bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
International commercial courts and EU law: easing the tension
Authors: Ortolani Pietro , van Zelst Bas
Published: January 2023

International commercial courts (ICCts) are hybrid dispute resolution fora, whose features often differ from the ones of ‘ordinary’ courts. Thus, the legal nature of ICCts is not always clear. The authors submit that it is doubtful whether an ICCt should be qualified as a self-standing adjudicative body, or as a chamber of a larger court. This, in turn, may undermine the applicability of the European Union cross-border litigation regime, and affect enforceability. Using the Netherlands Commercial Court as a case study, this article proposes two alternative avenues for reform, aimed at enhancing legal certainty and ensuring international enforceability.
Leader Statements and the Effect of Accommodative and Coercive Language in Interstate Conflict
Authors: Tucker Colin
Published: January 2023

Do leaders’ statements influence the trajectory of interstate conflicts? More specifically, do coercive or accommodative statements influence immediate deterrence and reconciliation? This study expands upon the contributions of McManus (“Fighting Words: The Effectiveness of Statements of Resolve in International Conflict,” Journal of Peace Research 51, no. 6 [2014]: 726–40) by measuring the presence of coercive and accommodative language in US presidential statements and examines whether these types of statements are associated with conflict events during militarized interstate disputes. Accounting for endogeneity, the findings suggest that higher rates of coercive statements deter adversaries from engaging in the use of military force, while higher rates of accommodative statements induce the adversary into negotiations. Importantly, coercive statements do not appear to incite hostilities through provocation, nor do accommodative statements appear to invite escalation by signaling weakness.
Healthcare seeking during travel: an analysis by the GeoSentinel surveillance network of travel medicine providers
Authors: Piyaphanee Watcharapong , Stoney Rhett J , Asgeirsson Hilmir , Appiah Grace D , Díaz-Menéndez Marta , Barnett Elizabeth D , Gautret Philippe , Libman Michael , Schlagenhauf Patricia , Leder Karin , Plewes Katherine , Grobusch Martin P , Huits Ralph , Mavunda Kunjana , Hamer Davidson H , Chen Lin H
Published: January 2023

Background

International travellers may seek care abroad to address health problems that arise during their trip or plan healthcare outside their country of residence as medical tourists.

Methods

Data were collected on travellers evaluated at GeoSentinel Network sites who reported healthcare during travel. Both unplanned and planned healthcare were analysed, including the reason and nature of healthcare sought, characteristics of the treatment provided and outcomes. Travellers that presented for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis were described elsewhere and were excluded from detailed analysis.

Results

From May 2017 through June 2020, after excluding travellers obtaining rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (n= 415), 1093 travellers reported care for a medical or dental issue that was an unanticipated part of the travellers’ planned itinerary (unplanned healthcare). Travellers who sought unplanned healthcare abroad had frequent diagnoses of acute diarrhoea, dengue, falciparum malaria and unspecified viral syndrome, and obtained care in 131 countries. Thirty-four (3%) reported subsequent deterioration and 230 (21%) reported no change in condition; a third (n = 405; 37%) had a pre-travel health encounter. Forty-one travellers had sufficient data on planned healthcare abroad for analysis. The most common destinations were the US, France, Dominican Republic, Belgium and Mexico. The top reasons for their planned healthcare abroad were unavailability of procedure at home (n = 9; 19%), expertise abroad (n = 9; 19%), lower cost (n = 8; 17%) and convenience (n = 7; 15%); a third (n = 13; 32%) reported cosmetic or surgical procedures. Early and late complications occurred in 14 (33%) and 4 (10%) travellers, respectively. Four travellers (10%) had a pre-travel health encounter.

Conclusions

International travellers encounter health problems during travel that often could be prevented by pre-travel consultation. Travellers obtaining planned healthcare abroad can experience negative health consequences associated with treatments abroad, for which pre-travel consultations could provide advice and potentially help to prevent complications.
Colonic histoplasmosis
Authors: Sangiorgi Flavio , Torelli Riccardo , Castri Federica , Siciliano Valentina , Cauda Roberto , Fantoni Massimo , Sanguinetti Maurizio , Taccari Francesco
Published: January 2023

An Ivorian woman presented to us with a 2-month history of fever, abdominal pain and nausea. Human immunodeficiency virus serology was positive. Abdominal ultrasound showed enlarged abdominal lymph nodes and wall thickening of the right colon. Colonic biopsy was suggestive of fungal infection and polymerase chain reaction for Histoplasma capsulatum on biopsy was positive.
Diagnostic Role of Circulating miRNAs in the Grading of Chronic Hepatitis B–Related Liver Fibrosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Jiang Ting , Leng Wenying , Zhong Sen
Published: January 2023

Objective

miRNAs are considered potential biomarkers that can be used for the grading of chronic hepatitis B (CHB)–related liver fibrosis. This meta-analysis aims to elucidate the diagnostic performance of miRNAs.

Methods

Databases were used to search for meta-analyses. A bivariate model was used to calculate pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR). In addition, the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.

Results

A total of 9 studies with 1159 patients with CHB-related liver fibrosis were assessed. For diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, DOR, and AUC were 0.73 (95% CI, 0.68–0.78), 0.78 (95% CI, 0.70–0.84), 3.32 (95% CI, 2.52–4.37), 0.34 (95% CI, 0.30–0.39), 9.70 (95% CI, 7.10–13.24), and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.77–0.84), respectively.

Conclusion

miRNAs are potential biomarkers of CHB-related liver fibrosis.
Vanadium Electronic Configuration Determination From L2,3 Transition in V-oxide Compounds and Roscoelite
Authors: Zanetta Pierre-Marie , Drexler Maxwell S , Barton Isabel F , Zega Thomas J
Published: January 2023

We report on the electronic structure of vanadium in synthetic V-oxides and in natural roscoelite (V-rich phyllosilicate). This study applied electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), combined with first-principle calculations, to (1) establish relationships between the V oxidation state and EELS L2,3 features and (2) better constrain the oxidation state and crystallographic siting of V in roscoelite, with implications for other V-bearing phyllosilicates. Both EELS measurements and band structure calculations show that the EELS L2/L3 ratio increases as the oxidation state of V increases. We establish a quantitative relationship between the V L2,3 near-edge structure and the V oxidation state by normalizing the L2 maximum peak intensity to the L3 peak intensity. By applying this method to roscoelite, we find that it hosts a mix of trivalent and tetravalent V distributed between the octahedral and tetrahedral sites with a V4+/ΣV = 0.6 ± 0.1. This relationship is applicable to measurements of V oxidation states in oxide and phyllosilicate minerals, which is useful for constraining the conditions of rock and mineral formation and has potential implications for metal extraction from phyllosilicate ores.
Evidence of high-mass star formation through multiscale mass accretion in hub-filament-system clouds
Authors: Liu Hong-Li , Tej Anandmayee , Liu Tie , Sanhueza Patricio , Qin Sheng-Li , He Jinhua , Goldsmith Paul F , Garay Guido , Pan Sirong , Morii Kaho , Li Shanghuo , Stutz Amelia , Tatematsu Ken’ichi , Xu Feng-Wei , Bronfman Leonardo , Saha Anindya , Issac Namitha , Baug Tapas , Toth L Viktor , Dewangan Lokesh , Wang Ke , Zhou Jianwen , Lee Chang Won , Yang Dongting , Luo Anxu , Shen Xianjin , Zhang Yong , Wu Yue-Fang , Ren Zhiyuan , Liu Xun-Chuan , Soam Archana , Zhang Siju , Luo Qiu-Yi
Published: January 2023

We present a statistical study of a sample of 17 hub-filament-system (HFS) clouds of high-mass star formation using high-angular resolution (∼1–2 arcsec) ALMA 1.3 and 3 mm continuum data. The sample includes eight infrared (IR)-dark and nine IR-bright types, which correspond to an evolutionary sequence from the IR-dark to IR-bright stage. The central massive clumps and their associated most massive cores are observed to follow a trend of increasing mass (M) and mass surface density (Σ) with evolution from the IR-dark to IR-bright stage. In addition, a mass-segregated cluster of young stellar objects (YSOs) are revealed in both IR-dark and IR-bright HFSs with massive YSOs located in the hub and the population of low-mass YSOs distributed over larger areas. Moreover, outflow feedback in all HFSs are found to escape preferentially through the inter-filamentary diffuse cavities, suggesting that outflows would render a limited effect on the disruption of the HFSs and ongoing high-mass star formation therein. From the above observations, we suggest that high-mass star formation in the HFSs can be described by a multiscale mass accretion/transfer scenario, from hub-composing filaments through clumps down to cores, which can naturally lead to a mass-segregated cluster of stars.
Molecular gas cloud properties atz≃ 1 revealed by the superb angular resolution achieved with ALMA and gravitational lensing
Authors: Dessauges-Zavadsky Miroslava , Richard Johan , Combes Françoise , Messa Matteo , Nagy David , Mayer Lucio , Schaerer Daniel , Egami Eiichi , Adamo Angela
Published: January 2023

Current observations favour that the massive ultraviolet-bright clumps with a median stellar mass of $\sim 10^7\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$, ubiquitously observed in z ∼ 1–3 galaxies, are star-forming regions formed in situ in galaxies. It has been proposed that they result from gas fragmentation due to gravitational instability of gas-rich, turbulent, and high-redshift discs. We bring support to this scenario by reporting the new discovery of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the strongly lensed, clumpy, main-sequence galaxy, A521-sys1, at z = 1.043. Its CO(4–3) emission was mapped with the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) at an angular resolution of 0.19 × 0.16 arcsec2, reading down to 30 pc, thanks to gravitational lensing. We identified 14 GMCs, most being virialized, with $10^{5.9}-10^{7.9}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ masses and a median $800\, {\rm M}_{\odot }~\mathrm{pc}^{-2}$ molecular gas mass surface density, that are, respectively, 100 and 10 times higher than for nearby GMCs. They are also characterized by 10 times higher supersonic turbulence with a median Mach number of 60. They end up to fall above the Larson scaling relations, similarly to the GMCs in another clumpy z ≃ 1 galaxy, the Cosmic Snake, although differences between the two sets of high-redshift GMCs exist. Altogether they support that GMCs form with properties that adjust to the ambient interstellar medium conditions prevalent in the host galaxy whatever its redshift. The detected A521-sys1 GMCs are massive enough to be the parent gas clouds of stellar clumps, with a relatively high star formation efficiency per free-fall time of ∼11 per cent.
The structure of the high-affinity nickel-binding site in the Ni,Zn-HypA•UreE2 complex
Authors: Zambelli Barbara , Basak Priyanka , Hu Heidi , Piccioli Mario , Musiani Francesco , Broll Valquiria , Imbert Lionel , Boisbouvier Jerome , Maroney Michael J , Ciurli Stefano
Published: January 2023

The maturation pathway for the nickel-dependent enzyme urease utilizes the protein UreE as a metallochaperone to supply Ni(II) ions. In Helicobacter pylori urease maturation also requires HypA and HypB, accessory proteins that are commonly associated with hydrogenase maturation. Herein we report on the characterization of a protein complex formed between HypA and the UreE2 dimer. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) coupled with molecular modelling show that the protein complex apo, Zn-HypA•UreE2, forms between the rigorously conserved Met-His-Glu (MHE motif) Ni-binding N-terminal sequence of HypA and the two conserved His102A and His102B located at the dimer interface of UreE2. This complex forms in the absence of Ni(II) and is supported by extensive protein contacts that include the use of the C-terminal sequences of UreE2 to form additional strands of β-sheet with the Ni-binding domain of HypA. The Ni-binding properties of apo, Zn-HypA•UreE2 and the component proteins were investigated by isothermal titration calorimetry using a global fitting strategy that included all of the relevant equilibria, and show that the Ni,Zn-HypA•UreE2 complex contains a single Ni(II)-binding site with a sub-nanomolar KD. The structural features of this novel Ni(II) site were elucidated using proteins produced with specifically deuterated amino acids, protein point mutations, and the analyses of X-ray absorption spectroscopy, hyperfine shifted NMR features, as well as molecular modeling coupled with quantum-mechanical calculations. The results show that the complex contains a six-coordinate, high-spin Ni(II) site with ligands provided by both component proteins.
Immune Checkpoint Therapy Combinations in Adult Advanced MiT Family Translocation Renal Cell Carcinomas
Authors: Alhalabi Omar , Thouvenin Jonathan , Négrier Sylvie , Vano Yann-Alexandre , Campedel Luca , Hasanov Elshad , Bakouny Ziad , Hahn Andrew W , Bilen Mehmet Asim , Msaouel Pavlos , Choueiri Toni K , Viswanathan Srinivas R , Sircar Kanishka , Albiges Laurence , Malouf Gabriel G , Tannir Nizar M
Published: January 2023

Background

There remains a paucity of data regarding the efficacy of immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) combinations ± vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) targeted therapy (TT) in translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC).

Methods

This is a retrospective study of patients with advanced tRCC treated with ICT combinations at 11 centers in the US, France, and Belgium. Only cases with confirmed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were included. Objective response rates (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed by RECIST, and overall survival (OS) was estimated by Kaplan-Meier methods.

Results

There were 29 patients identified with median age of 38 (21-70) years, and F:M ratio 0.9:1. FISH revealed TFE3 and TFEB translocations in 22 and 7 patients, respectively. Dual ICT and ICT + VEGF TT were used in 18 and 11 patients, respectively. Seventeen (59%) patients received ICT combinations as first-line therapy. ORR was 1/18 (5.5%) for dual ICT and 4/11 (36%) for ICT + VEGF TT. At a median follow-up of 12.9 months, median PFS was 2.8 and 5.4 months in the dual ICT and ICT + VEGF TT groups, respectively. Median OS from metastatic disease was 17.8 and 30.7 months in the dual ICT and ICT + VEGF TT groups, respectively.

Conclusion

In this retrospective study of advanced tRCC, limited response and survival were seen after frontline dual ICT combination therapy, while ICT + VEGF TT therapy offered some efficacy. Due to the heterogeneity of tRCC, insights into the biological underpinnings are necessary to develop more effective therapies.
Treatment and early intervention services
Authors: Babor Thomas F. , Casswell Sally , Graham Kathryn , Huckle Taisia , Livingston Michael , Österberg Esa , Rehm Jürgen , Room Robin , Rossow Ingeborg , Sornpaisarn Bundit
Published: January 2023

This chapter examines the scientific basis of alcohol treatment policies in terms of research on the effectiveness and costs of a wide range of treatment interventions. Health and social services for alcohol problems typically involve screening, brief interventions, referral advice, diagnostic evaluation, detoxification, therapeutic interventions, and continuing care. The approaches with the greatest amount of supporting evidence are behaviour therapy, group therapy, family treatment, motivational enhancement, and some pharmacotherapies. Mutual help organizations, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, may also be effective as alternatives or adjuncts to treatment. Considerable evidence also supports the use of screening and brief intervention with hazardous and harmful drinkers who are not alcohol-dependent. Although treatment and early intervention can reduce the severity and frequency of alcohol-related problems, most treatment services are primarily aimed at responding to problems after they develop.
Economic interests, public health priorities, and global governance of alcohol
Authors: Babor Thomas F. , Casswell Sally , Graham Kathryn , Huckle Taisia , Livingston Michael , Österberg Esa , Rehm Jürgen , Room Robin , Rossow Ingeborg , Sornpaisarn Bundit
Published: January 2023

Globally, alcohol marketing interests have ensured alcohol is largely treated as an ordinary commodity. Trade and investment agreements seek to limit national alcohol controls as barriers to trade, and to keep warning and other health labels peripheral. Efforts to limit cross-border digital marketing of alcohol are often stymied. Economic development agencies tend to view alcohol production by private interests as a development gain. The World Health Organization (WHO) is the only United Nations (UN) agency with a recurrent interest in alcohol issues, but operating with meagre resources. Since 2010, alcohol has been addressed as a risk factor in the WHO’s campaign against non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and as a target in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but with unambitious aims. Alcohol is not included in international agreements to limit harm from psychoactive substances; an alcohol agreement is needed in parallel to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the drug conventions.
Conceptualizing magical thinking
Authors: Boswell John
Published: January 2023

Chapter 2 briefly lays out the theoretical terrain of the book, offering some conceptual apparatus to grapple with the central puzzle. I turn to existing efforts to understand the appeal of vague ideals and warm buzzwords in politics and policy, problematizing in particular Pollitt and Hupe’s (2011) influential work on ‘magic concepts’ in public administration. The crux of the issue I take with their work is that policy actors themselves are not naïve about the realpolitik affecting and distorting policymaking ideals. To start developing a much more nuanced understanding of what lies beneath apparent magical thinking in policy work, I revisit the classic work of Donald Schön (1983) on reflective practice, as well as subsequent research in policy and planning which has drawn inspiration from Schön’s critical pragmatism. This rich vein of scholarship enables me to explore the pragmatic orientation of policy actors between the poles of naïvety and cynicism. I conclude by teasing out a comparative approach for better understanding why policy actors still believe in magic in the face of uncertainty, complexity and contestation.
Transparency
Authors: Boswell John
Published: January 2023

Chapter 6 examines the pursuit of transparency on scientific advice through the work of the SAGE and Independent SAGE committees in the first year of the Johnson government’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Drawing on (social) media coverage and policy documents as events unfolded, I outline the slow, inadequate and incomplete roll-out of transparency measures in the provision of science advice to government in Westminster. Yet I show how the commitment to more open policymaking proved a useful release valve for all the actors involved, venting political and professional pressures built up in the exigencies of the crisis. I point to resonant research on these themes in crisis management and public administration to support the insights from this case.
The State, Virtuous Circles, and Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Stollenwerk Eric
Published: January 2023

Chapter 3 analyses the effectiveness-legitimacy nexus for the state in Sub-Saharan Africa as the book’s first empirical step for better understanding virtuous circles of governance in areas of limited statehood. The chapter introduces Sub-Saharan Africa as the empirical case and demonstrates how the region displays challenges for the evolution of virtuous circles of governance. This chapter uses Afrobarometer data from 2005–2013 and for more than 45,000 respondents across fourteen countries from a newly assembled dataset. This part of the study focuses on state legitimacy and service perceptions in the security, public health, and basic subsistence sectors. The results show that virtuous circles of governance are either very weak or completely absent for the state in Sub-Saharan Africa. Service perceptions are, at best, a limited source for state legitimacy in Sub-Saharan Africa because citizens do not attribute effective service provision to the state. Furthermore, while people who view the state as legitimate are also more likely to perceive governance as effective due to a positive confirmation bias, this association is weak at best. The results emphasize the multidimensionality of virtuous circles of governance, as the strongest support for virtuous circles was found in the basic subsistence sector, followed by public health, with no support in the security sector. This stresses the relevance of task complexity when analysing virtuous circles of governance. The results also underscore the diverse sources of state legitimacy and governance effectiveness; factors such as fair and democratic procedures, procedural justice, and social trust deserve attention.
No State, no Problem in Nigeria?
Authors: Stollenwerk Eric
Published: January 2023

Chapter 5 explicitly focuses on the role of external and non-state actors for effective and legitimate governance in Nigeria. This part of the study considers perceptions of security, public health, and basic subsistence. Building on more than forty expert interviews and an original survey of 2,000 Nigerians conducted in northeast Nigeria, Chapter 5 contributes factual data to an area where little empirical evidence is available. The results underscore that external and non-state actors play a central role for goods and service provisions in Nigeria. Moreover, the analysis shows that virtuous circles of governance exist for external and non-state actors in Nigeria. Perceptions of goods and services as effective are key sources of legitimacy for these actors, as Nigerians attribute effective governance explicitly to them and not to the state. At the same time, these actors are better able to satisfy citizens’ expectations of service provisions than their state counterparts, which helps improve Nigerians’ perceptions of governance. Additionally, external and non-state actors benefit from the positive confirmation bias citizens hold towards them, helping to improve Nigerians’ perceptions of services despite partly insufficient services. These findings corroborate the findings from Chapters 3 and 4, which indicated the relevant role of external and non-state actors and suggested virtuous circles of governance beyond the state. Moreover, Chapter 5 adds to the results from Chapter 4 by noting that the sources of legitimacy for external and non-state actors, and of governance perceptions are diverse in Nigeria.
Rabid Melancholy inCantigas de Santa Maria
Authors: López González Luis F.
Published: January 2023

Chapter 3 studies the melancholic condition of rabies, or hydrophobia, a deadly disease believe to be mainly caused by the bite of a rabid dog or by a rabid person. This illness, which was categorized under the nosology of melancholia because physicians thought that once the virus was introduced into the body it behaved like black bile, came to be known as hydrophobia primarily because fear of water was its foremost symptom, followed by barking, biting, running fits, and a frothy mouth. In short, rabies dehumanized its victims, causing them to adopt the identity of the dog that bit them. King Alfonso includes five miracles about hydrophobia in his Cantigas de Santa Maria, which represent six sufferers at the verge of death before the Virgin Mary heals them.
Writing about Melancholia to Allay Acedia inLibro de buen amor
Authors: López González Luis F.
Published: January 2023

This chapter continues exploring the psychospiritual condition of acedia in Juan Ruiz’ Libro de buen amor. A religious man, albeit steeped in worldly affairs, the archpriest of Hita is aware of the causes and effects of this disease. Indeed, the poet cites medical and spiritual authorities to explain the ailment to his implied reader. In the Libro, acedia is first introduced within schema of the seven deadly sins and later introduced as a psychospiritual conditions that affects religious and nonreligious people alike. This chapter, therefore, has the double purpose of analyzing the literary persona as well as the characters of Trotaconventos and Doña Garoza through the epistemic prism this vice/disease.
Mystical Lovesickness inCantiga188
Authors: López González Luis F.
Published: January 2023

The concluding chapter examines the Alfonsine cantiga 188, a miracle that dramatizes the mystical melancholia of a young girl whose overpowering amor hereos for the Virgin Mary induces her to renounce the world in order to live in mystical union with the Virgin, her absent beloved. The mystical lovesickness that informs the maiden’s spirituality partakes in the mystical tradition spearheaded in Western culture by the Solomon Song of Songs, a biblical poem that King Alfonso translated into Spanish in General estoria, and followed by the literary production of the mystic Ramon Llull and other medieval accounts. The Wise King wrote two more cantigas (251 and 353) about mystical melancholia or the pursuits of a mystical union with God. Cantiga 188, though, stands out as a model of aesthetic virtuosity and dramatic thrust on account of its brevity and the overarching message that informs its riveting plot.
Linear elastic fracture mechanics
Authors: Anand Lallit , Kamrin Ken , Govindjee Sanjay
Published: January 2023

This chapter describes the asymptotic elastic crack tip solutions for stress and displacement fields, and the concept of stress intensity factors for Mode I, Mode II, and Mode III loadings. Since in most engineering applications globally brittle fracture of a structure occurs by crack propagation in a direction perpendicular to the local maximum principal stress direction, we develop a fracture criterion in terms of the stress intensity factor KI in Mode I. The concept of small-scale yielding in a plastic zone at the crack tip is discussed, and under this condition the notion of a critical stress intensity factor KIc is introduced and a criterion for initiation of crack extension, KI=KIc, in Mode I is formulated. Limits of applicability of this fracture criterion are discussed, and methods and requirements for valid fracture toughness testing discussed. Tables listing values of KIc for several important structural materials are provided.
International Strategies
Authors: Rakner Lise , van de Walle Nicolas
Published: January 2023

International linkages provide key mechanisms that shape the balance between democratizing and autocratizing forces across Africa. Since independence, African incumbents have signaled their compliance with global norms by selectively adhering to various policies. At the same time, at critical periods, civil society actors have been able to utilize international funding and support mechanisms to challenge incumbents. The chapter discusses the complex interplay between international actors and incumbent African governments, as well as civic associations and opposition forces. It demonstrates how key episodes of autocratization can be linked to sovereignty claims made by incumbents toward the international community. External pressures on African incumbents have changed significantly and Africa’s external relations have reinforced the position of incumbent governments in negotiations with international actors. The declining influence of Western international donors, as well as their waning commitment to democracy assistance, have again opened the door for incumbent elites to employ sovereigntist claims as a shield against domestic challenges and contestation for power.
Have party attachments weakened?
Authors: Dassonneville Ruth
Published: January 2023

The increase in electoral volatility is often linked to a weakening of party attachments in the electorate. This chapter elaborates on this theoretical argument and carefully assesses its validity. The chapter starts with a discussion of the concept of party attachment and how they can be measured. This methodological discussion highlights the need for care and nuance when interpreting time trends in partisanship, that are sensitive to slight changes in question wording. The chapter then examines how levels of partisanship, as measured in election surveys, have evolved over time in the eight established democracies that are the focus of the book. While this descriptive analysis provides some evidence of an over-time decline in partisanship, the decline appears limited in many countries and is often restricted to a specific time period. The next section of this chapter turns to the question whether and to what extent party attachments inhibit volatility. While the empirical analyses show that partisanship strongly reduces the likelihood of party switching, they also clarify that the voting behaviour of partisans as well as non-partisans has grown more volatile over time. An examination of election panel data from Great-Britain and Sweden confirms this pattern. The results that are presented in this chapter further highlight the need to look beyond the decline in partisanship to explain electoral volatility.
Captions and the ‘Appropriate’
Authors: Masud Noreen
Published: January 2023

Positioning a captioned drawing as the aphorism ‘in practice’, witnessed within a social situation, Chapter 4 examines Smith’s books of captioned images, Some Are More Human Than Others (1958) and Cats in Colour (1959), to uncover what it means for the aphorism to behave ‘appropriately’ in a situation. It sets Smith’s captioned drawings alongside contemporary and historical captioned cartoons, finding that her caption-drawing dyads are particularly compelling where they are alternately inappropriate to one another, and inappropriately appropriate: so seamlessly fitting that they stymie critical senses. Smith’s captions flag up their own arbitrariness: reveal themselves to be a choice which can be suspended or terminated.
To Go On
Authors: Masud Noreen
Published: January 2023

The conclusion considers the threefold implications of the monograph. Firstly, it identifies and defines the aphorism’s interplay between revelation and reticence. This then allows the book to take an original approach to Smith studies, proposing that the aphoristic model reconciles Smith’s light and weighty moments, rather than seeing them as either alternating or deceptive. Thirdly, it indicates potential lines of connection, via the aphorism, between Smith and early- to mid-century authors such as Ivy Compton-Burnett. It points to how these aphoristic rhythms, which promise revelation but sabotage the reader’s capacity to use them, may suggest alternative readings of other writers in this period, such as W. H. Auden, who incorporate short forms into their work.
The reference system of modern Mandarin Chinese
Authors: Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: January 2023

Mandarin Chinese does not have a gender or number system. The existence of the categories subject and object in the language is a controversial issue. The verb does not code any semantic features of the participants. The grammatical system of Mandarin Chinese includes the following functions and their coding means, through which the identity of the participants in the proposition can be established: no instructions to identify the referent (coded by bare nouns); identification of the referent as the same as the immediately preceding participant or as a participant within the environment of speech (coded by the omission of nominal expression); contrastive focus with the previously mentioned participant or a participant within the speech environment (coded by pronouns); deduction of the referent from the current context (coded by the proximate demonstrative); deduction of the referent from the remote context (coded by the remote demonstrative); individuated token of a class (coded by the numeral ‘one’ plus classifier).
The reference system of Polish
Authors: Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: January 2023

The coding means in the reference system of Polish include: bare nouns; five genders coded on nouns, adjectives, numerals, demonstratives, and determiners; and the coding of the person, gender, and number of the subject on the verb is different in different tenses. The reference system of Polish includes different functions through which the referents of subject and the referents of other relations are identified, along with two types of thetic predications, one of which allows for the inclusion of the speaker and another which does not. Polish makes a distinction between no instructions to identify the referent; indication that the identity of the referent is irrelevant for the ongoing discourse, placing the referent in the common sphere of the speaker and the addressee; indication that the referent is other than in the common sphere; and indication that the referent has been previously mentioned.
The reference system of Pero
Authors: Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: January 2023

Pero (West Chadic, north-eastern Nigeria) has no gender or number coding on nouns, and no agreement system on verbs; verbs code the plurality of an event. Pero codes the distinction between two genders in second- and third-person singular pronouns. The absence of overt coding of the subject, either by noun or by pronoun, indicates that the subject is the same as the preceding subject, unless such an interpretation is overruled by the flow of the predicates involved. Third-person subject pronouns are deployed only if they are in focus. The third-person direct pronominal object is not overtly marked. The absence of a third-person object marker, whether masculine, feminine, or plural, indicates that the object is a previously mentioned participant. Pero is one of the few languages that has distinct pronouns which are used to code the speaker and the second-person singular addressee in reported speech that differ from the first- and second-person pronouns used in ongoing speech. In Pero, the speaker in reported speech is marked by the same pronoun that codes the third-person singular masculine in on-going speech, while the second-person pronouns in reported speech have forms that are unrelated to the second-person pronouns used in on-going speech.
The reference system of English
Authors: Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: January 2023

The system of reference in English comprises three domains: the reference in the flow of discourse which accounts for the deployment of noun phrases and pronouns, (2) the reference to the grammatical relations subject and non-subject, and (3) the reference coded within the noun phrase. This chapter has several implications for the long-held assumptions regarding the functions of individual coding means and the meaning coded in the domain of reference. The study proposes new analyses of: (1) the referential function of bare nouns, (2) the referential function of articles, and (3) the functions of the demonstratives ‘this’ and ‘that’. The study explains why neither articles nor demonstratives can cooccur with possessive pronouns in the same noun phrase, a constraint that does not obtain in all languages. The traditionally held assumption about deictic and anaphoric reference is just one of the inferences that can be drawn from individual sentences rather than a distinction encoded in the grammatical system of English.
Are we ready for new liberties?
Authors: Agnew Zarinah Karim , Cruse Eldridge , Bruce Kevin , Perlas Engelbert Wilfred , Krauter Joseph
Published: January 2023

In addressing the institutions needed in space to maximize liberty, this chapter asks: Are we ready for liberty and how can we prepare for it? Arguing that experimentation, in addition to theorization and strategizing, are needed, lessons are shared from prototype experimental spaces exploring the collective freedoms for some of the most liberty disenfranchised—the formerly incarcerated. This chapter posits the view that notions of extra-terrestrial governance will never be sufficient to achieve utopian societies without addressing the issue of how to prepare humans raised in current social modes for lives of migratory liberty. Modes of forging collective, mutually assured autonomies, and related alternative forms of justice are discussed.
The voyage of 600 years
Authors: Baxter Stephen
Published: January 2023

This chapter concerns the ethical governance of a worldship; that is, a slower-than-light starship which may take centuries or more to reach its target so that generations of crew spend their whole lives aboard the ship. Any ethical governance institution should seek to maximize the recognition of the human rights of the crew. The ‘caretaker generations’ face lifelong confinement aboard the worldship, and the necessity of maintaining sustainable reproduction rates in a closed environment imposes restrictions on individual reproductive choices. Solutions may lie in large crew sizes and ship dimensions, or advanced technologies. The worldship deserves study. At present, it is probably our most promising technological means of taking humans to the stars. And, ethically speaking, the worldship may be an extreme test case of the confinement of humans in space. If a worldship can be morally permissible, then so presumably will any other form of space colony.
Distinctiveness and the Secret Life of Social Class in Representations of Culture
Authors: Wallace Derron
Published: January 2023

This chapter points out how social class shapes representations of Caribbean culture in schools. In London and New York, Black Caribbean students drew on distinctiveness as a cultural strategy for pursuing power by distancing themselves from a more stigmatized group to escape the culture trap. However, Caribbean youth in New York often emphasized a different kind of distinctiveness than their counterparts in London. In New York, where Caribbean identities are deemed an asset, some Caribbean students defended claims of collective distinctiveness as an exercise in ethnic pride. In London, where Caribbean culture is misrepresented as a liability, some Caribbean students reject negative appraisals of their cultural identities through claims of individual distinctiveness. This chapter suggests that for Black Caribbean youth in London and New York, the groups they most consistently sought to distance themselves from were low-income Black people. This reveals the secret life of class in representations of culture.
Conclusion
Authors: Wallace Derron
Published: January 2023

This chapter recapitulates the key findings of the book and highlights their implications for addressing the culture trap in education. The chapter reveals that distinctiveness, deference, and defiance are not cultural strategies unique to Black Caribbean and ethno-racial minority youth. These are strategies used by a host of social actors to pursue power and to deflect critiques of stereotyping, including teachers. Given ongoing commitments to racial equity in British and American public schools, this chapter suggests that paying careful attention to the hidden, taken-for-granted ways in which ‘culture’ is strategically used to make sense of Black students’ academic achievement and behavior is essential to understanding how racism works as a shapeshifting formula. The chapter also explores the implications of the study, ones that are of growing importance, especially as demographic, cultural, and linguistic diversity increases in British and American schools.
Performance TipsManaging Anxiety
Authors: van der Werff Ivo-Jan
Published: January 2023

This chapter shares the idea that performance anxiety is perfectly acceptable and offers ideas on how to deal with it. It questions where this anxiety comes from, what causes it, and how players can utilize this added energy in performance, not overworking and stressing their bodies and minds in the pursuit of viola playing. The chapter encourages being aware of any physical issues before they become a problem. It shows how to work in small increments and not overpractice. It introduces the idea of physical exercise as part of daily practice, allowing the body to develop its own strength and be better able to handle the physical stresses of playing. It also includes ideas on mental health and the mental attitudes all players should have.
Conclusion
Authors: van der Werff Ivo-Jan
Published: January 2023

The Conclusion summarizes the most important aspects of the book, using bullet points to focus on vital aspects to think about when playing the viola.
Affirmative Action
Authors: Darby Derrick
Published: January 2023

There was a brief period when affirmative action (a small-tent remedy) was a way to create greater educational opportunities for blacks in America. But that ship has sailed. It now faces impassable judicial headwinds. Charting a course toward a realistic blacktopia begins with understanding why we must forget about race-based affirmative action to secure racial progress in America going forward. To understand why this small-tent remedy is no longer viable, and what the alternative is, we can attend to lessons from Grutter v. Bollinger. In this 2003 ruling on a race-conscious law school admissions policy, a liberal majority of US Supreme Court justices accepts the demise of race-based affirmative action and pragmatically pursues a path forward on racial progress by lowering the race-first flag. This chapter analyzes the ruling and draws out its implications.
The Dignity of Voting
Authors: Darby Derrick
Published: January 2023

This chapter vindicates a legal system of rights that guarantees all citizens the right to vote by drawing on philosophical insights about dignity found in the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. The chapter begins by identifying consequences that can befall a nation that does not guarantee its citizens the right to vote: damage to its stability, national solidarity, and moral authority. King’s prominent theme in his argument for this right puts an ethical concern with dignity front and center: having a capacity for deliberative choice or to make up one’s mind is a source of the worth of dignified creatures. The right to vote publicly expresses a governmental commitment to dignity, something that King was devoted to getting the nation to do. We can also consider the actual practice of rights we have before us and ask whether, how, and to what extent it is dignity respecting or dignity promoting.
Gender and Aggression: Nature or Nurture?
Authors: Barnhart Joslyn N. , Trager Robert F.
Published: January 2023

The early suffragists believed that women’s suffrage would lead to peace because women differ from men in their political preferences and their willingness to countenance violence. But were they right? Are men and women really different in this way? This chapter shows that there is ample evidence to suggest that the faith in women’s relative pacifism was well warranted. Women are less likely to engage in interpersonal aggression and are less likely to support the use of military force against other nations in wars of choice. This is true across countries and across time, except when humanitarian needs or immediate selfdefense concerns eclipse other rationales for conflict. One cannot say definitively why these differences exist. But one can say that there is compelling evidence that both nature and nature play a role in shaping the differing behavior of the sexes across the animal kingdom, including in humans.
Abhinavagupta’s Panentheism and New Materialism
Authors: Biernacki Loriliai
Published: January 2023

Chapter One looks at Abhinavagupta’s conception of subjectivity (ahantā) in relation to matter, and specifically in terms of what it can impart for a New Materialism. Addressing the idea of boundaries, the boundary between matter and life, in relation to viruses and also in terms of ideas of subject and object as grammatical structure, this chapter outlines what this means for the idea that objects might have agency. This chapter also addresses panentheism in relation to atheism and animism, offering comparisons with figures such as Walt Whitman and Spinoza who are frequently invoked for a New Materialism and arguing that Abhinavagupta’s formulation of subjectivity gives voice to a more expansive articulation of immanence than we find even in as radical a thinker as Spinoza. Also, not following the model of object-oriented ontology of thinkers such as William Harman and Timothy Morton, we are not barred from accessing the inside of objects, which themselves have access to subjectivity.
The Subtle Body
Authors: Biernacki Loriliai
Published: January 2023

This chapter addresses the subtle body (sūkṣma śarīra, puryaṣṭaka) within Abhinavagupta’s Tantric philosophy, arguing that it operates to acknowledge the multiplicity of agencies that make up human volition. The subtle body affords recognition that the human is not master in its own house but instead points to an expansive ecology with multiple expressions of agency directing human choices. Addressing specifically the ideas of theology and agency, this chapter comparatively situates the concept of human agency. Drawing on Darwin’s description of his loss of faith, his rejection of theology over seeing the parasitic wasp infecting the caterpillar, I counterpose Abhinavagupta’s theological description of the subtle body as a body inhabited and directed, not by parasites, but by gods. This chapter argues that Abhinavagupta’s theological inscription of deities driving human action offers a perspectival shift whereby theology registers respect for the affective processes of the body.
Panentheism, Panpsychism, Theism
Authors: Biernacki Loriliai
Published: January 2023

This chapter addresses a key element of Abhinavagupta’s panentheism: the question of how we get sentience, through looking at the possibilities for computer sentience, machine AI, and specifically Nick Bostrom’s discussion of a paperclip apocalypse. Abhinavagupta locates the essence of sentience in the term vimarśa. I suggest Abhinavagupta’s use of the term vimarśa more closely approximates what contemporary neuroscientists and philosophers, such as Anil Seth and John Searle, understand as consciousness, rather than the terms that are ubiquitously used to translate the notion of consciousness from Indian languages to English, like cit, citi, or saṃvid. This chapter argues that Abhinavagupta affords priority to vimarśa precisely because of its links to activity, a capacity to do things in our material reality. Employing a dual-aspect monism, his formulation parses out a key distinction for his panentheism, but also for a contemporary panpsychism and for New Materialism: the idea of consciousness as a fabric of reality in relation to awareness as a first-person perspective. This entails a pervasive subjectivity, even within matter.