Open Access Books

Knowledge and awareness of the risks generated by natural hazards are essential requirements for the enhancement of communities' resilience to disasters. United Nations directives have recently pointed out the necessity of undertaking actions aimed at anticipating, managing, and mitigating disaster risks to reduce their economic and social impact and protect the health, socioeconomic assets, cultural heritage, and ecosystems of communities and countries. While the increasing occurrence of disasters caused by meteorological events, such as floods, storms, and droughts, can be directly ascribed to the consequence of climate change, disasters induced by earthquakes and tsunamis are increasing even if their frequency of occurrence is historically unchanged. This Special Issue addresses concepts, methods, and predictive methodologies for assessing natural hazard risks. It presents fifteen articles focusing on the single-risk assessment of a broad range of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, river/sea floods, meteotsunamis, tornados, hydrological and meteorological drought, liquefaction, as well as on multirisk assessment in the presence of multiple hazards. The adopted methodologies rely on (a) quantitative, semi-quantitative, and qualitative methods for the assessment of the risks related to natural hazards; (b) risk analysis at different scales; (c) multi-hazard risk assessment techniques; (d) real-time hazard monitoring and warning systems; (e) disaster mitigation strategies; and (f) risk management and emergency planning on multiple scales.

Nombre d’historiens de la Belle Époque ont croisé dans leur travail une certaine Dick May. Mais, jusqu’alors, peu se sont vraiment plongés dans l’existence de cette intellectuelle. Enveloppée dans un pseudonyme masculin aux sonorités américaines, Jeanne Weill a cherché à se dissimuler dans un univers hostile aux femmes. Elle a en partie réussi, puisqu’on avait jusqu’alors perdu sa trace. En remontant les rares pistes laissées par Dick May, on retrace la naissance d’une dreyfusarde engagée dans tous les combats de la Belle Époque.Portée par une inépuisable foi en l’éducation populaire et animée par une énergie rare, Dick May fonde plusieurs institutions d’enseignement supérieur, dont la première école de journalisme française, et s’investit corps et âme dans le mouvement des universités populaires. Pour elle, l’instruction est la solution à l’urgente question sociale.Si la Première Guerre mondiale constitue une immense désillusion pour cette idéaliste, elle révèle aussi les permanences de l’antisémitisme et le retour en grâce des forces politiques conservatrices. C’est l’apogée d’une campagne de presse contre Dick May à l’heure de la prétendue Union sacrée.Comment cette femme, juive et autodidacte, réussit-elle à devenir une figure incontournable dans les réseaux intellectuels du Paris de la Belle Époque ?

With almost 1749 cases diagnosed in France in 2016, syphilis has not disappeared yet. Still, the current sanitary conditions are not comparable at all with those of the mid-19th century, and not even to those of 1922 when, as reported by Virginie De Luca, “the commission on prevention of venereal diseases estimated they cost 140.000 lives” (stillbirths, abortions due to pathologies, infant or adult deaths) and caused a ratio of 1 sick adult out of 10. And yet, the “scourge of Naples” is still challenging society and medicine. The very nature of syphilis both frightens and fascinates. A shameful disease contracted in the intimacy of the bedroom, it has been questioning our societies for many centuries now, notably their morals, their capacity to medically and therapeutically innovate, as well as their arrangements for the enforcement of a public health policy or their will to assume an efficient healthcare policy. Although those questions are not recent, they remain deeply rooted in our relationship to the disease and to the bodies, which can be severely bruised in the third stage of its evolution. Coming from ancient times, syphilis (along with other venereal diseases), maybe more than any other contagious disease, embodies the tensions of a world that started globalising from the 16th century on, with a pace quickening in the 19th century. The main topic of this volume is to propose a convergence between thoughts emanating from historians, anthropologists and doctors with a focus on the “shock” caused by the encounter of the pale Treponema with societies.

"This study brings out the norms and culturally dependent values that formed the basis of the theoretical regulation and the practical handling of incest cases in Sweden 1680–1940, situating this development in a wider European context. It discusses a broad variety of general human subjects that are as important today as they were hundreds of years ago, such as love, death, family relations, religion, crimes, and punishments. By analysing criminal-case material and applications for dispensation, as well as political and legislative sources, the incest phenomenon is explored from different perspectives over a long time period. It turns out that although the incest debate has been dominated by religious, moral, and later medical beliefs, ideas about love, age, and family hierarchies often influenced the assessment of individual incest cases. These unspoken values could be decisive – sometimes life-determining – for the outcome of various incest cases. The book will interest scholars from several different fields of historical research, such as cultural history, the history of crime and of sexuality, family history, history of kinship, and historical marriage patterns. The long time period also broadens the number of potential readers. Since the subject concerns general human issues that are as current today as they were three centuries ago, the topic will also appeal to a non-academic audience. "

W ostatnich dekadach XIX w. rozwój kolarstwa przyciągnął uwagę zaawansowanych armii, które zrozumiały zalety szybkiego przemieszczania się piechoty oraz możliwości pozostawienia rowerów bez opieki. Było to niewątpliwym atutem w przeciwieństwie do, na przykład kawalerii, gdzie część składu szeregowego, musiała być wydzielona do opieki nad końmi. Opieka nad rowerem okazała się znacznie prostsza i tańsza niż nad drogimi w utrzymaniu zwierzętami. Armia czechosłowacka od chwili swego powstania korzystała z jednostek rowerowych, a każdy batalion graniczny miał własną kompanię rowerową. Na początku lat trzydziestych XX w. pojawiło się kilka opracowań dotyczących oddziałów rowerowych, zaś niedługo potem zostały utworzone bataliony rowerowe w ramach brygad kawalerii i szybkich dywizji (rýchla divízia). W 1938 r. bataliony rowerowe brały udział w tłumieniu powstania terrorystów genleinowskich, rowerzyści działały również na terytorium Podkarpacia, gdzie tłumili działalność polskich i węgierskich grup dywersyjnych. Gdy tylko stało się jasne, że rowerów można używać do celów wojskowych, pojawiło się pytanie, jak powinny wyglądać rowery odpowiednie do tych celów. Artykuł podejmuje kwestię czechosłowackich rowerów wojskowych, ich niewystarczającej jakości i niedbałego podejścia administracji wojskowej do rozwiązania tego problemu. Artykuł opiera się na materiałach archiwalnych przechowywanych w zbiorach Centralnego Archiwum Wojskowego – Archiwum Historycznego Wojska (Vojenský ústřední archiv – Vojenský historický archiv) i archiwach niektórych producentów rowerów, a także na literaturze z badanego okresu i opublikowanych doświadczeniach wojskowych jednostek rowerowych.

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.

This Reprint highlights recent advances in understanding how microorganisms and their metabolites influence agricultural productivity, food quality and safety, and environmental health. The contributions explore a wide range of topics, including plant–microbe interactions, microbial indicators of plant disease, biodegradation of toxic pollutants, microbial consortia for sustainable plant protection, innovative bioprocessing technologies, and the valorization of agro-industrial by-products. The Reprint also features studies on microbial genome analysis, mineral transformations mediated by microorganisms, and bacteriophage-based strategies for controlling multidrug-resistant pathogens in food. Together, these works showcase the growing potential of microorganisms as tools for sustainable solutions across agriculture, food systems, and environmental management.

Models for the administration of theological libraries vary significantly based on size, location, culture, and context. Commonly, theological libraries must develop an internal administration of policies, procedures, and goals in relation to collection management, staffing/volunteers, planning, reporting, and budget, as well as administer external relationships to a broader institution, library consortia, and other stakeholders. The targeted audience for this volume includes those starting a new theology library or beginning a new position in administration with principles relevant to established libraries and library directors.

Crip Authority explores how Renaissance writers and artists with disabilities drew on consolatory literature to enhance their authority and create a sense of disability community across the centuries. Elizabeth B. Bearden considers how Renaissance writers and artists understood their lived experiences of disability by drawing on the ancient genre of consolation, which aims to comfort people for a variety of hardships, including mental and physical disability. Renaissance writers used the art of consolation to resignify the mental and physical disabilities that their society frequently scorned into an expression of their military, spiritual, political, and most importantly for this study, writerly authority. Bearden names this kind of defiant authorial self-representation crip authority, thereby transgressively cripping our society’s ableist notions of who has the ability and authority to write. Disabled authors include Francesco Petrarca, Teresa de Cartagena, Giovani Paolo Lomazzo, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Robert Burton, and John Milton. They all explore their experiences of disability, but their work has rarely or never been considered from a disability studies perspective. Bearden thus brings today’s models of disability studies and crip theory together with early modern articulations of disability based on ancient and Renaissance models of military, political, biblical, and literary authority. In sum, Crip Authority makes a significant contribution to the growing field of early modern disability studies and invites us to rethink the extent of crip history and the endurance of disability gain.

Kann man Pflege im Kindergarten lernen? Die Pflegebildung in Deutschland beschreitet neue Wege: Viele Bundesländer ermöglichen neben den klinischen und ambulanten Bereichen der Pflege von Kindern und Jugendlichen auch den Einsatz an neuen Lernorten in der Sozialwirtschaft, die nun in den Fokus von Pflegelehrenden, -lernenden und Ausbildungsträger*innen rücken. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes tragen erstmals die Lernpotentiale und Lernhemmnisse dieser Neuerungen zusammen. Die Ergebnisse geben nicht nur Praxisanleitenden, Pflegelehrenden und Einrichtungsleitungen konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen an die Hand, sondern erlauben allen an der Pflegebildung Interessierten einen Einblick in die aktuellen Entwicklungen des Fachs.

Unterscheiden sich Männlichkeit und Weiblichkeit in der Sexualität? Sind Begehren und damit einhergehende Affekte geschlechtsspezifisch? Christa Binswanger untersucht die Wechselwirkung von Sexualität, Geschlecht und Affekt in deutschsprachiger Literatur von 1954 bis 2008. Sexuelle Scripts dienen ihr auf intrapsychischer, interpersoneller und kultureller Ebene als Analyseinstrument für ausgewählte literarische Texte, die historisch eingeordnet und einem queer reading unterzogen werden. Die Metapher des Palimpsests veranschaulicht dabei die Verflechtung sexueller Scripts mit Konzepten von Männlichkeit und Weiblichkeit.

Solidarität wird in Krisenzeiten sowie bei Ungerechtigkeit und Marginalisierung gefordert. Sie tritt dabei in unterschiedlichen Reichweiten und Akteurskonstellationen auf und basiert auf verschiedenen Motiven und Ausgangslagen. Julia Masurkewitz-Möller nimmt sich dieser Vielfalt an und erarbeitet eine Systematisierung der Solidarität, die Ordnung in den begrifflichen Dschungel des Konzepts bringt. Sie zeigt, dass verschiedene Solidaritätsformen trotz ihrer Unterschiede einen gemeinsamen Kern und eine Beziehung zueinander haben – und damit die Transformationen von Solidaritätsformen möglich machen.

This volume presents an edition of the Compendio di molti anni di guerre seguite in Ungheria , the Bolognese manuscript witness of Giovanni Marco Isolani’s work (1572/73–early 1606) on the Lange Türkenkrieg . Drawing on newly identified sources, the author’s profile now emerges with much greater clarity; the work itself, hitherto known mainly through the manuscript preserved in Munich, likewise reveals its full potential. The years 1594–1602 were marked by an intensification of military operations, particularly siege warfare. In this context, Isolani—an expert in fortification—appears as a direct and competent observer, giving his work—in several cases the only known narrative source for specific episodes—an internal perspective on the Habsburg armies and their military culture. The edition follows a conservative philological approach and presents Isolani’s work not merely as a firsthand account, but above all as a mature example of early modern war writing.

This edited collection brings together corpus-based research to provide a detailed analysis of gender and the discourse of women leaders or professionals in domains historically dominated by men, such as business, science, media and politics. Based on the analysis of real texts, the volume seeks to determine which traits are truly characteristic of feminine discourse, how women who have been successful in these domains have used their discourse to create and project their own identity, and what conclusions can be drawn regarding the characteristics of the discourse of successful female leaders. It incorporates a diachronic perspective that helps us understand the evolution of the role and discourse of and about women. The collection will be of interest to researchers in Spanish Applied Linguistics, Hispanic Sociolinguistics and Communication and Gender Studies.

The book contains the results of a research on the outcomes of a communication campaign of the risks related to exposure to chemicals. The initiative, aimed at students of 3rd, 4th and 5th high school classes of the City of Rome, explored the initial level of skills and knowledge on the chemical hazard, and then assessed the increase as a result of an information campaign conducted by experts of Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), in order to spread knowledge on the subject and form a group of aware young citizens.