The materials in this volume cover the works of the natural philosophers, mathematicians, engineers, and entertainers for whom electricity became a vessel to say new things about energy and create a new means of generating motive force. The papers, books, and experiments explore the ways in which electricity transforms from a force of nature into a source of energy. Accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, this collection will be of great interest to students and scholars of the History of Science.

This book, written from a practice-oriented perspective, examines whether and how questioning from the Bench actually achieves its objective, i.e. to assist the Court. Particular circumstances such as incidental proceedings and the time factor have an impact on the act of questioning, while the provisional relevance of issues raised?perceived as such by both the Court and the parties?may later turn out to be effective and rather important. Judicial actors have raised both conceptual and contextual questions, as well as procedural and substantive, and even hypothetical ones. The subject-matter of questions depends on the Court’s?champ operatoire, while the parties’ litigation strategy and their co-operational duties provide the framework to respond to the Court and to comment on the other party’s replies.?

A survey of this practice?by both the judicial actors and the parties?well-established now after almost eight decades, constitutes the groundwork for the qualitative analysis of the manner in which questions, replies and comments have found their way into the judicial reasoning of the Court and of individual judges. In the overwhelming majority of judgments and individual opinions this judicial engagement has been co-decisive.

This is the first, in-depth, and comprehensive monograph providing a functional analysis of this managerial tool at the Court’s disposal, making it essential reading for both scholars and practitioners, studying and involved with the Court’s jurisprudence.

Karel Wellens is Emeritus Professor of International Law at the Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands.

This Open Access book provides detailed practical guidance on how to do a Delphi study to establish a consensus across the broad range of social, psychological, health and environmental sciences. The book informs the design of Delphi studies by drawing on wisdom-of-crowds research on the conditions under which groups make better-quality judgements. It covers the development of the Delphi method and its many variations, as well as the ways this method has been used to make judgements of facts where the evidence is imperfect, set methodological standards, make predictions, define foundational concepts, determine collective values, and improve professional practice and policy. It takes the reader through the steps in carrying out a Delphi study and the choices that have to be made at each step. It also covers the implementation of Delphi findings in practice. Case examples are included throughout drawing from a variety of disciplines.

This volume of primary sources examines electric power, politics and culture in Victorian Britain. The materials review the formalization of electric power infrastructures or "grids" as they took shape on a local, national, and imperial scale, and explore how citizens, novelists, doctors, politicians, and electrical engineers imagined electric power networks impacting the present and future.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the relationship between utopia and democracy, challenging the tendency in Western scholarship to assume that an ideal society is inherently democratic. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book covers an extensive range of historical periods and genres, and places emphasis on an understudied issue in the field, namely the role of Eastern and Central Europe in the study of utopianism. The various chapters reflect on the frequently overlooked role utopian thought plays in the development of democratic political structures, despite the fact that the history of classical utopianism demonstrates a multitude of non-democratic patterns. With contributions from political theory, history, cultural and literary studies, the volume explores a range of contexts, demonstrating how utopias offer both a critique and an inspiration for the evolution of democratic societies.

This book provides informed-by-experience contributions from Latin-American-based researchers on the debate about how to protect citizens from the risks raised by neurotechnological applications. Written by researchers in philosophy, law, psychology, and medical sciences, the chapters of this book report on their individual experiences and case studies. They offer a timely snapshot of practical, conceptual, and legal ideas and challenges emerged in Latin American countries, which may inspire researchers and professionals all over the world.?

In the last decade, the popularity of 'romance' in the AAA game has exploded. It has become an expectation for major releases and a regular object of fan obsession. High-profile games such as Baldur's Gate III (2023), Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) and Starfield (2023) prominently feature in-game romance in their multimillion-dollar promotional campaigns. Moreover, rampant speculation by gaming journalists and fans about who is 'romanceable' will regularly accompany the announcement of a new title. However, representations of romance have long been under-examined and vaguely defined by scholars. This leaves important questions unanswered. How does the digital game mediate cultural attitudes towards love and sex? How can we classify representations of romance in the digital game? Does romance simply replicate existing hegemonies surrounding gender and sexuality, or does it offer a space for transgressive play?

This book positions optional romance in the AAA game as a central object of analysis. Based on the close analysis of some of the most commercially and culturally significant games of the last 30 years like Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), the Mass Effect series (2007-21) and the Elder Scrolls series (1994-2024), it is the first full-length monograph to effectively and comprehensively categorise how mainstream gaming asks its audience to engage with romance. It interrogates the idiosyncrasies of romance in the popular games to provide fresh insights into messaging surrounding normative social understandings of love, sex and intimacy.

By theorising four representational categories of romance-Limerent, Physical, Domestic and Ludic-Automatic Love introduces a new theoretical framework for scholars to understand romance, gender and sexuality in gaming.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the ways in which research and perspectives from the social sciences and humanities can be combined for a more effective understanding of climate change and its impacts. Climate change affects all aspects of life, influencing personal lifestyle choices and political perceptions. Beyond legal and political measures, the engagement of individuals and local communities has become essential for necessary systemic change. Understanding the complex human and social dynamics is key to achieving real change, in favour of a resilient and low-carbon future.

This book highlights the theoretical and practical contributions of the social sciences and humanities in understanding how humans perceive and respond to climate change, and the ways in which they can be combined to fight climate disruption and its effects. These interdisciplinary approaches draw upon fields such as communication sciences, linguistics, psychology, anthropology, educational sciences, management studies, and philosophy, to explore the nexus between climate change and human and social dynamics in individual, collective, and political actions.

Drawing on a wide range of interesting case studies, the book highlights opportunities for collaboration between disciplines by combining methodological and theoretical components and synthesizing the research results. Ultimately, the book demonstrates that a more effective collaboration between the social sciences and humanities is required to fully understand the complexities of our relationship with climate change, and to pave the way to a real ecological transition. The book will be of use to scholars, students, researchers, and practitioners interested in communication studies, psychology, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, management, educational studies, transition studies, and connected fields.

An Introduction to AI and Intercultural Communication Education is the first, historic volume to explore the intersection of AI and intercultural communication education, interrogating both the transformative possibilities and ethical dilemmas posed by emerging technologies.

Through diverse scholarly perspectives, the book examines how AI tools, ranging from language models such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek to generative image systems, could reshape the way we teach, research and conceptualise interculturality. While AI offers innovative opportunities for virtual exchanges, automated translation and accessible learning, it also risks reinforcing stereotypes, Western-centric epistemologies and reductive narratives if used uncritically. The contributors address pressing questions: Can AI facilitate decolonial and reflexive approaches to intercultural communication education, or does it inevitably reproduce dominant paradigms? How can educators harness the potential of AI while safeguarding against its pitfalls, such as algorithmic bias and the erasure of indigenous knowledge systems? Combining theoretical critique with case studies, the volume highlights the need for ethical frameworks that prioritise epistemic justice, pluralistic perspectives and human agency in AI-assisted intercultural communication and education.

This book is an indispensable resource for students, researchers and educators interested in the complexities of technology-mediated learning, as well as the broader fields of higher education, intercultural studies and internationalisation and globalisation.

In the current sociopolitical landscape, hyperandrogenism has become a lightning rod for collective anxieties about transgender identities and "preserving" women's sports, as well as misunderstandings about the inherent fairness of sport and the biological mechanisms that quantify athletic advantage. Perched behind this discourse, people living with hyperandrogenism face ongoing destabilization of healthcare access and find their experiences are often silenced and marginalized.

This book offers a novel therapeutic method for individuals with hyperandrogenism to share their experiences using literary hypertext-a form of digital storytelling that invites readers to participate by selecting hyperlinks. Focusing on a case study of women and nonbinary individuals with hyperandrogenism, ten hypertext authors' narratives are explored. Their experiences highlight the therapeutic value of writing a hypertext illness narrative by mapping reflective experiences through hyperlinks and sharing their narrative with the broader community.

Providing interdisciplinary insights into the lived experience of hyperandrogenism, as well as practical guidance on the clinical use of literary text, this book will appeal to researchers and clinicians interested in hyperandrogenism, gender studies, health humanities, narrative therapy, electronic media, game design and feminist media studies.

Chapter 4 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

This global, critical, and interdisciplinary handbook rethinks home as a material, emotional, and geopolitical site. It examines housing, displacement, domesticity, climate, care and the intimate labours, subjectivities, and practices of home. Across diverse contexts and with varied perspectives, including feminist, queer, and decolonial apprachers, the handbook chapters challenge romanticised ideals and illuminate home's inequalities, exclusions, and possibilities.

Spanning 46 chapters across four parts ("Theorising Home," "Housing and Home," "Domesticities and Everyday Life," and "Global Challenges and Home Futures"), this handbook blends conceptual innovation with grounded research. It offers global case studies, theoretical depth, and pedagogical tools on home's entanglements with law, human rights, ecology, technology, violence, and more-making it indispensable for critical scholarship, teaching, and practice.

Designed for a broad audience, this handbook supports undergraduate learning, graduate teaching, and advanced research. It equips scholars, educators, activists, policymakers, and practitioners with essential insights and resources to engage with home as a site of power, identity, and struggle in a rapidly changing world.

Parklets are innovative, dynamic public spaces that are installed onto on-street car-parking spots. These very small spaces have had a very large and lasting impact on city streets. How Good Are Parklets? is the first book to critically examine the parklet's purposes, formats and impacts. It traces the parklet's history, from its invention in 2005 as an experiment that tactically reclaimed street space for broader public use, to its surge in popularity worldwide after the COVID-19 pandemic for outdoor dining, community gathering and play. Drawing together archival research, expert interviews, typological analysis, mapping, field observation and design research, this book examines parklets' design, production and implementation across varying urban contexts. By examining a wide range of contemporary practices, this book identifies parklets' potentials to reshape streets, meet diverse social needs and foster community engagement. This book situates parklets within the wider push towards deploying temporary and tactical strategies in the planning and management of cities. Its deep enquiry into one question about one type of spatial intervention contributes new insights into the complex interplays of actors, interests, processes and materials that are currently transforming the urban landscape - one parking space at a time.

Tracing cultural representations of queerness in the Dominican Republic from the 1950s to the present

In this book, Maja Horn examines the evolution of queer Dominican literary and cultural production from the 1950s to the present, challenging simplistic developmental narratives of LGBTIQ progress. Through an analysis of literature, theater, and activism, Horn traces how same-sex desire and gender nonconformity have been negotiated both tacitly and overtly across the years.

Beginning with early forerunners, Horn looks at literary representations in works by Hilma Contreras and Pedro Rene Contin Aybar during the 1930-1961 dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Horn goes on to explore the emergence of queer nightlife spaces during the Balaguer years through novels by Rita Indiana Hernandez and Rey Emmanuel Andujar. Horn discusses how the work of playwright Waddys Jaquez challenges reductive mainstream representations of trans subjects and HIV/AIDS in the new democratic era. The book concludes with a discussion of groundbreaking recent texts that have expanded portrayals beyond Santo Domingo and introduced new perspectives.

Throughout Queer Genealogies in Dominican Literature and Culture, Horn shows how class, race, and gender have shaped access to public space and strategies for negotiating sexuality. Horn also reveals the coexistence of different ways of expressing queer identities. Recognizing the influence of coloniality and narratives of identity in the global North, Horn celebrates the shifting geographies and multiplicities of a uniquely creole Dominican queerness.