bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Estimated and projected burden of multiple sclerosis attributable to smoking and childhood and adolescent high body-mass index: a comparative risk assessment
Authors: Pakpoor Julia , Schmierer Klaus , Cuzick Jack , Giovannoni Gavin , Dobson Ruth
Published: July 2020

Background

Smoking and childhood and adolescent high body-mass index (BMI) are leading lifestyle-related risk factors of global premature morbidity and mortality, and have been associated with an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). This study aims to estimate and project the proportion of MS incidence that could be prevented with elimination of these risk factors.

Methods

Prevalence estimates of high BMI during childhood/adolescence and smoking in early adulthood, and relative risks of MS, were obtained from published literature. A time-lag of 10 years was assumed between smoking in early adulthood and MS incidence, and a time-lag of 20 years was assumed between childhood/adolescent high BMI and MS incidence. The MS population attributable fractions (PAFs) of smoking and high BMI were estimated as individual and combined risk factors, by age, country and sex in 2015, 2025 and 2035 where feasible.

Results

The combined estimated PAFs for smoking and high BMI in 2015 were 14, 11, 12 and 12% for the UK, USA, Russia and Australia in a conservative estimate, and 21, 20, 19 and 16% in an independent estimate, respectively. Estimates for smoking are declining over time, whereas estimates for high early life BMI are rising. The PAF for high early life BMI is highest in the USA and is estimated to increase to 14% by 2035.

Conclusions

Assuming causality, there is the potential to substantially reduce MS incidence with the elimination of lifestyle-related modifiable risk factors, which are the target of global public health prevention strategies.
COVID-19 Pandemic: Disparate Health Impact on the Hispanic/Latinx Population in the United States
Authors: Macias Gil Raul , Marcelin Jasmine R , Zuniga-Blanco Brenda , Marquez Carina , Mathew Trini , Piggott Damani A
Published: July 2020

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, China, causing the coronavirus disease 2019 we now refer to as COVID-19. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 12 March 2020. In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed preexisting social and health disparities among several historically vulnerable populations, with stark differences in the proportion of minority individuals diagnosed with and dying from COVID-19. In this article we will describe the emerging disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the Hispanic/Latinx (henceforth: Hispanic or Latinx) community in the United States, discuss potential antecedents, and consider strategies to address the disparate impact of COVID-19 on this population.
AmpR ofStenotrophomonas maltophiliais involved in stenobactin synthesis and enhanced β-lactam resistance in an iron-depleted condition
Authors: Liao Chun-Hsing , Chen Wei-Chien , Li Li-Hua , Lin Yi-Tsung , Pan Sz-Yun , Yang Tsuey-Ching
Published: July 2020

Background

Iron is an essential nutrient for almost all aerobic organisms, including Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Fur is the only known transcriptional regulator presumptively involved in iron homeostasis in S. maltophilia. AmpR, a LysR-type transcriptional regulator, is known to regulate β-lactamase expression and β-lactam resistance in S. maltophilia.

Objectives

To identify the novel regulator involved in controlling the viability of S. maltophilia in an iron-depleted condition and to elucidate the underlying regulatory mechanisms.

Methods

The potential regulator involved in iron homeostasis was identified by studying the cell viabilities of different regulator mutants in 2,2′-dipyridyl (DIP)-containing medium. Iron-chelating activity was investigated using the chrome azurol S (CAS) activity assay. An iron source utilization bioassay was carried out to examine utilization of different iron sources. Gene expression was determined by quantitative real-time PCR, and the Etest method was used to evaluate antibiotic susceptibility.

Results

Of the 14 tested mutants, the ampR mutant, KJΔAmpR, showed a growth compromise in DIP-containing medium. AmpR regulated stenobactin synthesis in an iron-depleted condition, but showed little involvement in the uptake and utilization of ferri-stenobactin and ferric citrate. AmpR was up-regulated by iron limitation and β-lactam challenge. S. maltophilia clinical isolates grown under conditions of iron depletion were generally more resistant to β-lactams compared with conditions of iron repletion.

Conclusions

AmpR is a dual transcriptional regulator in S. maltophilia, which regulates the β-lactam-induced β-lactamase expression and iron depletion-mediated stenobactin synthesis. AmpR is, therefore, a promising target for the development of inhibitors.
Virtual care: a ‘Zoombie’ apocalypse?
Authors: Shachak Aviv , Alkureishi Maria Alcocer
Published: July 2020

In the wake of COVID-19, clinicians took to telehealth to continue providing services to their patients, mostly via telephone or videoconferencing technology. Telehealth has many promised and proven benefits including convenience to the patient, potentially less distraction from the electronic health record (EHR), saves in travel time and expenses, and lowering patients’ wait time in the clinic. However, there could be some unintended negative consequences including increased clinician burnout due to screen fatigue, potential loss of information due to the limitations of the medium, difficulty discussing sensitive issues and impacts on patient-clinician relationship, empathy, and compassion. In this perspective, we discuss some of the positives and potential negatives of telehealth and highlight some considerations that could guide the choice of media. We submit that for telehealth to become a sustainable solution that is widely applied, it is important to take these issues into consideration in both research and implementation of telehealth solutions.
Dermatan sulphate promotes neuronal differentiation in mouse and human stem cells
Authors: Ogura Chika , Hirano Kazumi , Mizumoto Shuji , Yamada Shuhei , Nishihara Shoko
Published: July 2020

Dermatan sulphate (DS), a glycosaminoglycan, is present in the extracellular matrix and on the cell surface. Previously, we showed that heparan sulphate plays a key role in the maintenance of the undifferentiated state in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and in the regulation of their differentiation. Chondroitin sulphate has also been to be important for pluripotency and differentiation of mESCs. Keratan sulphate is a marker of human pluripotent stem cells. To date, however, the function of DS in mESCs has not been clarified. Dermatan 4 sulfotransferase 1, which transfers sulphate to the C-4 hydroxyl group of N-acetylgalactosamine of DS, contributes to neuronal differentiation of mouse neural progenitor cells. Therefore, we anticipated that neuronal differentiation would be induced in mESCs in culture by the addition of DS. To test this expectation, we investigated neuronal differentiation in mESCs and human neural stem cells (hNSCs) cultures containing DS. In mESCs, DS promoted neuronal differentiation by activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and also accelerated neurite outgrowth. In hNSCs, DS promoted neuronal differentiation and neuronal migration, but not neurite outgrowth. Thus, DS promotes neuronal differentiation in both mouse and human stem cells, suggesting that it offers a novel method for efficiently inducing neuronal differentiation.
Thrombocytopenia Is Associated with COVID-19 Severity and Outcome: An Updated Meta-Analysis of 5637 Patients with Multiple Outcomes
Authors: Zong Xiaolong , Gu Yajun , Yu Hongjian , Li Zhenyu , Wang Yuliang
Published: July 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is persistent worldwide. A prior meta-analysis suggested the association of thrombocytopenia (TCP) with more severe COVID-19 illness and high mortality. Considering newly published studies, we updated the previous meta-analysis to confirm and explain the association of TCP with COVID-19 severity and multiple outcomes. Twenty-four studies with 5637 patients with COVID-19 were included in this study. The weighted incidence of TCP in COVID-19 was 12.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 7.9%–17.7%). Data synthesis showed that the platelet number was lower in patients with either more severe illness or poor outcomes and even lower in nonsurvivors, with weighted mean differences of −24.56 × 109/L, −22.48 × 109/L, and −49.02 × 109/L, respectively. The meta-analysis of binary outcomes (with and without TCP) indicated the association between TCP and 3-fold enhanced risk of a composite outcome of intensive care unit admission, progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome, and mortality (odds ratio [OR], 3.49; 95% CI, 1.57–7.78). Subgroup analysis by endpoint events suggested TCP to be significantly associated with mortality (OR, 7.37; 95% CI, 2.08–26.14). Overall, the present comprehensive meta-analysis indicated that approximately 12% of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 have TCP, which also represents a sign of more severe illness and poor outcomes.
The impact of unresolved magnetic spots on high-precision radial velocity measurements
Authors: Lisogorskyi M , Saikia S Boro , Jeffers S V , Jones H R A , Morin J , Mengel M , Reiners A , Vidotto A A , Petit P
Published: July 2020

The Doppler method of exoplanet detection has been extremely successful, but suffers from contaminating noise from stellar activity. In this work, a model of a rotating star with a magnetic field based on the geometry of the K2 star ϵ Eridani is presented and used to estimate its effect on simulated radial velocity (RV) measurements. A number of different distributions of unresolved magnetic spots were simulated on top of the observed large-scale magnetic maps obtained from 8 yr of spectropolarimetric observations. The RV signals due to the magnetic spots have amplitudes of up to 10 m s−1, high enough to prevent the detection of planets under 20 Earth masses in temperate zones of solar-type stars. We show that the RV depends heavily on spot distribution. Our results emphasize that understanding stellar magnetic activity and spot distribution is crucial for the detection of Earth analogues.
Supersoft X-ray nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Authors: Farias Diego A , Clocchiatti Alejandro , Woods Tyrone E , Rest Armin
Published: July 2020

Supersoft X-rays sources (SSSs) have been proposed as potential Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitors. If such objects are indeed persistently X-ray luminous and embedded in sufficiently dense interstellar medium (ISM), they will be surrounded by extended nebular emission. These nebulae should persist even long after an SN Ia explosion, due to the long recombination and cooling times involved. With this in mind, we searched for nebular [O iii] emission around four SSSs and three SNRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using the 6.5-m Baade telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the imacs camera. We confirm that, out of the four SSS candidates, only CAL 83 can be associated with an [O iii] nebula. The [O iii] luminosity for the other objects is constrained to ≲17 per cent of that of CAL 83 at 6.8 pc from the central source. Models computed with the photoionization code cloudy indicate that either the ISM densities in the environments of CAL 87, RX J0550.0-7151, and RX J0513.9-6951 must be significantly lower than surrounding CAL 83 or the average X-ray luminosities of these sources over the last ≲10  000 yr must be significantly lower than presently observed, in order to be consistent with the observed luminosity upper limits. For the three SNRs we consider (all with ages <1000 yr), our [O iii] flux measurements together with the known surrounding ISM densities strongly constrain the ionizing luminosity of their progenitors in the last several thousand years, independent of the progenitor channel.
Convective turbulent viscosity acting on equilibrium tidal flows: new frequency scaling of the effective viscosity
Authors: Duguid Craig D , Barker Adrian J , Jones C A
Published: July 2020

Turbulent convection is thought to act as an effective viscosity (νE) in damping tidal flows in stars and giant planets. However, the efficiency of this mechanism has long been debated, particularly in the regime of fast tides, when the tidal frequency (ω) exceeds the turnover frequency of the dominant convective eddies (ωc). We present the results of hydrodynamical simulations to study the interaction between tidal flows and convection in a small patch of a convection zone. These simulations build upon our prior work by simulating more turbulent convection in larger horizontal boxes, and here we explore a wider range of parameters. We obtain several new results: (1) νE is frequency dependent, scaling as ω−0.5 when ω/ωc ≲ 1, and appears to attain its maximum constant value only for very small frequencies (ω/ωc ≲ 10−2). This frequency reduction for low-frequency tidal forcing has never been observed previously. (2) The frequency dependence of νE appears to follow the same scaling as the frequency spectrum of the energy (or Reynolds stress) for low and intermediate frequencies. (3) For high frequencies (ω/ωc ≳ 1 − 5), νE ∝ ω−2. 4) The energetically dominant convective modes always appear to contribute the most to νE, rather than the resonant eddies in a Kolmogorov cascade. These results have important implications for tidal dissipation in convection zones of stars and planets, and indicate that the classical tidal theory of the equilibrium tide in stars and giant planets should be revisited. We briefly touch upon the implications for planetary orbital decay around evolving stars.
Gcn2 eIF2α kinase mediates combinatorial translational regulation through nucleotide motifs and uORFs in target mRNAs
Authors: Chikashige Yuji , Kato Hiroaki , Thornton Mackenzie , Pepper Whitney , Hilgers Madelyn , Cecil Ariana , Asano Izumi , Yamada Haana , Mori Chie , Brunkow Cheyenne , Moravek Carter , Urano Takeshi , Singh Chingakham Ranjit , Asano Katsura
Published: July 2020

The protein kinase Gcn2 is a central transducer of nutritional stress signaling important for stress adaptation by normal cells and the survival of cancer cells. In response to nutrient deprivation, Gcn2 phosphorylates eIF2α, thereby repressing general translation while enhancing translation of specific mRNAs with upstream ORFs (uORFs) situated in their 5′-leader regions. Here we performed genome-wide measurements of mRNA translation during histidine starvation in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Polysome analyses were combined with microarray measurements to identify gene transcripts whose translation was up-regulated in response to the stress in a Gcn2-dependent manner. We determined that translation is reprogrammed to enhance RNA metabolism and chromatin regulation and repress ribosome synthesis. Interestingly, translation of intron-containing mRNAs was up-regulated. The products of the regulated genes include additional eIF2α kinase Hri2 amplifying the stress signaling and Gcn5 histone acetyl transferase and transcription factors, together altering genome-wide transcription. Unique dipeptide-coding uORFs and nucleotide motifs, such as ‘5′-UGA(C/G)GG-3′, are found in 5′ leader regions of regulated genes and shown to be responsible for translational control.
Rapid drift of the Tethyan Himalaya terrane before two-stage India-Asia collision
Authors: Yuan Jie , Yang Zhenyu , Deng Chenglong , Krijgsman Wout , Hu Xiumian , Li Shihu , Shen Zhongshan , Qin Huafeng , An Wei , He Huaiyu , Ding Lin , Guo Zhengtang , Zhu Rixiang
Published: July 2020

The India-Asia collision is an outstanding smoking gun in the study of continental collision dynamics. How and when the continental collision occurred remains a long-standing controversy. Here we present two new paleomagnetic data sets from rocks deposited on the distal part of the Indian passive margin, which indicate that the Tethyan Himalaya terrane was situated at a paleolatitude of ∼19.4°S at ∼75 Ma and moved rapidly northward to reach a paleolatitude of ∼13.7°N at ∼61 Ma. This implies that the Tethyan Himalaya terrane rifted from India after ∼75 Ma, generating the North India Sea. We document a new two-stage continental collision, first at ∼61 Ma between the Lhasa and Tethyan Himalaya terranes, and subsequently at ∼53−48 Ma between the Tethyan Himalaya terrane and India, diachronously closing the North India Sea from west to east. Our scenario matches the history of India-Asia convergence rates and reconciles multiple lines of geologic evidence for the collision.
Clinical Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests for Diagnosing COVID-19
Authors: Ridgway Jessica P , Pisano Jennifer , Landon Emily , Beavis Kathleen G , Robicsek Ari
Published: July 2020

Utilizing 34,348 SARS CoV-2 NAAT results from two health systems, we estimated the clinical sensitivity of a single SARS CoV-2 NAAT. We found that SARS CoV-2 NAAT has 82-97% sensitivity for diagnosing COVID-19 among symptomatic patients.
An unusual finding of giant fat-rich retroperitoneal masses in a patient with Graves’ disease
Authors: Yoshida Hiromichi , Nakajima Kazuaki , Hayashi Haruyuki , Kimura Shinjiro , Irie Yasufumi
Published: July 2020

We report the case of a 48-year-old man who was unexpectedly found by abdominal ultrasonography to have large retroperitoneal masses accompanied by Graves’ disease. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging further demonstrated giant fat-rich soft masses arising within both renal sinuses. Histopathological examination of the mass was performed twice at 5-year intervals, with both examinations indicating fatty tissue cells with chronic fibrous panniculitis. Intravenous pulse therapy and successive oral glucocorticoid therapy were ineffective against Graves’ ophthalmopathy or mass lesion. An antithyroid hormone regimen was followed by subtotal thyroid resection, leading to improvements in hyperthyroidism. Mass growth then attenuated slowly as the thyroid hormones returned to normal levels. The long-term follow-up of this patient should carefully monitor the appearance of warning signs such as mass effects.
Introduction
Authors: Ochoa Espejo Paulina
Published: July 2020

Borders today evoke exclusion, and they pose a dilemma for inclusive democrats: if borders define the people by exclusion, and democratic politics requires the people, then democracy requires exclusive borders. So, on one horn, there is democratic politics, but exclusion; on the other, inclusion, but no democracy. This chapter argues that this is a false dilemma, because it only arises if there is a tight connection between people and territory. Such a connection occurs in the mainstream model of territorial politics, which envisions countries as desert islands belonging to a people—but there are alternatives. This introductory chapter shows how turning to a neglected tradition of territorial politics that focuses on place and geography and takes the environment seriously can show a way out of the dilemma. It proposes a watershed model of territorial politics grounded on place, rather than identity. The rest of the book will use this model to tell us where should borders go, and how should they be governed.
The Desert Island Model of Territorial Politics
Authors: Ochoa Espejo Paulina
Published: July 2020

The dominant model of territorial politics views territories as distinct, independent, and subject to ownership by its own people: it models countries on a newly occupied desert island. The model however, cannot accommodate crossborder populations, interconnected ecosystems, and other transborder flows. Why does the model withstand critiques? This chapter argues that the Desert Island Model endures because it is normative, not descriptive. The chapter examines this normative origin in Vitoria’s, Locke’s, and Kant’s work, as well as in contemporary Lockean and Kantian theories of territorial rights. It shows that to justify rule on the basis of individual or collective autonomy, these theories must also envision territory as subject to ownership, and thus as distinct and independent from other territories. This is an assumption, not a fact, but it conditions the practice of territorial politics.
STEEP
Authors: Fisher Greg , Wisneski John E. , Bakker Rene M.
Published: July 2020

The purpose of a macro-environmental (STEEP) analysis is to capture and interpret what is happening (and what is likely to happen) in the environment in which a business operates. It accounts for the broad trends, forces, and changes beyond the boundaries of the firm, which may impact the operations and markets of the firm. STEEP stands for social, technical, economic, ecological, and political factors. This chapter discusses the underlying theory, core idea, depiction, process, insight or value created, and risks and limitations of STEEP analysis. Finally, the chapter offers the illustration of Japan Tobacco International and applies the steps of STEEP analysis to this case.
Rome, Religion, and Christian Emperors
Authors: Gassman Mattias P.
Published: July 2020

The controversy over the altar of Victory shows how pagans and Christians expressed competing ideas on the public role of religion in an increasingly Christian empire. In 382, Gratian revoked funding from the Roman state priesthoods and removed the altar from the Senate house. Following Gratian’s death in 383, the Senate appealed to his brother, Valentinian II, through the urban prefect, Symmachus, whose communiqué was successfully countered by Ambrose of Milan. Recent scholarship has favoured Symmachus’ account, which it sees as an appeal for religious tolerance, and argued that the affair was decided by the power politics of a child emperor’s unstable court. In response, this chapter argues that Symmachus was actually trying to exclude the emperor’s Christianity from public decision-making. All religions may, for Symmachus, lead to God, but the old cults are Rome’s divinely appointed defence, as well as the bond between Senate and emperors. Ambrose put Valentinian’s duty to God at the heart of his appeal. Ambrose’s Senate contained many Christians, and Ambrose was bound to resist an emperor who endorsed pagan sacrifices (the closest either work comes to explicit political gamesmanship). Together, their works show how malleable Rome’s public religion still was, more than seventy years after Constantine embraced Christianity.
Conclusion
Authors: Gassman Mattias P.
Published: July 2020

Fourth-century writers dealt with traditional religion and its shifting place in Roman society with the help of myth, philosophy, and observation of cultic practice. These were not mere ‘antiquarian’ endeavours but resources that fleshed out a picture of traditional religion whose frame was set by each author’s social situation and theological convictions. The diversity of the resultant texts precludes a grand narrative of pagan evolution, or even of the formation of a new conception of ‘paganism’ or of ‘religion’. Nevertheless, the long arc of polemical discourse from Diocletian to Valentinian II testifies to the importance of the changing legal and political context that framed each author’s approach to pagan cult. It also makes clear the abiding differences that separated Christians from pagans, despite shared civic space and social ties. Much the same remained true, after decades of anti-pagan legislation, in Augustine’s early-fifth-century North Africa, where devout Christians struggled (sometimes violently) with influential pagans. Faced by the fall of Rome, Augustine produced City of God, whose only ancient Latin rival for breadth and theological vision is Lactantius’ Divine Institutes. Traditional religion was a still-potent reality in a Roman Empire that was no longer definitely pagan but not yet definitively Christian.
Introduction
Authors: Huss Boaz
Published: July 2020

The introduction presents Martin Buber’s early 20th century attempt to expose the existence of “Jewish mysticism,” and the later establishment of the academic study of Jewish mysticism by Geshom Scholem, and the revolution that occurred in the study of Jewish mysticsm in the 1980’s. The introduction outlines the genealogical study and critical examination of the concept and research field of Jewish mysticism that will be presented in the book, and explains that it seeks to expose the deep-rooted factors that have guided (and continue to guide) the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as mysticism, and how these influence the ways in which these movements are interpreted and studied. It discussed that two central claims that guide the discussion in this book. The first is that mysticism, in general, and Jewish mysticism, in particular, are not natural and universal phenomena that were discovered by researchers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rather, these are discursive constructs which served to catalogue, compare, and explain a broad range of cultural products and social structures not necessarily related to one another. The second claim that guides the discussion of the study of Jewish mysticism involves the theological assumptions that underpin the category of mysticism.
“Authorized Guardians”
Authors: Huss Boaz
Published: July 2020

The chapter examines phenomena that remained outside the scope of what was considered Jewish mysticism: the topics scholars chose to ignore. It discusses how researchers of Jewish mysticism relate to contemporary Hasidic and Kabbalistic movements and examines why the category was not applied to these movements. The chapter examines the claim of Buber, Scholem, and many of their followers that the Hasidism of the eighteenth century was the final stage of Jewish mysticism. It reveals why later forms of Kabbalah and Hasidism were not regarded as authentic expressions of Jewish mysticism, and why they did not, therefore, receive any scholarly attention but were the object of contempt. In this chapter, I show that the disregard of Scholem and his pupils toward the Kabbalistic formations of their times derived from a national-theological position and an Orientalist ambivalence. The researchers of Jewish mysticism—who viewed themselves as the authorized guardians of the Kabbalah—believed that the authentic continuation of the Jewish mystical tradition was rather to be found in academic research, which would reveal the historical significance of Kabbalah and Hasidism, and their mystical and metaphysical origins.
Other Objections to Modal Normativism
Authors: Thomasson Amie L.
Published: July 2020

This chapter responds to other objections to modal normativism, including alleged counterexamples in which we have an apparent rule without a necessity (for example, in “I am here now”), or in which we appear to have a necessity without a rule (for example, in claims that numbers exist necessarily). It then turns to respond to allegations that the view is implicitly circular, since semantic rules must themselves be understood in modal terms, or since we must also take into account the consequences of the rules and so invoke a notion of logical necessity. In responding to these objections, the chapter also points to non-descriptivist approaches that have been developed for nomological necessity and logical necessity.
Ontological Advantages
Authors: Thomasson Amie L.
Published: July 2020

This chapter aims to make clear the ontological consequences of adopting a modal normativist position. By combining normativism with the easy approach to ontology, we can see that modal normativism gives us a form of simple realism, according to which there are modal facts, properties, and even possible worlds, in the only sense that has sense. Such entities are not, however, “posited” as truthmakers that are supposed to “explain” what “makes our modal claims true.” But although the normativist accepts that there are modal facts and properties, the view also brings ontological advantages, avoiding ontological problems that plague traditional realist views, including placement problems and the grounding problem. The normativist view is also compared here to the forms of “classificatory conventionalism” advocated by Ross Cameron and Theodore Sider.
The Roman World of Early Christianity
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: July 2020

Drawing on conventional terminology and concepts, this chapter describes the religious world in which Christianity emerged. It is impossible to offer an accurate count of the number of gods, divinized beings, daimonions, and numina that were thought to populate the universe and have direct influence on the lives of people. It was quite literally “a world full of gods.” Cultural divisions and a wide range of religious practices also existed across the spectrum of what is typically called popular piety, and the more philosophical appropriation of ideas of the divine. According to a scheme that would prove to be foundational, there were three general categories of Roman religion: the gods of poets or what Varro called the “mythical”; the natural (that is, physical) gods of philosophers; and the gods of cultic or civil theology (that is, of the state).
Philosophy as Protagonist
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: July 2020

This chapter considers the work of Athenagoras of Athens. Along with other Christian intellectuals, Athenagoras writes (in 176/177 ce) in response to a wave of localized persecutions and the popular rise of untenable claims against Christians. Throughout disparate parts of the Roman Empire, the lack of specific jurisprudence concerning the Christians produced the repetition of precedents resulting in the arrest and execution of Polycarp, the famous bishop of Smyrna, and the riotous action taken against random Christians in Lyons and Vienne (central Gaul). Whether he knew of particular incidents or others, Athenagoras is familiar enough with the Christian situation to ask for “an end to the slaughter at the hands of lying informers.” The chapter also examines the work of Theophilus of Antioch.
Brilliant Diatribe
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: July 2020

This chapter considers the work of Tertullian of Carthage. No Christian apologetic author could match Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (Tertullian) in his sardonic rhetorical style and massive erudition when writing against Christian heretics, fellow Catholics, and menacing pagans. His handful of apologetic works represent an apex in the refinement of refuting pagan denigrations of Christianity during the second and third centuries. Most remarkable in Tertullian’s case is that the reader encounters not merely another body of apologetic texts that marshaled philosophical or historical arguments against pagan condemnations, but the invention of a series of related texts advising Christians how they should live in and respond to a hostile culture.
Apology as Dialogue and Appeal
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: July 2020

This chapter presents a reading of the Octavius, which is cast as a transcription of an earlier dialogue that purportedly took place in Ostia between three lawyers and friends: Marcus Minucius Felix, Caecilius Natalis, and Octavius Januaris. The text is set in a dialogical format that is clearly meant to recall the philosophical dialogues of Cicero, though it is less of a dialogue as it is actually composed of two speeches: one by Caecilius, defending the pagan position; and one by Octavius the Christian. Minucius functions as the arbitrator between the two others, though his actual role is the narrator of the exchange. The three lawyers are on holiday in Ostia, chatting as they walk along the shoreline, when the subject turns to religion; their conversation becomes a debate presenting both sides of the pagan-vs.-Christian arguments as commonly portrayed at the end of the second century. The chapter also considers the work of Thracius Caecilianus Cyprianus, bishop of Carthage.
Apologist Par Excellence
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: July 2020

This chapter considers the work of Eusebius of Caesarea, who is best known as the early Church’s historian, as the author of the Life of Constantine, and supposedly for being on the “Arian” side in the debate before the Council of Nicaea (325). It is less known that Eusebius devoted much of his adult life and senior years to producing apologetic works which constituted a central pillar in the treasury of his writings. In sheer volume, apologetic material surpasses all the rest of his works combined. Eusebius employs several different literary styles in his apologetic writing. In the midst of it all he never strays far from the notion that the Gospel is an invitation to all people of all nationalities and in all stations of life.
Fifth-Century Anti-Pagan Polemic Expressions
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: July 2020

This chapter looks at the continued tensions between Christians and pagans in the fifth century. At the beginning of the fifth century, a Western bishop, Maximus of Turin (died between 408 and 423), earnestly warned his congregation about their lack of vigilance when it came to casting out all pagan religious paraphernalia from their households and places of business. By the end of the second decade of the fifth century, it was necessary to exclude pagans from imperial administration and the judiciary. Over the next forty years, the open practice of paganism was threatened with capital punishment several times. All of this, however, seems to have had little effect in preventing vital locales of paganism, and from pagans holding positions close to the imperium.
Why Does Prison Social Order Vary?
Authors: Skarbek David
Published: July 2020

Chapter 1 discusses how all prisons share essential features. Prisoners, who have either been charged with or convicted of a crime, are forced to relocate to a facility for confinement. Once there, the captive must usually interact with other people in the same situation. They suffer the pains of imprisonment, which often includes deprivation of liberty, goods and services, heterosexual relationships, autonomy, and security. Prisoners tend to come from relatively disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. All prisons are based on coercion, and prisoners have no voluntary exit option. The chapter then shows how there is nevertheless, tremendous variation in life behind bars. In some prisons, informal institutions are incredibly important; in others, they are nearly non-existent. In some places, prisoners create hierarchy and organizations to rule; in others, norms prevail. Finally, the chapter outlines how the book will help explain how these different systems of governance arise.
Extending Rawlsian Justice to Nonhuman Animals
Authors: Roberts-Cady Sarah
Published: July 2020

Rawls’s theory does not, as many philosophers assume, rule out the possibility of justice for nonhuman animals. A careful reading of Rawls shows that the issue hinges on the answer to this question: would it be reasonable for moral agents to agree to terms of social cooperation that include protections for animals? To establish that it is reasonable, one must make an argument for these legal protections that is grounded in public reason alone. Such arguments exist and, indeed, dominate discussions of the status of animals. Accordingly, a Rawlsian framework can be used to argue for justice for animals.
Global Health Impact
Authors: Hassoun Nicole
Published: July 2020

Every year 9 million people are diagnosed with tuberculosis, every day more than 13,400 people are infected with AIDs, every 30 seconds malaria kills a child. Many people suffer and die young because they cannot access essential medicines. This book argues that people have a right to access these medicines and proposes some new Global Health Impact labeling, investment, and licensing strategies that encourage pharmaceutical companies to improve global health (global-health-impact.org/new). The idea is to rate these companies based on their medicines’ impacts. Highly rated companies will get a Global Health Impact label to use on their products. Socially responsible investment companies and universities might also take the ratings into account in making investment or licensing decisions. After arguing that people do have a right to access essential medicines, this book explores this proposal, its philosophical justification, and its prospects for success.
Moral Messiness
Authors: Brownlee Kimberley
Published: July 2020

Some intimate associations simply should not exist—that much is uncontroversial. But once they do exist, the moral ballgame changes. For instance, a person who has no right to form an association might gain a right to remain in it once it exists. This chapter considers intriguing puzzles that arise in the aftermath of morally problematic associative decisions. One is the parasite problem, in which one person illegitimately piggybacks on another person’s undisputed associational rights which require the first person’s participation. Parasites illegitimately occupy the associative roles to which their rights attach. Can they bootstrap themselves into associative legitimacy? Should we worry about the precedent this might set? When are third parties required or forbidden to interfere? As this chapter shows, there are no simple answer to these questions. All ex ante solutions—relying on arguments about defeasibility, conditionality, and group rights—flounder. Only a case-by-case analysis will do justice to these intricacies of sociability.
Introduction
Authors: Pierson Christopher
Published: July 2020

The Introduction outlines the overall structure of this third volume of Just Property. The book consists of five pairs of chapters, devoted to ‘liberals’ (1 and 2), ‘libertarians’ (3 and 4), ‘social democrats’ (5 and 6), ‘radical conservatives’ (7 and 8), and ‘feminists’ (9 and 10). In each case, I begin by giving a sense of what each of these approaches stands for, in general, before giving some indication of how property fits into that account. In each case, the remaining space is given over to a detailed interrogation of particular thinkers, followed by a conclusion which seeks to relate this body of work to the various ways in which property claims are justified. In every instance, my authors are chosen above all because what they say is interesting, rather than because they are representative. The Conclusion returns to the project’s opening questions about property and inequality and about property under the imperative of growth to limits. It judges that we need, as a political community, to re-think the ways in which we allocate property, and suggests some of the ways in which we could do this.
Libertarians II
Authors: Pierson Christopher
Published: July 2020

This chapter continues the evaluation of ideas about property amongst libertarians. I explore a number of key ideational moves through which libertarians seek to save their views from the ambiguities in Nozick’s account. These ideas include claims about a natural right to appropriate, the absence of limits upon individual acquisition of property, and a particular understanding of the consequences of ‘owning ourselves’, of ‘mixing one’s labour’, and of seeing property as an ‘action’. I offer a substantial critique of all these defences of unlimited acquisition. I consider the rather different libertarianism defended in John Tomasi’s Free Market Fairness before moving on to the distinctive position developed by so-called ‘left libertarians’. Key libertarians ‘on the right’ are Edward Feser, Lloyd P. Gerson, John Sanders, Jan Narveson, David Schmidtz, A.John Simmons, and Bas van der Vossen. My key ‘left libertarians’ are Hillel Steiner, Michael Otsuka, and Phillippe Van Parijs.
Radical Conservatives II
Authors: Pierson Christopher
Published: July 2020

This chapter continues the evaluation of ideas about property amongst radical conservatives. The focus is on three English writers: William Cobbett, G. K. Chesterton, and Hilaire Belloc. They all condemned recent changes in the property order in Britain and called for radical reform to reverse it. Cobbett was concerned above all with the disruption to an established, paternalistic property order in the countryside, which disruption he associated, above all, with a new commercial order, paper money, and excessive taxation. He wished to see the old, and benign, property regime in agricultural areas re-established. Chesterton and Belloc were also hostile to commercialism and ‘new money’. They advocated a radical redistribution of private property and were associated with a political movement designed to achieve this, distributism. For them, property was a conservative principle and encouraged conservative behaviour—but only when widely distributed. This required a radical redistribution—and it might take a revolution to achieve it.
Kant and Women
Authors: Varden Helga
Published: July 2020

This chapter provides an interpretation of Kant’s own account of the traditional genders (man and woman) with particular attention to the historically oppressed gender (woman). I explain how Kant’s full account of human nature, including his teleological arguments, in combination with how we use the imagination aesthetically when being sexual, loving, or gendered inform his account of the traditional gender ideals of the man and the woman: the man associated with the idea of the sublime; the woman with that of the beautiful. The chapter concludes by arguing that although Kant himself failed to solve the puzzle of genders, sexual or gendered identities, and sexual orientations—including how they do not fit neatly into the two traditionally dominant categories of man and woman—his general suggestions that understanding sex, love, and gender requires appeals to embodied, social human nature, teleological judgments, and an aesthetic use of the imagination are worth exploring further.
Introduction
Authors: Lustig Doreen
Published: July 2020

Corporations have limited responsibilities in international law but enjoy far-reaching rights and privileges. International legal debates often conceive of this issue as a problem of business accountability for human rights violations. Conceptually, the issue of corporations in international law has focused on whether or not they are, or ought to be, recognized as ‘subjects’ of responsibility in international law and on the adequate conceptual analogy to the corporation. The introduction presents an alternative way of thinking about the role of international law and its relevance to the private business corporation. It traces the emergence of the contemporary legal architecture for corporations in international law and shows how modern international law constitutes a framework within which businesses and governments allocate resources and responsibilities—a framework that began to operate as early as the late-nineteenth century and continued throughout the twentieth century.
The Nature of the Nazi State and the Responsibility of Corporate Officials at Nuremberg
Authors: Lustig Doreen
Published: July 2020

Chapter 4 explores how various conceptions of the Nazi totalitarian state influenced the findings and prosecutions of the Industrialist Trials at Nuremberg conducted against key officials in the Flick, Krupp, and I.G. Farben companies. The chapter considers the influence of the Frankfurt School and Franz Neumann’s theory of the Nazi state as Behemoth on the prosecution’s innovative theory of the Nazi regime. The tribunals’ legal reasoning rejected Neumann’s theory of Behemoth and insisted instead on a link being established with state authority, influence, or control as a basis for the responsibility of corporate officials. The chapter analyses the shortcomings of the tribunals’ approach in meeting the normative challenge of the Industrialist Trials, namely to develop principles for establishing responsibilities among businesspersons operating as such. Furthermore, it reveals how the tribunals’ conceptions of the corporate veil of the state, the company, and the relation between them served as a shield against individual responsibility.
Self-Evidence, Proof, and Disagreement
Authors: Clarke-Doane Justin
Published: July 2020

This chapter argues that our mathematical beliefs have no better claim to being a priori justified than our moral beliefs. In particular, they have no better claim to being self-evident, provable, plausible, “analytic,” or even initially credible than our moral beliefs, despite widespread allegations to the contrary. It considers the objection that pervasive and persistent moral disagreement betrays a lack of parity between the cases, and argues that there is no important sense in which there is more moral than mathematical disagreement, or in which moral disagreement is less tractable than mathematical disagreement. A common argument to the contrary simply confuses logic with mathematics (though can even make a parity argument in the case of metalogic). The chapters conclude with the suggestion that the extent of disagreement in an area, in any familiar sense, is of little epistemological consequence.
Recovering Experience in Christian Theology
Authors: Zahl Simeon
Published: July 2020

This chapter provides initial clarification of how the term “experience” will be used in this book, distinguishing between “formal” and “implicit” functions of experience in theological reasoning. It then examines the history of ambivalence about “experience” in Protestant theology from Martin Luther’s debates with the enthusiasts to Karl Barth’s critique of Schleiermacher and his heirs. It argues that that this longstanding history of ambivalence has substantially shaped contemporary theological anxieties about subjectivity and experience, including for those who are not Protestants. The chapter then provides a series of arguments for the importance as well as irreducibility of “experience” in theology, on historical, theological, and psychological grounds.
Lending to, and Relation with the Government
Authors: Bindseil Ulrich
Published: July 2020

This chapter discusses pre-1800 relations between central banks and governments, including central bank lending to the government. The latter is interpreted both from the monetary perspective in Section 3.1 (need for secure and liquid assets to leverage the precious metal reserves) and from the state financing perspective in Section 3.2 (reliable and elastic additional source of government funding). Both may be beneficial for society, but from the perspective of central banking, the first is sufficient. Section 3.3 reviews the pre-1800 risks of problematic recourse of the government to the central bank. Section 3.4 reviews the tools that have been designed to reduce the risks of government exploitation of central banks. Section 3.5 discusses why all pre-1800 central banks were created through an exclusive public charter. Finally, Section 3.6 provides examples of pre-1800 government guarantees and public capital injections.
Disciplinary History
Authors: Hom Andrew R.
Published: July 2020

Part Two uses narrative timing theory to tease out the many ways that IR works to time global political life—that is, to identify which political processes matter, specify how they hang together, and propose how they can unfold toward particular outcomes reflecting our vocational commitments. Chapter four shows that, from very early on, timing dynamics influenced the emergence and development of IR as a distinct domain of inquiry. In fact, timing crises played a constitutive role in key moments of the field’s history. We can see this in scholarly responses to World War I, the thermonuclear revolution, and the end of the Cold War. Taking a closer look at what analysts said and how they thought about these shocking events suggests that the IR project evolved as a collective narrative timing project. More specifically, when confronted by confounding world historical changes, scholars explicitly lamented the problem of time as they worked to rectify, modify, or replace existing accounts of how politics work. In the process, their loosely organized efforts produced and reproduced vocational stories about IR’s role, importance, and potential impact. When IR grapples with temporal phenomena, restoring order to international politics and to its academic study go hand in hand. This supports the argument developed in Part One that whatever else it does, IR pursues the dual task of securing political practice and theoretical knowledge against the ravages of Time.