48670 research outputs found
Sort by
An Overview of Positive Economic Rights in American Political Thought
Get PDFPositive economic rights are entitlements an individual has for the state to provide for their basic needs. Though codified in international law, the existence of such rights remains deeply controversial in the United States. This thesis will explore the concept of positive economic rights throughout American history, beginning in the Colonial Period and ending with the recent revival of positive economic rights discourse since Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. The thesis will explore political literature related to positive rights, state duties to the poor, and positive liberty—a concept frequently invoked by advocates for positive economic rights. Through political literary analysis, I will argue that while the concept of state duties to the poor spans the full duration of American history, the framing of such duties in terms of individual rights is largely a product of the New Deal Era. The thesis will also explore arguments against positive economic rights, which began to intensify during the late 1960s. Though positive economic rights receded to the fringes of American discourse during the Reagan years, support for these rights appears to be making a comeback
Module 19: Challenging Muslim Representation in Popular Culture (2019)
Get PDFhttps://repository.upenn.edu/teachingbeyondsept11-media-representation/1001/thumbnail.jp
American\u27s debt burden, retirement readiness, and the pandemic
No full textThis paper analyzes Americans’ perceptions of being debt constrained. We focus on which population subgroups reported feeling most debt constrained, how this perception was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it relates to financial literacy and retirement readiness. To this end, we analyze two datasets, namely the 2020 and 2021 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index files (P-Fin Index). The evidence shows that, prior to and during the pandemic, one in three American adults felt constrained by their debt. The percentage was even higher among vulnerable subgroups such as Black and Hispanic individuals, those lacking a bachelor’s degree, those with lower incomes, and those with low levels of financial literacy. Being debt constrained also has long-term financial consequences, as it is negatively linked to planning and saving for retirement. Finally, we show that financial literacy has a strong connection to both debt and retirement money management, confirming that financial knowledge is essential if people are to be able to manage their debt and build financial well-being
Barker’s Hypothesis Among the Global Poor: Positive Long-term Cardiovascular Effects of In-utero Famine Exposure
Get PDFAn influential literature on the Barker\u27s hypothesis (or the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, DOHaD) has documented that poor conditions in utero lead to higher risk of hypertension, diabetes, stroke and heart disease in middle age in middle- and high-income contexts. One of the main explanations is that periods of high calorie intake after birth are inconsistent with the adaptations that the fetus makes to prepare for a poor resources environment (thrifty phenotype hypothesis). Using data from a persistently low-income country, Malawi, we find that individuals exposed in utero to a substantial famine in 1949, have lower levels of blood pressure and blood sugar and less symptoms associated with stroke over half a century later. These findings may be explained by a prolonged period of malnutrition following the famine in contrast to most of the contexts studied in the previous literature
En-Mass Retraction of Maxillary Anterior Teeth with Severe Proclination and Root Resorption—A Case Report
Get PDFInhibition of Orai Channel Function Regulates Mas-Related G Protein-Coupled Receptor-Mediated Responses in Mast Cells
Get PDFMast cells (MCs) are tissue resident immune cells that play important roles in the pathogenesis of allergic disorders. These responses are mediated via the cross-linking of cell surface high affinity IgE receptor (FcϵRI) by antigen resulting in calcium (Ca2+) mobilization, followed by degranulation and release of proinflammatory mediators. In addition to FcϵRI, cutaneous MCs express Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor X2 (MRGPRX2; mouse ortholog MrgprB2). Activation of MRGPRX2/B2 by the neuropeptide substance P (SP) is implicated in neurogenic inflammation, chronic urticaria, mastocytosis and atopic dermatitis. Although Ca2+ entry is required for MRGPRX2/B2-mediated MC responses, the possibility that calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC/Orai) channels participate in these responses has not been tested. Lentiviral shRNA-mediated silencing of Orai1, Orai2 or Orai3 in a human MC line (LAD2 cells) resulted in partial inhibition of SP-induced Ca2+ mobilization, degranulation and cytokine/chemokine generation (TNF-α, IL-8, and CCL-3). Synta66, which blocks homo and hetero-dimerization of Orai channels, caused a more robust inhibition of SP-induced responses than knockdown of individual Orai channels. Synta66 also blocked SP-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and Akt phosphorylation and abrogated cytokine/chemokine production. It also inhibited SP-induced Ca2+ mobilization and degranulation in primary human skin MCs and mouse peritoneal MCs. Furthermore, Synta66 attenuated both SP-induced cutaneous vascular permeability and leukocyte recruitment in mouse peritoneum. These findings demonstrate that Orai channels contribute to MRGPRX2/B2-mediated MC activation and suggest that their inhibition could provide a novel approach for the modulation of SP-induced MC/MRGPRX2-mediated disorders. Copyright © 2022 Chaki, Alkanfari, Roy, Amponnawarat, Hui, Oskeritzian and Ali
The Poetics of \u27Gentilezza\u27 in the \u27Fiore\u27 and the Emergence of Dante\u27s Political Vision Before the Exile
Get PDFThis essay investigates the political and literary culture of late Duecento Florence as well as the entangled rather than mutually exclusive nature of Dante’s pre- and post-exile political and literary visions. I read Dante’s political vision against the Fiore, a Tuscan form of the medieval French epic Roman de la Rose that appeared in Italy before 1290. Pervasive in Dante’s politics, poetics, and the cultural milieux in which the Fiore appeared are the rejection of French/Provençal cultural dominance, Franco-Angevin political influence in Italy, and mendicants as morally bankrupt threats to civil society. In turn, this essay argues that the Fiore and Dante’s participation in the literary culture that produced it were the consequence of the geopolitical landscape of the late Duecento, which paved the way for his exile and subsequent rancor that pervaded his later works
The Human Moment of the Soul
Get PDFThis article explores the idea of the soul through the framework of two of the most elusive terms in Dante’s Commedia, “umano” and “persona.” It begins with an analysis of the soul’s formation, outlined in Purgatorio 25, by way of the conjunction of corporeal matter and a supernal “spirito novo,” which after death seems to ascend beyond the realm of human existence. This account is then contrasted with the etymological and theological affordances of the concept of personhood, which frames the body as the form—the “mask” of flesh and bones—that continues to individuate the soul after death, immortalizing rather than transcending the human moment of its origin. From the examination of these disparities emerges a new perspective on Dante’s conception of human existence, illustrating its complex but fundamental place within the idea of perfection at the heart of his poetic universe
Dante\u27s \u27Lonza\u27: A Dissection of the Wild Cat in Canto I
Get PDFEven though every English translation of the Inferno describes the wild cat that impedes Dante’s way up the mountain of Salvation in Canto I as a leopard, there is no direct correlation between the leopard we know and the Italian term Dante uses, \u27una lonza.\u27 A glance at Singleton\u27s notes on the lonza reveals how the term’s ambiguity has resulted in little agreement about the cat’s gender, whether it was a live, breathing animal or merely mythical. This paper examines a variety of sources from art history to zoology to argue that the wild cat Dante was trying to conjure up was a cheetah rather than a leopard. There is evidently a long history of confusing the pair, which we’ll see from studying the illuminated manuscripts in medieval bestiaries, the sketchbooks by Italian artists who drew these animals from life, and the lynchpin, a painting by Titian. What follows is a dissection of Dante’s lonza in three parts: its etymology, zoology and allegory