For years now, learning has been at the heart of research within cognitive psychology. How do we acquire new knowledge and new skills? Are the principles underlying skill acquisition unique to learning, or similar to those underlying other behaviours? Is the mental system essentially modular, or is the mental system a simple product of experience, a product that, inevitably, reflects the shape of the external world with all of its specialisms and similarities? This new book takes the view that learning is a major influence on the nature of the processes and representations that fill our minds. Throughout, the authors review and consider the areas of skill acquisition and lexical representation to illustrate the effects that practice can have on cognitive processes. They also draw parallels between theories in physical and biological domains to propose not only a new theory of mental function but also demonstrate that the mind is essentially subject to the same natural laws as the physical world. In so doing Speelman and Kirsner present a new perspective on psychology - one that identifies universal principles underlying all behaviours and one which contrasts markedly from our current focus on highly specific behaviours. Accessibly written, Beyond the Learning Curve is a thought provoking and challenging new text for students and researchers in the cognitive sciences.

Reimagining Adult Education as World Building offers a new way of thinking about adult education by re-envisaging how adult education works. It explores how the process of world building, or the invention of a new world or a set of concepts, can be translated into actual and feasible action when turning towards complex, real-life problems. Cultivating contexts where adult educators can become change agents, who recognize that the individual and community are intricately entangled, demands that educators grow new capacities, make new tools, develop thicker networks, and cultivate intentional links amongst each other to foster ecologies of transformation. This book shows how educators can create an ecology or environment for transformative thinking where students can learn to collaborate and use world building tools to create new responses to current issues. It begins by explaining the philosophical underpinnings of world building and the tools that translate pragmatic imagination into scaffolds for individual and collective capacity building. It also illustrates how the worldbuilding protocol makes a difference in adult learning and how this pedagogical tool introduces the ecological approach to adult education. Each chapter explores a practical case study, showing how learners have applied worldbuilding tools to complex challenges. Showing how to apply the world building protocol in a classroom setting, this edited collection will be valuable to Adult Education scholars, researchers, practitioners, and learning facilitators.

In recent times, venture capital and private equity funds have become household names, but so far little has been written for the investors in such funds, the so-called limited partners. There is far more to the management of a portfolio of venture capital and private equity funds than usually perceived. Beyond the J Curve describes an innovative toolset for such limited partners to design and manage portfolios tailored to the dynamics of this market place, going far beyond the typical and often-simplistic recipe to 'go for top quartile funds'. Beyond the J Curve provides the answers to key questions, including: Why 'top-quartile' promises should be taken with a huge pinch of salt and what it takes to select superior fund managers? What do limited partners need to consider when designing and managing portfolios? How one can determine the funds' economic value to help addressing the questions of 'fair value' under IAS 39 and 'risk' under Basel II or Solvency II? Why is monitoring important, and how does a limited partner manage his portfolio? How the portfolio's returns can be improved through proper liquidity management and what to consider when over-committing? And, why uncertainty rather than risk is an issue and how a limited partner can address and benefit from the fast changing private equity environment? Beyond the J Curve takes the practitioner's view and offers private equity and venture capital professionals a comprehensive guide making high return targets more realistic and sustainable. This book is a must have for all parties involved in this market, as well as academic and students.

Complex problem solving (CPS) and related topics such as dynamic decision-making (DDM) and complex dynamic control (CDC) represent multifaceted psychological phenomena. In abroad sense, CPS encompasses learning, decision-making, and acting in complex and dynamic situations. Moreover, solutions to problems that people face in such situations are often generated in teams or groups. This adds another layer of complexity to the situation itself because of the emerging issues that arise from the social dynamics of group interactions. This framing of CPS means that it is not a single construct that can be measured by using a particular type of CPS task (e.g. minimal complex system tests), which is a view taken by the psychometric community. The proposed approach taken here is that because CPS is multifaceted, multiple approaches need to be taken to fully capture and understand what it is and how the different cognitive processes associated with it complement each other.Thus, this Research Topic is aimed at showcasing the latest work in the fields of CPS, as well as DDM and CDC that takes a holist approach to investigating and theorizing about these abilities. The collection of articles encompasses conceptual approaches as well as experimental and correlational studies involving established or new tools to examine CPS, DDM and CDC. This work contributes to answering questions about what strategies and what general knowledge can be transferred from one type of complex and dynamic situation to another, what learning conditions result in transferable knowledge and skills, and how these features can be trained.

Educators, are you ready to meet the challenge of cultivating the next generation of engineers in a post-COVID-19 context? Current engineering student cohorts are unique to their predecessors: they are more diverse and have experienced unprecedented disruption to their education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They will also play a more significant role in contributing to global sustainability efforts. Innovating engineering education is of vital importance for preparing students to confront society’s most significant sustainability issues: our future depends on it. Advancing Engineering Education Beyond COVID: A Guide for Educators offers invaluable insights on topics such as implementing active-learning activities in hybrid modes; developing effective and engaging online resources; creating psychologically safe learning environments that support academic achievement and mental health; and embedding sustainability within engineering education. Students’ own perspectives of online learning are also incorporated, with the inclusion of a chapter authored by undergraduate engineering students. This book consolidates the expertise of leading authorities within engineering education, providing an essential resource for educators responsible for shaping the next generation of engineers in a post-COVID-19 world.

This book offers insights into how higher educational institutions and educators have responded to the immense challenges of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Written by global experts in the field of higher education, it offers a multidimensional overview of the digital transformation, governance, and social justice issues within higher education institutions during the pandemic. It provides theoretical insights and conceptual analysis of the emerging trends in global higher education, the challenges, and possible ways to address them to shape more sustainable, qualitative, and socially equitable higher education for future generations. The book appeals to academics and students engaged in the education community.

The first edition of Robotic Surgery was written only a decade after the introduction of robotic technology. It was the first comprehensive robotic surgery reference and represented the early pioneering look ahead to the future of surgery. Building upon its success, this successor edition serves as a complete multi-specialty sourcebook for robotic surgery. It seeks to explore an in-depth look into surgical robotics and remote technologies leading to the goal of achieving the benefits of traditional surgery with the least disruption to the normal functions of the human body. Written by experts in the field, chapters cover the fundamental principles of robotic surgery and provide clear instruction on their clinical application and long term results. Most notably, one chapter on “The Blueprint for the Establishment of a Successful Robotic Surgery Program: Lessons from Admiral Hymen R. Rickover and the Nuclear Navy” outlines the many valuable lessons from the transformative change which was brought about by the introduction of nuclear technology into the conventional navy with Safety as the singular goal of the change process. Robotics represents a monumental triumph of surgical technology. Undoubtedly, the safety of the patient will be the ultimate determinant of its success. The second edition of Robotic Surgery aims to erase the artificial boundaries of specialization based on regional anatomy and serves as a comprehensive multispecialty reference for all robot surgeons. It allows them to contemplate crossing boundaries which are historically defined by traditional open surgery.

Why are some battles remembered more than others? Surprisingly, it is not just size that matters, nor the number of dead, the decisiveness of battles or their effects on communities and civilisations. It is their political afterlife the multiple meanings and political uses attributed to them that determines their fame. This ground-breaking series goes well beyond military history by exploring the transformation of battles into sites of memory and meaning. Cast into epic myths of the fight of Good against Evil, of punishment for decadence or reward for virtue, of the birth of a nation or the collective assertion against a tyrant, the defense of Civilisation against the Barbarians, Christendom against the Infidel, particular battles have acquired fame beyond their immediate contemporaneous relevance.The great battles of modern history examined in this second volume range from the defeat of the Armada and the relief of Vienna, to Chatham, Culloden, Waterloo, Gettysburg, the Somme and Stalingrad. In each chapter, the historical events surrounding a battle form the backdrop for multiple later interpretations, which, consciously or unconsciously, carry political agendas, some for further bloodshed and sacrifice, but others for the more recent and laudable phenomenon of reconciliation over the graves of the dead.

How can we begin to make sense of the Great War now that over 100 years have passed since it ended with the defeat of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire and Bulgaria, and the collapse of Tsarist Russia? The conflict had such a profound influence on world history that is it difficult to reconcile the different perspectives and draw clear conclusions. That is why this thought-provoking collection of original essays on the outcome of the war and its aftermath is of such value.It completes the trilogy of ground-breaking volumes conceived and edited by Peter Liddle which presents the latest scholarly thinking about the Great War from an international perspective. The first two volumes Britain Goes to War and Britain and the Widening War made this stimulating new writing accessible to a broad readership and this final volume has the same aim.A group of over twenty expert contributors reconsider the military reasons for the outcome of the fighting and look at the consequences for the principal nations involved. They explore the way the war and the peace settlement shaped the twentieth century and had an enduring impact within Europe and beyond.

The role of the university and its relationship to the community has long been a highly debated topic among educators, administrators, and local business leaders. David J. Maurrasse offers a passionate appeal for community partnerships. Going further than a simple explanation of the problems at hand, Beyond the Campus offers a road map for both universities and local institutions to work together for the good of their communities.