Humanities & Social Sciences

I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Medieval Islamic philosophers were occupied with questions of cosmology, predestination and salvation and human responsibility for actions. For Ismailis, the related notions of religious leadership, namely the imamate, and the eschatological role of the prophets and imams were equally central. These were also a matter of doctrinal controversy within the so-called Iranian school of Ismaili philosophical theology. Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani (d. after 411/1020) was one of the most important theologians in the Fatimid period, who rose to prominence during the reign of the imam-caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 386/996–411/1021). He is renowned for blending the Neoplatonic philosophical heritage with Ismaili religious tradition. This book provides an analysis of al-Kirmani’s thought and sheds new light on the many layers of allusion which characterise his writings. Through a translation and analytical commentary of the eighth chapter of al-Kirmani’s Kitab al-Riyad (Book of Meadows), which is devoted to the subject of divine preordination and human redemption, Maria De Cillis shows readers first-hand his theologically distinctive interpretation of qada’ and qadar (divine decree and destiny). Here, al-Kirmani attempts to harmonise the views of earlier renowned Ismaili missionaries, Abu Hatim Ahmad b. Hamdan al-Razi (d. 322/934), Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Nasafi (d. 331/942) and Abu Ya'qub Ishaq b. Ahmad al-Sijistani (d. c. 361/971). De Cillis skilfully guides the reader through al-Kirmani’s metaphysical and esoteric correspondences, offering new insights into Shi’i/Ismaili philosophical thought which will be of great interest to those in the field of Shi’i studies and, more broadly, to scholars of medieval philosophy. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The Institute of Ismaili Studies LTD.

The book develops a reflection, shared by the authors, regarding some pedagogical phenomena which individuals and social groups have been involved in, thanks to theoretical and empirical analyses centred on case studies and articulated on two fronts. On the one hand, the topic is that of identity devices connected with specific educational processes, between being and having to be; on the other hand, there is the topic of the body as privileged observation point and region of identity. Different research experiences converge here in a shared path, aimed at an audience that is interested in the educational processes of today and the past, in its relationship with the controversial concept of identity.

During the reign of Louis XIV, the figurative arts serve the royal propaganda and glorification of the sovereign. The essay Des Principes de l’Architecture, de la Sculpture et de la Peinture (1676) was written by the historian André Félibien with the aim of describing arts during the Grand Siècle. This essay contains one of the first specialised dictionaries on artistic lexicon. In this article, we aim to analyse the structure and contents of the dictionary (nomenclature, syntactic and semantic categories, definitions, specialised marks). Moreover, we will focus on the preface of the essay, in which the author describes the difficulties encountered in the terminological description of the artistic domain.

This interdisciplinary edited collection explores and analyses the field of the blue humanities through an Australian lens. The blue humanities is a way of understanding humanity’s relationship with water and manifestations of what is referred to as the ‘blue’ – reefs, oceans, rivers, creeks, basins, and inland bodies of water. In its scope, this collection emphasises both the importance of the local and the interconnectedness of Australia with global environmental concerns. It considers how we conceptualise watery spaces and shades of blue in a country where water is often marked by its absence, its ephemerality, its politicisation, and its dangers. Contributors from environmental history, environmental social science, political science, literary studies, creative arts, Indigenous Knowledge, education, and anthropology tackle various entanglements between the human, the more-than-human, and watery Australian spaces in modern culture. It is the first volume to offer a specific, dedicated focus on the intersections between Australian space and the blue humanities, and it offers a pathway for those wishing to explore, critique, and advance ideas around the blue humanities in both research and teaching. Directly contributing to a growing interdisciplinary field, this is the first book to comprehensively examine the blue in Australia, appealing to scholars, educators, and students working across the humanities and social sciences with an interest in the environmental humanities, ecopolitics, ecocriticism, the blue humanities, cultural geography, environmental history, and the role of place.

This open access book aims at discussing the manifold consequences that the War against Ukraine bears for the European Union and EU Studies. It takes stock of the fact that the Russian Attack on Ukraine and the ensuing War not only affects the Global Order, but also has challenged a number of established narratives and convictions for the European Union and its member states. The EU now needs to position itself in the changing world order. Concretely it needs to deal with a number of membership applications, internal and external challenges to liberal democracy, and the development of its strategic autonomy in a number of decisive policy fields. The book convenes experienced scholars, with chapters covering the following themes and fields: Theories, approaches and concepts in EU studies and IR; the EU and the changing European and Global Order; the War and defence of liberal democracy; Membership Politics; Energy Policy.

This open access book reviews the water-agro-food and socio-eco-system of the Seine River basin (76,000 km2), and offers a historical perspective on the river’s long-term contamination. The Seine basin is inhabited by circa 17 million people and is impacted by intensive agricultural practices and industrial activities. These pressures have gradually affected its hydrological, chemical and ecological functioning, leading to a maximum chemical degradation between the 1960s and the 1990s. Over the last three decades, while major water-quality improvements have been observed, new issues (e.g. endocrine disruptors, microplastics) have also emerged. The state of the Seine River network, from the headwaters to estuary, is increasingly controlled by the balance between pressures and social responses. This socio-ecosystem provides a unique example of the functioning of a territory under heavy anthropogenic pressure during the Anthropocene era. The achievements made were possible due to the long-term PIREN Seine research program, established in 1989 and today part of the French socio-ecological research network “Zones Ateliers”, itself part of the international Long-term Socio-economic and Ecological Research Network (LTSER). Written by experts in the field, the book provides an introduction to the water budget and the territorial metabolism of the Seine basin, and studies the trajectories and impact of various pollutants in the Seine River. It offers insights into the ecological functioning, the integration of agricultural practices, the analysis of aquatic organic matter, and the evolution of fish assemblages in the Seine basin, and also presents research perspectives and approaches to improve the water quality of the Seine River. Given its scope, it will appeal to environmental managers, scientists and policymakers interested in the long-term contamination of the Seine River.

Museology & heritage studies

Practise in oral interview for recording experiences nurtured during Resistance was early as it was carried on firstly by Silvio Micheli. However, neither Micheli or the Historical Institutes for Resistance studies have been privileged military topics over the other ones. Resistance indeed did not resolve itself only on a military basis. Afterwards, historical research dealt with partisans' daily lives: it showed the human dimension of Resistance as well as difficulties met by partisans, who were politically immature as they were grown during Fascism. Among this new kind of research, the contribute will deal with historical witnesses such as Calegari and Bermani. The pair indeed was characterised by two different way of behaviour.

Die vorliegende Untersuchung beschäftigt sich mit zwei Desideraten der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit. Zum einen erstellt sie eine den aktuellen philologischen Ansprüchen genügende Edition des ‚Ander theil D. Johann Fausti Historien‘ (1593), sog. ‚Wagner-Buch‘, von dem neun Auflagen gedruckt wurden. Zum anderen nimmt sie eine intertextuelle Interpretation der diabolischen Figuren des Faust- und Wagnerbuches sowie der 1599 erschienenen ‚Wahrhafftigen Historien‘ (1599) Georg Rudolf Widmans vor. Unter Anwendung methodischer Ansatzpunkte aus NIKLAS LUHMANNS Systemtheorie, den „Gender Studies“ und „Animal Studies“ sowie der Liminalitätstheorie und den anthropologischen Ansätzen Arnold van Genneps und Victor Turners können nicht nur literarisch konstruierte und sich stetig verschiebende Machtverhältnisse zwischen den Teufeln und ihren Paktierern aufgedeckt, der inhaltlich notwendige Einsatz von Gewaltszenarien und die spezifische Präsentation von Wissen erläutert werden. Darüber hinaus offenbart sich ein komplex gestaltetes narratives Figurenkonstrukt der Teufel-Paktierer-Beziehung.

In der Entwicklung emissionsarmer Antriebstechnologien bieten batterieelektrische Fahrzeuge durch den hohen Gesamtwirkungsgrad und die lokal emissionsfreie Betriebsweise einen vielversprechenden Lösungsansatz. Gleichzeitig stehen ihnen Herausforderungen wie die notwendige Ladeinfrastruktur und in der Regel geringere Reichweiten gegenüber. Hybridfahrzeuge können diese Nachteile kompensieren, indem sie die Vorteile elektrischer und konventioneller Antriebe vereinen. Um das Potenzial von Hybridantrieben auszuschöpfen, sind Betriebsstrategien für die optimale Lastverteilung notwendig. Diese lassen sich effizient in virtuellen Umgebungen entwickeln, was unter anderem eine präzise Abbildung des Fahrzeugs erfordert. Vor diesem Hintergrund setzt sich die vorliegende Arbeit mit der Modellierung von Emissionen im hochtransienten Motorbetrieb auseinander. Neben den physikalisch-phänomenologischen Ansätzen kommen auch Methoden des Maschinellen Lernens (ML) zum Einsatz, die besonders bei dynamischen Fahrzyklen überzeugen.Durch die Kombination beider Modellansätze (Hybridmodelle) wird eine noch genauere Emissionsvorhersage ermöglicht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das parallele Hybridmodell zu einer deutlichen Präzisionssteigerung (ca. 25 % gegenüber dem reinen ML-Modell) führt und durch eine effiziente Architektur für Echtzeit-Anwendungen prädestiniert ist. Dies gilt nicht nur für die vorliegende Problemstellung, sondern könnte sich auch auf andere Forschungsbereiche ausweiten lassen.

Die Mikro- und Nanomesstechnik wird vorangetrieben durch die stetigen Fortschritte der Fertigungstechnik. Die Messaufgaben für Mikro- und Nanomesssysteme sind geprägt von zunehmend sinkenden Strukturgrößen und Miniaturisierung der Merkmale bei zugleich zunehmender Dimensionalität. Hochauflösende Messinstrumente und Techniken zur Qualitätssicherung im Mikro- und Nanometerbereich erfordern sowohl quantitative, dimensionale Messungen mit Nanometergenauigkeit als auch Messungen über große Messbereiche, um die Nanotechnologie zu einer industriellen Nutzung zu führen. Weißlichtinterferometrie und Rasterkraftmikroskopie sind zwei wichtige Messverfahren der Mikro- und Nanomesstechnik. Allerdings sind ihre Messbereiche begrenzt. Es ist von großer Bedeutung, dass die Messbereiche bis zu mehreren Millimetern erweitert werden, um die heutigen metrologischen Herausforderungen zu erfüllen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt das Vorgehen für die großflächige Topografiemessung mit hoher Strukturauflösung mittels Weißlichtinterferometrie und Rasterkraftmikroskopie. Ein Weißlichtinterferenzmikroskop wurde in die Nanopositionier- und Nanomessmaschine (NMM-1) zur großflächigen Topografiemessung auch ohne Überlappungsfelder integriert. Der Messaufbau, die Einmessstrategie, die Charakterisierung der metrologischen Eigenschaften, die Korrektur von Kippungen bzw. Drehung des Sensors um die lateralen Achsen und die vertikale Achse und eine experimentelle Untersuchung zur Verifizierung der Messstrategie werden aufgezeigt. Ein neues metrologisches Rasterkraftmikroskop für gleichzeitige Messung der Biegung, Torsion und Position des Cantilevers mit verbesserter Signalqualität, welches ebenfalls in die NMM-1 für großflächige Topografiemessungen integriert wurde, wird vorgestellt. Dabei werden der Messaufbau, die Einmessstrategie, die Charakterisierung, die Messunsicherheit und Applikationsmessungen wie Stufenhöhenmessung, Gitterabstandsbestimmung und großflächige Messungen gezeigt.

This Report is one of the first comprehensive studies on young children in India. It focuses on children under 6 years of age and presents key aspects of their well-being and development. With the highest number of neonatal, infant and under-5 deaths in the world, there is an urgent need to address issues that continue to affect the young child in India. This volume: Introduces two young child indices aggregating selected indicators to separately track child outcomes and child circumstances. Provides an account of the current situation of the young child in terms of physical and cognitive development, access to care, disadvantaged children and major issues that have led to the continued neglect of this age group. Explores the policy and legal framework, fiscal space and the role and obligations of key stakeholders, including the state, private sector, civil society, media and the family. Highlights key recommendations and action points that can help to improve the ecosystem for early childhood care and development. Drawing on specially commissioned technical background papers, supplemented by extensive field experience of Mobile Creches in childcare, this Report will be of interest to practitioners, policymakers and influencers, think tanks and researchers of public policy, development studies, human rights, sociology and social anthropology, as well as general readers. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781003026488, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. .

The volume, dedicated to the 44th International Conference of the Italian Union for Drawing, investigates the theme of ‘Transitions’, which particularly effectively represents our time and the current condition of the discipline of Drawing. The term, beyond its generic meaning of an intermediate stage in a process in which a condition changes from one state to another, has always been used in various fields, from music to geophysics. In fact, the disciplines of drawing have always been confronted with themes and issues relating to transitions from one condition to another. The history of representation tells us of transformations, even epochal ones, relating to ‘drawing’, with all that such transitions entail: suffice it to think of the evolution of forms of representation, of instrumental apparatuses, of the mutability of supports, of the analogical-digital transition underway, of the new modes of communication on platforms, of the hypertrophic offer of images also on the net that confirms Guy Debord’s intuitions relating to the new spectacularisation of society. Similarly, representation triggers transitions in the prefiguration and communication of design, the anticipation and foreshadowing of future events.The challenges posed by the digital pose open questions whose scope can only be glimpsed, such as the relationship between drawing and the act of modelling, and the construction of new paradigms of visual language and communication. ‘Transitions’, almost implicitly, points to possible futures, the evolution of technique and the search for new modes of expression; at the same time, however, it can suggest silences and reflections in a process of connection between history, theory, criticism and construction.

Activist networks throughout Europe developed the concept of precarity at the turn of the 21st century. Retail chain employees, freelancers, cultural workers, caregivers and university adjuncts alike, including those labeled natives or migrants, identified and organized themselves under the umbrella notion of precarity. This ethnography tells the story of precarity activism as it originated and evolved in Southern Europe, tracing its theoretical and linguistic legacy. Highlighting the currency of precarity-inspired proposals for social change, this empirically detailed appraisal recapitulates activist debates over the prospects of flexible labor markets entangled with questions of gender and citizenship. The book’s analysis offers insight into how precarity activism’s visionary notions of sustainable futures speak directly to the tensions of the platform economy. This genealogy of a grassroots political concept will be of use for postgraduate students and scholars interested in anthropology, cultural studies, geography, sociology and political theory. It will appeal to interdisciplinary fields engaging processes of collective action, knowledge production and the so-called subaltern populations, such as social movements studies, gender studies, critical race and migration studies, dis/ability studies and labor studies. This book will further attract those concerned with changes in production, reproduction and mobility under platform capitalism as it further consolidates precarity as the new normal. 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.

Explores the relationship between fantastical literature and scientific inquiry What did early modern Chinese readers believe about dragons, thunder, or fate, and where did they learn it? Observing the Unseen explores how literate and marginally literate people in China between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries investigated the invisible, the ubiquitous, and the inexplicable. Whether through medical encyclopedias, daily-use almanacs, or novels and anecdotes, readers pursued knowledge of the natural world with curiosity shaped as much by wonder as by empiricism. Andrew Schonebaum reveals that for many readers, stories were an important source of reliable information about the world. Knowledge of the natural world evolved in the margins of “fiction.” Entertainment literature and practical texts alike conveyed information that was collected, debated, and even used to treat illness or predict the future. Drawing from overlooked genres such as brush notes, court records, and sequels to popular stories, Schonebaum demonstrates that common knowledge was constructed through a patchwork of sources—elite and vernacular, empirical and fantastical. Rather than privileging science as courtly or Western, Observing the Unseen shows how ordinary readers made sense of the cosmos in an age of expanding literacy and print culture. It challenges assumptions about what Chinese literature was and how it was read, offering a nuanced picture of everyday life in early modern China. This is a work for scholars of Chinese history and literature, historians of science, and anyone interested in the complicated ways humans seek to understand the unseen.