Open Access Books

This volume describes, compares, and analyses the experience of ‘defending’ the doctoral dissertation in a final oral examination in universities and traditions in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and beyond. Forming the basis for a comparative study of the different traditions, 11 case study chapters include analysis of the regulatory framework; semi-structured interviews with candidates, examiners, and supervisors; and ethnographic observations of the defence. Cases are drawn from universities in Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, the USA, and China. Further chapters analyse comparatively the findings in the case studies and explore crucial themes such as the nature and purpose of the defence, the composition of examining committees, the role of supervisors, and the idea of the defence as ritual and performance. Providing unprecedented levels of detail into a process often perceived as hidden from academic debate, this book will enrich the experience of both new and existing candidates as well as examiners and supervisors, and will be of further interest to researchers, scholars, and postgraduate students working on the study of higher education, international and comparative education, and assessment in higher education.

Dr. Ahmet Mesrur Halefoğlu mostly deals with research fields in body imaging and neuroradiology with multidetector computed tomography and high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. He has served as postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Currently, he is working as an associate professor of radiology in Istanbul, Turkey. He has more than 50 high-impact-factor publications and has written 3 book chapters. He is a member of Turkish Society of Radiology and European Society of Radiology. During the recent years, there have been major breakthroughs in MRI due to developments in scanner technology and pulse sequencing. These important achievements have led to remarkable improvements in neuroimaging and advanced techniques, including diffusion imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, perfusion imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and functional MRI. These advanced neuroimaging techniques have enabled us to achieve invaluable insights into tissue microstructure, microvasculature, metabolism, and brain connectivity.

At a time when the Digital Republic Bill is proposing to insert provisions relating to open access in the French Research Code, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), alongside its partners in the ISTEX project, as well as a large number of researchers and actors in the field of public research, are offering via this White Paper the results of their deliberations and analyses.For several years now, the scientific community involved in public research has been arguing for the need to create a legal and organisational framework for access to scientific and technical data and information in the digital world, in particular data from its own research activities.This White Paper gives an account of these reflections on the practices of researchers with regard to the use of scientific and technical information and digital tools. The package of proposals for the creation of Open Science is the result of combined efforts and powerful testimonies from the world of research.

Great strides have been made in the area of hydrogel science since the first hydrogels were described in the 1960s. Hydrogels usually consist of three-dimensional matrices of hydrophilic polymers, held together by chemical or physical crosslinks, or supramolecular assemblies of small amphiphilic molecules. The gelation process occurs in response to a physical or chemical stimulus, such as temperature, pH, electric or magnetic field, enzymatic modification, light, and others. Consisting of mainly water molecules, they represent a unique class of materials, with many applications such as cell therapeutics, cartilage/bone regeneration, sustained drug release and drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, and 3D bioprinting. Despite these great strides, there is still much more to discover in this area. This Special Issue is focused on the use of hydrogels in tissue and bone regeneration. Hydrogels are particularly suited for this purpose as their physical characteristics resemble that of the extracellular matrix; as such, they have found applications as an extracellular medium for cancer cells, stem cells, and neuronal cells. This Special Issue also includes research papers on the other biomedical applications of hydrogels.

This study identifies the current universe of federal employment programs and resources available to reserve component members, assesses the gaps and overlaps in those programs and resources, and develops recommendations for how the U.S. Department of Defense and the federal government as a whole can improve efforts to provide job placement assistance and related employment services to reserve component members.

This chapter discusses a widespread but underexplored phenomenon in Brazilian cities: the growing presence of walls and other security infrastructures in low-income, peripheral neighborhoods. This practice can often take the form of bounded and internally regulated regimes of residential organization at a hyper-local scale, associated with the emic term condomínio (condominium). The authors propose the concept of “walling” to theorize the practices of socio-material assembly through which peripheral condominiums emerge, driven by the efforts of urban subjects to reconstruct a sense of well-being within environments experienced as precarious and insecure. While walling can significantly reshape socio-spatial relationships and everyday flows of bodies, the authors argue that broader social conditions and relationships in peripheries tend to promote forms of spatial and temporal porosity that weaken or even undermine these regimes of self-segregation. The chapter explores varying dynamics of peripheral condominiums through the presentation of contrasting case studies from three different Brazilian cities: a recently completed Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) public housing project in Porto Alegre; a partially walled and symbolically partitioned favela in Rio de Janeiro; and an occupied and subsequently formalized public housing project in São Paulo.

How black Americans use digital networks to organize and cultivate solidarity Unrest gripped Ferguson, Missouri, after Mike Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson in August 2014. Many black Americans turned to their digital and social media networks to circulate information, cultivate solidarity, and organize during that tumultuous moment. While Ferguson and the subsequent protests made black digital networks visible to mainstream media, these networks did not coalesce overnight. They were built and maintained over years through common, everyday use. Beyond Hashtags explores these everyday practices and their relationship to larger social issues through an in-depth analysis of a trans-platform network of black American digital and social media users and content creators. In the crucial years leading up to the emergence of the Movement for Black Lives, black Americans used digital networks not only to cope with day-to-day experiences of racism, but also as an incubator for the debates that have since exploded onto the national stage. Beyond Hashtags tells the story of an influential subsection of these networks, an assemblage of podcasting, independent media, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, and the network of Twitter users that has come to be known as “Black Twitter.” Florini looks at how black Americans use these technologies often simultaneously to create a space to reassert their racial identities, forge community, organize politically, and create alternative media representations and news sources. Beyond Hashtags demonstrates how much insight marginalized users have into technology.

The French connection with the South Seas stretches back at least as far as the voyage of Binot Paulmier de Gonneville (1503-1505), who believed he had discovered the fabled great south land after being blown off course during a storm near the Cape of Good Hope. (...) It was not until the eighteenth century, however, that France began sending mariners to the southern oceans on a regular basis, and by that time a new maritime power had begun to emerge: Great Britain. Together, these two nations would play a decisive role in determining the configuration of these little known parts of the globe, and particularly of the Pacific, which had for so long been the almost exclusive preserve of Spain.

Es werden Möglichkeiten der Darstellung, Akquisition und flexiblen Ausführung von Handlungswissen für Serviceroboter sowie Interaktionsmechanismen, die es ermöglichen, intuitiv mit dem Roboter zu kommunizieren, behandelt. Zur abstrakten Darstellung von Roboterprogrammen werden Flexible Programme vorgestellt. Um den Benutzer zu beobachten, wurde ein neues Fusionsverfahren für verschiedene Sensormodalitäten entwickelt. Dadurch können Bewegungen des Menschen beobachtet und interpretiert werden.

Guided by structural principles found in natural materials, heterogeneous nanostructured systems—comprising zones with markedly varied mechanical and physical characteristics—have emerged as a central topic driving innovation in modern materials science. In contrast to homogeneous counterparts, heterogeneous nanostructured materials exhibit outstanding mechanical performance and multifunctional properties, reflecting structural principles that have been optimized through natural evolution and increasingly adopted in advanced material design. The rational design, controlled synthesis, and practical implementation of such materials therefore represent critical directions for the development of next-generation structural and functional systems. This Special Issue of Nanomaterials, entitled “Design and Applications of Heterogeneous Nanostructured Materials”, seeks to present state-of-the-art research and comprehensive reviews addressing recent advances in this rapidly evolving field. Contributions are on topics encompassing the design strategies, fabrication techniques, characterization methods, theoretical modeling, and diverse applications of heterogeneous nanostructured materials across a wide range of scientific and technological domains.

Les plantes médicinales, appelées yuyos en espagnol et Pohã Ñana en guarani, qui accompagnent une boisson froide (le tereré) en été et une boisson chaude (le maté) en hiver, remplissent les étals au Paraguay et font l’objet d’exaltations nationales. Des marchés jusqu’aux terres d’extraction, en passant par le domicile familial, Marie Vesco retrace la trajectoire des yuyos pour mettre en relief le quotidien et le travail des femmes et des hommes qui les collectent et les vendent au Paraguay. Dans ce livre d’anthropologie du travail reposant sur une longue enquête de terrain, l’autrice suit la piste des plantes pour retrouver celle des humains.

Published

In the Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, the experiences and problems of the tenth and early eleventh centuries come together they are taken up by Thietmar and formed into an epoch. This overall interpretation of the chronicle by the Bishop of Merseburg sees historical knowledge as a consistent product of a dynamic process, as an interplay of cultural and cognitive factors in a particular historical situation. On the basis of this dynamic concept of knowledge, it is possible to present a new interpretation of central episodes of Ottonian historiography and at the same time to demonstrate the future potential of images from the past.

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

Health workforce planning can address current workforce challenges and prevent future crises. In well-functioning health systems, planning supports alignment of health workforce supply, distribution, mix and performance with population health needs. Planning exercises adopting leading practices described in this chapter are evidence informed, needs-based, multi-professional, mixed methods, locally relevant, iterative, interactive, and robust against uncertainty. Recognizing the structural and political, data-related, and methodological challenges associated with the application of leading practices, this chapter outlines frontiers in planning, along with opportunities related to data, tools, capacity, and engagement. The integration of theoretical foundations into planning exercises can enhance the practical value of planning and its capacity to support improved population health, enhanced care experience, reduced costs, workforce well-being, and health equity outcomes. Ultimately, more attention to health workforce planning is necessary to promote efficient and effective functioning of health care systems, the sustainability of the health workforce, and optimal patient care outcomes.