The Narratives of Cicero's Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem: career, republic and the Epistulae ad Atticum

The narrative and design of Cicero's overlooked collection of letters to his brother Quintus (henceforth, QFr.) demand investigation. Within each book, the constituent letters delineate the trajectory of Cicero's life, transitioning from his political prominence to his increasing irrelevance. This narrative unfolds not only within the micro-narratives of individual books but also across the macro-narrative of the entire collection. Containing only letters from Cicero to Quintus dated between 60/59–54 and featuring a notable resemblance to the Epistulae ad Atticum (henceforth, Att.) Books 2–4, QFr., it can be argued, functions as both a ‘microcosm’ of Att. and its supplement. This article addresses these issues and argues that QFr. deserves a place alongside the ‘major’ Ciceronian collections

Personalised Health Behaviour Support Programme in Adults With Post-COVID Syndrome: A Randomised, Controlled Pilot Feasibility Trial

BackgroundWe investigated whether a novel 8-week personalised health behaviour support programme, focusing on the stability of symptoms and strategies to improve activities of daily living, was feasible and acceptable in adults with post-COVID syndrome.MethodsIn this randomised, controlled, pilot feasibility trial, 32 adults with post-COVID syndrome (continued symptoms for ≥ 12 weeks) were randomised 1:1 to receive personalised health behaviour support (self-reported physical activity and symptom diaries, plus seven one-to-one remotely delivered personalised self-management support sessions), once weekly for 8-weeks, or usual care (referral to online ‘your COVID-19 recovery’ programme). The primary outcome was the feasibility of recruiting and randomising adults with post-COVID syndrome. The secondary outcomes were to assess the acceptability and safety of the intervention and various outcome measures.ResultsOf the 48 adults who expressed interest in the study, 32 (67%) were eligible and completed the baseline assessment. All 32 adults were willing to be randomised to either the personalised health behaviour support programme (n = 17) or usual care (n = 15) and 27 (age: 45 ± 12 years) adults completed follow-up at 9 weeks. The intervention was deemed feasible, with high adherence (92% and 94% completion rates for the physical activity and symptom diaries, respectively) and excellent acceptability rates (94% ‘liked the intervention a lot’). The intervention was deemed safe, with no symptom exacerbations reported.ConclusionAn 8-week personalised health behaviour support programme was feasible for adults with post-COVID syndrome, with good adherence and acceptability rates. Early pilot data from this small sample also suggests meaningful improvements in physical activity, fatigue and respiratory symptoms.Patient or Public ContributionPeople living with post-COVID syndrome were involved from the outset with the study design, review of study documentation and interpretation of the data following completion. Furthermore, several participants have supported the local dissemination of findings following the completion of the study

Witnessing

Geographers have long been concerned with witnessing. Underpinning this broad corpus is a belief that “better” witnessing moves us towards a more progressive, and even liberatory politics. There is an imperative that witnessing itself, if approached sensitively, would provide a meaningful response to realities of violence, harm, and abuse. This chapter asks: How do we make sense of forms of witnessing that have no interest in participating in a restorative project and the reaffirmation of the liberal logic that acts of witnessing often provide? What do we do with registers of testimony that actively refuse and violate liberal sensibilities? This chapter suggests we need to pay greater attention to the figure of the unrepentant witness, and how it redefines the political community who are its audience

ChatGPT versus human essayists: an exploration of the impact of artificial intelligence for authorship and academic integrity in the humanities

Generative AI has prompted educators to reevaluate traditional teaching and assessment methods. This study examines AI’s ability to write essays analysing Old English poetry; human markers assessed and attempted to distinguish them from authentic analyses of poetry by first-year undergraduate students in English at the University of Oxford. Using the standard UK University grading system, AI-written essays averaged a score of 60.46, whilst human essays achieved 63.57, a margin of difference not statistically significant (p = 0.10). Notably, student submissions applied a nuanced understanding of cultural context and secondary criticism to their close reading, while AI essays often described rather than analysed, lacking depth in the evaluation of poetic features, and sometimes failing to properly recognise key aspects of passages. Distinguishing features of human essays included detailed and sustained analysis of poetic style, as well as spelling errors and lack of structural cohesion. AI essays, on the other hand, exhibited a more formal structure and tone but sometimes fell short in incisive critique of poetic form and effect. Human markers correctly identified the origin of essays 79.41% of the time. Additionally, we compare three purported AI detectors, finding that the best, ‘Quillbot’, correctly identified the origin of essays 95.59% of the time. However, given the high threshold for academic misconduct, conclusively determining origin remains challenging. The research also highlights the potential benefits of generative AI’s ability to advise on structuring essays and suggesting avenues for research. We advocate for transparency regarding AI’s capabilities and limitations, and this study underscores the importance of human critical engagement in teaching and learning in Higher Education. As AI’s proficiency grows, educators must reevaluate what authentic assessment is, and consider implementing dynamic, holistic methods to ensure academic integrity

Human-triggered magnification of erosion rates in European Alps since the Bronze Age

A major feature of the Anthropocene is the drastic increase in global soil erosion. Soil erosion is threatening Earth habitability not only as soils are an essential component of the Earth system but also because societies depend on soils. However, proper quantification of the impact of human activities on erosion over thousands of years is still lacking. This is particularly crucial in mountainous areas, where the highest erosion rates are recorded. Here we use the Lake Bourget catchment, one of the largest in the European Alps, to estimate quantitatively the impact of human activities on erosion. Based on a multi-proxy, source-to-sink approach relying on isotopic geochemistry, we discriminate the effects of climate fluctuations from those of human activities on erosion over the last 10,000 years. We demonstrate that until 3800 years ago, climate is the only driver of erosion. From that time on, climate alone cannot explain the measured rates of erosion. Thanks to an unprecedented regional paleoenvironmental reconstruction, we highlight that the development of pastoralism at high altitudes from the Bronze Age onwards and the extension of agriculture starting in the Middle Ages were key factors in the drastic increase in erosion observed in the Alps

The Art of Peace Formation. Arts-based Social Movements, Opportunities and Blockages

This edited collection explores the relationship between the arts, political agency, and peace formation. Developing the concept of artpeace, the book investigates to what extent local art projects have played a role in broader national peace projects, or, alternatively, what factors have blocked artists from translating their social imaginaries into political change in contexts of war and violence. The collection brings together peace and conflict scholarship and arts-based studies of social movements in conflict-affected societies to examine the proposition that the arts may offer an opportunity to shape peace processes in emancipatory ways, whilst examining the blockages that, at times, prevent them from making a tangible difference to the variations of peace being designed

Final Reflections

It is important to explicitly acknowledge in the conclusion of the book that we, as editors of the collection, do not have all the answers when it comes to addressing deep-seated issues relating to race, gender, class, dis/ability, sexuality, and other often intersecting inequalities generated and perpetuated within academia, society, or the criminal justice system. What we reflect on in our own practice and hope to encourage others to talk about, question, and challenge is how these inequalities are reproduced and perpetuated by the people who research, write about, and publish in relation to crime, criminology, and criminal justice, either consciously or not