Open Access Books

Caves, rocks, springs and trees shaped ancient cult practice to a great extent and were important, sometimes legitimising components of Greek sanctuaries. They could even constitute the actual sanctuary itself. Since such natural sanctuaries were not per se precursors of later magnificent sanctuaries and an intentional natural decoration is therefore to be understood as an alternative to an architectural decoration, we will discuss what qualified natural constitutive elements as components of a sanctuary or as a sanctuary and what their function was in a sacred context on the basis of Western Asia Minor archaeological sites.

Social reportages are written by reporters who fight for the weak and expose injustices. So it is said in the profession, in handbooks and among the genre’s supporters. But what is hidden behind the ideal? And what does the commitment look like when it is converted into text? This book highlights reportages by some of the 20th century’s most celebrated Swedish reporters and examines the ways in which their texts convey a commitment to the reader. The narratologically based analyses are performed against a background of changing ideas about a reporter’s role in society. It turns out that the commitment is often time-related and can be counteracted by generalizing values about the depicted people. Here, the difference between empathy and compassion becomes crucial. The selected reporters represent Swedish social reportage at central turning points within the tradition. Ester Blenda Nordström and Gustaf Hellström have been chosen for the 1910s, Ivar Lo-Johansson for the years around 1930, Barbro Alving for the 1950s, Jan Guillou for the 1970s and Maciej Zaremba and Karen Söderberg for the 1990s and 2000s.

The exploitation of biomass resources has resulted in an urgent need to produce energy, fuels, and chemical products to replace traditional fossil-based sources. This Topic highlights a variety of valorization strategies for the production of bio-energy and added-value bio-products. The authors present different approaches, starting from the direct conversion of waste biomasses into energy and then moving towards the production of biofuels and bioproducts, such as bio-ethanol, biodiesel, and corresponding by-products originating from the production chain, while also investigating the catalytic aspects and intensification issues. Biochar production and exploitation are topics that are discussed by many authors in this Topic, optimizing thermochemical synthesis and the corresponding applications, mainly as fuel, soil fertilizer, and adsorbent for environmental pollutants. Lastly, different strategies for the fractionation/conversion of the main biomass components into high-added-value products were investigated, highlighting the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids via anaerobic fermentation, the depolymerization of the lignin component via fast-pyrolysis or oxidative paths, and the extraction of chitin nanowhiskers from crustacean biomass with cheap and sustainable ionic liquids. In summary, this Topic showcases innovative developments in the field of biomass conversion strategies, emphasizing the conversion of waste and alignment with environmental, economic, and social sustainability criteria.

The major breakthrough in ship design around 1400 creating the full-rigged ship constituted a general purpose technology. It had far-reaching effects on shipping, trade volume, orientation of trade routes, location of production, settlement patterns and many other aspects of life throughout the globe from 1400 to1800. The greater efficiency of the type in a number of uses led to its dissemination, to a limited degree, throughout the world. Spillovers from the success of the design were extensive and included for example a literature on designing and building ships, improvements in navigation and in government practices. Advances in shipbuilding were one of the very few technologies in the period that qualified as a technological advance with massive consequences.

El presente libro es resultado de una serie de contribuciones hechas por destacados miembros del Grupo de Trabajo “Integración y Unidad Latinoamericana" a lo largo del año 2018. Originariamente inspiradas por el debate y los interrogantes surgidos durante la reunión anual del grupo realizada en Buenos Aires los días 06 y 07 de noviembre de 2017, cuyo propósito fue analizar la crisis del multilateralismo y su impacto sobre el hemisferio - con foco en los procesos de integración regional. En el mes siguiente de ese mismo año, se continuó profundizando en dicha discusión paralelamente a la realización de la Reunión Ministerial de la Organización Mundial de Comercio que sesionó en la ciudad de Buenos Aires. Estas iniciativas impulsadas por el GT –como parte de un programa regional más amplio de los GT de CLACSO–, aborda en términos más especícos el análisis del punto de inexión o de reconguración del proceso de globalización y de su correspondiente sistema multilateral hegemónico, así como las implicancias que tales cambios conllevan para los esquemas de integración de América Latina y el Caribe. Estos fenómenos tienen como trasfondo el estallido de la crisis nanciera de 2008 en Estados Unidos y su posterior mutación en crisis global, la cual no ha podido ser superada del todo hasta ahora.

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This open access book describes the results of natural language processing and machine learning methods applied to clinical text from electronic patient records. It is divided into twelve chapters. Chapters 1-4 discuss the history and background of the original paper-based patient records, their purpose, and how they are written and structured. These initial chapters do not require any technical or medical background knowledge. The remaining eight chapters are more technical in nature and describe various medical classifications and terminologies such as ICD diagnosis codes, SNOMED CT, MeSH, UMLS, and ATC. Chapters 5-10 cover basic tools for natural language processing and information retrieval, and how to apply them to clinical text. The difference between rule-based and machine learning-based methods, as well as between supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods, are also explained. Next, ethical concerns regarding the use of sensitive patient records for research purposes are discussed, including methods for de-identifying electronic patient records and safely storing patient records. The book’s closing chapters present a number of applications in clinical text mining and summarise the lessons learned from the previous chapters. The book provides a comprehensive overview of technical issues arising in clinical text mining, and offers a valuable guide for advanced students in health informatics, computational linguistics, and information retrieval, and for researchers entering these fields.

Das Buch Mein Kampf ist wie keine andere Schrift zu einem Symbol des Nationalsozialismus und der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft geworden. Gleichzeitig hält sich bis in die Gegenwart hartnäckig die Fehleinschätzung vom ungelesenen und unbeachteten Bestseller. Die Ergebnisse von Othmar Plöckingers Studie stellen derartige Klischees über Mein Kampf in Frage. Plöckinger zeichnet die komplexe Entstehungsgeschichte des Buches nach, die keineswegs von Willkür geprägt war er entfaltet die weit verzweigte Publikationsgeschichte und verfolgt das schwer zu überblickende Nach- und Nebeneinander der verschiedenen Ausgaben und Auflagen. Sehr deutlich analysiert er schließlich die intensive Auseinandersetzung mit dem Buch in Deutschland vor und nach 1933 und in den Staaten der späteren Alliierten.

La justicia social se ha convertido en una cuestión decisiva en la política internacional. Son patentes las secuelas de la crisis financiera de 2008 en cuanto a la emergencia social, la precariedad en el empleo y el deterioro de las condiciones materiales de vida de amplios sectores de la población. En Crisis y sentidos de injusticia se analizan las concepciones de la ciudadanía sobre las políticas de austeridad aprobadas por unos gobiernos que, en ocasiones, son más cuestionados que los agentes del mercado que las causan. A partir de los casos de trabajadoras del hogar, inmigrantes indocumentados, vecinos de barrios periféricos o empleados de la banca, se estudia cómo se generan los sentidos de justicia e injusticia en un contexto de recesión, las reclamaciones individuales y colectivas del «derecho a tener derechos» y los vínculos de las denominadas «comunidades morales». Con esta obra los autores buscan revisar algunas ideas preconcebidas sobre la percepción de la crisis, a la vez que aportan elementos para una reorientación de las políticas públicas.

Seit Großunternehmen unter den Bedingungen sinkender Wachstumsraten und global erhöhter Renditeforderungen verstärkt Arbeitsplätze abbauen, avancieren Existenzgründungen und ihre Förderung auch in Deutschland zum Hoffnungsträger der Struktur- und Beschäftigungspolitik. Im Buch wird die zentrale Hypothese überprüft, dass die Existenzgründungsförderung in ihrer derzeitigen Ausgestaltung erstens nicht nachhaltig zu mehr Beschäftigung beiträgt und sie zweitens den wirtschaftlichen Strukturwandel bremst. Für den Fördereffekt von Existenzgründungshilfen ist neben der Mikroebene vor allem auch die Makroebene relevant. Dem langfristig positiven Beschäftigungseffekt in den geförderten Gründungen stehen Verdrängungseffekte bei anderen Unternehmen gegenüber.

Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170 AD) is one of the most influential scholars of all time. While he is also the author of treatises on geography, optics and harmonics, his fame primarily stems from two works on the science of the stars, dealing with mathematical astronomy (the Almagest) and astrology (the Tetrabiblos). The Almagest and the Tetrabiblos remained the fundamental texts on the science of the stars for some 1500 years. Both were translated several times into Arabic and Latin and were heavily commented upon, glossed, discussed, and also criticised and improved upon, in the Islamic world and in Christian Europe. Yet, the reception of Ptolemy in medieval cultures is still to a large extent a terra incognita of the history of science. The Arabic and Latin versions of the Almagest and the Tetrabiblos are for the most part unavailable in modern editions, their manuscripts remain largely unexplored and, generally speaking, their history has never been systematically investigated. This volume gathers together fifteen contributions dealing with various aspects of the reception of Ptolemy’s astronomy and astrology in the Islamic world and in Christian Europe up to the seventeenth century. Contributions are by José Bellver, Jean-Patrice Boudet, Josep Casulleras, Bojidar Dimitrov, Dirk Grupe, Paul Hullmeine, Alexander Jones, Richard L. Kremer, Y. Tzvi Langermann, H. Darrel Rutkin, Michael H. Shank, Nathan Sidoli, Carlos Steel, Johannes Thomann and Henry Zepeda.

This book discusses pertinent aspects of agricultural economics and rural development. It includes case studies that assess the impact of tomato cultivation on food security and poverty alleviation of rural dwellers and agricultural producers. Additionally, it examines farmers’ knowledge of organic livestock farming, a novel method of livestock production. The book also contains a review of factors affecting the efficiency of vegetable production and the basics of good agribusiness plans for successful agribusiness activities.

Social emulation stimulated the demand for clothing with the rapid generalisation of certain types of dress in given social circles. Beginning with this birth of fashion in the 16th century, the 18th century witnessed a revolution in consumption. Material culture had a public projection, and appearance and luxury became variables of civilization. In this methodological framework, and using tutorship accounts and inventories (from the Renaissance and Enlightened periods, and from rural and courtesan contexts), this paper aims to examine cloths and accessories that made a difference, with consideration to age, and gender. The evolution of this process in Castile is compared with that in other western European countries in terms of innovation, availability, intercultural contacts and social aspirations.

Making a Living between Crisis and Ceremonies offers an account on the practice of everyday life of the Torajan people both in the highlands of Tana Toraja (South Sulawesi, Indonesia) and elsewhere (Makassar, Jakarta, Maleisië).; Readership: All concerned with the fields of livelihoods, migration, transnationalism, decentralization, economic crisis, and anyone interested in an ethnography of a Southeast Asian highland community: the Toraja.

The potential of global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) as an efficient tool in providing precise positioning has been widely recognized. In particular, the precise point positioning (PPP) technique is receiving increasing interest due to its cost-effectiveness, global coverage, and high accuracy. In addition, the emergence of multiple satellite navigation systems, including BDS, Galileo, modernized GPS, and GLONASS, brings great opportunities and challenges for PPP. For instance, the additional frequency as well as the new signal of BDS-3 and Galileo enables the fast convergence of PPP by efficient ambiguity resolution (AR). More recently, besides the standard point positioning, BDS, Galileo, as well as QZSS have also provided the satellite-based PPP service. Obviously, the development of multi-frequency multi-GNSS and their built-in PPP service has popularized the use of PPP as an efficiency technique in navigation, timing, as well as geoscience applications.