Open Access Books

This edited volume explores conceptual and practical challenges in measuring well-being. Given the bewildering array of measures available and ambiguity regarding when and how to measure particular aspects of well-being, knowledge in the field can be difficult to reconcile. Representing numerous disciplines including psychology, economics, sociology, statistics, public health, theology, and philosophy, contributors consider the philosophical and theological traditions on happiness, well-being, and the good life, as well as recent empirical research on well-being and its measurement. Leveraging insights across diverse disciplines, they explore how research can help make sense of the proliferation of different measures and concepts while also proposing new ideas to advance the field. Some chapters engage with philosophical and theological traditions on happiness, well-being, and the good life; some evaluate recent empirical research on well-being and consider how measurement requirements may vary by context and purpose; and others more explicitly integrate methods and synthesize knowledge across disciplines. The final section offers a lively dialogue about a set of recommendations for measuring well-being derived from a consensus of the contributors. Collectively, the chapters provide insight into how scholars might engage beyond disciplinary boundaries and contribute to advances in conceptualizing and measuring well-being. Bringing together work from across often siloed disciplines will provide important insight regarding how people can transcend unhealthy patterns of both individual behavior and social organization in order to pursue the good life and build better societies.

Computer games have their basis in mainframe computers from the 1960s. Their spread among people came after the arrival of small (8-bit) home computers. In the beginning, their development was influenced by both the technical and program resources of these computers. These games usually form the first level of communication between a human and a computer. This situation is particularly striking for games on modern computers, game consoles, or smartphones. This book discusses modern approaches, procedures, and algorithms as well as devices in the field of computer game development, with a focus on both the influence of computer science on the development of computer games and the impact of computer games on the development of computer science. Among other things, the book explores virtual reality technologies and visualization, game cores (engines) and platforms, genres, formalizations, correct object-procedural graphic design, trends in interfaces and computer–player interaction, and the development of computer games.

Recent findings on phonetic detail have been taken as supporting exemplar-based approaches to prosody. Through four experiments on both produc tion and perception of both melodic and temporal detail in Neapolitan Italian, we show that prosodic detail is not incompatible with abstractionist approaches either. Specifically, we suggest that the exploration of prosodic detail leads to a refined understanding of the relationships between the richly specified and continuously varying phonetic information on one side, and coarse phonologically structured contrasts on the other, thus of fering insights on how pragmatic information is conveyed by prosody.

The Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, founded in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo d'Asburgo Lorena, is one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific museums in the world. The fourth volume on the Collections of the Mineralogy and Lithology Section, published like the previous volumes by the Firenze University Press, fits perfectly in the series dedicated to the collections of the University's Museum System. The first part of the book describes in great detail the paths that led to the formation of the collections, starting with those dating to the Medici period and arriving at the specimens collected during recent expeditions. The second part illustrates and documents the extraordinary specimens of minerals, hardstone carvings and meteorites which represent the material patrimony of this section. Particular attention is given to the holotypes, the Elban Collection and the minerals of pegmatites, as well as the methods and solutions adopted to realize the project of the new museum exhibition set-up. The third and last part describes the studies carried out on the materials: from the minerals of the systematic collections to the rock specimens that recount not only the geodiversity of a region but also the history of a city.

The article presents a literary picture of oriental flora and fauna outlined in chosen texts written in Polish from 16th to 17th century. The material is divided into two groups: first consists of primary writings, written by former slave, traveller and diplomats, the second are secondary writings created by diarist and author of handbook for potential slaves. Analyzed were following texts: The Conversation With a Turkish about a Christian Faith by Bartłomiej Georgiewicz, About the Beginnings, Arguments, Gallantry, the Knight and Home Affairs of the Famous Lithuanian Nation by Maciej Stryjkowski, Peregrination or Pilgrimage to the Holy Land by Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł, The Prevailing Legation by Samuel Twardowski, The Chronicle of Sarmatian Europe by Aleksander Gwagnin and The History of Turkey by Marcin Paszkowski. Worth considering were criteria of choice of described plants and animals (known — familiar and unknown — exotic; functioning wild or cultivated or breeded; existence or lack of existence of fantastic creatures and their function in text), differences in outlook of flora and fauna from the point of view of slave, traveller and diplomat and according to the image established in the secondary writings. Important was the range of author’s observations: whether it presented panorama or single object; whether it was conducted on land or from the sea or from the river. The way of description — the unknown they tried to present by means of comparisons to the known one. A description technique was applied that affects the senses of sight, hearing and smell. The observation was conducted over a narrative way of capturing a static object or moving to a static or remaining in move subject.

König Salomo ist schon in der Bibel eine schillernde Figur und wird in außerbiblischer Literatur zum Symbol für eine Vielzahl menschlicher Eigenschaften. Dieses Buch untersucht die Themen und Inhalte, die besonders häufig mit Salomo verknüpft werden. Im Zentrum stehen die biblischen Trauerspiele von F. G. Klopstock, die in der bisherigen Forschung im Vergleich zu seinem lyrischen und epischen Werk nur wenig Aufmerksamkeit gefunden haben. Klopstocks Salomo-Interpretation bietet ein anschauliches Beispiel dafür, wie Autor*innen nicht nur die Bibel im Kontext ihrer jeweiligen Zeit, sondern auch die Fragen ihrer Zeit im Licht der Bibel deuten.

Im 21. Jahrhundert sehen die Verfassungen zahlreicher lateinamerikanischer Staaten indigene Rechte auf territoriale Autonomie vor. Während viele Studien im Forschungsfeld diese Rechte vorwiegend als Anerkennung bestehender indigener Organisationsformen interpretieren, weist Michael Fackler auf den Veränderungsdruck hin, den staatliche Autonomievorstellungen beinhalten. Zu diesem Zweck untersucht er die Umsetzung indigener Autonomierechte in Bolivien. Seine detaillierte Ethnographie fokussiert auf Spannungen und Konflikte in der Aneignung rechtlicher Normsetzungen durch die lokale indigene Bevölkerung und legt die Vielschichtigkeit der Konstruktion staatlich-sanktionierter Autonomie offen.

Illégal, clandestin, hors marché, parallèle, alternatif..., tels sont quelques-uns des termes utilisés pour qualifier les activités regroupées habituellement sous le vocable d’« économie ». Les ethnologues et les sociologues dont les contributions sont réunies dans ce volume nous entraînent dans le vif des pratiques et des configurations de ce type d’économie. Migrants, communautés Emmaus, acteurs de systèmes et réseaux d’échanges locaux, brocanteurs ou pêcheurs à pied, tous travaillent « autrement ». Il peut s’agir d’économies choisies - où l’on tente de vivre et de produire de façon alternative-, mais aussi de modes de survie dans un monde économique subi. La logique du don se mêle aux relations marchandes et utilitaristes. Elles sont à l’œuvre sous d’autres formes : échanges de savoirs et de services, mobilisation des réseaux familiaux et ethniques, réhabilitation d’hommes désocialisés au moyen de la restauration et de la vente d’objets. On y parle d’économie informelle mais les pratiques peuvent y être formalisées : création d’une nouvelle monnaie, force contractuelle de la parole donnée... Autant de situations qui font la richesse anthropologique de ce monde mouvant dont les acteurs se retrouvent paradoxalement à la fois hors marché et économie officiels et en plein dedans, inventant à leur manière des mondes sociaux et économiques différents.

In an era where understanding demographic dynamics is crucial for shaping effective public policy and improving societal well-being, this edited volume explores contemporary demographic challenges across Africa and South Asia. Covering critical issues such as fertility variations, nosocomial infections, cancer incidence, mortality analysis, conflict dynamics, and the politicization of demographic narratives, the book offers perspectives that clarify the intricate interplay between demographics and societal trends. Readers will discover how ethnic governance influences fertility outcomes, the urgent need for effective and sustainable healthcare strategies in urban environments, and the demographic factors fueling conflict and instability. Additionally, the volume emphasizes the importance of addressing health disparities and the role of public awareness in cancer prevention. By equipping researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with a comprehensive understanding of these pressing issues, this book serves as an essential resource for those aiming to navigate the complexities of demographic research and its implications for diverse populations. Through its interdisciplinary approach and rich analysis, this volume not only highlights the challenges faced by specific regions but also proposes informed interventions that can lead to tangible improvements in quality of life.

How are Pacific lives imagined, written and read? How are they refracted through prisms of process? From legends about culture heroes to biographies of national leaders, from tales of ancestors to stories of contemporary men and women, from lives told of both the famous and the nameless, this collection of essays — by historians and anthropologists, Islanders and Island scholars — probes questions of personhood, identity, memory, and time across the sweep of the Pacific, as well as practical issues of research and writing.

Renewable energy and clean storage technologies are at the forefront of the world’s fight against climate change, including the UN-led move towards a carbon-neutral society. Because these complex technologies require more ‘critical’ metals and elements than fossil fuel-based technologies, the demands for raw materials in their manufacturing are skyrocketing and are projected to continue to increase into the foreseeable future.With ore grades on a steep decline, huge amounts of low-grade ores will have to be mined and processed to satisfy the world’s current and future demands for ‘critical’ metals and elements. Expansion of mining and mineral processing operations would mean more mining-related wastes—tailings, waste rocks and acid mine drainage (AMD)—notorious for their devastating and long-term destructive impacts on the environment. This Special Issue explored repurposing/reprocessing of tailings and AMD treatment cost reduction as promising alternatives to manage mine wastes more sustainably. It also includes articles on the critical roles of redox conditions and galvanic interactions on mine waste stability, hydrogeochemical controls on waste rock weathering, and climate change impacts on AMD formation in closed mines.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Shakespare and Montaigne are the English and French writers of the sixteenth century who have the most to say to modern readers. Shakespeare certainly drew on Montaigne's essay 'On Cannibals' in writing The Tempest and debates have raged amongst scholars about the playwright's obligations to Montaigne in passages from earlier plays including Hamlet, King Lear and Measure for Measure. Peter Mack argues that rather than continuing the undeterminable quarrel about how early in his career Shakespeare came to Montaigne, we should focus on the similar techniques they apply to shared sources. Grammar school education in the sixteenth century placed a special emphasis on reading classical texts in order to reuse both the ideas and the rhetoric. This book examines the ways in which Montaigne and Shakespeare used their reading and argued with it to create something new. It is the most sustained account available of the similarities and differences between these two great writers, casting light on their ethical and philosophical views and on how these were conveyed to their audience.

L'expérience de la Nouvelle-France et du Québec ancien a poussé à l'écriture des voyageurs, des missionnaires, des érudits, des savants et des sages. Les uns ont décrit cette partie du monde, son histoire, ses caractéristiques, ses peuples ; les autres en ont expliqué les dimensions du monde physique, de la vie ou de l'expérience humaine. De Lescarbot et Champlain à Charlevoix, les ouvrages des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, liés à l'exploration d'un nouveau monde et au contact avec des peuples très différents des Européens, sont à la fois géographiques, ethnologiques et historiques, mais l'histoire comme genre apparaît vraiment en 1845, avec F. X. Garneau. D'autres textes, de James Huston, d'Etienne Parent, de Léon Gérin, d'Ernest Gagnon, examinent la langue, la littérature et la culture ou encore les traits sociologiques du Canada français du XIXe siècle. La géologie avec William Logan, l'entomologie avec Léon Provancher et la médecine avec William Osier forment le contingent des sciences. La philosophie, la théologie et même la mystique, avec Marie de l'Incarnation, trouvent aussi leur voix dans cet ouvrage qui présente, avec un regard actuel, 27 véritables monuments intellectuels, aux origines de la tradition culturelle du Québec.

This is an open access book. Unique in its scope, this book provides for the first time a Southern European perspective on prehistoric wetland settlements and their natural environment. These are dwellings originally built in humid locations, i.e. on shores and in shallow water areas of lakes, bogs, marshes, rivers, estuaries and lagoons. The relevant archaeological remains are in most cases waterlogged and offer outstanding preservation conditions for organic materials and are moreover in close proximity to uninterrupted natural archives (e.g. lake or mire sediments), which allows for a broad range of transdisciplinary research approaches. The sites discussed in this book date from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (c. 5500–1000 BC), and are located in nine countries of Southern Europe, i.e. Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria. Four dimensions of prehistoric wetland settlements are explored in the book – the archaeological, the dendroarchaeological, the palaeoecological and the bioarchaeological: Part I is dedicated to archaeology, i.e. the excavation of settlement remains, their transdisciplinary exploration as well as their interpretation; Part II deals with dendroarchaeology and its contribution to the understanding of occupation sequences and regional chronologies; and Part III concerns uninterrupted off-site palaeoecological records of past ecosystem change, including human–environment interactions, as well as bioarchaeological on-site approaches to subsistence strategies and land use practices. Prehistoric Wetland sites of Southern Europe showcases how different disciplines and areas of expertise from the humanities and the natural sciences meet on an equal footing to elaborate coherent pictures of the past. Besides a cross-section of research statuses of different archaeological sites, currently ongoing research as well as novel, hitherto unpublished case studies and findings are made accessible to the international research community. Drawing on a wide range of expert contributions from both archaeology and the natural sciences, this book targets scholars, professionals, and students from the fields of prehistoric archaeology and palaeo-sciences, and is furthermore of interest to cultural-heritage stakeholders.

Les dénominations professionnelles comptent parmi les données les plus utilisées en histoire sociale. Cet ouvrage interroge leur formation et leurs usages, des premiers surnoms Issus de l’activité à la nouvelle classification socioprofessionnelle européenne. Fruit d’un colloque tenu à l’Université de Toulouse II en octobre 2008, le volume rassemble une vingtaine de contributions d’historiens, de sociologues, de statisticiens, de linguistes et de littéraires, dont l’objectif est de saisir, dans la perspective d’une sociologie historique pragmatique, les conditions d’élaboration des Identités professionnelles et des catégories qui les ordonnent (noms de métiers, avant-noms, titres et titulatures, statuts, fonctions). L’analyse des procédures d’inscription et d’enregistrement des désignations professionnelles permet ainsi de comprendre comment les acteurs sociaux négocient et recomposent en permanence le contenu de ces désignations. L’émergence d’un langage spécifique passant notamment par la construction de nomenclatures apparaît en définitive comme une donnée centrale de la formation d’une société du travail.