Children and youths account for five of the hymns in the collection: four for children, and one for youths. These, discussed in this chapter, nevertheless comprise an impressive and impressively diverse body of reflections on the death of those who had failed to reach adulthood. They variously narrate the anticipated fate of the departed and the experience of bereavement for families and communities, and discuss a range of pious postures by which they ought to encounter loss. These hymns also provide a site for examining the intersection between the necrosima’s funerary hyumns and Syriac literature more broadly. The madrāshê accordingly reflect themes prominent in the writings of Syriac’s most celebrated authors, including Jacob of Serugh and Ephrem’s genuine writings, and translate these authors’ theological reflections into concise, personalized hymnic epitomes.

This chapter explores processes of legalisation in the context of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) in extractive industries. It analyses three major regimes: the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), launched in 2002 to curb the trade in conflict diamonds; the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global standard promoting accountability in natural resource governance; and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs), adopted in 2000 to address abuses by private security forces protecting corporate assets. These initiatives display a distinctive focus on implementation. Participants may receive substantial guidance and support to assist with compliance. State and non-state actors contribute to the production of guidelines, toolkits and performance indicators designed to assist corporations in rule implementation on the ground and in specific contexts. When violations occur, members may support the offending party in implementing reforms before resorting to sanctions.

The chapter begins with a discussion on standard mechanisms for training spiking neural networks ranging from – (a) unsupervised spike-timing-dependent plasticity, (b) backpropagation through time (BPTT) using surrogate gradient techniques, and (c) conversion techniques from conventional analog non-spiking networks. Subsequently, various local learning algorithms with different degrees of locality are discussed that have the potential to replace computationally expensive global learning algorithms such as BPTT. The chapter concludes with pointers to several emerging research directions in the neuromorphic algorithms domain ranging from stochastic computing, lifelong learning, and dynamical system-based approaches, among others. Finally, we also underscore the need for looking at hybrid neuromorphic algorithm design combining principles of conventional deep learning along with forging stronger connections with computational neuroscience.

This chapter explores the emergence of Inter-Asian Law (IAL) through the lens of multilayered investment agreements. It argues that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-centered regime has driven the normative evolution of IAL, which has diverged from Western approaches rooted in the Washington Consensus. The study examines how Asian countries are developing their own legal models, reducing dependence on American and European rules, and strengthening Asia’s influence in shaping international law. Focusing on investment law, the chapter highlights the pragmatic incrementalism of ASEAN and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in legal approaches. It analyzes the development of investment issues across three waves of global regionalism, as well as the evolving investment frameworks of the Asia-Pacific. Hence, the research demonstrates how IAL reflects Asian approaches to global governance and offers alternatives to conventional Western-dominated models for developing countries.

The preface speaks to my direct experience in countering terrorist access to finance.

There are now mafia-controlled companies competing with perfectly legal undertakings, but enjoying advantages over them, such as access to investment capital from suspect sources. The new mafia operates in a grey area, concerning itself with the laundering of 'dirty money' as well as with productivity, but it does represent a model different in kind from the purely parasitic mafia of the past. Mafia companies, far from conforming to the laws of peaceful competition, have introduced an element of violence into the marketplace. Catanzaro examines the ownership and objectives of such companies, drawing attention to the sectors in which they operate and to their need to serve such purposes as the recycling of money derived from criminal enterprises.

This chapter explores the works of Ephraim Kishon, Hanoch Levin, Yirmi Pinkus, Matan Hermoni, and Haim Be’er, as an Ashkenazi literary school in connection to twentieth-century minority discourse and its specific Israeli context. Despite Zionist aspirations for a unified Jewish nation, the influx of diverse Jewish immigrants after independence complicated this vision. The chapter examines how literature engaged with tensions in acculturation, especially in works by Mizrahi Jews who had to navigate a shift from one minority status to another. It looks at whether, at the turn of the twenty-first century, Ashkenazi Israelis are themselves becoming a minority, exploring the potential blurring of boundaries in Israeli literature and a return to nonterritorial Jewishness.

Write regularly and pay attention to your personal writing processes. When it’s writing time, it’s writing time. Save the self-editing for later. Choose a self-editing strategy that targets the kinds of writing problems you know you usually have: surface, sentence, paragraph, or global level. Don’t be afraid to change strategies or try multiple strategies; taking more looks at your paper is always better. Peer review as it’s practiced in political science is about reviewing research design and execution, not line editing. For all papers, look for theory grounded in concepts, hypotheses that are directly observable implications of the theory, and measurement that is valid in the context of the research. For qualitative research, consider case selection, measurement, and whether the conclusions are commensurate with the scope of the theory and tests. For quantitative research, consider issues of measurement and case selection, and be alert for specification errors and analytical pitfalls the author might have missed. Helpful peer reviews provide concrete guidance about weaknesses in the paper and often include specific suggestions or requests for additional development of the paper.

This chapter examines how various civil rights movements have interwoven the Declaration into their advocacy for causes to combat social and legal discrimination, including chauvinism, labor exploitation, and election plutocracy. A variety of groups, including first-wave feminists and labor advocates, effectively relied on it to promote various constitutional causes. Among suffragettes, its statement of human equality stood out, while workers’ movements favored the document’s condemnation of autocracy and oppression. As with other groups who likewise relied on the Declaration’s mandates, it represented a national commitment toward achieving a liberal equality for the common good. The Declaration of Independence remains relevant today to matters as broad in constitutional scope as federalism, campaign financing, AI advertisement, and separation of powers. Its sweeping statement of unalienable human rights and equality continues to embody core American commitments to representative democracy. That manifesto of equality and freedom has for two centuries influenced politicians, civil rights organizations, and ordinary people in the United States and abroad.

This chapter explores the creative and personal fellowship between and among Robert and Clara Schumann and Joseph and Amalie Joachim, a circle regarded in their time as a ‘priesthood of art’. United by ideals that fused intellect, probity, and aesthetics, they helped redefine the nineteenth-century virtuoso as an interpretive artist guided by spiritual conviction rather than mere technical display. Robert Schumann’s early recognition of Joseph fostered an intense relationship of mentorship and inspiration, shaping Robert’s late compositional output and supporting Joseph’s own artistic growth. For Clara, Joseph became her most frequent concert partner and a principal adviser on professional and personal matters. Amalie also collaborated with Clara, appearing with her as valued colleague and equal. Together, the Schumanns played a decisive role in steering Joseph away from the New German School, while he in turn gave steadfast support to the Schumann family during and after Robert’s illness and decline.

This essay examines first the understanding of sex equality by the philosophic forebears of the US Declaration of Independence, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Hobbes was the more thoroughgoing egalitarian of the two. He insisted that men were not inherently superior to women, either in strength or prudence. Locke by contrast wrote that in the conjugal union, even in nature, while the union by mutual compact could be limited to whatever was needed for raising children, still, because of the need to have some authority stronger and more able, men were entitled to rule the household. Despite this public claim that men are the “abler” sex, Locke’s private writings showed him to be much more gender egalitarian than Jefferson himself.

This book begins by foregrounding that the material form of Kant’s 1785 essay could be analysed to critique the myth of proprietary authorship that presently prevails across copyright regimes. After reviewing four faces of Kant in authorship and copyright studies, I advance a medial rethinking of Kant by drawing on the intersecting traditions of book history, media theory and literary studies. In particular, Gérard Genette’s poetics informs my paratextual reading of Kant’s 1785 essay to uncover the historical and medial-material conditions of literary production.

The chapter begins by answering the question “how did physics, which originally represented the philosophy of nature, evolve into its modern phase of the philosophical as well as the scientific knowledge of nature” in terms of a brief history of physics. This is presented in the form of four chronological phases – ancient times, the scientific revolution, the birth of modern physics and the modern version of the quest for the nature of reality. This is followed by the authors’ interpretation of the generic structure of the physical theories of motion and by the application of the interpretation to the problem of “the motion of a particle under gravity”. We then introduce the reader to three key features which characterize financial and economic systems: markets, decision making, and the economic actor. The chapter goes into some detail on each of these three ingredients. The chapter ends by providing the abstracts of the remaining chapters.