Open Access Books

"In this study, I examine the life narrative of a female factory labourer, Elsa Koskinen (née Kiikkala, born in 1927). I analyze her account of her experiences related to work, class and gender because I seek to gain a better understanding of how changes in these aspects of life influenced the ways in which she saw her own worth at the time of the interviews and how she constructed her subjectivity. Elsa’s life touches upon many of the core aspects of 20th-century social change: changes in women’s roles, the entrance of middle- class women into working life, women’s increasing participation in the public sphere, feminist movements, upward social mobility, the expansion of the middle class, the growth of welfare and the appearance of new technologies. What kind of trajectory did Elsa take in her life? What are the key narratives of her life? How does her narrative negotiate the shifting cultural ideals of the 20th century? A life story, a retrospective evaluation of a life lived, is one means of constructing continuity and dealing with the changes that have affected one’s life, identity and subjectivity. In narrating one’s life, the narrator produces many different versions of her/him self in relation to other people and to the world. These dialogic selves and their relations to others may manifest internal contradictions. Contradictions may also occur in relation to other narratives and normative discourses. Both of these levels, subjective meaning making and the negotiation of social ideals and collective norms, are embedded in life narratives. My interest in this study is in the ways in which gender and class intersect with paid labour in the life of an ordinary female factory worker. I approach gender, class and work from both an experiential and a relational perspective, considering the power of social relationships and subject formations that shape individual life at the micro-level. In her narratives Elsa discusses ambivalence related to gendered ideals, social class, and especially the phenomenon of social climbing as well as technological advance. I approach Elsa’s life and narratives ethnographically. The research material was acquired in a long-standing interview process and the analysis is based on reflexivity of the dialogic knowledge production and contextualization of Elsa’s experiences. In other words I analyze Elsa’s narratives in their situational but also socio-cultural and historical contexts. Specific episodes in one’s life and other significant events constitute smaller narrative entities, which I call micro-narratives. The analysis of micro-narratives, key dialogues and cultural ideals embedded in the interview dialogues offers perspectives on experiences of social change and the narrator’s sense of self"

Artistic media seem to be in a permanent condition of mutation and transformation. Contemporary artists often investigate the limits and possibilities of the media they use and experiment with their crossing, upgrading and mutilation. Others explicitly explore the unknown space between existing media, searching for the hybrid beings that occupy these in-betweens. This fascinating volume explores the theme of mutating and adapting media in its relation to theatre and performance. How did different aspects of theatre evolve in a digital era? How did historical traditions in theatre adapt to new cultural contexts? How are other media remediated in contemporary performances? Does this eventually lead to a contamination or even a disintegration of what we call theatre, or on the contrary, to a revaluation? Bringing together international scholars and artists, the editors offer a comprehensive overview of the subject sensitive to the cross-disciplinary use of key concepts such as remediation, digitization, interactivity, corporeality, liveness, surveillance, spectacle, performativity and theatricality. The book guides readers new to the area of intermediality, as well as experienced researchers into one of the most dynamic fields of scholarship.

At the end of the 19th century, Spain enjoyed a favorable climate for developing true freedom of the press, a right recognized in Article 13 of the Constitution of 1876 and developed through the Printing Police Law of 1883. However, throughout the period of the Bourbon Restoration (1883-1923), the Spanish government, represented by the conservative and liberal parties that peacefully took turns in power, adopted a series of measures that distorted the longed-for freedom of Spanish publications. The political and social events characteristic of this period (especially the terrorism of the end of the 19th century, the colonial conflicts in Cuba and Morocco or the influence of the regionalisms of the 20th century), had a notable influence on the actions of the public authorities. The latter used different legal instruments (the approval of different laws limiting freedom, the frequent declaration of the suspension of constitutional guarantees or the multiple sentences imposed through the ordinary courts), and other indirect mechanisms (the reptile funds or the sending of guidelines to newspapers under the threat of suspension or suppression of the newspapers), which served to establish a regime of information control, especially severe with the press that did not follow the guidelines of the liberal regime in place, and which left the liberal Printing Press Law practically without effect.

Em 20 de Setembro de 2013 o autor proferiu a sua “Última Lição” no Departamentode Química da Universidade de Coimbra.Jorge Calado na sua iluminante obra ”Haja Luz” formula uma questão a todosos cientistas: «É preciso não esquecer que a ciência também é bela. [...] O pitoresco,o belo e o sublime representam uma hierarquia de experiências estéticas,de intensidade e qualidade crescente. Será que as ciências obedecem a umahierarquia semelhante?». É em resposta a esta interrogação que o Autor vaipercorrer a sua carreira científica nos domínios mais heterodoxos que cultivou, ena linha de obras como “Nos Bastidores da Ciência. 20 Anos Depois”. Convidaos seus leitores a fazerem uma viagem a diferentes velocidades de percepçãono território da Cinética Química, o domínio da química que trata das velocidadesdas reacções químicas, e em dois veículos teóricos que criou com osseus colaboradores: o “Intersecting-state Model” e a “Teoria de Efeito Túnel”.Em muito, fruto das longas controvérsias científicas que gerou e das quais saiuvencedor, consegue responder de um modo claro ao questionamento colocadopelo seu colega químico, Jorge Calado.

The Topic “Big Data and Artificial Intelligence” explores the transformative impact of AI and Big Data across diverse domains, highlighting their role as catalysts for innovation, decision-making, and business model evolution. This reprint presents cutting-edge research, covering the full spectrum of AI and Big Data applications, from theoretical foundations to real-world implementations. Key topics include enabling technologies such as machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, AI agents, analytics, and distributed computing. Methodological advancements, strategic frameworks, and models are examined, addressing areas such as sustainable development, industry innovation, ethical considerations, and social impact. Additionally, the collection showcases best practices, R&D project outcomes, and industry–government collaborations, offering valuable insights into the latest developments in AI-driven decision-making and data ecosystems. Edited by Prof. Miltiadis D. Lytras and Prof. Andreea Claudia Serban, this reprint compiles high-quality contributions from leading researchers and practitioners, providing a comprehensive resource for academics, industry experts, and policymakers interested in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and Big Data. The participating journals include Big Data and Cognitive Computing, Future Internet, Information, Remote Sensing, and Sustainability.

This Reprint compiles the peer-reviewed articles from the Special Issue "Metabolomics and Plant Defence" of Metabolites. It presents a comprehensive investigation into the sophisticated metabolic reprogramming that underpins plant adaptation and resistance to environmental challenges. This collection delves into the dynamic metabolic responses of diverse crop species, including tomato, barley, tea, banana, and sorghum, to both biotic stresses such as fungal and bacterial pathogens and abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, and aluminum toxicity. Employing advanced metabolomic profiling and multi-omics integration, the studies within this Reprint elucidate key shifts in primary and secondary metabolism. These shifts encompass the regulation of defense phytohormones, the accumulation of protective flavonoids and phenolics, and the strategic reconfiguration of central metabolic pathways. The research within this collection highlights how plants deploy this chemical arsenal not only for immediate defense but also for priming against future stresses. This Reprint offers valuable insights for researchers in plant physiology, biochemistry, and agricultural sciences; it underscores the potential of metabolomics to identify critical metabolic traits for developing resilient crop varieties, contributing to the advancement of sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change.

La antología que se presenta recoge los aportes de salvadoreñas y salvadoreños, profesionales de las ciencias sociales, que han reflexionado desde una perspectiva crítica, democrática y emancipatoria algunos acontecimientos sociales de la realidad de El Salvador. Los textos de los autores y autoras seleccionados son el resultado de sus estudios e investigaciones y de vivencias personales. La historia de El Salvador ha estado muy marcada por la búsqueda de acuerdos sociales con el objetivo de superar problemas históricos. Y estas acciones han determinado, en cierta medida, posibilidades de desarrollo y bienestar para su gente. Pero buscar acuerdos ha implicado tensiones y conflictos que con el tiempo han ido transformando la identidad, la cultura y las perspectivas democráticas de la sociedad salvadoreña. Esperamos que esta antología sirva a quienes tienen el interés de acercarse y conocer un poco de la realidad social e histórica de El Salvador. Y que, a través de la reflexión y análisis críticos expuestos en cada texto, por destacados autores y autoras, expertos en diversos campos multidisciplinarios, le permitan comprender y pensar sobre la realidad contemporánea de El Salvador, sobre sus dinámicas, sus procesos y sus desafíos históricos.

This Special Issue contains 12 papers devoted to fluid/structure interaction (FSI) problems. The main feature of the problems is an interface on which consistent boundary conditions for both the liquid and the solid regions are formulated. The presented studies cover a wide range of problems and methods for their solution, including problems of weak, or one-way interaction, in which the effect of interface deformation on the fluid flow can be neglected, as well as problems of the strong interaction, for which the interface change affects both the flow and the structure behaviour. The interest in FSI problems is very great due to their practical importance. Recent developments in engineering have led to advanced formulations of FSI problems. Some of them could not be formulated several years ago. The presented papers demonstrate progress in both numerical algorithms, mathematical apparatus and advanced computational techniques. In this issue, we have tried to collect different FSI problems, new mathematical and numerical approaches, new numerical techniques and, of course, new results, which can provide an insight into FSI processes.

This work presents a single molecular motor driven by the current in an STM. Its chiral functional group is supposed to perform a rotation in a preferred direction, proven by Binomial tests to be statistically significant. The rotation is proposedly driven by the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect (CISS). However, the studies of the rotation on the dependence on the lateral tip position, voltage and current indicate that he CISS is unlikely to cause the preferred rotation direction.

Thèses, articles, livres… tous les chercheurs en sciences humaines et sociales consacrent une partie de leur temps à écrire. Ce dénominateur commun masque à l’évidence une grande diversité quant aux pratiques d’écriture : écrire un manuel juridique n’est pas écrire un article dans une revue d’économie ; rédiger un rapport de recherche pour un organisme public n’est pas rédiger un essai pour un éditeur soucieux de toucher un lectorat aussi large que possible…Malgré cette diversité, l’acte d’écriture demeure une pratique partagée. L’objectif de ce livre, qui entend croiser témoignages et analyses, est certes de donner à voir la diversité des pratiques d’écriture mais aussi et surtout de faire dialoguer les chercheurs autour des manières de mettre leur idéal scientifique à l’épreuve de l’écriture. Car écrire en sciences humaines et sociales, ce n’est jamais simplement rédiger, ce n’est jamais simplement consigner un résultat de recherche. L’écriture n’est ni simple, ni transparente, ni innocente. En invitant les chercheurs à dire leur rapport à l’écriture, et même à raconter leurs expériences (heureuses ou douloureuses), ce second volet de la collection « Métier de chercheur·e » entend interroger frontalement une pratique trop peu souvent mise en discussion dans l’espace académique.

Nesta obra um dos mais conceituados intelectuais da saúde coletiva recupera a história de três décadas de instituição da Reforma Sanitária no país, traçando uma análise crítica da conjuntura em que ela foi concebida, desde a criação do Centro Brasileiro de Estudos de Saúde (Cebes), lembrando sua importância para esse movimento, até os dias atuais. Munido de extensa pesquisa documental, procura fundamentar a tese segundo a qual a proposta da Reforma Sanitária corresponde a uma reforma social, explicitando questões sobre seus limites e possibilidades futuras. Seus passos e construções reflexivas instigam a dúvidas, suscitam debates e impõem ao leitor considerações e posicionamento.

Les lecteurs pongiens aiment à se dire séparés en deux camps : les tenants d’un Ponge phénoménologue et ceux d’un Ponge formaliste. Une telle représentation, posturalement conflictuelle et scientifiquement peu féconde, devait d’urgence être démontée. Peut-être phénoménologie et formalisme pongiens ne sont-ils que les manifestations d’un seul et même principe. Ce qu’ils donnent à lire, c’est l’empressement du poète à organiser sans relâche les deux grands corps qui enveloppent le genre humain, le monde extérieur et celui du langage. La démarche pongienne témoignerait ainsi d’une passion incontrôlée... pour l’ordre et le rangement. Ce caractère obsessionnel de l’écriture serait la signature de Francis Ponge, l’emprunte qu’il laisse sur tout ce qu’il manipule. Cela divise les lecteurs, mais ne le sépare pas. Les uns seront plus sensibles au geste de colmatage produit par cette immense machine textuelle, les autres à l’effet de brouillage qui en résulte, ressenti comme machination. Dans un premier temps, l’auteur précise les contours de cette étonnante signature, en s’appuyant sur la pensée derridienne et sur l’enseignement lacanien. Dans un second temps, l’élaboration théorique s’efface derrière des lectures novatrices d’où se dégage une série de motifs pongiens centraux - l’appropriation du rite sabbatique, l’hostie comme siglaison de l’innommable, la poétique de l’habitat, le refus de la croyance, l’imaginaire du spectre et du bouffon -, mais généralement éludés faute d’un concept suffisamment fort pour les contenir tous.

This open access book brings together cutting-edge work on reflexive approaches within migration studies and emphasizes the boundedness and political character of knowledge production. Beyond presenting a state-of-the-art of the problematic aspects of knowledge production in migration studies, this volume is innovative insofar as the contributions all formulate alternatives. They should lead to transform knowledge production in relation to migration and therefore contribute to alter our ways to do research and tackle established power relations. By discussing a diverse range of topical subjects – among others, epistemology, power, ethnocentrism, racism, decoloniality, gender and methodology – this volume is a great resource to students, to junior and senior academics in migration studies and social sciences more general as well as to policy-makers in European countries.

En reconstituant les cultures et les imaginaires des militants socialistes français et italiens, cet ouvrage entend réfléchir aux motivations de l’adhésion idéologique et aux déterminants de l’agir politique. Mouvantes, les cultures socialistes sont ouvertes à de nombreuses influences : on peut ainsi mettre en évidence des superpositions avec les cultures catholiques, radicales ou communistes. Étudier une période brève permet en outre de travailler à l’intersection de différentes échelles – locale, nationale, internationale – et de décrire la diversité des représentations du monde qui voisinent au sein des deux partis, les rituels qui permettent de les exprimer, le rapport au temps et les pratiques politiques jugées légitimes. Il s’agit également de contribuer à l’histoire du socialisme européen au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et d’expliquer ses déchirements. « Maîtres de l’heure », selon les mots de Léon Blum, les partis socialistes d’Europe occidentale participent à la plupart des gouvernements d’union nationale qui suivent la Libération et inspirent certaines des réformes les plus emblématiques de la période. Mais, très vite, ils se trouvent englués dans la guerre froide naissante, à la recherche d’une hypothétique troisième voie qui peine à se dessiner et ils sont contraints à des choix tranchés qui provoquent, en France comme en Italie, tensions, rancœurs et scissions.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Digital personalization is an emerging interdisciplinary research field, with application to a variety of areas including design, education and publication industry. This book focuses on children’s education and literacy resources, which have undergone important changes with the ‘personalization revolution’ in the early 21st century. The author develops original insights from educational research and her own studies concerned with digital and non-digital personalization, to discuss in a clear and critical way the thinking, research issues and practical implications of this new field. She scrutinises the character of technology-based personalized education to substantiate the claim that the current models of personalized education tend to be technology- and business-driven, with little pedagogical understanding of the social value of personalization. Research involving touchscreens, personalized books and 2-8-year olds is interrogated for its impact on children’s development of language, creativity, identity, as well as family dynamics and classroom dialogue. The literature available on digital and non-digital personalization is discussed in relation to five key themes of personalized education, the so-called 5As: autonomy, authorship, aesthetics, attachment and authenticity. It is argued that the 5As need to be anchored in humanist principles for a sustainable pedagogy and practice. Based on the insights from research with typically and atypically developing children, Kucirkova proposes personalised pluralisation, as a pedagogical framework of personalized education for the future. The book aims to help scholars and professionals understand the connections between personalization and literacy, personalization and education, and personalization and wider socio-moral issues.