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The end of the world – that’s what heading into the twenty-first century looks like with on the one hand, increasing inequalities, states powerless against economic globalization, and an upsurge in forms of nationalism; and on the other hand, man-induced climate change and the depletion of non-reproducible natural resources. But just what is a world and which world is it that is coming to an end? This is the question this essay on social and human sciences sets out to answer. Various worlds have come and gone throughout history. The one that is ending right now is not ‘the modern world’ but merely a “first modernity” world. It rests on the pairing of a particular cosmology and an equally particular ideal of justice. That cosmology is dualistic, separating humankind from Nature which is looked upon as resources to be drawn on at will. The ideal of justice, consists in a mode of justification of the ‘right’ social norms for each nation, retaining those that are favorable to economic growth and in distributing the output of this growth to the population. Although the world is currently in crisis, it is not the end of history. This book sets out two blueprints – one reformist, one revolutionary – for what can be termed second modernity. The reformist blueprint, to which the author’s preference goes, saves a place for each Nation. It imparts a new direction to European construction that might shift its current geographical borders. This ground plan for re-founding social democracy is meant as an alternative to the dead-ends of left-wing neoliberalism, which vindicates economic globalization without political globalization. The future materialization of that plan is dependent neither on chance nor on necessity but on a collective action that must be both bottom-up and top-down. The hope is that this book will contribute to that action by forging a vision that can fill the void that has arisen with the failure of revolutionary socialism and the exhaustion of reformist socialism.

Le libertinage du xviiie siècle, à présent bien connu et objet d’une fascination partagée, possède une face moins visible : son versant féminin, bordé d’ombre. Sans doute les femmes ont-elles été inévitablement intégrées à ce paysage de la galanterie mais c’est plutôt comme silhouettes interchangeables, aux traits confus, qu’elles s’y installent. Le libertin occupe toute la place, bouchant la vue : prédateur à la Valmont ou à la Lovelace, insatiable séducteur à la Casanova, homme « à bonnes f...

This book unpacks and interrogates dominant constructions of mothering, making use of interdisciplinary, ideological and theoretical perspectives to investigate how new rhetorics of mothering can expand the realm of maternal care-givers beyond the biological definitions of motherhood. This diverse collection is at the cutting-edge of rhetoric, feminism, and motherhood studies, and the chapters challenge the confines of biological parenting as heteronormative within the neo-liberal nuclear family. The contributors examine, how despite the diversity of parental relationships, many are excluded by the understanding of mothers biologically tied to their children. The volume seeks to expose the underpinnings of biological primacy and argues that 21st-century families and familial circumstances are ill-served by biological ideology. Topics include Re-Imagining Queer Black Motherhood, Chicana Feminist approaches to reproductive justice, the commercialization and medicalization of infertility, and ableism and motherhood. This is a unique and fascinating book suitable for students and scholars in gender studies, sexuality studies, communication studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

This chapter is about the science of evidence synthesis: the way that academics bring together knowledge from across multiple studies into a whole, to present the state of current understanding about a given area. While scientists have been doing this for centuries in the form of literature reviews, the advent of ‘evidence informed’ decision-making over the past 30-40 years has forced academics to develop a form of literature review that was demonstrably the sum of available knowledge in its area (rather than providing a partial and potentially biased picture). The key challenge methodologically has been in providing useful and useable evidence that can inform decisions, whilst not compromising on the high standards that usually need to be met to make claims about causality. Addressing this challenge has required the evolution of new research methods across multiple disciplines - something that seems likely to continue into the future.

By the end of the 19th century, British imperial medical officers and Christian medical missionaries began to introduce Western medicine to Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan. Their Footprints Remain uses archival sources, personal letters, diaries, and oral sources in order to tell the fascinating story of how this once-new medical system became imbedded in the Himalayas. Of interest to anyone with an interest in medical history and anthropology, as well as the Himalayan world, this volume not only identifies the individuals involved and describes how they helped to spread this form of imperialist medicine, but also discusses its reception by a local people whose own medical practices were based on an entirely different understanding of the world.

A change from a consumer society to a sustainable and conserver society must focus on for the welfare of the planet and future generations through balance rather than by maximizing the exploitation of resources. This will bring about further growth as an option for both per capita consumption and the population. Muddled and tepid responses make it clear that the society has not developed a vision of what a truly sustainable society looks like. It is essential to bring awareness to the possibility of creating a sustainable society which will incorporate sustainable development goals (SDGs) to generate a future with more possibilities. In order to move towards a sustainable society, it is vital to provide the highest standard of wellbeing, from an environmental, human, and economic perspective. We can contribute by providing technical and scientific studies that can be accessed freely and implemented by all. These works cover the important parameters that can be addressed to achieve sustainability, such as being energetically sustainable, resource-sustainable, environmentally sustainable, fiscally sustainable, and socially sustainable.

Excellence, qualité, proactivité, autodiagnostic, normalisation, processus, juste-à-temps, zéro défaut, bonnes pratiques, équipe projet, kaizen. Cette déferlante de mots aux consonances parfois américano-japonaises a marqué les entreprises depuis les années 1990, avant de se diffuser dans les autres types d'organisation. D’où, vient ce discours ? Par quels moyens pénètre-t-il dans l’entreprise ? Comment expliquer son succès, sa généralisation, sa diffusion ? les salariés, principaux destinataires, le comprennent-ils ? En quoi change-t-il les rapports au travail et à l'entreprise ? Présentés dans une abondante littérature et par des experts (consultants) comme efficaces, rationnels voire inexorables, le discours managérial - ainsi que les pratiques qui lui sont associées - devraient a priori concilier enfin les intérêts des salariés et ceux de leur hiérarchie. Or, l’enquête ethnologique, menée par l’auteur pendant plusieurs années dans une agence de communication parisienne, contredit la réussite de cette métamorphose du monde du travail. L’analyse de la collecte des propos des managers et des réactions de leurs subordonnés révèle que le pouvoir de ce discours réside précisément dans sa capacité à rester incompris et son autorité dans celle d’imposer sa supériorité statutaire.

This book examines the phenomenon of athlete activism across all levels of sport, from elite and international sport, to collegiate and semi-pro, and asks what this tells us about the relationship between sport and wider society. With contributions from scholars around the world, the book presents a series of fascinating case studies, including the activism of world-famous athletes such as Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Raheem Sterling. Covering a broad range of sports, from the National Football League (NFL) and Australian Rules, to fencing and the Olympic Games, the book sheds important light on some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including gender, power, racism, intersectionality and the rise of digital media. It also considers the financial impact on athletes when they take a stand and the psychological impact of activism and how that might relate to sports performance. It has never been the case that ‘sport and politics don’t mix’, and now, more than ever, the opposite is true. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the politics or sociology of sport, the politics of protest, social movements or media studies.

With daily signals, Nature is communicating us that its unconscious wicked exploitation is no more sustainable. Our socio-economic system focuses on production increasing without considering the consequences. We are intoxicating ourselves on a daily bases just to allow the system to perpetuate itself. The time to switch into more natural solutions is come and the scientific community is ready to offer more natural product with comparable performance then the market products we are used to deal with. This book collects a broad set of scientific examples in which research groups from all over the world, aim to replace fossil fuel-based solutions with biomass derived materials. In here, some of the most innovative developments in the field of bio-materials are reported considering topics which goes from biomass valorization to the synthesis of high preforming bio-based materials.

Over the years, natural products such as essential oils have been gaining more and more prominence due to their perceived health benefits. Plants rich in essential oils represent a viable source of biomolecules for use in the most varied human activities, such as agricultural, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical applications. Essential oils are natural volatile fractions extracted from aromatic plants that are formed by classes of substances such as fatty acid esters, mono and sesquiterpenes, phenylpropanoids, and aldehyde alcohols, and in some cases, aliphatic hydrocarbons, among others. In this context, this book includes twelve chapters that present new information on the extraction and application of essential oils in various industrial segments. It is divided into three sections that discuss the general concepts of essential oils and techniques for their extraction, topics in food science and technology, and essential oils and their pharmacological properties in various activities and applications.

How do definitions of literacy in the academy, and the pedagogies that reinforce such definitions, influence and shape our identities as teachers, scholars, and students? The contributors gathered here reflect on those moments when the dominant cultural and institutional definitions of our identities conflict with our other identities, shaped by class, race, gender, sexual orientation, location, or other cultural factors. These writers explore the struggle, identify the sources of conflict, and discuss how they respond personally to such tensions in their scholarship, teaching, and administration. They also illustrate how writing helps them and their students compose alternative identities that may allow the connection of professional identities with internal desires and senses of self. They emphasize how identity comes into play in education and literacy and how institutional and cultural power is reinforced in the pedagogies and values of the writing classroom and writing profession.

In recent years, many technologies for gait and posture assessments have emerged. Wearable sensors, active and passive in-house monitors, and many combinations thereof all promise to provide accurate measures of physical activity, gait, and posture parameters. Motivated by market projections for wearable technologies and driven by recent technological innovations in wearable sensors (MEMs, electronic textiles, wireless communications, etc.), wearable health/performance research is growing rapidly and has the potential to transform future healthcare from disease treatment to disease prevention. The objective of this Special Issue is to address and disseminate the latest gait, posture, and activity monitoring systems as well as various mathematical models/methods that characterize mobility functions. This Special Issue focuses on wearable monitoring systems and physical sensors, and its mathematical models can be utilized in varied environments under varied conditions to monitor health and performance

This book explores the disjuncture that emerges at various levels in European diversity management policies and their translation into practice. It shows that state-wide strategies can only guide diversification outcomes, not wholly control them, and in practice, national level integration policies rely on multi-level involvement including authorities at regional or local levels and civil society organisations. The book demonstrates a complex and varied picture of the ways in which different European countries engage with ethnic diversity, as well as to the internal (in)consistency of the philosophical underpinnings of this engagement. As such, it draws attention not just to ways in which diversity "is done," but illuminates processes and narratives which are messy, contested, and contradictory. This book is of key interest to scholars, students, and practitioners involved in integration, ethnic and cultural diversity studies, migration and immigration, citizenship, ethnicity, and more broadly to European studies, and the wider social sciences.

With upwards of 4.5 million deaths worldwide each year, and more than one tenth of these occurring in those with no previously documented heart disease, sudden arrhythmic death (SAD) is both a major public health burden and a highly emotive issue for society at large. Recent years have witnessed a marked expansion in our knowledge of the physiology underlying SAD, both in the context of hereditary and acquired cardiac disorders. Thanks largely to work in genetically modified animals, the growth in our understanding of mechanisms underlying arrhythmia in the hereditary channelopathies has been particularly marked. Our growing knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms underlying SAD has so far failed to spur substantial developments in clinical practice. Despite a large body of work in both humans and animals, it remains impossible to confidently identify those at high risk of SAD, making pre-emptive therapy a challenge. What is more, with the thankful exception of the implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and pharmacological agents in very specific situations, there has been depressingly little progress in finding new and effective therapies. This Research Topic aims to go some way towards bridging the gap between advances in basic science and the development and delivery of new therapies. It brings together original research contributions and review articles from key opinion leaders in the field, focusing on the direct clinical implications of the basic science research now and in the future.