Open Access Books

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Medical robots are increasingly being used in the healthcare profession, particularly for surgical operations. Compared to traditional surgery techniques, robotic surgery results in smaller incisions, greater accuracy, and shortened recovery time. Medical robots can also be used to transport blood from one place to another, prepare substances in a hazardous environment, diagnose illnesses, care for patients, and more. As such, it is likely that robots will replace certain medical personnel in the future, leading to social consequences that are not yet fully understood. This book presents the latest developments in medical robotics and innovative designs of the future. It also examines current medical robotic systems and applications.

This open access book sets out to explain the reasons for the gap between “knowing” and “doing” in view of self-reliance, which is more and more often expected of citizens. In today’s society, people are expected to take responsibility for their own lives and be self-reliant. This is no easy feat. They must be on constant high alert in areas of life such as health, work and personal finances and, if things threaten to go awry, take appropriate action without further ado. What does this mean for public policy? Policymakers tend to assume that the government only needs to provide people with clear information and that, once properly informed, they will automatically do the right thing. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that things do not work like that. Even though people know perfectly well what they ought to do, they often behave differently. Why is this? This book sets out to explain the reasons for the gap between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’. It focuses on the role of non-cognitive capacities, such as setting goals, taking action, persevering and coping with setbacks, and shows how these capacities are undermined by adverse circumstances. By taking the latest psychological insights fully into account, this book presents a more realist perspective on self-reliance, and shows government officials how to design rules and institutions that allow for the natural limitations in people’s ‘capacity to act’.

EI territorio de Quintana Roo, en el sureste de Mexico, en la frontera con Bel ice, nace en 1902. Una de las dificultades recurrentes del territorio fue la ausencia de población y las medidas adoptadas para atraer a nuevos habitantes. Y también para definir a estos habitante. En esta región periférica, la población constituye un desafío estratégico para la consolidación de la soberanía nacional; manifiesta la afirmación de un biopoder -y de sus límites- que lleva a imponer las características raciales y nacionales de la población. Mediante el estudio de la radicalización de las políticas migratorias, y también de las políticas de integración y de desarrollo de la región (expediciones científicas, acceso a las tierras, tipo de explotación territorial), se trata de introducir una alteridad distinta a la indígena en las reflexiones sobre la nación el mestizaje y la raza, a partir del caso del extranjero negro. Esta investigación inscribe a México en la historia de las sociedades posesclavistas caribeñas marcadas por las migraciones de trabajadores afrodescendientes, y da cuenta del surgimiento de una nueva entidad político-administrativa al margen de la nación. EI libro aporta una nueva luz sobre las lógicas de inclusión y de exclusión propias de las políticas de mestizaje en el México posrevolucionario, por medio de un doble desfase analítico: estudiar eL lugar de las poblaciones negras más que el de las indígenas; centrarse en la inmigración más que en la autoctonía.

According to a well-established Italian university tradition, the verification of learning of a subject belonging to the cultural area of the 'STEM disciplines' involves passing a written test and an oral test. While the latter is intended as verification of the acquisition of both the conceptual foundations and the theoretical formalism of the discipline, the written test is intended to verify problem solving skills according to the "knowing means knowing how to do" paradigm, of whose formative validity the authors of this manual are convinced supporters. Usually there are many very good textbooks that cover the theoretical part, while there are chronically few textbooks that propose problems at the right level of complexity, also offering detailed and commented solutions. This is particularly true for those disciplines corresponding to the last year of the three-year cycle of a Bachelor's degree. In order to at least partially fill this gap, a textbook is proposed here that brings together a rich and varied series of problems (with solutions and comments) in the physics of atoms, molecules and crystalline solids. These topics, which constitute an indispensable body of knowledge in modern physics, represent the core of the discipline 'Structure of Matter', as defined by the Italian university taxonomy.

A curtain opens and an image is briefly revealed. This is apariencia. The curtain's movement brings the image to life, turning it into a real apparition. In the theater, the actors compose tableaux vivants that are unveiled; in his chapel, the king stages himself as the Catholic King, discovered by the sommelier de courtine. In all its registers of use, apariencia turns wonder into a performative spectacle, using ritual and art to endow images with power. Drawing on the findings of the historical anthropology of images, this book examines a mode of visibility and its uses in different areas of Spanish culture during the Golden Age, such as the history of theater, liturgy, political representation and art collections.

Le mouvement de diffusion et de circulation des textes a donné lieu, pendant les XVe et XVIe siècles, à un élan sans précédent de traduction et d'adaptation : les œuvres antiques récupérées sont sujettes à de multiples modes d'appropriation, et celles des modernes, en un temps d'essor des idiomes nationaux, cherchent leur voie entre les marchés géographiquement circonscrits de l'édition vernaculaire et une circulation internationale qui ne saurait faire l'économie du latin. Les actes de la journée d'étude Traduire et adapter à la Renaissance, tenue dans le cadre du cycle annuel « Textes littéraires et sociétés, XVe-XVIIIe siècle », explorent le destin des textes à travers les avatars auxquels les soumettent l'humaniste, le traducteur, le disciple, l'éditeur, le plagiaire et le public ; au-delà, ils mettent en relief la réflexion qui se fait jour à la Renaissance sur les rapports de la langue et du texte, d'un objet et d'un instrument, qu'il s'agit de perfectionner sans cesse : la traduction n'est pas seulement le lieu où l'on s'approprie le savoir d'autrui mais aussi la palestre où la langue, par la confrontation, s'étoffe et s'assouplit.

Ion channels are membrane proteins that selectively allow ions to flow down their electrochemical gradient across the cellular membrane. They localize in both plasma and intracellular membranes and regulate a variety of functions such as neuronal excitability, heartbeat, muscle contraction and hormones release. Thus, understanding the molecular mechanism of ion channels function and regulation is one of the key goals of modern Biophysics. During my PhD thesis, by combining patch-clamp measurements with site-direct mutagenesis, fluorophore labeling experiments and pharmacological assays, I explored some functional and structural properties of different ion transporters: the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX); the large conductance Ca2+-voltage activated K+ channel (BK) channel; the human Transient receptor potential, member A1 (TRPA1) channel.

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De par leur richesse en ressources naturelles renouvelables, les zones inondables tropicales revêtent un intérêt social et économique majeur pour les pays en développement. Cependant, les fleuves tropicaux sont aujourd'hui de plus en plus aménagés pour satisfaire les besoins liés à de nouvelles activités. Les zones jusque-là régulièrement inondées par la crue annuelle se réduisent ou alors les rythmes de leur inondation sont profondément modifiés. Les impacts de tels changements sont nombreux et portent atteinte à la biodiversité et à la durabilité des systèmes d'exploitation. Il s'avère alors nécessaire de définir de nouvelles approches de la gestion de l'eau, des espaces et des ressources vivantes, qui tout à la fois préservent les écosystèmes et prennent en considération les besoins des différents usagers. Tel est l'objectif de cet ouvrage qui pose, dans un premier temps, la problématique sociétale autour de laquelle cette gestion doit être repensée, en faisant apparaître la diversité d'acteurs et d'institutions concernés. Il présente ensuite les acquis les plus récents de la recherche sur le fonctionnement de ces écosystèmes ainsi que sur les pratiques et stratégies déployées par les populations qui les exploitent. Enfin est abordée la question des instruments à mettre en place pour assurer l'effectivité d'une gestion durable des zones inondables tropicales : après avoir fait le point sur les apports de la recherche concernant les outils de traitement et de partage de l'information environnementale, l'ouvrage se termine par un débat sur les conditions de création et de fonctionnement des institutions de suivi, de concertation et de décision.

Chemieunterricht findet in heterogenen Lerngruppen mit Schüler:innen unterschiedlichster Lernausgangslagen statt. Mit Blick auf die besondere Bedeutung des Experimentierens im Fach Chemie ist eine individualisierte Lernprozessgestaltung daher besonders in Experimentierphasen notwendig. Dazu müssen Lehrkräfte wissen, was Lernenden Schwierigkeiten bereitet und wie sie entsprechend ihrer individuellen Lernvoraussetzungen gefördert werden müssen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurden in einem Mixed-Methods-Ansatz die Zusammenhänge zwischen verschiedenen individuellen Lernvoraussetzungen, Lernaktivitäten, beobachtbaren Schwierigkeiten und dem Lernerfolg beim Bearbeiten kooperativer Experimentieraufgaben zu unterschiedlichen Inhalten untersucht. An der Untersuchung nahmen N = 101 Schülerinnen und Schüler der 9. Jahrgangsstufe verschiedener Schulformen aus der Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr teil. Die Analysen zeigen, dass während des Experimentierens unterschiedliche Schwierigkeiten auftreten. Jedoch wirken sich nur einzelne davon, wie etwa ein fehlendes Verständnis der Zielsetzung der Aufgabenstellung, unmittelbar negativ auf den individuellen Lernerfolg aus. Für das Auftreten von Schwierigkeiten ist zum Teil ein geringes Vorwissen zu naturwissenschaftlichen Denk- und Arbeitsweisen ursächlich. Es zeigt sich aber auch, dass viele Schwierigkeiten in bestimmten Leistungsbereichen unterschiedlich häufig auftreten, wodurch sich hier ein Zugang für individualisierte Experimentiersituationen ergibt.

Northern Canada's distinctive landscapes, its complex social relations and the contested place of the North in contemporary political, military, scientific and economic affairs have fueled recent scholarly discussion. At the same time, both the media and the wider public have shown increasing interest in the region. This timely volume extends our understanding of the environmental history of northern Canada - clarifying both its practice and promise, and providing critical perspectives on current public debates. Ice Blink provides opportunities to consider critical issues in other disciplines and geographic contexts. Contributors also examine whether distinctive approaches to environmental history are required when studying the Canadian North, and consider a range of broader questions. What, if anything, sets the study of environmental history in particular regions apart from its study elsewhere? Do environmental historians require regionally-specific research practices? How can the study of environmental history take into consideration the relations between Indigenous peoples, the environment, and the state? How can the history of regions be placed most effectively within transnational and circumpolar contexts? How relevant are historical approaches to contemporary environmental issues? Scholars from universities in Canada, the United States and Britain contribute to this examination of the relevance of historical study for contemporary arctic and sub-arctic issues, especially environmental challenges, security and sovereignty, indigenous politics and the place of science in northern affairs. By asking such questions, the volume offers lessons about the general practice of environmental history and engages an international body of scholarship that addresses the value of regional and interdisciplinary approaches. Crucially, however, it makes a distinctive contribution to the field of Canadian environmental history by identifying new areas of research and exploring how international scholarly developments might play out in the Canadian context.

Elisa Leonzio ripercorre in questo volume il nesso che lega il problema pedagogico, il riferimento antropologico, il tema religioso, allo sviluppo della forma narrativa tardo-settecentesca, concentrandosi su alcuni nodi tematici presenti nella Unsichtbare Loge di Jean Paul, osservato come uno dei migliori esempi di romanzo in cui sia possibile misurare la portata della svolta cruciale dei modi della narrazione in lingua tedesca dell’ultimo trentennio del XVIII secolo, interpretabile come “messa in questione”, come “dialettica” dell’Illuminismo.

This book is a collection of chapters from different biomaterial experts, including their design, new insights into the molecular basis of their interaction with the organism, and their successful application. The chapters have been organized to illustrate different aspects of multidisciplinary biomaterial science. Thus, this book should give readers a view into the different biomaterial disciplines and methodologies that are needed for specific clinical applications.

Manès Sperber (1905-1984) est l'un des grands témoins du vingtième siècle. Né dans un shtetl de Galicie orientale, mort à Paris, ce fils de rabbin quittera sa culture d'origine pour devenir un " hérétique fidèle " du judaïsme, de la psychologie adlérienne et surtout du communisme.