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Background Decompression sickness (DCS) is a well-known risk associated with scuba diving, particularly in people with right-to-left shunt, such as patent foramen oval (PFO). Herein, we present a unique case of late PFO permeabilization after closure. Case summary A 26-year-old male diver was diagnosed with DCS following a dive at 36 m. He underwent PFO closure with a STARFLEX® prosthesis. Ten years later, the patient was presented with recurrent manifestations suggestive of DCS. The performed diagnostic work-up detects a permeabilization of the implanted prosthesis, and he was treated with a conservative approach. Discussion This case highlights the challenges in the management of PFO in divers and raises concerns about the long-term efficiency of PFO closure and the impact of diving-related factors on prosthesis patency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of artificial womb technology (AWT) is continuing to proceed and raises important ethical and theological questions for Christians. While there has been extensive secular discourse on artificial wombs in recent years, there has been minimal Christian engagement with this topic. There are broadly two primary uses of artificial womb technology: first, ectogestation, which is a form of enhanced neonatal care, where only some of the gestation period takes place in an artificial womb, and second, ectogenesis, where the entire period of gestation occurs in an artificial womb. It is plausible that some form of ectogestation in the latter weeks or months of pregnancy could be possible within a decade or so, while ectogenesis for humans remains far more speculative. Ectogestation is likely to significantly reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, and so there is a strong prima facie case for supporting its development. Ectogenesis, however, may bring several challenges, including the further commodification of children, and the potential pathologizing of pregnancy and childbirth. Its long-term effects on those created through this process are also unknown. If it becomes ubiquitous, we may also find the central theological significance of pregnancy and birth diminished. The dilemma for Christians is that the development of seemingly unproblematic ectogestation is likely to normalize the use of artificial gestation, and, in time, pave the way for ectogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic physicalism—understood as the view that while mental concepts are distinct from physical concepts, mental properties are nonetheless identical to physical properties—is the dominant type of reductive physicalism in the philosophy of mind. With a focus on phenomenal concepts, this article examines two competing versions of synthetic physicalism: the demonstrative approach and the constitutive approach, both of which attempt to cash out the common idea that phenomenal concepts directly refer to phenomenal properties. I aim to argue that the synthetic physicalist is impaled on a dilemma in addressing what I call the problem of double aspect: the mental-physical conceptual distinction seems to imply property dualism at a new level. Either she adopts the demonstrative approach or she goes for the constitutive approach, but neither option is acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piracy cannot be understood in isolation from other (criminal) engagements, but how can we explore such linkages and why is it relevant to understand their implications, both for piracy and counterpiracy? Appreciating that Niger Delta-based piracy has dropped to historically low levels, this article explores what pirates do when they do not sustain themselves by engaging in piracy. As such, the article offers novel empirical insights into underexplored dimensions of piracy. Moreover, we use this case-study to demonstrate the relevance of an infrastructure-inspired conceptualization much beyond analyses of piracy and counterpiracy. Showing how piracy is linked to broader and often violent infrastructures that interventions leave unaddressed, and stressing key implications of the continuity and change in such linkages, is a first step towards appreciating the centrality of a broader dilemma that intervention actors confront: how to conceptualize the necessity to delimit a problem, while appreciating the significance of problem-dimensions left unaddressed? Our suggestion is that an infrastructure-inspired approach offers a helpful starting-point, a suggestion that we demonstrate in an analysis of how Niger Delta-based piracy forms part of a broader 'gun business' landscape, which does not only entail different types of crime but also various types of victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently being forced into a dilemma in policy terms, needing a more open economy to boost growth at a time when conditions are poor, but also seeking to close society in the name of security. A range of issues currently constrain the Chinese economy, including a weak property market, demographics that will lead to an increasingly ageing population, and increasingly large numbers of unsuccessful loans from the Belt and Road Initiative. Furthermore, rural dwellers are unlikely to be able to reap the benefits of training and technology available to urbanites. However, openness seems troubling to many policy-makers when China defines itself in terms of its own modern history, in which it was repeatedly invaded or occupied, creating a wary attitude toward the outside world. However, overall, China is likely to find opportunities to try out new economic opportunities in its own region, which may be successful as long as there is no confrontation over issues such as the status of Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do human rights INGOs choose to work on some issues and not others? This article contends that, since the 1990s, the proliferation of issues within the remit of human rights INGOs has increased the moral opportunity costs of selection decisions. Growth in the number and diversity of issues has led to a "selection dilemma" where decision-makers face onerous ethical choices among a significant menu of options. To explain how decision-makers deal with this dilemma, the article builds on existing theoretical work on INGOs, primarily by constructivists, proposing that heuristic-led judgment on the part of key decision-makers is a central determinant in the (non-)adoption of issues. This explanation is examined empirically using a within-case paired analysis of decision-making in Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The article's findings provide preliminary evidence that heuristics shape selection outcomes in INGOs, adding further weight to IR scholarship, which stresses the influence of psychology and leaders in organizational and group decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual conflict is believed to be an important evolutionary force driving phenotypic diversification, especially sexual dimorphism. Males of diving beetles sometimes resort to coercive tactics to increase their chances of successful reproduction, which can impose costs on females. Sexual conflict can also drive sexual size dimorphism (SSD), particularly in species where males are larger than females. In this context, Rensch's rule states that SSD tends to increase with body size in species with male-biased SSD and decrease with body size in species with female-biased SSD. The role of sexual conflict in driving the evolution of the allometric relationships between males and females remains unclear. We addressed whether sexual conflict in diving beetles might drive SSD. We found that dytiscids do not follow Rensch's rule, whereby the SSD is isometric in relationship to species body size. Species with adhesive pads (Dytiscinae) showed a more pronounced SSD than other diving beetle species. These results suggest that the presence of adhesive pads might reduce the force necessary to control female movement during copulation and drive the evolution of smaller males. The findings of this study provide new insights into the role of sexual conflict in driving the evolution of SSD in animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a model of individual behavior based on identity, a person's sense of self. The individual evaluates situations, that is, sets of available actions given a belief about the actions' uncertain payoffs. In some situations, a psychological cost arises because the individual's identity prescribes an action that differs from the one maximizing material benefits. The model shows that a common process of weighing psychological costs and material benefits drives the choice of both information and future opportunities. As a result, information avoidance is akin to preferring fewer opportunities, such as crossing the street to avoid a fundraiser. The model provides a coherent rationalization for diverse behaviors, including willful ignorance, opting out of social dilemmas, and excess entry into competitive environments. The psychological cost varies non-monotonically with the quality of information or with having more opportunities. Non-monotonicity complicates the identification of prescriptions from behavior, a difficulty that is partially resolvable by observing specific choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilitarians think that what matters in ethics is making the world a better place. In that case, it might seem that we each rationally ought to do our best —perform the actions, out of those open to each of us, with the best expected outcomes. In other words, we should follow act-utilitarian reasons. But often the result of many altruistic agents following such individualistic reasons is worse than the result of them following collectivist 'team-reasons'. So utilitarians should reject act utilitarianism, and accept a dualist view according to which both individualistic and team reasons are fundamental. In order to align these distinct kinds of reason, utilitarians must focus centrally on questions of political and social reform—as did their historical forebears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes Women Wage Peace (WWP), an Israeli grassroots peace movement, as a case study of intersectionality in women's movements. Using an ethnographic model based on semi-structured interviews with previous and current movement members, I investigate the dilemmas and strategies of WWP in its pursuit of a diverse membership base, a goal considered unique in Israeli peace discourse. This study contributes to understanding intersectional theory and practice, explaining why such an approach is not (always) effective in women's movements despite the best intentions. Examining WWP through the lens of peripherality and privilege highlights the movement's hierarchical power structure, identifying the places where intersectional awareness does not translate into political practice. By providing examples of the challenges of intersectionality in women's movements, these findings offer a response to the need for more nuanced analysis in current feminist and social movement research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing work on the democratic accountability of foreign policy suggests that when an incumbent incurs foreign policy losses, including but not limited to standing down in a crisis, making costly compromises, or accepting defeat abroad, opposition politicians at home weigh criticizing the government with the national interest. But this work has largely been developed with a view to explaining oppositional behavior in consolidated democracies. I argue that while electorally competitive oppositions in weakly institutionalized regimes can and frequently do criticize elected incumbents for costly foreign policy reversals, they are less likely to do so if they believe this criticism may negatively affect democratic stability and potentially invite irregular leadership turnover, as this would prevent the opposition from coming into office. I find support for this hypothesis, which I term oppositional pragmatism, in a survey experiment on 430 political party workers affiliated with Pakistan's biggest political party and directionally consistent effects on a smaller but highly elite sample of 202 Pakistani legislators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do large firms support or suppress regional entrepreneurship? Comparing Ottawa and Waterloo, two entrepreneurial ecosystems dominated by large, flagship firms, Nortel and Research in Motion (RIM), we demonstrate how an anchor firm's relationship to the entrepreneurial community shapes entrepreneurial activity. In Ottawa, an engaged anchor delivered the public goods to overcome the negative externalities associated with large firm growth. In the long run, however, this vibrant, startup scene proved surprisingly vulnerable to Nortel's decline. In Waterloo, in contrast, new firm formation plummeted under a detached anchor. RIM's isolation, however, enabled Waterloo to construct the independent, entrepreneurial infrastructure it needed to capitalize on its collapse. Illuminating the mechanisms behind 'entrepreneurial recycling', or the reallocation of labor from declining anchor firms, we argue that regions confront a strategic dilemma in how they engage large firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on foreign policy role change in small liberal states caused by a weakening rules-based order illustrated by the decisions of Finland and Sweden to apply for membership of NATO, thereby abandoning longstanding policies of military non-alignment. Although both countries sought alignment with NATO in the context of intense security threats in northern Europe, the domestic processes of foreign policy role change proceeded along different trajectories. In Finland, the domestic process of role change was characterized by strong elite and public consensus on membership of NATO, whereas in Sweden there was more hesitation regarding giving up military non-alignment and losing freedom of action. In this article, we address a gap in the literature on role theory and domestic role change by conceptualizing the dilemma of small liberal states being compelled to reassess national role conceptions in their domestic settings in the face of external challenges outside their control, without jeopardizing national autonomy and deep-seated social identities. To this end, we construct a model for national action strategies based on scope conditions of domestic role change, varying according to the level of congruence in national identity and the degree of domestic elite consensus concerning national foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of secularism in African countries and examines the compliance of these countries with their constitutionally secular principles. It highlights examples of noncompliance, such as Ethiopia's management of Muslim affairs through the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council and Mozambique's shift towards accommodating Islam. The article also discusses false neutrality and the mistreatment of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) due to a preference for monotheism. The noncompliance is attributed to the impact of colonization on state development and the influence of former colonial powers on African constitutions. The article offers different perspectives on the reasons behind the compliance gap, including citizens' unfamiliarity with secular laws and the use of secular provisions as a "field of negotiation" to achieve community goals. Factors such as political elites, state fragility, and societal disintegration are also identified as contributors to noncompliance. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the purpose and effectiveness of secular provisions in African countries. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the challenges faced by clinicians in diagnosing and treating membranous nephropathy (MN), a leading cause of nephrotic syndrome. The discovery of multiple antigens associated with MN has expanded our understanding of the disease and its various subtypes. The article explores the implications of these discoveries for clinical practice, including the potential for targeted therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy. However, the article also acknowledges the limitations and complexities of implementing these advancements in patient care. The authors suggest that specialized centers with expertise in MN may be beneficial for managing complex cases. [Extracted from the article]

Complementing discussions of reflexivity as a research practice, this article turns its attention to the classroom. How does a pedagogy that invites students to practice reflexivity represent possibilities for thinking, writing, and imagining otherwise in scholarly engagements with world politics? In response to this question, I explore the dilemmas, challenges, and possibilities students encounter in practicing reflexivity. These include the challenge of meaningfully locating the self in relation to the workings of power, moving beyond a checkbox approach to vectors of identity, and learning to specifically analyze the manifestations of power in daily life. I argue that both the dilemmas and possibilities of practicing reflexivity are related to hierarchies of knowledge creation—and the opportunities to challenge those hierarchies—in the study of world politics. The aim is to illustrate how teachers and students of world politics alike can treat the invitation for reflexivity in the classroom as a potential site of experimentation and freedom that disrupts rigid frameworks of generating knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil is a double-edged sword in modern warfare for its usage enables greater firepower and mobility in combats while imposing tremendous operational and strategic burden to run and defend Wartime Fuel Network. The tension between the two generates a fuel dilemma, a consequential trade-off between fuel-powered capability and fuel sustainability. States facing the dilemma address it with three fuel management practices: minimalism, control, and gamble. I describe promises and pitfalls of each measure with three illustrative case studies—the Japanese "gamble" during WWII, Chinese "control" in the Korean War, and Vietnamese "minimalism" during the Vietnam War. The theory and evidence have important implications for future research on military logistics, warfighting capability, and the study of conventional warfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades have witnessed a conceptual opening of human rights practices, hitherto prerogative of a chosen few legal experts, towards a multiplicity of subjectivities. This afforded human rights scholarship to address subaltern histories and reckon with past exclusions. Conversely, critical deconstruction and empirical diversification have aggravated the seemingly basic, yet thorny quest for defining human rights activism and identifying human rights defenders. This not only poses a challenge to research but, foremost, opens human rights concepts to abuse and undermines protection regimes. In this contribution to the Journal of Human Rights Practice 's Anniversary Issue, I trace the definition dilemma as it emerges from emancipatory developments in human rights practice scholarship. I am not pretending to solve this dilemma; rather, I offer 'metaphorical dislocations' changing the terms of discussion to elicit new avenues of thought. Taking common allusions to the economy of human rights as my point of departure, I pursue Marx's critique of political economy as a metaphor to describe human rights activism as a labour practice that a) produces discursive value qua rendering violence legible and b) transforms activist cultures socio-politically. Hence, I encounter the subjectivity of human rights defenders in the tensions between the co-dependent dimensions of practice and its political representation. The aspiration of this think piece is to emphasize the importance of co-constructing common foundations in the research on human rights activism, and to provoke responses leading us out of the all-too-well known trenches of debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends cuff sizes of blood pressure (BP) monitoring devices based on patient arm circumference, which is critical for accurate BP measurement. This study aimed to assess cuff size variation across validated BP devices and to examine the degree of alignment with the AHA recommendations. METHODS Data on home BP devices were obtained from the US BP Validated Device Listing website and listed cuff sizes were compared against AHA recommendations: small adult (22–26 cm), adult (27–34 cm), large (35–44 cm), and extra-large (XL) (45–52 cm). RESULTS There were 42 home validated BP devices from 13 manufacturers, and none offered cuffs that were aligned with the AHA recommendations. Over half of the devices (22, 52.4%) were compatible with only a broad-range cuff, generally excluding arm sizes larger than 44 cm. Only 5 devices from 4 manufacturers offered a cuff labeled "XL," and of these, only 3 devices had sizes that covered the AHA XL range. Terminology lacked consistency with manufacturers using: different labels to describe the same-sized cuffs (e.g. 22–42 cm was labeled "integrated," "standard," "adult," "large," and "wide range"); the same labels to describe differently sized cuffs (e.g. cuffs labeled "large" were sized 22–42 cm, 32–38 cm, 32–42 cm, 36–45 cm). CONCLUSIONS Manufacturers of US home BP devices employ inconsistent terminologies and thresholds for cuff sizes, and sizes were not aligned with AHA recommendations. This lack of standardization could pose challenges for clinicians and patients attempting to select a properly sized cuff to support hypertension diagnosis and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most cooperatively breeding birds, individuals do not breed with their natal group members. In order to breed, they have either to disperse into another group or wait for an opposite‐sex individual to join their group. In most of these species, females disperse more than males. We develop a dynamic game‐theoretic model to account for this asymmetry. When males are physically larger/heavier than females, this allows them to effectively welcome female immigrants into their natal group and overcome the local females' opposition more than vice versa. The model further assumes that the dispersal decision is not confined to a restricted time window, but is rather based on acquired information and responsive to opportunities. The model predicts that (i) females disperse more than males, and (ii) females are willing to tolerate more risks in dispersal than do males. The latter prediction is supported inter alia by the fact that in many cooperatively breeding birds, females disperse at a younger age, and further away from their natal group as compared to dispersing males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the account of teleology previously proposed by the authors is consistent with the physical determinism that is implicit across many of the sciences. We suggest that much of the current aversion to teleological thinking found in the sciences is rooted in debates that can be traced back to ancient natural science, which pitted mechanistic and deterministic theories against teleological ones. These debates saw a deterministic world as one where freedom and agency is impossible. And, because teleological entities seem to be free to either reach their ends or not, it was assumed that they could not be deterministic. Mayr's modern account of teleonomy adheres to this basic assumption. Yet, the seeming tension between teleology and determinism is illusory because freedom and agency do not, in fact, conflict with a deterministic world. To show this, we present a taxonomy of different types of freedom that we see as inherent in teleological systems. Then we show that our taxonomy of freedom, which is crucial to understanding teleology, shares many of the features of a philosophical position regarding free will that is known in the contemporary literature as 'compatibilism'. This position maintains that an agent is free when the sources of its actions are internal, when the agent itself is the deterministic cause of those actions. Our view shows that freedom is not only indispensable to teleology, but also that, contrary to common intuitions, there is no conflict between teleology and causal determinism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enable the transition to clean energy and mitigate climate change, China has developed an extensive ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission network for renewable energy integration. Nevertheless, this network is not being utilized to its full potential, indicating the importance of coordinated energy planning. This article examines the disputes over the Yazhong-to-Jiangxi UHV projects and identifies institutional constraints rooted in the regulatory structure, which hinder the effective utilization of the UHV networks under China's Electricity Law. These constraints include deficiencies in the energy planning framework, inconsistencies in transmission planning authority, non-binding approval system and gaps in relevant laws. This article concludes with recommendations for reforming the transmission planning and approval system, improving regulatory capacity and amending energy laws to optimize the role of UHV transmission systems in renewable energy integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An old and well-known objection to non-classical logics is that they are too weak; in particular, they cannot prove a number of important mathematical results. A promising strategy to deal with this objection consists in proving so-called recapture results. Roughly, these results show that classical logic can be used in mathematics and other unproblematic contexts. However, the strategy faces some potential problems. First, typical recapture results are formulated in a purely logical language, and do not generalize nicely to languages containing the kind of vocabulary that usually motivates non-classical theories—for example, a language containing a naive truth predicate. Second, proofs of recapture results typically employ classical principles that are not valid in the targeted non-classical system; hence non-classical theorists do not seem entitled to those results. In this paper we analyse these problems and provide solutions on behalf of non-classical theorists. To address the first problem, we provide a novel kind of recapture result, which generalizes nicely to a truth-theoretic language. As for the second problem, we argue that it relies on an ambiguity, and that once the ambiguity is removed there are no reasons to think that non-classical logicians are not entitled to their recapture results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a case of Mansonella perstans infection in a 31-year-old Gabonese man living in Japan. The man presented with fever, malaise, itching, and dryness, and laboratory tests revealed elevated eosinophil count and IgE levels. The patient was also diagnosed with a co-infection of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Microscopic examination of the patient's blood revealed the presence of Mansonella perstans microfilariae. Treatment with a combination of mebendazole, ivermectin, and doxycycline was effective in reducing symptoms and microfilaria count. The article emphasizes the importance of laboratory confirmation for accurate diagnosis and highlights the challenges in treating Mansonella perstans infections. [Extracted from the article]

We consider the nature of family mediation and the role of the family mediator in England and Wales in situations in which the cultural and/or religious tradition(s) of those involved may collide, for example when understandings of the law of England and Wales and of Muslim law may appear to some to point in different directions. We examine issues such as the family mediator's approach to negotiation facilitation, the role of the law and other norms including cultural and religious norms that are strongly held by one or more of those involved in the negotiation and the presence or absence of the voices of other members of the family within the mediation setting. We consider the ethical dilemmas the family mediator may face in a situation where there is an apparent power or knowledge imbalance and/or where the family mediator may be bound by competing expectations about their role including professional body obligations. Throughout we examine how the ethos of mediation, including its underpinning value of mutualism, and the challenges this can lead to where there is normative disagreement between the parties or substantial power imbalances, are evidenced within Sharia councils' family mediation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue takes the pulse of the UN Commission on International Trade Law process on reforming investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) at its midway point. It features contributions by members of the Academic Forum on ISDS, engaging with various topics on the negotiating table, as well as some that are off the table or hovering in-between. Together, these articles seek to address questions of design, dilemmas and discontent – especially how states negotiate the values and tradeoffs of reform, and engage (or not) with critics of the process. They do so from the perspectives of law, social science and public policy and they employ a range of methods, including computational approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern with the selection and appointment of arbitrators has been central in the 'legitimacy crisis' surrounding investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS). The regime has been criticized for the outsized role of litigating parties in appointment, absence of transparency in the appointment procedure, potential for conflicts of interests, lack of diversity, and little emphasis on public international law competence. However, attempts to reform the selection and appointment of adjudicators involve confronting dilemmas, requiring trade-offs between different normative values. We therefore introduce a quadrilemma that captures the underlying values of independence, accountability, diversity, and procedural fairness that actors often seek to realize through adjudicatory design. We then set out seven idealized selection and appointment reform options under discussion in the ISDS reform process at UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) (from incremental reform through to new permanent mechanisms and removal of ISDS). The quadrilemma is employed to analyse their advantages and disadvantages of each model. In light of empirical and doctrinal evidence, it is clear that some reform options are more likely than others to optimize the quadrilemma. However, the effects are often conditional and sometimes there is a need for accompanying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pangenome is the set of all genes present in a prokaryotic population. Most pangenomes contain many accessory genes of low and intermediate frequencies. Different population genetics processes contribute to the shape of these pangenomes, namely selection and fitness-independent processes such as gene transfer, gene loss, and migration. However, their relative importance is unknown and highly debated. Here, we argue that the debate around prokaryotic pangenomes arose due to the imprecise application of population genetics models. Most importantly, two different processes of horizontal gene transfer act on prokaryotic populations, which are frequently confused, despite their fundamentally different behavior. Genes acquired from distantly related organisms (termed here acquiring gene transfer) are most comparable to mutation in nucleotide sequences. In contrast, gene gain within the population (termed here spreading gene transfer) has an effect on gene frequencies that is identical to the effect of positive selection on single genes. We thus show that selection and fitness-independent population genetic processes affecting pangenomes are indistinguishable at the level of single gene dynamics. Nevertheless, population genetics processes are fundamentally different when considering the joint distribution of all accessory genes across individuals of a population. We propose that, to understand to which degree the different processes shaped pangenome diversity, the development of comprehensive models and simulation tools is mandatory. Furthermore, we need to identify summary statistics and measurable features that can distinguish between the processes, where considering the joint distribution of accessory genes across individuals of a population will be particularly relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that strong-state restraint is more likely to occur when lesser powers articulate their security preferences with a strong consensus. Why? Adherence to the consensus clarifies the dominant state's cooperative intentions, institutionalizes defensive military postures to mitigate security dilemma, and provides the concomitant benefit of recognition as a credible leader. If external validation matters in identity formation, then the acceptance of strong group consensus becomes an incentivizing legitimation strategy. This observation is evident in the interactions and authority relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the South China Sea. ASEAN members' ability to develop security norms aimed at defusing tension shows that they are not as vulnerable as many believe. The finding draws on empirical evidence to show how small states induce change in a large power's behavior, and thus a positive theoretical advance with a testable argument about the causes for strong-state restraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em": the development of commercial markets is an emerging strategy to control invasive species. This strategy may have fewer unintended ecological impacts than genetic modification and biological control; however, its unintended social impacts are poorly understood. We discuss the social dilemmas and opportunities created by commercializing invasive species, based on the experiences of fishing cooperatives' harvest of invasive lionfish (Pterois sp.) in the Mexican Caribbean. In Cozumel, Mexico, a pilot commercial fishery began in 2012, and by 2015 had seemingly succeeded at reducing local lionfish abundance. However, three social dilemmas have accompanied this process. First, though designed to support sustainability, this market disproportionately benefits fishers that use fishing gear considered "unsustainable". Second, this strategy reinforces the narrative of fishers trapped in a "tragedy of the commons," while simultaneously depending on the fishers' participation. Finally, the programme's very success has led to its own demise, disproportionately affecting the programme's most invested participants. These and similar dilemmas may be inevitable when systems in place for sustainable resource harvest are repurposed for resource collapse. However, fishing cooperatives have managed to navigate these dilemmas in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organization (NGO) advocates to position themselves as conservation leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the elusive search to restrict immunities for foreign officials accused of international crimes as a form of strategic litigation. It emphasizes how litigation 'constitutes' legal reality beyond particular victories. Problematizing 'success' in litigation makes it possible to pay attention to unintended effects and even perverse outcomes of certain strategic routes. A proper understanding of success as more than victory is then used to assess three routes that have been used to try and limit, circumvent or oppose functional immunities of former officials. These routes are found not to be of even value for human rights, independently of their legal validity or their odds of success: the idea that international crimes are not committed as part of state functions trivializes the 'public' character of most international crimes; the argument that the jus cogens norm that prohibits international crimes trumps immunities either constantly needs to be finessed or sets up too dramatic a showdown; the idea that immunities offend human rights finds some favour as the one that is closest to the heart of human rights, although its tendency to symbolically sanctify the right to prosecutions could also have problematic ripple effects. Offered as a contribution to thinking through the rights implications of litigation, the article insists on the responsibility of human rights lawyers in creating legal worlds of their own making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deeping superpower rivalry between the United States and China has created acute strategic dilemmas for secondary powers in the Indo-Pacific such as Australia and Japan. This predicament is exacerbated by their divergent security and economic interests which cut across the superpower divide; a condition dubbed a 'security/economic disconnect'. These two intimately related dynamics preclude clear-cut implementation of conventional balancing/bandwagoning alignment choices and have led to mixed hedging strategies to cope with this situation. To address these issues, the article presents a refinement of the hedging concept in International Relations (IR) that emphasizes its multi-dimensional nature, within a broader interpretation of alignment itself. It applies this to the case of the Australia and Japan with reference to their Strategic Partnership, which is both emblematic of hedging responses to systemic uncertainty, and an institutional mechanism through which to operationalize joint hedging policies. This provides insights into how middle power strategic partnerships are managing strategic risks across the security, economic, and other, domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em": the development of commercial markets is an emerging strategy to control invasive species. This strategy may have fewer unintended ecological impacts than genetic modification and biological control; however, its unintended social impacts are poorly understood. We discuss the social dilemmas and opportunities created by commercializing invasive species, based on the experiences of fishing cooperatives' harvest of invasive lionfish (Pterois sp.) in the Mexican Caribbean. In Cozumel, Mexico, a pilot commercial fishery began in 2012, and by 2015 had seemingly succeeded at reducing local lionfish abundance. However, three social dilemmas have accompanied this process. First, though designed to support sustainability, this market disproportionately benefits fishers that use fishing gear considered "unsustainable". Second, this strategy reinforces the narrative of fishers trapped in a "tragedy of the commons," while simultaneously depending on the fishers' participation. Finally, the programme's very success has led to its own demise, disproportionately affecting the programme's most invested participants. These and similar dilemmas may be inevitable when systems in place for sustainable resource harvest are repurposed for resource collapse. However, fishing cooperatives have managed to navigate these dilemmas in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organization (NGO) advocates to position themselves as conservation leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the categorization of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and argues that the term can be misleading and misdirect resources. It specifically focuses on radiological weapons (RWs) and examines the programs of Egypt, Iraq, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The authors use a structured and focused comparison method to analyze the reasons for pursuing and ultimately renouncing RWs. They find that bureaucratic in-fighting and organizational politics played a significant role in inhibiting the deployment of RWs, and that the effectiveness and utility of these weapons were called into question. The article also highlights the obstacles to deterrence and emphasizes the importance of not disregarding the threat posed by RWs. [Extracted from the article]

The transition literature attributes various transition tasks to government to support socio-technical transitions toward overcoming societal challenges. It is, however, difficult for civil servants to execute these transition tasks, because they partly conflict with Public Administration (PA) traditions that provide legitimacy to their work. This dilemma is discussed in neither the transition literature nor the PA literature. In this paper, we ask civil servants about the normative arguments that reflect their role perception within the institutional structures of their ministry, when it comes to executing transition tasks. We see these situated and enacted normative arguments and underlying assumptions as implicit rules determining legitimacy. The arguments civil servants used confirm that transition tasks are currently difficult to execute within the civil service. We found seven institutionalized rules that explain this difficulty and highlight the inadequacy of civil servants to adhere to the PA traditions while trying to execute transition tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did the chairman of the "Jewish Council" in Belgium decide to resign from his position in late 1942 while his counterparts in the Netherlands, operating in a seemingly similar context, decided to remain in place until the council was dissolved? The choices and motivations of Jewish leaders during Nazi rule have been a persistent subject of discussion in Holocaust historiography for decades. To this day, research has overwhelmingly been conducted in national contexts, which has obscured a thorough understanding of the distinctive circumstances in which Jewish leaders operated. By exploring the different socio-historical premises on which the Jewish organizations in the Netherlands and Belgium were built, this article argues that the level of (dis)continuation with prewar communal structures played a significant role in the posture and choices of Jewish functionaries under Nazi occupation in these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitional justice scholarship has produced a significant volume of valuable knowledge. However, there remains a challenge in transferring this knowledge to non-experts, such as students of academic programs that are not centered around the issue of TJ. It is an important challenge from the perspective of the interdisciplinary field, which should be interested in popularizing its scholarship and engaging representatives of related disciplines to engage in TJ-related research. In this article, I claim that serious games can be used to address this problem. I present a concise review of the literature devoted to the application of serious games in the social sciences, focusing specifically on the application of serious games for didactic purposes. Then, I present a game designed to tackle the challenge mentioned, which presents non-experts with TJ-associated dilemmas inspired by real-life situations and thereby demonstrates the importance of existing knowledge for solving such dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air travel-related pulmonary embolism is rarely associated with other embolic complications, such as stroke, ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome, and other systemic events we presented in our case report. In such a situation, physicians will face several dilemmas. We propose strategic avenues to answer this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of status in world politics has become an important research topic. This article examines China–India relations through a new framework for status dilemmas. This article, through a careful comparison of the status dilemma with other models of conflict, clarifies the logic and mechanism of status dilemmas in world politics. In particular, it differentiates between the status competition model and the status dilemma model. The status dilemma entails overestimation of the competitive nature of the status relationship and underestimation of the potential compatibility of the status goal. The article demonstrates that the China–India relationship is not always a zero-sum game, even though its competitive nature is real. Asymmetrical power and motivated reasoning contribute to misunderstanding and misperception. The power asymmetry makes India oversensitive to Chinese actions, and it makes China less sensitive to India's concerns. Motivated reasoning, based on historical memory and domestic politics, moreover, makes India's perception of China more negative and competitive than China's apprehension of India. The status dilemma has broad implications for power politics in the new era which suggest that policymakers should realistically evaluate the challenges of status competition while avoiding deterministic zero-sum thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the major legal developments of China's environmental law, public interest litigation (PIL) has achieved impressive progress in boosting public participation and enhancing environmental law enforcement during the past few years. As a result of the concerted efforts by Chinese policy-makers, China has developed a pluralistic legal framework for vindicating environmental interests. This regulatory design could provide a wide variety of enforcement choices, thus better protecting environmental interests. However, the danger is that there may be overlaps and even conflicts concerning the coordination between different actors and approaches. More particularly, there are inherent limits in the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that restrict the practical importance of their intervention in PIL. These limits have manifold reasons, including the lack of legitimacy of NGOs in China, the lack of financial independence, the restrictions on NGOs in challenging administrative authorities, and the ascendancy of administrative authorities in bringing ecological compensation suits. As a result, it is observed that NGOs are caught in a dilemma that, on the one hand, they are expected to play a pioneering role in the promotion of PIL and, on the other hand, they are facing formidable challenges to fully explore their potential in environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a new approach to the political theory of migration: the ethics of migration policy dilemmas. The core of this new approach lies in identifying specific policy dilemmas of central relevance to policy makers and other stakeholders in the field, and then submitting these dilemmas to systematic theoretical analysis. We conceptualize policy dilemmas as involving hard choices between competing moral goals and distinguish this kind of dilemma from other types of ethical choices, such as conflicting means, dirty hands, political feasibility, and politics dilemmas. We argue that, besides enlarging the range of questions asked by political theorists of migration, our approach of engaging normatively with hard policy dilemmas can help mitigate the negative political and societal effects of reductionist political positions that seek to negate the existence of competing moral goals. We make the case for a multidisciplinary approach to the normative analysis of hard ethical dilemmas, transcending both explanatory and interpretive analyses in the spirit of an applied normative political theory that aims to be action guiding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary Labour Migration Programmes (TLMPs) are controversial because they are caught in a dilemma between global and domestic justice. From a global justice perspective, TLMPs expand opportunities for workers in poor countries to access labour markets of rich countries and they improve the situation of origin countries through remittances. From a domestic justice perspective, TLMPs violate principles of domestic equality because they always afford migrant workers more restricted rights than those enjoyed by citizens and long-term residents of the host country. Although this dilemma cannot be fully resolved, we argue that TLMPs can be morally justified and recommended if they are characterised by 'fair representation' in policy design and implementation and also meet certain democratic legitimacy conditions. TLMPs can be justified if they provide triple benefits for destination and origin countries as well as for migrants themselves, yet the relevant benefits can only be achieved cooperatively through transnational governance in which each of the three groups of actors is fairly represented. This conclusion is supported by our interpretation of the democratic principle of including all affected interests. Under such conditions, some rights of temporary migrant workers in host countries can be regarded as a legitimate outcome of negotiations, while others need to be fixed in advance under a democratic principle of equal protection of all subjected to the laws. Democratic legitimacy also requires that migrants enjoy protection and participation rights as citizens of their countries of origin as well as local citizenship in their countries of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrant legalization policies pose an ethical dilemma between justice and the rule of law. On the one hand, liberal democracies aspire to the principles of individual liberty and equality. Building on liberal ideals of justice, compelling arguments have been made for granting legal status and a path to citizenship to unauthorized migrants by virtue of the social ties they have developed, their contributions to the host society, and their vulnerability to exploitation. On the other hand, legalization poses a challenge to another important value, the rule of law, which requires government to operate within a framework of law in accordance with well-established public norms. Immigrant legalization programmes are said to undermine the rule of law because they reward lawbreaking, allow queue-jumping, and incentivize further unauthorized migration. This article clarifies each horn of the dilemma, focusing on rule of law arguments. We offer a critical reappraisal of immigrant legalization policies by reflecting on the normative meaning of the rule of law and by examining empirical evidence assessing the effects of legalization. Our central contention is that legalization policies can enhance the rule of law. We offer five rule of law arguments in support of legalization, which help to mitigate the dilemma between justice and the rule of law. We conclude by discussing some policy implications of our analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stakes are high, and Harper-Scott goes all in on "the tonality" (p. 100), which he deems the most "powerful ... autonomous musical procedure", whereby 'certain logical relations ... must and shall obtain across the entire space of a musical movement or work'. Harper-Scott thus disparages efforts to expand the canon (p. 161) - he gives no satisfactory explanation as to why today's classical canon as formed is "correct", it just I is i - and he asserts that "low" or "popular" styles are "utterly familiar, undemanding, saleable, and ephemeral" (p. 78). Though perceptive in terms of the musical details in which Harper-Scott is interested, his treatment is conceptually distant from its touchstone, a comment of Adorno's that Harper-Scott invokes in his penultimate chapter (pp. 152-3). [Extracted from the article]

My own personal takeaway from the empirical evidence presented in I Reluctant Warriors i , however, is that Japan and Germany may already occupy two very different categories of international power and ally. In the recent televised adaptation of Philip K. Dick's I The Man in the High Castle i , the fictional post-World War II accommodation between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany that had subjugated, indoctrinated, and divided the United States was antagonistic, fractured, and ultimately unsustainable. However, unlike their real-world American ally - and despite their own martial heritage colourfully personified in the aforementioned television series - Japan and Germany were "reluctant warriors" when it came to the security pillar of this order. [Extracted from the article]

Is the holy holy because the gods love it or do the gods love it because it is holy? On the basis of this dilemma Plato works out the manifold and complex relationship between God and Morality in his dialogue Euthyphro. This dialogue not only plays a central role within Plato's work on the question of the relationship between ethics and religion, but it also represents the starting point of the entire further Western debate about God and Morality. This article gives a basic interpretation of the text, situates the dilemma within the dialogue, traces its character, intention, and structure, unfolds the course of the argument, and offers a brief outlook on its reception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines recent interest in hedging as a feature of international politics in the Asia Pacific. Focusing on the small states of Southeast Asia, we argue that dominant understandings of hedging are misguided for two reasons. Despite significant advances in the literature, hedging has remained a vague concept rendering it a residual category of foreign policy behavior. Moreover, current accounts of hedging tend to overstate the strategic intentions of ostensible hedgers. This article proposes that a better understanding of Southeast Asia's foreign policy behavior needs to dissociate hedging from neorealist concepts of international politics. Instead, we locate the concept in the context of classical realism and the diplomatic practice of second-tier states. Exploring Southeast Asia's engagement with more powerful actors from this perspective reveals the strategic limitations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the dilemma that Southeast Asian states face from a rising China challenging the status quo in the western Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The procedural qualities of decisions made by public agencies are known to shape citizens' perceptions of decision legitimacy. Existing empirical studies focus on procedures such as whether citizens are consulted, and whether their preferences are taken into account. Less is known about whether decisions made by public agencies are deemed legitimate if they reflect citizens' broad interests rather than their immediate preferences. Yet, many contemporary issues confront policy-makers with dilemmas of whether to respond to citizens' demands or instead to act on their interests. Using an experimental approach among a sample of British citizens, we analyse the effects on perceived legitimacy of various aspects of decision responsiveness. We focus in particular on whether public agencies are rewarded if they ignore citizens' preferences while showing they are acting in their broader interests. Our results show that perceived legitimacy is indeed higher when decisions are seen to reflect citizens' collective interests. But this boost disappears if individuals disapprove of the agency's decision. We conclude that acting in citizens' broad interests is unlikely to stimulate legitimacy among individuals who do not favour a decision's outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a dilemma in the field of international trade law: Many negotiating countries fail to complete treaties during the renegotiation period. 1 Due to tight schedules in the primary negotiation, the parties normally insert a renegotiation clause to postpone completion of a treaty. However, the parties frequently postpone the completion of the treaty even in the renegotiation phase. The literature has neglected to consider the existence and causes of these issues, as well as the solutions to them. This article aims to remedy this neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]