bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Correlates of personal health record registration and utilization among veterans with HIV
Authors: Avoundjian Tigran , Troszak Lara , Cave Shayna , Shimada Stephanie , McInnes Keith , Midboe Amanda M
Published: June 2021

Objective

We examined correlates of registration and utilization of the Veteran Health Administration’s (VHA) personal health record (PHR), My HealtheVet (MHV), among a national cohort of veterans living with HIV.

Materials and Methods

Using VHA administrative data, we matched veterans with HIV who registered for MHV in fiscal year 2012–2018 (n = 8589) to 8589 veterans with HIV who did not register for MHV. We compared demographic and geographic characteristics, housing status, comorbidities, and non-VHA care between MHV registrants and nonregistrants to identify correlates of MHV registration. Among registrants, we examined the association between these characteristics and MHV tool use (prescription refill, record download, secure messaging, view labs, and view appointments).

Results

MHV registrants were more likely to be younger, women, White, and to have bipolar disorder, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis than nonregistrants. Having a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis or a higher Elixhauser score was associated with lower odds of MHV registration. Among registrants, women were less likely to use prescription refill. Patients who were at risk of homelessness in the past year were less likely to use secure messaging and, along with those who were homeless, were less likely to use view labs and prescription refill. Bipolar disorder and depression were associated with increased secure messaging use. Diagnoses of SUD and alcohol use disorder were both associated with lower rates of prescription refill.

Discussion

Among veterans living with HIV, we identified significant differences in PHR registration and utilization by race, sex, age, housing status, and diagnosis.
Frequent Prescribed Fire Sustains Old Field Loblolly Pine–Shortleaf Pine Woodland Communities: Results of a 53-Year Study
Authors: Robertson Kevin M , Hermann Sharon M , Staller Eric L
Published: June 2021

Frequently burned old field shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata)–loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) woodlands in the southeastern US provide important wildlife habitat and multiple ecosystem services. Because these communities differ in composition of dominant plant species and have different land use legacies than native pine savannas, the ability to prevent encroachment by off-site broadleaf woody tree species using fire alone is in question. We use a long-term fire experiment to demonstrate that old field pine communities have been prevented from transitioning to hardwood forests for over 50 years through judicious application of prescribed fire applied at 1–2 year intervals, whereas communities with three-year fire intervals show signs of transitioning to hardwood forest. We emphasize tailoring fire regimes to particular contexts of land use history to achieve the most historic and sustainable ecosystem structure and function possible for conservation of native flora and fauna.
Genome instability and pressure on non-homologous end joining drives chemotherapy resistance via a DNA repair crisis switch in triple negative breast cancer
Authors: Wiegmans Adrian P , Ward Ambber , Ivanova Ekaterina , Duijf Pascal H G , Adams Mark N , Najib Idris Mohd , Van Oosterhout Romy , Sadowski Martin C , Kelly Greg , Morrical Scott W , O’Byrne Ken , Lee Jason S , Richard Derek J
Published: June 2021

Chemotherapy is used as a standard-of-care against cancers that display high levels of inherent genome instability. Chemotherapy induces DNA damage and intensifies pressure on the DNA repair pathways that can lead to deregulation. There is an urgent clinical need to be able to track the emergence of DNA repair driven chemotherapy resistance and tailor patient staging appropriately. There have been numerous studies into chemoresistance but to date no study has elucidated in detail the roles of the key DNA repair components in resistance associated with the frontline clinical combination of anthracyclines and taxanes together. In this study, we hypothesized that the emergence of chemotherapy resistance in triple negative breast cancer was driven by changes in functional signaling in the DNA repair pathways. We identified that consistent pressure on the non-homologous end joining pathway in the presence of genome instability causes failure of the key kinase DNA-PK, loss of p53 and compensation by p73. In-turn a switch to reliance on the homologous recombination pathway and RAD51 recombinase occurred to repair residual double strand DNA breaks. Further we demonstrate that RAD51 is an actionable target for resensitization to chemotherapy in resistant cells with a matched gene expression profile of resistance highlighted by homologous recombination in clinical samples.
A possible evolutionary function of phenomenal conscious experience of pain
Authors: Kolodny Oren , Moyal Roy , Edelman Shimon
Published: June 2021

Evolutionary accounts of feelings, and in particular of negative affect and of pain, assume that creatures that feel and care about the outcomes of their behavior outperform those that do not in terms of their evolutionary fitness. Such accounts, however, can only work if feelings can be shown to contribute to fitness-influencing outcomes. Simply assuming that a learner that feels and cares about outcomes is more strongly motivated than one that does is not enough, if only because motivation can be tied directly to outcomes by incorporating an appropriate reward function, without leaving any apparent role to feelings (as it is done in state-of-the-art engineered systems based on reinforcement learning). Here, we propose a possible mechanism whereby pain contributes to fitness: an actor-critic functional architecture for reinforcement learning, in which pain reflects the costs imposed on actors in their bidding for control, so as to promote honest signaling and ultimately help the system optimize learning and future behavior.
Direct Vertebral Artery Access for Coil Embolization of a Partially Thrombosed Mid-Basilar Trunk Aneurysm: Technical Limitations
Authors: Miller Charles A , Felbaum Daniel R , Liu Ai-Hsi , Mai Jeffrey , Alfawaz Abdullah , Lynes John , Armonda Rocco
Published: June 2021

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE

Partially thrombosed basilar aneurysms have a high morbidity from the rupture risk and mass effect prompting early treatment. Depending on the size and location, they pose a surgical challenge often requiring multiple endovascular treatment modalities. Here we present a partially thrombosed mid-basilar aneurysm successfully coil embolized with direct vertebral artery access and discuss the technical limitations of direct V1 access.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION

A 70-yr-old woman presented with acute onset headache, nausea, and vomiting. A computed tomography (CT) head demonstrated a hyperdense prepontine mass which was further characterized as a partially thrombosed basilar aneurysm on CT angiography. After multiple failed attempts to access the vertebral artery via femoral and radial access the patient was taken to the operating room (OR) for surgical exposure of the right V1 segment and direct cannulation of the vertebral artery. The aneurysm was successfully coiled and the vertebral artery closed primarily. The patient was discharged home without any neurological deficits.

CONCLUSION

Partially thrombosed mid-basilar aneurysms are difficult to treat both surgically and endovascularly. We present a case where endovascular access to the aneurysm was very challenging requiring direct exposure and cannulation of the V1 segment to successfully embolize with coils and discuss the technical limitations of this approach.
Agents and Agency
Authors: Manko Katina
Published: June 2021

The CPC traveling agent was a woman who traveled for several months a year, stopping in small towns on her route to recruit women to sell in their neighborhoods. The traveling agent kept in daily contact with the company in New York, evaluating individual sales reports and earnings, handing out catalogs and sample cases to new recruits, and training women for making sales calls, submitting and receiving orders, and distributing products to customers. A demographic profile of these agents shows that most women were either single or widowed and between the ages of twenty and seventy. An analysis of their work gleaned from company literature, private writing, and the national census shows that most of these women welcomed the independence and opportunity for substantial income beyond what ordinary work offered. This group of women would become the first generation of women managers in the company, overseeing the transition from district to city sales offices in the late 1930s.
“The Dawn of a New Era”
Authors: Manko Katina
Published: June 2021

Throughout the 1930s, the California Perfume Company expanded in both numbers of representatives and sales. It introduced the Avon brand of cosmetics and toiletries in 1929 and created new sales strategies, such as two-for-one campaigns, and efficiency measures, such as reducing the sales cycle from four weeks to three. David McConnell’s son and a new management team led by John Ewald, who remained as CEO well into the 1960s, created the company’s first national advertising campaign and a plan to develop city markets. They also spearheaded the efforts by the National Association of Direct Sales Companies to write independent contractor legislation to protect them against new minimum wage and unemployment regulations. The company officially changed its name to Avon in 1939, cementing its place as a leader in direct selling committed to developing women’s entrepreneurial opportunities.
Women of Enterprise
Authors: Manko Katina
Published: June 2021

During the 1980s and 1990s, Avon had successfully built its reputation as “a company of women and for women.” Avon, along with the Small Business Administration, created a Women of Enterprise awards program that highlighted the success of women business owners outside of direct sales. Through this program, Avon engaged in a popular conversation about women’s ability to “have it all.” Recognized for its women-friendly management policies, organizations such as Catalyst held Avon up as an example of a company where women had shattered the glass ceiling, even though Avon continued to name men to lead the corporation, prompting the defection of several high-ranking women in its global organization. When Andrea Jung became CEO in 1999, Avon had reached its zenith as a direct sales company, but it could not succeed against the fundamental challenges presented by internet marketing.
Architectures of Violence
Authors: Ferguson Kate
Published: June 2021

Paramilitary or irregular units have been involved in practically every case of identity-based mass violence in the modern world, but detailed analysis of these dynamics is rare. Exploring the case of former Yugoslavia, Kate Ferguson exposes the relationships between paramilitaries, state commands, local communities, and organised crime present in modern mass atrocities, from Rwanda and Darfur to Syria and Myanmar. Visible paramilitary participation masks the continued dominance of the state in violent crises. Political elites benefit from using unconventional forces to fulfil ambitions that violate international law—and international policy responses are hindered when responsibility for violence is ambiguous. Ferguson’s inquiry into these overlooked dynamics of mass violence unveils substantial loopholes in current atrocity prevention architecture.
Does Public Reason Liberalism Rest on a Mistake? Democracy’s Doxastic and Epistemic Problems
Authors: Brennan Jason
Published: June 2021

Public reason liberalism is a normative theory meant to adjudicate citizens’ conflicting beliefs about the right and the good. However, it rests upon controversial and likely mistaken empirical claims about voter psychology and voter knowledge. In political science, there are two major paradigms—populism and realism—about the relationship between voters’ beliefs and political outcomes. Realism holds that most citizens lack the kinds of beliefs and attitudes which public reason liberals believe are normatively significant. If so, then most citizens lack the kinds of ideological disputes which public reason liberalism is supposed to adjudicate. Worse, most citizens lack the kinds of normatively significantly beliefs upon which public justification must rest.
Diplomat
Authors: Volpicelli Robert
Published: June 2021

Chapter 2 explores how W. B. Yeats’s 1903–4 US lecture tour placed the poet in the role of diplomat. It demonstrates how this position required Yeats to engage in a kind of racial performance directed toward markedly political ends. In taking on this diplomatic function, Yeats was tasked with mediating the tensions of a changing imperial landscape. He became a representative for a country with a long history of anti-colonialism at the same time that America was awakening to its own imperial future. With these tensions in mind, this chapter attends to Yeats’s efforts to bring Ireland and America into productive contact with one another. In particular, it examines his early lectures at US colleges and universities, where he sought to establish an emotional connection with his audiences by channeling the voice of ancient Irish bards. It also shows how this was a project that sometimes backfired on the poet, as these bardic displays made it easy for Americans to exoticize Yeats when he moved into larger cultural arenas like Carnegie Hall and the St Louis World’s Fair. Yet, in the end, Yeats’s emotional diplomacy did prove highly successful when it came to connecting him with Irish American political groups, which suggests that the US lecture tour was instrumental in teaching the poet how to speak to his own countrymen.
Temporal Neutrality and the Bias Toward the Future
Authors: Scheffler Samuel
Published: June 2021

Many philosophers have held that rationality requires one to have an equal concern for all parts of one’s life. In the view of these philosophers, temporal neutrality is a requirement of rationality. Yet Derek Parfit has argued that most of us are not, in fact, temporally neutral. We exhibit a robust bias toward the future. Parfit maintains that this future-bias is bad for us, and that our lives would go better if we were temporally neutral. Like other neutralists, he also believes that the bias is irrational, however widespread and robust it may be. This article assesses these criticisms and offers a qualified defense of the bias toward the future.
Parfit on Act Consequentialism
Authors: Lazari-Radek Katarzyna de , Singer Peter
Published: June 2021

In the first two volumes of On What Matters, Derek Parfit argues that three major normative theories—Kantianism, Contractualism, and Consequentialism—are, in their most defensible forms, compatible, and can be reconciled as a ‘Triple Theory’. The form of Consequentialism that Parfit argues is compatible with Kantianism and Contractualism is Rule Consequentialism. This has led many to assume that Parfit does not believe that Act Consequentialism is a defensible form of Consequentialism. We draw on personal correspondence to show that this assumption is incorrect. We then consider how, in On What Matters, volume iii, which Parfit completed shortly before his death, he seeks to narrow the differences between Act Consequentialism and the Triple Theory. One of the ways in which he does this is to suggest that Impartial Rationality may be an external rival to Morality, in much the same way as egoism is an external rival to morality. We argue that this move undermines morality, as shown by Parfit’s own example of the judgements that we may make in the case of terror bombing. We conclude that Parfit’s attempts to bridge the gap between Act Consequentialism and Triple Theory meet with only limited success.
Prioritarianism, Risk, and the Gap Between Prudence and Morality
Authors: Holtug Nils
Published: June 2021

According to a prominent objection to prioritarianism, it inappropriately implies a gap between prudence and morality, even in single-person cases. Thus, according to prioritarianism, we should sometimes sacrifice an individual’s expected welfare in order to protect her from the risk of a worse outcome. The present chapter presents a critical discussion of this objection. It first provides a more precise account of axiological prioritarianism and what it implies for the relation between prudence and morality. Then it provides an account of four prioritarian theories that (unlike axiological prioritarianism) have implications for risky choices, namely ex ante prioritarianism, ex post prioritarianism, pluralist prioritarianism, and factualist prioritarianism. It then presents the objection that prioritarianism implies a gap between prudence and morality in single-person cases in greater detail, which includes explaining the extent to which this objection applies to the four different versions of prioritarianism mentioned above. Finally, the chapter defends the view that the prioritarian gap between prudence and morality is unproblematic, even in single-person cases.
More Supererogatory
Authors: Hurka Thomas , Tsagarakis Evangeline
Published: June 2021

If acts can be supererogatory, presumably some can be more supererogatory than others, or further beyond the call of duty. This paper explains how this is possible within a general account of supererogation that sees it arising when a prima facie duty, for example to promote other people’s good, is outweighed by a prima facie permission to promote one’s own good. An act is then more supererogatory when the permission outweighs the duty by more, or when the gap between its strength and that of the duty’s is larger. The paper contrasts its permission-based account of supererogation with a more common one typified by Parfit in On What Matters, which rests it on a conflict between two ‘reasons’ that, despite their differing contents, are of the same deontic type and have the same favouring force. Alongside several other weaknesses, Parfit’s account doesn’t allow differing degrees of supererogation but must treat all supererogatory acts as on a par.
The Expression of Will View II
Authors: Dougherty Tom
Published: June 2021

This chapter elaborates the Expression of Will View as a disjunctive view, in so far as it allows that there are two ways that someone can consent by expressing their will. First, they can deliberately perform a ‘directive’ speech act. Examples of these speech acts include requests, invitations, and orders. Second, someone can consent by expressing that they are giving another person permission. While it is possible to simultaneously give consent in both ways, there are some situations in which someone consents in only one of these two ways. Since the Expression of Will View allows that consent can be given in either of these two ways, it is a disjunctive view. Although a disjunctive view is less cohesive and simple, we need to endorse a disjunctive view to have an extensionally adequate account. But although the view is disjunctive, it has some unity in virtue of the fact that it has the Interpersonal Justification Argument as an underlying rationale.
Luther’s Theological Method of Conflict and Distinction
Authors: Ruokanen Miikka
Published: June 2021

Luther’s method of theology is that of Scriptural interpretation. Erasmus complains that Scripture is obscure, an authoritative tradition is needed to interpret it. Luther confirms both the external and internal clarity of Scripture itself: “External clarity” is guaranteed by the public proclamation of God’s word; the natural meaning of the “text published to the entire world” is found in the very letter of Scripture. “Internal clarity” guarantees that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the canonical authors “internally moves” the hearer of the word granting him/her participation in Christological grace. The Spirit-inspired word is an efficient carrier of Trinitarian grace that changes its hearers. In contrast to the skeptical view of Erasmus, Luther uses the assertive propositions of Scripture as a means of assuring theocentric salvation. Because of its double clarity, “Scripture alone,” sola Scriptura, is a sufficient norm for the truth of the gospel. Another central feature of Luther’s theological method in The Bondage of the Will is his view of the conflict between the opposing transcendental powers which fight over the control of the human beings: the Triune God’s goodness, love, and grace against unfaith, sin, and Satan. Only God’s Spirit can liberate the sinner from captivity by unfaith and evil. Erasmusnever mentions God’s Spirit when discussing grace, and there is no mention of Satan in his treatise. Moreover, the distinction between the “things below oneself” and the “things above oneself” is crucial for Luther’s understanding of law and gospel; Erasmus makes no distinction between the two realms.
“She Set Me Writing My First Play”
Authors: Brewer Redwine Elizabeth
Published: June 2021

Chapter 1 recovers the importance of Laura Armstrong to Yeats’s beginnings as a poet and dramatist. In his relationship with Armstrong, Yeats begins the pattern of needing a challenging woman to start writing and to imagine himself in the role of playwright. The tensions between the two in terms of class and power—Armstrong came from a more financially stable family—and the approaching date of Armstrong’s wedding to another gave rise to the now familiar death wish in Yeats’s work for her. Yeats wrote out his anxieties about his parents’ marriage, his mother’s illness and depression, and his insecurities in the face of Armstrong’s high-handedness in the creation of these early plays, and his work for Armstrong stands as an important precursor for his lifetime of fruitful writing out for women; Armstrong began the patterns that Yeats would follow in his years of work for Maud Gonne
Disintegration through Law
Authors: Bradley Kieran
Published: June 2021

The existence of an unconditional right of withdrawal is antithetical to the idea of European integration, which is predicated on an ‘ever closer union’, and the expectation that Union rights become part of the ‘legal heritage’ of individuals. Article 50 TEU fails to take proper account of the Union’s interests, or those of Member States, individuals, and companies, and undermines the stability of treaties which international law seeks to preserve. Article 50 should be amended at the first opportunity. Leaving the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice was identified by the UK government as one of its Brexit objectives. The Court was nonetheless called upon to clarify a number of matters Article 50 left open, notably the right to revoke a withdrawal notification. While the 2020 Withdrawal Agreement preserves the Court’s material jurisdiction to interpret provisions of Union law incorporated into the Agreement, including in the context of dispute settlement procedure, individual access to the Court will be limited after the transition period.
Natural Matter
Authors: Ivanič Suzanna
Published: June 2021

Studies of lived religion have shown that from the perspective of the early modern laity, stark divisions between religion, magic, and superstition were largely absent from daily life. This chapter establishes how the division of ‘religious’ objects from secular or ‘magical’ objects in the early modern period is problematic. In particular, it shows how amulets made from natural matter, such as gemstones and animal teeth, can be reintegrated among religious objects. The evidence of amulets and rings reveals the connections of the cosmos, showing how men and women used these items to negotiate the divine and to control the ‘exigencies of daily life’. There was logic to how the divine could work through these tiny shards of stone or animal matter. From a lay perspective, the use of amulets and precious stones was not ‘enchantment’, but part of a developed belief structure that located the divine in the natural environment and that was tied to natural philosophy.
Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law: The Case of Divorce
Authors: Mnookin Robert H. , Kornhauser Lewis
Published: June 2021

This article suggests an alternative way of thinking about the role of law at the time of divorce. It is concerned primarily with the impact of the legal system on negotiations and bargaining that occur outside the courtroom. One sees the primary function of contemporary divorce law not as imposing order from above, but rather as providing a framework within which divorcing couples can themselves determine their postdissolution rights and responsibilities. This process by which parties to a marriage are empowered to create their own legally enforceable commitments is a form of “private ordering.” Whether or not one accepts the desirability of private ordering, it is clear that most divorcing couples do not require adjudication of their disputes. The article then analyzes how the legal system affects the bargaining behavior of divorcing couples, before presenting a theory of divorce bargaining. It also considers the role of lawyers and courts in divorce.
The Limits of Integrative Bargaining
Authors: Wetlaufer Gerald B.
Published: June 2021

This article discusses integrative bargaining. Opportunities for integrative bargaining are often unrecognized and unexploited. As a result, both the parties to negotiations and society as a whole are worse off than would otherwise have been the case. The article offers three conclusions. First, opportunities for integrative bargaining are not nearly as pervasive as is sometimes authoritatively asserted. Second, the claim that opportunities for integrative bargaining make good behavior a simple matter of rational, pecuniary self-interest is not nearly as strong as is sometimes claimed, both because opportunities for integrative bargaining are less pervasive than has been asserted and because, even when such opportunities may exist, the case for good behavior is weaker than has been claimed. Third, and accordingly, the case for good behavior cannot rest entirely on pecuniary self-interest. The article then outlines the opportunities for integrative bargaining, which includes differences between the parties in terms of (1) their interests, (2) their projections concerning possible future events, (3) their willingness to accept risks, and (4) their time preferences regarding payment or performance.
The Mediation Alternative: Process Dangers for Women
Authors: Grillo Trina
Published: June 2021

This article argues that mandatory mediation provides neither a more just nor a more humane alternative to the adversarial system of adjudication of custody and, therefore, does not fulfill its promises. It looks at California’s mandatory mediation law, which requires that all custody and visitation disputes be mediated prior to being considered by the county Superior Court. While mediation is a place where emotions can be expressed, expressions of anger are often overtly discouraged, thereby silencing a woman who may have, for the first time in her life, found a voice for her anger. For a victim of physical abuse, the direct confrontation with her husband, with the safety of her children and herself at stake, would surely be psychologically traumatizing and might also put her in physical danger. The article then explains judicial violence and considers alternatives to mandatory mediation.
Personalized Legal Areas
Authors: Ben-Shahar Omri , Porat Ariel
Published: June 2021

This chapter illustrates personalized law “in action” by examining it in three areas of the law: standards of care under the common law tort doctrine of negligence, mandated consumer protections in contract law, and criminal sanctions. In each area, the chapter examines personalization of commands along several dimensions. In tort law, standards of care could vary according to each injurer’s riskiness and skill, to reduce the costs of accidents. In contract law, mandatory protections could vary according to the value they provide each consumer and differential cost they impose on firms, to allocate protections where, and only where, they are justified. And in criminal law, sanctions would be set based on what it takes to deter criminals, accounting for how perpetrators differ in their motives and likelihood of being apprehended, with the potential to reduce unnecessary harsh penalties.
Scientific Myth
Authors: Scheidt Hannah K.
Published: June 2021

This chapter explores the relationship among science, religion, and atheism through analyses of popular television shows and their reception by atheist viewers. This chapter analyzes two dramas, House, M.D., and Bones, and one docuseries, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. It argues that television is an important site for contemporary cultural work and that the television narratives contained in these three shows constitute a “mythology of science” that is of central importance in contemporary atheist culture. The chapter identifies three tropes found in the shows: the hero scientist, the use of science to answer “religious questions,” and the myth of conflict (between science and religion).
Atheist Indoctrination?
Authors: Scheidt Hannah K.
Published: June 2021

This chapter analyzes the content of atheist parenting blogs (a subgenre of the “mom blog”) to ask how raising children becomes a way to practice atheism. The chapter observes a delicate tension within atheist parenting discourse. Atheist parents recognize that they would be most comfortable if their children choose a recognizable path when it comes to religion (or, more accurately, lack thereof). At the same time, they are wary of indoctrinating children into atheism, as they see indoctrination as a harmful practice and one associated with religion. This chapter identifies and analyzes a variety of strategies parents use to mitigate the tension of “atheist indoctrination,” while still guiding their children toward beliefs and behaviors that align with their understanding of the good life.
PAN
Authors: Loxton James
Published: June 2021

This chapter examines the failure of the PAN in Guatemala, and compares it to the success of ARENA in El Salvador. The first section discusses the country’s history of right-wing military rule. The second section asks why no “Guatemalan ARENA” formed, arguing that this was due to the sui generis nature of the Ríos Montt dictatorship (1982–1983) and the resulting formation of an important non-conservative authoritarian successor party (FRG). The third section examines the formation of the PAN, drawing attention to the relative weakness of its starting position. The final section looks at the series of schisms that led to the PAN’s demise, highlighting the complete absence of the mechanisms of cohesion found in ARENA—a problem made worse by the quick-fix solution that it found to its problem of organizational weakness: incorporating local bosses from an existing party, who had little loyalty to the PAN’s founders and would later turn against them.
World on Fire
Authors: Rowlands Mark
Published: June 2021

We face three epoch-defining environmental problems: climate, extinction, and pestilence. Our climate is changing in ways that will have serious consequences for humans, and it may even profoundly affect the ability of the planet to support life. All around us, other species are disappearing at a rate between several hundred and several thousand times the normal background rate of extinction. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has wreaked social and economic havoc, is merely the latest model off a blossoming production line of newly emerging infectious diseases, many of which have the potential to be far worse. At the heart of these problems lies an ancient habit: eating animals. This habit is the most significant driver of species extinction and of newly emerging infectious diseases, and one of the most important drivers of climate change. This is a habit we can no longer afford to indulge. Breaking it will substantially reduce climate emissions. It will stem our insatiable hunger for land that is at the heart of both the problems of extinction and pestilence. Most importantly, breaking this habit will make available vast areas of land suitable for afforestation: the return of forests to where they once grew. Afforestation will significantly mitigate all three problems. But only if we stop eating animals will we have enough land for this strategy to work.
The Fire
Authors: Rowlands Mark
Published: June 2021

Societies need energy in order to sustain themselves and their members. This energy comes in two forms: fuel and food. These are continuous: they are both means of energy acquisition consumed for the same purpose, the maintenance of a complex society. The energy sources that sustain a society—whether fuel or food—must have a sufficiently high aggregate energy returned on energy invested (EROI). The EROI of a source is the energy acquired from a source divided by the energy that the society had to invest in acquiring it. Once the EROI of a society’s energy sources drops below a certain threshold, societal collapse often results: the breakup of that society and the emergence of new, simpler societies. Calculations suggest that maintenance of a society recognizably similar to our own vis-à-vis socioeconomic parameters requires energy sources with EROIs in the 11–14 range. Maintenance of certain markers of liberal democracies may require higher EROIs, in the 20–30 range.
Salvation Technologies?
Authors: Rowlands Mark
Published: June 2021

Available fossil energy sources are dubiously compatible with the goal of arresting climate change. Carbon capture and sequestration technologies currently do not work on an industrial scale, and even if they could be made to work, they will reduce the energy returned on energy invested (EROI) of fossil fuels to below acceptable levels. The EROI of nuclear fission is disputed, but most peer-reviewed work places it in the 5–14 range, making it of questionable utility. Nuclear fusion, if it works, will not be available in time. Some renewable sources—notably, various biofuels—have unacceptably low EROIs. The remaining forms of renewable energy—solar, wind, hydropower, and wave power—sport EROIs that are, at best, on the cusp of viability. There is reasonable hope for improvement in these technologies because they are, at present, immature. In the meantime, it would be ideal if we could find a way to give them an edge.
The End of Meat
Authors: Rowlands Mark
Published: June 2021

The edge required by renewable technologies is provided by a simplification of the energy supply train. This simplification consists in no longer eating animals. Animals have upside-down energy returned on energy invested values (EROIs), with up to 30 times as much energy having to be put into raising them as we get out of them through eating them or their products. At one time, when our fossil fuels sported extraordinarily high EROIs—100:1 in some cases—we could afford to take this sort of hit on our food-based energy supply. Now, however, we can no longer afford to do so. Moreover, the results of this grossly inefficient energy exchange are rising greenhouse gas emissions. By no longer eating meat, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 14%. Importantly, much of this reduction will be in methane and nitrous dioxide, which have very high global warming potential relative to carbon dioxide.
Reflections on Ramayana in Kutiyattam
Authors: Shulman David , Chakyar Margi Madhu , Indu G , Bharucha Rustom
Published: June 2021

Set in Nepathya, a Kutiyattam performance training center in the village of Moozhikkulam, Kerala, this two-part interview focuses on conversations with Sanskrit scholar and Kutiyattam expert David Shulman, followed by another interaction with two of the leading Kutiyattam performers in India today, Madhu Margi Chakyar and Dr. Indu G. While the exchange with Shulman focuses primarily on the philosophical and literary resonances of Kutiyattam via Shaktibhadra’s play Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, the conversation with Madhu Margi Chakyar and Indu. G. elaborates on the actual training process and rigor that go into performing Kutiyattam. Avoiding the binary of scholarship and practice, this two-part interview demonstrates how the knowledge surrounding Kutiyattam cannot be separated from what Shulman highlights as “extreme individualization” and the complexities of “temporality” in performing Kutiyattam. Conversely, Madhu Margi Chakyar and Indu G. reflect on how they position themselves as performers in relation to matters concerning textuality and the interpretation of āṭṭaprakārams (acting manuals), which constitute a form of knowledge in its own right.
Revisiting “Being Ram”
Authors: Munsi Urmimala Sarkar
Published: June 2021

This chapter is based on an autobiographical reassessment of the author as she recalls her complex and problematic experience of playing the leading role of Sri Ram for a period of twenty-five years in a modern dance-drama production titled Seeta Swayambara produced by the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre in Kolkata. Not only does the author deal with the challenge of playing a “male” role, which required her to capture the appropriate demeanor and gait of a Hindu Kshatriya prince, she also focuses on the more difficult proposition of being perceived as a “god” by a spectrum of viewers, particularly at a time when the image of Ram was being used for communal and fundamentalist purposes. Of critical importance here is the role of agency: Do dancers have any say in a critical representation of male gods? And do they have any freedom to decide where and for whom they should perform?
The Big Parade
Authors: McHugh Dominic
Published: June 2021

Meredith Willson is best remembered as the composer, lyricist, and book writer of The Music Man, one of Broadway and Hollywood’s most enduring works. But it was just one of his four stage musicals and just a small part of his career as a whole. This book uses newly available archival sources from New York, Indiana, and Wisconsin to reassess Willson’s contribution to the musical theater canon, including in-depth analysis of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Here’s Love, and 1491, in addition to completely new information about the genesis of The Music Man.
John Davenant's Hypothetical Universalism
Authors: Lynch Michael J.
Published: June 2021

AAaJohn Davenant’s hypothetical universalism has consistently been misinterpreted and misrepresented as a via media between Arminianism and Reformed theology. This study examines Bishop Davenant’s hypothetical universalism in the context of early modern Reformed orthodoxy. In light of the various misunderstandings of early modern hypothetical universalism, including English hypothetical universalism, as well as the paucity of studies touching on the theology of Davenant in particular, this book gives a detailed exposition of Davenant’s doctrine of universal redemption in dialogue with his understanding of closely related doctrines such as God’s will, predestination, providence, and covenant theology and (2) defends the thesis that Davenant’s version of hypothetical universalism represents a significant strand of the Augustinian tradition, including the early modern Reformed tradition. In service of these two aims, this book examines the patristic and medieval periods as they provide the background for the Lutheran, Remonstrant, and Reformed reactions to the so-called Lombardian formula (“Christ died sufficiently for all; effectually for the elect”). Moreover, it traces how Davenant and his fellow British delegates at the Synod of Dordt shaped the Canons of Dordt in such a way as to allow for their English hypothetical universalism. A careful exposition of the various theses found in Davenant’s De Morte Christi makes up the central core of this book. Finally, this study explores Davenant’s covenant theology and doctrine of the divine will.
The Extent of Christ’s Work from the Early Church to Gottschalk
Authors: Lynch Michael J.
Published: June 2021

This chapter begins by observing the important precedent that patristic and medieval theology played in the development of Protestant theology, especially in Britain during the early modern period. It observes that early modern debates regarding the extent of Christ’s atoning work were, in many ways, grounded on the catholicity of one’s position. More important, this chapter surveys John Davenant’s own understanding of the history of the doctrine as it was exposited and debated in the patristic and medieval period. The final section of the chapter focuses on the so-called Lombardian formula and the scholastic consensus on the extent of Christ’s death.
Protecting Democracy by Commingling Polities: The Case for Accepting Foreign Influence and Interference in Democratic Processes
Authors: MacIntosh Duncan
Published: June 2021

This chapter criticizes several methods of responding to the techniques foreign powers are known to be using to subvert U.S. elections. It suggests that countries do this when they have a legitimate stake in each other’s political deliberations, but no formal voice in them. It also suggests that if they accord each other such a voice, they will engage as co-deliberators with arguments, rather than trying to undermine each other’s deliberative processes; and that this will be salutary for all parties. It moots several methods for giving nations such a voice, ranging from inviting representatives of foreign powers to participate in debates in each other’s high-level elections, to having representatives of all nations vote in each other’s key elections or legislative bodies, or in international bodies constituted in recognition of the need for binding global deliberation about shared issues.
Foreign Election Interference and Open-Source Anarchy
Authors: Fidler David P.
Published: June 2021

Russian meddling in the 2016 elections in the United States sparked debates in liberal democracies about how to counter foreign election interference. These debates reveal the seriousness of the threat and the complexity of responses to it, including how to protect voting systems and what actions social media companies should take against disinformation. This chapter argues that international anarchy changes in ways that leading theories of international relations do not capture. The chapter develops the concept of “open-source anarchy” to understand how anarchy changed after the Cold War and to analyze why foreign election interference has gained prominence during the second decade of the twenty-first century. In open-source anarchy, changes in the structure of material power, technologies, and ideas permit less powerful states and nonstate actors to affect more directly and significantly how anarchy functions. The concept helps explain how Russia exploited the internet and social media to interfere in elections in the United States—the world’s leading democracy, foremost source of technological innovation, and most powerful country. Open-source anarchy also illuminates the struggles that the United States and other democracies have experienced in preventing, protecting against, and responding to foreign election interference.
A Time of Novelty
Authors: Wright Samuel
Published: June 2021

This book argues that a philosophical community emerged in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century India that crafted an intellectual life on the basis of intellectual and emotional responses to novelty in Sanskrit logic (nyāya-śāstra). As the book demonstrates, novelty was a primary concept used by Sanskrit logicians during this period to mark the boundaries of a philosophical community in both intellectual and emotional terms. This concept was expressed in their texts through the use of terms such as “old” and “new” when discussing certain philosophical opinions, signaling that periodization was a major component of their philosophy. By retaining space for emotion when studying intellectual thought, this book recovers not only what it means to “think” novelty but also what it means to “feel” novelty. Studying little-known essays by Sanskrit logicians in early modernity, the book explores the contours of what is termed “intellectual novelty” and “affective novelty” in Sanskrit logic—expressions of novelty in which is contained both cognitive and emotional content that, taken together, constitute intellectual life. As these expressions ultimately collapse into each other, the book argues that what emerges is an imaginative process that brings into being a new philosophical community.
Citizen Cynics
Authors: Radnitz Scott
Published: June 2021

This chapter uses focus groups in Georgia and Kazakhstan to examine not only how ordinary people respond to conspiracy theories, but how they think about power more generally. Participants were receptive to a wide range of conspiracy claims, whether promoted by governments or not. Georgians endorsed a wide array of plots and perpetrators, an openness that reflects the country’s unbridled intrigue and wealth of political information available. Kazakhstanis speculated about how power operates in their opaque political system and delivered Russian-inflected geopolitical analysis. Citizens who accepted conspiracies were motivated by cynicism toward political authority, which came from personal experience. The analysis suggests that politicians who aim to win support by claiming conspiracies face a dilemma: the people who are most willing to agree with conspiracy claims are also suspicious of those who seek advantage by spreading them.
Action at intersections
Authors: Messner Michael A.
Published: June 2021

Military veterans are popularly imagined to be men, but recent decades have seen an increase in the number of women in the military, including women of color and queer-identified people. This diversification of the military is increasingly reflected in veterans’ peace organizations like Veterans For Peace and About Face. This younger, diverse generation of veterans brings their multiple experiences of race, social class, and gender oppression—before, during, and after their military service—to their anti-war activism. Their collective intersectional knowledge in turn shapes their activism, as veterans. The chapter reviews the literature on women and LGBTQ people in the military; intersectionality as an academic field; and intersectional praxis as an emergent connective tissue in the broader field of progressive activism. The chapter poses a question grounded in the tensions and possibilities of the present historical moment: How will veterans’ peace organizations respond to the challenges introduced by a younger and far more diverse cohort of activist veterans?
“I was in unconventional combat”
Authors: Messner Michael A.
Published: June 2021

This chapter introduces six younger veterans active in Veterans For Peace and/or About Face: army veteran Wendy Barranco, air force veteran Phoenix Johnson, air force and army veteran Monique Salhab, army veteran Monisha Ríos, marine corps veteran Stephen Funk, and army veteran Brittany Ramos DeBarros. All six are people of color. Three of them are women, one is an Indigenous Two-Spirit person, one identifies as a genderqueer non-binary person, and three others as queer. Most come from poor or working-class backgrounds characterized by limited family resources, substandard schools, and racial marginalization, and they frequently grew up surrounded by parents and other adults who were veterans. Once in the military, they confronted some of the same experiences that straight men did, including absorbing the trauma of being in combat zones. But these six veterans’ military experiences—including being subjected to systemic racist, homophobic, gender and sexual indignities and violence—shaped the intersectional knowledge they subsequently carry to their peace and justice activism.