Open Access Books

Professional and Vocational Education

Understanding the interconnection between energy, the environment, and the economy is critical in contemporary society. The relationship between energy consumption, economic growth, and the environment has garnered significant attention from researchers and policymakers alike, and understanding the underlying causal connection between energy and the economy is crucial for modeling effective environmental and growth policies. Moreover, the emergence of new energy and environmental policies would create a plethora of further research opportunities in this evolving climate regime. For instance, several countries prioritize projects focused on energy efficiency, as they are considered low-risk, no-regret options that may yield economic benefits. In a nutshell, this Special Issue aims to address a gap in the existing literature by providing an in-depth analysis of the interplay between energy, the environment, and the economy, emphasizing the exploration of the potential environmental impacts of energy consumption and economic growth.

Based on the experience of the French institution of "Les Maisons des sciences de l'homme", this book revitalizes the question of interdisciplinarity through a precise analysis of the obstacles generated by the very structure of the transmission of knowledge, and the varied issues which are related to it. It exposes the promises of an interdisciplinarity in process.

Famous for its vibrant banking sector, Luxembourg also serves, on its own scale, as a melting pot for the trends and underlying shifts taking place at European level in the social and solidarity economy (SSE). The book is based on a qualitative survey conducted among various stakeholders involved in SSE projects and public policy, and analyses the socio-economic and socio-political components of the Luxembourg SSE. Four distinct strands of the SSE are identified: the economy of addressing unemployment through work, the traditional social economy with a charitable focus, social and responsible entrepreneurship – a term ubiquitous in discourse – and solidarity initiatives now scattered across local projects that remain largely out of the public eye.

An up-to-date edited open access book on the role of sexual dysfunctions in general, and of erectile dysfunction in particular, i) to early predict non-communicable diseases, ii) to motivate patients to modify wrong lifestyles, iii) to improve follow-up efforts. A part of the expert in sexual medicine, a large number of professionals will be interested in reading and quoting this book, from andrologists to urologists, from cardiologists to endocrinologists, from internists to mental health professionals.

In the early 1970s some Japanese historians embarked on a critical examination of the overwhelmingly positive evaluation of the reforms, most notably Land reform, implemented by the Allied Forces during the Occupation period (1945-52) which had hitherto been predominant. This marked the initial step towards reevaluating the impact of the Occupation on Japanese institutions and, on a broader scale, prompted a reexamination of the discontinuity between the prewar and postwar period. What was at stake in this long-lasting debate was the very definition of “postwar”. This essay delves into the pivotal phases of this debate, aiming to shed light on how the concept of continuity evolved into an essential reference point within the historical debate and how this impacted on the peculiar application of the category of “postwar” to Japanese contemporary history.

In der Debatte um die Demokratisierung von Bildungseinrichtungen änderte sich der Blick auf Schulgebäude und ihre Nutzung seit den 1960er Jahren grundlegend und es rückte eine weitere Funktion in den Vordergrund: die Rolle von Schularchitektur als Imageträger. Eva Zepp rekonstruiert den Diskurs um ein höheres Maß an Mitbestimmung bei der Planung von Schulbauten und deren mediale Repräsentationen. Anhand von Dokumenten aus Forschungsarchiven, Berichten und Bildstrecken in Architekturzeitschriften sowie zwei prominent diskutierten Schulbauten analysiert sie die Rollen und Praktiken von Nutzer*innen und zeigt: Wo verschiedene Interessen aufeinandertreffen, braucht es eine partizipative Planungspraxis, die Raum für Eigensinn und Dissens öffnet.

The overall objective of the book is to determine the impact of study circles and learning networks on strengthening teachers' pedagogical skills. The research was conducted with a population of 99 teachers and a sample of 79 teachers from educational institutions working in early childhood and preparatory education in district 12D03. The methodology used was a non-experimental, propositional-explanatory transactional design. The instruments used to collect the information were surveys and questionnaires on the dependent variable of study circles and learning networks. The dimensions (teamwork, social interaction) and indicators (quality of education, educational leadership) were worked on, as well as the independent variable of pedagogical strengthening of teachers, dimensions (social interaction), and indicators (educational leadership, triadic reciprocity). The overall results of the research showed that study circles and learning networks that are enhanced with early childhood teachers are at a low level according to the statistical data analyzed and based on the opinion of the respondents in different dimensions in relation to planning, organization, and teaching practice. The training received suffers from limitations, as there is no constant monitoring and evaluation to determine whether they are being applied, working, and improving teaching and learning processes. Consequently, it can be concluded that, although there is a relationship between variables, there is a need to improve teachers' attitudes and performance in the classroom.

This article analyzes the advertising ethics handled by Ecuadorian companies, making a synthesis of the way in which the social responsibility of the entities or officials linked to their advertising practices is involved. This research is carried out due to the constant changes in advertising nowadays, with the objective of deepening how organizations in Ecuador disseminate advertising and how they direct them to interest groups showing social responsibility. For this, it is based on a methodology of bibliographic review being a qualitative research where data are collected to be evaluated from the general to the particular. Thus, the impact of advertising for product awareness and customer attraction that companies or enterprises currently use is observed from all business-commercial activities. In this sense, it is necessary to review the ethics in advertising, the approach to stakeholders, the management of social responsibility as well as its regulation within companies, in order to learn new advertising techniques and methods for companies to comply with responsibility to generate advertising strategies with an ethical approach.

The discussion about literacy and training of Luso-Brazilian literacy teachers guides the debates in this book. By taking a close look at the realities of Continuing Education programs and their impacts on literacy processes, this study offers arguments and portraits that are born from the narratives of the main actors of these praxis: the literacy teachers. The background of this work is the history of teacher training, its methods of preparation, reflections and intersections that marked teacher training in these two countries. All this narrated by those who experienced, in practice, two of the government initiatives aimed at this end: the Letra e Vida Program (São Paulo/Brazil) and the National Program for Teaching Portuguese (Portugal). From the situations of welcoming and listening to the narratives of the study participants, the book proposes a mature discussion about the projection and real effectiveness of these teacher training programs, whose objective refers to the “humanization” of these educators, through instrumentalization theoretical and methodological. In these processes, the challenge posed is the creation of favorable conditions for studies and reflections on the role of school education, highlighting the teaching activity and that of the younger generations.

This Special Issue reveals important information on the possibility of using plant ingredients and by-products to enhance the nutritional and functional value of various staple foods. Furthermore, the use of such ingredients in animal nutrition to achieve superior meat quality will be discussed. This Special Issue highlights the experience of the authors with respect to the utilization of plant ingredients as a sustainable way to enhance the nutritional value of foods, with many benefits such as diminishing nutrient deficiencies, or the manufacture of food for people with dietary requirements such as those with gluten intolerances. The properties of the ingredients used, the manufacturing technologies, and the opportunity to incorporate fruit, vegetable, yeast, and lichen components are key factors for obtaining enriched food products. In addition, current concerns regarding the development of novel food products which exert some health benefits on consumers were also discussed in this Special Issue.

Étudier la manière dont les enfants apprennent à l’école constitue aujourd’hui un nouveau domaine de recherche auquel participent sociologues, psychologues, linguistes, didacticiens... L’élaboration d’une telle connaissance est indispensable si l’on veut réaliser les attentes que tout le monde place de nos jours dans le système scolaire. Mais les auteurs du présent ouvrage ont en commun une autre préoccupation : outre le fait de chausser leurs lunettes de chercheurs pour comprendre tel ou tel aspect des apprentissages scolaires, ils partagent la conviction que sans lunettes on ne voit rien ; sans théorie, les faits ne parlent pas. C’est pourquoi les deux grandes théories du développement humain, celle de J. Piaget et celle de L. S. Vygotski, sont ici sollicitées. Leur mise en œuvre dans le processus même de la recherche permet de mieux circonscrire les problèmes que notre époque se doit, sinon de résoudre, du moins de faire avancer.

This open access two-volume set constitutes the proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems, TACAS 2020, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2020, and was held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2020. The total of 60 regular papers presented in these volumes was carefully reviewed and selected from 155 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Program verification; SAT and SMT; Timed and Dynamical Systems; Verifying Concurrent Systems; Probabilistic Systems; Model Checking and Reachability; and Timed and Probabilistic Systems. Part II: Bisimulation; Verification and Efficiency; Logic and Proof; Tools and Case Studies; Games and Automata; and SV-COMP 2020.

This Special Issue aims to update the current evidence and challenging topics centred around the diagnosis and management of ocular diseases. We gather ten original research articles and two literature reviews on recent efforts aimed toward the discovery of novel findings in different ocular research areas, including orbital, lacrimal, and eyelid disease, as well as glaucoma, retinal disease, myopia, and corneal disease.

Environmental Aspects of Zoonotic Diseases provides a definitive description, commentary and research needs of environmental aspects related to zoonotic diseases. There are many interrelated connections between the environment and zoonotic diseases such as: water, soil, air and agriculture. The book presents investigations of these connections, with specific reference to environmental processes such as: deforestation, floods, draughts, irrigation practices, soil transfer and their impact on bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitological spread. Environmental aspects such as climate (tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, arid and semi-arid), developed and undeveloped countries, animal traffic animal border crossing, commercial animal trade, transportation, as well geography and weather on zoonosis, are also discussed and relevant scientific data is condensed and organized in order to give a better picture of interrelationship between the environment and current spread of zoonotic diseases.