Open Access Books

The inferior colliculus (IC) is a unique structure in the auditory system, located between the primary auditory nuclei of the brainstem and the thalamus. The existence of the complex neural circuits in the auditory brainstem and midbrain, lacking in other sensory systems, has motivated an outpouring of research on the circuitry and physiological properties of the IC. IC neurons receive ascending inputs from over 20 separate sources in the brainstem as well as a dense collection of descending connections from the cortex. It is richly connected to both the left and right ears through these circuits and a major theme in research on the IC has been its role in binaural interactions. A second theme is the role of descending circuits in modulating responses to sound in the IC. A third theme is understanding the sound processing that occurs at the level of the IC, essentially how the representation of sound in the IC differs from that in the two auditory nerves. The representation of sound in the IC is an intermediate step in the development of the cortical representation as well as in the development of many perceptual features of sounds. These characteristics have been documented for a number of computations, including sound localization, masking properties, robustness of the representation, and responses to temporal and spectral properties of sounds. This Research Topic aims to discuss a wide range of aspects of the structure and function of the IC in a way that will facilitate future research.

Image analysis is a fundamental task for extracting information from images acquired across a range of different devices. Since reliable quantitative results are requested, image analysis requires highly sophisticated numerical and analytical methods—particularly for applications in medicine, security, and remote sensing, where the results of the processing may consist of vitally important data. The contributions to this book provide a good overview of the most important demands and solutions concerning this research area. In particular, the reader will find image analysis applied for feature extraction, encryption and decryption of data, color segmentation, and in the support new technologies. In all the contributions, entropy plays a pivotal role.

This desk-based research has the goal of illustrating, by way of a detailed review of literature dealing with Action Research (AR), a method which has been used to solve diverse problems in diverse scenarios and diverse fields of knowledge. This document examines literature on AR and its connection to the field of Education; it explains how a significant development is produced in educational situations and how it helps professors to see themselves as researchers. In the publication, various models are also shown and it highlights the use of AR in fields of professional development, knowledge based on practice, and the improvement of educational work based on findings of present day works of research.

This Special Issue compiles studies on the impact of Salmonella on animal and public health, focusing on its presence throughout the food chain, from farm to fork. It includes eleven studies from authors across six countries, highlighting the global zoonotic threat posed by Salmonella and its contribution to public health risks. The research covers innovative strategies for controlling this pathogen, such as the use of bacteriophages, essential oils, and vaccines, with an emphasis on One Health approaches. It also highlights antimicrobial resistance, particularly in serotypes like S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium, which exhibit growing issues of multidrug resistance. Additionally, control methods in pork and poultry production, the impact of national Salmonella control programs, and the use of predictive models to improve food safety are explored. This Special Issue underscores the importance of integrated strategies combining pre- and post-harvest measures, promoting biosecurity, vaccination, and environmental management. It also advocates for research into new antimicrobial treatments and the development of sustainable methods to reduce pathogen persistence.

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Understanding Open Access: When, Why & How to Make Your Work Openly Accessible provides a scholarly author-oriented look at the ins and outs of open access publishing. The guide addresses common concerns about what “open access” means, how institutional and funder open access policies work, and why authors might consider making their works openly accessible online. It also provides information on how to openly license works, how to tailor licensing permissions, and where authors can consider making their open access works available. The guide includes real-life strategies that authors can use to work with publishers, institutions, and funders to make their works available on the terms most consistent with their dissemination goals.

„Das ist doch nicht normal“ – eine Redewendung, die auch vor der Seuche schon sprachliches und emotionales Alltagsrepertoire war. Aber was ist schon normal – jenseits dessen, was ich selbst dafür halte? Wie einigen wir uns über Normalität, brauchen wir sie überhaupt, und falls ja, weshalb, in welchem Rahmen und in welchen Grenzen? Ist nicht das Unnormale viel spannender als das Normale, und grenzt die Normalitätsdebatte nicht Menschen und Dinge aus, die das nicht verdient haben? Muss es eine einzige Normalität geben, und wer legt sie fest? Eine Annäherung an solche Fragen kann nur im Gespräch zwischen unterschiedlichen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen gelingen; eine jede hat ihre eigenen Blickwinkel, Methoden und Erkenntnisse. Wir freuen uns, dass wir für die Atzelsberger Gespräche herausragende Expertinnen und Experten für ihre Beiträge gewinnen konnten, die uns profunde Einblicke in die Fragestellungen von Norm und Normabweichung verschafften, Scheingewissheiten als solche entlarvten und die oft überraschende Dynamik im Verständnis von Normalem und Unnormalem aufzeigten. Aida Bosch erschließt aus soziologischer Sicht Debatten über Gesellschaft im Wertewandel – ein dynamisches Verständnis von Normalität – mit optimistischem Ausblick. Friedrich Lösel erhellt die sozialpsychologischen und kriminologischen Dimensionen des (Un)Normalen. Nadine Metzger verschafft Einblicke in die Diskussionen um die Suche der Medizin im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert nach dem „Normkörper“ – dabei wird die mögliche Kehrseite der Normierung deutlich, nämlich die Ausgrenzung des „Unnormalen“. Hans Dickel zeigt „Anstößiges“ anhand von vier Beispielen in der Kunst – Skandale, die auch den Anstoß zu neuen Normalitäten bilden können.

Ce livre est le résultat d’une enquête menée sur les archives les plus anciennes d’une institution originale et mal connue : la Pénitencerie apostolique. Né au tout début du XIIIe siècle dans le giron d’une papauté exerçant son pouvoir sur tout l’Occident latin, ce nouvel office fut d’abord chargé d’entendre en confession les pèlerins qui se rendaient à Rome pour demander l’absolution de leurs péchés. Puis il se vit mandaté pour répondre aux suppliques qui, chaque jour, étaient adressées au souverain pontife. L’enquête s’appuie donc sur les « formulaires » voués à recueillir, réordonner et abréger les milliers de lettres que la Pénitencerie expédiait en réponse aux suppliants. Véritables répertoires d’exemples, dans lesquels la forme et la norme étaient indissociables, ces manuels reflètent tous les cas de figure auxquels pouvait être confrontée la Pénitencerie : homicides, naissances illégitimes, mariages incestueux, faux et usage de faux, moines ayant fui leurs couvents, etc. À tous ces suppliants, le tribunal du pape avait la charge d’octroyer des dispenses, des licences ou des absolutions, parfois dans le secret du « for de la confession ». Situé au croisement d’une histoire des pratiques de l’écrit et de l’avènement des bureaucraties, du gouvernement pastoral et de la souveraineté pontificale, de la confession auriculaire et de l’espace public, ce livre entend dépasser le cadre classique de la monographie institutionnelle.

Das europäische ebenso wie das globale Selbstverständnis bestimmt sich maßgeblich über Räume - seien sie abstrakt, konkret, historisch oder aktuell. Das gilt besonders für die europäische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Mittelmeerraum und der mediterranen Kultur, die paradigmatisch für die Erforschung von Phänomenen der Interkulturalität steht. In der Gegenwart kommt diesem Raum mit Blick auf Fragen von Flucht und Migration eine spezielle Bedeutung zu. Die Beiträger*innen beleuchten interdisziplinäre Zugänge zur mehrsprachigen, multikulturellen Region des Austauschs, Handels und Konflikts und bieten so einen profunden Überblick über Sprache, Literatur und Kultur des Mittelmeerraums vom Altertum bis zur Neuzeit.

This open access book is a modern guide for all C++ programmers to learn Threading Building Blocks (TBB). Written by TBB and parallel programming experts, this book reflects their collective decades of experience in developing and teaching parallel programming with TBB, offering their insights in an approachable manner. Throughout the book the authors present numerous examples and best practices to help you become an effective TBB programmer and leverage the power of parallel systems. Pro TBB starts with the basics, explaining parallel algorithms and C++'s built-in standard template library for parallelism. You'll learn the key concepts of managing memory, working with data structures and how to handle typical issues with synchronization. Later chapters apply these ideas to complex systems to explain performance tradeoffs, mapping common parallel patterns, controlling threads and overhead, and extending TBB to program heterogeneous systems or system-on-chips. What You'll Learn Use Threading Building Blocks to produce code that is portable, simple, scalable, and more understandable Review best practices for parallelizing computationally intensive tasks in your applications Integrate TBB with other threading packages Create scalable, high performance data-parallel programs Work with generic programming to write efficient algorithms Who This Book Is For C++ programmers learning to run applications on multicore systems, as well as C or C++ programmers without much experience with templates. No previous experience with parallel programming or multicore processors is required. ;

Historians have long been focusing on medieval principalties in the French kingdom, studying their relationship with the monarchy, their administration and embodiment in the princes. But recent reseach has refreshed our understanding of these principalties, especially through a new interest in written culture and practices, princely networks and entourage, material and symbolic expressions of the the prince’s power.This book focuses on southern principalties, south of the Loire in the kingdom of France or on both sides of the Alps (Savoy) or the Pyrénées (french princes kings of Navarre). Medievalists are sharing their recent research, providing insights for future works on the links between monarchy and principalties, questioning models and influences, the expressions and relays of the princely power, uses of written records, demonstrations of the prince’s power and culture, from the second hald of the thirteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth.

I futuri cantanti d’opera studiano l’italiano come lingua straniera ma richiedono anche delle attività di traduzione per comprendere in profondità i testi lirici che interpretano. Dopo la descrizione della situazione didattica al Conservatorio di Pilsen nella Repubblica Ceca, l’articolo analizza gli aspetti che differenziano il linguaggio operistico dalla lingua odierna e presenta una ricerca effettuata con lo scopo di confrontare l’apprendimento lessicale attraverso un corso di lingua standard e l’apprendimento di un linguaggio specifico dei testi lirici.

Dynamische Systeme sind durch die Angabe des Zeitverlaufs ihrer Zustandsvariablen vollständig beschreibbar. Diese Form ist jedoch für eine mathematische Bearbeitung ungeeignet. Die Datenmenge reduziert sich um ein vielfaches und eine mathematische Behandlung wird ermöglicht, wenn zur Beschreibung der dynamischen Systeme charakteristische Größen herangezogen werden.In dieser Arbeit werden mit der phänomenologischen Herangehensweise durch eine Untersuchung der Verteilungsdichten die Bifurkationen in stochastischen dynamischen Systemen beschrieben.

This compilation is part of the Individual, Family, and Society Collection. The title is Interdisciplinary Approaches to Experiences on Social Violence, Pandemic, and Adolescence and it is not monothematic. Here, writings of students, graduates, and professors from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Health, and Well-being of the Catholic University Luis Amigó are published, texts that are the result of deliberative processes carried out in environments for intellectual interaction and are also the consequence of various strategies aimed at stimulating writing. In this sense, the reader will find a diversity of perspectives typical of the Social Sciences, diverse, multiple texts, but without the inflexibility of rigid unity.

Que pouvaient lire les coloniaux entre 1830 et 1880 en dehors des livres — rares et souvent chers — qui leur parvenaient ? Leurs journaux, leur « presse coloniale » qui n’est pas celle de la métropole : le périodique officiel, publié sur les presses du gouvernement, mais aussi quelques titres privés, tous nourris d’échanges avec la métropole autant que de publications originales. La comparaison de périodiques importants parus dans les territoires coloniaux français sur la cinquantaine d’années qui va de la conquête d’Alger aux lois sur la presse de la IIIe République permet de mieux comprendre la colonisation sous l’aspect de ce phénomène textuel matérialisé dans la presse, et qui a créé, par la temporalité du journal colonial, une identité coloniale complexe. Une approche littéraire complète des textes médiatiques coloniaux offre une entrée dans cette littérature en situation, jusqu’ici souvent négligée.