Nowadays robotics is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific researches. The shift of robotics researches from manufacturing to services applications is clear. During the last decades interest in studying climbing and walking robots has been increased. This increasing interest has been in many areas that most important ones of them are: mechanics, electronics, medical engineering, cybernetics, controls, and computers. Today’s climbing and walking robots are a combination of manipulative, perceptive, communicative, and cognitive abilities and they are capable of performing many tasks in industrial and non- industrial environments. Surveillance, planetary exploration, emergence rescue operations, reconnaissance, petrochemical applications, construction, entertainment, personal services, intervention in severe environments, transportation, medical and etc are some applications from a very diverse application fields of climbing and walking robots. By great progress in this area of robotics it is anticipated that next generation climbing and walking robots will enhance lives and will change the way the human works, thinks and makes decisions. This book presents the state of the art achievments, recent developments, applications and future challenges of climbing and walking robots. These are presented in 24 chapters by authors throughtot the world The book serves as a reference especially for the researchers who are interested in mobile robots. It also is useful for industrial engineers and graduate students in advanced study.
This book addresses several issues related to the introduction of automaton and robotics in the construction industry in a collection of 23 chapters. The chapters are grouped in 3 main sections according to the theme or the type of technology they treat. Section I is dedicated to describe and analyse the main research challenges of Robotics and Automation in Construction (RAC). The second section consists of 12 chapters and is dedicated to the technologies and new developments employed to automate processes in the construction industry. Among these we have examples of ICT technologies used for purposes such as construction visualisation systems, added value management systems, construction materials and elements tracking using multiple IDs devices. This section also deals with Sensorial Systems and software used in the construction to improve the performances of machines such as cranes, and in improving Human-Machine Interfaces (MMI). Authors adopted Mixed and Augmented Reality in the MMI to ease the construction operations. Section III is dedicated to describe case studies of RAC and comprises 8 chapters. Among the eight chapters the section presents a robotic excavator and a semi-automated façade cleaning system. The section also presents work dedicated to enhancing the force of the workers in construction through the use of Robotic-powered exoskeletons and body joint-adapted assistive units, which allow the handling of greater loads.
A political dissident who was jailed and tortured by Uruguayas military regime, Carlos Liscano movingly recounts those experiences in Truck of Fools. His narrative, a mosaic of brief, powerful vignettes, offers unique insight into the physical and psychological plight of the prisoner, as well as into the mindset of his tormentors. Liscano survived these horrors to become a gifted writer and Uruguayas most well known novelist.
The U.S.A claims to be "one nation under God." If that God is the Christian God this statement is false. The author of this book sets out to prove this thesis with the analysis of over a dozen U.S. war events spanning over a century. The U.S.A. is now the only world superpower. How did it get there? By walking down the path marked by "Manifest Destiny." With the arrival of the Mayflower, the English Puritans believed that God preordained them to spread their eternal values throughout the world. This presumptuous goal eventually became the U.S. expansionist policy, the basis for its political and economical conquest of the world. Uncle Sam, disguised with a false philanthropy, became the Northern Colossus. He is shouting that the country where he lives is "one nation under God," however, it really is against God. Repent, USA! This book is demonstrating this hypocrisy through an examination of U.S. military interventions around the world, starting with the explosion of the "Maine" in 1898 and ending with the Operation "Iraqi Freedom" in 2003.
The Caribbean has been traditionally associated with externally devised mappings and categories, thus appearing as a passive entity to be consumed and categorized. Challenging these forces and representations, Carlos Garrido Castellano argues that something more must be added to the discussion in order to address contemporary Caribbean visual creativity. Beyond Representation in Contemporary Caribbean Art arises from several years of field research and curatorial activity in museums, universities, and cultural institutions of Jamaica, Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the United States. This book explores the ways in which Caribbean individuals and communities have recurred to art and visual creativity to create and sustain public spaces of discussion and social interaction. The book analyzes contemporary Caribbean art in relation to broader discussions of citizenship, cultural agency, critical geography, migration, and social justice. Covering a broad range of artistic projects, including curatorial practice, socially engaged art, institutional politics, public art, and performance, this book is about the imaginative ways in which Caribbean subjects and communities rearrange the sociocultural framework(s) they inhabit and share.
This is a provocative work that runs counter to the conventional wisdom that the poor are poor because the rich are rich. Rangel argues that the reasons for different levels of economic development between North America and Latin America lie in the two continents' divergent history of colonization, the differences between their dominating social structures, and the contrary ethical precepts of Catholicism and Protestantism. Last, but by no means least, there are two all-pervasive myths: in the past, that of the noble savage, in the present, that of the good revolutionary.
Geoarchaeology is traditionally concerned with reconstructing the environmental aspects of past societies using the methods of the earth sciences. The field has been steadily enriched by scholars from a diversity of disciplines and much has happened as the importance of global perspectives on environmental change has emerged. Carlos Cordova, provides a fully up-to-date account of geoarchaeology that reflects the important changes that have occurred in the past four decades. Innovative features include: the development of the human-ecological approach and the impact of technology on this approach; how the diversity of disciplines contributes to archaeological questions; frontiers of archaeology in the deep past, particularly the Anthropocene; the geoarchaeology of the contemporary past; the emerging field of ethno-geoarchaeology; the role of geoarchaeology in global environmental crises and climate change.
Spain was one of the countries where the practice of architecture has been most affected by the economic crisis. There are few places on earth where such large numbers of buildings were built in such a short period of time. The lack of reflection over whether these projects were necessary or valid resulted in the subsequent abandonment of many buildings when their completion or maintenance was discovered not to be economically viable. Their appearance throughout Spanish territories has generated a collection of unfinished buildings where the factor of time was eliminated from the formula for making architecture. The publication gathers examples of architecture produced during the past few years, born out of renunciation and economy of means, designed to evolve and adapt to future necessities and trusting in the beauty conferred by the passage of time.
Perhaps the foremost social analyst and journalist on Cuban affairs, Carlos Alberto Montaner has written a definitive study of the Cuban regime from the vantage point of the Cuban dictator. This is not simply a history of Cuban communism but rather a personal history of its leader, Fidel Castro. Montaner's extraordinary knowledge of the country and its politics prevents the work from becoming a psychiatric examination from afar. Indeed, what personal irrationalities exist are seen as built into the fabric of the regime itself, and not simply as a personality aberration.Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution is not an apologia for past United States involvement in Cuban affairs. The author is severe in his judgments of such participation. Nor is he sparing in his sense of the betrayal of the original purposes of the Revolution of 1959 manifested in the character and policies of Fidel Castro. As the work progresses from a study of the victims to a study of the beneficiaries of the Cuban Revolution, it leaves the reader with a deep sense of the tragedy of a revolution betrayed, but not one that could have easily been avoided.Montaner is an ""exile"" like the great Alexander Herzen before him. His decision to live in Europe was made by choice, not of necessity. He sees his role as critical analyst, not as restoring the status quo ante. A most valuable aspect of this book is its intimate reevaluation of Fulgencio Batista. Whatever the reader's judgment of Montaner's work, no one can read it and be dismissive of the effort. It is a work of intimacy even through written in exile--and hence must be viewed as an important effort to understand the character of the man and regime who have changed the course of Cuban history in our times.
Plants produce a considerable number of structures of one kind, like leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds, and this reiteration is a quintessential feature of the body plan of higher plants. But since not all structures of the same kind produced by a plant are identical—for instance, different branches on a plant may be male or female, leaf sizes in the sun differ from those in the shade, and fruit sizes can vary depending on patterns of physiological allocation among branches—a single plant genotype generally produces a multiplicity of phenotypic versions of the same organ. Multiplicity in Unity uses this subindividual variation to deepen our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors involved in plant-animal interactions. On one hand, phenotypic variation at the subindividual scale has diverse ecological implications for animals that eat plants. On the other hand, by choosing which plants to consume, these animals may constrain or modify plant ontogenetic patterns, developmental stability, and the extent to which feasible phenotypic variants are expressed by individuals. An innovative study of the ecology, morphology, and evolution of modular organisms, Multiplicity in Unity addresses a topic central to our understanding of the diversity of life and the ways in which organisms have coevolved to cope with variable environments.
The main objective of this book is to explain how contemporary literatures in Spanish and Portuguese are dealing with artistic creativity when artmaking is no longer a specialised field of cultural production, but rather an expanded field of socioeconomic interaction, personal and creative self-definition and collective imagination. The project positions the contemporary art novel as the most suitable place to understand how the economisation of cultural labour is affecting writers and artists alike. The authors examined in this book, including José Saramago, Rita Indiana Hernández, María Gainza, Mayra Santos Febres and Ondjaki (amongst others) explore the contradictions of the art market, the dynamics of art education, the multifaceted activity of curators and socially engaged artists in relation to broader debates on the role of culture in the configuration of socioeconomic dynamics. The book maps a new trend within contemporary literature that taps into the visual art system to reassess the role of literature in critical ways.
Cuban studies is a highly dynamic field shaped by the country's distinctive political and economic circumstances. Mauricio A. Font and Carlos Riobo offer an up-to-date and comprehensive survey offering the latest research available from a broad array of disciplines and perspectives. The Handbook of Contemporary Cuba brings contributions from leading scholars from the United States, Cuba, Europe, and other world regions and introduces the reader to the key literature in the field in relation to rapidly changing events on the island and in global political and economic affairs. It also addresses timely developments in Cuban civil society and human rights. The guide also presents economic models and forecasts as well as analyses of the recent, pivotal Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. For students, scholars, and experts in government, it is a vital addition to any collection on Latin American studies or global politics.
This big board in San Juan, Puerto Rico, announces the final trial for the May 21, 2011. Do you believe that?(6.17 Jeremy) The Lord put guards and told the people: Pay attention to the alarm signal. But the people said: We will not ignore. So says the Lord: Listen, nations know what will happen to my people. Listen earth: I will bring this town a disgrace that is the result of their evil plans, because they ignored my words, but despised my teaching. For I bring you incense Saba and fragrant plants from distant countries? To me I do not like their burnt offerings and their other sacrifices. Therefore the Lord says: I will make this people stumble and fall. Parents and children, neighbors and friends alike will die.
The Bible is one of the books that has aroused the most interest throughout history to the present day. However, there is one topic that has mostly been neglected and which today constitutes one of the most emblematic elements of the visual culture in which we live immersed: the language of colour. Colour is present in the biblical text from its beginning to its end, but it has hardly been studied, and we appear to have forgotten that the detailed study of the colour terms in the Bible is essential to understanding the use and symbolism that the language of colour has acquired in the literature that has forged European culture and art. The objective of the present study is to provide the modern reader with the meaning of colour terms of the lexical families related to the green tonality in order to determine whether they denote only color and, if so, what is the coloration expressed, or whether, together with the chromatic denotation, another reality inseparable from colour underlies/along with the chromatic denotation, there is another underlying reality that is inseparable from colour. We will study the symbolism that/which underpins some of these colour terms, and which European culture has inherited. This lexicographical study requires a methodology that allows us to approach colour not in accordance with our modern and abstract concept of colour, but with the concept of the ancient civilations. This is why the concept of colour that emerges from each of the versions of the Bible is studied and compared with that found in theoretical reflection in both Greek and Latin. Colour thus emerges as a concrete reality, visible on the surface of objects, reflecting in many cases, not an intrinsic quality, but their state. This concept has a reflection in the biblical languages, since the terms of colour always describe an entity (in this sense one can say that they are embodied) and include within them a wide chromatic spectrum, that is, they are mostly polysemic. Structuralism through the componential analysis, although providing interesting contributions, had at the same time serious shortcomings when it came to the study of colour. These were addressed through the theoretical framework provided by cognitive linguistics and some of its tools such as: cognitive domains, metonymy and metaphor. Our study, then, is one of the first to apply some of the contributions of cognitive linguistics to lexicography in general, and particularly with reference to the Hebrew, Greek and Latin versions of the Bible. A further novel contribution of this research is that the meaning is expressed through a definition and not through a list of possible colour terms as happens in dictionaries or in studies referring to colour in antiquity. The definition allows us to delve deeper and discover new nuances that enrich the understanding of colour in the three great civilizations involved in our study: Israel, Greece and Rome.
One of the late Carlos Fuentes's final projects, this compendium of his criticism traces the evolution of the Latin American novel from the discovery of America to the present day. Combining historical perspective with personal and often opinionated interpretation, Fuentes gives us a tour from Machado de Assis to Borges and beyond. A landmark analysis, as well as a scintillating and often wry commentary on a great author's peers and influences, this book is as much a contribution to Latin American literature as it is a chronicle of that literature's greatest achievements.
In The Origins of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible: An Analysis of Josephus and 4 Ezra, Juan Carlos Ossandón Widow examines the thorny question of when, how, and why the collection of twenty-four books that today is known as the Hebrew Bible was formed. He carefully studies the two earliest testimonies in this regard—Josephus’ Against Apion and 4 Ezra—and proposes that, along with the tendency to idealize the past, which leads to consider that divine revelation to Israel has ceased, an important reason to specify a collection of Scriptures at the end of the first century CE consisted in the need to defend the received tradition to counter those that accepted more books.
This is a much-needed new overview of Spanish social and political history which sets developments in twentieth-century Spain within a broader European context. Julián Casanova, one of Spain's leading historians, and Carlos Gil Andrés chart the country's experience of democracy, dictatorship and civil war and its dramatic transformation from an agricultural and rural society to an industrial and urban society fully integrated into Europe. They address key questions and issues that continue to be discussed and debated in contemporary historiography, such as why the Republic was defeated, why Franco's dictatorship lasted so long and what mark it has left on contemporary Spain. This is an essential book for students as well as for anyone interested in Spain's turbulent twentieth century.
This critical anthology of writings by Carlos Monsiváis represents a foundational set of texts by an exceptional (yet under‑translated) Mexican cultural critic. Fatefully, Faithfully Feminist situates the urgencies of social movements as they developed in real time. Spanning from 1973 to 2008, Monsiváis’s essays, which were originally compiled by scholar Marta Lamas, analyze the role of women in a patriarchal culture from pre‑Columbian times to the present. This critical edition offers extensive annotation and cultural background to understand the cogent, but particularly Mexican arguments that Monsiváis makes, many of which are extremely relevant in today’s political economy in the US and the world. Norma Klahn and Ilana Luna’s translation, critical introduction, and commentary consider issues of context, history, and conventions, framing Monsiváis’s debates in relation to global feminist history and human rights struggles.
John Carlos Rowe, considered one of the most eminent and progressive critics of American literature, has in recent years become instrumental in shaping the path of American studies. His latest book examines literary responses to U.S. imperialism from the late eighteenth century to the 1940s. Interpreting texts by Charles Brockden Brown, Poe, Melville, John Rollin Ridge, Twain, Henry Adams, Stephen Crane, W. E. B Du Bois, John Neihardt, Nick Black Elk, and Zora Neale Hurston, Rowe argues that U.S. literature has a long tradition of responding critically or contributing to our imperialist ventures. Following in the critical footsteps of Richard Slotkin and Edward Said, Literary Culture and U.S. Imperialism is particularly innovative in taking account of the public and cultural response to imperialism. In this sense it could not be more relevant to what is happening in the scholarship, and should be vital reading for scholars and students of American literature and culture.
This book has been produced as a tribute to the work of Martin Lee on the role of sport in the socio-moral education of young people. After conducting the first UK conference on Children in Sport, founded the Institute for the Study of Children in Sport at Bedford College of Higher Education in 1986 and created level 1, 2 and 3 courses on coaching children for the National Coaching Foundation. He also edited a book on Coaching Children in Sport. His course book on Coaching Children in Mini-basketball was produced for international distribution. The study of values has been central in Martin’s research which also embraced such topics as self-concept, leadership, coaching behaviour, and parental influence. In a series of research commissions examined the literature, clarified measurement requirements, identified values activated in sport, and led an international project on fair play. He then ran a survey to show how values influence attitudes directly and through the mediation of achievement goals. Two new instruments arose from this research: the Attitudes to Moral Decision-making in Youth Sport Questionnaire and the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire-2. These will open up research into gamesmanship, by which competitors seek an unfair advantage without breaking the rules, and into the mechanisms by which moral, competence and status values guide behaviour and create value conflicts. I am also grateful to colleagues at the University of Coimbra for their initiative in gathering the distinguished international scholars who have contributed to this book. Their collective insights will enhance the understanding of socio-moral education through sport and lead to informed and sensitive policy development in both sport and education.
The Concise Encyclopedia Of World History Offers The Global Reading Public, Students, And Professors A Handy, Complete, And Accurate Guide To All Political Formations Since The Beginning Of History. It Reaches Into Pre-History Through The Inclusion Of The Important Families Of Languages Spoken Today. It Also Tracks Ethnic Groups, Especially Nomadic, Which Have Been Influential In The Creation Of Civilizations And States. The Entries On Existing Independent States Include Up-To-Date Political Facts And Statistics. They Mention Each Country S World Heritage Sites. To Complement The Individual Entries In This Encyclopedia, There Is An Extensive, Commentated World-Historical Chronology. A Special Feature In This Work Is The Inclusion Of Individual Political Chronologies For Ancient Civilizations And Important Countries And Regions The World Over. To Round Out This Easy-To-Consult And Thoroughly Researched Work, There Is A Cross-Referenced Index Especially Designed For Provinces, Cities, And Other Entities Which Have No Entries Of Their Own But Appear In The Entries, Sometimes Prominently, As, For Example, Abu Dhabi In The United Arab Emirates Or Amritsar In India.
En nuestra sociedad actual, es fundamental tomar en cuenta el factor de diferencia cultural o marginación social. El autor propone utilizar su experiencia personal así como sus conocimientos de filósofo para tratar esta cuestión en el ámbito de la educación.
Born in Brussels in 1925, the eldest of a family whose participation in the political economic and cultural life of Belgium dates back to the 14thcentury Francois Houtart has been a man of the world. Bestowed by the UNESCO with the Mandanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non Violence in 2009' writer of over fifty books amongthem pioneer works on Sociology and Theology Houtart had a long and fruitful life always on the side of the needy and the humble. In this book you will find the complete biography of this Belgian priest and sociologist. Anecdotes and stories about his family his childhood his travels around the world and their impact on his research on sociology and the role of religion; his relationship with the Church the Vatican authorities, the Belgian monarchy academicians scholars and savants; leaders and Statesmen of many developing countries; guerrilla fighters and priests who also devoted their lives to the wellbeing of humanity disregarding their origin and creed. He was in the midst of most of the battles for justice around the world. His interviewer has presented us with a vision of this shining spirit, a fighter for the Common Good, his achievements and experiences. He had no certainties, but hopes for a better future. This and more can be found in this fascinating personal history.
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