Trending Topics in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by progressive demyelination and neurodegeneration of the central nervous system (CNS), constituting the most common demyelinating disease of the CNS in humans. Although intensive research over many decades has unveiled many pathophysiological mechanisms in the development of MS, the cause is still unknown. Nevertheless, it does seem clear that genetic susceptibility and environmental factors play crucial roles. Trending Topics in Multiple Sclerosis is a book that provides an insight into some of the main problems currently debated in this area of research, focusing on topics that deal with genetic and environmental risk factors, pathophysiological mechanisms, neurocognitive findings, and neuroprotective strategies

Affective Computing

This book provides an overview of state of the art research in Affective Computing. It presents new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this increasingly important research field. The book consists of 23 chapters categorized into four sections. Since one of the most important means of human communication is facial expression, the first section of this book (Chapters 1 to 7) presents a research on synthesis and recognition of facial expressions. Given that we not only use the face but also body movements to express ourselves, in the second section (Chapters 8 to 11) we present a research on perception and generation of emotional expressions by using full-body motions. The third section of the book (Chapters 12 to 16) presents computational models on emotion, as well as findings from neuroscience research. In the last section of the book (Chapters 17 to 22) we present applications related to affective computing

Inflammation in the 21st Century

The present book includes 17 chapters covering different fields of inflammation that can be classified into acute or chronic in response to trauma, infection, and exposure to other noninfectious agents, including allergens and xenobiotics. Inflammation is a self-healing process, upon the clearance of the foreign particle and helps to protect the host. However, when it is not resolved and becomes chronic, it may lead to cancer and autoimmune diseases. This book includes different topics of autoimmune diseases, cancer, and other sterile inflammatory conditions originating in the absence of allergens as well as autoimmune disease and generates inflammatory immune response. Hence, the book will prove beneficial to researchers and scientists involved in inflammation research

Advances in Human-Robot Interaction

Rapid advances in the field of robotics have made it possible to use robots not just in industrial automation but also in entertainment, rehabilitation, and home service. Since robots will likely affect many aspects of human existence, fundamental questions of human-robot interaction must be formulated and, if at all possible, resolved. Some of these questions are addressed in this collection of papers by leading HRI researchers

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Human Machine Interaction

In this book, the reader will find a set of papers divided into two sections. The first section presents different proposals focused on the human-machine interaction development process. The second section is devoted to different aspects of interaction, with a special emphasis on the physical interaction