Liberal Warfare: A Crusade Twice Removed

Since the 1990s, liberal warfare has attracted a good deal of debate and commentary, virtually all of which has been framed in the secular language of rights, sovereignty, power, and legitimacy. This article, in contrast, makes religion its central analytic category. Treating liberalism as a political religion, it argues that, insofar as liberal wars are fought primarily to uphold “universal” Western values, their motivation has something in common with medieval crusades. But, because that universalist ideal is vitiated by the self-interest of states, liberal wars in fact bear closer resemblance to anachronistic attempts to revive the crusading ideal in the late Middle Ages. Thus, they represent a distant, secularized echo of a pale imitation of the Crusades—or “a crusade twice removed.

Does self-management for return to work increase the effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation for chronic compensated musculoskeletal disorders? - Protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Musculoskeletal disorders are common and costly disorders to workers compensation and motor accident insurance systems and are a leading contributor to the burden of ill-health. In Australia, vocational rehabilitation is provided to workers to assist them to stay in or return to work. Self-management training may be an innovative addition to improve health and employment outcomes from vocational rehabilitation

Formic acid synthesis using CO₂ as raw material: Techno-economic and environmental evaluation and market potential

The future of carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) processes, depend on (i) the future demand of synthesised products with CO₂, (ii) the availability of captured and anthropogenic CO₂, (iii) the overall CO₂ not emitted because of the use of the CDU process, and (iv) the economics of the plant. The current work analyses the mentioned statements through different technological, economic and environmental key performance indicators to produce formic acid from CO₂, along with their potential use and penetration in the European context. Formic acid is a well-known chemical that has potential as hydrogen carrier and as fuel for fuel cells. This work utilises process flow modelling, with simulations developed in CHEMCAD, to obtain the energy and mass balances, and the purchase equipment cost of the formic acid plant. Through a financial analysis, with the net present value as selected metric, the price of the tonne of formic acid and of CO₂ are varied to make the CDU project financially feasible. According to our research, the process saves CO₂ emissions when compared to its corresponding conventional process, under specific conditions. The success or effectiveness of the CDU process will also depend on other technologies and/or developments, like the availability of renewable electricity and steam

Governing cities for sustainable energy:The UK case

AbstractThe dependence of cities on intensive consumption of energy from fossil fuels is a major cause of climate disruption, and there is increasing interest in the potential for city governments to facilitate a transition to sustainable energy. Little is known, however, about the extent or structures of current urban energy initiatives. Our paper addresses this gap by mapping UK local authority energy plans and project investments and exploring governance processes in three leading cities. It uses socio-technical and urban studies' perspectives on neo-liberal governing and energy systems to interpret findings. This reveals both the gap between local ambitions and capacity to implement plans, and the potential for translation of neo-liberal governing into contrasting commercial and community urban energy enterprises, prefiguring different energy futures. Overall, however, the neo-liberal framework is associated with small scale and uneven initiatives, with limited contribution to a systemic shift to sustainable cities

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 1

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1661/thumbnail.jp

Perspectives in visual imaging for marine biology and ecology: from acquisition to understanding

Durden J, Schoening T, Althaus F, et al. Perspectives in Visual Imaging for Marine Biology and Ecology: From Acquisition to Understanding. In: Hughes RN, Hughes DJ, Smith IP, Dale AC, eds. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review. 54. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2016: 1-72