Open Access Books

Le saké est la boisson identitaire des Japonais, mais cette boisson alcoolique issue de la fermentation d’un mélange de riz et d’eau pure, dont la teneur en alcool est généralement comprise entre 12 et 17 degrés, est, en dehors de l’archipel nippon, encore très mal connue. Si peu connu que soit le véritable saké, souvent assimilé à tort à un alcool fort, il est toujours associé au Japon. Une association qui n’est pas si évidente car les Japonais ne sont pas les inventeurs de ces boissons de céréales fermentées qui existent encore aujourd’hui un peu partout dans l’Asie rizicole, de la Chine aux Philippines en passant par la péninsule Indochinoise. Si elles sont partout ailleurs des boissons peu consommées depuis longtemps et si leur fabrication est restée dans la plupart des cas encore très artisanale, au Japon, le saké représente une véritable institution nationale. C’est à cette exception historique et géographique que s’intéresse cet ouvrage en analysant sur le temps long les processus de construction d’une boisson identitaire et de territoires de qualité. Breuvage de civilisation, le saké, par ses paradoxes et ses contradictions dans un marché des boissons aujourd’hui mondialisé, est un excellent révélateur des pratiques alimentaires des Japonais et, au delà, de leur rapport au monde.

This open access book outlines four scenarios for the future of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories as a broad canvas on which the interests, roles and perspectives of the key stakeholders involved in occupation are subsequently painted. An indirect result of 58 years of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, the Hamas attack on Israel of 7 October 2023 and the ensuing Israeli military campaign have greatly worsened Palestinian security in the short term, and Israeli security in the long term. Durable prospects for achieving reconciliation and peace are now shrouded in uncertainty, as political forces and views on both sides are likely to polarize and radicalize even further. October 7 and its aftermath have also introduced new uncertainties about the future nature of Israeli annexation and the modalities as well as extent of Palestinian resistance. Old frames have lost much of their validity, such as the Oslo agreements or even the logic underpinning security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military. The book aims to improve our understanding of the post-October 7 context of occupation and the initiatives required to end it in the future. Ultimately, the book’s intention is to shake up complacent policies and debates about the occupation of the Palestinian Territories by providing a more realistic basis for both reflection and action. While short-form analysis (e.g. blogs, essays and briefs) of October 7 and the ensuing events have proliferated, there has been little to no comprehensive analysis of the significance of these events for the future of occupation. Using the method of scenario planning to develop an analytical baseline, the added value of this book is that it offers a multi-dimensional consideration of this question both through the range of stakeholders it covers and the variety of its authors with respect to their research focus and perspective.

The discovery of the negative feedback of thyroid hormones on pituitary thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) secretion, a classical endocrine feedback control system, has shaped diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease for the last decades. Based on this concept, a unique diagnostic category of subclinical thyroid disorders was introduced, being defined exclusively by an abnormal TSH response in the presence of thyroid hormone concentrations within the reference range. Although this approach was able to deliver a conceptually straightforward disease definition problems surfaced in clinical practice as neither the diagnostic reference range nor the appropriate threshold for initiating substitution treatment are universally agreed upon for subclinical thyroid disorders. The situation is further aggravated by the so-called syndrome T, which comprises a substantial but heterogeneous group of L-T4 treated patients with hypothyroidism with reduced quality of life despite “normal” TSH values.A limited understanding of the physiological relationships between TSH and thyroid hormones may be a main reason for clinical difficulties in dealing with the causes of syndrome T and tailoring substitution therapy for hypothyroid patients with subclinical thyroid disorders. Feedback regulation has recently been shown to be much more complex than previously assumed. The concept of homeostatic control has also been extended to include the lesser known but equally important allostatic thyroid regulation.The latter aims at adaptive homeostasis or stability through changing setpoints and modulating structural parameters of feedback control, as may be appropriate to adapt to a vast array of conditions spanning from fetal life, aging, pregnancy, exercise, starvation, obesity, psychiatric disorders to the severe non-thyroidal illness syndrome.A better understanding of homeostatic and allostatic mechanisms, which govern the behaviour of pituitary-thyroid feedback control, is on the horizon. This promises to improve the diagnostic utility of laboratory methods, laying the foundation for personalised methods to optimise dosage and modality of substitution therapy. The emerging new world of thyroid physiology is reflected on the side of clinical medicine in a new, relational paradigm for diagnosis and treatment.Considerable progress has been made in this respect in the following key areas:• the significance of complementary information processing structures within the feedback loop, in particular ultrashort feedback of TSH on its own secretion and the action of a TSH-T3 shunt unburdening the thyroid from T4 synthesis in imminent thyroid failure,• the unravelling of spatio-temporal dynamics of hormone concentrations ranging from ultradian to circannual rhythms and including hysteresis effects,• the emergence of “non-canonical” mechanisms of thyroid hormone signalling beyond transcriptional control of gene expression,• the physiological actions of thyronine metabolites, which have been previously regarded as biologically inactive, such as thyronamines and iodothyroacetates,• the characterisation of distinct patterns in the adaptive processes to stress and strain and their conclusive explanation through reactions to type 1 and type 2 allostatic load.This collective volume contains the contributions to the Research Topic “Homeostasis and Allostasis of Thyroid Function”, which was originally published by the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology. Authored by an international team of experts from three continents ,the book provides a comprehensive overview on thyroid control from recent research in basic, computational and clinical thyroidology. Many aspects addressed here can be expected to stimulate future research. A more comprehensive view and better integration of in-vitro, in-silico and in-vivo investigations will be invaluable in paving the way to this new world of thyroidology.

Le molestie di strada e le molestie sessuali fanno parte dell’esperienza quotidiana di molte persone, eppure risultano spesso invisibili perché giudicate banali o insignificanti. Questo libro nasce dalla necessità di far luce su tali fenomeni, partendo da una ricerca condotta presso l’Università di Milano-Bicocca. Le molte partecipanti donne e i pochi partecipanti uomini hanno usato l’occasione per raccontare ogni tipo di molestie subite, fino alle violenze più gravi. I loro racconti consentono di tracciare una mappa del fenomeno, descrivendone ampiezza, tipologie, autori, conseguenze, reazioni, vissuti, emozioni. Sono testimonianze che documentano il persistere di una miseria relazionale e sociale, iscritta nel maschilismo ancora presente nel nostro paese. Vista dalla parte di chi la subisce, questa miseria si rivela potente nella sua quotidiana capacità di provocare dolore, di intralciare percorsi e frenare aspirazioni. I racconti testimoniano però anche la capacità di resistenza e riflessione di chi non ha più intenzione di subire, attestano la crescita di una coscienza civile che si ribella al dominio patriarcale e rivendica la necessità che donne e uomini sviluppino relazioni mature, capaci di fornire a tutte e a tutti sostegno, solidarietà, affetto.

When diseases occur in a human population at higher than expected levels, those diseases are said to be “epidemic.” Animals also experience outbreaks at levels greater than expected, and when that happens, it is called “epizootic”. There have been several very large epizootics in recent years, with one of the biggest being the West Nile virus expansion into the Americas. This caused significant bird mortality, and it expanded into the human population as well. The effect of epizootics on human health is, therefore, of great importance. Still, epizootics can be extremely important even if humans are unaffected. This book describes several recent epizootics, discusses why they occurred, and what kind of response may be necessary.

Public long-term care services represent an interesting illustration of a particular type of commitment on the part of the welfare state, mainly because such services tend to involve more binding forms of reciprocity than in most other services. This book explores the implications of this reality in further detail with the aim of providing a deeper insight into the welfare state as an emergent phenomenon and into what we conceptualize as a “welfare state experiment” – the case of Scandinavia. Our ambition is to advance a historical and multi-scalar analysis of this experiment by exploring how key tenets of the welfare state are changing in the light of neoliberalism and the contemporary crisis of social reproduction conceived of as a “care crisis”. The contributors to this book approach this issue from diverse angles based on their different theoretical perspectives and scientific disciplines such as social anthropology, sociology, social work, and economy. They investigate how changes in the welfare service-chain are articulated at street- level by the public services and at the macro level in social policy and the imagination. They also examine how the relation(s) between these two realms of social reality give shape to a variety of ‘translations’, conflicts and negotiations.

Du témoignage à la poésie, en passant par le roman, le théâtre et la grammaire de l’abjection, cet ouvrage tente de penser le corps parlé et le corps écrit en Syrie. Par écriture du corps, nous entendons les textes littéraires qui portent une attention particulière à la corporalité. Nous désignons également les mots que le corps articule sur une scène plus large, les gestes et les actes dans lesquels il s’engage, l’ensemble se dressant comme un texte à interpréter et réinterpréter sans cesse. Mais écrire le corps dans le contexte sanglant de la guerre en Syrie, c’est aussi se heurter à l’indicible de la catastrophe qui blesse le langage. C’est se mettre alors en quête d’un reste, d’un échappé, d’un presque rien qui, tout en relevant du corps meurtri, se refuse à la nihilisation de l’expérience du monde : des hommes et des femmes sont encore là pour lui opposer leurs mots qui œuvrent, inventant ainsi de nouvelles manières d’exprimer l’ineffable.

As a world religion Islam is based on a highly abstract and absolute notion of the transcendent, which its followers establish and celebrate - in a seemingly contradictory fashion - at very specific sites: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and the vast and complex landscapes of mosques and Muslim saints' shrines around the world. Sacred locality has thus become a paradigm for the relationship between the human and the transcendent, a model for urban planning, regional networks, imaginary spaces, and spiritual hierarchies alike. This importance of saintly places has, however, become increasingly complicated and troubled by reformist currents within Islam, on the one hand, and the emergence of modern archeology and anthropology, on the other. While they have often tended to posit 'the local' in opposition to 'the universal', in this volume islamologists, anthropologists, and sociologists offer new ways of thinking about the local, the place, and the conceptual landscapes and spaces of saints. In this, its eighth volume, the Yearbook for the Sociology of Islam looks at different sites and regions around the Muslim world (notably Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Southeast Asia) not as 'localized' versions of a universal Islam, but as constitutive of one particular outlook of the universalizing order of a world religion.

The ocean is the cradle of life and is rich in natural resources. With the worldwide boom in exploration and application of ocean resources, a dramatically increasing amount of coastal engineering and offshore engineering facilities have been constructed in the last few decades. The rapid development of human economic activities and the global climate change have significant impacts on the marine environment, resulting in frequent geological disasters. Under this circumstance, there is an urgent demand for a platform for scientists and engineers to share their state-of-art research outcomes in the field of Marine Engineering Geology. This book is a collection of a series of articles from the 2nd International Symposium of Marine Engineering Geology (ISMEG 2019), presenting some of the recent efforts made towards marine engineering geology and geotechnics, including theoretical advances, laboratory and field testing, design methods, and the potential for further development of these disciplines.

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the elites (secular and ecclesiastical) of the many villages, castles, smaller urban centres that make the Italian landscape so unique, started to deeply rethink the past of their “small homeland”. Roman (but also pre-Roman) heritage and medieval tradition are at the centre of interest; bold “inventions” and manipulations alternate with searches for a solid erudite structure. The essays published here concern the Italian regions of Piedmont, Romagna, Emilia, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Terra di Bari, Campania. In the essays, a strong sense of identity and a robust self-awareness emerges; ultimately, this is the vitality of a connective tissue of settlements featuring an “original character” relevant in the Italian historical events from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The current legal framework for online content dissemination has proven insufficient to effectively combat illegal content. The Commissions' proposal for an EU ‘Digital Services Act’ aims to update the horizontal framework for intermediaries and create a safe online environment. However, as far as content mediation is concerned, European fundamental rights and values require that the specificities of media law must be taken into account. This study, conducted by the Institute of European Media Law (EMR) on behalf of the Media Authority of NRW, describes the current legal framework and the DSA proposal, and provides a comprehensive assessment from the perspective of media law, complemented by alternative proposals for further improvement.

Les notions de « communauté » et « société » mettent en évidence deux configurations sociales où varie la place de l’individu et du groupe dans les pratiques sociales. La « communauté », issue de la description empirique d’une variété de processus sociaux, est en permanence bousculée par la « communauté » comme idéal et prescription normative. C’est pourquoi l’analyse du processus visant à « faire communauté » passe aussi par l’appréhension de la façon dont les groupes se considèrent ou se construisent mutuellement. Tension fondamentale abordée par les auteurs classiques de la sociologie, la relation entre les concepts de communauté et de société demeure au centre de la réflexion théorique contemporaine. La synthèse des débats francophones (marqués par l’historicisme), germanophones (les notions de « Gemeinschaft »/« Gesellschaft » de Tönnies, Weber, Luhmann), anglophones (les « community studies ») et italophones (Roberto Esposito) constitue l’un des points forts du présent ouvrage. L’ouvrage donne également donc une place importante aux études empiriques qui, à partir de terrains variés, permettent d’illustrer la diversité des formes sociales communautaires. Il permet de confronter, sur le plan scientifique, définitions objectives, subjectives et intersubjectives de la communauté, en balançant entre « densité » du lien social, degré d’identification des individus au groupe et identification des groupes entre eux. Les enjeux liés à l’instrumentalisation du fait communautaire se sont largement exacerbés et témoignent de l’importance du regard critique porté sur ces notions. Face au processus tant décrit d’individualisation, il importait d’examiner et d’analyser comment ces formes sociales existent, se construisent, cohabitent, interagissent et se transforment mutuellement, dans la variété des contextes sociaux et des perspectives scientifiques. Telle est l’ambition de cet ouvrage collectif.

This book brings together thirteen scholars to introduce the newest and most cutting-edge research in the field of Russian and East European art history. Reconsidering canonical figures, re-examining prevalent debates, and revisiting aesthetic developments, the book challenges accepted histories and entrenched dichotomies in art and architecture from the nineteenth century to the present. In doing so, it resituates the artistic production of this region within broader socio-cultural currents and analyzes its interconnections with international discourse, competing political and aesthetic ideologies, and continuous discussions over identity.

After the 2012 facsimile edition this volume contains critical editions of Demetrius’ Psalter and the Medical Folia preserved in it in Cyrillic transliteration. Besides treatises on textual criticism and the lexical peculiarities of the Psalter, the introductory part also deals with Demetrius and his additions as well as the provenance and content of the Medical Folia (each with translation and glossary); it concludes with a description of the images on which the investigations were based and that are added on a flash drive as well as the spectroscopic analysis of the manuscript. Editio critica: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1578 NF3_Beschreibung Bildmaterial: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1582 NF3_Dokumentaion: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1583 NF3_MedFol: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1584 NF3_PsDem_rgb: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1585 NF3_PsDem_sectral: https://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1586

Written by authoritative experts in the field, this book discusses fluid flow and transport phenomena in porous media. Portions of the book are devoted to interpretations of experimental results in this area and directions for future research. It is a useful reference for applied mathematicians and engineers, especially those working in the area of porous media.