Examining how people understood the role of the dead and the divine in the curse tablets they created, this book provides unparalleled insights into the lives of those often underrepresented in ancient sources. Looking at these small, handwritten inscriptions in Celtic, Coptic, Greek, Latin and Punic allows us to see into the lives and imaginations of the broader population, including women and enslaved peoples, from the sixth century BCE to the seventh century CE.

The book primarily focuses on the roles of the restless dead and divine in curse tablets, from actively carrying out a curse (physically or metaphysically), to their use analogically, and their function as intermediaries and witnesses. By placing the focus always on the individual, Charlotte Spence enhances our understanding both of the lives of ancient individuals and their conceptions of the dead.

• eigenstaendige Kommentierung aller wesentlichen Gesetzesnormen
• praxisnahe Erlaeuterung durch fuehrende Expertinnen und Experten
• wichtige Rechtsprechung und Literatur topaktuell verarbeitet

Rural Media Studies: A Global Perspective brings together scholars from across the world to examine how digital technologies, platform infrastructures, and evolving media practices are reshaping life beyond metropolitan centers.

Although media scholarship has long privileged urban spaces, this volume foregrounds rural and remote communities as dynamic sites of innovation, struggle, and cultural (re)negotiation amid digitalization. The chapters explore how rural actors engage with platforms, navigate shifting information ecologies, sustain journalistic practices, and adapt to technological transformations in everyday life, governance, and agriculture. The contributions collectively make the case for rural media studies as a distinct and urgently needed subfield, one that challenges urban biases and widens the conceptual and methodological horizons of media research. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students working in media and communication, rural sociology, digital anthropology, and political communication, as well as to journalists, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to understand the rapidly changing communicative landscapes of rural spaces.

Britain is broken: its economy hollowed out, unbalanced, and unable to provide good livelihoods for millions. We import too much, make too little, and keep wages low. Neoliberalism has failed.

This book puts forward a concrete, costed programme for real economic renewal: rebuilding the foundations of industry, expanding manufacturing, and lifting productivity through skilled work, investment and domestic capacity. It outlines a practical route to generating real wealth rather than recycling financial gains. To deliver it requires sovereignty to plan and invest, and democratic power to mobilise the necessary workers, skills and institutions.

This bold intervention is a blueprint for economic revival. Anyone who wishes to be part of the democratic movement that is needed to make this happen should read this book.

How Asia's top owner-CEOs fueled the region's rise, and what every leader around the world can learn

Shapers and Founders: The Untold Stories of Asia's Extraordinary Owner-CEOs, written by a team of McKinsey partners, reveals the leadership strategies behind Asia's highest-performing entrepreneur-led companies. Drawing on rigorous empirical research, hundreds of hours of interviews, and deep personal relationships built over decades of advisory work, the authors distill the distinctive leadership playbook that has powered Asia's rise.

Shapers and Founders explores how, in boardrooms and backstreets alike, these founders have built national champions and global contenders, often from modest beginnings and in unforgiving markets. Through candid, in-depth conversations with founders across Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei and Sydney, the book articulates the six core behaviors and eighteen governing mindsets that truly sets these founders and CEOs apart.

Readers will also discover:

• Insights into Asia's emergence as one of the world's most dynamic regions, now accounting for the majority of global population and trade, with founder-led companies driving disproportionate value creation in the region
• One-on-one interviews with founders/CEOs of Asia's most successful businesses, revealing their own unique personal journeys and how they have shaped Asia into what it is today
• The six core behaviors of Asia's most extraordinary owner-CEOs, offering a fresh blueprint for building enduring institutions and leading with bold ambition, resilience, and purpose in any market
• Practical leadership mindsets that professional CEOs, aspiring and existing founders, family business executives, and next generation leaders can apply within their own organizations

Written for global entrepreneurs, professional CEOs, investors, and board members who are seeking what great stewardship looks like amidst tremendous growth and change, Shapers and Founders delivers research-backed insights into the leadership behaviors and mindsets driving Asia's most value-creating companies.

After several decades of unprecedented growth that turned China into the world's second largest economy, today China is facing major economic challenges, exacerbated by rising tariffs imposed by its most important export market, the United States. How can we explain the extraordinary rise and sudden faltering of China's economic miracle?

Kent Deng takes a long-term view, charting the development of China's economy from the fourteenth century to the present day. He shows the level of growth reached by China's traditional economy and compares this with the economic performance during Mao's rule from the 1950s to the 1970s, a period that fell into a growth cul-de-sac with major economic disincentives and mass poverty. This forced Mao's successor, Deng Xiaoping, to reform and open up China's economy by unleashing the economic power of the market. The new model developed by Deng Xiaoping was driven by state-led import dependency in order to catch up with the West. Exports were a means to that end. But this economic model is now facing increasing resistance from those countries on which China has relied for its growth. Since 2010, two doors have been closing on China: the door for goods heading for China (vital for China's modernization) and the door for goods coming from China (vital for paying for China's imports).

Given the headwinds China now faces, and given that many low-income countries have now modelled themselves on China and begun to supply the world market with low-priced goods, Kent Deng argues that China would need an economic miracle to bounce back to its pre-2010 growth trajectory.

An original framework for leadership in uncertainty and crises

Against the Storm: How Leaders Prevail When the World Shakes delivers exclusive insights on leading during extreme uncertainty, the threat of chaos where life or livelihood hangs in the balance. Written by retired Brigadier General, accomplished social psychologist, and strategic leader, Tom Kolditz, and highly professional Ukrainian leader developer, Mariana Khomitska, this book draws upon a wealth of real-world experiences to show readers how to lead throughmarket collapses, prioritize employee wellbeing while making necessary strategic pivots, and communicate transparently to maintain stakeholder confidence, such as during a company's response to a sudden and unexpected supply chain disruption.

Using a practical framework that can be applied across industries and roles, this book discusses how to:

• Lead in uncertain times, when followers are driven solely by trust
• Adeptly control dialogue in meetings when the pressures of crisis are apparent
• See ahead and prevent unanticipated catastrophic failures
• Prevent the adoption of flawed plans
• Empower others while maintaining the necessary control over outcomes
• Navigate the nature of guilt and shame in crisis leadership
• Leading through medical uncertainty that emerges in family lifeWork through tragedies in crisis, such as bankruptcies, collapsing relationships, and deaths

Revealing a completely original approach to crisis leadership that other, less-experienced authors simply do not have the experience to formulate, Against the Storm is an eye-opening book for all executives and business leaders seeking true wisdom on how to handle the hardest challenges that will come their way.

This book presents a rigorous exploration of responsible entrepreneurship through an analysis of Deignan Award laureates across Hong Kong and Macao. Drawing on 18 in-depth interviews with gold and merit awardees, the co-authors deliver empirically rich, context-specific insights into ethical business practices within the Greater Bay Area. The dual-region perspective enables cross-comparative analysis, advancing scholarly discourse on culturally embedded entrepreneurial ethics.

This edited volume highlights the growing recognition of the need for a more comprehensive understanding of language shaped by local contexts. It seeks to further conceptualise Global English(es) as localised language practices. Such practices illustrate how the English language is transformed to meet the needs of diverse communities, reflecting their social, cultural, and political values. Recognising that 'glocality' is a unique characteristic of today's world, this volume expands upon the previously proposed conceptualisation of English as a Glocal Language (EGL)-one that is simultaneously global and local-to capture and accommodate the whole spectrum of cultural meanings and interpretations it is capable of conveying. This book is a useful resource for researchers, applied linguists, ELT professionals and practitioners, among others.

Testimonial for The Rise of English as a Glocal Language

Jennifer Jenkins, Emeritus Professor, University of Southampton UK

It is only rarely that a truly original and exciting publication appears within the broad field of the spread of English, but this edited volume is one such book. The editors and their contributors position the field not, as conventionally done, within global Englishes but within a 'deglobalised' glocal framework. As they demonstrate throughout, this is a far more appropriate perspective within which to explore the teaching of English around the world. The book's raison d'etre having been established in the introduction, the chapters that follow, based on new empirical research, range far across geographical contexts, and include rarely researched regions such as Pakistan and Israel/Palestine as well as original focuses, for example, composers in Latin America. Highly recommended for anyone interested in World Englishes, ELF, or ELT more widely.

Provides a comprehensive foundation for advancing social work practice in today's complex health care systems

Health social work stands at the intersection of healthcare delivery, social justice, and human well-being-fields that are increasingly interconnected as global health systems confront deep structural inequities. Handbook of Health Social Work, Fourth Edition, provides the theoretical grounding, practical tools, and cross-disciplinary insights needed to address these urgent challenges. Reflecting the latest developments in health policy, integrated care, and social determinants of health, the book offers a wellness-oriented, evidence-based framework for practice across a range of settings and populations.

Authored by leading experts, this fully updated edition expands on previous work to reflect the evolving realities of today's health landscape. New material explores the implications of technologies such as AI and machine learning for social work ethics and practice, health policy reforms, climate-related health impacts, and the role of social workers in responding to pandemics, political conflicts, and climate-related health crises. The Handbook also introduces critical updates on Medicaid expansion, the Child Tax Credit, and other key policy shifts, while offering fresh insights into transdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of genetic knowledge in client care.

The definitive guide to promoting health equity and improving outcomes through leadership and innovation, Handbook of Health Social Work:

• Explores social work's expanding role within transdisciplinary health care teams
• Emphasizes a wellness-based, strengths-oriented approach grounded in evidence-based models
• Discusses the interface between genetics, health, and social work practice
• Includes learning exercises, research recommendations, and life-course perspectives in every chapter

Supporting advanced study within social work, public health, and health policy programs, Handbook of Health Social Work, Fourth Edition, is ideal for master's and doctoral-level courses such as Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Clinical Practice in Illness & Healthcare, and Social Welfare Policy and Services. It is also an essential reference for social workers, clinicians, and cross-disciplinary health professionals engaged in direct practice, administration, or policy development.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the innovative technologies in Chinese language education. It showcases innovations such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience applications through case studies of pioneering programs, research centers, and products designed specifically for Chinese language learners. This book also features insider perspectives from exclusive interviews with over 20 leading developers, researchers, and educators who are driving these innovative technologies and integrating them into quality instruction. These firsthand accounts offer deep insights into the process of designing, validating, and applying new technologies to transform Chinese language learning. It serves as an essential guide for Chinese as a second language (CFL) teachers, teacher training providers, and Edtech companies specializing in solutions for Chinese learning.

The Habsburg dynasty in Spain came to an end with the death of Charles II in 1700 and his replacement by Philip V, the teenage grandson of Louis XIV of France and founder of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. The transition was complicated by the continent-spanning War of Spanish Succession (1702-1714), which provided an opportunity for the transformation and renewal of the Spanish state. Forging Faithful Subjects traces the Habsburg precedents for these reforms, the dynamic transition in the crucible of war, and the governing strategies through which Philip established remarkably durable nondemocratic politics in the changing world of the Age of Enlightenment.

In this innovative study of dynastic change, Phillip D. Fox challenges conventional accounts of Spanish political history and European state formation. Philip V's experience of the war and sense of betrayal by the Catalans and others drove him to cultivate loyalty in his subjects, while the monarch's sensitivity to his subjects' interests led him to balance royal control with local privilege, sometimes choosing to preserve administrative complexity rather than impose simpler centralizing reforms. These decisions paradoxically enabled Philip to secure his family's rule, increase royal resources, and recover some of the territory lost in the War of Spanish Succession.

By showing how dynastic concerns inspired such flexible strategies of governing and patronage, Forging Faithful Subjects reveals new approaches to the study of early modern state formation and the administration of empires. Fox's accessible narrative account of an often-neglected period draws on political, social, and economic history to make a groundbreaking argument demonstrating the logic behind European and Atlantic state formation during the long eighteenth century.

How can teachers and teacher educators enact positive change in their working environments? How can they develop professional learning communities? How can they support educational policies on intercultural competence, multilingualism and plurilingualism while improving students' language skills? This inspiring collection gives clear and practical advice on how action research can help achieve all of those goals, from primary through secondary, higher and adult education settings.

Action Research Communities for Language Teachers, funded by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe, collects practical first-hand accounts of action research projects, with a shared focus on practical, replicable advice and achievable results. Readers can use these examples to develop small, evidence-based interventions that address their own common challenges and concerns. Spanning fourteen European countries and a similar range of taught languages, these real-life examples of shared problem-solving and collaboration are a crucial contribution to the theory and practice of language teaching and teacher education.

An international cross-regional and cross-cultural comparison of how women experience incarceration, encompassing various historical, social, economic, and systemic factors unique to those regions.

The issue of women's imprisonment is a complex and multifaceted one, as women face unique challenges behind bars, compared to their male counterparts. Although imprisoned women around the world may share common hardships, their experiences also vary according their specific social and regional circumstances.

This volume takes a global view of incarcerated women, examining the cultural, historical, economical, and political influences that affect their imprisonment. Addressing the historical context of women's prisons across all geographical regions of the world, each chapter dives deep into the local female incarceration trends over time, and the influencing laws and policies; the physical and mental health issues women face in prison, including mental illness, substance abuse, sexual abuse, and pregnancy; as well as re-entry programs, recidivism, and policy reform.

Written by an expert in the field of criminal justice and gender studies, this is a useful primer for research into the topic of women and incarceration around the world.