Open Access Books

This open access book is the result of an expert panel convened by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Nature Sustainability. The panel tackled the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 head-on, with respect to the global systems that produce and distribute food. The panel’s rigorous synthesis and analysis of existing research leads compellingly to multiple actionable recommendations that, if adopted, would simultaneously lead to healthy and nutritious diets, equitable and inclusive value chains, resilience to shocks and stressors, and climate and environmental sustainability.

This book will shed light on some hot topics related to nuclear power plants starting from uranium ore processing to fabrication through enrichment and finally to nuclear fuel at nuclear reactors. This book will hopefully encourage researchers and scientists to look further into the advantages of nuclear power plants in the production of cheap electricity with low fuel cost.

This reprint highlights the ecological importance of forest litter in nutrient cycling, the sequestration of soil carbon, and the formation of soil organic matter. The results presented would be of great importance for the improvement of forest services against the background of the global climate change scenario.

In naturwissenschaftlichen Studiengängen sind Praktika ein wichtiger Lernort, an dem Studierende Kompetenzen aus dem Bereich der naturwissenschaftlichen Denk- und Arbeitsweisen (NDAW) aufbauen können, wie z. ,B. das Planen oder Auswerten von Untersuchungen. Bisher ist weitgehend unklar, welchen Stellenwert das Lernen von NDAW-Kompetenzen in Praktika einnimmt und inwiefern Gestaltungsmerkmale zur Förderung von NDAW-Kompetenzen in Praktika tatsächlich adressiert werden. Um empirisch fundierte Einblicke in die aktuelle Praxis naturwissenschaftlicher Praktika zu generieren, wurden die Relevanz von NDAW-Kompetenzen in Praktika sowie entsprechende Förderangebote in einem Fragebogen mit N ,= ,86 Lehrenden und N ,= ,399 Studierenden sowie einem weiterführenden Interview mit N ,= ,19 Lehrenden erfasst. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass NDAW-Kompetenzen ein relevantes Ziel von Praktika sind, es zwischen der Relevanz der Kompetenzen zur Vorbereitung von Untersuchungen und den Kompetenzen zur Durchführung, Auswertung und Dokumentation von Untersuchungen jedoch Unterschiede gibt. Diese Unterschiede spiegeln sich auch in den Gestaltungsmerkmalen zur Förderung der Kompetenzen wider. Darüber hinaus konnten leichte Unterschiede zwischen den Fächern und Praktikumszeitpunkten gefunden werden. Insgesamt deuten die Befunde der Arbeit darauf hin, dass die von Lehrenden intendierten Ziele von Praktika nicht immer vollständig zur Gestaltung dieser passen.

Franz Hinkelammert afirmó hacia fines del siglo XX una idea que tiene plena vigencia: "La nueva derecha es heredera de las dictaduras militares de Seguridad Nacional, y su vocación es asegurar el esquema de poder originado por esas dictaduras bajo formas democráticas, en beneficio de las élites y con la bendición de Estados Unidos".En efecto, las estrategias de la derecha vuelven a sus orígenes. En el plano político, se ha intensificado el perfil ideológico desplazando el espectro hacia posturas ultraderechistas. El autoritarismo de nueva generacio´n registrado durante la segunda de´cada de este milenio definitivamente se ha exacerbado. Esta matriz se ha reforzado en lo económico, actualizando la antigua alianza tecno-militar en la composición de los gobiernos en cargos claves (Brasil, Paraguay y Colombia), al tiempo que se refuerza el imaginario del Estado emprendedor, ahora conducido sin mediaciones y en forma directa por empresarios.

Les cathédrales du Savoir sont les grandes bibliothèques d’étude et de recherche dont s’enorgueillissent les Etats-Unis. A la fois conserva­toires du savoir et de tout l’acquis de la culture, centres de documenta­tion, institutions pédagogiques et de recherche ainsi que foyers culturels vivants, elles représentent dans la civilisation anglo-saxonne ce qu’ont symbolisé les cathédrales pour le Moyen-Age chrétien. Ces « universi­tés sans professeurs » sont appelées à jouer un rôle de plus en plus considérable dans l’avenir où elles détermineront en grande partie par la maîtrise des banques de données en particulier - le développement économique, social et culturel d’un pays. C’est dire que cet ouvrage vient à son heure en traitant d’un sujet à peu près inédit en France. Très clair, illustré de nombreuses figures, tableaux et photographies, il sera utile non seulement aux bibliothécaires, aux documentalistes et aux étudiants, mais il apporte une contribution non négligeable à l’étude de la civilisation américaine.

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, before closing its borders to Jewish refugees, the United States granted asylum to approximately 90,000 German Jews fleeing the horrors of the Third Reich. And while most became active participants in American society, they also often constructed their individual and communal lives and identities in relation to their home country. As this groundbreaking study shows, even though many refugees wanted little to do with Germany, the political circumstances of the postwar era meant that engagement of some kind was unavoidable—whether initiated within the community itself, or by political actors and the broader public in West Germany. Author Anne C. Schenderlein gives a fascinating account of these entangled histories on both sides of the Atlantic, and demonstrates the remarkable extent to which German Jewish refugees helped to shape the course of West German democratization.

The pervasive role religion plays in immigration policy is universally acknowledged but not well understood. On the Significance of Religion in Immigration Policy explores the ways in which religion affects immigration policy, focusing on two Abrahamic religions: Christianity and Judaism. This cutting-edge volume: Makes sense of the varied roles played by two Abrahamic religions in immigration policy and practice Shows how distinguishing between religion as belief/practice and religion as national identity can serve as a heuristic tool in understanding how religion affects immigration policy Investigates scriptural passages relevant to immigration, their reception history, and how they have been used to justify diverse policies. Uses case studies to provide an overview of the complex and varied religious responses to immigrants Offers policy implications for understanding the religious impact on immigration for policymakers, practitioners, and academics Applying cutting-edge research to concrete situations, this volume provides an accessible and concise overview suitable for academics, policymakers, and practitioners alike, building a common platform for understanding how some of the major world religions treat the stranger in both theory and practice.

This book presents the results of the work of a research group from the University of Florence aimed at underscoring the consequences on the government of craft enterprises of the inequality of the criteria for recognition of the preferential debt of the artisan in insolvency proceedings. The study has also sought to contribute to superseding certain economic-financial criteria utilised to discriminate between enterprises that deserve the recognition of the right and other enterprises, partly through the definition of an alternative criterion that has already been subjected to an initial empirical validation.

Food packaging and shelf life have been the subject of remarkable research in recent years. They are so important because only by understanding a good storage system is it possible to avoid any food waste. Moreover, the best packaging has to prolong the food quality while also reducing the packaging volume or better, become itself biodegradable, and guarantee the nutritional characteristics of food products.In particular, the increasing interest in reducing packaging wastes is becoming a rising problem, just considering that food packaging alone contributes to a huge portion of total packaging wastes in the world. On the other side, consumers judge the food quality based on appearance and freshness, but also using their awareness of the environmental implications of packaging. Nowadays, many technologies can be applied to improve food quality and shelf life, such the application of edible films or coatings, from biodegradable materials or biopolymers, trying to reduce the package barrier requirements, incorporating natural bioactive compounds and lengthening shelf life making then packaging easily compostable.

This book analyzes the impact of the Fukushima disaster on civil society in Japan with particular attention to the anti-nuclear movement, focusing on its development, repertoire of action, mobilization strategies, modes of operation, and impact on the state’s energy policy. Combining social movement theory and civil society theory, the author draws on extensive fieldwork in Japan to explore the context of the sociopolitical situation in Japan up to the Fukushima accident and to offer a typological description and analysis of the anti-nuclear movement that emerged after the disaster. Through an analysis of the relationship between the power elite and the anti-nuclear movement organizations, this volume considers the influences exercised by the ruling elites on civil society and vice versa, thus assessing the effects of the anti-nuclear movement on the state policy and the society. A comprehensive account of the anti-nuclear movement in post-Fukushima Japan, embedded within a broader perspective of the movement’s historical development, contemporary political structures, and opportunities, Fukushima and Civil Society will appeal to scholars of sociology and politics with an interest in social movements.

Metallurgical Engineering is the science and technology of producing, processing and giving proper shape to metals and alloys and other Engineering Materials having desired properties through economically viable process. Metallurgical Engineering has played a crucial role in the development of human civilization beginning with bronze-age some 3000 years ago when tools and weapons were mostly produced from the metals and alloys. This science has matured over millennia and still plays crucial role by supplying materials having suitable properties. As the title, "Recent Researches in Metallurgical Engineering, From Extraction to Forming" implies, this text blends new theories with practices covering a broad field that deals with all sorts of metal-related areas including mineral processing, extractive metallurgy, heat treatment and casting.

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, sacramental theology has evolved as a discipline advancing comprehensive theories of sacraments and sacramentality as integral to the Christian faith while also studying the history and theology of the particular rites. Now, in the twenty-first century, the need for attention to the actual performance and specific social settings of sacramental worship has become well established. This makes the work of sacramental theology necessarily engaged with multiple, cross-disciplinary theories attentive to particular contexts, whether local, national, or global. Still, the divine human encounter at the heart of Christian symbol and ritual likewise beckons to philosophical–theological reflection. The essays in this volume begin with profound philosophical perspectives on the personal and communal sacramental experience, expanding from traditional cosmology to evolutionary and chaos theories of our planetary existence, continuing with shifts, especially among youth, to interreligious and non-institutional perspectives, consideration of change in popular notions of guilt, and social–ethical issues in relation to liturgical theology and practice, so as finally to return to fundamental theological reflection on human sacramentality and divine revelation.

Many thanks to the authors for high quality chapters and to the referees for helping improve the manuscripts. The book is interdisciplinary, it covers fields from organic chemistry to mathematics, and raises different aspects of oligomerization. It is a great source of information as every chapter introduces general knowledge and deep details. Mixing communities is to instigate novel ideas and hopefully help looking at oligomerization with new eyes.

Trabajar por las mejoras sociales en barrios periféricos no es tarea fácil. Menos aún lo es intentar igualar las condiciones de vida de la periferia con las del centro y el conjunto de la ciudad. Pensar localmente —el barrio— al mismo tiempo que globalmente —la ciudad— implica una serie de dificultades vinculadas con la gestión interna y externa, además del manejo de unas relaciones institucionales que, dada la estructura de la burocracia local, se acaban multiplicando por la interlocución de varios actores. Este libro recoge la gran transformación urbana y social del barrio del Bon Pastor de Barcelona, vista desde la perspectiva de uno de sus activistas más incansables, Salvador Angosto, vecino implicado en incontables luchas durante más de cuarenta años. Su memoria particular constituye la historia de toda una comunidad, la del Bon Pastor.