Open Access Books - Social Sciences and Humanities - 2016 and earlier
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PublicationA Sociology of Transnational Constitutions: Social Foundations of the Post-National Legal Structure( 2016)Chris ThornhillThis volume focuses on the rise of transnational constitutional laws, primarily created by the interaction between national and international courts and by the domestic transformation of international law. Through detailed analysis of patterns of institutional formation at key historical junctures in a number of national societies, it examines the social processes that have locked national states into an increasingly transnational constitutional order, and it explains how the growth of global constitutional norms has provided a stabilizing framework for the functions of state institutions. The book adopts a distinctive historical-sociological approach to these questions, examining the deep continuities between national constitutional law and contemporary models of global law. The volume makes an important contribution to the sociology of constitutional law, to the sociology of post-national legal processes, and to the sociology of human rights law
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PublicationChild Abuse and Neglect - A Multidimensional Approach( 2012)Alexander Muela Aparicio (editor)Child maltreatment constitutes a social problem that affects all societies of the world. A recent study by the World Health Organisation points out that millions of children suffer some form of maltreatment and require medical and social attention. Therefore, child maltreatment is not a new phenomenon; it has been around since the beginning of time. Child maltreatment is recognized as an important psychopathological risk factor and is associated with poor psychological function in childhood and adolescence and adulthood. The aim of this book is to address the issue of child abuse and neglect from a multidimensional perspective. The reader will find a selection of internationally recognized works addressing the issue of child maltreatment both from theoretical and applied view.
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PublicationContested Justice: The Politics and Practice of International Criminal Court Interventions( 2015)Edited by Christian De Vos, Sara Kendall, Carsten StahnThis timely, perceptive book brings together leading scholars and practitioners to reflect on the field of international criminal justice through focusing on a singular institution: the International Criminal Court (ICC). Drawing on a range of experience, empirical work, and normative theory, it seeks to come to grips with a remarkable development-the creation of a permanent, international court meant to adjudicate mass crimes-through assessing the ICC's work in practice, given now more than a decade of experience to explore
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PublicationCurrent Topics in Children's Learning and Cognition( 2012)Heidi Kloos, Bradley Morris, Joseph Amaral (editors)As a whole, the essays in this book address theoretical and empirical issues related to children's learning and cognition. The first essay, titled Learning in Cognitive Niches, treats the process of sense making on a theoretical level, discussing the complexity of factors that give rise to children's learning. It is followed by an essay, titled Using the Dynamics of a Person-Context System to Describe Children's Understanding of Air Pressure, that applies ideas from complexity science and dynamics-systems theory to children's learning about science. The next four essays summarize and synthesize already published findings, in an effort to go beyond individual viewpoints and present a more nuanced picture of children's sense making. In particular, two of these summaries, Preschoolers Learning Science: Myth or Reality? and The Emergence of Scientific Reasoning, focus on children's ability to make sense of their physical environment. The essay Cognition and the Child Witness: Understanding the Impact of Cognitive Development in Forensic Contexts seeks to shed light on children's sense making relevant to forensic issues. And the essay Beyond the Black-and-White of Autism: How Cognitive Performance Varies with Context ventures in the area of autism, a disorder that demonstrates atypical processes of combining pieces of information. The final two essays provide original data to add to the discussion of what factors affect cognitive functioning. In particular, the essay Cognitive Fitness in Young Adult Video Game Players seeks to re-assess the often-assumed relation between video gaming and various aspects of thinking, memory, intelligence, and visual-spatial abilities. And the essay Impact of Moving Away from Home on Undergraduate Metacognitive Development explicitly connects life circumstances to the ability to monitor and control one's thinking. Together, the collection of essays are a further step towards understanding the process of sense making as children and young adults interact with their environment.
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PublicationEmotional Intelligence - New Perspectives and Applications( 2012)Emotional intelligence is an emerging construct for applied research and possible interventions, both in scholastic, academic and educational contexts, organizational contexts, as well as at an individual level in terms of people's well-being and life satisfaction. From the presented contributions, it emerges how this volume is characterized by an interest to give an international overview rich of stimuli and perspectives for research and intervention, in relation to a promising variable of current interest, such as emotional intelligence. The goal is that this book further contributes to the affirmation of a particularly promising variable, such as emotional intelligence, which requires a greater interest and attention in both research and application field.
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PublicationEuropean Elites and Ideas of Empire, 1917–1957( 2016)Dina GusejnovaWho thought of Europe as a community before its economic integration in 1957? Dina Gusejnova illustrates how a supranational European mentality was forged from depleted imperial identities. In the revolutions of 1917 to 1920, the power of the Hohenzollern, Habsburg and Romanoff dynasties over their subjects expired. Even though Germany lost its credit as a world power twice in that century, in the global cultural memory, the old Germanic families remained associated with the idea of Europe in areas reaching from Mexico to the Baltic region and India. Gusejnova's book sheds light on a group of German-speaking intellectuals of aristocratic origin who became pioneers of Europe's future regeneration. In the minds of transnational elites, the continent's future horizons retained the contours of phantom empires
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PublicationFormulation in Action. Applying Psychological Theory to Clinical Practice( 2015)David Dawson and Nima MoghaddamWhen people seek psychological support, formulation is the theory-driven methodology used by many practitioners to guide identification of the processes, mechanisms, and patterns of behaviour that appear to be contributing to the presenting difficulties. However, the process of formulating – or applying psychological theory to practice – can often seem unclear. In this volume, we present multiple demonstrations of formulation in action – written by applied psychologists embedded in clinical training, research, and practice. The volume covers a range of contemporary approaches to formulation and therapy that have not been considered in extant works, and includes unique sections offering critical counter-perspectives and commentaries on each approach (and its application) by authors working from alternative theoretical positions.
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PublicationGoverning Failure: Provisional Expertise and the Transformation of Global Development Finance( 2014)Jacqueline BestTraces an important shift in international development policy as global institutions have become preoccupied with policy failure
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PublicationHistorical Roots of Psychopathology( 2016)Diogo Tlles CorreiaNew advances of the neuroscience supported by a refined, reliable and valid phenotyping (e.g., at the level of symptoms and not at the level of disorders), are bringing some promising results. The mapping of clinical phenomenology on specific brain dysfunction is now becoming plausible and the resulting functional psychopathology may in the future significantly replace the present nosology (Jablensky, 2010). Nevertheless, as Andreasen (2007) points out: “Applying technology without companionship of wise clinicians with specific expertise in psychopathology will be a lonely, sterile and perhaps fruitless enterprise.” Some of the chapters of this Ebook deal with aspects which are essential to the historical understanding of mental symptoms and disorders.
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PublicationHuman Development - Different Perspectives( 2012)Maria Lucia Seidl-De-Moura (Editor)Human development has different meanings depending on the area we focus on. To the psychologists it is the ontogenetic process of individual development. It considers systematic psychological changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. To sociologists and economists, among others, the main consideration is the macro-level of countries or regions and their development conditions related to human needs. Our book has two parts. The first one is entitled "Development in the ontogenesis" and it consists of three chapters whilst the second is "Human development: contextual factors", also including 3 chapters. Together, the two parts give the readers a panoramic view of very complex subjects and complement each other. Researchers of ontogenetic development cannot ignore that contextual factors are the basis of this process. On the other hand, social scientists worried about the macro variables need to remember that they are dealing with people, who are affected one way or another by those variables and whose development is the product of biology and culture.
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PublicationLaw of Wills( 2016)Browne C. Lewis"The purpose of this casebook is to train law students to think and act like probate attorneys. This book is meant to be used in conjunction with the author's book on the law of trusts. This book's focus is problem-solving and legal application; the book includes numerous problems, so law students can learn to apply the law they learn from reading the cases. It also contains collaborative learning exercises to encourage students to engage in group problem-solving. The book is divided into three parts to reflect the main types of issues that students will encounter if they practice probate law. The book's organization mirrors the manner in which probate law is practiced in the real world. The book starts with an examination of the intestacy system because the majority of people die without executing a will. Therefore, most of the legal issues a probate lawyer faces center around the intestacy system. Unlike the typical wills casebook, this book provides a detailed discussion of the intestacy system. A chapter on ethics is included because probate attorneys encounter ethical issues that are different from attorneys practicing in other areas of law. The second part of the book includes an exploration of the testacy system. It is arranged so professors can lead students from the client interview to the will execution. The first three chapters of this section deal with issues that directly impact the existence of the inheritance system. It analyzes a person's ability to control the disposition of his or her property after death. This serves as the students' first introduction to the power of the “dead hand”. These chapters are included to start a public policy discussion about the rights of the dead, the right of heirs, and the necessity of an inheritance system. I tell my students that, when executing a will, they must think of the ways that it can be contested. In addition, I tell them that a will can be contested on two fronts-an attack on the testator and an attack on the will. Two chapters in this part highlight the ways that the testator's ability to execute a valid will may questioned. The final chapters in this unit show the issues that can be raised to dispute the validity of the will. They also explain the different types of wills that are available. The final part of the book deals with non-probate transfers. These chapters are included to show students the other devises that people can use to distribute their property. That knowledge is important because the majority of people use these procedures to transfer their property. At the end of the semester, my students have to draft a will based upon a fact pattern that I give them. I intentionally include non-probate property in order to see if they will attempt to distribute that using the will."
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PublicationLearning Disabilities( 2012)Phakkharawat Sittiprapaporn (editor)Learning disability is a classification that includes several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner. Depending on the type and severity of the disability, interventions may be used to help the individual learn strategies that will foster future success. Some interventions can be quite simplistic, while others are intricate and complex. This book deserves a wide audience; it will be beneficial not only for teachers and parents struggling with attachment or behavior issues, but it will also benefit health care professionals and therapists working directly with special needs such as sensory integration dysfunction.
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PublicationLiterary Coteries and the Making of Modern Print Culture: 1740–1790( 2016)Betty A. SchellenbergLiterary Coteries and the Making of Modern Print Culture, 1740-1790 offers the first study of manuscript-producing coteries as an integral element of eighteenth-century Britain's literary culture. As a corrective to literary histories assuming that the dominance of print meant the demise of a vital scribal culture, the book profiles four interrelated and influential coteries, focusing on each group's deployment of traditional scribal practices, on key individuals who served as bridges between networks, and on the aesthetic and cultural work performed by the group. Literary Coteries also explores points of intersection between coteries and the print trade, whether in the form of individuals who straddled the two cultures; publishing events in which the two media regimes collaborated or came into conflict; literary conventions adapted from manuscript practice to serve the ends of print; or simply poetry hand-copied from magazines. Together, these instances demonstrate how scribal modes shaped modern literary produc
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PublicationPrint, Publicity, and Popular Radicalism in the 1790s: The Laurel of Liberty( 2016)Jon MeeJon Mee explores the popular democratic movement that emerged in the London of the 1790s in response to the French Revolution. Central to the movement's achievement was the creation of an idea of 'the people' brought into being through print and publicity. Radical clubs rose and fell in the face of the hostile attentions of government. They were sustained by a faith in the press as a form of 'print magic, ' but confidence in the liberating potential of the printing press was interwoven with hard-headed deliberations over how best to animate and represent the people. Ideas of disinterested rational debate were thrown into the mix with coruscating satire, rousing songs, and republican toasts. Print personality became a vital interface between readers and print exploited by the cast of radicals returned to history in vivid detail by Print, Publicity, and Popular Radicalism
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PublicationPsychology - Selected Papers( 2012)Gina Rossi (editor)This book represents a selection of chapters that address several topics from the broad domains of psychology: alcoholism, clinical interventions, treatment of depression, personality psychology, qualitative research methods in psychology, and social psychology. As such we have interesting blend of studies from experts from a diverse array of psychology fields. The selected chapters will take the reader on an exciting journey in the domains of psychology. We are sure the content will appeal to a great audience.
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PublicationThe History Manifesto( 2014)Jo Guldi, David ArmitageThe History Manifesto arose from many discussions about the future of history, the return of the longue durée, and the role of academics in public culture. Jo Guldi recalls Jeremy DuQuesnay Adams and David Nirenberg planting the seeds for the argument of the book; David Armitage likewise remembers exchanges with Alison Bashford and Darrin McMahon as pivotal for his own thinking.
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PublicationThe Myth of Piers Plowman: Constructing a Medieval Literary Archive( 2014)Lawrence WarnerAddressing the history of the production and reception of the great medieval poem, Piers Plowman, Lawrence Warner reveals the many ways in which scholars, editors and critics over the centuries created their own speculative narratives about the poem, which gradually came to be regarded as factually true. Warner begins by considering the possibility that Langland wrote a romance about a werewolf and bear-suited lovers, and he goes on to explore the methods of the poem's localization, and medieval readers' particular interest in its Latinity. Warner shows that the 'Protestant Piers' was a reaction against the poem's oral mode of transmission, reveals the extensive eighteenth-century textual scholarship on the poem by figures including the maligned Chaucer editor John Urry, and contextualizes its first modernization by a literary forger inspired by the 1790s Shakespeare controversies. This lively account of Piers Plowman challenges the way the poem has traditionally been read and understood
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PublicationThe Peacebuilding Puzzle: Political Order in Post-Conflict States( 2016)Naazneen H. BarmaThis book explains why international post-conflict interventions have fallen short of the weighty aspirations they embody. It reframes the peacebuilding puzzle by presenting a new theory of how domestic elites construct political order during and after peacebuilding interventions. A comparative analysis of the UN's transformative peacebuilding attempts in Cambodia, East Timor, and Afghanistan shows that while international peacebuilders want to build effective and legitimate government, domestic elites essentially do not. As is the case in much of the developing world, post-conflict elites use strategies to prioritize their own political survival and power that result in a neopatrimonial political order that better delivers on their goals. Peacebuilding interventions thus generate a set of unintended yet predictable effects. In all three cases, the UN's efforts at peacebuilding through elite settlement followed by a process of simultaneous statebuilding and democratization were co-opted by a small subset of domestic power-holders who successfully closed down the political space and stunted state capacity. To be sure, each of these countries is better off than before the peace operations. Yet the goals of intervention have not truly been met. Instead, there are striking similarities in the patterns of neopatrimonial order that emerge in the aftermath of intervention. This book makes the case that the peacebuilding approach is, at least in part, itself responsible for the eventually disappointing governance outcomes that emerge in post-conflict countries
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PublicationThe Psychosomatic Assessment( 2012)Fava, G.A. , Sonino, N.Patient reported outcomes have become more and more important in clinical practice and research. Evaluating subjective perceptions of patients has become mandatory for a full assessment of treatment responses. In this context, clinimetrics, the science of clinical measurements, provides unprecedented opportunities for psychosomatic assessment. This volume illustrates how this approach can be translated into everyday practice complementing and improving the medical interview. The most sensitive and reliable clinical methods are presented for evaluating specific psychosocial aspects of disease, i.e. childhood adversities, life events and chronic stress, lifestyle, sexual function, subclinical and affective disturbances, personality, illness behavior, well-being and family dynamics. Each chapter provides practical illustrations as to how crucial information can be obtained with specific methods individualized according to the patients’ needs.