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Summary: This open access book presents detailed findings about the ethical, legal, and social acceptance of robots in the German and European context. The key resource is the Bremen AI Delphi survey of scientists and politicians and a related population survey. The focus is on trust in robotic assistance, human willingness to use this assistance, and the expected personal well-being in human-robot interaction. Using recent data from Eurostat, the European Social Survey, and the Eurobarometer survey, the analysis is extended to Germany and the EU. The acceptance of robots in care and everyday life is viewed against their acceptance in other contexts of life and the scientific research. The book reports on how the probability of five complex future scenarios is evaluated by experts and politicians. These scenarios cover a broad range of topics, including the worst-case scenario of cutthroat competition for jobs, the wealth promise of AI, communication in human-robot interaction, robotic assistance, and ethical and legal conflicts. International economic competition alone will ensure that countries invest sustainably in the future technologies of AI and robots. But will these technologies also be accepted by the population? The book raises the core issue of how governments can gain the needed social, ethical, and user acceptance of AI and robots in everyday life. This highly topical book is of interest to researchers, professionals and policy makers working on various aspects of human-robot interaction. This is an open access book.

Summary: This open access book explores key issues and presents recent case studies in areas of importance for the transition to a circular model of development in emerging African countries that will minimize resource consumption and waste production. The topics covered include the development of sustainable housing models, energy and environmental issues in building design and technical systems, recycling for a sustainable future, models for humanitarian emergencies, and low-cost and web-based digital tools with applications in architecture and archaeology. The aim is to contribute to a necessary paradigm shift with respect to urban planning and usage of territories, moving from a linear urban metabolism based on the "take, make, dispose" approach to a circular metabolism. Such a change requires a focus on the relationship between the architectural, urban, and physical aspects of new developments, climate, and energy demand, as well as the identification and integration of strategies and infrastructures to achieve a high level of efficiency and self-sufficiency. The book will appeal to all with an interest in sustainable development in the African context.

Summary: This open access book brings science and practice together and inspires a global movement towards co-creating regenerative civilizations that work for 100% of humanity and the Earth as a whole. With its conceptual foundation of the concept of transformation literacy it enhances the knowledge and capacity of decision-makers, change agents and institutional actors to steward transformations effectively across institutions, societal sectors and nations. Humanity is at crossroads. Resource depletion and exponential emissions that not only cause climate change, but endanger the health of people and planet, call for a decisive turnaround of human civilization. A new and transformative paradigm is emerging that advocates for regenerative civilizations, in which a narrative of systemic health as much as individual and collective vitality guide the interaction of socio-economic-ecological systems. Truly transformative change must go far beyond technical solutions, and instead envision what can be termed 'a new operating system' that helps humankind to live well within the planetary boundaries and partner with life's evolutionary processes. This requires transformations at three different levels: · Mindsets that reconnect with a worldview in which human agency acknowledges its co-evolutionary pathways with each other and the Earth. · Political, social and economic systems that are regenerative and foster the care-taking for Earth life support systems. · Competencies to design and implement effective large-scale transformative change processes at multiple levels with multiple stakeholders. This book provides key ingredients for enhancing transformation literacy from various perspectives around the globe. It connects the emerging practice of stewarding transformative change across business, government institutions and civil society actors with the most promising scientific models and concepts that underpin human action to shape the future collectively in accordance with planetary needs. ;

Summary: This open access book shows how the adoption of global justice, such as eradication of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), has given rise to controversy, resistance, and transformation at the national, regional, and grass-roots levels in African and Asian countries where FGM/C has been practiced. It provides readers with up-to-date information about the effects of the campaign to eradicate FGM/C and the present situation of those countries, to which preceding books on FGM/C have scarcely referred. Adopting "zero tolerance" as a policy of eradication, WHO and other UN agencies have opposed any type of FGM/C, and many African countries have criminalized the practice. Although the campaign is based on the human rights discourse which is shared globally, the controversies concerning eradication of FGM/C on the national level and the responses of communities on the local level in those countries are diverse and complicated. Various actors such as NGOs, government officials, religious leaders, medical workers, and local inhabitants are embroiled and negotiate with each other concerning its eradication. With this book, readers are provided with an in-depth analysis of the complicated controversies and responses of local communities, referring to their particular historical and social backgrounds. The book provides two chapters on FGM/C in Asian countries, where not many studies have done yet. It also presents readers with a study of the arguments and responses to FGM/C of African immigrants by Australian health-care professionals as well as a study of male circumcision eradication campaigns, which have been carried on in tandem with FGM/C eradication campaigns but still not have been successful. With its many elaborate case studies, this book is highly recommended to readers who seek an in-depth and up-to-date integrated overview of the FGM/C studies as well as studies on the applicability of global justice to local communities.

Summary: This open access edited volume introduces the concept of causal mechanisms to explore new ways of explaining the global dynamics of social policy, and shows that a mechanism-based approach provides several advantages over established approaches for studying social policy. The introductory chapter outlines the mechanism-based approach, which stands out by modularisation and a clear focus on actors. The mechanism-based approach then guides the twelve chapters on social policy developments in different Asian, African, European and Latin American countries. Based on these findings, the concluding chapter provides a structured compilation of causal mechanisms and outlines how a mechanism-based approach can further strengthen research on the global development of social policies, especially in a comparative perspective. The edited volume is highly relevant for social policy scholars from a variety of disciplines, as well as for scholars interested in strengthening explanation in the social sciences.

Summary: This open access book seeks to understand why we consume as we do, how consumption changes, and why we keep consuming more and more, despite the visible damage we are doing to the planet. The chapters cover both the stubbornness of unsustainable consumption patterns in affluent societies and the drivers of rapidly increasing consumption in emerging economies. They focus on consumption patterns with the largest environmental footprints, including energy, housing, and mobility and engage in sophisticated ways with the theoretical frontiers of the field of consumption research, in particular on the 'practice turn' that has come to dominate the field in recent decades. This book maps out what we know about consumption, questions what we take for granted, and points us in new directions for better understanding-and changing-unsustainable consumption patterns.

Summary: This Open Access publication focuses on China's goal of achieving peak carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The book is the first to systematically build a framework combining a top-down and bottom-up analysis of this acute topic. What does carbon neutrality mean for economics in China? Might it imply stagflation or is it an opportunity to maximize the potential of green manufacturing? The book offers a comprehensive analysis of how the pursuit of carbon neutrality may influence the development of China's economy, and the country's biggest industries, while foreseeing the likely changes in people's lifestyles. In total, the book constructs a comprehensive path for China's carbon neutrality drive from the perspective of the green premium. This effort lays the foundation for a discussion of the country's emissions reduction plan. The book goes further, calculating the investment required for different sectors to achieve carbon neutrality, and illustrating the roles of carbon pricing and green finance in this undertaking. The book's information comes from a network of primary sources, including experts in the field and noted academics, to depict potential low-carbon roadmaps and green transitions in major industries. Emphasized is green development in sectors that will be critical to civilization, including in technology, energy, manufacturing, transportation, and urban planning, which are backed by in-depth discussions and analyses. Accessible and academically rigorous, the work is anchored in the economics of carbon neutrality, extends to potential policy implications and identifies investment opportunities. This valuable reference will attract readers interested in public policy, economics, finance, and investors who seek to better understand China's prospects in the low-carbon economy of the near future.

Summary: This open access book provides the first critical history of the controversy over whether to cull wild badgers to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in British cattle. This question has plagued several professional generations of politicians, policymakers, experts and campaigners since the early 1970s. Questions of what is known, who knows, who cares, who to trust and what to do about this complex problem have been the source of scientific, policy, and increasingly vociferous public debate ever since. This book integrates contemporary history, science and technology studies, human-animal relations, and policy research to conduct a cross-cutting analysis. It explores the worldviews of those involved with animal health, disease ecology and badger protection between the 1970s and 1990s, before reintegrating them to investigate the recent public polarisation of the controversy. Finally it asks how we might move beyond the current impasse.

Summary: This Open Access book builds upon Science and Technology Studies (STS) and provides a detailed examination of how large-scale energy research projects have been conceived, and with what consequences for those involved in interdisciplinary research, which has been advocated as the zenith of research practice for many years, quite often in direct response to questions that cannot be answered (or even preliminarily investigated) by disciplines working separately. It produces fresh insights into the lived experiences and actual contents of interdisciplinarity, rather than simply commentating on how it is being explicitly advocated. We present empirical studies on large-scale energy research projects from the United Kingdom, Norway, and Finland. The book presents a new framework, the Sociology of Interdisciplinarity, which unpacks interdisciplinary research in practice. This book will be of interest to all those interested in well-functioning interdisciplinary research systems and the dynamics of doing interdisciplinarity, including real ground-level experiences and institutional interdependencies.

Summary: This open access book offers a selection of research papers and case studies presented at the 3rd international conference "Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions", held in December 2019 in Bolzano, Italy, and explores the concept of smart and sustainable planning, including top contributions from academics, policy makers, consultants and other professionals. Innovation processes such as co-design and co-creation help establish collaborations that engage with stakeholders in a trustworthy and transparent environment while answering the need for new value propositions. The importance of an integrated, holistic approach is widely recognized to break down silos in local government, in particular, when aimed at achieving a better integration of climate-energy planning. Despite the ongoing urbanization and polarization processes, new synergies between urban and rural areas emerge, linking development opportunities to intrinsic cultural, natural and man-made landscape values. The increasing availability of big, real-time urban data and advanced ICT facilitates frequent assessment and continuous monitoring of performances, while allowing fine-tuning as needed. This is valid not only for individual projects but also on a wider scale. In addition, and circling back to the first point, (big) urban data and ICT can be of enormous help in facilitating engagement and co-creation by raising awareness and by providing insight into the local consequences of specific plans. However, this potential is not yet fully exploited in standard processes and procedures, which can therefore lack the agility and flexibility to keep up with the pulse of the city and dynamics of society. The book provides a multi-disciplinary outlook based on experience to orient the reader in the giant galaxy of smart and sustainable planning, support the transposition of research into practice, scale up visionary approaches and design groundbreaking planning policies and tools.

Summary: This open access book focuses on the public health crisis of youth suicide and provides a review of current research and prevention practices. It addresses important topics, including suicide epidemiology, suicide risk detection in school and medical settings, critical cultural considerations, and approaches to lethal means safety. This book offers cutting-edge research on emerging discoveries in the neurobiology of suicide, psychopharmacology, and machine learning. It focuses on upstream suicide prevention research methods and details how cost-effective approaches can mitigate youth suicide risk when implemented at a universal level. Chapters discuss critical areas for future research, including how to evaluate the effectiveness of suicide prevention and intervention efforts, increase access to mental health care, and overcome systemic barriers that undermine generalizability of prevention strategies. Finally, this book highlights what is currently working well in youth suicide prevention and, just as important, which areas require more attention and support. Key topics include: The neurobiology of suicide in at-risk children and adolescents. The role of machine learning in youth suicide prevention. Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention in schools. Suicide risk screening and assessment in medical settings. Culturally informed risk assessment and suicide prevention efforts with minority youth. School mental health partnerships and telehealth models of care in rural communities. Suicide and self-harm prevention and interventions for LGBTQ+ youth. Risk factors associated with suicidal behavior in Black youth. Preventing suicide in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention is a must-have resource for policy makers and related professionals, graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, sociology, and all related disciplines.

Summary: This open access book analyses the global diffusion of social policy as a process driven by multiplex ties between countries in global social networks. The contributions analyze links between countries via global trade, colonial history, similarity in culture, and spatial proximity. Networks are viewed as the structural backbone of the diffusion process, and diffusion is anlaysed via several subfields of social policy, in order to interrogate which network dimensions drive this process. The focus is on a global perspective of social policy diffusion via networks, and it is the first book to explicitly follow this macro-quantitative perspective on diffusion at a global scale whilst also comparing different networks. The collection tests the network structures in terms of their relevance to the diffusion process in different subfields of social policy such as old age and survivor pensions, labor and labor markets, health and long-term care, education and training, and family and gender policy. The book will therefore be invaluable to students and researchers of global social policy, sociology, political science, international relations, organization theory and economics.