DOAB - Directory of Open Access Books
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Artificial Intelligence in Biobanking
No full textThis insightful collection highlights the ethical, legal and societal issues associated with the increasing role played by artificial intelligence (AI) in medical biobanks, a key research resource in the global study of disease prevention and improving individual care. Although AI has the potential to speed up health research, the book considers numerous questions that the technology poses, from the building of trust to the prevention of harm to individuals, vulnerable groups or entire populations. Examining the tension between scientific progress and safeguarding of individual rights, and covering key issues such as accountability, data bias, transparency, and liability, the book considers the legal landscape in which biobanks operate, and what layers of governance are required to oversee such an important resource in a fluid technological age. A timely volume that brings together scholars and experts from social sciences, ethics, and law, this important book will interest researchers and professionals in Biomedicine, Law, and the broader Health Sciences. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 license
Merchants of Migrant Domestic Labour
No full textThis open access book discusses the market logic of recruitment agencies who deploy migrant domestic workers in Southeast Asia. Agencies are involved in all stages of worker migration trajectory – from their selection, to their training, and their management at the destination. The book describes how and why these private actors play such an outsized role in this kind of worker mobility, and examines their relations with employers, workers and state apparatuses. It focuses on agents operating in the largest migrant sending countries (the Philippines and Indonesia) and receiving countries (Malaysia and Singapore) in Southeast Asia. These pioneering migration industries in the region have established practices and norms that have and continue to diffuse to other world regions. This book is of interest to policymakers, practitioners, students and researchers in migration studies, global governance, gender and migration, globalization and development, Southeast Asian studies, and area studies in political science
Sustainable Agri-Food Systems
No full textThis reprint of the Special Issue “Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Environment, Economy, Society and Policy—2nd Edition” consists of an editorial and 14 articles addressing topics such as the following: 1. Transitioning design-orienting scenarios for food systems; 2. Women’s leadership in sustainable agriculture; 3. Extension implications for Slow Food development; 4. Determinants of becoming sustainable agropreneurs; 5. Indigenous peoples’ psychological well-being amid transitions in shifting cultivation landscapes; 6. Assessing the sustainability of dual-purpose, dairy and beef cattle production systems; 7. Accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy; 8. Spatiotemporal responses of vegetation to hydroclimatic factors in arid and semi-arid climates; 9. Food waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic; 10. Food security challenges in the context of the prolonged Russian–Ukrainian conflict; 11. Conceptualizing agri-food systems for a healthy, sustainable, and just transformation; 12. Blue in food and beverages; 13. Valuation in the agri-food system; 14. Transitioning agricultural systems and their effect on dietary diversity
Advanced Composites Manufacturing and Plastics Processing
No full textThis reprint focuses on the latest scientific development of advanced composites manufacturing and plastics processing. It contains research articles addressing new process developments, modeling/simulation, monitoring/control, and performance or application issues, with either experimental or numerical approaches. All types of polymers (thermoplastics or thermosets) and fibers/fillers (glass, carbon, ceramic, mineral, vegetal …) are concerned, whether they come from recycled, bio-based, or fossil feedstocks. The contributions are clustered in three fields: (i) advanced composites manufacturing (coupling/hybridization of processes; automated fiber, yarn or tape placement and additive manufacturing; long fiber thermoplastics compounding; fibers and fabrics production; manufacturing of sustainable bio-based composites; laminated glass/polymer composites), (ii) machining, milling and drilling of polymers, composites and multi-materials laminates, and (iii) polymer processing and compounding (functionalization; plastics recycling)
Queer Festivals
No full textTo what extent is queer anti-identitarian? And how is it experienced by activists at the European level? At queer festivals, activists, artists and participants come together to build new forms of sociability and practice their ideals through anti-binary and inclusive idioms of gender and sexuality. These ideals are moreover channelled through a series of organisational and cultural practices that aim at the emergence of queer as a collective identity. Through the study of festivals in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Copenhagen, and Oslo, Queer Festivals: Challenging Collective Identities in a Transnational Europe thoughtfully analyses the role of activist practices in the building of collective identities for social movement studies as well as the role of festivals as significant repertoires of collective action and sites of identitarian explorations in contemporary Europe
Molecular Research in Obesity
No full textThe prevalence of obesity continues to rise worldwide, contributing to an increased burden of metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular diseases. While environmental factors play a significant role in this epidemic, genetic predisposition and dysfunctions in adipose tissue remain critical determinants of disease onset and progression. The classical understanding of obesity, centered on energy imbalance and excessive fat accumulation, is being expanded thanks to emerging molecular insights into metabolic regulation, chronic low-grade inflammation, and adipose tissue plasticity. This Special Issue explores the interplay between traditional and novel mechanisms underlying obesity, including the molecular pathways regulating appetite, thermogenesis, adipocyte differentiation, and systemic inflammation. It also examines the roles of genetic and epigenetic factors in individual susceptibility and disease progression. Understanding these mechanisms is essential for developing innovative therapeutic strategies for preventing and managing obesity and its related complications. This Reprint provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in obesity research, highlighting new potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets that could transform future interventions in metabolic health
The Ants
No full textThe Ants is a study not of, but through, ants. In a dashing sequence of prose pieces, Sawako Nakayasu takes the human to the level of the ant, and the ant to the level of the human. Prima facie, The Ants is a catalogue of insect observations and observations of insects. But the exposé of insect life humbles and disrupts the myopia that is human life, where experience is seen in its most raw and animal form and human “nouveau-ambitious” and “free-thinking” lifestyles become estranged, uncovered, and humbled. Found in dumpling soups and remembered in childhood vignettes, these ants trail through what Nakayasu describes as the “industry of survival,” exploring interfaces of love, ambition, and strategy. The danger is not in sentiment, but rather, in a gash, a wall, an argument, an intention. Is it more lonely to be crushed into the core of a non-mechanical pencil, to be isolated in the safety of home, or to “find” “it” “all” at the very very last moment? The Ants is the distance, the break, and the tenuous wilderness between exoskeleton and endoskeleton, and Nakayasu puts her finger on it, and it, and it. This title is a new and expanded edition released as part of punctum’s Special Collections project, containing additionally seventeen bilingual English–Japanese poems from the chapbook Insect Country E: Bilingual Insects
Visualising Small Traumas
No full textCultural history of contemporary Portuguese comics and their creative responses to trauma Portugal's vibrant comics scene originated as early as the 19th century, bringing forth brilliant individual artists, but has remained mostly unknown beyond Portugal’s borders to this day. Now a new generation employs this medium to put into question hegemonic views on the economy, politics, and society. Following the experience of the financial crisis of the past decades and its impact on social policies, access to and rules of public discourse, and civil strife, comics have questioned what constitutes a traumatogenic situation and what can act as a creative response. By looking at established graphic novels by Marco Mendes and Miguel Rocha, fanzine-level, and even experimental productions, Visualising Small Traumas is the first English-language book that addresses Portuguese contemporary comics and investigates how trauma studies can both shed a light on comics making and be informed by that very same practice. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content)
Applications of Antioxidant Nanoparticles
No full textReactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential in regulating various physiological functions. However, the overproduction of ROS can be related to many diseases. Antioxidant administration represents an effective strategy to treat oxidative stress. In recent decades, nanotechnology and nanoparticles have received great interest and seen applications in many fields, from pharmaceutics to cosmetics and food. For instance, lipid nanoparticles, due to their “green” characteristics related to their biodegradation and non-toxicity, have received significant attention as a carrier for antioxidant molecules. Over the past few decades, significant achievements have been made in the development of antioxidant nanotherapies, exhibiting multiple advantages. This Special Issue collects recent advances in the design, production, characterization, use, and effect of antioxidant nanoparticles, including polymeric or lipid-based nanoparticles, ROS-scavenging inorganic nanoparticles, organic nanoparticles with intrinsic antioxidant activity, and drug-loaded antioxidant nanoparticles, to be administered by different routes. In other words, articles focus on the use of antioxidant nanoparticles in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic field, as well as in the food sector
The Student Guide to the Creative Studio in the Digital Age
No full textThis book looks at what it means to work in a creative studio. The volume takes a broad view of the concept of studio, defining it as any creative space that exists in the real or digital world – so this could be your studio at the university, a space or table you have at home, or a digital environment such as Miro where you work alone or with others. This book guides you in setting up a studio space and thinking about how to get the most out of solo and collaborative work within that space. It examines some of the practical elements, such as hardware and tools you might need, along with some of the soft skills, such as time management that will help you in your working.Having helped you to establish your working space, the authors provide guidance on specific creative skills that cross multiple disciplines and ways of working. Providing help with creating portfolios, including those that are needed to get into university, those you might produce while at university, and also ones that might be used after you complete your studies. The book also takes a deep five into how to present your work, both in person and online, synchronously, and asynchronously. Relatedly the volume examines crits, and how you might use and respond to feedback provided by your lecturers and peers. The authors are also joined by more than 20 contributors who help this volume to dive deeply into different subject areas. Ranging from sculpture, textiles, art and graphic design, readers will find tailored expert tips to help them in their own discipline to get the most from the digital creative environment.This book challenges the reader to think about what it means to be creative and how digital can play a role in this. Furthermore, it asks the reader to ask what is next. To think about the career they would like that will engage in creative practices. Think about how the creative studio might differ in the world of work and how you can ensure you keep your creative energies going. Throughout this, though, the authors, with the help of expert contributors, guide and support the reader in exploiting the digital creative environment to its maximum