Open Access Books

À l'heure du réchauffement climatique, des catastrophes nucléaires et de la recherche des moyens de « décarboner » nos économies, personne ne doute plus que les questions énergétiques soient cruciales pour nos sociétés. L'idée que leur étude puisse concerner les sciences humaines et sociales est en revanche beaucoup moins consensuelle. L’énergie est pourtant une question éminemment sociale. Ce qui pose problème, en effet, n’est pas tant la quantité d’énergie à notre disposition (le soleil nous en procure bien plus que nous n’en utilisons) que la façon de la mobiliser et de la partager, questions sociales par excellence.L’évolution du rapport de l’humanité à l’énergie ne saurait se réduire à un récit linéaire des innovations techniques qui ont permis d’exploiter telle ou telle ressource ou de mettre en œuvre tel ou tel convertisseur plus efficace que ceux dont on disposait auparavant. Un système énergétique est toujours sous-tendu par des structures et des choix politiques, économiques, sociaux. Pour comprendre la façon dont les sociétés industrialisées sont arrivées au régime énergétique dont elles prétendent – dans le meilleur des cas – vouloir sortir, il nous faut comprendre comment elles y sont entrées et, pour cela, étudier l’histoire du rapport des sociétés à l’énergie dans le temps. C’est cette histoire qu’explorent les vingt-trois contributions réunies ici. Elles s’efforcent de montrer les enjeux de la mobilisation et de la dépense énergétiques, les intérêts qui les sous-tendent, les acteurs qui ont bénéficié des choix effectués et ceux qui en ont pâti, l’influence de ces choix sur la santé, l’environnement, les modes de vie. La complexité des systèmes et des transitions énergétiques se révèle au fil de ces analyses, de l’Écosse médiévale au Cameroun contemporain en passant par l’Espagne du premier XXe siècle.

The here collected contributions relating to the 46th International Conference of the Representation Disciplines Teachers, organized jointly by Sapienza University of Rome, Roma Tre University, and San Raffaele Roma University, aim to offer the scientific community a reflection on the theoretical and methodological aspects related to the concept of èkphrasis, a term that, in the field of representation, concerns descriptive, analogical, and digital activities that generate new knowledge in several areas of application. The Conference aims to place at the center of the discussion an interpretation of the concept of research that, without neglecting an idea of study, protection, and enhancement of environmental and cultural heritage, focuses on the needs of contemporary society and its possible developments, making use of innovative theoretical, methodological, and operational activities, including those characterized by an interdisciplinary approach. According to this interpretation, research can also be seen as a foreshadowing of the definition and testing of experimental proposals aimed at exploring new areas of investigation: this opens up imaginative and utopian perspectives in the relationship between the sciences, the arts, and the disciplines that contribute to common goals, through the experimentation of methods, techniques, and languages for conceiving, prefiguring, designing, and representing.

In diesem Open-Access-Buch wird das grundlegende Problem der Kooperation innerhalb der Rational-Choice-Theorie diskutiert. Ausgehend vom Gefangenendilemma analysiert die Autorin verschiedene theoretische Ansätze zur Erklärung rationaler Kooperation, darunter utilitaristische, evolutionäre und kollektivistische Modelle. Im Zentrum steht die strukturelle Rationalität nach Julian Nida-Rümelin, die gestärkt und um eine epistemische Dimension erweitert wird. Ziel ist es, ein plausibles Konzept kooperativen Handelns jenseits konsequentialistischer Reduktionen zu entwickeln, das sowohl philosophisch fundiert als auch praktisch anschlussfähig ist. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass Kooperation keineswegs irrational sein muss, sondern eine vernünftige Grundlage im Rahmen struktureller Rationalität haben kann.

National security is being redefined in the 21st century. Rapid advances in technology are reminiscent of the initiation of the nuclear age. As the cyber realm and outer space develop as new domains of international competition, there are new strategies and tools for states to utilize and also defend against. Important elements of national security and some strategies are not new but would benefit from exploration with a fresh perspective. This book seeks to explore some of the changing relationships, the nature of alliances, and the UN to better understand national security in the digital and information age. The framework of international law as applied to new domains and gray-zone activity will also be explored to understand the tactics being used in the current strategic environment. Examining these significant elements of national security with a modern eye provides important insights for policymakers and the public in this new age of national security.

This work highlights how the costs and CO2-emissions of land-based wind turbines can be reduced by means of an innovative and material efficient support structure concept. Thereby the yaw system is placed at the tower base, allowing the whole wind turbine tower to be rotated. The potential of a rotatable inclined lattice tower concept was analysed by means of aero-servo-elastic load simulations in the FAST environment. A balance between different cost aspects revealed significant savings.

This Special Issue of Cancers focuses on new advances in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, both surgical and pharmacological (and combinations of these), and novel approaches to tackle treatment resistance and improve our understanding of this phenomenon.

Internationalisation is an important process currently observed in the contemporary global economy. It consists in creating and developing diverse forms of cross-border ties between enterprises and foreign direct investment is an example of these. Multinational enterprises are looking for optimal locations in almost all (politically and economically safe) countries and regions across the globe._x000D_ Most governments actively compete for investors by offering different incentive schemes, such as, inter alia, fiscal, financial, regulatory, and technical and information instruments and measures. The primary research goal of the study is to assess the importance of incentives offered to foreign direct investors by the evaluation of their effects understood in this case as investor reaction to such incentives. Hence, the process is seen from the investor perspective. The first part of the monograph is devoted to theoretical aspects of assisting foreign investors. The second part, which is empirical, discusses studies conducted to assess the relevance of incentives from the point of view of the host country economy._x000D_ The publication is addressed mainly to economists and representatives of international business. It may also be of interest to people engaged in business operations in international contexts: managers, experts, representatives of public administration. The monograph should also be recommended as an excellent supplementary reading for students of all university courses connected with the internationalisation of enterprises.

The book "Recent Developments in Optoelectronic Devices" is about the latest developments in optoelectronics. This book is divided into three categories: light emitting devices, sensors, and light harvesters. This book also discusses the theoretical aspects of device design for iridium complexes as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), strategies for developing novel nanostructured materials, silicon-rich oxide (SRO) electroluminescent devices, and multifunctional optoelectronic devices developed on resistive switching effects. The worldwide participation of authors has contributed to the unifying effect of science. Furthermore, interested readers will also find information on the screen printed technology using semiconductor devices, nonlinear phenomena in quantum devices, experimental set up of optoelectronics flexible logic gate to realize logic operations, autonomous vehicles, and the latest developments in perovskites as solar cells.

Silicon has been proven to be remarkably resilient as a commercial electronic material. The microelectronics industry has harnessed nanotechnology to continually push the performance limits of silicon devices and integrated circuits. Rather than shrinking its market share, silicon is displacing “competitor” semiconductors in domains such as high-frequency electronics and integrated photonics. There are strong business drivers underlying these trends; however, an important contribution is also being made by research groups worldwide, who are developing new configurations, designs, and applications of silicon-based nanoscale and nanostructured materials. This Special Issue features a selection of papers which illustrate recent advances in the preparation of chemically or physically engineered silicon-based nanostructures and their application in electronic, photonic, and mechanical systems.

Originally published in 1986. Are there two kinds of problems—the scientific and the philosophic—each requiring different methods for solution? Or are there, rather, two different ways of approaching a problem, each yielding a different answer according to the method used? Biomedical researcher Sir Harold Himsworth urges scientists not to shy away from using scientific methods to grapple with problems traditionally accepted as belonging to the province of philosophy. The difference between science and philosophy lies not in the problems to which they are directed, Himsworth argues, but rather in the methods they use for solving them. To the scientist, a proposition is something to be investigated; to the philosopher, something to be accepted as a basis for thought. Since the development of the scientific method, substantial progress has been made toward mastering problems in the natural environment. If we are ever to attain a degree of control over problems that derive from human activities, Himsworth claims that we only succeed by approaching them in a comparably objective way.

A bold and unprecedented look at a cutting-edge movement in architecture Toward a Living Architecture? is the first book-length critique of the emerging field of generative architecture and its nexus with computation, biology, and complexity. Starting from the assertion that we should take generative architects' rhetoric of biology and sustainability seriously, Christina Cogdell examines their claims from the standpoints of the sciences they draw on-complex systems theory, evolutionary theory, genetics and epigenetics, and synthetic biology. She reveals significant disconnects while also pointing to approaches and projects with significant potential for further development. Arguing that architectural design today often only masquerades as sustainable, Cogdell demonstrates how the language of some cutting-edge practitioners and educators can mislead students and clients into thinking they are getting something biological when they are not. In a narrative that moves from the computational toward the biological and from current practice to visionary futures, Cogdell uses life-cycle analysis as a baseline for parsing the material, energetic, and pollution differences between different digital and biological design and construction approaches. Contrary to green-tech sustainability advocates, she questions whether quartzite-based silicon technologies and their reliance on rare earth metals as currently designed are sustainable for much longer, challenging common projections of a computationally designed and manufactured future. Moreover, in critiquing contemporary architecture and science from a historical vantage point, she reveals the similarities between eugenic design of the 1930s and the aims of some generative architects and engineering synthetic biologists today. Each chapter addresses a current architectural school or program while also exploring a distinct aspect of the corresponding scientific language, theory, or practice. No other book critiques generative architecture by evaluating its scientific rhetoric and disjunction from actual scientific theory and practice. Based on the author's years of field research in architecture studios and biological labs, this rare, field-building book does no less than definitively, unsparingly explain the role of the natural sciences within contemporary architecture.

The employment of printing techniques as cost-effective methods to fabricate low cost, flexible, disposable and sustainable solar cells is intimately dependent on the substrate properties and the adequate electronic devices to be powered by them. Among such devices, there is currently a growing interest in the development of user-oriented and multipurpose systems for intelligent packaging or on-site medical diagnostics, which would greatly benefit from printable solar cells as their energy source for autonomous operation. This chapter first describes and analyzes different types of cellulose-based substrates for flexible and cost effective optoelectronic and bio devices to be powered by printed solar cells. Cellulose is one of the most promising platforms for green recyclable electronics and it is fully compatible with large-scale printing techniques, although some critical requirements must be addressed. Paper substrates exist in many forms. From common office paper, to packaging cardboard used in the food industry, or nanoscale engineered cellulose (e.g. bacterial cellulose). However, it is the structure and content of paper that determines its end use. Secondly, proof-of-concept of optoelectronic and bio devices produced by inkjet printing are described and show the usefulness of solar cells as a power source or as a chemical reaction initiator for sensors.

The Affordable Care Act implements the employer mandate, which requires firms with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance or face penalties, and the individual “affordability firewall," which limits subsidies to individuals lacking access to alternative sources of coverage that are “affordable." This report examines the policy impacts of the affordability firewall and investigates two potential modifications.

The first rotor performance predictions were published by Joukowsky exactly 100 years ago. Although a century of research has expanded the knowledge of rotor aerodynamics enormously, and modern computer power and measurement techniques now enable detailed analyses that were previously out of reach, the concepts proposed by Froude, Betz, Joukowsky and Glauert for modelling a rotor in performance calculations are still in use today, albeit with modifications and expansions. This book is the result of the author's curiosity as to whether a return to these models with a combination of mathematics, dedicated computations and wind tunnel experiments could yield more physical insight and answer some of the old questions still waiting to be resolved. Although most of the work included here has been published previously, the book connects the various topics, linking them in a coherent storyline."The Fluid Dynamic Basis for Actuator Disc and Rotor Theories" was first published in 2018. This Revised Second Edition (2022) will be of interest to those working in all branches of rotor aerodynamics - wind turbines, propellers, ship screws and helicopter rotors. It has been written for proficient students and researchers, and reading it will demand a good knowledge of inviscid (fluid) mechanics. DOI 10.3233/STAL9781643682792

Eight disputations on precedence have been preserved from Ancient Mesopotamia. In these texts, two opposing understandings of everyday life engage in a verbal argument. The works served at one time to teach oratorical competency to individuals receiving advanced literacy training. This volume examines the argumentation structure of the dialogues, thereby contributing to research on oratorical practice in the Ancient Middle East.