Open Access Books

The middle of the last century presents the beginning of a wide use of heat technologies for joining of the textile materials. Up to now, adhesive bonding/fusing of textile materials by application of heat and pressure during the determinate time has become a wide‐use technology for manufacturing numerous kinds of textile products, such as outdoor and sport garments, underwear, swimming suits, medical gowns, toys, and automotive seating fabrics. Fusing and welding technologies of textiles represent today a significant competition to traditional sewing, because the technological process is quick and energy efficient. The welding and fusing of textiles represent a great opportunity for providing a good performance as well as aesthetic appearance. New types of fusing/welding machines with high technological solutions regarding the functions, low energy consumptions, and environmental‐friendly effects are placed on the market. This chapter presents fusing, hot air and hot wedge welding techniques, suitable for joining of textile materials. The theoretical background and fundamental working principles of the equipment for each technology are presented in the first part of the chapter. Special attention is given to presentation of thermoplastic adhesives, textile substrates for fusible interlinings, and welding tapes. Next, the fusing/welding methods and their parameters are described, and the methods for quality evaluation of fused/welded panels are presented. The effect of fusing/welding parameters, selected methods depending on applied fabrics, fusible interlinings and welding tapes, and used fusing/welding machines are discussed separately. Factors effecting the quality of fused and hot air/wedge welded panels are supported with latest scientific findings. The advantages and disadvantages of the presented techniques are discussed together with the applications areas of each of the presented techniques. The new application opportunities are also highlighted at the end of the chapter.

The tax solidarity duty takes on specific connotations with respect to the original concept developed in social evolution. Indeed, this solidarity is “equal, but reasonably differentiated”. The legislator must provide (reasonable and proportionate) mechanisms for the protection of tax equity. On this point, the regime of shell companies raises several critical issues that will have to be addressed in the implementation of the tax enabling act.

This book covers the technological progress and developments of a large-scale wind energy conversion system along with its future trends, with each chapter constituting a contribution by a different leader in the wind energy arena. Recent developments in wind energy conversion systems, system optimization, stability augmentation, power smoothing, and many other fascinating topics are included in this book. Chapters are supported through modeling, control, and simulation analysis. This book contains both technical and review articles.

This Reprint is a collection of papers by international authors dealing with experimental sites for measuring soil erosion at different spatial (plot, hillslope, basin) scales and field experiments that aim to study the soil erosion processes (interrill, rill, and gully erosion). Papers dealing with new methods and procedures for measuring soil erosion processes (e.g., three-dimensional photoreconstruction techniques, measurement of erosion features using aerial and terrestrial acquisition platforms, and tracers) are also included in this Reprint.

German Poetic Realists drew on the Romantic motif of the Double in a manner consistent with the central dictum of Poetic Realism as articulated by its chief theorists, Julian Schmidt and Otto Ludwig. Schmidt and Ludwig argued that contemporary authors should, above all, strive for psychological and aesthetic totality in their narrative representations, turning away from the Romantic fantastic but also avoiding the fragmentary approach to the portrayal of everyday life that Ludwig found in early Naturalism. The 'poetic' presentation of reality adheres to quotidian life but strives to show it in all its many dimensions. While Romantic Doppelgänger are often preternatural figures, the Poetic Realists configure egos and their narrative Others ('alter egos,' who are also sometimes physical Doubles) to portray characters in their psychological comprehensiveness. After offering an overview of the Romantic Double motif and its connections to the theory of Poetic Realism, John Pizer analyzes the work of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Otto Ludwig, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Gottfried Keller, Theodor Storm, and Wilhelm Raabe.

On behalf of Prof. Dr. Alena Očkajová and Dr. Richard Kminiak, we would like to express our gratitude for the opportunity to deliver this Special Issue entitled "Advances in Wood Processing Technology". We are very grateful for the contributions concerning the latest technologies in the processing of both growing wood and wood-based composites.

Three recurring themes dominate the Grand Duchy of Finland’s historical image. First, it is used as shorthand for Finland’s status as a modern autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Second, seen from a longer perspective covering the Swedish period, scholarly works tend to present it as an empty relic stemming from old listings of royal titles. Third, in more popular representations it is part of the imaginary realm of Sweden-Finland and predestined to become a nation state. This book strives to specify all these takes by investigating the historical meanings associated with the notion of grand duchy from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It analyses different layers in the Swedish, Russian, and Finnish use of the concept, from medieval modes of princely power to modern ideas of national statehood in the light of the evolving history of the European concepts of state and nation. In Finland the ‘grand duchy’ was seldom rhetorically confronted as a symbol of the declining old order. Nor, however, was it a synonym for the ‘Emperor’s Finland’ and unbroken loyalty. Instead, its meaning was stretched in opposing directions as a frame for princely rule and an arena for representing the people. During its long history the Grand Duchy of Finland came to signify both Finland’s imperial dependence and its constitution as a separate state and nation – until the overstretched concept shattered in 1917, both from without and within.

Dry eye syndrome is one of the most common types of ocular surface disorders that significantly worsen the quality of life of tens of millions of people worldwide.In the last decades, researchers worldwide investigated the composition and regulatory mechanisms of the preocular tear film to better understand dry eye syndrome. The tear film, in fact, plays a critical role in maintaining corneal and conjunctival integrity, protecting the eyes against infections, and preserving visual acuity. Recent scientific discoveries helped us gain a more and more accurate understanding of the structure and functioning of the tear film and how disorders in the tear film relate to dry eye syndrome. Today, ophthalmologists benefit from sophisticated diagnostic techniques, and they have at their disposal a wide range of effective therapeutic options to manage dry eye syndrome. This book illustrates the most recent research results in the diagnosis and treatment of dry eye syndrome, and it is of interest to the broad audience that comprises ophthalmologists, researchers, and students.

En este libro se recogen estudios que permiten entender el proceso de descentralización de los servicios de educación básica transferidos por el gobierno federal a los gobiernos estatales a partir del Acuerdo Nacional para la Modernización de la Educación Básica de mayo de 1992. Estos estudios están divididos en dos grandes apartados: los referidos a aspectos generales del proceso de la descentralización educativa en los que resaltan tanto los antencedentes históricos de ese cambio, como el papel de actores fundamentales en dicho proceso, la Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) y el Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE), así como los llamados estudios de caso que incorporan un análisis detallado de las formas tanto administrativas como pedagógicas ensayadas en cinco estados de la República para recibir y gestionar los servicios educativos transferidos. Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Nuevo León y Oaxaca fueron los estados seleccionados para observar la transferencia de los servicios de educación básica, subrayando de manera destacada la oportunidad que tendrían para generar innovaciones en el campo educativo, a partir del momento en que se convirtieran en responsabilidad de los respectivos gobiernos estatales. En el análisis de los cinco estados se incorporaron elementos que permitieron hacer un ejercicio de comparación y llegar a conclusiones preliminares, puesto que se trata de un proceso en gestación.

Tackling precarious work has been described by the United Nations (UN)’s International Labour Organization (ILO) as the main challenge facing the world of work. In this ground-breaking book, leading applied research scholars, advocates, and activists from across the globe respond to this challenge by showing how Industrial and Organizational (I/O) psychology has a significant contribution to make in humanity moving away from precarious work situations towards sustainable livelihoods. Broken down into four key parts on Sustainable Livelihoods, Fair Incomes, Work Security and Social Protection, the book covers a multitude of topics including the role of poor pay, lack of work-related security, social protection for human health and wellbeing, and interventions and policies to implement for the future of work. The volume offers a detailed look into useful and effective ways to tackle precarious work to create and maintain sustainable livelihoods. This curated collection of 22 chapters considers the broader relationships between previous research work and issues of human security and sustainability that affect workers, families, communities, and societies. Each chapter expands the present understandings of the world of precarious work and how it fits within broader issues of economic, ecological, and social sustainability. In addition to I/O psychologists in research, practice, service and study, this book will also be useful for organizational researchers, labor unions, HR practitioners, fair trade, cooperative, and civil society organizations, social scientists, human security analysts, public health professionals, economists, and supporters of the UN SDGs, including at the UN.

Ginkgo Village provides an original and powerfully intimate bottom-up perspective on China's recent tumultuous history. Drawing on ethnographic and life-history research, the book takes readers deep into a village in a mountainous region of central-eastern China known as Eyuwan. In the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, villagers in this region experienced terrible trauma and far-reaching socio‑economic and political change. In the civil war (1927–1949), they were slaughtered in fighting between Nationalist and Communist forces. During the Great Leap Forward (1958–1961), they suffered appalling famine. Since the 1990s, mass labour outmigration has lifted local villagers out of poverty and fuelled major transformations in their circumstances and practices, social and family relationships, and values and aspirations. At the heart of this book are eight tales that recreate Ginkgo Village life and the interactions between villagers and the researchers who visit them. These tales use storytelling to engender an empathetic understanding of Ginkgo Villagers’ often traumatic life experiences; to present concrete details about transformations in everyday village life in an engaging manner; and to explore the challenges and rewards of fieldwork research that attempts empathetic understanding across cultures.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. The higher education and research system faces a constant dilemma. On the one hand, research and higher education are run by autonomous, interrelated academic communities, often described as collegial governance. On the other hand, they are an instrument for the fulfillment of goals that are often external to the academic community. What, then, is the role of academics and academic knowledge in governance of higher education and research, and how does this reflect on and impact their aims and overall place in society? Fostered through joint workshops and an open dialogue, this double volume of Research in the Sociology of Organizations develops a deeper understanding of collegiality, examining through a unique comparative perspective how it is translated and practiced in different settings across the world. Concentrating on challenges to collegiality and the erosion of faculty governance, this first installment analyzes global waves of reforms, ways in which various kinds of managerial modes of organization and control come to reshape universities, and how this intersects with the evolving missions of universities as institutions. Revealing the globalization, homogenization and variation that have come to characterize the collegiate system, University Collegiality and the Erosion of Faculty Authority critically considers the state of and future of the higher education system, and how we can consciously shape it moving forward.

In the early decades of the 19th century, Indigenous Australians suffered devastating losses at the hands of British colonists, who largely ignored their sovereignty and even their humanity. At the same time, however, a new wave of Christian humanitarians were arriving in the colonies, troubled by Aboriginal suffering and arguing that colonists had obligations towards the people they had dispossessed. These white philanthropists raised questions which have shaped Australian society ever since. Did Indigenous Australians have rights to land, rationing, education and cultural survival? If so, how should these be guaranteed, and what would people have to give up in return? Would charity and paternalism lead to effective government or dismal failure – to a powerful defence of an oppressed people, or to new forms of oppression? In Good Faith? paints a vivid picture of life on Australia’s first missions and protectorate stations, examining the tensions between charity and rights, empathy and imperialism, as well as the intimacy, dependence, resentment and obligations that developed between missionary philanthropists and the people they tried to protect and control. In this work, Mitchell brings to life hitherto neglected moments in Australia’s history, and traces the origins of dilemmas still present today.

As the name indicates, this work, entitled "Lessons in Administrative Law", is specifically intended for students of the law degree and gathers the summaries, more or less developed, of the lectures given in the theoretical classes of the subjects of Administrative Law I and II at the Faculty of Law of Coimbra. After an introduction to Administrative Law and Public Administration, in its various dimensions, it addresses, in the set of subjects that are the object of study in the first semester, the problems of the linkage of Administration to Law, including the dogma of administrative legal relations, as well as the functional and structural aspects of administrative organization, especially the Portuguese system. The subject matter of the second half of the year corresponds to the study of the legal regime of administrative activity, namely the main forms of legal-public action of the Administration: the regulations, the act and the administrative contract.

The contributions compiled in this volume comprise studies of Jewish texts – biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern – as well as of patristic and medieval Christian texts, and in one case, a passage of the Muslim text par excellence, the Quran. The authors, scholars in the fields of Jewish Studies, Catholic and Protestant Theology, Islamic Studies, German philology etc., invited to reflect on texts of their respective disciplines in context-sensitive interpretations, taking into account the link connecting Midrash, hermeneutics, and narrative, provide illuminating narratological and/or hermeneutical insights into the texts in question. The interdisciplinary dialogue that characterized the conference “Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash” that gave rise to the volume proves to be rich and full of potential for further research in the direction proposed by the Series Poetics, Exegesis and Narrative. Studies in Jewish literature and art.