Chapter 1 introduces the instrument doctrine in Aquinas’s thought and explores its foundations in Scripture, focusing on Aquinas’s biblical commentaries. In his commentaries on Romans and 1 Corinthians, among others, Aquinas argues that the logic of scriptural teaching suggests that Christs’ humanity causes divine effects as instrument of the divinity, including our resurrection. The chapter shows how Aquinas interpreted the Scriptures as coherent with the Catholic tradition, especially the conciliar teaching on Christ in the early ecumenical councils. Aquinas thinks that the doctrine should be understood within the conceptual matrix of these early councils’ teaching on Christ.

Completed in 1905 as one of the earliest large-scale works that Webern produced under Arnold Schoenberg’s tutelage, the Langsamer Satz for string quartet has been deemed ‘disarmingly conventional’ (James Beale), as no more than an ‘exercise’ (Walter Kolneder) through which the young composer honed his compositional craft. Challenging this mode of interpretation, this chapter attends to what is perhaps the movement’s most salient feature: its exuding sense of lyricism. Through a combination of voice-leading and transformational perspectives, it is argued that the lyricism pervading the work is rooted in an audacious dual-tonic practice. The movement’s tonal disposition is further illuminated with reference to contemporaneous debates that erupted in post-Riemannian music-theoretical discourse, especially Georg Capellen’s conception of Doppelklänge (‘hybrid chords’). The picture emerging from these considerations is that the Langsamer Satz features compositional strategies that seem rather unusual for an ‘exercise’, and which cannot be explained with reference to Schoenberg’s musical thought alone.

This book has sought to trace the long-term and fluctuating development of community in the arid southern fringe of Panjab from the mid-eighteenth to late nineteenth centuries. At the core of its analysis is the household, which this study has followed anthropologists and historians from the subcontinent and beyond in studying not simply as an expression of a self-contained ‘culture’, but rather as a vehicle for subsistence in a precarious environment. In the context of late-Mughal southern Panjab, it identified two kinds of extended household or lineage as politically key. The first of these was that of the ra‘iyat, the ordinary husbandman who earned a living through a combination of agropastoralism and raiding–soldiering. The second was that of the ra’is, the chieftain, patron, and provider, who in the eighteenth-century context was often just at a generation's remove from his humble ra‘iyati roots. It was in large part through these ra‘iyati and riyasati lineages that rural folk in southern Panjab provided for themselves, by forging relations with peers, subordinates, and patrons. It is this ensemble of relations and their material context that the first three chapters in particular sought to bring into relief.

The eighteenth century in Panjab as a whole was a time of intense rural warfare. Historians of the Mughal Empire have shown that this protracted period of conflict was the result of two opposing trends: an initial economic upswing that brought prosperity and the chance for socio-economic improvement deep into the hinterland, followed by a contraction that set in by roughly the 1720s.

Results from studies on brain activity in situations of hypoxia, application of anesthetics and other psychoactive drugs, epileptic seizures, electrical stimulation of brain areas, lucid dreams, and dream-like hallucinations of several geneses have shown that the reports of people who had perceptions and experiences related to these situations showed strong accordance with NDE reports. NDE themes can be reproduced experimentally, often in a predictable way. Such contexts and situations can be used as scientifically appropriate models for NDE release. Knowledge about and control of brain activation during the occurrence of NDE-like phenomena can be essential for understanding their generation.

Near-death experiences often have pervasive and long-lasting aftereffects in the lives of the affected persons. These aftereffects may concern personal attitudes to their own death, beliefs and spiritual life, social relationships, and other important aspects of life such as health care and work. Despite hundreds of collected and analyzed NDE reports, in the publications of many NDE researchers there is no discussion of such aftereffects that take a scientific perspective on NDE phenomena. From a scientific point of view, we can attest stagnation in the field of most NDE research. This stagnation will continue as long as researchers remain in the mental tradition of Moody, misinterpreting or ignoring studies on brain activity in metabolic stress, on brain physiology in the progression to brain death, and on the relationship between levels of consciousness and signatures in electroencephalograms.

This chapter outlines the best practices and strategies for cities to transition towards becoming circular and liveable. It emphasises the importance of adopting circular economy principles across various urban sectors, including waste management, energy efficiency, transportation, and urban agriculture. By applying the 5R approach – reduce, reuse, recycle, restore, and recover – cities can decouple economic growth from environmental degradation and create more sustainable urban environments. The chapter presents actionable strategies, such as implementing energy-efficient financing for building retrofits, promoting water reuse through grant programmes, and creating comprehensive electronic waste collection and disposal systems. It also emphasises the role of public participation and stakeholder collaboration in driving circular initiatives, highlighting the Quadruple Helix model, which involves academia, industry, government, and civil society working together to foster innovation. Additionally, the chapter explores the integration of nature-based solutions, sustainable infrastructure, and urban resilience practices. Case studies from cities like Amsterdam, Paris, and Copenhagen showcase successful examples of circular business models and governance frameworks that contribute to sustainability. Finally, the chapter presents a roadmap for moving forward, focusing on education, policy innovation, and community engagement as critical components for building resilient, circular cities that prioritise both environmental sustainability and social equity.

This information is collected from the interviews and the personal collections of the artists and employees of the gurdwaras and the PSB and compiled with reference to the existing collection at the Bhai Mati Das Museum. The PSB does not maintain an archive of the paintings or the calendars. The following list provides the year of issue and theme of the calendar, the descriptions of the paintings, along with the credits as originally published in the PSB calendars. The calendars carried the text in English and Punjabi (and at times in Hindi); I have reproduced the English text here. All illustrations refer to history paintings unless otherwise mentioned; the more recent calendars mostly publish photographs. This is an incomplete list—due to the lack of available information. At times, it was difficult to find all the pages of a calendar or the text accompanying a painting; in some cases, no information was available about the annual calendar, which is visible as a gap or missing year (for example, the years 1977 and 1980–1988). The following text has been slightly edited for clarity and readability.

1974 Important Personalities [title provided by author, original title not available]

Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Nand Lal Goya, Bhai Gurdas, Sant Mian Mir, Baba Buddha, Bhai Kanhaiya

1975 Women in Sikh History [to mark the UN International Year of Women]

First disciple: Bebe Nanaki

Soul of sacrifice and humility: Mata Khivi

Mata Sahib Devan contributing womanly sweetness to amrit

Mai Bhago leading forty muktas in the battlefield at Muktsar

Bibi Bhani: Guru's daughter, Guru's wife and Guru's mother

Women plying heavy grindstones in Mir Manu's prison, as punishment for their steadfast faith