Before finding a place as a celebrated author and household name, Charles Dickens was the beleaguered son of a perpetually impoverished family, proving a failure at everything from court reporting to pot polishing. This story, adapted from his cherished works of fiction, imagines his life at this young age. In the entries of "Charles Dickens: His Journal", we meet a floundering Dickens just as he throws up his hands, withdraws his paltry savings, and sets out for Canterbury like the pilgrims of old. He places himself in the hands of the world, depending in part on the strength of his last shillings, in part on his own quick wits, but most of all upon the patchy hospitality of unforgettable characters he meets along the way. Can we believe what we read? According to Dickens, all of his tales are true reflections of life - fragmentary and highly improbable. For readers unfamiliar with the author's work, this is a remarkable introduction to Dickens' brilliant humour and to his indelible characters, who come to life as soon as we read their names. For Dickens enthusiasts, this is a smart, exhilarating romp through the pages of a timeless writer, celebrating caricatures and scenes too often overlooked.

How can we obtain tools able to process and exchange information at the molecular scale? In order to do this, it is necessary to activate and detect single molecules under controlled conditions. This book focuses on the generation of biologically-inspired molecular devices. These devices are based on the developments of new photonic tools able to activate and stimulate single molecule machines. Additionally, new light sensitive molecules can be selectively activated by photonic tools. These technological innovations will provide a way to control activation of single light-sensitive molecules, allowing the investigation of molecular computation in a biological environment.

How can we obtain tools able to process and exchange information at the molecular scale? In order to do this, it is necessary to activate and detect single molecules under controlled conditions. This book focuses on the generation of biologically-inspired molecular devices. These devices are based on the developments of new photonic tools able to activate and stimulate single molecule machines. Additionally, new light sensitive molecules can be selectively activated by photonic tools. These technological innovations will provide a way to control activation of single light-sensitive molecules, allowing the investigation of molecular computation in a biological environment.

The understanding of parallel processing and of the mechanisms underlying neural networks in the brain is certainly one of the most challenging problems of contemporary science. During the last decades significant progress has been made by the combination of different techniques, which have elucidated properties at a cellular and molecular level. However, in order to make significant progress in this field, it is necessary to gather more direct experimental data on the parallel processing occurring in the nervous system. Indeed the nervous system overcomes the limitations of its elementary components by employing a massive degree of parallelism, through the extremely rich set of synaptic interconnections between neurons. This book gathers a selection of the contributions presented during the NATO ASI School "Neuronal Circuits and Networks" held at the Ettore Majorana Center in Erice, Sicily, from June 15 to 27, 1997. The purpose of the School was to present an overview of recent results on single cell properties, the dynamics of neuronal networks and modelling of the nervous system. The School and the present book propose an interdisciplinary approach of experimental and theoretical aspects of brain functions combining different techniques and methodologies.

Understanding how the brain works is undoubtedly the greatest challenge for human intelligence and one of the most ambitious goals of contemporary science. We are certainly far from this goal, but significant advancements in several fields of Neuroscience and Neurobiology are being obtained at an increasing pace. The NATO ASI School in Neurobiology, held in Erice May 2-12,1995, as the 23rd Course of the International School of Biophysics, provided an update on three basic topics: Biophysics and Molecular Biology ofIon Channels, Sensory Transduction, and Higher Order Functions. Current knowledge on these subjects was covered by formal lectures and critical discussions between lecturers and participants. This book collects original contributions from those scientists who attended the School. Many students presented their results in poster sessions, steering lively informal discussions. A selection of these contributions is also included. A major portion of the program of the School was devoted to a general overview of current trends of thought and experimental approaches in neurobiology, emphasising the importance of understanding molecular aspects of the elementary events underlying sensory transduction and processing in the nervous system, without indulging however in a pure reductionistic view of such complex phenomena. Recent studies of molecular biology and the electrophysiology of heterologously expressed ionic channels, have shed new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying ionic permeation of excitable membranes and its regulation by physical and chemical parameters.

Present knowledge of the mechanisms underlying any single sensory modality is so massive as to discourage effort directed towards completeness. The idea underlying the structure of this volume on "Sensory transduction" was to select just a few topics of general interest, which are currently being investigated and for which a reasonably clear picture is now available. During the last five years there has been a revolution in the way sensory physi ologists think about transduction, and a series of exciting advances have been made in understanding the basic processes of photo transduction, chemotransduction and mechan otransduction. It is clear that in many cases the fundamental processes by which nature attains optimization of performance are similar, and that they have much in common with more general processes of signal recognition by living structures. The molecular events underlying the detection of photons by visual cells, the recognition of a given molecule by a chemoreceptor, or the level of a hormone in the extracellular fluid by a target cell, are all very similar, and involve the activation of a sequence of events leading to a secon d messenger. The 20 papers that form the present volume cover various topics in the field of sensory transduction. They originate from the lectures, seminars and discussions which made up the XVIII Course of the International School of Biophysics held in Erice, 9th - 19th June 1988.

This book studies the question of obtaining a general and robust Image segmentation and a method to extract shapes for shape based object recognition. A texture classification method using only three filters is proposed which till date is the minimum number of filters used for texture classification achieving top results. It also addresses the issues involved to register images taken from different modalities to study morphology of neuronal growth cones. The work was funded by EC project VISIONTRAIN contract number MRTN-CT-2004-005439.

The understanding of parallel processing and of the mechanisms underlying neural networks in the brain is certainly one of the most challenging problems of contemporary science. During the last decades significant progress has been made by the combination of different techniques, which have elucidated properties at a cellular and molecular level. However, in order to make significant progress in this field, it is necessary to gather more direct experimental data on the parallel processing occurring in the nervous system. Indeed the nervous system overcomes the limitations of its elementary components by employing a massive degree of parallelism, through the extremely rich set of synaptic interconnections between neurons. This book gathers a selection of the contributions presented during the NATO ASI School "Neuronal Circuits and Networks" held at the Ettore Majorana Center in Erice, Sicily, from June 15 to 27, 1997. The purpose of the School was to present an overview of recent results on single cell properties, the dynamics of neuronal networks and modelling of the nervous system. The School and the present book propose an interdisciplinary approach of experimental and theoretical aspects of brain functions combining different techniques and methodologies.

Functional and Structural Constituents of Neuronal Ca2+ Channel Modulation by Neurotransmitters; E. Carbone, et al. Target Striatal Cells Regulate Development of Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurones; C. Perrone-Capano, et al. Facts and Fantasies about Hair Cells; J.F. Ashmore. The Vomeronasal Organ; A. Cavaggioni, et al. Potassium Currents of Hair Cells in Thin Slices of Vestibular Epithelium; I. Prigioni, et al. A Compartment Model for Vertegrate Phototransduction Predicts Sensitivity and Adaptation; J.P. Raynauld. Modeling Odor Intensity and Odor Quality Coding in Olfactory Systems; J.P. Rospars, et al. Functional Connections between the Architecture of the Dendritic Arborization and the Microarchitecture of the Dendritic Membrane; P. Gogan, et al. The Functional Significance of Cerebellar Anatomy; D. Heck. Architecture for a Replicative Memory; J. D' Ninio. Measuring Information from Neuronal Activity; S. Panzeri, et al. Visual Processing in the Temporal Lobe for Invariant Object Recognition; E.T. Rolls. Biophysical Aspects of Cortical Networks; S. Rotter. On the Time Required for Recurrent Processing in the Brain; A. Treves, et al. 16 additional articles. Index.

This book presents the history of the Hoplites, fighters who permanently altered the art of war in the West. You will be able to enter the history and the life of its elite warriors which appeared in the 8th century BC and discover their equipment and martial tactics. Richly illustrated, you can study the most beautiful artefacts and iconographic witnesses. Ce livre presente l'histoire de ces combattants, les Hoplites, qui ont modifie durablement l'art de la guerre en Occident. Ainsi, vous pourrez penetrer dans l'histoire et la vie de ses guerriers d'elite apparus au VIIIe siecle av. J.-C et decouvrir leur equipement et leurs tactiques martiales. Richement illustre, vous pourrez observer les plus beaux artefacts ou temoins iconographiques.