Genetic Democracy : Philosophical Perspectives
GENETIC DEMOCRACY involves an in-depth analysis of the ethical, social and philosophical issues related to modern genetic research and gene technology. The aim of the book is to introduce systematic research on the social and ethical impacts of the use and development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as well as the acquisition, use and storage of human genetic information (HGI). The book contributes into enhancing public discussion and reaching fair and democratic decision-making practices in GMO and HGI use and development both on local and global level.
From Animals to Animats 9 ; 9th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2006, Rome, Italy, September 25-29, 2006, Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2006. The 35 revised full papers and 35 revised poster papers presented are organized in topical sections on the animat approach to adaptive behaviour, perception and motor control, action selection and behavioral sequences, navigation and internal world models, learning and adaptation, evolution, collective and social behaviours, applied adaptive behavior and more.
From Animals to Animats 10 ; 10th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2008, Osaka, Japan, July 7-12, 2008. Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2008, held in Osaka, Japan in July 2008.The 30 revised full papers and 21 revised poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 110 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on the animat approach to adaptive behaviour, evolution, navigation and internal world models, perception and control, learning and adaptation, cognition, emotion and behaviour, collective and social behaviours, adaptive behaviour in language and communication, and applied adaptive behaviour.
Foundations of Trusted Autonomy
This book establishes the foundations needed to realize the ultimate goals for artificial intelligence, such as autonomy and trustworthiness. Aimed at scientists, researchers, technologists, practitioners, and students, it brings together contributions offering the basics, the challenges and the state-of-the-art on trusted autonomous systems in a single volume. The book is structured in three parts, with chapters written by eminent researchers and outstanding practitioners and users in the field. The first part covers foundational artificial intelligence technologies, while the second part covers philosophical, practical and technological perspectives on trust. Lastly, the third part presents advanced topics necessary to create future trusted autonomous systems. The book augments theory with real-world applications including cyber security, defence and space.
Foundations of Intelligent Systems ; 17th International Symposium, ISMIS 2008 Toronto, Canada, May 20-23, 2008 Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Methodologies for Intelligent Systems, ISMIS 2008, held in Toronto, Canada, in May 2008.The 68 revised papers presented together with 3 plenary talks were carefully reviewed and selected from over 100 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on knowledge discovery and data mining: foundations, advances, mining changes and actional patterns; logic for artificial intelligence, autonomic and evolutionary computation, soft computing, databases and data warehouses, digital library, intelligent information retrieval.
Formal Approaches to Agent-Based Systems ; 3rd International Workshop, FAABS 2004, Greenbelt, MD, April 26-27, 2004, Revised Selected Papers
The 3rd Workshop on Formal Approaches to Agent-Based Systems (FAABS-III) was held at the Greenbelt Marriott Hotel (near NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) in April 2004 in conjunction with the IEEE Computer Society. The first FAABS workshop was help in April 2000 and the second in October 2002. Interest in agent-based systems continues to grow and this is seen in the wide range of conferences and journals that are addressing the research in this area as well as the prototype and developmental systems that are coming into use. Our third workshop, FAABS-III, was held in April, 2004. This volume contains the revised papers and posters presented at that workshop. The Organizing Committee was fortunate in having significant support in the planning and organization of these events, and were privileged to have wor- renowned keynote speakers Prof. J Moore (FAABS-I), Prof. Sir Roger Penrose (FAABS-II), and Prof. John McCarthy (FAABS-III), who spoke on the topic of se- aware computing systems, auguring perhaps a greater interest in autonomic computing as part of future FAABS events. We are grateful to all who attended the workshop, presented papers or posters, and participated in panel sessions and both formal and informal discussions to make the workshop a great success. Our thanks go to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Codes 588 and 581 (Software Engineering Laboratory) for their financial support and to the IEEE Computer Society (Technical Committee on Complexity in Computing) for their sponsorship and organizational assistance.
Financing public universities : The case of performance funding
"Financing Public Universities" addresses newer practices of resource allocation which tie funding to indicators of performance. The gist of these efforts is to raise the quality of institutional systems. Performance-based budgeting and funding of public universities is part of broader efforts to reform public management, and it is being promoted and implemented by various government agencies around the globe. In particular, European universities with their normally strong governmental ties, or higher education systems molded on European universities, are prime targets of such reforms. Performance funding has made its inroads in attempts to grant university systems managerial autonomy: autonomy was to be granted in exchange for funding modes which are tied to the measurement of performance indicators. Unfortunately, performance-based budgeting or funding measures cannot meet the various expectations: they do not raise the quality of teaching or learning; they do not raise research performance; they take back a great deal of managerial autonomy which is commonly judged to be essential for the well being of higher education institutions, in particular research universities; and they act as automata in place of proper governance and management.
Field-Based Coordination for Pervasive Multiagent Systems
Software systems involve autonomous and distributed software components that have to execute and interact in open and dynamic environments, such as in pervasive, autonomous, and mobile applications. The requirements with respect to dynamics, openness, scalability, and decentralization call for new approaches to software design and development, capable of supporting spontaneous configuration, tolerating partial failures, or arranging adaptive reorganization of the whole system.
Field and Service Robotics ; Vol. 25 : Results of the 5th International Conference
Field robots are robots which operate in outdoor, complex, and dynamic environments. Service robots are those that work closely with humans, with particular applications involving indoor and structured environments. There are a wide range of topics presented in this issue on field and service robots including: Agricultural and Forestry Robotics, Mining and Exploration Robots, Robots for Construction, Security & Defence Robots, Cleaning Robots, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Autonomous Flying Robots.
Field and service robotics : Results of the 6th international conference
This book presents the results of the sixth edition of Field and Service Robotics, FSR07, held in Chamonix, France, on 9th - 12th July 2007. The conference provided a forum for researchers, professionals and robot manufacturers to exchange up-to-date technical knowledge and experience. This book offers a collection of a broad range of topics including: Underwater Robots and Systems, Autonomous Navigation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, Climbing Robotics, Sensor Fusion.
Exponentially Dichotomous Operators and Applications
In this monograph the natural evolution operators of autonomous first-order differential equations with exponential dichotomy on an arbitrary Banach space are studied in detail. Characterizations of these so-called exponentially dichotomous operators in terms of their resolvents and additive and multiplicative perturbation results are given. The general theory of the first three chapters is then followed by applications to Wiener-Hopf factorization and Riccati equations, transport equations, diffusion equations of indefinite Sturm-Liouville type, noncausal infinite-dimensional linear continuous-time systems, and functional differential equations of mixed type.
Explicit Stability Conditions for Continuous Systems : A Functional Analytic Approach
Explicit Stability Conditions for Continuous Systems deals with non-autonomous linear and nonlinear continuous finite dimensional systems. Explicit conditions for the asymptotic, absolute, input-to-state and orbital stabilities are discussed. This monograph provides new tools for specialists in control system theory and stability theory of ordinary differential equations, with a special emphasis on the Aizerman problem. A systematic exposition of the approach to stability analysis based on estimates for matrix-valued functions is suggested and various classes of systems are investigated from a unified viewpoint.
Experimental Robotics : The 10th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics
The goal of ISER is to provide a forum for research in robotics that focuses on novelty of theoretical contributions validated by experimental results. The meetings are conceived to bring together, in a small group setting, researchers from around the world who are in the forefront of experimental robotics research.
Evolutionary Swarm Robotics : Evolving Self-Organising Behaviours in Groups of Autonomous Robots
In this book the use of ER techniques for the design of self-organising group behaviours, for both simulated and real robots is introduced. This research has a twofold value. From an engineering perspective, an automatic methodology for synthesising complex behaviours in a robotic system is described.
Evidence-Based Medical Ethics : Cases for Practice-Based Learning
In Evidence-Based Medical Ethics: Cases for Practice-Based Learning, the authors address what has been missing in existing text books and ethics courses to date – clear-cut ethical and legal guidelines that provide a method for the reader to learn how to systematically manage dilemmas seen in the everyday practice of medicine.
Évaluation des troubles neuropsychologiques en vie quotidienne = Assessment of neuropsychological disorders in daily life
Neurological diseases such as stroke, head trauma, Alzheimer's disease pose a public health problem. They affect all ages, from children to the elderly. They affect the possibilities of autonomy in daily life, the possibilities of social or professional integration. In these pathologies, neuropsychological disorders: disorders of language, memory, attention, etc., are the source of crucial difficulties. Cognitive tests performed by psychologists are essential for their diagnosis, but do not on their own make it possible to prejudge the difficulties encountered by people in their everyday life. This book presents an original approach to neuropsychological disorders, by describing specific assessments describing difficulties in daily life, in order to better understand them and to quantify their impact. The second part of the book develops the consequences in clinical practice in particular populations - children and the elderly - or the social objective of the evaluation, in particular school integration, professional integration and driving. Finally, the relevance of these assessments in the context of recent laws on disabled people as well as the development of compensation for bodily injury after an accident are also discussed.
European Robotics Symposium 2008
These monothematic proceedings represent a collection of papers presented at the 2nd European Robotics Symposium, held in Prague, March 26-27, 2008. The goal of the given selection of papers is to provide a comprehensive overview of the recent status in robotics research world-wide in the key areas of cognition, autonomy, adaptation and robustness in robotics.
European Robotics Symposium 2006
This unique reference represents a cross-section of forefront robotics research, ranging from robotics and systems to learning, autonomy and failure detection, from vision and navigation to localization and mapping, which are based on the papers presented at the 1st European Robotics Symposium (EUROS-06) held in Palermo, Italy from 16-18 March, 2006. The European Robotics Symposium (EUROS) is a brand-new International scientific event promoted by EURON, the European Robotics Network. Since its inception in 2000, EURON links most of the European robotics research teams and today (2006) involves more than 165 universities and companies across all of its member states. The EUROS meeting will be held in Europe every other year, but international participation at all levels is strongly encouraged making it a meeting place for high-quality presentation of interesting international research on robotics.
Ethics and Intersex
The book begins with introductory chapters on the etiology of intersex conditions, conceptual clarification, legal issues, and reflections about the inherent characteristics of medical care that have led up to the issues we face today and explain the resistance to change in traditional practices. Researchers provide recent data on gender identity, surgical outcomes, and appropriate clinical care. Issues never having been addressed are introduced. The significance of intersexuality for Christianity and for philosophical concerns with authenticity add further depth to the collection. The final chapters deal with future possibilities in the treatment of intersex and for intersex advocacy.
Ethics and Business : An Introduction
Offers a clear and accessible framework for understanding the important and complex ethical issues facing business in the contemporary world. Kevin Gibson explains ethical concepts in plain language, showing how terms such as responsibility, autonomy, justice, equality, rights, and beneficence are central to the ways in which business is and should be conducted.



















