Open Access Books

In an era where environmental challenges are more pressing than ever, Bisphenols - New Environmental, Pathophysiological and Social Perspectives offers a multidisciplinary exploration of bisphenols’ complex and pervasive world. From the historical evolution of bisphenol A (BPA) to the emergence of structurally similar alternatives, this book delves deep into the scientific, social, and institutional responses to these controversial compounds. With contributions from renowned experts, this work unravels the intricate biochemical interactions of bisphenols, their environmental impact, and their far-reaching implications for public health. From molecular insights to translational research, readers will discover how these substances intertwine with risks such as breast cancer and non-communicable diseases. By exploring both the current state of research and the pressing need for further investigation, this work emphasizes the importance of continued scientific inquiry and collaboration in addressing the risks associated with bisphenols. It serves as a reminder of the ongoing efforts required to improve policies, increase awareness, and reduce the harmful effects of endocrine disruptors for the well-being of new generations. This book challenges us to recognize that, as we uncover the potential dangers of bisphenols, the actual cost of inaction will be measured in the health of future generations.

"Health and healing have been central concerns throughout human history. Individuals and societies have devised multiple ways to health. Healing practices have often been linked to questions of knowledge, power, politics, and morals. The limits of acceptable healing have been contested by men and women, priests and doctors, elites and commoners, indigenous peoples and colonialists. Successful healers have sometimes been labeled as witches, quacks, or dangerous political agitators. The contributions in this volume concentrate on healing in global history with case studies about Finland, southern Asia and Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and North America. They discuss medical pluralism and consider the arguments for and against individual healers and different healing systems. The authors focus on the popularity of medical systems, the appropriation and adoption of healing practices in cross-cultural contexts, and the prohibition of certain forms of healing. "

Der zweisprachige Sammelband vereinigt zum Teil bahnbrechende Ergebnisse einer interdisziplinären Forschungstagung, deren Beiträge sozial-, wirtschafts-, kultur- und kirchengeschichtliche Aspekte der Frühneuzeit im Karpatenbogen aufgreifen. Basierend auf vielfach erstmals ausgewerteten Quellen bearbeiten die Beiträge aktuelle Fragestellungen und Forschungshorizonte zur Interdependenz von sozialen, ökonomischen, kulturellen und religiösen Phänomenen im Karpatenbogen der Frühen Neuzeit, in dem die Osmanen der international dominante politische Faktor wurden. Transformationsprozesse wurden angestoßen durch Bevölkerungs- und Militärbewegungen, ökonomische, politische und religiös-mentale Umwälzungen, die zwischen opportunistischer Anpassung und rebellierendem Widerstand oszillierten und entsprechende politische Maßnahmen und Gegenreaktionen hervorriefen. Dabei wird die bislang geltende Forschungsmeinung zur Toleranzgeschichte Siebenbürgens in Frage gestellt und völlig neu bewertet.

This chapter examines the evolving labour regime associated with the establishment of Northvolt's battery factory in Skellefteå, Sweden, with particular attention to its socio-economic impacts on the local community and migrant workers. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the authors explore the rapid development of temporary housing solutions, the differentiation and disciplining of labour, and the challenges migrant workers face in adapting to the local context. The study illustrates how global green investments are reshaping local labour markets and housing policies, resulting in precarious and tightly regulated living and working conditions for migrant workers. These findings provide critical insights into the wider implications of green investments for labour mobility and social reproduction in peripheral regions.

Originally published in 1964. This book is a translation of Institutio Logica, which was probably written by Galen, although scholars disagree on the possibility of this work being a forgery. It provides a survey on the history of logic written around the third century.

In democratic societies there is widespread acknowledgment of the need to incorporate citizens’ input in decision-making processes in more or less structured ways. But participatory decision making is balancing on the borders of inclusion, structure, precision and accuracy. To simply enable more participation will not yield enhanced democracy, and there is a clear need for more elaborated elicitation and decision analytical tools. This rigorous and thought-provoking volume draws on a stimulating variety of international case studies, from flood risk management in the Red River Delta of Vietnam, to the consideration of alternatives to gold mining in Roșia Montană in Transylvania, to the application of multi-criteria decision analysis in evaluating the impact of e-learning opportunities at Uganda's Makerere University. This book is important new reading for decision makers in government, public administration and urban planning, as well as students and researchers in the fields of participatory democracy, urban planning, social policy, communication design, participatory art, decision theory, risk analysis and computer and systems sciences.

The title of the book "The Universe of Escherichia coli" aims to present and emphasize the huge diversity of this bacterial species and our efforts to prevent the E. coli infections. As it is part of the gut microbiota, E. coli is a well-known commensal species, and probiotic E. coli strains are successfully used for improving host's health. Also many "workhorse" E. coli strain exist that are employed in laboratory and biotechnology settings. But certain E. coli strains can cause intestinal and also extraintestinal infections at many anatomical sites. Therefore many efforts are undertaken to prevent E. coli infections, among them food safety, vaccines, but also new antimicrobial agents are searched for.

The Impact of Mobility and Migration in the Roman Empire assembles a series of papers on key themes of Roman mobility and migration, discussing i.a. the mobility of the army, of the elite, of women, and war-induced mobility and deportations. Readership: All interested in the history of migration and mobility, and anyone concerned with the social history of the Roman world. For the benefit of non-specialists all ancient sources are translated.

This volume aims at investigating the reasons why, in Turkey, individual memory and construction of subjectivity (both intended in the broad sense) go beyond the boundaries of the individual in order to incorporate matters concerning national identity. The "writings on the self", be them confessions, memoirs, autobiographical or biographical novels, have been chosen as tools for the comprehension of the construction mechanisms of individual and collective memory. The issues related to the building of the modern Turkish nation, with its traumatic historical events and the approaches to the theme of memory by those who were excluded from the dominant and hegemonic narrative, constitute the core themes around which the authors' reflection develops.

L’auteur voit dans l’écriture que pratiquent les clercs de la chancellerie royale castillane au tournant des XIIe et XIIIe siècles l’origine des premières expressions, en Castille, d’une littérature tournée vers la fiction. Son étude de l’écriture de chancellerie est proprement éblouissante : naissance et développement du phénomène, puis, tout le paysage, jusqu’ici presque inconnu, des groupes, de leurs chefs, des écoles, des rivalités, des grandes évolutions. Quelques personnalités remarquables sortent définitivement de l’ombre : Juan de Osma, récemment éclairé, en outre, par un colloque du SIREM en Sorbonne, l’étrange Mica, où Amaia Arizaleta est tentée d’entrevoir le premier transfuge ouvrant la route qui mène de la charte à l’écrit littéraire. Car tel est bien le cœur de la question, décisive et donc un peu effrayante, qu’elle aborde : le passage insensible de la belle charte à une écriture narrative qui entre en connivence avec la tradition des fictions exemplaires. L’objet de l’ouvrage se trouve donc dans l’entre-deux de la charte et de la littérature. Mais ce que propose l’auteur, le produit de son travail, est lui-même un entre-deux de la science et de la littérature. Il y a quelque chose de littéraire en essence, quelque chose de romanesque, dans une approche, très savante néanmoins, et rigoureusement scientifique, du passé, servie par l’éclat d’une belle écriture.

Published

El primer tomo de la obra “Interioridad: proyecto de vida” se centra en la reflexión de “El yo integrado” o “El núcleo vital” e incluye meditaciones, materiales, dinámicas y oraciones alrededor del autoconocimiento, del hombre capaz de Dios, de la inteligencia, de la memoria y de la voluntad-amor. Se presentan algunos ejes transversales con los que el ejercicio de la interioridad traspasa los cinco elementos mencionados. Memoria, entendimiento y voluntad han sido, en la historia de la filosofía clásica y de la espiritualidad, las tres señales de identidad con las que el hombre es descrito como ser principal de la creación e “imagen de Dios”, así, la relación entre el hombre y Dios desemboca en una interioridad habitada. Algunas versiones hablan de interioridad “trascendida”, es decir, que no se queda en el solar del yo, en el patio de desierto o soledad, sino que rebasa ese ámbito del propio yo y sube la escala hacia Dios. Bajo esta visión, formulamos la interioridad como el núcleo vital en que me encuentro con las personas, haciendo, por tanto, que tal núcleo vital sea, en primer lugar, “el centro relacional”. En este primer tomo, podré encontrarme y relacionarme con mi yo más pleno, no refiriéndose a la soledad, ni al silencio ni a la vaciedad, se trata más bien de verme como la “central nuclear” que vive y genera vida: mi alma, mi inteligencia, mi memoria, mi voluntad y mi capacidad de amar. Eso es lo que encontrará el lector cuando, en el ejercicio de autoconocimiento, acceda a su propia persona.

Preparing a Nation?, based on extensive archival research, addresses perennial questions of Australian colonialism in Papua New Guinea. To what extent did Australia prepare Papua New Guinea for independence? And what were the policies and the ideologies behind colonial development, implemented after World War II? A key innovation of this book is to take these questions from policy desks in Canberra and Port Moresby to the villages of four administrative areas: Chimbu, Milne Bay, Sepik and New Hanover. How successful were Australian colonial planners in designing and implementing programs that could ameliorate the potential harm of market capitalism and develop 'new' socioeconomic structures that would combine a disparate people into an ‘imagined community’, capable of becoming an independent nation-state in the far distant future? Colonial intention is contrasted with Indigenous experience. Bradley Underhill explores an Australian governmental tendency to prioritise colonial control over Indigenous autonomy in circumstances where subjugated people do not necessarily fit within an expected narrative of compliant or westernised ‘native’. ‘I expect it will become the standard reference for its subject, which covers a pivotal aspect of Australia’s colonial administration.’ —Bill Gammage

The objective of this book is to present nutritional and educational interventions for children and their families. The creation of healthy preferences is a key determinant of food choices and therefore diet quality. Food choices have important implications for health, particularly for food-related diseases, such as feeding difficulties and the development of non-communicable diseases. The first years of a child's life are fundamental for the creation of tastes, eating habits and the relationship with food. Preferences for certain foods are neither innate nor unchangeable. Eating behaviour is the result of experience and learning, and, through the repeated offering of food by parents, especially those less accepted, it is possible to promote good nutrition. Behaviour depends on the interaction of environmental factors, genetics, sex, and age. The environment in which the child is immersed, and which influences them, includes family, other children, society, media and the supply of food. Achieving an adequate intake of macro and micro-nutrients is an important objective for all ages of life and, particularly, for those of pediatric age, since it is crucial for cognitive development. Nutrition has also a therapeutic effect. Nutritional interventions tailored to specific pathologies are needed to prevent nutritional deficiencies and maintain an adequate nutritional status, since children and adolescents with chronic or inflammatory diseases are particularly vulnerable and at major risk of developing malnutrition.

The aim of this work was the development of new image processing methods for the analysis and optimization of rotary kiln processes. It is shown how the newly developed methods can be employed to analyze certain areas and effects of rotary kiln processes. Thereby gained new process information can be used in the process control to optimize rotary kiln processes in terms of economic and environmental objectives.