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How did writers reimagine self and nation in the postcolonial moment? After the brutalities of partition and the triumph of Independence, decolonization in South Asia unfolded in a dramatic sense of disillusion and alienation. In this transnational study, Toral Gajarawala explores the cultural afterlife of decolonization in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and its profound moment of existential reckoning. In new genres and forms, artists registered a growing sense of estrangement from nation and nationalism, and crafted a new aesthetic landscape. This book reconsiders modernism in the subcontinent, charting the unlikely affiliations and aesthetic experiments it generated. Each chapter discusses a distinct artistic experiment- Hindi novels set in snow and ice, and a Pakistani painter's Paris moment; the existential novel of Bengal, and absurdist plays on famine and extinction- in light of key philosophical concepts of the moment: askesis, responsibility, commitment. The result is an illuminating microanalysis of the 1960s that reshapes our understanding of postcolonial aesthetics.
The ability to critically read health research literature and determine its validity is a cornerstone of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and health care (EBHC). Using this knowledge, along with their individual clinical experience and the preferences of their patients, to make informed decisions about treatment is an essential skill for a healthcare practitioner. This fully updated edition of a highly successful text educates the principles of research study methodology and design, along with core elements of biostatistics and epidemiology as applied to health care studies. A new chapter on EBM and the media has been added in response to increasing awareness of misinformation from traditional and social media. Accompanying online resources will enable readers to test their learning through a series of questions and exercises, accessible through a code printed inside the book. This is an ideal introductory text for medical and health sciences students and a wide range of other healthcare professionals.
Politicians in young democracies face a dilemma when it comes to investing in state capacity. On the one hand, investments in bureaucratic competence can aid policy implementation. On the other hand, such investments can reduce bureaucratic loyalty, thereby undermining politicians' ability to secure votes through targeted distribution. In The Co-opted State, Sarah Brierley argues that to resolve this dilemma, politicians will recruit bureaucrats through procedures that reward merit but retain tools to control bureaucrats' career progression. She demonstrates how political incentives and career control tools shape public service delivery, often to the detriment of good governance. Drawing on rich fieldwork in Ghana and literature from across the world, Brierley challenges conventional wisdom about state capacity and meritocracy and offers a guide for understanding why seemingly well-designed systems often yield disappointing results, and what can be done to fix them. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
This collection of articles and interviews surveys human-centered approaches to machine learning that can make AI more human-friendly, usable, and ethical. It provides a handbook for students, researchers, and practitioners who want new ways of approaching AI that place humanity at their center. It shows how to apply methods from human-computer interaction to the new technologies of AI and ML with a view to enabling computing technology to become user-friendly and human-centric. The book has 13 articles and 9 interviews from a range of different perspectives, helping readers understand existing machine learning systems and their impacts on people and society. It is an ideal introduction both for human-computer interaction practitioners who are interested in working with ML and for ML experts interested in making their practice more human-centered. The book offers a critical lens on existing machine learning alongside an optimistic vision of AI in the service of humanity.
Calvin and Perception in Early Modern Visual Culture is the first monograph to return John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559) to its original visual culture. AnnMarie Bridges draws on early modern optics, art theory, rhetoric, psychology, and religion to reconstruct the perceptual assumptions of Calvin's earliest readers. Her study reveals the Institutes' unrecognized concern with 'perception'-pre-conscious processing believed to occur in the imagination, capable of distorting sense experience before conscious thought could even occur. Illuminating Calvin's most striking visual metaphors-from the spectacles of scripture to the factory of idols-and through close readings of topics like accommodation, idolatry, faith, and Calvin's Latin prose, Bridges advocates a paradigm shift in how we read Calvin's most cited work, displacing 'knowledge' in favor of 'perception versus delusion.' In so doing, her study invites reflection on perceptual instability in our own cultural moment, where the challenge is not only to know what is true, but even to perceive what is real.
This essential new edition study guide includes in-depth coverage of past FFICM exam material, offering an invaluable resource for trainees preparing for the OSCE examination in intensive care medicine. The structured layout gives the reader clear and convenient access to a wealth of model questions and answers ideal for both quick-fire practice or more detailed study. Featuring over 100 completely new questions, the book covers data interpretation, equipment, imaging, ECG, ethics and communication and simulation. Questions are matched to the curriculum and a sample marking scheme is provided to assist with exam preparation. This enhanced edition focuses on key topics, realistic question formats and exam technique with new simulation, ECG and imaging scenarios. Written in a style that allows the reader to quickly pick out salient points but also with sufficient background material to enhance the learning experience and save valuable revision time.
This Element is about Wittgenstein's engagement with skepticism. Two forms of skepticism will be at the center of this Element: skepticism concerning our knowledge of the 'external world,' and skepticism concerning our knowledge of 'other minds.' It will be shown that Wittgenstein is neither a skeptic nor an anti-skeptic. Rather, Wittgenstein thinks of the skeptic's doubt as a form of denial: a denial of knowledge that one cannot but have. The aim of this Element is to bring out what it means to think of the skeptic's doubt in a Wittgensteinian way, that is, as a doubt that manifests a denial of knowledge that one cannot but have, rather than a philosophical position about the possibility of knowledge that is either true or false and hence an object either of justification or refutation. Wittgenstein's relation to skepticism is therefore unique and highly original.
Relevant logics are forms of non-classical logic that require the antecedent and consequent of implications to be relevantly related. They are paraconsistent logics, i.e. they are able to robustly handle contradictory information. The field of non-classical logics is rapidly expanding, particularly with the addition of modalities and quantifiers. This is the first book to develop systematically a basic frame theory of relevant logics that includes both modal and quantified extensions. It includes sections comparing features of relevant logics with other, more common logics used in philosophy, examples and exercises to make the material more accessible, and an extensive bibliography. It also includes philosophical discussion of many aspects of relevant logics, and highlights several directions for future research, both philosophical and formal.
Modern Spain has developed from a complex history, a diverse population, and continual contact with outside influences. This updated and revised volume moves from prehistoric times to the present, incorporating recent scholarship and focusing on politics, society, economy, culture, and personalities. Written in an engaging style, it introduces key themes that have shaped Spanish history. These include its varied landscapes and climate zones; the impact of waves of human migrations; and Spain's importance as a bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, between Europe and Africa, and between Europe and Latin America. Another key theme is religion, particularly militant Catholic Christianity, its centuries of conflict with Islam and Protestantism, and debates over the place of religion in modern Spanish life. Illustrations, maps, and a guide to further information about major cultural figures, books to read, and places of interest make the history of this fascinating country come alive.
An investigation into the metaphysics of the logical properties. Textbooks define logical truth and logical consequence in terms of models. But what are models, and why is invoking them a good way to define these properties? The answers take us through questions about the bearers of logical truth, the distinction between logical and non-logical expressions, and, ultimately, to an account of what logic is.
How is ethnic and racial discrimination impacting our young people? Scholars around the world have found that discriminatory interactions of this nature have detrimental impacts on youth and their development. In this handbook, the world's leading experts on this topic examine the current state of the science, presenting current research and tracing foundational theories, empirical findings, multilevel methods, and intervention strategies for children, adolescents, and young adults. Covering multiple ethnic and racial groups across the United States and globally, chapters highlight both universal and distinct experiences and provide an in-depth overview of how race-related stressors affect youth outcomes. The text also offers clear conceptual frameworks, methodological guidance, and future-facing strategies to strengthen research, policy, and practice. With its expansive international scope and interdisciplinary depth, it is an essential resource for graduate students and scholars across developmental psychology, child development, human development and family studies, sociology, and ethnic studies.
Physiognomics is the theory according to which there is a relationship between certain signs on the body and certain characteristics of the soul, and furthermore that it is possible to exploit this relationship to transition from what is visible to what is invisible: to read the body in order to gain access to the soul. This Cambridge Element showcases the philosophical relevance of physiognomics during the Renaissance, combining in-depth analysis of physiognomics' subtle, and sometimes lesser-known theoretical details, with awareness of the role of physiognomics in the main philosophical debates of the time, including on the human-animal border and on the difference between men and women. This Element presents the Renaissance revival of physiognomics as a scientific endeavour that required philosophers to organise medical, anatomical, physiological, and astrological knowledge, under the aegis of an ethical programme for the improvement of oneself and society.
The Meditations on the Life of Christ was a devotional manual composed for the Order of the Poor Clares in early fourteenth-century Italy. In this book, Renana Bartal offers a comprehensive study of the only known fully illuminated manuscript of this text, now housed in Corpus Christi College at Oxford University. An interdisciplinary analysis combining the methods of art history, textual studies, and gender studies, her book sheds light on the devotional practices of medieval religious women and enriches current understanding of gendered reception and use of books in the later Middle Ages. Through close analysis of text and images, Bartal reveals how the nuns who read the manuscript used visual and verbal strategies to deepen theological reflection and guide meditative practice. She challenges the view that the Meditations primarily encouraged emotional identification, exploring how it fostered intellectual engagement and exegetical devotion. Bartal's study also demonstrates how images, texts, and female religious experience intersected in shaping devotional culture.
This volume argues that the rise of the far right in Latin America represents a reactionary response to the partial success of democratic regimes in incorporating historically marginalized groups. Despite persistent inequalities, Latin American democracies have gradually weakened the dominance of traditional elites over majority–minority relations, creating fertile ground for a backlash against political, social and cultural change. Like their counterparts in Europe and the United States, far-right actors in the region resist adapting to ongoing transformations, instead invoking an idealized national past and mobilizing exclusionary ethnic, cultural, and political appeals to construct a radically homogeneous community. This volume employs a theoretical framework informed by contemporary debates on the far right in Europe and the United States and brings together leading scholars to examine key country cases across Latin America. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Driven by advances in data science and machine learning, photonics has evolved rapidly in recent years and has transformed into a highly interdisciplinary field, connecting fundamental research with cutting-edge applications. Inspired by recent Nobel Prizes in Physics in 2021 and 2024, Conti highlights the interplay between photonics and spin glasses, a key concept for understanding the link between photon propagation and complex systems. Beginning with a study of black-body radiation, the book then revisits laser theory using techniques from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Through a step-by-step exploration of important photonic experiments, it bridges foundational concepts and advances in optical computing, with a focus on developing efficient hardware for classical and quantum artificial intelligence. This reveals the profound ties between complexity, photonics, and the future of AI technologies. The book will be a valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and more practised researchers.
The mathematical method and the nature of mathematical knowledge were subjects of intense philosophical discussion in the 17th and 18th centuries. In particular, there was a debate over whether metaphysical truths admit of distinct proof as geometrical truths do, and whether they may be known with the same degree of certainty. This comparison between geometry and philosophy required a proper understanding of how Euclidean demonstration secured certainty. This element examines attempts by Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Wolff, Lambert, Mendelssohn and Kant to address this question. The emphasis is on metaphysical and epistemological questions about geometrical demonstration in the 17th- and 18th-centuries.
The enslavement of Africans in the Americas profoundly shaped the continent's demography, cultures, languages, and legal systems, playing a decisive role in modern economic growth and the rise of industrial capitalism. Yet, its historical interpretation remains contested. One view sees modern slavery as beginning with the transatlantic slave trade, disconnecting it from earlier traditions in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Another claims slavery is a universal institution, unchanged across millennia. Moving beyond this dichotomy, the book offers a new framework for the study of Black slavery in the Americas. It situates slavery within a broader and older human geography: a world region of enslavement that dates back to the deep historical formation of the Mediterranean basin. By tracing the emergence of modern slavery from within this ancient system, the book sheds new light on its conditions of existence, collapse, and reconfiguration up to the present day.
Ancient apologetics is usually treated as a literary genre or a branch of early theology. This Element offers a different account. It argues that many Jewish and Christian texts conventionally labeled 'apologetic' are better understood through a bibliographic and archival lens: They produce authority not only by defending doctrines, but by organizing books, constructing corpora, mobilizing archives, and regulating interpretation. Tracing a trajectory from the Letter of Aristeas to Jerome's De viris illustribus, this Element shows how citation, collection, cataloguing, and textual ordering made traditions appear authoritative. Examining Aristeas, Josephus, Tatian, Justin, Origen, Pamphilus, Eusebius, and Jerome, it argues that apologetics is best understood as a form of curatorial power through which ancient communities learned to think with books. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Many developing countries are recognising that the traditional 'take–make–dispose' model of growth is no longer sustainable. This element explores that turning point and examines how the circular economy can offer a better path. A circular economy focuses on using resources for longer, reducing waste, and reusing or recycling materials. It offers a way to grow that can generate income, protect nature, and include more people in development. The element traces how circular economy ideas have evolved over the past decade, moving from a mainly global conversation to one increasingly shaped by local needs and realities. It argues that meaningful progress happens when three forces align: effective public policy, active communities, and strong cross-sector partnerships. Through case studies of businesses in developing countries, the element shows how firms with limited resources use creativity to redesign products and processes, turn waste into value, and collaborate to overcome constraints.