I explore the promise of Beall's proposal for a long-standing challenge for traditional theology. I first offer a sketch of the problem and a brief overview of some of the more common responses to it. I then show how Beall's proposal holds initial promise; following this I highlight some concerns and raise some questions.

We report the case of a 9-year-old male with severe congenital pulmonary valve stenosis referred to our centre for percutaneous valvotomy. On admission, trans-thoracic echocardiogram confirmed a unicuspid pulmonary valve with a peak/mean pulmonary valve gradient of 91/53 mmHg and a pulmonary annulus of 13.8 mm (−0.8 Z Score). It also showed an enlarged RV (RV/LV ratio 0,9). During cardiac catheterisation, an additional atrial septal defect (secundum) with significant left to right shunt (Qp/Qs > 2) was diagnosed, which was not amenable to percutaneous closure. The patient was referred for surgical repair.

The atrial septal defect was closed by a direct running suture. The repair of the unicuspid valve consisted in bicuspidisation by a large commissurotomy to the left anterior wall of the pulmonary artery. The neo-commissure was created with two separate patches of autologous pericardium secured to the wall of the pulmonary root. The adjustment of the effective height of the pulmonary valve leaflets was done by trimming the patches and a triangular plication of the newly created posterior leaflet. Perioperative echocardiogram showed a peak gradient of 15 mm Hg and trivial pulmonary regurgitation. The total cross-clamp time was 92 min and the bypass time 123 min with a favourable evolution after the surgery.

The particularity of the case is represented by the complexity of the bicuspidisation procedure. Using this technique, a tailored approach is needed for every patient.

In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped almost three hundred girls attending school in Chibok, Nigeria. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign emerged as a global activist movement in the aftermath of that kidnapping. Onah’s article analyzes the global mediascapes of the campaign to show the mnemonic affordances of the Chibok girls’ kidnapping and the intermedial dynamics that coalesced to make it a global memory phenomenon. By foregrounding the transhistorical and intermedial connections at the core of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, it consolidates the understanding of remediation in memory studies. Consequently, Onah proposes new ways to understand African memorial traditions and testimonial practices in an increasingly hyperconnected world.

This article examines the role of digital technology in enabling and enhancing democratic practices and forms of governance. It contributes to emerging debates on democratic innovations by proposing a novel theoretical account of decentralized participatory democracy. To develop our account, we draw on the experience of two EU-funded projects, D-CENT and DECODE, which produced innovative citizen participation platforms and digital public infrastructure. Bringing democratic theory into conversation with critical data studies and the new municipalism movement, we theorize how these projects advanced three political aims: organizing political communities to build collective power, empowering citizens through direct participation in decision making, and transforming political institutions. The article then analyzes the strengths and limitations of these projects to draw lessons for policy makers and practitioners for future digital democratic experiments.

Real human agents, even when they are rational by everyday standards, sometimes assign different credences to objectively equivalent statements, such as ‘Orwell is a writer’ and ‘E.A. Blair is a writer’, or credences less than 1 to necessarily true statements, such as not-yet-proven theorems of arithmetic. Anna Mahtani calls this the phenomenon of ‘opacity’. Opaque credences seem probabilistically incoherent, which goes against a key modelling assumption of probability theory. I sketch a modelling strategy for capturing opaque credence assignments without abandoning probabilistic coherence. I draw on ideas from judgement-aggregation theory, where we face similar challenges of defining the ‘objects of judgement’.

Stalnaker’s ‘Assertion’ (1978 [1999]) offers a classic account of diagonalization as an approach to the meaning of a declarative sentence in context. Here I explore the relationship between diagonalization and some puzzles in Mahtani’s book The Objects of Credence. Diagonalization can influence how we think about both credence and desirability, so it influences both components of a standard expected utility equation. In that vein, I touch on two of Mahtani’s case-studies, chance and the finite version of the Two Envelope Paradox.

Freshwater ecosystems are responsible for a large proportion of global methane emissions to the atmosphere. The radiocarbon (14C) content of this aquatic methane is useful for determining the age and source of this important greenhouse gas. Several methods already exist for the collection of aquatic methane for radiocarbon analysis, but they tend to only sample over short periods of time, which can make them unsuitable for characterizing aquatic methane over longer timespans, and vulnerable to missing short-term events. Here, we describe a new time-integrated method for the collection of aquatic methane that provides samples suitable for radiocarbon analysis, that are representative for periods of up to at least 16 days. We report the results of a suite of tests undertaken to verify the reliability of the method, and the 14C age of aquatic methane from field trials undertaken at sites within Scotland, UK. We believe that this new method provides researchers with a simple approach that is easily deployable and can be used to collect representative time-integrated samples of methane for radiocarbon analysis from a wide range of aquatic environments.

The fact that migration cases seldom raise any questions under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is neither inevitable nor justified. This article reaffirms the equality provision as a useful and indeed necessary mechanism for the European Court of Human Rights to deal with such applications. More concretely, we build on our previous work, which identified a legal tool suitable for achieving this reorientation in judicial practice: the principle that we call ‘migratory vulnerability’, once recalibrated away from a group-based approach to a notion of vulnerability as situational and socially induced. In this article, we explain how the principle of migratory vulnerability, even if it does not represent an inherently suspect ground of differentiation, enables us to identify instances of discrimination defined as a measurable disadvantage that is disproportionate or arbitrary and cannot, therefore, be reasonably justified on the basis of the Convention. This presupposes a move away from nationality as a privileged ground in migration-related cases and from the ‘comparator’ test to determine Article 14 ECHR violations, to also encompass situational experiences. We end with two examples that show that this reconceptualization is both workable in practice and of added value, enabling the Court to find violations that presently go undetected.

We consider linear random coefficient regression models, where the regressors are allowed to have a finite support. First, we investigate identification, and show that the means and the variances and covariances of the random coefficients are identified from the first two conditional moments of the response given the covariates if the support of the covariates, excluding the intercept, contains a Cartesian product with at least three points in each coordinate. We also discuss identification of higher-order mixed moments, as well as partial identification in the presence of a binary regressor. Next, we show the variable selection consistency of the adaptive LASSO for the variances and covariances of the random coefficients in finite and moderately high dimensions. This implies that the estimated covariance matrix will actually be positive semidefinite and hence a valid covariance matrix, in contrast to the estimate arising from a simple least squares fit. We illustrate the proposed method in a simulation study.

The Eastern Chukotka is considered a unique permafrost region where massive ice bodies are widespread. However, the origin and age of these ice formations are often discussed. The age of the massive ice of Chukotka was established for the first time using AMS 14C dating. It was revealed that three massive ice bodies on the coast of Mechigmen Bay were formed at the end of the Late Pleistocene: a) near the Akkani site, 21,612 to 22,147 cal BP; b) near the Lavrentiya settlement, 27,553 cal BP; and c) near the Lavrentiya settlement, 22,193 cal BP. Stable isotope values in the studied massive ice vary in a rather wide range by about 10‰ for δ18O values (from –14.8‰ to –24.5‰) and about 75‰ for the δ2H values (from –116‰ to –191‰). The studied massive ice bodies are of intrasedimental genesis and formed epigenetically during the final stage of MIS2 (22–27 cal ka BP).

It is now over ten years since the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or Court) first established that asylum seekers are inherently and particularly vulnerable on account of their very situation as asylum seekers. This occurred in its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece. This article critically examines the Court’s subsequent asylum jurisprudence through the lens of vulnerability. The analysis reveals that the Court has engaged in ‘vulnerability backsliding’. Specifically, it traces the ways in which the Court has surreptitiously reversed the very principle of asylum vulnerability it itself established in M.S.S. The consequence of this backsliding is not only that the judicially recognised concept of asylum vulnerability is undermined, but that some of the most vulnerable applicants that come before the Court suffer renewed marginalisation, and, in some circumstances, exclusion from the ‘special protection’ to which they were previously afforded courtesy of M.S.S.

First, Mahtani argues that both in the game The Mug and in the Sleeping Beauty we should not defer to a trusted person under a particular designation if they do not self-identify under this designation. This invites a more complex Reflection Principle. I respond that there are more parsimonious ways to avoid the challenges posed to the Reflection Principle. Second, Mahtani argues that preferences create a hyperintensional context, which poses a challenge to the Ex-Ante Pareto Principle that can be averted by supervaluation. I respond that such an appeal to supervaluation would block randomization as a fair allocation device.

This paper presents an algorithm for solving the inverse dynamics of a parallel manipulator (PM) with offset universal joints (RR–joints) via the Newton–Euler method. The PM with RR–joints increase the joint stiffness and enlarge the workspace but introduces additional joint parameters and constraint torques, rendering the dynamics more complex. Unlike existing studies on PMs with RR–joints, which emphasize the kinematics and joint performance, this paper studies the dynamical model. First, an iterative algorithm is established through a rigid body velocity transformation, which calculates the input parameters of the link velocity and acceleration. A linear system of equations in matrix form is then established for the entire PM through the Newton–Euler method. By using the generalized minimal residual method (GMRES) to solve the equation system, all the forces and torques on the joints can be obtained, from which the required actuation force can be derived. This method is validated through numerical simulations using the automatic dynamic analysis of multibody systems software. The proposed method is suitable for establishing the dynamic model of complex PMs with redundant or hybrid structures.

Recent years have seen a marked shift in the salience and politicization of any incorporation of race into teaching at the elementary and secondary levels. “Critical race theory” (CRT) has become a prominent feature of the current debate, even as there is a good deal of misunderstanding about what CRT actually is. Drawing on a pre-registered survey experiment, we consider the impact of the phrase “critical race theory” in activating both racial biases and partisan identity. Our expectation was that CRT would tend to activate partisanship independent of symbolic racism. Results suggest otherwise: where support for culturally relevant pedagogy is concerned, CRT appears to engage partisanship particularly amongst those who exhibit high levels of symbolic racism.

In electoral autocracies, why do some people actively support political parties while others choose to not get involved in politics? Further, what differentiates those who choose to support the ruling party from those who support the opposition? Existing research has proposed that people support ruling parties primarily to extract economic benefits from the state while people support opposition parties primarily for ideological reasons. However, we lack a unified theory of partisanship, leading to indeterminant predictions about the individual predictors of partisanship. This article instead considers the social nature of partisanship in authoritarian regimes. Qualitative data collected in Cameroon highlight different processes of political socialization in an autocratic context, and data from an original survey show not only that partisan homogeneity in social networks is highly predictive of individual-level partisanship but also, at least to some extent, that partisanship can be contagious through the process of socialization within these networks.