Ensuring Ecological Connectivity in Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS)

This open access book sheds new light on the critical role of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) in ensuring and enhancing ecological connectivity. Through a compilation of diverse case studies, it presents how integrated landscape and seascape management can support biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable development. The chapters cover topics such as sustainable agricultural practices, forest protection, community involvement, and the preservation of traditional knowledge. It also includes the empowerment of communities to govern their natural resources, as seen in the Asunafo-Asutifi landscape of Ghana, and the integration of traditional wisdom with modern ecological practices in Nan’an. The book also investigates the potential of community forests in Thailand and the management of biocultural heritage territories in Kenya to enhance ecological connectivity. Readers will discover how these approaches contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable management of natural resources. Expert contributors delve into the challenges and opportunities of maintaining ecological connectivity in various regions, from Ghana's cocoa landscapes to Colombia’s tropical dry enclave. Readers will explore innovative approaches to balancing livelihoods with environmental sustainability, highlighting the importance of local and regional perspectives. This volume is essential for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in fields such as landscape ecology, environmental governance, and sustainable development. It provides valuable insights into effective strategies for operationalizing ecological connectivity in spatial planning and management. By showcasing practical examples from around the world, this book serves as a vital resource for anyone committed to fostering resilient social-ecological systems and thriving communities

Musicologia sostenibile. Un cambio di paradigma negli studi umanistici

Sustainability is a key concept not only in ecology and economics, but in epistemology as well. It touches on ethics, intergenerational relations, and the responsible use of new technologies. In the age of artificial intelligence, the decisive question for the humanities is not whether machines can replace researchers, but whether research itself is losing its direction, its meaning, and its sense of responsibility. This book treats musicology as an emblematic case of a crisis that threatens the entire ecosystem of contemporary academia, caught between the publish-or-perish imperative and the vulnerabilities of the Digital Humanities. Yet the book offers more than a diagnosis. Starting from musicology, it outlines strategies for a paradigm shift applicable across the humanities: favouring intellectual depth over quantitative output, dialogue over disciplinary silos, long-term cultural impact over immediate results. But the highest stakes lie in building a greater capacity to respond to the growing entropy of the academic system. The goal is a research culture that is effective and timely, capable of depth, and able to generate genuine social relevance.PublishedLa sostenibilità è un concetto chiave non solo in ecologia ed economia, ma anche in epistemologia. Coinvolge la sfera etica, il rapporto intergenerazionale e l’uso responsabile delle nuove tecnologie. Nell’era dell’intelligenza artificiale, la questione decisiva per le discipline umanistiche non è se le macchine possano sostituire i ricercatori, ma se la ricerca stessa stia smarrendo direzione, senso e responsabilità. Il libro considera la musicologia come caso emblematico di una crisi che minaccia l’intero ecosistema dell’accademia contemporanea, stretto tra l’imperativo del “publish or perish” e le vulnerabilità delle Digital Humanities. Il libro non si limita a una diagnosi. A partire dal caso della musicologia, propone strategie per un cambio di paradigma applicabile all’insieme degli studi umanistici: privilegiare la profondità intellettuale rispetto alla produzione quantitativa, il dialogo interdisciplinare rispetto alle chiusure specialistiche, l’impatto culturale di lungo periodo rispetto al risultato immediato. Ma la vera posta in gioco riguarda una maggiore reattività di fronte alla crescente entropia del sistema accademico, per una ricerca più efficace e tempestiva, capace di profondità e di una spiccata rilevanza sociale

Cardiac Electrophysiology and Catheter Ablation of Different Arrhythmias

The scope of this Special Issue focuses on cardiac arrhythmias management, including diagnosis, intracardiac mapping, and catheter ablation. Original and review articles addressing novel ablation technologies or energies, state-of-the-art reviews, gaps in the current knowledge, and challenging arrhythmic conditions are included

Africa in Russian Imperial Culture

This volume uncovers how Sub-Saharan Africa was imagined in Russian culture from 1850 to 1917. Drawing on travelogues, ethnographic studies, fiction, and museum collections, Anita Frison reveals how Russia—though lacking formal colonies in Africa—nonetheless engaged deeply with Western colonial discourse. Organized around themes of Strangers, Lands, Bodies, Collectors, and Disguises, the book explores how Russians represented African peoples, landscapes, and artifacts to negotiate questions of race, empire, and national identity. Challenging the notion of Russian ‘exceptionalism’, this book demonstrates that imperial attitudes toward Africa often prefigured Soviet anticolonial rhetoric, whilst simultaneously relying on the colonial paradigm. Richly documented and interdisciplinary, this study offers fresh insights for scholars of history, literature, and postcolonial studies, while remaining accessible to curious general readers

Numerical Simulation and Methods in Computational Fluid Dynamics

The present Reprint contains 8 articles accepted and published in the Special Issue “Numerical Simulation and Methods in Computational Fluid Dynamics” in the MDPI journal Mathematics, which cover a wide range of topics connected to the theory, numerical methods, and simulation techniques of complex fluid dynamic systems. These topics include, among others, magnetic field-induced Joule-heating thermal convection, a Tiwari and Das approach to buoyant convective thermal transport, as well as a computational and machine learning-based approach, and the use of an influence matrix method for accurate implementation of rotating magneto-hydrodynamics. Moreover, Newton’s method using implicit Coriolis integration, transition modelling from shear-driven turbulence to convective turbulence, and convective heat transfer via uniformly accelerated and decelerated turbulent pipe flows are also explored. It is hoped that the Reprint will be interesting and useful for those working in the area of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), complex systems, and numerics, as well as for those with a mathematical background who wish to become familiar with recent advances in CFD, which now plays a crucial role in almost all sectors of human life and activity

Solidarität und Selbstverantwortung

The volume bundles the written presentations from the Second Young Social Law Conference, which took place in Berlin in March 2025. Young people from academia and practice discuss solidarity and personal responsibility as fundamental structures of social law, drawing on topics such as bogus self-employment, social security financing, contributory negligence, accident insurance in the home office, emergency care, and the right to a subsistence minimum that is in line with human dignity. The contributions address fundamental questions as well as current challenges, build bridges between theory and practice, and invite interdisciplinary exchange. Edited by Lamia Amhaouach-Lares, Ansgar Kalle, and Lara Wiese. With contributions by Anna Berry | Luise Brunk | Jana Bub | Jennifer Grafe | KatharinaHaase | Prof. Dr. Stefan Huster | Sabine Knickrehm | Klara Lübbers | Annalena Mayr | Anja Pecher | Alexander Pionteck | Jana Schäfer-Kuczynski | Dominik Schmitz | Jonathan Ströttchen | Univ-Ass. Dr. Verena Vinzenz This Title is also Available as Open Access.PublishedDer Tagungsband bündelt die verschriftlichten Vorträge der Zweiten Jungen Tagung Sozialrecht, die im März 2025 in Berlin stattgefunden hat. Junge Menschen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis diskutieren Solidarität und Selbstverantwortung als Grundstrukturen des Sozialrechts, etwa anhand von Themen wie der Scheinselbstständigkeit, der Finanzierung der Sozialversicherung, dem Mitverschulden, der Unfallversicherung im Homeoffice, der Notfallversorgung oder dem Recht auf ein menschenwürdiges Existenzminimum. Die Beiträge greifen aktuelle Herausforderungen sowie grundsätzliche Fragen auf, schlagen Brücken zwischen Theorie und Praxis und laden zum fächerübergreifenden Austausch ein. Herausgegeben von Lamia Amhaouach-Lares, Ansgar Kalle und Lara Wiese. Mit Beiträgen von Anna Berry | Luise Brunk | Jana Bub | Jennifer Grafe | KatharinaHaase | Prof. Dr. Stefan Huster | Sabine Knickrehm | Klara Lübbers | Annalena Mayr | Anja Pecher | Alexander Pionteck | Jana Schäfer-Kuczynski | Dominik Schmitz | Jonathan Ströttchen | Univ-Ass. Dr. Verena Vinzenz Dieser Titel erscheint auch Open Access

Dietary Supplements in Human Health and Disease

This Reprint brings together a curated selection of recent studies investigating the role of dietary supplements and naturally derived bioactive compounds in supporting human health. The contributions examine both potential benefits and safety considerations, with particular attention to mechanisms of action, interactions with physiological and pathological processes, and implications for clinical or functional applications. The articles encompass a broad spectrum of topics, including plant extracts with estrogen-like activity for the management of menopausal symptoms; myo-inositol supplementation for anxiety; epigenetic alterations induced by high-fat diets, highlighting EZH2 as a potential pharmacological target in metabolic dysfunction; and a comprehensive evaluation of the composition, bioaccessibility, pharmacokinetic interactions, and cellular effects of berberine-containing botanicals. Additional studies explore the therapeutic potential of purple corn extract in dry eye disease and the antiadipogenic activity of Euscaphis japonica fruit extract in models of adipocyte differentiation. Two further contributions investigate the impact of natural compounds in humans, examining the effect of mulberry fruit extract on postprandial glycemia in individuals with type 2 diabetes and the influence of lutein supplementation—both in free and esterified forms—on visual outcomes in healthy subjects. Together, these studies offer an integrated perspective on the opportunities and limitations of dietary supplements, underscoring the need for rigorous experimental and clinical approaches to assess their efficacy safety in human health

Supernatural Japan

Supernatural Japan examines the role of Japanese writer Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939) in the formation of modern literature of the fantastic in Japan as a global literary genre. Kyōka wrote some of the most famous stories of ghosts, monsters, and the supernatural in modern Japanese literature, including The Holy Man of Mt. Kōya , The Grass Labyrinth , and The Castle Tower . Despite the clearly modernist elements and global influences of Kyōka’s fiction, his work has often been characterized as relying on traditional Japanese genres as inspiration for its themes and literary form. Pedro Bassoe considers how Kyōka’s stories have been produced by a meeting of global influences—including Apuleius, The Arabian Nights , Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Prosper Mérimée, Guy de Maupassant, Gerhart Hauptmann, and Jules Verne—combined with traditional Japanese genres. Bassoe develops the notion of “the scholarly fantastic” to describe how a set of realistic epistemologies reinforce the fantastic in Kyōka’s writings. Supernatural Japan offers an up-to-date introduction to Izumi Kyōka and his writing for students, scholars, or fans of Japanese fantasy literature and media

Advanced Carbon-Based Materials for Next-Generation Batteries and Supercapacitors

With the development of society and technology, the excessive energy harvested from fossil fuels has brought about resource and environmental issues. The increased exploration of new-energy and the rapid development of the electric vehicle industry have led to the rapid development of electrochemical energy-storage technology. Batteries and supercapacitors offer both a high energy density and a high power density, and have a promising future in the field of energy storage. Carbon-based materials have always been at the forefront of this field due to their unique advantages of low density, chemical stability, good processability, and diverse morphologies. This Reprint will approach the rational design of carbon-based composite materials and their latest uses in rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors, exploring manufacturing processes, the materials used (carbon nanotubes, graphene, biomass carbon, MOF-derived carbon, etc.), microstructural design (porous structures, core/shell structures, hollow structures, three-dimensional structures, etc.), and component optimization, and also report their practical applications in electrochemical energy storage and studying their energy-storage mechanisms in detail. We aim to contribute toward creating a new generation of functional carbon-based materials for rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors. This Reprint aims to play a guiding role in research into functional carbon-based materials and composites, contributing to a broadening of the field’s scope and making significant progress in the field

Global Cooperative Economics and Movements

Cooperatives are traditionally recognized as marginal players in the economic sector, but their role in policymaking and in social arenas has garnered even less attention. Over the past two decades, an extensive body of literature in management science and economics has arisen, designating non-capitalistic enterprises as subjects of particular attention. In the context of rising global challenges like economic inequality, environmental sustainability, and labor rights, the role of cooperatives has become increasingly relevant. This book examines the practical and policy dimensions and implications of cooperative economics and movement(s). It delves into the more politicized aspects of cooperatives, exploring how they intersect with global movements, social justice, policymaking, and grassroots activism and provides insights into real struggles tackled by this enterprise form. It offers an understanding of how communication in cooperatives plays a role in promoting principles, values and practices and how these are transferred across generations of cooperators. It provides a deeper understanding of the elements of intergenerational evolution within cooperatives in concepts on employment and labour as new policies are raising expectations. Further, it offers a broad variety of global case studies pertinent to issues of relevance to cooperative economics and management, profiling how different types of cooperatives on six continents can promote sustainability and self-organized community wealth-generation, connecting to development studies, ethics and political economy, while revealing how cooperatives can address the current challenges of the digital age, especially including issues of data governance and artificial intelligence. The book will serve as an invaluable tool for anyone seeking to understand the broader implications of cooperative models in today's globalized world. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) 4.0 license