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This book contains best selected research papers presented at ICTCS 2023: Eighth International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Competitive Strategies. The conference will be held in Jaipur, India during 8 – 9 December 2023. The book covers state-of-the-art as well as emerging topics pertaining to ICT and effective strategies for its implementation for engineering and managerial applications. This book contains papers mainly focused on ICT for computation, algorithms and data analytics and IT security. The work is presented in five volumes.

Have you ever wanted a writing and research manual that centered Chicanx and Latinx scholarship? Writing that Matters does just that. While it includes a brief history of the roots of the fields of Chicanx literature and history, Writing that Matters emphasizes practice: how to research and write a Chicanx or Latinx history paper; how to research and write a Chicanx or Latinx literature or cultural studies essay; and how to conduct interviews, frame pláticas, and conduct oral histories. It also includes a brief chapter on nomenclature and a grammar guide. Each chapter includes questions for discussion, and all examples from across the subfields are from noted Chicanx and Latinx scholars. Women's and queer scholarship and methods are not addressed in a separate chapter but are instead integral to the work. For years Professors Heidenreich and Urquijo-Ruiz waited for a writing and research manual that was rooted in critical Chicanx and Latinx studies. Now, they have crafted one.

First published in 1980, The Sociology of the Palestinians is a comprehensive collection of sociological and demographic studies of the Palestinian people. One paper deals with the Palestinian Arabs in pre-1967 Israel and the various methods of social control adopted by the Zionist regime to co-opt and control the Arab population. A second paper focuses on the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. An analysis of current Palestinian demography with projections for the future is made, and the minority position of the Palestinians in the Arab World is critically assessed. An examination of the role of Palestinian intellectuals is followed by a theoretical discussion on the development of Palestinian class structure. Finally, the role of Palestinian women is examined in the context of traditional social structure and the specific political and economic situation which confront Palestinian society. This book will be of interest to students of history, sociology, and political science.

Discover a treasure trove of knowledge in the proceedings of the First International Confer-ence on Education (ICEdu). This meticulously curated collection of research papers delves into the transformative landscape of education in the 21st century, offering insights, solutions, and inspiration for educators, researchers, and policymakers alike.Explore a diverse range of subject areas, from pedagogical innovations to the challenges of digital learning and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. With 28 scholarly papers contributed by experts from around the world, this volume offers a comprehensive un-derstanding of the multifaceted issues in contemporary education.Whether you're an academic seeking fresh perspectives or an educator navigating the com-plexities of modern pedagogy, these proceedings provide invaluable guidance. Join us in shap-ing the future of education by harnessing the power of 21st-century skills, professional devel-opment, and spiritual growth.This book is an essential resource for anyone passionate about the advancement of education in the pandemic and post-pandemic era.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. Funded by Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia.

This book contains best selected research papers presented at ICTCS 2023: Eighth International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Competitive Strategies. The conference will be held in Jaipur, India during 8 – 9 December 2023. The book covers state-of-the-art as well as emerging topics pertaining to ICT and effective strategies for its implementation for engineering and managerial applications. This book contains papers mainly focused on ICT for computation, algorithms and data analytics and IT security. The work is presented in five volumes.

Teachers possess a wealth of untapped wisdom and valuable experience. Be it educational policy, curriculum development or textbook selection, rare are the instances when teachers'views are solicited. Traditionally, teacher development has been driven by administrators of schools, and it often takes the form of a ‘mentor'teaching the staff of a school. But what happens when teachers across different locations collaborate and learn together? This volume documents such an initiative, sparked off by the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought people together online. It showcases the power of teachers debating, discussing and learning from each other. Based on an Indian experience, this book addresses a range of issues that teachers and educators across the world face– encompassing pedagogy, classroom management, school culture and teacher development. A unique story of community building and teacher education, this book also contains key outcomes and insights, while taking us through their action research projects. It showcases a model of teacher development that can be adopted by interested readers anywhere in the world. Above all, it brings out the crying need for a teacher's voice to be heard – for far too long, teachers have been mere implementers of decisions taken by policymakers or managements of schools. By means of networking communities such as the one described in this book, the transformation of teachers going from whispers to resonance is greatly amplified. An important intervention in the domain of teacher development, this volume will be of great interest to students, researchers, educators, teacher educators and sociologists of education. It will also be useful for teacher trainees, academicians, policymakers, schoolteachers, curriculum developers, teacher training institutes and universities offering teacher education programmes.

From its inception, the public safety net in the United States has excluded many people because of their race, gendered roles, or other factors. As a result, they must prove their moral worthiness to get resources for themselves and their families. In When Care Is Conditional, sociologist Dani Carrillo reveals the ramifications of this conditional safety net by focusing on one particularly vulnerable population: undocumented immigrants. Through in-depth interviews with Latinx immigrants in northern California, Carrillo examines three circumstances—place, gender, and immigration status—that intersect to influence an individual's access to health care, food assistance, and other benefits. She demonstrates that place of residence affects undocumented immigrants'ability to get care since more services are available in urban areas, where many immigrants cannot afford to live, than suburban areas, where public transportation is limited. She also shows that while both men and women who are undocumented have difficulty obtaining care, men often confront more challenges. Undocumented women who are pregnant or mothers are eligible for some government safety net programs and rely on informal coethnic networks or a “guiding figure”—a relative, friend, neighbor, or coworker—who explains how to get care and makes them feel confident in accessing it. Most undocumented men, in contrast, are not eligible for public programs except in a medical emergency and often lack someone to guide them directly to care. Men sometimes steer one another to jobs through worker centers—where they may learn about various services and take advantage of those that increase their employability, like English or computer classes—but a culture of masculinity leads them to downplay medical problems and seek health care only in a crisis. As undocumented immigrants navigate this exclusionary system, Carrillo finds that they resist the rhetoric stigmatizing them as lawbreakers. Dismissing the importance of “papers” and highlighting their work ethic, they question the fairness of U.S. immigration policies and challenge ideas about who deserves care. Carrillo offers concrete recommendations, such as improving labor conditions and reexamining benefit eligibility, to increase access to care for not only undocumented immigrants but also people who have been excluded because of their race, criminal record, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. She argues that working with and across populations creates a powerful form of solidarity in advocating for inclusive care. When Care Is Conditional provides compelling insights into how safety net and immigration policies intersect to affect people's everyday lives and calls for a cultural shift so that the United States can provide unconditional care for all.

This book fills a gap in sociological theory surrounding how we engage with digital maps like Google Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMap (OSM). It explains how they feature in everyday life and with what social consequences. To do so, the book walks through examples of how digital maps shape social practices, from choosing which home to buy (landed capital acquisition), through to selecting routes between places. The book first provides a socio-technical background to digital maps and their development as progeny of the Internet and web rather than direct successors to paper-based ones. It then charts the evolution of theory about map use from its origin in academic cartography to contemporary thought, introducing concepts from systems-based communication models, semiotics, cognitive-behaviorism, critical cartography, and critical data and platform studies. With background concepts in place, the book moves on to develop a particular framework for analysing digital media use. Combining digital sociology and practice theory, the book works through empirical examples to cumulatively develop a new sociological theory on the social consequences of digital maps. The book argues that we defer to digital maps knowledgeably as rough guides, adopting a Bayesian logic - albeit with an awareness of their potential for error. As a result, decisions over choice of place and route - the mobility of people and things in space - become anchored within people's deferral to digital maps. By extension, so do senses of place, sense of security, and the performance of social positions.

An in-depth study of Jewish religion and law in Israel from a gendered perspective. In Holy Rebellion, Ronit Irshai and Tanya Zion-Waldoks examine social change in Israel through a rigorous analysis of the shifting entanglements of religion, gender, and law in times of cultural transformation. They explore theological, halakhic, political, and sociological processes and show how they interact with one another in ways that advance women's rights, as well as how they are met with a conservative backlash in the discourses and actions of the rabbinic establishment. Irshai and Zion-Waldoks build on legal philosopher Robert Cover's 1982 paper “Nomos and Narrative,” which explained how cultural narratives and legal norms are reciprocally enforced or transformed. Expanding on this notion, Irshai and Zion-Waldoks propose a “narrative ripeness test,” an analytic tool that evaluates the relationship between culture and law to assess how and when change within a minority cultural community may be accelerated or hindered by state intervention. Religious feminisms are emerging around the world, not solely in Israel, and this book helps elucidate how they create enduring and radical change. Many liberal states are also confronting an illiberal backlash and question the multicultural framework's ability to serve the needs of minorities within minorities. Therefore, the theoretical framework offered by Irshai and Zion-Waldoks is applicable beyond the Israeli case, even as it offers deeper insights into an Israeli society in turmoil.

Malawi's first two Presbyterian ministers, Harry Kambwiri Matecheta and Stephen Kundecha, were ordained in March 1911. Ecclesiastically, this made them fully equal with their European fellow-ministers. There were, however, subtle and not-so-subtle racial codes that reminded them that they were expected to occupy a subordinate position. This Occasional Paper explores how they discovered their identity and vocation in a challenging context.

The book presents high-quality papers from the Seventh International Conference on Microelectronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ICMETE 2023). It discusses the latest technological trends and advances in major research areas such as microelectronics, wireless communications, optical communication, signal processing, image processing, Big Data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and sensor network applications. This book includes the contributions of national/international scientists, researchers, and engineers from both academia and the industry. The contents of this book will be useful to researchers, professionals, and students alike.

Leprosy, widely mentioned in different religious texts and ancient scriptures, is the oldest scourge of humankind. Cases of leprosy continue to be found across the world as the most crucial health problem, especially in India and Brazil. There are a few maladies that eventually turn into social disquiets, and leprosy is undoubtedly one of them. This book traces the dynamics of the interface between colonial policy on leprosy and religion, science and society in Bengal from the mid-nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth centuries. It explores how the idea of ‘degeneration'and the ‘desolates'shaped the colonial legality of segregating ‘lepers'in Indian society. The author also delves into the treatments of leprosy that were often transfigured from ‘original'English texts, written by American or British medical professionals, into Bengali.Rich in archival resources, this book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of history, Indian history, public health, social history, medical humanities, medical history and colonial history.

Business News in the Early Modern Atlantic World explores the creation, dissemination, and consumption of a specific type of news, ‘business news', within early modern commercial news networks. The volume contains eleven case studies, written by scholars from a range of disciplines, which span the breadth of the early modern Atlantic from the first appearance of serial corantos in the seventeenth century to the United States'Declaration of Independence in the late eighteenth century. These expert contributions showcase the range of innovative methodological and theoretical approaches which can be used to study business news, including social network analysis, textual analysis, and qualitative methods.

This book encapsulates a period of history of human progress by highlighting crucial social, economic, and cultural dynamics. It presents recent historiography and new analytical tools used to analyse multi-dimensional themes involved in social formation. This is a reader-friendly book with simple and lucid language and fulfils the pressing needs of students studying the paper ‘Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of Ancient and Medieval World'at various universities across the world. The summary, keywords, and representative questions at the end of each chapter would assist in revision and better understanding of the issues dealt therein. A detailed chapter-end reference would enable and motivate the readers to engage in further studies for better understanding of the themes.This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and academics in the area of history—ancient and medieval world history in particular and anthropology. It will also be an interesting read for general readers interested in knowing about the ancient and medieval world.

Africa was not evangelized by the European (and American) churches, but by the European (and American) mission societies, a process that thoroughly changed the religious geography of Africa. This book traces the origin of this change to William Carey, who proposed in 1792 to make the mission society as a voluntary association the'Means'to propagate the Gospel. The mission societies did what the churches could not have done. In this seminal paper Andrew Walls explores this often forgotten feature of missionary history.

Everyone who writes in the world of public affairs wants to make arguments that will move readers and shape policy. That world, however, is busy and noisy, and even the best ideas often get squeezed out in the frenetic pace of policy debates. No author wants that to happen to their hard work.In this fresh and lively book, Barrett, Greene, and Kettl combine more than a century of experience in writing to present a series of guidelines that will enable readers to successfully frame a policy argument; pitch it to editors; organize the work so that the ideas have real impact; support it with data and stories; find the right publisher; and follow up after publication to ensure that the argument has enduring impact. These basic steps work well—but work differently—for a wide variety of policy writing, from short blog posts through an op-eds, commentaries and policy briefs, dissertations, articles for both the popular press and academic journals, and books. The book is a handy manual for writers in the world of research who want to explore the start-to-finish process of writing for impact—and for authors who want to explore a single writing challenge in-depth. It is full of examples of both good and bad writing, as well as the authors'own tales in navigating the road from a new idea to a written product that packs punch. It's a fun and useful primer for steering the policy debate.

There is a critical yet under-explored role for the social sciences within the UK's research, development and innovation system. This report argues that the social sciences can elevate this country's research output to a world-leading level. There is, however, a danger of the social sciences being seen as an add-on or afterthought to STEM research whereby social scientists'contributions are limited to identifying or ameliorating potentially negative ethical, legal or societal implications of scientific or technological advances. Our argument in this report is that social scientists have an essential role to play across the entire recipe - catalysing the development of new flavours - rather than simply being a garnish to a dish created by STEM. Ideas from social science need to be incorporated into STEM research right from the beginning, thereby enriching our perspectives and understanding of global challenges. Case studies include how social science can help us to develop effective climate change policies, combat AIDS rates amongst young people in South Africa, and assess the impact of AI technology on human rights. The report provides a systematic overview of the ways in which social science can benefit STEM research: 1. Social sciences enable whole systems thinking. 2. Social sciences are critical for good policy development. 3. Social sciences underpin smart & responsible innovation. 4. Social sciences are essential to international collaboration and tackling shared global challenges.

This book discusses many issues related to the impact of advanced technologies on quality of human life. It covers several areas and use cases that illustrate how technologies could be harnessed to solve all kinds of humanity issues in areas as diverse as education, health care, industry, agriculture, mobility, etc. Specially, it aims at establishing the vital link between advances in technology and sustainable development to magnify the benefits. This book covers a wide range of audience including academic/research, professors, scientists, and engineers working in different fields, comprising engineering, sustainability, as well as government and international organizations officials interested in sustainable planning. This is done through a set of selected papers from those presented to 4th International Conference on Advanced Technologies for Humanity (ICATH'2022) which was organized by the Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences (EMSI) in collaboration with national and international institutions. ICATH22 was held in Marrakech, from November 11 to 12, 2022. Key topics showcasing how technology can serve humanity in different ways and facets of human life, activities, and challenges are covered in depth through the chapters of this book which are presented in four different sections, namely:1. Advanced Technologies for smart Mobility in Smart Cities.2. Emerging Technologies for Connectivity in Sustainable Cities.3. Transitioning to Sustainable Industrial Engineering. 4. Technology for Human Sciences as Key Components of Sustainability.

The result of nearly twenty years of interdisciplinary research, this volume contributes to the archaeological and paleoenvironmental knowledge of an important but lightly investigated hyperarid coastline at the heart of the Sonoran Desert. Focused on the coast near Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, Coastal Foragers of the Gran Desierto examines the diverse groups occupying the coast for salt, abundant food sources, and shells for ornament manufacturing. The archaeological patterns demonstrated by the data gathered lead to the conclusion that, since ancient times, this coastal landscape was not a marginal zone but rather an important source of food and trade goods, and a pilgrimage destination that influenced broad and diverse communities across the Sonoran Desert and beyond. Contributors Jenny L. Adams Karen R. Adams Thomas Bowen Tessa L. Branyan Bill Broyles Richard C. Brusca David L. Dettman Michael S. Foster Gary Huckleberry Jonathan B. Mabry Natalia Martínez-Tagüeña Richard J. Martynec Douglas R. Mitchell Kirsten Rowell Melissa R. Schwan M. Steven Shackley R. J. Sliva Kayla B. Worthey

This book explores multidisciplinary perspectives on critical issues in space from the viewpoints of New Zealand and other nations. It brings together the topics examined at the Otago Foreign Policy School 2022 by both domestic and international experts in the area of space, and includes the opening address on space policy delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This book takes a multidisciplinary approach to New Zealand's growing space sector in conjunction with other nations'perspectives on space. It encompasses space science, military and defence matters, space tourism and astronaut rescue, and international legal and policy frameworks, while taking into account future considerations. Readers such as academics, students, policy advisers, diplomats, government officials and others engaged in the field of space will find value in this book. It will appeal to think tanks and international institutions grappling with the complexities that are presented by the outer space domain.

Half a million Hong Kong residents fled their homeland during the thirteen years before Hong Kong's reversion to China in 1997. Nearly half of those returned within the next several years. Filled with detailed, first-hand stories of nine Hong Kong families over nearly two decades, Hong Kong Movers and Stayers is a multifaceted yet intimate look at the forces behind Hong Kong families'successful, and failed, efforts at migration and settlement. Defining migration as a process, not a single act of leaving, Hong Kong Movers and Stayers provides an antidote to ethnocentric and simplistic theories by uncovering migration stories as they relate to social structures and social capital. The authors meld survey analysis, personal biography, and sociology and compare multiple families in order to give voice to the interplay of gender, age, and diverse family roles as motivating factors in migration.

This volume provides the most comprehensive overview of archaeological research into the late Pleistocene and early Holocene occupation of the North American Far West in over a decade. It focuses on the relationship between stemmed and fluted point technologies in the region, which has recently risen to the forefront of debate about the initial settlement of the Americas. Established and early career researchers apply a wide range of analytical approaches to explore chronological, geographical, and technological aspects of these tools and what they reveal about the people who made them. While such interrelationships have intrigued archaeologists for nearly a century, until now they have not been systematically examined together in a single curated volume. Contributions are organized into three main sections: stemmed point technologies, fluted point technologies, and broader interactions. Topics range from regional overviews of chronologies and technologies to site-level findings containing extensive new data. The culmination of many years of work by dozens of researchers, this volume lays new groundwork for understanding technological innovation, diversity, and exchange among early Indigenous peoples in North America.

A century ago, the Old Vero Site was brought to prominence by Elias Sellards, who claimed that the human remains discovered there were contemporary with Pleistocene fauna. It was the first serious challenge to the belief, widely accepted until the Folsom discoveries in 1926, that humans had not entered Florida before the current Holocene geological epoch. The argument made by Sellards, that early human occupants of North America lived alongside late Ice Age animals, stirred enduring controversy. Recent construction near the site resulted in new archaeological work being completed from 2014 to 2017. The Old Vero Site details the course of the recent re-excavations of the site while also summarizing the original excavations from a century ago. The volume lays out the sequence and results of the recent project, using new data to conclude that Sellards's claims are not supported by the evidence. Adovasio, Hemmings, and Vento provide the data to settle the matter definitively: human remains at the site were intrusive from a later time horizon, as critics of the original work had vociferously argued.

The second edition offers an essential update to the foundational first edition, The Disabled Body in Contemporary Art. Featuring updated chapters and case studies, this second edition will not only expand on the first edition but will bring a new focus to contemporary disabled artists and their embodied, multimedia work.

This book explores the scope and extent of the growing Chinese influence in India's neighbourhood and its impact on India as well as on Asian power politics.Through theoretical narratives and detailed case studies, it examines Chinese bilateral relationships in the Indian neighbourhood and looks at the extent and significance of Chinese influence through the lens of strategic, economic and infrastructural arrangements and Chinese interventions in South, Southeast, and Central Asia. The book takes into account regional voices and domestic political compulsions in understanding what they make of the Chinese narrative and examines how and whether the narrative has changed in recent years through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an instrument of Chinese public diplomacy. The volume also discusses how domestic narratives and compulsions in the Indian neighbourhood remain significant and how these, in turn, would impact the trajectory of Chinese public diplomacy. Intertwined through all these themes is a focus on the extent to which these could become potential flashpoints for India.This book will be a useful resource for academics and researchers working on Asian geopolitics and geo-economics, Chinese foreign policy, Chinese politics, international relations of Asia, Asian dynamics and Asian studies.

Bearing a positive, optimistic, and exclusive connotation, “creative city” has become a “hype” urban development concept, being adopted by many cities worldwide. Thus, without careful consideration and solid theoretical grounds in the local context, enforcing the creative city concept can potentially be a trap for these cities, exacerbating the prevailing urban problems while inadvertently hiding the issues behind the aesthetic urban facades. Bringing the case of Bandung, a creative city in Indonesia, the book unpackages the struggle of knowledge communities—a bottom-up youth literacy movement—in facilitating the citizen of Bandung in translating the concept to fit into their local context and to be recognized internationally. Through the lens of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD), the research analyses urban development, the creative city concept, knowledge communities, and their interplay as political phenomenons laden with interests, power, contestation, conflicts, dependencies, collaborations, and other dynamic forms of interaction. Challenging the homogenic interpretation of creativity and creative city, as well as the blind adoption of the concept, the book elaborates on the multiple interpretations of the creative city concept in Bandung; and the different responses of knowledge communities. By nurturing empathy, maintaining the vibrancy of the city, and fostering literacy, the case of knowledge communities in Bandung exemplifies the significant role of a grass root movement in constructing and shaping the forms of development in a non-reference city where experimentation and contesting global urban development fads take place.

Nelle società occidentali, il concetto di donna ha subito una radicale ridefinizione: non più questione biologica o corporea, essere donna è oggi una questione identitaria, tanto che chi si dichiara donna va considerata tale. Ciò perché il genere è uno spettro mentale e, di conseguenza, il corpo è ormai del tutto irrilevante. Questa nuova definizione del sesso è stata acclamata come progressista. Ma lo è davvero? Ed è davvero nuova? In questo libro irriverente, Kajsa Ekis Ekman traccia le radici ideologiche del fenomeno. Attingendo da analisi marxiste e femministe, l'autrice affronta la questione della scissione dell'identità tra interiorità e corporeità per giungere a criticarne tutte le implicazioni, tra cui soprattutto la prostituzione, quale pratica di vendita del proprio corpo senza vendere sé stesse, e la maternità surrogata, quale servizio privo di ripercussioni psico-emotive.

Ne Il Leviatano dai piedi d'argilla Cristiano Codagnone e Stefano Bracaletti presentano i risultati di un'indagine esauriente e accurata condotta su tutti gli aspetti chiave della pandemia di Covid-19: dall'efficacia del lockdown ai suoi costi sociali e psicologici, dai modelli previsionali alle statistiche sulla mortalità, fino a trattare delle cure, dei vaccini, delle mascherine e dei tamponi. Il volume si distingue in maniera significativa, rispetto anche alle altre pubblicazioni sul tema, sia per l'impostazione improntata al rigore scientifico, sia per l'esaustività e il livello di approfondimento delle tematiche trattate, frutto di un capillare riferimento degli autori alla letteratura scientifica disponibile. Le analisi proposte si fondano infatti su circa mille fonti autorevoli, tutte citate all'insegna di uno spirito di trasparenza con i lettori.

From the author of Irreversible Damage, an investigation into how mental health overdiagnosis is harming, not helping, children'A pacy, no-holds barred attack on mental health professionals and parenting experts...thought-provoking'Financial Times'A message that parents, teachers, mental health professionals and policymakers need to hear'New Statesman In virtually every way that can be measured, Gen Z's mental health is worse than that of previous generations. Youth suicide rates are climbing, antidepressant prescriptions for children are common, and the proliferation of mental health diagnoses has not helped the staggering number of kids who are lonely, lost, sad and fearful of growing up. What's gone wrong? In Bad Therapy, bestselling investigative journalist Abigail Shrier argues that the problem isn't the kids – it's the mental health experts. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with child psychologists, parents, teachers and young people themselves, Shrier explores the ways the mental health industry has transformed the way we teach, treat, discipline and even talk to our kids. She reveals that most of the therapeutic approaches have serious side effects and few proven benefits: for instance, talk therapy can induce rumination, trapping children in cycles of anxiety and depression; while'gentle parenting'can encourage emotional turbulence – even violence – in children as they lash out, desperate for an adult to be in charge. Mental health care can be lifesaving when properly applied to children with severe needs, but for the typical child, the cure can be worse than the disease. Bad Therapy is a must-read for anyone questioning why our efforts to support our kids have backfired – and what it will take for parents to lead a turnaround.

This book bridges the existing gap between the theory and practices related to international finance. It discusses banking theories and operational procedures relating to the methods of payment with special reference to Letters of credit (LCs), like revolving LCs, back-to-back LCs, transferable LCs, and standby LCs, with specific applications of documentary discrepancies. Moreover, this book discusses merchanting trade, buyers'credit and supplier's credit, and bank guarantees with many practical caselets, linked to the applications of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and other regulatory rules. It also examines the various roles of banks in financing international trade which are extensively discussed through several cases.This volume: Explains in-depth the intricacies and discrepancies relating to the documentation involved in international trade Presents in detail the various steps of executing an export or import deal, right from signing of the contract, managing pre-shipment credit, and booking a forward contract to hedge the exchange rate risk till the closing of the deal Gives a comprehensive account of all trade finance products with processes and procedures, rules, and regulations, and risks and mitigates Discusses the application of ICC rules through detailed case-lets, which helps an exporter take necessary actions when the payment is denied by a party overseas, or how an importer can simply deny the payment if there is documentary noncompliance Scrutinises different types of forex transactions, the regulatory framework within which they take place, and the associated risks and solutions Attempts to resolve the existing disparity in the understanding and interpretation of regulatory guidelines and the practices adopted by banks and corporate houses in implementing them. Accessibly written, this book will be useful to students, researchers, and teachers from the fields of management, business studies, international trade and treasury operations, finance, international banking, trade and commerce, and economics. This will also be an invaluable companion to the professionals working in export–import businesses, foreign exchange businesses, treasury front-office and back-office operations, bureaucrats, and public policymakers.

This book focuses on the traditional ecological knowledge in addressing the current climate crisis in the Indian Himalayas. Local or indigenous people in the Himalayas, through their low-carbon producing lifestyles, contribute very little to the climate crisis. However, at the same time, they bear the brunt of this crisis way more than many others. It is important to learn about their traditional ways of life and the knowledge that they hold regarding ecology and environment. Traditional ecological knowledge and associated belief systems are given increasing attention across the globe in recent times toward addressing some of the grave environmental concerns. Climate change is one such concern. The rising consideration of concepts such as ethnoecology and ethnobotany signifies the scientific, socio-cultural and economic potential of the traditional ecological knowledge systems. It is indisputable that these knowledge systems have the ability to provide important insights towards tackling many present-day environmental distresses including several climate change challenges. In this book, the authors concentrate on such traditional ecological knowledge systems in the Indian Himalayan region and try to figure out their significance in relation to the modern science. Overall, the authors attempt to write a book where the relevance of traditional ecological knowledge systems could be addressed and communicated to a larger audience—both academic scientific and non-academic.

Looking back at the'War on Terror'and its policies, actions, and the violence that followed, this book analyzes the resulting changes in international power structures and the relationship between citizens and their representatives. It defines our shortcomings in opposing this type of violence by demonstrating how the notion of legitimate violence has been broadened. The impact of the'War on Terror'on the public view of Liberalism is explored, as well as its effects on the role of state authorities in our lives. Thus, this book names the lessons we ought to learn from the　actions taken against terrorist organizations.

Cases in Corporate Finance includes 60 unique case studies that illustrate the application of finance theories, models, and frameworks to real-life business situations. The topics cover a wide range of sectors and different life cycle stages of firms. The book bridges a crucial gap in topical emerging market case coverage by presenting industry-relevant case studies in the Indian context and on themes pertinent to the current business environment.Through the case studies included in the book, the authors offer insights into the essential areas of corporate finance, including risk and return, working capital management, capital budgeting and structure, dividend decisions, business valuation, and long-term financing. Cases included in the book are decision-focused and provide opportunities to carefully analyse risk-return trade-offs and apply tools to evaluate critical financial decisions. The book will be helpful for students, researchers, and instructors of business management, commerce, and economics.

Ausgehend von der Forschungsfrage, welche gesellschaftlichen Prozesse zur Exklusion behinderter Menschen führen, rekonstruiert und analysiert Stefan Schuster die Geschichte der Exklusion als Entfremdungsgeschichte. Er entlarvt die (Heil- und Sonder-)Pädagogik als integralen Teil einer »verkehrten Welt« und fragt, was sie tun kann, um der Entfremdung in der Erziehungs- und Bildungspraxis entgegenzuwirken. Erste Antworten liefert seine Konzeption einer Pädagogik der Ent-fremdung im Grundriss, die Handlungsspielräume aufzeigt und Auswege eröffnet. Einem dialektischen Theorie-Praxis-Verständnis folgend ermöglichen Schusters Darlegungen nicht nur, Entfremdungsmechanismen und -dynamiken als solche zu erkennen und zu verstehen, sondern er stellt über die bloße Kritik hinaus auch einen Kompass zur Verfügung, der die Entfremdung in der Erziehungs- und Bildungspraxis bearbeitbar macht.

This book seeks to contribute to the most recent discussions on Citizenship, Culture and Coexistence in different context considering the importance of these elements for society and urban environments. The book offers different perspectives on citizenship culture and analysis that can be inputs for policy and decision makers to design the policies, strategies and programs that strengthen urban process from culture, art, and education to improve citizen coexistence, respect for differences and better societies in a dynamic world with permanent challenges.

While trauma and loss can occur anywhere, most suffering is experienced as personal tragedy. Yet some tragedies transcend everyday life's sad but inevitable traumas to become notorious public events: de facto'public'tragedies. In these crises, suffering is made publicly visible and lamentable. Such tragedies are defined by public accusations, social blame, outpourings of grief and anger, spontaneous memorialization, and collective action. These, in turn, generate a comparable set of political reactions, including denial, denunciation, counterclaims, blame avoidance, and a competition to control memories of the event. Disasters and crises are no more or less common today than in the past, but public tragedies now seem ubiquitous. After Tragedy Strikes argues that they are now epochal—public tragedies have become the day's definitive social and political events. Thomas D. Beamish deftly explores this phenomenon by developing the historical context within which these events occur and the role that political elites, the media, and an emergent ideology of victimhood have played in cultivating their ascendence.

Cajun Women and Mardi Gras is the first book to explore the importance of women's contributions to the country Cajun Mardi Gras tradition, or Mardi Gras “run.” Most Mardi Gras runs--masked begging processions through the countryside, led by unmasked capitaines--have customarily excluded women. Male organizers explain that this rule protects not only the tradition's integrity but also women themselves from the event's rowdy, often drunken, play. Throughout the past twentieth century, and especially in the past fifty years, women in some prairie communities have insisted on taking more active and public roles in the festivities. Carolyn E. Ware traces the history of women's participation as it has expanded from supportive roles as cooks and costume makers to increasingly public performances as Mardi Gras clowns and (in at least one community) capitaines. Drawing on more than a decade of fieldwork interviews and observation in Mardi Gras communities, Ware focuses on the festive actions in Tee Mamou and Basile to reveal how women are reshaping the celebration as creative artists and innovative performers.

Ein Hoch auf die'Umstrittenen'unserer Zeit! Dieses Buch ist jenen gewidmet, die sich in politisch schwierigen Zeiten ein demokratisches Ur-Recht herausgenommen und verteidigt haben: das Recht auf eine eigene Position. So unterschiedliche Personen wie Patrik Baab, Daniele Ganser, Ulrike Guérot, Stefan Homburg, Michael Meyen, Albrecht Müller, Friedrich Pürner stehen beispielhaft dafür.'Umstritten'- so bezeichnen'Qualitätsmedien'heutzutage kritische Denker, die auf die Realitäts- und Sinnbrüche in Politik und Berichterstattung hinweisen. Mit dieser Formulierung sollen Kritiker an den vorherrschenden'Wahrheiten'mundtot gemacht werden. Längst aber haben viele Bürger die Masche durchschaut.'Umstritten'zu sein, ist als ein Prädikatssiegel für Demokraten zu verstehen. Wer heutzutage vom Polit- und Medienmainstream niedergemacht wird, muss sehr viel richtig gemacht haben. Gut, dass es'die Umstrittenen'gibt.

n the past decade, spanning from the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, rural poverty in the United States has risen dramatically. The impact of the pandemic is set to intensify these inequalities as the decades of neoliberal dismantling of public healthcare and other social institutions leave inhabitants of impoverished rural areas particularly vulnerable.Even before this current exacerbation, representations of rural landscape in American cinema have sought to spatially visualize the country's social inequalities and focus on the victims of poverty and marginalization. The films discussed in this monograph, Ballast (2008), Winter's Bone (2010), Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), and Leave No Trace (2018), address deep rural poverty in a complex manner and facilitate an interactive, social understanding of landscape.New Rural Cinema suggest a novel way of looking at landscape in cinema that responds to and guides its readers through this recent development in American Independent film. It views the chosen films as expressions of a growing awareness of the dire inequality caused by neoliberal capitalism in the United States and the role landscape plays both in its mechanisms of social exclusion as well as in its collective contestation.

Corona, the Lockdown, and the Media investigates media influence on policies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Bernhagen and Kybelka propose that news reporting on the pandemic pitches human impact against economic consequences of the virus and of restrictive policy measures designed to contain it. They argue that the use of these frames influences governments'decisions to enact or lift lockdown measures. Using time series data from England, France, and Germany, the authors show that news reporting on COVID-19 was indeed characterized by these media frames. However, there is no evidence of media influence on government policy. Instead, the authors find that anti-pandemic policy decisions were responsive to public opinion in these countries.

Die visuelle Kommunikation von Entwicklungsorganisationen ist geprägt von Spendenplakaten. Anhand einer eingängigen Bildsprache wird Aufmerksamkeit generiert. Mit einer postkolonialen Perspektive zeigt die Autorin auf, wie das vermittelte Afrikabild visuellen Stereotypen folgt, die bis in die Kolonialzeit zurückreichen. So werden Personen und Landschaften entsprechend tradierter Muster dargestellt und rassistisch geprägtes visuelles Wissen reproduziert. In der Analyse der Bildmaterialien wendet die Autorin die Methodologie der Diskursanalyse, und hierbei eine wissenssoziologische Perspektive an. Über das Zusammenspiel von Form und Inhalt arbeitet sie visuelle Repräsentationspraktiken und darin manifeste Wissensordnungen heraus.

This volume considers spirit possession in the Himalayas and the various ways in which invisible powers are made present. It does so by examining material representations of these powers through artefacts, animals, plants and natural substances, while also focusing on narratives of people's encounters with the invisible that may help them to reconfigure reality. Through these two approaches, the contributions examine new phenomena associated with the concepts of'possession'and'shamanism', which otherwise tend to lead research into well-worn furrows. The book addresses a range of themes, including the gods of the Western Himalayas, death and ritual dissolution among Hyolmo Buddhists in Nepal, gods and rivers as legal persons in India, and the problem of conversion disorder in Nepal.Rich in ethnography, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of anthropology, religion, spiritualism, sociology of religion, Himalayan studies, sociology and South Asia.

This book explores how participatory creative production can allow refugees to be recognised in emotional, legal and social ways. It also explains how decisions around participation in these forms of creative production can equally exclude refugee voices from the public sphere, inhibit recognition, and in fact lead to refugee misrecognition.Building on the concept of ‘performative refugeeness', it considers how refugee voices are ambivalently enacted in alternative forms of media and considers the differences between the refugee voices expressed in and beyond them, in contexts surrounding their creation. Furthermore, it analyses the forms of refugee voices expressed in such creative projects, which encompass fiction, photography, video, audio, and/or drawing—in linear, as well as ‘messy'and ‘interrupted'ways—and assesses how promises of offering a voice might claim to have been fulfilled in such cases.The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of migration and refugee studies, media and culture studies, performance studies and communication studies.

An intimate account of an anthropologist's relationship with his non-verbal son and how it has shaped and transformed his understanding of closeness and communication. Home Signs grew out of the anthropologist Joshua Reno's experience of caring for and trying to communicate with his teenage son, Charlie, who cannot speak. To manage interactions with others, Charlie uses what are known as “home signs,” gestures developed to meet his need for expression, ranging from the wiggle of a finger to a subtle sideways glance. Though he is nonverbal, he is far from silent: in fact, he is in constant communication with others. In this intimate reflection on language, disability, and togetherness, the author invites us into his and Charlie's shared world. Combining portraits of family life and interviews with other caregivers, Reno upends several assumptions, especially the idea that people who seem not to be able to speak for themselves need others to speak on their behalf. With its broad exploration of nonverbal communication in both human and nonhuman contexts, Home Signs challenges us to think harder about what it means to lead a “normal” life and to connect with another person.

This book examines the concept of social psychology in today's context. It analyses the theoretical concepts of social psychology and their applicationto other fields. It further explores the discipline in a cultural, historical, and philosophical context with special emphasis on religion.The volume goes beyond individual focus and directs its attention to society as the centre of influence. It advocates for a symbiotic relationship between the concepts of social psychology and their implementation in a society transitioning from being value-oriented to commerce-oriented. The book also suggests ways in which social psychology can assist in dealing with issues plaguing today's world.This book will be useful to students of psychology, applied psychology, sociology, social work, public health, gender, and women studies. It will also be indispensable to professionals working in the field of paediatrics, forensic medicine, psychiatry, and law enforcement authorities like police and judiciary.

This timely, unique, and insightful book provides students and practitioners with the tools and skills needed to evaluate social and policy programs across a range of disciplines—from public health to social work to education—enabling the allocation of scarce human and financial resources to advance the health and well-being of individuals and populations.The chapters are organized according to the main tasks involved in conducting an evaluation to produce unbiased evidence of program effectiveness, quality, and value. The chapters include methods for selecting and justifying evaluation questions or hypotheses, designing evaluations, sampling participants, selecting information sources, and ensuring reliable and valid measurement. The final section of the book is focused around managing and analyzing data and transparently reporting the results in written and oral form. The book features international case studies throughout, covers quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches, and is also informed by new online methods developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the book's unique features is a focus on international standards for conducting ethical evaluations and avoiding research misconduct.Also featuring checklists, example forms, and summaries of the key ideas and topics, this very practical book is essential reading for students in the social, behavioral, and health sciences, and will be a key resource for professionals in the field.

This book studies India's historical, socio-cultural, and trade linkages with Inner Asia. Inner Asia includes the landlocked regions within East Asia and North Asia that are part of today's Western China, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and Siberia. The book examines issues of geopolitics, geoeconomics, climate change and regional cooperation and discusses the importance of the fabled Silk Road for the countries of Inner Asia. It also analyses the impact India has wielded upon the region through its cultural traits and how Buddhism has remained a binding force between the people of the two regions.Lucid and topical, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Asian studies, Central Asian studies, area studies, geopolitics, international trade, international relations, defence and strategic studies, diplomacy and foreign policy, and political studies. It will also be of interest to policymakers, bureaucrats, diplomats and think tanks.

The Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism features a diverse array of cutting-edge scholarship in symbolic interactionism (SI). Contributors present original research in various established and emerging areas of concern while outlining key theoretical and methodological foundations of this multifaceted and broadly relevant perspective in the field of sociology. The scholars featured in this volume present new and evolving outlooks on foundational SI themes including the self and identity, the interactive construction of meaning, classical pragmatism, interactionist research methods, performance, culture and subcultures, cognition, emotion, organizations and institutions, and social constructionism. Contributors merge these and other traditional concepts and perspectives of symbolic interactionism with a range of other influences to bring SI to bear on various developing areas of research, and to address a variety of new and interesting questions, problems, and issues. These include issues pertaining to race and racism, gender, sex and sexuality, power, digital technologies and computer-mediated interaction, crime, health and illness, and environmental concerns. Presenting an expansive and forward-looking take on symbolic interactionism while providing readers with valuable tools with which to conduct their own research, this handbook addresses important developments that are reshaping the field. The handbook is organized into four parts: (I) theoretical and methodological orientations; (II) culture, context, and symbolic interaction; (III) power and inequalities; and (IV) environment, disasters, and risk. In each part, contributors demonstrate the timely and unique contributions of symbolic interactionism to our understanding of important issues and social problems in the contemporary world.

Das Handbuch setzt sich mit den vielfältigen Beziehungen und Wechselwirkungen zwischen KI und den Künsten auseinander. Verfahren und Erscheinungsformen künstlicher Intelligenz sind sowohl als Sujet wie auch als Instrumente kreativer künstlerischer Produktion in den Künsten angekommen. Beiden Bereichen wird das Handbuch gerecht und bietet neben einer Geschichte der Darstellung von KI und KI-angelehnten Themen in Literatur, Film, Theater, Videospiel, bildender Kunst und Musik erstmalig überhaupt einen Überblick über KI-basierte Verfahren künstlerischer Produktion und Kreativität in unterschiedlichen Kunstformen. Dieses wissenschaftlich bisher kaum reflektierte Eindringen der KI in die Künste wird tradierte Konzepte und Kontexte, die den Diskurs der Künste bestimmen, in naher Zukunft erheblich verändern. Entsprechend fragt das Handbuch u. a. nach den Bedingungen von Autorschaft, nach der Definition von Kreativität und Originalität und nach neuen Modellen der Interaktion zwischen den Künsten und ihren Rezipienten.Das Handbuch ist in einem höchst innovativen Forschungsfeld angesiedelt und liefert einen Überblick über einen aktuellen, stetig relevanter werdenden Themenbereich an der Schnittstelle von Geisteswissenschaften und Informatik.

The Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa brings together a multidisciplinary team of international experts to reflect on the history, politics, societies, and cultures of French-speaking parts of Africa.Consisting of approximately 35% of Africa's territory, Francophone Africa is a shifting concept, with its roots in French and Belgian colonial rule. This handbook develops and problematizes the term, with thematic sections covering: Colonial and post-colonial ties between France and sub-Saharan Africa Belgium, Belgian colonialism and Africa The Maghreb African Francophones in France Francophone African literature and film ‘Francophone'and ‘Anglophone'Africa Beyond national boundaries and ‘colonial partners'The chapters demonstrate the evolution of'Francophone Africa'into a multi-dimensional construct, with both a material and an imagined reality. Materially, it defines a regional territorial space that coexists with other conceptualisations of African space and borders. Conceptually, Francophone Africa constitutes a shared linguistic and cultural space within which collective memories are shared, not least through their connection to the French imperial imagination. Overall, the Handbook demonstrates that as global power structures and relations evolve, African agency is increasingly assertive in shaping French-African relations.Bringing this important debate together into a single volume, this Handbook will be an essential resource for students and scholars interested in Francophone Africa.