ILanguage issues may have a political dimension, and English has played a major role in this around the world. In this chapter, we look into sociolinguistic aspects involved in politics and nation building, for instance whether English should be adopted to serve in all official functions as a national or official language, or whether a local language, accessible to larger sections of a community, should be adopted instead. We discuss how and to what extent governments should plan and orchestrate language-related activities in education and public discourse, and we look at language policies implemented in the US and Ireland as cases in point. We discuss the impact of governmental bodies on language planning as in the Speak Good English movement in Singapore, and present efforts to achieve language revitalization, which are preeminent considering language obsolescence around the world. The chapter ends with a look at language rights in migrant communities.

Deprescribing is the practice of stopping or reducing the dose of medicines that may be causing more harm than benefit to patients. Deprescribing can help prevent overprescribing, which can lead to adverse effects, unnecessary costs, or lack of efficacy. By deprescribing, patients can avoid medication-related problems, simplify their medication regimen, and enhance their wellbeing with non-pharmacological interventions. However, deprescribing is not without risks. Patients may experience withdrawal symptoms or recurrence of their original condition, which require careful monitoring and support. Deprescribing also faces several barriers, such as limited time and resources for clinicians, lack of clear guidelines, and patient reluctance or attachment to their medicines. To overcome these challenges, deprescribing should be based on a strong clinician–patient relationship, a gradual and individualised process, a multidisciplinary team approach, and a shared decision making model. Deprescribing can also be guided by various frameworks that help clinicians review, assess, prioritise, and follow-up on patients’ medications. There are tools that help identify potentially inappropriate or unnecessary medications and provide recommendations for deprescribing.

The period between 49 and 31 BCE witnessed a dramatic decline in the political and social influence that consulares had always exercised. The civil war reduced the number of consulars in the Senate to a minimum. The wars that followed Caesar’s death once more decimated the rank of consulars, or else drove them away from Rome for months or years in command of troops stationed in many different territories across Italy and the Mediterranean. Consequently, most consulars actually disappeared from Rome, making it difficult for them to exercise their usual leadership role. The situation did not improve when the number of consulares increased dramatically, as never before, due to the annual appointment of consules ordinarii and consules suffecti. Consuls depended on the Triumvirs for their appointments and were in practice under their control during their months in office. Consulars were likewise overshadowed and diminished by the power of the Triumvirs.

Modern Lifestyle Medicine can trace its roots from ancient practices to modern applications. Ancient systems, including Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine emphasised nutrition, sleep, and stress management, while Greco-Roman and Middle Eastern traditions also recognised the importance of lifestyle in health. The term ‘Lifestyle Medicine’ emerged in the late twentieth century, reflecting a shift towards addressing long-term conditions through lifestyle changes rather than pharmaceuticals. There are challenges on multiple fronts. Firstly, the question of whether research bias is favouring pharmaceutical and surgical interventions over lifestyle changes. Secondly, socio-economic factors exacerbate health inequities, impacting the effectiveness of Lifestyle Medicine. Thirdly, there are education gaps, with healthcare workers lacking knowledge and skills for lifestyle interventions. Fourthly, providers face time constraints and financial incentives that prioritise medications or surgery. Lastly, regulatory issues arise, necessitating quality education and evidence-based practices to distinguish Lifestyle Medicine from alternative approaches.

Southeast Asia seems locked endlessly in a boom-and-bust cycle of democratizing, then regressing, then democratizing again. This review of the history of democracy and autocracy in Southeast Asia underscores three themes. First, Southeast Asia reminds us that support for democracy is always contingent. The chapter shows how readily factors such as political polarization and the failure of democracy to deliver on its promises can produce receptive audiences, if not full-on partners, for aspiring autocrats. Second, the chapter explore the ways in which institutions can keep autocratic sympathizers in the wings or in the game, and how institutional reforms, particularly those that seek greater political openness and broader empowerment, can, under some circumstances, stoke political divisions and provide fodder for these reactionary forces. Importantly, the chapter suggests, formal liberalization may elevate antidemocratic impulses, in ways that should by now be anticipated (by scholars, democracy promoters, policymakers). Finally, it is noted how seldom pro-democracy forces, even when present and active, command center-stage – though when they do, their influence can be powerful.

Democratic backsliding in Eastern Europe is often seen as a relatively recent phenomenon, closely connected to the fallout of the Great Financial Crisis and affecting mostly third wave democracies. It is also often associated with strongmen taking over mainstream conservative parties, winning elections, and then taking advantage of existing democratic institutions to concentrate their power. This chapter in contrast argues that democratic backsliding is enabled by a long-term struggle over political dominance in which mainstream conservative political parties seek to cement their power on domestic and European levels. This struggle is multidimensional, encompassing the articulation of a conservative ideology and a tactical strategy to retain power, and far precedes the Great Financial Crisis. To make the case, the chapter looks at how German Christian Democracy has reinvented itself in reaction to 1968 and its aftermath. German Christian Democracy is a crucial case. As the biggest member state of the EU, where Christian Democracy has remained an important political player and has shaped the Eastern enlargement of the EU, it is key to understanding the international context which has enabled the likes of Viktor Orbán to come to power and dismantle democracy.

The association of individual lyric poets with precise features and values was active beyond textual knowledge of their poems. Accordingly, this chapter contributes to the reconstruction of the imperial afterlife of lyric by shifting the analysis to material evidence, such as portraits of lyric poets, and to cults and legends concerning real or mythical singers which lived on in the Greek collective memory, especially locally. In the Greek East, where the display of local identities was part of the reaction to imperial globalisation, different lyric traditions had the potential to activate links with specific places. Together with ongoing (re-)performances of lyric at symposia, festivals and within the imperial court, these manifestations give us a glimpse into the wider circulation and creative recasting of song traditions and lyric icons, both within and beyond elite circles. More importantly, they all account for the continued cultural and political purchase of song and music under Rome.

The general concept of multiferroic materials as those with strong interplay between two or more ferroic properties is first introduced. Then, particular cases of materials with coupling magnetic and polar (magnetoelectric coupling), polar and structural (electrostructural coupling), and magnetic and structural (magnetostructural coupling) degrees of freedom are discussed in more detail. The physical origin of the interplay is analysed and symmetry-based considerations are used to determine the dominant coupling terms adequate to construct extended Ginzburg–Landau models that permit the determination of cross-response to multiple fields. The last part of the chapter is devoted to study morphotropic systems and morphotropic phase boundaries that separate crystallographic phases with different polar (magnetic) properties as examples of materials with electro(magneto)-structural interplay and that are expected to show giant cross-response to electric (magnetic) and mechanical fields.

In this chapter we will disco≠≠≠ver that language variation is a normal characteristic of speech on all language levels: in the sounds of accents, words, in grammar but also in discourse. When speaking, we always face alternative choices, and these are determined by our regional and social backgrounds and by the context of situation. We will discuss the concept of the sociolinguistic variable in more detail and find that variation is rule-conditioned and systematic. We focus on all actors and factors involved: the social dimension of variation (individuals, groups, communities) and its social correlates (region, class, gender, ethnicity, education). Last but not least, we will look at the spread of innovative features and trace patterns of diffusion from individual speakers, the point of origin of change, throughout wider society (via processes such as actuation, diffusion, and embedding).