Open Access Books

Diversity in Leadership: Australian women, past and present provides a new understanding of the historical and contemporary aspects of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women’s leadership in a range of local, national and international contexts.

Published

This is the first interdisciplinary edited collection that examines the manifestation of social inequalities and polarisations in Britain throughout the dual crises of the Brexit vote and the Covid-19 pandemic. The volume demonstrates that Brexit and the pandemic are not self-contained events but rather are major ongoing processes that have impacted all aspects of British social and political life. Drawing on an array of empirical case studies conducted in the wake of the Brexit vote and during pandemic lockdowns, chapters trace how these processes illuminate, consolidate, and amplify existing and entrenched social inequalities and polarisations that shape the fabric of British society, including racial, ethnic, class, migrant, national, and gendered inequalities. The volume is divided into three parts centred on (a) the nation; (b) the community; and (c) the media. Each section draws on diverse analytical frameworks and methodological approaches from across the social sciences, arts, and humanities to provide empirically grounded critiques of reductive media-led narratives with the goal of accounting for and explaining the reproduction of social inequalities and emergence of polarisations in these Brexit pandemic times. In so doing, the case studies include critical analysis of lockdown novels; the speeches of political elites from across the political spectrum; ‘ordinary’ people’s everyday traditional and social media practices; as well as their opinions based on the findings of large-scale surveys and in-depth place-based ethnographic fieldwork conducted across rural, urban, and suburban areas of England. Each chapter also includes artwork by contemporary artist Helen Snell that complements, develops, and extends the book’s core themes and arguments.This collection will be insightful reading for students and academics across the social sciences, arts, and humanities (especially from the disciplines of sociology, politics, social anthropology, human geography, sociolinguistics, contemporary art, and literature) concerned with questions of social inequality and polarisation.

This open access book examines how Indigenous authors from the Soviet North reflect the impact of Soviet settler colonialism on Indigenous communities in the region through literary engagement with human–animal relations. Careful analyses of works by Iurii Rytkheu (Chukchi), Anna Nerkagi (Nenets), and Eremei Aipin (Khanty) address the authors’ responses to Soviet colonialism and forced assimilation, as well as the ways in which these processes altered Indigenous cultures and conceptualizations of nature and non-human animals. The book situates Indigenous authors and their texts within the cultural, political, and ideological context of the Soviet Union, while simultaneously drawing on a broad array of theoretical frameworks – posthumanism, new materialism, and postcolonial criticism – to guide its analysis. The wealth of theoretical perspectives makes the book of interest to scholars and students in Soviet literary studies, Russian and Eurasian studies, Indigenous studies, environmental humanities, human-animal studies, and Arctic Studies. In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the emerged call to decolonize Russian and Eurasian studies, Human-Animal Relations in the Indigenous Literatures of the Soviet North offers a timely and necessary re-evaluation of Russia’s colonial history in the Arctic region.

Sandy coasts, representing 40% of global shorelines, are essential for coastal defence and ecosystems. Natural solutions are increasingly studied to provide beach protection while enhancing ecosystem services, such as seagrass deposition on the coast. This study investigates the morphological evolution of a beach characterised by a low human impact, where Posidonia oceanica is present and forms banquettes. Fieldwork campaigns, including topographic surveys and drone mapping, were conducted over 1.5 years. A storm during one campaign led to the formation of extensive Posidonia banquettes, particularly in the southern part of the beach, a trend observed in all surveys. This distribution influenced erosion trends, with long medium-term analysis showing overall erosion, especially in northern areas with fewer banquettes and a dune retreat of around 3 meters. These findings highlight the critical role of Posidonia banquettes in protecting against dune erosion, at least locally, although significant erosion over 1.5 years occurred in the whole studied area, suggesting that further investigations are needed.

The monograph: 1) provides a brief overview of intonation research, articulatory and acoustic correlates of intonation, and preliminary insights into the possible prosodic hierarchy of the Lithuanian language; 2) analyses the acoustic properties of the phrase centre, which refers to the word in narrow focus or the one receiving phrasal stress; 3) delves into the acoustic and psychoacoustic characteristics of phrase junctions and edges, as well as the regularities of their perception; 4) examines the peculiarities of intonation marking for specific needs as well as for regular written text and provides recommendations; 5) analyses the relationship between intonation and punctuation in written language.

Bestseller-Romane und Hollywood-Streifen inszenieren die Visionen des Post- und Transhumanismus, während die ganz reale Arbeit und Freizeitgestaltung immer stärker durch die Digitalisierung und Automatisierung geprägt werden. Aus der Sicht des technologischen Posthumanismus ist der Mensch daher ein Auslaufmodell – überholt von seinen eigenen technischen Schöpfungen. Posthumane, künstliche Intelligenzen und Roboter sollen die neuen Triebkräfte der Evolutionsgeschichte werden, während die obsolete Menschheit in den kommenden drei Jahrzehnten aussterben wird. Der Verzicht auf sich selbst soll jedoch mit der Unsterblichkeit des Menschen in der Virtualität belohnt werden. Die zweite Auflage dieser preisgekrönten Studie wurde vollkommen überarbeitet und beleuchtet die vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen den philosophischen, literarischen, kybernetischen und religiösen Ideen der radikalen Fortschrittsideologie des Post- und Transhumanismus. Im Zentrum stehen dabei die kybernetische Neubestimmung des Menschen, die Singularität, die technologische Unsterblichkeit, die transzendente Superintelligenz und der Entwurf einer kosmischen Heilsgeschichte. Den Schnittpunkt der verschiedenen Analysestränge bildet die von Günther Anders entwickelte Idee der „prometheischen Scham” des Menschen vor seiner medialen Reproduktion – die vermeintliche Minderwertigkeit des „biologischen Menschen” gegenüber seinem unsterblichen, virtuellen Abbild.

This book offers an innovative analysis of Dante’s figurative language in relation to both the theoretical framework developed in his works and the discursive strategies realised in his poetry. In doing so, it also provides an overview of Medieval theories of figurative language, with their respective concerns and overlaps. The first part, composed of four chapters, explores how Dante discusses figurative language in a selection of crucial passages from Vita nova, De vulgari eloquentia, Convivio, the epistle to Cangrande, Monarchia, and the Commedia. Each of these passages is investigated with respect to the specific issues at stake in each work, thus tracing a clear progression in Dante’s thought on figurative language, which is mirrored by an increasingly complex and conscious metaphorical practice. Such issues are then contextualised in the wider picture of the various theories of figurative language established by different Medieval disciplines (artes poetriae; artes dictaminis; biblical exegesis; artes praedicandi; epistemology). The second part provides an in-depth analysis of metaphors in Dante’s Commedia, through a close reading of multiple case studies. This section presents the methodology adopted for the identification and classification of Dante’s metaphors, and its main outcomes in terms of both quantitative and qualitative data. Its three chapters explore the linguistic components of the metaphors (meaning shift, morphology, syntax), then their stylistic features (semantics and pragmatics), and finally their distribution and mutual connections. The contemporary approaches adopted throughout the book contribute to the increasing complexity of Medieval disciplines dealing with figurative language.

In this chapter, three types of phenomena (electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical) that can be investigated in individual III–V semiconductor nanowires with scanning probe microscope are presented. Transport measurements in GaAs nanowires based on stable electric connection provided opportunity to study individual vertical freestanding nanowires under gentle precisely controlled force. Latter approach appears superior to studies of horizontally fixed nanowires because studying vertical as‐grown nanowires avoids charge leakage into the substrate and impact of defects caused by breakage of nanowires. Principles of thermionic emission theory are used to characterize electrical effects in individual as-grown nanowires. Effects of SiO2 protective layer, surface passivation layers, illumination, and influence of sweeping rate of current‐voltage recording are analyzed. Elastic studies are performed for individual InP nanowires affixed at one end. Bending of the tapered nanowires with diameters of a narrow free end either 10 or 20 nm was performed under different loading forces. It allowed calculation of flexibility coefficient profiles along the nanowires’ axes. Improved numerical model for tapered nanowires leads to the finding of Young’s modulus of wurtzite InP material in nanowires. Piezoelectric measurements permitting registration of reverse piezo effect with opportunities of direct piezo response recording for individual wurtzite GaAs nanowires are briefly described.

In biofilms, microorganisms are able to communicate together and assemble by themselves, creating a consortium with different properties from the original free-floating microorganisms. In fact, biofilm cells bind strongly to a living or non-living surface, enclosed in a self-produced extracellular matrix that is composed of extracellular polymeric substances. One benefit of this lifestyle is the increased resistance or tolerance to antimicrobial agents (e.g., antibiotics). Hence, research on the development of alternative strategies to prevent and control biofilms is highly relevant for society in terms of human health, industry and the environment. Different approaches to prevent or control biofilms using antibiotic alternative strategies were submitted to this Special Issue.

Published

Do the current changes of both geographical and symbolic boundaries lead to the emergence of a world society? How do transnational migration, communication and worldwide economic and political networks manifest themselves in globalised modernity? This book presents innovative contributions to transnationalisation research and world society theory based on empirical studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Practicable methodologies complete theoretical inquiries and provide examples of applied research, which also might be used in teaching.

On Many Routes is about the history of human migration. With a focus on the Habsburg Empire, this innovative work presents an integrated and creative study of spatial mobilities: from short to long term, and intranational and inter-European to transatlantic. Migration was not just relegated to city folk, but likewise was the reality for rural dwellers, and we gain a better understanding of how sending and receiving states and shipping companies worked together to regulate migration and shape populations. Bringing historical census data, governmental statistics, and ship manifests into conversation with centuries-old migration patterns of servants, agricultural workers, seasonal laborers, peddlers, and artisans-both male and female-this research argues that Central Europeans have long been mobile, that this mobility has been driven by diverse motivations, and that post-1850 transatlantic migration was an obvious extension of earlier spatial mobility patterns. Demonstrating the complexity of human mobility via an exploration of the links between overseas, continental, and internal migrations, On Many Routes shows that migrations to the United States, to the nearest coalfield, and to the urban capitals are embedded within complicated patterns of movement. There is no good reason to study internal apart from transnational moves, and combining these fields brings ample possibility to make migration research more relevant for the much broader field of social and economic history. This work poses an invaluable resource to the understudied area of Habsburg Empire migration studies, which it relocates within its wider European context and provides a major methodological contribution to the history of human migration more broadly. The ubiquity and functionality of human movement sheds light on the relationship between human nature and society, and challenges simplistic notions of human mobility then and now.

Examines how primary social ties fueled economic growthSouth Korea's rapid industrialization occurred with the rise of powerful chaebǒl (family-owned business conglomerates) that controlled vast swaths of the nation's economy. Leader Park Chung Hee's sense of backwardness and urgency led him to rely on familial, school, and regional ties to expedite the economic transformation. Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea elucidates how a country can progress economically while relying on traditional social structures that usually fragment political and economic vitality. The book proposes a new framework for macro social change under late industrialization by analyzing the specific process of interactions between economic tasks and tradition through the state's mediation.Drawing on interviews with bureaucrats in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as workers and others, Yong-Chool Ha demonstrates how the state propelled industrialization by using kinship networks to channel investments and capital into chaebǒl corporations. What Ha calls "neofamilism" was the central force behind South Korea's economic transformation as the state used preindustrial social patterns to facilitate industrialization. Ha's account of bureaucracy, democratization, and the middle class challenges assumptions about the universal outcomes of industrialization.Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea is also available in an open access edition, DOI 10.6069/9780295753249

For several decades there has been functioning in the world science the term GIScience, among Polish researchers it appeared as the science of geoinformation. The publication recalls some of the most important philosophical concepts relevant to geographical sciences and geoinformation science. Many of them appeared before the first half of the twentieth century, i.e. in the time before the "digital and Internet revolution", therefore the discussion on the science of geoinformation takes into account the new challenges facing science and the new paradigms that are associated with it. These are closely related to the new technologies used in scientific research and the explosive growth of data. For this reason, aspects of the philosophy of science and technology are included in the publication. In the context of the division of geography into sub-disciplines, considerations on the short history of the development of geoinformation science in Poland from the scientific, didactic and organisational point of view are presented. They lead to the conclusion that it has a close relationship with geographical sciences and other disciplines and belongs to the group of disciplines understood as multi-, inter- or transdisciplinary sciences. This may mean that it is not possible to define for it a single pattern of rational research conduct, accepted by the majority of its representatives. Its development in historical, social, technical and political and spatial contexts has been and continues to be highly diverse. This causes some difficulties in discussing its development. However, it can be said that at the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the academic community representing GIScience worldwide appears as a group of scientists aware of its scientific potential. Among them are researchers from Poland who, within the framework of geographical sciences, start a conversation about the possibilities of developing geoinformation science in Poland.