All organizations, institutions, business processes, markets and strategies have one aim in common: the reduction of transaction costs. This aim is pursued relentlessly in practice, and has been perceived to bring about drastic changes, especially in the recent global market and the cyber economy. This book analyzes and describes “transactions” as a model, on the basis of which organization…
Screens are ubiquitous today. They display information; present image worlds; are portable; connect to mobile networks; mesmerize. However, contemporary screen media also seek to eliminate the presence of the screen and the visibilities of its boundaries. As what is image becomes increasingly indistinguishable against the viewer’s actual surroundings, this unsettling prompts re-examination ab…
This first open access volume of the handbook series contains articles on the standard model of particle physics, both from the theoretical and experimental perspective. It also covers related topics, such as heavy-ion physics, neutrino physics and searches for new physics beyond the standard model. A joint CERN-Springer initiative, the “Particle Physics Reference Library” provides revis…
In September 2020, researchers from Armenia, Chile, Germany and Japan met at the American University of Armenia for a virtual conference to discuss technologies with applications in smart cities, data science and information theory approaches for intelligent systems, technical challenges for intelligent environments, smart human centered computing, artificial neural networks, and deep learning.…
This report presents the results and recommendations of a comprehensive study of the shadow economy in Serbia prepared by the Foundation for the Advancement of Economics for the USAID Business Enabling Project (BEP). The report is based on the results of an analysis of the relevant statistical data, information obtained from the Survey on Conditions for Doing Business carried out on a sample of…
his Open Access book presents a multidisciplinary perspective to increase our understanding of climate policies that are rooted in the natural moral inclinations of people, families and firms. Which policies prevent a widening gap between higher and lower educated people? Which policy instruments are there, and how could they be used? What is the role of free entrepreneurship?
Human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity are at last reaching the heart of global debates. Yet 78 states worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex sexual behaviour, and due to the legal legacies of the British Empire, 42 of these - more than half - are in the Commonwealth of Nations. In recent years many states have seen the emergence of new sexual nationalisms, leadi…
What is the purpose of social science? How can social science make itself relevant to the intractable problems facing humanity in the twenty-first century? The social sciences are under threat from two main sources. One is external, reflected in a global university crisis that imposes the marketization of higher education on the ancient practice of scholarship. The other, internal threat is soc…
A new era of innovation is enabled by the integration of social sciences and information systems research. In this context, the adoption of Big Data and analytics technology brings new insight to the social sciences. It also delivers new, flexible responses to crucial social problems and challenges. We are proud to deliver this edited volume on the social impact of big data research. It is one …
This open access book focuses on the interplay between random walks on planar maps and Koebe’s circle packing theorem. Further topics covered include electric networks, the He–Schramm theorem on infinite circle packings, uniform spanning trees of planar maps, local limits of finite planar maps and the almost sure recurrence of simple random walks on these limits. One of its main goals is t…
The women’s health movement shocked and scandalised when it burst into Australian politics in the early 1970s. It cast the light of day onto taboo subjects such as sexual assault, abortion and domestic violence, provoking outrage and condemnation. Some of the services women created for themselves were subjected to police raids; sex education material was branded ‘indecent’. Moreover, wome…
In Animal Rationality: Later Medieval Theories 1250-1350, Anselm Oelze offers the first comprehensive and systematic exploration of theories of animal rationality in the later Middle Ages. Readership: Everyone interested in medieval philosophy and psychology in general, as well as the history of the concept of animal rationality and of the animal/human boundary in particular.
Learning through the medium of a second or additional language is becoming very common in different parts of the world because of the increasing use of English as the language of instruction and the mobility of populations. This situation demands a specific approach that considers multilingualism as its core. Pedagogical translanguaging is a theoretical and instructional approach that aims at i…
This open access book explores cultural competence in the higher education sector from multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives. It addresses cultural competence in terms of leadership and the role of the higher education sector in cultural competence policy and practice. Drawing on lessons learned, current research and emerging evidence, the book examines various innovative appro…
This book explores the history of literature as a history of changing media and modes of communication from prehistory to the present. It argues that literature has evolved, and continues to evolve, in sync with material forms and formats that engage our senses in multiple ways. In telling the story of these connections, it combines an unusual bird’s eye view across periods with illuminating …
The starting point of this book is the acknowledgement that on one side Chinese individuals, freer from the constraints of the State, have to rely on their own efforts for their well-being and, on the other side, in some circumstances, they gather together to defend their interests. The individualisation of society goes hand in hand with the collective movements that emerged as a result of indi…
Da die älteren Monographien zum Thema, die vor über vierzig Jahren erschienene Arbeit von Kurt Stalder und die unveröffentlichte Dissertation von Olav Hanssen, keinen Forschungsbericht enthalten1 und auch die neueren Beiträge zum Thema (mit Ausnahme von E. D. Schmidt)2 die Forschungsgeschichte nicht darstellen, sei diese hier in der gebotenen Kürze skizziert. Dabei ist eine thematis…
This open access book addresses, for the first time, Islamic social work as an emerging concept at the interface of Islamic thought and social sciences. Applying a multidisciplinary approach it explores, on the one hand, the discourse that provides religious legitimisation to social work activities and, on the other hand, case studies of practical fields of Islamic social work including educati…