In an aside to his audience after narrating the revolt of the Theruingi and the slaughter of the Roman army under Lupicinus in AD 376, the ’lonely’ historian Ammianus Marcellinus asks the indulgence of his readers on a particularly difficult matter ... The rather poignant parenthesis is consistent with the view that Ammianus presents elsewhere in his history of a public at Rome concerned only with the trivial biographies of emperors and caring more for the details of the private lives of the imperial household than with the grand sweep of res gestae. The last antique historian is indeed a great one, and he may even have been as isolated as is sometimes suggested.

Drawing on primary sources and moving beyond traditional diplomatic history, this chapter approaches the Belgrade Conference of non-aligned states in an original way, informed by methods of cultural history of diplomacy. A black and white photograph showing presidents Sukarno of Indonesia and Tito of Yugoslavia, hosts of the 1955 Bandung and 1961 Belgrade Conference (events that defined the non-alignment), respectively, serves as a departure point for analysis. Essentially, the chapter asks, What can the image, created by a Yugoslav news agency photographer on the eve of the conference, tell us beyond ‘obvious’? The photograph shows the two statesmen in an open-roofed car in front of the Yugoslav parliament building, the conference venue; the motorcade is secured by uniformed guards on motorcycles, and is observed by citizens, standing still in the background. It allows us to imagine the conference as a piece of diplomatic theatre, with actors, stage, audience, and security. And it urges us to zoom out further to explore the context in which the event captured by the photographic lens took place.

Appreciating that films can influence audiences’ political imaginations and expectations, this chapter looks at first lady characters in feature length presidential movies released during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama were all politically active, setting new standards as presidential advisors, campaign fundraisers, and policy advocates. Presidential movies partially reflected this change, though historic gender constraints on women characters endured. These movies set an affirming wife-husband relationship as a prerequisite for first ladies to exercise political influence. Still, the films presented those relationships as alliances between politically knowledgeable and engaged individuals. That depiction was not extended to first ladies’ interactions with other decision-makers, which were rare and seldom successful. As a result, while presidential movies present their audiences with politically knowledgeable first ladies, these films do not yet encourage ticket holders to recognize these women as actually exercising political influence.

In the twelfth century AD, European elite warriors, knights, finding themselves in dire straits during battle, adopted the practice of surrendering themselves to adversaries who then guaranteed the safety of their prisoners. In turn, prisoners promised to pay a ransom to their captors, payment of which would free the prisoners and allow them to take up arms again. This practical transaction was considered honorable, even praiseworthy. Because ransoms could be substantial, it might be necessary for a prisoner to return to his lands to collect the funds. To do so, he would swear on his word of honor, parole d’honneur, to return with the required funds. The practices of honorable surrender, ransom, and parole were established in customary laws of war, and disputes between captors and their captives could be appealed to courts of honor. There were circumstances in which honorable surrender was not permitted. For example, military commanders could forbid their forces to accept surrenders until a battle was decided, lest their men disperse during battle to collect prisoners and ransoms. The recourse to honorable surrender was limited to the elites; common soldiers could be overwhelmed or killed outright in battle or siege.

This chapter discusses the implications of the inclusion of emission allowances within the scope of EU capital markets legislation, and its interrelations with other relevant sources of EU law, namely the Emissions Trading Schemes and REMIT. The process leading to the comprehensive treatment of emission allowances by EU capital markets legislation began with MiFID I and reached its peak with MiFID II, that includes EUAs within the definition of financial instruments. This inclusion also implies that EUAs are subject to the provisions of the Market Abuse Regulation. This phenomenon raises several issues, first and foremost those that concern coordination between different legal texts. It also raises the question as to whether capital markets legislation is indeed capable of supporting the ultimate goal that the entire regulation of EUAs pursues, that is, the reduction of emissions. Whereby there is still insufficient empirical evidence as to whether this is effectively the case, EU legislation seems to believe in an assumption that would need to be better verified overtime.

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is a powerful and typically painless technique to stimulate the human brain. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with different stimulus modes and parameters are well used patterns of NIBS. Long-term potentiation or long-term depression (LTP and LTD)-like effects can be induced by NIBS. NIBS with practical interventional protocols produces various forms of cortical plasticity and its application has promise for PD treatment. Many clinical trials have shown that rTMS and tDCS with established guidelines are safe, and the interventional protocols using these techniques produce modest therapeutic effects in the patients. Multiple sessions using combinations of different patterns of NIBS and with other therapeutic methods may be more effective for the patient than a single type of intervention. Disease-modifying therapies with long-term effects and development of treatment with benefit beyond conventional therapy in clinical practice using NIBS in PD are theoretically possible and deserve further physiologic studies and clinical trials with large sample size.

Americans invaded Afghanistan and Iraq during the “War on Terror” following 9/11. Because the Taliban gave sanctuary to al Qaeda, the United States attacked Afghanistan in October 2001. Within months, Osama bin Laden had fled, and the Taliban took refuge in Pakistan. However, the Taliban launched an offensive in 2006. Despite Allied efforts, the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan. In 2020, Trump agreed to a peace plan that would remove all Allied troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Biden carried out Trump’s capitulation. Like Vietnam, the fighting ended in American surrender by withdrawal in a chaotic evacuation. Justified by faulty rationale, Americans invaded Iraq in 2003. After a quick victory in the conventional attack, Iraqi resistance transformed into an insurgency that brought the Americans to the brink of defeat. In December 2006, Bush authorized the Surge, increasing the number of troops and instituting a new counterinsurgency strategy. The Surge proved successful, and Obama reasonably extracted all American combat troops by December 2011. The treatment of detainees during the War on Terror began with Bush abandoning humane guidelines. Abu Ghraib strikingly revealed American abuses. But with the Surge, detainee operations emphasized rehabilitation and release to increase trust among the Iraqi population.

This chapter discusses the integration of sustainability risks and factors into insurance regulation. According to the European Commission, sustainability considerations should be placed at the heart of the financial system. In its Action Plan, the European Commission announced its intention to clarify the integration of sustainability in so-called fiduciary duties in sectoral legislation. The objective of the European Commission is to direct financial and capital flows to green investment and to avoid stranded assets, which could be facilitated if sustainability is more clearly integrated in such duties of financial undertakings. This chapter describes the wide range and variety of developments in this area, which reflects some of the unique characteristics of the insurance sector, and which provides opportunities to contribute to the EC’s sustainability agenda. This contribution is not limited to the provision of considerable financial contributions to the sustainable investment agenda, which is closely related to the fiduciary duties of insurers and the application of the prudent person principle, but relate as well as to other elements of the sustainability agenda and resilience of the European economy, for which the insurance and reinsurance sector is well positioned to provide a meaningful support, for instance by addressing the protection gap.

Full of allusions and images derived from the Garden of Eden, dreams of Daniel, and schematics of Ezekiel’s temple, and populated with rebooted characters like Balaam and Jezebel, this concluding chapter addresses the question of whether an overarching narrative arc can be discerned in the Bible’s final book.

Conservation is a fundamental feature of true ruin-mindedness, but the early attempts to preserve the ruins of Rome were unsuccessful until the tourism of the eighteenth century made it clear that there was an economic benefit to the preservation and attractive presentation of the city’s ruins. Once this was appreciated, care for the preservation of the ruins from further damage and decay became an issue. Towards the end of that century, soil and rubble were removed from the bases of a number of the more significant ruins, and steps were taken to isolate them so as to protect them from harm, an innovative measure. Rome took the lead in guarding the heritage of its built environment. But since no one had ever tried to protect a building out of doors before, novel means of preservation and even of conservation and rebuilding were devised to ensure that the ruins looked their best for visitors and for posterity. Further projects of excavation were undertaken by the French and the Kingdom of Italy in the nineteenth century, and in the twentieth century the ruins were furbished up for propaganda purposes by the Fascist regime.

Clinical diagnosis of movement disorders can be challenging, especially in the early stages of the disease. Therapy and prognosis of the disorders differ markedly, and early diagnosis is desirable. Structural imaging and complementary nuclear imaging can detect characteristic changes in diseases and present an objective, reproducible opportunity to confirm the suspected diagnosis, sometimes before the disease reaches its clinical full-blown stage. Differential diagnoses may also be excluded. After an introduction of the imaging methods, we present structural changes of a typical Parkinson syndrome as seen in sporadic Parkinson’s disease and some familial mono-/oligo-/polygenic and intermediate genetic variants, such as the "swallow tail sign." Characteristic features of atypical parkinsonian syndromes (MSA, PSP, CBD and vascular parkinsonism) are also presented and extended to include nuclear medicine aspects. Imaging features are classified in terms of their importance for diagnosis and differential diagnosis. Image examples are given to illustrate the features and the most important features and differential diagnoses are summarized and presented in tables.

This chapter deals with the pharmacotherapy of motor clinical hallmarks in Parkinson’s disease (PD), plus other PD and/or its intervention-related signs and symptoms. The treatment of PD-related non-dopaminergic symptoms such as mainly autonomic, neuropsychiatric and sleep–wake disorders are extensively dealt with in other chapters, so the pharmacotherapy of these disorders are only be discussed briefly. Autonomic non-motor fluctuations comprise cardiovascular (orthostatic hypotension), urogenital (detrusor over- and underactivity-related problems, e.g., urgency, frequency, nocturia, hesitation and straining), and gastrointestinal manifestations (sialorrhea, dysphagia, delayed gastric emptying, constipation). Depression and (mild) cognitive impairment are the most important mainly direct PD-related neuropsychiatric disorders, whereas impulse control disorders, as well as dementia and psychosis, are frequently seen as dopaminomimetic adverse events. Sleep–wake disorders with parasomnias are also characteristic non-motor symptoms in PD. The tailored pharmacologic strategies in these non-dopaminergic symptoms are discussed in detail.