This is a cornerstone publication in robotic grasping. The authors have developed an internationally recognized expertise in this area. Additionally, they designed and built several prototypes which attracted the attention of the scientific community. The purpose of this book is to summarize years of research and to present, in an attractive format, the expertise developed by the authors on a new technology for grasping which has achieved great success both in theory and in practice.

This unique monograph focuses on the systematic type synthesis of parallel mechanisms (PMs), a key issue in the creative design of a wide variety of innovative devices such as parallel manipulators, motion simulators, and haptic devices. Essential reading for researchers, developers, engineers and graduate students with interests in robotics, this book covers the classification of PMs as well as providing a large number of PMs ready to be used in practical applications.

Though the subject of this work, "nominalism and contemporary nom inalism," is philosophical, it cannot be fully treated without relating it to data gathered from a great variety of domains, such as biology and more especially ethology, psychology, linguistics and neurobiology. The source of inspiration has been an academic work I wrote in order to obtain a postdoctoral degree, which is called in Belgium an "Aggregaat voor het Hoger Onderwijs" comparable to a "Habilitation" in Germany. I want to thank the National Fund of Scientific Research, which accorded me several grants and thereby enabled me to write the academic work in the first place and thereafter this book. I also want to thank Prof. SJ. Doorman (Technical University of Delft) and Prof. G. Nuchelmans (University of Leiden), who were members of the jury of the "Aggre gaatsthesis," presented to the Free University of Brussels in 1981 and who by their criticisms and suggestions encouraged me to write the present book, the core of which is constituted by the general ideas then formulated. I am further obliged to Mr. X, the referee who was asked by Jaakko Hintikka to read my work and who made a series of constructive remarks and recom mendations. My colleague Marc De Mey (University of Ghent) helped me greatly with the more formal aspects of my work and spent too much of his valuable time and energy to enable me to deliver a presentable copy. All remaining shortcomings are entirely my responsibility. I asked Prof."

Though the subject of this work, "nominalism and contemporary nom inalism," is philosophical, it cannot be fully treated without relating it to data gathered from a great variety of domains, such as biology and more especially ethology, psychology, linguistics and neurobiology. The source of inspiration has been an academic work I wrote in order to obtain a postdoctoral degree, which is called in Belgium an "Aggregaat voor het Hoger Onderwijs" comparable to a "Habilitation" in Germany. I want to thank the National Fund of Scientific Research, which accorded me several grants and thereby enabled me to write the academic work in the first place and thereafter this book. I also want to thank Prof. SJ. Doorman (Technical University of Delft) and Prof. G. Nuchelmans (University of Leiden), who were members of the jury of the "Aggre gaatsthesis," presented to the Free University of Brussels in 1981 and who by their criticisms and suggestions encouraged me to write the present book, the core of which is constituted by the general ideas then formulated. I am further obliged to Mr. X, the referee who was asked by Jaakko Hintikka to read my work and who made a series of constructive remarks and recom mendations. My colleague Marc De Mey (University of Ghent) helped me greatly with the more formal aspects of my work and spent too much of his valuable time and energy to enable me to deliver a presentable copy. All remaining shortcomings are entirely my responsibility. I asked Prof."

This unique monograph focuses on the systematic type synthesis of parallel mechanisms (PMs), a key issue in the creative design of a wide variety of innovative devices such as parallel manipulators, motion simulators, and haptic devices. Essential reading for researchers, developers, engineers and graduate students with interests in robotics, this book covers the classification of PMs as well as providing a large number of PMs ready to be used in practical applications.

Grasping and manipulation skills are at the core of the development of modern robotic systems. With the introduction of robotics in new applications involving unstructured environments (e.g. space, undersea, surgery), intelligent manipulation and grasping has become a crucial research area. The authors have developed an internationally recognized expertise in this area. Additionally, they designed and built several prototypes which attracted the attention of the scientific community. Their work was reported in several publications which appeared in the most renowned journals and conferences.

The purpose of this book is to summarize years of research and to present, in an attractive format, the expertise developed by the authors on a new technology for grasping namely under actuation which has achieved great success both in theory and in practice. This book is not intended to be used as a textbook but could be used as a reference at the post-graduate level."

The 113th Congress is expected to take up comprehensive immigration reform. Some of the most difficult immigration policy questions on the table concern unauthorised immigration and unauthorised employment. The discussion about these issues builds on the work of prior Congresses. In 1986, following many years of debate about unauthorised immigration to the United States, Congress enacted the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). This law sought to address unauthorised immigration, in part, by requiring all employers to examine documents presented by new hires to verify identity and work authorisation and to complete and retain employment eligibility verification (I-9) forms. Ten years later, in the face of a growing illegal alien population, Congress attempted to strengthen the employment verification process by establishing pilot programs for electronic verification, as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). This book examines current legislation on electronic employment eligibility verification and evaluates proposals in terms of their potential impact on unauthorised employment; verification system accuracy, efficiency, discrimination, employer compliance, and privacy issues.

Unlike a serial robot, in which the end-effector is connected to a base through a sequential series of motor-actuated joints, the end-effector of a parallel robot is connected to the base through several mechanisms in parallel, each of which has typically only one or two actuated joints. Parallel robots are much more intricate and versatile than serial ones but are, generally, lighter, faster, more precise, and more rigid.

Parallel robots can be applied to virtually every situation that requires the movement of a body. We are riding hexapods in entertainment parks, the cookies that we eat were packed by a parallel manipulator, our favorite football match is shown through a fly-over camera mounted on a wire parallel robot, our eyeglasses were polished by a parallel kinematic machine. Parallel robots are everywhere and steadily continue their proliferation. But unlike serial ones, parallel robots are so different that it is impossible to enumerate them.

Fundamentals of Parallel Robots, however, provides an in-depth insight into the very principles of motion that are responsible for the complex variety of parallel robots. A unique preparatory text for advanced students of mechanical engineering, the book follows a unified geometric approach a" arranged by types of robots a" rather than employing purely numerical or algebraic methods, and also makes extensive use of examples and self-study problems which encourage unorthodox thinking. Fundamentals of Parallel Robots can also be used as a self-study reference for advanced robotics researchers and practicing engineers who wish to learn more about parallel robots.