bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
HRP2/3 mutation in recrudescent Plasmodium falciparum malaria case acquired in Ethiopia
Authors: Gefen-Halevi Shiraz , Belinson Valentin , Manor Uri , Gazit Zeala , Smollan Gill , Belausov Natasha , Biber Asaf , Schwartz Eli , Grossman Tamar , Leshem Eyal , Amit Sharon
Published: October 2020

A 65-year-old Israeli working in Welkait, Ethiopia, not using malaria prophylaxis, developed fever. Malaria rapid detection test was consistent with non-falciparum malaria (plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase+/histidine-rich protein− [LDH+/HRP−]) but microscopy showed typical Plasmodium falciparum. HRP2/3 were negative by polymerase chain reaction. The patient suffered two recrudescence episodes following artemether–lumefantrine and atovaquone–proguanil treatments, and responded to mefloquine treatment.
Chronicle of international repositories foretold: a survey in the future of nuclear liability law
Authors: Handrlica Jakub
Published: October 2020

International repositories, which will be operated in underground geological structures and where spent nuclear fuel originating from several states will be disposed, have been discussed as an option to construction of national underground repositories for several decades. Such international repositories manifest several advantages as compared with exclusive national repositories. Fact is, that despite obvious benefits, that may establishment of international repositories imply for smaller states, these installations will also represent a considerable source of risk, as dangerous substances will be deposited in them for hundreds of years. Consequently, prospective construction of international repositories in the future must be accompanied by existence of an effective regime of liability for damages, that may potentially occur. This article aims to address the question, if the currently existing international framework is capable to cover risks arising from operation of prospective international repositories, or if a new legal framework is to be established in this regard.
Arbitration Literature
Authors: Schultz Thomas , Ridi Niccolò
Published: October 2020

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the arbitration literature. Arbitration literature has a long history. So far, however, no attempt has been made to examine it and its evolution systematically and with a quantitative approach. The lack of investigation of this research question is, in and by itself, surprising. Clearly, the literature plays a strong role in shaping the thinking and making of international arbitration law. Moreover, literature—and scientific literature in particular—is a privileged conduit for the various actors in the social field of international arbitration. The chapter then looks at scientometrics. This field was first defined as ‘the quantitative methods of the research on the development of science as an informational process’. On the scientometrics market, the citation is the main currency. The rationale is that citation counts are positively associated with subsequent impact. Thus, arbitration literature can be measured in two ways. First, one determines which works are the most cited, in absolute terms and over time, for two different time windows. These are the works that likely have had the most impact on the knowledge in and about arbitration, where this knowledge is taken as a single, common whole. Second, one looks at what the co-citation network can reveal about the make-up of the world of arbitration literature.
Arbitral Jurisdiction
Authors: Mills Alex
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines the concept and source of arbitral jurisdiction. In the context of arbitration, the term ‘jurisdiction’ typically refers to the ‘power’ or ‘authority’ of the arbitral tribunal to decide a dispute. A decision about whether a tribunal has jurisdiction will frequently be made by the tribunal itself, but that decision is not and cannot be a source of its jurisdiction, and cannot be a definitive determination of that jurisdiction, because the authority of that decision depends on the very question under review. A degree of deference may be given to the tribunal’s determination of these questions by national courts, but self-evidently a tribunal may not confer authority on itself. Thus, the ‘power’ of a tribunal comes more indirectly from two sources. First, the cooperation of national courts, which may readily recognize and enforce arbitral awards and may also act in support of arbitration in various other ways. Second, the potential reputational consequences of non-compliance with an arbitral award, which may lead a party to comply with it voluntarily. The legal framework for arbitration applied by most national courts is set out in the New York Convention 1958, and this remains a key basic source of the standards which are applied to determine when an arbitral tribunal is considered to have jurisdiction.
Enforcement
Authors: Bjorklund Andrea K.
Published: October 2020

This chapter addresses enforcement in international arbitration. The ready enforceability of arbitral awards is the single strongest component of the architecture that undergirds international arbitration. Two conventions are the primary mechanisms ensuring that enforceability: the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, colloquially known as the New York Convention; and the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States, colloquially referred to as the ICSID Convention or the Washington Convention. The regime for enforcement of arbitral awards is based on a structure that prioritizes enforcement so long as awards are rendered pursuant to certain largely procedural safeguards. This approach is an attempt to balance the principle of party autonomy with concern on the part of national courts that they not be co-opted into enforcing awards not consistent with at least rudimentary principles of fair play. Judgment debtors can thus resist enforcement should the arbitration have failed to comport with fundamental notions of due process. In the case of the New York Convention, two other grounds for resisting enforcement have to do with policy considerations in the enforcing state.
Legal Certainty and Arbitration
Authors: Bachand Frédéric , Gélinas Fabien
Published: October 2020

This chapter assesses legal certainty in international arbitration. It specifically considers the noticeable shift in the balance between legal certainty and legal flexibility. While legal flexibility surely continues to deserve a place among the core values of international arbitration, it is legal certainty’s stock that has been on the rise in recent years. The shift can be felt throughout the international arbitration system, and it is mainly driven by an increased awareness that too much flexibility can ultimately imperil arbitration’s legitimacy. While, in the commercial setting, the shift toward greater certainty is occurring in response to concerns emanating from users of arbitral services, in the investment context, it rather reflects concerns about the power of arbitrators to shape public international law.
The Environment and Investment Arbitration
Authors: Mbengue Makane Moïse , Raju Deepak
Published: October 2020

This chapter describes the relationship between investment arbitration and the environment. Most view investment arbitration as a threat to environmental regulation, and examine whether sufficient safeguards have been built into treaty texts and arbitral practice to preserve regulatory space for states to advance environmental objectives. However, states are at liberty to choose the objectives that they pursue and set their own priorities between various competing objectives. There is no reason to assume that host states always accord the highest priority to environmental objectives. In some instances, host states may be keen to pursue economic or other objectives at the cost of the environment. Investors in some sectors, such as renewable energy, would find some or all of the host state’s measures for environment protection commercially profitable. On the other hand, there would be sectors where investors would stand to lose from environmental measures. Thus, whether a foreign investor’s interests align with a host state’s interest to protect its environment depends on a number of factors including the sector of investment and the nature of the environmental measure. The chapter then looks at how investment arbitrators have acted, and are likely to act, when faced with issues related to the protection of the environment.
The Politics of Investment Treaty Arbitration
Authors: Poulsen Lauge N. Skovgaard
Published: October 2020

This chapter describes the politics of investment treaty arbitration. It first looks at two core political justifications for investment treaty arbitration. The first relates to home state politics and diplomacy: the ability of investment treaty arbitration to depoliticize investor–state disputes. The second justification relates to host state politics and institutions: the ability of investment treaty arbitration to convince certain types of foreign investors to commit capital into certain types of jurisdictions due to its effects on host state governments. On this basis, the chapter then discusses the politics of investment treaty arbitration in recent years, particularly surrounding the unintended consequences of the investment treaty regime as well as the controversy about investment arbitrators themselves.
Investment Arbitration in the Energy Sector
Authors: Cima Elena
Published: October 2020

This chapter studies the role of investment arbitration in the energy sector, which has received increasing attention over the last decade. International energy investment accounts for a significant percentage of all global investments and makes up the largest portfolio of international arbitrations in the world today. Energy-related disputes can take many forms. They may occur between two states, two private parties, or a private party and a state—in which case they may relate either to an investment by a foreign company in a state or to a commercial contract between a foreign company and a state. The chapter considers only one type of energy-related dispute, namely investment disputes between a foreign investor and a state. It particularly focuses on arbitration, which represents ‘the most widely used form of dispute settlement between foreign investors and host States’.
The Environment and Cultural Heritage
Authors: Boer Ben
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores the legal and policy links between the cultural heritage and the natural environment. Although there are formal separations between the two realms, there is an increasing convergence between them, manifested in the interpretation of the primary international instruments and associated guidelines and policies. In the Indigenous world, the links between culture and nature have always been more obvious and understood. Thus an increasing legal integration of the concepts of cultural heritage and natural heritage should be seen as a welcome development. It is argued that, unless an awareness of the vital dependence of humanity on its local and global environments can be re-established, the polycentric existential crises facing humanity—represented by climate change, pollution, land degradation, and biodiversity loss—have little chance of being addressed. A fundamental rethink of our understanding of the legal and policy relationships between the cultural heritage and the natural environment is required.
Language as Cultural Heritage
Authors: de Witte Bruno
Published: October 2020

This chapter addresses linguistic heritage as part of cultural heritage. The use of a language not only serves as a means of functional communication but also expresses the speaker’s cultural identity as well as the cultural heritage developed by all previous users of that language. One can say that legal measures that allow for the public use of a particular language, or that impose the use of that language in certain contexts, contribute to the preservation of the cultural heritage of a country. However, UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Convention includes within its scope the oral traditions and forms of expressions that use language as their tool. In other words, language is protected because, and to the extent that, it gives expression to an element of a community’s intangible cultural heritage other than the language itself. Therefore, international law plays only a limited role in protecting language-as-heritage.
Cultural Heritage and State Immunity
Authors: Pavoni Riccardo
Published: October 2020

The application of State immunity to cultural heritage property may yield contradictory outcomes. On the one hand, it may bar access to justice by rightful owners of cultural property. On the other, it may shield art objects from reparation claims by victims of state breaches of obligations which are unrelated to ownership issues. This chapter examines the law and practice concerning cultural heritage and state immunity. A variety of pertinent recent developments are reviewed, such as certain law-making activities by the Council of Europe, the International Law Association, and a number of States, as well as several high-profile judicial disputes challenging state immunity for cultural property, particularly in the context of the United States Nazi-looted art litigation. Against that backdrop, the chapter discusses the boundaries of customary law in this area, especially as regards the existence and scope of a customary rule of immunity from seizure for artworks on loan.
Cultural Heritage and State Responsibility
Authors: Vigni Patrizia
Published: October 2020

This chapter determines to what extent international norms on State responsibility may be applied in cases of the violation of international obligations concerning cultural heritage. It determines to which State wrongful behaviour may be attributed; second, which breaches of law consist in wrongful acts; third, whether such responsibility may be precluded; fourth, what consequences arise from the recognition of State responsibility including which persons are entitled to invoke such responsibility. Although cultural heritage treaties do not provide for a distinctive responsibility regime, the Draft Articles on State Responsibility are applicable to wrongful acts arising from the breach of the obligations established by these treaties. Moreover, the breach of the norms relating to cultural heritage, which have been recognized as part of customary international law, entails the application of general principles on State responsibility, including those contained in the Draft Articles. The chapter then considers the principle of ‘responsibility to protect’.
The Role of Domestic Courts
Authors: Siehr Kurt
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses the important role of local courts in art law disputes. In several cases, a foreign country as defendant has raised the defence of immunity. With respect to jurisdiction, two different kinds must be distinguished: international jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction. Subsequently, several questions of the applicable law may become important in art law cases. They range from the law applicable to contracts to the law applicable to succession. If foreign law has to be applied, the result of this application may be changed or modified by public policy of the forum State or, if local law is applicable, foreign mandatory rules may be considered and given effect in the forum State. There are hardly any foreign judgments which had to be enforced in local fora. Most of the cases were decided in the country where the art object or its owner were located and therefore could be enforced in the country of decision.
Asia
Authors: Lee Keun-Gwan
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores the protection of cultural heritage in Asia. Rapid socioeconomic transformation in East Asia and South East Asia has posed a serious challenge to the cultural heritage of the sub-regions. The substantial damage and destruction inflicted on the cultural heritage, coupled with the growth of public awareness on its importance for national identity, prompted the governments in the region to take action, in particular through promulgation of the laws and regulations for the protection of cultural heritage. In so doing, the meaning of cultural heritage has generally expanded beyond the traditional, tangible cultural objects into intangible and underwater cultural heritage. A series of international conventions for the protection of cultural heritage, adopted under the auspices of UNESCO, has undoubtedly provided much impetus. Also, the question of return or repatriation of cultural objects to their countries of origin looms increasingly large in Asia.
Oceania
Authors: Forrest Craig , Corrin Jennifer
Published: October 2020

This chapter addresses the protection of cultural heritage in Oceania. How the peoples of Oceania relate to their environment is through the prism of heritage. That heritage is holistic, embracing all life, and is both tangible and intangible. Understood through cultural traditions, it defines their cultural identity and remains inseparable from their social, economic, and environmental well-being. The States of Oceania have not engaged with the protection of cultural heritage at an international level, and, while party to the World Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage Conventions, the level of protection is modest, though increasing in significance.
Middle East and North Africa
Authors: Kersel Morag M. , Bouchenaki Mounir
Published: October 2020

This chapter assesses the protection of cultural heritage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In their initial days of statehood, most postcolonial entities did not alter the basic institutional arrangements of colonial law and administration. In the MENA region, this resulted in the adoption of laws and policies related to the protection and preservation of cultural heritage, which included elements from earlier Ottoman laws and by-laws, British and French Mandatory laws and ordinances, and the legislative efforts of the colonial powers of France and Italy. Subsequently, in postcolonial MENA, nation states began adopting the 1970 UNESCO Convention with the aim of protecting their cultural resources and at the same time asserting themselves as legitimate States who care about culture. UNESCO efforts were also aimed at fostering greater parity between nations, with the intention of eliminating or at least ameliorating colonial legacies of inequality and misappropriation.
Association between CAI microsatellite, multilocus sequence typing, and clinical significance within Candida albicans isolates
Authors: Wu Yen-Mu , Lee Chih-Hua , Cheng Yi-Chuan , Lu Jang-Jih , Wang Shao-Hung
Published: October 2020

Candida albicans bloodstream infection (BSI) is epidemiologically important because of its increasing frequency and serious outcome. Strain typing and delineation of the species are essential for understanding the phylogenetic relationship and clinical significance. Microsatellite CAI genotyping and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were performed on 285 C. albicans bloodstream isolates from patients in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou (CGMHL), Taiwan from 2003 to 2011. Data regarding demographics, comorbidities, risk factors, and clinical outcomes were recorded within adult patients with C. albicans BSI. Both CAI genotyping and MLST yielded comparable discriminatory power for C. albicans characterization. Besides, the distribution of CAI repetition showed a satisfactory phylogenetic association, which could be a good alternative method in the molecular phylogenetics of C. albicans and epidemiological studies. As for the clinical scenario, clade 17 isolates with CAI alleles either possessing 29 or more repetitions were related to higher 14-day and 30-day mortality, and shorter median survival days.
An eccentric wave in the circumstellar disc of the Be/X-ray binary X Persei
Authors: Zamanov R K , Stoyanov K A , Wolter U , Marchev D , Tomov N A , Bode M F , Nikolov Y M , Marchev V , Iliev L , Stateva I K
Published: October 2020

We present spectroscopic observations of the Be/X-ray binary X Per obtained during the period 2017 December–2020 January (MJD 58095–58865). In 2017 December, the H α, H β, and He i 6678 emission lines were symmetric with violet-to-red peak ratio V/R ≈ 1. During the first part of the period (2017 December–2018 August), the V/R ratio decreased to 0.5 and the asymmetry developed simultaneously in all three lines. In 2018 September, a third component with velocity ≈250 km s−1 appeared on the red side of the He i line profile. Later, this component emerged in H β, accompanied by the appearance of a red shoulder in H α. Assuming that it is due to an eccentric wave in the circumstellar disc, we find that the eccentric wave appeared first in the innermost part of the disc, it spreads out with outflowing velocity vwave ≈ 1.1 ± 0.2 km s−1, and the eccentricity of the eccentric wave is ewave ≈ 0.29 ± 0.07. A detailed understanding of the origin of such eccentricities would have applications to a wide range of systems from planetary rings to AGNs.
Gaia view of a stellar sub-structure in front of the Small Magellanic Cloud
Authors: Omkumar Abinaya O , Subramanian Smitha , Niederhofer Florian , Diaz Jonathan , Cioni Maria-Rosa L , El Youssoufi Dalal , Bekki Kenji , de Grijs Richard , van Loon Jacco Th
Published: October 2020

Recent observational studies identified a foreground stellar sub-structure traced by red clump (RC) stars (∼12 kpc in front of the main body) in the eastern regions of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and suggested that it formed during the formation of the Magellanic Bridge (MB), due to the tidal interaction of the Magellanic Clouds. Previous studies investigated this feature only up to 4${_{.}^{\circ}}$0 from the centre of the SMC due to the limited spatial coverage of the data and hence could not find a physical connection with the MB. To determine the spatial extent and properties of this foreground population, we analysed data from the Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) of a ∼314 deg2 region centred on the SMC, which cover the entire SMC and a significant portion of the MB. We find that the foreground population is present only between 2${_{.}^{\circ}}$5 to ∼5°–6° from the centre of the SMC in the eastern regions, towards the MB and hence does not fully overlap with the MB in the plane of the sky. The foreground stellar population is found to be kinematically distinct from the stellar population of the main body with ∼35 km s−1 slower tangential velocity and moving to the north-west relative to the main body. Though the observed properties are not fully consistent with the simulations, a comparison indicates that the foreground stellar structure is most likely a tidally stripped counterpart of the gaseous MB and might have formed from the inner disc (dominated by stars) of the SMC. A chemical and 3D kinematic study of the RC stars along with improved simulations, including both tidal and hydro-dynamical effects, are required to understand the offset between the foreground structure and MB.
On the grain-sized distribution of turbulent dust growth
Authors: Mattsson Lars
Published: October 2020

It has recently been shown that turbulence in the interstellar medium can significantly accelerate the growth of dust grains by accretion of molecules, but the turbulent gas density distribution also plays a crucial role in shaping the grain-sized distribution (GSD). The growth velocity, i.e. the rate of change of the mean grain radius, is proportional to the local gas density if the growth species (molecules) are well mixed in the gas. As a consequence, grain growth happens at vastly different rates in different locations, since the gas density distribution of the interstellar medium (ISM) shows a considerable variance. Here, it is shown that GSD rapidly becomes a reflection of the gas density distribution, irrespective of the shape of the initial GSD. This result is obtained by modelling ISM turbulence as a Markov process, which in the special case of an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process leads to a lognormal gas density distribution, consistent with numerical simulations of isothermal compressible turbulence. This yields an approximately lognormal GSD; the sizes of dust grains in cold ISM clouds may thus not follow the commonly adopted power-law GSD with index −3.5 but corroborate the use of a lognormal GSD for large grains, suggested by several studies. It is also concluded that the very wide range of gas densities obtained in the high Mach-number turbulence of molecular clouds must allow formation of a tail of very large grains reaching radii of several microns.
AcrHub: an integrative hub for investigating, predicting and mapping anti-CRISPR proteins
Authors: Wang Jiawei , Dai Wei , Li Jiahui , Li Qi , Xie Ruopeng , Zhang Yanju , Stubenrauch Christopher , Lithgow Trevor
Published: October 2020

Anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins naturally inhibit CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems across bacterial and archaeal domains of life. This emerging field has caused a paradigm shift in the way we think about the CRISPR-Cas system, and promises a number of useful applications from gene editing to phage therapy. As the number of verified and predicted Acrs rapidly expands, few online resources have been developed to deal with this wealth of information. To overcome this shortcoming, we developed AcrHub, an integrative database to provide an all-in-one solution for investigating, predicting and mapping Acr proteins. AcrHub catalogs 339 non-redundant experimentally validated Acrs and over 70 000 predicted Acrs extracted from genome sequence data from a diverse range of prokaryotic organisms and their viruses. It integrates state-of-the-art predictors to predict potential Acrs, and incorporates three analytical modules: similarity analysis, phylogenetic analysis and homology network analysis, to analyze their relationships with known Acrs. By interconnecting all modules as a platform, AcrHub presents enriched and in-depth analysis of known and potential Acrs and therefore provides new and exciting insights into the future of Acr discovery and validation. AcrHub is freely available at http://pacrispr.erc.monash.edu/AcrHub/.
Associated Changes in E-cigarette Puff Duration and Cigarettes Smoked per Day
Authors: Wagener Theodore L , Avery Jason A , Leavens Eleanor L S , Simmons W Kyle
Published: October 2020

Introduction

To examine whether changes in select measures of e-cigarette puffing topography are associated with changes in smoking behavior.

Methods

Sixteen current cigarette smokers were instructed to completely switch from smoking combustible cigarettes to using e-cigarettes over a 2-week period. The study was completed in the Southern Midwestern region of the United States. Measures included demographics, smoking history, and cigarette dependence, as well as baseline and 2-week follow-up self-reported cigarettes per day, cigarette craving and urges, exhaled carbon monoxide readings, and e-cigarette usage data (puff number, puffing time, and average puff duration) collected via the e-cigarette built-in puff counter.

Results

Over the 2-week switching period, participants significantly reduced their cigarettes per day (~80% reduction, p < .0001). Although the number of e-cigarette puffs/day remained relatively stable (p > .05), the average total e-cigarette daily puffing time increased significantly (p = .001). Users’ average puff duration increased by 91 ms/puff/d (p < .001). The percentage decrease in cigarettes smoked per day was significantly and directly related to the slope of subjects’ average puff duration over time (r(13) = .62, p = .01), such that as cigarettes per day decreased, puff duration increased. Self-reported smoking urges remained relatively stable from baseline to the end of the 2-week period (p > .05).

Conclusions

Among smokers switching to an e-cigarette, greater increases in e-cigarette puff duration was associated with greater reductions in cigarette smoking.

Implications

The current study is one of the first to examine changes in smokers’ e-cigarette puffing behavior and associated changes in cigarette consumption as they attempt to completely switch to e-cigarettes. During a 2-week switching period, participants reduced their cigarettes per day. Moreover, although e-cigarette puffs per day remained relatively stable, users’ average puff duration increased significantly. Greater increases in e-cigarette puff duration were associated with greater reductions in cigarette smoking. Understanding how to effectively use an e-cigarette to best reduce and eventually quit smoking will be necessary as smokers increasingly turn to these products to facilitate possible cessation.
Sustainable Food Logistics Systems
Authors: Wu Zhaohui , Pullman Madeleine Elinor
Published: October 2020

Food supply chain management is becoming a critical management and public policy agenda. Climate change, growing demand, and shifting patterns of food production, delivery, and consumption have elicited a series of new challenges, such as food security, safety, and system resiliency. This chapter first introduces the typical players in a food supply chain and examines the global food system characterized by consolidation and industrialization. It then discusses some critical topics of the sustainable food supply chain that aim to address these challenges. These topics include traceability, transparency, certification and standards, and alternatives to industrialized food systems, including cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, and roles of small and medium-sized growers in regenerative agriculture. The chapter ends with a discussion of several important emerging logistics management topics, including last-mile delivery, new technology, and cold chain management.
Transnational Social Movements and Peaceful Change
Authors: Peña Alejandro Milcíades
Published: October 2020

The chapter discusses the relationship between social movements and peaceful change. First, it reviews the way this relationship has been elaborated in IR constructivist and critical analyses, as part of transnational activist networks, global civil society, and transnational social movements, while considering the blind sides left by the dominant treatment of these entities as positive moral actors. Second, the chapter reviews insights from the revolution and political violence literature, a literature usually sidelined in IR debates about civil society, in order to cast a wider relational perspective on how social movements participate in, and are affected by, interactive dynamic processes that may escalate into violent outcomes at both local and international levels.
Latin America’s Evolving Contribution to Peaceful Change in the International System
Authors: Trinkunas Harold A.
Published: October 2020

Latin America has long aspired for an interstate system based on the principles of nonintervention and adherence to international law. Over time, the region has become increasingly free of war, and interstate disputes are frequently settled via diplomacy or by international courts. But it has achieved a largely “negative” peace as peaceful relations in the region are neither the result of nor have produced deeper commercial integration, effective regional organizations, or epistemic security communities. This chapter examines realist, liberal, and constructivist explanations to explain the sources of peace and peaceful change in Latin America, as well as how structural changes in the international system have affected the region. In particular, it analyzes how Latin America’s relative weakness in terms of material capabilities has led it to rely on diplomacy, “soft balancing,” and norms entrepreneurship in international law to secure its interest in a progressively more peaceful and rule-bound international order.
International Institutions and Peaceful Change
Authors: Mérand Frédéric , Pouliot Vincent
Published: October 2020

This chapter takes a sober look at the connections between peaceful change and international institutions. Both liberalism and constructivism assume a positive connection. As shown in this chapter, international institutions do constrain state behavior, foster norms, promote interdependence and trust, and encourage social interaction and the development of collective identities, all of which may lead to a reduction of violent international conflict. At the same time, there is nothing inherent to international institutions that inevitably fosters peaceful change. When institutions lock in an unjust status quo, produce exclusion, or generate grievances that turn into struggles, they may in fact induce conflictual change.
Historical Context and Upcoming Developments in Digital Technologies
Authors: Kuss Daria J. , Kardefelt-Winther Daniel , Billieux Joël
Published: October 2020

This chapter focuses on the history of four important types of digital technology, including the Internet, digital games (all types of games played electronically), virtual reality, and smartphones (particularly smartphone apps). The authors present a varied and balanced view of different digital technologies, introducing their historical developments as well as an overview of potentially positive and negative applications of each of the technologies covered. Increased governmental support is required for research into digital technologies and those applications that have been established to have beneficial effects for users, but equal effort is also needed in developing new policy, educational, and legislative frameworks that are in tune with the needs of a digital society. Research into digital technology use and its context may enable better control of how interactions with digital technology continue to shape our behavior.
Debates Regarding the Classification, Categorization, and Conceptualization of Problematic Internet Use and Video Gaming
Authors: Yarnell-Mac Grory Stephanie , Potenza Marc N.
Published: October 2020

Worldwide Internet use has risen over the past two decades, and with it problematic use has also increased. Problematic Internet use (PIU) may occur when individuals begin to spend excessive amounts of time online, forgo important tasks and responsibilities to use the Internet, feel anxiety when use is prohibited, and experience negative impacts on other aspects of life as a result of continued use. Some studies indicate that the prevalence of PIU has increased over the past two decades; however, the extent to which PIU constitutes a unique psychiatric disorder remains debated. This chapter describes issues relating to the classification, categorization, and conceptualization of PIU. Specifically, this chapter discusses PIU as a behavioral addiction, obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder (OCSD), impulse-control disorder (ICD), or exacerbation of another underlying comorbidity.
Violent Video Games Do Not Contribute to Societal Violence and Crime
Authors: Gallar Jonathan Zachariah , Ferguson Christopher J.
Published: October 2020

When mass shootings and other acts of violence occur, video games are still often blamed. Yet evidence has become clearer that video games, in fact, play no substantial role in violent behaviors in society. More debate remains regarding the impact of games on milder prank-level aggression but, here too, evidence is mixed at best. Laboratory studies are often limited by methodological flaws, and results appear to have been inflated by publication bias. From longitudinal studies, evidence for long-term effects suggests that game effects are minimal, with studies often limited by the use of unstandardized aggression measures and survey self-report. Societal violence has declined substantially even as video games have increased in popularity. With the evidence examined across data sources, it appears that several decades of research has failed to identify violence in video games as a substantial contributor to societal aggression or violence.
Mobile Applications to Help Women Achieve Better Behavioral Health in the Postpartum Period
Authors: Foster Dawn W. , Forray Ariadna
Published: October 2020

Various theoretical perspectives have informed intervention and program development in postpartum health, including the transtheoretical model, the health belief model, and cognitive and social processes. Mobile technology has been used in recent years to address and promote postpartum health. Mobile technologies utilizing theoretically grounded interventions can be harnessed to improve postpartum behavioral health by decreasing two major barriers to treatment in this population: avoidance of pharmacotherapy and convenient treatment delivery. Specifically, mobile technologies in the postpartum period can tailor messages to user characteristics (e.g. age, number of children, history of depression); link the user with others for increased social support; provide convenient, cost-effective, evidence-based treatment to large populations regardless of location; and provide the ability to send time-sensitive communications to devices. Current interventions for postpartum women include a mobile application for depression that promotes social connectedness and text messaging to promote smoking cessation in perinatal women. Mobile technologies represent a rich medium by which to deliver and facilitate personalized interventions for a variety of health behaviors in postpartum women.
Smartphone Applications for Mindfulness Training in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
Authors: Garrison Kathleen A. , O'Malley Stephanie S. , Brewer Judson A. , Potenza Marc N.
Published: October 2020

There are presently more than 1,000 smartphone apps offering mindfulness or meditation in some form, marketed largely to improving one’s health and well-being. At the same time, scientific credibility of most available mindfulness and meditation apps is considered low, and clinical testing of these apps is only in beginning stages. Nevertheless, initial work is under way and suggests that evidence-based mindfulness apps may have clinical benefits for mental health. This chapter reviews the state of the science of mindfulness apps, with a focus on the treatment of substance use disorders. Mindfulness training, in person, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of substance use disorders. Mobile technologies such as smartphone apps offer numerous advantages to delivering mindfulness training, conducting clinical studies, and potentially improving clinical outcomes in substance use treatment over in-person mindfulness training. This chapter outlines the advantages and some possible limitations of delivering mindfulness training via smartphone app, reviews available mindfulness apps for mental health, reviews scientific literature supporting these apps, and proposes areas of focus for further development of mindfulness apps. Findings indicate that mindfulness training is feasible to deliver by smartphone app and other mobile technologies, initial clinical testing of mindfulness apps for substance use treatment is promising, and larger randomized controlled trials are under way. Importantly, more mindfulness apps and trials are utilizing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
Clean/Unclean, Pure/Impure, Holy/Profane
Authors: Lawrence Jonathan D.
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores the biblical ideas of purity and the related concepts of cleanness and holiness. It discusses some of the terminology used for these concepts in the Bible and related literature and how these terms are used in different texts and various periods. It examines the relationship between purity and holiness, particularly in terms of the Temple in Jerusalem, and discusses some of the possible reasons that certain materials were designated as unclean or impure. It also outlines the development of purification practices, particularly in terms of miqva’ot, Jewish ritual baths which were introduced in the Second Temple period.
Ritual and Worship in Early Judaism
Authors: Newman Judith H.
Published: October 2020

The five centuries of the Second Temple era mark a significant transition from Israelite religion to the emergence of practices that would characterize Judaism as it developed after the fall of the Temple. Rituals of circumcision, the observance of Sabbath, and bathing for purification were common practices occurring outside the Temple that shaped the Jewish identity of individuals. Popular practices involving “magic” without centralized sanction also became prevalent. The rise of scripture and the emergence of the synagogue as a communal place for studying the Torah are two important developments that would shape Judaism to the present.
Syria-Palestine
Authors: Curtis Adrian
Published: October 2020

Knowledge of the religion of ancient Syria has increased significantly in recent years thanks to key archaeological discoveries. Particularly important have been those from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), which may offer the best window available for an understanding of Canaanite religious beliefs and practices. Excavations have revealed structures of religious significance, such as temples, sanctuaries, and tombs, as well as numerous texts. Of special interest are those mythological texts which tell the exploits of Baal, El, and the other great gods. There are also legends, sacrifice lists, pantheon lists, and prescriptions for various rituals. Some of these, notably the legends of Keret, and of Danel and his son Aqhat, provide evidence for beliefs about the religious status and significance of the king. This material enables a more considered understanding of ideas and practices that may have impacted upon Israelite religion.
Welcoming the Sabbath on the Kibbutzim
Authors: Marx Dalia
Published: October 2020

The Kibbutz culture was one of resistance; its very essence was resistance to classical European Judaism and a commitment to create the new Jew in his historic homeland. The kibbutz members left behind them the religious and liturgical culture of the past and experimented in creating a comprehensive and all-inclusive society, encompassing all aspects of the economic, social, and cultural life of its members. Albeit secular and even atheist, some of the more creative expressions of Israeli spirituality resided within the gates of the kibbutzim. To this day, some of the most interesting Israeli ritual innovations have deep roots in kibbutz culture. This essay examines the communal Shabbat welcoming ceremonies celebrated before Friday night dinner in the Kibbutz dining room. It explores the discussions and often intense arguments that accompanied their creation, the content of these ceremonies. It addresses the controversies relating to the Shabbat candle lighting and the special secular liturgies that were composed in the kibbutzim for this practice. The essay also discusses the emergence of the Shabbat welcoming ceremony in its historic context and its gradual disappearance (or its change) due to the waning of Kibbutz ideology.
One God, Multiple Rituals and Theologies: Christianity
Authors: Werline Rodney A.
Published: October 2020

Current liturgies performed in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and mainline Protestant worship services preserve a remnant of basic practices, personnel, and key ideas and themes found in passages related to Hebrew Bible worship and ritual. These features, of course, have long histories of reinterpretation and reapplication within Christian tradition. The theological understandings of several of these elements of Hebrew Bible worship have a place in the theological disagreements between the various branches of Christianity, and the current language in the liturgies manifests these differences, as do the discussions about them within the various traditions. This essay especially focuses on the way in which current liturgies continue to manifest different appropriations of Hebrew Bible worship and ritual. Further, the essay draws on ritual theories to reflect on the way in which liturgies establish a sense of timelessness, transcendence, and invariance for worshipers, even though liturgies have changed over the centuries and greatly differ from their Hebrew Bible roots.
Ritual and Worship in Ancient Egypt
Authors: Teeter Emily
Published: October 2020

There was no set doctrine in Egyptian religion and no overall canonical tradition. The goals of worship in ancient Egypt were the preservation of the cosmic order and the perpetuation of life through rituals that combated the forces of non-existence. The gods were represented on earth by statues that “dwelled” in the deity’s temple. The deities were thought to have the same material requirements as humans, and an elaborate offering ritual provided for the feeding and comfort of the god. Offerings consisted primarily of food, beverages, perfumes, clothing, and jewelry. The king and his posthumous cult and deceased individuals were also the focus of offerings that were intended to perpetuate their memory among the living. Offering rituals were enacted in state-maintained temples, private tombs, and also in more informal settings, such as shrines and houses. Festivals of the gods dotted the calendar. During many of these, the statue of the deity left the confines of the temple and processed through the community, affording the opportunity for people to present oracular questions to the god. Although the king was the chief officiant to the gods, in certain periods, private individuals also had direct contact with them. In the mortuary cult, the king too played a major role, initially as the source of funerary offerings to the deceased, and later as a partner with the gods in providing for the afterlife. The priesthood was very hierarchical, with men and women being classified (by titles) into specific types of priests and priestesses.
Sacred Space and Common Space
Authors: Hundley Michael B.
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses sacred and common spaces in the ancient Near East (ANE), with particular attention to biblical Israel. It addresses temples and other sacred spaces in the ANE and the Hebrew Bible, including elements of form, function, and rhetoric, In examining sacred spaces in the Hebrew Bible, it discusses altars, standing stones, the tabernacle, the temple, and other sacred spaces and traces the evolution of sacred spaces in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The chapter summarizes that for the three monotheistic religions, sacred space functions as the house of God’s people rather than for the deity. This conclusion is reflected in the architecture, for example, which has ample space and (sometimes) ample furniture to accommodate visitors, but not sacrifice, and little to suggest the care and feeding of a resident deity.
The Merovingians and Italy
Authors: Arnold Jonathan J.
Published: October 2020

This chapter provides an overview of Merovingian relations with the Ostrogothic and early Lombard kingdoms, focusing on acts of diplomacy, alliance, and war during a long sixth century. Sometimes these peoples were allied and at peace; more often, however, they were fierce rivals, vying for supremacy in southern Gaul and northern Italy and expanding their realms (or empires, as some boldly claimed) at the other’s expense. Nor did their interactions occur within a vacuum. Indeed, and as this essay will demonstrate, they were part of a much larger geopolitical context, involving a number of other “barbarian” peoples in the region and heavily influenced by the intrigues and military intervention of the Byzantine Empire.