Bøger af Roberto Serra

Did you always dreamed of turning your own hobby into a business? Yes? We were also! We like travelling and partying. Whether as a local or a tourist, the following question gets asked a lot: "Which nightclub has got something happening tonight?" It is the story of a journey, from a crazy vacation to a serious business. An adventurous Swiss youth discovers a wild American nightlife culture that contrasts sharply with his dull home scene. Two brothers decided to turn their passion into an innovative business. This book is the story of the hard road to a dream: a chronicle of mistakes, just about every one available, but also of the courage to overcome them as they pick themselves up after each disappointment. It is a revealing example of entrepreneurism that starts naively and slowly works towards its goal against the odds, driven by determination. "Then suddenly I came up with the idea: why shouldn't we write a book? A book that told the whole story from the first idea till its realization, to encourage other people to risk something to achieve their dreams without making the same mistakes as we did!" Recommended reading for anyone thinking of starting their own business.

The monograph discusses models of synthetic protocells, which are cell-like structures obtained from non-living matter endowed with some rudimentary kind of metabolism and genetics, but much simpler than biological cells. They should grow and proliferate, generating offsprings that resemble in some way the parent protocells with some variation, so that selection may take place. Sustainable protocell populations have not yet been obtained experimentally and mathematical models are therefore extremely important to address key questions concerning their synthesis and behavior. Different protocell "architectures" have been proposed and high-level abstract models like those that are presented in this book are particularly relevant to gain a better understanding of the different properites. These models are able to treat all the major dynamical phenomena in a unified framework, so they can be seen as "virtual laboratories" for protocell research. Particular attention is paid to the problem of synchronization of the fission rate of the whole protocell and the duplication rate of its "protogenetic" material, which is shown to be an emergent property that spontaneously develops in successive generations.The book is of interest for a broad range of scientists working in soft matter physics, chemistry and biology, interested in the role protocells may play on the development of new technologies with medical, environmental and industrial applications as well as scientists interested in the origin of life.

The monograph discusses models of synthetic protocells, which are cell-like structures obtained from non-living matter endowed with some rudimentary kind of metabolism and genetics, but much simpler than biological cells. They should grow and proliferate, generating offsprings that resemble in some way the parent protocells with some variation, so that selection may take place. Sustainable protocell populations have not yet been obtained experimentally and mathematical models are therefore extremely important to address key questions concerning their synthesis and behavior. Different protocell ¿architectures¿ have been proposed and high-level abstract models like those that are presented in this book are particularly relevant to gain a better understanding of the different properites. These models are able to treat all the major dynamical phenomena in a unified framework, so they can be seen as ¿virtual laboratories¿ for protocell research. Particular attention is paid to the problem of synchronization of the fission rate of the whole protocell and the duplication rate of its "protogenetic" material, which is shown to be an emergent property that spontaneously develops in successive generations.The book is of interest for a broad range of scientists working in soft matter physics, chemistry and biology, interested in the role protocells may play on the development of new technologies with medical, environmental and industrial applications as well as scientists interested in the origin of life.

This volume describes our intellectual path from the physics of complex sys tems to the science of artificial cognitive systems. In this volume, we will limit our discussion to artificial cognitive systems, without attempting to model either the cognitive behaviour or the nervous structure of humans or animals.