Open Access Books

The volume approaches Cuba as a nation that hosts a convergence of extraordinary global developments and, in turn, projects itself onto the world's major cultural, political and economic processes. From different perspectives, ranging from architecture and music to politics and economics, the twenty-one essays presented here embrace the multifaceted interactions between Cuba and foreign imperial strategies during the 19th century, the troublesome formation of national political cultures in the first half of the 20th century, and the multiple global aspects of some of Cuba's choices from the Cold War to the first decade of the present century.

Operations targeted against senior enemy leaders have long been viewed as a potential means of shaping the policy and behavior of enemy states. As a result, the United States has launched a variety of overt and covert operations in efforts to attack enemy leaders directly, facilitate their overthrow by coup or rebellion, or secure their ouster through external invasion. This book examines a number of leadership attacks from World War II to the present to offer insights into the comparative efficacy of various forms of leadership attacks, their potential coercive and deterrent value, and the possible unintended consequences of their ill-considered use. The book concludes that direct attacks, coups, and rebellions have met with only limited success and, even when successful, have sometimes yielded counterproductive results. Moreover, neither direct attacks nor coups have been of significant coercive or deterrent value, although rebellions have at times provided useful negotiating leverage. By contrast, external invasions have proved to be more efficacious both in shaping the targeted countries' policy and behavior and in exerting coercive effects. The book concludes by outlining the likely conditions under which future leadership attacks are likely to be sanctioned and by delineating the prerequisites of effective use of air power in such contexts.

Au cours du xive siècle, l’Empire byzantin connut un fort déclin de sa puissance qui entraîna la conquête de son territoire par les Turcs ottomans. Les causes de la disparition de Byzance sont encore loin d’être élucidées, mais les chercheurs ont souvent évoqué un fort amenuisement de l’autorité de l’État dans les provinces. L’évolution économique des xie-xive siècles aurait conféré un pouvoir croissant aux grandes familles de l’aristocratie, provoquant la fragmentation du pouvoir politique et l’effacement de la puissance impériale. Cet ouvrage offre une nouvelle interprétation du déclin de l’État byzantin, à travers l’étude des mesures prises par les empereurs de la dynastie des Paléologues pour freiner l’avance ennemie et pour préserver les frontières de l’Empire. S’il apparaît que l’aristocratie joue un rôle décisif dans l’exercice du pouvoir impérial dans les provinces, l’Empereur continue d’exercer l’essentiel de ses prérogatives, militaires et fiscales, mais sur un territoire qui devient tellement restreint que l’objectif est désormais inatteignable.

Published

Wie funktioniert «guter Konsum» als alltägliche Praxis? Das Buch erörtert diese Frage aus kulturwissenschaftlicher Sicht und fragt danach, was Menschen eigentlich machen, wenn sie ethisch konsumieren, welche Bedeutungen sie diesem Tun beimessen und wie sie darüber sprechen. Als ethisch verstanden wird all das, was die Konsument:innen selbst als gut oder richtig begreifen. Narrative Interviews, das Reden über Konsum, bilden die Basis für die empirische Studie. Die Sicht der Akteur:innen öffnet den Blick auf gesellschaftliche (Aus-)Handlungsfelder, die anhand weiterer Zugänge (teilnehmende Beobachtungen und mediale Quellen) untersucht werden. Entlang der Schlüsselkategorien Knowing, Doing und Showing werden Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Wissensbeständen, praktischem Handeln und performativer Narration auf einer subjektzentrierten, alltäglichen Ebene ausgeleuchtet. Die entwickelten Interpretations- und Deutungsmöglichkeiten erlauben es, ethischen Konsum neu zu denken. Darüber hinaus liefert das Buch Einsichten, wie Vorstellungen und Aushandlungen von korrektem Handeln erforscht werden können.

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Véritable vade-mecum à l'usage des professionnels, cet ouvrage collectif, dirigé par Géraldine Barron, s'attache à traiter toutes les étapes du circuit du périodique, quel qu'en soit le support. Après un panorama de l'offre éditoriale papier et électronique, le lecteur est initié à l'art de bien acquérir, pour ensuite découvrir les différentes procédures de traitement, matériel, intellectuel et documentaire qui constituent le quotidien d'un responsable des périodiques. Le parcours s'achève sur les enjeux de la conservation en réseau. Ce cheminement dans l'univers complexe et mouvant des revues fournit à tous les professionnels concernés, un mode opératoire très complet pour gérer le type de document qui a connu ces dernières années les plus grands bouleversements.

An important method to increase the spectral efficiency of wireless radio communication networks is the use of multiple-input multiple-output communication systems operating in the centimetre and millimetre wave region. How these multiple-input multiple-output communication systems can be realised with as little hardware effort as possible using hybrid beamforming architectures is the subject of this work.

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.

"The Handbook of Computational Social Science is a comprehensive reference source for scholars across multiple disciplines. It outlines key debates in the field, showcasing novel statistical modeling and machine learning methods, and draws from specific case studies to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges in CSS approaches. The Handbook is divided into two volumes written by outstanding, internationally renowned scholars in the field. This first volume focuses on the scope of computational social science, ethics, and case studies. It covers a range of key issues, including open science, formal modeling, and the social and behavioral sciences. This volume explores major debates, introduces digital trace data, reviews the changing survey landscape, and presents novel examples of computational social science research on sensing social interaction, social robots, bots, sentiment, manipulation, and extremism in social media. The volume not only makes major contributions to the consolidation of this growing research field, but also encourages growth into new directions. With its broad coverage of perspectives (theoretical, methodological, computational), international scope, and interdisciplinary approach, this important resource is integral reading for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers engaging with computational methods across the social sciences, as well as those within the scientific and engineering sectors."

Der Liberalismus steht weltweit unter Druck: Populistische Gegenbewegungen, autoritäre Regime und eine erodierende internationale Ordnung stellen seine Grundlagen infrage. Die Beitragenden versammeln internationale Stimmen zu einer selbstkritischen Reflexion liberaler Theorie und Politik. Sie liefern eine profunde Diagnose für die Krise der liberalen Demokratie und zeigen Wege zu ihrer Erneuerung auf. Dazu gehört ein wehrhafter Liberalismus, der Freiheit und Sicherheit neu austariert, politische Handlungsfähigkeit stärkt und demokratische Resilienz fördert – ein Plädoyer für die Verteidigung der offenen Gesellschaft.

"Performing Power illuminates how colonial dominance in Indonesia was legitimized, maintained, negotiated, and contested through the everyday staging and public performance of power between the colonizer and colonized. Arnout Van der Meer's Performing Power explores what seemingly ordinary interactions reveal about the construction of national, racial, social, religious, and gender identities as well as the experience of modernity in colonial Indonesia. Through acts of everyday resistance, such as speaking a different language, withholding deference, and changing one's appearance and consumer behavior, a new generation of Indonesians contested the hegemonic colonial appropriation of local culture, and the racial and gender inequalities that it sustained. Over time these relationships of domination and subordination became inverted, and by the twentieth century the Javanese used the tropes of Dutch colonial behavior to subvert the administrative hierarchy of the state. Thanks to generous funding from the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot and the Mellon Foundation the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access (OA) volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other Open Access repositories."

Edge computing technology is the cornerstone of digital advancement as smarter cities and unified industries continue to rise. The book aims to provide a deep dive into state-of-the-art developments and practical uses of edge computing in the current technological scenario. The first part is focused on new architectures and presents a proposal for Autonomous and resilient Edge (AR-Edge) computing, which combines AI, Software-Defined Networks (SDN), and blockchain technologies to generate transparent networks in smart cities. It investigates how Edge Computing can augment AI applications with lower latency and computational costs. It also introduces a green computation paradigm for Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices that would optimize outcomes in critical areas such as robotic surgery or autonomous vehicles. The second section of the book looks at a range of application scenarios. Chapter 4 presents in-depth privacy and security features as well as real-time monitoring frameworks for the safety of smart homes using IoT to improve their facilities. Then, it examines the implications of 5G-based edge-cloud capabilities for industrial energy facilities to illustrate how they contribute toward efficiency and innovation in Industry 4.0. It also covers the strategic deployment models and dynamic pricing strategies in edge computing services, enabling system performance and economic benefits. In conclusion, it underscores the need for citizen engagement in smart cities. It opines for inclusive participation by sharing digital literacy and varied ways to build equitable solution-based urban development. The transformative power of edge computing comes from the experts who are making it happen. This book summarizes the state-of-the-art developments and future research challenges for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on edge computing, along with major trends that need to be considered. Take a ride with us through the age of edge computing and look at all the different ways we could make our lives in cities better.

À partir de la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle, les ordres religieux, créations nouvelles ou réformes d’ordres anciens, se multiplient dans les villes de l’Europe catholique où ils bâtissent églises, collèges et monastères. Si l’apport des architectes laïcs à ces entreprises est bien connu, celui des religieux, et plus encore des religieuses, est resté au second plan de la production architecturale. Pourtant, ces hommes et ces femmes ont été les chevilles ouvrières de ces chantiers, concevant des projets, des plans ou des croquis d’architecture, surveillant les travaux et expertisant les édifices. Mettant leurs connaissances et leurs compétences au service de leur ordre – et parfois d’autres – ils et elles ont pleinement pris part à l’intense activité constructive qui caractérise les XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Afin de réhabiliter les œuvres de ces hommes et de ces femmes, une journée d’étude s’est tenue en avril 2017 à l’Université de Lyon 3 dans le cadre de l’atelier « Nouvelles recherches sur le catholicisme moderne » du LARHRA. Richement illustrées, les contributions de ce volume interrogent le métier des religieux et religieuses architectes en France, dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège. Si leurs formations restent pour la plupart méconnues, leurs talents sont attestés par l’étude de leurs carrières et de leurs réalisations (malheureusement fréquemment démolies ou transformées), mais aussi et surtout par les archives et les sources iconographiques. Éclairage complémentaire, la dernière contribution analyse le rôle des marguilliers dans la construction des églises paroissiales de Paris pour lesquelles les compétences des membres de la communauté ont également été mobilisées et mises à profit.

For child protection to succeed; parents and professionals must work together. This book focuses on the parental experience of child protection and its importance in professional practice. Using reconstructive research; the author demonstrates the centrality of understanding and being understood for successful cooperation. The author views child protection as a socially constructed; organised concept; offering opportunities for democratic negotiation on an equal footing. Parents express their desire for autonomy; participation and recognition within a support system that they perceive as powerful. This book makes the reality of their lives the central object of investigation.