bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Employment Rights as Civil Rights
Authors: Staszak Sarah
Published: April 2024

Chapter 4 details the foundation of employment arbitration as it developed in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. This period is notable for the degree to which bipartisan and cross-ideological coalitions across government and society drove a tremendous expansion in arbitration’s use and infrastructure, specifically in the area of employment law. It details its beginnings in the decades following the expansion in employment rights litigation fueled by landmark Civil Rights era statutes like the Civil Rights Act itself. It shows that coalitions of liberals and conservatives across all three branches of government acted within their unique institutional capacities in ways that initiated the use of arbitration provisions in employment contracts. Unlike modern proponents of the PDAA, these actions were largely inspired by the less partisan goal of lessening the growing workload of the federal courts to preserve their function.
Consumers
Authors: Staszak Sarah
Published: April 2024

Chapter 7 examines consumer arbitration in the 2000s, as part of the broader conservative anti-litigation agenda and as the product of a clear partisan divide over access to courts and tort reform. This ideological divide was fully manifest in the Supreme Court’s 2000s jurisprudence, as the conservative Court continued to allow further corporate experimentation with pre-dispute arbitration agreements (PDAAs)—particularly those limiting class proceedings as part of an arbitration clause. The chapter details modern legislative efforts to restrict consumer and securities arbitration, including the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the creation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. It argues that the long shadow of arbitration as self-regulation and its entanglement with the litigation reform agenda have left government’s hands largely tied when it comes to constricting use of the PDAA today.
Cultures of Trust and the Rule of Law
Authors: O’Neill Onora
Published: April 2024

Those who live in ‘cultures of trust’ do not assume that all who share that culture are trustworthy in all matters, but more modestly that trustworthiness is widespread. While the rule of law generally supports cultures of trust, it does not guarantee trustworthiness, which may be quite limited, especially if laws are harsh. This is hardly surprising. Placing trust intelligently is a complex matter of judging whether truth-claims and commitments are competent, honest, and reliable. Where these judgements cannot be made, or are poorly made, both trust and mistrust may be misplaced. The rule of law helps but does not ensure trustworthiness; placing trust intelligently is both ethically and epistemically demanding and requires complex information and competent assessment of others’ sources and credentials.
What We Can Say to Each Other
Authors: Edwards James
Published: April 2024

What we can say to each other depends on what we propose to say. And it depends on which of us proposes to say it. One question we can ask is why facts about us make it wrong for us to criticize others. A second is why such facts deprive us of the power to oblige others to explain themselves to us. The present chapter focuses on the latter question. It explores a range of cases in which, as a matter of conventional morality, speakers are deprived of (what is here called) the explanatory power on biographical grounds. And it asks why, as a matter of critical morality, speakers ought to lack that power on those grounds.
Pornography and the Limits of Speech Act Analysis
Authors: Greasley Kate
Published: April 2024

Some feminist philosophers have argued that harmful pornography is not mere speech, but that, in the right conditions, it could constitute the speech act of subordinating women. This chapter considers the ramifications of this speech act analysis for the argument over pornography’s legal protection as free speech. It asks what normative and political importance attaches to the prospect that some pornography is a harmful speech act, and not just speech with harmful consequences. It explores the possibility that pornography’s speech act analysis might itself accede to, or further entrench, the double standard under which pornography, but not some other harmful speech, is legally assimilated with its expressive content. It argues, ultimately, that the speech act analysis can bolster the feminist critique of pornography’s protection, in legal and political terms, by placing the double standard of that protection into sharper resolution.
A Realist Social Contract
Authors: Morris Christopher W.
Published: April 2024

Social contract theory often deploys a ‘Hobbesian’ conception of humans as instrumentally rational, asocial, and amoral beings, similar to the agents often found in economic models. To understand and appreciate our social orders, it seems that a ‘realist’ social contract might be better. Humans generally are and have always been social, norm-governed imperfectly rational beings. This chapter argues that, for a social contract to illuminate our social condition, these features of our natures should be center stage. In addition, such an account might do well to make use of the sophisticated political economic theory developed by North, Wallis, and Weingast (2009). The result will suggest that political philosophers have misidentified the theoretical ‘state of nature’ as anarchy. A better appreciation of our wealthy, rule of law, democratic societies may be one of the benefits of this realist social contract.
Testing the Partisan Model
Authors: Cormier Ben
Published: April 2024

Chapter 3 quantitatively tests for the observable implications of Chapter 2’s partisan EM external borrowing model. The hypothesis is that left-leaning EM governments borrow proportionally more from markets. Tests rely on multiple datasets and measures of partisanship. This includes the Varieties of Party dataset (coding the importance of labor and the poor to governing party constituencies) and the Database of Political Institutions dataset (coding governing party economic ideology). Across measures of partisanship, controlling for supply-side push factors, and controlling for borrower economic and political features traditionally thought to pull finance to EM governments, the chapter finds robust econometric evidence in support of the book’s partisan model of EM external borrowing.
The Economics of Workforce Policy
Authors: Elliott Robert
Published: April 2024

This chapter sets out a number of policy proposals which result from the analysis in the book. Where appropriate the methodology to be employed to implement the policy is detailed alongside the proposal. The policy proposals are: to adjust pay relativities to their equilibrium levels in order to resolve labour shortages; to develop a method for determining the optimal level of employment in each area of frontline activity in the NHS, a method which would enable cost–benefit analysis of any proposal to expand NHS employment to be undertaken; to commission research to explain ethnic pay gaps and differences in promotion opportunities within health care; to improve the quality of pay and vacancy data; to improve methods of workforce planning; to commission research to explore the impact of increased working from home and changed worker behaviour post-Covid-19 for recruitment and retention of frontline staff; to improve workforce efficiency under expenditure constraints by undertaking cost–benefit analysis of proposals to expand employment, reviewing the prominence of consultants in service delivery and increasing task substitution.
The People’s Voice
Authors: Schneiderman David
Published: April 2024

How compliant are treaties that make up the investment law regime with the principles of economic democracy, sustainability, development, or the ‘establishment of a world order based on independence, eternal peace and social justice’, all of which are mentioned in the Constitution of Indonesia? While the Indonesian Constitutional Court has not had an opportunity to weigh in on the compatibility of investment law with the Indonesian Constitution, it has not been shy in thwarting plans intended to liberalize the economy, reinforcing commitments to economic democracy contained in the Constitution. The Court had an opportunity to weigh into the investment treaty debate by reviewing the requirements of Indonesian Treaty Law. It was common practice in Indonesian foreign relations law to have every international economic treaty signed and ratified by the President, without legislative scrutiny or consent. In their ruling, the Court stepped in to require the participation of the people’s representatives in ratifying trade and investment agreements. Such treaties had ‘a fundamental impact on the people’ that was ‘linked to the state’s financial burden’, the Court ruled, which engaged the constitutional interest of the legislative branch. While this outcome did not have the direct effect of impeding the executive’s investment treaty policy, legislative participation offers an opportunity for greater scrutiny of investment treaty commitments.
Terrorism, Politics, and Human Rights Advocacy
Authors: Oriola Temitope B.
Published: April 2024

This book provides an insider–outsider analysis of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement. The #BBOG was formed through a coalition of elite women and middle-class allies to advocate for the rescue of over 200 high-school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. The book argues that the #BBOG is a global leader in ‘lives matter’ advocacy and a new episode in African women-led rights movements. Based on multi-year empirical research, the book demonstrates how the #BBOG transformed the Chibok kidnapping into an international cause and a social problem in a sociological sense and inadvertently created a social problem industry. This work is an in-depth engagement with the organizational structure, decision-making, repertoire of protest, framing, internal dynamics, and divisions within the #BBOG. The #BBOG is far more than a social media phenomenon: the movement deploys a hybridized communication process, which seamlessly combines the social media with traditional media. The BBOG was enmeshed in toxic presidential politics and an ideational battle with the military and two successive Nigerian governments regarding the rescue of the Chibok girls. State repression against the #BBOG and the movement’s outcomes and impact are explicated. The #BBOG contributed to the first electoral defeat of an incumbent president in Nigeria’s history. The #BBOG experience speaks to the texture of the African state, its military architecture, party politics, and challenges to human rights advocacy. The findings have implications for peace and security in Africa, the war against terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin, perpetuation of social problems, and social movement outcomes.
‘The fight for the soul of Nigeria and the world’
Authors: Oriola Temitope B.
Published: April 2024

This chapter explores the formation, organizational structure, core values, and repertoires of protest of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement. It analyses #BBOG’s mobilization, funding, and internal challenges. The findings demonstrate that the #BBOG movement is an effective, delicately managed yet internally complicated ideational machinery. This chapter argues that despite widespread perceptions about #BBOG’s social media sophistication and efficacy, its communication process in reality combines the rhizomatic instantaneity and intercontinental reach of social media platforms such as Twitter (now ‘X’) and Facebook with the multiple publics offered by traditional print and electronic media. Overall, this chapter provides an in-depth picture of the painstaking work that propelled #BBOG into international prominence.
Framing of the #BringBackOurGirls movement
Authors: Oriola Temitope B.
Published: April 2024

This chapter is concerned with one main question: why did the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement attract significant attention both nationally and internationally but achieve only moderate success on its goal—the release of all the Chibok school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram? The chapter analyses the framing of the #BBOG movement and interrogates its diagnosis of the kidnapping of the Chibok girls as well as its prognostic and motivational framing. The chapter articulates four main master frames of #BBOG. It also problematizes the consequences of the movement’s framing. Beyond framing identification and analysis, the chapter enhances theory-building on factors that influence how a movement’s framing is perceived by opponents and bystanders. The analysis contains major lessons for grassroots movements and human rights activists in Africa and the developing world in general.
#BBOG, members’ social positionality, and politics
Authors: Oriola Temitope B.
Published: April 2024

This chapter explores the embeddedness of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement within Nigeria’s toxic political environment. It problematizes the social position of key leaders of the movement and the implications of their engagement in partisan politics before and during movement activities. A typology of #BBOG members is analysed. The chapter contributes to the literature on elite women’s involvement in social movement advocacy in Africa and the inadvertent baggage they bring to grassroots movements. The forms of state repression against #BBOG and how the movement adapted are explored. The chapter also explores the relationship of #BBOG with the Nigerian military vis-à-vis the rescue of the Chibok girls and its influence on civil–military relations and public perceptions of #BBOG. The divisions within #BBOG are also explored. The findings of this chapter have major implications for movements in developing societies.
COVID-19 and Informal Work
Authors: Chen Martha Alter , Grapsa Erofili , Ismail Ghida , Reed Sarah Orleans , Rogan Michael , Valdivia Marcela
Published: April 2024

This chapter presents findings from two rounds (2020, 2021) of a panel study on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on informal workers in 11 cities across 5 regions of the world (Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and North America). The study, carried out by the Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) network, in partnership with local organizations of informal workers in each city, included a survey questionnaire and key informant interviews, both conducted by phone. The study findings confirm that the pandemic, and associated lockdowns and restrictions, severely undermined the livelihoods of informal workers at the outset, with limited recovery by mid-2021. The study also examined the degree and pathways of impact between, and within, different sectors of informal workers and provides insights and demands from informal workers in their own words for recovery and the future.
Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Vulnerable Livelihoods
Authors: Schotte Simone , Zizzamia Rocco
Published: April 2024

This chapter studies the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures for poor and vulnerable households in urban South Africa, drawing on accounts from residents of Khayelitsha—Cape Town’s largest township. The analysis identifies the decline in labour earnings and employment prospects as the main threat to livelihoods. Importantly, the economic vulnerability caused by the lapse of survivalist livelihood strategies, particularly in informal employment, was intensified by the covariate nature of the shock, rendering social networks and informal insurance mechanisms ineffective means of assistance. These combined factors have led to an increased reliance on government grants. While the expansions of social grants during the crisis played an indispensable role in sustaining a basic standard of living in the short term, for the millions of vulnerable South Africans whose livelihoods hang in the balance, an ambitious commitment by the state to confront mid- and long-term challenges will remain imperative.
Knowledge and Justification
Authors: Schurz Gerhard
Published: April 2024

Chapter 1 starts from the tenet that the goal of cognition is the transfer of information in the form of justified true belief. The focus of this book is the development of a theory of justification in the tradition of enlightenment epistemology. Its leading idea is foundation-theoretic: to reach knowledge we must not legitimize our beliefs by external authorities but justify them by rational arguments. Early foundation-theoretic epistemology was naive, since its conception of justification required certainty. Certainty was discovered to be untenable by analytic epistemologists of the 20th century, because the justification of most of our beliefs cannot be confined to deduction from evidence, but instead requires induction and abduction which cannot convey certainty but only, at most, high probability. However, the illusion of indefeasible knowledge was not only held by premodern philosophers but is also ubiquitous in commonsense intuitions of knowledge. This is revealed by an analysis of two paradoxes of knowledge: the lottery paradox and the Gettier paradox. Both paradoxes turn out to be partially unsolvable because of tensions intrinsic to commonsense intuitions associated with knowledge. It is argued that instead of trying to rationalize incoherent intuitions, epistemology should improve the commonsense concept by transforming it into the scientific concept of a justified (true) belief whose justification makes it highly probable and reveals its error probabilities.
Foundation Theory and Its Alternatives: A Critical Discussion
Authors: Schurz Gerhard
Published: April 2024

The foundation-theoretic programme of epistemology came increasingly under attack through the developments of philosophical (post)modernity following the Enlightenment era. The major challenge for foundation theory is finding a means to stop the justificational regress that results from the supposed necessity to base each justification on premises that are themselves in need of justification. Two dimensions of this problem are distinguished: the problem of first-order justification consists in finding immediately evident basic beliefs to which all other beliefs can be traced by means of deductive, inductive, and abductive inferences, a task that is undertaken in Chapters 3 and 4 of the book. The problem of higher-order justification consists in justifying the inference patterns of deduction, induction, and abduction; this enterprise is pursued in Chapters 5–10. Contemporary epistemologists have developed alternative epistemologies such as coherentism, externalism, and commonsensism (or dogmatism). A renewal of foundation theory has to demonstrate its superiority within the intellectual landscape of alternative epistemologies. This task is undertaken in Chapter 2. Coherentism leads to epistemological relativism because it allows for circular justifications that make it possible to justify opposite beliefs. Externalism gives up the attempt of justifying the reliability of our sources of knowledge, thereby depriving itself of meliorative applications. Commonsensism and dogmatism assume non-evident principles as given, thereby being susceptible of relapsing to pre-enlightenment forms of belief stabilization based on authority and power.
Transport Properties and Potential Energy Models for Monatomic Gases
Authors: Li Hui , McCourt Frederick R. W.
Published: April 2024

The first two chapters of this work are an update and outgrowth of the monograph Nonequilibrium Phenomena in Polyatomic Gases published in 1990 by OUP, and a response to considerable improvements in the experimental determination of the transport properties of dilute gases that have taken place during the past 30 years. The derivation and solution of the Boltzmann equation for dilute monatomic gases has been presented. The experimental determination has improved sufficiently that it has become necessary to carry out calculations at the level of the second Chapman–Cowling approximation in order to give computed results that lie within the current experimental uncertainties now being reported. Chapter 3 is devoted to realistic interatomic potential energy functions and begins with a discussion of the need for more accurate representations of these functions. It discusses in detail both direct inversion of both microscopic (spectroscopic transition frequencies and atomic beam scattering) and bulk property (pressure and acoustic second virial coefficients, transport properties) data. It covers the quantum chemical ab initio determination of binary atomic interaction energies and their analytical representation, followed by detailed considerations of the interaction energies between pairs of noble gas atoms. This book is concerned with comparison between theory and experiment, and it discusses the pure noble gases and binary mixtures in detail. There is also a special chapter that focuses upon how to obtain the spectroscopic and thermophysical properties of a specific molecular system theoretically step by step and provides a reference for the specific theoretical calculation work.
Europe as ideological resource
Authors: Lorimer Marta
Published: April 2024

This chapter presents the theoretical approach of the book and details its empirical and methodological tenets. It opens with a discussion of the far right’s ‘legitimacy deficit’. It then considers how Europe could constitute an ideological resource for far-right parties looking for legitimation. An ideological resource is described as a device that offers political parties an opportunity to revise and reframe their political message. The chapter argues that as a new and relatively contentious political issue, European integration represented one such resource for far-right parties because it enabled them to recast their message in a way that would appeal to old and new voters alike. The chapter concludes with a description of the book’s empirical approach, which is based on the morphological and discourse analysis of over 400 party documents produced between 1978 and 2019 by the Italian Social Movement/Alleanza Nazionale and the Rassemblement National.
The battle for Europe’s freedom
Authors: Lorimer Marta
Published: April 2024

This chapter shows how the MSI/AN and the RN employed the concept of liberty to define Europe. It shows how in their early years and in the context of the Cold War, both parties stressed the need for Europe to become free from foreign interference. This came with a call for Europe to become an international power, equipped with a common defence policy and able to project influence beyond its borders. From the early 1990s onwards, the parties’ positions diverged. While the MSI/AN remained committed to its view of Europe as a foreign policy actor, the RN increasingly refocused its discourse on ideas of domestic self-rule. Using the language of freedom, self-rule, and autonomy to define their views on Europe, the chapter argues, presented the parties with an occasion to foster an image as actors holding positions common, rather than exceptional, to the shared language of national politics.
Scripting Empire
Authors: Procter James
Published: April 2024

Scripting Empire recovers the cultural history of West Indian and West African writing at the BBC in order to rethink the critical mid-century decades of decolonization, late modernism, and mass migration to the metropole. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, a remarkable group of black Atlantic artists and intellectuals became broadcasters, producers, editors, and scriptwriters at the corporation. They included Una Marson, Langston Hughes, Louise Bennett, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, George Lamming Amos Tutuola, V. S. Naipaul, Sam Selvon, Cyprian Ekwensi, Stuart Hall, and C. L. R. James. Operating at the interface of a range of literary and broadcast genres, this loose network of writers and thinkers prompt a reassessment of aesthetic innovation and political imagination between the outbreak of World War II and the first airings of post-colonial independence. Moving beyond prevailing accounts of the novel, and narratives of extension, this book examines the role of short, serial formats and episodic structures within the vibrant economy of mid-century literary production. Focusing on the BBC as both a modernist institution and a mass medium, Scripting Empire works comparatively across dozens of different programmes spanning the Colonial Service, General Overseas Service, Home Service, Light Programme, and Third Programme. The book draws upon a transnational archive of materials including scripts, correspondence, periodicals, visual records, and sound recordings in order to reposition the cultural contribution of West Indians and West Africans within a more pervasive and porous account of radio transmission, the legacy of which extends well beyond broadcasting.
Knowledge of Sensory Profiles
Authors: Hopkins Robert
Published: April 2024

The appearance of various properties changes with our relations to their bearers. What are these changing appearances, and in what way are the properties whose appearances they are present in perceptual experience? This chapter’s answer to the first question takes its inspiration from Thomas Reid: perspectival appearances are the perception of a distinct class of properties, those that are themselves perspectival. Its answer to the second question takes inspiration from Husserl and Noë: non-perspectival properties are present to us as patterns in perspectival properties. The chapter articulates what these patterns, or ‘sensory profiles’, amount to, what knowledge of them consists in, and how that knowledge has to be deployed if the non-perspectival properties they characterize are to be present to us.
Trust
Authors: Seyd Ben
Published: April 2024

We seem to be living in an age of citizen distrust of social and political elites. Distrust is also seen to have serious negative consequences for our civic and democratic life. Yet are western democracies really facing a crisis of trust? This book provides an extensive and up-to-date review of one of the most important topics in contemporary political life. It explores the nature and condition of trust today through three key issues: What do we mean by trust? How far are levels of trust in decline? How damaging are the consequences of low trust for effective democratic governance? The book also considers how trust arises, and which factors might explain the declines in trust witnessed recently in many countries. Drawing on evidence from across a number of countries, the book pays particular attention to Britain, which has seen a marked decline in public regard for political elites, making the country a vital case for identifying the causes and effects of low trust. Combining conceptual and empirical analysis, the book provides a timely analysis of a central issue in contemporary political debate.
Global Law and the Individual
Authors: Golia Angelo Jr
Published: April 2024

This chapter analyses the relationship between the individual and global law adopting, as a point of entry, the concept of iuris genesis. It explores this relationship through the lenses of three patterns in turn: symbiosis, oscillation, and strategic subjectification. After an overview of the notion of global law, symbiosis is examined, showing that the modern notion of ‘individual’ constitutes a necessary infrastructure of global law. In parallel, global law opens possibilities to the individual that would otherwise be out of reach under conditions of globalisation. The chapter then examines oscillation, describing how global law triggers a dynamic of expansion/restriction of the individual’s legal relevance. Subsequently, how global law helps to imagine strategies of legal subjectification, some of which may be used to counter problematic features of sociolegal globalisation is examined. It then highlights three such strategies: the development of new legal concepts and frameworks; the selective consolidation of certain collective actors’ legal positions; and the recognition of legal significance for claims based on so-called ‘counter-rights’.
Individual Personhood in Anthropological Approaches to International Law
Authors: Foblets Marie-Claire
Published: April 2024

This chapter aims to explore how anthropology can contribute to our understanding of the humanisation thesis in international law. Following the introduction in section 1, section 2 refers to the work of anthropologists who have shown that the space for choice left to the individual person, in terms of their free consent, varies considerably depending on culture and tradition. Anthropological scholarship offers ample illustrations of the complex dimensions of autonomy, agency, and consent that are not necessarily in alignment with the concept of the individual’s legal personality in contemporary international law. Section 3 provides three contrasting illustrations of a more context-dependent understanding of the notion of personhood in order to show what a context-specific engagement with international law, emphasising particular local realities, can mean.
Introduction
Authors: Pearle Philip
Published: April 2024

This chapter introduces the problem (that the wave function of standard quantum theory (SQT) cannot correspond to reality in nature) and its resolution (change Schrodinger’s equation). The chapter begins by citing Schrodinger’s argument as to how the collapse postulate of SQT leads to the cited problem. It then presents a resolution embodied in the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) theory‘s altered Schrodinger equation. The chapter shows how the “Gambler’s Ruin” game, where two gamblers bet on a coin toss until one wins all the money, is a precise and intuitively appealing analogy to the needed collapse behavior for a superposition of two states evolving under random influence to one or another of those states. Following this, the chapter ends by presenting the structure of the book. The first seven chapters show how CSL works, discusses experimentally testable and already tested predictions, and covers interpretive features of CSL. The purpose of the remaining eleven chapters, called “Supplementary,” is summarized as well.
Non–Relativistic CSL
Authors: Pearle Philip
Published: April 2024

CSL so far is a general framework to describe dynamical collapse of a statevector to one or another joint eigenstate of a set of mutually commuting collapse-generating operators. This chapter makes the final selection of the collapse generating operators. First, the choice of mass-density operators, A(x)= D(x), is discussed. This leads to an infinite rate of energy increase for particles, which is ameliorated by a slightly different choice, “smeared” mass-density operators, A(x)=∫dx’f(x-x’)D(x’), where f is a Gaussian of width a, f(z) exp-z2/2a2. This introduces a second parameter to the theory (in addition to the collapse rate λ), the width parameter a. This completes construction of non-relativistic CSL, the theory proposed to describe Nature. The chapter goes on to discuss the density matrix, followed by two important calculations, the first consequences of the theory. First, for an initial state that is an object in a superposition of two different places, is the rate to collapse to one or another place, and second, the rate of energy increase of an object due to the wave function narrowing inherent in collapse.
Supplement to Chapter 2
Authors: Pearle Philip
Published: April 2024

Chapter 2 considered the case where the collapse-generating operator, to one of whose eigenstates collapse takes place, has a discrete spectrum. This Supplement considers an example where the spectrum is continuous, specifically, the case where the collapse-generating operator is the position operator. This chapter is a supplement to Chapter 2. Whereas Chapter 2 considers the case where the collapse–generating has a discrete spectrum, Chapter 9 considers an example where the spectrum is continuous. Specifically, it covers the case where the collapse–generating operator is the position operator. It also explains how the Born probability rule is obeyed in this example.
Supplement to Chapter 5
Authors: Pearle Philip
Published: April 2024

There is no Supplement to Chapter 5.
Forex Forever
Authors: Michie Ranald C.
Published: April 2024

The foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with a turnover running into trillions of $s a day. Surprisingly, the centre of this market is the City of London, even though it mainly trades US$s. The reasons why this is the case have never been satisfactorily explained, given the importance of New York as a rival financial centre. A related mystery is the absence of a foreign exchange market in London before 1914, when the City of London was at the peak of its importance. The purpose of this book is to solve these mysteries while also delivering a detailed account of the development of the foreign exchange market in London over the last 150 years. Key to the solution of both mysteries is the revelation that an active foreign exchange market did exist in London before the First World War. The result is to transform our understanding of the role played by the foreign exchange market in the global monetary system during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Who Are ‘We, the People’? Pluralist Constitutional Identity after Democratic Transitions in African and European Countries
Authors: Kössler Karl
Published: April 2024

This chapter aims to explore how the constitutions of ethnically diverse multilevel systems created a pluralist identity in their original design and how it has been changed over time by political and judicial actors. The focus is therefore on pluralist identity in norms framing the image of ‘the people’ as the constitutional subject. The chapter first explains the concept of pluralist constitutional identity and why the image of the ‘the people’ is one of its core elements. It goes on to discuss what parts of a constitution frame this image, arguing that preambles are crucial but not the only part to look at. This forms the basis for a comparative analysis of Ethiopia, South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain, four countries sharing certain common features. The chapter provides a brief introduction to how democratic transitions, creating windows of opportunity for a new pluralist identity, occurred in the national and subnational constitutional arenas.
A Century of South African Constitutional Identities
Authors: Steytler Nico
Published: April 2024

The chapter raises the question of whether terms and concepts used in analysing the formation of constitutional identity could shed fresh light on a century of constitution-making that culminated in the South African constitutions of 1993 and 1996. Do the concepts used by theorists in this area give us a better understanding of why we are, at this stage in the twenty-first century, in yet another round of constitutional dialogue? Moreover, do the insights so gained provide a guide for the future? The chapter argues that the literature on the formation of constitutional identity provides useful tools for unlocking a fuller understanding of the shaping of South African constitutional identity. It explains the long dialogical process of forming and reforming the imagined ‘nation’ or constitutional identity of the country through five different constitutions and concludes that a fixed constitutional identity is illusory; its nature depends on who controls the authors’ pens as they write the next constitution.
Corcyra
Authors: Gehrke Hans-Joachim , Sapirstein Philip
Published: April 2024

The migrants who founded the polis of Corcyra on the homonymous island (modern Corfu) c. 730 BCE chose an ideal site: an easily defensible peninsula, located on major trade routes, and with access to good farmland. Corcyra rapidly developed into a prosperous community, and the seventh and sixth centuries saw a flourishing of the arts, most notably in the design and decoration of temples. Corcyra had almost from the outset a complicated, sometimes overtly hostile relationship with its metropolis Corinth. By the early sixth century, it became a completely independent polity with its own ambitions. The Corcyraeans found it advantageous to remain neutral and kept their distance from the political and military entanglements of the Greek mainland. The history of Corcyra is thus a reminder that many Greek communities, unlike the more actively interventionist ones like Athens that more prominently feature in the extant literary sources, preferred to attend to their own affairs.
Finding the Right Words to Say
Authors: Batiste Larry D. , Toomp DJ
Published: April 2024

Writing lyrics is interdependent on skills that prompt the songwriter’s intellectual and creative curiosity. Essential components to finding the right words to say are forming deep connections with the world around you and engaging fully in the human experience. The process of writing lyrics requires lucid reflections of your observations, experiences, and internalizations. Songwriters utilize the resources from their lyric toolbox to choose the most impactful words that drive the message and emotion across to listeners. Understanding how to express the story you want to share is key to writing perspicuous and memorable lyrics. Outlining the story and understanding song sections and their functions, along with making great word choices, is essential to developing a story that listeners can relate to. Once a structure is formed, using creative techniques such as opposing or twisting words, action, detail, imagery, and rhyming helps to captivate the audience.
Rewriting
Authors: Batiste Larry D. , Hayes Bonnie
Published: April 2024

In this chapter the author describes the process of fine-tuning one’s song after it is written. Rewriting is one of the most crucial steps in the songwriting process, and the reader is prompted to boldly embrace the journey to create a perfect union between the music, melody, and words, carefully examining each part of the song including the structure, tempo, momentum, rhythm, lyrics, and continuity, then strengthening areas that are weak. This chapter provides a checklist of numerous creative ways to approach the task of rewriting. The author encourages the reader to be honest and flexible as a song may require multiple rewrites before the writer is comfortable enough to release it to the universe.
Building a Fanbase
Authors: Batiste Larry D. , McKinney James
Published: April 2024

Fans are the foundation and catalyst to the singer/songwriter’s success. Enthusiasm from the fanbase’s network is your music’s net worth. The promotion of your authentic image and your song attracts, connects, retains, and grows your audience. As singers and songwriters, great efforts are spent to create a musical masterpiece for the world to hear and love. The same fervor must apply to distribution efforts so that your music may reach your targeted audience and beyond. Topics in this chapter include cross-marketing, streaming platforms, social media platforms, marketing tools, and suggestions that will spark ideas to help you connect with your audience. Other highlights in this chapter include discussions on business, organization, team building, and understanding audience demographics.
Distinct types of selection and genetic architecture shape molecular variation during the domestication of vegetable crops
Authors: Chen Hung-Wei , Chien Chih-Cheng , Lee Cheng-Ruei
Published: April 2024

Humans select vegetable crops with desirable traits via a complex evolutionary process called domestication, generating a variety of cultivars worldwide. With advances in sequencing technologies, genomic scans for “signatures of selection” are widely used to identify target loci of selection. In the early phases of domestication, humans tended to favor similar sets of phenotypes in diverse crops, resulting in “domestication syndrome” and parallel evolution in multiple species. Subsequently, adaptation to distinct environments or different consumer preferences has diversified crop cultivars. Here, we review molecular and population genetic studies on genes affecting trait evolution during this complex process. We emphasize that, depending on interactions among different types of selection (directional selection within or divergent selection between groups), the genetic architecture of the target trait (Mendelian or polygenic), and the origin of the causal variant (new mutation or standing variation), the resulting molecular patterns of variation can be highly diverse. Situations in which the typical hard selective sweep model could be applied may be limited. Therefore, it is crucial to obtain a thorough understanding of the target species’ historical, environmental, and ecological contexts.
Ubiquitin ligase VvPUB26 in grapevine promotes proanthocyanidin synthesis and resistance to powdery mildew
Authors: Zhao Ting , Huang Congbo , Li Na , Ge Yaqi , Wang Ling , Tang Yujin , Wang Yuejin , Li Yan , Zhang Chaohong
Published: April 2024

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) are an important group of flavonoids that contribute to astringency, color, and flavor in grapes (Vitis vinifera) and wines. They also play a crucial role in enhancing plant resistance to various stresses. However, the underlying regulatory mechanism governing PAs biosynthesis, particularly in relation to conferring resistance to powdery mildew, has not been extensively explored. This study focused on identifying a key player in PAs biosynthesis, namely the plant U-box (PUB) E3 ubiquitin ligase VvPUB26. We discovered that overexpression of VvPUB26 in grapes leads to a significant increase in PAs content, whereas interfering with VvPUB26 has the opposite effect. Additionally, our findings demonstrated that overexpression of VvPUB26 in transgenic grapevines enhances defense against powdery mildew while interfering with VvPUB26 results in increased susceptibility to the pathogen. Interestingly, we observed that VvPUB26 interacts with the WRKY transcription factor VvWRKY24, thereby facilitating ubiquitination and degradation processes. Through RNA-Seq analysis, we found that VvWRKY24 primarily participates in secondary metabolites biosynthesis, metabolic pathways, and plant-pathogen interaction. Notably, VvWRKY24 directly interacts with the promoters of dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (DFR) and leucoanthocyanidin reductase (LAR) to inhibit PAs biosynthesis. Meanwhile, VvWRKY24 also influences the expression of MYB transcription factor genes related to PAs synthesis. In conclusion, our results unveil a regulatory module involving VvPUB26-VvWRKY24-VvDFR/VvLAR that plays a fundamental role in governing PAs biosynthesis in grapevines. These findings enhance our understanding of the relationship between PAs biosynthesis and defense mechanisms against powdery mildew.
Antipsychotic Use and Risk of Breast Cancer in Women With Severe Mental Illness: Replication of a Nationwide Nested Case–Control Database Study
Authors: Solmi Marco , Lähteenvuo Markku , Tanskanen Antti , Corbeil Olivier , Mittendorfer-Rutz Ellenor , Correll Christoph U , Tiihonen Jari , Taipale Heidi
Published: April 2024

Background and hypothesis

Breast cancer is more prevalent in women with severe mental illness than in the general population, and use of prolactin-increasing antipsychotics may be a contributing factor.

Study design

A nested case–control study was conducted using the Swedish nationwide registers (inpatient/outpatient care, sickness absence, disability pension, prescribed drugs, cancers). All women aged 18–85 years with schizophrenia/schizoaffective/other nonaffective psychotic disorder/bipolar disorder and breast cancer (cases) were matched for age, primary psychiatric diagnosis, and disease duration with five women without cancer (controls). The association between cumulative exposure to prolactin-increasing/prolactin-sparing antipsychotics and breast cancer was analyzed using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for comorbidities and co-medications.

Study results

Among 132 061 women, 1642 (1.24%) developed breast cancer between 2010 and 2021, at a mean age of 63.3 ± 11.8 years. Compared with 8173 matched controls, the odds of breast cancer increased in women with prior exposure to prolactin-increasing antipsychotics for 1–4 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03–1.41), and for ≥ 5 years (aOR = 1.47, 95%CI = 1.26–1.71). There were no increased or decreased odds of breast cancer with exposure to prolactin-sparing antipsychotics of either 1–4 years (aOR = 1.17, 95%CI = 0.98–1.40) or ≥5 years (aOR = 0.99, 95%CI = 0.78–1.26). The results were consistent across all sensitivity analyses (ie, according to different age groups, cancer types, and primary psychiatric diagnosis).

Conclusions

Although causality remains uncertain, exposure to prolactin-elevating antipsychotics for ≥ 1 year was associated with increased odds of breast cancer in women with severe mental illness. When prescribing antipsychotics, a shared decision-making process should consider individual risk factors for breast cancer.
Opportunity Hoarding and Elite Reproduction: School Segregation in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Authors: Gruijters Rob J , Elbers Benjamin , Reddy Vijay
Published: April 2024

School integration is an important indicator of equality of opportunity and racial reconciliation in contemporary South Africa. Despite its prominence in public and political discourse, however, there is no systemic evidence on the levels and patterns of school segregation. Drawing on the literature on the post-apartheid political settlement and sociological theories of opportunity hoarding, we explain how the small White minority and, to a lesser extent, the new Black middle class monopolized access to South Africa’s most prestigious schools following the abolition of de jure segregation in 1994. Using the 2021 Annual School Survey—an administrative dataset covering all South African schools—and the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study school survey, we find very high levels of school segregation along racial as well as socioeconomic lines. White students almost exclusively attend former White schools, have little exposure to the low-income Black majority, and are vastly overrepresented in elite public and private schools. We argue that in South Africa and other contexts with under-resourced education systems, elite capture of the few high-performing schools serves to reproduce race and class privilege.
Unraveling the complexity of rapid eye movement microstates: insights from nonlinear EEG analysis
Authors: Lu Yiqing , Yang Weiwei , Zhang Xiaoyun , Wu Liang , Li Yongcheng , Wang Xin , Huai Yaping
Published: April 2024

Although rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is conventionally treated as a unified state, it comprises two distinct microstates: phasic and tonic REM. Recent research emphasizes the importance of understanding the interplay between these microstates, hypothesizing their role in transient shifts between sensory detachment and external awareness. Previous studies primarily employed linear metrics to probe cognitive states, such as oscillatory power, while in this study, we adopt Lempel-Ziv Complexity (LZC), to examine the nonlinear features of electroencephalographic (EEG) data from the REM microstates and to gain complementary insights into neural dynamics during REM sleep. Our findings demonstrate a noteworthy reduction in LZC during phasic REM compared to tonic REM states, signifying diminished EEG complexity in the former. Additionally, we noted a negative correlation between decreased LZC and delta band power, along with a positive correlation with alpha band power. This study highlights the potential of nonlinear EEG metrics, particularly LZC, in elucidating the distinct features of REM microstates. Overall, this research contributes to advancing our understanding of the complex dynamics within REM sleep and opens new avenues for exploring its implications in both clinical and nonclinical contexts.