This chapter examines how a state becomes a party to a treaty, including signature, initialling and ratification, where applicable. Whether a state can participate in a multilateral treaty depends on the terms of the treaty. The practice of the Council of Europe is examined. Signature may express consent to be bound but often signature will be subject to ratification. Ratification is the international act whereby a state establishes on the international plane its consent to be bound. It is to be distinguished from the domestic process which enables a state to ratify. Advice is given on the form and content of an instrument of ratification. A state may also consent to be bound by acceptance, approval or accession. Accession is primarily the means by which a state may become a party if it is unable to sign the treaty. The chapter also examines rights and obligations prior to entry into force, the possibility of withdrawing consent to be bound, and the ways in which treaties might be developed.

Chapter 2 looks at how and to whom targeted citizens’ attribute blame and responsibility for school closure actions. In so doing, it brings forth issues of race, and representation, demonstrating the ability of those affected by closure to assign blame based on who holds the most power over closure decisions. In particular, this chapter shows how targets of closure express decreased support for the school district, generally, and decreased support for political actors associated with the policy, specifically the mayor and/or the governor. Further, it reveals how citizens determine the role of race in shaping who to blame more or less for what they are experiencing.

New product development processes need to be compliant to regulatory requirements, and this chapter highlights the salient processes and quality systems to put into place to achieve success. Project management is made simple with specific tools provided here. Customer feedback is channeled into specific product characteristics, and the right tools are shown in this chapter. The biopharma industry has statistics showing less than 10% of starting compounds succeed in reaching market approval, and this chapter explains what causes these failures. The key issues that have repeatedly caused failure during device and diagnostic product development are also pointed out. Ethical decisions have to be made during product development as shown in this chapter. Outsourcing is a real option due to the availability of many contract research and manufacturing organizations, and judicious use of this option is discussed in this chapter. Key milestones that reduce risk and show transition from early stage to preclinical prototype stages are reviewed here. Does the popular concept of minimum viable product in software development apply in biomedicine prototyping? Other similar questions that help the reader understand pitfalls and best practices are answered here.

This chapter focus on a description of pathways undertaken to transfer the UNCD film technology from the laboratory into the market, through Original Biomedical Implants (OBI-USA) and OBI-México, founded by O. Auciello and colleagues. Topics discussed in this chapter include: 1) Summary of regulatory pathways in different regions of the world for approval of medical devices and prostheses; 2) description of pathway to bring to the market a UNCD-coated microchip (artificial retina) implantable inside the eye to restore partial vision to blind people), 2) description of the process to bring to the market a new generation of long life superior performance UNCD-coated prostheses (artificial hips, knees, dental implants, and more); 3) description of pathway to bring into the market a novel retina reattachment process using combined UNCD-coated magnet outside the eye and injection of super-paramagnetic nanoparticles inside the eye, pushing the retina back on to the inner eye’ layer, when attracted by the magnetic field created by the external magnet.

The chapter traces statements on Cicero’s philosophical position from his earliest treatise (on rhetorical theory) to the philosophical works of the 40s bce, while attending to the literary form of Cicero’s oeuvre. It argues that Cicero’s stance is stable over time, that it exhibits a number of features that would warrant calling it mitigated skepticism, but that, given the way different Academic positions are conceptualized in Cicero’s texts, notably the Academica, his position is formally one of radical skepticism. The chapter tries to identify features of the evidence from Cicero which are distinctive compared to other texts (e.g. by Sextus Empiricus and Numenius), notably an unusual wealth of comments on the practice of Academic skepticism (i.e. on what being an Academic skeptic was like, at least on Cicero’s construal and to what extent it was compatible with being a fully functioning Roman of a certain social class and with a particular occupation).

Chapter 3 describes in detail the data sources and research designs used throughout the book, including observational data sources, experiments on national samples of American citizens, and panel surveys tracking the same people over time. It also summarizes aggregate public opinion on key variables through time, including approval, confidence, trust, procedural perceptions, and broadly targeted and narrowly targeted Court-curbing. The chapter concludes that the Court’s “reservoir of goodwill” within the American public is not as deep or wide as many scholars suggest.

The quality of interactions and relationships depends on the thoughts and feelings of both partners. Hence, people often try to manage the thoughts and feelings others have about them. This chapter reports the results of a program of research examining the role of interpersonal value goals – goals to be valued as a relationship partner – in interpersonal interactions and relationships. This research suggests that adopting the goal to be valued by others often motivates people to enact prosocial behaviors and adopt compassionate goals, and elicits positive responses from partners. The link between interpersonal value goals and prosocial behavior was particularly strong when participants endorsed lay theories that prosocial behavior elevates people’s interpersonal value and when they were immersed in relationship contexts in which specific partners rewarded their prosocial behavior, suggesting that selection of prosocial strategies as a means to pursue interpersonal value depends on explicit and tacit knowledge of interdependence.