Life as We Know It
Life As we Know It ["LAKI"] covers several aspects of Life, ranging from the prebiotic level, origin of life, evolution of prokaryotes to eukaryotes and finally to various affairs of human beings. Although it is hard to define Life, one can, however, characterize it and describe its features. Topics treated are categories of bacteria, algae and fungi, conscience, philosophy, theology, aesthetics, appearance of sport and life destiny, life after clinical death, and thoughts of the world to come ("Olam Haba"). The various chapters have been written so that they are accessible to all - from the avid lay reader to the specialist – and make available multidisciplinary sources of information about Life. This volume will interest open minded scholars, students at all levels of general sciences, natural and Life science, researchers of philosophy, theology, history of Life, astrobiology, and those who wish to widen their knowledge about "who are we in the universe".
Katzung & Trevor's pharmacology : Examination & board review
Excellent Q & A and rationales for course exams and USMLE Step 1. With 1,000+ board-style questions/answers and fully up-to-date content, this is the most popular review in pharmacology. Organized to reflect the syllabi in pharmacology courses, Katzung & Trevor's Pharmacology Exam and Board Review covers all current drugs and retrovirals, immunologic agents, and chemotherapies. Each chapter begins with 20 pages of informative text, followed by questions and answers, and includes concise discussions of the concepts underlying basic principles or specific drug groups. Edited by the world leading figures in pharmacology and medicine, this high-yield text focuses on basic principles, autonomic drugs, cardiovascular-renal drugs, and drugs with actions on smooth muscle, central nervous system drugs, and drugs used to treat chemotherapeutic drugs, and toxicology.
Competence Assessment in Dementia
The increasing proportion of demented elderly in populations, debates over patient's rights and autonomy, and the growing body of knowledge on dementia has inspired the European Dementia Consensus Network to regard competence assessment in dementia as an important topic of debate.
Competence and Vulnerability in Biomedical Research
In this book, the author develops a novel justificatory framework for making judgments of decisional competence to consent to biomedical research with reference to five groups of cognitively vulnerable individuals - older children and adolescents, adults with intellectual disabilities, adults with depression, adults with schizophrenia and adults with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Cell-Cell Channels
The biological sciences are dominated by the idea that cells are the functionally autonomous, physically separated, discrete units of life. This concept was propounded in the 19th century by discoveries of the cellular structuring of both plants and animals. Moreover, the ap parent autonomy of unicellular eukaryotes, as well as the cellular basis of the mammalian brain (an organ whose anatomy for a long while defied attempts to validate the idea of the cellular nature of its neurons), seemed to provide the final conclusive evidence for the completeness of *cell theory', a theory which has persisted in an almost dogmatic form up to the present day. However, it is very obvious that there are numerous observations which indicate that it is not the cells which serve as the basic units of biological life but that this property falls to some other, subcellular assemblage. To deal with this intricate problem concerning the fundamental unit of living matter, we proposed the so-called Cell Body concept which, in fact, devel ops an exceedingly original idea proposed by Julius Sachs at the end of the 19th century. In the case of eukaryotic cells, DNA-enriched nuclei are intimately associated with a microtubular cytoskeleton. In this configuration—as a Cell Body—these two items comprise the fundamental functional and struc tural unit of eukaryotic living matter. The Cell Body seems to be inherent to all cells in all organisms.
Brain and Heart Dynamics
Despite the increasing awareness that neural mechanisms are the primary cause of cardiac disease and its progression, therapy continues to focus on end-organ protection and does not approach the neural core of the problem. Growing public health problems such as heart failure are still treated with autonomic drugs that are 30-40 years old and simply act on cardiac receptors. However, it has now been shown that the progression of ischemic heart disease to heart failure is mainly due to abnormal central responses to incipient cardiac disease, with neural activation the primary cause rather than the consequence of cardiac remodeling.
Bio-mechanisms of swimming and flying ; Fluid dynamics, biomimetic robots, and sports science
This book follows "Bio-mechanisms of Animals in Swimming and Flying" published in 2004 including 11 chapters. This time, the book includes 31 chapters on the latest researches into natural autonomous systems and locomotion in both flying and swimming organisms. The area of sports science such as analysis and simulation of human swimming is newly added. The computational frameworks for the modeling, simulation and optimization of animals in swimming and flying demonstrate an important role in the progress of interdisciplinary work in the fields of biology and engineering. An innovative technology is exhibited for the flight of an insect size micro air vehicle. Neuronal science is not only unveiling the locomotion mechanisms of swimming in fish from the aspect of the neuronal activities, but also applied to underwater biomimetic robots. The interdisciplinary works are exhibited in the fields of biology and engineering, yielding real-world benefits in innovative technologies.
Building the judiciary : law, courts, and the politics of institutional development
Building the Judiciary uncovers the causes and consequences of judicial institution-building in the United States from the commencement of the new government in 1789 through the close of the twentieth century.Explaining why and how the federal judiciary became an independent, autonomous, and powerful political institution.
Machine Ethics : From Machine Morals to the Machinery of Morality
Offers the first systematic guide to machine ethics, bridging between computer science, social sciences and philosophy. Based on a dialogue between an AI scientist and a novelist philosopher, the book discusses important findings on which moral values machines can be taught and how. In turn, it investigates what kind of artificial intelligence (AI) people do actually want.
Issues in Multi-Agent Systems : The AgentCities.ES Experience
The purpose of this book is to present current status of this technology by looking at its application in different domains, such as electronic markets, e-tourism, ambience intelligence, and complex system analysis.It starts by discussing software engineering issues for the development of multi-agent systems, how much it costs to build a multi-agent system, and which methods and tools are currently available. Next chapters present some of the most relevant aspects that are considered for the development of multi-agent systems.
Building better interfaces for remote sutonomous systems : An introduction for systems engineers
This book provides foundational knowledge for designing autonomous, asynchronous systems and explains aspects of users relevant to designing for these systems, introduces principles for user-centered design, and prepares readers for more advanced and specific readings.
Biomimetic neural learning for intelligent robots : Intelligent systems, cognitive robotics, and neuroscience
This book presents research performed as part of the EU project on biomimeticmultimodal learning in a mirror neuron-based robot (MirrorBot) and contribu-tions presented at the International AI-Workshop on NeuroBotics. The over-all aim of the book is to present a broad spectrum of current research intobiomimetic neural learning for intelligent autonomous robots. In this book we show the development of newtechniques using cell assemblies, associative neural networks, and Hebbian-typelearning in order to associate vision, language and motor concepts. We havedeveloped biomimetic multimodal learning and language instruction in a robotto investigate the task of searching for objects. As well as the research performedin this area for the MirrorBot project, the second part of this book incorporatessignificant contributions from other research in the field of biomimetic robotics.This second part of the book concentrates on the progress made in neuroscienceinspired robotic learning approaches (in short: NeuroBotics). We hope that this book stimulates and encourages new research in this in-teresting and dynamic area.
Autonomy oriented computing : From problem solving to complex systems modeling
Autonomy Oriented Computing explores the important theoretical and practical issues in AOC, by analyzing methodologies and presenting experimental case studies. The book serves as a comprehensive reference source for researchers, scientists, engineers, and professionals in all fields concerned with this promising new development in computer science. It can also be used as a main or supplementary text in graduate and undergraduate programs across a broad range of computer-related disciplines, including Robotics and Automation, Amorphous Computing, Image Processing and Computer Vision, Programming Paradigms, Computational Biology, and many others. The first part of the book, Fundamentals, describes the basic concepts and characteristics of an AOC system, and then it enumerates the critical design and engineering issues faced in AOC system development. The second part of the book, AOC in Depth, provides a detailed analysis of methodologies and case studies to evaluate the use of AOC in problem solving and complex system modeling. The final chapter reviews the essential features of the AOC paradigm and outlines a number of possibilities for future research and development.
Autonomous vehicles technological trends
The automotive industry has always been synonymous with research and innovation, but nowadays the industry is adding pressure and is establishing the agenda of the researchers from the field. Visions have been provided, and the hardware and the software exist; the only question remaining is: “who is going to deliver”? To answer this question, we encouraged scientists, researchers, industry specialists, and academics to share their vision of autonomous vehicles. What will the platform look like? What kind of hardware and software is most suitable? Who will make the connection between these two interdependent environments (and how), so that in the end the AI will define the process? These are the pressing issues of the current moment, and this Special Issue will help all those interested in the topic to promote their vision and ideas.
Autonomous driving : Technical, legal and social aspects
This book takes a look at fully automated, autonomous vehicles and discusses many open questions: How can autonomous vehicles be integrated into the current transportation system with diverse users and human drivers? Where do automated vehicles fall under current legal frameworks? What risks are associated with automation and how will society respond to these risks? How will the marketplace react to automated vehicles and what changes may be necessary for companies?
Autonomous control for a reliable internet of services : Methods, models, approaches, techniques, algorithms, and tools
This open access book was prepared as a Final Publication of the COST Action IC1304 “Autonomous Control for a Reliable Internet of Services (ACROSS)”. The book contains 14 chapters and constitutes a show-case of the main outcome of the Action in line with its scientific goals. It will serve as a valuable reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students, educators, faculty members, researchers, engineers, and research strategists working in this field. The objective of this book is, by applying a systematic approach, to assess the state-of-the-art and consolidate the main research results achieved in this area.
Autonomes fahren : Technische, rechtliche und gesellschaftliche aspekte = Autonomous driving : Technical, legal and social aspects
This book provides answers to a wide range of these and other questions. Experts from Germany and the USA describe central topics related to the automation of vehicles on public roads from an engineering and social science perspective. They show which "decisions" are required of an autonomous vehicle or which "ethics" must be programmed. The authors discuss expectations and concerns that characterize the individual and societal acceptance of autonomous driving. An increased safety potential through autonomous vehicles is compared to the challenges and solution approaches that play a role in securing the safety concept. In addition, they explain what possibilities for change and opportunities arise for our mobility and the reorganization of traffic, not least for freight traffic. The book thus offers an up-to-date, comprehensive and scientifically sound examination of the topic of "autonomous driving".
Artificial general intelligence
This book focused on engineering general intelligence – autonomous, self-reflective, self-improving, commonsensical intelligence.Each author explains a specific aspect of AGI in detail in each chapter, while also investigating the common themes in the work of diverse groups, and posing the big, open questions in this vital area.
Architecture of computing systems - ARCS 2008 ; 21st International Conference, Dresden, Germany, February 25-28, 2008. Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Architecture of Computing Systems, ARCS 2008, held in Dresden, Germany, in February 2008.
Applications of Agent Technology in Traffic and Transportation
Building effective and user-friendly transportation systems is one of the big challenges for engineers in the 21st century. There is an increasing need to understand, model, and govern such systems at both the individual (micro) and the society (macro) level. Still, this raises significant technical problems, as transportation systems may contain thousands of autonomous, "intelligent" entities that need to be simulated and/or controlled. Therefore, traffic and transportation scenarios are extraordinarily appealing for Distributed Artificial Intelligence, and (multi-) agent technology in particular. This book gives an overview of recent advances in agent-based transportation systems. It includes both a state-of-the-art survey and reports on cutting-edge research in the field.



















