Open Access Books

Artificial womb technology is approaching over the scientific horizon. This Element places the research and development process of the technology under the microscope and explores the bioethical issues raised by human subject trials of ectogenic prototypes. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Deeply religious, steadfast in battle, instinctively deferential to his officers—this was the established image of the Russian soldier at the time of the revolution of 1905. The Russian army's principal role in that upheaval, it is generally believed, was the suppression of civil disorder. Challenging this conventional wisdom, John Bushnell's startling study shows that the army itself was in a state of rebellion.

Since the concept of evidence-based medicine was introduced into medical practice, a paradigm shift from conventional empirical-based physical therapy to evidence-based physical therapy has been promoted. In order to practice evidence-based physical therapy, the elements of "using evidence," "creating evidence," and "communicating evidence" are essential. However, these practical methods still need wide dissemination. As such, this book provides a comprehensive overview of evidence-based physical therapy. Chapters are organized into three sections: "Physical Therapy Theory", "Physical Therapy Assessment", and "Physical Therapy Practice". This book will help healthcare professionals establish evidence-based physical therapy and deliver optimal physical therapy to their patients.

The book examines poverty on the basis of qualitative interviews and makes clear that the term conceals an entire lifeworld. Great Britain as the area of study is seen as the prototype of a ‘neoliberal’ welfare state in which poverty leads to the devaluation of social status. This is differentiated on the basis of the experiential dimensions of time, space and sociality. Social work helps those affected to counter the devaluations.

The book examines models of relationships between Constantinopolitan holy man and secular and ecclesiastical authorities in the capital of Byzantium. The study explores the ideal underlying the lives of the four Constantinopolitan holy men (Hypatios, Alexander Akoimetos, Daniel the Stylite, Marcellus Akoimetos), which was a reflection of contemporary reality as well as a vision of an ideal state.

How can pupils and students learn to interact with others? How can they interact with others to learn? How do teachers organize the various forms of interaction in a discursive dynamic within their classrooms? The different ways in which social and cultural psychology views explore school have consolidated a new image of learning processes. However, social interactions in the classroom need to be constantly re-examined and rethought. To this end, the contributions of this book exploit, innovates and study the multiple interactions in the classroom and the conditions that can favor teaching and learning processes. By linking psychology, educational sciences and learning models, this book contributes to the study of the interconnected processes of individual and social development in compulsory and higher education.

This book presents new socio-legal perspectives and insights on the social life of corruption and anticorruption in authoritarian regimes. This book takes up the case of Uzbekistan—an authoritarian regime in Central Asia and one of the most corrupt countries in the world according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index—and examines the corruption that developed in a tightly closed authoritarian regime permeated by a large-scale shadow economy, a weak rule of law, and a collectivist legal culture. Building on socio-legal frameworks of legal compliance, living law and legal pluralism, the central argument of the book is that the roles, meanings, and logics of corruption are fluid, and depend on a myriad of structural variables, and contextual and situational factors. This book will be of value to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of sociology of law, legal anthropology, and Central Asian studies, especially those with an interest in the intersection of law, society, and corruption in authoritarian regime contexts.

Religious aesthetics have gained increasing importance over the past few years in the fields of Religious studies and Islamic studies. This volume highlights the transcultural dimensions of the theoretical foundations of religious aesthetics. It explores aesthetic experience in the religious field through a series of case studies. These include Islamic sermons from the Middle East and South Asia, Islamic religious chanting, a chapter of the Qurʾān, a German performance artist, Indian rasa theory, and Arabic and Bengali literature. Together, the authors demonstrate that the analysis of the aesthetic forms of religious mediation across regions and genres is a fruitful approach to transcultural studies.

Zusammenfassung Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat zu radikalen Eingriffen in die Gesundheitsversorgung und das soziale Leben geführt, deren Effizienz und Angemessenheit aktuell immer stärker ins Zentrum von Auseinandersetzungen rückt. In diesem Sammelband reflektieren und kommentieren ausgewiesene Wissenschaftler/innen und Fachleute verschiedenster Disziplinen den Umgang mit der Pandemie. Thematisiert werden u.a. die Stellungnahmen nationaler Ethikkommissionen, die Triage-Problematik, die Vertretbarkeit von Eingriffen in Grundfreiheiten, die soziale Isolation Betroffener, der Umgang mit religiösen und spirituellen Bedürfnissen sowie tiefer liegende soziale Veränderungen in der Krise. Es wird damit ein wichtiger Beitrag zur Aufarbeitung der Corona-Krise geleistet. Mit Beiträgen von Maria Berghofer, Alois Birklbauer, Nadine Brühwiler, Barbara Derler, Stefan Dinges, Gerhard Falzberger, Eckhard Frick SJ, Isabella Guanzini, Karin Gubisch, Hartmann Jörg Hohensinner, Gerhard Hundsdorfer, Ulrich H.J. Körtner, Wolfgang Köle, Wolfgang Kröll, Martin M. Lintner, Univ.-Prof. Manfred Novak, Jochen Ostheimer, Sabine Petritsch, Brigitte Pichler, Gerhard Pichler, Johann Platzer, Franz Ploner, Regina Polak, Simon Romagnoli, Michael Rosenberger, Walter Schippinger, Christoph Seidl, Martina Schmidhuber, Eberhard Schockenhoff, Detlev Schwarz, Martin Splett, Willibald J. Stronegger, Jean-Daniel Strub, Christa Tax, Arnika Thonhofer, Andreas Valentin, Stephan Winter, Univ.-Prof. Werner Wolbert. Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has led to radical interventions in healthcare and social life, the efficiency and appropriateness of which are now increasingly at the centre of controversy. In this volume, renowned scientists, academics and experts from a wide range of disciplines reflect and comment on how to deal with the pandemic. Among other things, the following topics are discussed: the statements of national ethics committees, the issue of triage, the acceptability of interventions in fundamental freedoms, the social isolation of those affected, the handling of religious and spiritual needs as well as deeper social changes during the crisis. Overall, this publication makes an important contribution to the resolution of the coronavirus crisis. With contributions by Maria Berghofer, Alois Birklbauer, Nadine Brühwiler, Barbara Derler, Stefan Dinges, Gerhard Falzberger, Eckhard Frick SJ, Isabella Guanzini, Karin Gubisch, Hartmann Jörg Hohensinner, Gerhard Hundsdorfer, Ulrich H.J. Körtner, Wolfgang Köle, Wolfgang Kröll, Martin M. Lintner, Univ.-Prof. Manfred Novak, Jochen Ostheimer, Sabine Petritsch, Brigitte Pichler, Gerhard Pichler, Johann Platzer, Franz Ploner, Regina Polak, Simon Romagnoli, Michael Rosenberger, Walter Schippinger, Christoph Seidl, Martina Schmidhuber, Eberhard Schockenhoff, Detlev Schwarz, Martin Splett, Willibald J. Stronegger, Jean-Daniel Strub, Christa Tax, Arnika Thonhofer, Andreas Valentin, Stephan Winter, Univ.-Prof. Werner Wolbert.

A ubiquitous challenge in many technical applications is to estimate an unknown state by means of data that stems from several, often heterogeneous sensor sources. In this book, information is interpreted stochastically, and techniques for the distributed processing of data are derived that minimize the error of estimates about the unknown state. Methods for the reconstruction of dependencies are proposed and novel approaches for the distributed processing of noisy data are developed.

The second “Notebook of the Modern History Laboratory” takes up and develops some of the interventions presented in the Seminar on Themes and Problems of Modern History, which has been held for more than fifteen years at the SAGAS Department of the University of Florence. The contributions collected here discuss the construction of the modern state from different points of view, through the slow and complex evolution of central sovereignty over autonomy, the role of the courts, the development of diplomacy and its ceremonial and the history of the idea of freedom. Special attention is paid to the cases of the Electorate of Saxony and of the monarchy of France in the 16th century, the Consigli (recommendations) by Scipione Ammirato, the theme of democracy in the Encyclopédie and that of national plurality for the protection of minorities in the Habsburg Empire.

The critical challenge in achieving sustainable energy transition lies in revolutionizing energy storage technologies. Electrochemical energy storage (EES) systems are emerging as the cornerstone for integrating renewable energy sources—solar, wind, and tidal power—into global grids by mitigating their inherent intermittency. This reprint illuminates groundbreaking advancements in materials science that redefine the frontiers of EES performance, durability, and scalability. Curated by pioneers in electrochemistry and materials engineering, this collection presents transformative strategies for next-generation batteries and supercapacitors. Contributions span atomic-scale mechanistic studies, sustainable synthesis protocols, and industrial-scale manufacturing breakthroughs. By bridging fundamental research with real-world deployment challenges, this reprint envisions EES technologies as enablers of a carbon-neutral future, where materials innovation harmonizes energy accessibility with planetary boundaries. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and circular design principles, we strive to transform energy storage from a technological hurdle into a catalyst for equitable, ecologically resilient societies.

Ce guide stratégique a été construit pour jalonner et faciliter l’application de la loi « Pour une République numérique » : il est ainsi en phase avec les visées des initiateurs du Livre blanc « Une science ouverte dans une République numérique » qui ont tous souhaité associer clairement une vision nouvelle pour la recherche et une pratique qui la traduise dans les faits. Rapport complémentaire du Livre blanc, ce guide ambitionne un accompagnement des acteurs dans des démarches souvent complexes : chercheurs, techniciens, éditeurs, usagers des résultats de la science publique ont besoin aujourd’hui d’avancer dans l'esprit de découverte qui est celui des grands projets numériques pour la science, et d'abord pour l'Investissement d’Avenir ISTEX qui en est l'élément moteur.

Current social transformation processes have a fundamental impact on social living conditions and demand structural responses and positioning from social work as a profession and discipline. The authors examine these processes of change, categorise them conceptually and analytically and present methodological approaches to shaping them.

The monograph presents the results of research into the architectural solutions and characteristics of these facilities, in the context of medical developments and technology. The intensive development of medicine and, as a result, the emergence of medical specialties and the first specialist hospitals provide the research background. The 21st century, characterised by rapid technological development, affects all aspects of our lives, including medicine and hospitals. Diseases within civilisation are a growing problem in modern society. These factors and the change in attitude towards patients over recent decades are leading to changes in hospitals. Increasingly innovative solutions and the flexibility of new buildings that can evolve and adapt to future changes are also required. Analysing the history of medicine, it is important to note that the origins of most medical specialties and specialised hospitals as we know them today date back to the 19th and 20th centuries. They are relatively young, with the intensive development of many of them occurring in the 2nd half of the 20th century. For this reason, there are few publications on the architectural aspects of specialist hospitals. A total of 80 sites from 18 European countries were surveyed. They represented 10 different medical specialties. The architectural, urban planning, environmental and design solutions used in the hospitals were examined in the hospitals concerned. The aim of the research was to determine how modernity is expressed in the design of contemporary specialist hospitals, to present European trends in their design, and to demonstrate the relationship of their form and function to a particular specialty. The monograph shows that the development of medical specialties and the spread of certain diseases of civilization have led to the need to build specialized hospitals with a new architectural form. Based on the research, a typology of modern specialised hospitals was created. Differences in the design of hospitals depending on the specialty carried out were also shown, as well as common features of the facilities surveyed regardless of the profile of services provided regardless of the profile of services provided. It was also noted that Evidence-Based Design plays a major role in contemporary hospital design. The work showed that the evolution of hospital architecture is an emanation of the development of medicine sensu stricto.