Open Access Books

The aim of this work is to illustrate the main intercultural communicative problems which could arise in the interactions between Italians on the one side and Bosnians, Croatians, Montenegrins and Serbs (who will also be referred to as South Slavs or Slavs from the South) on the other. The general field of research of this study – the intercultural communication – allows us to shed light on aspects which could influence more than morphological or syntactic errors the success of interactions between speakers who do not share the same mother tongue and culture. The communications involving interlocutors belonging to different ‘worlds’ can lead, as a matter of fact, to negative consequences on the interaction and on the relationship between the speakers, if and when they do not take sufficiently into account certain cultural aspects, such as the values guiding the speakers in the communication, the use of verbal and non-verbal languages, and the way in which some cultural traits are conceived. Therefore, it is necessary for each speaker to consider and analise carefully the main aspects which could give rise to intercultural communicative misunderstandings or even conflicts with their interlocutor so as to reduce the risks of the above-mentioned situations arising.

The Special Issue "Vehicular Sensing for Improved Urban Mobility" focuses on the evolving role of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in enhancing urban mobility. With recent advancements in vehicular sensing technologies, such as cameras, radars, and LIDAR, vehicles can now gather detailed environmental data and share it through vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. This technology, supported by 5G networks, allows for better cooperative awareness and collective perception, leading to improved traffic safety and efficiency in urban settings. Key topics explored in this issue include the use of smart infrastructure embedded with AI and sensors, the development of vehicle ad hoc networks (VANETs), and the integration of CAVs to create a more seamless, efficient urban mobility system. The studies highlight the benefits of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications in mitigating road hazards and enhancing traffic management​. This Issue gathers innovative research on vehicular sensing applications and urban mobility improvements, making it a crucial contribution to the ongoing development of smart cities and future transportation networks.

Efforts to miniaturize sensing and diagnostic devices and to integrate multiple functions into one device have caused massive growth in the field of microfluidics and this integration is now recognized as an important feature of most new diagnostic approaches. These approaches have and continue to change the field of biosensing and diagnostics. In this Special Issue, we present a small collection of works describing microfluidics with applications in biosensing and diagnostics.

« Le 11 mars 2011, le district Nord-Est du Japon a été frappé par un tremblement de terre massif suivi d’un tsunami majeur et d’une série d’accidents à la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima avec fuites d’éléments radioactifs ». Tel est le message que le professeur Kanazawa, président du Science Council of Japan (SCJ) adressa quelques jours après la catastrophe aux présidents des académies des sciences étrangère …

This book is one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date books written on Energy Efficiency. The readers will learn about different technologies for energy efficiency policies and programs to reduce the amount of energy. The book provides some studies and specific sets of policies and programs that are implemented in order to maximize the potential for energy efficiency improvement. It contains unique insights from scientists with academic and industrial expertise in the field of energy efficiency collected in this multi-disciplinary forum.

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Der juristische Umgang mit Krieg und staatlicher Gewalt steht im Zentrum des Wirkens von Benjamin B. Ferencz. 1920 als Kind jüdischer Eltern in Siebenbürgen geboren, wanderte er mit ihnen wenig später in die Vereinigten Staaten aus. Als Soldat kehrte er während des Zweiten Weltkriegs nach Europa zurück, beteiligte sich an der Verfolgung der deutschen Verbrechen und wirkte als Ankläger in einem der Nürnberger Nachfolgeprozesse. Anschließend war er über viele Jahre mit der Restitution und Entschädigung für jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus befasst. Ab den 1970er Jahren hatte er bedeutenden Anteil an internationalen Bemühungen, künftige Kriege durch ein neugestaltetes Völkerrecht zu verhindern. Für die Einrichtung des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs in den 1990er Jahren wurde Ferencz zur Symbolfigur. Die Quellenedition eröffnet einzigartige Einblicke in das komplexe Verhältnis von individuellem Engagement und internationalem Recht.

The Arctic region contains large amounts of natural resources considered necessary to sustain global economic growth, so it is unsurprising that it is increasingly susceptible to political, economic, environmental, and even military conflicts. This book looks in detail at the preconditions and outlook for international cooperation on the development of Arctic petroleum resources, focusing on Norwegian–Russian cooperation in the Barents Sea towards 2025. The authors provide a cross-disciplinary approach including geopolitical, institutional, technological, corporate and environmental perspectives to analyse the underlying factors that shape the future development of the region. Three future scenarios are developed, exploring various levels of cooperation and development influenced by and resulting from potential political, commercial and environmental circumstances. Through these scenarios, the book improves understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Arctic petroleum resource development and promotes further consideration of the possible outcomes of future cooperation. The book should be of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers working in the areas of Arctic studies, oil and gas studies, energy security, global environmental governance, environmental politics and environmental technology. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138783263_oachapter1.pdf Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138783263_oachapter2.pdf Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138783263_oachapter6.pdf

In einer digital durchdrungenen Welt steht die Medienpädagogik vor fundamentalen Umwälzungen: Die Trennung zwischen digital und nicht-digital verschwindet zugunsten einer Hybridität, die als mediatisierte Digitalität grundlegenden Einfluss auf unsere Wahrnehmung der Welt sowie unsere kommunikativen Praktiken ausübt. Eingebettet in den medienpädagogischen Kompetenzdiskurs stellt Ann-Kathrin Maria Watolla Kompetenzen kommunikativen Handelns in der mediatisierten Digitalität heraus. Mit dem daraus resultierenden Kompetenzmodell leistet sie einen wegweisenden Beitrag für die Bewältigung der aktuellen Herausforderungen und gibt Orientierung für die Zukunft der Lehrkräftebildung.

Os edifícios desempenharam um papel importante na história soviética, desde o assalto ao Palácio de Inverno, em outubro de 1917, até à defesa da Casa Branca de Moscovo, durante a tentativa de golpe de estado de 1991. Nos anos 30, os «Velhos Bolcheviques» mudaram-se das «Casas dos Sovietes», antigos hotéis onde viviam de forma mais ou menos comunitária, para a «Casa do Governo», um grande edifício onde residiam em apartamentos de família, rodeados por guardas e criadas. E não foi só de edifícios realmente existentes que se fez a história da URSS, a qual se assemelhava a um grande apartamento comunitário. Esta coletânea inclui um artigo seminal sobre a União Soviética como uma federação multinacional, na qual diferentes repúblicas nacionais ocupavam quartos semiautónomos, seguindo-se um ensaio sobre a relação entre o amor jovem, os «Velhos Bolcheviques» e a domesticidade a que se viram condenados. Termina com uma conversa sobre as casas soviéticas, a historiografia sobre a URSS e o percurso do próprio Yuri Slezkine.

Uma ave, curiosa, pergunta

Leibniz on Existence offers a systematic reconstruction of Leibniz’s evolving conception of existence, combining historical and analytical approaches. It argues that Leibniz conceives existence on three interconnected levels—phenomenological (real vs. imaginary), ontological (concrete vs. abstract), and modal (actual vs. possible)—and that the tensions among these levels are structural to his metaphysics. Tracing his thought from its nominalist beginnings to the mature theory of possible worlds, the book shows how Leibniz’s reflections on existence illuminate the interplay between rational theology, metaphysics, and the relation between the possible and the actual.

Interrogating Integration explores how international sporting spectacles, media campaigns, and public debates construct racialized national identity in an era of rising right-wing nationalism. Across Europe, “integration” has emerged as a guiding concept to regulate cultural differences, particularly in Germany, where integration became a watchword after the introduction of birthright citizenship in 2000. The legal expansion of German citizenship threatened the homogeneous definition of the nation and spurred increased scrutiny of immigrants and Germans of color, primarily Muslim and Black Germans. This opened a new chapter in the long struggle over German identity. The celebrations, scandals, and debates analyzed here reveal how the admission of new citizens inspired an optimistic cosmopolitanism that claimed to differentiate the new Germany from its fascist past while simultaneously reinscribing racialized hierarchies and providing fuel for rising far-right politics. Using touchstones of public memory, including events surrounding men’s World Cup soccer and the record-breaking success of a book blaming Muslims for Germany’s decline, Zambon examines persistent problems in European conceptions of race, where racializing projects take place under an “ideology of racelessness” and the atrocities of historical and transnational racisms are used to deny current local forms of racism.

Hasta hace poco determinante para la afirmación de una ciencia histórica española autónoma, la influencia de la historiografía francesa ha retrocedido de manera progresiva hasta parecer, a veces, secundaria. La presente obra recoge las contribuciones de historiadores franceses y españoles que han reflexionado conjuntamente sobre la significación de esta impronta francesa. De esta manera, se dibuja una verdadera cartografía de la influencia francesa en España, con sus límites y envites, evocan...