Open Access Books

The use of substances for pharmaceutical use, either as disinfectants or used clinically for diagnostic purposes, cosmetic products or personal hygiene, is widespread in all areas of daily and working life. Recently, the research on environmental contamination caused by PPCPs (Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products) has been focused on the consequences deriving from the dispersion of antibiotic or hormonal substances, in relation to the phenomenon of the increase in bacterial resistance and to interference on the endocrine systems respectively. The research described in this volume is part of the national and international studies on the problem, aims at contributing in the expansion of knowledge on these themes and has as its objective the determination of the possible presence of drug residues in the Arno river.

In today's secularised Europe with its pluralistic societies, a renewed, intense and conflict-laden interest in religion can be observed: especially since the confrontation of the “Christian West” with migration movements from the Global South, which has been accompanied by a pluralisation of denominational affiliations - with a simultaneous continuing wave of church resignations and criticism of the churches - but also due to the confrontation with Islamist terror and the associated fear of radicalisation. Against this background, this volume poses the question from a diachronic perspective of the epistemological potential of the examination of religion(s) in the literatures and cultural forms of expression of Romania, their contribution to discursive diversity and the function of the “sacred”, of sacrality with regard to sustainable European identity constructions. The thematic fields within which the significance of religion and spirituality are explored are national and European cohesion on the one hand and the discourses of marginalisation on the other, the relationship between Europe and Islam and the mutual condition of spirituality and aesthetics.

This Reprint presents an integrated and contemporary overview of natural photosensitizers and their applications in photodynamic therapy. It brings together experimental, mechanistic, and translational studies that demonstrate how plant-derived and microbial chromophores can be harnessed to produce cytotoxic, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory effects upon controlled light activation. This Reprint highlights advances in molecular photobiology, photophysical characterization, and cellular responses, as well as innovations in nanoformulations that improve solubility, stability, and therapeutic selectivity. Particular attention is given to antimicrobial resistance, oncologic applications, and neglected diseases in which photodynamic therapy offers accessible and minimally invasive alternatives. By combining fundamental science with clinically relevant perspectives, this Reprint provides a comprehensive synthesis of current progress and emerging directions in the development of natural photosensitizers for modern photodynamic therapy.

Il n’y a pas un « Voltaire », il y a des « Voltaires » successifs.Le jeune François-Marie Arouet se fait d’abord connaître sur la scène de la Comédie-Française, où il fait représenter vingt-deux tragédies entre 1718 et 1778. Ces succès au théâtre ont contribué aux rôles endossés par l’écrivain. Courtisan dans les années 1720, philosophe controversé à partir des années 1730, patriarche adulé dès 1760.Voltaire devenu mythe est une construction collective. Cette construction est étudiée, dans le présent ouvrage, en portant au jour les liens complexes existant entre les stratégies de légitimation et les postures adoptées par l’auteur au cours de sa carrière et, d’autre part, sa pratique du genre tragique.Sont ici analysées les médiations liant étroitement, au xviiie siècle, fable tragique et identité auctoriale. Par divers mécanismes de « traversée du rideau », le dramaturge a été identifié à certains de ses personnages ainsi qu’aux valeurs qu’ils incarnaient. Ces processus d’identification ont contribué non seulement au « devenir écrivain » de Voltaire, mais à sa sacralisation en « patriarche ».

Violent Becomings conceptualizes the Mozambican state not as the bureaucratically ordered polity of the nation-state, but as a continuously emergent and violently challenged mode of ordering. In doing so, this book addresses the question of why colonial and postcolonial state formation has involved violent articulations with so-called ‘traditional’ forms of sociality. The scope and dynamic nature of such violent becomings is explored through an array of contexts that include colonial regimes of forced labor and pacification, liberation war struggles and civil war, the social engineering of the post-independence state, and the popular appropriation of sovereign violence in riots and lynchings.

In dieser Arbeit wurden Hochtemperaturschutzschichten für Ni-Basis-Superlegierungen untersucht. Mit Oxidationsversuchen wurden verschiedene Alterungszustände der Schichten eingestellt, die dann mittels Nanoindentierung, rasterelektronenmikroskopischen Methoden und erstmals Mikrobiegebalkenversuchen charakterisiert wurden. Ziel war es den Einfluss der chemischen Zusammensetzung auf die mechanischen Eigenschaften wie Härte, Elastizitätsmodul und Bruchzähigkeit der Hauptphase der Schichten β-NiAl zu ermitteln. Die Mikrobiegebalken wurden mit der FIB-Technik direkt in den homogenen Bereichen der Schichten hergestellt und so dieses neue Verfahren an technischen Bauteilen angewandt. Neben den Oxidationsschutzschichten wurden auch einkristalline NiAl-Proben mit unterschiedlicher Stöchiometrie denselben Versuchen unterzogen. Zur Überprüfung der Vergleichbarkeit mit makroskopischen Versuchen wurden 4-Punkt-Biegeversuche an den NiAl-Einkristallen durchgeführt.

The design work carried out on the city of ​​Frattaminore represented, for the students in the last year of the Master’s Program in Architecture 5UE, an important experiment, from a design and professional point of view, towards the development of an approach aimed at finding an adequate and factual response to the multiple needs posed by the reality of the context in which it operates. The book collects the results of the work carried out during the 2020-2021 academic year, highlighting the multiplicity of aspects and design topics addressed, as well as the variety of the proposed solutions. The structure of the book reflects this experimental approach, starting with the exploration of some preliminary topics and methods, examined in the “Essays” section; continuing through the tool of the “mapping” and the interaction with the environment and with the people who live the places; finally, working on assembling and defining a “synthesis” of data and investigations through the design proposals, described in the “Projects” section. Each project theme includes a theoretical study through an introductory essay, and several design variations to provide, in an alternative way, possible scenarios for the city. To try to solve the existing critical issues, yet to enhance the potential and the various heritage of the city of Frattaminore, the project proposals were built grafting into the existing, not oriented towards the definition of a closed form and a predetermined function. On the contrary, it has implied to work on the idea of an open form, which reuses what already exists, including multiple possibilities of use and continuously changing its perimeter, extending and incorporating urban pieces of different nature. Scenarios of new possible meanings and new urban transformations are, therefore, the result of this work, made up of different levels of study and research related to the general idea of Frattaminore as a city in transition.

The Routledge Handbook of Heritage and Creative Practice explores the role of creativity as a tool for critical engagement with heritage. It provides a comprehensive study of ways in which heritage and creative practice intersect, in research, in practice and in a transnational context. This book introduces researchers, students, creative and heritage practitioners to contemporary practices from a breadth of perspectives. The transnational nature of its scope is key to the exploration of how ‘heritage’ and ‘creativity’ are ever evolving, conceived of differently in different contexts, and intersect in interesting ways through the work of creative practitioners. The volume argues that heritage itself is a creative practice, such that the ‘creative’ work that occurs in these examples is not singular and distinct; rather the symbiotic reciprocity between heritage and creativity is intersectional and embedded. The international array of authors and differing approaches from around the world, including case studies from Africa, Bahrain, Brazil, Caribbean, Columbia, China, Hong Kong, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates provide a global approach to the subject, while the diverse range of topics covered, including urban renewal, the coronavirus pandemic, memorial culture, public art and colonial heritage, allows readers to gain insight into the richness of practices across a diversity of disciplines and contexts. This volume offers a significant and new contribution to heritage studies that will be of interest to scholars and students in heritage and museum studies, as well those in the fields of art, architecture, anthropology, design, digital and curatorial studies. It also provides a valuable resource for artists, arts professionals, architects and museums and heritage practitioners.

Over the past decades, traditional academic library environments have transformed into digital libraries. This has resulted in many challenges for libraries in terms of the reinvention of libraries’ roles and organizations, the skill sets of librarians, and library infrastructure. At the same time, this profound transformation has opened the door to many new avenues, such as the support and advancement of Open Science. This book offers insights into the transformation of traditional library environments to digital libraries and details how digital libraries can contribute to Open Science, in particular to Open Access, FAIR and Open Data, and Open Education, by describing methods, criteria, strengths, and weaknesses as well as applications.

Active citizenship became a research issue for adult learning and education in 1995 when the Council of Ministers decided to make 1996 the Year of Lifelong Learning. Moreover, the Lisbon programme, in the year 2000, reinforced the relevance of the issue and, along with employability, connected it to lifelong learning. That is why since 2001 comparative adult learning and education researchers have put a specific focus on analysing active citizenship and bridging it to adult learning. For this very reason, a distinguished Comparative Working Group was formed at the 2019 Winter School of the Erasmus+ Intall project—on the one hand, to collect different national/regional and local narratives and understandings of active citizenship and, on the other, to gather examples, good practices, formations of active citizens, or trajectories of how to learn for active citizenship as routes and processes of lifelong learning. The same Winter School comparative group tried to analyse the similarities and differences collected in an effort to relate them to existing theoretical frames offered by key authors on the topic, including Baert, Jansen, Jarvis, Johnston, Wildemeeersch, and others. This paper discusses the experiences of the comparative working group and formulates some special conclusions and comments for further actions of comparative studies in adult learning and education.

Where, when, and under what circumstances did money first emerge? This Element examines this question through a comparative study of the use of shells to facilitate trade and exchange in ancient societies around the world. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

The prevalence of anorectal disorders in the general population is probably much higher than that seen in clinical practice. Anorectal diseases have for a long time been considered of little interest, with their treatment considered of little prestige despite the social impact they cause to patients. Proctology was initiated late and developed slowly over the years. However, in the last 20 years, a renewed interest has begun, and today, we can say that proctology is a specialized branch of general surgery. This book "Proctological Diseases in Surgical Practice" provides a practical introduction to proctology, with a particular attention to the topics that have not yet been investigated. This book may be useful for the general physician as well as for the specialist.

Computer science

This is an open access book. This professional volume provides scientific background and practical guidance on forest management in light of ecological connectivity. Readers will gain a great understanding of shifting species in response to climate change and the resulting loss of various resources. The main drivers of these variations are the quality of the availability, quantity, and quality of habitats in the landscape, the genetic diversity of species populations, and the ability to navigate through a fragmented landscape matrix. The connectivity of habitats is gaining importance in the combat of both, the biodiversity crisis and the climate change crisis. Improving ecological connectivity, however, does not automatically benefit all species, as the examples described in the book demonstrate. Specific planning tools, active monitoring protocols, and management measures are needed to increase the benefit for species with low dispersal and small population size, which generally fail to migrate. Assisted migration can help to prevent species extinction, but also offer opportunities for pathogens to cross geographical barriers. The vast majority of the known diversity of plants, fungi, vertebrates, and invertebrates depends on forest ecosystems. This volume helps to spread this message and prepare students for their later careers in the forestry sector, while also informing active practitioners and policy makers.

In der Dissertation werden Einfluss und Wirkung von Emotionen auf das Handeln pädagogischer Führungskräfte in Kindergarten, Schule und Erwachsenenbildung erforscht. Der Autor untersucht auf Basis eigener Erhebungen und mit dem Ansatz der komparativen Berufsgruppenforschung die Relevanz und Wirkmächtigkeit von Emotionen. Ausgehend von der Rekonstruktion emotional konnotierter, aufgeladener oder herausfordernder Situationen entwickelt er eine gegenstandsbezogene Theorie emotionaler Professionalität. Im Mittelpunkt steht hier die Analyse verschiedener Spannungsverhältnisse, Antinomien und Paradoxien des Berufsalltags von Führungskräften. Durch das strukturelle Verständnis emotional geprägter Situationen und das Erkennen funktionaler und dysfunktionaler Handlungsstrategien können pädagogische Führungskräfte das eigene professionelle Handeln reflektieren. Die Studie verknüpft die Diskurse um Emotionen, Führung und Professionalität mit Blick auf die pädagogischen Berufspraxis.