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The impetus of religious reform between ca. 1380-1520, which expressed itself in a variety of Observant initiatives in many religious orders all over Europe, and also brought forth the Devotio moderna movement in the late medieval Low Countries, had considerable repercussions for the production of a wide range of religious texts, and the embrace of other forms of cultural production (scribal activities, liturgical innovations, art, music, religious architecture). At the same time, the very impetus of reform within late medieval religious orders and the wish to return to a more modest religious lifestyle in accordance with monastic and mendicant rules, and ultimately with the commands of Christ in the Gospel, made it difficult to wholeheartedly embrace the material consequences of learning, literary and artistic prowess, as the very pursuit of such pursuits ran against basic demands of evangelical poverty and humility. This volume explores how this tension was negotiated in various Observant and Devotio moderna contexts, and how communities connected with these movements instrumentalized various types of writing, learning, and other forms of cultural expression to further the cause of religious reform, defend it against order-internal and external criticism, to shape recognizable reform identities for themselves, and to transform religious life in society as a whole.

Number Fields is a textbook for algebraic number theory. It grew out of lecture notes of master courses taught by the author at Radboud University, the Netherlands, over a period of more than four decades. It is self-contained in the sense that it uses only mathematics of a bachelor level, including some Galois theory.Part I of the book contains topics in basic algebraic number theory as they may be presented in a beginning master course on algebraic number theory. It includes the classification of abelian number fields by groups of Dirichlet characters. Class field theory is treated in Part II: the more advanced theory of abelian extensions of number fields in general. Full proofs of its main theorems are given using a 'classical' approach to class field theory, which is in a sense a natural continuation of the basic theory as presented in Part I. The classification is formulated in terms of generalized Dirichlet characters. This 'ideal-theoretic' version of class field theory dates from the first half of the twentieth century. In this book, it is described in modern mathematical language. Another approach, the 'idèlic version', uses topological algebra and group cohomology and originated halfway the last century. The last two chapters provide the connection to this more advanced idèlic version of class field theory.The book focuses on the abstract theory and contains many examples and exercises. For quadratic number fields algorithms are given for their class groups and, in the real case, for the fundamental unit. New concepts are introduced at the moment it makes a real difference to have them available.

On 20 October 2022, the day that Radboud University celebrated its 99th anniversary, Dr. Katalin Karikó received a Radboud honorary doctorate in recognition of her scientific contributions to developing mRNA-based vaccines. This edition includes the laudatio of the honorary supervisor and the speech of the honorary doctor.Karikó spent years researching medical applications of mRNA. Her dream was to develop synthetic mRNA and use this to cure cancer, strokes, and influenza. Eventually, after years of toil, rejection, and criticism from colleagues, she and fellow researcher Drew Weissman demonstrated that it is possible to trigger an immune response in the body with mRNA without the body turning against the mRNA itself. With this breakthrough, a new revolutionary technique was born.Thanks to Karikó's scientific work, BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna were able to develop the current mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. A prime example of the beneficial impact that fundamental research can eventually have on society.Honorary supervisor Floris Rutjes, Professor in Organic Synthesis: "With courage and determination, she pursued her scientific vision for a very long time, and by doing so, she has ultimately made a significant contribution to the fight against viral diseases."

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is defined as a multidisciplinary process that uses explicit methods to determine the value of a health technology at different points in its lifecycle. The purpose is to inform decision-making in order to promote an equitable, efficient, and high-quality health system. The definition reflects that facts and values are intertwined in HTA.This means that HTA should be considered as a type of policy analysis, wherein the assessment of safety, clinical and cost implications of health technologies, as well as their wider ethical, legal, social, organizational, environmental and other implications is conducted from the view that these aspects are closely interrelated, and wherein stakeholders are involved in a more productive way throughout the process of HTA. Acknowledging this holds the potential of conducting assessments of health technologies in a way that supports deliberative democratic decision making.In the 2018-2021 EU Erasmus+ strategic partnerships project "VALues In Doing Assessments of healthcare TEchnologies" (VALIDATE), a consortium of seven academic and HTA organizations have developed an approach to HTA that allows for the integration of empirical analysis and normative inquiry.The VALIDATE handbook: an approach on the integration of values in doing assessments of health technologies offers the reader an opportunity to get acquainted with the theoretical considerations and apprehend the associated practical and organizational implications of this approach. It offers those interested in HTA to integrate empirical analysis and normative inquiry in a transparent way.

This book, dedicated to Roger Penrose, is a second, mathematically oriented course in general relativity. It contains extensive references and occasional excursions in the history and philosophy of gravity, including a relatively lengthy historical introduction. The book is intended for all students of general relativity of any age and orientation who have a background including at least first courses in special and general relativity, differential geometry, and topology. The material is developed in such a way that through the last two chapters the reader may acquire a taste of the modern mathematical study of black holes initiated by Penrose, Hawking, and others, as further influenced by the initial-value or PDE approach to general relativity. Successful readers might be able to begin reading research papers on black holes, especially in mathematical physics and in the philosophy of physics. The chapters are: Historical introduction, General differential geometry, Metric differential geometry, Curvature, Geodesics and causal structure, The singularity theorems of Hawking and Penrose, The Einstein equations, The 3+1 split of space-time, Black holes I: Exact solutions, and Black holes II: General theory. These are followed by two appendices containing background on Lie groups, Lie algebras, & constant curvature, and on Formal PDE theory.Klaas Landsman (1963) has been a professor of mathematical physics since 2001, initially at the University of Amsterdam and since 2004 at Radboud University, where he is a founding member of the Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics, and Particle Physics (IMAPP). He was a postdoc at the University of Cambridge from 1989-1997, and a research fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) from 1997-2002. He has been an elected member of the KNAW since 2019. His previous Open Access books include Foundations of Quantum Theory (2017) and The Challenge of Chance (2016). He also wrote two popular science books in Dutch. In 2020 he won the international FQXi essay contest on Undecidability, Uncomputability, and Unpredictability.

Linnaeus, the Swedish taxonomist, was wrong when he named our species Homo sapiens, i.e. wise man. We are not. We do too many senseless, destructive and irresponsible things to deserve that label. Actually, we need to be educated.Fortunately, we can be educated. We can transform ourselves. We are Homo educandus.Sadly, our current school system is broken. In fact, it does not support education. It deforms. This is what Jan Bransen claims in this book. He convincingly argues that our current school system is based on incoherent ideas, among which the notions that people need to study for years on end before they are ready to take part in our society, or that students learn because teachers teach.We can do better than that. In the second part of the book, Bransen points out that we have reasons to be confident and enthusiastic. We can improve our education system. Applying a dramaturgical analysis of human action, Bransen explains what socialization should look like in primary education, how our personal development can be supported in secondary education and how qualification can be organized in dual tracks in higher education, integrating learning, working and living over our course of life.Jan Bransen is Professor of Philosophy and Academic Leader of the Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He is famously knowledgeable in the areas of Human Nature, Behavioural Science, and Mind and Action. Bransen studies our motives, 'freedom of choice' and sense of moral responsibility in developing and maintaining ourselves in society. He holds the optimistic view that our capacity to reflect on ourselves is intrinsically edifying.