Books published by Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes

An up-to-date book about art through the lens of neuroscience and psychology. In Creativity & Art, Andreas and Barbara Steck use an interdisciplinary approach to discuss creative processes from a neuroscientific and psychoanalytic perspective. By referring to the current knowledge of brain sciences, the authors explore the understanding of the neural bases innate to the creation of art. Beginning with historical aspects of aesthetic experience and creation in ancient and modern times, the authors go on to present numerous artists in various fields, with an emphasis on how their subjective lived experiences are expressed and reflected in their artwork. Finally, the Stecks describe the building blocks of creativity in early childhood development discuss the psychoanalytic understanding of human aesthetic experience and creativity. Insightful and thought-provoking, Creativity & Art examines art through the lens of neuroscience and psychology.

The definitive guide on non-destructive testing. Non-Destructive Testing and Testability of Materials and Structures encompasses a wide range of methods for inspecting an object without modifying it. Analysis must be unambiguous, particularly in sensitive industrial sectors such as nuclear and aeronautics. This book provides an exhaustive presentation of the parameters for carrying out this sort of evaluation, the conditions under which it can occur, and the characteristics of potential defects. Additionally, it explores the physical principles, technology, and current methods of non-destructive testing (NDT), both common and specific. This manual also describes methods for identifying factors that can deteriorate measurements and distort analysis. In this way, it introduces and defines the concepts of structural noise and environmental parameters. The book also proposes solutions to these challenges, notably based on progress made in phenomena modeling and inversion methods. Finally, it deals with information post-processing (both of signals and images) and presents a new approach called Recommandations de Conception basées sur des règles de Contrôle Non-Destructif (RC-CND). Aimed at both experienced professionals and students of NDT, this book will constitute a precious and lasting reference.

The creator of buildings that stand out as surrealistic marvels amid the skylines of America, Europe, and Asia, Rem Koolhaas, along with his Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), is justly considered as one of the leaders of contemporary architecture. This book, the first critical monograph on the work of Rem Koolhaas and OMA, does more than just describe projects and buildings: It places Koolhaas's career in a cultural context that allows the reader to better understand the creative process of modern architecture. The works considered are presented in chronological and thematic order, thus retracing the career of Koolhaas from his student days to his neo-avant-garde experimentation at the end of the 1970s and finishing with his most recent works in Porto, Seoul, and Beijing. The individual projects are analyzed from conception to construction, paying particular attention to the conceptual and technical reasons for choices of materials and configuration. Overall, the book addresses the theoretical formulations of Koolhaas, offering a reflection on the fundamental principles of the contemporary architectural project.

Successful leaders tend to have one thing in common: They are experts in social interaction. They express themselves clearly and effectively, understand their colleagues, and adapt to all situations. A leader needs to not only be able to inspire, motivate, and convince those around them, but also listen, be attentive, and adapt to their coworkers. It is by combining these skills that the authors of this book have come up with the Leaderspritz: an interpersonal leadership cocktail. Written by experts in the field of leadership education in universities and corporations, Leaderspritz is based exclusively on scientific research. Whether a person is currently in a leadership position or about to become a leader, this accessible, interactive reference, which is rich in empirical results, anecdotes, scientific theories, and practical tools, will allow them to improve their skills and successfully carry out their responsibilities.

Realtime is an investigation into China's digital and urban infrastructure, practices, and imaginary spaces. It attempts to capture the pace, scale, and depth of China's complex and changing reality. Realtime is a collection of original accounts, analyses, stories, articles, artworks, pictures, maps, illustrations, and materials collected by researchers and practitioners from various fields of design, geography, architecture, anthropology, economics, and art.

For as long as there have been buildings, architecture has been a major subject of public discussion, considered and argued about not just by architects or residents, but also by critics, theoreticians, historians, and writers. This book offers an overview of these discussions in the Western world by means of four thematic trajectories, focused on housing, society, history, and art. Each of these four chronological paths starts in the nineteenth century, traverses the twentieth century, and ends as closely as possible to the contemporary moment. The stepping stones that Christophe Van Gerreway uses are historical documents--texts, books, essays, and articles--that are analyzed, interpreted, criticized, and compared. The aim of the book is to show that architecture remains a vital subject matter for anyone interested in our contemporary world and its recent history. Reading, inquiring, and thinking are essential for making substantiated choices, and, Van Gerreway shows, architecture can be a useful starting point.

Lipidomics forms part of the field of metabolomics, which in turn follows on from genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, in a top-down manner. It is the study of hydrophobic molecules called lipids; however, lipid molecular species are so numerous that investigators tend to subdivide global lipidomics into targeted lipidomic approaches. This book focuses on structural and mediator lipidomics, with a particular emphasis on their functional aspects. This includes lipids deserving of special interest for their structures (especially as parts of cell membranes or plasma lipoprotein particles) and lipids known for their biological activities, which mediate the action of cell agonists (for example, hormones, growth factors, etc.). The oxygenated metabolites of the major functional w6 and w3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in mammals, in particular arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids, are presented, with special attention paid to their structure-function relationships. These metabolites are very active, and their biological relevance was recognized early on with a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1982. Finally, general principles for the high performance analysis and characterization of lipid species are also presented. The book has been written for undergraduate students and scientists interested in the field of lipids. Clinicians will also be able to find useful information, due to the numerous references to pathophysiology.

Building Cultures Valparaiso takes a critical look at how pedagogy, practice and poetry are brought together at one of the most influential schools of architecture of the past 50 years: the School of Architecture and Design of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso in Chile. The editors have brought together research on the origins of the school, on the role that poetry plays in teaching and practice, and on the school's larger historical place in the context of a global out-break of radical architectural teaching in the late 1960's. Contributors come from both within and outside of the school and include Beatriz Colomina, David Jolly Monge and Gerald Wildgruber. In addition to original research, Building Cultures Valparaiso includes a collection of student drawings from the early years of the Valparaiso School's Open City, a 270 hectare stretch of land along the Pacific Ocean that serves as a laboratory for living and working together. These drawings provide an insight into how the philosophy of the school translates into the making of architecture. Through its exploration of the Valparaiso School's radical approach to teaching and making, Building Cultures Valparaiso serves as a guide for all those interested in an experimental vision of architecture.