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There is currently a great deal of relative inequality and a lack of liberties for individuals residing in troubled democracies and authoritarian regimes. The entire democratic governance ecosystem is under pressure, including crucial components like civil society, independent media, and the rule of law. Given this dire situation, people in these countries often face oppressive and sometimes life-threatening circumstances. The deliberate use of antidemocratic tactics by a wide range of internal and external contexts and actors tends to be eroding democratic institutions in many countries and thereby enhancing the triumphalism of authoritarian regimes. However, there appears to be a correlative relationship between the increase in troubled democracies or authoritarian regimes across the globe and the growing number of determined freedom fighters, who strive to protect democracy and ensure that citizens’ right to freedom is respected.

This editorial introduces the core principles of Josha-Journal, emphasizing freedom and accessibility in scholarly contributions across all disciplines. We provide a platform for knowledge exchange and idea-sharing, valuing readership as the ultimate critic. Our current focus is on neuroscience and cell research, featuring contributions by Pernille Bülow on attachment formation and grief biology, and Maria Arzate's analysis of extracellular vesicles from CAR-T cells. Explore our critical reviews and discover the diverse range of topics Josha covers, including environment and architecture. Join us in spreading the word about our mission to promote academic freedom and accessibility.

In an era defined by conscious consumption, the significance of fresh water remains underestimated. Curiously, water, the world's most utilized resource, grapples with contentious debates, especially when encased within a bottle. This paradox spotlights the need for a more informed dialogue, acknowledging both the indispensability of fresh water and the charged debates that encapsulate its consumption. Water tastings serve as a testament to water's multifarious role beyond mere sustenance. However, in the age of social media, water sommeliers are transcending their traditional roles, advocating for a paradigm that defies sweeping generalizations and oversimplifications. Amidst this discourse, the dichotomy between RO-purified bottled water and natural mineral water takes centre stage. Beyond being a mere commodity, natural mineral water emerges as a revelation.

This Master’s Thesis Project uses a multidisciplinary approach to identify the drivers of a sovereign transformation in the food culture of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany from traditional to more plant-based consumption. The research is positioned against the key concept of social resiliency as an important indicator of sustainability, requiring improved resilience of food systems as food cultures are disturbed in the face of climate-induced import flow precarity and ecological instability. The project focuses on the adoption of a plant-based food culture as a means for improving social and ecological resilience, considering cultural acceptability as an important indicator of a sovereignly sustainable diet as well as the ecological benefits of plant-based diets compared to diets rich in animal products.

In the realm of American and African American historical literature, rare pieces have unravelled the complex fabric of racial brutality with the equivalent seriousness and scholarly precision as Charles L. Chavis Jr.'s masterwork, "The Silent Shore." Chavis's opus, delving meticulously into the lynching of Matthew Williams in Salisbury, Maryland, in 1931, is far beyond a mere retelling of a singular, distressing incident. Instead, it emerges as a deep contemplation on the wider socio-political forces that have influenced, and still influence, the racial terrain of America.

In this thesis, I inquire about curatorial strategies in research-based artistic practices by focusing on the six expositions (i.e. contributions) published in the 26th issue of the Journal for Artistic Research (JAR). Specifically, I’m interested in how the authors packed their practice into the expositions: What curatorial strategies were involved in this process? Furthermore, I ask whether the concept of “circulating reference” (Latour 1999b) could help to understand the chain of transformations (or inscriptions?) that allows the contributions to claim knowledge. I interviewed all the authors to reconstruct the steps they followed to transform their research/practice into a published product and I analysed the expositions as if they were online exhibitions. I clustered five areas of interest from a curatorial perspective (e.g. to implement a concept) and focused on specific episodes of the packing process that I identify as strategies (e.g.

Though a number of studies in relation to fouling and antifouling have been carried out throughout the world, few studies on antifouling compounds from marine natural sources have been carried out to address fouling in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Patro et al., 2009). There is a real need for the continuous development of new non-toxic antifouling formulations. An ideal antifouling formulation would have the following properties: permit at least five years of biofouling life cycle control, durable and resistant to damage, repairable, low maintenance, easy to apply, hydraulically smooth, compatible with existing anticorrosion coating, cost-effective, non-toxic to non-target species, and, effective at port and sea. An interesting and promising line of research is inspired by biomimetic solutions.

The article presents Michael Nyman's work which has been identified as close to bricolage. He is a famous composer, and his compositions are widely performed, earning his work to be compared to that of Philip Glass, an American composer. Nyman ensured that his work was original and unique from the contemporary composers. His work looks original compared to the works of British composers of the second half of the 20th century. Nyman's bricolage is characterised by a unique composition strategy, including the analysis of the original source, the selection of material, and its recombination based on a new compositional logic. His style is based on processing someone's materials through disassembly and reassembly, which is vital for the production process. For instance, the transformation of 'I'm not angry' is different, and the composer heavily relied on the original source's potential.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) conform a heterogeneous group of lipid bilayer membrane particles naturally released by cells. They vary in size, surface composition, mechanism of formation, biochemical content, and function within the human body. EVs are classified in 3 groups, depending on their size and biogenesis: exosomes (originated by the endolysosomal system, measuring 60-150nm in diameter), microvesicles (direct budding from the plasma membrane, measure 100 – 1000 nm size) and apoptotic bodies (released by dying cells, size >1μm). A very important feature of the EVs is the delivery of information by horizontal transfer between the origin cell and the recipient one, evidence suggests that the uptake of EVs by recipients’ cells can induce changes in their own characteristics and function. CAR T-cells are genetically modified T-cells that express on their surface a Chimeric Antigen T-cell Receptor (CAR) specific for a unique antigen expressed in the surface of tumor cells.

The article "Tracking Success in a Fertile Start-up Ecosystem" explores the vibrant start-up culture in Germany, focusing on two successful start-ups: Clue, a Berlin-based period and ovulation tracker app, and Morpheus Space, a TU Dresden spin-off that has developed an electronic propulsion system for CubeSats. The article discusses the funding opportunities available to German startups, such as the EXIST programme, and notes the country's low percentage of female founders. Overall, the article provides insight into the promising start-up landscape in Germany, highlighting some of the successes and opportunities available. The article was first published in ‘Nature’ on November 26, 2020 (https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-020-03319-9/d41586-020-03319-9.pdf).