bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fictional Persuasion, Transparency, and the Aim of Belief
Authors: Sullivan-Bissett Ema
Published: November 2017

This chapter argues that some beliefs from fiction present a problem for the truth-aim teleological account of belief. It outlines Nishi Shah’s teleologist’s dilemma, which challenges the teleologist to explain the focus on truth in deliberation over what to believe, but to do this in a way which does not exclude attitudes which are less regulated for truth from counting as beliefs. This chapter has responded to the dilemma by arguing that what demarcates belief from other attitudes is the descriptive characteristic of weak truth regulation, secured by the aim of truth. This chapter draws on empirical literature to give a version of the dilemma which appeals to beliefs from fiction. It argues that these beliefs are problematic for the teleological account, since they indicate that there is not a basic level of truth regulation common to all beliefs, as the account claims, and thus the teleologist’s dilemma remains.
The Genuine Attitude View of Fictional Belief
Authors: Buckwalter Wesley , Tullmann Katherine
Published: November 2017

The distinct-attitude view of fictional narratives is a standard position in contemporary aesthetics. This is the view that cognitive attitudes formed in response to fictions are a distinct kind of mental state from beliefs formed in response to non-fictional scenarios, such as pretend or imaginary states. This chapter argues that the balance of functional, behavioral, and neuroscientific evidence best supports the genuine-attitude view of belief. According to the genuine-attitude view, cognitive responses to fictions are genuine beliefs that are not a distinct kind of mental state from the beliefs that we form in response to non-fictional scenarios. The chapter considers the implications of the genuine-attitude view for debates at the intersection of epistemology, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind.
The Legal Thought of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
Authors: Hernandez Rebecca
Published: November 2017

This book offers a new theoretical perspective on the thought of the great fifteenth-century Egyptian polymath, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505). In spite of the enormous popularity that al-Suyūṭī’s works continue to enjoy amongst scholars and students in the Muslim world, he remains underappreciated by western academia. This project contributes to the fields of Mamluk Studies, Islamic Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies not only an interdisciplinary analysis of al-Suyūṭī’s legal writing within its historical context, but also a reflection on the legacy of the medieval jurist to modern debates. The study highlights the discursive strategies that the jurist uses to construct his own authority and frame his identity as a superior legal scholar during a key transitional moment in Islamic history. The approach aims for a balance between detailed textual analysis and “big picture” questions of how legal identity and religious authority are constructed, negotiated, and maintained. Al-Suyūṭī’s struggle for authority as one of a select group of trained experts vested with the moral responsibility of interpreting God’s law in society finds echoes in contemporary debates, particularly in his native land of Egypt. At a time when increasing numbers of people in the Arab world have raised their voices to demand democratic forms of government that nevertheless stay true to the principles of Sharīʿa, the issue of who has the ultimate authority to interpret the sources of law, to set legal norms, and to represent the “voice” of Sharīʿa principles in society is still in dispute.
Introduction
Authors: Hernandez Rebecca Skreslet
Published: November 2017

This introduction sets out the scope of the book’s argument and explains why Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī is such an interesting figure in the history of Islamic legal thought. It describes the reception of al-Suyūṭī’s work at home in Cairo and abroad as well as his lasting legacy. It outlines the analytical framework and the importance of interdisciplinary methods, including discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, anthropology, history, religious studies, and literary criticism to the argument of the book. An explanation of how al-Suyūṭī’s life can inform our understanding of the current situation in modern Egypt is followed by a review of the secondary literature and a full outline of each chapter.
Pierre Bayle and Biblical Criticism
Authors: Bernier Jean
Published: November 2017

The Huguenot refugee Pierre Bayle (1647–1706) quickly gained fame in the Republic of Letters as an omnivorous reader and prolific writer. He also touched upon the interpretation of biblical texts, but his interest in the subject developed only gradually. This chapter distinguishes four periods. In the first stage, Bayle studied the Bible thoroughly, but without any knowledge of biblical criticism. Nonetheless he thought that ‘a clever man’ could profit from it in order to arrive at a better understanding of the Bible. In his second phase, a genuine interest in biblical criticism was fuelled by Richard Simon’s attacks on the reliability of the text. In the third phase, Bayle ventured to acclaim Simon’s highly controversial works for their precise and balanced judgements on many delicate religious issues. Finally, in the Dictionaire historique et critique Bayle engaged in the practice of biblical criticism himself.
Retirement and Cognitive Functioning
Authors: Fonseca Raquel , Kapteyn Arie , Zamarro Gema
Published: November 2017

This chapter surveys recent literature on the effects of retirement on cognitive functioning at older ages around the world. Studies using similar data, definitions of cognition, and instruments to capture causal effects find that being retired leads to a decline of cognition, controlling for different specifications of age functions and other covariates. The size and significance of the estimated effects varied depending on specifications used, such as whether or not models included fixed effects, dynamic specifications, or alternative specifications of instrumental variables. The authors replicated several of these results using the same datasets. Factors that are likely causing the differences across specifications include endogeneity of right-hand side variables, and heterogeneity across gender, occupation, or skill levels. Results were especially sensitive to the inclusion of country fixed effects, to control for unobserved country differences, suggesting the key role of unobserved differences across countries, which both affect retirement ages and cognitive decline.
Surfing the Quantum World
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Surfing the Quantum World bridges the gap between in-depth textbooks and typical popular science books on quantum ideas and phenomena. Among its significant features is the description of a host of mind-bending phenomena, such as a quantum object being in two places at once or a certain minus sign being the most consequential in the universe. Much of its first part is historical, starting with the ancient Greeks and their concepts of light, and ending with the creation of quantum mechanics. The second part begins by applying quantum mechanics and its probability nature to a pedagogical system, the one-dimensional box, an analog of which is a musical-instrument string. This is followed by a gentle introduction to the fundamental principles of quantum theory, whose core concepts and symbolic representations are the foundation for most of the subsequent chapters. For instance, it is shown how quantum theory explains the properties of the hydrogen atom and, via quantum spin and Pauli’s Exclusion Principle, how it accounts for the structure of the periodic table. White dwarf and neutron stars are seen to be gigantic quantum objects, while the maximum height of mountains is shown to have a quantum basis. Among the many other topics considered are a variety of interference phenomena, those that display the wave properties of particles like electrons and photons, and even of large molecules. The book concludes with a wide-ranging discussion of interpretational and philosophic issues, introduced in Chapters 14 by entanglement and 15 by Schrödinger’s cat.
The Nature of Light
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 2 reviews answers to the question of what is light, starting with the ancient Greeks and ending in 1900 with the wave concept of Maxwell’s electrodynamics. For some ancient Greeks, light consisted of atoms emitted from surface of the object, whereas for others it was fire that either entered into or was emitted by eyes, although the latter possibility was effectively eliminated around the year 1000. Competing proposals well after then were that light is either a wave phenomenon or consists of particles, with Isaac Newton’s corpuscular (particle) theory prevailing by the end of the 1600s over the wave concept championed by Christiaan Huygens, who published the first estimate of the speed of light. In the early 1800s, Thomas Young’s two-slit experiment proved that light was a wave, a concept codified and firmly grounded through Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetic waves.
The Reality of Atoms
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 3 focuses on the concept of atoms, which dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Leucippus, who claimed that everything consisted of them. This view began to be accepted among scientists when John Dalton championed it in the 1800s, although he was wrong in his atomic structure of molecules. That was corrected not long after by Jöns Berzelius. From then on the reality of atoms, and whether those of chemistry were the same as those of physics was a matter of debate. The theory of statistical mechanics, developed in the second half of the nineteenth century, helped establish their reality for most physicists, while many chemists were won over later, in part by the periodic table developed by the Russian Dimitri Mendeleev. Nearly every scientist was finally convinced by the explanation of Brownian motion by Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski, whose formulas were verified by Jean Perrin in 1909.
The Nuclear Atom
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 5 describes how the concept of quantization (discretization) was first applied to atoms. This was done in 1913 by Niels Bohr, using Ernest Rutherford’s paradigm-changing, solar-system model of atomic structure, wherein the positively charged nucleus occupies a tiny central space, much smaller than the known sizes of atoms. Bohr, postulating a quantized version of this model for hydrogen, was able to explain previously inexplicable experimental features of that atom. He did so via an ad hoc quantization procedure that discretized the single electron’s energy, its angular momentum, and the radii of the orbits it could be in around the nucleus, formulas forwhich are presented, along with a diagram displaying the quantized energies. Despite this success, Bohr’s model failed not only for helium, with its two electrons, but for all other neutral atoms. It left some physicists hopeful, ready for whatever the next step might be.
Quantum Boxes, Stringed Instruments
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 7 illustrates the results obtained by applying the Schrödinger equation to a simple pedagogical quantum system, the particle in a one-dimensional box. The wave functions are seen to be sine waves; their wavelengths are evaluated and used to calculate the quantized energies via the de Broglie relation. An energy-level diagram of some of the energies is constructed; on it are illustrations of the corresponding wave functions and probability distributions. The wave functions are seen to be either symmetric or antisymmetric about the midpoint of the line representing the box, thereby providing a lead-in to the later exploration of certain symmetry properties of multi-electron atoms. It is next pointed out that the Schrödinger equation for this system is identical to Newton’s equation describing the vibrations of a stretched musical string. The different meaning of the two solutions is discussed, as is the concept and structure of linear superpositions of them.
The Hydrogen Atom and Its Colorful Photons
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

The energies, kets and wave functions obtained from the Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom are examined in Chapter 9. Three quantum numbers are identified. The energies turn out to be the same as in the Bohr model, and an energy-level diagram appropriate to the quantum description is constructed. Graphs of the probability distributions are interpreted as the electron being in a “cloud” around the proton, rather than at a fixed position: the atom is fuzzy, not sharp-edged. The wavelengths of the five photons of the Balmer series are shown to be in the visible range. These photons are emitted when electrons transition from higher-excited states to the second lowest one, which means that electronic-type transitions underlie the presence of colors in our visible environment. The non-collapse of the atom, required by classical physics, is shown to arise from the structure of Schrödinger’s equation.
Spin ½ and the Periodic Table
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Some major quantal developments are described in Chapter 10. The Stern-Gerlach experiment is encountered first, wherein a beam of silver atoms is deflected by a magnetic field, leading to a pair of traces on a detecting plate. Next is the proposal that electrons have a new attribute known as spin, used to explain the Stern-Gerlach result, thereby confirming the validity of this new attribute. To account for the structure of the periodic table, the central-field approximation is introduced. In it, electrons in an atom are treated like those in hydrogen, except that they have four not three quantum numbers, the fourth related to spin. The Pauli Exclusion Principle requires that no four can be the same for any electron in the atom, a feature that explains the occurrence of shells in the periodic table. The electronic structure of various atoms is stated, with silver being a giant spin ½ system.
Interference Phenomena: Exploring the Essential Mystery
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 11 introduces the essential mystery of quantum mechanics, shows how it is resolved, and then goes on to examine related phenomena. The mystery is how individual photons, not electromagnetic waves, can give rise to the interference pattern seen in the two-slit experiment. They are shown to do so because the relevant quantum amplitude is a linear combination of two terms, leading to the pattern when neither slit is identified as the one the photon went through, but collapsing to one term and no pattern if the slit is identified. Similar results are shown to occur when individual electrons are incident on the two slits, and when large molecules, which have de Broglie wavelengths, are scattered by diffraction gratings. Many other interference experiments are described, including those where a photon was shown to be in two places simultaneously and one where a photon displayed both wave and particle features.
Entanglement and the Elements of Reality
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 14 examines entangled quantum systems, hidden variable theories and Bell’s inequality. In 1935, Einstein and collaborators, postulating the existence of elements of reality, analyzed an entangled system and concluded that quantum theory was incomplete. Their analysis is described using spin singlets, which are entangled states of two spin ½ particles. A possible avoidance of their conclusion is by using hidden variable theories. In analyzing a class of local hidden variable theories, John Bell derived an equality that could test them. This was done by experiments using entangled photons; their results violated the inequality, thereby establishing that quantum mechanics, not local hidden variable theories, is the correct description. Later theoretical analysis, and relevant experimental results, strongly supported this. A further theoretical analysis, involving just a single measurement, led to a pronounced conclusion: farewell to the elements of reality. Ditto as well to the spooky-action-at-a-distance problem that had so bothered Einstein.
Schrödinger’s Cat and the Meaning of It All
Authors: Levin Frank S.
Published: November 2017

Chapter 15 deals with various unresolved issues, such as how measurements are to be described, whether they induce collapse of linear superpositions, and if so, what the result should be. Another is whether quantum mechanics applies to macroscopic measuring devices, and if not, why not. Some of these issues are addressed via the Schrödinger cat-in-the-box experiment, in particular whether the cat is ever half alive and half dead; analogs of the corresponding Schrödinger-cat state (not involving a cat) have been studied experimentally. For Schrödinger, it was ridiculous to apply quantum mechanics to macroscopic situations, nevertheless, it has been explored by many physicists. Whether measurements induce collapse and whether collapse arises in various formulations/interpretations of quantum mechanics is examined in the context of generic measuring instruments known as pointer devices. Various conclusions have been reached, though consensus has not, despite only one interpretation having been verified experimentally.
Greek Sources
Authors: Nissinen Martti
Published: November 2017

In this chapter, the Greek sources are discussed in two parts: first, the epigraphic sources such as the lead tablets from Dodona and the inscriptions from Didyma and Claros, and second, the literary sources containing narratives on consultations of the oracles at Delphi, Didyma, and Claros. Although not a single original oracle report from Delphi, the most famous oracle site in the Greek world, has been preserved, the evidence of the Delphic oracle is examined through literary sources. Oracle collections from Athens and Sparta and their connection with chresmologues are also discussed.
Prophecy and Ecstasy
Authors: Nissinen Martti
Published: November 2017

The prophetic performance is typically associated with a specific state of mind variously called ecstasy, trance, or possession. This chapter demonstrates that an altered state of consciousness appears as a prerequisite of the prophetic performance in ancient Near Eastern, Greek, and biblical texts. One of the designations of Mesopotamian prophets, muḫḫûm/maḫḫû, implies an ecstatic performance, and many biblical prophets engage in ecstatic behavior, seeing visions, and making spirit journeys. In Greek sources, the divine possession of the Delphic Pythia is taken for granted, and also the prophets of Didyma, Dodona, and Claros are believed to have been influenced by the divine spirit. Neither the Greek nor the Near Eastern sources specify how the altered state of consciousness was reached. The essential thing was that they were divinely inspired, not how the inspiration manifested itself.
Prophets and Temples
Authors: Nissinen Martti
Published: November 2017

This chapter collects evidence of temples as venues of the prophetic performance, prophets among the temple personnel and as advocates (sometimes even critics) of temple worship at Mari and in Assyria, in Greek sanctuaries, and in Jerusalem. The chapter discusses prophets and temples (institutions of religious worship)—the function and significance of temples and cult places varied according to their size, location, wealth, and status; their legitimacy and symbolic significance provided an identity for the community they served and the maintenance of their symbolic universe. The most important sanctuaries featuring in the sources are the temple of Dagan at Terqa (Mari) and that of Ištar in Arbela (Assyria); the temples of Apollo at Delphi, Didyma, and Claros, and that of Zeus at Dodona; and the temple of Jerusalem.
Prophets and Kings
Authors: Nissinen Martti
Published: November 2017

This chapter highlights the significance of prophecy for political decision-making from the point of view of royal ideology and communication between prophets and rulers, not forgetting the critical potential of prophecy. Throughout the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, political leadership was divinely sanctioned; all important decisions had to be subjected to the divine will, and the diviners were the professionals who were believed to be able to find it out. What unites different divinatory practices is their function in guiding decision-making in society by means of revealing the divine will. Prophets, like other diviners, acted as instruments of divine encouragement and warning, and they were typically consulted in situations of war and crises.
Prophecy and Gender
Authors: Nissinen Martti
Published: November 2017

This chapter demonstrates that prophecy was a gendered phenomenon, but the prophetic role was not generally gender-specific, which is remarkable in the patriarchal cultures within which prophecy functioned. The chapter approaches the issue of gender and prophetic divination from a comparative perspective. First, a taxonomy of gender of the prophets and deities in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean is presented, followed by a discussion on the agency of the prophets from the gender point of view. The chapter concludes by analyzing the gendered representations of deities and their alleged agency, that of the goddess Ištar in particular.
Keyholes for Comparative Reconstruction
Authors: Nissinen Martti
Published: November 2017

The most important thing to be taken into account when attempting to reconstruct ancient divination is the nature of the source material. Every single text tells us something about the historical phenomenon. When put together, the texts provide a set of “keyholes” that show parts of the historical prophetic landscape, but at the same time hide even bigger parts of it. This chapter draws together the views to be seen through the keyholes, identifying the common category of prophecy in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean cultural sphere. Without a comparative perspective, the picture of ancient prophecy available from fragmented sources would never grow bigger, and the question of the larger landscape visible through different keyholes would not emerge.
The International Criminal Court and the African Union
Authors: Naldi Gino , Magliveras Konstantinos D
Published: November 2017

This chapter examines the context of the Africa–ICC relationship, tracing the roots of the friction between the ICC, and by extension some of its European member states, and the African Union (AU), which has been the voice of those African nations disenchanted, if not outraged, by indictments and prosecutions against African leaders and politicians. Given that the ICC Prosecutor has focused exclusively on the African continent, there is widespread AU criticism that the pursuit of international criminal justice is solely concerned with African politics. The chapter demonstrates that the tension between the ICC and the AU has been exacerbated by the recent prosecution of cases involving Kenya, which became a major political issue in the East African nation. The chapter contends that the AU’s disenchantment with the ICC has led leaders in the continent to push various local justice alternatives under the banner of ‘African solutions to African problems’.
National Implementation of the ICC Statute to Prosecute International Crimes in Africa
Authors: Bekou Olympia
Published: November 2017

This chapter provides a comparative overview of how states from the African continent have sought to implement action against the crimes contained in the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It first explores the importance of national implementing legislation for the effective functioning of the ICC and then focuses on some key aspects of the domestic incorporation of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. In doing so, emphasis is placed on those states that follow the wording of the Statute, but also on those that go beyond the text of the various articles in the ICC Statute. Regarding the latter, whether an expansive approach is desirable is also discussed. In addition, the chapter explores those national provisions that are narrower than the Statute and briefly discusses what the implications might be for domestic investigations and prosecutions in respect of core international crimes.
Why Does Inequality Matter?
Authors: Scanlon T. M.
Published: November 2017

Demands for equality can seem puzzling, because it can be unclear what reason people have for objecting to the difference between what they have and what others have, as opposed simply to wanting to be better off. This book examines six objections to inequality: unequal concern, unequal status, lack of equality of opportunity, excessive control by the rich over those who have less, interference with political equality, and unfairness in the distribution of income. The aim of the book is to provide a moral anatomy of these six reasons and the ideas of equality that they involve. It also examines objections to the pursuit of equality on the grounds that it involves unacceptable interference with individual liberty, and argues that ideas of desert do not provide a basis either for justifying significant economic inequality or for objecting to it.
Literature and Party Politics at the Accession of Queen Anne
Authors: Hone Joseph
Published: November 2017

This book is the first detailed study of the final Stuart succession crisis. It demonstrates for the first time the centrality of debates about royal succession to the literature and political culture of the early eighteenth century. Using previously neglected, misunderstood, and newly discovered material, it shows that arguments about Anne’s right to the throne were crucial to the construction of nascent party political identities. Literary texts were the principal vehicle through which contemporaries debated the new queen’s legitimacy. This book sheds fresh light on canonical authors such as Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope, and Joseph Addison by setting their writing alongside the work of lesser known but nonetheless important figures such as John Tutchin, William Pittis, Nahum Tate, John Dennis, Henry Sacheverell, Charles Leslie, and other anonymous and pseudonymous authors. Through close historical readings, it shows how this new generation of poets, preachers, and pamphleteers transformed older models of succession writing by Milton, Dryden, and others, and imbued conventional genres such as panegyric and satire with their own distinctive poetics. By immersing the major authors in their milieu, and reconstructing the political and material contexts in which those authors wrote, this book demonstrates the vitality of debates about royal succession in early eighteenth-century culture.
Inference in the Real World
Authors: Golan Amos
Published: November 2017

In this chapter I provide a mix of detailed cross-disciplinary examples to illustrate the method in real-world settings. The examples in this chapter illustrate modeling and inference in a relatively simple set of problems. After exploring single-parameter applications under very limited information, I consider multi-parameter problems, beginning with the inference of a two-parameter size distribution of firms. This demonstrates a main characteristic of social science problems where the available information is most often insufficient to provide a very exact inference. Then a simple ecological example is formulated. It provides an interesting theoretical application of analyzing complex ecological networks based on very limited macro-level information. The chapter concludes with a simple formulation of efficient network and information aggregation. A few shorter examples are provided as well.
Advanced Inference in the Real World
Authors: Golan Amos
Published: November 2017

In this chapter I continue the voyage into info-metrics in action, with an emphasis on more advanced info-metric inference in real-world environments. I develop a sequence of increasingly complex applications. In the first example, the maximum entropy method is extended for inferring interval information, with an application to weather data. The next example introduces additional conditional information into the constraints. It is a laboratory example, complemented with simulated data matched to observed population frequencies. The last example is the most complex, using surprisal analysis and Bayes’s rule to infer conditional probabilities from brain tumor data. In each problem the quantities whose entropy is maximized are identified and motivated. These examples demonstrate the power and generality of the info-metrics framework by showing that it allows inference in a variety of realistic settings.
A Complete Info-Metrics Framework
Authors: Golan Amos
Published: November 2017

In this chapter I develop the complete info-metrics framework for inferring problems and theories under all types of uncertainty and missing information. That framework allows for uncertainty in the observed values and about the functional form, as captured by the constraints. Using the derivations of Chapter 8, it also extends the info-metrics framework to include priors. The basic properties of the complete framework are developed as well. Generally speaking, that framework can be viewed as a “meta-theory”—a theory of how to construct theories and consistent models given the available information. This accrues all the benefits of the maximum entropy formalism but additionally accommodates a larger class of problems. The derivations are complemented with a complete visual representation of the info-metrics framework. Theoretical and empirical applications are provided.
Causal Inference via Constraint Satisfaction
Authors: Golan Amos
Published: November 2017

In this chapter I introduce a number of ideas connected to causal inference that are inherently connected to info-metrics. In the context of this chapter, causal inference means the causality inferred from the available information. I begin by introducing and examining nonmonotonic and default logics, which were developed to deal with extremely high conditional probabilities. Other facets of info-metrics and causal inference are then discussed. I also show the direct effect of the complete set of input information on the inferred solution. I conclude the chapter with a detailed Markov example providing a more traditional approach to causal inference, developed within the info-metrics framework. The example builds on the notion of exogeneity and demonstrates that the info-metrics framework provides a simple way of incorporating additional exogenous information, thereby opening the way for empirical testing of causal inference. A short summary of the notion of “pure” causality is also provided.
Info-Metrics and Statistical Inference
Authors: Golan Amos
Published: November 2017

In this chapter I concentrate on continuous inferential problems: problems where the dependent variable is continuous, such as classical regression problems. As in the previous chapter, using duality theory, I show that the info-metrics framework is general enough to include the class of information-theoretic methods as a special case. The formulation is developed for the classical regression problem, but the results apply to many other problems. A detailed discussion of the benefits and costs of using the info-metrics framework is provided and contrasted with other approaches. I use theoretical examples and policy-relevant applications to demonstrate the method. The common problem of misspecification is also discussed and studied within the info-metrics framework. I show that a misspecified model and a correctly specified one can yield similar answers. The appendices provide detailed discussions of the generalized method of moments and the Bayesian method of moments. Both are connected to info-metrics.
Food and Nutrition Economics
Authors: Davis George C. , Serrano Elena L.
Published: November 2017

At the heart of most food, nutrition, and health decisions and concerns is an economic issue. Consequently, understanding some basic economics is imperative to evaluate the likely effectiveness of food and nutrition policies or interventions, especially those designed to operate through economic channels. Section I of the book provides the fundamentals of nutrition. Section II provides the fundamentals of consumer economics, from both the neo-classical and behavioral economics perspectives. Section III gives an overview of the US food system and the fundamentals of food production economics. Section IV gives the fundamentals of market analysis, including horizontally and vertically related markets. Section V gives an overview of cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis of nutrition interventions. The general structure for most chapters is to first motivate the importance of the topic, present the economic approach to analysing the topic, intersperse the text with some examples and questions applying the concepts, and conclude with what has been found in the empirical literature related to the topic. A hypothetical conversation between a nutritionist and an economist runs throughout the book to help give the book a conversational feel and motivate and summarize each chapter.
Comparative Political Economy
Authors: Menz Georg
Published: November 2017

This new and comprehensive volume invites the reader on a tour of the exciting subfield of comparative political economy. The book provides an in-depth account of the theoretical debates surrounding different models of capitalism. Tracing the origins of the field back to Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats, the development of the study of models of political-economic governance is laid out and reviewed. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) sets itself apart from International Political Economy (IPE), focusing on domestic economic and political institutions that compose in combination diverse models of political economy. Drawing on evidence from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and Japan, the volume affords detailed coverage of the systems of industrial relations, finance, welfare states, and the economic role of the state. There is also a chapter that charts the politics of public and private debt. Much of the focus in CPE has rested on ideas, interests, and institutions, but the subfield ought to take the role of culture more seriously. This book offers suggestions for doing so. It is intended as an introduction to the field for postgraduate students, yet it also offers new insights and fresh inspiration for established scholars. The Varieties of Capitalism approach seems to have reached an impasse, but it could be rejuvenated by exploring the composite elements of different models and what makes them hang together. Rapidly changing technological parameters, new and more recent environmental challenges, demographic change, and immigration will all affect the governance of the various political economy models throughout the OECD. The final section of the book analyses how these impending challenges will reconfigure and threaten to destabilize established national systems of capitalism.
Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics
Authors: Rau Jochen
Published: November 2017

Statistical physics and thermodynamics describe the behaviour of systems on the macroscopic scale. Their methods are applicable to a wide range of phenomena: from heat engines to chemical reactions, from the interior of stars to the melting of ice. Indeed, the laws of thermodynamics are among the most universal ones of all laws of physics. Yet this subject can prove difficult to grasp. Many view thermodynamics as merely a collection of ad hoc recipes, or are confused by unfamiliar novel concepts, such as the entropy, which have little in common with the theories to which students have got accustomed in other areas of physics. This text provides a concise yet thorough introduction to the key concepts which underlie statistical physics and thermodynamics. It begins with a review of classical probability theory and quantum theory, as well as a careful discussion of the notions of information and entropy, prior to embarking on the development of statistical physics proper. The crucial steps leading from the microscopic to the macroscopic domain are rendered transparent. In particular, the laws of thermodynamics are shown to emerge as natural consequences of the statistical framework. While the emphasis is on clarifying the basic concepts, the text also contains many applications and classroom-tested exercises, covering all major topics of a standard course on statistical physics and thermodynamics. The text is suited both for a one-semester course at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level and as a self-contained tutorial guide for students in physics, chemistry, and engineering.
The Practice of Socialist Internationalism
Authors: Imlay Talbot
Published: November 2017

The Practice of Socialist Internationalism examines the efforts of British, French, and German socialist parties to cooperate with one another on concrete international issues. Drawing on archival research in twelve countries, it spans the years from the First World War to the early 1960s, paying particular attention to the two post-war periods (1918 to the late 1920s and 1945 to the mid-1950s), during which national and international politics were recast. During these years, European socialists operated simultaneously in national and transnational spaces, and the book explores the ways in which these two spaces overlapped. In addition to highlighting a neglected dimension of twentieth-century European socialism, it provides novel perspectives on two related subjects: the history of internationalism and the history of international politics. Scholars of internationalism focus either on state or on non-state actors (INGOs), but socialist parties constituted something of a hybrid: rooted more firmly in national politics than most INGOs, they were also more self-consciously internationalist than state actors. Just as importantly, European socialists sought to forge a new practice of international relations, one that would emerge from their collective efforts to work out ‘socialist’ approaches to pressing issues of European politics such as post-war reconstruction, European integration, and decolonization. While the extent of their success is debatable, the efforts of European socialists to identify distinct approaches act as a spotlight, illuminating obscure yet vital aspects of an issue.
Non-linear development of secular gravitational instability in protoplanetary disks
Authors: Tominaga Ryosuke T , Inutsuka Shu-ichiro , Takahashi Sanemichi Z
Published: November 2017

We perform non-linear simulation of secular gravitational instability (GI) in protoplanetary disks, which has been proposed as a mechanism of planetesimal and multiple ring formation. Since the timescale of the growth of the secular GI is much longer than the Keplerian rotation period, we develop a new numerical scheme for a long-term calculation utilizing the concept of symplectic integration. With our new scheme, we first investigate the non-linear development of the secular GI in a disk without a pressure gradient in the initial state. We find that the surface density of dust increases by more than a factor of 100 while that of gas does not increase even by a factor of 2, which results in the formation of dust-dominated rings. A line mass of the dust ring tends to be very close to the critical line mass of a self-gravitating isothermal filament. Our results indicate that the non-linear growth of the secular GI provides a powerful mechanism to concentrate the dust. We also find that the dust ring formed via the non-linear growth of the secular GI migrates inward with a low velocity, which is driven by the self-gravity of the ring. We give a semi-analytical expression for the inward migration speed of the dusty ring.
Restoring Faculty Vitality in Academic Medicine When Burnout Threatens
Authors: Shah Darshana T. , Williams Valerie N. , Thorndyke Luanne E. , Marsh E. Eugene , Sonnino Roberta E. , Block Steven M. , Viggiano Thomas R.
Published: November 2017

Increasing rates of burnout—with accompanying stress and lack of engagement—among faculty, residents, students, and practicing physicians have caused alarm in academic medicine. Central to the debate among academic medicine’s stakeholders are oft-competing issues of social accountability; cost containment; effectiveness of academic medicine’s institutions; faculty recruitment, retention, and satisfaction; increasing expectations for faculty; and mission-based productivity.

The authors propose that understanding and fostering what contributes to faculty and institutional vitality is central to preventing burnout during times of change. They first look at faculty vitality and how it is threatened by burnout, to provide a framework for a greater understanding of faculty well-being. Then they draw on higher education literature to determine how vitality is defined in academic settings and what factors affect faculty vitality within the context of academic medicine. Next, they propose a model to explain and examine faculty vitality in academic medicine, followed by a discussion of the need for a greater understanding of faculty vitality. Finally, the authors offer conclusions and propose future directions to promote faculty vitality.

The authors encourage institutional decision makers and other stakeholders to focus particular attention on the evolving expectations for faculty, the risk of extensive faculty burnout, and the opportunity to reduce burnout by improving the vitality and resilience of these talented and crucial contributors. Faculty vitality, as defined by the institution, has a critical role in ensuring future institutional successes and the capacity for faculty to thrive in a complex health care economy.
Topical 5-Fluorouracil for Women With High-Grade Vaginal Intraepithelial Neoplasia
Authors: Fiascone Stephen , Vitonis Allison F. , Feldman Sarah
Published: November 2017

OBJECTIVE:

To examine success rates of 5-fluorouracil, excision, and laser ablation as the initial and secondary management strategies for women with high-grade vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia.

METHODS:

We conducted a retrospective case series of women referred to a single center for management of biopsy-proven, high-grade vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia between April 1994 and May 2016. Data including demographic characteristics, human papillomavirus risk factors, antecedent Pap cytology, concurrent or prior cervical and vulvar dysplasia, and treatment outcome including follow-up Pap cytology were recorded. All women were counseled on options of excision, laser ablation, or 5-fluorouracil, which was administered intravaginally according to a standardized regimen. Recurrence was defined as a biopsy showing any vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia diagnosis after primary treatment.

RESULTS:

Forty-seven patients were treated initially with 5-fluorouracil, 35 were treated with excision, and 22 were treated with laser ablation. Demographics were similar between groups. No recurrence was noted in 35 women treated with 5-fluorouracil (74%; 95% CI 62–87%), 20 treated with excision (57%; 95% CI 41–74%), and nine treated with laser ablation (41%; 95% CI 20–61%). Among 13 patients treated with 5-fluorouracil for recurrence, eight (62%) did not experience a second recurrence. Nine of 58 (16%) patients ever treated with 5-fluorouracil reported a side effect, most commonly irritation and dyspareunia.

CONCLUSION:

5-fluorouracil was associated with a 74% success rate as the initial treatment modality for high-grade vaginal dysplasia. There is also a role for 5-fluorouracil in the management of recurrent or persistent high-grade vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia.
Training Physicians in Advocacy
Authors: Aksel Sarp , Evans Megan L. , Gellhaus Thomas M.
Published: November 2017

At a time in our country's history when state and federal legislative regulations on medical practice and access to services are at an all-time high, effective physician advocacy in women's health is crucial to the evolution of our profession and the provision of quality and equitable patient care. Inclusion of specific advocacy training programs in residency and beyond should be considered a priority. Ensuring a unified set of goals for advocacy training is important to training the next generation of competent and skilled physician advocates for leadership in academia and professional organizations. Sharing of initiatives and efforts to integrate advocacy into the training continuum across our community may inspire broader acceptance and implementation of such programs.
Phase IIIb safety results from an expanded-access protocol of talimogene laherparepvec for patients with unresected, stage IIIB–IVM1c melanoma
Authors: Chesney Jason , Awasthi Sanjay , Curti Brendan , Hutchins Laura , Linette Gerald , Triozzi Pierre , Tan Marcus C.B. , Brown Russell E. , Nemunaitis John , Whitman Eric , Windham Christopher , Lutzky Jose , Downey Gerald F. , Batty Nicolas , Amatruda Thomas
Published: November 2017

Talimogene laherparepvec is a genetically modified herpes simplex virus-1-based oncolytic immunotherapy for the local treatment of unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous, and nodal tumors in patients with melanoma recurrence following surgery. We aim to describe the safety of talimogene laherparepvec. Intralesional talimogene laherparepvec was administered at less than or equal to 4 ml×106 PFU/ml at protocol day 1, then less than or equal to 4 ml×108 PFU/ml 21 days later, and then every 14 days. Treatment continued until complete response, absence of injectable tumors, progressive disease, intolerance, or US Food and Drug Administration approval. Adverse events were graded during and 30 days after the end of treatment. Lesions suspected to have herpetic origin were tested for talimogene laherparepvec DNA by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Between September 2014 and October 2015, 41 patients were enrolled with stage IIIB (22%), IIIC (37%), IVM1a (34%), IVM1b (5%), and IVM1c (2%) melanoma. The median age was 72 (range: 32–96) years and 54% of the patients were men. Patients had an ECOG performance status of 0 (68%) or 1 (32%). The median treatment duration was 13.1 (3.0–41.1) weeks. Treatment-related adverse events of greater than or equal to grade 3 were reported in three (7.3%) patients and included vomiting, upper abdominal pain, chills, hyperhidrosis, nausea, pyrexia, and wound infection. Suspected herpetic lesions were swabbed in five (12%) patients. One of the five tested positive for talimogene laherparepvec DNA by qPCR, but this lesion had been injected previously with talimogene laherparepvec. During the study, five patients completed treatment because of complete response per investigators. In the clinical practice setting, talimogene laherparepvec has a safety profile comparable to that observed in previous clinical trials. Talimogene laherparepvec (IMLYGIC) is now approved in the US, European Union, and Australia.