This Festschrift is published in honor of Alex C. Michalos, a great scholar and inspiration to many upcoming and famous academics and practitioners. The Festschrift celebrates his lifelong, outstanding scientific and cultural contribution to Quality of Life Research. It contains contributions written by the most prestigious and renowned scholars in the field of social indicators research and quality of life studies. Taken together, the contributions from scholars around the world reflect Michalos' stance that even though there may be differences in individual scientific positions, the language in the field of quality of life has no limits and boundaries.

This book presents a wealth of insights and new conceptualizations for the development of "Assistive Technologies for the Interaction of the Elderly." The book arranges the chaptersaccording to important aspects of maximizing the use value in innovation projects. Every chapter will include an executive summary reporting the main results, a storyline using everyday language, and scientific excursions, wherever useful.

The book shows how an innovation project should be structured towards maximum use value and how a project should be structured in order to make a difference. It describes the useful categorization of the large group of the elderly to maximize the focus of the innovation and demonstrates the user involvement into innovation activities. Of course, the assessment of such innovative projects is discussed as well as the lessons learned . The book also explores the business opportunities and the financial evaluation of aspects of assistive technology.

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This book provides an insightful sociological study of the declining Japanese population, using statistical analysis to establish the significance of municipal power using demographic data on national, regional, prefectural and municipal levels. Penned by one of Japan's eminent sociologists, it provides a quantitative characterization of population decline in Japan with a focus on regional variation, and identifies the principal explanatory factors through GPI statistical software tools such as G-census and EvaCva, within a historical perspective. Furthermore, it offers a qualitative assessment of what constitutes 'municipal power' as this relates to regional/local revitalization as a means of addressing municipal population decline. Using Goki-Shichido as a theoretical framework, this book pays special attention to municipal variations within the same prefecture, presenting a completely unique approach. In combining these two dimensions of analyses, the book successfully reveals the impact of municipal power and socio-cultural identity of social capital in the region, from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives at the municipal level. Demography issues in Japan have been receiving increasing attention among researchers given the growing number of declining populations in developed countries, in tandem with rapid aging and low fertility trends. Providing an original and unique contribution to regional population analysis in the fields of regional demography, historical demography and regional population policy, this book shows that the revitalization of the community is vital if Japan is to increase its population, so as to renew a community 'raison d'etre'. The book is of interest to scholars of Asian studies more broadly, and to sociologists, demographers, and policymakers interested in population studies, specifically. "Providing an informative and vivid overview of the demographic situation of Japan, the author offers excellent suggestions for effective regional policy in confronting a shrinking society. This book presents a unique analysis of the regional variations on small municipal levels, with demographic variables, social indicators and historical identities. An original contribution to regional population analysis in the fields of regional population policy, regional demography and historical demography." - Toshihiko Hara, Professor Emeritus, Sapporo City University

"Americans at Midlife" is an exploration of the middle years within the framework of trends in the larger society, including longer life expectancy and an aging population; changes in marriage, divorce, and family composition; increased participation of women in the labor force; and the growth of two-income families.Major interests at midlife center around work and careers, current and future economic well-being, and planning for retirement. Other major concerns involve relationships with younger and older generations: boomerang kids who leave home and return, and aging parents, often healthy and active now, who may need care in their later years.

The book begins with a discussion of how demographic and social changes affect midlife, followed by chapters on work and retirement planning or looking for the good years, the not-so-empty nest, and aging parents. A chapter on mid-life women considers the implications of combining work and caregiving and raises concerns about their economic well-being, given their longer life expectancy and often more limited resources. The book ends with a consideration of policy issues that may affect midlife in the future.

"This book discusses the meaning and practice of British community cohesion policies, youth identities in racially-tense areas and the British government's attempts to "prevent violent extremism" amongst young Muslims"--

This book provides new insights on the lives of children in street situations by providing analyses from a qualitative perspective on the sociology of childhood. It proposes some insightful perspectives on the current discussion about the rights of children in street situations. It includes a unique selection of texts, which were initially published in French, written by the authors of this volume, on the lives of children in street situations in Latin America and China, that are now available to an English readership. It challenges obstacles, linked to macrosocial issues such as inequalities, images of the child, the separation of public/private spheres, urban dynamics and structural adjustments, as well as to microsocial dimensions such as identity, motivation, and activities that are constitutive of street situations. The book discusses the situations experienced by children, highlighting children's reflexivity and strategies as social factors, and shedding new light on the debate "agency within structure".

This book contests the idea that lesbian and gay categories are disappearing, and that sexuality is becoming fluid, by showing how young people use them in a world in which heterosexuality is privileged. Exploring identity making, the book shows how old modernist stories of sexual being entwine with narratives of normality.

This book examines the long term consequences of improvements in life expectancy in the mid 20th century which are partly responsible for the growth of the elderly population in the developing world. Rapid demographic changes in child and infant mortality due to the reduction in and better treatment of disease were not often accompanied by parallel increases in standard of living. Lower mortality led to greater survival by those who had suffered poor early life conditions. As a consequence, the early life of these survivors may explain older adult health and in particular the projected increase in adult health disease and diabetes. Recent dietary changes may only compound such early life effects. This study presents findings from historical and survey data on nearly 147,000 older adults in 20 low-, middle- and high-income countries which suggest that the survivors of poor early life conditions born during the 1930s-1960s are susceptible to disease later in life, specifically diabetes and heart disease. As the evidence that the aging process is shaped throughout the entire life course increases, this book adds to the knowledge regarding early life events and older adult health.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

"In this volume, Amy Best offers critical youth studies an epistemological compass, a collection of essays that spans across nations, methods, sexualities, ethnicities, generations and age, reflecting provocatively on how we create knowledge with, for and by youth. This book promises to be a classic for the next generation of scholars perched to engage critically, respectfully, theoretically and provocatively with youth, to inscribe a twenty-first century signature on critical youth studies."
--Michelle Fine, co-author of "Working Method: Research and Social Justice"

"A powerful and compelling book that represents cutting-edge new directions in critical youth studies. This is a passionate call for a critical moral consciousness that will create more humane spaces for today's youth in our complex global culture."
--Norman K. Denzin, co-editor of "The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research"

From youth culture to adolescent sexuality to the consumer purchasing power of children en masse, studies are flourishing. Yet doing research on this unquestionably more vulnerable--whether five or fifteen--population also poses a unique set of challenges and dilemmas for researchers. How should a six-year-old be approached for an interview? What questions and topics are appropriate for twelve year olds? Do parents need to give their approval for all studies?

In Representing Youth, Amy L. Best has assembled an important group of essays from some of todayas top scholars on the subject of youth that address these concerns head on, providing scholars with thoughtful and often practical answers to their many methodological concerns. Theseoriginal essays range from how to conduct research on youth in ways that can be empowering for them, to issues of writing and representation, to respecting boundaries and to dealing with issues of risk and responsibility to those interviewed. For anyone doing research or working with children and young adults, Representing Youth offers an indispensable guide to many of the unique dilemmas that research with kids entails.

Contributors include: Amy L. Best, Sari Knopp Biklen, Elizabeth Chin, Susan Driver, Marc Flacks, Kathryn Gold Hadley, Madeline Leonard, C.J. Pascoe, Rebecca Raby, Alyssa Richman, Jessica Taft, Michael Ungar, Yvonne Vissing, and Stephani Etheridge Woodson.

This collection focuses on children and adolescents in Latin American and Spanish cinema from 1960 to the present as witnesses and objects of the spectatorial gaze. The carefully chosen essays survey the representation of the past and the definition of gender and class identity as experienced by young protagonists in films. This volume offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Latin American and Spanish film as well as gender studies. Some of the questions addressed in this collection are: what do children and adolescents in Latin American and Spanish film see and how are they seen?

This book discusses peer group programs and long range community efforts to rehabilitate street youth, gang members, and other youth who have low self-esteem, come from dysfunctional families, and are failures in school and society in general. Through his experience and workshops, Frank has found ways for these youth to deal with their rage and shame in a productive, effective, and edifying manner. The author shows how behavior and attitude improve when the youths learn to curb their feelings of inadequacy by building positive self-esteem. This will be an excellent tool for educators, counselors, social workers, and others concerned with troubled adolescents.

FACT (Fostered Adult Children Together) is a support group for former foster children. It is based on Ten Stepping Stones and the Bridge to Healing. Will we ever get over it? That question is what this book is all about. The stories that the author and other former foster children shared in this book should help answer that question, for themselves and other former, current, and future foster children. Although there are only sixty-one stories in this book, there could be millions. These stories are dedicated as a voice to the unheard millions.

The purpose of the foster care system is to provide a safe haven for children without one, helping them to cross the bridge from foster care to aging out, but sadly the bridge leads to nowhere. Many former foster children end up homeless, dumpster diving for food, on drugs, incarcerated, at worst in body bags, at best, living on the fringes of life.

FACT is for former foster children who are tired of being angry, ashamed, and alone, and choose to walk a new path, sharing their experience, strength, and hope while building a bridge to healing.

Carol's foster care experience led her to form FACT and write this book. She had an early education in the school of hard knocks and later graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with very high honors. She resides in Michigan with her husband Larry. This book is also available as an e-book and other resources can be found at www.factsupportgroup.com.

Using the concept of fulfilment and the framework of the serious leisure perspective, this book examines the signposts marking the fulfilment career. This career begins with an interest in a serious pursuit, leading to an efflorescence many years later in amateurism, hobbyism, volunteering, or devotee work - and ultimately deeper fulfilment.

This book studies young people's use of psychoactive drugs and its social and psychological correlates in Hong Kong. Specifically, it focuses on how life satisfaction may affect drug use among a sample of psychoactive drug users in Hong Kong. The book addresses the dearth of research on the role of young people's life satisfaction in their drug abuse and engagement in other risk behaviors in Hong Kong. It also examines how changes in the drug scene from heroin addiction to psychoactive party drug use since the late 1990s has necessitated a deeper exploration of the subculture of young people, which shapes their attitudes and behaviors regarding how they structure their lives and how they perceive the risks of drug use, in the context of the global trend of normalization of recreational drug use. Readers will benefit from the results of a rigorous analysis of a unique set of longitudinal data that reveals the factors influencing drug use among young psychoactive drug users, academic implications of the findings for social science theory and research on young people's drug use, and practical implications of the findings for prevention and intervention services for young people in Hong Kong and other Asian societies.

Lifelong Learning and Retirement: Meaning and Late Life Learning (H.R. Moody). The Third Age and the Disappearance of Old Age (P. Laslett). Life after Work: Lines, Boundaries, and Spaces (T. Schuller). Health and Quality of Life: The New Public Health Approach to Improving Physical Activity and Autonomy in Older Populations (J.B. McKinlay). Healthy Aging-Utopia or a Realistic Target? (E. Heikkinen). Adding Life to Years! Promoting Quality of Life in an Aging Europe (C. Todd). Gender, Generation, and Aging: Interrelations between Generations in Historical Perspective (B. Oden). Gender and Aging (C.C. Meunier). Gender, Aging, and Quality of Life (G.E. McClearn et al.). Pension Systems and Attitudes to Retirement: Psychological Issues of Aging and Work (P. Huuhtanen). A New Concept for Productive Aging at Work (J. Ilmarinen). What If the Disability Pension Application Is Denied? (R. Gould). Programs for Successful Retirement: Educating Health Professionals in Gerontology: A Canadian Perspective (A.C. Beckingham). Aging Well: European Health Program for Older People (S. Greengross). Retirement Preparation in Subjects of Working Age (F. Marcellini, N. Barbini). 19 additional articles. Index.

This book analyzes the memoirs of 42 'missionary kids' - the children of North American Protestant missionaries in countries all over the world during the 20th century. Using a postcolonial lens the book explores ways in which the missionary enterprise was part of, or intersected with, the Western colonial enterprise, and ways in which a colonial mindset is unconsciously manifested in these memoirs. The book explores how the memoirists' sites and experiences are exoticized; the missionary kids' likelihood of learning - or not learning - local languages; the missionary families' treatment of servants and other local people; and gender, race and social class aspects of the missionary kids' experiences. Like other Third Culture Kids, the memoirists are migrants, travelers, border-crossers and border-dwellers who alternate between insider and outsider statuses, and their words shed light on the effects of movement and travel on children's lives and development.

This handbook offers a practical guide to all aspects of planning, evaluating, and implementing student activities. This work is both a functional handbook and an instructional reference tool. After establishing a basic foundation, they describe activities in specific areas: performance activities, student leadership, and class-related clubs and trips. Sybouts and Krepel present methods for planning and evaluating, financing, using available resources, and identifying legal considerations. They confront frequently raised and often controversial questions about school activities. This comprehensive volume also provides a list of supplementary readings and a bibliography for further study.

This book explores the significance of food practices for childhood identities, from early babyhood to middle childhood and teenage years. It examines how children and families negotiate food and eating practices; what influence the media has on these; the role institutions play; and how far class and ethnicity shape the food that children eat.

This collection is the first to examine the life experiences of young adult immigrants in Europe, as transmitted by the young adults themselves, and together with the analytical framework, seeks to uncover mechanisms at work in these individuals' lives.

British children were mobilised for total war in 1914-18. War dominated their teaching and school experience, it was the focus of their extra curricular activities and they enjoyed it as a source of entertainment in literature and play. Children were not shielded from the war because it was believed their support was vital for Britain's present and future.
The study of children's lives provides a unique perspective on British society during the First World War. It lets us get to the very essence of how Britain's adults perceived the war and allows us to explore the methods society used to communicate with itself. Children's connection to the war, however, was personal. Millions had a relative in the army and those that did not had friends, neighbours and teachers involved in the fighting. Their participation, therefore, while shaped by adults, was motivated by a desire to remain in touch with their absent fathers and brothers.

Who is that with the long tail? What is making that sound? Who is diving in the pond? Lift the flaps to see what the birds are doing. Some like to play tag, others hide acorns and another builds nests in the strangest of places. With colourful illustrations and simple and interactive text, this is the perfect introduction to birds for little ones. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous centre for botanical and mycological knowledge. With two inspiring gardens at Kew in London, and Wakehurst in Sussex, visitors are enchanted with the wonder of plant diversity. Over the past 250 years Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has made innumerable contributions to increasing the understanding of plants and fungi, with many benefits for humankind. Bloomsbury's Lift and Look board books have large cut-out flaps, specially designed for small hands. They also feature bright and beautiful illustrations and fun, engaging text, which children will adore. Available in a range of young children's favourite topics, including Bugs, Garden, School, Dinosaurs and Space.

Master-Servant Childhood offers a new understanding of childhood in the Middle Ages as a form of master-servant relation embedded in an ancient sense of time as a correspondence between earthly change and eternal order. It challenges the misnomer that children were 'little adults' in the Middle Ages and corrects the prevalent misconceptions that childhood was unimportant, unrecognized or disregarded. The book argues for the value of studying childhood as a structure of thought and feeling and as an important avenue for exploring large scale historical changes in our sense of what it is to be and become human.

This book presents the results of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The volume discusses how self-regulation and contextual resources (e.g., strong relationships with parents, peers, and the community) can be fostered in young people to contribute to the enhancement of functioning throughout life. Each chapter examines a particular aspect of youth thriving, and offers findings on either the bases or the role of positive development in a variety of outcomes, from reduced risk of emotional problems and harmful behaviors to increased participation in the community. Contributors introduce a contemporary model of positive development for diverse youth, provide examples of effective youth development programs, and suggest applications for informing the next generation of policies and practices. Among the featured topics: The regulation of emotion in adolescence. School engagement, academic achievement, and positive youth development. Peer relationships and positive youth development. Identity development in adolescence and the implications for youth policy and practice. Promoting adolescent sexual health in youth programming. A positive youth development approach to bullying. Researchers in developmental psychology as well as practitioners in educational or youth development programs or policies will gain from Promoting Positive Youth Development a new appreciation of the central role of young people's strengths, and initiatives to build effective youth programs. "This volume is destined to become the handbook for anyone interested in the bourgeoning field of positive youth development. Based on ground breaking, longitudinal research from top researchers in the field, Promoting Healthy Development for America's Youth presents a rich, theoretically grounded understanding of the landscape today's youth and programs. The contributors provide clear, data-driven guidance regarding the types of programs and settings that are most beneficial to young people." Jean E. Rhodes, Ph.D. Frank L. Boyden Professor Department of Psychology University of Massachusetts, Boston

This comprehensive handbook presents the major philosophical perspectives on the nature, prospects, problems and social context of age and aging in an era of dramatically increasing life-expectancy. Drawing on the latest research in gerontology, medicine and the social sciences, its twenty-seven chapters examine our intuitions and common sense beliefs about the meaning of aging and explore topics such as the existential experience of old age, aging in different philosophical and religious traditions, the place of the elderly in contemporary society and the moral rights and responsibilities of the old. This book provides innovative and leading-edge research that will help to determine the parameters of the philosophy of aging for years to come. Key Features * Structured in four parts addressing the meaning, experience, ethics and future of aging * Comprehensive ethical coverage including of the retirement age, health-care for the elderly and the transhumanist life-extending project * Focused treatment of the dementia 'epidemic' and the philosophy of the mind and self The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging is an essential resource for scholars, researchers and advanced students in the philosophy of the self, moral and political philosophy, bioethics, phenomenology, narrative studies and philosophy of economics. It is also an ideal volume for researchers, advanced students and professionals in gerontology, health care, psychology, sociology and population studies.