Open Access Books

This book compiles the Special Issue of Applied Sciences, entitled “Application of Biology to Cultural Heritage”, and aims to cover all the latest outstanding progress on the biological and biochemical methods developed and applied to cultural heritage.Eleven excellent papers (including both reviews and full research articles) form part of this book and each paper went through a hard and demanding review in order to ensure maximum quality. We do thank all the reviewers for their efforts which are so crucial for the improvement of the now-published papers. In the field of cultural heritage, biodiversity and biodeterioration have received a great deal of research attention in recent years. This book intends to provide a comprehensive examination of the science of biology in various fields and areas, as well as its practical application for the preservation of cultural heritage. Full research articles and reviews on all aspects of biological causes, modes of action, biocidal treatments, and the protection of cultural heritage are here presented, as well as long-term studies on the biodeterioration of cultural heritage sites and monuments.Analyses and tests of macro- and micro-organisms affecting the preservation of cultural heritage are also addressed.The knowledge that has arisen from the papers published on the studies on new techniques and new products applied to the field of cultural heritage may now be translated into new conservation and restoration treatments in similar objects, sites and supports. This was the main goal and it was achieved in a mission that we carried out with great pleasure and dedication.

Debates in the Digital Humanities brings together leading figures in the field to explore its theories, methods, and practices and to clarify its multiple possibilities and tensions. Together, the essays—which will be published later as an ongoing, open-access website—suggest that the digital humanities is uniquely positioned to contribute to the revival of the humanities and academic life.

This book is designed to provide an overview of the different genotoxicants and their effects on living organisms, including humans. The contributions made by the specialists in this field of research are gratefully acknowledged. We hope that the information presented in this book will meet the expectations and needs of all those interested in the different aspects of the genotoxicity field. The publication of this book is of great importance to those scientists, pharmacologists, physicians and veterinarians, as well as engineers, teachers, graduate students and administrators of environmental programmes, who make use of these investigations to understand both the basic and applied genotoxic aspects of known and new xenobiotics, and to guide them in their future investigations.

This book has been written for the 80-hour course in Mathematics for the Bachelor's Degree in Economics & Management at the University of Milan. The 80 hours are spread over a period of 10 weeks, so each chapter has been designed for one week of the course, with 4 classes of 2 hours each. The book is the outcome of many years of teaching experience at the Polo delle Scienze Sociali, and collects all the notes written by the teacher during the classes, the exercises of the exams, and the several suggestions and corrections sent by the students over the years.

Politik soll ihre Entscheidungen nicht nur sachgerecht und gemäß den rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen treffen, sondern ebenso den Ansprüchen der Moralität genügen. Anhand der vier Themen Moral, Terrorismus, Globalisierung und Demokratie zeigen renommierte Experten allgemeinverständlich auf, welche Herausforderungen damit für Politik und Ethik verbunden sind. Mit Beiträgen von Moritz Leuenberger, Herfried Münkler, Francis Cheneval und Julian Nida-Rümelin.

This essay aims to reconstruct the historiographical framework in which the most recent scholarship on the historiographical production in 12th-century Italy is located. The essay also provides an outline of the structure of the entire volume and a survey of the contents and problems tackled in the single papers.

Phenomena occurring in optical fibers affect the performance of communication systems. Understanding these behaviors aids in selecting the appropriate fiber type, optimizing fiber capacity, and mitigating adverse effects. For these reasons, this book provides a mathematical and conceptual analysis of the linear and nonlinear phenomena involved in fiber optic data transmission. The language is simple, with specific examples, and is supplemented by a free computational tool to expedite mathematical calculations and graphical representations.The book begins by introducing the reader to optical fiber types, the components of an optoelectronic system, the relevant electromagnetic spectrum, the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, and the Helmholtz equation. It then presents the application of geometrical optics in fiber, followed by a discussion on attenuation and dispersion within the framework of linear operation. Next, the focus shifts to nonlinear operation, including the Kerr effect, self-phase modulation, and third-order dispersion. Finally, four-wave mixing in a three-channel system is analyzed.

En ninguna otra época de la historia de la educación brasileña la infancia ha recibido tanta atención como en los días de hoy a tal punto que la educación infantil pasó a integrar la educación básica obligatoria. La aprobación de la Ley nº 12.796 en abril de 2013 que hizo compulsoria la matrícula a los cuatro años de edad en la Educación Infantil es tan sólo uno de los indicativos de cómo el tema de la infancia es central en la atención hodierna de educadores, gestores, investigadores, políticos y de la sociedad de modo general. Sin embargo, esa centralidad de la infancia e incluso la aprobación de la referida Ley, no nos garantiza que de veras se efectúe el cuidado educacional del niño. Por esa razón, tratar de la infancia, de su presencia en la escuela de forma compulsoria, de las condiciones de infraestructura para acoger a ese niño que llega más temprano a la escuela, de la manera como los municipios y las escuelas se están preparando para atender a esta nueva demanda formativa, son desafíos que necesitan ser enfrentados. El propósito de esta obra reside en contribuir para la calidad de la educación, especialmente la educación infantil. Esta obra presenta un estudio que hace una fotografía del esfuerzo de un municipio brasileño, de la región Sur, para hacer frente a la obligatoriedad legal de ofrecer educación infantil de calidad a los niños de 4 y 5 años. Más que etapa compulsoria, reflexiona sobre el derecho de tal nivel de escolarización, capaz de aportar elementos que contribuyan con las etapas subsecuentes de la Educación Básica. En esta perspectiva, el texto conyuga la ampliación del acceso con el desafío de la calidad.

Mongolia’s mining sector, along with its environmental and social costs, have been the subject of prolonged and heated debate. This debate has often cast the country as either a victim of the ‘resource curse’ or guilty of ‘resource nationalism’. In The State, Popular Mobilisation and Gold Mining in Mongolia, Dulam Bumochir aims to avoid the pitfalls of this debate by adopting an alternative theoretical approach. He focuses on the indigenous representations of nature, environment, economy, state and sovereignty that have triggered nationalist and statist responses to the mining boom. In doing so, he explores the ways in which these responses have shaped the apparently ‘neo-liberal’ policies of twenty-first century Mongolia, and the economy that has emerged from them, in the face of competing mining companies, protest movements, international donor organizations, economic downturn, and local and central government policies. Applying rich ethnography to a nuanced and complex picture, Bumochir’s analysis is essential reading for students and researchers studying the environment and mining, especially in Central and North East Asia and post-Soviet regions, and also for readers interested in the relationship between neoliberalism, nationalism, environmentalism and state.

Recent statistics suggest that fertility in Europe shows signs of recovery after decades of year-on-year drops. This report updates a study on low fertility from 2004 and explores the extent, causes and consequences of the recent recovery.

This book is a compendium of scientific articles submitted to a Special Issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences, fostered by MDPI and curated by Dr. Annamaria Sandomenico and Dr. Menotti Ruvo from the Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging of the National Research Council. All articles underwent a rigorous peer review and were selected to highlight the properties that make monoclonal antibodies and their functional fragments some of the most useful and versatile assets in therapy and diagnosis.

The sustainable design approach in construction aims to minimize negative effects on the environment and the well-being of individuals in buildings and urban areas. It seeks to enhance the performance of buildings and urban spaces. The fundamental goals of sustainability include reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources, minimizing waste, and creating healthy and productive environments. Sustainable design principles encompass various aspects such as optimizing site potential, minimizing non-renewable energy consumption, using environmentally preferable products, conserving water, protecting and enhancing green resources, improving indoor and outdoor environmental quality, and optimizing operational and maintenance practices. By incorporating sustainable design principles, decisions made throughout the design process can effectively reduce adverse impacts on the environment and human health, while still considering economic considerations. This integrated and holistic approach encourages compromise and tradeoffs, positively influencing all stages of an urban environment's life cycle, including design, construction, operation, and decommissioning. This Special Issue, “Sustainable Design in Building and Urban Environment”, introduces different methods regarding sustainable design in the field of civil engineering, architecture, and urban planning, from new techniques using computer simulation and artificial intelligence to studies of the traditional methods at historical sites.

While no pre-unification Italian state ever possessed colonies beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean peninsula was linked to the Americas and Africa through a variety of entanglements. Weaving networks that crossed political boundaries, merchants profited from manifold economic opportunities – including the Atlantic slave trade, which, from its beginnings in the 15th century to its demise in the 19th century, attracted considerable investments from the Italies. Mariners, scholars, clerics, and aristocrats served the empires of various European powers, whereas others – such as mendicant friars – carved out room for manoeuvre that transcended imperial agendas. City dwellers and peasants discovered new foodstuffs and acquired an increasingly global consumer culture. By challenging narratives moulded by methodological nationalism, this book explores how such connections shaped the Italian Peninsula and contributes to a new trans-imperial perspective on the Atlantic world.

This Special Issue aims to provide a general overview of some geoscience applications of GNSS and InSAR techniques which are commonly used to study the surface deformation related to co- and post-seismic deformation, subsurface movements of magma beneath active volcanoes, soil deformation (e.g., natural/anthropic uplift or subsidence), monitoring of landslide, monitoring of industrial settlements, the motion of ice sheets, etc.

Este libro explora dos ámbitos centrales de la obra de Octavio Paz: el de su poesía y su poética, entendida esta última palabra como expresión de la otredad constitutiva del ser humano; y el de sus ideas sobre la política, incluido el campo de sus intervenciones, muchas veces polémicas, en los debates ideológicos de México. La singularidad del libro es la yuxtaposición de estos dos ámbitos (poética y política) que suelen separarse en los estudios acerca de Paz.