Open Access Books

Stainless steel has been developed for over 100 years. Steel grade can be grouped as austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, or duplex stainless steel. A number of new grades, such as lean duplex, super austenitic, and high-nitrogen stainless steel, have been developed. The production of stainless steel is still challenging work with respect to all of the processing steps, including stainless steelmaking, solidification and casting, continuous casting, heat treatment, electric slag remelting, vacuum arc remelting, hot rolling, and cold rolling. The corrosion and mechanical properties of stainless steel products are also very important. Ensuring excellent corrosion resistance and the mechanical performance of the final products continues to be a central focus of research and production. The current Special Issue (SI) entitled ‘Advanced Stainless Steel—from Making, Shaping, Treating to Products’ has collected eight research papers focusing on various aspects of steel production, e.g., inclusions in steelmaking and continuous casting processes, continuous casting processes and the quality of stainless steel casting, heat treatment, the corrosion of steels, and the fatigue of steels. This Reprint aims to contribute to the state of the art of the development of steel production.

The EU is struggling to cope with the so-called “migration crisis” that has emerged over the past few years. Designing the right policies to address immigration requires a deep understanding of its root causes. Why do Africans decide to leave their home countries? While the dream of a better life in Europe is likely part of the explanation, one also needs to examine the prevailing living conditions in the large and heterogeneous sub-Saharan region. This Report investigates the actual role of political, economic, demographic and environmental drivers in current migration flows. It offers a comprehensive picture of major migration motives as well as of key trends. Attention is also devoted to the role of climate change in promoting migration and to intra-continental mobility (two-thirds of sub-Saharan migrant flows start and end within the region). Two country studies on Eritrea and Nigeria are also included to get a closer sense of local developments behind large-scale migration to Europe.

In 2023, the annual joint workshop of the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB) and the Vision and Fusion Laboratory (IES) of the Institute for Anthropomatics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) was hosted at a Schwarzwaldhaus near Triberg. For a week from the 30th of July to the 4th of August the doctoral students of both institutions presented extensive reports on the status of their research and discussed topics ranging from computer vision, security to machine learning and large language models.

This book is a collection of contributions to a symposium which was organized by the Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft) on the topic "Women in the Balkans/Southeastern Europe" and held on 3rd and 4th November 2014 in Munich. It reflects on the present situation of women in the Balkans/Southeast Europe which has experienced fundamental changes since the end of the communist/socialist regime and the transition towards a market oriented economy as well as the wars in former Yugoslavia. These fundamental changes and war time experiences have not only implicated disorders in political and social status, but also a backlash in terms of return to patriarchal values as well as to traditional gender relations and hierarchies. A perception of gender roles following traditional patterns and a concept of femininity reducing women to their bodies, open sexism in media, the so called "sex industry" and "women markets" plus the ban of abortion, increased domestic violence and trafficking in women have been combined with neoliberal values, right ideology, neo-patriarchy and the ruling concept of masculinity. On the other hand, women have also used their chance to create their own business, not to forget female subcultures. Women`s participation in decision-making, especially in political parties, and their representation in the public scenery is an important indicator for the degree of their emancipation. Bringing together women engaged on women`s issues in different areas - from the academia, the Non-Governmental Organisations and civil society, and policy makers - is bound to result in a variety of perspectives and views.

Language Testing Reconsidered provides a critical update on major issues that have engaged the field of language testing since its inception. Anyone who is working in, studying or teaching language testing should have a copy of this book. The information, discussions, and reflections offered within the volume address major developments within the field over the past decades, enlivened by current "takes" on these issues. The real value of this collection, however, lies in its consideration of the past as a means of defining the future agenda of language testing.

This open access book presents an innovative study of the rise of unmarried cohabitation in the Americas, from Canada to Argentina. Using an extensive sample of individual census data for nearly all countries on the continent, it offers a cross-national, comparative view of this recent demographic trend and its impact on the family. The book offers a tour of the historical legacies and regional heterogeneity in unmarried cohabitation, covering: Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, Colombia, the Andean region, Brazil, and the Southern Cone. It also explores the diverse meanings of cohabitation from a cross-national perspective and examines the theoretical implications of recent developments on family change in the Americas. The book uses data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, International (IPUMS), a project dedicated to collecting and distributing census data from around the world. This large sample size enables an empirical testing of one of the currently most powerful explanatory frameworks for changes in family formation around the world, the theory of the Second Demographic Transition. With its unique geographical scope, this book will provide researchers with a new understanding into the spectacular rise in premarital cohabitation in the Americas, which has become one of the most salient trends in partnership formation in the region.

Buildings shape politics in the ways they define communities, enable economic activity, reflect political ideas, and impact state-society relations. They are materially and symbolically interwoven with the everyday lives of elites and citizens, as well global flows of money, goods, and contracts. Yet, to date, there has been no research that explicitly connects debates about Africa's domestic and international politics with the study of architecture. This innovative book fills this gap, providing a new and compelling reading of the politics of identity in sub-Saharan Africa through an examination of some of its most significant buildings. Using case studies from nine countries across sub-Saharan Africa, this volume reveals how they are commissioned and built, how they enable elites to project power, and how they form a basis for popular conceptions of the state. Exploring a diverse range of buildings including parliaments, airports, prisons, ministries, regional institutions, libraries, universities, shopping malls, public housing, cathedrals and palaces, the contributors suggest a innovative perspective on African politics, identity and urban development. This book will be a compelling reference for scholars and students of African politics, development studies and city life in its elaboration of and challenges to established concepts and arguments about the relationship between material objects and political ideas. This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND.

Nematodes - Ecology, Adaptation and Parasitism is a collection of high-impact scientific chapters written by eminent researchers from all over the globe. The book discusses frontier areas of nematode biology, including ecological features, adaptability power, and parasitic nature of Phylum Nemathelminthes. The authors report on the comparative diversity, abundance, and bioindicative capabilities of nematode community structures in natural and contaminated habitats. The book also examines topics such as ecological significance and potential implications of entomopathogenic nematodes on sustainable pest control management, the parasitic adaptation of plant parasitic nematodes, and their interaction with other microorganisms. It also discusses the application of a new generation of chemical nematicides and herbal nematicides to control plant parasitic nematodes. This book is a valuable resource on the biology of nematodes and is useful for students, researchers, and scientists working in nematology.

Du maréchal de MacMahon au général de Gaulle, militaires et hommes politiques entretiennent des relations dominées par une mutuelle incompréhension et une large suspicion. Les premiers accusent les poli­tiques de diviser les Français en professionnels de la chicane, quand les seconds suspectent nombre d’officiers de rêver au renversement de la République. Ce livre dépasse les stéréotypes habituels. En une cinquantaine de contributions, il étudie toutes les formes de participation des officiers au pouvoir et à la vie publique, de rétablissement de la Troisième République aux débuts de la Cinquième, de la fin de la guerre de 1870-1871 à la conclusion du conflit algérien. Le métier des armes est, par essence, de nature politique en ce qu’il participe de la conduite de la cité. Certes la professionnalisation de l’action politique sans parler de la peur qu’inspire aux républicains le césarisme a contribué à maintenir les officiers dans les limites de l’expertise. Mais les grands chefs, au même titre qu’une poignée de hauts fonctionnaires, participent au pouvoir par leur contribution à la définition de la politique de défense et de certains aspects de la politique extérieure. Par une approche pluridisciplinaire, associant historiens, juristes, poli­tiques et sociologues, universitaires et militaires, ce colloque rompt défi­nitivement avec l’image simpliste de deux mondes étanches l’un à l’autre et renouvelle l’étude des relations entre les officiers et la vie politique.

An assessment of China's aerospace manufacturing capabilities and how China's participation in commercial markets and supply chains contributes to their improvement. It examines China's aviation and space manufacturing capabilities, government efforts to encourage foreign participation, transfers of foreign technology to China, the extent to which U.S. and foreign aerospace firms depend on supplies from China, and their implications for U.S. security interests.

In ULTRA, R.M. Gonzales Martinez invites you into a mind-bending journey through dystopian nightmares and utopian dreams of artificial intelligence. Drawing on science, philosophy, and speculative fiction, this provocative work explores the rise of Artificial Ultra Intelligence (AUI): a cognitive force beyond human comprehension. Structured like a modern Divine Comedy, the book begins in the digital infernos of machine dominance and war, passes through haunting visions of indifferent AI, and emerges into possible paradises of posthuman potential. With references ranging from Descartes and Nietzsche to The Matrix and thought experiments like “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” ULTRA challenges readers to rethink what intelligence means and what it could become. Will AI save us, enslave us, or simply ignore us? Can human values survive the singularity? ULTRA doesn’t offer answers - it gives provocations. Accessible, nonlinear, and laced with dark imagination and rigorous speculation, ULTRA is essential reading for anyone intrigued or terrified by what lies beyond the algorithmic event horizon. Publisher: University of Groningen Press Broerstraat 4 9712 CP Groningen Netherlands Cover design: Bas EkkersTypesetting: LINE UP boek en media bv | Daan Vermaat You can order our printed books via the order button, distribution is handled by our partner Publisher kleine Uil. You can also purchase our books through the regular bookshops.

The challenges faced by the atmospheric research community today are vast, complex, and multi-faceted. The book Urban Atmospheric Aerosols: Sources, Analysis, and Effects highlights important aspects concerning the chemical and optical properties, size distribution, sources, and potential health effects of fine urban air particles (PM2.5). The physical and chemical characterization of PM2.5, its source assignment, and the assessment of the magnitude and distribution of its emissions are crucial for establishing effective fine air particle regulations and assessing the associated risks to human health. This book brings together eight papers covering the main topics of the field and will be of interest to researchers who are interested in air quality in outdoor and indoor environments, air particle toxicity, and atmospheric chemistry, as well as global climate modelers.

A partir da articulação de referencial teórico, pesquisa de campo e experiências como integrante de coletivo do teatro de grupo, o autor deste livro procura analisar a relação entre núcleos artísticos do teatro de grupo da cidade de São Paulo e o entorno de seus espaços culturais, aqui chamados de territórios de criação, a partir do ponto de vista da ação cultural. Para se entender estas interações foram realizadas entrevistas com integrantes de oito coletivos em atividade. Na leitura da atuação teatral de coletivos da cidade de São Paulo se revelou fundamental um olhar para além das produções de seus espetáculos. As ações arte-educativas nos territórios, desenvolvidas pelos grupos são experiências espalhadas pelo tecido urbano. Para o desenvolvimento do estudo foram estabelecidas interlocuções teóricas com pensadoras e pensadores que abordam como temas a pedagogia do teatro, o sujeito histórico teatro de grupo, o espaço urbano, o território e a ação cultural.

Publisher description unavailable.

Asia is one of the regions in the world most affected by the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Meanwhile, the European Union is the most active global actor in promoting environmental protection and combating climate change. The aim of this chapter is to review the EU's environmental policy towards Asian countries. It will present the EU's strategy towards the Indo-Pacific, with a particular focus on environmental protection issues, the main instruments of influence used by the EU, and the major challenges faced by the EU in its environmental and climate actions in Asia. This allows for an answer to the question of what tools the EU uses to fulfill its treaty obligations to combat climate change, and influence partners in Asia. This chapter also serves as an introduction to the second part of the book, which presents three examples of EU-Asian cooperation on environmental and climate issues.