Open Access Books

The implementation of transgenic food labeling in Peru has been at the center of public debate for more than 15 years. Although the Código de Protección y Defensa del Consumidor (2010) requires this labeling in its article 37, its practical application has faced a series of technical, legal and political barriers. One of the major points of friction is the percentage of tolerance. In 2025, El Indecopi proposed a threshold of 3% (solo se etiqueta if the transgenic content exceeds this limit). Sin embargo, consumer associations like ASPEC and the Consumer Protection Commission of the Congress are opposed, arguing that the law says "to incorporate", they set minimums, and that 3% is too permissive compared to other countries (like Brazil, which uses 1%). This book discusses the initiatives of the State institutions to derogate the moratorium on the entry of transgenics, which has reactivated the urgency of defining a clear label. While the official regulation is subject to consultation or dispute, the Peruvian consumer continues to acquire products with modified ingredients (especially corn and soy derivatives) with an explicit warning in most cases.

In recent years, the concept of “food security” has garnered significant attention among policymakers, activists, and educators. Stemming from a growing awareness of the complexities surrounding access to sufficient food globally, movements advocating for food justice and sovereignty have emerged in response to these systemic inequities and health disparities, particularly in local communities. With the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts in regions such as Ukraine and Gaza, and the escalating impacts of climate change, reliable food security has become exacerbated by these existing disparities. Gleanings from the Field argues that addressing food security is essential for tackling broader sustainability challenges facing humanity and recognizes the role of food in community-building, cultural exchange, and quality of life. However, promoting food security entails navigating intricate trade-offs, such as balancing economic interests in food supply with environmental concerns. This timely essay collection frames our food security challenges as “wicked problems,” puzzles without clear solutions that are characterized by evolving complexities and divergent stakeholder priorities. In classroom settings, they argue for the usage of experiential learning to cultivate “wicked problem-solving skills” among students. Gleanings from the Field exemplifies this approach, offering pedagogical interventions to prepare students for tackling these wicked problems, while advocating for high-impact learning experiences that enable students to grapple with the interconnected systems influencing food security. Through hands-on experiences and reflective practice, students gain a deeper understanding of these systems and their societal implications. Importantly, the contributions outlined in this volume underscore the need for a multidimensional view of food security, thus examining the intersections of economic interests, government policies, and social movements. By contextualizing food security within broader political-economic arrangements, educators can empower students to enact meaningful change. Gleanings from the Field argues for a holistic approach to food security education, one that acknowledges the fraught nature of wicked problems and equips students with the skills and knowledge needed for effective action. By integrating experiential learning, conceptual frameworks about food security and resilience, and real-world engagement, educators can cultivate a new generation of resilient problem-solvers committed to addressing food insecurity and other wicked problems.

Die Autorin prüft, wie gut die deutsche Kreditwirtschaft die Herausforderungen des demographischen Wandels bewältigt. Die veränderte Altersstruktur und neue Kundenbedürfnisse bedingen eine unternehmerische Anpassungsfähigkeit der Kreditinstitute. Die empirische Untersuchung beschäftigt sich mit der Innovativität des dreigliedrigen Bankensystems explizit im Bereich der Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie. Erstmals stellt die Autorin nach Bankengruppen differenzierte und vergleichbare Ergebnisse im konkreten Umgang mit dieser Veränderung auf. Sie klärt, welche Bankengruppen günstigere strukturelle Voraussetzungen für Unternehmensveränderungen haben und welche Sektoren der Kreditinstitute bei der Bewältigung der Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie bereits erfolgreicher und innovativer sind. Die Ergebnisse liefern einen Überblick über die Unterschiede zwischen den Bankengruppen und können als Basis zur Planung künftiger Veränderungsprozesse genutzt werden.

This open access book takes the current state of the Union seriously. The European Union is at a crossroads. Slowly recovering from a series of financial and economic crises, with trust fundamentally shaken by processes of disaggregation and increasingly nationalist politics, it is searching for new visions that are at once inspiring and workable. In its White Paper of 1 March 2017, the Commission proposed five non-exclusive options for the Future of Europe. As put by the Commission, the five scenarios are illustrative in nature to provoke thinking. They are not detailed blueprints or policy prescriptions. Likewise, they deliberately make no mention of legal or institutional processes – the form will follow the function. This book aims to debate not only the political vision of Europe, but also the issue of legal integration beyond Brexit. Apart from addressing the institutional challenges for the EU, the contributions to this volume focus on two key areas: rule of law and security. Rule of law and security are not only paradigmatic for the future of Europe but are also closely connected to a particular vision of Europe based on ‘integration through law’; a vision that has been strongly contested in recent years. The overarching question is: how can sustainable political and legal integration be achieved in Europe? The volume builds on a conference organised by the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies in November 2017 and includes chapters by leading scholars in the field from the Nordic countries and wider Europe. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Swedish Studies Network.

This work investigates the optimization of bipedal robots’ energy efficiency by using elastic couplings. The regarded robots are modeled as underactuated systems and controlled by input-output linearization. To investigate the influence of elastic couplings on energy efficiency as well as stability and robustness the movements of the robots as well as their elastic couplings are simultaneously optimized using numerical algorithms.

The spatial variability of dissolved arsenic (As) concentrations in aquifers was studied near Ha Noi, Vietnam. The goal was to identify major geochemical, sedimentological and hydrochemical differences between high and low As regions. Also, the behaviour of As and other elements during sequential extractions was characterized with micro synchrotron XRF analysis. Based on the results a conceptual model was developed which could explain the current situation on site and in other affected areas.

This Special Issue on “Fabrication of Carbon and related materials/ Metal Hybrids and Composites” presents the importance of the development of new composite and hybrid materials in different fields. It consists of 17 articles contributed by authors from different countries all over the world. The articles can be categorized into four classes. The first class of includes articles focusing on the synthesis of carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene hybrid and composite materials. The results include the developments of the methodology and know-how of the synthesis and functionalization of the graphene surface of fibers and nanotubes and their effects on binding with the metal matrix. The second class focuses on the synthesis of new polymeric materials based on pitch/polyethylene composites and their electrical and mechanical properties, including the correlations with its microstructures. Additionally, the second class presents the results of articles, including the synthesis of new biocompatible and eco-friendly metal oxide/polymer materials with antibacterial and antimicrobial activities. The third class includes articles focused on the applications of ceramic metal oxides, such as silica and clays in the development of solar cells and in the fabrications of membranes of water treatments and desalinations. The last part of this Special Issue presents results of the articles focused on high-entropy alloys and metal matrix composites and their weldability.

Cashless infrastructures are rapidly increasing, as credit cards, cryptocurrencies, online and mobile money, remittances, demonetization, and digitalization process replace coins and currencies around the world. Who’s Cashing In? explores how different modes of cashlessness impact, transform and challenge the everyday lives and livelihoods of local communities. Drawing from a wide range of ethnographic studies, this volume offers a concise look at how social actors and intermediaries respond to this change in the materiality of money throughout multiple regional contexts.

This volume investigates processes of knowledge formation in the Iberian colonies by attempting to understand the Spanish and Portuguese contribution to the European scientific tradition, and by tracing the origins and history of this knowledge to find out how it was gained. The studies in this volume reconsider our understanding of what scientific knowledge is and introduce a variety of scientific cultures of European and non-European origin. They examine the mixing processes of scientific cultures and the role these cultures played in the colonial situation at the intersection of non-human processes and human action. The volume brings together contributions in the history of botany, art, materia medica, translation in the religious sphere of colonial missions as well as mining as a scientific, juridical and industrial endeavor.

Nel 1974 apriva i battenti a Cortina il Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea intitolato a Mario Rimoldi, albergatore e già sindaco durante le Olimpiadi del 1956, in seno a una ben più antica istituzione, le Regole d’Ampezzo. Nasceva così uno dei primi musei privati rivolti all’arte del Novecento italiano, esito virtuoso dell’attività collezionistica dello stesso Rimoldi. Il Museo arricchì la comunanza ampezzana di un patrimonio che si impegnava a valorizzare la complessiva eredità artistica della conca dolomitica, proiettando il ruolo di Cortina ben oltre quello naturalistico e ricettivo. Tuttavia, erano rimasti inesplorati finora i materiali d’archivio del Museo, tra cui corrispondenze e fotografie che ripercorrono le vicende di uno dei più raffinati collezionisti di metà Novecento con maestri quali Giorgio de Chirico, Filippo de Pisis, Fortunato Depero, Alis Levi e Mario Sironi. Il presente volume è il frutto del progetto di analisi e adeguamento dell’identità digitale e dei sistemi informatici per gestire, studiare e valorizzare il ricco patrimonio di opere e materiali archivistici delle Regole d’Ampezzo in occasione del cinquantenario dalla fondazione del Museo Rimoldi. In vista di questo traguardo, il Museo ha proceduto assieme al Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities dell’Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia a un’approfondita riorganizzazione del proprio patrimonio mediante il riordino dei fondi archivistici e il loro riversamento su una banca dati relazionale. Questo catalogo affianca il nuovo database pubblico come strumento utile a ripercorrere tappe e ambiti dell’intervento di riordino, in modo da affrontare al contempo stringenti aspetti metodologici nel dibattito sulla digitalizzazione del settore artistico. Se da un lato il volume costituisce un momento di riflessione sulle best practice nelle Digital e Public Humanities, specie in materia di creazione di database relazionali, dall’altro offre un’occasione privilegiata di scoperta di materiali inediti del Museo, capaci di gettare luce sulla sua nascita nonché sul contesto artistico ampezzano nel Novecento. Quale esito concreto della metodologia relazionale adottata nella creazione del nuovo database museale, il catalogo presenta per la prima volta un vasto apparato iconografico composto da lettere, opere, documenti e fotografie attraverso cui indicare percorsi di ricerca e valorizzare primizie artistiche nel patrimonio delle Regole d’Ampezzo.

The study begins with presenting the interpretation doubts of the concept of post-penitentiary assistance, resulting from the fact of using it in various so-called social scientific disciplines, with particular conceptual confusion observed on the legal basis. In the following part, post-penitentiary aid in contemporary Poland is characterized, with particular emphasis on the institutional perspective. One of such institutions is the „Mateusz” Readaptation Center in Toruń, which is an example of the activity of a non-governmental organization in the field of post-penitentiary aid. The conclusion presents a methodological tool used mainly for the so-called action research, in the form of a social laboratory. The idea of conducting a social laboratory in the „Mateusz” center can be treated as one of the forms of testing new solutions to the problems of post-penitentiary aid in Poland.

The complex problems of peace, security, and development in societies affected by conflict increasingly demand innovative ideas, and comprehensive strategies to tackle the diverse, simultaneous, and daunting challenges faced in trying to rebuild states and communities after war. This comprehensive collection sets out a ‘Whole-of-Society’ (WoS) approach which focuses on the social contexts within which conflict resolution and prevention take place. The aim of WoS is to grasp the complexity both within local society and in the relations between external peacebuilders and the people they set out to help. The book argues that, by understanding multiple actors, their relationships, and the conditions in which they operate, complexity becomes an opportunity to be grasped, not simply an impediment to building peace. This volume offers a novel perspective to advance and enrich debates on ownership of peace processes, resilience, hybridity, and liberal peacebuilding, and how these are influenced by local agency and social dynamics. Drawing on examples of conflicts in Ukraine, Mali, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Kosovo, and Georgia, the authors seek to address the operational gaps between interventions designed by outsiders, and outcomes on the ground, suggesting how policymakers and civil society activists can achieve better configurations of external and local resources, delegate initiatives, and empower conflicted societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Peacebuilding. Chapter 6 is available Open Access at https://www.routledge.com/products/9780367236885.

In contrast to the other EU countries, Luxembourg has an almost 100 per cent student mobility rate (apart from the coronavirus pandemic). Although there is a long and still practised tradition of studying completely abroad (degree mobility), as well as comprehensive short-term mobility (credit mobility) at the University of Luxembourg, few academic studies are dedicated to Luxembourg students studying abroad. This publication partially fills this gap. Based on narrative interviews and an online survey, it examines how stays abroad are organised by credit and degree students from Luxembourg and what significance they have for young people. Not only the what, but also the how and, above all, the why of studying abroad are examined. The different orientations of degree and credit students show that the norm of study-related mobility in Luxembourg is questioned by young people. In addition, various roles of parents and peers in the process of student mobility make it clear that time abroad cannot be seen as a context-free part of young people's lives. Rather, study-related mobility is discussed in this study as a special and multidimensional biographical moment on the threshold of adulthood. In addition, the two forms of study-related mobility - degree and credit - are systematically compared with each other, as this perspective has been neglected in previous debates.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of recent studies and developments in the field of Business, Management, and Economics. It brings together relevant works on quality management methodologies and crisis management tools within diverse organizational contexts. It also addresses topics such as contemporary macroeconomic sustainability, marketing challenges in dealing with the complexity of market conditions, and availability of modern technological tools and social and economic changes.

Cyclic nucleotides control a number of neuronal properties including neuronal differentiation, pathfinding, regulation of excitability and synaptic transmission, and control of gene expression. Signaling events mediated by cAMP or cGMP are transient and take place within the complex 3-dimensional structure of the neuronal cell. Signaling events happen on the time scale of seconds to minutes and the biological significance of the temporal dimension remains poorly understood. Structural features of neurons (dendritic spines and branches, cell body, nucleus, axon…) as well as AKAPs and other scaffolding proteins that keep signaling enzymes together and form "signaling microdomains", are critical spatial determinants of signal integration. Finally, the types of enzymes involved in signal integration, which are expressed as a number of different types and splice variants, yield another dimension that determines signal integration properties. Biosensor imaging provides direct temporal and spatial measurement of intracellular signals. This novel approach, together with more conventional methods such as biochemistry, electrophysiology, and modeling, now provide a better understanding of the spatial and temporal features of cyclic nucleotide signal integration in living neurons. This topic aims at providing a better understanding of how neurons are "making sense" of cyclic nucleotide signaling in living neurons.