Open Access Books

More than half of the land surface on Earth can burn, and thus, fires are one of the most significant disturbances worldwide. Fires affecting forests are of great interest owing to the impacts they have on multiple provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. In this context, in which large portions of the Earth are affected by forest fires, remote sensing tools are essential equipment in fire-related assessments at multiple stages, including (I) the characterization of fire drivers and the development of predictive models, (II) the assessment of burned area, (III) the impact of the fire on soil and vegetation, and (IV) the post-fire recovery monitoring. In this reprint, we have compiled 10 research articles addressing these four topics and employing a wide variety of methodologies and remote sensing platforms (MSG, MODIS, Landsat, Sentinel-2 or airborne LiDAR).

Rivers have always been a formative component of spaces. They serve as natural borders, mold the character of a landscape, shape how entire regions look, and often mark politically contested border areas. At the same time, river landscapes constitute spaces of contact and exchange, thereby helping spatial cultures and cultural spaces to grow. The aim of this volume is to outline the diversity of river landscapes.

Dossier : Consacré aux savoirs techniques, ce dossier prend pour angle d’attaque les vases, leur production et leurs représentations. Il pose la question du positionnement des hommes et de leurs machines face à la puissance d’une nature habitée par le divin. Les savoir-faire posent dès l’Antiquité la question du positionnement des hommes et de leurs machines face à la puissance réputée indomptable d’une nature habitée par le divin. Lieu privilégié de constitution des savoirs théoriques, la rh...

This volume presents the first Portuguese translation, with commentary, of Euripides’ work which has come down to us in fragmentary form. The consideration of this material not only significantly expands the poet’s known production, but also allows for a more solid interpretation of the preserved plays, taking into account the author’s overall activity. This volume, which is still a first one given the large number of fragments of Euripides preserved, includes – in alphabetical order of the Greek – the following titles: Aigeus, Aiolus, Alexander, Alcmeon, Alcmena, Alope, Andromeda, Antigone, Antiope, Archelaus, Auge, Autolicus I e II, Bellerophon, Bousiris, Danae, Dyctis.

The company's sustainable competitive advantage derives from its capacity to create value for customers and to adapt the operational practices to changing situations. Business processes are the heart of each company. Therefore process excellence has become a key issue. This book introduces a novel approach focusing on the autonomous optimization of business processes by applying sophisticated machine learning techniques such as Relational Reinforcement Learning and Particle Swarm Optimization.

The twenty-first century has been deemed the “Age of Crisis”. We are witnessing the catastrophic unfolding of environmental crisis, financial crisis, pandemic and conflict. But are we to understand these crises as new phenomena? Is their seemingly simultaneous existence purely coincidental? Or rather do they instead form part of a singular, historically produced, unfolding crisis, which only today has reached a generalised consciousness? And perhaps most urgently, how far can we separate the crises of human experience from those exacted upon the land? The chapters collected in Crisis and Body Politics in Twenty-First Century Cultural Production: Territorial Bodies deploy the framework of “Territorial Bodies” to address urgent social, ecological and political challenges. Examining themes such as (inter)national bodily governance, racialised bodies, eco-feminist movements, spatial justice and bodily displacement, this collection provides a deeper analysis of the interconnected forms of violence perpetrated against marginalised human and non-human bodies, taking this combined violence as the defining feature of contemporary crisis.

This chapter examines the pivotal role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in establishing an international normative framework for the right to social security. It explores the evolution of this right within international law and the ILO's contributions to shaping national legal frameworks and their implementation through social protection systems. The chapter delves into the normative content of the right to social security, emphasizing the significance of international social security standards in building robust national social protection systems. It examines the impact of ratifying and applying these standards on national law and practice, and how regional instruments have amplified their effects. The chapter concludes by discussing the necessary legal and policy advancements to achieve the objective of universal protection.

Plants are made up of a large number of distinct cell types that originate from a single fertilized egg cell. How the diversity of cell types arise in appropriate places is one of the most fascinating and attractive research areas of plant biology. During the past several decades, due to the development of new molecular techniques and tools, advances in optical microscopy, and availability of whole genome information and mutants in the model plant Arabidopsis and other plants, great advances have been made in understanding the mechanisms involved in cell fate determination in plants. Multiple mechanisms are used to generate cellular diversity. Asymmetric cell division is one of the primary mechanisms. As an example, asymmetric cell division enables one stem cell to generate a stem cell daughter and a daughter with a distinct identity. Initially equivalent cells can also differentiate to generate different cell types. This mechanism has been clearly demonstrated in the formation of multiple cell types during epidermis development in the shoot and root. Cell fate determination is influenced by both intrinsic factors, i.e, developmental regulators, as well as extrinsic signals, i.e., environmental stimuli. By using model systems like stomata, trichome, root hair and shoot and root apical meristem cells, ligands, receptors and transcription factors have been found to regulate cell fate determination. However, the details of signaling cassettes responsible for cell fate determination remain largely unknown. Plants are made up of a large number of distinct cell types that originate from a single fertilized egg cell. How the diversity of cell types arise in appropriate places is one of the most fascinating and attractive research areas of plant biology. During the past several decades, due to the development of new molecular techniques and tools, advances in optical microscopy, and availability of whole genome information and mutants in the model plant Arabidopsis and other plants, great advances have been made in understanding the mechanisms involved in cell fate determination in plants. This research topic contains 12 collected articles, including 2 Opinion Articles, 5 Reviews, 4 Mini Reviews, and 1 Original Research Article. Hopefully, these articles will expand our understanding of the regulation of cell fate determination in plants.

This open access book explores the intertwined histories of mapmaking and copyright law in Britain from the early modern period up to World War 1, focusing chiefly on the 18th and 19th centuries. Taking a multidisciplinary approach and making extensive use of the archival record, this is the first detailed, historical account of the relationship between maps and copyright. As such, it examines how the emergence and development of copyright law affected mapmakers and the map trade and how the application of copyright law to the field of mapmaking affected the development of copyright doctrine. Its explorations cast new light on the circulation of geographical knowledge, different cultures of authorship and creativity, and connections between copyright law, print culture, technology, and society. The book will be of interest to legal historians, intellectual property scholars, and historians of the map and print culture, as well as those interested in the history of knowledge and how legal control over data has been exerted over time. It takes the reader back to the earliest attempts to establish who can own and control geographical information and its graphic representation in the form of a map. In so doing, it establishes a long history of tension between the interests of private enterprise, government, and the public. The book’s investigations end in the first decades of the 20th century, but the tensions it identifies persist in the 21st century, although today paper maps have been largely replaced by web-based mapping platforms and digital geospatial data. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Australian Research Council.

La position particulière de Calais, interface naturelle entre le continent et la Grande-Bretagne depuis les temps les plus reculés, en fait un lieu d’observation privilégié des circulations dans le Nord de la France, et plus précisément des déplacements des hommes. Longtemps pris dans un sens restrictif, ce dernier terme a occulté la présence féminine. Pourtant, les femmes sont bien présentes, pas uniquement épouses fidèles de maris voyageurs : pèlerines, filles à marier ou femmes de mauvaise vie, colporteuses ou messagères, activistes ou réfugiées, elles traversent la région de part en part depuis le Moyen Âge. Artistes, femmes du monde (ou du demi-monde), commerçantes, aventurières n’hésitent pas à franchir le détroit, sans parler des sportives qui relèvent ce défi à la nage ! Ce territoire géographiquement limité s’avère ainsi d’une grande richesse et participe, par petites touches ou par des études plus étendues, à bâtir une meilleure vision des déplacements des femmes. Il apporte ainsi sa pierre à l’édifice de l’histoire des femmes comme à celui de l’histoire des circulations et contribue à sa mesure à établir le pont entre les deux.

In the dynamic world of business, strategic planning stands as the foundation of organizational excellence. The book “STRATEGIC PLANNING: CONCEPTS AND TOOLS FOR ITS APPLICATION” immerses the reader in a fascinating journey through the pillars of strategic planning and its effective implementation. Essential concepts such as mission, vision and values are explored, the management process is unpacked and the key categories of planning are established: strategic, tactical and operational. The fundamental principles serve as a foundation for the strategic journey. The importance of analyzing both the internal and external environment is emphasized, using tools such as SWOT analysis. The magic formula is completed with the creation of strategic objectives and an action plan with cycles that encompass planning, implementation and control. Discover how KPIs emerge as essential pillars to measure performance and support informed decisions. In addition, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) expands the vision, taking measurement beyond financials and providing a complete perspective on performance. This book is a beacon for those seeking to successfully navigate the turbulent sea of business.

L’essor des technologies numériques change profondément la donne de la diffusion des connaissances. Dans ce contexte, l’édition électronique se trouve dans une situation singulière : héritière de l’édition traditionnelle, elle fait pourtant éclater la plupart des cadres qui ont fondé cette dernière. Cette situation qui n’est paradoxale qu’en apparence reflète la mutation des données techniques, la disparité des dispositions concernant le droit d’auteur, les phénomènes d’hyperconcentration, l’apparition des grands trusts internationaux et la concurrence acharnée que cela génère. Autant d’éléments qui instaurent une situation complexe tendant à freiner le développement européen de ce secteur d’activité. L’auteur de ce livre étudie le processus de transition entre l’édition imprimée et l’édition électronique en s’interrogeant sur les liens et les points de divergence qui existent entre elles ainsi que sur les enjeux de cette évolution. Quelles stratégies les professionnels de l’édition vont-ils élaborer afin de promouvoir ces nouvelles formes éditoriales ?

Einstein’s theory of gravitation is perhaps one of the best-established theories ever conceived. However, it is based on the hypothesis that space–time carries curvature alone, leaving torsion out. Because torsion is a natural part of the most general geometric background in which Einstein gravity is built, it is all too natural that the torsional completion of gravity should be considered. Constructing an underlying stage in which both curvature and torsion are present, the fact that curvature couples with energy suggests that torsion may couple with spin, which is the other conserved quantity in quantum field theory. Torsion–gravity with spinning matter is, therefore, a complete and self-consistent setting for modern physics, with potential applications wherever spin effects may be important, stretching from quantum mechanics to the standard models of particle physics and early cosmology. However, this fact is not as present in today’s literature as it might be. The scope of the present collection of papers is to consolidate the wisdom of various experts in the field so as to clarify the present status of torsion in gravity and spin in quantum field theory.

In Spoiling the Stories, Tamar Merin presents the as yet untold story of the rise of prose by Israeli women, while further exploring and expanding the gendered models of literary influence in modern Hebrew literature. The theoretical idea upon which this book is based is that of intersexual dialogue, a term that refers to the various literary strategies employed by Israeli female fiction writers expressing their voice within a male-dominated and (still) inherently Oedipal literary tradition. Spoiling the Stories focuses on intersexual dialogue as it evolved in the first three decades after the establishment of the state of Israel in the works of Yehudit Hendel, Amalia Kahana Carmon, and Rachel Eytan. According to Merin, these three women writers were the most important in the history of modern Hebrew literature: each was a significant participant in the poetic development of her time.

This book explores the transformative impact of 5G and the promising advancements of 6G, offering a comprehensive overview of their technological underpinnings, practical applications, and broader implications. From ultrahigh speeds to unprecedented connectivity, discover how these technologies transform industries and pave the way for innovative applications. Written by leading experts in the field, this book combines theoretical insights with real-world examples, ensuring a comprehensive grasp for researchers, engineers, students, and industry professionals. Stay informed and prepared for the future with this definitive guide to the evolution of broadband communications.