Open Access Books

One significant area of research in the multifaceted field of bilingualism over the past two decades has been the demonstration, validation, and account of the so-called ‘bilingual advantage’. This refers to the hypothesis that bilingual speakers have advanced abilities in executive functions and other domains of human cognition. Such cognitive benefits of bilingualism have an impact on the processing mechanisms active during language acquisition in a way that results in language variation. Within bilingual populations, the notion of language proximity (or linguistic distance) is also of key importance for deriving variation. In addition, sociolinguistic factors can invest the process of language development and its outcome with an additional layer of complexity, such as schooling, language, dominance, competing motivations, or the emergence of mesolectal varieties, which blur the boundaries of grammatical variants. This is particularly relevant for diglossic speech communities—bilectal, bidialectal, or bivarietal speakers. The defined goal of the present Research Topic is to address whether the bilingual advantage extends to such speakers as well. Thus, ‘Linguistic and Cognitive Profiles for Speakers of Linguistically Proximal Languages and Varieties’ become an important matter within ‘Developmental, Modal, and Pathological Variation’.

La ausencia de una obra dedicada al estudio de los lugares de memoria de la identidad nacional española durante el franquismo constituía una laguna importante de la historiografía española que este volumen intenta completar. Se pretende aquí, por un lado, abordar el estudio del nacionalismo español durante el franquismo a la luz de la dimensión cultural y simbólica de la política, contribuyendo así a un mejor conocimiento de la evolución del discurso y de las prácticas nacionalistas a lo largo de las diferentes etapas por las que pasó el régimen, más allá de las aproximaciones puntuales o excesivamente generales. Por otro lado, y en consecuencia, se propone en este libro una perspectiva interpretativa de la nacionalización franquista que otorgue un mayor protagonismo a las prácticas culturales, simbólicas y visuales, contemplándolas en su interacción con otras identidades colectivas.

The article presents the results of participatory action research conducted with polish students with intellectual disability. The research concerned students’ knowledge of their own sexuality and their needs related to conducting sex education at a special school. The presented research is part of a larger project, which aimed to create a didactic tool for conducting sex education classes with people with intellectual disabilities. The research was conducted in accordance with the assumptions of the participatory paradigm, putting postulates being a response to the UN Convention of the Disabled Rights of Poland ratified by Poland.

Immune molecules have evolved to distinguish “self “molecules from “non-self”, “altered self” and “danger” molecules. Recognition is mediated via interactions between pattern recognition receptor molecules (PPRs) and their ligands, which include hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions between amino acid residues on the PPRs and uncharged or charged groups on amino acid residues, sugar rings or DNA/RNA molecules. Recognition in innate immunity range from cases (C1q, mannin-binding protein etc) where recognition is orchestrated by interaction between many ligands with one receptor molecule, and density of interaction is necessary for strong specific recognition, distinct from weak non-specific binding, and cases such as TLRs and NLRs where recognition involves complexation of single receptor and ligand, followed by oligomerisation of the receptor molecule. The majority of PPR molecules bind and recognise a wide variety of ligands, e.g TLR4 recognises LPS (gram negative bacteria), Lipotechoic acid (gram positive bacteria), heat shock protein hsp60, respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein etc, molecules that are structurally dissimilar to each other. This indicates considerable flexibility in their binding domains (amino acid residue variations) and modes (hydrophobic and charged, direct or mediated via an adaptor molecule). However, in many cases there is a dearth of structural and molecular data available, required to delineate the mechanism of ligand binding underlining recognition in pathogen receptors in innate immunity. Insights into requirements of conformation, charge, surface etc in the recognition and function of innate immunity receptors and their activation pathways, based on current data can suggest valuable avenues for future work.

Ours is an age of extremely fragmented experiences and identities – a fragmentation paralleled by a growing awareness that we all inhabit a common world. In reality, these two phenomena have a lot more in common than one might suspect: deeply engrained individualism and the destruction of ecosystems are two sides of the same capitalist coin. Thus, the question of “the commons” becomes more relevant than ever.This book aims to fill a gap in the recent theoretical discussion of the commons by rethinking the notion from the perspective of early modern English literature and culture. It argues that the commons needs to be shown and represented, not just theorised or discussed in abstract terms. By focusing on some of the foundational, textually embodied forms through which this notion was represented and disseminated, the essays brought together here aim not only to interrogate the ways in which the commons was framed and appropriated in early modern English texts, but also to highlight the enduring relevance of these forms to critical discussions of the commons today.

The contributions collected in this volume are the result of the seminars organized by the Laboratory of Modern History during its ten-year activity (from 2003 to 2013) within the Department of Historical and Geographical Studies (now called SAGAS Department) of the University of Florence. Thanks to the participation of Italian and international colleagues, as well as young scholars, this annual cycle of seminars, entitled Temi e problemi della storia moderna (“Themes and problems of Modern History”), aims at encouraging the scientific community to discuss and reflect critically on topics of great historical importance. The theme of otherness is central in the Modern Age as well as in in the contemporary world, and it has been the subject of several seminars. The essays reconstruct significant moments and aspects of the relationships with “the other” in modern Europe: political models and cultural paradigms, cities of refuge and institutes of conversion, attitudes showing integration and/or exclusion of the Jews, Muslims, heretics and foreigners have been analysed in the volume according to the Laboratory’s 'pluralistic spirit’.

The aim of this Research Topic for Frontiers in Psychology under the section of Cognitive Science and Frontiers in Neurorobotics is to present state-of-the-art research, whether theoretical, empirical, or computational investigations, on open-ended development driven by intrinsic motivations. The topic will address questions such as: How do motivations drive learning? How are complex skills built up from a foundation of simpler competencies? What are the neural and computational bases for intrinsically motivated learning? What is the contribution of intrinsic motivations to wider cognition? Autonomous development and lifelong open-ended learning are hallmarks of intelligence. Higher mammals, and especially humans, engage in activities that do not appear to directly serve the goals of survival, reproduction, or material advantage. Rather, a large part of their activity is intrinsically motivated - behavior driven by curiosity, play, interest in novel stimuli and surprising events, autonomous goal-setting, and the pleasure of acquiring new competencies. This allows the cumulative acquisition of knowledge and skills that can later be used to accomplish fitness-enhancing goals. Intrinsic motivations continue during adulthood, and in humans artistic creativity, scientific discovery, and subjective well-being owe much to them. The study of intrinsically motivated behavior has a long history in psychological and ethological research, which is now being reinvigorated by perspectives from neuroscience, artificial intelligence and computer science. For example, recent neuroscientific research is discovering how neuromodulators like dopamine and noradrenaline relate not only to extrinsic rewards but also to novel and surprising events, how brain areas such as the superior colliculus and the hippocampus are involved in the perception and processing of events, novel stimuli, and novel associations of stimuli, and how violations of predictions and expectations influence learning and motivation. Computational approaches are characterizing the space of possible reinforcement learning algorithms and their augmentation by intrinsic reinforcements of different kinds. Research in robotics and machine learning is yielding systems with increasing autonomy and capacity for self-improvement: artificial systems with motivations that are similar to those of real organisms and support prolonged autonomous learning. Computational research on intrinsic motivation is being complemented by, and closely interacting with, research that aims to build hierarchical architectures capable of acquiring, storing, and exploiting the knowledge and skills acquired through intrinsically motivated learning. Now is an important moment in the study of intrinsically motivated open-ended development, requiring contributions and integration across a large number of fields within the cognitive sciences. This Research Topic aims to contribute to this effort by welcoming papers carried out with ethological, psychological, neuroscientific and computational approaches, as well as research that cuts across disciplines and approaches.

L'opera affronta il tema del progetto contemporaneo di parco urbano, interpretato come spazio etico ed estetico. Etico, nel senso proprio dell'etimo, cioè conforme al luogo, ed estetico, come spazio urbano soggetto a valutazioni qualitative e ambito di produzione di esperienza estetica in un ambiente reale animato dalla presenza della natura. Tracciando un percorso critico attraverso la storia dell'arte dei giardini e dei parchi e gli orientamenti attuali dell'architettura del paesaggio in Europa, si sostiene la tesi che l'etica del fare parchi implica sempre e comunque una riflessione su principi e valori estetici. La varietas della produzione attuale viene letta attraverso alcune originali chiavi di lettura: un quadro storico dei modelli etici ed estetici, la individuazione di specie di parchi, la definizione di categorie etiche/estetiche. La parte conclusiva propone un modus operandi che assume la dimensione narrativa come indirizzo progettuale. Il volume pubblica la tesi di dottorato che ha ricevuto il Premio speciale Grinzane Cavour – Giardini Hanbury nel 2006. Opera ad Accesso Aperto disponibile sull'Archivio E-Prints

This special issue focuses on research on relevant topics in geriatric medicine, discussing the condition of cognitive and functional decline and age-related diseases as well as polypharmacy and risk stratification. New insights into modern medicine pertaining to the issue of aging are required in order to adequately treat older chronic patients with comorbidity and polypharmacy, who should undergo complex and minimally invasive treatments.

The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed basin which experienced different natural and anthropogenic phenomena causes of community or intra-species changes over time. The Mediterranean Sea went through dramatic changes in its biota through the last 6 million years and more quickly in the recent century. All the events left a footprint on the gene pool of marine species, on their morpho-anatomical features, and on the loss or expansion of the geographical range extent. Nowadays the Mediterranean basin is changing its physical and ecological characteristics. The changes in its environmental conditions are followed by changes in its species composition and have been recorded in historical museum collections. In this book, the biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea is described at a synchronic or diachronic level, highlighting the past two centuries for which museum collections can provide overlooked information.

The idea behind the book The (Non)Meaning of the Poem. Apophases of Paul Celan is to be found in its title. This is because it is about reading the poetry of Celan, one of the most prominent post-war poets of the German language and a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, from a perspective aiming not so much at a hermeneutic deciphering of his poems’ hidden meanings, but more so at demarcating atopical non-places of the lost presence of meaning and names in the world after Shoah, marked by a radical absence of language signifieds. One determinant of the analyses of Piszczatowski is the idiom of Jewish and Christian mysticism, establishing the apophatic interpretation of Celan’s semantic inversions, constituting the key to reading his poetry as a medium of individual memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

This concluding chapter synthesizes the contributions of this volume to propose a comprehensive research agenda for academic integrity in the age of GenAI. Drawing on the postplagiarism framework, the chapter identifies five interconnected themes that require sustained scholarly attention: reframing authorship, agency, and creativity; redesigning assessment and pedagogy for AI-integrated learning environments; developing multi-level and equitable governance systems; ensuring assessment validity, reliability, and inclusion; and navigating the economic and structural constraints that shape institutional capacity for change. These themes illustrate how GenAI compels higher education to move beyond detection-driven approaches toward systemic redesign grounded in equity, responsibility, and pedagogical renewal. The chapter concludes by outlining methodological priorities, including longitudinal and mixed-methods designs, AI-in-the-loop research, and cross-institutional collaboration. Together, these directions offer a roadmap for reimagining integrity as a shared, future-focused practice in technologically complex academic ecosystems.

This book reports innovations in the preclinical study of stroke, including - novel tools and findings in animal models of stroke, - novel biochemical mechanisms through which ischemic damage may be both generated and limited, - novel pathways to neuroprotection. Although hypothermia has been so far the sole "neuroprotection" treatment that has survived the translation from preclinical to clinical studies, progress in both preclinical studies and in the design of clinical trials will hopefully provide more and better treatments for ischemic stroke. This book aims at providing the preclinical scientist with innovative knowledge and tools to investigate novel mechanisms of, and treatments for, ischemic brain damage.

Dr. Benken’s book is a case study of the life and death of Jan Rodowicz, nom-de-guerre Anoda, who served as a combatant in the Polish pro-independence underground resistance movement during the Second World War. The operations in which Anoda was involved, his conduct during and after the War, especially in the investigation following his arrest by the Communist security service and the mystery shrouding his death while under interrogation, turned him into a symbol for the young people of Poland in those times. His generation was forced to fight for its freedom against two criminal totalitarian systems, the Nazi Germans and the Soviets, paying with their life or health for the ideals they did not want to give up.

A fundamental part of modern technology is composed of devices that use special materials as main components. Since the last few decades of the last century and even more recently, a remarkable development has been achieved in new micro- and nanostructured materials with compositional structures and production methods that open unprecedented technological, economic, and ecological perspectives due to high yields, economies of scale, the possibility of reducing weight and size, and the low environmental impact of the equipment that contains them. This book offers a collection of excellent studies that use state-of-the-art methodologies developed by professional researchers from different countries in diverse areas of materials. In this way, this book is particularly useful to academics, scientists, practicing researchers, and postgraduate students whose work relates to the latest nanomaterial technologies.