Humanities & Social Sciences

This open access book provides both a broad perspective and a focused examination of cow care as a subject of widespread ethical concern in India, and increasingly in other parts of the world. In the face of what has persisted as a highly charged political issue over cow protection in India, intellectual space must be made to bring the wealth of Indian traditional ethical discourse to bear on the realities of current human-animal relationships, particularly those of humans with cows. Dharma, yoga, and bhakti paradigms serve as starting points for bringing Hindu—particularly Vaishnava Hindu—animal ethics into conversation with contemporary Western animal ethics. The author argues that a culture of bhakti—the inclusive, empathetic practice of spirituality centered in Krishna as the beloved cowherd of Vraja—can complement recently developed ethics-of-care thinking to create a solid basis for sustaining all kinds of cow care communities. ; Offers a focused insight into a key aspect of Hindu religious practice Integrates primary research and tertiary sources to give a multifaceted understanding of the intricacies of cow care practice Challenges conventional Western thought on cow care and its worldwide implications for animal ethics

Cyberspace has become the ultimate frontier and central issue of international conflict, geopolitical competition, and security. Emerging threats and technologies continuously challenge the prospect of an open, secure, and free cyberspace. Additionally, the rising influence of technology on society and culture increasingly pushes international diplomacy to establish responsible state behavior in cyberspace and internet governance against the backdrop of fragmentation and polarization. In this context, novel normative practices and actors are emerging both inside and outside the conventional sites of international diplomacy and global governance. In this open access title, Fabio Cristiano and Bibi van den Berg explore the hybridity and conflict inherent to these recent processes of remodulation of the global politics of cybersecurity by analyzing emerging normative practices, threats and technologies, and actors. Through this comprehensive analysis, this edited volume ultimately sheds light on the problematic technical logic of emergence that informs the global politics of cybersecurity and delineates novel normative paths for cyberspace moving forward. 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 Leiden University

Children and youth belong to one of the most vulnerable groups in societies. This was the case even before the current humanitarian crises around the world which led millions of people and families to flee from wars, terror, poverty and exploitation. Minors have been denied human rights such as access to education, food and health services. They have been kidnapped, sold, manipulated, mutilated, killed, and injured. This has been and continues to be the case in both developed and developing countries, and it does not look as if the situation will improve in the near future. Rather, current geopolitical developments, political and economic uncertainties and instabilities seem to be increasing the vulnerability of minors, especially in the wars and armed conflicts currently being waged not only in Europe, but on almost every continent. How can risks children and youth are exposed to in times of transition be reduced? Which role do state agencies, non-governmental organisations, as well as children’s coping strategies play in mitigating the vulnerabilities of minors? This volume addresses risks to which children and young people are exposed, especially in times of transition. The focus is on different groups of children in the European wartime and post-war societies of the Second World War, ‘occupation children’ in Germany, teenage National Socialist collaborators in Norway, and more recent cases such as child soldiers, refugee children, and children of European “Islamic State” fighters. The contributions come from international scholars and different academic disciplines (educational and social sciences, humanities, law, and international peace and conflict studies) and are based on historical, quantitative, and/or qualitative analyses. ; Children and youth belong to one of the most vulnerable groups in societies. This was the case even before the current humanitarian crises around the world which led millions of people and families to flee from wars, terror, poverty and exploitation. Minors have been denied human rights such as access to education, food and health services. They have been kidnapped, sold, manipulated, mutilated, killed, and injured. This has been and continues to be the case in both developed and developing countries, and it does not look as if the situation will improve in the near future. Rather, current geopolitical developments, political and economic uncertainties and instabilities seem to be increasing the vulnerability of minors, especially in the wars and armed conflicts currently being waged not only in Europe, but on almost every continent. How can risks children and youth are exposed to in times of transition be reduced? Which role do state agencies, non-governmental organisations, as well as children’s coping strategies play in mitigating the vulnerabilities of minors? This volume addresses risks to which children and young people are exposed, especially in times of transition. The focus is on different groups of children in the European wartime and post-war societies of the Second World War, ‘occupation children’ in Germany, teenage National Socialist collaborators in Norway, and more recent cases such as child soldiers, refugee children, and children of European “Islamic State” fighters. The contributions come from international scholars and different academic disciplines (educational and social sciences, humanities, law, and international peace and conflict studies) and are based on historical, quantitative, and/or qualitative analyses.

Pluripotency is a prerequisite for the subsequent coordinated differentiation of embryonic stem cells into all tissues of the body. This book describes recent advances in our understanding of pluripotency and the hormonal regulation of embryonic stem cell differentiation into tissue types derived from the ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm.

The discussions on an ethics of literature and a specifically aesthetic form of justice make it clear: the question of the aesthetic and ethical valuation and evaluation of literature has recently moved back into the centre of interest in the humanities and cultural studies. This volume brings together contributions on the themes of crime/punishment, penance/mercy or virtue/reward.

This open access book explores why lyrics and voices resonate with listeners in various temporal, performance and technological contexts. Sounding the Voice highlights how humans develop voice recognition and listening competence through a lifelong relationship with the voice. The voice is considered to be a transmitter of verbal information and an embodied, expressive sound that conveys identity, intent and temperament. Within this analysis is a further exploration of the impact of AI-generated voices, from how they challenge people’s knowledge of voice to their ability to recognize voices and traditional notions of vocal identity. This is a vector for considering how new technologies shape vocal aesthetics and perceptions of vocal performance and lyrical meaning. Through interdisciplinary insights into individual artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, Jacob Collier, Joni Mitchell, Sade, David Bowie and Jason Isbell, as well as particular songs such as the Beatles’ 'The Fool on the Hill,' Childish Gambino’s 'This Is America,' Lady Gaga’s '911,' and Jason Aldean’s 'Try That in a Small Town,' the book reveals how vocal timbre, sensory responses, performance dynamics and listening contexts shape our perception of lyrics and vocal performances. It demonstrates that lyrical and song meanings are not stable but dynamic, co-created by authors, performers and audiences and informed by factors such as technology, culture and time. Accessible yet analytical, this book offers a fresh perspective on the interplay between lyrics, voices and the evolving technologies shaping how we experience and understand songs. 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 Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.

At the dawn of the third millennium, dramatic challenges face human civilization everywhere. Relations between human beings and their environment are in peril, with mounting threats to both biological diversity of life on earth and cultural diversity of human communities. The peoples of the Circumpolar Arctic are at the forefront of these challenges and lead the way in seeking meaningful responses. In Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Karim-Aly Kassam positions the Arctic and sub-Arctic as a homeland rather than simply as a frontier for resource exploitation. Kassam aims to empirically and theoretically illustrate the synthesis between the cultural and the biological, using human ecology as a conceptual and analytical lens. Drawing on research carried out in partnership with indigenous northern communities, three case studies illustrate that subsistence hunting and gathering are not relics of an earlier era but rather remain essential to both cultural diversity and to human survival. This book deals with contemporary issues such as climate change, indigenous knowledge, and the impact of natural resource extraction. It is a narrative of community-based research, in the service of the communities for the benefit of the communities. It provides resource-based industry, policy makers, and students with an alternative way of engaging indigenous communities and transforming our perspective on conservation of ecological and cultural diversity.

After analysing the different meanings of the term «value» and the passage from juridical positivism to «the right of values» (described in its essential characteristics), the essay points out the constitutional principles of labour in the Italian Constitution and in the European legal sources. The evolution of the legislation enacted in the last few years (mainly since the last decade of the twentieth century) shows that Labour Law has been functionalized to reaching economic targets, creating a «tyranny of values», according to Carl Schmitt’s theory. However, the supremacy of economic values which has influenced the legislation is in contrast with the principles of Labour protection established in the Constitution, in the European legal sources and in the Charts of fundamental rights. Such principles, in the light of the rules of interpretation of these legal texts, impose different legal disciplines. They are also based on the interpretations of the Constitutional Court which define labour as a fundamental right of man and require a «personalistic» rather than a «mercantile» vision of Labour Law protection. Also the European legal sources protect labour to a similar extent to the Italian Constitution, with specific reference to the European Social Chart. However if, as expressed by some decisions of the Court of Justice, we should sustain that the law of the European Union does not express the same «idea of work» as our Constitution, this situation would not justify the prevalence of the economic dimension of labour. In fact, the Italian Constitutional Court has recently stated that the principles established by the European legislation must be «harmonized and balanced» with those contained in the Constitution, in order to ensure «the highest protection of rights at a systemic level» (judgement no. 269/2017). Such harmonization does not allow economic values to prevail over some es- sential labour characteristics (such as dignity, freedom of expression, safety, equal conditions of labour and remuneration, etc.) with which the human personality is formed.

Work on drama has always been at the forefront of research in computational literary studies. The explicit structure of plays lends itself to formal analysis and has already been explored before the age of computers. Building on insights from this tradition and current research approaches in digital humanities and natural language processing, this volume presents how computational drama analysis will overcome the challenges of the future.

This volume documents the speeches given at the academic commemoration ceremony for Peter Herrmann at the Warburg-Haus in Hamburg on May 15, 2003.

This book offers a genuinely interdisciplinary engagement with the future of paid and unpaid work in the context of the twin challenges of decarbonisation and the growing impacts of an unstable climate. It is innovative in its grounding of such discussions in the everyday realities of workers’ experiences with an empirical focus on skill, occupational shifts and technological change at the workplace level. Part I: Skills and Training delves into how workers gain crucial skills across their lifetimes. From survivalist “preppers” to local microgrid operators, the chapters reveal practical and often unrecognised but essential expertise. Case studies include air-conditioning technical educators and construction trades leveraging tacit knowledge of sustainable practices. Part II: Industrial Transformation draws on empirical studies from coal mining, manufacturing, defence and construction to highlight workers’ experiences of climate shifts, heat and industrial transition. Theoretical contributions explore novel legal strategies such as fossil fuel “cessation” and examine the role of health and safety frameworks in addressing worker democracy and climate-change mitigation. This collection will resonate with scholars, students, policymakers and trade unionists interested in environmental labour studies, just transitions and the future of work. It offers vital lessons for navigating complex industrial transformations. Key features: Detailed case studies in critical sectors such as energy, construction, defence and manufacturing; A dynamic interdisciplinary fusion of human geography, political economy, sociology, industrial relations and law; Emphasis on worker agency, practical skill and grassroots adaptability amid intensifying climate impacts.

This open access book, edited and authored by a team of world-leading researchers, provides a broad overview of advanced photonic methods for nanoscale visualization, as well as describing a range of fascinating in-depth studies. Introductory chapters cover the most relevant physics and basic methods that young researchers need to master in order to work effectively in the field of nanoscale photonic imaging, from physical first principles, to instrumentation, to mathematical foundations of imaging and data analysis. Subsequent chapters demonstrate how these cutting edge methods are applied to a variety of systems, including complex fluids and biomolecular systems, for visualizing their structure and dynamics, in space and on timescales extending over many orders of magnitude down to the femtosecond range. Progress in nanoscale photonic imaging in Göttingen has been the sum total of more than a decade of work by a wide range of scientists and mathematicians across disciplines, working together in a vibrant collaboration of a kind rarely matched. This volume presents the highlights of their research achievements and serves as a record of the unique and remarkable constellation of contributors, as well as looking ahead at the future prospects in this field. It will serve not only as a useful reference for experienced researchers but also as a valuable point of entry for newcomers.

Media; Education

Without security, digital economies are not possible. This book shows that security in decentralised systems is not an end-state but the ongoing work of making insecurity legible. Through pre-agreed white hat rescue permissions, red-teaming drills, playbooks and incident command, communities govern what cannot be eliminated. Visibility of insecurity—via infrastructure for security responders to see, coordinate, and intervene—becomes the core lever for control. Anchored in a multi-year digital ethnography of the 'Security Alliance’ (SEAL), the analysis follows record-breaking blockchain hacks and incidents, as well as routine security hardening activities to trace how code, incentives and social norms interact under pressure. The contribution of this book is fourfold: (1) Reframing security as the socio-technical practices of legibility and coordination under persistent insecurity; (2) Mapping the blockchain security landscape; (3) Ethnographic case studies that surface the moral economies and boundary work of "white hat” hackers (4) Insight into the technical, social, legal, and economic security methods of decentralised technology communities. Treating insecurity as here to stay, the book challenges readers to re-think how security is conceptualised, practised, and governed in the digital era—and to consider how these lessons can inform more resilient digital systems.

"Finland-Swedish writer Monika Fagerholm is one of the most important contemporary Nordic authors. Her experimental, puzzling and daring novels, such as Underbara kvinnor vid vatten (1994) and Den amerikanska flickan (2004), have attracted much critical attention. She has won several literary awards, including the Nordic prize from the Swedish Academy in 2016; her works have travelled across national and cultural borders as they have now been translated in USA, Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia. Fagerholm’s wild and visionary depictions of girlhood have long had an impact on the Nordic literary landscape; currently, she has many literary followers among young female writers and readers in Finland and Sweden. Novel Districts. Critical Readings of Monika Fagerholm is the first major study of Fagerholm’s works. In this edited volume, literary scholars explore the central themes and features that permeate Fagerholm’s works and introduce novel ways to understand and interpret her writings. The book begins with an introduction to her life, letters and the minority literature context of her writing and briefly describes the scholarship on Fagerholm’s works. After that, Finnish and Swedish scholars and experts on Fagerholm scrutinize her oeuvre in the light of up-to-date literary theory. The insights, theories and concepts of gender, feminist and girlhood studies as well as narratology, poststructuralism, posthumanism and reception studies are tested in close readings of Fagerholm’s works published between 1990 and 2012. Thus, the volume enhances and deepens the understanding of Fagerholm’s fiction and invites the attention of readers not yet familiar with her work. The articles demonstrate the multitude of ways in which literary and cultural conventions can be innovatively re-employed within 20th and 21th century literature to reveal new perspectives on contemporary Finnish and Nordic literature and ongoing cultural and social developments."