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Oak Forest Ecosystems: Ecology and Management for Wildlife
by William J. McSheaOak Forest Ecosystems focuses on the relationship between an oak forest's acorn yield and species of wildlife that depend on it. It begins by treating factors such as oak distribution, forest fires, tree diseases and pests, dynamics of acorn production, and acorn dispersal by birds and mammals. Special consideration is given to the phenomenon of masting—whereby oaks in a given area will produce huge crops of acorns at irregular intervals—a key component for wildlife researchers and managers in understanding patterns of scarcity and abundance in the creatures that feed on this crop. Relationships between oaks and animals such as mice, squirrels, turkeys, deer, and bear are discussed, as are the differences between eastern, southern Appalachian, southwestern, and California oak forests. Contributors: Marc D. Abrams, Pennsylvania State University • Patrick H. Brose, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • John P. Buonaccorsi, University of Massachusetts • Daniel Dey, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • Joseph S. Elkinton, University of Massachusetts • George A. Feldhamer, Southern Illinois University • Peter F. Folliott, University of Arizona • Lee E. Frelich, University of Minnesota • Cathryn H. Greenberg, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • William M. Healy, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • Roy L. Kirkpatrick, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University • Johannes M. H. Knops, University of Nebraska • Walter D. Koenig, University of California • Nelson W. Lafon, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries • Andrew M. Liebhold, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • William J. McShea, National Zoological Park Conservation and Research Center • William H. McWilliams, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • Gary W. Norman, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries • Steven W. Oak, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • Renee A. O'Brien, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • Richard S. Ostfeld, Institute of Ecosystem Studies • Bernard R. Parresol, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service • Peter J. Perkins, University of New Hampshire • Gordon C. Reese, Colorado State University • Peter B. Reich, University of Minnesota • Peter D. Smallwood, University of Richmond • Christopher C. Smith, Kansas State University • Richard B. Standiford, University of California–Berkeley • Martin A. Stapanian, Ohio Cooperative Wildlife Unit • Michael A. Steele, Wilkes University • David Steffen, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries • David H. Van Lear, Clemson University • Michael R. Vaughan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University • Karen L. Waddell, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service
Oak Origins: From Acorns to Species and the Tree of Life
by Andrew L. HippFrom ancient acorns to future forests, the story of how oaks evolved and the many ways they shape our world. An oak begins its life with the precarious journey of a pollen grain, then an acorn, then a seedling. A mature tree may shed millions of acorns, but only a handful will grow. One oak may then live 100 years, 250 years, or even 13,000 years. But the long life of an individual is only a part of these trees’ story. With naturalist and leading researcher Andrew L. Hipp as our guide, Oak Origins takes us through a sweeping evolutionary history, stretching back to a population of trees that lived more than 50 million years ago. We travel to the ancient tropical Earth to see the ancestors of the oaks evolving side by side with the dinosaurs. We journey from the oaks’ childhood in the once-warm forests of the Arctic to the montane cloud forests of Mexico and the broad-leaved evergreen forests of Southeast Asia. We dive into current research on oak genomes to see how scientists study genes’ movement between species and how oaks evolve over generations—spanning tens of millions of years. Finally, we learn how oak evolutionary history shapes the forests we know today, and how it may even shape the forests of the future. Oaks are familiar to almost everyone, and beloved. They are embedded in our mythology. They have fed us, housed us, provided wood for our ships and wine barrels and homes and halls, planked our roads, and kept us warm. Every oak also has the potential to feed thousands of birds, squirrels, and mice and host countless insects, mosses, fungi, and lichens. But as Oak Origins makes clear, the story of the oaks’ evolution is not just the story of one important tree. It is the story of the Tree of Life, connecting all organisms that have ever lived on Earth, from oaks’ last common ancestor to us.
Oak Seed Dispersal: A Study in Plant-Animal Interactions
by Michael A. SteeleThe definitive examination of oak forest evolutionary ecology.Seed dispersal is a critical stage in the life cycle of most flowering plants. The process can have far-reaching effects on a species' biology, especially numerous aspects of its ecology and evolution. This is particularly the case for the oaks, in which the dispersal of the acorn is tied to numerous tree characteristics, as well as the behavior and ecology of the animals that feed on and move these seeds to their final destination. Forest structure, composition, and genetics often follow directly from the dispersal process—while also influencing it in turn. In Oak Seed Dispersal, Michael A. Steele draws on three decades of field research across the globe (e.g., the United States, Mexico, Central America, Europe, and China) to describe the interactions between oaks and their seed consumers. Rodents, birds, and insects, he writes, collectively influence the survival, movement, and germination of acorns, as well as the establishment of seedlings, often indicating a coevolutionary bond between oaks and their seed consumers. This bond can only be understood by unraveling the complex interactions that occur in the context of factors such as partial seed consumption due to acorn chemistry, scatterhoarding, predation of the seed consumers by other organisms, and the limiting effects of masting on insect, rodent, and jay damage.Offering new insights on how animal-mediated dispersal drives ecological and evolutionary processes in forest ecosystems, Oak Seed Dispersal also includes an overview of threatened oak forests across the globe and explains how a lack of acorn dispersal contributes to many important conservation challenges. Highly illustrated, the book includes photographs of key dispersal organisms and tactics, as well as a foreword by Stephen B. Vander Wall, a leading authority on food hoarding and animal-mediated seed dispersal, and beautiful artwork by Tad C. Theimer, also an accomplished ecologist.
Oberflächentechnik für den Maschinenbau
by Kirsten BobzinTribologie, Korrosion, Konstruktion und Werkstofftechnik sind Wissensbereiche, die sich zunächst parallel entwickelt haben. Das gleiche gilt für die verschiedenen Verfahren der Oberflächentechnik. Heute wird es zunehmend wichtiger, interdisziplinäre Ansätze zu finden, um die Problemstellungen der Zukunft, wie z.B. Umweltschutz oder Ressourcenschonung, gemeinsam zu lösen. Das Buch verfolgt den Ansatz, diese Wissensbereiche zu verknüpfen. Es beginnt mit einer Beschreibung technischer Oberflächen hinsichtlich chemischer Zusammensetzung und geometrischer Struktur. Technische Systeme des Maschinenbaus (Bauteile oder Werkzeuge) sind Umgebungseinflüssen (Druck, Chemie, Temperatur) ausgesetzt, die zu Oberflächenschäden durch Verschleiß und Korrosion führen können. Um Oberflächen davor zu schützen, müssen die Grundlagen der Tribologie (Lehre von Reibung und Verschleiß) und Korrosion zunächst verstanden sein, weshalb die wichtigsten Begriffe und Definitionen zu Beginn des Buches beschrieben werden. Schwerpunkt des Buches ist die Behandlung der Verfahren der Oberflächentechnik, die im Maschinenbau Anwendung finden. Jedes Verfahren wird hinsichtlich Beschichtungsprozess, Anlagentechnik, Schichtwerkstoffen, typischen Schichtdicken, Beschichtungstemperaturen und Schichtwerkstoffen beschrieben und anhand von Anwendungsbeispielen vorgestellt. Wesentliches Element der Oberflächentechnik ist die Kombination unterschiedlicher Werkstoffe oder Werkstoffeigenschaften, um Volumen- und Oberflächeneigenschaften getrennt voneinander entsprechend der Anwendung optimieren zu können. Daher ist abschließend eine sehr kurze Einteilung wichtiger Werkstoffe gegeben (Metalle, Keramiken, Polymere). Die Kombination aus Tribologie, Korrosion, Verfahren der Oberflächentechnik und Werkstoffkunde ermöglicht eine strukturierte Herangehensweise bei der Auslegung von Oberflächen.
Obese Humans and Rats (Psychology Revivals)
by Judith Rodin Stanley SchacterOriginally published in 1974, this volume examines the behavioural similarities of obese humans and animals whose so-called feeding centre (the ventro-medial hypothalamic nuclei) has been lesioned. Both the obese human and the VMH-lesioned animal seem to share a hyposensitivity to the internal (physiological) cues to eating and hypersensitivity to external cues associated with food. Beginning with a review, these obese animals and the human obese are compared point by point on experimental results reported in the literature. Then, new findings are presented that specifically tested humans for relationships that are well-established for lesioned animals. Next, a theoretical framework integrates the human and animal data to postulate that the relationship of cue prominence and probability of response is stronger for the obese than for normal. The causes for this, and the extension of the basis for the obese’s eating behaviour to other areas, are discussed in light of further experiments that will make this invaluable reading for all concerned with the history of obesity and the issues of regulatory behaviour.
Obesity (Biographies of Disease)
by Jennifer Petrelli Kathleen Y. Wolin Jennifer M. PetrelliWhat makes obesity a disease instead of just a matter of overeating? What are the genetic and environmental factors behind it? What new breakthroughs are being developing to combat it?
Obesity and Cancer
by Sanjay Gupta Shashank KumarThis book highlights the concordance between signaling pathways that are involved in obesity and cancer cross-talks. It describes the role of cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, insulin, and adipokines in the development of obesity-associated cancers. The book reviews the role of inflammatory signaling pathways such as estrogen-mediated signaling, mTOR and AMP-activated protein kinase pathway and the involvement of adaptive and innate immunity, oxidative stress, gene polymorphism, dietary phytochemicals, and miRNAs in obesity and cancer. In addition, it covers the latest research on the drugs and natural therapeutic agents that target obesity-induced cancers and discusses various in vivo models for studying obesity and obesity-associated cancer. Lastly, it analyses the role of genetic polymorphisms in the obesity-related genes that influence cancer development. The book is a useful resource for researchers in the field of cancer, pharmacology, food chemistry, and clinical biochemistry.
Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus
by E. I. SokolovThis book is the result of the study of metabolic and hormonal disorders in patients suffering obesity and diabetes mellitus, focusing on mechanisms of formation of atherosclerotic changes in the myocardium and vessels in diabetes mellitus patient.
Obesity and Diabetes: Scientific Advances and Best Practice
by Joel Faintuch Salomão FaintuchNow in its second edition, this comprehensive handbook provides a state-of-the-art overview of recent advances in drug and non-drug therapies for obesity and diabetes. It also addresses major comorbidities, covering topics such as, cardiovascular diseases, renal and neuropsychiatric disorders, appetite control and micro RNAs. Special attention is also devoted to pediatric care, including the latest recommendations for therapy and prevention. Obesity and type 2 diabetes are among the top global health-care budget concerns worldwide and impact professional practice at all levels: in hospitals, clinics and physicians’ offices alike. They prominently feature in headlines, and virtually no family, community or country is exempt from their protean, deleterious consequences. Furthermore, given the multiple intersections in their pathways, they often go hand in hand.The good news is that scientific advances in all fields, including genomics, metabolomics, lipidomics and microbiomics, are increasing our understanding of these two disease areas. At the same time, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mobile health and advanced implantable and external devices are rendering prevention and management more available, safe and cost-effective. In addition, bariatric and metabolic surgery has evolved from a niche specialty to an officially endorsed option for several modalities of obesity and diabetes. This book presents the latest lifestyle, pharmacological, surgical and non-surgical treatment options, including endoscopic intervention and cell therapy. Objectively reviewing natural and artificial sweeteners and critically examining issues such as public health initiatives, government mandated taxes for unhealthy foods and environmental planning, no stone is left unturned in gathering the latest practical information. As such, the book will appeal to seasoned specialists, as well as students and healthcare professionals in training.
Obesity and Overeating: Research Fundamentals (Life Science Research Fundamentals)
by WileyWith the increasing worldwide incidence of obesity and the resulting increase in metabolic disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers, an understanding of the multitude of factors that contribute to obesity is crucial for researchers to develop more effective treatments. This collection of overviews and protocols provides the reader with an introduction to the major features of obesity research, including the interplay between energy balance, hormones and neurobiological networks. An overview is provided which describes the animal models of obesity most commonly utilized in research. A standardized laboratory protocol for producing diet?]induced obesity (DIO) in both mouse and rat is provided as are protocols that describe how diet formulation can be modified to generate mouse models of human metabolic pathologies. Protocols are also provided for testing the effects of dietary manipulations, caloric restriction and potential therapeutics. This e-book — a curated collection from eLS, WIREs, and Current Protocols — offers a fantastic introduction to the field of obesity research for students or interdisciplinary collaborators.
Obesity and its Impact on Health
by Methil Kannan Kutty Asita ElengoeThis book summarizes the effects of obesity on health and its correlation with a wide range of debilitating and life-threatening conditions in humans. It discusses the possible pathological mechanisms that are involved in the development of obesity and highlights obesity-associated molecular mechanisms that contribute to reproductive dysfunctions in men and women. The book provides mechanistic insights on the role of obesity in cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and examines the role of the complementary molecular mechanism of the gut microbiota in the development of obesity. It also reviews the interaction between the metabolic system and immune cells in the pathogenesis of obesity-associated diseases. Lastly, it assesses the latest advances in nanomedicine as an emerging strategy for the treatment of obesity.
Obesity in the 21st Century
by Alfred PoulosIn recent years, the focus of obesity prevention has been on diet. However, diet is only one of many factors which play a role in the development of obesity. This book looks at these factors and the latest research on how they contribute to the development of obesity, and the many different methods that have been and are being used to treat and prevent obesity. Written in an accessible language, this book provides the latest and most up to date information on research into the causes, health consequences and treatment of obesity. It educates and advocates for healthier lifestyles, a better understanding of diets and weight loss programs, and associated chronic diseases. It is written for everyone interested in obesity and enables the reader to take informed action to reduce the likelihood of putting on weight and the risk of developing chronic illnesses.
Obesity, Fatty Liver and Liver Cancer (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology #1061)
by Jun YuThis volume covers a state-of-the-art illustration of recent discoveries concerning obesity-related fatty liver diseases and liver cancer. The contents are extensive and comprehensive. It brings important topics in the field all together under one umbrella, from epidemiology and etiology, molecular pathogenesis, cellular biology, epigenetics, immunology, microbiology, animal models to therapeutic approaches and treatments. All the book contributors are leading experts in the field. It will appeal to researchers, clinicians and graduate students in obesity, fatty liver diseases, GI/Liver cancer field. It may also yield benefits for pharmaceutical companies with regard to drug discovery.
Obesity: A Reference Handbook
by Judith S. Stern Alexandra KazaksIn this reference, Stern and Kazaks, nutrition researchers at the U. of California, Davis, present information on the topic of obesity, including why people gain weight, why they succeed or fail in losing it, and who they believe is responsible. They cover its history, treatments, the controversy over whether it is a disease, healthy weight management, medications, herbs and supplements, surgery, the influence of food advertising, childhood obesity, and recent increases in obesity, and provide short biographies of key individuals, excerpts from documents, and an annotated list of resources and organizations.
Object Detection and Recognition in Digital Images
by Boguslaw CyganekObject detection, tracking and recognition in images are key problems in computer vision. This book provides the reader with a balanced treatment between the theory and practice of selected methods in these areas to make the book accessible to a range of researchers, engineers, developers and postgraduate students working in computer vision and related fields.Key features:Explains the main theoretical ideas behind each method (which are augmented with a rigorous mathematical derivation of the formulas), their implementation (in C++) and demonstrated working in real applications.Places an emphasis on tensor and statistical based approaches within object detection and recognition.Provides an overview of image clustering and classification methods which includes subspace and kernel based processing, mean shift and Kalman filter, neural networks, and k-means methods.Contains numerous case study examples of mainly automotive applications.Includes a companion website hosting full C++ implementation, of topics presented in the book as a software library, and an accompanying manual to the software platform.
Object Lessons and the Formation of Knowledge: The University of Michigan Museums, Libraries, and Collections 1817–2017
by Kerstin Barndt Carla M SinopoliObject Lessons and the Formation of Knowledge explores the museums, libraries, and special collections of the University of Michigan on its bicentennial. Since its inception, U-M has collected and preserved objects: biological and geological specimens; ethnographic and archaeological artifacts; photographs and artistic works; encyclopedia, textbooks, rare books, and documents; and many other items. These vast collections and libraries testify to an ambitious vision of the research university as a place where knowledge is accumulated, shared, and disseminated through teaching, exhibition, and publication. Today, two hundred years after the university’s founding, museums, libraries, and archives continue to be an important part of U-M, which maintains more than twenty distinct museums, libraries, and collections. Viewed from a historic perspective, they provide a window through which we can explore the transformation of the academy, its public role, and the development of scholarly disciplines over the last two centuries. Even as they speak to important facets of Michigan’s history, many of these collections also remain essential to academic research, knowledge production, and object-based pedagogy. Moreover, the university’s exhibitions and displays attract hundreds of thousands of visitors per year from the campus, regional, and global communities. Beautifully illustrated with color photographs of these world-renowned collections, this book will appeal to readers interested in the history of museums and collections, the formation of academic disciplines, and of course the University of Michigan.
Objecting to God
by Colin HowsonThe growth of science and a correspondingly scientific way of looking at evidence have for the last three centuries slowly been gaining ground over religious explanations of the cosmos and mankind's place in it. However, not only is secularism now under renewed attack from religious fundamentalism, but it has also been widely claimed that the scientific evidence itself points strongly to a universe deliberately fine-tuned for life to evolve in it. In addition, certain aspects of human life, like consciousness and the ability to recognise the existence of universal moral standards, seem completely resistant to evolutionary explanation. In this book Colin Howson analyses in detail the evidence which is claimed to support belief in God's existence and argues that the claim is not well-founded. Moreover, there is very compelling evidence that an all-powerful, all-knowing God not only does not exist but cannot exist, a conclusion both surprising and provocative.
Objective Algorithms for Integrating Hypoelastic Constitutive Relations Based on Corotational Stress Rates (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Sergey Korobeynikov Alexey LarichkinThis book provides readers with a deep understanding of the use of objective algorithms for integration of constitutive relations (CRs) for Hooke-like hypoelasticity based on the use of corotational stress rates. The purpose of objective algorithms is to perform the step-by-step integration of CRs using fairly large time steps that provide high accuracy of this integration in combination with the exact reproduction of superimposed rigid body motions. Since Hooke-like hypoelasticity is included as a component in CRs for elastic-inelastic materials (e.g., in CRs for elastic-plastic materials), the scope of these algorithms is not limited to hypoelastic materials, but extends to many other materials subjected to large deformations. The authors performed a comparative analysis of the performance of most currently available objective algorithms, provided some recommendations for improving the existing formulations of these algorithms, and presented new formulations of the so-called absolutely objective algorithms. The proposed book will be useful for beginner researchers in the development of economical methods for integrating elastic-inelastic CRs, as well as for experienced researchers, by providing a compact overview of existing objective algorithms and new formulations of these algorithms. The book will also be useful for developers of computer codes for implementing objective algorithms in FE systems. In addition, this book will also be useful for users of commercial FE codes, since often these codes are so-called black boxes and this book shows how to test accuracy of the algorithms of these codes for integrating elastic-inelastic CRs in modeling large rotations superimposed on the uniform deformation of any sample.
Objective Falaise: 8 August 1944–16 August 1944
by Georges BernageOn the night of 8 August 1944, the First Canadian Army launched Operation Totalize, directing their advance towards Falaise, with the intention of breaking through the German defences south of Caen. In spite of large numbers, they were halted by the 12.SS- Panzer-Division "Hitierjugend", who managed to block the 600 armored vehicles. During one of the German counter-attacks, several Tiger tanks were destroyed, including that of panzer ace, Michael Wittmann, who was killed in the process.The offensive was relaunched a few days later under the name Operation Tractable, the intention this time being to capture the strategically important town of Falaise and close the 'Falaise Pocket', also known as the 'Corridor of Death'.This book provides the reader with a day-by-day account of this forgotten battle, while also acting as a field guide, including maps and both comtemporary and modern photographs.
Objectivity
by Lorraine Daston Peter GalisonObjectivity has a history, and it is full of surprises. In Objectivity, Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison chart the emergence of objectivity in the mid-nineteenth-century sciences — and show how the concept differs from alternatives, truth-to-nature and trained judgment. This is a story of lofty epistemic ideals fused with workaday practices in the making of scientific images.From the eighteenth through the early twenty-first centuries, the images that reveal the deepest commitments of the empirical sciences — from anatomy to crystallography — are those featured in scientific atlases: the compendia that teach practitioners of a discipline what is worth looking at and how to look at it. Atlas images define the working objects of the sciences of the eye: snowflakes, galaxies, skeletons, even elementary particles.Galison and Daston use atlas images to uncover a hidden history of scientific objectivity and its rivals. Whether an atlas maker idealizes an image to capture the essentials in the name of truth-to-nature or refuses to erase even the most incidental detail in the name of objectivity or highlights patterns in the name of trained judgment is a decision enforced by an ethos as well as by an epistemology.As Daston and Galison argue, atlases shape the subjects as well as the objects of science. To pursue objectivity — or truth-to-nature or trained judgment — is simultaneously to cultivate a distinctive scientific self wherein knowing and knower converge. Moreover, the very point at which they visibly converge is in the very act of seeing not as a separate individual but as a member of a particular scientific community. Embedded in the atlas image, therefore, are the traces of consequential choices about knowledge, persona, and collective sight. Objectivity is a book addressed to any one interested in the elusive and crucial notion of objectivity — and in what it means to peer into the world scientifically.
Objectivity & Diversity: Another Logic of Scientific Research
by Sandra HardingWorries about scientific objectivity seem never-ending. Social critics and philosophers of science have argued that invocations of objectivity are often little more than attempts to boost the status of a claim, while calls for value neutrality may be used to suppress otherwise valid dissenting positions. Objectivity is used sometimes to advance democratic agendas, at other times to block them; sometimes for increasing the growth of knowledge, at others to resist it. Sandra Harding is not ready to throw out objectivity quite yet. For all of its problems, she contends that objectivity is too powerful a concept simply to abandon. In Objectivity and Diversity, Harding calls for a science that is both more epistemically adequate and socially just, a science that would ask: How are the lives of the most economically and politically vulnerable groups affected by a particular piece of research? Do they have a say in whether and how the research is done? Should empirically reliable systems of indigenous knowledge count as "real science"? Ultimately, Harding argues for a shift from the ideal of a neutral, disinterested science to one that prizes fairness and responsibility.
Objectivity in Science
by Alan Richardson Flavia Padovani Jonathan Y. TsouThis highly multidisciplinary collection discusses an increasingly important topic among scholars in science and technology studies: objectivity in science. It features eleven essays on scientific objectivity from a variety of perspectives, including philosophy of science, history of science, and feminist philosophy. Topics addressed in the book include the nature and value of scientific objectivity, the history of objectivity, and objectivity in scientific journals and communities. Taken individually, the essays supply new methodological tools for theorizing what is valuable in the pursuit of objective knowledge and for investigating its history. The essays offer many starting points, while suggesting new avenues of research. Taken collectively, the essays exemplify the very virtues of objectivity that they theorize--in reading them together, the reader can sense various anxieties about the dangerously subjective in our age and locate commonalities of concern as well as differences of approach. As a result, the volume offers an expansive vision of a research community seeking a communal understanding of its own methods and its own epistemic anxieties, struggling to enunciate the key problems of knowledge of our time and offer insight into how to overcome them.
Objectivity, Science and Society: Interpreting nature and society in the age of the crisis of science (Routledge Library Editions: History & Philosophy of Science)
by Paul A KomesaroffOriginally published in 1986. This work remains of compelling interest to those concerned with the natural sciences and their social problems. It puts forward original and unorthodox ideas about the philosophy of and sociology of science, starting from the conviction that modern societies face deep problems arising from unresolved dilemmas about the meaning, content and technical applications of the theories of nature they employ. The book draws on insights developed within a variety of traditions to explore these problems, especially the work of Edmund Husserl and modern critical theory.
Objects of Time
by Kevin K. BirthThis is a book about time, but it is also about much more than time--it is about how the objects we use to think about time shape our thoughts. Because time ties together so many aspects of our lives, this book is able to explore the nexus of objects, cognition, culture, and even biology, and to do so in relationship to globalization.
Objects to Learn about and Objects for Learning 1: Which Teaching Practices for Which Issues?
by Roselyne Le Bourgeois Joël Bisault Jean-François Thémines Mickaël Le Mentec Céline Chauvet-ChanoineResulting from a conference that took place in Amiens, France, in June 2019, this book examines the place and role of objects centered in teaching practices from kindergarten to university, both in the context of France and elsewhere. These "objects for learning" are considered in their physicality as productions, work or signs that are used for learning. They become “objects to learn about” when the object itself is the learning objective.This book offers a cross-disciplinary perspective, linking the different disciplinary fields studied and the many reference sources used by the authors. This two-volume work offers an overview of current research on the subject, with this first volume introducing the questions addressed and then going on to investigate the relationship between objects and languages, looking at objects at the heart of early learning.