Open Access Books

Many Syrians who immigrated to the US beginning in the 1870s worked as peddlers. Traveling enabled men to transgress Syrian norms related to marriage, while Syrian women’s roles in peddling led to more economic autonomy. In Possible Histories, Charlotte Karem Albrecht explores this peddling economy to reveal the sexual ideologies imbricated in Arab American racial histories. Possible Histories marshals a queer affective approach to community and family history to show how Syrian immigrant peddlers and their networks of labor and care appeared in interconnected discourses of modernity, sexuality, gender, class, and race. Karem Albrecht theorizes this profession, and its place in Arab American historiography, as a “queer ecology” of laboring practices, intimacies, and knowledge production. This book ultimately proposes a new understanding of the long arm of Arab American history that puts sexuality and gender at the heart of ways of navigating US racial systems. “Possible Histories brings an innovative queer analytic to Arab American history, inquiring into the intimate relationships among itinerant peddlers. Uncovering the role of sexuality in racializing Arab Americans, it challenges respectability politics and brilliantly upends reigning paradigms in Arab American history.” — EVELYN ALSULTANY, author of Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion “A deeply personal queer history that is brisk, unsettling, and brimming with insights. Puzzling through gossip, shame, and scandal, Charlotte Karem Albrecht offers an astounding kaleidoscope of Arab Americans in the twentieth century.” — NAYAN SHAH, author of Refusal to Eat: A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes “Possible Histories is a rich contribution to queer theorizing on kinship, archives, and diaspora. In this moving tribute to the challenges and traps of recovery work, Karem Albrecht traverses the maze of memory and family with care and thoughtfulness.” — JASBIR PUAR, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University

Photosynthesis is one of the most important reactions on Earth. It is a scientific field that is the topic of many research groups. This book is aimed at providing the fundamental aspects of photosynthesis, and the results collected from different research groups. There are three sections in this book: light and photosynthesis, the path of carbon in photosynthesis, and special topics in photosynthesis. In each section important topics in the subject are discussed and (or) reviewed by experts in each book chapter.

La segregación social y espacial es un tema clásico de la sociología urbana y el urbanismo, además de que progresivamente lo viene siendo de otras disciplinas. Se trata de un concepto polisémico definido a partir de la concentración de un subgrupo de población que comparte una misma característica (raza, etnia, nivel de pobreza, religión, etc.),bro para subir o cuando existe una baja mezcla de hogares con condiciones disímiles. Por el contrario, no hay segregación cuando existe mezcla de hogares heterogéneos. Esta obra presenta análisis y propuestas teóricas diversas, investigaciones de varios países de América Latina vinculados a la segregación social y espacial, a las políticas de vivienda y a los movimientos sociales. el tema de la segregación es abordado en su conexión con otras temáticas como las políticas públicas, los nuevos productos inmobiliarios, los enmarcados del suelo y vivienda, la ciudad informal, los movimientos sociales y las resistencias.

The aim is to: raise awareness of these technologies and their potential to increase employment opportunities and independence for people with various types of disabilities. The problem is the lack of availability of the discussed technologies and knowledge about them. Method: literature review and analysis of various assistive technologies available on the market. The results show that many assistive technologies, such as communication tools, information accessibility technologies, and mobility and computer access technologies, can help people with disabilities perform professional tasks while teleworking. In summary, assistive technologies can significantly improve employment opportunities and independence for people with disabilities. However, their effective implementation requires taking into account the individual needs and preferences of users and providing appropriate training and support.

The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. In The Interpretation and Application of the Most-Favored-Nation Clause in Investment Arbitration, Dr. Anqi Wang provides suggestions for MFN drafting in future international investment agreements (IIAs), as well as for MFN application by investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals in case of ambiguity. Dr. Wang conducts a systemic review of MFN clause in history and maps all the relevant ISDS cases. She argues that ISDS tribunals should interpret the MFN clause according to the treaty text on a case-by-case basis, and that tribunals should also consider state consent as the foundation for the jurisdiction of international adjudication, current IIA reform, and essential treaty interpretive principles.

It is generally recognized that the success of bone regeneration depends not only on the choice of a particular surgical technique and the clinical experience of the therapist but also on the knowledge, correct selection, and use of various biomaterials. Therefore, the science of biomaterials is one of the fastest growing disciplines in dentistry, and a more thorough knowledge of the properties of existing biomaterials and the development of new biomaterials are certainly areas that require special research attention. We believe that the topic of this Special Issue is of great importance to professionals working in the field of tissue engineering, dental implantology, and regenerative dentistry.

Mit dem dritten Band der Schriftenreihe Jiddistik: Edition & Forschung liegt der vollständige Erzählungszyklus Eisenbahngeschichten von Scholem Alejchem (1859–1916) nun erstmals zweisprachig, jiddisch und deutsch, vor. In diesem Werk begegnen wir einem der drei Klassiker der jiddischen Literatur in der Gattung, in der er eine besondere Meisterschaft erlangt hatte: der Kurzgeschichte. Seine prägnante Schilderung von Menschentypen und Alltagssituationen in ausdrucksstarken Monologen haben ihn über die jiddische Literatur hinaus berühmt gemacht. Als Nachwort zur vorliegenden Ausgabe dient Dan Mirons eindrücklicher Essay Reise ins Zwielicht, der eine ausführliche Entstehungsgeschichte bietet und eine multifokale Interpretation des Werks leistet.

This Element adopts a naturalistic, cognitive perspective to understand divination, examining belief, plausibility, and the socio-cultural factors influencing the perception and persistence of divination practices across societies and history. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

A key tenet of U.S. foreign policy has been that promoting democracy reduces terrorism; however, scant empirical evidence links democracy to terrorism, positively or negatively. This study explores the relationship between the two by examining the effects of liberalization processes on political violence in six Arab cases.

Basing our analysis on the concepts of ‘emotion’, ‘feeling’, and ‘mood’ as defined by data from the cognitive sciences, we argue that human emotions are both universal and intrinsically linked to literary and artistic chronotopes. In her study of 'reflective' and 'restorative' nostalgia, Svetlana Boym (2001) shows that 'nostalgia' itself represents pure ambivalence that takes on a particular shape in response to the mood, thoughts, and psychological state of the author. Its ultimate expression might assume the form of either monological ideology or of paradoxical existential emotion. It is this second type of nostalgia that we can link most closely link to understandings of both 'melancholy' and 'identity' or 'self-consciousness'. Brooding and melancholic toska is shared by persons who suffer from what we might call 'existential ambivalence'; these persons are 'mercurials' in the terminology of Yuri Slezkine (2004). Within the field of Russian literature, this 'mercurial' sense of melancholy is particularly well developed.

The third installment of the ‘European Public Investment Outlook’ series is an important and timely publication that draws together recent analyses to recommend significant increases in public investment in green ventures. Compelling data from key economists affiliated with international organizations like the International Monetary Fund, European Investment Bank and the European Commission, as well as academic departments and policy institutes are a clarion call for green investment to boost the economy and put the planet on a sustainable path. Like its predecessors, the book presents the issues in a lucid and navigable manner. Part I explores the EU’s current levels of green public investment, as well as the challenges ahead in achieving net zero carbon emissions after years of decreasing funding and the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The public investment trends of France, Germany, Italy and Spain are systematically evaluated, as well as the REPowerEU policy – accelerated in Spring 2022 – to move away from Russia’s supply of fossil fuels. Part II focuses on the investment needed for green transition; the important economic and fiscal effects and benefits this would bring; and the reality of what is required before 2030 to achieve the EU’s carbon-neutral targets by 2050. Greening Europe is essential reading for economists, environmentalists, and policymakers. It should also be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the cost implications of the ‘carbon-neutral’ policies that governments have promised, and the urgent need to change our approach towards energy usage.

Comment une société ou un individu étiquettent-ils ce qu’ils considèrent comme relevant du politique, de l’apolitique ou de l’infrapolitique ? Cette question a rarement été étudiée en tant que telle. Si des recherches récentes ont livré de passionnantes analyses sur « la politique autrement » ou « ailleurs », sur de nouveaux répertoires de l’action politique, peu ont centré leur réflexion sur les processus de politisation et de dépolitisation pour se demander ce que ces processus révèlent et induisent quant à la spécificité ou non du politique, quant à ses modes de fonctionnement et de structuration. Dans cet ouvrage, une équipe de sociologues, ethnologues et politistes tente, à travers dix enquêtes de terrain, d’appréhender quelques-uns des nombreux processus de construction sociale permanente et variable du politique. La notion de « frontières » n’implique aucunement de tracer des limites correspondant a priori à une quelconque essence du politique, mais invite au contraire à analyser, à travers les discours, les pratiques, les propriétés sociales, et les positionnements des acteurs vis-à-vis du jeu politique et des autres univers sociétaux, les déplacements incessants de ces bornages et leurs conséquences sur l’univers politique. De façon plus ou moins explicite, le jeu sur les frontières du politique peut révéler une volonté d’influencer les décisions politiques nationales ou internationales (mobilisations humanitaires comme Handicap International, valorisation du consensus sportif pour servir la candidature turque à l’entrée dans l’Union européenne), de valoriser une position d’autonomie par rapport au jeu partisan (le syndicat Sud-PTT), voire de participer plus ou moins directement au jeu politique institutionnel et de le rénover (le Forum Civique en République Tchèque), fut-ce en se présentant comme extérieur à celui-ci (les Motivé-e-s rennais lors des municipales de 2001). La multiplicité et l’évolutivité des processus de requalification du politique et de l’apolitique (comme en témoigne par exemple l’évolution de la rubrique « politique étrangère » dans les médias), leur caractère parfois contradictoire, ainsi que certains mécanismes de résistance au changement limitent de tels projets. Ils n’en produisent pas moins des effets réels, non réductibles à l’ordre du calcul stratégique. Additionnés à bien d’autres processus de déplacement non nécessairement conscients, ils établissent ou solidifient des passerelles entre les différents univers sociétaux, dans une dynamique relevant plus de la continuité que de la rupture. Les règles et pratiques du jeu politique, les ressources qui y sont mobilisées s’édifient ainsi souvent à partir de nombreuses interpénétrations avec d’autres univers sociétaux (littérature, carnaval, poésie, etc.), si bien que la distance entre ceux-ci et certains champs politiques apparaît parfois moins importante que celle différenciant certains sous-univers politiques (échelon local/national).

The 4 chapters in this book focus on investigation, basic and advanced clinical aspects and management of frequently encountered corneal disorders. The authors have covered keratitis theory and practice. Onchocersias, even though found on one continent, has its impact on population, epidemiologists, ophthalmologists, NGOs, public health planners and care providers. The goal of this book is to provide information on ancient eye diseases; their investigation and management to prevent corneal blindness. I acknowledge the great help rendered by Publishing Process Manager and Editor Relations Consultant.

Increasing interest in topics related to health and quality of life in recent years has led to a growing need in food, environmental and bioanalytical research for high-throughput separation techniques able to cope with the qualitative/quantitative determination of a large number of compounds in very complex matrices. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a well-established separation technique widely employed in many fields. The versatility of chromatographic separation modes, coupled with low-resolution and high-resolution mass spectrometry, makes HPLC among the best options to solve emerging analytical problems. This book provides an overview of new advances in high-performance liquid chromatography and its applications in different fields.

Membrane traffic is a broad field that studies the complex exchange of membranes that occurs inside the cell. Protein, lipids and other molecules traffic among intracellular organelles, and are delivered to, or transported from the cell surface by virtue of membranous carriers generally referred as "transport intermediates". These carriers have different shapes and sizes, and their biogenesis, modality of transport, and delivery to the final destination are regulated by a multitude of very complex molecular machineries. A concept that has clearly emerged in the last decade is that each membrane pathway does not represent a close system, but is fully integrated with all the other trafficking pathways. The aim of this book is to provide a general overview of the extent of this crosstalk.