Qualitative Research Methods - collection, organization, and analysis strategies This text shows novice researchers how to design, collect, and analyze qualitative data and then present their results to the scientific community. The book stresses the importance of ethics in research and taking the time to properly design and think through any research endeavor.

This book proposes an innovative conceptual framework to explore cultural organizations at a multilateral level and cultural mediators as key figures in cultural and institutionalization processes. Specifically, it analyzes the role of Ibero-American mediators in the institutionalization of Hispanic and Lusophone cultures in the first half of the 20th century by means of two institutional networks: PEN (the non-governmental writer’s association) and the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (predecessor to UNESCO). Attempting to combine cultural and global history, sociology, and literary studies, the book uses an analytical focus on intercultural networks and cultural transfer to investigate the multiple activities and roles that these mediators and cultural organizations set in motion. Literature has traditionally studied major figures and important centers of cultural production, but other regions and localities also played a crucial role in the development of intellectual cooperation. This book reappraises the place of Ibero-America in international cultural relations and retrieves the lost history of key secondary actors. The book will appeal to scholars from international relations, global and cultural history, sociology, postcolonial Studies, world and comparative literature, and New Hispanisms. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429299407, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The topics in this volume explore the etiology, cellular mechanisms, epidemiology, genetics, models and potential therapeutic measures for the blinding diseases of retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Special focus is highlighted in the areas of Mechanisms of Photoreceptor Degeneration and Cell Death (extremely important because very little is known how or why photoreceptors die in these diseases, despite an abundance of genetic information), Age-Related Macular Degeneration (with several novel approaches to its analysis), Usher Syndrome (the most severe form of retinitis pigmentosa, which includes an early or congenital loss of hearing along with blindness), and Gene Therapy. In addition, the section on Basic Science Related to Retinal Degeneration is particularly strong with several laboratories reporting on new discoveries in the area of outer segment phagocytosis, a key component of photoreceptor-retinal pigment epithelial cell interactions in normal and degenerating retinas.

Combining conceptual, pragmatic and operational approaches, this edited collection addresses the demand for knowledge and understanding of IT in the healthcare sector. With new technology outbreaks, our vision of healthcare has been drastically changed, switching from a ‘traditional’ path to a digitalized one. Providing an overview of the role of IT in the healthcare sector, The Digitization of Healthcare illustrates the potential benefits and challenges for all those involved in delivering care to the patient. The incursion of IT has disrupted the value chain and changed business models for companies working in the health sector, and also raised ethical issues and new paradigms about delivering care. This book illustrates the rise of patient empowerment through the development of patient communities such as PatientLikeMe, and medical collaborate platforms such as DockCheck, thus providing a necessary tool to patients, caregivers and academics alike.