DOAB - Directory of Open Access Books
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Nature-Positive Cities: Adaptive Spatial Planning in Italy for an Ecological Urban Transition
No full textThis open access book underscores the importance of a multidisciplinary approach, framed within a broader trans-disciplinary perspective, to move from conventional urban development to nature-positive cities and planning. It is therefore fundamental to assess urban biodiversity, actually not largely investigated yet crucial for ecosystem services provision in urban areas, and urban soils, often overlooked, that plays a crucial role in biodiversity support and nature conservation, along with green and blue infrastructures, that are able to generate ecosystem benefits and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as improve human health. The other critical step is to translate this commitment into urban planning goals, followed by the implementation and monitoring of actions to achieve the set goals. To support this transition, the book presents strategies for integrating nature and its elements into urban planning and policy design. The interdisciplinary nature of the book – ensured by multiple background and expertise in urban planning, architecture, forestry, ecology – ensures cross-sectoral insights that likely help advancing the awareness and knowledge of experts, decision-makers and citizens to ultimately drive the transition into nature-positive cities
In fremden Häusern
No full textNach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg erlebte Polen eine radikale Transformation seines Regimes, eine Neuausrichtung seiner Grenzen und eine Umsiedlung der Bevölkerung. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Ereignisse infolge internationaler Abkommen erzählt das Buch die ambivalente Geschichte von polnischen und polnisch-jüdischen Siedlern aus den im Osten an die Sowjetunion verlorenen Gebieten, die sich nun in den »Heimen« von Deutschen und deutschen Juden in den im Westen annektierten Regionen wiederfanden. Das Nach- und Nebeneinander von nach Westen geflohenen deutschen Siedlern, von Polen, die gerade erst einen erzwungenen Bevölkerungsaustausch erduldet hatten, und von überlebenden polnischen Juden, die widerwillig zu Erben des materiellen und kulturellen Eigentums altehrwürdiger, im Holocaust vernichteter deutsch-jüdischer Gemeinden wurden, wird dabei mit einem besonderem Fokus auf die menschlichen und persönlichen Erfahrungen, die mit den Änderungen der Besitzverhältnisse einhergingen, ungeschönt beschrieben. Aus der Chronologie des Verlusts und der Aneignung von Objekten ergibt sich eine neue Sichtweise auf die Herausbildung der polnischen Nachkriegsgesellschaft
Explainable Artificial Intelligence
No full textThis open access five-volume set constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second World Conference on Explainable Artificial Intelligence, xAI 2025, held in Istanbul, Turkey, during July 2025. The 96 revised full papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 224 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Volume I: Concept-based Explainable AI; human-centered Explainability; explainability, privacy, and fairness in trustworthy AI; and XAI in healthcare. Volume II: Rule-based XAI systems & actionable explainable AI; features importance-based XAI; novel post-hoc & ante-hoc XAI approaches; and XAI for scientific discovery. Volume III: Generative AI meets explainable AI; Intrinsically interpretable explainable AI; benchmarking and XAI evaluation measures; and XAI for representational alignment. Volume IV: XAI in computer vision; counterfactuals in XAI; explainable sequential decision making; and explainable AI in finance & legal frameworks for XAI technologies. Volume V: Applications of XAI; human-centered XAI & argumentation; explainable and interactive hybrid decision making; and uncertainty in explainable AI
City Makers and the Politics of Urban Diversity Governance
No full textThis open access book examines the rising challenges of managing diversity in European and Asian cities. It spotlights the roles of varied city makers - from urban leaders to migrant communities and civil society activists - in negotiating and transforming their city’s diversity governance. The book brings together the contributions of urban studies and migration studies scholars, which offer rich empirical analyses on various European and Asian cities, such as Paris, Singapore, Barcelona, and Guangzhou. Adopting a comparative lens, the book presents a decentered understanding of 'super-diverse' cities, examining shifts in urban policy-making within different geographical contexts, with distinct patterns of migration and diversification. By advancing urban comparison as a research tool, it contributes to the contemporary discussions on the local turn of migration and diversity policies
Healthcare in the United Arab Emirates
No full textHealthcare in the UAE: A Comprehensive Insight into a Transformative Journey This open-access first-of-its-kind book in United Arab Emirates (UAE) healthcare history was designed to become an essential resource for various stakeholders seeking an in-depth understanding of the healthcare landscape across the UAE, spanning all seven emirates and encompassing both private and public health systems. It systematically explores the evolving journey of healthcare policy, service delivery, and innovation in the UAE, celebrating key milestones and success stories while shedding light on ongoing challenges and unmet needs. Authored by a diverse group of experts from across the UAE, it draws contributions from professionals in primary care, specialist care, preventive medicine, public health policy, regulatory frameworks, reimbursement systems, clinical research, health informatics, health economics, medical education, training, and licensing. Additionally, it examines evolving interest areas in the UAE healthcare sector, such as the flourishing medical tourism industry and the growing use of precision medicine and artificial intelligence. Individual chapters not only delve into the challenges facing specific healthcare disciplines but also offer strategic insights into future directions, outlining clear roadmaps for desired changes. The book also presents a forward-looking blueprint for the growth of the healthcare sector over the next 50 years to meet national priorities of health longevity and infrastructure sustainability. This is the first comprehensive publication to provide such a broad, in-depth analysis of healthcare in the UAE. Endorsed by the prestigious Emirates Oncology Society and the Emirates Medical Association, it is a landmark contribution to understanding and advancing healthcare in the region. Whether you are a healthcare professional, policy maker, academic scholar, or investor, this book offers valuable perspectives and actionable insights into one of the world's most dynamic healthcare systems
Wasted Potential
No full textThis open access book examines how food systems reforms can support efforts to achieve SDG 12 by reducing food loss and waste in support of sustainable, safe, and nutritious diets in countries at different points of structural transformation. To achieve responsible production and consumption and support safe and nutritious diets, sustainable food system transformations are needed. Strategies to achieve this transformation focus on increasing production and supply of nutrient-rich foods; efficiently moving food along the value chain to make healthy foods accessible; ensuring that quality diets are affordable; and driving demand for healthy diets via informed food choice. By 2030, the United Nations aims to halve food waste and reduce food loss as part of Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3. Preventing food loss and waste, both in terms of food quantity and food quality, aligns with strategies to promote sustainable diets for all. The authors of this volume approach food loss and waste is in three unique important ways. First, while previous literature on the topic has focused on loss at the retail and consumer stages, this volume uses a food systems lens to examine food loss and waste across the entire range of actors and activities, from production to consumption. This enables an examination of feedback loops between food loss and food security as shifts in food systems occur at different stages of structural transformation. Second, while examining food loss and waste globally, the authors focus particularly on low- and middle-income countries. In doing so, they explore entry points for food loss and waste investment and intervention priorities to deliver healthy diets under different food system contexts. This is in contrast with the existing literature, which primarily uses cases from the U.S. and Europe to examine the phenomenon. Third, this book explores both the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of food loss and waste, using the latest evidence of measurement and prevention across disciplines and across all stages of structural transformation. ‘Wasted Potential provides a rigorous and much needed systems perspective on food loss and waste, expertly bridging the gaps between food security, environmental sustainability, and economic development. Boiteau and Pingali offer a clear, actionable roadmap for aligning food system transformation with global development goals. Their comprehensive approach to tackling food loss and waste brings much-needed coherence to a fragmented field and offers practical guidance for future action to policymakers, researchers, and development practitioners.’ – Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate and Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative, Columbia Climate School. The support of the Tata-Cornell Institute made this book possible
Zeitenwende, Zivile Verteidigung und Bevölkerungsschutz
No full textDieses Open-Access-Buch enthält Beiträge zur Zeitenwende im Bevölkerungsschutz und in der Zivilen Verteidigung. Der Umgang mit Bedrohung und Unsicherheit, dazu gehört auch der Umgang mit einer möglichen Kriegsgefahr, stellen neue Realitäten dar, mit denen man sich auch in Deutschland politisch wie auch auf Seiten der zuständigen Organisationen einstellen muss. Experten aus dem Bereich der Gefahrenabwehr und des Krisenmanagements beschäftigen mit der Thematik zwar sehr intensiv. Bedingt durch die lange Friedenszeit ist die breite Öffentlichkeit jedoch weitaus weniger informiert. Umso schwieriger ist es, aktuelle Diskussionen einzuordnen, Argumenten zu folgen und eine eigene Position zu beziehen. Vor diesem Hintergrund informiert dieses Open-Access- Buch über aktuelle Herausforderungen durch kriegerische Bedrohungen und die dafür notwendigen Elemente einer zivilen Verteidigung. Es geht aber auch darüber hinaus und zeigt auf, dass weitere Themen wie der Klimawandel, Pandemien und Risiken, die mit technologischen Entwicklungen verbunden sind, ebenfalls nicht vernachlässigt werden dürfen. Sechs aus ganz unterschiedlichen Perspektiven pointiert verfasste Beiträge tragen zur Bewusstseinsbildung und kritischen Reflektion der verkündeten Zeitenwende bei. Zielgruppen dieses Buchs: Interessierte Öffentlichkeit, Forschende im Bereich der zivilen Sicherheit, Forschende aus anderen Disziplinen und Themenrichtungen, Behörden und Einrichtungen
Transnational Activism in North America
No full textThis open access book brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to examine how North American civil society organizations have actively mobilized within and across borders in response to the tumultuous social and economic changes in the region since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Contributors from the three countries address the implications of recent changes in areas such trade, labour, migration and human rights. They draw on a rich and varied set of empirical case studies to detail the opportunities and constraints that activists have encountered as they navigate a changing landscape marked by the renegotiation of NAFTA, Trump’s threats to build a US-Mexico border wall, the COVID-19 pandemic and continued restrictions on migration. The contributors highlight organizing strategies, the potential for new alliances and pose critical questions about the nature of transnational activism in the current conjuncture
The Inclusive Circular Economy
No full textThis open access book is a multi-disciplinary effort to address the complex socio-economic issues and the substantial environmental pressure that the expected large-scale migration will exert on cities in the near future. Emerging from a joint research project between China and the Netherlands, the authors herein put forward a vision for cities that the future demands while assessing efforts, recent and ongoing, in this direction. Building on the lessons learned from this research, it also proposes strategies and best practices for future policy aimed at the design and development of circular and inclusive cities
Lehren im Musikprogramm »El Sistema«
No full textWas prägt den Arbeitsalltag von Lehrkräften bei »El Sistema«, dem international bekannten venezolanischen Musikprogramm? Was heißt es, in einer Organisation zu unterrichten, die mit sozialem Wandel und musikalischer Exzellenz wirbt? Andrea Bießmanns sprachsensible Analyse eröffnet Einblicke in die vielschichtige Realität des Unterrichtens in »El Sistema«. Damit leistet sie nicht nur einen originellen Beitrag zur »Sistema«-Forschung, sondern eröffnet auch neue Perspektiven für die musikpädagogische Praxis insgesamt: Wie viel Gestaltungsfreiheit bleibt pädagogischem Handeln in normativ gerahmten Organisationen