Books on the topic 'Observed-self'

The local governance and municipalities have always been an important system of the national administrative systems. Therefore, their analysis has had a long tradition in the European social sciences. The different regulations on the municipal administration have been compared by the books, but the approach has been changed by the evolvement of the administrative sciences: comparative local governance and the comparison of the different local socio-economic systems became recent topics of the monographs. 13 municipal systems are analysed by this book. Countries from all part of the European Union are observed by the chapters. The central element of our analysis are the standards defined by the Charter of Local Self-Government in Europe: the implementation of the Charter and the transformation and reforms of the last decades are analysed by them. However, just half of the municipal models of the EU Member States are examined by leading experts of the given countries, but the different faces of the similar trends can be observed by this book. The different ‘faces’ of centralisation and concentration can be seen. The book has a strong legal approach, but the analysis of the local governance is in focus of the book, therefore, it has a wider, social science approach, as well.

Evolutionary psychology/psychiatry teaches us about why some mental illnesses developed. However, Brian J. McVeigh argues that much more recent changes in mentality hold lessons about improving our mental well-being. Indeed, by around 1000 BCE, population expansion and social complexity had forced people to learn conscious interiority, a package of capabilities that culturally upgraded mentality. The functions/features of conscious interiority (FOCI) are instances of adaptive meta-framing: abstracting, metaphorizing, reframing, and transcending one’s circumstances. Adopting a common factors and positive psychology perspective, McVeigh enumerates FOCI—“active ingredients”—of the self-healing mind: mental space (introspectable stage for manipulating mental images); introception (employing semi-hallucinatory quasi-perceptions to “see” different perspectives); self-observing and observed (increasing role/perspective-taking); self-narratization (intensifying retrospection/prospection capabilities); excerption (editing mental contents for higher-order conceptualization); consilience (fitting conceptions together more effectively to bolster abstraction); concentration (peripheralizing unrelated mental material); suppression (deleting distracting and distressing thoughts); self-authorization (a sense of who or what one’s legitimizes one’s decision and behavior); self-autonomy (bolstering self-direction and self-confidence); self-individuation (highlighting personal strengths); self-reflexivity (cultivating insight, self-objectivity, and self-corrective abilities). FOCI underlie the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic techniques. Though the psyche’s recuperative properties correct distorted cognition and provide remarkable adaptive abilities, FOCI sometimes spiral out of control, resulting in runaway consciousness and certain mental disorders. Also addressed, then, is how snowballing FOCI become maladaptive processes in need of restraint. The benefits of temporarily suspending FOCI (hypnosis) and regulating them (meditation) are also explored. This work will appeal to practitioners, researchers, and anyone interested in how therapeutically directed consciousness repairs the mind.

Impulsivity represents a complex multidimensional construct that may change across the lifespan and is associated with numerous neuropsychiatric disorders including substance use disorders, conduct disorder/antisocial personality disorder, and traumatic brain injury. Multiple psychological theories have considered impulsivity and the development of impulse control, inhibition, and self-regulatory behaviors during childhood. Some psychoanalytic theorists have viewed impulse control and self-regulatory behaviors as developing ego functions emerging in the context of id-based impulses and inhibitory pressures from the superego. Object relationists added to this framework but placed more emphasis on mother–child dyadic relationships and the process of separation and individuation within the infant. Cognitive and developmental theorists have viewed impulse control and self-regulation as a series of additive cognitive functions emerging at different temporal points during childhood and with an emphasis on attentional systems and the ability to inhibit a prepotent response. Commonalities exist across all of these developmental theories, and they all are consistent with the idea that the development of impulse control appears cumulative and emergent in early life, with the age range of 24–36 months being a formative period. Impulsivity is part of normal development in the healthy child, and emerging empirical data on normative populations (as measured by neuropsychological testing batteries, self-report measures, and behavioral observation) suggest that impulse control, self-regulation, and other impulsivity-related phenomena may follow different temporal trajectories, with impulsivity decreasing linearly over time and sensation seeking and reward responsiveness following an inverted U-shaped trajectory across the lifespan. These different trajectories coincide with developmental brain changes, including early maturation of subcortical regions in relation to the later maturation of the frontal lobes, and may underlie the frequent risk-taking behavior often observed during adolescence.

This conclusion offers a recap of the preceding chapters, and it also notes two potential deficiencies in the present study. First, it is observed that Kant’s theory of evil depends, at crucial junctures, on the ability to secure plausible accounts of transcendental freedom and the nature of temptation. Second, because, on Kant’s view, self-deception is motivated by self-love, it is unclear how Kant can adequately address cases that do not seem to fit this paradigm. Of particular interest are cases where a person claims not to know that she or he is worthy of respect or self-respect, since in certain of these cases we are inclined to regard someone as self-deceived or lacking self-knowledge and yet not motivated by self-love. Finally, it is argued that the broader theory of mind underlying Kant’s theory of self-deception can provide at least some resources for addressing this second issue.

This chapter examines constitutional adjudication as a mechanism designed to ensure that the constitution is properly observed. It begins with an overview of the development of constitutional review power and its prevailing modalities around the globe, focusing primarily on the emergence of specialized constitutional courts. It describes models and variations of constitutional review, along with the politics of apex courts. Turning to the constitutional review of legislation, the chapter considers what interpreting a constitution means in practice and whether fears of judicial self-aggrandizement through constitutional interpretation are justified. Finally, it discusses accusations of judicial activism and deference levelled against apex courts as well as the mounting opposition to judicial review.

‘Pray, pray be composed,’ cried Elinor, ‘and do not betray what you feel to every body present. Perhaps he has not observed you yet.’ For Elinor Dashwood, sensible and sensitive, and her romantic, impetuous younger sister Marianne, the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote. In a world ruled by money and self-interest, the Dashwood sisters have neither fortune nor connections. Concerned for others and for social proprieties, Elinor is ill-equipped to compete with self-centred fortune-hunters like Lucy Steele, whilst Marianne’s unswerving belief in the truth of her own feelings makes her more dangerously susceptible to the designs of unscrupulous men. Through her heroines’ parallel experiences of love, loss, and hope, Jane Austen offers a powerful analysis of the ways in which women’s lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive.

This volume addresses the means and ends of sacrificial speculation by inviting a selected group of specialist in the fields of philosophy, history of religions, and indology to examine philosophical modes of sacrificial speculation — especially in Ancient India and Greece — and consider the commonalities of their historical raison d’être. Scholars have long observed, yet without presenting any transcultural grand theory on the matter, that sacrifice seems to end with (or even continue as) philosophy in both Ancient India and Greece. How are we to understand this important transformation that so profoundly changed the way we think of religion (and philosophy as opposed to religion) today? Some of the complex topics inviting closer examination in this regard are the interiorisation of ritual, ascetism and self-sacrifice, sacrifice and cosmogony, the figure of the philosopher-sage, transformations and technologies of the self, analogical reasoning, the philosophy of ritual, vegetarianism, and metempsychosis.

Policy dissemination research is focused on understanding and addressing these barriers and can be defined as: the study of the targeted distribution of scientific evidence to policymakers to understand how to promote the adoption and sustainment of evidence-based policies. Policy dissemination research studies can be classified as audience research studies—which are formative assessments of policymakers’ knowledge, attitudes, and uses of research evidence and policy contexts—and intervention studies, which test the effectiveness of different policymaker-focused dissemination strategies. Outcomes of policy dissemination research studies include self-report policymaker research utilization, self-report policymaker support for evidence-based policies, and observed policymaker research utilization. There is also a need to grow the field of policy implementation research and integrate theories, frameworks, and methods across the fields of public administration research, political science, and implementation science. Among the topics covered in this book, policy dissemination research is among the least developed.

Immunological health relies on a balance between immune responsiveness to foreign pathogens and tolerance to self-components, commensals, food-derived components, and semi-allogeneic fetal antigens. Disruptions of this balance are hallmarks of immunodeficiency diseases, autoimmune diseases, and pregnancy failure. Patients with chronic kidney disease are immunologically unique in demonstrating features of both chronic inflammation and acquired immunodeficiency—predisposing these individuals to the two commonest causes of death, namely cardiovascular disease and sepsis. Defects and abnormalities in almost all components of the immune system can be observed, although it is difficult to say whether the observations denote mechanism or effect. This chapter reviews, briefly, measurable immune system abnormalities in chronic kidney disease and some of the potential underlying mechanisms.

Dissociation is a neurological state of acute disconnection with the reality of a situation or the self, and is often observed in PTSD. Because of its broad definition, diverse expression, and frequent comorbidity with other disorders, dissociation remains a challenging phenomenon to research and treat. The current chapter reviews the small amount of preclinical literature that has laid the groundwork of our understanding of the physiological underpinnings of dissociation, including theories of its mechanization of the endogenous opioid system. The challenges and importance of assessing dissociation are discussed, and the current instruments available for this assessment are reviewed. The experience of childhood sexual abuse has been specifically linked to the development of dissociative symptoms in PTSD. Future directions, including suggestions for categorical approaches to the identification and treatment of dissociative symptoms, are discussed.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe, complex, and costly disorder requiring comprehensive treatment. Correctional settings commonly include mental health treatment and on-site mental health clinicians providing psychosocial and psychopharmacological treatment; however, the mandate of prison settings in particular often conflicts directly with providing clinical care to those with complex mental health needs. The necessary emphasis on security, safety, and, in some cases, retribution, can create invalidating environments that both elicit and reinforce the serious behavioral problems often observed among those with BPD, such as self-injury and suicidal behavior. When effective treatments are available, considerable challenges emerge with regard to the training and preparation of clinical staff to treat and line staff to manage inmates with BPD. This chapter discusses these and other issues and provides suggestions for continued work to better understand and treat individuals with BPD in forensic settings.

Tests of the importance of precautionary saving follow several research strategies. One aims to find a variable (or set of variables) that can approximate the variance of the growth rate of consumption. A second strategy seeks to estimate a reduced form for the level of consumption and wealth with proxies for income risk. A third approach simulates the path of consumption and wealth in models with precautionary saving, matching simulations with the observed distribution of wealth and consumption. Other studies provide indirect evidence for or against the precautionary saving hypothesis. Finally, some papers test the null hypothesis of the precautionary saving model (or more generally, self-insurance), in which risks can only be insured via private savings, against specific alternatives in which researchers make the source of market incompleteness explicit (positing, for instance, that it is due to private information).

This article is about labor-market models. Its aim is to construct models that are as simple as they can be but as complicated as they need to be. Such models, if carefully done, can contribute to an understanding of observed labor market phenomena and to the formulation of sound labor market policies. Some branches of economics work with models that assume that everybody who works participates in a single, undifferentiated labor market. This article regards such models as grossly unrealistic. The notion of labor market segmentation can be stylized most simply by maintaining that there are two labor market segments. In this article, labor markets should be thought of as consisting not only of wage and salaried employment but also of self-employment. All who work or seek to work in labor markets are termed workers.

Growth processes are a fundamentally different approach compared to probability-driven exponential models covered in earlier chapters. This chapter studies how growth rules can be designed to mimic processes observed in the real world, and how the process can be mathematically analyzed in order to obtain information about the likely topological properties of the resulting networks. The configuration (stub joining) model is described, including a careful discussion of how bias can be introduced if backtracking is used instead of restarting if stubs join to form a self or double link. The second class of models looked at is preferential attachment. The simplest variants of this are analyzed with a master equation approach, in order to introduce this technique as a way of obtaining analytical information about the expected properties of the generated graphs. Extensive references are provided to the numerous variants and extensions of both of these models.

A discrepancy between standard economic assumptions and observed behavior centers around individual preferences, which are assumed to be well ordered and consistent, but descriptively shown to be inconsistent and malleable. Not having at their disposal a reliable procedure for assigning values to options, people construct their preferences in the context of decision. As a result, the attractiveness of options depends on, among other things, the nature of other options in the set, the procedure used to express preference, the context of evaluation, and the decision-maker’s self-conception. The varieties of psychological experience underlying preference inconsistency are reviewed, and their implications are discussed. Preference inconsistency, it is proposed, is the outcome not of distracted shortcuts or avoidable errors, but of fundamental aspects of mental life that are central to how people process information. Although people endorse basic consistency criteria, their preferences are inherently inconsistent, with important implications for policy and welfare.

This chapter reviews age differences in metacognitive control, defined as behaviors based on the monitoring of cognitive systems and states with the goal of improving the quality of cognition, especially the likelihood of successful remembering. Metacognitive monitoring and control are promising means of improving older adults’ cognition and can compensate for age-related cognitive decline. A prototypical type of metacognitive control studied in aging research involves the self-testing procedure to guide allocation of study time and strategic effort. Older adults often fail to use this strategy even though it can be highly effective for them. Evidence regarding age differences in metacognitive control using more complicated multitrial learning tasks is mixed. The literature is still in its formative stages and age differences in observed metacognitive control should not be taken as signifying irremediable aging-related deficits. Issues with the existing body of evidence and suggestions for future research questions are highlighted.

Although effective physician–patient communication relies on both parties, an overwhelming majority of literature within the field of healthcare communication has focused on the physician or healthcare provider. This chapter presents research aimed at improving patient communication skills and physician–patient interactions through patient training. Published interventions can be categorized as those that entail the presentation of written materials only, materials plus some form of individualized coaching, or a group-based training format. Many patient communication interventions focus exclusively on patient question asking. Interventions reviewed in this chapter incorporate a broader range of skills towards a more comprehensive training. Available literature has demonstrated the impact of patient communication skills training on patient self-efficacy, behavioural intention, observed skill usage, treatment adherence, and more. A notable limitation of current research is the lack of a unifying theoretical model. The chapter proposes concordance, or shared physician–patient agreement, as a useful conceptual framework.

Chapter 5, “Praise and Affirmation,” is the first of three chapters that examine families’ everyday practices, based on ethnographic observations of six Centerville families over the course of a year. This chapter describes parents’ use of praise and affirmation in and around the home. Consistent with their expressed belief that praise boosts children’s self-esteem, parents dispensed praise for a wide array of accomplishments, however small, in dramatic contrast to the ethnographic cases discussed at the beginning of the chapter. Praise ranged from the automatic to the strategic and inventive. By age three, children were adept at praising themselves and soliciting praise from adults. The chapter presents vignettes of observed episodes that illustrate the complex ways in which praise was garnered, enacted, and sustained by parents and children. This chapter also describes praise and affirmation dispensed by others outside the home, including teachers and coaches who regularly interacted with the children.

Infections of the urinary tract are among the most frequent infections encountered in the community and hospital environments. They range from harmless self-curing cystitis to severe pyelonephritis with life-threatening sepsis. Urinary tract infections are often recurrent. Host defence is crucial to control the infection but can also be deleterious in terms of scar formation. Early diagnosis, determination of severity, evaluation of possible risk factors, and assumption of possible pathogen are essential aspects to initiate efficient treatment. Urine culture with antibiotic sensitivity testing is the most important tool to confirm a suspected clinical diagnosis and direct treatment. Patients with urological disease are particularly susceptible to urinary tract infections, and healthcare-associated urinary infections are observed in approximately 10% of hospitalized urological patients. In view of the worsening resistance pattern of common urinary pathogens against available antimicrobial agents, it is important to comply with recommended treatment regimens.

Poisoning with agricultural chemicals is common in rural Asia-Pacific with up to 300,000 annual deaths from pesticide self-poisoning. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of pesticides can vary markedly depending on the chemicals ingested, the pesticide’s lipid solubility, enzyme reactivation, co-ingested toxicants, and extent of decontamination and organ dysfunction. Diagnosis and management is based on clinical signs and standard investigations. Staff should wear standard universal precaution attire for examining and treating patients; nosocomial poisoning is rare. Management of poisonings should include careful airway intervention and administration of oxygen, except in suspected paraquat poisoning. Organophosphorus insecticide poisoning causes a cholinergic crisis with excess airway secretions and acute respiratory failure. Patients should be treated with intravenous atropine and observed for the neuromuscular disorder ‘intermediate syndrome’, which can cause further paralysis and respiratory failure after 24 hours. Few antidotes exist for other agricultural chemical poisonings with the mainstay of treatment being supportive standard ICU care.

This article examines the ethical issues associated with explaining, understanding, and treating disorderly eating behaviors (DEB) in young women. It argues that the kind of gender-related, self-destructive behavior observed in disordered eating seems to be incongruent with individualistic analysis and explanation, instead pointing to evidence indicating that it is better to view such disorders as group phenomena. After reviewing recent studies that looked into the prevalence and causes of “group” disorders using the particular example of bulimia, the article describes the new category of “belonging bulimia” that may be used to understand, and hence prevent, such epidemics. It discusses the theoretical assumptions pertinent to belonging bulimia, with emphasis on relationality, causal explanation, and social behavior. It stresses the need to study social factors in the etiology of belonging bulimia with the neuroscience of groups, rather than just individuals. It also calls for a greater focus on virtue ethics to address belonging bulimia.

The landmark paper discussed in this chapter is ‘Autotomy following peripheral nerve lesions: Experimental anaesthesia dolorosa’, published by Wall et al. in 1979. This paper was the culmination of a series of studies in which Wall, together with a number of colleagues, investigated the underlying causes of neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injury. In this paper, the authors used a variety of nerve injury models to show that the extent of resultant anaesthesia combined with ectopic firing from damaged axons in nerve-end neuromas correlated with the severity of self-mutilation (termed ‘autotomy’) observed in the affected hindlimb. The authors therefore suggested that these simple models might be suitable for studies of the prevention of irritations originating from chronic lesions of peripheral nerves. Indeed, this proved to be the case, sparking the development of numerous animal models of spontaneous pain following nerve injury and spawning a new field of neuropathic pain research.

Chapter 8 focuses on threats to construct validity arising from the left-hand side time series and the right-hand side intervention model. Construct validity is limited to questions of whether an observed effect can be generalized to alternative cause and effect measures. The “talking out” self-injurious behavior time series, shown in Chapter 5, are examples of primary data. Researchers often have no choice but to use secondary data that were collected by third parties for purposes unrelated to any hypothesis test. Even in those less-than-ideal instances, however, an optimal time series can be constructed by limiting the time frame and otherwise paying attention to regime changes. Threats to construct validity that arise from the right-hand side intervention model, such as fuzzy or unclear onset and responses, are controlled by paying close attention to the underlying theory. Even a minimal theory should specify the onset and duration of an impact.

This article describes the properties of molecular nanowires as electrical conductors. It begins by defining a molecular nanowire and describing a specific example of a molecular nanowire, along with the concept of molecular nanowire self-assembly. It then considers how molecular nanowires are realized in the laboratory as well as the relationships between these methodologies, the systems that are produced and some experiments being performed on them. It also looks at the different kinds of molecules, electrodes and linkers out of which molecular nanowires are being or may be constructed; the Landauer approach to electrical conduction in molecular nanowires; the principles and limitations of ab-initio and semi-empirical modelling of molecular nanowires in the context of electrical conduction; and four specific experimental systems and the extent to which their observed behavior has been understood theoretically. The article concludes with a summary of key issues for the future development of the field.

Dress, Adornment and the Body in the Hebrew Bible is the first monograph to treat dress and adornment in biblical literature in the English language. Beyond merely filling a gap in scholarship, the book moves beyond a description of these aspects of ancient life to encompass notions of interpersonal relationships and personhood that underpin practices of dress and adornment. I explore the ramifications of body adornment in the biblical world, informed by a methodologically plural approach incorporating material culture alongside philology, textual exegesis, comparative evidence, and sociological models. Drawing upon and synthesizing insights from material culture and texts from across the eastern Mediterranean, I reconstruct the social meanings attached to the dressed body in biblical texts. I show how body adornment can deepen our understanding of attitudes towards the self in the ancient world. In my reconstruction of ancient performances of the self, the body serves as the observed centre in which complex ideologies of identity, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and social status are articulated. The adornment of the body is thus an effective means of non-verbal communication, but one which at the same time is controlled by and dictated through normative social values. Exploring dress, adornment, and the body can therefore open up hitherto unexplored perspectives on these social values in the ancient world, an essential missing piece in understanding the social and cultural world which shaped the Hebrew Bible.

What drives livelihood diversification among predominantly rural households in developing countries and how can welfare-enhancing patterns be established and sustained in the long run? A large literature has focused on whether income diversification is a means of survival or a means of accumulation, but it remains inconclusive. We first examine the pattern of income diversification for a panel of households in Tanzania from the 1990s—the Kagera Health and Development Survey—with a focus on whether it is primarily driven by survivalist or accumulation motives. We then verify whether this pattern is sustained in the long run using the 2004 wave of the survey while also studying the role that infrastructural improvements and entry into new income generation activities play in the process. Our results support the accumulation hypothesis: richer households engage in more income diversification than poorer households. We also find that the greater diversification of better-off households that was observed in the 1990s persists in 2004. At the same time, households that were originally poorer are found to experience higher incomes by diversifying into off-farm self-employment activities. Factors that explain these improvements include access to a daily market and public transport.

This chapter explores the entanglement between queer desires and struggles with normativities in fandoms through the case study of Denise Ho (a.k.a. HOCC) in Hong Kong. HOCC is one of the few celebrities in the Chinese-language entertainment industry to have come out as a lesbian. Data is drawn from participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 29 fans between 2009 and 2014. By analyzing the interplay between Hong Kong sexual cultures, fans’ everyday lives, and fans’ interactions with global media, it is found that fans struggled with negotiating HOCC’s gender and sexuality and their own before HOCC’s coming-out, leading to the paradoxical celebration and self-policing of queer reading at the same time. HOCC’s coming out in 2012 has significantly reshaped her queer fandom. It is observed that fans have turned their attention to the negotiation of HOCC’s “proper” lesbian embodiment as the “correct” representation of the LGBT/tongzhi movement. By revealing the complex relations between heteronormativity and homonormativity, this chapter concludes that HOCC fans in Hong Kong, who are situated within macrostructural and micropolitical forces, desire to be queer by transgressing normal and paradoxically desire to be normal by tactically negotiating the limits of queer.

When recalling events that one personally experienced, one often visualizes the remembered scene as one originally saw it: from an internal visual perspective. Sometimes, however, one sees oneself in the remembered scene: from an external “observer perspective.” In such cases one remembers from-the-outside. This book is about such memories. Remembering from-the-outside is a common yet curious case of personal memory: one views oneself from a perspective one seemingly could not have had at the time of the original event. How can past events be recalled from a detached perspective? How is it that the self is observed? And how can we account for the self-presence of such memories? Indeed, can there be genuine memories recalled from-the-outside? If memory preserves past perceptual content then how can one see oneself from-the-outside in memory? This book disentangles the puzzles posed by remembering from-the-outside. The book develops a dual-faceted approach for thinking about memory, which acknowledges constructive and reconstructive processes at encoding and at retrieval, and it uses this approach to defend the possibility of genuine memories being recalled from-the-outside. In so doing it also elucidates the nature of such memories and sheds light on the nature of personal memory. The book argues that field and observer perspectives are different ways of thinking about a particular past event. Further, by exploring the ways we have of getting outside of ourselves in memory and other cognitive domains, the book sheds light on the nature of our perspectival minds.

I am María Victoria, a young woman at the age of 31, and I am writing about my twenties living in Paraná, the place where I was born and brought up.In order to understand properly my narration, there are some historical features that would be important to underline about my country pursuant to my experience. Since my childhood I have usually heard from my aunts, parents, and grandparents an open distrust of politicians and memories of a period of instability, censorship, and state terrorism where many civilians “disappeared” and people in general were being observed everywhere. Everyone could be seen as a spy, and varied and countless violations of human rights happened. In the return of democracy, there was a visible refreshment of social well-being, but it was difficult to leave a culture of fear and adopt self-expression freely as a way of living or to participate in politics. Self-expression was related to “show” instead of freedom or critical thinking. That is the context I grew up in. Devaluation, public sector corruption, unemployment or low-paying jobs, and working in the black economy are frequently heard concepts in this society. In each of the subsequent governments, many cases of corruption in the public sector were demonstrated. So I understand it is very difficult here to keep values such as honesty, equity, fraternity, and liberty and succeed in politics. And I have found a better place to do my best in my work, personal relationships, educational instances, and social or communitarian projects....

Chapter 4 provides an original explanation both for why women and minorities are more likely to express protectionist sentiments and for why those protectionist sentiments are not reflected in their voting. The chapter provides an extension of standard models of individual economic well-being to consider trade’s effect not only on wages but also on employment volatility, which is increased by openness to foreign trade. The chapter offers analysis of original survey data from 2006 and 2010 and three decades of American National Election Studies to confirm the previously observed gender gap and newly identified racial gap in trade preferences. The chapter then presents two experimental surveys testing alternative causal mechanisms for the divides. Both experiments vary the type of information provided to respondents about trade partners and potential benefits of trade. In both cases, experiments show stability in women and non-whites preferences for trade and variability in white men’s preferences. Next, the chapter reinvestigates the salience of trade by gender and racial groupings and shows low salience among women and non-whites. The chapter concludes with a description of who might benefit from women and minorities stable preferences and why so few organizations seek to do so.

Where Ideas Go to Die explores the troubled relationship of US journalism and intellect. A defender of common sense, the press is irked at intellect yet often dependent on its critical autonomy. A postwar observation from Richard Hofstadter applies to contemporary journalists: “Men do not rise in the morning, grin at themselves in their mirrors, and say: ‘Ah, today I shall torment an intellectual and strangle an idea!’ ” The book nevertheless documents the prowess of news media in policing intellect. Control extends beyond suppression of ideas and ways of thinking to the aggressive rendering of dissent into deviance. The social control of intellect by journalism is accompanied by social control of journalism in newsrooms and in classrooms where norms are cultivated. Anti-intellectualism consequently operates like dark matter in media, a presence inferred by its effects rather than directly observed or acknowledged. When journalists anticipate a punitive public, the reified resentment is no more real than the fiction of omnipotent citizens in democratic theory, yet the audience imagined compels how intellect is rendered in the news as nuisance, deviance, or object of ridicule. Journalism’s contribution to the social control of ideas is poignantly democratic: audiences are cast in consequential roles that affirm their wisdom in a closed, self-referential system. The book concludes with a discussion about what intellectual journalism would look like. Interviews with 25 “dangerous professors” demonstrate how alliances in the academic-media nexus can seed intellect in newswork.

In the wake of school lunch reform debates, heated classroom cupcake wars, and worries about childhood obesity, children’s food is a locus of anxiety and “crisis” in the United States. What does the feeding of children—and adults’ often impassioned, worried talk about the foods children eat—say about middle-class parents’ understandings of what it means to parent well, and about the kinds of individuals they feel compelled to create in their children? How are these understandings reflective of a larger political economic moment, and how do they reinforce existing forms of social inequality? This book takes up those questions through in-depth ethnographic research in “Hometown,” an urban Atlanta charter school community. Embedding herself in school events, after-school meetings, school lunchrooms, and private homes, the author observed how children’s food was a locus for fundamental moral tensions about how to live, how to present oneself, and how to be protected from harm in a neoliberal environment. Middle-class parents took responsibility for protecting their children from an industrialized food system and for cultivating children’s self-management in food and other realms; yet they did so in ways that ultimately and unintentionally tended to reinforce class privilege and the effects of social inequality. Listening closely to adults’—and children’s—food concerns and contextualizing them both very locally and vis-à-vis a broader political economy, this book interrogates those unintended effects and asks how the “crisis” of children’s food might be reimagined toward different ends.

The central argument of this book is that voting unity in European legislatures is not primarily the result of the ‘disciplining’ power of the leadership of parliamentary parties, but rather the result of a combination of ideological homogeneity through self-selection into political parties and the calculations of individual legislators about their own long-term benefits. Despite the central role of policy preferences in the subsequent behaviour of legislators, preferences at the level of the individual legislator have been almost entirely neglected in the study of parliaments and legislative behaviour. The book measures these using an until now under-utilized resource: parliamentary surveys. Building on these, the book develops measures of policy incentives of legislators to dissent from their parliamentary parties, and show that preference similarity amongst legislators explains a very substantial proportion of party unity, yet alone cannot explain all of it. Analysing the attitudes of legislators to the demands of party unity, and what drives these attitudes, the book argues that what explains the observed unity (beyond what preference similarity would explain) is the conscious acceptance by MPs that the long-term benefits of belonging to a united party (such as increased influence on legislation, lower transaction costs, and better chances of gaining office) outweigh the short-terms benefits of always voting for their ideal policy outcome. The book buttresses this argument through the analysis of both open-ended survey questions as well as survey questions on the costs and benefits of belonging to a political party in a legislature.

Benjamin Franklin grew up in a devout Protestant family with limited prospects for wealth and fame. By hard work, limitless curiosity, native intelligence, and luck (what he called “providence”), Franklin became one of Philadelphia’s most prominent leaders, a world-recognized scientist, and the United States’ leading diplomat during the War for Independence. Along the way, Franklin embodied the Protestant ethics and cultural habits he learned and observed as a youth in Puritan Boston. This book follows Franklin’s remarkable career through the lens of the trends and innovations that the Protestant Reformation started (both directly and indirectly) almost two centuries earlier. The Philadelphian’s work as a printer, civic reformer, institution builder, scientist, inventor, writer, self-help dispenser, politician, and statesman was deeply rooted in the culture and outlook that Protestantism nurtured. Through the alternatives to medieval church and society, Protestants built societies and instilled habits of character and mind that allowed figures such as Franklin to build the life that he did. Through it all, Franklin could not assent to all of Protestantism’s doctrines or observe its worship. But for most of his life, he acknowledged his debt to his creator, reveled in the natural world guided by providence, and conducted himself in a way (imperfectly) to merit divine approval. This biography recognizes Franklin as a cultural or non-observant Protestant, someone who thought of himself as a Presbyterian, ordered his life as other Protestants did, sometimes went to worship services, read his Bible, and prayed, but could not go all the way and join a church.

Machiavelli was painfully aware of living in a disastrous moment of Italy’s history: foreign invasions, occupations, and shattered states. This is a study of his evaluation of the failures of Italy’s political leaders, professional soldiers, and popes—and of the underlying causes of those failures. The first chapter presents Machiavelli’s reactions to Italy’s travails during his years in Florence’s chancery. Chapter two surveys his critique of Italy’s republics and princes. The next two explore the dispatches from Machiavelli’s diplomatic missions (legations) when he observed the self-destructive delusions and ambitions of the would-be prince, Cesare Borgia, and the recklessness of Pope Julius II. Searching for the causes of the dysfunctions of this “broken” political world, Machiavelli focused on the “ambition” and “avarice” of Italy’s elite families. The central fifth chapter analyzes his theorization of this class’s relentless ambition and abuses of power, particularly its preference for extra-constitutional private power through factions that weaken law and governments—what he called corruption. Four chapters examine his understanding of elite politics in the historical context of the Florentine republic: the ambition of elite families leading to competing private factions aiming to control the republic from outside the institutions of government, and eventually to the dominance of the Medici faction, which, after suppressing its rivals, tolerated no dissent and drove all opposition into conspiracy, itself living in fear of conspiracies, real or imagined. The last chapter contends that, for Machiavelli, those who corrupted legal institutions in pursuit of private power represent the most dangerous kind of tyranny, the collective tyranny of the wealthy and powerful.

Bones are multifunctional passive organs of movement that supports soft tissue and directly attached muscles. They also protect internal organs and are a reserve of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. Each bone is covered with periosteum, and the adjacent bone surfaces are covered by articular cartilage. Histologically, the bone is an organ composed of many different tissues. The main component is bone tissue (cortical and spongy) composed of a set of bone cells and intercellular substance (mineral and organic), it also contains fat, hematopoietic (bone marrow) and cartilaginous tissue. Bones are a tissue that even in adult life retains the ability to change shape and structure depending on changes in their mechanical and hormonal environment, as well as self-renewal and repair capabilities. This process is called bone turnover. The basic processes of bone turnover are: • bone modeling (incessantly changes in bone shape during individual growth) following resorption and tissue formation at various locations (e.g. bone marrow formation) to increase mass and skeletal morphology. This process occurs in the bones of growing individuals and stops after reaching puberty • bone remodeling (processes involve in maintaining bone tissue by resorbing and replacing old bone tissue with new tissue in the same place, e.g. repairing micro fractures). It is a process involving the removal and internal remodeling of existing bone and is responsible for maintaining tissue mass and architecture of mature bones. Bone turnover is regulated by two types of transformation: • osteoclastogenesis, i.e. formation of cells responsible for bone resorption • osteoblastogenesis, i.e. formation of cells responsible for bone formation (bone matrix synthesis and mineralization) Bone maturity can be defined as the completion of basic structural development and mineralization leading to maximum mass and optimal mechanical strength. The highest rate of increase in pig bone mass is observed in the first twelve weeks after birth. This period of growth is considered crucial for optimizing the growth of the skeleton of pigs, because the degree of bone mineralization in later life stages (adulthood) depends largely on the amount of bone minerals accumulated in the early stages of their growth. The development of the technique allows to determine the condition of the skeletal system (or individual bones) in living animals by methods used in human medicine, or after their slaughter. For in vivo determination of bone properties, Abstract 10 double energy X-ray absorptiometry or computed tomography scanning techniques are used. Both methods allow the quantification of mineral content and bone mineral density. The most important property from a practical point of view is the bone’s bending strength, which is directly determined by the maximum bending force. The most important factors affecting bone strength are: • age (growth period), • gender and the associated hormonal balance, • genotype and modification of genes responsible for bone growth • chemical composition of the body (protein and fat content, and the proportion between these components), • physical activity and related bone load, • nutritional factors: – protein intake influencing synthesis of organic matrix of bone, – content of minerals in the feed (CA, P, Zn, Ca/P, Mg, Mn, Na, Cl, K, Cu ratio) influencing synthesis of the inorganic matrix of bone, – mineral/protein ratio in the diet (Ca/protein, P/protein, Zn/protein) – feed energy concentration, – energy source (content of saturated fatty acids - SFA, content of polyun saturated fatty acids - PUFA, in particular ALA, EPA, DPA, DHA), – feed additives, in particular: enzymes (e.g. phytase releasing of minerals bounded in phytin complexes), probiotics and prebiotics (e.g. inulin improving the function of the digestive tract by increasing absorption of nutrients), – vitamin content that regulate metabolism and biochemical changes occurring in bone tissue (e.g. vitamin D3, B6, C and K). This study was based on the results of research experiments from available literature, and studies on growing pigs carried out at the Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences. The tests were performed in total on 300 pigs of Duroc, Pietrain, Puławska breeds, line 990 and hybrids (Great White × Duroc, Great White × Landrace), PIC pigs, slaughtered at different body weight during the growth period from 15 to 130 kg. Bones for biomechanical tests were collected after slaughter from each pig. Their length, mass and volume were determined. Based on these measurements, the specific weight (density, g/cm3) was calculated. Then each bone was cut in the middle of the shaft and the outer and inner diameters were measured both horizontally and vertically. Based on these measurements, the following indicators were calculated: • cortical thickness, • cortical surface, • cortical index. Abstract 11 Bone strength was tested by a three-point bending test. The obtained data enabled the determination of: • bending force (the magnitude of the maximum force at which disintegration and disruption of bone structure occurs), • strength (the amount of maximum force needed to break/crack of bone), • stiffness (quotient of the force acting on the bone and the amount of displacement occurring under the influence of this force). Investigation of changes in physical and biomechanical features of bones during growth was performed on pigs of the synthetic 990 line growing from 15 to 130 kg body weight. The animals were slaughtered successively at a body weight of 15, 30, 40, 50, 70, 90, 110 and 130 kg. After slaughter, the following bones were separated from the right half-carcass: humerus, 3rd and 4th metatarsal bone, femur, tibia and fibula as well as 3rd and 4th metatarsal bone. The features of bones were determined using methods described in the methodology. Describing bone growth with the Gompertz equation, it was found that the earliest slowdown of bone growth curve was observed for metacarpal and metatarsal bones. This means that these bones matured the most quickly. The established data also indicate that the rib is the slowest maturing bone. The femur, humerus, tibia and fibula were between the values of these features for the metatarsal, metacarpal and rib bones. The rate of increase in bone mass and length differed significantly between the examined bones, but in all cases it was lower (coefficient b <1) than the growth rate of the whole body of the animal. The fastest growth rate was estimated for the rib mass (coefficient b = 0.93). Among the long bones, the humerus (coefficient b = 0.81) was characterized by the fastest rate of weight gain, however femur the smallest (coefficient b = 0.71). The lowest rate of bone mass increase was observed in the foot bones, with the metacarpal bones having a slightly higher value of coefficient b than the metatarsal bones (0.67 vs 0.62). The third bone had a lower growth rate than the fourth bone, regardless of whether they were metatarsal or metacarpal. The value of the bending force increased as the animals grew. Regardless of the growth point tested, the highest values were observed for the humerus, tibia and femur, smaller for the metatarsal and metacarpal bone, and the lowest for the fibula and rib. The rate of change in the value of this indicator increased at a similar rate as the body weight changes of the animals in the case of the fibula and the fourth metacarpal bone (b value = 0.98), and more slowly in the case of the metatarsal bone, the third metacarpal bone, and the tibia bone (values of the b ratio 0.81–0.85), and the slowest femur, humerus and rib (value of b = 0.60–0.66). Bone stiffness increased as animals grew. Regardless of the growth point tested, the highest values were observed for the humerus, tibia and femur, smaller for the metatarsal and metacarpal bone, and the lowest for the fibula and rib. Abstract 12 The rate of change in the value of this indicator changed at a faster rate than the increase in weight of pigs in the case of metacarpal and metatarsal bones (coefficient b = 1.01–1.22), slightly slower in the case of fibula (coefficient b = 0.92), definitely slower in the case of the tibia (b = 0.73), ribs (b = 0.66), femur (b = 0.59) and humerus (b = 0.50). Bone strength increased as animals grew. Regardless of the growth point tested, bone strength was as follows femur > tibia > humerus > 4 metacarpal> 3 metacarpal> 3 metatarsal > 4 metatarsal > rib> fibula. The rate of increase in strength of all examined bones was greater than the rate of weight gain of pigs (value of the coefficient b = 2.04–3.26). As the animals grew, the bone density increased. However, the growth rate of this indicator for the majority of bones was slower than the rate of weight gain (the value of the coefficient b ranged from 0.37 – humerus to 0.84 – fibula). The exception was the rib, whose density increased at a similar pace increasing the body weight of animals (value of the coefficient b = 0.97). The study on the influence of the breed and the feeding intensity on bone characteristics (physical and biomechanical) was performed on pigs of the breeds Duroc, Pietrain, and synthetic 990 during a growth period of 15 to 70 kg body weight. Animals were fed ad libitum or dosed system. After slaughter at a body weight of 70 kg, three bones were taken from the right half-carcass: femur, three metatarsal, and three metacarpal and subjected to the determinations described in the methodology. The weight of bones of animals fed aa libitum was significantly lower than in pigs fed restrictively All bones of Duroc breed were significantly heavier and longer than Pietrain and 990 pig bones. The average values of bending force for the examined bones took the following order: III metatarsal bone (63.5 kg) <III metacarpal bone (77.9 kg) <femur (271.5 kg). The feeding system and breed of pigs had no significant effect on the value of this indicator. The average values of the bones strength took the following order: III metatarsal bone (92.6 kg) <III metacarpal (107.2 kg) <femur (353.1 kg). Feeding intensity and breed of animals had no significant effect on the value of this feature of the bones tested. The average bone density took the following order: femur (1.23 g/cm3) <III metatarsal bone (1.26 g/cm3) <III metacarpal bone (1.34 g / cm3). The density of bones of animals fed aa libitum was higher (P<0.01) than in animals fed with a dosing system. The density of examined bones within the breeds took the following order: Pietrain race> line 990> Duroc race. The differences between the “extreme” breeds were: 7.2% (III metatarsal bone), 8.3% (III metacarpal bone), 8.4% (femur). Abstract 13 The average bone stiffness took the following order: III metatarsal bone (35.1 kg/mm) <III metacarpus (41.5 kg/mm) <femur (60.5 kg/mm). This indicator did not differ between the groups of pigs fed at different intensity, except for the metacarpal bone, which was more stiffer in pigs fed aa libitum (P<0.05). The femur of animals fed ad libitum showed a tendency (P<0.09) to be more stiffer and a force of 4.5 kg required for its displacement by 1 mm. Breed differences in stiffness were found for the femur (P <0.05) and III metacarpal bone (P <0.05). For femur, the highest value of this indicator was found in Pietrain pigs (64.5 kg/mm), lower in pigs of 990 line (61.6 kg/mm) and the lowest in Duroc pigs (55.3 kg/mm). In turn, the 3rd metacarpal bone of Duroc and Pietrain pigs had similar stiffness (39.0 and 40.0 kg/mm respectively) and was smaller than that of line 990 pigs (45.4 kg/mm). The thickness of the cortical bone layer took the following order: III metatarsal bone (2.25 mm) <III metacarpal bone (2.41 mm) <femur (5.12 mm). The feeding system did not affect this indicator. Breed differences (P <0.05) for this trait were found only for the femur bone: Duroc (5.42 mm)> line 990 (5.13 mm)> Pietrain (4.81 mm). The cross sectional area of the examined bones was arranged in the following order: III metatarsal bone (84 mm2) <III metacarpal bone (90 mm2) <femur (286 mm2). The feeding system had no effect on the value of this bone trait, with the exception of the femur, which in animals fed the dosing system was 4.7% higher (P<0.05) than in pigs fed ad libitum. Breed differences (P<0.01) in the coross sectional area were found only in femur and III metatarsal bone. The value of this indicator was the highest in Duroc pigs, lower in 990 animals and the lowest in Pietrain pigs. The cortical index of individual bones was in the following order: III metatarsal bone (31.86) <III metacarpal bone (33.86) <femur (44.75). However, its value did not significantly depend on the intensity of feeding or the breed of pigs.