Introduction to a Resources Special Issue on Criticality of the Rare Earth Elements: Current and Future Sources and Recycling

The rare earth elements (REE) are vital to modern technologies and society and are amongst the most important of the critical elements. This special issue of Resources examines a number of facets of these critical elements, current and future sources of the REE, the mineralogy of the REE, and the economics of the REE sector. These papers not only provide insights into a wide variety of aspects of the REE, but also highlight the number of different areas of research that need to be undertaken to ensure sustainable and secure supplies of these critical metals into the future

Book review: Kant’s politics in context by Reidar Maliks

The translation of Kant’s ideas into more recognisable and accessible terminology from the perspective of a modern reader is an incredibly useful reading tool, particularly for readers who may be less familiar with, or completely new to, Kant’s writing, finds Josh Jowitt

Awareness, requirements and barriers to use of Assistive Technology designed to enable independence of people suffering from Dementia (ATD)

This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2012 IOS PressThis study investigated the awareness and use of assistive technology for people with dementia. The aim of the study was to explore barriers to the uptake of, and the unmet needs for, assistive technology for dementia (ATD) The work was carried out with family carers of people with dementia because carers are often the purchasers, end users and main beneficiaries of this type of technology. Focus groups were used to explore carers’ views on ATD use, and the problems that might be addressed by ATD, in order to develop a questionnaire for dementia carers. The questionnaire was administered at Alzheimer’s Society carer support groups in South Bucks and in Hillingdon Borough (UK). None of the 16 focus group participants or the 42 respondents to the questionnaire had any personal experience of ATD. The dementia carers reported a number of concerns, problems and unmet needs that could be addressed by existing, commercially available ATD products. Some needs for new technology development were identified in the study, but the lack of awareness of ATD appears to be the most important barrier to technology adoption

Book review: on the Universal: the uniform, the common and dialogue between cultures by François Jullien

On the Universal sees François Jullien focus on whether universal values exist and whether dialogue between cultures is possible. The book retraces the history of the concept of the universal from its invention as an aspect of Roman citizenship, through its neutralization in the Christian idea of salvation, to its present day manifestations. This is a valuable contrition to the field, writes Josh Jowitt

The Necessary Moral Foundation of Law: A Gewirthian Critique of Contemporary Inclusive Positivism

How does law possess the normative force it requires to direct our actions? This seemingly innocuous question is of central importance to the philosophy of law and, by extension, of the very concept of law itself, and it is hoped that this thesis will make a contribution which can further our capacity to provide a satisfactory answer. The argument put forward will be one coming from the Natural Law tradition, in that it claims that the normative force of law has a necessary connection to morality. In order to be successful in this enterprise, two things will need to be demonstrated. Firstly, a commitment to the concept of moral truths is required; secondly, these moral truths must be identifiable through human reason. It will be argued that these conditions are met by Alan Gewirth’s Principle of Generic Consistency, which attempts to locate the existence of universally applicable moral norms through a dialectically necessary argument grounded in the truism of noumenal agency. Such an argument, if correct, will demonstrate that a universalised instrumental reason necessarily serves as a categorical imperative to bind all agents to adhere to its absolute and exclusionary requirements against behaviour that would be non-compliant. This has implications for legal theory, in that positive law is a product of human, and therefore agential, activity. If the PGC applies to all agential behaviour, a circumstance might arise in which a rule claiming the status of law might contradict its requirements. This thesis argues that, in such circumstances, the PGC requires agents to deny the normative force claimed by the non-compliant rule, thus demonstrating that (RM x, - Φ) > (RL x, Φ). Contemporary positivist theories will then be critiqued against this claim to establish the extent to which they overcome the necessary link between law and morality thus established

The Hero and the Sea: Sea Captains and their Discontents

Early modern sea captains were at the vanguard of the English response to secure what was believed to be the nation’s share of territory and trade, and their activities are central to written accounts of explorations and adventures. This article takes as its focus two accounts of English sea captaincy of the “long 1590s.” To address the sea captain’s role in the processes of English overseas expansionism, I discuss first the importance of the execution in contested circumstances of Thomas Doughty, on the orders of Francis Drake on the first English circumnavigation, for understanding more generally the values and practice of leadership at sea. However, my chief concern is on the significance of the murky circumstances of the death of England’s celebrated second circumnavigator, Sir Thomas Cavendish, and the fractious conditions on board that led to it, for analysing the challenges and opportunities of sea captaincy in this period, and for examining the ideologies that supported it and which, in turn, it supported

Book review: the nature and limits of human equality

In this contribution to the field of philosophy, the author John Charvet is dissatisfied with the literature to date which has as its focus the justification for, and any limits of, Human Equality, writes Josh Jowitt. Charvet’s theory as presented in The Nature and Limits of Human Equality has been successful in that it has provoked renewed questioning of assumptions which we are frequently guilty of taking for granted, but is also not without its drawbacks

The Legal Recognition of Relationships Between Couples of the Same Sex: A New Zealand Perspective

Now that New Zealand has guaranteed freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, one is able to argue convincingly that legislative change must occur so that same-sex couples can be recognised. This article discusses the rightsbased argument as to why the current position of the law in respect of same-sex couples is untenable before turning to consider what the best option for law reform might be.