Open Access Books

In this topical book older people's volunteering is studied in eight European countries at the structural, macro, meso and micro levels. Overall it highlights how different interactions between the levels facilitate or hinder older people's inclusion in voluntary work and makes policy suggestions for an integrated strategy.

This book provides some recent advances in design nanometer VLSI chips. The selected topics try to present some open problems and challenges with important topics ranging from design tools, new post-silicon devices, GPU-based parallel computing, emerging 3D integration, and antenna design. The book consists of two parts, with chapters such as: VLSI design for multi-sensor smart systems on a chip, Three-dimensional integrated circuits design for thousand-core processors, Parallel symbolic analysis of large analog circuits on GPU platforms, Algorithms for CAD tools VLSI design, A multilevel memetic algorithm for large SAT-encoded problems, etc.

An Introduction to Quantitative Text Analysis for Linguistics: Reproducible Research Using R is a pragmatic textbook that equips students and researchers with the essential concepts and practical programming skills needed to conduct quantitative text analysis in a reproducible manner. Designed for undergraduate students and those new to the field, this book assumes no prior experience with statistics or programming, making it an accessible resource for anyone embarking on their journey into quantitative text analysis. Through a pedagogical approach which emphasizes intuitive understanding over technical details, readers will gain data literacy by learning to identify, interpret, and evaluate data analysis procedures and results. They will also develop research skills, enabling them to design, implement, and communicate quantitative text analysis projects effectively. The book places a strong emphasis on programming skills, guiding readers through interactive lessons, tutorials, and lab activities using the R programming language and real-world datasets. This practical textbook is enriched with features that facilitate learning, including thought and practical exercises, a companion website that includes programming demonstrations to develop and augment readers’ recognition of how programming strategies are implemented, and a GitHub repository that contains both a set of interactive R programming lessons and lab exercises, which guide readers through practical hands-on programming applications. This textbook is an essential companion to any linguist looking to learn how to incorporate quantitative data analysis into their work. 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.

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.

Computer science

Der Staat und seine Untergliederungen beteiligen sich häufig durch Aktiengesellschaften oder Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung am Privatrechtsverkehr. Dies führt immer wieder zu Konflikten mit öffentlich-rechtlichen Vorgaben aus dem Verfassungs-, Haushalts- und Beamtenrecht, aber auch aus dem kommunalen Wirtschaftsrecht. Wie die konkurrierenden Regelungsregime aufeinander abgestimmt und miteinander verzahnt werden können, ist Gegenstand einer anhaltenden Diskussion zwischen Gesellschaftsrecht und öffentlichem Recht. Der vorliegende Band erschließt den aktuellen Forschungsstand in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz und zeigt zukünftige Entwicklungsperspektiven auf. Im Einzelnen erörtert werden die Rolle von Aktiengesellschaften in der Corporate Governance des Staates, verfassungs- und verwaltungsrechtliche Einwirkungen auf das Kapitalgesellschaftsrecht, der Pflichtenrahmen für Vertreter von Gebietskörperschaften in Aufsichts- oder Verwaltungsrat, die Rolle des Staates als Konzernspitze, die Public Corporate Governance Kodizes, die Golden-Shares-Rechtsprechung des EuGH zur unionsrechtlichen Kapitalverkehrsfreiheit sowie spezialgesetzliche Aktiengesellschaften schweizerischer Provenienz.

One of the first ethnographic studies to explore use of social media in the everyday lives of people in Tamil Nadu, Social Media in South India provides an understanding of this subject in a region experiencing rapid transformation. The influx of IT companies over the past decade into what was once a space dominated by agriculture has resulted in a complex juxtaposition between an evolving knowledge economy and the traditions of rural life. While certain class tensions have emerged in response to this juxtaposition, a study of social media in the region suggests that similarities have also transpired, observed most clearly in the blurring of boundaries between work and life for both the old residents and the new.

The Novel’s Knowledge focuses on the changing functions and epistemologies of the novel in the era of commercial, digital, and social media. The volume also argues that while the functional role of the author in the contemporary media world is evolving, the social relevance of the author as an intellectual has remained relatively unaltered. The contributors are interested in how authors of fictional, autofictional, documentary, and graphic novels take advantage of other media forms, and how the varying modes of the contemporary Finnish novel relate to different modes of knowing and ways of presenting the world. The case studies concern themselves with history and memory, the environment and multiculturalism, and practices of writing and reading, among other themes. In a twenty-first-century reality, substantially influenced by social media, fictional literature should be regarded as one considerable mode of knowledge production, the novel still serving as a vital form of cultural expression.

Auf welchem Grund ruhen Demokratien und ihre politischen Ordnungen? Was sind die Quellen von Einigkeit, wie die Bedingungen von Einigung? Und liegt der Demokratie ein Konsens als Fundament zugrunde oder bringt sie ihn erst hervor? Tobias Braun nimmt den Begriff des »politischen Konsens« als Ausgangspunkt und sondiert damit die Grundlagen und Spannungen moderner und postmoderner Demokratietheorien, u.a. von Fraenkel, Barber und Habermas sowie Mouffe und Nancy. Er zeigt auf, was für Rückschlüsse aus dem Fehlen des »Einen« in Bezug auf die innertheoretische Funktion konsensualer Annahmen gezogen werden können – und beantwortet die Frage, ob der Konsens einer bestimmten Kultur entstammt oder das Ergebnis politischen Streits ist.

This monograph proposes a reconstruction of the lexicon, the morphophonology and the noun class system of Proto-Fula–Sereer (~3500 BP). Fula–Sereer represents one of the six branches of the North-Atlantic group. North-Atlantic, together with the Bak group of languages, forms the Atlantic family, which represents a separate branch within the Niger-Congo macro-family. The lexical reconstruction of the proto-language of a group such as Fula–Sereer requires the solution of a number of questions that are of interest for the general theory of comparative studies. These questions deal with the morphophonological mutations of root-initial consonants. Since consonant mutations were structured into morphological paradigms already at the Proto-Fula–Sereer stage, the evolution of initial consonantism in Fula and Sereer was based not on regular phonetic changes, but on massive irregular analogous changes. The reconstruction of Proto-Fula–Sereer consonant mutations is given in Chapter 2. In Chapters 3-6 the author proposes a reconstruction of the initial consonants. Next, the reconstruction of final consonants (Chapter 7) as well as vowels (Chapter 8) is given. In Chapter 9, taking in account the lexical cognates, the long-standing problem of the PFS noun class reconstruction is rediscussed. The Appendix provides a list of ~720 lexical reconstructions and their approximate meanings.

Vaccinating Britain shows how the British public has played a central role in the development of vaccination policy since the Second World War. It explores the relationship between the public and public health through five key vaccines – diphtheria, smallpox, poliomyelitis, whooping cough and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). It reveals that while the British public has embraced vaccination as a safe, effective and cost-efficient form of preventative medicine, demand for vaccination and trust in the authorities that provide it has ebbed and flowed according to historical circumstances. It is the first book to offer a long-term perspective on vaccination across different vaccine types. This history provides context for students and researchers interested in present-day controversies surrounding public health immunisation programmes. Historians of the post-war British welfare state will find valuable insight into changing public attitudes towards institutions of government and vice versa.

Kernaufgabe der Grundschule ist die Förderung der Lern- und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung aller Schüler:innen. Gerade für die Sozialentwicklung ist jedoch bislang nur unzureichend geklärt, welche Heterogenitätsmerkmale der Schüler:innen Bildungsbenachteiligungen bergen und welche Qualitätsmerkmale des Unterrichts förderlich wirken. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht diese Fragen mit Blick auf die soziale Kompetenz und die soziale Integration im dritten Schuljahr. Auf Grundlage einer multiperspektivischen Längsschnittuntersuchung werden Effekte ausgewählter Heterogenitäts- und Unterrichtsqualitätsmerkmale auf die Entwicklung der sozialen Kompetenz und Integration der Schüler:innen geprüft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen: Unter den Heterogenitätsmerkmalen können eine niedrige soziale Herkunft und v.a. ein besonderer pädagogischer Förderbedarf die soziale Entwicklung erschweren, während ein Migrationshintergrund keine Entwicklungsnachteile zeigt. Auf Ebene des Unterrichts erweisen sich die Unterstützung des Autonomie- und vor allem des Eingebundenheitserlebens als zentrale Förderfaktoren, wohingegen die Unterstützung des Kompetenzerlebens positive Sozialbeziehungen vorauszusetzen scheint. Die Befunde liefern wichtige Impulse für die inklusive Unterrichtsentwicklung und die Professionalisierung von Lehrkräften für den inklusiven Umgang mit Heterogenität.

In homage to Prof. Riccardo Del Punta, this essay analyses the rules for parental leave and time off from the labour relationship due to right to family care. This issue is faced by analysing the legislation that deals with working hours and time off and parental leave. The A., following the path designed by the scholars, tries to configure a unique and general framework for time off and parental leave, by focusing on the objectives of protection. Moreover, the time off and parental leave for the right to care, in many cases, are not binding but, on the contrary, they are the workers’ free choice. This characteristic discourages the use of the right to care, and weakens it. After the transposition of dir. n. 2019/1158/EU, the two subjective dimensions (parents and carers) of the right to care are considered as one. However, the national legislation continues tracing two different schemes for the protection of the right to care, ignoring that the reasons of care are strictly connected with the life of the workers, and with their needs. Finally, the A. suggests that to achieve the effectiveness and efficacy of the rules of the right to care, it is necessary to promote a paradigm shift following the scheme suggested at the EU level.

The Wakhi people live in the remote areas of the high Pamir mountains. Their original homeland is situated in the Wakhan Corridor in the Badakhshan region, and is divided by the border between southeast Tajikistan and nordeast Afghanistan. They also inhabit the mountainous areas in northern Pakistan and western China. The Wakhi language belongs to the Pamir sub-group of Eastern Iranian languages and is spoken by about 58,000 people in the above-mentioned four countries. The discourse of Wakhi as spoken in Tajikistan has not yet been the subject of analysis. This study is an attempt to identify the features of the fundamental narrative structure of Wakhi oral stories. The analysis of narrative genres recorded in the Wakhan valley in Tajikistan is based on Labov & Waletzky’s (1967) and Labov’s (1972 and 1997) models. The first part examines the properties of temporal sequence and narrative clauses, and concludes that two sets of narrative tense-aspect forms are found throughout Wakhi oral narratives: simple past tense for eyewitness accounts, and non-past alternating with perfect for non-eyewitness narratives. In the second part, the overall structure of the Wakhi oral narrative is examined, to define the properties of each of the narrative stages (abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution, and coda) and of the transitions between them. A separate chapter is dedicated to evaluation, which may be present explicitly, as a comment made by the narrator by stepping out of the narrative frame, or as part of the narrative frame, either embedded in direct speech or expressed implicitly using a range of internal evaluative devices. The final part starts a discussion on further aspects of narrative as presented by Labov (1997), namely reportability, credibility, causality, the assignment of praise and blame, and objectivity, that can direct possible future research beyond the narrative frame and into areas of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. The study is complemented by a corpus of twenty-one transcribed, glossed, and translated Wakhi stories, representing various narratives genres described in the study.

This open access book is the proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Biomineralization (BIOMIN XIV) held in 2017 at Tsukuba. Over the past 45 years, biomineralization research has unveiled details of the characteristics of the nano-structure of various biominerals; the formation mechanism of this nano-structure, including the initial stage of crystallization; and the function of organic matrices in biominerals, and this knowledge has been applied to dental, medical, pharmaceutical, materials, agricultural and environmental sciences and paleontology. As such, biomineralization is an important interdisciplinary research area, and further advances are expected in both fundamental and applied research.