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This book describes the results of activities undertaken to construct the CLARIN research infrastructure in the Low Countries, i.e., in the Netherlands and in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium).
CLARIN is a European research infrastructure for humanities and social science researchers that work with natural language data. This book introduces the CLARIN infrastructure, describes various aspects of the technical implementation of the infrastructure, and introduces data, applications and software services created in the Low Countries for a wide variety of humanities disciplines. These enable researchers to accelerate their research activities and to base their conclusions on a much larger and richer empirical base than was possible before, thus providing a basis for carrying out groundbreaking research in which old questions can be investigated in new ways and new questions can be raised and investigated for the first time.
Given CLARIN’s focus on language data, linguistics and particularly syntax are prominently present. However, other humanities disciplines that work with natural language data such as history, literary studies, religion studies, media studies, political studies, and philosophy are represented as well. The book is a must read for humanities scholars and students who want to understand and use the potential that the Digital Humanities offer, as well as for computer scientists and developers of research infrastructures, in particular for researchers working on the CLARIN infrastructure in other countries.
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Ukraine is a 'border' society, situated culturally and socio-politically between Eurasian and Euro-Atlantic poles of attraction. The influence of these two distinct cultures can be seen throughout Ukrainian society, but particularly in its migration patterns.
In this book, Dr Hab. Y. Bilan analyses external migration from Ukraine using the system analysis approach combining econometric analysis and statistical modelling, historiographical and institutional analyses along with quantitative and qualitative sociological analysis with special attention to media discourse and congregational, demographic, gender and regional dimensions.
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Maps are a fundamental resource in a diverse array of applications ranging from everyday activities, such as route planning through the legal demarcation of space to scientific studies, such as those seeking to understand biodiversity and inform the design of nature reserves for species conservation. For a map to have value, it should provide an accurate and timely representation of the phenomenon depicted and this can be a challenge in a dynamic world. Fortunately, mapping activities have benefitted greatly from recent advances in geoinformation technologies. Satellite remote sensing, for example, now offers unparalleled data acquisition and authoritative mapping agencies have developed systems for the routine production of maps in accordance with strict standards. Until recently, much mapping activity was in the exclusive realm of authoritative agencies but technological development has also allowed the rise of the amateur mapping community. The proliferation of inexpensive and highly mobile and location aware devices together with Web 2.0 technology have fostered the emergence of the citizen as a source of data. Mapping presently benefits from vast amounts of spatial data as well as people able to provide observations of geographic phenomena, which can inform map production, revision and evaluation. The great potential of these developments is, however, often limited by concerns. The latter span issues from the nature of the citizens through the way data are collected and shared to the quality and trustworthiness of the data. This book reports on some of the key issues connected with the use of citizen sensors in mapping. It arises from a European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) Action, which explored issues linked to topics ranging from citizen motivation, data acquisition, data quality and the use of citizen derived data in the production of maps that rival, and sometimes surpass, maps arising from authoritative agencies.
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Why do we think differently from one another? Why do religious people adhere to their faith even against reason, whilst atheist thinkers label it “nonsense”? Why do some judges turn more to moral values and others less? Why do we attach different meanings to the same words?
These questions can be tackled on psychological or sociological levels, but we can also analyze the subjects on the epistemological level. That is the purpose of this book.
Thoughts and Ways of Thinking offers Source Theory as a single explanation for epistemic processes and their religious, legal and linguistic derivatives. The idea is simple: our senses, our understanding, our memory, the testimonies that we trust, and many other objects transmit data to us and so shape our beliefs. In this function they serve as our truth sources. Different beliefs stem from different sources or different hierarchies between same sources. This notion is formalized here through the new tool of Source Calculus, and, after balancing its relativistic consequences by adding pragmatic constraints, it is applied to the philosophies of religion, law and language. With this unified theory, old doubts are framed in new perspectives, and some of them even find their solution.
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Production ergonomics – the science and practice of designing industrial workplaces to optimize human well-being and system performance – is a complex challenge for a designer. Humans are a valuable and flexible resource in any system of creation, and as long as they stay healthy, alert and motivated, they perform well and also become more competent over time, which increases their value as a resource. However, if a system designer is not mindful or aware of the many threats to health and system performance that may emerge, the end result may include inefficiency, productivity losses, low working morale, injuries and sick-leave.
To help budding system designers and production engineers tackle these design challenges holistically, this book offers a multi-faceted orientation in the prerequisites for healthy and effective human work. We will cover physical, cognitive and organizational aspects of ergonomics, and provide both the individual human perspective and that of groups and populations, ending up with a look at global challenges that require workplaces to become more socially and economically sustainable. This book is written to give you a warm welcome to the subject, and to provide a solid foundation for improving industrial workplaces to attract and retain healthy and productive staff in the long run.
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This book is for all those who are seeking a human perspective on economic and organizational processes. It lays the foundations for a value based approach to the economy.
The key questions are: “What is important to you or your organization?” “What is this action or that organization good for?”
The book is directed at the prevalence of instrumentalist thinking in the current economy and responds to the calls for another economy.
Another economy demands another economics. The value based approach is another economics; it focuses on values and on the most important goods such as families, homes, communities, knowledge, and art. It places economic processes in their cultural context.
What does it take to do the right thing, as a person, as an organization, as a society? What is the good to strive for? This book gives directions for the answers.
The value based approach restores the ancient idea that quality of life and of society is what the economy is all about. It advocates shifting the focus from quantities (“how much?”) to qualities (“what is important?”).
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Publishing Addiction Science is a comprehensive guide for addiction scientists facing the complex process of contributing to scholarly journals. Written by an international group of addiction journal editors and their colleagues, it discusses how to write research articles and systematic reviews, choose a journal, respond to reviewers’ reports, become a reviewer, and resolve the often difficult authorship, ethical and citation issues that arise in addiction science publishing.
As a “Guide for the Perplexed,” Publishing Addiction Science helps novice as well as experienced researchers to deal with these challenges. It is suitable for university courses and forms the basis of the training workshops offered by the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE).
Co-sponsored by ISAJE and the scientific journal Addiction, the third edition of Publishing Addiction Science gives special attention to the challenges faced by researchers from developing and non-English-speaking countries and features new chapters on guidance for clinician-scientists and the growth of infrastructure and career opportunities in addiction science.
Book DetailsAffordable education. Transparent science. Accessible scholarship.
These ideals are slowly becoming a reality thanks to the open education, open science, and open access movements. Running separate—if parallel—courses, they all share a philosophy of equity, progress, and justice. This book shares the stories, motives, insights, and practical tips from global leaders in the open movement.
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Scientists deserve public recognition. The ways that they are depicted, however, are severely limited in physical and personal traits, helping to establish and enhance stereotypes under the general title of ‘scientist’. These stereotypes range from the arrogant researcher who wants to rule the world, to the lab coat wearing ‘nerdy’ genius, but all generally fall to an extreme view of an existing perception of what a scientist should look and be like. For example, the popular image of ‘a scientist’ overlooks the presence of women almost entirely unless attributed to specific subjects and/or with narrow character depictions. The implications can be far-reaching. Young people, being heavily swayed by what they see and hear in the media, may avoid scientific careers because of these limited or unflattering portrayals of the scientific community, regardless of whether they reflect real life.
Based on findings from the Light’13 project, this book examines such stereotypes and questions whether it is possible to adjust people’s perception of scientists and to increase interest in science and scientific careers through a series of specific actions and events.
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The concept of ‘cultural heritage’ has acquired increasing currency in culture, politics and societies in East Asia. However, in spite of a number of research projects in this field, our understanding of how the past and its material expressions have been perceived, conceptualised and experienced in this part of the world, and how these views affect contemporary local practices and notions of identity, particularly in a period of rapid economic development and increasing globalisation, is still very unclear. Preoccupation with cultural heritage - expressed in the rapid growth of national and private museums, the expansion of the antiquities’ market, revitalisation of local traditions, focus on ‘intangible cultural heritage’ and the development of cultural tourism - is something that directly or indirectly affects national policies and international relations. An investigation of how the concept of ‘cultural heritage’ has been and continues to be constructed in East Asia, drawing on several case studies taken from China, Japan and Korea, is thus timely and worthwhile.
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