Chapter 5 proposes that friendship is one of the founding principles of, and one of the main reasons for writing, familial letters. It focuses on the exchange of letters between Keats and his friend the artist Benjamin Robert Haydon, suggesting that the exchange itself sustained but also threatened the friendship because of its engagement with a paradoxical logic of reciprocity that governs both friendship and letter-writing. The chapter pays particular attention to the inherent contingency of epistolary friendship – friendship that is supplemented or sustained by epistolary contact – in the case of Keats’s mutually flattering but sometimes difficult relationship with a man who shared the poet’s sense of artistic ambition while lacking his talent and genius. As a form of gift exchange, the interchange of letters between two friends may be said to be governed by the economics of an implicit but difficult and ultimately paradoxical reciprocity.

This chapter will introduce the reader to the study of third (L3) or further (Ln) acquisition. The circumstances surrounding the acquisition of language beyond the second conspire to make this a unique context, distinct from L2 acquisition. The L3 learner has at least partial knowledge of more than one grammar, previous experience with nonnative language learning and, in most cases, at least some metalinguistic knowledge. All these factors significantly condition both the starting point and the trajectory of L3/Ln language acquisition in ways that cannot be predicted from our understanding of L1 and L2 acquisition and reflect qualitative as well as quantitative changes in going from two to three or more languages. In this chapter, the reader will find an introduction to the basic concepts and themes of L3/Ln acquisition research, an overview of L3/Ln theories from a cognitive perspective – modeling the acquisition of both morphosyntax and phonology – an in-depth discussion of the role of previously acquired languages, and a brief introduction to some of the most recent work on L3 processing, including studies using electroencephalography (EEG) and semiartificial languages to address long-standing questions in the field while overcoming some of the most common methodological and logistic issues facing the L3/Ln researcher.

This chapter considers the law of treaties in the light primarily of the key Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969, much of which is considered as part of customary law. The chapter discusses the role and nature of international treaties in the light of their binding nature upon states parties (pacta sunt servanda). The making of treaties, from the formalities and methods of consent from signature to ratification, is covered before the chapter turns to reservations. The nature of reservations and their effect upon third parties is addressed is addressed as is the process of amendment of treaties. Consideration of treaty interpretation then follows with the various methodologies examined from the textual, intention and object, and purpose of the treaty points of view, with a careful look at case law. The particular position of human rights treaties in this process is noted. The chapter then turns to the invalidity, termination and suspension of treaties, including a discussion of the concepts of peremptory norms (jus cogens), material breach, supervening impossibility of performance and fundamental change of circumstances (rebus sic stantibus).

Vygotsky introduced the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in the 1930’s. ZPD activity involves semiotic mediation of mind and is a unit of analysis in sociocultural theory (SCT) and activity theory. ZPD activity reveals a learner’s potential future development. Higher cognitive development, including second language acquisition (SLA), involves social processes as learning-leads-development in ZPD activity, where developmentally appropriate support (from other persons or from semiotic tools) enables functioning beyond a learner’s independent skills. Too much support, beyond a learner’s ability to understand, is outside of the ZPD and does not reveal developmental trajectories. Early L2 research on ZPD activity focused on identifying ZPDs using discourse analytic approaches. Promoting ZPD activity is at the core of concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) and dynamic assessment (DA), two interventionist pedagogical approaches. Process-oriented research most effectively reveals ZPD activity. Instead of mentioning ZPD activity, SCT researchers may discuss mediation; ZPDs may also be evident in non-SCT process-oriented studies. Examples of research relevant to ZPD activity include work focused on identifying and understanding ZPD activity, studies on explicit instruction (C-BLI) and instructional assessment (DA), and process-oriented studies on interaction between people and other persons or semiotic tools, including digital tools.

This chapter argues that ‘belief’ is neither the only, nor the most appropriate, concept for understanding the mental and experiential dimensions of Greek religion. It argues that the dichotomy between ritualistic and belief-centred conceptions of religion that has long shaped the debate over Greek religion reflects an underlying dualism of mind and body. Under the influence of this dualism, the domain of religion has been divided into categories of ritual, which belongs to the body, and belief, which belongs to the mind. This chapter draws on recent work in anthropology that seeks to collapse this mind–body dualism to propose a concept of skilled perception as the basis of an alternative approach to religion in the lived experience of the Greeks. This approach is developed through a series of studies of normative and divergent acts of religious perceiving, via a close reading of Theophrastus’ ‘Superstitious Man’ (Characters 16) and a selection of episodes of divination and omen-perception in Herodotus and Xenophon. These studies suggest that we might view Greek religion less as a body of beliefs and rituals and more as a skill for living in a dynamic world.

Complex fluids can be found all around us, from molten plastics to mayonnaise, and understanding their highly nonlinear dynamics is the subject of much research.

This text introduces a common theoretical framework for understanding and predicting the flow behavior of complex fluids. This framework allows for results including a qualitative understanding of the relationship between a fluid’s behavior at the microscale of particles or macromolecules, and its macroscopic, viscoelastic properties. The author uses a microstructural approach to derive constitutive theories that remain simple enough to allow computational predictions of complicated macroscale flows.

Readers develop their intuition to learn how to approach the description of materials not covered in the book, as well as limits such as higher concentrations that require computational methods for microstructural analysis.

This monograph’s unique breadth and depth make it a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students in fluid mechanics.

This chapter treats the aesthetics of human action. It begins by taking up athletic contest in particular, for insofar as the performance of athletic action serves to make conspicuous how an otherwise given, natural body becomes the vehicle for a striking realization of spirit’s freedom and autonomy, its eventful unfolding can serve as a kind of aesthetic standard for assessing the other forms of action as well. However, most of our actions prove to be rather lackluster in comparison, and when Hegel turns to the aesthetic prospects of practical life in the context of modern civil society and the state, he finds only what is prosaic, action here being defined on all sides by contingency, dependence, and exposure to external forces. Hegel would have us see that the aesthetic limitations of practical life are rooted in inherent, ontological limitations of practical life itself – what this chapter calls the tragedy of the practical – implying that there is no question of seeking a higher form of practical life that would be free of such limitation. This limitation is surpassed only by redefining ourselves, not exclusively in practical terms but in the terms of “absolute spirit,” whose first form is art.

This chapter synthesises current research on mathematics anxiety, tracing its precursors – such as negative emotions and attitudes – and examining its wide-ranging consequences. It explores the gendered nature of mathematics anxiety and its contribution to the persistent underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. The chapter reviews established instruments for measuring mathematics anxiety and considers key moderating factors, such as resilience and self-efficacy. Drawing on the author’s own analyses of recent empirical data, it offers new insights into the complexity and persistence of mathematics anxiety, particularly among non-specialist university students. The chapter concludes with a call to action, advocating for inclusive and emotionally intelligent pedagogical approaches that address both the cognitive and affective dimensions of mathematics learning.

Supernatural politics is a theme that runs through the preceding chapters. It is intended to show how efforts to indigenize Communism by the CCP drew consciously and unconsciously on traditional religious culture, even though this was only ever one mode of political legitimation. It is hard to measure its effectiveness in promoting the legitimacy of the regime, although it certainly served to mystify the workings of power. Through an assessment of the CCP’s reliance on repression, its failure to forge a new-style religious policy based on the united front, its organizational incoherence, divisions among its grassroots cadres, popular resistance in defence of folk religion, its policies to improve health and popularize science, it concludes that the project to roll back the influence of the recognized religions and eliminate ‘feudal superstition’ had only limited success. Judged from the perspective of religion, the party-state is shown to be much weaker than is often assumed.

The introduction examines the CCP’s hope to break with a Soviet-style anti-religious policy. It examines policies towards the five religions that it recognized – Buddhism, Daoism, Protestantism, Catholicism (Islam is not discussed), as well as towards the folk religion of the vast majority of Chinese which the Party did not recognize as a religion and dismissed as feudal superstition. The CCP’s initial aim was to create a united front with patriotic religion leaders. However, this came under attack from those who increasingly saw religion as an obstacle to socialist advance. Through propaganda, campaigns and scientific education, the regime aimed to eradicate popular belief in supernatural agency. At the same time, it sought to bolster its legitimacy through what is called ‘supernatural politics’, i.e. the use of supernatural imagery and Confucian values to communicate its messages. This led to tensions within the ruling ideology. The introduction uses the steady move towards repression of religion to reflect on the unhappy relationship of Marxism to religion in general.

The Introduction situates the book’s contribution in relation to the historiographies of madness, medicine, emotion, selfhood, and personhood. While mania and melancholy have enjoyed perennial scholarly interest, the same cannot be said of early modern frenzy. The Introduction offers some thoughts as to why frenzy has been neglected, and reflects on some of the conceptual and methodological difficulties which accompany its study. It explains the book’s scope (and limits), and offers short summaries of its six chapters. Sketching out the book’s central claim – that frenzy had devastating effects on personhood, and that these effects drove its early modern observers to unpick the tangle of mind, soul, and brain – it engages with recent claims about the emergence of a distinctively modern ‘cerebral self’. It sets out to test the claim that the possession of certain ‘psychological features, such as memory, consciousness, and self-awareness’ was not constitutive of ‘personhood’ until the end of the seventeenth century.

This chapter provides essential guidance on crafting and delivering effective lectures, a fundamental skill for psychologists and educators. It presents 20 key principles for creating engaging presentations, from preparation to delivery. The chapter emphasizes the importance of dynamic presentation styles, including starting with impact, organizing content strategically, and maintaining audience engagement through varied pacing and relevant examples. It addresses crucial aspects such as avoiding common pitfalls like reading from scripts or cramming excessive content, while promoting techniques that enhance comprehension and retention. Special attention is given to online lecture considerations, including virtual engagement tools, technical preparations, and strategies for maintaining audience attention in digital environments.

Scott’s struggles to maintain authorial control against the incursions of Merrilies’s witchlike powers compels him to consciously assume the more distanced role of an antiquarian collecting stories of female enthusiasm in subsequent novels, offering up prognoses of mental instability for the witches in The Antiquary, The Pirate and Ivanhoe. This chapter also introduces an entirely new and different witch figure: Rebecca, a lovely young Jewish healer whose potential marriage to Ivanhoe is challenged by racial prejudice and misogynistic suspicions that brand her as a witch. Although Rebecca is rescued from her trial as a witch, she does not receive the happy ending she deserves. Scott writes her out of the narrative in the end when she and her father decide to leave England. Yet Ivanhoe’s choice of a bride – the mild and dutiful Rowena – pales by comparison to Rebecca, inviting readers to envision an alternative ending: the union of Rebecca and Ivanhoe, and the socially transformative potential of this marriage between a Christian and a Jew, the story’s hero, and a purported witch.

Chapter 4 surveys the ways in which imperial officials were represented in various forms of late ancient Christian literature. In so doing, it acts as an introduction to Part II, which explores how contemporaries conceived of distinctly Christian forms of political service in this period. There is not a straightforward ‘archive’ of sources for this problem. Texts on government by current or former administrators do not tend to discuss the implications of their religious identities. As a result, it is rare that we can reconstruct an officeholder’s own perspective. At the same time—and in sharp contrast to other Christian authority figures (emperors, bishops, ascetics)—there is no single genre of Christian literature which focuses consistently on the careers of imperial or royal officials. This chapter thus considers how the purposes, audiences and generic expectations of letters, sermons, church histories, and saints’ lives shaped (and sometimes demanded) positive portrayals of officials, their religious identities, and their interactions with Christian communities and authority figures.

This chapter sets forth a framework based on a historical analysis of the role of efficiency in ICA. This chapter asserts that more so than party-autonomy, arbitrator discretion, the right to second instance review, or emphasis on privacy (and even confidentiality), the main historical principle upon which the legitimacy of ICA was premised, concerns a very narrow concept of efficiency. This legacy construct of efficiency is one that prioritizes the rendering of a binding and enforceable award over all other considerations. The primacy of “process efficiency” is such that even due process has been sacrificed at the altar of expediency. The text explores the interplay between efficiency and due process. It is suggested that only a voluntary settlement can yield “optimal efficiency,” and thereby redeem ICA’s promise to be efficient

This chapter takes up the question of whether the higher-order beauty of art is for Hegel best exemplified in the static, serene repose of classical sculpture or in the dramatic, developmental movement characteristic of the depiction of human action. Both paradigms are prevalent in Hegel’s lectures on art, and in the end the tension between them has not been fully addressed within Hegel’s lectures, nor has it been adequately addressed within existing scholarship. In addition to maintaining that the developmental paradigm fits better with the present book’s account of the ontology of the artwork as featuring the dramatic event of transformation into autonomy, the chapter also brings some textual sources to bear, and attempts to show as well that such a paradigm fits more naturally with Hegel’s claim that art is ultimately rooted in intuition and its direct, eventful encounters with the world.