bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SWEBOS – The Software Engineering Body of Skills
Authors: Sedelmaier Yvonne , Landes Dieter
Published: February 2015

The development of complex software systems requires a mixture of various technical and non-technical competencies. While some guidelines exist which technical knowledge is required to make a good software engineer, there is a lack of insight as to which non-technical or soft skills are necessary to master complex software projects. This paper proposes a body of skills (SWEBOS) for soft-ware engineering. The collection of necessary skills is developed on the basis of a clear, data-driven research design. The resulting required soft skills for software engineering are described precisely and semantically rich in a three-level structure. This approach guarantees that skills are not just characterized in a broad and general manner, but rather they are specifically adapted to the domain of software engineering.
Dynamic Spectrum Management Algorithms for Multiuser Communication Systems
Authors: Huberman Sean , Le-Ngoc Tho
Published: February 2015

Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) is an effective method for reducing the effect of interference in both wireless and wireline communication systems. This chapter discusses various DSM algorithms, including Optimal Spectrum Balancing (OSB), Iterative Spectrum Balancing (ISB), Iterative Water-Filling (IWF), Selective Iterative Water-filling (SIW), Successive Convex Approximation for Low complExity (SCALE), the Difference of Convex functions Algorithm (DCA), Distributed Spectrum Balancing (DSB), Autonomous Spectrum Balancing (ASB), and Constant Offset ASB using Multiple Reference Users (ASB-MRU). They are compared in terms of their performance (achievable data-rate) by extensive simulation results and their computational complexity.
Dual-Hop and Multi-Hop Cooperative Spectrum Sensing with an Improved Energy Detector and Multiple Antennae-Based Secondary Users
Authors: Singh Ajay , Bhatnagar Manav R. , Mallik Ranjan K.
Published: February 2015

A dual-hop cooperative spectrum sensing approach is studied in detail, where each cooperative Cognitive Radio (CR) makes a binary decision based on the local observation, by using an improved energy detector, and then forwards it to a common receiver. At the common receiver, all binary decisions are fused together. The authors provide an analytical framework for the analysis of performance of the improved energy detector-based cooperative CR network. They discuss how to choose an optimal number of cooperating CRs in order to minimize the total error rate by using an improved energy detector over perfect and imperfect reporting channels. Further, the error performance of dual-hop cooperative spectrum sensing with multiple antennae-based CR is discussed. The authors also exploit the multi-hop cooperative communication approach in an improved energy detector-based CR network for increasing the coverage area of the secondary communication systems with reduced power consumption.
Cross-Layer Optimization and Link Adaptation in Cognitive Radios
Authors: Mahdi Ali H. , Kalil Mohamed A.
Published: February 2015

Cognitive Radio (CR) systems are smart systems capable of sensing the surrounding radio environment and adapting their operating parameters in order to efficiently utilize the available radio spectrum. To reach this goal, different transmission parameters across the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers, such as transmit power, modulation scheme, and packet length, should be optimized. This chapter discusses the Adaptive Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (ADPSO) algorithm as an efficient algorithm for optimizing and adapting CR operating parameters from physical, MAC, and network layers. In addition, the authors present two extensions for the proposed algorithm. The first one is Automatic Repeat reQuest-ADPSO (ARQ-ADPSO) for efficient spectrum utilization. The second one is merging ARQ-ADPSO and Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) algorithms for autonomous link adaptation under dynamic radio environment. The simulation results show improvements in the convergence time, signaling overhead, and spectrum utilization compared to the well-known optimization algorithms such as the Genetic Algorithm (GA).
Differential Roles for Bim and Nur77 in Thymocyte Clonal Deletion Induced by Ubiquitous Self-Antigen
Authors: Hu Qian Nancy , Baldwin Troy A.
Published: February 2015

Negative selection, primarily mediated through clonal deletion of self-reactive thymocytes, is critical for establishing self-tolerance and preventing autoimmunity. Recent studies suggest that the molecular mechanisms of negative selection differ depending on the thymic compartment and developmental stage at which thymocytes are deleted. Using the physiological HYcd4 TCR transgenic model of negative selection against ubiquitous self-antigen, we previously found that one of the principal mediators implicated in clonal deletion, Bim, is required for caspase-3 activation but is ultimately dispensable for negative selection. On the basis of these data, we hypothesized that Nur77, another molecule thought to be a key mediator of clonal deletion, could be responsible for Bim-independent deletion. Despite comparable Nur77 induction in thymocytes during negative selection, Bim deficiency resulted in an accumulation of high-affinity–signaled thymocytes as well as impairment in caspase-mediated and caspase-independent cell death. Although these data suggested that Bim may be required for Nur77-mediated cell death, we found that transgenic Nur77 expression was sufficient to induce apoptosis independently of Bim. However, transgenic Nur77-induced apoptosis was significantly inhibited in the context of TCR signaling, suggesting that endogenous Nur77 could be similarly regulated during negative selection. Although Nur77 deficiency alone did not alter positive or negative selection, combined deficiency in Bim and Nur77 impaired clonal deletion efficiency and significantly increased positive selection efficiency. Collectively, these data shed light on the different roles for Bim and Nur77 during ubiquitous Ag-mediated clonal deletion and highlight potential differences from their reported roles in tissue-restricted Ag-mediated clonal deletion.
Unhealthy Weight Control Practices: Culprits and Clinical Recommendations
Authors: Ferraro Zachary Michael , Patterson Sean , Chaput Jean-Philippe
Published: February 2015

Preoccupation with weight status and a desire to lose weight appears common. Many individuals seek “magic bullet” approaches to weight loss and waive the risks of using these products. In this paper, we review the challenges of weight maintenance, highlight some unhealthy weight control practices, and discuss the futility and potential danger of unregulated weight control agents. Novel clinical strategies are discussed that health care providers may use to triage patients with obesity in an attempt to make ethical and personalized treatment decisions.
Redox regime shifts in microbially-mediated biogeochemical cycles
Authors: Bush T. , Butler I. B. , Free A. , Allen R. J.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. Understanding how the Earth's biogeochemical cycles respond to environmental change is a prerequisite for the prediction and mitigation of the effects of anthropogenic perturbations. Microbial populations mediate key steps in these cycles, yet are often crudely represented in biogeochemical models. Here, we show that microbial population dynamics can qualitatively affect the response of biogeochemical cycles to environmental change. Using simple and generic mathematical models, we find that nutrient limitations on microbial population growth can lead to regime shifts, in which the redox state of a biogeochemical cycle changes dramatically as the availability of a redox-controlling species, such as oxygen or acetate, crosses a threshold (a "tipping point"). These redox regime shifts occur in parameter ranges that are relevant to the sulfur and nitrogen cycles in the present-day natural environment, and may also have relevance to iron cycling in the iron-containing Proterozoic and Archean oceans. We show that redox regime shifts also occur in models with physically realistic modifications, such as additional terms, chemical states, or microbial populations. Our work reveals a possible new mechanism by which regime shifts can occur in nutrient-cycling ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles, and highlights the importance of considering microbial population dynamics in models of biogeochemical cycles.
Modeling debris-flow runout patterns on two alpine fans with different dynamic simulation models
Authors: Schraml K. , Thomschitz B. , McArdell B. W. , Graf C. , Kaitna R.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. Predicting potential deposition areas of future debris-flow events is important for engineering hazard assessment in alpine regions. For this, numerical simulation models are commonly used tools. However, knowledge of appropriate model parameters is essential but often not available. In this study we use two numerical simulation models, RAMMS-DF (Rapid Mass Movement System – Debris Flow) and DAN3D (Dynamic Analysis of Landslides in Three Dimensions), to back-calculate two well-documented debris-flow events in Austria and to compare the range and sensitivity of input parameters for the Voellmy flow model. All simulations are based on the same digital elevation model with a 1 m resolution and similar initial conditions. Our results show that both simulation tools are capable of matching observed deposition patterns. The best fit parameter set of μ [–] and ξ [m s−2] range between 0.07–0.11 and 200–300 m s−2, respectively, for RAMMS-DF, and 0.07–0.08 and 300–400 m s−2, respectively, for DAN3D. Sensitivity analyses show a higher sensitivity of model parameters for the DAN3D model than for the RAMMS-DF model. This study shall contribute to the evaluation of realistic model parameters for simulation of debris-flows in steep mountain catchments and highlights the sensitivity of the models.
Kinetics of potassium release in sweet potato cropped soils: a case study in the highlands of Papua New Guinea
Authors: Rajashekhar Rao B. K.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. The present study attempts to employ potassium (K) release parameters to identify soil-quality degradation due to changed land use patterns in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) farms of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Rapid population increase in the region increased pressure on the land to intensify subsistence production mainly by reducing fallow periods. Such continuous cropping practice coupled with lack of K fertilization practices could lead to a rapid loss of soil fertility and soil-resource degradation. The study aims to evaluate the effects of crop intensification on the K-release pattern and identify soil groups vulnerable to K depletion. Soils with widely differing exchangeable and non-exchangeable K contents were sequentially extracted for periods between 1 and 569 h in 0.01 M CaCl2, and K-release data were fitted to four mathematical models: first order, power, parabolic diffusion and Elovich equations. Results showed two distinct parts in the K-release curves, and 58–80% of total K was released to solution phase within 76 h (first five extractions) with 20–42% K released in the later parts (after 76 h). Soils from older farms that were subjected to intensive and prolonged land use showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower cumulative K-release potential than the farms recently brought to cultivation (new farms). Among the four equations, first-order and power equations best described the K-release pattern; the constant b, an index of K-release rates, ranged from 0.005 to 0.008 mg kg−1 h−1 in the first-order model and was between 0.14 and 0.83 mg kg−1 h−1 in the power model for the soils. In the non-volcanic soils, model constant b values were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the volcanic soils, thus indicating the vulnerability of volcanic soils to K deficiency. The volcanic soils cropped for several crop cycles need immediate management interventions either through improved fallow management or through mineral fertilizers plus animal manures to sustain productivity.
High-Throughput Analytical Techniques for Multiresidue, Multiclass Determination of 653 Pesticides and Chemical Pollutants in Tea–Part IV: Evaluation of the Ruggedness of the Method, Error Analysis, and Key Control Points of the Method
Authors: Fan Chun-Lin , Li Yan , Chang Qiao-Ying , Pang Guo-Fang , Kang Jian , Cao Jing , Zhao Yan-Bing , Li Nan , Li Zeng-Yin
Published: February 2015

A 3 month study was conducted on the ruggedness of a multiresidue method for accuracy and stability. The results indicate that in terms of Youden pair ratios of 201 pesticide aged tea samples falling approximately within 1.00–1.20 of the ratio of theoretical spraying concentrations, the differences donot exceed 5% for percentages made up by ratios of the fixed values obtained by two kinds of instrumentsfor two teas and those made up by 18 circular determinations. However, regarding two kinds of SPE cartridges, the Cleanert TPT cartridgeis higher than the ENVI-CARB + primary secondary amine (PSA) cartridge by 10%. Pertaining to RSD values of “parallelsamples” and whether it is green tea or Woolong tea, the percentages of RSD ≤15% values ofthe parallel samples all exceed 88%. Whether it isthefirst or circular determination for two teas andanalytical results from two kinds of instruments, the percentages of RSD ≤15% values have a difference of less than 6%, while the TPT cartridge is betterthan ENVI-CARB + PSA by above 6% for the two cartridges. Concerning RSDs of Youden pair ratios, RSD ≤15% values have a proportion exceeding 85% for both green tea and Woolong tea, and the percentageis greater than 87% whether it is for two kinds of SPE cartridges or two kinds of instruments. In terms of Youden pair ratios and the classified statisticalanalysis of the ruggedness data of parallel samples,theproportion of RSD ≤15% values of Youden pair ratios is 8% higher for the TPT cartridge than the ENVI-CARB + PSA cartridge; the proportion of RSD ≤15% values of parallel samples is 6.2% higher for the TPT cartridge than the ENVI-CARB + PSA cartridge. Data show no marked differences for two teas and two kinds of instruments. A comparison of the aforementioned aspects finds that good ruggedness was obtained with both SPE cleanup methods, and the results from the TPT cartridge are better than those from the ENVI-CARB + PSA cartridge.
Separation and Preconcentration of Sudan Blue II Using Membrane Filtration and UV-Visible Spectrophotometric Determination in River Water and Industrial Wastewater Samples
Authors: Unsal Yunus Emre , Tuzen Mustafa , Soylak Mustafa
Published: February 2015

A new separation and preconcentration method based on adsorption on a cellulose acetate membrane filter and elution with ethanol was established for the UV-Vis spectrophotometric determination of Sudan blue II. Various analytical parameters such as pH of working media, flow rates of solutions, and sample volumes were optimized. Matrix effects of concomitants were investigated for the quantitative recovery values of Sudan blue II. The preconcentration factor was200. LOD was calculated as 0.96 μg/L. RSD was5.1%. The optimized procedure was applied to the spectrophotometric determination of Sudan blue II in river and industrial wastewater samples from oil and dye products.
Introduction: Selectionist Reasoning as a Tool of Thought
Authors: Ziman John
Published: February 2015

This chapter focuses on a new mode of metascientific reasoning that applies the underlying rationale of Charles Darwin's explanation of the ‘Origin of Species’ to many other examples of historical change. More specifically, it examines the ‘evolutionary paradigm of rationality’ which can be summed up in the formula: BVSR = Blind Variation + Selective Retention. It shows how selection in reasoning applies to the changing membership of a population, rather than to changes that might be taking place in any particular member of that population; how the adaptive nature of the Darwinian process results in a population whose members are more ‘fit’ — that is, better able to satisfy the criteria of selection; and the essentially naturalistic nature of evolutionary reasoning. It also discusses bio-organic evolution as a classic example of a Darwinian process; the concept of ‘artificial life’ in relation to many evolutionary phenomena; the evolution of primitive human artefacts and other cultural entities; and the application of evolutionary reasoning to the history of science. The chapter concludes by looking at evolutionary reasoning as a ‘tool of thought’.
Culture
Authors: Kuper Adam
Published: February 2015

This chapter explores three broad ideas of culture that recur in Western thinking in the twentieth century: French, German and English; or alternatively, the Enlightenment, the Romantic, and the Classical conceptions. The French tradition represented civilisation as a progressive, cumulative human achievement; the German tradition contrasted culture to civilisation and associated I with spiritual rather than material values; the English tradition argued that the technology and materialism of modern civilisation resulted in a spiritual crisis. The chapter looks at how ideas about the nature of culture sparked political debates that became particularly intense at times of great political upheaval. It also cites the ‘culture wars’ in America during the 1990s and how ‘cultural politics’ have dominated American public discourse. Finally, it discusses a radically different approach to culture by focusing on immigrants, along with its implications for the future of anthropology.
Choosing the Selectors
Authors: Midgley Mary
Published: February 2015

This chapter explores the concept of cultural evolution by looking at a variety of perspectives that explain historical change, with emphasis on their advantages and limitations. It begins by considering the Marxist conception of history that focused on the role of non-human background factors in shaping human life. It then discusses two misfortunes lighted up by the history of Marxism that tend to afflict a theory about social development when it claims scientific status: fatalism and the illusion of impartiality. It also examines the evolutionary pattern for explaining social change by selectionism and stresses the importance of concentrating on the actual people involved in social change. The chapter concludes by describing the use of ‘memess’ to explain social change.
The Evolution of Technological Knowledge: Reflections on Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process
Authors: Loasby Brian J.
Published: February 2015

This chapter analyses Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process, a book that explores the analogy between technical innovation and biological evolution, and whether such an analogy could be developed from a ‘metaphor’ into a ‘model’. After discussing the explanatory power of ‘evolutionary reasoning’, the chapter describes an alternative approach to the analysis of technological innovation. It then presents an evolutionary argument for the growth of knowledge and explains how it differs from neo-Darwinism, and examines rational choice theory in relation to natural selection. It also looks at six elements of Adam Smith's psychological theory of the emergence and development of science: the motivation for generating new ideas; the generation of novelty and the ex-ante selection processes which guide its adoption or rejection; the role of aesthetic criteria both in guiding conjectures and in encouraging their acceptance; Smith's argument that connecting principles which seem to work well are widely diffused; the renewal of the evolutionary process; and the evolution of the evolutionary process itself. Finally, the chapter considers the implications of uncertainty for cognition and the growth of knowledge.
Jodocus Badius Ascensius
Authors: White Paul
Published: February 2015

Jodocus Badius Ascensius (1462-1535), also known as Josse Bade, was a scholar and printer who played a central role in the flourishing of humanism and print culture in the French Renaissance. In a career spanning four decades, he was involved with the print publication of something approaching one thousand editions. He was known for the ‘familiar’ commentaries he wrote and published as introductions to the major authors of Latin (and less frequently, Greek) antiquity, as well as on texts by medieval and contemporary authors. His commentaries and prefaces document the early stages of French humanism, and his texts played a major role in forming the minds of future generations. This book provides an account of Badius’s contributions to pedagogy, scholarship, printing and humanist culture. Its main focus is on Latin language commentaries on classical texts. It examines Badius’s multiple roles in the light of changing conceptions of textual culture during the Renaissance. It also explores the wider context of the communities with which Badius cultivated relationships: scholars and printers, figures from religious orders, the university and officialdom. It considers the readerships for which Badius produced texts in France, England, Scotland, the Low Countries, and beyond. It explores the ways in which humanists understood the circulation of knowledge in terms of economy and commerce, and their conceptualizations of commentary as a site of cultural mediation.
Self-Representation and Authorship
Authors: White Paul
Published: February 2015

This chapter broaches the question of Badius’s self-presentation. Badius as a writer was a producer of ‘secondary’ works – commentaries, ‘epitomes’, supplements, compilations, dedicatory epistles. The language of authorial presence and appropriation associated with Renaissance writers like Erasmus is in direct contrast with the language of Badius’s paratext, which tends always in the opposite direction of self-abnegation and disavowal of ownership. His self-presentation is here read in the context of changing concepts of authorship during the period in which he was active, and is framed in terms of the rhetorical construction of ethos in his dedications and prefaces, his engagements with northern Christian humanism, and the demands of patronage.
Defining Commentary
Authors: White Paul
Published: February 2015

The chapter examines aspects of the history and theory of commentary, and places Badius’s own commentary practice within these contexts. It focuses in particular of the tradition of grammatica associated with the grammarians of Late Antiquity: Servius, Donatus, Diomedes. The chapter distinguishes between the designations used for different types of humanist commentary in the Renaissance, and narrows the focus to Badius’s own ‘familiar commentary’ (familiaris interpretatio). In his commentaries, on medieval and religious texts as well as on humanist and classical authors, Badius maintained an identifiably ‘humanist’ approach which was nevertheless firmly grounded in a long tradition of pedagogical commentary, bringing out the moral meanings of a text through a close examination of grammar and style. The chapter examines the defining features of this type of commentary, its composition and uses, and analyses the figurative language Badius used to characterize his commentary text.
The Commerce of Learning
Authors: White Paul
Published: February 2015

This chapter explores Badius’s use of language associated with the domains of commerce and finance, and demonstrates that he used metaphors drawn from these domains to make sense of potential contradictions between his scholarly and printing roles. It gives an account of the ‘Ciceronianus’ controversy, as a result of which French humanists excluded Badius from their ranks, and looks at how Badius defined himself in relation to major scholarly figures of his period: Erasmus, Aldus Manutius, Guillaume Budé. It also looks at the ways Badius engaged in debate about the ‘value’ of printing, the ethics of the print trade and the status of knowledge in the marketplace. Finally it examines Badius’s conceptualization of commentary in terms of market exchange and finance.
Silvae Morales (1492)
Authors: White Paul
Published: February 2015

This chapter provides a close reading of Badius’s commentary methods in an early work, the Silvae morales (1492). This is a compilation of twelve books of poetry excerpts grouped around various moral themes and accompanied by a substantial commentary. Badius’s focus was primarily on the Latin classics (the moral epigrams of pseudo­Virgil, the Odes and Epistles of Horace, the Annales of Ennius, and the satires of Juvenal and Persius); but the later books also contain works by fifteenth­century humanist authors (Mantuan’s Contra poetas, Sulpizio’s Carmen iuvenile) and some of the mainstays of the medieval grammar curriculum (Cato’s distichs and the Parabolae of Alain de Lille). The chapter focuses in particular on the literary techniques Badius used to situate his text within certain traditions, and on his manipulation of ‘silva’ symbolism throughout the work to guide the reader’s encounter with the text.
‘Morals and Letters’
Authors: White Paul
Published: February 2015

This chapter examines Badius’s conception of the pedagogical function of literature, and sets it in the context of late medieval and humanist debates about poetry, education and ethics. It considers Badius’s ideas about the links between poetry and moral instruction alongside those of contemporary writers Jacob Wimpfeling and Battista Spagnoli (Mantuan). Badius saw all of his familiar commentary texts as providing moral instruction in some sense. The chapter examines in particular Badius’s prefaces, prologues and commentaries on Roman satire (Horace, Juvenal and Persius) and Roman comedy (Terence); and his two adaptations of the Ship of Fools.
A Greek Christian World?
Authors: Millar Fergus
Published: February 2015

The great temple of Artemis at Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan is one of the finest expressions of Greco-Roman culture in the Near East. Built in the second century, it includes a church that was erected on top of another building. This chapter explores the combination of Greek and Hebrew or Aramaic that characterised the mosaic floors of synagogues of the period from Palestine, across the Jordan to the west, where the roles of the two languages tend to be reversed: Hebrew or Aramaic was used for the strictly religious components while Greek was used for the names of benefactors. More specifically, it considers the combination — or alternation — of co-existence and hostility between Christians and Jews. After providing a background on the Roman Near East, the chapter analyses the language that Jews possibly used in daily life, and whether pagans of the Roman Near East spoke Aramaic. It then examines documentary evidence that offers insights into Greek culture in the Near East in its local context before concluding with a discussion of Greek literary culture in the region.
Jews and Samaritans in a Greek Christian World
Authors: Millar Fergus
Published: February 2015

This chapter focuses on the presence of large settled populations of Jews and Samaritans, both urban and rural, in Palestine in the first to fourth centuries, and how Jewish identity and belief was expressed in the form of major literary works, in both Hebrew and Aramaic. It first considers two studies attributed to the Talmudic scholar, Saul Lieberman: one on the Greek context of Jewish life in Judaea/Palaestina in the first to fourth centuries; and one on the extensive presence of transliterated Greek words, and of Greek concepts, in rabbinic literature. It then looks at the co-existence and conflict between religious and ethnic communities in Palestine, citing evidence provided each by Sozomenus and Epiphanius. More specifically, it discusses some reports of overt inter-communal conflicts, which often involve Samaritans rather than Jews. It also describes Samaritan religion and culture, Jews and Judaism in Palestine, and the Jewish diaspora in the Roman Near East.
Syrians and Saracens: Suryoye and Tayyoye
Authors: Millar Fergus
Published: February 2015

This chapter examines some of the evidence on the preaching of Christianity, as well as Judaism, to the ‘Arabs’ — also labelled ‘Saracens’ — and its relevance to the rise of Islam as a religion expressed in Arabic. It begins by considering two biographies written by John of Ephesus, one devoted to Zooras and the other to Simeon, ‘the Persian Debater’ who engaged in numerous confrontations with Christians called ‘Nestorians’ because of their belief in a ‘two-nature’ conception of Christ. Simeon also went to the camp of the Tayyoye of the house of Numan, where he made many converts, and persuaded their leaders to build a Christian church. After discussing the conversion of Tayyoye (‘Arabs’), this chapter explores how knowledge of the Bible was transmitted to the Saracens or Tayyoye. Finally, it describes the nature of Syriac identity, culture, and history as well as the flowering of Syriac from 485.
Imperial Asia Minor:Economic Prosperity and Names
Authors: Christian Marek
Published: February 2015

This paper deals with names in Anatolia which allude to various material goods of exceptional quality and/or rarity such as precious stones, aromatics, incense, etc., a large group of ‘exotics’ amongst them being imported from India, South Arabia and East Africa. The names’ occurrence shows a striking concentration in the imperial period; one might say that many were not deeply rooted in Greek onomastic tradition but attest to a recent fashion promoted and enhanced by the flourishing in particular of the Red Sea trade. The main attraction of such names may have consisted in their vague allusion to luxury, as is also regularly depicted on tombstones even in villages by symbols such as jewellery boxes, unguent jars, oil and perfume bottles, cases and chests.
Constructing the Meaning of Human Dignity: Four Questions
Authors: Dupré Catherine
Published: February 2015

This chapter argues that human dignity has a number of established and significant legal meanings and considers how the concept has been constructed. Using the provisions on human dignity enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights as an example of a recent legal formulation of human dignity in Europe, the chapter considers four key questions, namely what human dignity is, who makes human dignity, when human dignity emerged as a legal concept and why human dignity has been used as a legal concept. It is argued that understanding human dignity involves considering a range of possible answers to these questions. Methodological awareness of this plurality of narratives and narrators gives dignity its dynamism and usefulness as a legal concept.
Dignity: The Case Against
Authors: Rosen Michael
Published: February 2015

Is talk of human dignity mere humbug? That is, is the attribution of dignity to human beings the erection of a façade, flattering to human self-esteem but lacking in objectively justifiable content—a façade behind which (at best) judges and courts can get on with the practical business of developing a jurisprudence of human rights, shielded from the intrusive scepticism of philosophers and other seekers after rational foundations for legal practice, or one which (at worst) allows religious doctrines to be advanced at the expense of hard-won rights of autonomy and self-determination while keeping their dogmatic motivations concealed?
The Triple Dilemma of Human Dignity: A Case Study
Authors: Möllers Christoph
Published: February 2015

In a case decided in 2008 (K.U. v. Finland - 2872/02), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) was confronted with the case of a boy whose photo had been posted on the internet and used for a sexual advertisement by a third person without knowledge or consent. The service provider denied the police access feeling itself bound to national rules of data protection. The ECtHR, finally, held that under Art. 8 of the Convention, the right to privacy and family life, Finland was obliged to identify and sanction the wrongdoer. The decision refers to different problems that are regularly addressed under the heading of human dignity: sexual autonomy and communicative privacy. The case will serve as an example for three conceptual conflicts in the notion of human dignity: The conflict between a sphere of protected privacy and the development of a social personality, the conflict between individual autonomy and the protection by public authorities, and the conflict between general normative demands and case specific criteria. While human dignity might be a useful theoretical concept to depict these conflicts it cannot provide criteria to solve them.
Dignity as an Eschatological Concept
Authors: Walsh David
Published: February 2015

An eschatological concept is one we live within and therefore can never fully comprehend. Human dignity names what cannot be named. Rather than a claim to status it really marks the capacity to surrender all claim to status. Dignity is the flash of transcendence that is the epiphany of the person, the gift of self-presentation that is itself never fully presented. Rather than thinking of this as the core of the person we must acknowledge that persons are always more than any imputed core. This is what the language of rights has sought to affirm. That is, that within a world of limits, persons alone are inexhaustible. Each person is the whole of reality, as we perceive in the persons we love.
Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Simply Trying to Do the Right Thing
Authors: Brownsword Roger
Published: February 2015

In a context of rapidly emerging technologies, this chapter considers the bearing of human dignity on the regulatory environment. It opens by suggesting that one of the reasons why moral communities are now debating human dignity with such intensity is because of concerns arising from the rapid development of novel biotechnologies. Next, it considers how far it is possible to satisfy ideals of regulatory coherence when the regulation of emerging technologies hinges on our divided understanding of human dignity. Thirdly, it identifies two threats to human dignity that are immanent in modern regulatory thinking. One threat is a risk-management mentality that marginalizes (and possibly excludes) moral considerations; and the other is an over-reliance on technological instruments such that the complexion of the regulatory environment denies humans the opportunity to express their dignity.
Justifying Freedom of Religion: Does ‘Dignity’ Help?
Authors: Rivers Julian
Published: February 2015

Underlying the practice of the protection of freedom of religion in constitutional and human rights law is a debate about the justifications for such protection. Many of the arguments which have been offered during the emergence of the liberal democratic tradition from the seventeenth century onwards are instrumental or theological in nature. By contrast, modern justifications tend to be ‘dignitarian’ in character—non-instrumental and non-theological. Yet they struggle to identify religion as a sufficiently broad liberty-grounding good, or they dissolve freedom of religion into other rights of conscience, expression and association. In general, such dignitarian justifications fail to ground the practice of legally protected religious liberty in liberal democratic political traditions. One fundamental reason for this may lie in the anti-religious tendency of an emerging postmodern conception of human dignity.
‘A Communion in Good Living’: Human Dignity and Religious Liberty beyond the Overlapping Consensus
Authors: Harrison Joel
Published: February 2015

Can a religious tradition translate its language and beliefs into a shared ‘political’ conception of human dignity, one which views religious liberty as part of a general focus on equal concern and respect? This chapter argues that recent arguments for such a translation fail to account for the distinct ways in which different political and social ‘imaginaries’ deploy dignity and religious liberty. It examines two views. First, writing from within the liberal egalitarian tradition emphasising the individual’s capacity for self-definition as the heart of human dignity. Second, Christian personalist arguments emphasising the person as a ‘gift’ to social wholes, pursuing an inter-personal quest for true human ends. The chapter suggests that the latter view offers resources for a revitalized understanding of religious liberty.
Dignity, Choice, and Circumstances
Authors: Réaume Denise
Published: February 2015

Dignity is at least in part about choice, choices about the character and direction of one’s life. However, many do not enjoy autonomy-fostering circumstances and yet must still make choices. Such choices and the circumstances shaping them are often the context of social and economic rights contests in a wide array of concrete legal contexts. All too often, state actors, including judges, take the easy way out in resolving such contests—ratifying the choices made by desperate people as though they were autonomous and free. In doing so, they sometimes claim to be respecting the dignity of those whose choices they validate. This chapter offers a critique of simple invocations of choice in the name of dignity and argues for the need for a more complex understanding of the autonomy dimension of human dignity.
Dignity as Perception: Recognition of the Human Individual and the Individual Animal in Legal Thought
Authors: Vining Joseph
Published: February 2015

The individual recognized in law and life is more than the product exclusively of two factors, ‘the genetic’ and ‘the environmental’. There is a third element sensed, consciously or instinctively. When recognized the individual begins to block calculation as a form of thought—looking for justification in relative numbers, thinking in terms of systems. If perception of the individual does not block calculation entirely, it acts as a pressure in the mind towards a different kind of thinking, facing the tragic in choices and moving into the world of remorse, forgiveness, and beginning again. This same shift in thought can be seen repeatedly in modern developments in the legal treatment of animals. Whether or not the term ‘dignity’ is used in law with regard to animals, an understanding of human dignity can be clarified or confirmed by turning to its analogue where sentient creatures beyond the human are concerned.
Discourses of Dignity
Authors: Neuman Gerald L.
Published: February 2015

The advantages of dialogue across disciplines concerning human dignity should not distract us from the reality that different intellectual disciplines have different discourses and methods. In particular, positive legal systems (which are plural, not singular) produce their own functional understandings of human dignity, and these understandings are influenced by consensual and institutional factors as well as moral (or ‘suprapositive’) factors. Philosophical and religious traditions can contribute insights to debates within the legal discourses, but those insights need to be rephrased into terms that are accessible to outsiders to those traditions. Such rephrasing is especially necessary at the level of the global human rights system, where all philosophical schools and all religions have minority status.
Editorial
Authors: Janet Carsten
Published: February 2015

An introduction to the British Academy’s public lecture programme.
The Making and Breaking of States: The End of Empire in India Revisited
Authors: Brown Judith M.
Published: February 2015

Recent events in the Arab world have sharpened and widened public interest in the way states can be broken and made. Since the end of the Second World War the world has seen three great waves of state-breaking and state-making: the end of European empires; the collapse of the Soviet Union; and the contemporary ‘Arab Spring’. By revisiting an example from the first of these great waves, perhaps the greatest ‘imperial ending’—the end of British imperial rule in India in 1947, this lecture investigates issues which may prove instructive in probing the dynamics of other phases of turbulence in the structures and nature of states. It addresses four major questions which are relevant across the many different episodes of state breaking and making, with the help of evidence from the case of the South Asian subcontinent. What is the relationship between state and society and the patterns of relationship which help to determine the nature and vulnerability of the state? What makes a viable and destabilising opposition to the imperial state? What is the nature of the breaking or collapse of that state? How are states refashioned out of the inheritance of the previous regime and the breaking process?
Introduction
Authors: Beckmann Nadine , Gusman Alessandro , Shroff Catrine , Dijk Rijk van
Published: February 2015

The AIDS pandemic has given rise to transnational connections through which ideas and resources in relation to HIV/AIDS flow between Western and African organisations, as well as between organisations on the African continent. This book argues that religious and faith-based organisations in Africa engage in these transnational connections, which have underlying, scripted, hidden, or rather explicit moral codes. In other words, there are strings attached. The Introduction outlines key strands of transnational theory and interrelations between religion, sexuality, and AIDS in Africa. It shows how matters of sexual morality have been at the centre of conservative political agendas and a central concern in religious and transnational public health interventions. It argues that this linkage between conservatism and a dominant trajectory in the flows of transnational resources, ideas, attitudes and expertise is deeply problematic, since it corroborates stereotyped ideas of what religion is doing in the context of AIDS and sexuality, while ignoring counter-movements among both Christian and Muslim organisations aiming to find other ways of approaching the moral dilemmas posed by HIV/AIDS. Moreover, this linkage raises the question of what exactly conservatism is in an African context.
Hands Across the Sea: Religion, Politics, Gender and Sex, in the US and Africa
Authors: Grundfest Schoepf Brooke
Published: February 2015

Moralist strictures against comprehensive sex education and condom use, and stigmatising views of sufferers leave many people, especially girls, women, and men who have sex with men, vulnerable to HIV infection, unable to use condom protection, and afraid to test or to seek treatment. Following an overview of AIDS in Africa, the chapter traces some of the hegemonic patriarchal discourses of powerful actors in the United States and their resonances in Africa, beginning with field experiences in Kinshasa from the mid-1980s. It examines cross-cutting currents in discourse, policy and practice with respect to HIV/AIDS that flow between the US and sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the ideology and programme of ultra-conservative ‘Christian right’ leaders in the US, with special attention to gender and sexuality. These are related to discourses of ‘tradition’ in Africa and the struggle to eliminate AIDS, and to consolidate human rights in Africa and the US.
From an Activist’ s Point of View: Experiencing Transnational Dynamics among African Migrant Communities in the UK
Authors: Ajibade Ijeoma
Published: February 2015

This essay provides a practical illustration of how transnational dynamics are taking place within African migrant communities in the UK. It discusses the work of three community organisations from the perspective of a religious leader who also considers herself to be an activist. It explores her thoughts on the kinds of dynamics that she has witnessed within her community work. In this way the chapter provides a perspective of UK/African transnational dynamics which is rooted in practical experience. It shows the ways in which myths and prejudice about sexuality and HIV can be challenged at community level by allowing migrant communities to take the lead in addressing these issues within their communities. Through this process individuals are able to negotiate both their sexuality and HIV in a way that takes account of their conservative cultures. This process of learning and change is not limited to the specific communities involved, but has an impact on the host country through the public policy process.
Global Moralities, Local Responses
Authors: Sadgrove Joanna
Published: February 2015

Kampala is just one place where the AIDS pandemic has generated a plethora of contradictory codes for the sexual behaviour of young people, influenced by a range of transnational actors. Yet amidst the discursive complexities and possibilities, it remains a considerable concern for many to present as a ‘good’, ‘respectable’ person, signalling recourse to local, enduring notions of what constitutes honourable behaviour in Ganda society. Drawing on ethnographic data from a group of Pentecostal university students, this chapter explores the implications of the reification of moral character for the sexual behaviour of young born-again Christians. The critical importance of secrecy and discretion around sexual behaviour is revealed. Based on this evidence, I argue against the analytical dangers of assuming a direct relationship between what Pentecostal Christians might say about their sexual behaviour and their actual sexual behaviour.
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Transnational Religious Networks Encounter Community Realities
Authors: Patterson Amy S.
Published: February 2015

This chapter analyses the disjuncture between the Abstinence and Be Faithful (AB) programmes of HIV prevention supported by many transnational FBOs and funded by PEPFAR, and the implementation of those programmes in urban Zambia. While AB messages are conveyed to some sub-populations, they are noticeably absent among Zambian support groups for people living with HIV, groups that have increasingly become involved in HIV prevention. This disconnect results from different understandings of prevention, assumptions about personal responsibility and autonomy in sexual choices, local groups’ desire to develop non-prevention programmes, and the need for poverty reduction among many Zambians. The multiple layers of policy implementation evident in a programme like PEPFAR created space for these nuanced interpretations, demonstrating how local organisations may exhibit power in their relations with donors.
Condoms, Pills and Professional Identity
Authors: Mubanda Rasmussen Louise
Published: February 2015

Ethnographic research with different Catholic HIV/AIDS projects in Uganda revealed a remarkable contrast between HIV prevention and HIV counselling with regard to the condom question. Whereas HIV prevention facilitators usually followed the official Catholic policy and discouraged condom use, HIV counsellors most often encouraged their clients to use condoms. Taking this contrast as a starting point, this chapter analyses the position and practices of HIV counsellors in Catholic HIV/AIDS projects in Uganda. It focuses on the way counsellors negotiate and transform counselling techniques and notions of appropriate sexuality in the context of ARV treatment, and how these negotiations are connected to both transnational dynamics and local moral discourses. The chapter illustrates how the local professional identity of HIV counsellors and the transnational relations of the ART scale-up project appear to structure the counsellors’ approach to condom use much more than the official policy of the Catholic Church.