Open Access Books

This work describes a method for weighted least squares approximation of an unbounded number of data points using a B-spline function. The method can shift the bounded B-spline function definition range during run-time. The approximation method is used for optimizing velocity trajectories for an electric vehicle with respect to travel time, comfort and energy consumption. The trajectory optimization method is extended to a driver assistance system for automated vehicle longitudinal control.

This volume of the series ARENA2036 compiles the outcome of the 2nd Stuttgart Conference on Automotive Production (SCAP2022). The peer-reviewed contributions in this book are arranged thematically in three parts and cover a wide variety of topics: (A) Software-defined Manufacturing, (B) Data-driven Technologies, and (C) Advanced Manufacturing and Sustainability. SCAP2022 was organized by ARENA2036 in close collaboration with the Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Units of the University of Stuttgart. The Conference took place on site from November 16 - 18, 2022 and provided the opportunity for national and international scientists to present their latest research results. The conference has taken another big step in becoming an established forum for topics related to the production of the future. The great success of this year's conference will be continued with the next SCAP in 2024 with new forward-looking topics. This is an open access book.

In recent decades, dentistry, a specialised medical discipline focused on oral health, has undergone significant progress. The integration of cutting-edge technology and the evolution of novel clinical techniques and approaches have revolutionised modern dentistry, offering patients more efficient, precise and aesthetically pleasing treatment options. In this context, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the most important developments and trends in the field of dentistry through a meticulous exploration of the scientific literature and the compilation of influential research and studies, thus exploring the most pertinent issues that have shaped contemporary dentistry. This book provides dental professionals and individuals interested in the field with the opportunity to examine recent advances, emerging trends, and important research in contemporary dentistry. We are confident that this work will be a valuable tool for growth and updating in this exciting area of the health sciences.

Aprendiz de todo y oficial de nada. Retrato íntimo del maestro colimense Manuel Gallardo Zamora, aborda la trayectoria vital y el pensamiento del mencionado docente, así como sus ideas sobre la educación en México. El autor, Miguel Teodoro Cervantes Janssen, hace su exposición acerca del contexto histórico en México y en Colima a principios del siglo XX, algunos rasgos de la vida del profesor, su itinerario intelectual, y sus reflexiones en cuanto al tema de la escuela y la educación laica. Este libro toca también algunas aristas filosóficas al plantear reflexiones a las que llega el profesor colimense sobre la naturaleza del ser humano, la búsqueda de sentido y trascendencia. Es una disertación sobre cómo se ha entendido la educación, una reflexión que busca comprender el valor de la sabiduría y el conocimiento. A través de esta exposición, se muestran los valores que el profesor Manuel Gallardo Zamora propuso para la educación. Es una obra enriquecedora que nos invita a analizar la actividad intelectual y el factor educativo.

The world of communication media has undergone massive changes since the mid-1980s. Along with the extraordinary progress in technological capability, it has experienced stunning decreases in costs; a revolutionary opening up of markets (a phenomenon exemplified by but not limited to the rise of the Internet); the advent of new business models; and a striking acceleration in the rate of change. These technological, regulatory, and economic changes have attracted the attention of a large number of researchers, from industry and academe, and given rise to a substantial body of research and data. Significantly less attention has been paid to the people who use new media—whose own rate of adoption and assimilation often lags notably behind the technologies themselves. When Media Are New addresses this research and publishing gap by investigating the human factors involved in technological change and their implications for current and future media. It will find a broad audience ranging from media and communication scholars to historians and organizational theorists to industry professionals.

This volume is a general interpretation of Nietzsche's works, with emphasis on the "doctrine of eternal recurrence," which Nietzsche considered his most significant philosophic contribution. Magnus disposes of traditional schools of interpreta-tion and argues a new thesis. First, since the value of life cannot be estimated, for Nietzsche, estimates of life are "self-reference clues," or, in Magnus's words, "conceptual Rorschachs." The doctrine of eternal recurrence is an attitude toward life—that of nihilism overcome. Magnus regards this doctrine as a "countermyth"—an antidote to the flight from experience sanctioned by Christianity, philosophy, and nihilism. A long opening chapter serves as an excellent introduction to Nietzsche's philosophy in general. Subsequent chapters trace the history of recurrence theories, discuss textual and conceptual problems, and, finally, expound the meaning of the doctrine of eternal recurrence.

This open access book focuses on private sponsorship of refugees, which has slowly begun to increase the opportunities for refugees to start new lives in Europe, without putting themselves or their families at risk from perilous journeys. After contextualising the phenomenon and describing the most notable European programmes, the book argues that private sponsorship schemes characterised by naming and additionality should be further explored and trialled within Europe. Having considered the phenomenon from both theoretical and practical viewpoints, the book argues that this would be possible by balancing private sponsors’ claims with state sovereignty, in matters such as welfare, integration and security. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Foregrounding the ways in which men experience transnational migration, Migratory Men: Place, Transnationalism and Masculinities considers how we conceptualise and theorise mobile men in a global context. Bringing together studies from around the world (e.g. Australia, Pakistan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Italy), this collection foregrounds how the transnational migratory experience profoundly reshapes men’s complex identity practices. Specifically, the collection highlights how transnational migratory aspirations and experiences often lead men to reimagine local patterns of masculinity and/or reaffirm prescriptive gender roles as they encounter new spaces/places. In presenting interdisciplinary research, the international scholars consider the powerful roles of economics, politics and social class in shaping masculinities. Furthermore, the contributors emphasise how men affectively and agentically experience migration and how interaction with new spaces/places can often lead to negotiations between disempowerment and empowerment. As such, this collection will appeal to both non-academic readers who share transnational migratory aspirations and experiences and academic readers across the social sciences with interests in gender and sexuality, migration and diaspora, transnationalism and contemporary masculinities.Chapters 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

In this Special Issue, we explore the transformative power of deep learning-based computing technologies in improving the accuracy and reliability of image recognition systems. From advancing autonomous driving to enhancing object detection, deep learning continues to push the boundaries of what is achievable. Additionally, cutting-edge computer vision technologies enable precise medical imaging segmentation and improve image quality in challenging conditions, such as low-light environments and astronomical observations. Leading experts in the field present their latest research and innovations, offering a comprehensive view of the applications and future potential of deep learning in image and video sensing technologies. Together, we envision a future where artificial intelligence not only enhances our everyday devices but also redefines how we interact with technology and the world around us.

This book deals with the latest developments regarding urban and industrial wastewaters’ adapted treatment with various technologies. It focuses, through valuable publications, on the shifting of the wastewater management paradigm from “treatment and disposal” to “the 4Rs principle: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, and Recover”. The adapted wastewater treatment step will allow (i) the disposal of supplementary water amounts that could be safely reused in order to tackle the water-scarcity problem, and (ii) the preservation of the environment against pollution. Finally, this book will contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and other international related initiatives.

This book contains some of the papers that were presented at the first meeting of the newly formed African Expert Study Group on International Criminal Law / Groupe des Experts Africaines en Droit Pénal International held in September 2011 in Brussels, Belgium. The group was established under the auspices of the Multinational Development Policy Dialogue (hereinafter ‘MDPD’) and the Rule of Law programme of the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (‘KAS’) in 2010 modeled on the successful sister group in Latin America. This latter group was originally founded as an expert group to monitor the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’) in Latin America within the framework of cooperation between KAS’ regional Rule of Law Programme and the Department for Foreign and International Law of the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in 2002. The newly formed African group consists of judicial experts with both academic and practical background from various parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The importance of such a group for the African continent cannot be overestimated. Africa plays a vital role in international criminal law and justice, both as an active player at the ICC and at the regional and national level. As for the group’s composition and outreach, the aim is to broaden regional representation and further consolidate membership. In 2012, the group will meet in Nairobi, Kenya to deal with topics surrounding the ‘Potential for the domestic prosecution of international crimes in Africa.’ Topics for future meetings abound given the multi-faceted African legal and political practice regarding international criminal justice in general and the ICC in particular. The group should in particular monitor the recent international or transnational criminal justice developments at the regional African level as well as relevant national developments. (Excerpt from the introduction by Kai Ambos)

Considerado en su momento como uno de los Partidos Comunistas más importantes del mundo, el Partido Comunista de Chile expresa en su trayectoria una variedad de hechos que lo constituyen, en términos historiográficos, tal vez si en la organización más atractiva de la izquierda del país. En el año de su Centenario, la mirada académica sobre su pasado se vuelca aquí en un volumen que recoge. Parcialmente, un abanico de tópicos y análisis respecto de numerosas circunstancias que han cruzado su existencia. Antes que percepciones justificatorias y conformistas, pero sin olvidar su importancia en nuestra historia política, los trabajos aquí reunidos suponen la puesta en práctica de abordajes disciplinarios que esperamos fructifiquen en la constante ampliación del conocimiento del pasado y del présente del partido de Recabarren.

The first part of the essay examines the different premises, of Aristotelian and Galenic origin, for the idea of an inherent consumption of the natural heat of every living body, discussing the contributions of Isaac Israeli, Avicenna and Averroes to the reflection on the relationship between the secondary humours (or moistures) and the peculiar category of fevers called ‘hectic’. The second part of the article discusses how the link between moisture, heat and food was taken up and elaborated by Latin Scholastic masters (in particular Thomas Aquinas), and considers the use of the notion of ‘radical moisture’ in the field of theology. Aquinas does not follow the previous theological tradition, originating with Peter Lombard, which denies the possibility that the matter assimilated through food is part of the bodily core that belongs to every human being from birth. The moisture provided by food is, in fact, inseparable from the (radical) moisture that originally belongs to each individual; as such, it is part of the ‘truth of human nature’ (veritas humanae naturae) that will be restored at the moment of the resurrection of the body.

In this open access book, Matthew Greenslade sheds some much-needed light on the damage being done by the World Bank's insistence on pursuing a poverty-targeted approach to social protection in lower income countries, while also describing some of the successes in the grassroots fights for a more universal approach. All this is organized around the true story of Stephen Kidd, an ex-missionary who cut his teeth fighting for indigenous land rights in Latin America, then survived an assassination attempt, and ultimately went on to be a leader in the global fight for universal social protection. Nearly half of the world’s population does not have access to the sorts of welfare and benefits programs that protect many people in the Global North. This means little to no protection in vulnerable times of life or against crises such as pandemics and climate-related events, and much less chance of building sustainable economies and the transition to low-carbon growth. Incorporating perspectives from academia, NGOs and activists, Greenslade shows, through Kidd's story, how governments in the Global South are working to fill this gap, but all too often, World-Bank-led support from the Global North encourages poverty-targeted programmes that are error-strewn, can cause social unrest, and can ultimately set back the development of universal social protection systems for years. Yet, as Greenslade also shows, collaborations among the United Nations, NGOs, academia, and practitioners such as Kidd are supporting Global South governments in pushing for more sustainable, home-grown, human-rights-aligned, universally available systems of social protection. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Act Church of Sweden.

Vehicle electrification has been identified as one of the main technology trends in this second decade of the 21st century. Nearly 10% of global car sales in 2021 were electric, and this figure would be 50% by 2030 to reduce the oil import dependency and transport emissions in line with countries’ climate goals. This book addresses the efficient power and propulsion systems which cover essential topics for research and development on EVs, HEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), including: Energy storage systems (battery, fuel cell, supercapacitors, and their hybrid systems); Power electronics devices and converters; Electric machine drive control, optimization, and design; Energy system advanced management methods Primarily intended for professionals and advanced students who are working on EV/HEV/FCEV power and propulsion systems, this edited book surveys state of the art novel control/optimization techniques for different components, as well as for vehicle as a whole system. New readers may also find valuable information on the structure and methodologies in such an interdisciplinary field. Contributed by experienced authors from different research laboratory around the world, these 11 chapters provide balanced materials from theorical background to methodologies and practical implementation to deal with various issues of this challenging technology. This reprint encourages researchers working in this field to stay actualized on the latest developments on electric vehicle efficient power and propulsion systems, for road and rail, both manned and unmanned vehicles.