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This book has a rather long-winding history. It is not like anything else the present author ever wrote, as all the rest is theoretical economics in a d- tinctively mathematical dress. For the emergence of the following pages, there are several people, - cept the author, who are to have the credit, or perhaps the blame. Around 1985, the department of economics at Umeå University in the North of S- den was visited by Professor William Hendon, Editor of the Journal of C- tural Economics. In my capacity of chairman of the department I invited him to a social lunch. We soon realized that we did not have much in terms of common research interests to talk about. However, somebody at the - partment later informed him that I also used to make copies of historical musical instruments during my free hours, so, once back in the US, he asked me to write an article for his journal, comparing the making of mathematical models to the making musical instruments. I thought the idea was absolutely crazy, but could not help start thinking about it now and then, so five years later I actually contributed a paper called'On the unity of the arts, crafts, and sciences'.

The majority of studies on the quality of life have been conducted in Western contexts and are based on Western participants. Comparatively speaking, there are only a few studies that have been conducted in different Chinese contexts. Also, there are fewer QOL studies based on children and adolescents, or studies that examine the relationship between QOL and economic disadvantage. In addition, more research is needed to address the methodological issues related to the assessment of quality of life. This volume is a constructive response to the challenges described above. It is the first book to cover research in Chinese, Western and global contexts in a single volume. It is a ground-breaking volume in which Chinese studies on the quality of life are collected. The book includes papers addressing family QOL, quality of life in adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage, and methodological issues in the assessment of QOL. It is written by researchers working in a variety of disciplines.

This book approaches cultural conceptualizations of our modern world from cultural, linguistic and cognitive perspectives. It explores broader topics such as contemporary society, media and entertainment, migration and identity, political discourse, educational contexts and creative linguistic innovation, all of which are seen as interwoven and mutually complementary segments of our present-day social world. This publication brings a fresh multi-cultural approach reflected in applying the principles of cultural linguistics to the analysis of different aspects of language use across four continents – Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The issue of shared cultural conceptualizations being their common denominator, the chapters of this book shed light on how various cultural groups use language to communicate their ideas and beliefs both within and outside their own culture, bearing in mind the often contradictory nature of the present-day social world that, at the same time, unites and disintegrates social groups. Benefiting scholars from fields within the broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences who are interested in culture, discourse, linguistics, sociology, migration and politics, the book uncovers challenging new trends, inviting its readers to further explore the vast interconnected fields of language, culture and cognition in the turbulent 21st Century. Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of the topic of culture in the context of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and a structured overview of a large body of HCI research on (and with) culture. The book presents a short and guided overview of the concept of culture. It offers some background on the origin and development of the term culture. It also outlines some of its key traits and ingredients and summarizes three main perspectives of culture across disciplines. The book argues that culture matters considerably in HCI and discusses a number of reasons for and against its relevance. Arguments against include a lack of a universal or common definition of the term culture and globalization. Arguments in favor touch upon important aspects of HCI, including a diversely growing user base, the need to provide designers with enough support to design across cultures, and the inseparable relationship between culture and technology. The issues explored in this book can be classified into three, non-mutually exclusive, categories: theoretical, practical, and controversial. The book outlines the main conceptual perspectives of culture within HCI, including Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, Edward T. Hall's cross-cultural theory of communication, and Richard Nisbett's cultural cognitive systems of thought as well as examining the ways in which culture has been operationalized in HCI research and the main functions of culture in this area. It closes with a discussion of some open issues intended to spark debate and future research. The literature this book draws upon covers a wide range of research disciplines, including Anthropology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Robotics, Disability Studies, Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology, Usability, and Design. This book aspires to provide a useful overview of culture for HCI scholars at all levels.

This book proposes new design and development models for local cultural and creative products, intended to improve the quality of these products and to preserve or enhance their local economic benefits. Building a knowledge base of design symbols and information gleaned from local history can be used to simplify the process of creative product design and increase the efficiency of product development. This book proposes a method for grasping the essential elements of symbols and culture so as to accelerate product development and capture the essence of culture in product design. In addition, it demonstrates that exhibitions applying scenario-oriented design can not only strengthen the representation of local culture, history and stories, but also support product consumption. As a result, the book offers a valuable asset for boosting the efficiency of creative product design and promoting the consumption of creative cultural products.

This book presents selected case studies from the Arab world on the universities responses to the pandemic. This book will look in detail at the priorities of the higher education sector in the post-COVID-19 era and the changes that must be adopted by universities and governments. These changes will allow the higher education sector to emerge from the crisis and build short- and long-term resilience.The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has induced sudden changes worldwide by setting a global lockdown that has impacted all industries and sectors, affecting our daily lives and forcing us to adapt to a new normal. This book is the first major account of how the pandemic has shaken universities and higher education institutions in the Arab world today and tomorrow. Crucially, it examines the responses of universities to COVID-19, highlights their current position, and addresses the negative and positive outcomes. Has this crisis become an adversity or an opportunity forhigher education institutions? What are the pillars that will ensure the success of the Arab higher education sector post COVID-19?

Cultural entrepreneurship uses culture as a way to understand innovative business ventures. Culture in this edited book involves the beliefs and values associated with certain forms of behaviour. This means the way individuals are involved in business ventures is based on their cultural ideas. This edited book focuses on how cultural entrepreneurship is an important way to understand how cultural products and services such as art, food, music and literature influence the development of business ventures. Thereby highlighting the interesting and unique way cultural ideas are embedded in entrepreneurial activities.

This book represents a major milestone in the endeavour to understand how communication is impacting on the fashion industry and on societal fashion-related practices and values in the digital age. It presents the proceedings of FACTUM 19, the first in a series of fashion communication conferences that highlights important theoretical and empirical work in the field. Beyond documenting the latest scientific insights, the book is intended to foster the sharing of methodological approaches, expand the dialogue between communications'studies and fashion-related disciplines, help establish an international and interdisciplinary network of scholars, and offer encouragement and fresh ideas to junior researchers. It is of high value to academics and students in the fields of fashion communication, fashion marketing, visual studies in fashion, digital transformation of the fashion industry, and the cultural heritage dimension of fashion. In addition, it is a key resource for professionals seeking sound research on fashion communication and marketing.

This book provides original insight into the way we now engage and remember national history. Drawing on fieldwork and analysis of international case studies on state commemoration, memorialization, recreational and tourism and times of disaster and crisis, the author demonstrates that not only does the nation frequently retain a strong cultural relevance in our global world but that the emergence of new forms of ritual and remembrance means that in many instances we are seeing the re-enchantment of nationalism. Drawing upon and developing an empirically informed cultural sociology, the author charts the distinctive qualities of these new national rites and how they feed into and advance particular cosmopolitan and orthodox national politics. Because social science has so often wrongly assumed the end of nationalism, the insights of this of the book about the possibilities and limitations of contemporary nationalism demand serious consideration by academics and also by policy makers and the general public.

Who owns your sex organs? Different cultures today and in different epochs have given a variety of answers to this question. It may seem self­ evident that every individual owns and has sovereignty over his or her own body parts, such as the head, legs, nose, stomach, pancreas, and other body parts. The sex organs, however, seem to be an exception. Even though they are as much an integral part of the individual as a leg or a liver, the sex organs are unique in that many cultures have established laws and taboos over the use and even the mere display of the sex organs. Thus, certain cultures have placed constraints over the individual's ownership of his or her sex organs and actively regulate and restrict the individual's access and use of those organs. In other cultures, the question of ownership of the sex organs is more decisively answered. In any culture where circumcision to any degree of either the male or female is practiced, permitted, encouraged, or even merely tolerated, it is clear that the individual is not considered to own his own sex organs. In the United States today, the medical establishment has created an is considered acceptable and desirable that anyone for environment where it any reason can authorize or execute the amputation of the foreskin from a male child's penis.

Vasilii Fedorovich Malinovskii (1765-1814) is a name which has hitherto lacked true resonance in the history of Russian culture. Tt is of course a name known to all students of Alexander Pushkin's biography, for Malinovskii was the first Director of the new Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, if, sadly, for only the first three of the young poet's years at the school. For those scholars conversant with the intellectual and literary life of the'beautiful beginning'of the reign of Alexander I's reign Malinovskii has his little niche for his remarkable Rassuzhdenie 0 mire i voine (1803) and less for his Osennie vechera (1803), a little-known journal limited to a mere eight weekly issues and written entirely by the editor. As regards the of his'eighteenth-century'Malinovskii, who lived the first thirty-five years life predominantly in the reign of the great Catherine, little information encumbers the memory of even specialists of the period. Indeed, his elder brother, Aleksei Fedorovich (1762-1840), is the more likely to be remembered for his literary and translating work as well for his later position as Head of the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which brought him into contact with Pushkin and, not unexpectedly, with Karamzin. Karamzin referred to him as'one of my few old and genuine friends', but one searches in vain for a similar accolade for VasiIii Fedorovich.

This book is a collective effort on the part of researchers affiliated with the CERES Research School in Development Studies in the Netherlands to discuss a series of themes and concepts crucial to the overlapping fields of globalization and development research. While development in the course of the 1980s and 1990s was becoming hinged onto globalization, prior approaches to development were increasingly being criticized. An impasse was announced by various actors in the field, and renewed reflection on some of the basic concepts and methods became inevitable. Much of the initial rethinking went under the sign of postmodernism and tended to give priority to micro- and actor-centered research. Later, with the emerging discussion on globalization, new macro dimensions were added, and efforts were launched to articulate local/global approaches. This book discusses a set of key themes and concepts that reflect these intellectual and historical developments. Used by politicians and researchers, they reflect the continuing concern about inequality and poverty by students and practitioners of development, and contain crucial perspectives for a critical engagement of current globalization processes and their consequences. The chapters in this book examine the notions and issues of globalization, livelihood, identity, governance, transnationalism, and knowledge.