Open Access Books

This is the first monographic study of the Semanario Erudito, one of the most important learned periodicals of late eighteenth-century Spain. Its editor, Antonio Valladares de Sotomayor (1737–1820), sought to recover the history of Spain and, through his periodical, instruct his readers. The book begins by discussing Valladares’s life and works; he was a prolific and popular dramatist, as well as a professional editor of books and other periodicals. Documents from Spain’s Archivo Histórico Nacional inform the next two chapters, which examine the periodical’s history; these chapters treat the censorship process, as well as the printers, sellers and readers of the Semanario. The book’s second half looks at what Valladares published – reformist tracts by arbitristas and proyectistas, reflections on the monarchy and the role of privados, writings by eighteenth-century figures such as Macanaz, Burriel, Mayans and Sarmiento – and suggests why he might have selected particular texts for his readers.

The Rhaeto-Romance languages have been known as such to the linguistic community since the pioneering studies of Ascoli and Gartner over a century ago. There has never been a community of RR speakers based on a common history or polity and the various dialects are mutually unintelligible, but a unity, based on a number of common features, has been advanced. This book is the first general description of the Rhaeto-Romance languages to be written in English. It provides a critical examination of the phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax of the modern Rhaeto-Romance dialects within the broader perspective of Romance comparative linguistics.

Currently, nano/microparticles are widely used in various fields. Silver particles are one of the most vital of the various particles, due to their unique optical–physical–chemical properties. The developed materials have been proposed for use in various fields such as in biosensors, diagnostics, imaging, catalysts, solar cells, and as antibacterials. Their unique, size-dependent plasmonic properties render the particles superior in biomedical applications. This importance of silver materials led to the first edition of Silver Nano/Microparticles: Modification and Applications, which was successfully published last year with ten outstanding papers. This second edition of the Special Issue also provides original contributions detailing the synthesis, modification, and applications of silver materials. Eleven outstanding papers which describe examples of the most recent advances in silver nano/microparticles are included.

Oxidative stress and altered redox signaling have been described in a plethora of pathological conditions. Redox-active molecules can thus potentially be used to modulate the etiology/progression of such diseases. Recent advances in molecular biology and pharmacology have strengthened this area of research by providing novel mechanistic insights. This book compiles a collection of 13 articles, covering a range of topics from in vitro studies to clinical research, focused on the potential therapeutic effects of either natural or synthetic compounds, applicable to different redox-related diseases.

Nonlinear optics is a rapidly developing field of modern physics. Nonlinear optical phenomena such as self-focusing, self-phase modulation, soliton formation and propagation, higher harmonic generation, different types of stimulated light scattering, and four-wave mixing have attracted interest from the fundamental point of view of the investigation of light/matter interaction, and as a basis for applications in contemporary optical communications and optical signal processing. Nonlinear Optics - Novel Results in Theory and Applications contains novel results concerning the mathematical methods of nonlinear optical phenomena analysis, soliton formation and propagation in optical fibers, and peculiarities of nonlinear optical phenomena in micro- and nanostructures. The book may be interesting for researchers and engineers interested in nonlinear optics, lasers, and optical communications.

Retos del Pluralismo Jurídico ante la realidad del Derecho, reflexiona y presenta al pluralismo como una posibilidad en la que varios ámbitos jurídicos coexisten superpuestos, interconectados e interrelacionados, y en el que, derechos humanos como el acceso a la justicia, la participación democrática o bien los económicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales, se desenvuelven en un contexto de globalidad y multiculturalidad, negando la exclusividad estatal a un solo régimen jurídico en la generación de sus normas. De ahí que, en esta obra el pluralismo jurídico es entendido como uno de los conceptos clave en la visión posmoderna del derecho y en el que, las y los autores analizan distintos modelos jurídicos desde un abordaje técnico, científico o filosófico que se conciben como una constelación de valores, creencias y costumbres que comparten los miembros de una comunidad dada.

Title in English: Pharmacognosy – Work Sheets: Microscopy and macroscopy of pharmacognostic significant drugs These worksheets are study material for students of the Pharmacognosy profile course. They contain important information on drugs of plant and animal origin. The individual drugs are arranged according to their structure, first the amorphous drugs and then the drugs with an organised structure. In the case of drugs with an organised structure, the focus is mainly on drugs of plant origin. Each drug is characterised by its parent plant or producer, a macroscopic and microscopic description, a brief list of the main constituents and its use in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in other branches of industry. Practical applications of the drug in phytotherapy and folk medicine are an integral part of the book. The worksheets are designed so that students can add their own findings to the text during the practical exercises (drawing of a microscopic preparation, photograph with description, constituents, toxicity data, mechanism of action, possible interactions with drugs, etc.). The electronic worksheets are a study material that complements existing pharmacognosy texts.

Was macht eine religiöse Tradition aus, was muss verändert und was erneuert werden – und was auf keinen Fall? Das sind die Grundfragen dieses Buchs, zu denen Katrin Visse die Positionen der muslimischen Denker Fazlur Rahman (1919–1988), Khaled Abou El Fadl (*1963) und Seyyed Hossein Nasr (*1933) untersucht und darstellt. Angeregt von deren Gedanken, vertieft die Autorin in einem christlich-muslimischen Gespräch den Vorgang des Weitergebens, die Ausbreitung in verschiedenen Kontexten und die Rückbindung an Bibel oder Koran als Inspirationsquellen. Katrin Visse präsentiert eine christliche Theologie, die am Gedankengut muslimischer Autoren gewachsen ist. Ebenfalls zeigt ihre Untersuchung, wie eine solche Theologie im interreligiösen Gespräch Eigenes (wieder-)entdeckt und sich von anderen Positionen inspirieren lässt.

An examination of dating app culture in China, across user demographics—straight women, straight men, queer women, and queer men. In this exploration of dating app culture in China, Lik Sam Chan argues that these popular mobile apps are not merely a platform for personal relationships but also an emerging arena for gender and queer politics. Chan examines the opportunities dating apps present for women's empowerment and men's performances of masculinity, and he links experiences of queer dating app users with their vulnerable position as sexual minorities. He finds that dating apps are both portals to an exciting virtual world of relational possibilities and sites of power dynamics that reflect the heteronormativity and patriarchy of Chinese society. Drawing on in-depth interviews with urban users of such dating apps as Momo, Tantan, Blued, Aloha, Rela, and Lesdo, Chan proposes “networked sexual publics” as a unifying concept to capture the dynamics of dating app culture. Devoting a chapter to each of four publics—straight women, straight men, queer men, and queer women—Chan documents how relationships are shaped and transfigured by this emerging technology. He considers whether dating apps can be a feminist tool; explores straight men's self-presentation on the apps and their interactions with women they meet there; discusses the constant cycle of deleting and installing the same apps seen among queer men; and examines how popular lesbian dating apps may connect queer women to their communities. Finally, Chan maps possible paths for future intersectional, queer, and feminist scholarship on emerging communication technologies.

After the long history of screening, it is becoming difficult to find novel compounds from microorganisms and plants anywhere in the world. Until now, more than about 30,000 marine natural products have been reported. However, with the development of marine natural products research, the hit rate of new compounds is also decreasing. Scientists are now turning their attention to the deep sea, where a high hit rate of novel compounds is expected. Many small compounds and peptides from microorganisms and sponges are with therapeutic activity are shown in this book. This Special Issue Book, “Natural Products from the Deep Sea”, should be useful for the screening of novel and useful compounds from nature.

This volume places the development of the Joint Module «Comparative Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning» (COMPALL) in the context of international development in higher education and adult education. Based on this framework, the authors discuss the development of the joint module in terms of its institutional and didactical structure as well as participants’ motivation and diversity. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Internationalisation in Higher Education, (2) Internationalisation of Higher Education: The Case of Adult Education, and (3) Internationalisation of Higher Education: The Example of COMPALL.

A new social science framework for studying the unprecedented social and economic restructuring driven by digital data.Digital data have become the critical frontier where emerging economic practices and organizational forms confront the traditional economic order and its institutions. In Data Rules, Cristina Alaimo and Jannis Kallinikos establish a social science framework for analyzing the unprecedented social and economic restructuring brought about by data. Working at the intersection of information systems and organizational studies, they draw extensively on intellectual currents in sociology, semiotics, cognitive science and technology, and social theory. Making the case for turning “data-making” into an area of inquiry of its own, the authors uncover how data are deeply implicated in rewiring the institutions of the market economy.The authors associate digital data with the decentering of organizations. As they point out, centered systems make sense only when firms (and formal organizations more broadly) can keep the external world at arm's length and maintain a relative operation independence from it. These patterns no longer hold. Data transform the production of goods and services to an endless series of exchanges and interactions that defeat the functional logics of markets and organizations. The diffusion of platforms and ecosystems is indicative of these broader transformations. Rather than viewing data as simply a force of surveillance and control, the authors place the transformative potential of data at the center of an emerging socioeconomic order that restructures society and its institutions.

This volume presents, for the first time in English, Marco Arosio’s study of Bonaventure’s theological epistemology: Credibile ut intelligibile. In this work Arosio seeks to clarify what Bonaventure meant when discussing theology as a science. The credibile is that which a Christian accepts by faith. The subject of theology, for Bonaventure, is the credibile insofar as reason makes it intelligibile, that is, something the rational mind understands. Reason applied to the credibile does make theology a scientia specialis, but it is a scientia specialis de omnibus. The theologian, whose concern is with the Bible as interpreted by the Fathers, is not limited by rules of deductive procedure, but embraces the knowledge of all things with the goal of ecstatic rapture. For Bonaventure, theology cannot be a merely rational process. Rather, the science of theology requires elevating grace and engages both intellect and will.

Este trabalho não teria sido possível sem a contribuição de muitas pessoas. Mesmo sem nomeá-las, gostaria de registrar aqui minha gratidão. Gostaria de agradecer a algumas em especial. À Professora Dra. Betty Antunes de Oliveira, pela orientação da tese que deu origem a este texto. 1\0 grupo de estudos acerca das implicações pedagógicas da teoria histórico-cultural, coordenado pelos professores Dra. Itacy Salgado Basso (UFSCar) e Dr. Francisco José Mazzeu (Unesp), constituído junto ao PPGE da UFSCar, que me ajudou a refletir sobre elementos essenciais ao referencial teórico deste trabalho. À Rosângela, que ajudou a garantir a sobrevivência cotidiana dos Mello e Campos, permitindo assim a homogeneização necessária ao desenvolvimento deste trabalho. Ao Dr. Antonio Geraldo Aguiar pelo estímulo à divulgação do conhecimento e da reflexão produzidos na FFC/Unesp/Câmpus de Marília. A Ora. Stela Miller, pela revisão carinhosa do texto. Aos colegas do Departamento de Didática da FFC, pelo apoio. Aos meus pais, que me ensinaram a visão materialista do mundo e assim facifüaram meu encontro com o pensamento científico. Ao Bill, e a tantos outros - nem tão ricos, nem tão famosos - que nos garantiram os microcomputadores, que facilitaram a elaboração deste trabalho.