Themed Section Research Articles

Guest editorial to the theme section on Trends in Enterprise Architecture Research

Guest editorial to the theme section on Trends in Enterprise Architecture Research

Sytuacja prawna małoletnich przedsiębiorców na tle propozycji zmian w prawie

The present discussion deals with the issue of starting a business by minors. The purpose of the article is to analyze the status of minors in the context of the possibility of obtaining the attribute of entrepreneur. Two main theses are put forward. The first is that the attribute of entrepreneur may be granted to persons with at least limited legal capacity. The second thesis is that the proposed changes in the law are aimed at introducing completely new solutions for minor entrepreneurs. In the analysis carried out, the views of doctrine, jurisprudence and existing legislation were used. In addition, a draft law containing potential changes to the state of the law was examined. The article is divided into thematic sections focusing respectively on the definition of an entrepreneur, the legal status of a minor, the possibility for a minor to act as an entrepreneur in the current state of the law, and potential changes to the legislation. The entire discussion is topped off by a conclusion, which includes the most important conclusions.

Men working through mobile applications in Brazil: Reflections from occupational health

Work through mobile applications emerged as an alternative for many Brazilian men during the economic crisis and rising unemployment. However, these workers operate informally, without a formal employment relationship, leading to labor precariousness and a lack of workers' rights. Using a theoretical-reflexive, this study analyzes the intersection between occupational health, the platformization of work, and the specific challenges faced by male delivery app workers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflective categories are divided into two thematic sections: "Labor insertion through mobile applications in Brazil and the algorithmic work model" and "men, health, and motorcycles: occupational health and male behavior in app-based delivery work." The study examines the expansion of this type of work in the Brazilian socio-economic context, the lack of security and labor protection for these workers, as well as the risks faced, particularly during the pandemic, within a male-centric culture.

Biological Insights into Energy Storage Technologies

In the face of increasing energy demands and environmental concerns, the search for sustainable and efficient energy storage technologies has intensified. This review presents a holistic survey of innovative solutions by examining biological approaches. The study proceeds through three thematic sections: Biological Fuel Cells and Battery Systems, Photosynthesis and Solar Energy Storage, and Energy Generation at the Cellular Level. The first section, Biological Fuel Cells and Battery Systems describes the integration of biological processes into energy storage mechanisms. The use of biological systems and their contribution to the development of environmentally friendly and high performance energy storage technologies are discussed. In the 2nd section, Photosynthesis and Solar Energy Storage are very prominent in sustainability and energy efficiency issues in terms of both energy production and energy source food production while reducing carbon dioxide with photosynthesis-based energy storage methods. Energy production at the cellular level is discussed in the last section, Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is necessary for the cell to perform processes such as growth, reproduction and response to environmental stimuli, is characterized as the primary fuel. ATP production is carried out by mitochondria in animal cells and chloroplast in plant cells. Energy storage at the cellular level is carried out by molecules such as glycogen and lipids in animal cells and starch in plant cells. Considering all three issues, it has been observed that biological-based energy storage methods have numerous advantages in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency. In application areas where engineering approaches are at the forefront, it is thought that it may be possible to design more sustainable and highly energy efficient energy production systems by gaining new perspectives with biology-based simulation studies.

Rural transformations, rural futures: introduction to theme section

ABSTRACT This theme section editorial introduction presents a collection of papers brought together under the heading Rural transformations, rural futures. The papers are elaborations of work presented at a European Society for Rural Sociology ‘satellite event’ entitled Transitioning Rural Futures. Contributions to the theme section add to the emerging corpus of work that examines potentially transformative immediate and medium-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural areas, and also speak to other ‘grand challenges’ likely to transform rural places and shape rural futures: specifically, resilience, digitalisation, wellbeing, socio-economic inequalities, shifting rural policy landscapes and impacts of transnational economic events.

Preface: A themed section honoring the legacy of Dr. Brij Gopal

Preface: A themed section honoring the legacy of Dr. Brij Gopal

Care as political revolution?

Abstract This afterword discusses the three articles in the theme section “Affective regimes of care beyond humanitarian crisis,” suggesting that they offer us important ethnographies that each pry open and reevaluate the nature of care, including its political potential. Building on how these alternative forms shift the meaning and practice of care, but focusing on the one structuring hierarchy of humanitarianism left intact—racism—I end by briefly discussing the more radical politics of care being articulated by The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) to show how politics and care are being combined to create revolutionary political platforms.

Adapting to survive or thrive? Civil society, the third sector and social movements in ‘post-Soviet’ spaces: an introduction to the themed section

Adapting to survive or thrive? Civil society, the third sector and social movements in ‘post-Soviet’ spaces: an introduction to the themed section

Rethinking affects of care through power

Abstract This introduction outlines the contemporary emergence of new forms of informal crisis-related care, which both complement and contradict classical forms of humanitarian assistance. The introduction traces the spread, blurring, and differentiation of novel forms of non-state assistance and support against the backdrop of increasingly widespread criticism of large-scale international aid. Tackling regimes of care beyond the exceptionality of a crisis notion, the introduction then summarizes how the three contributions and the commentary to this theme section employ the lens of affect for exploring how these highly intersubjective forms of encounter are experienced, performed, and reflected on.

Species range shifts, biological invasions and ocean warming

Marine species are moving beyond their native geographical ranges in response to climate change and shifts in other abiotic conditions, establishing populations at higher latitudes. At the same time, species are introduced into new marine regions as a consequence of an increasingly connected world. The success of such range expansions, whether from shifts associated with climate change or human-mediated introductions, depends on the biotic interactions and environmental conditions at the recipient site and/or the capacity of species to adapt to these new conditions. Originating from a special session held at the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting 2021, the present Theme Section (TS) brings together the current research on 2 interrelated marine ecological topics: (1) invasive species in a warming ocean, and (2) climate-mediated species range shifts. Our investigation of the temporal trends in publications highlights that only one-tenth of studies on marine invasive species examine the species’ interaction with ocean warming. The topic of range shifting species receives slightly more attention than climate driven invasions, but both exhibited a comparable, similarly fast-growing publication rate. Overall, the papers in this TS provide evidence that global warming, and occasionally environmental degradation, are crucial factors altering the distribution of both marine invasive species and range-shifting species. Even though the published literature and even the contributions to this TS only infrequently focus on the interaction between these 2 topics, we propose that future collaboration between scientists from both fields would advance our understanding of the impact of global warming on the shifting distributions of native and invasive species and would allow the development of conservation and management plans in a warming ocean.

Introduction: Comparing Social Policy Responses to the Cost-of-Living Crisis

This introduction to our themed section on social policy responses to the recent cost-of-living crisis spells out this topic and the key issues examined in the section’s main contributions before summarising their findings and overall contribution to the literature. More specifically, to frame this themed section, the present Introduction begins with a concise, up-to-date overview of the inflationary crisis that emerged in late 2021 and evolved throughout 2022 and the first half of 2023. It then charts, and reflects upon, the diversity of responses enacted in a variety of countries reflective of different models of welfare provision in Europe and North America.

‘Whether it pleases the locals or not’: Empire and Consent in Portuguese Asia during the Sixteenth Century

Is consent a valid or useful concept in the context of sixteenth century Portuguese Asia? Given the specific characteristics of this empire, a study of consent has the potential to shed light on its nature, the form in which it was built, and how it survived. It may likewise prove useful for clarifying the complexity of this empire’s dynamics, namely its relations with the Asian powers. In some cases, consent formed part of the guidance and orders issued from Lisbon, and to some extent it was integrated into the Portuguese Crown’s policy towards war and diplomacy. A number of interesting contrasts are revealed by an analysis of a set of regional and local differences concerning the extent to which consent formed part of the routine practices deployed in the political and diplomatic life of Portuguese Asia. Finally, a survey of a further set of examples demonstrate how the issue of consent had a limited impact on the forms in which the empire was historicized, legitimized, and framed in the historiographical discourse. This article is part of the special theme section on Consenting to Early Modern Empires, which has been guest-edited by Sonia Tycko.

Translating Native Consent in the Spanish Empire: Maya Words and Agency in Sixteenth-Century Yucatan

Building on two case studies, the article explores how the Maya caciques understood the concept of consent and made use of it in concrete political negotiations with the Spanish crown in sixteenth-century Yucatan, New Spain. It highlights that the analysis of translation practices is pivotal to unraveling the intricacies of inter-legal communication under imperial rule. Although part of the corpus analyzed in the article was originally written in the Maya Yucatec language, it can be viewed as the result of a process of translation in which two legal cultures were finding ways to be intelligible to one another. The article shows, moreover, that oral exchanges and nonverbal communication – through posture or clothing, and gift-giving – were also crucial in expressing consent in the Spanish empire. This article is part of the special theme section on Consenting to Early Modern Empires, guest-edited by Sonia Tycko.

Consenting to Early Modern Empires: Introduction

This text offers an introduction to the special theme section on Consenting to Early Modern Empires, guest-edited by the author. The contributors to this section seek to explain the prominent place given to consent in Spanish-American and Portuguese-Asian imperial records. This introduction points out that the politics of consent in early modern empires did not reside primarily in a struggle between freedom and unfreedom. Indigenous strategies of using consent to place checks on the Spanish and Portuguese had the effect of integrating them further into European empires.

Spaces of Dis/Harmony in Colonial Goa. Lefebvre’s Spatial Dynamics and the Convent of Santa Mónica, 1606-1740

This paper explores the interplay of Henri Lefebvre’s conceived, perceived, and lived spaces in the Real Convento de Santa Mónica, a nunnery located at the heart of the Portuguese Asian empire, in Goa, India. The sense of harmony produced by the conceived and perceived spaces, frameworks that produced a particular habitus among the nuns, which in turn facilitated congenial lived spaces that aligned with the nuns’ aspirations, was significantly disrupted by an external authority, the Archbishop of Goa Ignácio de Santa Teresa, in the early eighteenth century. The archbishop’s desire to curb the power of the Orders and elevate the local Goan ecclesiastical institutions had an unintended effect: it introduced a state of disharmony into the lived space of the nuns, and thus the dialectic between habitus and space led many nuns to experience the convent not as a place of calm and refuge, but rather as a prison. This article is part of the special theme section on Women, Children, and Enslaved People in the Portuguese Empire in Asia, 16th-18th Centuries, guest-edited by Rozely Vigas and Rômulo Ehalt.

Slavery, Family and Childhood in the Portuguese Diaspora in Southeast Asia, 16th-17th Centuries

The Portuguese communities in Asia were mainly concerned with maritime commerce, which required long periods on board. The families of most of these merchants resided on land, in cities such as Goa, Cochin, Malacca and Macao, and included numerous slaves of different geographical origins and ethnicities, also characterized by their young ages. This article examines the presence of enslaved children and youths in Portuguese last wills, which have been studied concerning the confraternities of Misericórdia of Porto and Macao, in a chronology that covers the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The present approach aims to combine family history, childhood history, and history of law, in order to highlight the presence of enslaved children and youths as family members. This article is part of the special theme section on Women, Children, and Enslaved People in the Portuguese Empire in Asia, 16th-18th Centuries, guest-edited by Rozely Vigas and Rômulo Ehalt.

Three Ways of Consenting in Sixteenth-Century Goa

In this essay, I explore three instances of political consent by the local elites of Goa towards Portuguese governance in the sixteenth century. I delve into how these forms of consent evolved into an increasingly subconscious and ingrained acceptance. I argue that this progression stemmed from the broader effects of the local elites' micro decisions at three pivotal junctures: the formulation of the Foral de Mexia in 1526, the enactment of the 1541 document formalizing the redirection of local temple revenues towards Christian worship, and the establishment of the Foral/Tombo in 1554, which recorded the properties and assets associated with these temples and their officials. Initially motivated by pragmatism to maintain the social order and the elites’ status, these decisions had short-term objectives. Nevertheless, their cumulative impact bound these elites to imperial authority, leading to the transformation of their identity and solidifying Portuguese dominion. This article is part of the special theme section on Consenting to Early Modern Empires, guest-edited by Sonia Tycko.

Kirishitan Women in Bondage Defying Persecution in Japan, 1625-1630

This article inspects cases of three Kirishitan (Christian) women servants in the Jesuit accounts of Shimabara, Japan, between 1625 and 1630, arguing that global and national changes resulted in the worsened enslaving conditions for servant-class women in Japan. The arrival of Portuguese traders and the Jesuit mission in the mid-sixteenth century, the Jesuits’ initial engagement in the slave trade, the ongoing civil wars, Japan’s invasion of Korea, the shogunate’s total ban of Christianity and Iberian commerce, and its consolidation of patriarchal structures by the 1640s accelerated the decline of women’s status. The sources, read in this context, show that under severe religious persecution, these women’s Kirishitan identity was crucial in their resistance to the multiple systems of oppression. This article is part of the special theme section on Women, Children, and Enslaved People in the Portuguese Empire in Asia, 16th-18th Centuries, guest-edited by Rozely Vigas and Rômulo Ehalt.

Women, Children, and Enslaved People in the Portuguese Empire in Asia: Introduction

Recent studies on the Portuguese empire in Asia during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries have highlighted the role and relationships of resistance and sociability among women, children, and enslaved individuals in that context. Often tied to institutional histories, these themes are traditionally understood through the framework provided by legal restrictions and privileges. The studies gathered here aim to emphasize the stories of women, children, and enslaved individuals, incorporating perspectives that shed light on narratives of resistance, tactics, negotiations, solidarities, and disputes led by these agents in the Portuguese empire in Asia. This text serves as the introduction to the special theme section on Women, Children, and Enslaved People in the Portuguese Empire in Asia, 16th-18th centuries, organized by the authors.

Imagining Indigenous Consent and Indigenous Right to Resist in Colonial Latin America

This text examines Portuguese and Spanish documentation to show that Iberians invoked a variety of ways by which the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas could consent to their presence and domination. According to these sources, indigenous consent could be explicit or implicit, and it could be free or coerced, with each one of these situations giving rise to a distinct assessment of indigenous right to resist. By observing developments both in the colonies and in Europe, and by surveying both legal doctrine and practice, this article asks: how did Iberians structure and use consent, and what could it do for them? Why and how did they insist on consent when there was little to no possibility to refuse? This article is part of the special theme section on Consenting to Early Modern Empires, guest-edited by Sonia Tycko.