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The article discusses the role of books in the transmission of knowledge as social capital in India during the Mughal Empire. The author comments on the delayed adoption of printing in India and suggests that Muslim religious groups focused on the preservation of knowledge in individuals rather than through books. He comments on the memorization of the Quran in Islamic education by Muslim scholars known as Ulamā. The work of printer Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg in Aurangbad, India and the use of his books in the takiyya, a form of dervish lodge, of Shāh Muhammad Musāfir are discussed.

Comments on an analysis of the structure of a scientific paper on plate tectonics using philosophical models. Basis of a survey of scientific papers; Correctness of the experimental result; Use of Bayesianism to account for the argument for the theoretical explanation of the experimental result.

Criticizes Frederick Suppe's analysis of the structure of a scientific paper using philosophical models. Claims on data-based papers in science; Objections to the philosophical models; Data impeachment as a strategy in the epistemology of science.

Analyzes the structure of a scientific paper on plate tectonics as a case study to show philosophical models of standard hypothetico-deductive, Bayesian inductive and inference-to-the-best-explanation of testing and confirming fail criterion. Argumentative and organizational structures; Evidential basis for the paper's claims; Interpretation of results.

Lists several abstracts of papers presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the Economic History Association. Papers on the Black death and the medieval economy; Papers on property rights and the distribution of wealth and welfare; Papers on economic history and the consumer; Papers on institutions of governance and economic growth; Abstracts of papers on the financial prehistory of the United States.

Howey and O'Shea (2006) believe they have demonstrated the prehistoric manifestation of a particular Ojibwa Midewiwin origin story in the arrangement of features at an archaeological site in Michigan, thereby negating ethnohistorical arguments that the Midewiwin was of post-European-contact origin. The authors also believe they have shown that explaining past ritual behavior "can be derived from archaeological data alone." There is ample information in their own argument to disallow such claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the response to the objections raised by Christopher Miles Coope on the book entitled "The Spiritual Dimension." It provides a refutation to Coope's arguments and explains the "non-partisan" strategy of the book, which Coope systematically misunderstands. It also exposes some of the serious problems with Coope's own preference for a harshly exclusivist form of Christianity. It discusses the issues connected with religious beliefs including layers of meaning in religious language, emotional involvement against detachment in the assessment of religious claims, the problem of evil, human autonomy and divine authority, divine action in the world, apophatic theology and transcendence, and the doctrine of afterlife.

The article discusses the complexity of implementing laws against child soldiering in Africa. Despite the arrests of former Liberian warlord-President Charles Taylor and Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who were both guilty of recruiting child soldiers, ending child soldiering remains a challenge. Reasons for this include a problematic Western-centric social construction of "child" and the culpability of the African government in recruiting child soldiers.

The Rhino Bond is the first financial instrument dedicated to protecting a species. The Bond allows investors to invest in the conservation of the black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis , with the amount of money returned by the investment depending on whether rhinoceros numbers increase (and by how much). In this paper we focus on how the Bond was brought into being. We draw on an analysis of organizational reports along with data collected from interviews with key informants to investigate the roles of the various stakeholders in the Bond, how species and sites were selected, the motivations and experiences of the stakeholders and the involvement of stakeholders in decision-making. We found that although conservation actors are attracted by the potential for new funding, they have experienced challenges navigating complex financial instruments. The needs of financial actors often dictated decision-making, with implications for the species and sites chosen for the Bond. As profits are tied to an increase in population size of a specific species (which needs to be monitored), the instrument has favoured large and easily counted species and populations. Only some sites were able to meet the stringent conditions of financial instruments, including metrics on financial sustainability. We argue that the dominance of financial principles and motives means that not all species or sites will be viable candidates for investment and that conservation finance should not be seen as a panacea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure on mental health services has not gone unremarked and is of widespread concern in England and Wales. This can have implications when a bed is being sought for a patient who has undergone a Mental Health Act assessment and is deemed to meet the criteria for being formally admitted to hospital. Once the 24 h period for assessment under section 136 of the Act has lapsed, the ongoing detention of the patient can lead to a legal grey area. Through a fictional example this paper examines the relevant case law and statute that may be used to continue the detention and explores the ethical problems that this may cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protection of the environment during warfare attracted significant attention in the 1990s, especially after the 1990–91 Gulf War. It became clear at that time that the few rules provided by international humanitarian law (IHL) aimed specifically at protecting the environment were insufficient. Various studies have since been undertaken with the aim of strengthening that protection from an IHL perspective. It is only recently that scholars and institutions like the International Law Commission have started to reflect on how to better protect the environment in armed conflict through the lens of another branch of international law, namely, international environmental law (IEL). Such an approach has involved examining the interplay between IHL and IEL, and scholars have subsequently proposed and then elaborated on frameworks in that respect. This paper intends to identify common trends of those frameworks and to critically appraise them, with the aim of providing a suitable approach to the interplay between IHL and IEL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its launch in 2021, the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations (the Charter) has been signed by hundreds of humanitarian actors across the world, including local and national organizations, United Nations agencies, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and large international NGOs. The Charter's development grew out of a sector-wide recognition that humanitarians have a role to play in addressing the crises of climate change and environmental degradation, and that fulfilling this role would entail changing how they work. Two years into its existence, the Charter has helped build momentum towards this change and has provided a useful measurement tool for how much remains to be done. This paper traces the origins, inspiration and process of the Charter from the perspective of the present authors, who co-led the Charter's development. The article highlights some of the challenges that we faced and how these were addressed. In taking stock of progress towards the Charter's goals, the article flags areas where further effort is needed to adequately strengthen the humanitarian response to the climate and environmental crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the worldwide burden of mental illness and recent interest in global approaches to address this, progress on increasing awareness, lessening stigma, reducing the treatment gap, and improving research and training in mental health has been slow. In 2018, the North East England South Asia Mental health Alliance (NEESAMA) was developed as a collaboration between high-income (global north) and low- to middle-income (global south) countries to address this slow progress. This paper outlines how the joint priority areas for research, training and service delivery were identified across the life course (child and adolescent, adults and older people) between partner organisations spanning Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK. It describes the progress to date and proposes a way forward for similar alliances to be forged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with psychosis in Malawi have very limited access to timely assessment and evidence-based care, leading to a long duration of untreated psychosis and persistent disability. Most people with psychosis in the country consult traditional or religious healers. Stigmatising attitudes are common and services have limited capacity, particularly in rural areas. This paper, focusing on pathways to care for psychosis in Malawi, is based on the Wellcome Trust Psychosis Flagship Report on the Landscape of Mental Health Services for Psychosis in Malawi. Its purpose is to inform Psychosis Recovery Orientation in Malawi by Improving Services and Engagement (PROMISE), a longitudinal study that aims to build on existing services to develop sustainable psychosis detection systems and management pathways to promote recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probes the structures of scientific papers. Efficiency of scientific confirmation in capturing the structure of scientific articles; Demonstration of the coding scheme of Fred Suppe; Illustration of alternative structures found in various scientific articles; Relationship between structure and rhetorical goals of articles.

Looks at a reply from Valerie Bunce pertaining to her disagreement with the transitological approach of Philippe C. Smitter and Terry Lynn Karl to the former Soviet Union's democratization. Cross-regional comparisons of changes from authoritarian rule; Problems inherent in coding mistakes; Benefits from comparing a large amount of cases involved in transitions from authoritarian rule.

Presents a summary of papers which where presented to the annual general meeting of the Economic History Association. Development of the nineteenth-century water law; Identification of the cultivation practices and cropping patterns in Gujarat's Kaira district during the nineteenth century; Explanation of high crop yields during the late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century in Ireland.

In "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," Robin enters Boston after negotiating the cost of a ferry ride across the Charles River, a negotiation complicated by the precipitous depreciation of the provincial bill he carries. His night in Boston therefore unfolds under the volatile sign of paper money. The story is one of several Hawthorne works to join the paper-gold debate of the nineteenth century, and it historicizes that debate with persistent allusions to related eighteenth-century currency disputes. The story's famous ambivalence springs in part from Hawthorne's cognizance of a historical irony: in the nineteenth century, Jacksonian Democrats attacked paper money as the instrument of a neoaristocratic moneyed power; in the eighteenth century, royalists stigmatized it as the instrument of the "Popular or Democratick Part of the Constitution." The story is informed by the discomfiting fact that the eighteenth-century Tory and the nineteenth-century Democrat equally privileged gold over paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Electroencephalogram-based evidence was accepted in a UK law court for the first time in 1939. This paper gives an account of that case, not previously clinically reported, and the individuals involved. Why it was not published in the literature at the time is explored and parallels with more recent technologies are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on psychoanalytical theories on the life and works of Robert Boyle. Problems in choosing methods for analyzing personalities of scientists; Impact of the mother's death on personality development; Relations between the intra- and extrapersonal environments; Views on the works of biographers.

Looks at a response to Valerie Bunce's disagreements in `Should Transitologists be Grouded?' which examines the political and social issues affecting the former Soviet Union. Negative stereotypyping of area studies; Differences between South and East; Comparison of post-communist countries; How the democratization process is evaluated; Responses to article.

Comments on Kathleen Gill's `On the Metaphysical Distinction Between Processes and Events'. Acceptance of the criticism that a proper ontological distinction between processes and events as not to be sustained on the basis of the informal linguistic criteria offered; Gill's acceptance of a recognition of grammatical distinction between languages and processes; More.

Comments on Ruth Ginzberg's proposed model of scientific activity centered around social and epistemological structures that have traditionally been the domain of women in western societies. Description of the proposed paradigm; Ginzberg's notion of gynocentric science.

Examines the dynamics of environmental standard setting in the Canadian Federal State using the pulp and paper case. Analysis of provincial regulatory incentives; Resistance of both the regulated industry and jurisdictionally defensive provinces to regulations; Imposition of strong standards in the largest provinces and the weaker ones to small provinces.

Presents a case on the Iran-U.S. Claims tribunal, dominant and effective nationality test and beneficial ownership of claims. The Saghi family's claim against Iran for its expropriation of a paper plant and distribution business; Tribunal on jurisdiction based on dominant and effective nationality of claimant; `Important caveat'; Case analysis.

In this paper, we study multiple zeta values (abbreviated as MZV's) over function fields in positive characteristic. Our main result is to prove Thakur's basis conjecture, which plays the analogue of Hoffman's basis conjecture for real MZV's. As a consequence, we derive Todd's dimension conjecture, which is the analogue of Zagier's dimension conjecture for classical real MZV's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we determine the number of general points through which a Brill-Noether curve of fixed degree and genus in any projective space can be passed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice aprons are defined as very small ice bodies covering steep rock slopes. They have only been the subject of increased scientific interest for a few years, despite the fact that they are a condition for mountaineering and obvious elements in the high-alpine landscapes. However, very little is known about their distribution, evolution and physical characteristics. In this paper, we review the existing knowledge on ice aprons, which have almost exclusively been investigated in the Mont-Blanc massif, Western Alps. We supplement this review with novel results from recent surveys of ice aprons. We used a wide array of methodologies, from remote sensing (multi-source imagery) to in situ (stakes and thermal monitoring) and laboratory (radiocarbon dating and texture analysis) glaciological investigations. In the Mont-Blanc massif, ice aprons occupy 4.2 km2 within the alpine permafrost zone. Temperature measured at the ice–rock interface is indeed largely negative. Thinness of ice aprons coupled with the cold context implies a quasi-stationary shear regime without basal Sliding. Only ice at the surface can possibly melt in warm periods. After a shrinking period from the end of the Little Ice Age to the mid-to-late-1960s, ice aprons experienced a short period of expansion, followed by an accelerated shrinkage since the beginning of the 21st century. This shrinkage now favours rockfall triggering and poses a serious threat to a glaciological heritage since ice aprons host several-thousand-year-old ice. Finally, we synthesize this information to assess the existing definition of ice aprons, and propose some future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the potential for occupational therapists (OTs) to manage medicines and support patients in an in-patient psychiatric ward to effectively and safely self-administer their medication. Connelly House is an occupational therapy-led six-bed, open psychiatric rehabilitation in-patient ward supporting people transitioning from being in-patients to living in the community. Policy, process, governance and training needs are identified and discussed. Positive feedback was received from patients and staff involved with the service development, opening the door for OTs to manage medicines and support the self-administration of medication on other psychiatric rehabilitation in-patient wards using focused occupational interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper describes the first web-based self-completed 24-h recall designed to categorise food intake according to Nova groups – Nova24h – and its agreement with a reference tool in estimating the dietary relative contribution of the four Nova food groups (% of total energy intake). Design: Comparisons of estimates of dietary relative contributions of Nova groups obtained by Nova24h and one standard interviewer-led 24-h recall. Setting: Nationwide adult cohort study in Brazil. Participants: The subjects were 186 participants of the NutriNet Brasil Cohort Study (n 186). Results: No statistically significant differences were observed between the Nova24h and the reference tool mean contributions of unprocessed or minimally processed foods (52·3 % v. 52·6 %), processed culinary ingredients (11·6 % v. 11·9 %), processed foods (17·1 % v. 14·7 %) and ultra-processed foods (19·0 % v. 20·9 %). Intraclass correlation coefficients between individual estimates obtained for each Nova group showed moderate to good agreement (0·54–0·78). Substantial or almost perfect agreement between the tools was seen regarding the ability to rank participants according to quintiles of contribution of each Nova group (PABAK 0·69–0·81). Conclusions: Nova24h is a suitable tool for estimating the dietary relative energy contribution of Nova food groups in the NutriNet Brasil cohort. New studies are necessary to verify its adequacy in other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove convergence in norm and pointwise almost everywhere on Lp, p ∈ (1, ∞), for certain multi-parameter polynomial ergodic averages by establishing the corresponding multi-parameter maximal and oscillation inequalities. Our result, in particular, gives an affirmative answer to a multi-parameter variant of the Bellow-Furstenberg problem. This paper is also the first systematic treatment of multi-parameter oscillation semi-norms which allows an efficient handling of multi-parameter pointwise convergence problems with arithmetic features. The methods of proof of our main result develop estimates for multi-parameter exponential sums, as well as introduce new ideas from the so-called multi-parameter circle method in the context of the geometry of backwards Newton diagrams that are dictated by the shape of the polynomials defining our ergodic averages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper assesses trends in food environment and market concentration and racial and ethnic inequities in food environment exposure and food retail market concentration at the US census tract level from 2000 to 2019. Design: Establishment-level data from the National Establishment Time Series were used to measure food environment exposure and food retail market concentration. We linked that dataset to race, ethnicity and social vulnerability information from the American Community Survey and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. A geospatial hot-spot analysis was conducted to identify relatively low and high healthy food access clusters based on the modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI). The associations were assessed using two-way fixed effects regression models. Setting: Census tracts spanning all US states. Participants: 69 904 US census tracts. Results: The geospatial analysis revealed clear patterns of areas with high and low mRFEI values. Our empirical findings point to disparities in food environment exposure and market concentration by race. The analysis shows that Asian Americans are likelier to live in neighbourhoods with a low food environment exposure and low retail market concentration. These adverse effects are more pronounced in metro areas. The robustness analysis for the social vulnerability index confirms these results. Conclusion: US food policies must address disparities in neighbourhood food environments and foster a healthy, profitable, equitable and sustainable food system. Our findings may inform equity-oriented neighbourhood, land use and food systems planning. Identifying priority areas for investment and policy interventions is essential for equity-oriented neighbourhood planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen science and related engagement programmes have proliferated in recent years throughout the sciences but have been reasonably limited in the cryospheric sciences. In the semiarid Andes we at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas have developed a range of initiatives together with the wider community and stakeholder institutions to improve our understanding of the role snow and ice play in headwater catchments. In this paper we reflect on ongoing engagement with communities living and working in and near study sites of cryospheric science in northern Chile as a strategy that can both strengthen the research being done and empower local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antarctic firn presents an exotic seismological environment in which the behaviors of propagating waves can be significantly at odds with those in other Earth media. We present a condensed view of the nascent field of ambient noise seismology in Antarctic firn-covered media, and highlight multiple unusual and information-rich observations framed through the lens of the firn's important role as a buffer for air temperature anomalies and a complex contributor to ice mass balance. We summarize key results from several recent papers depicting novel wind-excited firn resonances and point to the plethora of ways these observations could facilitate imaging and monitoring of glacial systems at single, isolated seismometers. Finally, we propose significant instrumental and computational objectives necessary to constrain resonance excitation mechanisms and broadly apply these observations as useful monitoring tools in Antarctica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly asserted that there are two distinct classes of glacier surges: slow, long-duration 'Svalbard-type' surges, triggered by a transition from cold- to warm-based conditions (thermal switching), and fast, shorter-duration 'Alaska-type' surges triggered by a reorganisation of the basal drainage system (hydraulic switching). This classification, however, reflects neither the diversity of surges in Svalbard and Alaska (and other regions), nor the fundamental dynamic processes underlying all surges. We argue that enthalpy balance theory offers a framework for understanding the spectrum of glacier surging behaviours while emphasising their essential dynamic unity. In this paper, we summarise enthalpy balance theory, illustrate its potential to explain so-called 'Svalbard-type' and 'Alaska-type' surges using a single set of principles, and show examples of a much wider range of glacier surge behaviour than previously observed. We then identify some future directions for research, including strategies for testing predictions of the theory against field and remote sensing data, and priorities for numerical model development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the second half of the 20th century, the Antarctic Peninsula region has undergone a long and sustained warming period, followed by a shorter but also sustained cooling period, and then a very recent return to warming conditions. All of these have profoundly impacted the glaciers peripheral to the Antarctic Peninsula. This paper focuses on the analysis of the surface mass balance monitoring of such glaciers by the glaciological method, complemented by the analysis of mass-balance estimates by geodetic methods, as well as frontal ablation estimates. We aim to summarize the current knowledge and outline the main challenges faced by investigating the mass balance of such peripheral glaciers and their current contribution to sea-level rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain glaciers are crucial sources of fresh water, contributing directly and indirectly to water, energy and food supplies for hundreds of millions of people. Assessing the impact of diminishing glacial meltwater contributions to the security of this resource is critical as we seek to manage and adapt to changing freshwater dynamics in a warming world. Both water quantity and quality influence water (in)security, so understanding the fluxes of water, sediment and contaminants through glacial and proglacial systems is required for holistic assessment of meltwater contribution to downstream resource security. In this paper we consider the socio-environmental role of and pressures on glacier-fed waters, discuss key research priorities for the assessment of both the quantity and quality of meltwater and reflect on the importance of situating our understanding within a transdisciplinary and inclusive research landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An n-vertex graph is called C-Ramsey if it has no clique or independent set of size C log2 n (i.e., if it has near-optimal Ramsey behavior). In this paper, we study edge statistics in Ramsey graphs, in particular obtaining very precise control of the distribution of the number of edges in a random vertex subset of a C-Ramsey graph. This brings together two ongoing lines of research: the study of 'random-like' properties of Ramsey graphs and the study of small-ball probability for low-degree polynomials of independent random variables. The proof proceeds via an 'additive structure' dichotomy on the degree sequence and involves a wide range of different tools from Fourier analysis, random matrix theory, the theory of Boolean functions, probabilistic combinatorics and low-rank approximation. In particular, a key ingredient is a new sharpened version of the quadratic Carbery-Wright theorem on small-ball probability for polynomials of Gaussians, which we believe is of independent interest. One of the consequences of our result is the resolution of an old conjecture of Erdős and McKay, for which Erdős reiterated in several of his open problem collections and for which he offered one of his notorious monetary prizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Cook's 1772–75 Antarctic circumnavigation on the HMS Resolution , he recorded the positions of hundreds of icebergs. This paper compares Cook's observations and those of Halley in 1700, Bouvet in 1739 and Riou in 1789, with the Brigham Young University/National Ice Center (BYU/NIC) and the Alfred Wegener Institute datasets. Cook's description of the iceberg plume east of the Amery Ice Shelf and the iceberg distributions in the Weddell, Ross and Amundsen Seas agree with modern data. In January 1774, Cook reached his farthest south on the shelf of the Amundsen Sea Embayment, the site of the current International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration field study. Cook's largest iceberg had a 2.5 km diameter, where power-law models show that icebergs of this size or smaller comprise 92% of their total number. In the eastern Weddell, Cook's observation of a sea-ice tongue with a much greater extent than in satellite imagery remains unexplained. Although Riou's icebergs lie 1000 km east of the BYU/NIC trajectories, application of the England and others (2020) fracture and drift model to the trajectories removes the discrepancy and means that all the ship observations are consistent with modern observations and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unvaccinated people have a mortality rate from COVID-19 that is 32-fold that of fully vaccinated people. Yet, in the UK, more than 4% of adults have not accepted a vaccine to protect them against COVID-19 and at the time of writing only 73% of people were fully vaccinated. Psychological and societal factors underlying vaccine hesitation or refusal are complex. In this paper, we use evolutionary science to help explain how vaccine refusal can be the result of an historic adaptation to protect against the repetition of past trauma, including, for many, that of systemic racism and/or deprivation, and misguided attempt to preserve fertility. We discuss some resulting cognitive biases and conclude with recommendations for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine a speculative diagnosis made by Sigmund Freud regarding his patient's mother in his landmark 1905 paper describing a hysterical illness. Freud considered the impact of Dora's mother's mental state on her daughter, wondering whether the mother might suffer from a 'housewife's psychosis'. Here was an emphasis on the social structures of the times and differences between the parents in terms of sexual freedom and societal limitations placed on women. Freud's description drew attention to Dora's anxieties in relation to her parents, in particular the state of their sexual relationship and the apparently sanctioned entry of another couple, Frau and Herr K, into the parental relationship. In particular, the role of syphilis in the aetiology of sexual disturbances was considered, affecting men and their sexual partners, specifically their wives, who faced lifelong risks of morbidity, inadequate treatment and psychic disturbances at this time in 19th century Vienna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negotiations with organized crime groups occur more often than realized, and raise complex questions of ethics, practice and policy. Currently, law provides few incentives for States to choose the path of negotiation, and thus the political costs and moral hazards remain very high and a mano dura ("firm hand") approach prevails. This paper examines some of the challenges faced by those who in good faith might initiate or participate in negotiations with such groups, offering an assessment of how those challenges can be mitigated and an inquiry, in particular, into how law and policy might be improved or reimagined to make such negotiation more feasible and effective in contexts of armed conflict or other situations of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is the lifeblood of human beings and society, but threats to water, such as the pollution of rivers, cyber crimes, and attacks against water infrastructure, are increasing. In green criminology, scholars have relied on domestic criminal law to develop the concept of crimes against water. This paper argues that international law could provide several frameworks for addressing these crimes. A number of international treaties and customary rules deal directly or indirectly with crimes against water, and the United Nations Security Council has also dealt with crimes against water committed by terrorist groups and parties to armed conflict. Crimes against water may represent violations not only of domestic criminal laws but also of international humanitarian law and human rights law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endless armed conflicts against terrorist groups put civilian populations at risk. Since France has been involved in the Sahel from 2013 onwards, transnational non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) of extended geographical and temporal scope against groups designated as terrorists are not a US exception anymore. NIACs against terrorist groups, conducted not only by the United States but also by France, persist and have been reconfigured around threat anticipation. How can anticipatory warfare be best constrained? This article argues that it can be best done through more constraining rules regulating target selection in NIACs and, in particular, by redefining the notion of continuous combat function (CCF). Many elements explored in this article indicate that the United States and France select targets that they pre-designate as terrorists, before these targets are engaged in hostilities. Instead of responding to the observed participation of these individuals in hostilities, strikes are based on contextual and behavioural elements ahead or outside of such moments. This paper argues that when war consists of threat anticipation, it becomes very extensive and particularly risky for civilians. Furthermore, recent State practice in the counterterrorism context reveals the pitfalls of the notions of direct participation in hostilities and CCF as defined in the 2009 International Committee of the Red Cross Interpretive Guidance. Outside this context, the interpretations proposed in the Interpretive Guidance might seem sufficient to constrain target selection processes and to protect civilian populations. However, when applied to armed conflicts that are driven by threat anticipation, the pitfalls of these interpretations emerge. I formulate a critique of these interpretations as being partly responsible for anticipatory warfare and propose an alternative theory for the CCF test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Prenatal growth affects short- and long-term morbidity, mortality and growth, yet communication between prenatal and postnatal healthcare teams is often minimal. This paper aims to develop an integrated, interdisciplinary framework for foetal/infant growth assessment, contributing to the continuity of care across the first 1000 d of life. Design: A multidisciplinary think-tank met regularly over many months to share and debate their practice and research experience related to foetal/infant growth assessment. Participants' personal practice and knowledge were verified against and supplemented by published research. Setting: Online and in-person brainstorming sessions of growth assessment practices that are feasible and valuable in resource-limited, low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. Participants: A group of obstetricians, paediatricians, dietitians/nutritionists and a statistician. Results: Numerous measurements, indices and indicators were identified for growth assessment in the first 1000 d. Relationships between foetal, neonatal and infant measurements were elucidated and integrated into an interdisciplinary framework. Practices relevant to LMIC were then highlighted: antenatal Doppler screening, comprehensive and accurate birth anthropometry (including proportionality of weight, length and head circumference), placenta weighing and incorporation of length-for-age, weight-for-length and mid-upper arm circumference in routine growth monitoring. The need for appropriate, standardised clinical records and corresponding policies to guide clinical practice and facilitate interdisciplinary communication over time became apparent. Conclusions: Clearer communication between prenatal, perinatal and postnatal health care providers, within the framework of a common understanding of growth assessment and a supportive policy environment, is a prerequisite to continuity of care and optimal health and development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We solve a fundamental question posed in Frohardt's 1988 paper [8] on finite 2-groups with Kantor familes, by showing that finite groups K with a Kantor family (F,F∗) having distinct members A,B∈F such that A∗∩B∗ is a central subgroup of K and the quotient K/(A∗∩B∗) is abelian cannot exist if the center of K has exponent 4 and the members of F are elementary abelian. Then we give a short geometrical proof of a recent result of Ott which says that finite skew translation quadrangles of even order (t,t) (where t is not a square) are always translation generalized quadrangles. This is a consequence of a complete classification of finite cyclic skew translation quadrangles of order (t,t) that we carry out in the present paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]