Crossing the Line


Book Description

This pioneering book is the first to explore the experiences of homeless people in Russia in the late Soviet period and during post-socialist transition. By using in-depth interviews, Svetlana Stephenson places the narratives within the framework of theoretical perspectives on social-spatial exclusion and advances the understanding of homelessness in Russia as an extreme case of social-territorial displacement.




Philosophy in Reality


Book Description

Philosophy in Reality offers a new vision of the relation between science and philosophy in the framework of a non-propositional logic of real processes, grounded in the physics of the real world. This logical system is based on the work of the Franco-Romanian thinker Stéphane Lupasco (1900-1988), previously presented by Joseph Brenner in the book Logic in Reality (Springer, 2008). The present book was inspired in part by the ancient Chinese Book of Changes (I Ching) and its scientific-philosophical discussion of change. The emphasis in Philosophy in Reality is on the recovery of dialectics and semantics from reductionist applications and their incorporation into a new synthetic paradigm for knowledge. Through an original re-interpretation of both classical and modern Western thought, this book addresses philosophical issues in scientific fields as well as long-standing conceptual problems such as the origin, nature and role of meaning, the unity of knowledge and the origin of morality. In a rigorous transdisciplinary manner, it discusses foundational and current issues in the physical sciences - mathematics, information, communication and systems theory and their implications for philosophy. The same framework is applied to problems of the origins of society, the transformation of reality by human subjects, and the emergence of a global, sustainable information society. In summary, Philosophy in Reality provides a wealth of new perspectives and references, supporting research by both philosophers and physical and social scientists concerned with the many facets of reality.




Theory of Information


Book Description

This unique volume presents a new approach OCo the general theory of information OCo to scientific understanding of information phenomena. Based on a thorough analysis of information processes in nature, technology, and society, as well as on the main directions in information theory, this theory synthesizes existing directions into a unified system. The book explains how this theory opens new kinds of possibilities for information technology, information sciences, computer science, knowledge engineering, psychology, linguistics, social sciences, and education. The book also gives a broad introduction to the main mathematically-based directions in information theory. The general theory of information provides a unified context for existing directions in information studies, making it possible to elaborate on a comprehensive definition of information; explain relations between information, data, and knowledge; and demonstrate how different mathematical models of information and information processes are related. Explanation of information essence and functioning is given, as well as answers to the following questions: how information is related to knowledge and data; how information is modeled by mathematical structures; how these models are used to better understand computers and the Internet, cognition and education, communication and computation. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (354 KB). Contents: General Theory of Information; Statistical Information Theory; Semantic Information Theory; Algorithm Information Theory; Pragmatic Information Theory; Dynamics of Information. Readership: Professionals in information processing, and general readers interested in information and information processes.




Policing Soviet Society


Book Description

The first book to look in depth at the Soviet militia. A crucial aid to understanding the authoritarianism of the communist system and its legacy for Russia and the successor states.




Towards the Third Generation University


Book Description

The book is very well-structured. . . [It] provides a timely contribution to a conversation with a long history, and debates over the nature and purpose of the university seem certain to figure prominently in educational discourse for many years to come. Peter Roberts, Journal of Educational Administrative and History Drawing from experience as a professor in innovation and entrepreneurship and as a consultant to universities, Wissema offers deep insights into management of the modern universities. The book is well-written and all those university administrators who wish to transform their universities into entrepreneurial universities would find the book very useful. Jandhyala B.G. Tilak, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration In Central and Eastern Europe, universities are struggling to adapt to the new economic and institutional situations. The concept of the Third Generation University is powerful in giving direction. In addition, the book offers much practical advice, taken from the author s experience as a consultant to universities. Marjan Bojadzhiev, University American College Skopje, Macedonia Although the quality of university management makes or breaks the effectiveness and efficiency of a university, most university managers come unprepared to the job while only few books and courses in the subject are available. This book offers, amongst other things, welcome insights into the issue of university management. In Wageningen, the concept of the Third Generation University has proven to be inspiring, challenging and operational. It enabled us to develop science for Impact for a variety of new stakeholders. M. Kropff, Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands This book demonstrates that universities are subject to fundamental change, evolving from science-based, monodisciplinary institutions into transfunctional, international know-how hubs named third generation universities or 3GUs. J.G. Wissema explores the combination of forces that propel this dramatic change, tracing the historic development of universities, and exploring the technology-based enterprises, technostarters and financiers for start-ups and young enterprises that are the main partners of these 3GUs. He goes on to illustrate that universities play a new role as incubators of new science- or technology-based enterprises and take an active role in the exploitation of the knowledge they create. The book concludes with suggestions regarding the way in which changes in the university s mission should be reflected in subsequent organisational changes. Offering practical advice on the route forward for universities, and elucidating the role of education in entrepreneurship, this unique book will prove invaluable to academics and practitioners who seek to implement and facilitate changes for 3GU status. It will also appeal to students and researchers with an interest in business and management, education, entrepreneurship and public policy on education.




Russia and Soul


Book Description

Pt. 1. Situating soul. Is soul a thing? O.M.S.K. -- pt. 2. Against and for dusha. In public transportation and in the soul : you call this life? A channel between worlds. The language of music and the Russian language. The baths : a celebration for soul and body. Story : For Anna Viktorovna -- pt. 3. Everyone wants something, but only through someone. Two stories : Decency, generosity. Do not have a hundred rubles, have instead a hundred friends. Story : Pulling something out of a hat. Like the Trojan Horse's gut : hospitality and nationalism. Standing bottles, washing deals, and drinking for the soul. If you want to live you've got to krutit'sia : crooked and straight -- pt. 4. Authority. Depth, openings and closings. Story : A second soul. If you want to know a man, give him power -- pt. 5. Togetherness. Those who poke into my soul : Bakhtin, Dostoevsky, love. We lost some neatness -- pt. 6. Conclusions. Two discussions : semantics and national character, homo sovieticus. Epilogue. Non-Russian souls.




Homelessness


Book Description

This book provides insights into the experiences of ‘homelessness’, while exploring its psychological and socio-economic dimensions. Hunger, addiction, and disability, which often accompany homelessness, are brought into focus and discussed within the frameworks of promoting social welfare and enabling human capability in this volume. Based on the author’s ethnographic and quantitative research on homeless families living on the streets of Delhi, this book identifies some of the most acute problems associated with homelessness. It analyzes the causes of homelessness and draws connections between social bonds and family, socio-economic status, and psychopathology. It also includes personal accounts of hardship and trauma which quantify the systematic discrimination and marginalization that people living on the streets face. The volume offers policy recommendations to protect the right to self-determination, dignity, and self-efficacy of the homeless and help rehabilitate them. It will be a useful guide for students and researchers of social sciences specializing in psychology, sociology, economics, and development studies. The book will also be of interest to mental health professionals and policy-makers in designing effective strategies.




Dacha Idylls


Book Description

"Anyone who has spent time in Russia knows the importance of 'going to the dacha.' In this ethnography Melissa Caldwell reveals the mystique of rural life by exploring the social nature of gardening and making food, and Russian relationships to the land. It's truly an innovative study!"--Catherine Wanner, author of Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism "In this engaging ethnography, Melissa Caldwell brilliantly demonstrates what is peculiarly Russian about the dacha, long an object of literary and nostalgic imagining, while simultaneously situating the 'vacation cottage' within larger histories of leisure, consumption, home, and post-socialist transition. A must-read for scholars of Russia or tourism."--Pamela Ballinger, author of History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans




Public and Private Life of the Soviet People


Book Description

From the late 1950s to the early 1980s, the Soviet people's acceptance of official state ideology was gradually replaced by an emphasis on the family and the individual. Perhaps one of the most important social, economic, and political processes to occur in modern Soviet society, privatization has caused people to withdraw their time, energy, and emotion from state controlled activities, investing them instead in family and friendship. Utilizing novels, films, and his own surveys done in the Soviet Union, the author, an emigre sociologist, analyzes the evolution of attitudes toward family and friendship and the emergence and development of civil society as a sphere of interaction not directed by the state. Finally, Shlapentokh examines Gorbachev's reforms as an attempt by the political elite to restore the authority of the state and the prestige of official public activity as well as to exploit some elements of privatization in the interests of the state. A gripping and revealing account of an aspect of Soviet society usually hidden from Westerners, this book will attract a broad audience.




Cross-cultural Quality of Life


Book Description

Studio della qualità della vita in diverse culture nel campo delle disabilità cognitive.