In many European countries, there has been a decline in the agricultural labour force, providing a major challenge for the rural economy and society. This book provides an analysis of rural employment dynamics in European Union (EU) member states.
This widely successful title supports the reader in working with groups through a variety of exercises and group-dynamic work models. People who work with groups and teams in a wide variety of fields such as health and education, human resources, and team building will find many exercises as well as models showing different phases and the development of group dynamics. The book’s 10 chapters cover many different aspects and stages of group processes such as the beginning of a seminar, training of observational skills, communicative competence and feedback, cooperation and competition, group decisions and group conflicts, and many more. Each chapter contains an introduction to the topic, eight main exercises (with many variants) and working papers. On the enclosed CD-ROM, numerous materials that can be used in performing the exercises are provided for printing. For:• psychologists• medical professionals• social scientists• social workers• coaches
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Burkina Faso’s religious landscape, where traditional, Islamic and Christian religions intersect, is part of a social and historical context spread over several centuries marked by a diversity that has been studied by researchers for a long time. As the security situation deteriorates in recent years in the Sahel region, the religious question is increasingly being redefined and placed at the forefront of the Burkinabe socio-political scene. This collective work offers readers a synthesis of the knowledge accumulated by researchers over the past decades on the different religions and the social dynamics associated with them to shed light on the management of the country’s religious diversity and coexistence without masking the new tensions and conflicts being experienced. The first part of the book thoroughly explores the religious movements and currents present in the country to underline the centrality of religion in understanding social change in its polity. In the second part, the interactions between religions are analyzed across current transversal themes and questions, such as education, demography, politics, the role of faith-based NGOs, the historicity of the notion of jihad or the use of new information and communication technologies to show the connections within the construction of knowledge and political contexts. The contributions acutely show that recent socio-political dynamics in Burkina Faso are undoubtedly redefining religious boundaries and exposing the limitations of a historically and socially rooted contexts of diversity, yet the question remains on how to draw on this diversity and religious coexistence to confront new emerging tensions and conflicts.
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For large-scale agroecosystems, patterns of pest population increases (graded increases or abrupt outbreaks) and declines (graded suppression or abrupt crashes) vary considerably and are influenced by factors within crop fields and across broader landscape scales. Better understanding of pest population dynamics and the implications of spatial interactions on the function and development of pest management approaches are the main themes of this important book. The book builds from a 60+ year history of field-based pest management by focusing on the drivers of pest management in large-scale agroecosystems and the landscape-scale processes that affect these drivers and contribute to variation in pest outbreaks and suppression. These drivers include abiotic and biotic influences such as weather, spatial composition and arrangement of landscape elements, and widely applied managed inputs such as planting and crop rotation schedules, crop varietal selection, and land and soil conservation efforts. The book introduces general concepts, opportunities, and challenges of arthropod management in large-scale agroecosystems. Case studies from major field crop-based agroecosystems are used to present research approaches and improve understanding and management of pest and beneficial insects in large-scale agroecosystems. Specific research findings are provided on multi-trophic interactions within the system as influenced by climate, landscape, and other ecological, agricultural, and social/economic components of the agroecosystem. The book concludes with a synthesis of these concepts and prospectus for future research and developments in arthropod management in large-scale, plant-based agroecosystems. The book is essential reading for researchers in applied entomology and ecology and for pest management practitioners.
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The development of computer simulation models is an important growth area in both pure and applied ecology. The opportunity that mathematical models provide to integrate the components of an ecosystem, results in the ability to make quantitative predictions about the future behaviour of that system, or of elements within it. This means that they are powerful tools with wide applications and enormous potential for increasing our understanding of natural systems and our ability to use them in a sustainable way. This book is, almost uniquely, a complete account of one such model, the Hurley Pasture Model, a dynamic, deterministic, mechanistic simulation model for grassland, which has been developed by the author over some twenty years, in collaboration with scientists at several centres. Firstly, the rationale and theoretical elements of this type of model are described. An overview of the Hurley grassland simulator and the derivation and construction of its plant, animal, soil and litter, water, and environment and management components is then given. Next, the model is evaluated by a series of long and short-term dynamic simulations and steady state responses, which demonstrate how predictions can be made about the effects of, for example, climate change or particular regimes of fertilizer application, grazing or cutting. This book will be of great value to grassland agronomists and modellers, crop physiologists and plant ecologists, and to students of ecology as a case study of a plant ecosystem model. It will also be of interest to other ecologists and environmentalists and those in the field of computer modelling and its applications.
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The book studys the translation of Panwang Dage, a great Yao epic, from Chinese to English. It initially illustrates the text from linguistic level and cultural level, providing the basis for the use of translation strategies and methods focusing on oral literature of the southern ethnic minorities in China. Further, the author conducts theoretical interpretation and derivations, and puts forward some new ideas, like "dynamic equivalence of domestication and foreignization", "progressive translation based on cultural memes", etc., which can work in the translation of Chinese folk classics, especially the epics of southern China.
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This book presents a comparative perspective on the new dynamics of electoral competition following devolution to Scotland and Wales. It brings together leading experts on elections, political parties and regional politics from Britain, Europe and North America to explore the dynamics and interactions of national and regional arenas of electoral competition. Chapters include theoretical reflections on the relationship between regional and national elections, and a range of country case studies. The aim of the non-British case studies is to establish both empirical benchmarks and a framework for analysis for exploring the dynamics of electoral competition, the adaptation of party strategies and the nuances of voting behaviour that the UK is likely to encounter in a situation where new Welsh and Scottish elections flank general elections to Westminster. The final section of the book offers detailed discussion of these multi-level electoral dynamics now at play in the UK. ;
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The 'overtourism' phenomenon is defined as the excessive growth of visitors leading to overcrowding and the consequencial suffering of residents, due to temporary and often seasonal tourism peaks, that lead to permanent changes in lifestyles, amenities and well-being. Enormous tensions in overtourism affected destinations have driven the intensification of policy making and scholarly attention toward seeking antidotes to an issue that is considered paradoxical and problematic. Moving beyond the 'top 10 things you can do about overtourism', this book examines the evolution of the phenomenon and explores the genesis of overtourism as well as the system dynamics underpinning it. With a rigorous scientific approach the book uses systems-thinking and contemporary paradigms around sustainable development, resilience planning and degrowth; while considering global economic, socio-political, environmental
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This book provides a synthesis of plant-soil-plant interactions in agroforestry, intercropping and grass-legume interactions. It focuses on the process level, which is relevant to many types of multi-species agroecosystem. It also links basic research to practical applications in a wide range of systems with or without trees, and considers effects of global change on below-ground interactions. The contents include soil biodiversity and food webs, phosphorus dynamics and mobilization by plants, and crop and tree root-system dynamics. The book will be of significant interest to researchers in plant, crop and soil sciences as well as agroforestry.
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Paedophilia continues to be a public and emotive topic in contemporary Britain which is capable of generating great and varying levels of interest, concern and condemnation. The child at risk charts these social responses and unravels their underlying dynamics through detailed empirical research and theoretical analysis. Anneke Meyer looks beyond the media and 'moral panics' for explanations of emotive social responses and the paradox pervading them (the paradox of increased regulation, of paedophiles and children, coinciding with continuing popular concern). Drawing on and developing a wide range of theoretical frameworks, the book identifies a number of dynamics which produce concern and renders regulation designed to reduce fears ineffective. These dynamics include the moral rhetoric of childhood and the exposition of the crisis of neo-liberalism and conceptualisations of 'the paedophile' as a dangerous pervert. As a result the book points beyond its immediate subject and furthers understanding in the areas of risk, childhood and governance, as well as collective concerns and emotions. It will be essential reading in sociology, media studies and for those interested in media representation and governance. ;
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Ralph Metzner, PhD,unveils common dynamics and archetypesof the transformative experience.
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This is the first book to consider the difference women MPs make for women constituents in Britain by comparing women parliamentarians' activities, priorities and perceptions to those of their male colleagues. It uncovers complicated gender dynamics that have been neglected in other works because of an exclusive focus on the activities of women MPs, and mounts a systematic challenge to the idea that a critical mass of women is necessary for women's presence to matter. By comparing the representation received by women from a parliament with few women to that received from a parliament with many women, Anna Dionne leads the reader to understand why numbers are not magic. Her empirical research includes interviews with over eighty parliamentarians in London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the amassing of an unprecedented and comprehensive database of representatives' legislative activities. She compares how men and women and different political parties introduce and support bills and motions, ask parliamentary questions, participate in committee and floor debates, and work behind the scenes for cross-party consensus and on constituency casework. The analysis considers gender similarities and differences throughout the policy process and explains the gender dynamics with a new sensitivity to their fluctuation. ;
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State of enmity explores how relations of hatred and enmity played political and social roles in the early modern Kingdom of Naples. Exploring the pervasive notion of enmity and practices of reconciliation, the book provides new insight into the social dynamics of southern Italy in the early modern period. In particular, widespread banditry and the violent tenor of local politics are analysed through a wide variety of criminal trials and other sources.
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This book provides a critical investigation of what has been termed the 'global justice movement'. Through a detailed study of a grassroots peasants' network in Asia (People's Global Action), an international trade union network (the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers) and the Social Forum process, it analyses some of the global justice movement's component parts, operational networks and their respective dynamics, strategies and practices. The authors argue that the emergence of new globally-connected forms of collective action against neoliberal globalisation are indicative of a range of place-specific forms of political agency that coalesce across geographic space at particular times, in specific places, and in a variety of ways. Rather than being indicative of a coherent 'movement', the authors argue that such forms of political agency contain many political and geographical fissures and fault-lines, and are best conceived of as 'global justice networks': overlapping, interacting, competing, and differentially-placed and resourced networks that articulate demands for social, economic and environmental justice. Such networks, and the social movements that comprise them, characterise emergent forms of trans-national political agency. The authors argue that the role of key geographical concepts of space, place and scale are crucial to an understanding of the operational dynamics of such networks. Such an analysis challenges key current assumptions in the literature about the emergence of a global civil society. ;
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Humanity has been acting and playing roles from time immemorial. The book explores theatre as an elusive, floating art and outlines the evolving dynamics between the actors, director, costume designer, composer and the public. How did the relationship between actor and spectator change with time? This is an illustrated history of theatre from Ancient Greece till the present. Opera and ballet, puppet shows and street theatre, Noh and kabuki theatre, Shakespeare, Stanislavsky and Meyerhold.
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The 3rd edition of Seeds: The Ecology of Regeneration in Plant Communities highlights the many advances in the field of seed ecology and its relationship to plant community dynamics that have taken place in recent years. The new edition also features chapters on seed development and morphology, seed chemical ecology, implications of climate change on regeneration by seed, and the functional role of seed banks in agricultural and natural ecosystems. The book is aimed at advanced level students and researchers in the fields of seed science, seed ecology and plant ecology. ; This 3rd edition highlights many advances in the field of seed ecology and its relationship to plant community dynamics over recent years. It features chapters on seed development and morphology, seed chemical ecology, implications of climate change on regeneration, and the functional role of seed banks in agricultural and natural ecosystems. ; I: ContributorsII: PrefaceIII: Overview of Seed Development, Anatomy and Morphology1: Fruits and Frugivory2: The Ecology of Seed Dispersal3: Seed Predators and Plant Population Dynamics4: Light-Mediated Germination5: The Chemical Environment in the Soil Seed Bank6: Seed Dormancy7: The Chemical Ecology of Seed Persistence in Soil Seed Banks8: Effects of Climate Change on Regeneration by Seeds9: Functional Role of the Soil Seed Bank in Agricultural Ecosystems10: Functional Role of the Soil Bank in Natural CommunitiesIV: Index
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False profits of ethical capital is a thought-provoking approach to understanding stakeholder capitalism. Rather than focusing on the inadequacies of corporate responsibility, sustainable investment and consumer politics, this book grapples with the technical and rhetorical functions of ethical capital for profit and accumulation. It provides a unique and eclectic analysis of the political dynamics between finance, capital and labour, offering a refreshing perspective on struggles interlocking social, ecological and economic crises, and suggesting new ways of thinking about sustainability politics.
