Open Access Books

Fields of Gold critically examines the history, ideas, and political struggles surrounding the financialization of farmland. In particular, Madeleine Fairbairn focuses on developments in two of the most popular investment locations, the US and Brazil, looking at the implications of financiers' acquisition of land and control over resources for rural livelihoods and economic justice. At the heart of Fields of Gold is a tension between efforts to transform farmland into a new financial asset class, and land's physical and social properties, which frequently obstruct that transformation. But what makes the book unique among the growing body of work on the global land grab is Fairbairn's interest in those acquiring land, rather than those affected by land acquisitions. Fairbairn's work sheds ethnographic light on the actors and relationships—from Iowa to Manhattan to São Paulo—that have helped to turn land into an attractive financial asset class. Thanks to generous funding from UC Santa Cruz, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

How do members of the »second generation« in the post-colonial era develop their own life plans between racism, exoticism and diaspora?

Philosophical Foundations of Mixed Methods Research provides a comprehensive examination of the philosophical foundations of mixed methods research. It offers new defences of the seven main approaches to mixed methods (the pragmatist approach, the transformative approach, the indigenous approach, the dialectical approach, the dialectical pluralist approach, the performative approach, and the realist approach) written by leading mixed methods researchers. Each approach is accompanied by critical reflections chapter from philosophers’ point of view. The book shows the value of the use of mixed methods from a philosophical point of view and offers a systematic and critical examination of these positions and approaches from a philosophical point of view. The volume also offers a platform to promote a dialogue between mixed methods researchers and philosophers of science and provides foundations for further research and teaching of this hotly debated topic. This volume is ideal for researchers and advanced students, and anyone who is interested in research methods and the social sciences more generally.

Is it possible for conservationists to approve of the reconstruction of old façades when virtually everything behind them is modern? Should they continue to protect the front façade, when the rest of the historic building has vanished? Is it socially responsible to spend government money on reconstructing a historic building that has been completely destroyed? Can one do such a thing fifty years on? According to reigning ideas in the world of conservation, the answer to all these questions is 'no'. It is felt that building a stage set is dishonest, and rebuilding something that no longer exists is labelled a lie against history. Where does this predilection for honesty originate? And why do people prefer modern architecture to the reconstruction of what has been lost? Perhaps we are witnessing the legacy of Functionalism here, a movement that denounced the building of pseudo-architecture. Functionalism originated in Romanticism, when architects turned their backs on academic formalism and strove to invent a new, rational form of building. This romantic hunger for honesty was adopted by the conservationists, giving rise to a new respect for the authentic art work and a rejection of historicist restorations. Among conservationists too, distaste arose for the cultivation of a harmonious urban image, because an urban image that is maintained artificially 'old' was seen as a form of fraud.

A guided tour through the nuanced politics of architectural illusion, The Vatican to Vegas takes the reader from lavish Baroque fantasies of the seventeenth century to the Electronic Baroque of today. The ›scripted spaces‹ described by Norman M. Klein are punctuated with devices widely used in special effects since 1500: shocks, surprise twists, grand fakes and copies. Since its first publication 2004, The Vatican To Vegas has emerged as a classic across many fields, from media and architecture, to the fine arts and urban planning. Its timing was ironic: Klein assumed in 2004 that the future of scripted illusion was about to radically shift. This new edition brings the ironic story up to the present, and into the digitally overwhelmed ›scripted spaces‹ of the future.

For Philosophical Theology in Transition is the Challenge of Fideism and Atheism very important, because they are both against a Ungodly God.

Der Frage, was mit dem „Allgemeinen“ der Allgemeinen Erziehungswissenschaft gemeint sein könnte, widmet sich der vorliegende Band. Ziel des Sammelbandes wie der damit verbundenen Tagung der DGfE-Kommission Wissenschaftsforschung war es, empirische Daten z.B. zu den Denominationen „Allgemeine Erziehungswissenschaft“ bzw. „Allgemeine Pädagogik“ zu erheben sowie Analysen der Frage nach den Konturen der darunter versammelten Professuren zu erstellen. Der Band gibt somit Einblicke in die aktuelle innerdisziplinäre Verhandlung der Allgemeinen Erziehungswissenschaft.

The amputation of a limb is a surgical intervention used as a last resort to remove irreparably damaged, diseased, or congenitally malformed limbs where retention of the limb is a threat to the well-being of the individual. The procedure traumatically alters the body image, but often leaves sensations that refer to the missing body part, the phantom limb. In 50-80% of cases, these sensations are perceived as painful and referred to as ‘Phantom Limb Pain’.Direct Nerve Stimulation for Induction of Sensation and Treatment of Phantom Limb Pain provides an overview of research, experiences and results for the design, development and test of hardware and software components, and the ambition to safely implant and evaluate a novel neural interface system to combat phantom limb pain in an amputee volunteer subject.

This textbook, Applied Mathematics in Ferroelectricity and Piezoelectricity, was authored to provide the reader with a solid mathematical background for studying “ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity” as a supplemental reference to my three course books, Ferroelectric Devices 2nd Edition (2010), Micromechatronics 2nd Edition (2019), and FEM and Micromechatronics with ATILA Software (2008), all published from CRC Press. “Physics” prefers “simplicity”, converting a complicated phenomenon expressed by a function.

Mit dem Begriff der Nation entwirft Marcus Koch einen Entwicklungsschritt für die Europäische Integration, durch den diese in den Herzen und Köpfen der Menschen stabilisiert werden kann. Er zeigt den Nutzen und das Potenzial der Nation als modernes politisches Strukturmerkmal in einer Zeit auf, in der die Probleme einer stetig komplexer werdenden Umwelt die Gesellschaft in Europa immer stärker unter Druck setzen. In den Zeiten einer in der öffentlichen Diskussion beschädigt scheinenden Europäischen Einigung werden so Anregungen für ein Weiterdenken über den Stand der derzeitigen Europäischen Union hinaus geboten.

Ferritic-martensitic steels are established structural materials for high-temperature applications. However, these steels show characteristic softening under cyclic loading. Based on a comprehensive mechanical characterization, a coupled viscoplastic model was established to describe cyclic softening and lifetime of ferritic-martensitic steels under combined creep-fatigue loading.

"When considering societal expectations and traditions in research, assumptions are often an integral aspect – particularly in the disciplines pertaining to organization studies. The objective of this anthology is to analyze, clarify and demystify assumptions about research and the way that organizations work. The book is interdisciplinary in its form and content. The chapters are in part theoretical and analytical, yet draw on various empirical illustrations. In doing so, the book touches on the research process, basic assumptions in research, possibilities as well as pitfalls that both novice researchers as well as more experienced ones ought to keep in mind. The individual chapters address research and publication through a range of areas and topics including: accounting and management control, examination of the term ‘organization’ itself, and exploration of behavioral and social processes that lead to change in organizations and society as a whole. All of the chapters illuminate different roles in the research process in organization studies. Dealing with Expectations and Traditions in Research will be of interest to researchers on all levels, including PhD students and master’s students writing term papers and their theses, as well as in methodological courses and discussions."

The goal of this monograph is to develop the theory of wavelet harmonic analysis on the sphere. By starting with orthogonal polynomials and functional Hilbert spaces on the sphere, the foundations are laid for the study of spherical harmonics such as zonal functions. The book also discusses the construction of wavelet bases using special functions, especially Bessel, Hermite, Tchebychev, and Gegenbauer polynomials.

El smartphone suele estar literalmente frente a nuestras narices, por eso creemos saber lo que es. ¿Pero lo sabemos? Para responder a esta pregunta, once antropólogos vivieron durante 16 meses en comunidades de África, Asia, Europa y Sudamérica, enfocándose en el uso de smartphones por gente mayor. Sus investigaciones revelan que son una tecnología para todos, no solo para los jóvenes. El Smartphone Global presenta una serie de nuevas perspectivas que emergen de este proyecto de investigación global y comparativo. El smartphone se ha convertido tanto en un lugar dentro del cual vivimos como en un aparato que usamos para tener “oportunismo perpetuo”, pues siempre está con nosotros. Los autores muestran cómo el smartphone es más que un “aparato con aplicaciones” y exploran las diferencias entre lo que las personas dicen de él y la forma en cómo lo usan. El smartphone no tiene precedentes por el grado en el cual podemos transformarlo. Como resultado, rápidamente asimila nuestros valores personales. Para comprenderlo debemos considerar una serie de matices nacionales y culturales, tales como la comunicación visual en China y Japón, el dinero móvil en Camerún y Uganda, y el acceso a la información de salud en Chile e Irlanda, junto a las diversas trayectorias del envejecimiento en Al-Quds, Brasil e Italia. Solo entonces sabremos qué es el smartphone y podremos comprender sus consecuencias en las vidas de las personas alrededor del mundo.

This volume offers a systematic survey of migration histories in the central transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe from the 4th to the 15th century C.E.; Readership: All interested in the medieval history of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean and phenomena of migration and human mobility.