Open Access Books

This work handles the seismic soil- and water structure interaction of navigation locks in the field of elastodynamics. The investigation is based on numerical analysis with the finite element method. The findings extend the results of available theories and studies and allow for a more precise analysis and design of such structures. Suggestions about the numerical analysis of such problems are also presented. The results can be used also for quay and retaining walls.

Population growth and climate change are leading to global water scarcity. Water shortages are thus hindering rural, urban and industrial development. These days, approximately half of the world’s population is affected temporarily by water scarcity. To enable a secure water supply, alternative water sources must be generated to tackle the challenge of water scarcity. An important alternative resource is the reuse of treated wastewater. Water reuse processes are rarely considered and implemented. In contrast to the storage and use of rainwater, treated wastewater is a valuable resource, as it is available daily. Certain wastewater treatment processes are required to produce the new resource “reused water”. The treatment processes depend on the quality of the wastewater since industrial and municipal wastewater flows are characterized by different concentrations. Moreover, water reuse methods must be developed in order to use the treated wastewater as efficiently as possible. Ideally, the reused water can be provided according to the "fit for purpose" principle and applied directly in areas such as irrigation, street cleaning, toilet flushing or make-up water for cooling systems.The Special Issue brings together new wastewater treatment technologies and water reuse concepts to tackle the challenges of climate change with the aim of bringing the resource “reused water” according to the “fit for purpose” principle to the user. This issue aims to draw on global experiences, approaches and solutions.

Internationale Arbeitnehmerrechte gewinnen durch die voranschreitende Globalisierung weiter an Bedeutung. Basierend auf Fallstudien und Experteninterviews diskutieren die Autorinnen und Autoren die UN-Leitprinzipien für Wirtschaft und Menschenrechte. Dabei stellen sie Anknüpfungspunkte für Gewerkschaften und Betriebsräte heraus und zeigen Strategien, Beteiligungsmöglichkeiten und Instrumente für die Sicherung von Arbeitnehmerrechten in Unternehmen weltweit auf.

The totalising effect of consumerism, well-being and satisfaction is a discourse which may negate the value of struggle and mastery of complex subjects and a realization of personal potentiality. Published open access, Why Universities Should Seek Happiness and Contentment considers the consequences of a hedonistic and well-being centred model of student education as one of the goals of higher education and proposes an alternative goal for higher education. In a globalised consumer society where the anxiety for an identity leads to the fear of not reaching the standard, Paul Gibbs shows how anxiety can be harnessed to secure contentment with one’s own future without the fear of consumer-induced emptiness. He conceptualises higher education in a counter-valued way to the current dominant discourse of higher education institutions and educational policy while placing students at the centre of their own educational activity. In doing so, Gibbs proposes contentment as a guiding principle of higher education. 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 Knowledge Unlatched.

This multi-disciplinary publication focuses on the issue of African sovereign debt management and renegotiation/ restructuring, with a particular concentration on the countries that are members of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). It contains a series of essays that were initially presented in several workshops held at the height of the pandemic, in 2020. These essays seek to both understand the debt challenges facing these countries and to offer some policy-oriented suggestions on how they can more effectively address these. They include contributions by global and regional scholars who are seasoned experts and newer researchers and discuss the complexities on debt management and restructuring within the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this presented an opportunity for junior researchers from the region to contribute to international discussions on a topic in which the views of young Africans are not heard as often or as clearly as they should be, especially given the importance of the topic to Africa and its future. Further, this book is expected to stimulate debate among academics, activists, policy makers and practitioners on how SADC should manage its debt.

In der Reihe Marburger Abhandlungen zur Geschichte und Kultur Osteuropas erscheinen Monographien und Sammelbände aus dem Bereich der Slawistik. Neben literatur- und geschichtswissenschaftlichen Studien, die den thematischen Fokus der Reihe darstellen, finden auch Studien aus der Sprachwissenschaft Berücksichtigung.

Educational technology is recognized for providing learners with opportunities to receive high-quality education. If used properly, these technologies will enable learners to study at any time and anywhere in a virtual environment, unrestricted by time and space, creating meaningful learning experiences for them. If applied properly, educational technology will enable a learner-centered approach to learning. Therefore, over the past two decades, the development and application of educational technology have drawn the attention of governments, academic organizations, educational scholars, frontline teachers, and parents worldwide, making it a popular research topic. With the continuous development of educational technology, the expansion of educational technology theories, and the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, the adoption of educational technology to promote school closures in response to pandemic prevention policies has highlighted the importance of issues related to educational technology. Therefore, a Special Issue on the theme of “Effectiveness and Sustainable Application on Educational Technology” was organized.

Conjunto de textos de pesquisadores que discutem alguns dos temas mais importantes da fenomenologia, a partir dos fundamentos de Husserl e sua influência em diversas correntes da filosofia contemporânea, principalmente a ontologia de Martin Heidegger e a fenomenologia da existência de Maurice Merleau-Ponty.

As Editor-in-Chief of the journal Diabetology, I am pleased to announce the Special Issue “Diabetology: Feature Papers 2021” is now published in book format. Diabetology (ISSN 2673-4540) is an international, peer-reviewed scientific open access journal that provides an advanced forum for studies related to epidemiology, etiology, pathophysiology, pathogenesis, management, complications, and prevention of diabetes, including the molecular, biochemical, and physiological aspects of diabetes. In this Special Issue, “Feature Papers”, we aim to publish outstanding contributions in the main fields covered by the journal, which will make a great contribution to the community. This book covers the whole spectrum of diabetology from risk screening, risk markers, pathways of disease in type 1 diabetes and insulin treatment, and management of the disease and comorbidities.

The years 1989/1990 saw the fall of the Iron Curtain. Following forty years of significant restrictions, legal and non-bureaucratic travel from East-Central and Eastern European countries was once again possible and travelling and returning to those countries became just as easy. Immediately following the end of the East-West conflict, people from East-Central and Eastern European countries took advantage of their new freedom of travel. Many sought to emigrate to Western countries. However, when faced with such immigration, the euphoria which met the end of the political divisions in the West evaporated quickly. Several polls and surveys, projections and prognoses served to unsettle people more than the reality of immigration. This gave rise to a sometimes blind and specious – yet nevertheless politically effective – fear of a new mass migration of peoples. Now, more than ten years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the actual scale and development of the East-West migration in Europe be clearly evaluated. This book attempts to do just that, including a comprehensive overview and eleven country-specific chapters. Each chapter includes a historical review, an account of the most important changes since 1989/1990 and a forecast of future migration developments.

This book explores the contentious topic of how collective and community issues should be protected and enforced in international law. Elena Katselli Proukaki takes a detailed look at the issue of third-State countermeasures, and considers the work the International Law Commission has done in this area. The volume addresses both the theory and practice of third-State countermeasures within international law. Critically reviewing the conclusions of the International Law Commission on the non-existence of a right to third-State countermeasures, it includes consideration of examples of State practice not previously covered in the literature of this topic. In taking a thorough view of the issues involved the author identifies concerns about third-State countermeasures which remain unanswered, and considers the possible legal ramifications arising from a clash between a right to third-State countermeasures and obligations arising from other international norms. The Problem of Enforcement in International Law explores questions evolving around the nature, integrity and effectiveness of international law and the role it is called to play in a contemporary context. This book is of great interest and value not only for specialists in this area of international law, but also human rights, trade and EU lawyers, practitioners, legal advisers, and students.

Este livro propõe-se a estudar o Espiritismo como um sistema religioso, um sistema de crenças e práticas que se inclui no quadro maior de religiões mediúnicas. Com base na seleção de grupos específicos, seu objetivo central é a apreensão e discussão das categorias e representações que constituem essa experiência religiosa e dos valores culturais a ela relacionados. Nessa perspectiva a percepção da construção da noção de pessoa no Espiritismo se apresenta como um fio condutor e como uma pista particularmente esclarecedora da experiência do transe e da mediunidade nessa religião. [trecho retirado da apresentação do livro]

The book addresses the subjects related to the selected aspects of pollutants emission, monitoring and their effects. The most of recent publications concentrated on the review of the pollutants emissions from industry, especially power sector. In this one emissions from opencast mining and transport are addressed as well. Beside of SOx and NOx emissions, small particles and other pollutants (e.g. VOC, ammonia) have adverse effect on environment and human being. The natural emissions (e.g. from volcanoes) has contribution to the pollutants concentration and atmospheric chemistry governs speciation of pollutants, as in the case of secondary acidification. The methods of ambient air pollution monitoring based on modern instrumentation allow the verification of dispersion models and balancing of mass emissions. The comfort of everyday human's activity is influenced by indoor and public transport vehicles interior air contamination, which is effected even by the professional appliances operation. The outdoor pollution leads to cultural heritage objects deterioration, the mechanism are studied and the methods of rehabilitation developed. However to prevent emissions the new technologies are being developed, the new class of these technologies are plasma processes, which are briefly reviewed at the final part of the book.

Les expressions politiques du Québec et du Canada donnent l’impression d’une quête identitaire perpétuelle. L’obsession du moi est passée du « je » au « nous ». Ce collectif pluridisciplinaire donne une portée philosophique et historique à la question du renouveau démocratique au Québec et au Canada. La tension entre les identités citoyennes et les identités des groupes exige l’émergence ou la renaissance d’un référent politique collectif et invite à la reformulation du credo identitaire, à la rénovation de l’héritage commun. Cet ouvrage examine la nature de ce mouvement de refondation et regarde comment le groupe est convié à participer à cet exercice de se nommer.

Sociology as a discipline is concerned with relationships. The relationship addressed in this book, is the one between society and nature. More specifically, the process of making pollution and the environmental condition relevant for – and in – parliament is used as an analytical prism to gain better understanding of that relationship. Building on theoretical perspectives from pragmatic moral-political sociology developed by Boltanski and Thévenot, the changing valuation of «nature» and «the environment» in Norwegian parliamentary debates is analysed: When and how is nature made a relevant for parliament? How is nature valued in these debates? How are decisions on environmental- and petroleum policy legitimated? What kind of knowledge is made relevant? In what ways have parliamentary debates changed over time and how can we understand these changes? Empirical data is an extensive sample of Norwegian parliamentary debates in the period 1945–2013. The book maps the historical trajectory of the political conflicts on the environmental consequences from industry in Norway, and the petroleum industry in particular. The analysis exposes how the form of valuable nature has changed substantially over time. That is, what makes nature valuable for parliament has changed over time. The changing form of valuable nature also has consequences for how pollution should be avoided and what kind of policy instruments that are considered relevant. In the early 20th century nature was primarily regarded as a robust and unchangeable entity. Starting from the early 1950s this understanding of nature is undergoing impor- 10 GISLE ANDERSEN | PARLAMENTETS NATUR tant changes. Rather than being viewed as a robust entity, nature is to larger extent seen as fragile and should be protected from humans: Nature should be conserved. During the next decades the relevant form of nature to protect is gradually redefined as «the environment». In contrast to the idea of protecting «nature» from humans, pollution was primarily a problem because it harmed the human environment. A significant change occurred during the 1990s. The Norwegian parliamentary debates from this period are characterised by a harsh ecological self-critique. This had several consequences, among them a new environmental statute in the Norwegian Constitution. A new way of valuing nature emerged: What is valued is not nature «itself» but the function that nature has for humans, the conservation of nature understood as a «life supporting production system» for humanity. This view of nature specified the valuation of nature as anthropocentric. Another important dimension of the new way of valuing nature is that it clearly limited what form of nature that should be protected: It is legitimate to pollute and to harm parts of nature, but only as long as one does not threaten the production system that humans depend upon. As long as an activity can go on without diminishing the functional utility of nature for humanity; use, change and destruction of nature can be considered legitimate. This could be understood as a minimum definition of sustainability. These changes are linked to the ways the modern societies today responds to, and tries to control, global environmental change.