement and contracting, and monitoring and evaluation. There is an overview of how each contributes to commissioning with a practical emphasis throughout. It is noted that commissioning at its best is a multidisciplinary effort. The chapter also notes that in systems with separate commissioning and provider functions, the onus of population health gain through health services is placed primarily on the commissioner. If commissioner and provider functions become more closely aligned, then hypothetically at least the provider arena would also become increasingly aligned to the work of whole population planning.
Recognizing Whether You Are in Simple, Complicated, or Complex Problem Territory
Authors: Sin Julie
Published: January 2021

This chapter is a succinct stop for orientation to the concept of complex situations, as the latter are an inherent part of working in health systems. Knowing whether you are in a simple or a complex problem territory and adjusting your approach accordingly is important for decision-makers. The important thing is to be able to recognize these situations. Drawing from the classic literature on the topic, the main features of simple, complicated, and complex situations are described. It is acknowledged that commissioners in health services are often dealing with, or contributing to dealing with complex situations. Addressing this complexity will need to draw on the different perspectives, skills, and experiences that may come from many disciplines and there are often no quick solutions as such. Some practical tips are offered.
Taking Stock for the Future
Authors: Sin Julie
Published: January 2021

This is the final chapter of the book. It is a preparation for the reader’s onward journey. It includes a summary of the main things to keep in mind throughout practice and how to dip in and out of the chapters as needed. Beyond the nuts and bolts there is a reminder that it is also important to reach a transformational stage in commissioning for health gain rather than just the transactional processes. The theme of building capacity and enabling a system that nurtures a population approach to health services decision-making is discussed and the contributions of education and research to this theme are recognized. The ‘evolutionary’ nature of health services is acknowledged and transparent processes for population approach remain salient whatever the structures of the day.
Whitman in Washington
Authors: Price Kenneth M.
Published: January 2021

During Walt Whitman’s decade in Washington, DC, 1863–73, he labored intensely, at times seeming to have three lives at once. He wrote the most distinguished journalism of his career; came into his own as a writer of letters; crafted memorable Civil War poetry, Drum-Taps and Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865) and later folded it into heavily revised and expanded versions of Leaves of Grass in 1867 and 1871; and produced his searching but also flawed critique of American culture, Democratic Vistas. Whitman’s work through the first three editions of Leaves (1855, 1856, 1860–61) often receives the highest praise, yet his writing in the Washington years is exceptional, too, by any reckoning—and is all the more remarkable given that he also cared for thousands of wounded and sick soldiers in Washington hospitals, serving as an attentive visitor. In addition, he served as a government clerk in various positions, most notably in the attorney general’s office when much was accomplished on the road toward a multi-racial democracy, including efforts to suppress the Ku Klux Klan, and much was also missed (both by the attorney general’s office and by Whitman) in the efforts to advance a more just and vibrant union. This book analyzes Whitman’s integrated life, writings, and government work in his urban context to reevaluate the writer and the nation’s capital in a time of transformation.
Strayed Cattle
Authors: Price Kenneth M.
Published: January 2021

Whitman’s war writings have been criticized on the grounds that he turns to pastoralism to justify the violence of the Civil War. Whitman was in fact intrigued by the pastoral tradition stretching from Virgil forward. Rather than being in thrall to arcadian fantasies, Whitman instead “sees through” (in both senses) pastoralism. His writings avoid romantic claptrap that serves to justify wartime violence. He experienced the war from the vantage points of New York City and Washington, DC, and he shows no yearning for an idyllic rural retreat, nor does he indulge in nostalgia for a lost way of life. Pastoralism often involves the care of cattle, and this chapter probes the ties between African Americans, cattle, and an anti-pastoral tradition.
Measures of disease occurrence
Authors: Carstensen Bendix
Published: January 2021

This chapter provides a brief introduction to some of the most common measures of disease occurrence used in epidemiology, both the empirical and theoretical versions of the measures. It begins with the prevalence of a disease in a population, which is the fraction of the population that has the disease at a given date. The chapter then considers mortality rate, incidence rate, standardized mortality ratio (SMR), and survival. Mortality is typically reported as a number of people that have died in a population of a certain size. Incidence rates are defined exactly as mortality rates, where one just counts incident cases, that is, newly diagnosed cases of a particular disease. Meanwhile, the SMR is a measure of the mortality in a group of persons as compared to the general population. Finally, the survival after diagnosis of a disease is defined as the fraction of diagnosed individuals alive at a given time after diagnosis.
Regression models
Authors: Carstensen Bendix
Published: January 2021

This chapter evaluates regression models, focusing on the normal linear regression model. The normal linear regression model establishes a relationship between a quantitative response (also called outcome or dependent) variable, assumed to be normally distributed, and one or more explanatory (also called regression, predictor, or independent) variables about which no distributional assumptions are made. The model is usually referred to as 'the general linear model'. The chapter then differentiates between simple linear regression and multiple regression. The term 'simple linear regression' covers the regression model where there is one response variable and one explanatory variable, assuming a linear relationship between the two. The chapter also discusses the model formulae in R; generalized linear models; collinearity and aliasing; and logarithmic transformations.
Parametrization and prediction of rates
Authors: Carstensen Bendix
Published: January 2021

This chapter provides an overview of parametrizing quantitative covariate effects, that is, describing how variables (covariates) influence the outcome variable, be that disease odds, rates, or some quantitative measurement. It begins by differentiating between predictions and contrasts. When reporting rate ratios between two groups or the odds ratio of a disease associated with a certain difference in exposure, one is using contrasts of the outcome variable between different values of a covariate to describe the effect. Thus, one uses ratios or differences. But when reporting the mortality rate in, say, 60-year-old males, one is making a prediction of the outcome. This requires a set of values for all covariates in a model. When describing the effects of covariates by a model, one normally uses a linear predictor. The chapter then discusses the prediction of a single rate; categorical variables; the task of modelling the effect of quantitative variables; quantitative predictors; and quantitative interactions.
Case-control and case-cohort studies
Authors: Carstensen Bendix
Published: January 2021

This chapter addresses Case-control and case-cohort studies. In a Case-control study, one samples persons based on their disease outcome, so the fraction of diseased persons in a Case-control study is usually known (at least approximately) before data collection. In a cohort (follow-up) study, the relationship between some exposure and disease incidence is investigated by following the entire cohort and measuring the rate of occurrence of new cases in the different exposure groups. The follow-up records all persons who develop the disease during the study period. Implicit in this is that the relevant exposure information is available at all times for all persons under follow-up. The chapter then looks at the statistical model for the odds ratio, before differentiating between odds ratio and rate ratio. It also considers confounding and stratified sampling; individually matched studies; and nested Case-control studies.
Regime Change
Authors: Hone Joseph
Published: January 2021

Soon after the Hanoverian succession, Pope ceased writing original poems of consequence and instead began two new projects: his translation of the Iliad and the publication of his collected Works of 1717. This chapter asks what prompted this change of direction. The opening section traces Pope’s movements and those of his friends during the messy and unpredictable transfer of power in 1714. Although Pope’s private correspondence and manuscript poems signal his disaffection with the new regime, his public persona is distinctly apolitical. Pope countered accusations of treachery by disowning political readings of his earlier poems and by rebranding those works as timeless literary exercises. His translation of Homer and the publication of his Works were calculated to enshrine his reputation as an author of classic literary status. By publishing a Works and not a Poems on Several Occasions, this chapter argues, Pope inserted himself into a canonical tradition divorced from contemporary poems on affairs of state. His emergence as a literary colossus was motivated by political necessity as much as it was by raw ambition or vanity.
Censorship and Political Editing
Authors: Hone Joseph
Published: January 2021

Recent scholarship has increasingly recognized literary editing as a political activity. This final chapter examines Pope’s overlooked role as the editor of Buckingham’s posthumous Works, published at the height of the Atterbury Plot in 1723. This controversial book was seized upon publication and censored by the government; as the editor, Pope himself was taken in for questioning. This episode was the most politically dangerous of Pope’s career. This chapter sheds light on Pope’s involvement in the edition and his immersion in the conspiratorial diaspora of Buckingham House. The subscription for the edition was used to disguise fundraising for Atterbury’s plot for a Stuart restoration; Atterbury, the Duchess of Buckingham, John Barber, and Mary Caesar were all involved in this plan. Why did Pope return to the conspiratorial fold after his retirement from political affairs in 1714? He too must have known about the plan and believed that it could succeed. By editing and emending Buckingham’s Works for the press, this chapter suggests, Pope found an opportunity to express ideas that he simply could not afford to ventilate under his own name.
Integrating physiological and ecological data to increase the effectiveness of bee protection and conservation
Authors: Alaux Cedric , Brunet Jean-Luc , Henry Mickael
Published: January 2021

Due to growing anthropogenic pressures, substantial losses of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera) have been reported around the world, and the species richness and abundance of most groups of wild bees have declined in recent decades across Europe and North America. Assessing the possible impacts of ongoing and future environmental changes and developing mitigative policies are therefore of top priority to conservationists. For that purpose, there is an urgent need to identify new metrics that can be used to capture the state of health of bees and therefore improve their population monitoring. We show that a combination of landscape ecology and physiological metrics of honeybee health status is a highly valuable approach to measure the efficiency of habitat-restoration and enhancement schemes. We then argue for the development of this approach to better assist conservation strategies of wild bees.
A veterinary perspective on the conservation physiology and rehabilitation of sea turtles
Authors: Innis Charles , Dodge Kara
Published: January 2021

Sea turtle populations are threatened globally due to anthropogenic and natural factors, including fisheries interactions, watercraft strike, hunting, habitat loss, pollution, climate change, and severe weather. Injured and ill sea turtles are often evaluated by wildlife rehabilitation centres, and many sea turtles can be returned to the wild after rehabilitation. Physiological evaluation of injured and ill sea turtles has revealed life-threatening physiological dysfunction such as acidosis, hypoxia, hypercarbia, dehydration, and hyperkalaemia. Recognition and management of such conditions has improved the outcome for these patients. In addition to clinical advancement, veterinary evaluation has improved our understanding of general sea turtle biology, and increased the safety of procedures such as anaesthesia and laparoscopy. These modalities, combined with emerging biotelemetry technologies, will continue to improve our understanding of sea turtle ecology and conservation physiology.