Open Access Books

This book comprises the contributions of several authors in the area of polymer physics by application of conducting polymers; hydrogel films on optical fiber core; thin film polymers; PDLC films application; photopolymers for holographic media; microwave absorption and EMI shielding behavior of nanocomposites based on intrinsically conducting polymers and graphene and carbon nanotubes; in the area of polymer synthesis of conducting polymers; oxidative polymerization of aniline; electro reductive polymerization; polysilanes with ordered sequences; radiation cross-linking poly(urethane-imide) and nitrogen-rich polymers as candidates for energetic applications; development of ruthenium complexes to novel functional nanocomposites. We hope that this book will help inspire readers to pursue study and research in this field.

Quelle connaissance avons-nous de l’ordinaire et sa normativité ? Quelle en est la grammaire ? Mais aussi plus largement, dans quelle mesure un même concept d’ordinaire permet-il de mieux comprendre ces vies que nous menons, des plus prosaïques aux plus éloignées ? Enfin, quelle forme donner à ces vies ordinaires ? Telles sont les grandes lignes de ce volume consacré aux concepts d’ordinaire. Depuis près de deux décennies maintenant, l’ordinaire s’est en effet imposé comme un nouveau champ de recherches en philosophie. Ce volume collectif témoigne de la richesse et du caractère profondément novateur de ces explorations, et cherche à établir plus fermement ce que l’on appellera les « concepts de l’ordinaire ».

This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact

Rural India, holding 68.84% of its population as per the census of 2011 (Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, 2011), stands with an outstanding model of participatory practices in social work research. As the “we feeling” is common among the rural people, indeed it becomes more feasible to enable them to participate in the research process. Based on the divergent socio-economic and cultural background of the rural Indian situation, choosing the best research practices becomes a herculean task. It may certainly enable the bringing into the limelight the struggles and strengths of the marginalized and less privileged of the rural society. The present study strives in identifying the relevant research tools for rural population, which is relatively open to the participatory research approach. It highlights the relevance and suitability of adopting these methods in social work research, especially the collaborative research practices, combining the researcher and service users’ perspective which are found to be more effective and informative. The various constraints and difficulties faced by the researchers also are portrayed and examined in relation with the rural study at the grass root level.

This book presents two experimental studies that deal with the comparison of multi-item auction designs for two specific applications: the sale of 2.6 GHz radio spectrum rights in Europe, and the sale of emissions permits in Australia. In order to tackle the complexity of these experiments, a cognitively based toolkit is proposed, including modularized video instructions, comprehension tests, a learning platform, a graphical one-screen user interface, and comprehension-based group matching.

Published

The current publishing environment has experienced a drastic change in the way content is created, delivered, and acquired, particularly for libraries. With the increasing importance of digital publishing, more than half the titles published in the United States are self-published. With this growth in self-published materials, librarians, publishers, and vendors have been forced to rethink channels of production, distribution, and access as it applies to the new content. Self-Publishing and Collection Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Libraries will address multiple aspects of how public and academic libraries can deal with the increase in self-published titles.

Recent research of epidural and transcutaneous electrical spinal cord stimulation has demonstrated unprecedented improvements in motor function thought to be irreversibly lost due to chronic, severe spinal cord injury. Studies in parallel assess these methods for spasticity management as an alternative to medications that are often accompanied by deleterious side effects. As a noninvasive intervention, transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation holds the great potential to find its way into wide clinical application. Its firm establishment and lasting acceptance as clinical practice in spinal cord injury will not only hinge on the demonstration of safety and efficacy, but also on the delineation of a conceptual framework of the underlying physiological mechanisms. This will also require advancing our understanding of immediate and temporary effects of transcutaneous spinal cord on neuronal circuits in the intact and injured spinal cord. The purpose of this collection of papers is to bring together peers in the field to share—and eventually fuse—their pertinent research into current neurorehabilitation practice by providing a clinical perspective and novel insights into the underlying mechanisms.

The main issues arising from the encounter between Roma people and surrounding European society since the time of their arrival in Medieval Europe until today are discussed in this work. The history of their persecution and genocide during the Nazi era, in particular, is central to the present volume. Significantly, some authors sought to emphasize the continuing history of prejudice and persecution, which reached a peak during the Nazi era and persisted after the war. Current questions of so...

Analytical chemistry is bound to face growing challenges in the future, especially for the quantification of trace analytes in complex matrices. Although the development of increasingly sensitive and specific instrumental techniques has achieved remarkable results, sample preparation is still a fundamental step, often limiting the whole workflow. In the context spawned by the recent international environmental policies that are responsive to the rapport of human activities with the surrounding environment, chemistry cannot hesitate to give its contribution. Almost pioneeringly, in analytical chemistry, we have been talking for some time about “green analytical chemistry”, its guiding principles, and the development of eco-friendly analytical approaches. However, the new and still open challenge is advance not only in eco-compatibility but mainly in eco-sustainability, rooting the future of analytical chemistry in new perspective aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of the analytical process by placing environmental cost as a priority aim on par with analytical performance. This is the reprint of a Special Issue that includes contributions focused on the progress in analytical chemistry based on the arguments previously raised and discussed, with a particular reference to eco-compatibility and eco-sustainability. The contributions include the development of low environmental impact methods and/or techniques or their applications.

Im Rahmen des Projekts Duncker & Humblot reprints heben wir Schätze aus dem Programm der ersten rund 150 Jahre unserer Verlagsgeschichte, von der Gründung 1798 bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs 1945. Lange vergriffene Klassiker und Fundstücke aus den Bereichen Rechts- und Staatswissenschaften, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Geschichte, Philosophie und Literaturwissenschaft werden nach langer Zeit wieder verfügbar gemacht – und zwar sowohl gedruckt als auch in elektronischer Form. Einige Titel sind bereits erschienen. Täglich kommen weitere hinzu. Bis Ende des Jahres wird das »Duncker & Humblot reprints«-Programm auf ca. 1.500 Bände anwachsen. Möchten Sie regelmäßig über Neuerscheinungen aus dem reprints-Programm informiert werden? Dann abonnieren Sie unseren E-Mail-Benachrichtigungsdienst.

Besides new methods of generating energy, the storage of that energy is a highly important topic, with new technologies in great demand. This book offers readers a range of potential options, maximizing the possibility for success. Several chapters offer overviews of the future of such systems and estimations of their feasibility. Forms of energy storage covered include electrochemical, compressed air and flywheel systems. Other techniques addressed are the use of single- and double-switch cell voltage equalizers and hybrid energy storage and applications. Dynamic energy storage methods are also covered by two chapters. Finally, there are contributions on a low-voltage DC system with storage and distributed generation interfaced systems, and the in-situ dynamic characterization of energy storage and conversion systems.

The combination of coastal climate change impacts and their effects on the ever-increasing human utilization of the coastal zone will invariably result in increasing coastal risk in the coming decades. However, while economic damage (potential consequence) caused by climate change-driven coastal inundation and erosion (potential hazard) is likely to increase, foregoing land-use opportunities in coastal regions and protecting or nourishing coasts is also costly. Managing the risk of coastline recession is therefore a balancing act. To avoid unacceptable future risks, it is imperative that risk-informed and sustainable coastal planning/management strategies are implemented sooner rather than later. This requires the development of methods for comprehensive coastal risk assessments which combine state-of-the-art consequence (or damage) modeling and coastal hazard modeling. This Special Issue contains 13 papers aimed at addressing this challenge.

Scholarly debates about morality necessarily raise the question of what we mean when we speak of morality or even moralization. The chapters in this book respond to these questions from multidisciplinary perspectives, bringing a range of knowledge domains into dialogue with each other, including history, political science, linguistics, philosophy, and theology.

This chapter presents the recent history of Norwegian standardisation within the archives and record management field. Norway was an early proponent of standards in digital archives, the better to promote data exchange and a unified approach to data and records management. Norwegian standards have preceded international standards, including the Noark series that preceded ISO 15489 by decades and the database preservation standard ADDML, which preceded SIARD by several years. This situation started to change particularly around 2010. International standards such as OAIS, METS and PREMIS have been integrated into Norwegian practice through National Archives efforts to develop a “national flavouring” of international standards.As a secondary theme the chapter explores whether standardisation, and to what degree different standards, have promoted an ‘archives-as-data’ paradigm. The result of this inquiry is mixed. The Noark standards were framed around preserving registries, which are inherently document oriented rather than data oriented, while standards such as ADDML are data oriented. A shift to international standards thus intersects with emerging trends, such as reuse of information and data in public administrations and for research to substitute documents with data.