En la presente guía se ofrece, en primer lugar, los fundamentos sobre los que debe construirse cualquier acción educativa dirigida a estudiantes mayores, así como los conceptos básicos sobre calidad de vida relacionada con las personas mayores y las necesidades y riesgos específicos de las personas mayores, así como las oportunidades y potencialidades existentes. El incremento de la esperanza de vida y de la salud logra que los mayores sean un grupo cada vez más significativo en nuestra sociedad europea; actualmente no solo viven más años y son más activos sino también poseen mayor nivel de formación e inquietudes.

In many countries across the Asia Pacific region, people are adapting to the new demographic shift, but there is nonetheless much concern. This book documents the various educational approaches rendered by both public and private sectors to enable elderly individuals in their own countries to re-engage in society more inclusively, to stay longer in the labour market, and to become less dependent on the state or their families. In order to produce active, healthy, and productive aging citizens, the experiments showcased by this book highlight how adaptive action is needed across many policy areas, with emphasis on shaping structural differences in the composition and organisation of higher education systems that can better foster lifelong learning among elderly citizens. The book is a great venue to underline the interplay of the theory and practices of vastly complex challenges.

This book examines the unique characteristics of teaching foreign languages to senior learners. It discusses the potential age-related barriers and learning difficulties which may be encountered in senior foreign language education as well as solutions to overcome these challenges. The author describes the processes of human aging from different perspectives and introduces the concept of lifelong learning. The book proposes classroom practices, activities and materials that may be adopted when working with senior learners which will prove useful to teachers and teacher trainers, as well as to educational policymakers and planners. Furthermore, it describes potential modifications to educational programmes that may be introduced in order to eliminate affective barriers, making the learning material relevant and motivating, and encouraging the use of adult learning strategies.

Previous studies showed that both healthy and pathological aging are associated with changes in brain structure and function of the mature human brain. The most prominent anatomical alteration are changes in prefrontal cortex morphology, volume loss and reduced white-matter integrity and hippocampal atrophy. Cognitive decline affects mainly the performance of episodic memory, speed of sensory information processing, working memory, inhibitory function and long-term memory. It has been also proposed that due to the aforementioned changes the aging brain engages in compensatory brain mechanism such as a broader activation of cortical regions (mainly frontal) rather than specialized activation. Evidence suggests that similar changes occur with pathological aging but to a greater extent. In this case information flow is disrupted due to neurodegeneration, functional activation of posterior (occipito-temporal) regions is decreased and as a consequence the brain fails to process sensorial input in the ventral pathway and cognitive deficits appear. In the last years, functional alterations associated with aging have been studied using the mathematical notion of graph theory that offers an integrative approach since it examines different properties of the brain network: 1) Organization level 2) amount of local information processing, 3) information flow 4) cortical community structure and 5) identification of functional / anatomical hubs. So, graph theory offers an attractive way to model brain networks organization and to quantify their pathological deviations. Previous studies have already employed this mathematical notion and demonstrated that age-related neurodegeneration is often accompanied by loss of optimal network organization either due to diminished local information processing or due to progressive isolation of distant brain regions. They have also found that changes in network properties may be present even in the preclinical phase, which could be taken as a biological marker of disease.

This book aims to provide insight into the "soft" side of real estate research and the interesting results and implications of the real estate research outside the traditional realm of investment/financial aspects. The book also attempts to answer what constitutes the so-called "soft-side" of real estate research if we shift our focus from the usual financial returns and investment analysis. It also attempts to address whether there is such thing as an alternative real estate research paradigm. The book also argues that research in real estate should not only be limited to land and property market performance analyses as this may greatly impair the potential research implications of various real estate studies. The book argues that such analyses take on a very myopic view of real estate research. This book will interest many who wish to learn more about the alternative aspect of real estate research which is more than just about investment analysis.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

At a time when contemporary challenges seem to many to be insurmountable, this book offers an optimistic view of the future and provides a road map for societies to get there. Drawing upon extensive research and many years as a thought leader in environmental and sustainability issues in Japan and internationally, Hiroshi Komiyama analyzes the most pressing challenges to the attainment of sustainability of economically advanced nations and argues forcefully for Japan to lead them out of the present dilemma through active promotion of creative consumer and societal demand. He shows how an active industry–government–academic partnership can provide the environment needed to promote such new creative demand and illustrates its potential through presentation of a Platinum Society Network that was launched on a regional basis in Japan in 2010 to facilitate the solution of common issues through the exchange of information and ideas. What is perhaps most surprising about the text is its unwavering optimism supported by hard evidence, history, and insightful observation. Problems arising from new paradigms of the 21st century (what the author refers to as “exploding knowledge, limited Earth resources, and aging societies“) thwart sustainable development in advanced and developing countries alike. All countries will struggle with issues that evolve from these paradigms including diminishing resources, expanding budget deficits, and growing global environmental problems. This window on potential practical pathways and solutions should be of interest to all those engaged in seeking ways to meet these contemporary challenges.