Challenging Perspectives

This volume provides theory and research on organizational change and predominantly features the application of these ideas to the health care domain, broadly defined. It addresses enduring issues in advancing to an effective health care system. The aim of this book is to offer an accessible and readable text aimed at provoking thought and questioning, and aiding creativity. It proffers arguments and ideas which are firmly based in empirical data and evidence, so that the reader may make informed personal evaluations. This book is designed to furnish a comprehensive theoretical basis for understanding organizational change in health care, as well as selected core issues of contemporary and future importance to the provision of effective care within sustainable systems. A series of coherent themes are addressed throughout the book from differing perspectives. However, every chapter has been written to standalone and be read independently. Each offers resources relevant to its’ focal topic, in the form of references, case studies and critique. Setting out a future research agenda, the book will be vital reading for organizational change researchers and practitioners in the healthcare industry.

This book constitutes the refereed joint proceedings of eight international workshops held in conjunction with the 28th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, ER 2009, in Gramado, Brazil, in November 2009. The 33 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 100 submissions. Topics addressed by the workshops are active conceptual modeling of learning (ACM-L), conceptual modeling in the large (CoMoL), evolving theories of conceptual modeling (ETheCoM), workshop on foundations and practices of UML (FP-UML), joint international workshop on metamodels, ontologies, semantic technologies, and information systems for the semantic web (MOST-ONISW), quality of information systems (QoIS), requirements, Intentions and goals in conceptual modeling ( RIGiM) and semantic and conceptual issues in geographic information systems (SeCoGIS).

A mainstream thematic reader for first-year composition courses, this compilation is distinctive from other major readers in that it places a significant emphasis on the role of ethical perspectives in examining themes in non-fiction and literary works. Challenging Perspectives encourages students to grapple with their own views of the world as they are challenged by moral and ethical issues suggested by or directly discussed in a particular selection. Comprised of over 80 non-fiction essays, short stories, poems, and images, the reader's numerous argumentative and persuasive pieces make it a rigorous and substantial anthology ideally suited to composition courses centering on argumentative writing.

This book investigates and explores the complex dynamics of youth in contemporary society, especially in troubled and crisis-ridden contexts. On the one hand, teenagers and young adults experience social suffering, marginalisation, gender and ethnic bias, and an increased risk to be radicalised and involved in extremism and related violence. On the other hand, it is shown that young people are resilient, and they have a remarkable ability to adapt and cope with extremely difficult situations. This interesting ambivalence is vividly illustrated by a number of studies in countries as varied as Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Brazil, Hong Kong, Kuwait, India, Israel, Britain, Italy, Malta, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus. Each of the 16 chapters throws a different light on the impact of destabilising circumstances and how youths cope with them in order to gain positive self-esteem and sense of a meaningful life. Overall, the experiences of young people are a distillation of the particular traumas and challenges that their society faces. Understanding those experiences and how they are coped with helps to make sense of all societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

What should children and students read? This volume explores challenging picturebooks as learning materials in early childhood education, primary and secondary school, and even universities. It addresses a wide range of thematic, cognitive, and aesthetic challenges and educational affordances of picturebooks in various languages and from different countries. Written by leading and emerging scholars in the field of picturebook studies and literacy research, the book discusses the impact of challenging picturebooks in a comprehensive manner and combines theoretical considerations, picturebook analyses, and empirical studies with children and students. It introduces stimulating picturebooks from all continents and how they are used or may be used in educational settings and contexts. The chapters touch on subjects like reading promotion, second-language acquisition, art education, interdisciplinary learning, empathy development, minority issues, and intercultural competence. Moreover, they consider relevant aspects of the educational environments, such as the inclusion of picturebooks in the curriculum, the significance of school libraries, and the impact of publishers. Exploring Challenging Picturebooks in Education sheds new light on the multiple dimensions relevant to investigating the impact of picturebooks on learning processes and the development of multimodal literacy competencies. It thus makes a significant contribution to the growing area of picturebook research and will be key reading for educators, researchers, and post-graduate students in the field of literacy studies, children’s literature, and education research.

Challenging History in the Museum explores work with difficult, contested and sensitive heritages in a range of museum contexts. It is based on the Challenging History project, which brings together a wide range of heritage professionals, practitioners and academics to explore heritage and museum learning programmes in relation to difficult and controversial subjects. The book is divided into four sections. Part I, ’The Emotional Museum’ examines the balance between empathic and emotional engagement and an objective, rational understanding of ’history’. Part II, ’Challenging Collaborations’ explores the opportunities and pitfalls associated with collective, inclusive representations of our heritage. Part III, ’Ethics, Ownership, Identity’ questions who is best-qualified to identify, represent and ’own’ these histories. It challenges the concept of ownership and personal identification as a prerequisite to understanding, and investigates the ideas and controversies surrounding this premise. Part IV, ’Teaching Challenging History’ helps us to explore the ethics and complexities of how challenging histories are taught. The book draws on work countries around the world including Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, Spain and USA and crosses a number of disciplines: Museum and Heritage Studies, Cultural Policy Studies, Performance Studies, Media Studies and Critical Theory Studies. It will also be of interest to scholars of Cultural History and Art History.

Interrogates the idea of capacity building theoretically and explores the variety of meanings, constructions and practices of capacity building. This book examines capacity building in both developing and developed countries and takes the position that fragile communities are present in all societies.