This book is about neuronal networks within the brain. With roughly 100 billion nerve cells the human brain contains about 3.2 million kilometers of 'wires' to make a million billion of connections between these nerve cells. Nerve cells exchange electrical and chemical signals through these connections and the dynamical patterns of electrical/chemical signals are the basis of all our thinking, memories, consciousness, and control of our behaviour.

How do these networks develop their specific connectivity, what are the patterns of electrical activity that serve such a fundamental role in our cognitive abilities, how can it go wrong in these networks resulting in different types of brain pathologies, such as mental retardation, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy or schizophrenia? These questions are among the most fundamental ones in neuroscience and are addressed in this volume. The chapters in this book cover both state-of-the-art broad reviews and in-depth studies of topics selected in order to bridge different levels of neurobiological organization, from the molecular, cellular, neural network to the cognitive level. An excellent example of such a 'red thread' is given by the chapters devoted to the visual system, illustrating the advanced state of understanding of network development, plasticity and functioning of the visual system. Other chapters illustrate how scientific advances are driven by technical developments as shown for multi-electrode recording and life imaging techniques that enable the study of electrical activity simultaneously in many nerve cells.

Investigations into the "realities" of staging dramatic performances, of a variety of kinds, in the middle ages. We know little about the nature of medieval performance and have generally been content to think of it in relation to more modern productions, not least because of the sparsity of existing evidence. Consequently, whilst much research has been undertaken into its contexts, there has been relatively little scholarly investigation into the conditions of perfomance itself. This book seeks to address this omission. It looks at such questions as the nature of performance in theatre/dance/puppetry/automata; the performed qualities of such events; the conventions of performed work; what took place in the act of performing; and the relationships between performers and witnesses, andwhat conditioned them. PHILIP BUTTERWORTH Is Visiting Research Fellow in the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds, where he was formerly Reader in Medieval Theatre and Dean for Research; KATIE NORMINGTON is Senior Vice Principal (Academic) at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she is also Professor of Drama. Contributors: Kathryn Emily Dickason, Leanne Groeneveld, Max Harris, David Klausner, Femke Kramer, Jennifer Nevile, Nerida Newbigin, Tom Pettitt, Bart Ramakers, Claire Sponsler.

This book presents the selected peer-reviewed proceedings of the International Conference on Recent Trends and Innovations in Civil Engineering (ICRTICE 2019). The volume focuses on latest research and advances in the field of civil engineering and materials science such as design and development of new environmental materials, performance testing and verification of smart materials, performance analysis and simulation of steel structures, design and performance optimization of concrete structures, and building materials analysis. The book also covers studies in geotechnical engineering, hydraulic engineering, road and bridge engineering, building services design, engineering management, water resource engineering and renewable energy. The contents of this book will be useful for students, researchers and professionals working in civil engineering.

Drying of Aromatic Plant materials for Natural Perfumes provides readers with a deep understanding of the fascinating world of aromatic plants, drying, extraction and perfumery. It covers significance and global demand of essential oils, glimpse of plant histology, secretion and storage of secondary metabolites in plant tissues, drying technologies and selection for dehydration of herbage, extraction, chemical compositions and applications. The book is organized into 4 sections: plant cell structures and role during dehydration, aromatic plants and their essential oil contents, composition and contribution towards perfumery, and dehydration and extraction technologies. • Summarizes commercially important aromatic plant materials and extracted essential oil around the world and their socio-commercial impact. • Includes structures of plant tissues, inherent mass transfer pathways along with presence and role of water, understanding of which can aid dehydration and extraction • Describes methods for selecting drying parameters and relates drying mechanisms with microstructure. • Discusses drying technologies for heat-sensitive materials and extraction technologies for selective component extractions. • Covers preprocessing, extraction and standardization of essential oils for blending for different applications. This monograph serves as a handy tool for R&D, industrial, and academic researchers working in perfumery, fragrance, and food science, as well as chemical and agricultural engineering.

This book presents recent advancements in Industry 4.0 and addresses how these can be useful in achieving sustainable solutions in Society 5.0. The book also serves as a reference for developing sustainable engineering solutions to various socio-economic and techno-commercial issues. The book is meticulously structured into two sections: Section I sheds light on fundamentals, nitty-gritties, and principles of technological innovations and advancement in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), and Society 5.0, whereas Section II covers viable engineering solutions developments for revamping Industry 4.0 to Society 5.0. Overall, the authors aim to show how technological advancements can be used to address social issues and improve society.

A fascinating picture book for children ages 6 years and up about music. Do you want to know more about music? In this book, you’ll learn about different kinds of music, past and present, close to home, and around the world. You’ll also discover different types of instruments, how musicians read, and what music does to your brain. This book contains fun flap and foldout pages, a song with a recording, and a mini-quiz so that you can become a real expert. 

This book presents the selected peer-reviewed proceedings of the International Conference on Recent Trends and Innovations in Civil Engineering (ICRTICE 2019). The volume focuses on latest research and advances in the field of civil engineering and materials science such as design and development of new environmental materials, performance testing and verification of smart materials, performance analysis and simulation of steel structures, design and performance optimization of concrete structures, and building materials analysis. The book also covers studies in geotechnical engineering, hydraulic engineering, road and bridge engineering, building services design, engineering management, water resource engineering and renewable energy. The contents of this book will be useful for students, researchers and professionals working in civil engineering.

A fascinating picture book for children ages 5 years and up about insects. Do you want to know everything about insects? In this book, you’ll read all about little critters. How long have they been around? How do they grow? And why is a spider not an insect? You’ll also find a cool construction project, fun flap and foldout pages, and a miniquiz so that you can become a real expert. 

Personification, or prosopopeia, the rhetorical figure by which something not human is given a human identity or 'face', is readily discernible in early modern texts and images, but the figure's cognitive form and function, its rhetorical and pictorial effects, have rarely elicited sustained scholarly attention. The aim of this volume is to formulate an alternative account of personification, to demonstrate the ingenuity with which this multifaceted device was utilized by late medieval and early modern authors and artists in Italy, France, England, Scotland, and the Low Countries. Personification is susceptible to an approach that balances semiotic analysis, focusing on meaning effects, and phenomenological analysis, focusing on presence effects produced through bodily performance. This dual approach foregrounds the full scope of prosopopoeic discourse-not just the what, but also the how, not only the signified, but also the signifier.

The contributions to Discovering the Riches of the Word. Religious Reading in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe offer an innovative approach to the study of religious reading from a long term and geographically broad perspective, covering the period from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century and with a specific focus on the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Challenging traditional research paradigms, the contributions argue that religious reading in this "long fifteenth century" should be described in terms of continuity. They make clear that in spite of confessional divides, numerous reading practices continued to exist among medieval and early modern readers, as well as among Catholics and Protestants, and that the two groups in certain cases even shared the same religious texts. Contributors include: Elise Boillet, Sabrina Corbellini, Suzan Folkerts, Eleonore Fournie, Wim Francois, Margriet Hoogvliet, Ian Johnson, Hubert Meeus, Matti Peikola, Bart Ramakers, Elisabeth Salter, Lucy Wooding, and Federico Zuliani.