Humanities & Social Sciences

From the Editorial Introduction: "If the first volume of Speculations was enough of an explicit wager, a willing blind leap in the terra incognita of the publishing world, then this volume forces us to stop and evaluate the reasons for the journal’s protracted existence. This is all the more important when we consider how the range of meanings of the term ‘speculative realism’ seems to be growing—with increasing numbers of thinkers situating themselves in its trail, or holding a somewhat cautious interest in it—while its e ective reference seems nowhere to be found. …"

The purpose of this book is to highlight novel advances in the field and to incentivize scientists from a variety of fields to pursue angiogenesis as a research avenue. Blood vessel formation and maturation to capillaries, arteries, or veins is a fascinating area which can appeal to multiple scientists, students, and professors alike. Angiogenesis is relevant to medicine, engineering, pharmacology, and pathology and to the many patients suffering from blood vessel diseases and cancer, among others. We are hoping that this book will become a source of inspiration and novel ideas for all.

This book tells the story of how modern environmentalism emerged in postwar Sweden. It shows that the ‘environmental turn’ in Sweden occurred as early as the autumn of 1967 and that natural scientists led the way. The most influential was the chemist Hans Palmstierna, who was both an active Social Democrat and a regular contributor to the nation’s leading morning paper. Thus, he had a unique platform from which to exert influence. Drawing on his rich and previously untapped personal archive, the book explores how popular environmental engagement developed in Sweden. The book also highlights the journalist Barbro Soller, who in the mid-1960s became Sweden’s – and indeed one of the world’s – first environmental journalists. Moreover, it demonstrates how the pioneering historian Birgitta Odén, in collaboration with the Swedish National Defence Research Institute, sought to launch an interdisciplinary research programme based in the humanities and the social sciences as early as 1967–1968. An important conclusion of the book is that environmentalism emerged in Swedish society before there was an actual environmental movement. However, from 1969 onwards new social movements began to alter the dynamics. Hence, by the time the United Nations arranged the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972, environmental knowledge had become a source of conflict between rival interests. The environmental turn in postwar Sweden is the first full-length study to emerge from the Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge (LUCK), and demonstrates how its specific take on the history of knowledge enhances historical scholarship.

Alongside transparency, sustainability, and digitalization, the issue of participation is uniquely influencing the work done by institutions of culture and memory. Museums and memorials are familiar with participation, as they are often founded as the result of citizens’ special engagement. This volume focuses on the collection strategies employed by historical and Jewish museums, and institutions that heavily integrate public participation.

Like a language, food is a witness to the tradition and to the identity of a human group, reflecting self-representation and social interaction. Assyrians developed a particular consciousness of commensality as a vehicle for cultural messages. This book investigates institutional banquets and ritualized meals in the Neo-Assyrian period. Through a philological analysis on commensality, integrated with historical and iconographic data, it offers a new perspective on the Mesopotamian society of the first millennium BCE.

A wide range of governmental policies characteristic of the modern state seek to reduce individuals’ fatality risks. Risk, Death, and Well-Being provides a rigorous treatment of the ethics of fatality risk regulation. It does so through the lens of welfare-consequentialism—specifically, lifetime welfarism, with a particular focus on utilitarianism and prioritarianism. At the level of policy choice, the book deploys the social-welfare-function (SWF) framework—which is the most systematic decision-procedure for implementing lifetime welfarism.

Gegenstand des interdisziplinären Open-Access-Bandes ist die Videoplattform TikTok, die als eines der meistgenutzten Sozialen Netzwerke große gesellschaftliche Relevanz entfalten konnte und insbesondere in (außer-)schulischen Bildungsbereichen eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle spielt. Nach anfänglichem Alarmismus einerseits und Marginalisierung als reines Spaßmedium andererseits wird TikTok insbesondere in internationalen Forschungskontexten längst als kulturwissenschaftlicher Gegenstand ernst genommen. Die auf TikTok zu beobachtenden kommunikativen Praktiken und Genres, in denen aktuelle Ereignisse und Diskurse in plattformtypischer Weise verhandelt und performativ in Szene gesetzt werden, führen stärker noch als andere Soziale Medien die Zeichenmodalitäten Bild, Ton und Sprache zusammen und eröffnen dadurch neue Optionen der Vermittlung, der diskursiven Aneignung und der sozialen Repräsentation. Die grundlegenden Affordanzen der Plattform, insbesondere die Möglichkeit, zu bestehenden Sounds neue Videos zu produzieren, begünstigen dabei einen stark von Intertextualität, Intermedialität und Imitation geprägten Modus von Inszenierung und Performance, der im Anschluss an neuere Forschungen zu digitalen (Bild-)Praktiken als Memefication bezeichnet werden kann. Der Band fragt deshalb danach, wie sich das multimodale Mediensetting von TikTok im Spannungsfeld von Memefication und Performance zu einer charakteristischen Form vernetzter Öffentlichkeit ausgestaltet und welche Vermittlungsoptionen in verschiedenen Praxisfeldern sich hierbei ergeben. Dafür werden unterschiedliche wissenschaftliche Perspektiven gebündelt, welche die Videoplattform als empirischen Untersuchungsgegenstand erschließen und hierfür geeignete theoretische Konzepte und methodische Zugänge entwickeln. Inhaltlich umfasst der Band Beiträge aus den Sprach-, Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaften, der Film- und Musikwissenschaft, der Ingenieurswissenschaft sowie didaktischen und erziehungswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen,die in drei Teilen miteinander in Bezug gesetzt werden: Neben TikTok-spezifischen digitalen Praktiken gilt das Interesse dem Status der Plattform in Vermittlungs- und Bildungskontexten sowie in der Wissenschaftskommunikation.

This book outlines the results of the 2018 archaeological survey at Tawi Said, located on the edge of the Sharqiyah desert in the Sultanate of Oman. The surveyed area of 150 x 125 m yielded close to 8,600 artifacts, with pottery sherds comprising the majority of the finds. Additional discoveries include shells, lithic tools, copper production waste, jewellery and fragments of soft-stone vessels. Of particular interest are two stamp seals, one of which bears a resemblance to the seals of Dilmun style. Two significant phases are attested by the finds from Tawi Said: the Wadi Suq period (2000-1600 BCE) and the Late Islamic period (1650-1970 CE). Together with other discoveries, the Dilmun-inspired stamp seal illustrates the interconnectedness of Tawi Said in interregional exchange during the Wadi Suq period. The connectivity of the Late Islamic period is similarly evidenced by imported pottery, glass bangles and other artefacts. The absence of architectural remains suggests that Tawi Said was a temporary place used by mobile groups throughout its existence.

Die Studie vollzieht die Entwicklung des polnischen historischen Selbstbildes in Bezug auf den Zweiten Weltkrieg nach, wie es in Geschichtsmuseen über einen Zeitraum von drei Jahrzehnten hinweg bis in die Gegenwart repräsentiert und generiert wird. Berücksichtigt werden dabei insbesondere das Zusammenspiel von inneren und äußeren Fremd- und Feindbildern: Darstellungen der deutschen Besatzer, der sowjetischen Angreifer und »Befreier« ebenso wie des Schicksals der jüdischen Bevölkerung des Landes. Die diachronen und synchronen Analysen von musealen Dauerausstellungen in fünf regionalen Zentren Polens verbinden methodische Zugänge der Ethnologie mit geschichtswissenschaftlichen Ansätzen. Die Studie legt mit ihrer Hilfe Brüche ebenso wie Kontinuitäten in den historischen Narrativen über (geschichts-)politische Zäsuren hinweg offen. Sie gewährt zudem einen intensiven Einblick in das breite Spektrum der Neuverhandlungen polnischer Vergangenheit, wie sie seit Beginn des polnischen Museumsbooms 2004 zu beobachten sind.

Der russische Angriffskrieg in der Ukraine hat die europäische Sicherheitsarchitektur zum Einsturz gebracht. Das Friedensgutachten 2022 analysiert die Eskalation, zeigt Folgen für die Ukraine und die Region auf und richtet den Blick auf die Neuausrichtung der deutschen und europäischen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik. Neben den globalen Implikationen des Krieges werden auch die Erfolgsbedingungen und Grenzen von Sanktionen dargelegt sowie die Krise der globalen nuklearen Ordnung analysiert. Darüber hinaus zeigen die Untersuchungen zum globalen Konfliktgeschehen, dass internationalisierte Konflikte, dschihadistische Gewaltakteure sowie Gewalt und Diskriminierung gegen Frauen und LGBTQI*-Minderheiten neue friedenspolitische Akzente erfordern. Und die wegen Terrorgefahr, Pandemie und Extremismus stetig ausgeweiteten Kompetenzen der Sicherheitsinstitutionen im Innern der Demokratien bedürfen ebenfalls stärkerer demokratischer Kontrolle. Das Friedensgutachten 2022 analysiert das Kriegs- und Konfliktgeschehen, zeigt Trends der Außen-, Sicherheits- und Entwicklungspolitik auf und gibt friedenspolitische Empfehlungen für Bundestag und Bundesregierung. Mit seinen konkreten Handlungsempfehlungen ist das Gutachten ein zentrales Medium für den Dialog zwischen Wissenschaft, Gesellschaft und Politik. Die deutschen Friedensforschungsinstitute (BICC/HSFK/IFSH/INEF) geben das Gutachten seit 1987 heraus.

Owing to their unique magnetic, phosphorescent, and catalytic properties, rare earths are the elements that make possible teverything from the miniaturization of electronics, to the enabling of green energy and medical technologies, to supporting essential telecommunications and defense systems. An iPhone uses eight rare earths for everything from its colored screen, to its speakers, to the miniaturization of the phone’s circuitry. On the periodic table rare earth elements comprise a set of seventeen chemical elements (the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium). There would be no Pokémon Go without rare earths. Rare Earth Frontiers is a work of human geography. Klinger looks historically and geographically at the ways rare earth elements in three discrete but representative and contested sites are given meaning.

The construction industry is currently witnessing a transformative period characterized by the convergence of the green and digital transitions. The green transition seeks to address environmental challenges such as climate change and resource depletion, while the digital transition leverages advanced technologies to enhance construction processes. This paper specifically explores the integration of green roofs, as component of sustainable buildings, into the Building Information Modeling (BIM) framework, a key enabler of the digital transition. Green roofs, known for their environmental benefits, consist of layers that contribute to energy efficiency, stormwater management, and biodiversity enhancement. To optimize their design and performance, this research employs Dynamo Visual Programming Language (VPL) within Autodesk Revit to create parametric models of green roofs. These models facilitate the evaluation of thermal and structural characteristics under varying water content conditions (dry and saturated). Results reveal that the choice of substrate and drainage materials significantly impacts thermal resistance, particularly in dry conditions. However, in saturated conditions, the influence on thermal performance converges, emphasizing the importance of structural considerations in both scenarios. The research also highlights various limitations and outlines avenues for future studies, including expanding the range of materials, exploring additional performance metrics, and incorporating AI and machine learning techniques. By addressing these aspects, this research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the integration of green roofs and BIM. It provides designers and researchers with a practical tool for optimizing green roof designs, aligning with contemporary sustainable construction practices, and promoting the holistic development of green buildings

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This volume in the Contemporary Anarchist Studies series focuses on anti-statist critiques in ancient and modern China and demonstrates that China does not have an unchallenged authoritarian political culture. Treating anarchism as a critique of centralized state power, the work first examines radical Daoist thought from the 4th century BCE to the 9th century CE and compares Daoist philosophers and poets to Western anarchist and utopian thinkers. This is followed by a survey of anarchist themes in dissident thought in the People's Republic of China from 1949 to the present. A concluding chapter discusses how Daoist anarchism can be applied to any anarchist-inspired radical critique today. This work not only challenges the usual ideas of the scope and nature of dissent in China, it also provides a unique comparison of ancient Chinese Daoist anarchism to Western anarchist. Featuring previously untranslated texts, such as the 9th century Buddhist anarchist tract, the Wunengzi, and essays from the PRC press, it will be an essential resource to anyone studying anarchism, Chinese political thought, political dissent, and political history.

This book provides a multi-disciplinary understanding of pathways into and out of youth cybercrime, and evidence-led ways to tackle the cybercrime epidemic, drawing on theoretical perspectives and insights from the largest European H2020 study of youth cybercrime undertaken to date. As societies are incorporating cyberspace into daily routines, people are increasingly at risk of exposure to cybercriminal activity. Many young people today are never truly offline; there is no dichotomy of being online and offline. This exposure – coupled with the criminogenic potential of digital technology – has led to an explosion of cybercrime perpetration and victimisation; impacting youth in particular. This book seeks to address critical gaps in knowledge, support evidence-based interventions, and inform future digital safety and prevention strategies by bringing together research, policy discussions, and the voices of experts, convicted cybercriminals, and young people. It draws upon key theoretical perspectives and new research conducted in the context of a H2020 project exploring the drivers of cybercrime. It is underpinned by the voices of the youth, experts, and convicted cybercriminals who took part, whose perspectives are key to shaping evidence-led recommendations for policy and practice. This book is intended for academics, frontline professionals, policymakers, child protection professionals, law enforcement, and technology developers committed to creating safer digital environments for children and young people. 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.

La inclusión es un tema de gran actualidad en muchos ámbitos de la vida contemporánea. Son muy amplios los sectores en los que se viene observando un considerable aumento de la sensibilidad social acerca de las circunstancias y condiciones en que se produce. El presente libro tiene dos intereses centrales: analizar la relación entre personas con y sin diversidad funcional en los textos culturales a través de los tres términos clave inclusión, integración, diferenciación; y estudiar en los textos concretos cómo se tratan o incluso se practican la inclusión, la integración y la diferenciación. El campo de estudio se orienta hacia el corpus de los textos literarios, teatrales y audiovisuales.