This chapter grapples with the question of what has historically been admitted to the literary canon, via a consideration of comic poetry. Traditionally omitted from literary and language debates, comic poetry flourished especially in Florence, but was also produced in other centres. The chapter begins with Domenico di Giovanni, Burchiello, whose poetry satirised intellectuals and scholarly pursuits while demonstrating a virtuoso command of language, including Latinised poetic forms. It then discusses comic literature in Medici Florence, where poets including Lorenzo de’ Medici, Poliziano and Pulci refined this style, generating cultured parodies, and creating new genres such as Pulci’s mock-heroic epic, the Morgante, and allegorical and double-entendre Carnival songs. The final section considers comic poetry beyond Florence, including bilingual macaronic Latin-vernacular verse in Padua, post-Burchiello verse in Rome and Aretino’s pasquinades. The comic-burlesque mode is shown to be coterminous with more prized genres and produced by authors across the class spectrum.

Beyond the demographic factors of socio-economic disadvantage, inequality and unemployment, some occupations have been historically linked with higher rates of suicide deaths. These include: the armed forces, farmers, healthcare workers (including doctors), and “blue light” emergency workers, or “first responders,” for example, police, ambulance, rescue and fire personnel. Where available, the chapter draws upon systematic reviews and meta-analyses to discuss the evidence in specific occupational groups; the risk indicators and protective factors for suicide at individual, organisational and systemic level; and potential interventions over the course of a worker’s career. Understanding occupational risk factors over the career span from recruitment, self-selection and selection, through work environments and cultures, occupational trauma and stresses, could yield strategies for more generalisable suicide prevention at a population level as well as reducing rates in specific occupations.

This chapter examines the introduction of new lay participation systems in Asian countries. Focusing on Russia, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, I explore the social and political contexts and goals of the policymakers that motivated the incorporation of citizen decision-making into the legal systems of these countries. In each of the four countries, the adoption of new systems of lay participation occurred during periods of political democratization. Those who argued in favor of citizen involvement hoped that it would promote democratic self-governance, create more robust connections between the citizenry and the government, and improve public confidence in the courts. Policymakers drew on the experiences of other countries, including other Asian nations, to develop a distinctive model that incorporated some features of lay participation systems elsewhere, and modified them to suit the specific circumstances of their own countries.

The arguments of this book are intended to tackle the social injustices faced by people living with dementia, yet reflecting on the author’s social position reveals a tension. As the author is not a member of the social group this book concerns, they are engaging in an act of speaking for others: a practice that has received significant criticism, given the risks of contributing to oppression and stigma through misrepresentation. With this concern in mind, this chapter engages in a reflective exercise about the content of the book, highlighting ways in which the author’s social position may have negatively influenced its content and setting out the steps the author has taken to try to address this.

While much of this book has been focused on describing post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) in objective terms, is if often the personal stories of survivors of critical illness and their loved ones that are so much more revealing than the distance walked during 6 minutes or a score on a cognitive test. It was not until I began seeing patients in my ICU follow-up clinic that I truly appreciated how life-changing an experience surviving critical illness could be. Understanding the real-life impact of the physical, functional, cognitive, psychiatric, and social impairments that those suffering from PICS face is a profoundly moving and motivating experience. For that reason, I wanted to close this book with stories of survivors of critical illness and their loved ones, allowing the reader to synthesize and contextualize the objective data that has heretofore been presented in neatly parsed, individual chapters and to more deeply appreciate how that data translates into a much more impactful lived experience.

The existence of democratic systems of government threatens the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes. Democracy presents unique opportunities and vulnerabilities, including public debate and free expression, which nefarious actors can exploit by spreading false information. Disinformation can propagate rapidly across social networks and further authoritarian efforts to weaken democracy. This research discusses how Russia and China leverage online disinformation across contexts and exploit democracies’ vulnerabilities to further their goals. We create an analytical framework to map authoritarian influence efforts against democracies: (i) through longer term, ambient disinformation, (ii) during transitions of political power, and (iii) during social and cultural divides. We apply this framework to case studies involving Western democracies and neighboring states of strategic importance. We argue that both China and Russia aim to undermine faith in democratic processes; however, they bring different histories, priorities, and strategies while also learning from each other and leveraging evolving technologies. A primary difference between the countries’ disinformation against democracies is their approach. Russia builds on its longstanding history of propaganda for a more direct, manipulation-driven approach, and China invested heavily in technological innovation more recently for a permeating censorship-driven approach. Acknowledging it is impossible to know disinformation’s full scope and impact given the current information landscape, the growing international ambition and disinformation efforts leveraged by authoritarian regimes are credible threats to democracy globally. For democracies to stay healthy and competitive, their policies and safeguards must champion the free flow of trustworthy information. Resilience against foreign online disinformation is vital to achieving fewer societal divides and a flourishing information environment for democracies during peaceful – and vulnerable – times.

Effective post-ICU recovery requires empathetic exploration of the ICU experience and a detailed evaluation of the unique challenges and symptoms faced by survivors of critical illness. Utilizing palliative care techniques in this evaluation helps clinicians identify unmet needs and coordinate post-ICU management around patient-centered goals. Several palliative care tools and techniques may be used by ICU follow-up clinic providers without specialized palliative care training. Screening tools like the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale and Palliative Performance Scale may help clarify post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) symptoms and prognosis, while communication techniques like Ask-Tell-Ask and NURSE emotional response statements may offer insight into patient values and expectations in the post-ICU setting. The implementation of primary palliative care techniques in ICU follow-up clinics may additionally aid in the completion of documents like Advance Directives, which help clarify patient wishes. Specialized palliative care referral may be considered in situations with unmet needs, such as severe physical symptoms, existential distress, and prognosis less than one year. Integration of palliative care principles into the evaluation and management of PICS may ultimately facilitate meaningful recovery in survivors while fostering the concept of post-traumatic growth after critical illness.

Organised crime is now endemic to all advanced societies, and it has been become customary to refer to it everywhere as a 'mafia'. The first problem is to ascertain if there are special characteristics which distinguish the criminality of the mafia in Sicily and in Italy from other forms of crime. Umberto Santino has written extensively on the Sicilian mafia and the growth of other 'mafias' worldwide. He considers the historical phases of mafia development, highlighting its capacity to conserve and alter certain defining characteristics. Antonino Cutrera, writing in 1900, examines the rural mafia active in his own time, but identifies many of the characteristics which will define the mafia in all phases. Giuseppe Fava was a novelist and playwright from Catania, killed in 1984 outside a theatre where an anti-mafia play of his was being performed. He considers the transition from rural to urban mafia in his play.

How do the dual trends of increased misinformation in politics and increased socioeconomic inequality contribute to an erosion of trust and confidence in democratic institutions? In an era of massive misinformation, voters bear the burden of separating truth from lies as they determine how they stand on important issue areas and which candidates to support. When candidates engage in misinformation, it uncouples the already weak link among vote intentions, candidate choice, and policy outputs. At the same time, high levels of economic inequality and social stratification may contribute to lower levels of institutional trust, and the correspondingly more insular socioeconomic groups may experience misinformation differently. Social policy, as a policy area intentionally designed to alleviate risk and redistribute resources, thus becomes a special case where the effects of misinformation and socioeconomic inequality may be crosscutting and heightened.

This chapter argues that Darwin’s philosophical theory of emotion has been forgotten due to paradigm shifts in biology, psychology, and philosophy. These shifts have caused researchers to neglect associationist theories of emotions, including Darwin’s contributions to this school of thought. Having explained why Darwin’s philosophy was forgotten, I conclude by explaining why it should be remembered, given its relevance for contemporary emotions research.

The question of whether the mafia was a state of mind or an organisation has been settled by the revelations of Tommaso Buscetta. This chapter discusses the nature of the internal organisation taken from the prosecution case in the 1986 'maxi-processo' (Maxi-Trial). Mafia boss from Riesi who provided the police with information about the developing split inside Cosa Nostra and the rise of the Corleonese faction, which would lead to the mafia war of 1980-83. In 1973, Leonardo Vitale became the first mafioso in modern times to collaborate with the police. His testimony was dismissed, and he himself was convicted and locked up in a mental hospital. He was finally released in 1984. but was murdered by the mafia some months later.