Nostalgia, Anxiety, Politics: Media and Performing Arts in Egypt, Central-Eastern Europe, and Russia

Edited by Tetyana Dzyadevych, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

This volume shows that the cultural production of nostalgia is a major tool for structuring feelings of resentment and anxiety. The current volume is concerned with collective nostalgia as it has been elicited, channeled, and weaponized by media production agents. The book aims to analyze how the performing arts and media (music, cinema, TV, etc.) generate and shape the feeling of collective nostalgia. It shows how the cultural production of nostalgia reflects distinct social-political contexts and serves particular political purposes. The collective monograph prioritizes cases from the post-Soviet context. However, the authors do not argue that the collapse of the socialist bloc in general, and the USSR in particular, has established some unique nostalgic precedent. The book claims that mechanisms of producing nostalgia and marshaling it for political purposes are broadly similar in most (modern or postmodern) settings. It is not our intent to demonize Russia, nor do we want Russia to be our dominant frame of reference, even if, in most of our cases here, 'nolens volens' appeared first in Russia-centric post-Soviet discourse. The “Russian bloc” has been placed in the second part of the book in order to give primacy to non-Russian subjects.

Blockchain applications in agriculture: Revolutionizing the food supply chain

Duong Hoai An, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam

'Blockchain applications in agriculture: Revolutionizing the food supply chain' is your definitive guide to the transformative impact of blockchain technology on agriculture and the modern food supply chain. In this comprehensive volume, we begin with “Introduction to blockchain technology,” laying the groundwork for readers of all backgrounds. From there, we delve into the intricate relationship between blockchain and the agriculture industry in “Overview of the agriculture industry”. The heart of the book explores practical applications in agriculture and the supply chain, including “Blockchain-based supply chain management,” “Farming and crop management,” “Livestock management and animal welfare,” and “Food safety and quality assurance.” We also explore how blockchain revolutionizes “Agricultural finance and insurance” and fosters “Sustainable agriculture and supply chain sustainability”. Drawing on “Case studies and real-world examples,” you’ll see blockchain in action, offering invaluable insights for farmers, supply chain professionals, academics, and policymakers. Our forward-looking chapter, “Future Trends and Challenges of Blockchain,” anticipates the evolving landscape of this groundbreaking technology. This book stands out for its depth, practicality, and relevance. It is equally suitable for reference, as a methodological guide, for classroom adoption, or as essential reading for researchers and practitioners in the fields of agriculture, technology, supply chain management, and policy. Whether you’re seeking to optimize farming practices, enhance supply chain transparency, or understand the regulatory implications, 'Blockchain applications in agriculture' equips you with the knowledge and inspiration needed to navigate the future of food production and distribution. Join the agricultural revolution today.

Topics and approaches to studying intelligence

Edited by Andrew Macpherson, University of New Hampshire and Glenn P. Hastedt, James Madison University

The goal of "Topics and approaches to studying intelligence" is to bring into sharper focus the evolving nature of intelligence studies, which is in the midst of a period of significant expansion that is taking place across a number of dimensions. Working on this foundation of past and contemporary analytic intelligence studies, the chapters in "Topics and approaches to studying intelligence" highlight areas of debate and disagreement, provide insight into new areas of study and broaden the methodological toolset used by researchers. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches investigate analysis, alliances, competitive/private sector intelligence, gendered practices of intelligence agencies, the nature of intelligence studies scholarship, accreditation, intelligence disclosure for diplomacy, and the sharing of nuclear-related intelligence.

Pedagogy: Using Television Shows, Games, and Other Media in the Classroom

Edited by Laura Dumin, University of Central Oklahoma

This book takes a dive into moving beyond the essay as the only method for teaching and learning content. Authors range from instructors in K-12 to instructors in higher education and look at concepts as varied as using VR technologies to provide immersive experiences to students to use an app to help supplement teaching. Instructors in a variety of fields, both in and out of the writing classroom, may find project and assignment ideas to argue in their own classrooms. Instructors looking to provide a transformative learning experience in a new way will find lots of options here.

Transfiction: Characters in Search of Translation Studies

Edited by Marko Miletich, SUNY Buffalo State University

This book explores the uses of translation, translators, and interpreters in fiction as a gateway to introduce issues related to Translation Studies. The volume follows recent scholarship on Transfiction, a term used to describe the portrayal of translation (both a topic and a motif), as well as translators and interpreters in fiction and film. It expands on the research by Kalus Kaindl, Karleheinz Splitzl, Michael Cronin, and Rosemary Arrojo, among others. Although the volume reflects the preoccupation with translator visibility, it concentrates on the importance of power struggles within the translatorial task. The volume could be an invaluable tool to be used for pedagogical purposes to discuss theoretical aspects within Translation and Interpreting Studies.

Mantha: Alchemies of the Cultural Turn

Mark K. Warford, SUNY Buffalo State University

Set against the rich and troubled tapestry of the West’s Greco-Roman inheritance, the Sanskrit root 'manth/-', which roughly translates to “a churn” ('mantha') or “to churn” ('manth'), serves as a cauldron into which age-old binaries are blended. A mantha of the Greek metaphysical notion of the One and the Many drives explorations of a variety of themes, including the Feminine and the Masculine, Self and Other, East and West, Heroes and Monsters, Olympians and Titans, Creativity and Innovation. Accordingly, the psychoanalytic canon is (re)introduced to a diversity of perspectives, from linguistics and Translation Studies to educational theory and horror fiction. Guided by the 'Opus Contra Culturam', Warford, infusing his background in linguistics, Translation Studies, Spanish, Sociocultural Theory, and Global Humanities, demonstrates the importance of stretching beyond what is known in one’s cultural milieu, that “one” taking many forms: the citizen, the student, the professional, the innovator, the scholar, and the infinite intersections of group identifications into which we are susceptible to being siloed. Specific topics include cultural complexes and trauma, Titanism, integrative approaches to human development and learning theory, the Monstrous, as well as creativity and innovation studies.

The Changing Faces of Higher Education

From Boomers to Millennials

Edited by Mitchell B. Mackinem, Wingate University et al.

In a time of rapid change and arising challenges, Millennials are the latest generation to enter high education institutions as junior faculty, administrators, researchers, and scholars. As with each generation they bring new values, perspectives, technological expertise, and expectations. Higher education is facing potentially overwhelming challenges in finances, student debt, relevance, non-traditional hiring, with some institutions facing closure. Academic leaders, often Baby Boomers, attempt to meet these challenges while still tied to traditions from a bygone time. The Changing Faces of Higher Education gives voice to Millennial academics and their perspective of higher education. This thought-provoking volume provides the insights and lessons from Millennials working in higher education across various subfields. The contributing authors speak from divergent institutions including small mid-western private colleges to larger East coast public institutions and many locations in-between. The contributing authors are not limited to faculty but covers a range of professionals working in higher education. While diverse, all the authors focus on the challenges in teaching, mentorship, and leadership, challenges related to diversity, and improving technology and research. The thirteen chapters in this book address ongoing challenges faced by Millennials working in higher education, offers advice and best practices, and addresses the ways that Millennials serve as a bridge between their “Boomer” colleagues and Gen Z who make up the majority of currently enrolled college students. Each chapter presents the experiences of the author(s) and the strategies utilized to navigate the increasingly fast changing landscape of higher education.

The Community and the Algorithm: A Digital Interactive Poetics

Edited by Andrew Klobucar, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Digital media presents an array of interesting challenges adapting new modes of collaborative, online communication to traditional writing and literary practices at the practical and theoretical levels. For centuries, popular concepts of the modern author, regardless of genre, have emphasized writing as a solo exercise in human communication, while the act of reading remains associated with solitude and individual privacy. “The Community and the Algorithm: A Digital Interactive Poetics” explores important cultural changes in these relationships thanks to the rapid development of digital internet technologies allowing near-instantaneous, synchronous, multimedia interaction across the globe. The radical shift in how we author and consume media as an online, electronic transmission effectively resituates the writing process across the liberal arts as less a solitary act of individual enquiry and reflection, and more an ongoing, collaborative process of creative interaction within a multimedia environment or network. Contributions in this anthology demonstrate a robust history and equally diverse contemporary approach to multimedia interaction for literary and artistic ends. Central to all media formats, computation is explored throughout this volume to critically examine how algorithmic procedures in writing help bring forward many key concepts to building creative communities in a digital environment. Each chapter in this book accordingly introduces readers to various new collaborative experiments using a broad range of different digital media formats, including VR, Natural Language Generation (NLG), and metagaming tools. This book will appeal broadly to students, instructors, and independent artists working in the digital arts, while its emphasis on social interactivity will interest theorists and teachers working in theatre, social media, and cyberpsychology. Its secondary focus on computation and media programming as a site of artistic experimentation will also interest programmers and web designers at various professional levels.

Complex Society: In the Middle of a Middle World

Bojan Radej, Slovenian Evaluation Society, Slovenia and Mojca Golobič, University of Ljubljana; Slovenian Evaluation Society, Slovenia

The decreasing capacity to govern complex social processes results in negative trends that breach system thresholds in all main social domains with extreme economic stratification of society. Independent studies steadily report that a strong majority of the world’s population, between 60% and 80%, already feels excluded and no longer represented by their governments. The two prevailing concepts of complexity seem to overlook the central importance of mesoscopic complexity. Socially complex conditions call for a new kind of social thought specifically developed for a blinded generation that must be as different from modern and postmodern thoughts, as they were different from their middle-age precedents. 'Complex Society: In the Middle of a Middle World', addresses the concerns of the excluded majority by explaining how present complex social conditions work in favor of generational aspirations to achieve a more positive future. In the geometry of thinking, a complex matter is not comprehensible objectively, but only by evaluating overlaps between complexity domains on their periphery, which is in the area of their inconsistencies. The book first develops an evaluative methodology for studying complex social matters and then tests it with three case studies that reflect some of the most pressing problems in contemporary societies: aggregation problem, integration problem, and organization problem. The obtained findings give grounds for the depiction of an outline for the ‘anti-postmodern’ ordering of contemporary societies. This ground-breaking text will be of particular interest for graduate and post-graduate level of social sciences, evaluators of project, program and policy impact evaluation, evaluators of philosophy of science, as well as methodologists of social research and public governance.

An Introduction to Computational Macroeconomics

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

This book presents an introduction to computational macroeconomics, using a new approach to the study of dynamic macroeconomic models. It solves a variety of models in discrete time numerically, using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet as a computer tool. The solved models include dynamic macroeconomic models with rational expectations, both non-microfounded and microfounded, constituting a novel approach that facilitates the learning and use of dynamic general equilibrium models, which have now become the principal tool for macroeconomic analysis. Spreadsheets are widely known and relatively easy to use, meaning that the computer skills needed to work with dynamic general equilibrium models are affordable for undergraduate students in Advanced Macroeconomics courses.

Introducción a la Macroeconomía Computacional

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

Este libro presenta una introducción a la macroeconomía computacional, utilizando un nuevo enfoque para el estudio de los modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos. Para ello resolveremos numéricamente una gran variedad de modelos en tiempo discreto, utilizando como herramienta informática una hoja de cálculo; en particular, Excel de Microsoft. Los modelos resueltos incluyen tanto modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos con expectativas racionales no microfundamentados, como modelos microfundamentados, constituyendo un enfoque que facilita el aprendizaje y uso de los modelos de equilibrio general dinámico, los cuales se han convertido en la principal herramienta para el análisis macroeconómico en la actualidad. Las hojas de cálculo son ampliamente conocidas y relativamente fáciles de usar, lo que supone que los conocimientos informáticos necesarios para poder trabajar con modelos de equilibrio general dinámico son asequibles para alumnos de grado.

Introducción a la Macroeconomía Computacional

Anelí Bongers, Universidad de Málaga, Spain et al.

Este libro presenta una introducción a la macroeconomía computacional, utilizando un nuevo enfoque para el estudio de los modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos. Para ello resolveremos numéricamente una gran variedad de modelos en tiempo discreto, utilizando como herramienta informática una hoja de cálculo; en particular, Excel de Microsoft. Los modelos resueltos incluyen tanto modelos macroeconómicos dinámicos con expectativas racionales no microfundamentados, como modelos microfundamentados, constituyendo un enfoque que facilita el aprendizaje y uso de los modelos de equilibrio general dinámico, los cuales se han convertido en la principal herramienta para el análisis macroeconómico en la actualidad. Las hojas de cálculo son ampliamente conocidas y relativamente fáciles de usar, lo que supone que los conocimientos informáticos necesarios para poder trabajar con modelos de equilibrio general dinámico son asequibles para alumnos de grado.

Networks of International Trade and Investment

Understanding globalisation through the lens of network analysis

Edited by Sara Gorgoni, University of Greenwich et al.

In recent decades, the international economy has witnessed fundamental changes in the way manufacturing is organised: products are no longer manufactured in their entirety in a single location. Instead, the production process is often split across a number of stages located in countries that are frequently far apart from each other. By spreading out their manufacturing and supply chain activities globally through international investment and intra-firm trade, Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a focal role in this reorganisation of production. Our ability to understand the global economy, therefore, requires an understanding of the interdependencies between the entities involved in such fragmented production. Traditional methods and statistical approaches are insufficient to address this challenge. Instead, an approach is required that allows us to account for these interdependencies. The most promising approach so far is network analysis. ‘Networks of International Trade and Investment’ makes a case for the use of network analysis alongside existing techniques in order to investigate pressing issues in international business and economics. The authors put forward a range of well-informed studies that examine compelling topics such as the role of emerging economies in global trade and the evolution of world trade patterns. They look at how network analysis, as both an approach and a methodology, can explain international business and economics phenomena, in particular, in relation to international trade and investment. Providing a comprehensive but accessible explanation of the applications of network analysis and some of the most recent methodological advances in its field, this edited volume is an important contribution to research in international trade and investment.

Applied Economics for Development: Empirical Approaches to Selected Social and Economic Issues in Transition Economies

Edited by Mahmut Zortuk, Dumlupınar University, Turkey

Transition economies experience transformation of their economic system. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a number of former socialist countries underwent transitions from central planning to a market economy. More generally, many rapidly growing economies undergo no less profound transformations of their economic systems. Contrary to common misconception, the transition process cannot be simply reduced to eliminating state intervention and liberalizing the economy. Economies under transition exhibit a unique set of policy challenges. Unlike developed market economies, missing markets or market failures abound. Economic transformation takes the form of rapidly evolving patterns of international trade and investment, industrial structure and consumption. These changes call for appropriate public policies. A continuing flow of investment hinges on suitable institutions, the provision of public infrastructure and other public goods. Adequate regulation can be central in ensuring that environmental resources are sustainably managed. And sophisticated production systems, call for corresponding social institutions in terms of education, health and welfare provisions. In all these cases, accurate empirical assessments are central to the design of effective policy. This book presents a selection of pressing economic and social issues in transition economies. Selected issues include the development of particular industrial sectors, the drivers and consequences of foreign direct investment, public finances, urbanization, social indicators, environmental policy and energy diversification. In each case an original empirical analysis is performed, using a variety of advanced quantitative methods, applied to recent data. The book will be of interest to economists studying transition economies, economic development or having a general interest in applied economics. It will be of particular interest to applied economists, policy analysts and policy makers in transition economies, concerned with the shape and direction of appropriate economic reforms.

Understanding DSGE models

Theory and Applications

Celso Jose Costa Junior, São Paulo School of Economics, Brazil

While the theoretical development of DSGE models is not overly difficult to understand, practical application remains somewhat complex. The literature on this subject has some significant obscure points. This book can be thought of, firstly, as a tool to overcome initial hurdles with this type of modeling. Secondly, by showcasing concrete applications, it aims to persuade incipient researchers to work with this methodology. In principle, this is not a book on macroeconomics in itself, but on tools used in the construction of this sort of models. It strives to present this technique in a detailed manner, thereby providing a step by step course intended to walk readers through this otherwise daunting process. The book begins with a basic Real Business Cycle model. Subsequently various frictions are gradually incorporated into a standard DSGE model: imperfect competition; frictions in prices and in wages ; habit formation; non-Ricardian agents; adjustment cost in investment; costs of not using the maximum installed capacity; and finally, Government.

Network Society

How Social Relations rebuild Space(s)

Roberta Iannone, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy et al.

The present volume attempts to critically evaluate claims that modern society may be read and understood as a network. Accepting that this perspective holds some potential, the question becomes how to best capitalize on it. To analyze society as a network means to respond not only to the “actual needs”, but also to highlight the "opportunities" and the "utilities", and to investigate whether society is increasingly relational or just perceived as such, as e.g. digital "social networks" and related concepts exemplify. From a strictly scientific perspective to answer the question "how to" read society as a network means to ask ourselves: a) if the conceptual categories (especially the concepts of structure and exchange) and the paradigms of traditional analysis (holism and individualism, both in the functionalist and the conflictive versions) are still sufficient; b) if new conceptual categories/theories/instruments are needed to represent more properly the reality we face: to investigate it, to explain it or, at least, to understand it. Starting from a reflection on already established social networks (Scott, 2003), the fundamental differences between groups and networks (Vergati, 2008), the logics of networks (Serra, 2003) as well as social capital formation and links (Di Nicola, 2006; Mutti, 1998), we seize the spatial dynamics, seemingly following opposite paths, but which revert to a common denominator: de-spatialization and re-spatialization, namely the processes of dematerialization of space(s) and its reconstruction by specific relational dynamics and forms. The study of networks is therefore not attributable to a single theory but to several theories converging towards a unique perspective (spaces) and logical reasoning (Serra, 2001) each one with its own uniqueness. The strength of this volume and the difference with respect to other attempts at explaining the Network Society lies in the multidimensional and interrelated perspectives it offers emerging from converging multidisciplinary perspectives (sociological, anthropological and linguistic), and from applications that the Network Society provides, namely, international (European Governance), institutional, public (linguistic landscape of the city of Rome) and mediated ones (communication technology).

Introduction to Dynamic Macroeconomic General Equilibrium Models

José Luis Torres Chacon, Universidad de Málaga, Spain

This book offers an introductory step-by-step course in Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) modelling. Modern macroeconomic analysis is increasingly concerned with the construction, calibration and/or estimation and simulation of DSGE models. The book is intended for graduate students as an introductory course to DSGE modelling and for those economists who would like a hands-on approach to learning the basics of modern dynamic macroeconomic modelling. The book starts with the simplest canonical neoclassical DSGE model and then gradually extends the basic framework incorporating a variety of additional features, such as consumption habit formation, investment adjustment cost, investment-specific technological change, taxes, public capital, household production, non-ricardian agents, monopolistic competition, etc. The book includes Dynare codes for the models developed that can be downloaded from the book’s homepage. The second edition is identical to the first with the exception of a revised appendix to Chapter 2. The revised appendix can be downloaded free of charge in the accompanying downloads section.

Supply Chain Optimization under Uncertainty

Supply chain design for optimum performance

Barrie Michael Cole

Drawing on cutting-edge research, this book proposes a new 'Supply Chain Optimization under Uncertainty’, technology. Its application can bring many proven benefits to supply chain entities, any associated service providers, and, of course, the customers. The technology can provide the best design and operating solution for a Supply Chain Network (SCN) that is subject to any prevailing conditions of Operational Uncertainty (OU). A SCN is defined as a network of production facilities, distribution centers and retail sales outlets. OU is defined as any relevant combination of i) multiple process objectives e.g. a business needs to maximize operating profits and to minimize inventory levels, ii) fuzziness (<, <=, >, or >=) e.g. sales <= 1500 t/mth and iii) probability e.g. sale of fertilizer is dependent on probabilistic rainfall. Following this method always enables the determination of realistic optimum supply chain solutions, since the effects of any operational uncertainties are always provided for. The book is arranged in two parts. The first part covers the theory and recent research into supply chain optimization under uncertainty. The second part documents the application of the newly proposed technology to an agricultural fertilizer’s (NPK, South Africa) supply chain.

Introduction to Dynamic Macroeconomic General Equilibrium Models

José Luis Torres Chacon, Universidad de Málaga, Spain

This book offers an introductory step-by-step course in Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium modelling. Modern macroeconomic analysis is increasingly concerned with the construction, calibration and/or estimation and simulation of Dynamic General Equilibrium (DGE) models. The book is intended for graduate students as an introductory course to DGE modelling and for those economists who would like a hands-on approach to learning the basics of modern dynamic macroeconomic modelling. The book starts with the simplest canonical neoclassical DGE model and then gradually extends the basic framework incorporating a variety of additional features, such as consumption habit formation, investment adjustment cost, investment-specific technological change, taxes, public capital, household production, non-ricardian agents, monopolistic competition, etc. The book includes Dynare codes for the models developed that can be downloaded from the book’s homepage.

The Knowledge Plexus

A Systemic View on the Economic Geography of Technological Knowledge

George Chorafakis, University of Barcelona, Spain

This book is a collection of 5 essays on the economic geography of technological knowledge. Their common threads are: (i) the quest for a new paradigm in economic geography, termed ‘systemic’, as an alternative to the neoclassical, based on the epistemological premise of emergence and the theories of evolution and complexity; and (ii) the intent to explain the process of technological knowledge production as a systemic phenomenon occurring in relational space subject to emergence and co-evolutionary dynamics. In this theoretical framework, the author analyses various European knowledge networks, and examines their effects on the production of technological knowledge as sources of relational cognitive capital and economies of complexity. He then poses a number of questions on the direction and instrumentalities of the European research, technological development and innovation policies, and in particular on the issues of cohesion and dynamic efficiency of the European research system.