Open Access Books

This edited collection is a timely and in-depth perception analysis of Euro-Mediterranean relations and the EU policy actions towards the Mediterranean region. The book takes as its departure point the recent geopolitical developments in the Middle East and North Africa, urging the renewal of a Euro-Mediterranean partnership while challenging the ‘Eurocentric orientation of EU policies’ – a critical factor which explains why the EU has been unable to adjust its policies to the region’s fast-changing complexities. The volume subsequently introduces the findings of an elite survey conducted between 2017–2018 with local stakeholders in 9 countries in the Mediterranean. The findings and policy recommendations presented in the book aim to contribute to making EU policies more responsive to major challenges in the region, more flexible on the multilateral and the bilateral level and more inclusive of key stakeholders. This book will interest EU policy-makers, civil society, academics and researchers on EU policy, as well as IR experts in general.

Anti-racist and queer politics have tentatively converged in the activist agendas, organizing strategies and political discourses of the radical left all over the world. Pejoratively dismissed as »identity politics«, the significance of this cross-pollination of theorizing and political solidarities has yet to be fully countenanced. Even less well understood, coalitions of anti-racist and queer activisms in western Europe have fashioned durable organizations and creative interventions to combat regnant anti-Muslim and anti-migrant racism within mainstream gay and lesbian culture and institutions, just as the latter consolidates and capitalizes on their uneven inclusions into national and international orders. The essays in this volume represent a small snapshot of writers working at this point of convergence between anti-racist and queer politics and scholarship from the context of Germany. Translated for the first time into English, these four writers and texts provide a compelling introduction to what the introductory essay calls »a Berlin chapter of the Queer Intersectional«, that is, an international justice movement conducted in the key of academic analysis and political speech which takes inspiration from and seeks to synthesize the fruitful concoction of anti-racist, queer, feminist and anti-capitalist traditions, movements and theories.With contributions by Judith Butler, Zülfukar Çetin, Sabine Hark, Daniel Hendrickson, Heinz-Jürgen-Voß, Salih Alexander Wolter and Koray Yılmaz-Günay

The Special Issue contains important current research results on numerical methods in the modelling of composite structures. This issue contains 11 selected scientific articles presenting new research that significantly extends and complements the research themes considered.

Theoretical and methodological contributions as well as critical discussions on policy implementation characterize this Special Issue, focusing following themes and research questions: 1) Integration of ecosystem services within spatial plans and strategic environmental assessment: “What function do ecosystem services play, or could play, within plan-making processes and strategic environmental assessments?”; “What are the most important challenges in putting integration into practice, and/or the most significant obstacles to achieving integration?”; and “What roles do scientific and technical expertise vs. community values and local knowledge play in integrating ecosystem services within spatial plans and environmental assessments?”; 2) Consideration and use of green infrastructure within spatial plans: “What function do green infrastructure play within plan-making processes?”; “What kinds of spatial plans are most suited for, or most effective in, designing and implementing green infrastructure?”; and “Does scale (local, regional, etc.) make a difference in the way green infrastructure are implemented within spatial plans?”; 3) Relationship between nature-based solutions and spatial plans: “Since nature-based solutions are increasingly promoted at the very strategic level, i.e., that of broad policies, and implemented at the very detailed level, i.e., that of projects, what is the role of nature-based solutions within spatial plans?” and “What tools are at planners’ disposal to effectively integrate nature-based solutions in planning processes and promote their use, especially in urban contexts?”.

Sex Hormones not only regulate reproductive function, but they also play a prominent role in the biology and physiology of several organs/tissues and in the pathophysiology of several diseases. During the last two decades, the information on the mechanisms of action of sex hormones, such as estrogens and androgens, has rapidly evolved from the conventional nuclear receptor dependent mechanisms to include additional non-nuclear, non-genomic and receptor-independent mechanisms. This highlights the need to update the current knowledge on sex hormones and their mode of action. Increasing evidence that exogenous/epigenetic factors can influence sex hormone production and action highlights the need to update our knowledge on the mechanisms involved. This book provides a systematic and updated overview of the male/female sex-hormones and their impact in the biology and physiology of various organs. Additionally, the book discusses their positive and negative association with the pathophysiology of various diseases (e.g. osteoporosis, cardiovascular-disease, hypogonadism, reproduction, cancer) and their therapeutic potential.

Pluripotent stem cells have the potential to revolutionise medicine, providing treatment options for a wide range of diseases and conditions that currently lack therapies or cures. This book describes methodological advances in the culture and manipulation of embryonic stem cells that will serve to bring this promise to practice.

An Introduction to the Study of Mineralogy is a collection of papers that can be easily understood by a wide variety of readers, whether they wish to use it in their work, or simply to extend their knowledge. It is unique in that it presents a broad view of the mineralogy field. The book is intended for chemists, physicists, engineers, and the students of geology, geophysics, and soil science, but it will also be invaluable to the more advanced students of mineralogy who are looking for a concise revision guide.

Drawing upon theories of folkloristic performance, deconstructive criticism, and reader-response theory, Sandra Dolby Stahl has developed a unique methodology for the examination of oral personal narratives, stories that people tell based on their own experiences. Such stories are not traditional in the usual sense but are instead a creative response to experience and the tradition of narration. Hearing such stories is also a creative response, one that requires the perception of traditions or "allusions" in the story and its performance. It is to these interpretive allusions that our attention is drawn throughout the book. Stahl begins her analysis with a discussion of the genre of personal narrative and the seemingly universal practice of turning events and experiences into narratives. She also discusses the state of interpretive research in folkloristics. Folk-narrative research has generally been analytical, attending to questions of form, structure, style, or function; few interpretive studies of folk narrative have been published. Because the personal narrative has only recently become a part of folklore research, Stahl's interpretive attention to the genre is unprecedented. Her study includes two lengthy chapters in which two transcribed narrative texts are meticulously analyzed and subjectively interpreted-as allusion upon allusion creates meaning for the listener (and reader).

Sacred texts, myths and traditions worldwide attribute a healing power to words. Abracadabra, the magic word par excellence, is mentioned in the physician's book of Emperor Caracalla as a healing tool, and Gorgias in the 5th century BC compare drugs to words. What is the vision of science? What effect do words have on the brain? This volume addresses in a simple way the theme of the healing power of words both from the point of view of the history of religions, mythology and ethology and from a neuroscientific point of view. Speech produces changes in the activity of the brain that can be the basis of psychotherapy and contribute to the psychophysical wellness of the person in health and disease.

Die von der Mehrzahl der Unternehmen angestrebte Profilierung im Wettbewerbsumfeld scheint gegenwärtig kaum noch ausschließlich im Bereich der jeweils angestammten Primärleistung möglich zu sein. Daher versuchen viele Unternehmen, eine solche Profilierung durch das Angebot von zusätzlichen Dienstleistungen, die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit unter dem Begriff Value-Added Services zusammengefaßt werden, zu erreichen. Hinsichtlich dieser Aktivitäten ist jedoch vielfach eine als intuitiv zu bezeichnende Vorgehensweise zu konstatieren. Dabei kann eine zentrale Fragestellung dieser Unternehmen identifiziert werden: «Welche Value-Added Services welchen Konsumentengruppen zu welchen Konditionen angeboten werden?» Diese Arbeit verfolgt die Zielsetzung, eine sinnvolle methodische Vorgehensweise zur Lösung der Fragestellung aufzuzeigen. Zu diesem Zweck wird die Eignung verschiedener Verfahren am Beispiel der Automobilbranche sowie des Flugdienstleistungsbereiches überprüft, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf umfangreiche Conjoint-Analysen gelegt wird. Darüber hinaus werden marketingpolitische Implikationen abgeleitet.

Dieses Buch führt den Leser in die beiden Themengebiete Netzwerk- und IT-Sicherheitsmanagement ein. Neben den technischen Aspekten sind dabei die strategischen, planerischen, organisatorischen und steuernden Maßnahmen des Managements von besonderer Bedeutung. Zur Verdeutlichung der Inhalte werden Fallbeispiele angeführt, bei denen insbesondere auf Erfahrungen und Maßnahmen des Rechenzentrums der Universität Karlsruhe (TH) Bezug genommen wird.

This volume introduces key terms of public history and makes them accessible via the most important subject areas and central research perspectives. It is aimed at students, teachers and practitioners who deal with history in the public sphere and offers approaches to the theoretical foundation of public history as part of historical cultural studies.

This publication belongs to the series coordinated by Jesús Rivas and Ignacio José García Zapata, of the Department of Art History of the University of Murcia, born in 2001 and published annually, coinciding with the feast of San Eloy, Patron of Los Plateros, aAnnual volume with works related to silverware and jewelry of the most accredited Spanish and foreign researchers in this area.They are themes from religious silverware to civil silverware, their teachers, marking as well as typologies, and the techniques of silverware and jewelry.

This important volume brings together some key thinkers in various fields such as educational technology (EdTech), decolonisation, colonialism, neocolonialism, higher education, international education, and social justice. EdTech can be seen as both ubiquitous and hegemonic. At the same time, it can be seen as neocolonial and represents another example of how Western thought, languages, and technology pervade global educational contexts. The authors in this Special Issue explore whether EdTech can be used to overcome the issues inherent in each of their respective contexts without necessarily promulgating 'Global Northern' thought and practice. Thought-provoking and timely, this Reprint seeks to stimulate further debate and discourse around these issues.

Seeking to replicate the success of his New York electric central station throughout the United States and in Europe and Latin America, Thomas A. Edison vowed to become a "business man for a year." This bold decision began a remarkable transition period for America's greatest inventive thinker. The seventh volume of Edison's papers chronicles the profound changes in his professional and personal life, including the unexpected death of his wife. It concludes with Edison returning to the laboratory to develop new communications technology.