This title focuses on the interpretative methodologies and principles employed by international human rights organs in applying and developing human rights norms. It explores the role of various interpreters, including international, regional, and national courts, in shaping the meaning and scope of human rights. The section examines the methods of interpretation used by human rights bodies, such as textual, contextual, purposive, and evolutionary approaches, and the challenges in ensuring consistency and coherence across different jurisdictions. It also discusses the purposes of interpretation, including the protection of human rights, the development of international human rights law, and the promotion of judicial dialogue and coherence. By analyzing the interpretative practices of human rights organs, this title aims to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics of human rights interpretation and the factors influencing the application of human rights norms in diverse legal and cultural contexts.

This part focuses on the interpretative methodologies and principles employed by international human rights organs in applying and developing human rights norms. It explores the role of various interpreters, including international, regional, and national courts, in shaping the meaning and scope of human rights. The sections examine the methods of interpretation used by human rights bodies, such as textual, contextual, purposive, and evolutionary approaches, and the challenges in ensuring consistency and coherence across different jurisdictions. It also discusses the purposes of interpretation, including the protection of human rights, the development of international human rights law, and the promotion of judicial dialogue and coherence. This part delves into the international legal regime governing human rights and freedoms, covering states’ general obligations, the conditions for engaging state responsibility, and the regime for the enjoyment and exercise of rights and freedoms. By analyzing the interpretative practices and legal obligations, this part aims to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics of human rights interpretation and the factors influencing the application of human rights norms in diverse legal and cultural contexts.

This title examines the concept of normative pluralism in international human rights law, focusing on the coexistence and interaction of multiple legal systems and norms within the global human rights framework. It explores the treaty-based structure of human rights norms, including various international and regional human rights treaties, and discusses the role of customary international law, general principles of law, and jus cogens in shaping human rights obligations. The section also addresses the impact of nonconventional sources of human rights law, such as judicial decisions and soft law instruments, on the development and enforcement of human rights standards. By analyzing the complexities of normative pluralism, this title highlights the dynamic and evolving nature of international human rights law and the challenges in achieving coherence and consistency across different legal systems and cultures. It also emphasizes the importance of dialogue and cooperation among international, regional, and national actors in promoting and protecting human rights globally.

In the first of two chapters on probability in scientific inquiry, the basic ideas of probability theory are introduced through examples involving games of chance. The chapter then focuses on the Bayesian approach to probability, which adopts the stance that probabilities should be understood as expressions about the degrees of belief. The Bayesian approach as a general framework for probability is explained through examples involving betting that extend beyond games of chance, which also allows the introduction of the idea of probabilistic coherence as a condition of rational partial belief. We are then finally ready for Bayes’s theorem, a theorem of the probability calculus that plays a central role in the Bayesian account of learning from evidence. That account is illustrated with a historically motivated example from the history of paleontology. The chapter considers objections to the Bayesian approach and the resources Bayesians may draw on for answering those objections.

Chapter 10 explores epistemological and methodological implications of ECT. The overarching issue is whether one adopts a reductive logic or an emergent logic, and whether one is mainly concerned with linear causation versus emergence. The former helps map out developmental diversity from a population perspective, and the latter inductively derives the emergence of new structures, properties, and patterns through real-time person–task interaction. The further issue is making decisions on using person-centered versus variable-centered approaches. At a more epistemological level, ECT does not endorse the deductive logic of falsification, which has a deterministic connotation. Given the indeterminacy involved in talent development, ECT argues that theoretical predictions regarding short-term and long-term outcomes can be based on soft constraint satisfaction as a new epistemology guiding predictions, which dictates that talent trajectories, pathways, and achievement patterns are indeterminate but principled. The chapter thereby proposes five terms (emergence, adaptation, divergence, excellence, and coherence) as organizing research that taps into probabilistic epigenesis, proximal processes, and developmental self-organization toward higher-order coherence. Each term constrains the structure of inquiry and methodology, including what timescale of action is appropriate, and whether quantitative or qualitative, deductive or inductive methods should be used.

Polus admires orators for their tyrannical power. However, Socrates argues that orators and tyrants lack power worth having: the ability to satisfy one’s wishes or wants (boulêseis). He distinguishes wanting from thinking best, and grants that orators and tyrants do what they think best while denying that they do what they want. His account is often thought to involve two conflicting requirements: wants must be attributable to the wanter from their own perspective (to count as their desires), but wants must also be directed at objects that are genuinely good (in order for failure to satisfy them to matter). We offer an account of wanting as reflective, coherent desire, which allows Socrates to satisfy both desiderata. We then explain why he thinks that orators and tyrants want to act justly, though they do greater injustices than anyone else and so frustrate their own wants more than anyone else.

This chapter surveys modern progress in physics on the topic of “decoherence,” the physical process by which irreversible behavior can occur in wave systems. A substantial part of the chapter discusses a proposal by the author of this book for a spontaneous collapse theory that is connected to decoherence.

This chapter surveys several different mathematical methods for time-dependent change of quantum states using quantum field theory. The Bloch sphere method is introduced, which can be used to show the physics discussed in Chapter 3, that electronic transitions, or “jumps,” are not instantaneous.

Part one gives a description of the characteristics of the wind field over the ocean, including wind shear, turbulence and coherence. It shows how these parameters are modeled and used as an input to wind turbine analyses. The long-term statistics of the mean wind speed are discussed as well as the most common principles for wind speed measurements. In part two, the kinematics and dynamics of ocean waves are given in a form which in subsequent chapters is used in computing wave loads on structures, both in time and frequency domain. Long- and short-term wave statistics are discussed.

In this chapter, we start by defining and illustrating the notions of discourse relations and connectives. We will see that even though the role of discourse connectives is to make discourse relations explicit in discourse, their use is not necessary for a discourse relation to be communicated. Conversely, connectives are not always associated with a specific discourse relation: many of them can convey various relations depending on the context. Another goal of this chapter is to situate discourse relations and connectives within the more general concepts of discourse cohesion and coherence. We will see that connectives represent one type of cohesive tie and that discourse relations are crucial elements ensuring local coherence within a discourse. In the last part of the chapter, we present some important underlying methodological and theoretical choices that were made when selecting the topics covered in the book and the data presented in each chapter. We also emphasize that the study of discourse connectives and relations has many interfaces with other domains of linguistic analysis such as semantics, pragmatics and syntax.

In this chapter, our main objective is to provide a succinct description of four leading models of discourse: Rhetorical Structure Theory, Segmented Discourse Representation Theory, the Penn Discourse Treebank project, and the Cognitive approach to Coherence Relations. We present the main goals of each model, and discuss their advantages and limitations. We also list their specificities compared to other models, and analyze the main differences between them. We focus more specifically on the aspects of these models that have to do with the description of discourse relations. For each model, we present the type of research to which it has been applied, and the data that have been produced in the form of annotated corpora. As we will see, all these models have been used to annotate large corpora with discourse relations. An important issue is therefore to establish mappings between the relations annotated in each of them, in order to compare data from one corpus to the others. At the end the chapter, we discuss various options for comparing annotations across models.

This chapter focuses on the numerical simulation of light diffraction by single or multiple slits, which serves to illustrate key principles of wave physics and interference. Students will become acquainted with numerical differentiation and quadrature procedures, particularly in relation to grid parameter convergence. The physics background emphasises wave physics elements, such as the superposition principle and phase difference, as well as their practical applications in real systems. Concepts such as optical paths and coherence are addressed. To understand diffraction phenomena, the Huygens principle is introduced, leading to the diffraction integral formulation for infinite slits. The chapter then explores numerical methods based on local approximations of functions, such as the two-, three-, and five-point schemes for derivatives. This study culminates in the presentation of quadrature schemes, the application of power series expansions for numerical differentiation, and the Simpson algorithm for accurate numerical integration.

Rudolf Carnap’s began to write on probability and inductive logic in 1945, marking a surprising shift in his research interests midway through his post-PhD career (1921–1970). His 1950 Logical Foundations of Probability is unquestionably his best-known work in this area, and yet his views afterwards underwent a substantial change over the next two decades, the extent of which was (and remains) often unappreciated. Inevitably some of his views underwent critical examination, both during his lifetime and after, but he was fortunate in being able to benefit in meeting these from the contributions and support of a number of mathematically and philosophically gifted collaborators. This essay traces the origins of his interest, the nature of these shifts, and some of the contributions of the members of his invisible college. Although the special technical contributions of Carnap continue to engage the attention of a small but influential group of individuals, his more general impact was much broader, often shaping as it did the current widespread epistemic and Bayesian view of the field.

This chapter explores how the culturally and medically prized concept of narrative influences pessimism about ageing. Taking dementia as a situation where anxieties about ageing and continuity of self are particularly acute, it illustrates the pressure emanating from narrativity for life as lived and life as narrated, revealing episodicity as a viable response to this two-fold pressure. Reading life histories of older people, it additionally shows that episodicity is hugely relevant also for how life is pitched retrospectively. Overall, this chapter argues that a stronger focus on episodic self-experience throughout life has the potential to challenge aspects of the decline narrative that nourishes pessimism about ageing.