- Table View
- List View
Opportunities and Challenges for Applied Demography in the 21st Century
by David A. Swanson Nazrul HoqueApplied demography continues its rapid pace of evolution in concert with the emerging trends of the 21st century. One significant area of change is the extension of applied demography beyond the United States; this book includes material dealing with applied demography in Australia, Canada, Estonia, and Mexico. Opportunities and Challenges for Applied Demography in the 21st Century presents a score of selected papers from the second post-2000 national conference on Applied Demography, held in San Antonio, Texas, in January, 2010, under the sponsorship of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Coverage includes the assembly of data by government agencies, with a focus on issues facing the United States; demographic issues associated with globalization; business demography and health demography, as well as a section examining methodological advances in the areas of estimation and projection.
Opportunities and Challenges for the Greater Mekong Subregion: Building a Shared Vision of Our River (Routledge Studies on the Asia-Pacific Region)
The Mekong River is a vital and valuable resource, with huge development potential for the six states through which it flows. Given the significant asymmetry of power between those states, however, there is a real risk that some might utilise it to the detriment of others. Without a sense of regional belonging, it is difficult to imagine that these states and their constituent communities will take regional imperatives to heart, participate in joint regulatory frameworks, or adopt behaviours for upstream-downstream and lateral cooperation over the appropriation and use of their shared resources. How effectively has closer interdependence of the Mekong countries accommodated the development of a political-social-cultural space conducive to the growth of a regional "we-ness" among not only political elites, but also the general public? The contributors to this volume approach this question from a range of directions, including the impacts of tourism, regional development programmes, the Mekong Power Grid, and Sino-US rivalry. This edited volume presents valuable insights for scholars of international relations, Asian studies, development studies, environment studies, policy studies, and human geography.
Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Summary of a Workshop
by Leighanne OlsenThere are many connections between human communities and their surrounding environments that influence community resilience and health in the Gulf of Mexico. The impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Gulf communities and ecosystems - coupled with the region's preexisting health challenges and environmental stressors - illustrate the need to better understand these connections. In the future, natural and man-made disasters, climate change impacts, and other environmental stressors will present complex challenges to the physical, mental, and social well-being of communities in the Gulf. Understanding the interrelationships among health, ecological, and economic impacts of disasters and other environmental stressors will be crucial to addressing these challenges. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Community Resilience and Health summarizes a Gulf Research Program workshop held on September 22-23, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The workshop examined opportunities to improve the health, well-being, and resilience of communities in the Gulf region through discussions with about 50 participants with diverse expertise and experience. These discussions identified perceived needs, challenges, and opportunities that align with the Gulf Research Program's mission and goals - particularly its goal to improve understanding of the connections between human health and the environment to support the development of health and resilient Gulf communities. This workshop is expected to lead to the development of additional Program activities and opportunities for the research community.
Opportunities in Neuroscience for Future Army Applications
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesAdvances and major investments in the field of neuroscience can enhance traditional behavioral science approaches to training, learning, and other applications of value to the Army. Neural-behavioral indicators offer new ways to evaluate how well an individual trainee has assimilated mission critical knowledge and skills, and can also be used to provide feedback on the readiness of soldiers for combat. Current methods for matching individual capabilities with the requirements for performing high-value Army assignments do not include neuropsychological, psychophysiological, neurochemical or neurogenetic components; simple neuropsychological testing could greatly improve training success rates for these assignments. Opportunities in Neuroscience for Future Army Applications makes 17 recommendations that focus on utilizing current scientific research and development initiatives to improve performance and efficiency, collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to employ neuropharmaceuticals for general sustainment or enhancement of soldier performance, and improving cognitive and behavioral performance using interdisciplinary approaches and technological investments. An essential guide for the Army, this book will also be of interest to other branches of military, national security and intelligence agencies, academic and commercial researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and others interested in applying the rapid advances in neuroscience to the performance of individual and group tasks.
Opposing Australia’s First Assisted Immigrants, 1832-42 (Palgrave Studies in Migration History)
by Melanie BurkettThis book unravels the paradoxical denigration of the first significant group of free (non-convict), working-class emigrants to the Australian colony of New South Wales in the 1830s. Though their labour was sorely needed, the colonial elite rejected the new arrivals on the grounds that they were ‘lazy’ and ‘immoral’. These criticisms stemmed from political, economic, and cultural motivations that ultimately sought to protect, legitimise, and cement the elite’s financial and social hegemony. The author seeks to explore the ulterior motives behind the public denouncements of immigrants by exposing the conflicting and opportunistic rationales used. Brought to Australia from Britain and Ireland through the experiment of ‘government-assisted migration,’ these immigrants are often remembered as ‘brave pioneers’ today, but this book exposes the deep antagonistic attitudes toward immigration that remain entrenched in Australian society. Uncovering early forms of class antagonism in Australia, this book presents useful insights for those researching Australian history and migration studies, as well as scholars of colonial history, by providing a model for re-evaluating and confronting a long-standing pattern in most settler societies: hostility toward immigrants.
Opposing Jim Crow: African Americans and the Soviet Indictment of U.S. Racism, 1928-1937 (Justice and Social Inquiry)
by Meredith L. RomanBefore the Nazis came to power in Germany, Soviet officials labeled the United States the most racist country in the world. Photographs, children&’s stories, films, newspaper articles, political education campaigns, and court proceedings exposed the hypocrisy of America&’s racial democracy. In contrast, the Soviets represented the USSR itself as a superior society where racism was absent and identified African Americans as valued allies in resisting an imminent imperialist war against the first workers&’ state. Meredith L. Roman&’s Opposing Jim Crow examines the period between 1928 and 1937, when the promotion of antiracism by party and trade union officials in Moscow became a priority policy. Soviet leaders stood to gain considerable propagandistic value at home and abroad by drawing attention to U.S. racism, their actions simultaneously directed attention to the routine violation of human rights that African Americans suffered as citizens of the United States. Soviet policy also challenged the prevailing white supremacist notion that blacks were biologically inferior and thus unworthy of equality with whites. African Americans of various political and socioeconomic backgrounds became indispensable contributors to Soviet antiracism and helped officials in Moscow challenge the United States&’ claim to be the world&’s beacon of democracy and freedom.
Opposite Poles: Immigrants and Ethnics in Polish Chicago, 1976–1990 (G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects)
by Mary Patrice ErdmansOpposite Poles presents a fascinating and complex portrait of ethnic life in America. The focus is Chicago Polonia, the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw. During the 1980s a new cohort of Polish immigrants from communist Poland, including many refugees from the Solidarity movement, joined the Polish American ethnics already settled in Chicago. The two groups shared an ancestral homeland, social space in Chicago, and the common goal of wanting to see Poland become an independent noncommunist nation. These common factors made the groups believe they ought to work together and help each other; but they were more often at opposite poles. The specious solidarity led to contentious conflicts as the groups competed for political and cultural ownership of the community. Erdmans's dramatic account of intracommunity conflict demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between immigrants and ethnics in American ethnic studies. Drawing upon interviews, participant observation in the field, surveys and Polish community press accounts, she describes the social differences between the two groups that frustrated unified collective action. We often think of ethnic and racial communities as monolithic, but the heterogeneity within Polish Chicago is by no means unique. Today in the United States new Chinese, Israeli, Haitian, Caribbean, and Mexican immigrants negotiate their identities within the context of the established identities of Asians, Jews, Blacks, and Chicanos. Opposite Poles shows that while common ancestral heritage creates the potential for ethnic allegiance, it is not a sufficient condition for collective action.
Opposite Sides of the Bed: A Lively Guide to the Differences Between Women and Men
by Cris EvattOpposite Sides of the Bed, formerly titled He & She, explores the sociological, physiological, "and psychological differences between women and men, cites supporting studies, offers suggestions on how to cope and tells you where to go for further reading. Fascinating facts from the most up-to-date research on gender differences Sixty-eight percent of men like the way they look naked; only 22 percent of women do. Women smile more than men, especially when delivering bad news. Women use more adjectives such as wonderful, more diminutives such as cute and more euphemisms. Men are more sensitive to stress. One alcoholic drink for women has about the same effect as two for men. Women cry about five times as much as men; a male hormone may actually suppress tears.
Opposition Politics in Japan: Strategies Under a One-Party Dominant Regime (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies)
by Stephen JohnsonThe Liberal Democratic Party in Japan remained in power continuously between 1955 and 1993. In this groundbreaking study of the dominance of the LDP in Japanese politics over the last forty years, Opposition Politics in Japan examines the challenges which were mounted against this regime and explores why they failed. The subjects covered include opportunities for a united opposition during the 1970s, ideological, organisational and electoral aspects of the opposition's lack of response to such opportunities and the causes of opposition fragmentation. The book also looks at attempts at coalition, the influence of the trade unions, the importance of organisational factors and the influence, if any, of the oppositions's Marxist tendencies.A highly original and thorough exploration of the issues, Opposition Politics in Japan is essential reading for all those interested in Japanese politics.
Opposition and Intimidation: The Abortion Wars and Strategies of Political Harassment
by Alesha E. DoanThe abortion fight has long been a crucible of political tactics, with both sides employing strategies ranging from litigation to civil disobedience to outright violence. Anti-abortion activists have arguably been more tactically innovative than their pro-choice peers. Opposition and Intimidation looks at how their use of political harassment fits--or doesn't--with more conventional political efforts in the struggle over abortion. Alesha Doan's insightful interviews and observations powerfully portray anti-abortion activists' relationship to the objects of their protest. Her portrait is augmented by thorough quantitative analysis of harassment's role within the movement's multitiered strategy--a strategy that Doan shows has forced a decline in the availability and popularity of abortions. Using her unique study of the anti-abortion movement as a model, Doan extends her findings to propose a novel and valuable theory of the new politics of harassment.
Opposition and Legitimacy in the Ottoman Empire: Conspiracies and Political Cultures (SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East)
by Florian RiedlerThis book looks at opposition to the Ottoman government in the second half of the nineteenth century, examining a number of key political conspiracies and how these relate to an existing political culture. In his detailed analysis of these conspiracies, the author offers a new perspective on an important and well researched period of Ottoman history. A close reading of police records on five conspiracies offers the opportunity to analyse this opposition in great detail, giving special attention to the different groups of political actors in these conspiracies that often did not come from the established political elites. Florian Riedler investigates how their background of class and education, but also their individual life experiences influenced their aims and strategies, their political styles as well as their ways of thinking on political legitimacy. In contrast, the reaction of the authorities to these conspiracies reveals the official understanding of Ottoman legitimacy. The picture that emerges of the political culture of opposition during the second half of the nineteenth century offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the great changes in the political system of the Ottoman Empire at the time. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Middle Eastern history, political history, and the Ottoman Empire.
Opposition by Imitation: The Economics of Italian Anti-Mafia Activism (Diverse Economies and Livable Worlds)
by Christina JerneDefying the mafia with everyday acts of resistance For more than 150 years, Italy has been home to a resilient and evolving resistance against the pervasive influence of mafias. While these criminal organizations are renowned for their vast international business enterprises, the collective actions taken to oppose them are less known. In Opposition by Imitation, Christina Jerne explores anti-mafia activism, revealing how ordinary people resist, counter, and prevent criminal economies from proliferating. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among anti-mafia alliances in Campania, Sicily, and other parts of Italy, Jerne details a particular aspect of mafia activities: providing cash relief and other forms of patronage to individuals and groups. Her research shows how activism has evolved to imitate this sustaining role. Activists are increasingly challenging mafia control both by creating alternative economies—from producing food that interrupts mafia labor practices to organizing tourism that supports anti-mafia hospitality—and by subversively adopting business tactics similar to the mafia&’s to compete with their social influence and legitimacy. Exposing the political implications of this mimetic opposition, Jerne points to its potential impact on crime prevention and criminalization, both in Italy and globally. Opposition by Imitation shows how these modern-day Robin Hoods are redefining collective action, taking what was controlled by the mafias and returning it to the collective. This contentious economic turn, against the backdrop of broader social movements, reveals significant political possibilities afforded by imitative opposition. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
Opposition in a Dominant-Party System: A Study of the Jan Sangh, the Praja Socialist Party, and the Socialist Party in Uttar Pradesh, India (Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, UC Berkeley)
by Angela S. BurgerThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.
Oppressed by Debt: Government and the Justice System as a Creditor of the Poor (Routledge Studies in Crime and Society)
by Saul SchwartzThis edited collection brings together essays that explore personal debts to government. Intensive collection efforts by governments in need of revenue often cause hardship, whether it is the poor in the United States going to jail because of unpaid fines, low-income English people being evicted because they paid their council taxes but could then not pay their rent, or poor former students having tax refunds or social benefits taken by the government when they have defaulted on their student loans. Student loans, fines and fees arising from the justice system, benefit overpayments and unpaid taxes have all ballooned in the past decade, but no other volume comprehensively addresses the various ways in which governments have become privileged creditors, using their power to collect debts owed to them by their citizens. With each essay emphasizing a particular kind of debt to government, the book focuses on what happens when citizens cannot pay the debts they owe to their governments. Contributors offer pragmatic options to facilitate a movement to soften the stance of governments toward those who owe them money. The insights in this collection will be of relevance to students and academics in criminology, sociology, public policy, and economics, as well as policymakers and government officials interested in effecting change in this area.
Oppression and the Body: Roots, Resistance, and Resolutions
by Christine Caldwell Lucia Bennett LeightonA timely anthology that explores power, privilege, and oppression and their relationship to marginalized bodies Asserting that the body is the main site of oppression in Western society, the contributors to this pioneering volume explore the complex issue of embodiment and how it relates to social inclusion and marginalization. In a culture where bodies of people who are brown, black, female, transgender, disabled, fat, or queer are often shamed, sexualized, ignored, and oppressed, what does it mean to live in a marginalized body? Through theory, personal narrative, and artistic expression, this anthology explores how power, privilege, oppression, and attempted disembodiment play out on the bodies of disparaged individuals and what happens when the body’s expression is stereotyped and stunted. Bringing together a range of voices, this book offers strategies and practices for embodiment and activism and considers what it means to be an embodied ally to anyone experiencing bodily oppression.
Oppressive Liberation: Sexism in Animal Activism
by Lisa KemmererWhile explicitly set against a backdrop of sexism in social justice activism more generally, this book exposes causes, pervasiveness, harms, and possible directions for change with regard to sexism and male privilege in the animal activist movement. Employing the work of previous scholars, Dr. Lisa Kemmerer exposes the commonplace nature and causes of sexism and male privilege in social justice activism, then focuses on anymal activists, including new data that has not previously been published. The book also explores the crushing harms caused by sexism in the movement and an extensive array of possible directions for change. In various places throughout the text, Kemmerer refocuses on the interface of sexism and speciesism, and one full chapter explores a philosophies of interconnection from around the world and down through time. Also included are six essays from contributing authors who offer fresh angles on the topic, and who provide contextualized experiences with intersectional oppressions. While the book focuses specifically on animal activism, the end-goal of the book is total liberation—an end to all forms of privilege and marginalization.
Oprah Winfrey Speaks: Insight from the World's Most Influential Voice
by Janet LoweOprah is not just another famous entertainer. She's a friend to the world and a role model for all people, of any gender, of any race, of any group. Before reading Oprah Winfrey Speaks, here are some guidelines on what to expect from the book. It will not be focused on the well-known details of Oprah's life and rise to stardom, although this information is presented to give the reader a better perspective on the comments. Rather, the book emphasizes the lessons that Winfrey has learned along the way--lessons many of us can profit from. Oprah has taught us a lot, and I've tried to capture as much of that wisdom as possible.
Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery: An Essay on Popular Culture
by Eva IllouzOprah Winfrey is the protagonist of the story to be told here, but this book has broader intentions, begins Eva Illouz in this original examination of how and why this talk show host has become a pervasive symbol in American culture. Unlike studies of talk shows that decry debased cultural standards and impoverished political consciousness, Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery asks us to rethink our perceptions of culture in general and popular culture in particular.At a time when crises of morality, beliefs, value systems, and personal worth dominate both public and private spheres, Oprah's emergence as a cultural form—the Oprah persona—becomes clearer, as she successfully reiterates some of our most pressing moral questions. Drawing on nearly one hundred show transcripts; a year and a half of watching the show regularly; and analysis of magazine articles, several biographies, O Magazine, Oprah Book Club novels, self-help manuals promoted on the show, and hundreds of discussions on the Oprah Winfrey Web site, Illouz takes the Oprah industry seriously, revealing it to be a multilayered "textual structure" that initiates, stages, and performs narratives of suffering and self-improvement that resonate with a wide audience and challenge traditional models of cultural analysis. This book looks closely at Oprah's method and her message, and in the process reconsiders popular culture and the tools we use to understand it.
Oprah Winfrey: The Real Story
by George MairAn exploration of the life and career of Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah: The Soul and Spirit of a Superstar
by Larry MayerA thousand years from now when historians examine our culture, they won't find a more classic tale of living the American Dream than Oprah Winfrey. Born to an unwed mother in tiny Kosciusko, Miss., and sexually abused at the age of 9, Winfrey has defeated astronomical odds to become the richest, most powerful and most influential woman on American television.
Optical and SAR Remote Sensing of Urban Areas: A Practical Guide (Springer Geography)
by Courage KamusokoThis book introduces remotely sensed image processing for urban areas using optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and assists students, researchers, and remote sensing practitioners who are interested in land cover mapping using such data. There are many introductory and advanced books on optical and SAR remote sensing image processing, but most of them do not serve as good practical guides. However, this book is designed as a practical guide and a hands-on workbook, where users can explore data and methods to improve their land cover mapping skills for urban areas. Although there are many freely available earth observation data, the focus is on land cover mapping using Sentinel-1 C-band SAR and Sentinel-2 data. All remotely sensed image processing and classification procedures are based on open-source software applications such QGIS and R as well as cloud-based platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE). The book is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces geospatial machine learning, and Chapter 2 covers exploratory image analysis and transformation. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on mapping urban land cover using multi-seasonal Sentinel-2 imagery and multi-seasonal Sentinel-1 imagery, respectively. Chapter 5 discusses mapping urban land cover using multi-seasonal Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery as well as other derived data such as spectral and texture indices. Chapter 6 concludes the book with land cover classification accuracy assessment.
Optimal Control Theory and Static Optimization in Economics
by Daniel Leonard Ngo Van LongOptimal control theory is a technique being used increasingly by academic economists to study problems involving optimal decisions in a multi-period framework. This book is designed to make the difficult subject of optimal control theory easily accessible to economists while at the same time maintaining rigor. Economic intuition is emphasized, examples and problem sets covering a wide range of applications in economics are provided, theorems are clearly stated and their proofs are carefully explained. The development of the text is gradual and fully integrated, beginning with the simple formulations and progressing to advanced topics. Optimal control theory is introduced directly, without recourse to the calculus of variations, and the connection with the latter and with dynamic programming is explained in a separate chapter. Also, the book draws the parallel between optimal control theory and static optimization. No previous knowledge of differential equations is required.
Optimal Illusions: The False Promise of Optimization
by Coco KrummeHow optimization took over the world and the urgent case for a new approach Optimization is the driving principle of our modern world. We now can manufacture, transport, and organize things more cheaply and faster than ever. Optimized models underlie everything from airline schedules to dating site matches. We strive for efficiency in our daily lives, obsessed with productivity and optimal performance. How did a mathematical concept take on such outsize cultural shape? And what is lost when efficiency is gained?Optimal Illusions traces the fascinating history of optimization from its roots in America&’s founding principles to its modern manifestations, found in colorful stories of oil tycoons, wildlife ecologists, Silicon Valley technologists, lifestyle gurus, sugar beet farmers, and poker players. Optimization is now deeply embedded in the technologies and assumptions that have come to comprise not only our material reality but what we make of it.Coco Krumme&’s work in mathematical modeling has made her acutely aware of optimization&’s overreach. Streamlined systems are less resilient and more at risk of failure. They limit our options and narrow our perspectives. The malaise of living in an optimized society can feel profoundly inhumane. Optimal Illusions exposes the sizable bargains we have made in the name of optimization and asks us to consider what comes next.
Optimal Learning Environments to Promote Student Engagement
by David J. ShernoffOptimal Learning Environments to Promote Student Engagement analyzes the psychological, social, and academic phenomena comprising engagement, framing it as critical to learning and development. Drawing on positive psychology, flow studies, and theories of motivation, the book conceptualizes engagement as a learning experience, explaining how it occurs (or not) and how schools can adapt to maximize it among adolescents. Examples of empirically supported environments promoting engagement are provided, representing alternative high schools, Montessori schools, and extracurricular programs. The book identifies key innovations including community-school partnerships, technology-supported learning, and the potential for engaging learning opportunities during an expanded school day. Among the topics covered: Engagement as a primary framework for understanding educational and motivational outcomes.Measuring the malleability, complexity, multidimensionality, and sources of engagement.The relationship between engagement and achievement.Supporting and challenging: the instructor's role in promoting engagement.Engagement within and beyond core academic subjects.Technological innovations on the engagement horizon. Optimal Learning Environments to Promote Student Engagement is an essential resource for researchers, professionals, and graduate students in child and school psychology; social work; educational psychology; positive psychology; family studies; and teaching/teacher education.
Optimal Motherhood and Other Lies Facebook Told Us: Assembling the Networked Ethos of Contemporary Maternity Advice
by Kari Nixon Jessica ClementsAn exploration of social media–imposed pressure on new mothers: How the supposed safe havens of online mommy groups have become rife with aggression and groupthink.Many mothers today turn to social media for parenting advice, joining online mothers&’ groups on Facebook and elsewhere. But the communities they find in these supposed safe havens can be rife with aggression, peer pressure, and groupthink—insisting that only certain practices are &“best,&” &“healthiest,&” &“safest&” (and mandatory). In this book, Jessica Clements and Kari Nixon debunk the myth of &“optimal motherhood&”—the idea that there is only one right answer to parenting dilemmas, and that optimal mothers must pursue perfection. In fact, Clements and Nixon write, parenting choices are not binaries, and the scientific findings touted by mommy groups are neither clear-cut nor prescriptive.Clements and Nixon trace contemporary ideas of optimal motherhood to the nineteenth-century &“Cult of True Womanhood,&” which viewed women in terms of purity and dignity. Both mothers themselves, they joined a variety of Facebook mothers&’ groups to explore what goes on in online mommy wars. They examine debates within these groups over CDC recommendations about alcohol during pregnancy, birth plans that don&’t go according to plan, breastfeeding vs. formula, co-sleeping and &“crying it out,&” and &“tweaking&” pregnancy test kits to discern pregnancy as early as possible. Clements and Nixon argue for an empowered motherhood, freed from the impossible standards of the optimal.