scholarly journals Archaeology, climate, and global change in the Age of Humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (15) ◽  
pp. 8250-8253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben C. Rick ◽  
Daniel H. Sandweiss

We live in an age characterized by increasing environmental, social, economic, and political uncertainty. Human societies face significant challenges, ranging from climate change to food security, biodiversity declines and extinction, and political instability. In response, scientists, policy makers, and the general public are seeking new interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches to evaluate and identify meaningful solutions to these global challenges. Underrecognized among these challenges is the disappearing record of past environmental change, which can be key to surviving the future. Historical sciences such as archaeology access the past to provide long-term perspectives on past human ecodynamics: the interaction between human social and cultural systems and climate and environment. Such studies shed light on how we arrived at the present day and help us search for sustainable trajectories toward the future. Here, we highlight contributions by archaeology—the study of the human past—to interdisciplinary research programs designed to evaluate current social and environmental challenges and contribute to solutions for the future. The past is a multimillennial experiment in human ecodynamics, and, together with our transdisciplinary colleagues, archaeology is well positioned to uncover the lessons of that experiment.

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 323-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Ellis ◽  
Jerry Rawicki

This article extends the research of Jerry Rawicki and Carolyn Ellis who have collaborated for more than eight years on memories and consequences of the Holocaust. Focusing on Jerry’s memories of his experience during the Holocaust, they present dialogues that took place during five recorded interviews and follow-up conversations that reflect on the similarity of Hitler’s seizing of power in the 1930s to the meteoric rise of Donald Trump. Noting how issues of class and race were taking an increasingly prominent role in their conversations and collaborative writing, they also begin to examine discontent in the rural, White working class and Carolyn’s socialization within that community. These dialogues and reflections seek to shed light on the current political climate in America as Carolyn and Jerry struggle to cope with their fears and envision a hopeful path forward for their country.


Literary Fact ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 8-30
Author(s):  
Monika V. Orlova

The publication includes V.Ya. Bryusov’s letters to his fiancée I.M. Runt (1876 –1965) from June 9 to September 9, 1897. 11 correspondences, including the final telegram sent from Kursk, were written and sent from Aachen (Germany), Moscow and several Ukrainian localities. The letter 10 is accompanied by the full text of I.M. Runt’s only surviving letter to Bryusov, sent from Moscow to the village of Bolshye Sorochintsy and received by the poet a few months later at home. The relationship between the young people before the wedding were complicated. While the poet was preparing for the wedding in Moscow, he summed up the past contacts with “mes amantes”, and his state of mind was painful. Shortly before meeting his future wife, Bryusov broke up with the former governess of his family E.I. Pavlovskaya, who was terminally ill. A few days before the wedding he decided to go to say goodbye to Pavlovskaya to her homeland, Ukraine. In his letters to the future wife the poet tried to smooth out the tension of the situation, perhaps anticipating that he would be bounded with I.M. Runt 30 Литературный факт. 2021. № 2 (20) by a long-term relationship, where life and literature are closely interconnected. The letters are published for the first time.


Author(s):  
Ed Ikin

Successful long-term plans for gardens require creativity and objectivity and need to include the insight of the horticultural teams caring for them. Garden plans take different forms and there are rival schools of thought about the merits of using external consultants or authoring exclusively in house. This essay makes the case for a ‘third way’, blending the skills of internal and external teams, and shows how the past can inspire the future.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Ayub Khan

This chapter discusses the emerging models of knowledge cities in many countries of the world and the potential challenges posed by them for the existing as well as the future academic institutions of higher education (universities) in those countries in particular and in the in world in general. Specifically, this chapter is dedicated to the study of various issues and themes that concern the evolving knowledge cities such as the long-term and short-term objectives behind the establishment of knowledge cities and their potential benefits (i.e., social, economic, financial, environmental, and knowledge) for their societies. The chapter concludes that the development of knowledge cities are beneficial for all stakeholders including the academic institutions of higher education that directly or indirectly associated with such programs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
Marieke Liem ◽  
Jan Maarten Elbers

In recent decades, the number of long-term detainees held worldwide has increased significantly. Academics and policy makers have begun to challenge the widespread use and effectiveness of such severe sentences, however. This article aims to shed light on the role of human rights in imposing and executing long-term custodial sentences. There appears to be tension between ensuring that human rights are respected and provision of security through the incapacitation of offenders. This tension can only be understood properly in the context of contemporary risk-management associated with increased punitiveness.


Notitia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Zlatko Čehulić ◽  
Rajka Hrbić

In this paper the impact of adopting the euro in Croatia is analysed using experiences of other countries which have passed through this process in the last decade and which are comparable with Croatia in many aspects. The process of adopting a currency different from the one that has been used for more than twenty years presents a very important economic question for each country. In this period preceding to adopting the euro, there is an opportunity to analyse this process in the countries which went through it in the past. The result of this paper shows the impacts of adopting the euro in the European countries. The selected countries, which are adequate for analysing the effects of adopting the euro, are: Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. These countries have been selected for different reasons. The majority of these countries have some similarities with Croatia, which are shown in this paper via relevant economic indicators. These results are significant for Croatia and show a positive influence on the Croatian market on a long-term basis. This paper is relevant and has a practical basis both for Croatia and other countries which will go through this process in the future.


1981 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 407-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart R. Schram

On 1 July 1981 the Chinese Communist Party celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its foundation. To mark this occasion, the Party itself issued a statement summing up the experience of recent decades. It seems an appropriate time for outsiders as well to look back over the history of the past 60 years, in the hope of grasping long-term tendencies which may continue to influence events in the future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Heradio ◽  
David Fernández-Amorós ◽  
Francisco Javier Cabrerizo ◽  
Enrique Herrera-Viedma

In the past two decades, the use of digital libraries (DLs) has grown significantly. Accordingly, questions about the utility, usability and cost of DLs have started to arise, and greater attention is being paid to the quality evaluation of this type of information system. Since DLs are destined to serve user communities, one of the main aspects to be considered in DL evaluation is the user’s opinion. The literature on this topic has produced a set of varied criteria to judge DLs from the user’s perspective, measuring instruments to elicit users’ opinions, and approaches to analyse the elicited data to conclude an evaluation. This paper provides a literature review of the quality evaluation of DLs based on users’ perceptions. Its main contribution is to bring together previously disparate streams of work to help shed light on this thriving area. In addition, the various studies are discussed, and some challenges to be faced in the future are proposed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 496-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Večerník

The article describes the development of Czech policy after 1989 and the controversies it caused. It first looks at the ambiguous nature of the communist welfare state and then proceeds to outline the theoretical alternatives. After early and energetic changes in the system, stagnation set in around the mid-1990s. Despite some problems, the current performance of the system is satisfactory, but its outlook in terms of long-term efficiency is unsatisfactory, as it will generate a rising debt into the future. In particular, the disadvantaged situation for families, the insufficient work motivation, and the frozen pension system are all causes for concern. The political shift to the right after 2006 ushered in reform measures and new reform plans. While reforms are necessary, their feasibility is uncertain owing to the fragility of the Czech political scene.


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