bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Responsiveness and responsibility under European economic governance
Authors: Karremans Johannes
Published: February 2024

The sovereign debt crisis that plagued Europe between 2009 and 2013 posed a threat to the stability of European public finances. In this context, the governments of the eurozone subscribed to tight fiscal rules in order to gain trust from financial markets. During this period, they thus valued responsibility over responsiveness. From the perspective of democratic legitimacy, after such a period, governments should again start emphasizing responsiveness in order to regain the trust of voters. Could this happen, given the persisting constraints of European budgetary rules? This chapter shows that responsiveness started increasing in 2014 in both southern and northern European countries, regardless of public deficit and credit- rating levels. This trend increased even further in 2020 with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Explaining the balance between responsiveness and responsibility in the eurozone
Authors: Karremans Johannes
Published: February 2024

The five cases analysed in this book were selected as representative of the social, economic, political, and institutional diversity among core eurozone member states. Despite their differences, during the observed period the five cases share the same trend in overall balance between responsive and responsible policy justifications. This chapter reflects on the mechanisms underlying this trend. It develops the argument that supranational institutions are not immune from citizens’ discontent and, similarly to democratically elected governments, they need to alternate policymaking criteria that are more oriented at rebalancing public accounts with criteria that are more oriented at the delivery of public goods. Under conditions of international economic integration and supranational governance, the criteria that are more dominantly present in supranational institutions have far-reaching implications for the balance between responsiveness and responsibility at the national level.
The changing nature of work and employment in modern societies
Authors: Siegrist Johannes , Li Jian
Published: February 2024

This chapter highlights major trends in the development of modern working conditions. Starting from a very precarious situation during early industrialization, working people’s lives gradually improved with the advent of welfare state policies and occupational safety and health legislation and services. Technological and economic progress contributed to advances in the quality of work and employment, supported by worker participation through trade unions. During the twentieth century, the growth of service occupations and professions shifted the labour market from the secondary to the tertiary sector, resulting in a decrease of heavy physical work and an increase of sedentary work, often associated with exposure to psycho-mental and socio-emotional demands. Towards the end of the last century, the double process of technological digitization/automation and economic globalization induced far-reaching changes. New occupations emerged in a world of work characterized by transnational flows of capital, trade, and workforce, by increased economic competition, and by growing job instability. As a result, a segmented labour market separates a well-trained, privileged working population from a low-skilled disadvantaged population. The chapter then discusses tensions arising between economic growth and sustainable development of living environments. Threats of irreversible climate change due to toxic effects of a carbon-based economy motivate governments to implement international agreements on measures of economic sustainability. At the same time, critical limitations of the concept of ‘economic growth’ underlying the global development become visible, calling for new solutions.
Measurement, methods, data collection, and study designs
Authors: Siegrist Johannes , Li Jian
Published: February 2024

Measurement is a key task in scientific research. This chapter introduces some basic notions on measurement, and it discusses the two major methods of data collection in the field of psychosocial occupational health, self-reported (subjective) and independently assessed (objective) information. As current mainstream research mainly uses quantitative methods of data collection and analysis, this approach is discussed more extensively than a complementary qualitative approach. Basic features of standardized questionnaires, psychometric scales, and event momentary assessment are discussed, followed by a description of observational methods and job exposure matrices. In view of several limitations of data quality, methodological challenges are emphasized before the second part of the chapter addresses two core topics of data collection, the sampling of study participants, and the application of a study design that allows a robust answer to the research question of interest. Here, we prioritize the prospective observational cohort study with its contributions towards identifying occupational determinants of health. As an important practical message, we maintain that scientific research is a privileged, precious activity that merits the observation of the highest standards of quality. Therefore, the standards of data collection, sample composition, and study design mentioned in this chapter deserve special attention.
Mistakes in Consenting
Authors: Goodin Robert E.
Published: February 2024

People might mistakenly believe that they have another person’s consent when they do not. People might send signals that others reasonably interpret as conveying consent, when none was intended. Who should bear the costs of such mistakes? It should be the person who caused the mistake to be made (if they did so deliberately or out of culpable negligence). It should be the person who made the mistake (if out of culpable negligence or culpable ignorance). Sometimes we may hold people strictly liable for violating a person’s rights (to bodily integrity, e.g.) without their consent, even if they mistakenly believed they had it. Someone who knowingly takes advantage of another person’s mistake about consent should bear its burdens. In cases of innocent error, we might let the burdens ‘lie where they fall’ or, alternatively, allocate the burdens to the party best able to bear them.
Public Offices in Processes of Constitutional Development
Authors: Allen Jason Grant
Published: February 2024

This chapter draws on the case studies provided in the volume to elaborate a key theme in, and conceptual framework for understanding, any process of constitutional development: public office. Offices are institutionalised jural positions whose content (i.e. rights, powers, duties) determines the official’s position vis-à-vis other officials and subjects of various status. Constitutional orders are networks of offices. Office has been relatively neglected in modern Western public law theory, but it is, in fact, fundamental to understanding any politico-legal order (Western or non-Western, modern or pre-modern). This framework of analysis opens up several perspectives on ‘constitutional development’. First, it provides a model for tracking changes over time as (i) changes to the content of offices within a stable catalogue of offices and (ii) changes to the overall catalogue of offices. Second, it provides a framework to conceptualise the interaction between competing constitutional orders, for example the official state constitutional order and parallel religious or ethnic social orders that bolster or compete with it. Third, it provides a framework within which to articulate a minimum normative concept of ‘constitutionalism’ that could avoid some of the usual objections lodged against ideas of democracy and the rule of law in the post-colonial context.
“One Color Now”
Authors: Bryant Joan L.
Published: February 2024

The expansion of freedom wrought by the Civil War appeared to disrupt the role of race practices in regulating access to civil and political participation. The chapter analyzes how reformers engaged questions about the validity of using race categories as bases of secular and religious association to navigate a political landscape that included Black citizenship. Conventions, newspapers, freedom celebrations, suffrage campaigns, “class legislation” proposals, and debates over “race churches” offer a window into reflections and conflicts about the ethics of race practices in the “new era” of freedom.
Shame
Authors: Hannan Jason
Published: February 2024

Chapter 5 looks at online shaming. It moves beyond the moral panic over “cancel culture,” which fixates too heavily on free speech and political correctness at the cost of understanding of how platform capitalism profits from social division. Drawing from Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin, the chapter explores the nexus of debt, guilt, and capital on social media. It argues that by joining a social network, we become indebted to each other for our digital existence. This indebtedness is intimately bound up with the possibility of punishment. To be indebted is to be at the mercy of others. Online shaming is a form of punishment for the violation of communal norms. Drawing from Michel Foucault and Martha Nussbaum, the chapter argues that online shaming represents the revival of premodern rituals of public torture.
Conspiracy
Authors: Hannan Jason
Published: February 2024

This chapter seeks to make sense of online conspiracy theory. The opening case study concerns COVID-19 conspiracy theories and the trolling of healthcare workers and scientists. COVID-19 conspiracy theories pose a twofold problem for public health: combatting disinformation and understanding its underlying motivation. One common view holds that science communication is the answer. Against this view, the chapter argues that the popularity of conspiracy theory reflects not public ignorance but rather mass distrust. The loss of trust is one of the symptoms of a culture of widespread alienation, atomization, loneliness, cynicism, and paranoia. Drawing from Karl Marx, Charles Taylor, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Hannah Arendt, this chapter explores the relationship between the political emotion of loneliness and the fragmentation of the self. The power of conspiracy theory, it argues, is that it enables the alienated and fragmented subject to achieve a sense of wholeness once again, but only by severing the subject’s relationship to reality.
Conclusion
Authors: Hannan Jason
Published: February 2024

The concluding chapter offers some reflections on where social media might be heading. It considers the decline of Facebook under Mark Zuckerberg and the chaos of Twitter under Elon Musk, the latter of whom has not only encouraged trolling on his newly acquired platform but has also himself become its chief troll. This chapter considers the likelihood of trolling persisting in the coming years in both its original and political forms. Whatever we might say about our rapidly evolving social media ecosystem, political trolling will unfortunately continue to be a public menace and pose a material danger to the culture of democracy, that is, unless we collectively build a spirit of trust.
Social Work and the Arts
Authors: Frumkin Emily , Lear Brianna , Schoch Jennifer , Siegel Sydney , Dutt Shefali , Deeb Max
Published: February 2024

This chapter views the integration of social work education and the arts through the eyes of former master’s in social work students who have since graduated from the University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Narratives are offered by those been immersed in the arts during their time at the university to illuminate their personal observations, experiences in and out of the classroom, and postgraduate musings. The narratives describe individual projects, documentaries, and personal struggles. One section documents the student-led creation of Art Rx, an interprofessional collaboration that brought together social work, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and medical students to envision how they could improve their individual and collaborative health practices. Another student shares about a unique social work and arts magazine, Soul Work, that the students published. Unique lived perspectives are offered, adding to and advancing the discourse on social work and the arts.
Four Ways the Arts Can Help Social Work Be More Future Ready and Future Engaged
Authors: Nissen Laura
Published: February 2024

Part IV considers the future and present of the social work profession and its relationship to the arts. Chapter 14 reflects on how social work is situated in a rapidly changing world where strengths and opportunities, as well as existential threats, are evolving at unprecedented speeds. Although social work is implicitly future-oriented, focused on creating a better, more equitable world, this chapter suggests that revamping its practices, theories, and frameworks is past due. The chapter explores two intersecting and interdisciplinary frameworks: (1) futures thinking-foresight practice to assist the profession in being less reactive, decidedly intentional, and more responsive to the complexities of contemporary society and (2) the intersection of futures thinking with the power of imagination and the arts. This scintillating exploration considers how social work must collaborate with diverse communities, interdisciplinary allies, and unfamiliar and disruptive ideas to co-create its future.
Overview of Diagnosing and Treating Cancer
Authors: Hedlund Susan , Lopez Ana Maria
Published: February 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the history of the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Providing an overview of the traditional three-pronged approach to care—surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, the chapter will set the stage for the current state and future evolution of care. As understandings of cancer and its treatment approaches have evolved, so has the awareness of the psychosocial needs of patients and their loved ones. The specialty of oncology social work has also continued to evolve and grow over the past several decades. Consideration of distress, anxiety, depression, and other psychosocial issues are discussed, as well as potential opportunities and treatment approaches to provide support to patients. More recent awareness of issues such as access to care and the financial toxicity of cancer care are important for social workers to be aware of.
Innovative Models in Palliative Care in Oncology
Authors: Halpern Jennifer J , Lee Eunju
Published: February 2024

This chapter on innovative models in palliative care examines current practices and recommendations for future directions in the structure and clinical provision of palliative care aimed at improving access, decreasing structural inequalities, and improving clinical equity in care. It argues for innovations to be evaluated on the basis of the extent to which they address the needs of and incorporate input from historically marginalized populations. Structural innovations in palliative care provision reviewed in this chapter are from grassroots, private, and public initiatives aimed at increasing access in underserved communities by specifically responding to the unique cultural orientation of these populations, and the use of digital platforms along with caveats in its rapid expansion post-COVID. It also considers clinical innovations that address the impact of race-based trauma on communities of color and recommends medical and epistemological pluralism as an effective response to divergent cultural beliefs in health practices.
Grief, Loss, and Bereavement in Oncology and Palliative Care
Authors: Knowles Kimarie , Nathanson Abigail , Hendricks Sloan Danetta , Christ Grace
Published: February 2024

Bereavement care is an essential part of both oncology and palliative care. As such, social workers practicing in these areas should be adept in their understanding of bereavement theory, skilled at conducting comprehensive biopsychosocial-spiritual grief assessments, and able to implement appropriate treatment plans for the individuals, families, and communities with whom they work. This chapter on loss, grief, and bereavement will review contemporary theories that guide our understanding on this topic, including the dual process model, attachment theory, and meaning reconstruction theories. It also includes an exploration into the ways in which experiences of things like culture, ethnicity, religion, race, oppression, and global health crises impact our understanding of grief. The chapter wraps up with the presentation of a three-leveled intervention model and a discussion of best practices appropriate for both short-term and long-term settings to help guide clinicians working in this area.
Palliative Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI) Persons Coping With Cancer
Authors: Pratt-Chapman Mandi L. , Stein Gary , Berkman Cathy , Pruitt Andre
Published: February 2024

This chapter provides an overview of palliative care needs and recommendations to advance health equity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) cancer patients and their families. LGBTQI people have historically experienced criminalization, discrimination, and denial of health care. As a result of long-standing social stigma, health care delays, and maladaptive coping mechanisms, some LGBTQI people have a higher risk for certain cancers. Fear of health care discrimination varies by age/generation and other intersectional lived experiences. This chapter provides an overview of historical discrimination of LGBTQI persons and provides guidance on nondiscrimination policies, employment policies, intake practices, community outreach and marketing, affirming communication, and comprehensive palliative care services to ensure that LGBTQI people with cancer receive respectful, dignified care near the end of life.
America’s Growing Multicultural and Diverse Populations
Authors: Palos Guadalupe , Zhou Mi (Emma) , Tactuk Yanette
Published: February 2024

Palliative care in oncology social work represents a crucial phase of an individual’s life, deeply affected by the complex dimensions of diversity and inequalities. Multicultural groups vary in the dimensions based on their diversity—in other words, ethnicity, religion, language, age, race, and other characteristics. Social workers must understand how the intersectionality of these dimensions creates a unique cultural identity for each client. It is almost impossible for a social worker to learn how these dimensions affect each client’s perceptions, behaviors, and expectations about cancer, palliative care, or even death. To address this challenge, this chapter presents the intersectionality of diversity framework, which social workers can use to adapt their models of practice to best serve populations facing unequal access palliative care. Social workers who pause to reflect on these dimensions will be closer to developing culturally based interventions for diverse cultural groups.
Living with and without Regret
Authors: McQueen Paddy
Published: February 2024

This final chapter analyses the role that regret should occupy in our lives, weaving together various threads from the previous chapters. It considers, but rejects, some arguments for letting go of one’s regrets and thus living without them. It argues that we should accept our regrets, even if one is at the end of one’s life. It then assesses how the intensity of our regrets should change over time. It argues that this should track what we care about. This means that if we no longer care, or do not care much, about a mistake we made then we should feel little regret about. It then rejects the idea that self-forgiveness can justify ceasing to regret one’s mistakes. It ends with a discussion of the role that prospective regret should play in our decision-making and whether prospective regret can justify institutions preventing people from doing what they want.
On Specific Trade-Off Objections
Authors: Singer Daniel J.
Published: February 2024

This chapter asks whether epistemic consequentialist views are wrong to sanction apparently particularly problematic trade-offs, in contrast to the previous chapter, which considered whether any trade-offs are permissible. This chapter argues that epistemic consequentialists should take three lessons from ethical consequentialists to respond to particular trade-off worries. First, epistemic consequentialism should be construed as an account of right belief, which must be distinguished from other notions like rational and justified belief. Second, the view should be ‘sophisticated’ in the same way that Railton argues that ethical consequentialism should be sophisticated. And third, the view should be ‘global’ in that it extends the consequentialist criterion of evaluation to dispositions, decision-making procedures, and the like. An important upshot of this chapter, one that’s repeated several times through out the book, is that the best versions of epistemic consequentialism mirror the structure of consequentialist views in ethics.
On Racist Beliefs and Moral Encroachment
Authors: Singer Daniel J.
Published: February 2024

This chapter looks at a puzzle about racist beliefs first discussed by Gendler (2011) that motivates some theorists to give up on the thought that beliefs should be evaluated solely with respect to traditional epistemic factors, like what one’s evidence is. According to moral encroachment theorists, moral factors can also be relevant to how we should evaluate beliefs. Moral encroachment views don’t hang together well with truth-loving epistemic consequentialism, even if they are strictly speaking compatible. This chapter argues against moral encroachment by arguing that moral encroachment views can’t satisfactorily reply to Gendler’s puzzle, and it argues that the best reply is the one that truth-loving epistemic consequentialists would most naturally give.
Redesigning Systems with Black Women to Improve Maternal Health in Atlanta
Authors: Dorsey Jemea , Welsh Kaprice
Published: February 2024

Community-based organizations have on-the-ground experience with health inequities, such as maternal mortality and morbidity, and understand the social determinants of health that contribute to these inequities, including racism. Building strong partnerships is necessary to change systems that contribute to these inequities. When a group of multisector partners came together to address Black maternal health in Atlanta, Georgia, there were unique challenges and opportunities, including building a model of respectful care. This project, supported by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, used an Equity Action Lab model to guide the work. This chapter explores this experience and how building quality-improvement capacity among partners, centering the voices of Black women, using an equity framework, and fostering shared leadership facilitated tests of change to improve Black maternal health outcomes in an urban, southeastern city.
Reimagining Prenatal Care: Designing a Justice-Conscious Approach to Reproductive Health, Pregnancy, and Early Parenthood
Authors: Warren Keegan D. , McGee Daphne
Published: February 2024

Health and the law are intertwined in both regulations and the civil justice structure. Legal care is a critical component to healthcare that may be misunderstood. The medical-legal partnership model connects the law to the delivery of healthcare by making attorneys and paralegals part of the healthcare team, to help providers leverage legal services as part of their broader response to patients’ social service needs. The chapter includes two case studies, one from California and one from Texas, to demonstrate the power of this model. The chapter recommends that medical-legal partnerships be funded as part of a standard approach to care at every healthcare facility, and that all healthcare facilities employ a health justice lens to increase equity.
Culturally Responsive Evaluation
Authors: Broomfield-Massey Kimberley , Anderson Rakiah , Tibbs Calondra , Tucker Christine
Published: February 2024

Understanding whether maternal mortality programs are effective and have the intended impact requires implementation of a culturally responsive program evaluation. Program evaluation is an effective tool to help guide program implementation, creates a foundation for decision-making, and assesses the overall effect of programs in communities. Using the culturally responsive evaluation framework, this chapter focuses on program evaluation methods that account for the culture and context of communities when developing, implementing, and analyzing data for program evaluation. In addition, the chapter addresses key questions evaluators should ask to ensure that they minimize bias and ensure inclusion of the community throughout the evaluation process.
Women’s Health Before, Between, Beyond, and Regardless of Pregnancy
Authors: Verbiest Sarah , Woodward Suzanne , Yates Lindsey
Published: February 2024

Providing quality women’s health care means providing care to a diverse population of individuals regardless of their decision to become pregnant. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the digital and social innovations that can be leveraged to address gaps in women’s health care, particularly innovations that can reduce disparities in health outcomes. We describe the use of three digital technologies—social media, smartphone apps, and telehealth—that can increase access to health information and health care. We also provide examples of two social innovations—language that centers reproductive justice and the evolution of the well-woman visit—that have reshaped communication and care for women and birthing people. Finally, we provide recommendations for improving primary care for women and birthing people, outlining strategies for healthcare organizations and funders/venture capitalists invested in women’s health.
Using a Learning Community Model to Address Substance Misuse and Co-Occurring Mental Health Challenges among MCH Populations
Authors: Akbarali Sanaa , Dronamraju Ramya , Patterson Katrin , Pliska Ellen , Mackie Christine
Published: February 2024

Substance use, including use of illicit substances and misuse of prescribed medications, has increased year to year over the past decade. Additionally, postpartum depression affects one in eight US women, and mental health conditions are one of the leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths. Given the complexity of this public health issue, effective provision of services requires close coordination among providers, health departments, and state and local agencies. Recognizing the importance of supportive policies and programs in facilitating this coordination, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials leveraged a learning community model to support jurisdictions in advancing access to behavioral health services for pregnant and postpartum individuals and their families. To guide team action plans and virtual/in-person programming, five key focus areas were identified, including: access to, and coordination of, quality services; provider awareness and training; data, monitoring, and evaluation; financing and coverage; and ethical, legal, and social considerations. Stakeholder partnerships were classified as a cross-cutting strategy used to support implementation of activities in all focus areas.
The Role of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau in Supporting States and Communities to Advance Maternal Health Equity
Authors: Warren Michael D. , Best Kathy K. , Patton Erin , Pettiford Belinda
Published: February 2024

In 2021, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) released an updated strategic plan that focused on four key goals: (1) ensuring access to high-quality and equitable health services to optimize health and well-being for all maternal and child health (MCH) populations, (2) achieving health equity for MCH populations, (3) strengthening public health capacity and workforce for MCH, and (4) maximizing impact through leadership, partnership, and stewardship. Every five years, state Title V programs conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to identify state-specific needs and priorities; the states then implement an action plan for the next five years to address priorities across MCH population domains (women/maternal, perinatal/infant, child, adolescent, children with special healthcare needs, cross-cutting/systems-building). The Maternal Health Innovation (MHI) program provides funds for states to convene a maternal health task force, to identify maternal health needs from a variety of data sources (e.g., maternal mortality review committees, vital statistics, hospital discharge data), and to implement innovative strategies to improve outcomes.
Role of Academic Health Systems in Improving and Sustaining Maternal Health
Authors: Makinde Chinekezi Olufunmilayo , Sutton Karey M. , Johnson-Agbakwu Crista E. , Taylor Yhenneko J.
Published: February 2024

In 2021, the American Medical Association (AMA) published its strategic plan detailing a road map for action and accountability in embedding racial justice and advancing health equity. The AMA’s five strategic approaches—(1) embed equity, (2) build alliances and share power, (3) ensure equity in innovation, (4) push upstream, and (5) foster truth, reconciliation, racial healing, and transformation—provide an important framework for academic health systems to advance maternal health equity. The next step is a community advisory board, which allows an academic health system to leverage the community’s expertise, knowledge, and lived experience by partnering with local champions who can help develop the programmatic, clinical, and research directions of the academic health system. Building community capacity by integrating peer support/navigators and/or community health workers as vital members of the academic health system’s workforce will advance maternal health equity through the roles these individuals play as reproductive and sexual health champions in their respective communities.
Sustainability and Finance: The Role of State and Territorial Health Agencies
Authors: Pliska Ellen , Cedergren Britta , Sullivan Kristin , Touma Melissa , Ensign Karl , Kuruganti Sowmya , Backman Deborah , Wheatley Alex , Pangelinan Heather , Carey Marijane , Vance Shannon , Akbarali Sanaa
Published: February 2024

For 80 years, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) has supported its members, their staff, and others in the fields of community health and prevention, social and behavioral health, infectious disease, emergency response, equity and diversity initiatives, population health and data informatics, public health policy, and more. ASTHO has focused on reallocation of funds, spend-down processes, successfully innovating the alignment of funding streams to meet health needs, standardizing practices related to the translation of workplans into budgets, and meeting compliance through reporting requirements. ASTHO’s Learning Community model provides direct technical assistance and peer-to-peer engagement to state and territorial health programs through both funded and unfunded projects specific to different topic areas (see Section V, “Innovations”). ASTHO has applied the Learning Community model to support states and territories as they increase capacity and build tools for sustainability in their agencies’ maternal health programs.
W. E. B. Du Bois
Authors: Wright Almeda M.
Published: February 2024

Chapter 2 discusses William Edward Burghardt Du Bois’s contributions to the racial uplift of the Black community through his teaching and research on Black education and religion. It highlights how Du Bois’s style of educational activism was shaped by his early life in the North and his relatively late encounter with the racism of the South. His early approach took the shape of encouraging Black people to perform well academically and presenting scientific scholarship about the reality of the Black experience to his White counterparts. This chapter also covers Du Bois’s complicated relationship with religion, including how he still managed to use it as a tool in his books Prayers for Darker People and The Negro Church to uplift his students and to critique the Black church. Finally, this chapter explores Du Bois’s trailblazing in Black sociological and religious scholarship.
Nannie Helen Burroughs
Authors: Wright Almeda M.
Published: February 2024

Chapter 4 highlights the contributions of Nannie Helen Burroughs to racial uplift, radical pragmatism, and educational activism in the twentieth century and to empowering Black women regardless of class. It describes how Burroughs’s early life, marked by racism as well as classism and colorism, led her to begin her National Training School, wherein she aimed to impart a holistic education to young Black women. Included in that holistic education are classical subjects, industrial training, and Black history as well as religious education. Chapter 4 foregrounds Burroughs’s activism with her Baptist denomination and a wider political arena, including her efforts to advocate for domestic workers, achieve and properly utilize women’s suffrage, and express a strong Christian missionary zeal. She created and participated in several organizations, alongside her Baptist denomination, including the National Association for Wage Earners and the National League of Republican Women.
Olivia Pearl Stokes
Authors: Wright Almeda M.
Published: February 2024

Chapter 7 discusses the works of Dr. Olivia Pearl Stokes, the first African American woman to get a doctoral degree in religious education. Beginning with her early life, the chapter overviews the origins of Dr. Stokes’s confidence, leadership, and pedagogical commitments. It also describes her intentional choice of career as a religious educator in response to the sexism in ordained ministry. As a religious educator, Dr. Stokes was able to effectively contribute to the reimagination of Black religious education, advocating for the incorporation of Black liberation theology. Furthermore, this chapter overviews her African-centered pedagogy, which was influenced by Marcus Garvey’s pan-Africanist ideology. Dr. Stokes’s own writings reflect her commitment to pan-Africanism, including The Beauty of Being Black, a polemic against negative images of African people and nations, and The Emerging Role of African Women, which highlights African women in leadership.
Multifarious Devilry
Authors: Liberman Anatoly
Published: February 2024

An etymologist constantly deals with popular beliefs and superstitions. The compound ragamuffin probably consists of the names of two devils’ names: Rag- and Mauf-. Hob-, the root of hobbledehoy, is a variant of Rob, the all-European name of the devil Robert. The compounds hobbledehoy and ragamuffin are similar in that they have connecting elements (de and a). The use of both elements is discussed here in detail. Rogue is rather opaque (apparently, not from Latin), and harlequin is the most intriguing word on the list. Its origin has been the subject of a long and successful investigation. The word takes us back to the early Middle Ages and to the beginning of the Italian popular drama. Despite its Romance look, Harlequin is of English provenance. The final section of the chapter deals with several petty devils, the most important of them being Puck, whose sound-imitative name is possibly of Celtic origin
Life Changes
Authors: Ollion Étienne
Published: February 2024

This chapter follows the novices that took office in 2017 as they settle into their new functions. How did they adapt? What did their new routine look like? And, beyond that, what did this sudden immersion of a hundred individuals without prior socialization tell us about the norms of contemporary politics? A close-up analysis of their first year in office discloses three salient features that are constitutive of contemporary political life: its erratic rhythm, made of long and intense work time but also of waiting; the everyday publicity that becoming a politician imposes on its actors; and the violence of interactions within politics.
Investigating the East and South
Authors: Schulz Raimund J.
Published: February 2024

The newly established Hellenistic monarchies renewed the impetus for exploration by reaching out to the east and south and establishing diplomatic and commercial contacts with local rulers. These contacts enabled the Greek envoy Megasthenes to spend many years at the court of Chandragupta Maurya. The establishment of Greek kingdoms in northern India and on the Ganges facilitated encounters with Buddhism, especially under the rule of King Menander. In Egypt, meanwhile, the Ptolemies turned their commercial and military attention towards southern Sudan and the Red Sea. Their court began to develop into a centre of knowledge where new ethnographic and geographic data were collated and combined into substantial accounts of the various regions, making possible the detailed ‘mathematical’ mapping of the ecumene by the great scientist Eratosthenes.
Building Blocks
Authors: Nakra Teresa M.
Published: February 2024

Chapter 2 explores the fundamental building blocks of musical sound, the “Lego bricks” with which music is constructed. Readers engage with the most basic elements of sound through pairs of opposites: sound vs. silence, noise vs. music, loud vs. quiet, beats vs. durations, consonance vs. dissonance, tension vs. resolution. They learn how to modify the qualities of sound elements by changing their variables. The chapter also discusses overtones and how they impact our culturally constructed perceptions of “harmonious” or “discordant” qualities of sound, governed by the principle of “valence,” or positive/negative emotional responses to experiences. The concept of timbre is introduced and explored. A two-dimensional representation of sound is described that features a vertical component associated with pitch and frequency, and a horizontal component associated with time and rhythm.
Case Studies: McCarthyism or Legitimate Criticism? Canceling Government Lawyers
Authors: Wendel W. Bradley
Published: February 2024

As the Trump administration wound down and Trump began attempting to delegitimize the results of the 2020 presidential election, some commentators called upon the legal profession to have nothing to do with lawyers who had worked in the administration or participated in any way in challenges to the election. Some of this criticism merely reflects dislike of Trump, but in other cases lawyers should appropriately be held accountable for abusing the legal system in ways that undermine the rule of law. Similar criticisms were raised against lawyers seeking to join the Obama administration who had previously represented suspected terrorists. To avoid merely recapitulating partisanship, legitimate criticism or blame of government lawyers must be prepared to address the distinction between a position that has sufficient factual and legal support and one that is fanciful or fraudulent. John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani are different from former administration lawyers like Rod Rosenstein who were involved in the implementation of morally appalling policies but acted lawfully.
Religious Elites
Authors: Stratton Hild Elaine
Published: February 2024

Chapter 1 offers a close reading of the unique, elaborate deathbed ritual found in the twelfth-century manuscript Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Arch. Cap. S. Pietro F 11 pt. A (associated with the Old Roman chant tradition). The ritual’s thirteen notated chants—many of which are unique to this manuscript—are edited in their entirety. An analysis indicates that the ritual prescribes an active role for the community gathered at the deathbed. The liturgy is written for multiple singers performing collaboratively, rather than a single priest. Another notable feature of the ritual is the foundational role given to music. In addition to psalms and a litany, which were conveyed with simple, formulaic melodies, the ritual contains a collection of antiphons with distinctive texts and melodic content. The chants’ melodic aspects shape the delivery of the sung texts, emphasizing comforting and reassuring of God.
Analysis
Authors: Stratton Hild Elaine
Published: February 2024

Chapter 5 takes a broader analytical perspective, using material and insights from the four case studies of Chapters 1 to 4 to consider questions that arise when comparing individual rituals. Did commonalities exist? To what extent did specific geographical areas and institutions maintain local versions of the deathbed rituals? Conversely, to what extent did standardization occur? The chapter also uses evidence provided by the musical material to revisit questions scholars have previously posed. Is there a particular ritual (and accompanying chant repertory) that seems to have originated in Rome? Were the rituals’ chants borrowed from other liturgies, or were they created specifically for the time of an individual’s death? Additionally, Chapter 5 considers how deathbed rituals intersect with issues of current interest in scholarly discourse: medieval conceptions of the afterlife and the relationships among melody and text in medieval plainchant.
Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond
Authors: Saemi Amir
Published: February 2024

If God commanded you to do something contrary to your moral conscience, how would you respond? Many believers of different faiths face a similar challenge today. While they take Scripture to be the word of God, they find Scriptural passages that seem incompatible with their modern moral sensibilities—let’s call this the problem of divinely prescribed evil. The first part of the book demonstrates how Islamic thinkers of various historical traditions (including the Ashʿarites, the Muʿtazilites, and the Greek-influenced Philosophers, falāsifa) adhered to a Scripture-first view: Scripture takes precedence over our independent moral judgments. By appealing to hidden moral facts known only to God or the prophet, a Scripture-first approach views moral reasoning with skepticism, at least when it conflicts with Scripture. An ethics-first view, however, places our independent moral judgments before Scripture. The second part of the book offers two ethics-first approaches, with roots in the Islamic tradition, to the problem of divinely prescribed evil; Countering the skeptical arguments presented by Scripture-first views, one asserts that our own moral reasoning is rationally reliable, while the other argues for its objective reliability. They also demonstrate how theists can uphold their belief in Scripture’s divinity while relying on their own moral judgments. Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond begins by studying the conflict between morality and revelation in Islamic thought and offers unapologetic solutions not only for progressive Muslims but for all theists who take their moral judgments seriously.
Putting Together the Parts
Authors: Phelps Charles E , Lakdawalla Darius N.
Published: February 2024

This chapter carries out a synthetic generalized risk-adjusted cost-effectiveness (GRACE) model evaluation using assumed values of key parameters. It begins with a simplified model that focuses on a single-period benefit measure, and it reviews how measures of health can be created, which then allow estimates of health losses from illness or disability. Next, the chapter shows how to calculate the severity adjustment R, for both marginal and nonmarginal (large) changes in health. This combines with other components of the full willingness to pay measure, KGRACE, to estimate value per quality-adjusted life years of health gain. Numerous examples for various parameter combinations are explored. The chapter also assesses the “certainty equivalent” adjustment, to account for changes in variance and skewness of health outcome distributions. Adding adjustments for disability, imperfect survival and discounting lead to the full estimated value in a stationary model. A discussion of the further shift to nonstationary models concludes the chapter.
Transition Issues
Authors: Phelps Charles E , Lakdawalla Darius N.
Published: February 2024

Transitions from using standard cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to generalized risk-adjusted cost-effectiveness (GRACE) methods of valuing health gains raise important questions. This chapter first addresses how best to implement severity adjustments and compares GRACE-based methods with several ad hoc methods in common use—absolute severity and proportional severity measures. These ad hoc methods diverge considerably from the theory-based GRACE approach. The second issue is that an abundance of evidence suggests that the optimal CEA decision threshold increases with income, raising the question about best ways to accommodate this pattern of preferences in single-payer and market-based health insurance systems. This discussion focuses on uses and control of supplemental health insurance within single-payer systems and how competitive markets would deal with this issue.
Conclusions and Next Steps
Authors: Phelps Charles E , Lakdawalla Darius N.
Published: February 2024

This chapter summarizes previous chapters and their key conclusions. It then discusses “next steps” toward implementation of the generalized risk-adjusted cost-effectiveness (GRACE) model to replace standard cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) as the proper method for valuing medical interventions. The first necessary step requires estimates of key risk-preference parameters that currently remain unknown. These need not be undertaken by every health technology assessment (HTA) project; once estimated, these parameters can be shared across different HTA applications. The chapter discusses how health plans can anticipate GRACE implementation by routinely measuring the uncertainty surrounding each treatment they provide, a necessary step for all HTAs. It next discusses how GRACE methods remove legal concerns in the U.S. Affordable Care Act regarding valuation methods that discriminate against disabled people. It closes by resoundingly observing that with GRACE methods available, it is no longer valid to state that “a QALY is a QALY is a QALY.”
Microbial Solutions
Authors: Kirchman David L.
Published: February 2024

Microbes can help to reduce fossil fuel use, minimize the release of methane and nitrous oxide, and take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Biomethane made by archaea is an important fuel source in many developing countries, while ethanol made by yeast makes up 10 percent or more of fuel used in cars in the United States and elsewhere. Inhibiting methanogenesis could reduce methane emissions from cattle and rice cultivation. Environmental microbiome engineering may lower nitrogen fertilizer use and release of nitrous oxide. Several strategies for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, known as negative emissions, rely on bacteria and fungi to form soil organic matter. One geoengineering scheme is to fertilize the Southern Ocean with iron to strengthen the biological pump and draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide. These possible solutions illustrate why understanding and solving today’s most important environmental problem, climate change, depends on microbes.
‘Hidden Coexistence’
Authors: Zelin Aaron Y.
Published: February 2024

In Chapter 2, Aaron Y. Zelin considers the case of al-Nahdah, who led Tunisia’s first democratically elected government. Zelin specifically looks at how this Islamist party managed its relationship with the jihadi group Ansar al-Shariah in Tunisia (AST) and with foreign fighters joining Islamic State more generally. Exploring the party’s initial “light touch” policy in relation to these actors, al-Nahdah initially believed that such an approach would incorporate AST into the political system, while also positioning the party as a moderate option between what it viewed as an extreme secular left and an extreme Salafi right. But following a 2013 showdown with these jihadist actors, al-Nahdah took a stronger stance against these groups.