Open Access Books

Until recently, clothing has been studied mainly by archaeology and cultural history. It has been considered a symbol of social, ethnic or gender identity. Instead, this book focuses on the numerous clothing metaphors that we can find in Greek and Latin texts and on their meanings, from a literary and philosophical perspective. It demonstrates that, far from being reduced to a rhetorical device, the metaphor is thought as a genuine conceptual and metapoetic tool in ancient texts. How were the metaphors transmitted and reworked through the years? What various meanings do they convey? These are some of the questions that the twenty or so contributions in this book will address. They explore the continuity and wide variety of clothing metaphors in Classical and Late Antiquity, right up to the Renaissance. The metaphor of clothing emerges as a protean device that allows us to think about political or religious union and disunity, relationships between soul and body, the order of cosmos, or literary creation. These presentations are the result of two years work led by the Himation junior lab’ and its contributors, philosophers, philologists and anthropologists of Antiquity.

The brain and immune system are involved in an intricate network of bidirectional communication. This relationship is vital for optimal physiological and psychological development and functioning but can also result in unwanted outcomes. In particular, this interaction plays an important role in cognition, mood and behaviour. Neuroinflammation is known to contribute to neurological and affective disorders including impaired learning and memory, depressive, anxiety and schizoaffective symptoms, as well as pain. The development of these conditions often occurs on the backdrop of pre-existing physical illnesses which give rise to increased activation of the immune system, such as cancer, obesity, infection and autoimmune disorders. Similarly, psychological states can alter regulation of the immune system. This has been most extensively studied in the context of stress and immune function. Understanding the underlying mechanisms that lead to the onset of inflammation-induced neuropathology and stress-induced immune suppression will contribute to the development of novel and effective treatment strategies for both the disease and its neurological side effects. In this research topic we explored the relationship between the immune system and the brain throughout life. We include both original research and review papers from animal, clinical and molecular perspectives.

Every handbook of medieval German literature has stressed the importance of love's ennobling power as a motif in the Minnesang, yet prior to this volume no study had attempted to assess its significance on the basis of its actual occurrence. In this volume Stephen Kaplowitt scrutinizes the entire lyric production of Minnesanger from Der von Kurenberg to Walther von der Vogelweide, identifying and analyzing every example of the motif. He concludes that, although the motif is widespread, its significance has been considerably exaggerated.

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the factors affecting corporate capital structures across 12 European Union countries, focusing on the influence of country-specific, industry-specific and firm-size-related determinants. It provides a comprehensive review of various interpretations of the capital structure concept and offers a detailed characterisation of commonly employed metrics. Furthermore, it offers an overview of capital structure theories and attempts to classify the factors that shape the financial leverage of enterprises within the framework of these theories. Additionally, it draws readers’ attention to contemporary factors potentially affecting corporate financing decisions, such as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations or technological advances and innovations in finance. It combines theoretical insights with empirical research to explore the direct and indirect impacts of these factors on companies’ financing patterns. Targeting a broad readership including students, Ph.D. candidates, researchers, academics and financial practitioners, the book offers a rich understanding of capital structure optimisation and its significance for enhancing company value. Through its coverage of various capital structure theories, determinants and the role of external and internal factors in capital structure decisions, the book is an essential resource for those interested in the complex nature of these influences within the European landscape.

This book is comprised of seven chapters, highlighting recent advances in mycotoxin contamination of food, feed and agricultural crops from diagnostic methods to mitigation plans for control of mycotoxin contamination, detoxification of mycotoxins by novel approaches and finally, the importance of mycotoxins in human and animal health. The book provides readers with several cutting-edge aspects of mycotoxin research, gathering valuable information for mycologists, microbiologists, toxicologists, plant pathologists, and pharmacologists who are interested in understanding the impact, significance, and recent developments in mycotoxin research, particularly in areas that have not received sufficient attention elsewhere.

This work revisits five key pieces of the classification of «Coimbra – Alta – Sofia» as a World Heritage Site: the King John’s Library, the São Miguel Chapel, the Baroque organ of the chapel, the Botanical Garden and the Machado de Castro National Museum. The trip is guided by top experts who, in their chapters, not only summarize essential historical information about each of the revisited places, but also add, in several cases, important news.

This book is a collection of all papers published in the Special Issue “Coastal Vulnerability and Mitigation Strategies: From Monitoring to Applied Research”. The main focus is to provide the state-of-the-art and recent research updates on sustainable management strategies for protecting vulnerable coastal areas. Based on 28 contributions from authors representing 17 different countries (Australia, China, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, UK, USA), an ensemble of interdisciplinary articles has been collected, emphasizing the importance of tackling technical and scientific problems at different scales and from different point of views.

All’interno della millenaria storia della Crimea, questo volume prende in considerazione l’arco temporale del dominio imperiale russo sulla regione, vale a dire dalla conquista del 1783 sino alla Rivoluzione del 1917. L’accento principale è posto sul tema della dimensione multietnica e multiculturale della penisola, che in questo periodo costituiva un vero e proprio mosaico di popolazioni. L’idea centrale del volume è che alla storia politica e culturale della Crimea in epoca imperiale occorra accostarsi superando sia il tradizionale russocentrismo, sia uno studio troppo parziale delle singole comunità e culture, quasi non interagissero le une con le altre e non si trovassero inserite in un contesto più ampio al quale dovevano tutte corrispondere, sia pure con modalità proprie.

This open access book provokes critical thinking regarding the most ambitious Chinese project since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The book presents extensive quality research and original insights in assessing the status of China’s outbound investment and construction projects under the BRI umbrella. Referring to case studies and projects of selected countries from Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, the author sheds new light on the issues and problems associated with the BRI's implementation and discusses both the readjustments and prospects for the BRI. Finally, this book demarcates the limits and potential of the world’s second largest economy in pushing for the BRI, which is challenged by enormous domestic tensions and external pressures. It also identifies and analyzes potential new collaboration areas between the Belt and Road countries and China under the BRI framework in the context of the post-COVID-19 era. It provides an outstanding reference for academics, students, policymakers, and the business community working in areas of international affairs and Asian economics and development, particularly those interested in Sino-relations and Chinese power dynamics in the global world order.

Exploring the intersections of digital humanities and African diaspora studies How can scholars use digital tools to better understand the African diaspora across time, space, and disciplines? And how can African diaspora studies inform the practices of digital humanities? These questions are at the heart of this timely collection of essays about the relationship between digital humanities and Black Atlantic studies, offering critical insights into race, migration, media, and scholarly knowledge production.The Digital Black Atlantic spans the African diaspora’s range—from Africa to North America, Europe, and the Caribbean—while its essayists span academic fields—from history and literary studies to musicology, game studies, and library and information studies. This transnational and interdisciplinary breadth is complemented by essays that focus on specific sites and digital humanities projects throughout the Black Atlantic. Covering key debates, The Digital Black Atlantic asks theoretical and practical questions about the ways that researchers and teachers of the African diaspora negotiate digital methods to explore a broad range of cultural forms including social media, open access libraries, digital music production, and video games. The volume further highlights contributions of African diaspora studies to digital humanities, such as politics and representation, power and authorship, the ephemerality of memory, and the vestiges of colonialist ideologies. Grounded in contemporary theory and praxis, The Digital Black Atlantic puts the digital humanities into conversation with African diaspora studies in crucial ways that advance both. Contributors: Alexandrina Agloro, Arizona State U; Abdul Alkalimat; Suzan Alteri, U of Florida; Paul Barrett, U of Guelph; Sayan Bhattacharyya, Singapore U of Technology and Design; Agata Błoch, Institute of History of Polish Academy of Sciences; Michał Bojanowski, Kozminski U; Sonya Donaldson, New Jersey City U; Anne Donlon; Laurent Dubois, Duke U; Amy E. Earhart, Texas A&M U; Schuyler Esprit, U of the West Indies; Demival Vasques Filho, U of Auckland, New Zealand; David Kirkland Garner; Alex Gil, Columbia U; Kaiama L. Glover, Barnard College, Columbia U; D. Fox Harrell, MIT; Hélène Huet, U of Florida; Mary Caton Lingold, Virginia Commonwealth U; Angel David Nieves, San Diego State U; Danielle Olson, MIT; Tunde Opeibi (Ope-Davies), U of Lagos, Nigeria; Jamila Moore Pewu, California State U, Fullerton; Anne Rice, Lehman College, CUNY; Sercan Şengün, Northeastern U; Janneken Smucker, West Chester U; Laurie N.Taylor, U of Florida; Toniesha L. Taylor, Texas Southern U.

Site-specific endonucleases create double-strand breaks within the genome and can be targeted to literally any genetic mutation. Together with a repair template, a correction of the defective locus becomes possible. This book offers insight into the modern tools of genome editing, their hurdles and their huge potential. A new era of in vivo genetic engineering has begun.

Im Rahmen des Projekts Duncker & Humblot reprints heben wir Schätze aus dem Programm der ersten rund 150 Jahre unserer Verlagsgeschichte, von der Gründung 1798 bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs 1945. Lange vergriffene Klassiker und Fundstücke aus den Bereichen Rechts- und Staatswissenschaften, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Geschichte, Philosophie und Literaturwissenschaft werden nach langer Zeit wieder verfügbar gemacht – und zwar sowohl gedruckt als auch in elektronischer Form. Einige Titel sind bereits erschienen. Täglich kommen weitere hinzu. Bis Ende des Jahres wird das »Duncker & Humblot reprints«-Programm auf ca. 1.500 Bände anwachsen. Möchten Sie regelmäßig über Neuerscheinungen aus dem reprints-Programm informiert werden? Dann abonnieren Sie unseren E-Mail-Benachrichtigungsdienst.

Martin Zimmermann sprengt Grenzen: Grenzen der Genres – Tanz, Theater, Installation, Zirkuskünste und Clown. Aber auch die Grenzen zwischen Körper, Objekten und Raum, zwischen Wirklichkeit und Traum. Mit Analysen wie auch Zeugnissen von Weggefährt*innen schaut der vorliegende Band auf sein transdisziplinäres Œuvre. Martin Zimmermann se joue des frontières : celles qui séparent les genres – danse, théâtre, installations scéniques, arts du cirque et clown – mais aussi celles qui délimitent les corps, les objets et l’espace, ou encore la réalité et le rêve. Grâce à des analyses et à des témoignages de compagnons de route, le présent ouvrage permet de plonger dans son œuvre transdisciplinaire. Martin Zimmermann abbatte i confini fra le varie discipline – danza, teatro, installazioni sceniche, arti circensi e clown – ma anche i confini tra corpi, oggetti e spazio, tra realtà e sogno. Tramite analisi e testimonianze di compagni di viaggio, il presente volume consente di immergersi nella sua opera transdisciplinare. Martin Zimmermann shatters boundaries: not only between genres – dance, theatre, installation, circus arts and clowning – but also between bodies, objects and space, and between real and dream worlds. This edition contains analyses of his transdisciplinary oeuvre as well as tributes from colleagues he has worked with along the way.

Depuis la fin du xixe siècle, la sociologie de la musique (dont Max Weber fut un pionnier) a voulu montrer que « la musique, c’est toujours plus que de la musique » ; que, « fait social total » (notion empruntée à Marcel Mauss), elle fait entendre un écho de la société dans laquelle elle est produite tout en influant sur sa vie collective. L’ethnomusicologie s’est ensuite attachée à rendre compte de la place et du rôle de la musique dans des sociétés où elle est transmise oralement, pour s’ouvrir plus récemment à toutes sortes de genres. Parallèlement, s’est développée une sociologie des musiques populaires qui a étudié, entre autres, les mécanismes de sa production et de sa diffusion, les paroles des chansons et ses significations sociales. Ce livre, qui se rattache à cette dernière discipline sans négliger les enseignements des précédentes, présente une conception de ce que la sociologie des musiques populaires peut apporter à la compréhension des phénomènes sociaux et politiques. Il propose en outre des études de cas, échelonnées dans le temps, réparties dans l’espace, qui abordent les questions de la créolisation des musiques dans des sociétés modelées par le colonialisme et envisage notamment les héritages de l’esclavage inscrits dans les genres populaires aux xxe et xxie siècles, tout en illustrant certaines perspectives et méthodes. Ces études portent sur différents répertoires de musique sud-africaine, de musique antillaise, de musique afro-étatsunienne pour finir par une réflexion sur le phénomène de la world music.

Im Zentrum des Bandes steht die Frage, ob und inwiefern das Spiel – als Lebensform, Praxis, als pädagogisches Mittel – im Zuge der Digitalisierung einen Wandel durchläuft. Hierzu nähern sich die Beiträger:innen primär vor dem Hintergrund bildungstheoretischer Erwägungen dem Problemkreis. Dieser beinhaltet beispielsweise Fragen danach, ob es zu Entgrenzungen zwischen Serious Games und didaktischen Praktiken kommt, ob und inwiefern eine Gamification pädagogischer Praxis festzustellen und wie diese zu bewerten ist. Der Band greift bisherige Versuche auf, das Spiel begrifflich wie konzeptuell pädagogisch zu bestimmen, und erörtert, wie in digitalisierten Lebenswelten sich pädagogische Aufgaben wie auch soziale Verhältnisse aufgrund von Ludifizierungsprozessen wandeln. Zweifelsohne stellen sich Veränderungsprozesse für unterschiedliche pädagogische Handlungsfelder different dar; im Band geht es jedoch um allgemeine und generalisierbare Beobachtungen und Konsequenzen für theoretische Erwägungen.