This edited collection proposes a common good approach to development theory and practice. Rather than focusing on the outcomes or conditions of development, the contributors concentrate on the quality of development processes, suggesting that a common good dynamic is key in order to trigger development. Resulting from more than three years of research by an international group of over fifty scholars, the volume advocates for a modern understanding of the common good—rather than a theological or metaphysical good—in societies by emphasising the social practice of ‘commoning’ at its core. It suggests that the dynamic equilibrium of common goods in a society should be at the centre of development efforts. For this purpose, it develops a matrix of common good dynamics, accounting for how institutions, social norms and common practices interconnect by identifying five key drivers not only of development, but human development (agency, governance, justice, stability, humanity). Based on this matrix, the contributors suggest a possible metric for measuring the quality of these dynamics. The last section of the book highlights the possibilities enabled by this approach through a series of case studies. The concept of the common good has recently enjoyed a revival and inspired practitioners keen to look beyond the shortcomings of political and economic liberalism. This book builds on those efforts to think beyond the agenda of twentieth-century development policies, and will be of interest to those working in the fields of development, economics, sociology, philosophy and political science.

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This open access book presents the evolution of the Spanish economy over the past seven centuries since the end of the Reconquest and examines how much economic progress has Spain achieved, as well as its impact on living standards and income distribution over the very long run. It shows that preindustrial Spain was far from stagnant, although levels of output per head in the early nineteenth century were not much different from those on the eve of the Black Death (1348). It further discusses how phases of simultaneous per capita output and population expansion and shrinkage alternated, lending support to the recurring growth and frontier economy hypotheses. While a collapse in the 1570s gave way to sluggish growth and higher inequality after a long phase of sustained growth and lower inequality, the book shows how real per capita income has improved substantially over the last two centuries, driven by increased labor productivity, and derived from more intense andefficient use of physical and human capital per worker. Presenting exposure to international competition as a stimulus for this development, the book sheds light on the underperformance of Spain up to 1950 in a European comparison and describes the catch-up of Spain’s economy with more advanced countries until 2007. Finally, the book explains how modern economic growth is associated with an increase in the material well-being of its inhabitants, as the most dynamic economic phases of the last century have been associated with an improvement in income distribution, although the relationship between growth and inequality has not been linear. This book is a must-read for students, researchers, and scholars of economics and economic history interested in a better understanding of cliometrics, long-run analyses, economic development, economic growth, as well as the Spanish economy.

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This volume aims to foster a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities posed by AI in an interconnected world, by addressing AI’s significance for human development and its implications in culturally situated discourses. Drawing on diverse disciplines ranging from humanities to social sciences, this collection examines both the production and reception of AI discourse, investigating how AI narratives are constructed in different cultural contexts and how they influence public opinion in leading countries as well as in the Global South.

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The biography and work of Fred Vondracek are inseparable. The contributions of the authors who have had the privilege of being close to the research and the life of Fred Vondracek provide a clear picture of him as an exemplary paradigm of the concept of person in context. His agency in contexts of dramatic structural changes and transitions in society are representative of both his personal experience and his scientific position. Fred ‘s ability to bring new insights into the field of developmental psychology has opened our minds to the need for new research paradigms, which his colleagues and followers testify to in this book. Combining classical approaches to human development with ecological and living systems emergent models, Fred Vondracek’s work reveals a modern and harmonious view of life. Individuals and social structures are no longer separate pieces in an unresolved puzzle, but instead produce developmental synergies. In the elegance and rigor of his writings we perceive his impetus to advance the theoretical and conceptual development, as well as the methodologies to guide research and practical intervention, always illuminated by his magnificent soul - a true representative of the “alma mater conimbrigensis”.

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Viruses exhibit an elegant simplicity as they are so basic, but so frightening. Although only a few are life threatening, they have substantial implications for human health and the economy, as exemplified by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Viruses are rather small infectious agents found in all types of life forms, from animals and plants to prokaryotes and archaebacteria. They are obligate intracellular parasites, and as such, subvert many molecular and cellular processes of the host cell to ensure their own replication, amplification, and subsequent spread. This Special Issue addresses the cell biology of viral infections based on a collection of original research articles, communications, opinions, and reviews on various aspects of virus–host cell interactions. Together, these articles not only provide a glance into the latest research on the cell biology of viral infections but also include novel technological developments.

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The interrelationship between economic growth, efficient use of natural resources, and sustainability has been of great interest to economists, researchers and policy makers. Knowledge of actual causality direction between sustainability, efficiency and growth has important implications for modeling environmental economic policies. Various serious environmental problems demand urgent attention and planning of adequate policies towards sustainability. Development of new economic and environmental policies and use of new econometric, operational research and mathematical and statistical techniques offers scope for further research. Studies were invited to address economic growth and environment: environmental problems; Air/water pollution; Health impact of pollution; Waste management; Natural resources management; Population economics; Environmental policy tools; Renewable energy sources; Business and sustainable development; Sustainable transport; Sustainable tourism; Urban and regional development.

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Primary energy consumption around the world has been increasing steadily since the Industrial Revolution and shows no signals of slowing down in the coming years. This trend is accompanied by the increasing pollutant concentration on the Earth’s biosystems and the general concerns over the health and environmental impacts that will ensue. Air quality, water purity, atmospheric CO2 concentration, etc., are some examples of environmental parameters that are degrading due to human activities. These ecosystems can be safeguarded without renouncing industrial development, urban and economic development through the use of low environmental impact technologies instead of equivalent pollutant ones or through the use of technologies to mitigate the negative impact of high emissions technologies. Pollutant abatement systems, carbon capture technologies, biobased products, etc. need to be established in order to make environmental parameters more and more similar to the pre-industrialization values of the planet Earth. In 15 papers international scientists addressed such topics, especially combining a high academic standard coupled with a practical focus on green processes and a quantitative approach to environmental impacts.

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This book is the result of a research project designed and carried out at the Department of Architecture, University of Florence. This research was based on the transfer of knowledge from members of the Albanian Diaspora in Italy (university students, young architects and researchers) to their home country. This unique process blazed a trail in the Albania-related studies by creating a methodology, which could be replicated not only in Albanian rural contexts, but also elsewhere. The book constitutes a structured tool for generating sustainable and socially inclusive territorial development processes in five lesser-known Albanian cultural sites. Their tangible and intangible cultural heritage was seen as a driving factor for triggering development processes aimed at improving the inhabitants’ quality of life and strengthening local identity and social networks. Through concrete proposals and strategies, the book offers scenarios and solutions capable of enhancing the potential of each village and, at the same time, counteracting the effects of land abandonment that so often characterise them.

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This book is the result of a research project designed and carried out at the Department of Architecture, University of Florence. This research was based on the transfer of knowledge from members of the Albanian Diaspora in Italy (university students, young architects and researchers) to their home country. This unique process blazed a trail in the Albania-related studies by creating a methodology, which could be replicated not only in Albanian rural contexts, but also elsewhere. The book constitutes a structured tool for generating sustainable and socially inclusive territorial development processes in five lesser-known Albanian cultural sites. Their tangible and intangible cultural heritage was seen as a driving factor for triggering development processes aimed at improving the inhabitants’ quality of life and strengthening local identity and social networks. Through concrete proposals and strategies, the book offers scenarios and solutions capable of enhancing the potential of each village and, at the same time, counteracting the effects of land abandonment that so often characterise them.

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Human growth and development is the lifelong process of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social change that individuals undergo from conception to adulthood and into old age. This field of study encompasses the various stages of human life, from prenatal development through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and aging, highlighting the biological, psychological, and social factors that influence each stage. This book explores the key stages of human development, emphasizing the dynamic interplay between genetics and environment. It begins with prenatal development, discussing the factors that affect fatal growth and development, including nutrition, toxins, and genetic conditions. The study then moves on to early childhood, where physical growth, motor skills, and cognitive development, such as language acquisition and memory, are highlighted. In adolescence, the paper focuses on the onset of puberty, the development of identity, and the significant cognitive changes that lead to more complex thinking and reasoning abilities. The transition into adulthood is explored, with a focus on the physical and cognitive changes that occur during early, middle, and late adulthood. The paper also examines the impact of social relationships, career development, and life events on human development. Finally, the study addresses the aging process, exploring the physical and mental challenges of older adulthood, including changes in mobility, cognition, and social engagement.

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This Special Issue focuses on the articulation of the 2030 Agenda at the domestic level, with policies addressing social exclusion in rural and urban contexts, both in countries from the Global North and the Global South. In such contexts, a complex multiactor governance mechanism is required to guarantee the participation of all relevant stakeholders in the policy cycle. This democratic governance is especially relevant to effectively address the problems faced by the most vulnerable people and groups in rural and urban areas, to guarantee that no one is left behind. Many elements defining the situation of vulnerability and deprivation that people face occur in relation to and caused by the characteristics of the place where they live, be it a city or a rural area. Rural and urban vulnerabilities should not be studied as two separate realities, not only because they share common features, but also because those most deprived in cities are likely to have migrated from the rural milieu in search of a better life. Thus, they can be regarded as two stages in time and space of a continuum of underdevelopment. This Special Issue gathered the works of scholars that explore how the 2030 Agenda is influencing the design of domestic policies with a multilevel (transnational and domestic) approach, methodological models for studying the articulation of global policies such as the 2030 Agenda in the design of national and local policies, or potentially replicable diffusion and transference models for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

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The District’s Public Policy (ppdr) was formulated for Bogotá City (Colombia) in 2006. It came up as an administration tool for the territorial sustainable environmental management and for overcoming the exclusion of the population, from a human development approach. We present here the process and results of a case study in which we intended to analyze the implementation of the ppdr to contribute to understand the obstacles, successes and new challenges occurred by the inclusion of human development in public environmental policies. The study focused on environmental issues reported by the District´s public entities, corresponding to the government periods 2008-2011 “Bogotá Positiva: Para Vivir Mejor” and 2012 - 2015 “Bogotá Humana”. The analysis of the actions implemented under the ppdr framework showed that these have contributed in the betterment of human development in rural areas. It shows the importance of developing policies focused on the nature conservation as well as social and economic development of the populations living in direct contact with it, by integrating completely the equity issues into the environmental policies.

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This book explores learning outcomes for low-income rural and township youth at five South African universities. The book is framed as a contribution to southern and Africa-centred scholarship, adapting Amartya Sen’s capability approach and a framework of key concepts: capabilities, functionings, context, conversion factors, poverty and agency to investigate opportunities and obstacles to achieved student outcomes. This approach allows a reimagining of ‘inclusive learning outcomes’ to encompass the multi-dimensional value of a university education and a plurality of valued cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes for students from low-income backgrounds whose experiences are strongly shaped by hardship. Based on capability theorising and student voices, the book proposes for policy and practice a set of contextual higher education capability domains and corresponding functionings orientated to more justice and more equality for each person to have the opportunities to be and to do what they have reason to value. The book concludes that sufficient material resources are necessary to get into university and flourish while there; the benefits of a university education should be rich and multi-dimensional so that they can result in functionings in all areas of life as well as work and future study; the inequalities and exclusion of the labour market and pathways to further study must be addressed by wider economic and social policies for ‘inclusive learning outcomes’ to be meaningful; and that universities ought to be doing more to enable black working-class students to participate and succeed. Low-Income Students, Human Development and Higher Education in South Africamakes an original contribution to capabilitarian scholarship: conceptually in theorising a South-based multi-dimensional student well-being higher education matrix and a rich reconceptualisation of learning outcomes, as well as empirically by conducting rigorous, longitudinal in-depth mixed-methods research on students’ lives and experiences in higher education in South Africa. The audience for the book includes higher education researchers, international capabilitarian scholars, practitioners and policy-makers.

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As we know, a large amount of research confirms that physical activity (PA), physical fitness (PF), and motor competence (MC) are associated with health benefits in individuals of all ages. Achieving a sufficient level of PA and PF will consequently further contribute to better health-related biomarkers. Moreover, holding a good MC allows better participation in PA and exercise in life, promoting greater physical literacy.It is true that the measurement of PA in children and young people is subject to several conditioning factors which threaten validity and reliability. Additionally, it is good to remember that the World Health Organization guidelines on PA and sedentary behaviour for children recommend: (1) 180 min of PA (at any intensity) for two-year old children; (2) 180 min of PA, of which 60 min is moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), for 3- to 4-year-old children; and (3) at least 60 min of MVPA for children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years old.Therefore, understanding and developing strategies to promote PA behavior is now more important than in the past, because it is essential to improve fitness levels and MC in early ages. These strategies should cover all generations, children and youth, adults and the elderly, equally, because negative outcomes are visible in individuals of all ages.In this Special Issue, we show contributions that describe and list the link, monitoring and promotion between PA, PF, and MC.

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Continuous professional development is of great importance if one is to develop quality professional work. This book contains some of the latest research advances related to the field of Physical Education and Sports. In today's globalized world, continuous and permanent education is necessary and essential to complement the initial training and previous experience. In this book, you can find a wide range of works focused on innovative teaching methodologies and psychological variables to take into account to improve classes and training. These studies on the most forward-looking technological advances in physical activity and sports are useful for those who seek to be up-to-date on this type of research. In addition, these studies will be useful to consult regarding current lifestyle, the creation of healthy habits, the promotion of physical activity in one’s free time, and the importance of leading an active life.

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Studying and managing regional economic development in the current globalization era demands prompt, reliable, and comparable estimates for a region’s economic performance. Night-time lights (NTL) emitted from residential areas, entertainment places, industrial facilities, etc., and captured by satellites have become an increasingly recognized proxy for on-ground human activities. Compared to traditional indicators supplied by statistical offices, NTLs may have several advantages. First, NTL data are available all over the world, providing researchers and official bodies with the opportunity to obtain estimates even for regions with extremely poor reporting practices. Second, in contrast to non-standardized traditional reporting procedures, the unified NTL data remove the problem of inter-regional comparability. Finally, NTL data are currently globally available on a daily basis, which makes it possible to obtain these estimates promptly. In this book, we provide the reader with the contributions demonstrating the potential and efficiency of using NTL data as a proxy for the performance of regions.

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In the current context of the electronic governance of society, both administrations and citizens are demanding greater participation of all the actors involved in the decision-making process relative to the governance of society. This book presents collective works published in the recent Special Issue (SI) entitled “Optimization for Decision Making”. These works give an appropriate response to the new challenges raised, the decision-making process can be done by applying different methods and tools, as well as using different objectives. In real-life problems, the formulation of decision-making problems and application of optimization techniques to support decisions are particularly complex and a wide range of optimization techniques and methodologies are used to minimize risks, improve quality in making decisions, or, in general, to solve problems. In addition, a sensitivity or robustness analysis should be done to validate/analyze the influence of uncertainty regarding decision-making. This book brings together a collection of inter-/multi-disciplinary works applied to the optimization for decision making in a coherent manner.

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Across Africa, a burgeoning middle class has become the poster child for the 'Africa rising' narrative. Ambitious, aspirational and increasingly affluent, this group is said to embody the values and hopes of the new Africa, with international bodies ranging from the United Nations Development Programme to the World Bank regarding them as important agents of both economic development and democratic change. This narrative, however, obscures the complex and often ambiguous role that this group actually plays in African societies. Bringing together economists, political scientists, anthropologists and development experts, and spanning a variety of case studies from across the continent, this collection provides a much-needed corrective to the received wisdom within development circles, and provides a fresh perspective on social transformations in contemporary Africa.

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What are the practical implications of truly caring about yourself and others, of approaching each day with an open mind, an open heart, and a desire to reduce the suffering of all living beings? Can we learn compassion as a way of life, as an antidote to violence and cruelty? In The Seven Virtues of Highly Compassionate People, social scientists Nancy Guerra and Kirk R. Williams provide easy-to-follow steps to help you understand the what, the why, and the how of compassion. They bring together cutting-edge research, inspiring spiritual teachings, and their own life experiences to help you bring compassion front and center in your life. Not only is compassion good for you and those around you, but it is the key to a more peaceful and just world. “The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license. Funded by The Living Peace Foundation.”

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