Open Access Books

The term was coined when electronics, with the personal computer, was very popular and internet was still at its dawn. It is a very successful term, by now firmly in schools, universities, and SMEs education and training. Just to give an example 3.5 millions of students were engaged in some online courses in higher education institutions in 2006 in the USA1.eLearning today refers to the use of the network technologies to design, deliver, select, manage and broaden learning and the possibilities made available by internet to offer to the users synchronous and asynchronous learning, so that they can access the courses content anytime and wherever there is an internet connection.

In the postnational era, the demand to rethink national borders and embrace inclusive sentiments of shared interests and belonging is prompting scholars to explore new avenues of research. This introductory essay positions the research project The Mediterranean through Chinese Eyes (MeTChE) within the context of recent scholarship on Sino-Western exchanges and aims to provoke debate on a new approach that integrates Chinese Studies and Mediterranean Studies. The MeTChE project seeks to understand how China perceived the Mediterranean as a transcultural space during the Imperial era, specifically from the Song to the Qing dynasties. Three key questions guide this preliminary investigation: why should we embrace the concept of a “transcultural” Mediterranean? What are the conventional methods used in researching Chinese sources on the Mediterranean, and why is a fresh approach necessary? Finally, is it appropriate to discuss a “transcultural” perception of the Mediterranean from the Chinese perspective? The analysis of Chinese sources on the Mediterranean reveals a rich tapestry of cultural interactions and exchanges. Valuable insights come from geographical works, maps, travelogues, and diplomatic accounts that shed light on how China viewed the Mediterranean. Among the notable authors are scholars such as Kang Youwei and Xue Fucheng, whose writings serve as case studies in this essay, as they weave ancient Mediterranean civilisations and historical figures into their accounts. Examining their works from a transcultural perspective allows us to move beyond traditional national identities, exploring the interconnectedness and complexity of historical relations between China and the broader world. Simultaneously, by acknowledging the Mediterranean as a space of converging yet fragmented identities, we recognise its role as a place of coexistence and hybridity, blurring cultural differences and national boundaries.

From 1984 to 1999, the French archaeological mission of Kition, under the supervision of Marguerite Yon, conducted extensive excavations to the north of the Bamboula sanctuary. These excavations revealed the remains of shipsheds of the Classical period, among the best preserved in the Mediterranean, which opened to the north on a closed harbour basin. This book offers a detailed and cross-cutting study of this outstanding discovery: the building is contextualized in its paleoenvironment (both at the local and regional levels), the chronology of its different phases is established, its architecture is carefully described and restored for the missing parts (superstructure). Finally, we assess the importance of this military harbour for the history of Kition, Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, at the time of the Classical kingdom (4th century BC) and at the beginning of the Hellenistic period. The volume is completed by a study of the ceramics from the Roman period discovered in the filling of the basin. The archives of the excavation are available on the open access web-portal chypre.mom.fr.

The volume, dedicated to the 44th International Conference of the Italian Union for Drawing, investigates the theme of ‘Transitions’, which particularly effectively represents our time and the current condition of the discipline of Drawing. The term, beyond its generic meaning of an intermediate stage in a process in which a condition changes from one state to another, has always been used in various fields, from music to geophysics. In fact, the disciplines of drawing have always been confronted with themes and issues relating to transitions from one condition to another. The history of representation tells us of transformations, even epochal ones, relating to ‘drawing’, with all that such transitions entail: suffice it to think of the evolution of forms of representation, of instrumental apparatuses, of the mutability of supports, of the analogical-digital transition underway, of the new modes of communication on platforms, of the hypertrophic offer of images also on the net that confirms Guy Debord’s intuitions relating to the new spectacularisation of society. Similarly, representation triggers transitions in the prefiguration and communication of design, the anticipation and foreshadowing of future events.The challenges posed by the digital pose open questions whose scope can only be glimpsed, such as the relationship between drawing and the act of modelling, and the construction of new paradigms of visual language and communication. ‘Transitions’, almost implicitly, points to possible futures, the evolution of technique and the search for new modes of expression; at the same time, however, it can suggest silences and reflections in a process of connection between history, theory, criticism and construction.

In the modem western world urbanisation has often been both the companion and corollary of industrialization and no more so than in Britain. Here the population changed dramatically during the long nineteenth century, transforming parts of England and Scotland into some of the most industrial and urban societies in the world. Scottish society was particularly affected by this process. The growth of towns or cities, and the radical overhaul of the balance of population between the rural and ur...

The book aims to epistemologically analyze how conceptualizations of contem-porary strategic studies have developed from various cross-cutting perspectives, typical of the faculty of the Doctoral Program in Strategic, Security, and Defense Studies (DEESD) at Escuela Superior de Guerra “General Rafael Reyes Prieto” Two years into the doctoral program, this work seeks to explore the disciplinary field and its research lines from diverse viewpoints in the social and human sciences. Using qualitative, critical, and reflective approaches, it aims to contribute to the conceptualization of strategic studies, enabling ESDEG and DEESD to establish themselves as regional benchmarks in strategic studies through discussions, reflections, debates, and other issues that have emerged from academic and teaching activities.

Giving in the Netherlands provides the macro-economic estimates of philanthropy by households, bequests, foundations, corporations and lotteries. The Center for Philanthropic Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has conducted the research since 1995. This is the 13th edition, about giving in the year 2020. Giving in the Netherlands 2022 answers the following questions: How generous are the Dutch in their charitable giving? Who gives to which charitable causes? How has giving behavior developed over the past 25 years? In Giving in the Netherlands, we do not only examine financial contributions, but also volunteer service. Giving in the Netherlands contributes to the visibility of the philanthropic sector in the Netherlands. This is important to legitimize an independent and rapidly growing sector. In 2020, the Netherlands gave € 5.6 billion ($ 5.6 billion, £ 4.9 billion) which equals 0.7% of GDP. As a proportion of GDP, the Netherlands gave slightly less in 2020 than in 2018. In addition, 44% of the population was engaged in volunteer work. Corporations and households give most. Together, corporations and households are responsible for almost 80% of all philanthropy in the Netherlands. While, every source has a favorite charitable cause, health received the most in 2020.

This report examines the structure, characteristics, and motivations of major participants in the housing industry to explore how innovation might be accelerated. It identifies options and strategies for the federal government to consider as it attempts to further advance innovation in housing to make homes more affordable, durable, and safe. Innovation in housing would provide benefits to a broad range of participants, including homebuilders, manufacturers, insurers, regulators, and homeowners.

It is commonly believed that a state facing a terrorist threat responds with severe legislation that compromises civil liberties in favour of national security. Roger Douglas compares responses to terrorism by five liberal democracies— the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand— over the past 15 years. He examines each nation’s development and implementation of counterterrorism law, specifically in the areas of information gathering, the definition of terrorist offenses, due process for the accused, detention, and torture and other forms of coercive questioning. Douglas finds that terrorist attacks elicit pressures for quick responses, which often allow national governments to accrue additional powers. But emergencies are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for such laws, which may persist even after fears have eased. He argues that responses are influenced by institutional interests and prior beliefs and are complicated when the exigencies of office and beliefs point in different directions. He also argues that citizens are wary of government’s impingement on civil liberties and that courts exercise their capacity to restrain the legislative and executive branches. Douglas concludes that the worst anti-terror excesses have taken place outside of, rather than within, the law and that the legacy of 9/11 includes both laws that expand government powers and judicial decisions that limit those very powers. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

A obra traz conhecimentos obtidos na natureza fundamentais para o desenvolvimento de produtos e tecnologias bioinspirados, destacando as restrições conceituais, materiais, físicas e desenvolvimentais que devem pautar esse tipo de atividade projetual.

Questo libro è un’analisi del teatro di narrazione, un’estetica e un genere di rappresentazione italiano che rivisita eventi storici di rilevanza nazionale da prospettive locali, attingendo al ricco rapporto tra esperienze personali e resoconti storici. Con l’ausilio di ricerche presso gli archivi privati dei principali narratori – artisti che sono sia autori che interpreti della loro opera – la tesi di Juliet Guzzetta è che la pratica insegni al pubblico che la gente comune non è semplicemente testimone della storia bensì partecipe della sua creazione. Il teatro di narrazione è emerso in Italia all’epoca delle proteste degli operai e degli studenti, del terrorismo interno e del progresso sociale degli anni Settanta. Sviluppando lo stile del teatro politico di Dario Fo e Franca Rame, influenzati da Jerzy Grotowski e Bertolt Brecht, e sulla scia delle tradizioni dell’improvvisazione a ruota libera autore-attore della commedia dell’arte, i narratori hanno creato una nuova forma di teatro popolare che è cresciuta di importanza negli anni Novanta e continua a ottenere consensi. Guzzetta delinea la storia del teatro di narrazione, ne contestualizza le origini – sia politiche che intellettuali – e attribuisce un ruolo centrale ai contributi di Teatro Settimo, un gruppo teatrale che precedenti studi hanno trascurato. Analizza inoltre gli esperimenti di questo genere in televisione e nei media. Primo libro in inglese interamente dedicato all’argomento, e ora tradotto in italiano, Il teatro di narrazione utilizza letture attente e un’ampia varietà di fonti primarie al fine di analizzare le tecniche utilizzate dai narratori per rifare la storia – un procedimento che rivela come la storia stessa sia un teatro di narrazione.

Killer Fandom is the first long-form treatment of serial killer fandom. Fan studies have mostly ignored this most moralized form of fandom, as a stigmatized Bad Other in implicit tension with the field’s successful campaign to recuperate the broader fan category. Yet serial killer fandom, as Judith May Fathallah shows in the book, can be usefully studied with many of the field’s leading analytic frameworks. After tracing the pre-digital history of fans, mediated celebrity, and killers, Fathallah examines contemporary fandom through the lens of textual poaching, affective community, subcultural capital, and play. With close readings of fan posts, comments, and mashups on Tumblr, TikTok, and YouTube, alongside documentaries, podcasts, and a thriving “murderabilia” industry, Killer Fandom argues that this fan culture is, in many ways, hard to distinguish from more “mainstream” fandoms. Fan creations around Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Richard Ramirez, among others, demonstrate a complex and shifting stance toward their objects—marked by parodic humor and irony in many cases. Killer Fandom ultimately questions—given our crime-and violence-saturated media culture—whether it makes sense to set Dahmer and Wuornos “fans” apart from the rest of us.

Between 1810 and 1813 the Master of Ceremonies Count Gundacker Heinrich Wurmbrand drafted an „Etiquette-Normale für den österreichischen Kaiserhof“, which is a unique source for the reconstruction of everyday ceremonies at the Viennese court after the Napoleonic era. The text define the role of the Emperor, the ranks of the members of his entourage and the status of the court servants in a complex, symbolic system of relations. Court and court society are presented as a well-ordered mechanism to celebrate the dignity and rank of the Austrian Empire invented in 1804 and to legitimize it through symbolic communication.

Navigating the landscape of Romantic literature and art across Europe and the Americas, An Outline of Romanticism in the West invites readers to embark upon a literary journey. Showcasing a breadth of theoretical and contextual approaches to the study of Romanticism, John Isbell provides an insightful contemporary overview of the field, paired with wide-ranging comparative reflections on the art and literature that helped shape it. Discussing seminal Romantic texts such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or Germaine de Staël’s Corinne ou l’Italie, Isbell provides a foundation through which to investigate core concepts, such as the continuum of Romance, the Romantic hero, and Romantic literature’s characteristic repudiation of its own Romanticism. Unusually for a single-author monograph, the book includes both published and unpublished material covering Romantic creation across Europe and the two Americas. Identifying Romanticism as an international movement, Isbell seeks to emphasise a theme frequently ignored by many academics: the roots of Romanticism, and its variations, as a national art. His arguments are supported by extensive interrogations of the political and historical contexts that moulded the outlooks of the writers and artists central to the period. An Outline of Romanticism in the West underlines the interplay between nationalism, history, and artistic inspiration, and will therefore be of value to students and scholars of literature and history, as well as to general readers with an interest in Romanticism in the West.