Open Access Books

Ambient air quality in the present-day Czech Republic (CR), one of the two succession countries of Czechoslovakia post-1993, was perceived as a major problem with severe human health and environmental consequences, particularly between the 1970s and 1990s. Since that time, the ambient air quality in the CR has improved substantially, due to newly introduced stringent legislation and technical countermeasures. Nevertheless, there are still activities which represent significant emission sources, such as local heating and increased vehicle travel through communities. After a substantial decrease in emissions in both the CR and its neighbouring countries, the levels of some ambient air pollutants from the 2000s are still not satisfactory. In this respect, aerosol, ground-level ozone, and benzo[a]pyrene remain major problems, as they do elsewhere in Europe. The book provides a valuable update both on time trends and spatial changes in ambient air quality, and highlights the recent activities in both monitoring and modelling of principle ambient air pollutants in the CR.

The authors describe the barriers that hinder family engagement with early childhood education and the ways in which technology may afford new opportunities to overcome these barriers—empowering families to become better educators at home, and strengthening connection and communication between school and home.

O livro apresenta os resultados finais obtidos pelo projeto intitulado "Dietário (1582-1815) do Mosteiro de São Bento da Bahia: edição diplomática", a pesquisa em nível de pós-doutoramento é vinculada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras e Lingüística da Universidade Federal da Bahia. O trabalho apoiou-se sobre o documento manuscrito Dietario das vidas e mortes dos Monges, que faleceram neste Mosteiro de S. Sebastião da Bahia da Ordem do Príncipe dos Patriarchas S. Bento e procurou relatar a vida e morte de cada um dos monges que viveram e morreram nesta instituição religiosa. A narrativa vai de 1582, um ano após a fundação da instituição religiosa, e encerra em 1815. O Mosteiro bahiano é fruto da milenar história beneditina e sua grande tradição bibliográfica, possuindo, em seus arquivos grandes raridades e manuscritos do Brasil.

Since the first works introducing the aluminum intercalated clay family in the early 1970s, interest in the synthesis of Pillared InterLayered Clays (PILC) has increased tremendously, especially research into their properties and energetic and environmental applications. After our comprehensive reviews and book on the synthesis and catalytic applications of these materials, new references have appeared in the literature and the interest in this field is continuously increasing. The aim of this Special Issue is to collect the recent advances developed considering this family of solids.

The monograph that we are handing over to the Readers is the third volume in the series started in 2021, published by the Lublin University of Technology Publishing House. When browsing its table of contents, a question may arise, how did it happen that the subject so distant from technical issues became of interest to employees of a technical university. The cooperation of the staff of the Department of Computer Science with partners from Uzbekistan began a few years ago, and since 2017, scientific expeditions have been regularly organised, the purpose of which was three-dimensional digitisation of the cultural heritage of the area related to the Silk Road. During the expeditions, both small museum artefacts and large architectural objects were scanned. The initiated cooperation resulted in the organisation of joint conferences in Poland and Samarkand (Uzbekistan): International Conferences on Information Technology in Cultural Heritage Management (IT-CHM), allowing for the preparation of many scientific publications for conferences and journals. In 2019, the cooperation between the Lublin University of Technology and Uzbekistan allowed us to obtain a project financed by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA), under the name “3D Digital Silk Road” (project number PPI/APM/2019/1/00004). The acquisition of a new source of financing made it possible not only to continue the existing activities, but also to significantly develop them. The participants of the project are the Lublin University of Technology and 4 universities from Uzbekistan: National University of Uzbekistan (NUU) in Tashkent, Samarkand State University (SamSU), Chirchik State Pedagogical Institute (CSPI) and Urgench State University (USU). The published monograph is the result of the International Conference “IT in Cultural Heritage of the Silk Road (IT-CHSR’2021)”, which took place on December 13–15, 2021 at the Lublin University of Technology (Lublin, Poland). Among the conference participants, as many as 15 people came from Uzbekistan to Lublin, representing Uzbek universities and museums. Due to the fact that several dozen papers were delivered during the conference, articles on various types of research were selected for this volume. Thus, we have texts describing objects of material heritage – from rock drawings, Palaeolithic, bronze and pottery artefacts found in the excavation area, to urban considerations devoted to cities and architecture of the Timurid period. The monograph also includes works devoted to intangible heritage: historical topics related to the Silk Road, as well as earlier times, cultural institutions and museums established in this area, and even certain economic and political issues. Among the works there is also a text which, through the legend of the Lajkonik, connects Kraków and Samarkand – an analysis of the historical background of Ksawery Pruszyński’s story

Die Theologie ringt mit ihrer digitalen Zukunft. Wie weit kann sie sich auf den digitalen Logos einlassen, ohne ihren eigenen Logos aus den Augen zu verlieren? Die Beiträge dieses Buches versuchen, darauf eine Antwort zu geben, indem sie in interdisziplinärer Breite aktuelle Debatten um die Digitalisierung aus einer jungen Perspektive reflektieren. Das Verhältnis von Theologie und Digitalität wird unter anderem aus einem (religions)philosophischen, ethischen, systematisch-theologischen und ökumenischen Blickwinkel thematisiert. Ein besonderes Kennzeichen dieses Buches sind die kreativen Köpfe dahinter: die Mehrheit der AutorInnen sind NachwuchswissenschaftlerInnen, die als Digital Natives im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs noch (zu) wenig wahrgenommen werden. Damit richtet sich das Buch aber nicht allein an das junge akademische Publikum. Es soll vielmehr ein Impulsgeber für die Theologie insgesamt werden.

Esta obra apresenta a Pedagogia da Duração em um texto poemático-filosófico. A partir das ideias de Bérgson, a autora fala sobre a linha tênue entre o fluir do tempo e o espaço sólido. Rita Célia reúne os conhecimentos adquiridos no ambiente acadêmico com sua vocação para a poesia e o resultado é um livro que vai além da pedagogia de Bérgson, utilizando-o apenas como um interlocutor.

This book provides a wealth of rich cases describing how research-practice partnerships (RPPs) in K-12 schools navigate equity in the design and implementation of their projects and shares insightful recommendations for both research-side and practice-side RPP leaders engaged in this work. Chapter authors from both researcher and practitioner communities unpack real examples that illustrate how RPPs conceptualized, conducted, and shared research related to prominent equity challenges in K-12 schools. Chapters also detail specific tensions and challenges – political, methodological, relational – and how to overcome these. Presenting an equity-focused RPP framework, this important volume explores how to cultivate trusting and equitable relationships among partners, prioritize humanity and equity in the identification and articulation of a RPP project topic, center equity goals, and align methodological approaches to equity objectives. This important resource helps aspiring, new, and veteran RRP leaders initiate projects or partner with new collaborators as they develop trusting relationships within university and school settings in order to conduct impactful, equity-oriented research.

With the rise of humanitarianism and the international refugee regime in the twentieth century, visual representations of refugees and their forced displacement permeated the cultural sphere. Understanding displacement aesthetics offers a groundbreaking analysis of the role of visual culture, art, and art museums in shaping ideas about people forced to flee. The book identifies the refugee as a cultural figure, analysing the history of visual tropes across multiple visual arenas and their endurance in the present day. Addressing contemporary contexts, the book investigates how displaced artists face distinct barriers that manifest aesthetic outcomes. Language, identity, and labour also appear as critical factors informing how art is made, curated, collected, and publicly understood. Advancing the new concept of ‘displacement aesthetics’ – a negotiation between representation, lived experience, and institutions – this book offers a major interdisciplinary analysis that intervenes in cultural history, art history, and museum studies. Combining archival research, analysis of art, and collaborative co-curation with artists and museums, the book presents new insights into the role of art and culture in mediating this pressing social and political issue in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Tanz als eigene Wissenskultur zu begreifen, ist nicht selbstverständlich. Doch steht außer Frage, dass dem Tanzen Wissensformen zukommen, die aus Praxeologien und Theoriebildungen hervorgehen. Aber bildet die Tanzkunst auch eine Wissenskultur? Worin bestünde sie und welche Erkenntnisziele und Erfahrungswerte sind am Werk? Vor diesem Fragehorizont greift der Sammelband in bestehende Diskussionen ein, um aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive das intermediale Feld von Tanz und Wissen zu reflektieren. Namhafte Wissenschaftler_innen analysieren u.a. kulturtheoretische, ästhetische und politische Fragen einer hybriden Kultur, in der Wissen als Prozess begreifbar wird.

High index-contrast nanophotonic devices are key components for future board-to-board and chip-to-chip optical interconnects: The strong confinement of light enables dense integration, and nonlinear effects can be exploited at low power levels. Cheap large-scale production is possible by using highly parallel microfabrication techniques, and semiconductor-based nanophotonic devices can be integrated together with electronic circuitry on a common chip. Particularly intense research is carried out to realise optical devices on silicon substrates, using mature complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication techniques.This book discusses the modelling, fabrication and characterization of linear and nonlinear nanophotonic devices. Roughness-related scattering loss in high index-contrast waveguides is investigated both theoretically and experimentally, and methods of loss reduction are developed. Novel silicon-based devices for electro-optic modulation and for all-optical signal processing are presented. Nonlinear dynamics in active quantum-dot devices are studied, and resonant field enhancement is exploited to improve the efficiency of nonlinear interaction.

The Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance provides a comprehensive introduction to and analysis of the global art form butoh. Originating in Japan in the 1960s, butoh was a major innovation in twentieth century dance and performance, and it continues to shape-shift around the world. Taking inspiration from the Japanese avant-garde, Surrealism, Happenings, and authors such as Genet and Artaud, its influence can be seen throughout contemporary performing arts, music, and visual art practices. This Companion places the form in historical context, documents its development in Japan and its spread around the world, and brings together the theory and the practice of this compelling dance. The interdisciplinarity evident in the volume reflects the depth and the breadth of butoh, and the editors bring specially commissioned essays by leading scholars and dancers together with translations of important early texts. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

In this carefully curated collection of essays, editors Jamie Dopp and Angie Abdou go beyond their first collection, Writing the Body in Motion, to engage with the meaning of sport found in Canadian sport literature. How does “sport” differ from physically risky recreational activities that require strength and skill? Does sport demand that someone win? At what point does a sport become an art? With the aim of prompting reflections on and discussions of the boundaries of sport, contributors explore how literature engages with sport as a metaphor, as a language, and as bodily expression. Instead of a focus on what is often described as Canada’s national pastime, contributors examine sports in Canadian literature that are decidedly not hockey. From skateboarding and parkour to fly fishing and curling, these essays engage with Canadian histories and broader societal understandings through sports on the margin. Interspersed with original reflections by iconic Canadian literary figures such as Steven Heighton, Aritha Van Herk, Thomas Wharton, and Timothy Taylor, this volume is fresh and intriguing and offers new ways of reading the body.

Comment établir des convergences entre une diversité de pratiques et d’esthétiques portant sur l’étude des carnavals et des pratiques festives ? Quels parallèles, quelles différences et quelles analogies pouvons-nous établir sur de tels objets ? Pour réfléchir aux liens entre analyse de la pensée symbolique, les pratiques sociales et les études littéraires, historiques, scéniques ou musicologiques, le livre articule trois moments : « Enquêter en Carnaval : méthodologies créatives et sensibles », « Carnaval au prisme de l’histoire, des rites et des mythes », « Les territoires de carnaval : témoignages et retours d’expériences ». La cartographie des pratiques carnavalesques étant tellement large, l’ouvrage ne peut traiter de tous les carnavals du monde, même les plus emblématiques comme ceux du Brésil, ni établir un inventaire des pratiques. Il prétend néanmoins renouveler la pensée sur des questions de méthodologies croisées grâce à de nombreuses études de cas et témoignages. Il ouvre des perspectives permettant de saisir dans leurs spécificités anthropologique, artistique, historique et littéraire, les pratiques carnavalesques.

This study describes the results of the monitoring activity on habitats and plant species in the Regional Nature Reserve of "Palude del Conte e Duna Costiera di Porto Cesareo" (Puglia, Italy) and in the adjoining special areas of conservation (SACs), in the period April-December 2018. The activity combined field vegetation surveys and interpretation of orthophotos on a GIS system. The study identifies the pressure and threat factors that negatively affect the conservation of habitats.