bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Art of Memory Copied by Johannes de Fredelant in 1461
Authors: Doležalová Lucie
Published: December 2021

The study presents a so far overlooked treatise on the art of memory preserved in a copy made in 1461 by a certain Johannes de Fredelant, today MS Prague, National library, I G 11a, fol. 31r–41v. As the analysis of the treatise shows, it is based on the anonymous art of memory treatise Memoria fecunda written in Bologna in 1425, although it omits its specific features and seems to be both more traditional and simple practice-oriented. The copy was included in one of the miscellanies of Crux de Telcz (1434–1504), preceded by three other treatises on the art of memory, as well as several mnemonic verses, thus forming part of a specific collection focused on memory.
Laughter and Grief in Twelfth-Century Accounts of the Death of William Rufus
Authors: Diggelmann Lindsay M.
Published: December 2021

The death of King William Rufus while hunting in August 1100 is often acknowledged as a fitting end for an unpopular and ineffective monarch, based largely on descriptions of the event in several twelfth-century texts. While it will never be possible to arrive at a definitive explanation of what happened, near-contemporary representations of the king’s behaviour and death reveal much about perceptions and expectations of medieval kingship. By examining varying descriptions of the king’s laughter – sometimes cynical and manipulative, sometimes generous and inclusive – and the corresponding portrayals of the extent of his subjects’ grief at their monarch’s passing, it is possible to reconstruct the outlines of a debate over appropriate emotional performance and its contribution to successful – or unsuccessful – rulership. The very positive depiction of Rufus’s emotional regime in Gaimar’s Estoire des Engleis sits in stark contrast to the more negative mainstream view, represented especially in the Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis.
René Descartes on Émotion
Authors: Charland Louis C.
Published: December 2021

The primary aim of this discussion is to present a detailed case study of Descartes’s use of émotion in Les passions de l’ame and in his early writings leading up to that work. A secondary aim is to argue that that while Descartes was innovative in suggesting that émotion might be a better keyword for the affective sciences than passion, he did not consistently follow his own advice. His innovation therefore failed in that regard, even though it did inspire later thinkers to explore the distinction between ‘passion’ and ‘emotion’ in their own manner.
The Thinking Fetus: Descartes at the Brink of Psychoanalysis
Authors: Sjöholm Cecilia
Published: December 2021

Descartes’s philosophy of the passions is central for an understanding of seventeenth-century ideas of affects and emotions and for the history of emotions overall. But does it have bearing today? In this article, I argue that Descartes raises the question of how the infantile relation to the maternal body influences the emotional life of the adult, a question that is still relevant for psychoanalysis and neuropsychology. In the philosophical scholarship on Descartes, the passages which pertain to the infant, or the fetus, and its alleged ‘confused thought’, are often quoted to demonstrate the challenges to dualism that are inherent in his own writings. However, I argue that these discussions point also to the complexity of the development of affects and emotions. In my reading, I show that Descartes’s ideas of the passions can be seen as precursory to psychoanalytic theories of object relations. This opens the way for a new trajectory of research involving fantasy, instincts and repression in the Cartesian analysis of emotions and affects.
Johann Georg Zimmermann’s Therapeutics of Solitude in the German Enlightenment
Authors: Rydberg Andreas
Published: December 2021

This essay charts the German eighteenth-century physician and writer Johann Georg Zimmermann’s monumental work on solitude. The essay draws on but also challenges recent historiography on two counts. First, it situates Zimmermann’s discourse on solitude in the context of the early modern cultura animi tradition, in which philosophy provided a cure for a soul perceived as diseased and perturbed by passion and desire. Placed in this context, solitude comes into view not primarily as a passive state of rest and tranquillity connected to the rural life, but as active, therapeutic and exercise-oriented work on the self. Second, it argues that Zimmermann also shaped his discourse in relation to the increasingly radical late eighteenth-century exploration of subjectivity and selfhood, an exploration that reflects the emergence of the modern conception of the unique individual and autonomous self.
Love as a Source of Illness in Late Eighteenth-Century Sweden – Examples from the Life Description of Pehr Stenberg
Authors: Lindblom Ina
Published: December 2021

Through the analysis of an extensive biographical source material – the life description of Swedish clergyman Pehr Stenberg – this article examines how love was framed as a cause of illness in everyday contexts in late eighteenth-century Sweden. Love was perceived as an emotion that could cause both physical and mental forms of illness. Although lovesickness has been regarded as an illness that could be used by afflicted individuals to communicate emotions, this source material indicates that illnesses caused by love were regarded as actual afflictions. In the framing of these illnesses, conceptions of female fragility were reinforced as love was perceived to have a particularly destabilising power on women.
Emotional Communities: An Understanding of Collective Situated Knowledge and Action
Authors: Rodríguez Diana Carolina Peláez
Published: December 2021

The concept of ‘emotional communities’ has been a fruitful category for understanding the collective action of grassroot organisations in Bogotá, Colombia. In our study group on the subject, we developed our own approach of the concept thanks to the input from many authors who have used it, as well as from our empirical findings in research. The aim of this essay is, first, to discuss emotional communities and explain the gaps we found in some of the foundational works on the concept; second, to analyse the ways that our empirical data offered insights that helped widen up the concept for our research. Finally, it concludes with an argument of how this approach could serve to enhance understanding of the collective situated knowledge that sustain people’s actions of transformation within specific contexts.
Introduction: Skepticism in India
Authors: Mills Ethan , Dasti Matthew
Published: December 2021

Introduces the topic of skepticism in Indian philosophy as well as the contents of a special issue of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism: “Skepticism in India.”
Three Skepticisms in Cārvāka Epistemology: The Problem of Induction, Purandara’s Fallibilism, and Jayarāśi’s Skepticism about Philosophy
Authors: Mills Ethan
Published: December 2021

The classical Indian Cārvāka (“Materialist”) tradition contains three branches with regard to the means of knowledge (pramāṇas). First, the standard Cārvākas accept a single means of knowledge, perception, supporting this view with a critique of the reliability and coherence of inference (anumāna). Second, the “more educated” Cārvākas as well as Purandara endorse a form of inference limited to empirical matters. Third, radical skeptical Cārvākas like Jayarāśi attempt to undermine all accounts or technical definitions of the means of knowledge (even perception) in order to enjoy a life free from philosophical and religious speculation. These branches respectively present something akin to David Hume’s problem of induction, endorse a fallibilistic, mitigated skepticism, and embody a thoroughgoing skepticism about philosophy itself. While all three branches are skeptics about religious matters, each branch exemplifies a different variety of epistemological skepticism.
The Madhyamaka Contribution to Skepticism
Authors: Dreyfus Georges , Garfield Jay L.
Published: December 2021

This paper examines the work of Nāgārjuna as interpreted by later Madhyamaka tradition, including the Tibetan Buddhist Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). It situates Madhyamaka skepticism in the context of Buddhist philosophy, Indian philosophy more generally, and Western equivalents. Find it broadly akin to Pyrrhonism, it argues that Madhyamaka skepticism still differs from its Greek equivalents in fundamental methodologies. Focusing on key hermeneutical principles like the two truths and those motivating the Svātantrika/Prāsaṅgika schism (i.e., whether followers of Nāgārjuna should offer positive arguments or should proceed on a purely “negative” basis), it argues that the Svātantrika commitment to mere conventional practice is robust and allows for a skepticism consistent with the scientific practices we must take seriously in the modern world. These findings are put forth as an illustration of what the Western tradition might gain by better understanding of non-Western philosophy.
Nyāya’s Response to Skepticism
Authors: Chakrabarti Kisor Kumar
Published: December 2021

The classical Indian school called Nyāya (literally “logic” or “right reasoning”), is arguably the leading anti-skeptical tradition within all of Indian philosophy. Defending a realist metaphysics and an epistemology of “knowledge sources” (pramāṇa), its responses to skepticism are often appropriated by other schools of thought. This paper examines its responses to skeptical arguments from dreams, from “the three times,” from justificatory regress, and over the problem of induction.
Answers on a Postcard: Photo Elicitation in the Service of Local Ecclesial Strategy
Authors: Marlow Jon , Dunlop Sarah
Published: December 2021

This article reports the findings of a practical Theological Action Research project in a Church of England diocese in the UK, using photo elicitation. This image-based approach resulted in findings that echoed existing diocesan strategies, but also highlighted other issues that may otherwise have remained implicit, specifically the mode of mission and concerns regarding growth and survival. The visual data itself is analysed, revealing that the images do not always function as direct signifiers, but instead were generating creative, intuited responses. From the data, four mirrors were developed to reflect back to the groups their responses. This approach enabled local strategies to emerge from within espoused theologies, but also to make explicit their coherence or departure from the normative missiologies of the diocese. Finally, the authors suggest that the exposure of church leaders within training to qualitative research methodologies is releasing a new kind of leadership to emerge.
Churches and Faith: Attitude Towards Church Buildings During the 2020 covid-19 Lockdown Among Churchgoers in England
Authors: Village Andrew , Francis Leslie J.
Published: December 2021

Attitude toward church buildings was assessed among a sample of 6,476 churchgoers in England during the first covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020. The six-item Scale of Attitude toward Church Buildings (sacb) assessed a range of aspects of attitude that included the importance of buildings for Christian faith generally, and buildings as central to the expression of Christian faith. Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics showed similar positive attitude towards buildings, Anglican Evangelicals showed a less positive attitude on average that was similar to those from Free-Churches, while Broad-Church Anglican attitude lay between these two extremes. Younger people had a more positive attitude than older people, especially among Catholics. On average, men had more a positive attitude than women, and lay people a more positive attitude than clergy. These findings suggest that the significance of buildings varies among traditions in ways that may still reflect historical issues of the Reformation.
Theological Empowerment of Lay Leaders: A Citizen Science Project in Switzerland and Austria
Authors: Müller Sabrina , Todjeras Patrick
Published: December 2021

The present research project addresses the question of how the theological literacy and agency of volunteer church leaders can be fostered so that cooperative church leadership can be achieved. The Protestant Churches of the Canton of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Austria, together with the Centre for Church Development of the University of Zurich, designed a participatory research process. The aim was to increase the communicative and participative competence of volunteers. Together, through a creative and discursive process, the foundations, educational processes and tools necessary for theological empowerment were developed with the volunteer church leaders. The cooperative project combines research and practice in the sense that practitioners were actively involved in generating, evaluating and discussing the data. In addition, in this project we found ways to continue participatory research – for example through online discourse formats – and thus not lose the essence of such research in times of covid-19.
An Ethnographic Turn in Comparative Theology?
Authors: Chitwood Ken
Published: December 2021

This review essay analyses three books of comparative theology between Christian and Hindu traditions in South Asia in order to address two interrelated questions: 1) do they hint at an ‘ethnographic turn’ in comparative theology? And 2) if so, what might that mean for both ethnographic theology and comparative theology as they continue to develop as disciplines? Through an interpretive, exegetical review of these works, the article observes how an evolving appreciation for ethnography in comparative theology – and an attendant and analogous turn toward comparison in ethnographic theology – could bring more texture and critical reflection to the comparison of theologies across religious traditions, a more expansive capacity to ethnographic theology, and bring both fields into more fruitful dialogue. It argues that such developments are needed in a world where the lived navigation of hyper-diversity and multiplying difference are increasingly the norm.
Bringing the Mess That is Life into Theology: The Representational Task of Ethnography
Authors: Whitmore Todd
Published: December 2021

Most academic theology is written in an abstract manner that elides the “mess that is life.” Most academic anthropology rejects theological modes of reasoning and representation. The present article makes the case for an “anthropological theology” that brings together ethnographic thick description of life lived and theological modes of writing. The result is a mixed and interlaced way of writing that is richer than the traditional modes on representation in either anthropology or theology. Throughout, the author offers thick descriptions of his work as an addiction recovery coach with persons addicted to opioids in order to help display in writing the argument that he is making about writing.
Situating the ‘Crisis of Representation’ in Ethnographic Approaches to Theology and Working Toward Community-Centered, Dialogic Approaches
Authors: Nabhan-Warren Kristy , Wigg-Stevenson Natalie
Published: December 2021

In this article we unpack the significance of the ‘crisis in representation’ in the field of anthropology for ethnographic approaches to academic theology. The article summarizes and draws connections among other works in this themed issue and presents possibilities for moving forwards with ethnographic theologies that attune carefully to issues of representation. Attending to questions of method, identity, and ethnographic writing, it lifts up some of the diverse and genuinely collaborative approaches to fieldwork that are made possible by the hybrid and complex roles theologians play in relation to the communities and cultures with which they engage.
The Longitudinal IntermediaPlus (2014–2016): A Case Study in Structuring Unstructured Big Data
Authors: Brentel Inga , Winters Kristi
Published: December 2021

This article details the novel structure developed to handle, harmonize and document big data for reuse and long-term preservation. ‘The Longitudinal IntermediaPlus (2014–2016)’ big data dataset is uniquely rich: it covers an array of German online media extendable to cross-media channels and user information. The metadata file for this dataset, and its documentation, were recently deposited as its own MySQL database called charmstana_sample_14-16.sql (https://data.gesis.org/sharing/#!Detail/10.7802/2030) (cs16) and is suitable for generating descriptive statistics. Analogous to the ‘Data View’ in spss, the charmstana_analysis (ca) contains the dataset’s numerical values. Both the cs16 and ca MySQL files are needed to conduct analysis on the full database. The research challenge was to process large-scaled datasets into one longitudinal, big-data data source suitable for academic research, and according to fair principles. The authors review four methodological recommendations that can serve as a framework for solving big-data structuring challenges, using the harmonization software CharmStats.
The DiGreC Treebank
Authors: Macleod Morgan , Anagnostopoulou Elena , Mertyris Dionysios , Sevdali Christina
Published: December 2021

The DiGreC (DIachrony of GREek Case) treebank is a corpus of selected sentences from Greek texts, ranging from Homer to Modern Greek, which have been annotated morphosyntactically and semantically. The corpus comprises excerpts from 655 texts, for a total of 3385 sentences and 56,440 word tokens; automated tagging and lemmatisation has been supplemented with manual review to ensure accuracy. The data exist in xml and csv formats, which can be manipulated and converted automatically to other schemata. A web site has also been created to allow users to interact with the data more easily, and to provide specialised functionality for searching and visualisation. This corpus was created to inform theoretical debates regarding the role of case in grammar, and may be of use to researchers searching for specific attestations of a range of different constructions in Greek.
Sustainability Performance of Certified and Non-certified Food
Authors: Bellassen Valentin , Arfini Filippo , Antonioli Federico , Bodini Antonio , Boehm Michael , Brečić Ružica , Chiussi Sara , Csillag Peter , Donati Michele , Dries Liesbeth , Drut Marion , de Labarre Matthieu Duboys , Ferrer Hugo , Filipović Jelena , Gauvrit Lisa , Gil José M. , Gorton Matthew , Hoàng Viet , Hilal Mohamed , Steinnes Kamilla Knutsen , Lilavanichakul Apichaya , Malak-Rawlikowska Agata , Majewski Edward , Monier-Dilhan Sylvette , Muller Paul , Napasintuwong Orachos , Nikolaou Kalliroi , Nguyen Mai , Quỳnh An Nguyễn , Papadopoulos Ioannis , Peerlings Jack , Török Aron , Poméon Thomas , Ristic Bojan , Schaer Burkhard , Stojanovic Zaklina , Tocco Barbara , Maksan Marina Tomic , Veneziani Mario , Vitterso Gunnar
Published: December 2021

The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles. This article describes the common method and indicators used to collect data for the twenty-seven certified products and their conventional counterparts. It presents the assumptions and choices, the process of data collection, and the indicator estimation methods designed to assess the three sustainability dimensions within a reasonable time constraint. That is: three person-months for each food quality scheme and its non-certified reference product. Several prioritisations were set regarding data collection (indicator, variable, value chain level) together with a level of representativeness specific to each variable and product type (country and sector). Technical details on how relatively common variables (e.g., number of animals per hectare) are combined into indicators (e.g., carbon footprint) are provided in the full documentation of the dataset.
A Data Set for US Horror Film Trailers
Authors: Redfern Nick
Published: December 2021

This article presents a new data set comprising audio, colour, motion, and shot length data of trailers for the fifty highest grossing horror films at the US box office from 2011 to 2015. This data set is one of the few available for computational film analysis that includes data on multiple elements of film style and is the only existing data set for motion picture trailers suitable for formal analyses. Data is stored in csv files available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license on Zenodo: www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4479068.
They Cannot Be Left to the Brutality of a Cruel Group: An Ottoman Scholar’s Treatise on Dogs
Authors: Kızılkaya (نجم الدين كز يلكايا) Necmettin
Published: December 2021

Several studies have been written on the subject of animals in the Ottoman Empire, with a focus on dogs in particular. Most of these studies cover the subject through various sources, including history books, biographies, travelogues, and diaries. Although studying the issue via these sources is important, several works written in the Ottoman period, especially distinct treatises, provide more concrete information on the subject. These treatises have the unique quality of providing insight into many points, especially with relevance to the concepts on which the scholars and thinkers of the period examined the human-animal relationship, and also the arguments they advanced to establish this relationship. One such treatise was written by Mustaqīmzāde (d. 1202/1788) in the 12th/18th century. This treatise deals with many issues, especially the human-dog relationship, the characteristics dogs have, why people should be compassionate towards dogs, and the problems of having a negative attitude towards dogs. In this article, I give a brief biography of Mustaqīmzāde, summarize the changing attitude of Ottomans towards dogs, discuss the content of Mustaqīmzāde’s treatise, and finally translate it into English and present an edition of the text.
A Kuril Ainu Glossary by Captain V. M. Golovnin (1811)
Authors: Bugaeva Anna , Satō Tomomi
Published: December 2021

This paper presents a newly discovered glossary (230 items) of Northern and Southern Kuril Ainu recorded by the captain Vasily Mikhaylovich Golovnin in 1811 and stored at the Russian National Archive of the Navy in St. Petersburg. Based on this new document we argue that Southern Kuril has a much closer lexical resemblance to Northeastern Hokkaido Ainu than Northern Kuril. On the other hand, we reaffirm that both Southern and Northern Kuril Ainu constitute a really separate Kuril group because they show a number of lexical, phonological and grammatical features, which are different from Hokkaido Ainu.
Agapius of Manbiǧ, Qusṭā ibn Lūqā and the Graeco-Roman Past
Authors: Hoyland Robert G.
Published: December 2021

This article looks at the routes by which knowledge of the Greco-Roman past was transmitted from late antiquity by Christian communities living under Muslim rule. The process involved translation from Greek to Syriac and from Greek and Syriac to Arabic. Once in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Abbasid Middle East, this historical material could be used by Muslim scholars to work into their histories of the pre-Islamic Middle East. This article also shows that historical texts could easily cross interconfessional lines and that their transmission, although handled very differently to scientific texts, was still part of the broader transfer of late antique culture to the Islamic Empire that is commonly referred to as the Graeco-Arabic translation movement.
Writing “Non-Confessional” History for Arabic Readers
Authors: Borbone Pier Giorgio , Mascitelli Daniele
Published: December 2021

The great polymath Gregory Bar ʿEbroyo (d. 1286), known as Barhebraeus, composed two historiographical works: the “Chronicle” (Maktbānut zabnē) in Syriac and the “Summa on Dynasties” (Muḫtaṣar fī l-duwal) in Arabic. Though he likely worked on them at the same time, the differences in language, structure, and choice of themes, show that different goals lay behind the two works. Through an examination of recent studies and a comparison of some passages of the two texts, this paper introduces a tentative reassessment of the issue and offers suggestive indications on Bar ʿEbroyo’s personal vision of history in the context of early Mongol (Ilkhanid) rule.
A Kaleidoscopic View of History: Al-Masʿūdī on Jewish-Christian Interaction
Authors: Roggema Barbara
Published: December 2021

This article investigates the attitude of al-Masʿūdī to the world around him by focusing on a minor theme in his works: the interaction between Jews and Christians throughout history. The hypothesis of the article is that this theme, which also plays a role in the foundational texts of Islam, would provoke al-Masʿūdī to express some of his views on these religious communities, rather than merely describing their doctrines and customs in his usual non-committal way. This hypothesis turns out to be correct: al-Masʿūdī engages with the tensions between the two communities and seems to subscribe to the Christian anti-Jewish clichés that he integrates. At the same time, he uses more subtle ways to criticize Christians too. In other instances, he takes on a rather traditional supersessionist tone, with which he dismisses both communities. One has to conclude that al-Masʿūdī did not feel the need to press one specific viewpoint on these issues, which as such is telling for his historiographical style.
Inter-Confessional Church History: East Syrian Christian Identity and Islam in the Ecclesiastical History of Kitāb al-Maǧdal
Authors: Yarbrough Luke
Published: December 2021

Kitāb al-Maǧdal is a large East Syrian theological treatise that was composed in Arabic, probably in the late tenth or early eleventh century CE. One section of the work is an ecclesiastical history of the Church of the East. This essay argues that close analysis of this section reveals that elite East Syrian identity in the period overlapped to a significant extent with contemporary Muslim identity, at the level of vocabulary and conceptions of revelation and communal history. In this sense, the work represents a kind of “inter-confessional” history writing. The essay aims to contribute to recent studies of Middle Eastern Christian identity and historiography, which have focused of Syriac sources and/or late antiquity rather than Arabic sources for the Islamic middle periods.
With Ibn Ḫaldūn in His Workshop: What He Read in Ibn al-ʿAmīd, What He Retained, and Why
Authors: Diez Martino
Published: December 2021

Ibn Ḫaldūn spent the last 24 years of his life in Egypt. There he enlarged the scope of his history, venturing beyond the boundaries of his own civilization. In this process, three authors played a crucial role: the Copto-Arabic historian Ibn al-ʿAmīd al-Makīn, the Josippon, and the Arabic translation of Orosius. Adopting a “coring method”, and based on Ibn al-ʿAmīd’s forthcoming edition, this article studies the use of the Coptic historian in a very limited, but significant, sample of Ibn Ḫaldūn’s history, i.e., the passage devoted to the Achaemenids. The comparison between the two texts allows to draw some conclusions regarding the process of transmission of historical materials from late antiquity to Islam. First, historiography was perceived by Ibn Ḫaldūn and several other Muslim authors as a discipline in which non-Muslims could participate, and the Bible was generally considered as a reliable source of information. Second, the accounts on pre-Islamic history which were more likely to be preserved shared three traits: they were mostly understandable, relevant to the readers, and non-controversial.
The Chronicle of John of Nikiu: Its Arabic Vorlage and Its Afterlife in Ethiopia
Authors: Elagina Daria
Published: December 2021

The Chronicle of John of Nikiu is an important historiographical text which was most probably composed in Coptic but only survives in its Ethiopic translation, executed from an Arabic intermediate version. Although none of the witnesses to the earlier stages of the text transmission has been found so far, the Ethiopic version offers some material which allows for speculations on the possible text transformation in the course of time. The impact of the Chronicle on the literary production of Ethiopia documents a peculiar process of text reception.
Christian Sources in al-Maqrīzī’s Kitāb al-Ḫiṭaṭ and al-Ḫabar ʿan al-bašar
Authors: Penelas Mayte
Published: December 2021

It is widely known that al-Maqrīzī relied extensively on the work by the Coptic author Ibn al-ʿAmīd for the chapter on the Copts included in his Kitāb al-Ḫiṭaṭ. Some scholars have assessed that the text known as Kitāb Hurūšiyūš, which was compiled by a Christian from al-Andalus, was also a major source for large fragments of al-Maqrīzī’s al-Ḫiṭaṭ. More recently, it has been argued that al-Maqrīzī also relied on those two Christian sources for his last major work, al-Ḫabar ʿan al-bašar. In this article, I intend to offer a more comprehensive survey of the use of both sources by al-Maqrīzī. By providing a good many examples, I aim to demonstrate that al-Maqrīzī built on them entire sections or long passages of his books, but also turned to them frequently to add in short reports, variant versions, a date, a nasab, or any information he considered relevant to his work.
History and adab in the Kitāb al-Maʿārif of Ibn Qutayba
Authors: Bellino Francesca
Published: December 2021

This article frames the Kitāb al-Maʿārif of Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889) against the background of the evolution of the Abbasid historiography and the emergence of early forms of Islamic universal histories in particular. It also provides an analysis of the work in terms of its aim, recipients, structure, contents, sources, and style. It draws attention to the three main dimensions of chronology, genealogy and onomastics that so deeply characterize Ibn Qutayba’s general approach in his sketch of the outline of Islamic history. It shows that it is an adab work insofar as it offers a set of useful knowledge needed by the non specialist reader, namely the non-historian, whether he is a kātib, an adīb, or any other figure working in the Abbasid bureaucracy. The final part of the article looks at the inclusion of materials related to the centuries preceding the rise of the Prophet Muḥammad and Islam as they are presented in the chapter on the mulūk.
Al-Ḥallāǧ: a View from the Court
Authors: Osti Letizia
Published: December 2021

This note examines one cluster of accounts on the trial of al-Ḥallāǧ (d. 309/922) in two near-contemporary and one later historian, looking at how each author uses the material and how such material functions within their specific work.
Turkish Exports Before and After the 2001 Financial Crisis: A Panel Gravity Model
Authors: Karacan Semih , Korkmaz Özge
Published: December 2021

Turkey was subjected to a number of financial shocks after the liberalisation movements in the 1980s. The most devastating of them was the consecutive political and financial crises in late 2000 and early 2001. The absence of political stability and depreciated Turkish Lira devastated the markets. The Turkish government immediately acted against the collapsed economic system and introduced a radical Economic Stability Programme under the supervision of Kemal Dervis¸. The programme has restructured the banking and financial system and improved economic discipline. In this study, we aim to investigate the impacts of the 2001 crisis and the structural changes on Turkish exports. To this end, we estimate a one-way gravity model, using panel data belonging to Turkish exports to 135 World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries, over the period between 1981 and 2015. The augmented model controls for the inter/intra-industry exports, competitiveness, trade agreements, trade unions and additional demographics. We utilised Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood (PPML) estimator to account for unobservable time-invariant effects, zero trade, possible heteroscedasticity, and cross-correlation. The results reveals that Turkey has become a free market economy after the liberalisation movements in the early 1980s, and its exports are determined by the same indicators that affect other similar economies; on the other hand, the 2001 crisis has an immediate positive effect on exports through weak Turkish Lira, but this effect turns to negative in the following year. In addition, we find that structural changes in the economic system has a significant effect on exports and help to mitigate the trade-distorting effects of the global financial crisis in 2008.

JEL Codes: C33, F13, F14
Private Military and Security Companies and The Militarization of Humanitarianism
Authors: de Groot Tom , Regilme Salvador Santino F.
Published: December 2021

The widespread use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in United Nations peacebuilding missions often undermines the effectiveness of these missions. PMSCs tend to encourage, in unnecessary ways, what is called security risk management and promote the militarization of humanitarian efforts. They encourage humanitarian aid organizations to protect their personnel with barbed wire fences, security guards, armed convoys, and secure aid compounds, even if the security risks are relatively low. Consequently, these militarized humanitarian efforts heighten the perception of risks and intensify security measures, which create physical and psychological barriers between humanitarian aid personnel and the local communities in which they carry out their tasks. This situation undermines local ownership of peacebuilding efforts and makes them less responsive to the local communities involved in these efforts. This article provides a comparative analysis of the nature of this problem and its effects in the Global South.
Finance: Teaching, and Learning, Online
Authors: Damodaran Uday
Published: December 2021

I began teaching finance ‘online’—or ‘virtually’—long before the pandemic. It was in 2004 that I first taught on a virtual platform; and I continued teaching on various virtual platforms right up to 2019, the year before the pandemic. The programs offered on these platforms were mostly targeted at working executives. The classes were beamed during the evenings, or on weekends. Each student was participating in a maximum of three hours of classes per day.
Does Firms’ Working Capital Efficiency Matter in Dividend Payout: Empirical Evidence from India
Authors: Bhatia Prince , Sivasankaran Narayanasamy , Banerjee Aditya , Chattopadhyay Subir
Published: December 2021

The objective of this study is to assess the impact of working capital efficiency (WCE) (proxied by net trade cycle ( NTC)) on the dividend payout (proxied by dividend payout ratio ( DPR)) of the listed non-financial Indian firms. This study addresses the research gap in the literature about the influence of WCE on firms’ earnings distributed to equity shareholders as dividends in the Indian market. We have used secondary data of 150 firms that were listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange for the period 2012–2018 and analysed the data of the sample firms using the Tobit regression model. Our results indicate a negative and significant relationship between the NTC and the DPR of the sample firms. However, the beta coefficient of NTC was found to be very small, suggesting that the lower NTC may not inevitably generate a higher DPR of firms in the Indian context.
Market Reaction to Dividend Announcements During Pandemic: An Event Study
Authors: Prakash Nisha , Yogesh L
Published: December 2021

This study analyses the difference in stock market reactions to dividend announcement during the pandemic. The thirty constituent stocks of Sensex, the index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is used for analysis. This allows cross-industry comparison of the market reaction. The study examines stock market reactions covering 44 days around the dividend announcement dates. The primary objective of this study is to understand whether the price adjustment linked to the dividend announcement news during the pandemic was different from the earlier years. This empirical study employs the conventional event study methodology using abnormal returns (ARs) to examine the stock market reaction to dividend announcement. The market reaction to dividend announcement was increasingly positive during the pandemic, compared to previous years. The statistical pooled t-tests showed there was a significant relationship between the pandemic and ARs. The findings also indicate that the difference in the market reaction to dividend announcement was more prominent in services stocks than that in manufacturing. Further, the results also verify the weak-form of efficiency of Indian stock exchange.
Information Management Capacity and Supply Chain Performance: Mediating Effects of Supply Chain Practices, Competencies and Concerns
Authors: Alagarsamy Subburaj , Mehrolia Sangeeta , Iyer Lakshmi Shankar , Solaikutty Vijay Mallikraj
Published: December 2021

The present study aims to identify the impact of the information management capacity (IMC) of an organization on its supply chain performance (SCP). Also, this study attempts to understand the mediating role of the various components of supply chain management, namely, practices, competencies and concerns. A survey instrument was used to collect primary data from 250 SMEs which were selected randomly. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique is used to test the hypotheses using SmartPLS. The final model indicated that information management capacity significantly influences the supply chain performance and supply chain management components, namely supply chain competence, practices and concerns mediate the relationship between information management capacity and supply chain performance. The results of this study provide a significant contribution to the theory of resource-based view. The number of managerial perspectives for improving operational capabilities was explained in this study.
Majpadu: Bracing for the Future
Authors: Adham Khairul Akmaliah , Muhamad Nur Sa’adah , Said Mohd Fuaad , Nasir Nadiah Mahmad , Muhamad Nur Suryana
Published: December 2021

Majpadu Bricks Sdn. Bhd. was a Malaysian company incorporated in 1996. Majpadu’s business was in manufacturing and supplying compressed clay bricks, known as dry pressed earth brick (DPEB), a type of bricks manufactured using high-density compression technology. Unlike other bricks that were widely available in the market (also known as ordinary baked bricks), Majpadu’s bricks were not ‘fired’ in kilns; as such, DPEB was claimed to be more eco-friendly, cooler in temperature and yet very durable. Majpadu’s expertise was within the engineering process as well as the technical knowledge of DPEB. Apart from its main business, it also offered consultancy services to the industry. Over the years, Majpadu saw the company face several internal and external circumstances that affected its bottom line. By early 2017, the situation had become more serious, forcing Mr Zaki Hayat, the Managing Director of Majpadu, to implement a strategy to tackle the problems faced by the company.
Investigating intra-individual variability of face scanning in autistic children
Authors: Wang Qiandong , Lu Haoyang , Feng Shuyuan , Song Ci , Hu Yixiao , Yi Li
Published: December 2021

We investigated the intra-individual variability of face scanning in autistic children to represent a new avenue for understanding abnormal face scanning in autism spectrum condition. Across four studies, we used eye-tracking techniques to systematically examine the variability of face scanning patterns in autistic children when performing different tasks and scanning different types of faces. Autistic and non-autistic children were asked to complete a face judgment task (Study 1, age range: 4.9–7.2 years), a face recognition task (Study 2, age range: 4.7–7.6 years), a facial expression recognition task (Study 3, age range: 4.3–7.4 years), and a dynamic facial expression free viewing task (Study 4, age range: 2.5–5.6 years). In addition, we conducted Study 5 using houses as stimuli to test the specificity of the results to faces (age range: 4.9–7.2 years). We found that scan pattern similarity between different face presentations was lower in autistic children than non-autistic children, which was robust to variations in experimental methods. Furthermore, the decreased scan pattern similarity in autism spectrum condition was evident in both viewing faces and houses. These results suggest that the scanning patterns of autistic children are noisier and variable. It might represent a new avenue for the understanding of core symptoms in autism spectrum condition.

Lay abstract

Atypical face scanning is suggested to be related to social interactions and communicative deficits in autistic children. We systematically examined whether autistic and non-autistic children used consistent scanning patterns when performing different tasks and scanning different types of faces. We found that autistic children scanned faces more variably than non-autistic children: While non-autistic children used more consistent scanning patterns, autistic children’s scanning patterns changed frequently when watching different faces. Autistic children’s variable face scanning patterns might delay and impair face processing, resulting in a social interaction deficit. What’s more, variable scanning patterns may create an unstable and unpredictable perception of the environment for autistic children. Developing in such an unstable environment might motivate autistic children to retract from the environment, avoid social interaction, and focus instead on the performance of repetitive behavior. Therefore, studying face scanning variability might represent a new avenue for understanding core symptoms in autistic people.
Adalimumab and anti-adalimumab LISA-TRACKER immunoassays performance criteria for therapeutic drug monitoring of adalimumab-amgen biosimilar (ABP501)
Authors: Francois Fabien , Naimi Loubna , Roblin Xavier , Berger Anne-Emmanuelle , Paul Stephane
Published: December 2021

Background

ABP501 is a biosimilar to Reference Adalimumab (HUMIRA®) produced by AMGEN. Adalimumab (ADA) has a marketing authorization for Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the LISA-TRACKER assays developed by Theradiag (France), for the monitoring of ABP501 and anti-ABP501 antibodies in human serum.

Results

68 ABP501 clinical samples were measured with the LISA TRACKER Duo Adalimumab assay. LISA TRACKER has been validated as suitable for quantification of ABP501 in human serum samples. Accuracy of the LISA-TRACKER was measured using 3 human serum matrices spiked with known levels of biosimilar, 3 levels spanning the dynamic range. Percentages of recovery were ranged from 90 to 120% for biosimilar batch1, and between 93 and 105% for biosimilar batch2. The acceptance criteria (CV < 20%) were met for intra-run (from 3.8 to 16.5%) and inter-run imprecision (from 4.4 to 13.9%) including the two batches. All results were comprised within ± 20% from results, obtained with the kit and sample unexposed in order to evaluate stability of the sample, stability of the kit and consistency of the results. In any case, but two, all percentages of inhibition were > 50% for specificity. Specificity was tested with Biosimilar spiked samples, Biosimilar with Humira® spiked samples, and clinical samples from patients treated with adalimumab biosimilar. All of these samples were spiked with polyclonal antibodies directed against Humira®. Specificity inhibition and specificity detection steps were also part of the validation parameters. Reagents made with ABP501 gave similar results than reagents made with Humira® meeting acceptance criteria.

Conclusions

LISA-TRACKER ADA and anti-ADA assays are reliable for the monitoring of patients treated with ABP501.
Post-cardiac injury syndrome triggered by radiofrequency ablation for AVNRT
Authors: Wenzl Florian A. , Manninger Martin , Wunsch Stefanie , Scherr Daniel , Bisping Egbert H.
Published: December 2021

Background

Post-cardiac injury syndrome (PCIS) is an inflammatory condition following myocardial or pericardial damage. In response to catheter ablation, PCIS most frequently occurs after extensive radiofrequency (RF) ablation of large areas of atrial myocardium. Minor myocardial injury from right septal slow pathway ablation for atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) is not an established cause of the syndrome.

Case presentation

A 62-year-old women with a 6-year history of symptomatic narrow-complex tachycardia was referred to perform an electrophysiological study. During the procedure AVNRT was recorded and a total of two RF burns were applied to the region between the coronary sinus and the tricuspid annulus. Pericardial effusion was routinely ruled out by focused cardiac ultrasound. In the following days, the patient developed fever, elevated inflammatory and cardiac markers, new-onset pericardial effusion, characteristic ECG changes, and complained of pleuritic chest pain. An extensive workup for infectious, metabolic, rheumatologic, neoplastic, and toxic causes of pericarditis and myocarditis was unremarkable. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging showed no signs of ischemia, infiltrative disease or structural abnormalities. The patient was diagnosed with PCIS and initiated on aspirin and low-dose colchicine. At a 1-month follow-up visit the patient was free of symptoms but still had a small pericardial effusion. After three  months of treatment the pericardial effusion had resolved completely.

Conclusions

Inflammatory pericardial reactions can occur after minor myocardial damage from RF ablation without involvement of structures in close proximity to the pericardium.
Inappropriate manipulation and drainage exacerbate post-operative pain and prolong the hospital stay after laparoscopic appendectomy for pediatric complicated appendicitis
Authors: Tsai Yi-Wen , Lee Shin-Yi , Jiang Jyun-Hong , Chuang Jiin-Haur
Published: December 2021

Background

This study examined whether drain placement or not is associated with the postoperative outcomes of pediatric patients following trans-umbilical single-port laparoscopic appendectomy (TUSPLA) for complicated appendicitis.

Methods

The medical records of pediatric patients undergoing TUSPLA for acute complicated appendicitis from January 2012 to September 2018 in Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. They were classified according to whether they received passive drainage with a Penrose drain (Penrose group) (19), active drainage with a Jackson-Pratt drain with a vacuum bulb (JP group) (16), or no drain (non-drain group) (86). The postoperative outcomes of the three groups were compared.

Results

Postoperative visual analog scale pain score was significantly higher in the non-drain group than in either the JP group or Penrose group. Patients in the Penrose group had a significantly longer postoperative hospital stay than those in the non-drain group and a higher rate of intra-abdominal abscess, while patients in the JP group had a significantly shorter postoperative hospital stay; moreover, no patient in JP group developed a postoperative intra-abdominal abscess.

Conclusions

Compared to passive drainage with a Penrose drain or no drain, active drainage with a JP drain shorter the postoperative hospital stay and decreased the risk of postoperative intra-abdominal abscess.