A Scientist in Love

Chapter 4 investigates Marie Stopes’s interracial, cross-gender relationships with Fujii Kenjirō and Sakurai Jōji through her three published Japanese-related works—A Journal from Japan (1910), Love-Letters of a Japanese (1911), and Plays of Old Japan: The ‘Nō’ (1913)—along with her unpublished transcripts and correspondence. It unveils an unconventional, stormy romance, a warm friendship, and literary collaboration. It considers the gender and racial complexities Stopes textually negotiated for the sake of her love and friendship against the rigid imperial ideology and the Victorian notion of femininity, which produced a distinct representation of humanized Japan as Britain’s masculine ally with feminine sensibility. It also discusses particular challenges Western women in a cross-racial relationship faced in Victorian Britain and Meiji Japan. The close examination of this underexplored phase of Stopes’s career reveals the incipience of her sexology and complicates the posthumous, more controversial aspect of her as eugenicist.

Weightlifting for Children and Adolescents: A Narrative Review

The involvement of youth in the sport of weightlifting and the use of weightlifting methods as part of training for youth sport performance appears to be increasing. Weightlifting for children and adolescents has been criticized in some circles and is a controversial aspect of resistance training for young people. Although injuries can occur during weightlifting and related activities, the incidence and rate of injury appear to be relatively low and severe injury is uncommon. A number of performance, physical, and physiological variables, such as body composition, strength, and power, are improved by weightlifting training in children, adolescents, and young athletes. Manipulating program variables, when appropriate, can have a substantial and profound influence on the psychological, physiological, physical, and performance aspects of weightlifters. An understanding of the sport, scientific training principles, and musculoskeletal growth development is necessary to properly construct a reasonable and appropriate training program. A scientific background aids in providing an evidenced basis and sound rationale in selecting appropriate methods and directing adaptations toward more specific goals and enables the coach to make choices about training and competition that might not otherwise be possible. If weightlifting training and competition are age group appropriate and are properly supervised, the sport can be substantially safe and efficacious.

An opinion on the interpretation of social release in rats

This commentary concerns a controversial animal model in rodent social release research wherein one rat releases another rat from entrapment in a plastic tube. Release from the plastic tube has been proposed as a model to study empathically motivated behaviour. However, empathic motivations have been contested by others who have provided evidence for social reinforcement motivating release behaviour. Furthermore, helping, or other forms of pro-social behaviour could exist independent of empathy or empathetic motivation and the stimuli occasioning this helping behaviour are not known. In addition, there is a dearth in the citations of published studies whose results fail to support this model. In other words, the controversial aspect of the rodent social release model is often overlooked. This controversy is described in the current opinion piece.

A Review of the Halal Poultry Slaughtering from Welfare and Legal Perspectives: Analysis of Research Results

The subject of halal slaughtering is one of the most widely discussed issues of animal cruelty and animal welfare in the public sphere. The discrepancy in understanding the contemporary and religious laws pertaining to animal slaughtering does not fully publicize to Islamic and Muslim majority countries especially with respect to interpreting the use of stunning in animals. The electrical stunning is the cheapest, easiest, safest, and most suitable method for slaughtering that is widespread and developed. However, stunning on head of poultry before being slaughtered is a controversial aspect among the Islamic sects due to regulations of the European Union and some other countries. The current review highlights the instructions of halal slaughtering, legal legislation, and the effect of this global practice on poultry welfare and the quality of produced meat.

Do We Still Believe There Is a G-spot?

In the field of female sexuality, the existence of the so-called “G-spot” represents a topic still anchored to anecdotes and opinions and explained using non-scientific points, as well as being overused for commercial and mediatic purposes. Purpose of Review The scope of this review is to give an update on the current state of information regarding the G-spot and suggesting potential future directions in the research field of this interesting, albeit controversial, aspect of human sexual physiology. Recent Findings From evolutionary, anatomical, and functional points of view, new evidence has rebutted the original conceptualization of the G-spot, abandoning the idea of a specific anatomical point able to produce exceptional orgasmic experiences through the stimulation of the anterior vaginal wall, the site where the G-spot is assumed to be. From a psychological perspective, only few findings to date are able to describe the psychological, behavioral, and social correlates of the pleasure experience by G-spot-induced or, better, vaginally induced orgasm (VAO). Summary Recent literature suggests the existence of a G-spot but specifies that, since it is not a spot, neither anatomically nor functionally, it cannot be called G, nor spot, anymore. It is indeed a functional, dynamic, and hormone-dependent area (called clitorourethrovaginal, CUV, complex), extremely individual in its development and action due to the combined influence of biological and psychological aspects, which may trigger VAO and in some particular cases also female ejaculation (FE).

Morphological and Ultrastructural Characterization of Hemocytes in an Insect Model, the Hematophagous Dipetalogaster maxima (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Hemocytes, the cells present in the hemolymph of insects and other invertebrates, perform several physiological functions, including innate immunity. The current classification of hemocyte types is based mostly on morphological features; however, divergences have emerged among specialists in triatomines, the insect vectors of Chagas’ disease (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Here, we have combined technical approaches in order to characterize the hemocytes from fifth instar nymphs of the triatomine Dipetalogaster maxima. Moreover, in this work we describe, for the first time, the ultrastructural features of D. maxima hemocytes. Using phase contrast microscopy of fresh preparations, five hemocyte populations were identified and further characterized by immunofluorescence, flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy. The plasmatocytes and the granulocytes were the most abundant cell types, although prohemocytes, adipohemocytes and oenocytes were also found. This work sheds light on a controversial aspect of triatomine cell biology and physiology setting the basis for future in-depth studies directed to address hemocyte classification using non-microscopy-based markers.

Longino's Concept of Values in Science

While classical neo-positivists reject any role for traditionally understood values in science, Kuhn identifies five specific values as criteria for assessing a scientific theory; this approach has been further developed by several other authors. This paper focuses on Helen Longino, who presents a significant contemporary critique of Kuhn’s concept. The most controversial aspect of Longino’s position is arguably her claim that the criterion of empirical adequacy is the least defensible basis for assessing theories. The de-emphasizing of the importance of external consistency as a value and the introduction of socio-political considerations into the processes of an assessment of scientific theories are also considered problematic issues. I provide arguments against Longino’s conception, identify some of its problems, and argue for refusal of her approach.

Prophecy

The most controversial aspect of Razi’s thought is his apparent critique of revealed religion, as reported by hostile opponents who depict him as an outright denier of prophecy. This chapter argues instead that Razi was concerned to attack a narrower target, namely groups within Islam that he considered to have schismatic religious views. In particular he took aim at the Ismailis, whom he accused of slavish devotion to their Imams. This, it is suggested, provoked a response which distorted and oversimplified Razi’s position. In fact Razi’s position was likely not dissimilar to that of other rationalist philosophers in the Islamic world, like his near contemporary al-Farabi, who held that one should ideally form one’s beliefs through philosophical inquiry, but that the Quran when understood correctly agrees with the deliverances of philosophy.

Responsibility to Protect and Rising Asian Powers

Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is the national and international responsibility to protect populations against mass atrocities. This article discusses prospects for the implementation of R2P objectives in a world where Asian powers rise. It focuses not only on prevention and assistance but also decisive action, the most controversial aspect of R2P, tied to the UN Security Council where China resides as a permanent member with a veto. The Indian R2P position also highlights, supplemented with some comments, on selected East Asian states. It concludes that the rise of Asian powers does not threaten the national responsibility to protect. Voluntary international assistance is not threatened, but assistance with coercive elements might be. Unless more clear criteria are established for the possible use of military force, mandates from the Security Council which allows this will probably be rare. Particularly, China will oppose interventions that may forward regime change in targeted states.

7. Penal law

‘Penal law’ reviews Islamic penal law, the most controversial aspect of Islamic law that often prompts heated debate about its applicability in contemporary times. Classical Islamic law classifies crimes and their punishments into three main categories: hudūd, qisās, and ta’zīr. Substantively, the hudūd and qisās offences are specifically prescribed in the Qur’an and/or the Sunnah, while the ta’zīr offences are left to the discretion of the ruling authority or judges. There are a number of evidential requirements and standard of proving criminal offences under Islamic law. The classical Islamic penal rules are now codified into the current penal codes of a few Muslim-majority states, with necessary modifications.