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In the article the author studies the aspects of methodology to research interstate cooperation and international relations due to the need for a theoretical understanding of a complex range of social, political and interethnic processes that took place and continue to occur in the regions and subregions of the European continent. In fact, a new direction in political research (such as regional studies) arose as a consequence of the political science differentiation and the need to study deeply such a historical and political phenomenon as a subregion. Moreover, not the least, the increase of scientific interest in the subregions is conditioned by the further formation of a new system of international relations.The expediency of systematic approach to studying the contemporary history of Czech-Slovak intergovernmental relations has been substantiated. To enhance the reliability of the scientific analysis of the Czech-Slovak intergovernmental relations, it is advisable to apply a systematic approach. It comprises a set of general scientific methodological principles, which are based on considering objects as complex, multilevel systems.The systematic approach also allows determining the role and place of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the new architecture of European security and the cardinal geopolitical changes on the continent. These states, like other post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Ukraine, for years have been not only objects that experienced the influence of global and continental processes of updating and democratization of international relations in their own development, but also became direct active participants - actors of these historically significant changes.Ukrainian historical research is taking important steps to study the system of contemporary interstate relations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as other foreign countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, despite some positive achievements made especially since the early 2000s, Ukrainian scholars, as well as their Czech and Slovak counterparts, failed to avoid a number of standard errors and erroneous stereotypes in studying the issues related to some aspects of this research. In view of this, we consider it necessary to express a few important remarks of the theoretical and methodological character ; У статті досліджено питання методології міждержавного співробітництва і міжнародних відносин, зумовлене необхідністю теоретичного осмислення складної палітри соціальних, політичних і міжнаціональних процесів, які мали місце і продовжують відбуватись у регіонах і субрегіонах європейського континенту.Обґрунтовано доцільність системного підходу до вивчення новітньої історії чесько-словацьких міждержавних стосунків. Відзначено, що для підвищення рівня достовірності наукового аналізу чесько-словацьких міждержавних відносин доцільно застосувати системний підхід. Він становить сукупність загальнонаукових методологічних принципів, які ґрунтуються на розгляді об'єктів як складних, багаторівневих систем.

The paper explains the development of local government under the rule of the constitution defenders 1842-1858. The author describes the historical facts that led to the abdication of Prince Miloš and the establishment of an oligarchic government of chieftains assembled in a council (Toma Vučić Perišić, Avram Petronijević, Hadji Milutin Garašanin and his son Ilija Stojan and Aleksa Simić), as well as the process of building a modern state administration and cultural identity, an integral part of which was a narrower process of constituting local government. A distinct role in the latter process was played by the Austrian-born Serbs, the only intelligentsia in the Principality of Serbia which was still under Turkish suzerainty. Special attention is given to the analysis of two local government acts instituting centralized local authorities with an enhanced law enforcement role in the districts, counties and communes. Those are District Prefectural System and of County Prefect Office Act of 12 May 1839 and Communal System Act of 13 July the same year. Of great importance was the former law, one of the longest-lived in the history of nineteenth-century Serbian constitutionalism. It was in force in 1839-88 and 1894-1903. Every autocratic regime in Serbia was to rely on it. Its distinctive feature is that it subordinated district and county prefects to the central authority and to the minister of internal affairs. They were reduced to mere police agents deprived of any freedom of action. Thus the local officials assumed the character of rigid administrators looking down on the common people. A natural continuation of this law was the other law of communal organization which turned the lowest local units into mere executive agencies of counties. Thus local government took on the form of a mere transmission of the central government, functioning according to a principle similar to the medieval lord-vassal system: my vassal's vassal is not my vassal. ; Ovaj članak objašnjava razvoj lokalne uprave za vreme ustavobraniteljske vlade, u kontekstu izgradnje modernog državnog aparata i pravnog poretka. Ovaj proces je obrađen kroz analizu Zakona o ustrojstvu okružnih načelstava i glavnim dužnostima sreskih načelnika i Zakona o ustrojstvu opština, oba od 1839. godine. Ovim zakonima ustanovljena je kruta centralizacija vlasti na relaciji popečitelj unutrašnjih dela - okružno načelstvo - sresko načelstvo - opština, što je potpuno bilo u duhu uspostavljenog oligarhijskog režima zasnovanog na odredbama Turskog ustava od 1839. Poseban značaj ima prvi Zakon pošto je bio najduže na snazi u ustavnoj istoriji Srbije XIX veka (1839-1888, i 1894-1903). Na njemu su se temeljili svi oblici oligarhijskih i ličnih režima. Zbog toga i zaslužuje da bude predmet posebne analize.

This article analyzes Lucan's epic poem Pharsalia, which acquired the title of an "anti-epic" because of its very open rebellion against the genre traditions. This rebellion here is interpreted as an intentional means of expression, consciously chosen in service of the ideological message of the poem. The construction of the message relies largely on the distortion of the traditional motives of the epic genre – mostly in reference to the Vergilian model, which had become a default framework for all Roman epics written after it. Vergil's Aeneid was employed by the Augustan imperial propaganda as a means of emphasizing the connection of the current government to the Roman past and the idea of rehabilitating the mores maiorum after the failure of the late Republic and the unrest of the civil wars. The Pharsalia, on the other hand, being written under (and, as this article argues, in opposition to) the Neronian government, is a reflection of attitudes shared by the Roman upper classes regarding the failure of the newly established empire. Thus, the author, by employing the tropes of the Vergilian model (but distorting them) and giving his audience the inverted version of these traditional elements (while still staying within the traditional framework), is able to underline the ideological conflict he has with the Augustan pro-imperial propaganda. This article examines two traditional epic tropes: one of the virtuous war and one of the individual virtus on the battlefield. The Vergilian virtuous war turns into a suicidal gesture of the main protagonist – the Roman people. This shows a certain distortion of the Republican understanding of romanitas (the Roman people and the Roman state as a unified organism), later undermined by the individualism of the imperial regime. We also see how the individual virtus (which was a large component of romanitas, too) becomes a grotesque and distorted version of itself. The concept of military loyalty and sacrifice for the collective good turns into a tragic furor and blind allegiance to a power-hungry individual. Thus, the state and the collective good are being sacrificed for the individual good in both cases. This is, for Lucan, the root of the sociopolitical issues of his time – the moral degradation and the erasure of traditional Roman values not just in the government, but also in the Roman society as a whole. This sentiment, it is argued, could reflect the overall rejection of the imperial romanitas and a tendency of returning to the traditional Republican concepts in the Roman society of the time, which is to be understood as a reaction to the political and sociocultural state of Rome under Nero.

Проблематику конституційного закріплення стратегічного курсу України проаналізовано через призму доктрини юридичної відповідальності держави. Наголошено, що ідея визнання цього курсу потребує своєї конституціоналізації, що сприятиме змістовному розгортанню та нормативній визначеності юридичної відповідальності держави як ключового елемента інституційного забезпечення правової держави, якою проголошено Україну. Обґрунтовано, що питання конституційно-проектних новацій у частині визначення стратегічного курсу України щодо набуття членства в ЄС і НАТО потребуватимуть посиленої уваги з боку парламенту України. За умови прийняття ідеї фіксації такого курсу в розділі І Конституції України відповідні зміни мають затверджуватися на всеукраїнському референдумі, що надасть конституціоналізації згаданого курсу найвищий рівень легітимності. ; The article is focused on studying the problems of constitutional consolidation of the strategic course of Ukraine. It is analyzed through the prism of the doctrine of legal liability of the state. It has been concluded that the idea of admitting the strategic course of Ukrainian state needs the constitutionalization. This will contribute to the content development and normative absolutism of the legal liability of the state as a key element of the institutional provision of a law-governed state, as Ukraine is proclaimed to be. On the author's opinion, the method of establishing such a course in the Constitution of Ukraine, suggested in the Draft Law No. 9037, through the consolidation of new powers for the supreme agencies of state power of a temporary nature in the basic Sections of the Constitution of Ukraine, can not be regarded as optimal, both from the conceptual and technically legal points of view. The author has substantiated that the issues of constitutional and law-making innovations in determining the strategic course of Ukraine for acquiring the membership in the EU and NATO will require increased attention from the Ukrainian parliament. In case of adopting the idea of establishing such a course, appropriate amendments to the Section I of the Constitution of Ukraine, should be approved at the All-Ukrainian referendum, which should add to the constitutionalization of the above-mentioned course of the highest level of legitimacy. ; Проблематика конституционного закрепления стратегического курса Украины проанализирована через призму доктрины юридической ответственности государства. Утверждается, что идея признания данного курса нуждается в конституционализации, что будет способствовать содержательному развёртыванию и нормативной определённости юридической ответственности государства как ключевого элемента институционального обеспечения правового государства, которым провозглашена Украина. Обосновано, что вопросы конституционно-проектных новаций в части определения стратегического курса Украины на обретение членства в ЕС и НАТО будут требовать усиленного внимания со стороны парламента Украины. При условии принятия идеи фиксации такого курса в разделе I Конституции Украины соответствующие изменения должны утверждаться на всеукраинском референдуме, который придаст конституционализации упомянутого курса наивысший уровень легитимности.

En este trabajo abordamos sólo la dimensión política del laicismo –no la cultural–, bien que Tocqueville fuera partidario destacado de ambas manifestaciones. Al abordar el hecho religioso, el autor de La democracia en América no se interesa en su dimensión teológica, sino en la puramente social. La religión juega aquí un papel estabilizador, tanto en la vida del individuo como en la de la comunidad. De hecho, su irrupción en la vida pública tiene lugar cuando se analizan las "causas principales", entre las que se enumera, que preservan la república democrática. Su crucial importancia, ya insinuada en el rápido elenco de sujetos sobre los que actúa, se realza cuando se constata que su influencia abarca tanto el ámbito del pensamiento como el de la acción. Es eso lo que se analizará a continuación. Ahora bien, en nuestra crítica no sólo ponemos de manifiesto el supuesto de la confinación de la mujer al interior del hogar, exigido por su doctrina, o la expulsión del ateo del reino de la humanidad, al ser identificado como un vástago del demonio en un reino tan religioso como el de la sociedad americana, sino, igualmente, que la función de la religión como contrapunto a la pasión del bienestar pueda ser llevada con un mínimo de éxito. ; We have only afforded the political –not the cultural– aspect of the laicism although Tocqueville clearly supported both aspects. When approaching the religious fact, the author of the work The Democracy in America is not interested in the theological dimension but merely in the social one. The religion plays a stabilization role whether in the day life of each person or in the community life. In fact, its irruption in the public life takes place, when the main causes are analyzed, and, among other points, it is considered necessary to preserve the democratic republic. Its crucial importance was previously suggested when listing the quick list of people which it affects and it is enhanced when it becomes evident that its influence covers both the field of the thinking and the field of the action: this will be analyzed subsequently. Anyway, in our critical consideration, we have focussed not only in the confinement of the women in their homes according to the religious doctrine or in the expulsion of the atheists from the kingdom of the humanity because identified and considered as a devil sons –in the American society, a so religious kingdom– but also in the function of the religion as a counterpoint to the passion of the welfare which can be ruled with a minimum of success.

This article analyzes Lucan's epic poem Pharsalia, which acquired the title of an "anti-epic" because of its very open rebellion against the genre traditions. This rebellion here is interpreted as an intentional means of expression, consciously chosen in service of the ideological message of the poem. The construction of the message relies largely on the distortion of the traditional motives of the epic genre – mostly in reference to the Vergilian model, which had become a default framework for all Roman epics written after it. Vergil's Aeneid was employed by the Augustan imperial propaganda as a means of emphasizing the connection of the current government to the Roman past and the idea of rehabilitating the mores maiorum after the failure of the late Republic and the unrest of the civil wars. The Pharsalia, on the other hand, being written under (and, as this article argues, in opposition to) the Neronian government, is a reflection of attitudes shared by the Roman upper classes regarding the failure of the newly established empire. Thus, the author, by employing the tropes of the Vergilian model (but distorting them) and giving his audience the inverted version of these traditional elements (while still staying within the traditional framework), is able to underline the ideological conflict he has with the Augustan pro-imperial propaganda. This article examines two traditional epic tropes: one of the virtuous war and one of the individual virtus on the battlefield. The Vergilian virtuous war turns into a suicidal gesture of the main protagonist – the Roman people. This shows a certain distortion of the Republican understanding of romanitas (the Roman people and the Roman state as a unified organism), later undermined by the individualism of the imperial regime. We also see how the individual virtus (which was a large component of romanitas, too) becomes a grotesque and distorted version of itself. The concept of military loyalty and sacrifice for the collective good turns into a tragic furor and blind allegiance to a power-hungry individual. Thus, the state and the collective good are being sacrificed for the individual good in both cases. This is, for Lucan, the root of the sociopolitical issues of his time – the moral degradation and the erasure of traditional Roman values not just in the government, but also in the Roman society as a whole. This sentiment, it is argued, could reflect the overall rejection of the imperial romanitas and a tendency of returning to the traditional Republican concepts in the Roman society of the time, which is to be understood as a reaction to the political and sociocultural state of Rome under Nero.

The global discourse on people-centered development appeals for a normative dimension in donor policies. As a major donor organization, the European Union (EU) presents itself as a normative actor on the global stage. However, it is often criticized for lacking normative practice. This dissertation addresses this criticism and assesses the EU's normative policy coherence for development by examining norm implementation across development and trade policies. The guiding research questions are the following: Are the EU's development and trade policies coherent in implementing norms; and if not, why are they incoherent? Normative policy coherence for development is defined as the coherent implementation of EU norms (democracy, freedom, gender equality, good governance, human rights, justice, liberty, non-discrimination, peace, rule of law, solidarity and sustainability) across development and non-development policies. A case study of EU development and trade policies addressing Vietnam is used to illustrate normative policy coherence for development in the transition phase from an EU-Vietnam donor-recipient relationship to a mutual trade relationship. This research contributes to existing literature on policy coherence for development, public policy, normative power Europe and regionalism through the in-depth analysis of normativity in EU policy implementation. It examines EU normative power in the EU-Vietnam relationship with particular focus on normative policy coherence and places this relationship in the context of EU-ASEAN relations. A qualitative methodology is utilized in this dissertation is supported by the case study design within which the congruence method has been used for the analysis. The data set is comprised of European Union policy documents and semi-structured interviews conducted by the author in Brussels, Belgium, and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which were coded and analyzed in Atlas.ti. The results show that normative policy coherence for development is undermined for several reasons. First, in policy implementation, norms are seen as a political matter and not as a development or trade matter. In contrast to policy guidelines, which are infused by normative commitments such as respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, subsequent implementation stages do not correspond to this commitment. Second, policy networks, which could function as an opportunity for cooperation and coherence, are split ii by sector, which reinforces the divide between political, developmental and economic matters and in doing so they undermine normative policy coherence. Third, the EU's relations with ASEAN do not directly undermine EU-Vietnam relations and, therefore, normative coherence in policies addressed at Vietnam is only indirectly affected by EU interests in ASEAN. Causes of normative incoherence in EU policy implementation can be linked to the institutional divide between political and technical matters, which are reinforced by sectoral divisions in the delegations abroad.

Abstract: Implementation of E-Procurement in Procurement Process. This study aims to identifyand understand in detail the process of procurement of goods and services within the government,particularly the Ministry of Commerce by using e-procurement as well as to compare between thepractice of procurement of goods / services through e-procurement in the Ministry of Trade withthe applicable rules. This research was conducted using the method of library research (libraryresearch) and methods of field research through observation and interviews. The results showedthat the e-procurement system more advantages compared to the conventional manner. Eprocurementin terms of the level of budget use is more efficient because each year the Ministry ofTrade gained considerable margin significantly between the price of the winning bidder at a priceof its own estimates (HPS) after using e-procurement, in terms of transparency is more transparentbecause it is done through the application SPSE, and from in terms of a more efficient e-procurementfor the procurement of goods / services faster than using conventional means. The author foundsome loopholes deficiencies or obstacles that occur during the implementation of e-procurementin the Ministry of Commerce, among others: the persistence of the members of the procurementcommittee or even providers of goods/ services that they did not fully understand how to use theapplication SPSE used for the goods/ services; SPSE used and the application is still underdevelopment by LKPP, causing the process a little disturbed.Abstrak: PenerapanE-Procurement dalam Proses Pengadaan Barang dan Jasa. Penelitian inibertujuan untuk mengetahui dan memahami secara lebih detil mengenai proses pengadaan barangdan jasa di lingkungan pemerintah khususnya Kementerian Perdagangan dengan menggunakane-procurement serta untuk membandingkan antara praktik pengadaan barang/jasa melalui eprocurementdi Kementerian Perdagangan dengan aturan yang berlaku. Penelitian ini dilakukandengan menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan dan metode penelitian lapangan melaluiobservasi dan wawancara. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa sisteme-procurement lebih banyakkeuntungannya dibandingkan dengan cara yang konvensional. E-procurement ditinjau dari tingkatpenggunaan anggarannya lebih efisien karena tiap tahun Kementerian Perdagangan memperolehselisih yang cukup signifikan antara harga pemenang lelang dengan harga perkiraan sendiri (HPS)setelah menggunakan e-procurement, dari segi transparansi lebih transparan karena dilakukanmelalui aplikasi SPSE, dan dari segi waktu e-procurement lebih efisien karena proses pengadaanbarang/jasa lebih cepat dibandingkan dengan menggunakan cara konvensional. Penulis menemukanbeberapa celah kekurangan atau kendala yang terjadi selama penerapan e-procurementdi Kementerian Perdagangan antara lain: masih adanya anggota panitia pengadaan atau bahkanpenyedia barang/jasa yang masih belum paham mengenai cara penggunaan aplikasi SPSE yangdigunakan untuk proses pengadaan barang/jasa; serta aplikasi SPSE yang digunakan masih dalamtahap pengembangan oleh LKPP, sehingga menyebabkan proses sedikit terganggu.

Magistritöö Maastikukaitse ja -hooldus õppekaval ; Kaasaja Eesti maa-kohtadest tuleb üldiselt probleemikeskseid kajastusi, probleemideks on näiteks ääremaastumine, külade tühjenemine, üldine rahvastiku vähenemine ning vananemine. Nende varjus on olemas ka positiivseid näited ettevõtlikest inimestest ja paremal järjel maakohtadest, need aga avalikkuse ees suuremat kajastust ei saa ning varasemad uurimused nende kohta puuduvad. Magistritöö eesmärgiks on uurida, millised võiksid olla Eestis hästitoimivad külad rahvastikunäitajate alusel ning selgitada nende põhjuseid. Selleks võeti aluseks liikumise Kodukant poolt valitavate "Aasta külade" mitmesugused arengunäitajad, eelkõige rahvastiku olukord. Töös kasutati peamiselt Statistikaameti rahva ja eluruumide loenduse 2000–2011 andmeid, kuid ka ajakirjandusest ja välitöödel koondatud materjale. "Aasta küla" laureaadid on pigem keskmise rahvastiku seisundiga asula, kus elab vähemalt 50 inimest ning mille elanikud on aktiivsed ja oma kodukohast hoolitsevad. Töö tulemusi vaadates saab väita, et rahvastiku olukord ei ole olnud niivõrd oluline kriteerium "Aasta külaks" saamisel. Hindamiskomisjon lähtub suuresti sotsiaalse kapitali olemasolust külas. Rahvastikuanalüüsist tulenevalt võib üldistatult väita, et seosed hea rahvastiku olukorra ning konkursi "Aasta küla" laureaatide vahel on pigem nõrgad. Konkursi "Aasta küla" laureaatide hulgast ei saa otsida häid näited rahvastikukasvuga asulate ja maakohtade kohta, kuid oleksid headeks näideteks teistele maa-asulatele ja poliitikakujundajatele, näidates, et ka pigem kesistes rahvastikutingimustes on võimalik edukalt toimida. ; The contemporary Estonian countryside reflects a number of issues. For example urbanization, villages emptying and a general decline and aging of the population. Unfortunately, a number of positive thinking and hard working people are hidden from the public, no research regarding the wealthy and successful examples of life in the countryside has been done before. The purpose of this master's thesis is to give an overview of well functioning villages in Estonia based on population indicators. The research is built upon the Kodukant movement, specifically the developmental indicators regarding the "Village of the Year" project. The necessary data for this research was gathered from Statistics Estonia, the population and housing census data from 2000–2011 was used. Additional information was gathered from mainstream media and material from earlier fieldwork conducted by the author was also used. The laureates for "Village of the Year" are generally with an avarege population status with at least fifty active and caring people living in the area. The reults of the research indicate that the population status is not the most important factor in choosing the winner for the contest. The evaluation committee focuses rather on the social capital in the village. Based on the population analysis it is fair to claim that the correlation between population and becoming a laureate for the "Village of the Year" is frail. The laureates are great examples for other rular areas and politicians that it is possible to thrive without a large number of people.

This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (October 2018) in accordance with the publisher's archiving policy ; Rapamycin (sirolimus) is employed as an immunosuppressant following liver transplant, to inhibit the re-growth of cancer cells following liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and for the treatment of advanced HCC. Rapamycin also induces the expression of antioxidant enzymes in the liver, suggesting that pretreatment with the drug could provide a potential strategy to reduce ischemia reperfusion injury following liver surgery. The aim of this study was to further investigate the actions of rapamycin in inducing expression of the antioxidant enzymes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and peroxiredoxin-1 (Prx-1) in normal liver and in tumorigenic liver cells. A rat model of segmental hepatic ischemia and reperfusion, cultured freshly-isolated rat hepatocytes, and tumorigenic H4IIE rat liver cells in culture were employed. Expression of HO-1 and Prx-1 was measured using quantitative PCR and western blot. Rapamycin pre-treatment of normal liver in vivo or normal hepatocytes in vitro led to a substantial induction of mRNA encoding HO-1 and Prx-1. The dose-response curve for the action of rapamycin on mRNA expression was biphasic, showing an increase in expression at 0 - 0.1 μM rapamycin but a decrease from maximum at concentrations greater than 0.1 μM. By contrast, in H4IIE cells, rapamycin inhibited the expression of HO-1 and Prx-1 mRNA. Oltipraz, an established activator of transcription factor Nrf2, caused a large induction of HO-1 and Prx-1 mRNA. The dose response curve for the inhibition by rapamycin of HO-1 and Prx-4 mRNA expression, determined in the presence of oltipraz, was monophasic with half maximal inhibition at about 0.01 μM. It is concluded that, at concentrations comparable to those used clinically, pre-treatment of the liver with rapamycin induces the expression of HO-1 and Prx-1. However, the actions of rapamycin on the expression of these two antioxidant enzymes in normal hepatocytes are complex and, in tumorigenic liver cells, differ from those in normal hepatocytes. Further studies are warranted to evaluate preconditioning the livers of patients subject to liver resection or liver transplant with rapamycin as a viable strategy to reduce IR injury following liver surgery. ; This work was supported by the Cancer Council S.A.s Beat Cancer Project (on behalf of its donors and the State Government of South Australia through the Department of Health), the Flinders Foundation, and Flinders University of South Australia.

Copyright the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. ; Reading has always been a contentious and political practice, but this is heightened in the contemporary moment both because of the way the environments in which we read are changing so radically. For Katherine Hayles reading is "a powerful technology for reconfiguring activity patterns in the brain" [Hayles 2010, 193], a view representative of attempts to connect the new neuroscience of reading with age old practices of literary endeavour. For Sven Birkerts, however, "the Internet and the novel are opposites" [Birkerts 2010], a view that suggests that a hierarchy of reading that locks digital readers out of higher order thinking and literary experience. Meanwhile, Anne Mangen finds that electronic reading environments "negatively affect emotional aspects of reading" [Mangen 2016]. But these approaches tend to understand reading as something static that occurs in one space or another. However, in practice our reading is increasingly distributed. Reading can occur in multiple formats, across multiple platforms for the one text or reading experience. A novel begun in print can be read online in a born-digital format and concluded in a scanned digital format, for example. These journeys across platform require deeper investigation. If we think of the printed book as an interface between two orders of thinking, we need to consider how the experience of reading a digitized version of a formerly printed and bound book alters literary reception and student experience. How does the experience of reading across different technological platforms change the reader's relationship to the content? As more and more electronic reading platforms take on the physical attributes of material reading experiences either by retaining material traces or by emulating them, we might question what experience How do the material traces left on digitised works impact the reading process for reading in literary studies? The lively discourse surrounding Google Books and the human breaches of the material into the immaterial, as the work crosses the borders of formats and interfaces, raises valuable questions about the future of the book, reading in the twenty-first century, and the long and formidable shadow that centuries of material text production casts over Google Books' electronic utopia. This paper uses both book history and new media interface theory to consider the multitude of diverse experiences that is literary reading across different platforms in and out of the classroom and to consider whether distracted reading can be better understood as distributed reading. It considers critical infrastructure studies as a useful framework through which to think about reading in the digital age.

Higher education lecturers are currently overwhelmed with the idea of changing from the old paradigm, in which teaching and learning happened through a teacher-centred perspective, to a student centred approach, currently a more widely accepted new teaching standpoint, which lecturers are eager to transform into a vivid and motivating experience, by exploring various alternatives. The pressure to do so while resorting to several technological tools is enormous. The use of technological tools available to every student, namely smartphones, social networks, new platforms and other devices do not suffice anymore. Teachers and lecturers seek to go beyond the obvious tools and search for a way to combine these technologies and the new pedagogical approach in order to provide a more profound meaning to the teaching and learning process. AduLeT – Advanced Use of Learning Technologies in higher education – is a European project involving seven different institutions, which aims at improving the teaching quality of lecturers by enhancing their skills concerning the use of technologies in an advanced way, through a Community of Practice (CoP) where methods and tools are intertwined, thus envisaging a common outcome: sharing ready-made solutions which have been tested in a higher education context to solve an educational problem. The aims of this contribution are as follows: 1. to describe the project in the given context; 2. to explain the different stages and methodology towards the design of the CoP; 3. to provide insight about the CoP itself; 4. To clarify how higher education teachers can use the CoP in their daily educational routine. The CoP is made available through a platform, currently correcting some functionalities in the evaluating stage with potential end users, which consists of an application developed with an author programming tool that allows getting flexible, visual, easy and logic navigation and interaction. The platform has been developed to provide users with a valuable experience to facilitate lecturers' understanding and usability. Our experience shows that a CoP could facilitate the adaptation process and allow a faster and more effective transferability of teaching innovations among different countries as well as among lecturers and universities at an international level. Currently the CoP already contains methods from different fields of knowledge and a variety of tools which can allow a lecturer to choose from, in order to include them in their lectures and seminars as to obtain a better interaction from the student's side and also to create a more motivated approach on a daily basis. ; AduLeT has been funded with the support of the European Commission and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The purpose of this research is to find a new method for blind and visually impaired people to receive information using Braille codes with QR code technology in publications, which will enable them to use the Internet to obtain diverse information by voice. Information is provided for blind and visually impaired people. This article is one of several parts the researcher presents on methods using linear or binary QR code to provide information (audio books, audio articles, audio stories for children, etc.) for people who have visual impairments. Developing a curriculum for the blind and the visually impaired is a responsibility of governments and civil society organizations. The author believes that the visually impaired have the ability to develop, promote and become more active in their communities if resources for improving their living, education, and health are available to them. ; El objetivo de esta investigación es encontrar un nuevo método para que las personas ciegas y con discapacidad visual reciban información mediante códigos Braille con tecnología de códigos QR en publicaciones, lo que les permitirá utilizar Internet para obtener información diversa por voz. La información se proporciona para ciegos y deficientes visuales. Este artículo es una de varias partes que el investigador presenta sobre métodos que usan código QR lineal o binario para proporcionar información (audiolibros, artículos de audio, historias de audio para niños, etc.) para personas con impedimentos visuales. El desarrollo de un plan de estudios para ciegos y personas con discapacidad visual es responsabilidad de los gobiernos y las organizaciones de la sociedad civil. El autor cree que los discapacitados visuales tienen la capacidad de desarrollar, promover y ser más activos en sus comunidades si se dispone de recursos para mejorar su nivel de vida, educación y salud. ; O objetivo desta pesquisa é encontrar um novo método para pessoas cegas e com deficiência visual receberem informações através de códigos Braille com tecnologia de código QR em publicações, o que lhes permitirá usar a Internet para obter informações diversas por voz. A informação é fornecida para cegos e deficientes visuais. Este artigo é uma das várias partes que o pesquisador apresenta sobre métodos que usam código QR linear ou binário para fornecer informações (audiolivros, artigos de áudio, histórias em áudio para crianças, etc.) para pessoas com deficiência visual. O desenvolvimento de um currículo para cegos e deficientes visuais é de responsabilidade de governos e organizações da sociedade civil. O autor acredita que os deficientes visuais têm a capacidade de desenvolver, promover e ser mais ativos em suas comunidades se houver recursos disponíveis para melhorar o nível de vida, educação e saúde desse grupo.

This critical essay deals with the book Can Democracy Work? by James Miller, which, warning of the problems of democratic politics, retains democratic faith. By combining political science and historiography, and intertwining the history of ideas with political biography in portraying different episodes in the history of democracy, the book seeks to give insight into the riddle of democracy. This riddle is exhibited in various theoretical and practical tensions: between the Rousseauian demand for sovereignty of the people and the general will on the one hand, and the Platonistic epistemic skepticism about the ability of the people to decide and the political demands of liberalism on the other; between the need to control the rulers and the political-economic dynamics of corruption and clientelism incited by democratic politics; between rebellion against the elites as a species of functional political hygiene in a polity, and uncertainty of outcomes brought by the inherent instability of democracy and its aptitude to excess; and between the seeming inevitability of elections and their cooptational trap. Between the liberalism of fear a la Judith Shklar and the thrills of populism a la Chantal Mouffe, the author retains democratic faith – a political version of Kierkegaardian existentialism which goes beyond the undecided, forever doubting reflection and a political good that is shared with others, in spite of the uncertainties of public opinion and the ascertained questionability of civic virtue in the open field of the political in history. ; Ovaj se kritički esej bavi knjigom Može li demokracija biti djelotvorna? Jamesa Millera koja, upozoravajući na probleme demokratske politike, zadržava demokratsku vjeru. Kombinirajući političku znanost i historiografiju te ispreplećući povijest ideja i političke biografije u prikazu različitih epizoda u povijesti demokracije, knjiga nastoji dati uvid u zagonetku demokracije. Ta se zagonetka pokazuje u različitim teorijskim i praktičkim napetostima: između rusoovskog zahtjeva za suverenošću naroda i općenite volje s jedne strane te platonističke epistemičke skepse prema sposobnosti naroda da odlučuje i političkih zahtjeva liberalizma s druge strane; između potrebe za kontrolom vladajućih i političkoekonomske dinamike korupcije i klijentelizma koju potiče demokratska politika; između pobuna protiv elita kao nekovrsne političke higijenske funkcije poretka i neizvjesnih ishoda koje donosi inherentna nestabilnost i sklonost demokracije ekscesima te između izgledne nezaobilaznosti izbora i njihove kooptacijske zamke. Između liberalizma straha na tragu Judith Shklar i populističkog uzbuđenja na tragu Chantal Mouffe, autor zadržava demokratsku vjeru – političku inačicu kjerkagorovskog egzistencijalizma koji stupa s onu stranu neodlučne, vječito sumnjajuće refleksije i političko dobro koje se dijeli s drugima, unatoč svim neizvjesnostima javnog mnijenja i dokazane upitnosti građanske vrline u otvorenom polju političkog u povijesti.

Die Dissertation untersucht Uwe Kolbes Frühwerk und dessen zeitgenössische Rezeption in der DDR und der BRD sowie sein (semi)öffentliches Handeln und Wirken während der Vorwendezeit,d.h. eines spezifischen, von Transformationsprozessen geprägten Zeitraums. Dieser reicht von Kolbes erster Zeitschriftenpublikation 1976 bis zu seiner Übersiedlung in die BRD 1987. Kolbes literarische Produktion in der bezeichneten Zeitspanne und die damit zusammenhängenden sozialen Faktoren seiner Autorenbiographie – politische Privilegien, ökonomische Möglichkeiten und soziale Beziehungen als Voraussetzungen für sein Schreiben und seine Veröffentlichungen sowie sein (semi)öffentliches Handeln und Wirken – und seine Rezeption in von spezifischen Machtverhältnissen geprägten literarischen Aktionsräumen werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit als ein zusammengehöriges Ganzes untersucht und punktuell auf ihren Aussagewert für Situationen und Entwicklungen in den literarischen Feldern der Vorwendezeit befragt. Die Arbeit fokussiert mit Hineingeboren auf den Eintritt Uwe Kolbes in das literarische Feld unter der Mentorschaft Franz Fühmanns, seine davon ausgehende Rezeption als generationsspezifischer Repräsentant der jungen DDR-Autorengeneration und die damit verbundenen Wahrnehmungs- und Bewertungsmuster in den literarischen Feldern DDR und BRD. Des Weiteren untersucht sie Kolbes Rolle in der inoffiziellen Szene am Prenzlauer Berg. Sie analysiert seine zeichentheoretisch fundierte Sprach- und Machtkritik in Abschiede und seine politische Poetologie in Bornholm II und Das Kabarett. Darüber hinaus arbeitet sie Kolbes Rolle des widerspenstigen und politisch kritischen Vorzeigeautors heraus, infolge derer er in der BRD als außenpolitisches Aushängeschild einer vermeintlich toleranten DDR-Kulturpolitik fungierte. Sie erforscht schließlich seine Rezeption in der BRD u.a. durch seine Position in verschiedenen Anthologien junger DDR-Literatur und analysiert seine Integration in den bundesdeutschen Kanon. ; This dissertation examines Uwe Kolbe's early work and its reception in East and West Germany as well as his (semi-)public activities and their impact in the pre-Wende era, i.e. over a distinct time frame characterised by transformation processes. It spans the period from Kolbe's first publication in a literary journal in 1976 to his relocation to West Germany in 1987. The present study views Kolbe's literary production, the associated social factors of his literary career – political privileges, economic opportunities and social relationships as prerequisites for his writing and publications as well as his (semi-) public activities and their impact – and his reception as inextricably linked, and, by way of selected examples, shows their significance for situations and developments in the literary fields of the pre-Wende era. In the case of the poetry volume Hineingeboren, the study focuses on Kolbe's entry into the literary field with the support of his mentor Franz Fühmann, his subsequent reception as a representative of the young generation of GDR authors, and the patterns of perception and evaluation associated with that in the literary fields of the GDR and West Germany. Kolbe's role in the unofficial literary scene in Prenzlauer Berg is also investigated. The study analyses his semiotic critique of language and power in Abschiede and his political poetics as revealed in Bornholm II and Das Kabarett. In addition, it explores Kolbe's role as a recalcitrant and politically critical author who became the poster boy of a supposedly tolerant East German cultural policy in West Germany. Finally, it examines Kolbe's reception in West Germany, among other things through publications in various anthologies of contemporary GDR literature, and analyses how his work has been integrated into the German literary canon since Reunification.