Patient series reported in the literature.
\r\n\tLiterature showed the presence of ACE2 receptors on the membrane of erythrocyte or red blood cell (RBC), indicating that erythrocyte (RBC) can be considered as a peripheral biomarker for SARS-C0V2 infection.
\r\n\r\n\tIncreased levels of glycolysis and fragmentation of RBC membrane proteins were observed in the SARS-C0V2 infected patients, demonstrating that not only RBC’s metabolism and proteome but its membrane lipidome could be influenced by SARS-C0V2 infection changing the homeostasis of the infected erythrocyte. This altered RBC may result in the clot and thrombus formation; the major signs of critically ill Covid-19 patients.
\r\n\r\n\tThis book is going to be a succinct source of knowledge not only for the specialists, researchers, academics and the students in this area but for the general public who are concern about the present situation and are interested in knowing about simple non-invasive measures for identifying viral and bacterial infections through their red blood cells.
",isbn:"978-1-83969-121-8",printIsbn:"978-1-83969-120-1",pdfIsbn:"978-1-83969-122-5",doi:null,price:0,priceEur:0,priceUsd:0,slug:null,numberOfPages:0,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"fa5f4b6ef59e28b6e7c1a739c57c5d2f",bookSignature:"Prof. Kaneez Fatima Shad",publishedDate:null,coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10494.jpg",keywords:"Spike Protein, Hemoglobin, Proteins for Oxygen Transport, Altered Protein Structures, RBC ACE Receptors, RBC ACE-2 Receptors, Carboxypeptidase, Mas Receptor, Metabolomics, Gas Transport, Glucose-6-Phosphate, Phosphoglycerate",numberOfDownloads:4,numberOfWosCitations:0,numberOfCrossrefCitations:0,numberOfDimensionsCitations:0,numberOfTotalCitations:0,isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,dateEndFirstStepPublish:"October 15th 2020",dateEndSecondStepPublish:"November 30th 2020",dateEndThirdStepPublish:"January 29th 2021",dateEndFourthStepPublish:"April 19th 2021",dateEndFifthStepPublish:"June 18th 2021",remainingDaysToSecondStep:"3 months",secondStepPassed:!0,currentStepOfPublishingProcess:4,editedByType:null,kuFlag:!1,biosketch:"Dr. Shad is a governing body member and mentor of Women in World Neuroscience (WWN), a division of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). She is also a member of IBRO-APRC Global Advocacy responsible for brain research funding distribution in this region.",coeditorOneBiosketch:null,coeditorTwoBiosketch:null,coeditorThreeBiosketch:null,coeditorFourBiosketch:null,coeditorFiveBiosketch:null,editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",middleName:null,surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/31988/images/system/31988.jpg",biography:"Professor Kaneez Fatima Shad, a neuroscientist with a medical background, received Ph.D. in 1994 from the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW, Australia, followed by a post-doc at the Allegheny University of Health Sciences, Philadelphia, USA. She taught Medical and Biological Sciences in various universities in Australia, the USA, UAE, Bahrain, Pakistan, and Brunei. During this period, she was also engaged in doing research by getting local and international grants (total of over 3.3 million USD) and translating them into products such as a rapid diagnostic test for stroke and other vascular disorders. She published over 60 articles in refereed journals, edited 8 books, and wrote 7 book chapters, presented at 97 international conferences, mentored 34 postgraduate students. Set up a company Shad Diagnostics for the development of cerebrovascular handheld diagnostic tool Stroke meter into a wearable.",institutionString:"University of Technology Sydney",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"4",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"6",institution:{name:"University of Technology Sydney",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Australia"}}}],coeditorOne:null,coeditorTwo:null,coeditorThree:null,coeditorFour:null,coeditorFive:null,topics:[{id:"16",title:"Medicine",slug:"medicine"}],chapters:[{id:"75447",title:"Detection of Benzo[a]Pyrene Diol Epoxide-DNA Adducts in White Blood Cells of Asphalt Plant Workers in Syria",slug:"detection-of-benzo-a-pyrene-diol-epoxide-dna-adducts-in-white-blood-cells-of-asphalt-plant-workers-i",totalDownloads:4,totalCrossrefCites:0,authors:[null]}],productType:{id:"1",title:"Edited Volume",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"},personalPublishingAssistant:{id:"280415",firstName:"Josip",lastName:"Knapic",middleName:null,title:"Mr.",imageUrl:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/280415/images/8050_n.jpg",email:"josip@intechopen.com",biography:"As an Author Service Manager my responsibilities include monitoring and facilitating all publishing activities for authors and editors. From chapter submission and review, to approval and revision, copy-editing and design, until final publication, I work closely with authors and editors to ensure a simple and easy publishing process. I maintain constant and effective communication with authors, editors and reviewers, which allows for a level of personal support that enables contributors to fully commit and concentrate on the chapters they are writing, editing, or reviewing. I assist authors in the preparation of their full chapter submissions and track important deadlines and ensure they are met. I help to coordinate internal processes such as linguistic review, and monitor the technical aspects of the process. As an ASM I am also involved in the acquisition of editors. Whether that be identifying an exceptional author and proposing an editorship collaboration, or contacting researchers who would like the opportunity to work with IntechOpen, I establish and help manage author and editor acquisition and contact."}},relatedBooks:[{type:"book",id:"1624",title:"Patch Clamp Technique",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"24164a2299d5f9b1a2ef1c2169689465",slug:"patch-clamp-technique",bookSignature:"Fatima Shad Kaneez",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/1624.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"1359",title:"Underlying Mechanisms of Epilepsy",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"85f9b8dac56ce4be16a9177c366e6fa1",slug:"underlying-mechanisms-of-epilepsy",bookSignature:"Fatima Shad Kaneez",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/1359.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"5780",title:"Serotonin",subtitle:"A Chemical Messenger Between All Types of Living Cells",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"5fe2c461c95b4ee2d886e30b89d71723",slug:"serotonin-a-chemical-messenger-between-all-types-of-living-cells",bookSignature:"Kaneez Fatima Shad",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/5780.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"6683",title:"Ion Channels in Health and Sickness",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"8b02f45497488912833ba5b8e7cdaae8",slug:"ion-channels-in-health-and-sickness",bookSignature:"Kaneez Fatima Shad",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/6683.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9489",title:"Neurological and Mental Disorders",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"3c29557d356441eccf59b262c0980d81",slug:"neurological-and-mental-disorders",bookSignature:"Kaneez Fatima Shad and Kamil Hakan Dogan",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9489.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"7842",title:"Basic and Clinical Understanding of Microcirculation",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"a57d5a701b51d9c8e17b1c80bc0d52e5",slug:"basic-and-clinical-understanding-of-microcirculation",bookSignature:"Kaneez Fatima Shad, Seyed Soheil Saeedi Saravi and Nazar Luqman Bilgrami",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/7842.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"31988",title:"Prof.",name:"Kaneez",surname:"Fatima Shad",slug:"kaneez-fatima-shad",fullName:"Kaneez Fatima Shad"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"6550",title:"Cohort Studies in Health Sciences",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"01df5aba4fff1a84b37a2fdafa809660",slug:"cohort-studies-in-health-sciences",bookSignature:"R. Mauricio Barría",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/6550.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"88861",title:"Dr.",name:"R. Mauricio",surname:"Barría",slug:"r.-mauricio-barria",fullName:"R. Mauricio Barría"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"1591",title:"Infrared Spectroscopy",subtitle:"Materials Science, Engineering and Technology",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"99b4b7b71a8caeb693ed762b40b017f4",slug:"infrared-spectroscopy-materials-science-engineering-and-technology",bookSignature:"Theophile Theophanides",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/1591.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"37194",title:"Dr.",name:"Theophanides",surname:"Theophile",slug:"theophanides-theophile",fullName:"Theophanides Theophile"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"3092",title:"Anopheles mosquitoes",subtitle:"New insights into malaria vectors",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"c9e622485316d5e296288bf24d2b0d64",slug:"anopheles-mosquitoes-new-insights-into-malaria-vectors",bookSignature:"Sylvie Manguin",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/3092.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"50017",title:"Prof.",name:"Sylvie",surname:"Manguin",slug:"sylvie-manguin",fullName:"Sylvie Manguin"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"3161",title:"Frontiers in Guided Wave Optics and Optoelectronics",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"deb44e9c99f82bbce1083abea743146c",slug:"frontiers-in-guided-wave-optics-and-optoelectronics",bookSignature:"Bishnu Pal",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/3161.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"4782",title:"Prof.",name:"Bishnu",surname:"Pal",slug:"bishnu-pal",fullName:"Bishnu Pal"}],productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}}]},chapter:{item:{type:"chapter",id:"53255",title:"Laparoscopic Left Adrenalectomy with Submesocolic and Retropancreatic Approach",doi:"10.5772/66457",slug:"laparoscopic-left-adrenalectomy-with-submesocolic-and-retropancreatic-approach",body:'The surgical approach to the adrenal gland has raised debate among surgeons due to its retroperitoneal location and for the complexity in the management of secreting tumors, particularly in case of pheochromocytoma (PHE) [1–3]. Traditionally, open adrenalectomy is made difficult due to its deep anatomical location, and it is associated with up to 39% morbidity rate and prolonged hospital stay [1–3]. In 1992, Gagner described the first laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) by a transperitoneal approach with the patient in the lateral decubitus position [4, 5]. This initial experience has been followed by others using the same approach or, alternatively, the retroperitoneal approach with the patient in the prone or in the lateral decubitus position [6, 7] and the transperitoneal approach with the patient supine [8]. Several reports have confirmed the safety and efficacy of these techniques, and minimally, invasive adrenalectomy is presently considered the treatment of choice for a variety of benign lesions, including lesions of the medulla [9, 10].
The aim of the present chapter is to report the authors’ experience with left laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) using an original transperitoneal submesocolic and retropancreatic approach with patient supine, to describe the patient\'s preparation for surgery as well as the operative details of this procedure.
In order to establish the diagnosis in case of adrenal secreting lesions, all patients undergo complete hormonal evaluation as previously reported [11]. Diurnal serum cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS), plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), testosterone, androstenedione, urinary free cortisol (UFC), 17‐hydroxyprogesterone (17‐OHP), renin activity, aldosterone and urinary catecholamine levels are measured, together with overnight 1‐mg dexamethasone suppression test (DST) [11]. Aldosterone‐producing adenoma, pheochromocytoma and Cushing\'s syndrome are diagnosed on the basis of high plasma aldosterone, plasma renin activity (PRA) ratio (>40) and unsuppressed aldosterone after sodium load, elevated urinary metanephrines, elevated UFC, abnormal serum cortisol, inadequate cortisol suppression after 1‐mg dexamethasone and low and/or suppressed plasma ACTH [11]. When no specific signs and/or symptoms of autonomous hormone secretion are present, or abnormal hypothalamus‐pituitary‐adrenal axis tests and radiological imaging suggesting the presence of an adrenocortical lesion, a diagnosis of nonfunctioning adenoma is made [11].
All patients are studied with computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An attenuation value of 1O or less Hounsfield units (HU) on unenhanced CT scan is suggestive for the presence of a benign adrenocortical adenoma [12]. Relative contrast washout of >40% and an absolute contrast washout of >60% are suggestive for an adenoma, with 92% specificity and 98% sensitivity rates, respectively [13, 14]. In all sequences during MRI, adrenocortical adenomas are homogeneous, with mild gadolinium enhancement [12], with low or equal signal intensity as the liver on T2‐weighted images may appear on lower signal intensity than the rest of the adrenal gland [12]. Chemical shift imaging can be done during MRI to identify fat within the lesion as decreased signal intensity relative to normal tissue [12]. For carcinomas, the attenuation on unenhanced studies is higher than 10 HU on CT scan [15]. On contrast‐enhanced studies, carcinomas enhance greedily due to their vascularity, and the enhancement pattern may be homogeneous, unless there is central necrosis [15, 16]. The relative percentage washout of carcinomas is <40% [17]. At MRI, adrenal carcinomas are noted for heterogeneity on T1‐weighted images, with intermediate to high signal intensity [18]. Heterogeneity is also noted on T2‐weighted images due to hemorrhage and/or necrosis [18]. Based on these criteria, adrenal lesions larger than 4 cm in diameter or with smaller but having an imaging pattern suspicious of malignancy or of sub‐clinically secreting tumors are an indication for laparoscopic adrenalectomy.
Alpha‐blockers (doxazosin 20 mg/day), starting at least 15 days before surgery, are administered. If patients reported episodes of tachycardia, beta‐blockers are also administered (atenolol 100–200 mg/day orally). On the day before surgery, treatment with alpha‐blockers is discontinued, and intravenous (iv) normal saline 2000 cc is administered to expand the plasma volume [19].
Iv hydrocortisone 100 mg is administered at induction of anesthesia. Iv spironolactone is used for potassium control [20].
Iv hydrocortisone 100 mg is administered at induction of anesthesia and then iv hydrocortisone 50 mg every 8 h [20].
Surgery is performed under general anesthesia. An orogastric tube and urinary catheter are positioned. Intraoperative patients’ monitoring includes intra‐arterial radial artery catheter for continuous blood pressure measurement and a central venous catheter (subclavian or internal jugular access) for rapid infusion of liquids. Pneumoperitoneum is usually established with a Veress needle at the umbilicus or with an open technique and Hasson cannula, in case of the presence of abdominal scars from previous surgery. Pneumoperitoneum is set at a pressure of 12–13 mmHg, with carbon dioxide flow adjusted at 30 lt/min. Four trocars and a 30°/45° forward oblique optic are used. This approach is performed with the patient supine, in slight anti‐Trendelenburg position and with the operating table turned 30° with the side opposite the lesion down, to facilitate exposure of the surgical field. The surgeon stands on the side which is ipsilateral to the lesion.
After induction of pneumoperitoneum, the first 12‐mm optical trocar (n. 1) is inserted on the left of the midline above the umbilicus (Figure 1). A second 12‐mm trocar (n. 2) is inserted under vision on the right midclavicular line below the right costal arch. The third and fourth 12‐mm trocars are placed one on the left midclavicular line along with the transverse umbilical line (n. 3) and other on the left anterior axillary line (n. 4), respectively (Figure 1). The 10‐mm laparoscope is introduced from trocar (n. 3), while trocars 1 and 4 are the operating ones. With atraumatic forceps introduced from trocar (n. 2), the transverse mesocolon is raised by the assistant. This maneuver discloses the first jejunal loop at the ligament of Treitz, and it shows the arch of the inferior mesenteric vein. The operative table is tilted with the left side of the patient up, which allows the surgeon to displace the first jejunal loops on the patient\'s right side (Figure 2). The posterior peritoneum is opened at the insertion of the transverse mesocolon and posteriorly to the lower edge of the pancreas, between the first jejunal loop and the arch of the inferior mesenteric vein or immediately lateral to this vessel, according to its distance from the jejunum. Toldt\'s fascia appears at this point as a whitish film. The dissection then proceeds posteriorly along the retro‐pancreatic space, after raising the body of the pancreas with an atraumatic instrument held by the surgeon\'s left hand. The splenic vein is visible at this point running along the posterior aspect of the pancreas. Gerota\'s fascia is now opened to visualize the left renal vein, which is followed medially, until the left inferior adrenal vein is identified. This is cautiously prepared and divided between clips (AcuClip, Tyco/Healtcare, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA, Figure 3). No manipulation of the left adrenal gland has yet occurred prior to division of the adrenal vein because the gland is located cranially to this vessel. Only at this point, the gland is mobilized using a radiofrequency (LigaSure™ tissue fusion, Covidien, Mansfield, Massachusetts, USA) or ultrasonic (Ultracision, Harmonic Scalpel, Ethicon Endo Surgery, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) device, and the specimen is removed from the abdominal cavity inside a specimen retrieval bag after slightly enlarging the periumbilical trocar incision [19].
Trocars’ position during left transperitoneal submesocolic and retropancreatic adrenalectomy. The surgeon and first assistant stand on the left of the patient, while the second assistant stands on the right.
After raising the transverse mesocolon and displacing the first jejunal loop on the patient\'s right side, the posterior peritoneum is divided close to the arch of the inferior mesenteric vein.
The left adrenal vein is divided between clips. Confluence of the diaphragmatic vein to the left adrenal vein is visible.
Near‐infrared indocyanine green (NIR‐ICG) fluorescence may be employed during surgery and may be useful to aid in vascular structures and adrenal gland identification amidst retroperitoneal and perirenal fat, particularly in obese patients, to improve the safety of laparoscopic adrenalectomy.
Surgery is the standard treatment of Conn\'s syndrome, Cushing\'s disease, pheochromocytoma, primary adrenal cancer and adrenal metastases. After the introduction of minimally invasive adrenalectomy, this has now become the treatment of choice [8, 21–26]. Minimally, invasive adrenalectomy is mostly performed either with a transperitoneal lateral approach or with a retroperitoneal approach [4]. The laparoscopic transperitoneal anterior approach has been proposed only by few centers [8, 11, 19, 23, 24, 26].
The transperitoneal lateral approach, originally described by Gagner et al. [4], is performed with the patient in the lateral decubitus position. It gives excellent exposure of the operative field with a wide working space, and it facilitates orientation by providing readily identifiable anatomical landmarks [27]. Its proponents report several advantages, such as a rapid and direct access to the gland without the need to retract any organ and with minimal patient trauma [28], a clear operative field due to gravity that keeps blood and bowel away from it and the need for less surgical dissection on the left side, as compared to the anterior approach [26]. By the authors’ opinion, the main disadvantage of the lateral approach is that it does not provide early ligation of the adrenal vein prior to gland manipulation, which the authors believe to be important so as to avoid pressure instability in case of secreting adenomas, and particularly of pheochromocytoma, and which would also be oncologically correct [11, 19, 29].
Retroperitoneal adrenalectomy (RA) has also been reported to be safe and effective [21, 30, 31]. According to its proponents, it is preferred to reduce the risks and possible complications of a transperitoneal access, such as incisional hernias and paralytic ileus from bowel manipulation [4, 7]. It has been reported to require less analgesics due to lower postoperative pain [27] and to be associated with earlier recovery of bowel function, possibly leading to shorter hospital stay [27]. However, minimal postoperative pain, early liquid diet and a short hospital stay have been reported also after a laparoscopic approach [5, 6, 26, 27]. RA is preferred in patients with abdominal adhesions from previous surgery and in obese patients [32]. Moreover, several authors reported a shorter operative time [28]. According to Walz et al. [33], a 7 cm hormonally active tumor or a 4–7 cm nonfunctioning tumor may be indications for a retroperitoneal approach. By the opinion of these authors, severe obesity, simultaneous abdominal pathology, patients with evident signs of malignancy or a tumor exceeding 8 cm are contraindications for the retroperitoneal approach [33]. In our opinion, the patient\'s position during RA is unfavorable for rapid conversion to open surgery in case of major bleeding and may itself impair or worsen the hemodynamic conditions of the patient [8].
Moreover, both lateral LA and RA do not allow to perform associated surgical procedures [11, 19, 34]. In lateral LA, exploration of the contralateral gland is not possible without repositioning the patient [11, 19, 34], which increases the operative time.
To reduce the risk of catecholamines, hormones or neoplastic cells spread from the adrenal gland, the authors introduced the laparoscopic transperitoneal submesocolic and retropancreatic approach with the patient supine. This approach was originally described by Pierre Delbet in 1912 [35]. Its main advantages are the limited extent of the dissection and early identification, ligation and division of the left adrenal vein which is obtained prior to any gland manipulation. This aspect is particularly important in case of secreting lesions. In fact, the authors consider early clipping of the main adrenal vein to be of upmost importance, together with avoiding any manipulation of the gland prior to adrenal vein ligation [11, 19, 24, 26, 36].
With respect to the transperitoneal anterior and lateral approaches, it does not require mobilization of the left colonic flexure or of the spleno‐pancreatic complex to gain access to the adrenal gland, with reduction of the operative time and of potential operative risks. However, it does require experience in advanced laparoscopic surgery because the operation is conducted in a restricted working space adjacent to major venous vessels, such as the left renal and splenic veins, and the aorta [11, 19, 37].
In case of LA or RA for pheochromocytoma, because of the complexity of the disease, the operation should be performed only in centers with a well established, multidisciplinary experience in the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal gland pathology. In fact, surgery for pheochromocytoma is at risk of hypotensive or hypertensive crisis, or both, due to an excess in catecholamine release, which cannot be completely prevented even by adequate preoperative preparation with α‐blockers [10]. The aim of medical treatment prior to surgery is not the reduction of hormonal secretion but the prevention of the peripheral effects of catecholamines secreted by the tumor, so that the patient may undergo surgery under the best cardiovascular conditions [38]. Advances in intraoperative monitoring and the introduction of preoperative α1‐receptors’ blockade have radically reduced the mortality rate [39]. A significant increase in the rates of plasma norepinephrine release related to mobilization of the adrenal gland has been reported during LA with a lateral approach [39]. One study also reported that severe hypertension was triggered by direct manipulation of the adrenal gland [10]. Instead, no significant intraoperative change in blood pressure was observed following this surgical strategy in case of pheochromocytoma [19]. Based on the authors’ data, the anterior laparoscopic submesocolic and retropancreatic approach for treatment of secreting adrenal lesions is safe [11, 19, 24].
Some authors [40, 41] consider tumors larger than 6 cm to be a contraindication for a minimally invasive approach, due to the risk of malignancy. In the authors’ experience, the size of the largest lesion up to 10 cm in diameter did not affect the feasibility and the outcome of the procedure or the operative time [11, 19, 24]. This observation has been confirmed by Parnaby et al. [42], whose results are in agreement with the authors’ experience [11, 19, 24].
Moreover, the supine position of the patient allows one to perform associated diagnostic [43] or operative procedures, such as contralateral adrenalectomy, without the need to reposition the patient on the operative table. In the authors’ experience, the submesocolic approach was associated with a significant reduction in the operative time, as compared to the laparoscopic traditional anterior approach, which compares favorably also with the operative time of the lateral and retroperitoneal approaches reported in the literature (Table 1) [2, 3, 5–7, 9–11, 19, 27, 29–31, 33, 44, 45].
Authors | N | Approach | Mean age (years) | Mean oper. time (min.) | Conversion (%) | Morbidity (%) | H.S. (days) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hazzan [2] | 24 | Lateral | 45.4 | 188 | 7 | 16 | 4 |
Vargas [3] | 20 | Lateral | 47 | 193 | 10 | 10 | 3.1 |
Gagner [5] | 100 | Lateral | 46 | 130 | 3 | 12 | 2.5 |
Bonjer [6] | 79 | RP | 50 | 114 | 6.3 | 10.1 | 2 |
Salomon [7] | 21 | RP | 46 | 116 | 0 | 19 | 3.4 |
Lang [9] | 56 | RP | 36.2 | 52 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 5.2 |
Janetschek [10] | 19 | Lateral | 49.7 | 150 | 0 | 16 | 7 |
Mohammadi‐Fallah [27] | 11 | Lateral | 43 | 129 | 0 | 9.1 | 3.6 |
12 | RP | 42 | 128 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 3.1 | |
Dickson [30] | 23 | Lateral | 42 | 145 | 4.3 | 8.7 | 3.1 |
23 | RP | 47 | 100 | 13 | 13 | 1.9 | |
Fernández‐Cruz [31] | 16 | Lateral | 36 | 89 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 3 |
14 | RP | 47 | 105 | 14.2 | 0 | 2.75 | |
Walz [33] | 560 | RP | 49.2 | 67 | 1.7 | 11.8 | – |
Cabalag [44] | 13 | Lateral | 47 | 105 | 0 | 30.7 | 2 |
10 | RP | 61 | 90 | 0 | 10 | 1 | |
Paganini [11] | 19 | LASA | 54 | 92 | 0 | 0 | 4.4 |
Paganini [19] | 37 | LASA | 54 | 82.7 | 0 | 0 | 3.85 |
Matsuda [29] | 75 | Anterior | – | 221 | 0 | 3.9 | 10.2 |
Linos [45] | 18 | Anterior | 48.7 | 116 | 5.5 | 0 | 2.3 |
Patient series reported in the literature.
N, number of patients; H.S, hospital stay; RP, retroperitoneal; LASA, left anterior submesocolic approach.
Independently from the approach that is followed, the recent introduction of a dedicated laparoscopic instrumentation to detect near‐infrared fluorescence with indocyanine green (NIR‐ICG) improves visualization of the inferior adrenal vein and of the adrenal gland with respect to the surrounding fat, making their identification easier [46, 47]. In the authors’ opinion, this instrumentation might improve the safety of the procedure, as well as the oncological outcome in case of adrenal cancer or metastases.
LA with transperitoneal submesocolic and retropancreatic approach has proven to be safe and effective [11, 19, 24], and its results are in line with those reported in the most recent literature [48] after RA and lateral LA. Early ligation of the adrenal vein is the most important technical feature of this technique in every type of lesion. For more objective results, a multicenter randomized clinical trial comparing the submesocolic approach with lateral LA and RA for left adrenalectomy would be required.
Many universities disseminate their courses openly on the Internet as part of a policy that encompasses the publication of the knowledge imparted. For instance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s OpenCourseWare [1] and the Open University’s initiative OpenLearn [2]. Likewise, private organizations also publish courses: Khan [3], Udemy [4], etc. Open policies can change from site to site, and resources can be video-based, as well as text-based, but most of the resources use video. This variety of available resources promotes the implementation of new teaching and learning methodologies, such as blended learning [5, 6, 7] and flipped learning [8, 9]. Blended learning is a combination of online and traditional learning (face-to-face learning). Both learning methods are complementary. The online learning includes, for instance, the use of videos, online reading material and online assignments. In flipped learning (flipped classroom) the delivery method in traditional learning is reversed. For example, a student is asked to watch a learning video, read certain material, or participate in an online learning exercise before class. Class time is used to work on the concepts involved, with the guidance of a teacher. In all these methodologies there is generally an online platform where students and teachers can interact.
\nThis work presents OpenFING, an educational initiative based on a digital library of filmed courses, that has the support of students, teachers and learning technologists who collaborate in the development of the OpenFING Project at Facultad de Ingeniería (FING), which is the Engineering School of the Universidad de la República (UdelaR), the major university in Uruguay (with approximately 145.000 students). FING is a large faculty, with approximately 10.000 enrolled students and more than 900 teachers to cover 20 programmes in Engineering. Student participation is expected and appreciated at any stage. A lot of students also work full time. The lecture halls for the initial years of most programmes are overcrowded. Most FING courses have two mid-term exams with a pass mark of 60%. A lower score prevents the student from taking the final exam.
\nAs many Latin America schools, FING is experiencing an increase in matriculation rates and scarce resources, observing low graduation and high drop-out rates. New strategies have become necessary to adapt the scholar system to this reality. The video-recording of traditional lectures is a low-cost activity for teachers and it can be seen as a supplement for a traditional course. According to some studies, recorded lectures can become a helpful tutoring resource, mainly because videos have a slower, more step-by-step lecture style than the classroom lectures; student use of videos is voluntary and can be tailored by students to meet their learning and topic-review needs, and can occur when and where students learn most effectively.
\nOpenFING is essentially a digital video library of standard lectures or masterclasses. The project emerged from a student’s initiative: recording courses and publishing the videos openly on the internet. Originally, the use of videos was regarded as a support for the personal study of the student, not as a substitute for the classes. However, the digital resource also addresses issues such as overcrowded lecture halls and the attendance of students who also work full time. Also, the project is a means of introducing innovation in educational strategies, such as the flipped learning model, used in various parts of the world with good results from a learning point of view [8, 9].
\nIn order to sustainably support the OpenFING project and the continuous participation of students, in mid-2016 the course Introduction to Audiovisual and Multimedia Production (IPAM) was created, awarding credits for FING’s degree programmes. This allows students who participate in OpenFING to learn digital skills related to the use of cameras and non-linear video editing, as well as the development of other digital educational resources.
\nThe main objective of this chapter is to share OpenFING’s experience and tasks planned for the project’s evolution. The aim is to improve academic level and enhance the learning experience, taking advantage of the participants’ efforts. This chapter is essentially an extended and updated version of [10].
\nThe rest of the chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the concept of openness in general and its implementation in access to teaching material. Section 3 presents how OpenFING operates and Section 4 describes the OpenFing platform. Then Section 5 introduces the IPAM course and Section 6 analyzes educational experiences that are being developed by considering the integration of OpenFING in teaching and learning processes. Section 7 considers related work and finally Section 8 presents learned lessons and final remarks.
\nOpen science and open access to information sources is still not universally accepted; one part of the world has access to the great variety of paid information resources while the other part depends, at least partially, on free of charge information resources available on Internet. In both cases, members of educational institutions are interested in materials that already incorporate content with a specific didactic or pedagogical approach. These materials are often referred to as digital learning materials [11]. Digital learning materials are available from multiple personal, corporate and institutional web pages on the Internet, as well as in digital repositories [12].
\nOpen access means that information resources are digital, Internet, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions [13]. In the last two decades, open access initiative has played a prominent role in the dissemination of educational material that is normally found in the libraries of academic institutions [14]. This initiative supports the idea of open science which is gaining on popularity as open access information resources increase.
\nOpen science is the idea that scientific knowledge of all kinds should be shared openly as early as is practical in the discovery process [15]. The benefits of open science include sharing of knowledge, especially the knowledge that is publicly funded and the ability to use and reuse the results in particular of teaching where quality information resources are needed. Open science depends on open science information resources that provide opportunities to facilitate access to knowledge.
\nThe idea of open science began to spread and generalize globally. In particular, the proliferation of open access information resources is a prominent manifestation of this process.
\nPaid information resources have become one of the major obstacles in work of the higher education institutions, mainly due to the high cost of subscription to scientific publications that many university libraries have to cover [16]. In particular, students and teaching staff need ubiquitous daily access to information resources which must satisfy the following characteristics: they must be free of charge, they must have validated content and be easily accessible, they must use common formats, etc. The open access initiative became increasingly attractive to facilitate access to scientific information resources used for teaching and research.
\nThe greatest benefits of open access can be observed in research and teaching at academic institutions. However, open access is not understood and presented equally everywhere. There are differences in openness and rights of users in accessing and using scientific and educational materials in open access digital repositories.
\nOpen educational resources began to develop a decade after the open access initiative emerged. In 2001, MIT started OpenCourseWare, an initiative that was followed by several universities around the world that contributed to the advancement of open educational resources. Additionally, organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the Commonwealth of Learning, and the European Union have supported the development of open educational resources [17].
\nOpen educational resources (OER) are essentially educational materials that are available on the Internet with a low level of restriction. According to UNESCO, open educational resources are technology-enabled, open provision of educational resources, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes. These resources are generally freely available on the Web or the Internet, and are primarily used by teachers and educational institutions to support course development. Additionally, they can be used directly by students in their usual academic activities. Open educational resources include, for example, learning objects such as videos, lecture material, experiments, references and readings, simulations, and demonstrations.
\nOpenFING was created in 2012 as part of an undergraduate thesis in Computer Science [18], with the intention of providing support in teaching and learning activities using a Semantic Web Technologies platform based on videos. The initiative attempted to solve the problem that a large percentage of students have: most cannot attend classes regularly or must do so in overcrowded lecture halls. Having the complete classes recorded on video and available on the web allows students to follow the course Internet at their own convenience. The initiative also sought to provide an additional tool for students to prepare for their tests, particularly during exam periods.
\nNowadays, the OpenFING platform [19] has more than 70 filmed courses (mainly at undergraduate level), making a total of more than 1400 individual lectures. What differentiates this initiative from others is the number of volunteers that have participated: over 200 people including IPAM students.
\nBetween 2013 and 2015, a camera and video editing workshop was held each semester. These workshops were attended by some students enrolled in the Computer Science degree, which prompted the degree directors to assign academic credits to those students who had recorded or edited a course. This was a way to encourage student participation in the OpenFING project. Approximately 40% of the regular courses of Computer Science degree were recorded and published by OpenFING in that period. Also, the option of recording new optional courses was added every semester. It must be understood that nearly 50% of all FING students are enrolled in a Computer Science programme; accordingly, recording those courses turned out to be a high-impact action. From 2016 until now, academic credits are obtained through the IPAM course (see Section 5), and the contents cover further academic programmes from FING.
\nAccomplishing the organization of such a complex schedule has certain logistical challenges; thus every semester important decisions have to be taken by the coordinating group:
Which courses to be recorded needs to be agreed, involving authorization from the corresponding teachers and planning for the use of equipment (cameras, microphones, memory cards, tripods). If the teachers refuse their permission to have lectures recorded, then the course goes back to a queue of courses that may be recorded the following period.
Agreement must be reached on how the course should be published. It is either published on the public OpenFING site or in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) where only teachers and students can access it.
The coordinating group needs to recruit FING students who are interested in participating in OpenFING, and establish who records and edits each course. The recruitment campaign is run using OpenFING’s Facebook page and the official FING website.
During the semester, coordinators need to keep in touch with those students who are filming and editing the lectures, making sure they are performing their tasks in a right and committed way. The editing process is carried out by groups of four students. The task list is defined and distributed among the group members.
All equipment needs to be checked to ensure good performance. Before each lecture scheduled to be recorded, students check every camera, microphone, battery pack and memory card and their availability.
The members of this team are mostly committed students who remain working on the project for some years, and pass on their knowledge to new members. Recently, FING started to pay a small stipend to two of them, and also had a staff member from Unidad de Enseñanza (UEFI) – a center for teaching and learning development at FING – join the team. The recording and editing tasks are carried out by students of the IPAM course. Also, volunteer students participate of their own accord, receiving no academic recognition or payment.
\nThe strength of OpenFING’s working model is the students’ involvement in the recording and editing of lectures. For example, during the recording they must decide if the teacher or the blackboard must be on frame at a particular time. It is mandatory for the student to have certain knowledge of the lecture topic to do this. The cameraman’s knowledge of the topic is essential. For this reason, it is necessary that students in a recording team have previously taken the course. This form of organization is considered an added value when compared to a lecture recorded by a standalone, fixed, big long shot. This fixed model is for example used by Facultad de Psicología (Psychology School of UdelaR), or when the recording is done by people who have no knowledge of the course to be filmed.
\nThe OpenFING streaming model is based on an Open Education workflow and on the collaboration between professors and students. The courses are available in digital format, under a Creative Commons open license (BY-NC-ND 4.0). This increases the opportunities for studying and learning, and also the visibility of the University’s production. Since 2013, following international trends, UdelaR’s governing body is internally promoting the adoption of policies intended to implement more use of open virtual resources. The use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and the creation of an Open Access repository, plus a series of policies aimed at opening up education, allow the material to be used by anyone, democratizing access to knowledge. With more than 110,000 undergraduate students [20] and close to 11.000 teachers [21], the University accounts for the vast majority of the country’s total student enrollment, and is considered the main site for the promotion of Open Access and the development of Open Educational Resources (OER). Compared to other South American countries, Uruguay seems to present an enabling environment for Open Education [22].
\nOpenFING has been adopted by students as an additional study tool. The average number of weekly accesses to OpenFING went from 5.000 in 2014 to 25.000 in 2019. In 2020 this number doubled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to develop the courses (essentially) virtually, with higher measurements in periods close to the evaluations of the courses.
\nThe OpenFING platform was intended to be a collaborative tool based on a variety of materials, but focused on the videos of lectures. The project has a platform with a server which is integrated into the server pool of FING. In this pool, three services are executed: a video server, a production web server and a development web server. These servers are managed and maintained by the Unidad de Recursos Informáticos (Information and Communication Technologies Unit) of FING, in coordination with a Computer Science professor and a volunteer student. There is also another dedicated computer used for exchanging footage between cameramen and editors, as well as for other tasks (post-editing, viewing, graphics).
\nA new version of the platform is being developed, which includes mechanisms of comment’s moderation, together with an easier way to publish videos and an independent chat room. Also, some additional tools might be added, like a Cornell Notes editor [23] and some data analysis process in order to monitor learning and teaching activities. We expect to have an updated platform soon with a collaborative mechanism and facility to relate topics in different videos. Moreover, functionality to add notes to a video will be developed in order to manage teaching in a better way.
\nOur main goal is to convert OpenFING into a Semantic Web based collaborative platform to publish and annotate videos. With this platform, teachers and students can annotate videos with topics, comments, web resources, and other kind of metadata to improve their teaching and learning activities. One of our main concerns from the technical point of view was to develop an architecture in which new features could be easily introduced to the platform. This leads us to the use of Semantic Web (SW) technologies [24] to develop the platform, in particular Linked Data paradigm [25].
\nSome functionalities, via a set of use cases, are:
\nSearch and find: a user starts the session selecting a course in the Course Menu. Also, the Search Box can be used to perform queries. Queries input may be plain text (e.x. “induction”) or contain tags to refer to specific objects in the platform (e.x. course:, lecture:). Then, the search is performed using a combination of SPARQL queries and text search on the labels and titles values. In our example, the search for “induction” returns a video lecture where the title “Inductive Set Definitions” matches the search criteria. This video contains the complete lecture about the concept he is looking for, but also other related concepts.
\nFragmentation and annotation: while the user is watching the video, he decides to mark the video fragment where the teacher defines the “Declarative View of Inductive Sets”, and annotate it with the topic “Declarative view”. To do this, he uses the Annotation Type Selector to declare the type of the annotation as a “Topic”, and then he writes the topic in the Fragment Creator text area. At this time, the fragment start time is recorded. When the user pushes the blue button, the end time is recorded and the video fragment and its annotations are saved. Both objects are associated with the user. In the system, video fragments are identified by URLs which follow the Media Fragment URI 1.0 recommendation of W3C.
\nSee annotations of other users: while the user watches videos, he can also see annotations created by other users in the Annotation Viewer. These annotations appear dynamically as the start time of related fragments is reached. When the user clicks in an annotation, the related video fragment starts in the player.
\nUsing external resources: OpenFING may coexist with learning platforms, such as Moodle. Users may then also annotate video fragments using URLs that refer to lecture slides, or questions in a forum. This mechanism also allows to add reference to any URL on the internet, in particular to add references to other video fragments in OpenFING, and was developed at zero cost because the use of standard dereferenceable URIs.
\nRecommended videos and resources: while users watch videos, related videos and resources are shown in the recommendations panel, which is accessible from the View Selector. The contents of this panel change dynamically according to the annotations found in the video. The recommendation criteria implemented so far is very simple, and retrieves video-fragments that refer to the same topic, but other criteria can be easily added to the platform.
\nTeachers Activities: students may use OpenFING without involving the teachers, but their participation may improve the experience. For example, teachers can curate users annotations assessing its correctness, or help in the organization of topics according to some taxonomy. Also, teachers can evaluate the comprehension of a certain topic by checking the annotations created by students. Finally, teachers can also propose the creation of annotations as a learning activity, as suggested in [26].
It is expected that the previously mentioned strategies will have an impact on student learning, by providing a space for reflection and exchange of different points of view on the content of the courses. The objective is to transform the project into an effective collaborative and interactive learning platform.
\nIn 2016 the deanery of FING, learning technologists from the UEFI, the responsible professor for the project at the Instituto de Computación (InCo) – the Computer Science department at FING – and staff from the Facultad de Información y Comunicación (FIC) – the School of Information and Communication of the UdelaR – started to work together around OpenFING to generate an optional undergraduate course in response to three observed problems:
the sustainability of OpenFING over time;
the lack of basic audiovisual knowledge and production skills among engineering students; and
the differences in quality of OpenFING outputs.
The aim of the course is to develop the ability to create learning resources in various formats, developing skills of content hierarchy, design, production of original materials and therefore communication and digital literacy skills [27]. The theoretical–practical course is offered to students in different FING programmes, as well as those from other schools. Students enrolled in IPAM work in teams. In summary:
they engage in the recording and editing of a regular undergraduate or graduate course of FING, to be published in the OpenFING digital library;
they produce an audiovisual or multimedia resource related to the courses, programmes, research, or develop topics of interest for FING, intended to be used both by students and staff.
These types of resources are aligned with the future plans for the OpenFING platform. IPAM encourages the development of OpenFING, as well as the production of other open educational resources. FIC professors teach general knowledge about communications and audiovisual production that allow students to use the camera, choose shots and follow the scene and take good sound shots. Regarding post-production, they teach about montage and edition through the free program Kdenlive. Multimedia resources, based on hypertext and non-linear products with an interactive structure [27, 28], set a strong frame for the development of personal learning strategies. Detailed information about the course, including its programme, is available Internet at the VLE site of the course IPAM-EVA [29]. Some of the audiovisual and multimedia products developed are available on the OpenFING platform.
\nIn recent years more than 200 students have participated in IPAM, helping to film and edit courses for OpenFING, and producing unpublished audiovisual and multimedia resources. The project is kept alive thanks to the contribution of the students.
\nHigher education remains generally focused on the transmission of information by the professor to the students, although in recent decades emphasis has been placed on changing this situation and thinking of strategies that situate the learner at the center of the educational process [30, 31]. In particular, FING teachers usually have three types of interaction with students:
A theoretical class. The classic lecture with a teacher explaining mainly theoretical concepts.
A practical class. A teacher or a teaching assistant explains the solution of exercises on the blackboard.
A query class. One or more teaching assistants check with a small group of students (may vary from 15 to 50) the exercise resolutions that students present. This strategy is not developed on all courses.
Staff spend most of the contact time with content explanations; thus the interactions between teachers and students are limited. Also, in this context the role of students tends to be very passive. The conditions of massive attendance in which the courses are developed, in particular from first semester to sixth, seem to be an obstacle to implementing innovations in teaching. At an international level, the need to transform the relationship between teaching and learning of engineering is shared, emphasizing the active role of the student [30, 32]. At our university, in line with the proposals of international literature, the topic of active learning methodologies is becoming more relevant. Since 2011 specific orientations have been included in the ordinance of undergraduate studies that indicate teachers that the central pedagogical strategy will be to promote active teaching, where experiences in which the student, individually or in groups, is confronted to solve problems, exercise their initiative and creativity, acquire the habit of thinking with originality, the ability and pleasure to permanently study and the ability to mobilize specific knowledge to solve new and complex problems will be privileged [33]. It is also indicated that it is relevant to make an adequate integration of theoretical and practical teaching, allowing a permanent articulation between the two and enabling the development of the skills and abilities that correspond to the graduate’s profile. In the case of FING, it also seeks to encourage the development of active learning methodologies by affirming from the FING’s governing bodies that it is necessary to support and promote this experiences in the School’s courses, specially, in the early stages of the degrees [34].
\nIn the new paradigm of teaching the focus is on producing learning. In this context the development of the strategies promoting active learning in university becomes relevant. Teachers need to create instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing [35]. In this way: the students are involved in more than listening; less emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more on developing students’ skills; students are involved in higher-order thinking; students are engaged in activities; and greater emphasis is placed on students’ exploration of their own attitudes and values.
\nIn order to integrate technology and resources to achieve more active teaching and learning practice, professors need to redesign their course methodologies. The following paragraphs describe experiences that represent successful cases in FING.
\nIn 2015, the Discrete Mathematics course was offered in a blended learning format, using the classes that were recorded previously in 2014. The new version of the course presents changes that modify two aspects of the traditional course: the way in which the teacher leads the class and the way a participant studies. Each week, the learners had Internet sessions to prepare for class, with topics, notes, books and recorded lectures on the VLE platform. In addition, practical exercises and periodical consultation classes were offered. The experience was positively evaluated [36]. In particular, although the approval scores did not vary, similar results were obtained with fewer teaching hours, allowing the course to be taught twice a year and therefore providing the opportunity for students to return to study so as not to fall behind on their journey.
\nIn 2017, an alternative modality was developed for the Logical Mathematics course (required for Computer Science students in the third semester). In parallel with the traditional and massive course, the alternative was offered to a subgroup of students. The new modality focused on promoting students’ active work using a flipped learning approach. Tasks that students usually performed at home were performed in class and vice versa. The teacher’s theoretical lecture was replaced by the availability of other resources, such as lecture videos, class notes and books. Class time was then dedicated entirely to interaction activities, such as discussing the issues students found difficult and working on practical exercises. This strategy transforms the class into an exchange, contact and engagement space. In this experience, the following resources were integrated: VLE, recorded lectures of the theoretical content available on OpenFING, and the use of specific software. These resources facilitated the student–teacher exchange of information prior to the face-to-face classes. The software used was a prototype developed by the students of a programming course and complemented by functionality added by the teaching team. The software consists of a tool based on the Cornell Notes model; it provides students with a space to record relevant ideas, summaries and questions about the videos, the bibliographic material and the exercises to solve in each class [8]. The teacher received the digital Cornell Notes generated by each student weekly, and prepared the classes accordingly, based on the issues or difficulties they had raised and their summaries.
\nThe academic results of the new modality of the Logical Mathematics course show an increase in the percentage of students who obtain the needed credits without the final exam. From the student opinions gathered in surveys, the vast majority positively valued the modality. They highlight aspects of its design: first, the theoretical content was sufficient from the available materials; second, difficulties could be reviewed in class; third, compulsory attendance and scheduled deliverables favored continuous work as well as group dynamics. From the teaching point of view, the experience was ranked as very positive. The increase in contact time with students allows the design of lectures to be adapted to the specific needs of the group and generates a positive learning environment for the presentation and analysis. The modality was taken by 50 students, so the challenge is to scale to 350 students, which is the estimated average number of students enrolled in the course each year for the last five years.
\nAnother experience that we point out refers to the Computer Programming II course, which takes place in a blended format. As of 2016, the theoretical classes recorded by OpenFING were included in the VLE of the institution. In the last four years the rate of approval without final exam increased from 29% in 2016 to 43% in 2020. Student surveys show the importance of the videos in their learning process, mainly due to the impossibility of attending the face-to-face course. As mentioned earlier, approximately half of the students are in work and participate in the course in a virtual modality. These students also describe the usefulness of the recordings for the preparation of the course assessments and, predominantly, the final exam.
\nFaced with the suspension of classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the teachers asked their students to continue the rhythms of work from the visualization of the filmed classes. Subsequently, based on the needs of the students, synchronous classes were incorporated via conference. The filming made it possible to continue advancing at an adequate pace as well as providing access to the content to those students who cannot connect to video-conferences due to connection problems or schedules. Some teachers of initial and mass courses began to make new uses of the filmed classes and to incorporate them into their planning as a central resource. These practices have not yet been evaluated but show progress in the use of filmed classes for pedagogical purposes. For example, teachers took an excerpt from the class footage where a concept, problem or exercise was explained and during the synchronous conference they showed it to reflect and discuss with the students. In this way they achieved greater interaction and commitment of the student in the class. Other teachers began to use the H5P tool [37] that allows adding interactive elements to the videos. They took a filmed class and added questions, study extensions text, etc. Thus, the teachers were able to enrich the class filming, favor the student’s interaction whit the resource and design the student’s work outside the classroom. These two experiences focus on reusing the filmed class as well as helping the student to actively visualize and develop study strategies from the videos.
\nThe professors who implemented these new teaching experiences believe that OpenFING has great potential as a tool to improve the development of courses, allowing them to focus their time on the direct exchange with students, promoting the understanding of issues and strengthening the student–teacher relationship. In institutional terms, it is considered important to consolidate these strategies, which include changes in teaching methodologies. The flipped learning model constitutes a change in teaching tasks, as teachers prepare the lectures based on the learning experience of the students and their progress. There is also a concomitant change in the role of students, mostly for the ones who are used to being passive participants in the traditional educational model. The changes and new educational processes are monitored at the pedagogical level by UEFI, which provides a space for support, exchange and development of educational practices.
\nThe use of lecture hall videos as an educational resource is not new. Chtouki et al. [38] highlight the commitment of the students in an experience that studied the impact of the integration of YouTube technology in the teaching of English as a foreign language, making use of educational videos. Following a controlled academic experiment, they conclude that the experience was successful. In [39] the use of video recordings of live lectures is regularly perceived by students as supporting their learning when preparing for assessments. Furthermore, [40] argue that regular use of video-based resources may enhance learning if the student has appropriate learning skills and strategies. In this vein, [41] developed a guidance framework in order to develop students’ effective and efficient use of lecture captures. He found that students use recorded lectures in their own ways depending on private study practice as well as the intended learning from the specific course.
\nNew learning models have been created, such as the flipped learning model, which focus on the development of active teaching and learning methodologies through the use, although not exclusively, of videos for educational purposes [8]. In [42] the authors describe an experience using a system for Internet lecture videos and, although a good level of acceptance by students is highlighted, they mention aspects that can operate negatively if the use of these resources is not related to the educational methodologies and practices followed by the teachers. As highlighted in the experience of the three FING courses, the integration of digital technology (the recorded lectures and the VLE in this case) can function as a window of opportunity to change the traditional pedagogical paradigm towards new ways of teaching and learning. In each case, the use of the video resources needs to be pedagogically aligned [43], and the reasons for its inclusion and how its integration will benefit teaching and learning need to be defined [44].
\nSome works deal with the use of annotations in e-Learning. In [28] the authors review a set of learning experiences that use annotations, and extract some recommendations about the use of annotations as a learning activity. In [45], an experiment about social annotation in an educational environment is presented which concludes that is a good way to promote the student engagement in the educative process. None of these works deal with video annotations. Several works treat video annotations, but only a few focus on educational videos. The work presented in [46] is close to OpenFING, but they do not use Semantic Web Technologies. About the use of Semantic Web technologies in e-Learning, some works should be taken into account. OpenCourseWare (OCW) Universia Team experience about producing and consuming Linked Data is presented in [47]. The paper introduces LOCWD, a vocabulary to describe OCW resources. In [48] a platform with some similarities to OpenFING is described where the search mechanism exploits LOD.
\nOpenFING started as a project of students wishing to record, edit and publish lectures in order to make them available to other students as learning and study resources. The good experience of the teachers who participated initially facilitated the growth of the project within FING. From 2016 onwards, the OpenFING project began to be articulated by different actors from the institution: the group of students who coordinate the project, learning technologists from UEFI, professors from FING and FIC as lecturers of the IPAM course, with the explicit support of the deanery of FING. This initiative has the potential to be a multidisciplinary educational development, involving staff from different faculties and university students in a common educational project. The current version of the OpenFING platform allows students to watch videos from more than 1400 filmed lectures.
\nOpenFING has been adopted by students as an additional study tool. The average number of weekly accesses to OpenFING went from 5.000 in 2014 to 25.000 in 2019. In 2020 this number doubled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to develop the courses virtually, with higher measurements in periods close to the evaluations of the courses. Actually, more than 80% of users surveyed, think that OpenFING enables them to follow a course appropriately and even more users (88%) think their learning is improved by the project. Additionally, 84% of users agree on a high level of satisfaction with the learning experience using OpenFING. OpenFING is considered a flexible resource by 86% of all users because it allows studying at any time [10].
\nOn the other hand, most of the teachers surveyed (see [10]) have a positive opinion about OpenFING (63%), and 70% also highlight the project as a useful tool for study habits and course follow-up. A negative aspect of the survey carried out among teachers shows that only 26% of those surveyed state that they have changed their teaching practice due to the existence of recorded courses. Regarding the impact of using OpenFING in their classes, 77% of teachers indicate a lower rate of attendance at their lectures. Several teachers are concerned: 35% consider that the situation may be risky, since the replacement of class attendance by video increases the lack of interaction between students and between students and teachers. A change in teaching strategies, and the development of new pedagogical resources mentioned above such as audiovisuals on specific topics, could modify the statistics of preference for online classes (44%). In relation to improvements for the project, 27% of the teachers surveyed propose the creation of short audiovisual content about specific topics in a more detailed way, and also video creation for Internet courses like MOOCs [10].
\nMany platforms that offer virtual courses and educational resources are well known: Coursera [49], Khan Academy [3], FutureLearn [50], Merlot [51], among others. OpenFING stands out as an educational project made by students for students. Students manage and coordinate their peers for the recording and editing of videos, and perform tasks ranging from the identification of courses to record and contacting the appropriate teachers to the final publication of the videos on the web. This not only makes it possible to keep the project alive each semester, with the support of teachers and the institution, but also generates a remuneration for students who actively participate. This collaborative participation in the production of resources that contribute to the students’ learning occurs either through the IPAM course (which supports OpenFING) or voluntarily. Those following the IPAM course will benefit from acquiring knowledge of digital and communication skills, and audiovisual and multimedia resource production, as well as obtaining credits.
\nA prototype platform was created which enables comments, questions, the addition of related links and course topics that might be associated with video fragments by the users and teachers. The prototype allows suggestions to be presented to the users. However, the development carried out must still be adapted for mass use. At a technical level, it will be necessary to investigate the application of other techniques to select and/or filter interesting materials associated with the videos, using, for example, natural language processing, data mining and machine learning mechanisms, as well as exploring possibilities of processing audio and video to retrieve information.
\nAn updated platform with a collaborative and thematic relationship mechanism is expected soon [52]. Annotation strategies of video fragments will be designed, focused on the development of software for the management of teaching. This software will add each student annotation about a video fragment into a graph database. The database may enable the analysis of each student graph and detect “wrong links” exposing any wrong understanding about some topic in order to personalize the teaching task. With this platform, teachers and students can annotate videos with topics, comments, web resources, and other kind of metadata to improve their teaching and learning activities. The development of video-lectures is usually considered as a high cost activity for teachers. Our low-cost approach, based on the publication of video-recorded traditional lectures, has still proven to be useful to students. It is expected that the previously described strategies will have an impact on student learning, by providing a mechanism for reflection and exchange of different views on the contents of the courses. The main objective is to transform the project into a collaborative and interactive platform for learning. This line of development is also highlighted by other researchers [26, 53, 54].
\nFrom a technological point of view, we believe that Semantic Web technologies allowed us to develop a flexible environment, in which we can add new features in a simple way. We also think that HTML5, JS, NodeJS, SPARQL stack works as a good prototyping platform since it reduces programming and testing times. New versions of OpenFING server and clients are being developed using NodeJS and HTML5. In the near future we expect to extend the Semantic Enricher component using two approaches: querying LOD, and using Natural Language Processing of documents.
\nFrom the evidence collected by this work, we can conclude that OpenFING is perceived by students and some teachers as an appropriate resource complementary to learning, both for preparing for assessments and outside of revision periods. Further research is needed on how to develop students’ competencies when using OpenFING, for example, in order to champion a better practice for note taking, so as to improve the support for student learning and make the most of the study experience. Obtaining evidence from the students’ experiences could shed light on the specific uses, preferences, strategies and needs of the engineering students. Additionally, further research would uncover why those teachers willing to implement changes in their teaching practices have not done so yet. To maximize the understanding of their needs and how best to support them in the development of active teaching strategies with the use of OpenFING and other resources, FING has the UEFI, specifically conceived to support staff regarding technology-enhanced learning practices.
\nTo conclude, the development of active teaching strategies needs to take into account the context of each course, depending on its size, budget and viability. The challenge lies in disclosing and further developing the processes involved in the relationship between the teacher’s learning design of the course, the lectures as teaching interventions, OpenFING recorded lectures as learning resources, and the students as independent learners.
\nThis work will not be possible without the (voluntary) work of the OpenFING filming and edition team, composed (essentially) by voluntary students.
\nYou have been successfully unsubscribed.
",metaTitle:"Unsubscribe Successful",metaDescription:"You have been successfully unsubscribed.",metaKeywords:null,canonicalURL:"/page/unsubscribe-successful",contentRaw:'[{"type":"htmlEditorComponent","content":""}]'},components:[{type:"htmlEditorComponent",content:""}]},successStories:{items:[]},authorsAndEditors:{filterParams:{sort:"featured,name"},profiles:[{id:"6700",title:"Dr.",name:"Abbass A.",middleName:null,surname:"Hashim",slug:"abbass-a.-hashim",fullName:"Abbass A. Hashim",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/6700/images/1864_n.jpg",biography:"Currently I am carrying out research in several areas of interest, mainly covering work on chemical and bio-sensors, semiconductor thin film device fabrication and characterisation.\nAt the moment I have very strong interest in radiation environmental pollution and bacteriology treatment. The teams of researchers are working very hard to bring novel results in this field. I am also a member of the team in charge for the supervision of Ph.D. students in the fields of development of silicon based planar waveguide sensor devices, study of inelastic electron tunnelling in planar tunnelling nanostructures for sensing applications and development of organotellurium(IV) compounds for semiconductor applications. I am a specialist in data analysis techniques and nanosurface structure. I have served as the editor for many books, been a member of the editorial board in science journals, have published many papers and hold many patents.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Sheffield Hallam University",country:{name:"United Kingdom"}}},{id:"54525",title:"Prof.",name:"Abdul Latif",middleName:null,surname:"Ahmad",slug:"abdul-latif-ahmad",fullName:"Abdul Latif Ahmad",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",biography:null,institutionString:null,institution:null},{id:"20567",title:"Prof.",name:"Ado",middleName:null,surname:"Jorio",slug:"ado-jorio",fullName:"Ado Jorio",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",biography:null,institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais",country:{name:"Brazil"}}},{id:"47940",title:"Dr.",name:"Alberto",middleName:null,surname:"Mantovani",slug:"alberto-mantovani",fullName:"Alberto Mantovani",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",biography:null,institutionString:null,institution:null},{id:"12392",title:"Mr.",name:"Alex",middleName:null,surname:"Lazinica",slug:"alex-lazinica",fullName:"Alex Lazinica",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/12392/images/7282_n.png",biography:"Alex Lazinica is the founder and CEO of IntechOpen. After obtaining a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, he continued his PhD studies in Robotics at the Vienna University of Technology. Here he worked as a robotic researcher with the university's Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Group as well as a guest researcher at various European universities, including the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). During this time he published more than 20 scientific papers, gave presentations, served as a reviewer for major robotic journals and conferences and most importantly he co-founded and built the International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems- world's first Open Access journal in the field of robotics. Starting this journal was a pivotal point in his career, since it was a pathway to founding IntechOpen - Open Access publisher focused on addressing academic researchers needs. Alex is a personification of IntechOpen key values being trusted, open and entrepreneurial. Today his focus is on defining the growth and development strategy for the company.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"TU Wien",country:{name:"Austria"}}},{id:"19816",title:"Prof.",name:"Alexander",middleName:null,surname:"Kokorin",slug:"alexander-kokorin",fullName:"Alexander Kokorin",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/19816/images/1607_n.jpg",biography:"Alexander I. Kokorin: born: 1947, Moscow; DSc., PhD; Principal Research Fellow (Research Professor) of Department of Kinetics and Catalysis, N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.\r\nArea of research interests: physical chemistry of complex-organized molecular and nanosized systems, including polymer-metal complexes; the surface of doped oxide semiconductors. He is an expert in structural, absorptive, catalytic and photocatalytic properties, in structural organization and dynamic features of ionic liquids, in magnetic interactions between paramagnetic centers. The author or co-author of 3 books, over 200 articles and reviews in scientific journals and books. He is an actual member of the International EPR/ESR Society, European Society on Quantum Solar Energy Conversion, Moscow House of Scientists, of the Board of Moscow Physical Society.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics",country:{name:"Russia"}}},{id:"62389",title:"PhD.",name:"Ali Demir",middleName:null,surname:"Sezer",slug:"ali-demir-sezer",fullName:"Ali Demir Sezer",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/62389/images/3413_n.jpg",biography:"Dr. Ali Demir Sezer has a Ph.D. from Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Marmara (Turkey). He is the member of many Pharmaceutical Associations and acts as a reviewer of scientific journals and European projects under different research areas such as: drug delivery systems, nanotechnology and pharmaceutical biotechnology. Dr. Sezer is the author of many scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and poster communications. Focus of his research activity is drug delivery, physico-chemical characterization and biological evaluation of biopolymers micro and nanoparticles as modified drug delivery system, and colloidal drug carriers (liposomes, nanoparticles etc.).",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Marmara University",country:{name:"Turkey"}}},{id:"61051",title:"Prof.",name:"Andrea",middleName:null,surname:"Natale",slug:"andrea-natale",fullName:"Andrea Natale",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",biography:null,institutionString:null,institution:null},{id:"100762",title:"Prof.",name:"Andrea",middleName:null,surname:"Natale",slug:"andrea-natale",fullName:"Andrea Natale",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",biography:null,institutionString:null,institution:{name:"St David's Medical Center",country:{name:"United States of America"}}},{id:"107416",title:"Dr.",name:"Andrea",middleName:null,surname:"Natale",slug:"andrea-natale",fullName:"Andrea Natale",position:null,profilePictureURL:"//cdnintech.com/web/frontend/www/assets/author.svg",biography:null,institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia",country:{name:"United States of America"}}},{id:"64434",title:"Dr.",name:"Angkoon",middleName:null,surname:"Phinyomark",slug:"angkoon-phinyomark",fullName:"Angkoon Phinyomark",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/64434/images/2619_n.jpg",biography:"My name is Angkoon Phinyomark. I received a B.Eng. degree in Computer Engineering with First Class Honors in 2008 from Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand, where I received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering. My research interests are primarily in the area of biomedical signal processing and classification notably EMG (electromyography signal), EOG (electrooculography signal), and EEG (electroencephalography signal), image analysis notably breast cancer analysis and optical coherence tomography, and rehabilitation engineering. I became a student member of IEEE in 2008. During October 2011-March 2012, I had worked at School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom. In addition, during a B.Eng. I had been a visiting research student at Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain for three months.\n\nI have published over 40 papers during 5 years in refereed journals, books, and conference proceedings in the areas of electro-physiological signals processing and classification, notably EMG and EOG signals, fractal analysis, wavelet analysis, texture analysis, feature extraction and machine learning algorithms, and assistive and rehabilitative devices. I have several computer programming language certificates, i.e. Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform 1.4 (SCJP), Microsoft Certified Professional Developer, Web Developer (MCPD), Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist, .NET Framework 2.0 Web (MCTS). I am a Reviewer for several refereed journals and international conferences, such as IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Optic Letters, Measurement Science Review, and also a member of the International Advisory Committee for 2012 IEEE Business Engineering and Industrial Applications and 2012 IEEE Symposium on Business, Engineering and Industrial Applications.",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"Joseph Fourier University",country:{name:"France"}}},{id:"55578",title:"Dr.",name:"Antonio",middleName:null,surname:"Jurado-Navas",slug:"antonio-jurado-navas",fullName:"Antonio Jurado-Navas",position:null,profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/55578/images/4574_n.png",biography:"Antonio Jurado-Navas received the M.S. degree (2002) and the Ph.D. degree (2009) in Telecommunication Engineering, both from the University of Málaga (Spain). He first worked as a consultant at Vodafone-Spain. From 2004 to 2011, he was a Research Assistant with the Communications Engineering Department at the University of Málaga. In 2011, he became an Assistant Professor in the same department. From 2012 to 2015, he was with Ericsson Spain, where he was working on geo-location\ntools for third generation mobile networks. Since 2015, he is a Marie-Curie fellow at the Denmark Technical University. His current research interests include the areas of mobile communication systems and channel modeling in addition to atmospheric optical communications, adaptive optics and statistics",institutionString:null,institution:{name:"University of Malaga",country:{name:"Spain"}}}],filtersByRegion:[{group:"region",caption:"North America",value:1,count:5775},{group:"region",caption:"Middle and South America",value:2,count:5238},{group:"region",caption:"Africa",value:3,count:1721},{group:"region",caption:"Asia",value:4,count:10409},{group:"region",caption:"Australia and Oceania",value:5,count:897},{group:"region",caption:"Europe",value:6,count:15805}],offset:12,limit:12,total:118374},chapterEmbeded:{data:{}},editorApplication:{success:null,errors:{}},ofsBooks:{filterParams:{hasNoEditors:"0",sort:"ebgfFaeGuveeFgfcChcyvfu"},books:[],filtersByTopic:[{group:"topic",caption:"Agricultural and Biological Sciences",value:5,count:18},{group:"topic",caption:"Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology",value:6,count:5},{group:"topic",caption:"Business, Management and Economics",value:7,count:2},{group:"topic",caption:"Chemistry",value:8,count:8},{group:"topic",caption:"Computer and Information Science",value:9,count:6},{group:"topic",caption:"Earth and Planetary Sciences",value:10,count:7},{group:"topic",caption:"Engineering",value:11,count:20},{group:"topic",caption:"Environmental Sciences",value:12,count:2},{group:"topic",caption:"Immunology and Microbiology",value:13,count:4},{group:"topic",caption:"Materials Science",value:14,count:5},{group:"topic",caption:"Mathematics",value:15,count:1},{group:"topic",caption:"Medicine",value:16,count:26},{group:"topic",caption:"Neuroscience",value:18,count:2},{group:"topic",caption:"Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science",value:19,count:3},{group:"topic",caption:"Physics",value:20,count:3},{group:"topic",caption:"Psychology",value:21,count:4},{group:"topic",caption:"Robotics",value:22,count:1},{group:"topic",caption:"Social Sciences",value:23,count:3},{group:"topic",caption:"Technology",value:24,count:1},{group:"topic",caption:"Veterinary Medicine and Science",value:25,count:1}],offset:0,limit:12,total:null},popularBooks:{featuredBooks:[{type:"book",id:"9521",title:"Antimicrobial Resistance",subtitle:"A One Health Perspective",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"30949e78832e1afba5606634b52056ab",slug:"antimicrobial-resistance-a-one-health-perspective",bookSignature:"Mihai Mareș, Swee Hua Erin Lim, Kok-Song Lai and Romeo-Teodor Cristina",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9521.jpg",editors:[{id:"88785",title:"Prof.",name:"Mihai",middleName:null,surname:"Mares",slug:"mihai-mares",fullName:"Mihai Mares"}],equalEditorOne:{id:"190224",title:"Dr.",name:"Swee Hua Erin",middleName:null,surname:"Lim",slug:"swee-hua-erin-lim",fullName:"Swee Hua Erin Lim",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/190224/images/system/190224.png",biography:"Dr. Erin Lim is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi Women\\'s College, Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and is affiliated as an Associate Professor to Perdana University-Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Selangor, Malaysia. She obtained her Ph.D. from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2010 with a National Science Fellowship awarded from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia and has been actively involved in research ever since. Her main research interests include analysis of carriage and transmission of multidrug resistant bacteria in non-conventional settings, besides an interest in natural products for antimicrobial testing. She is heavily involved in the elucidation of mechanisms of reversal of resistance in bacteria in addition to investigating the immunological analyses of diseases, development of vaccination and treatment models in animals. She hopes her work will support the discovery of therapeutics in the clinical setting and assist in the combat against the burden of antibiotic resistance.",institutionString:"Abu Dhabi Women’s College",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"3",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"Perdana University",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Malaysia"}}},equalEditorTwo:{id:"221544",title:"Dr.",name:"Kok-Song",middleName:null,surname:"Lai",slug:"kok-song-lai",fullName:"Kok-Song Lai",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/221544/images/system/221544.jpeg",biography:"Dr. Lai Kok Song is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi Women\\'s College, Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan in 2012. Prior to his academic appointment, Dr. Lai worked as a Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia. His current research areas include antimicrobial resistance and plant-pathogen interaction. His particular interest lies in the study of the antimicrobial mechanism via membrane disruption of essential oils against multi-drug resistance bacteria through various biochemical, molecular and proteomic approaches. Ultimately, he hopes to uncover and determine novel biomarkers related to antibiotic resistance that can be developed into new therapeutic strategies.",institutionString:"Higher Colleges of Technology",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"8",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"Higher Colleges of Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"United Arab Emirates"}}},equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"10020",title:"Operations Management",subtitle:"Emerging Trend in the Digital Era",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"526f0dbdc7e4d85b82ce8383ab894b4c",slug:"operations-management-emerging-trend-in-the-digital-era",bookSignature:"Antonella Petrillo, Fabio De Felice, Germano Lambert-Torres and Erik Bonaldi",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10020.jpg",editors:[{id:"181603",title:"Dr.",name:"Antonella",middleName:null,surname:"Petrillo",slug:"antonella-petrillo",fullName:"Antonella Petrillo"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9560",title:"Creativity",subtitle:"A Force to Innovation",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"58f740bc17807d5d88d647c525857b11",slug:"creativity-a-force-to-innovation",bookSignature:"Pooja Jain",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9560.jpg",editors:[{id:"316765",title:"Dr.",name:"Pooja",middleName:null,surname:"Jain",slug:"pooja-jain",fullName:"Pooja Jain"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"10192",title:"Background and Management of Muscular Atrophy",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"eca24028d89912b5efea56e179dff089",slug:"background-and-management-of-muscular-atrophy",bookSignature:"Julianna Cseri",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10192.jpg",editors:[{id:"135579",title:"Dr.",name:"Julianna",middleName:null,surname:"Cseri",slug:"julianna-cseri",fullName:"Julianna Cseri"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9243",title:"Coastal Environments",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"8e05e5f631e935eef366980f2e28295d",slug:"coastal-environments",bookSignature:"Yuanzhi Zhang and X. San Liang",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9243.jpg",editors:[{id:"77597",title:"Prof.",name:"Yuanzhi",middleName:null,surname:"Zhang",slug:"yuanzhi-zhang",fullName:"Yuanzhi Zhang"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9385",title:"Renewable Energy",subtitle:"Technologies and Applications",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"a6b446d19166f17f313008e6c056f3d8",slug:"renewable-energy-technologies-and-applications",bookSignature:"Tolga Taner, Archana Tiwari and Taha Selim Ustun",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9385.jpg",editors:[{id:"197240",title:"Associate Prof.",name:"Tolga",middleName:null,surname:"Taner",slug:"tolga-taner",fullName:"Tolga Taner"}],equalEditorOne:{id:"186791",title:"Dr.",name:"Archana",middleName:null,surname:"Tiwari",slug:"archana-tiwari",fullName:"Archana Tiwari",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/186791/images/system/186791.jpg",biography:"Dr. Archana Tiwari is Associate Professor at Amity University, India. Her research interests include renewable sources of energy from microalgae and further utilizing the residual biomass for the generation of value-added products, bioremediation through microalgae and microbial consortium, antioxidative enzymes and stress, and nutraceuticals from microalgae. She has been working on algal biotechnology for the last two decades. She has published her research in many international journals and has authored many books and chapters with renowned publishing houses. She has also delivered talks as an invited speaker at many national and international conferences. Dr. Tiwari is the recipient of several awards including Researcher of the Year and Distinguished Scientist.",institutionString:"Amity University",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"3",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"1",institution:{name:"Amity University",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"India"}}},equalEditorTwo:{id:"197609",title:"Prof.",name:"Taha Selim",middleName:null,surname:"Ustun",slug:"taha-selim-ustun",fullName:"Taha Selim Ustun",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/197609/images/system/197609.jpeg",biography:"Dr. Taha Selim Ustun received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. He is a researcher with the Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST (FREA), where he leads the Smart Grid Cybersecurity Laboratory. Prior to that, he was a faculty member with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. His current research interests include power systems protection, communication in power networks, distributed generation, microgrids, electric vehicle integration, and cybersecurity in smart grids. He serves on the editorial boards of IEEE Access, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Energies, Electronics, Electricity, World Electric Vehicle and Information journals. Dr. Ustun is a member of the IEEE 2004 and 2800, IEC Renewable Energy Management WG 8, and IEC TC 57 WG17. He has been invited to run specialist courses in Africa, India, and China. He has delivered talks for the Qatar Foundation, the World Energy Council, the Waterloo Global Science Initiative, and the European Union Energy Initiative (EUEI). His research has attracted funding from prestigious programs in Japan, Australia, the European Union, and North America.",institutionString:"Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST (FREA)",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"1",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Japan"}}},equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"8985",title:"Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"5c2e219a6c021a40b5a20c041dea88c4",slug:"natural-resources-management-and-biological-sciences",bookSignature:"Edward R. Rhodes and Humood Naser",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/8985.jpg",editors:[{id:"280886",title:"Prof.",name:"Edward R",middleName:null,surname:"Rhodes",slug:"edward-r-rhodes",fullName:"Edward R Rhodes"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"10065",title:"Wavelet Theory",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"d8868e332169597ba2182d9b004d60de",slug:"wavelet-theory",bookSignature:"Somayeh Mohammady",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10065.jpg",editors:[{id:"109280",title:"Dr.",name:"Somayeh",middleName:null,surname:"Mohammady",slug:"somayeh-mohammady",fullName:"Somayeh Mohammady"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9644",title:"Glaciers and the Polar Environment",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"e8cfdc161794e3753ced54e6ff30873b",slug:"glaciers-and-the-polar-environment",bookSignature:"Masaki Kanao, Danilo Godone and Niccolò Dematteis",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9644.jpg",editors:[{id:"51959",title:"Dr.",name:"Masaki",middleName:null,surname:"Kanao",slug:"masaki-kanao",fullName:"Masaki Kanao"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9550",title:"Entrepreneurship",subtitle:"Contemporary Issues",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"9b4ac1ee5b743abf6f88495452b1e5e7",slug:"entrepreneurship-contemporary-issues",bookSignature:"Mladen Turuk",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9550.jpg",editors:[{id:"319755",title:"Prof.",name:"Mladen",middleName:null,surname:"Turuk",slug:"mladen-turuk",fullName:"Mladen Turuk"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9027",title:"Human Blood Group Systems and Haemoglobinopathies",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"d00d8e40b11cfb2547d1122866531c7e",slug:"human-blood-group-systems-and-haemoglobinopathies",bookSignature:"Osaro Erhabor and Anjana Munshi",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9027.jpg",editors:[{id:"35140",title:null,name:"Osaro",middleName:null,surname:"Erhabor",slug:"osaro-erhabor",fullName:"Osaro Erhabor"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"8558",title:"Aerodynamics",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"db7263fc198dfb539073ba0260a7f1aa",slug:"aerodynamics",bookSignature:"Mofid Gorji-Bandpy and Aly-Mousaad Aly",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/8558.jpg",editors:[{id:"35542",title:"Prof.",name:"Mofid",middleName:null,surname:"Gorji-Bandpy",slug:"mofid-gorji-bandpy",fullName:"Mofid Gorji-Bandpy"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}}],offset:12,limit:12,total:5247},hotBookTopics:{hotBooks:[],offset:0,limit:12,total:null},publish:{},publishingProposal:{success:null,errors:{}},books:{featuredBooks:[{type:"book",id:"9521",title:"Antimicrobial Resistance",subtitle:"A One Health Perspective",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"30949e78832e1afba5606634b52056ab",slug:"antimicrobial-resistance-a-one-health-perspective",bookSignature:"Mihai Mareș, Swee Hua Erin Lim, Kok-Song Lai and Romeo-Teodor Cristina",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9521.jpg",editors:[{id:"88785",title:"Prof.",name:"Mihai",middleName:null,surname:"Mares",slug:"mihai-mares",fullName:"Mihai Mares"}],equalEditorOne:{id:"190224",title:"Dr.",name:"Swee Hua Erin",middleName:null,surname:"Lim",slug:"swee-hua-erin-lim",fullName:"Swee Hua Erin Lim",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/190224/images/system/190224.png",biography:"Dr. Erin Lim is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi Women\\'s College, Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and is affiliated as an Associate Professor to Perdana University-Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Selangor, Malaysia. She obtained her Ph.D. from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2010 with a National Science Fellowship awarded from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia and has been actively involved in research ever since. Her main research interests include analysis of carriage and transmission of multidrug resistant bacteria in non-conventional settings, besides an interest in natural products for antimicrobial testing. She is heavily involved in the elucidation of mechanisms of reversal of resistance in bacteria in addition to investigating the immunological analyses of diseases, development of vaccination and treatment models in animals. She hopes her work will support the discovery of therapeutics in the clinical setting and assist in the combat against the burden of antibiotic resistance.",institutionString:"Abu Dhabi Women’s College",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"3",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"Perdana University",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Malaysia"}}},equalEditorTwo:{id:"221544",title:"Dr.",name:"Kok-Song",middleName:null,surname:"Lai",slug:"kok-song-lai",fullName:"Kok-Song Lai",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/221544/images/system/221544.jpeg",biography:"Dr. Lai Kok Song is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi Women\\'s College, Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan in 2012. Prior to his academic appointment, Dr. Lai worked as a Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia. His current research areas include antimicrobial resistance and plant-pathogen interaction. His particular interest lies in the study of the antimicrobial mechanism via membrane disruption of essential oils against multi-drug resistance bacteria through various biochemical, molecular and proteomic approaches. Ultimately, he hopes to uncover and determine novel biomarkers related to antibiotic resistance that can be developed into new therapeutic strategies.",institutionString:"Higher Colleges of Technology",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"8",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"Higher Colleges of Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"United Arab Emirates"}}},equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"10020",title:"Operations Management",subtitle:"Emerging Trend in the Digital Era",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"526f0dbdc7e4d85b82ce8383ab894b4c",slug:"operations-management-emerging-trend-in-the-digital-era",bookSignature:"Antonella Petrillo, Fabio De Felice, Germano Lambert-Torres and Erik Bonaldi",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10020.jpg",editors:[{id:"181603",title:"Dr.",name:"Antonella",middleName:null,surname:"Petrillo",slug:"antonella-petrillo",fullName:"Antonella Petrillo"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9560",title:"Creativity",subtitle:"A Force to Innovation",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"58f740bc17807d5d88d647c525857b11",slug:"creativity-a-force-to-innovation",bookSignature:"Pooja Jain",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9560.jpg",editors:[{id:"316765",title:"Dr.",name:"Pooja",middleName:null,surname:"Jain",slug:"pooja-jain",fullName:"Pooja Jain"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"10192",title:"Background and Management of Muscular Atrophy",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"eca24028d89912b5efea56e179dff089",slug:"background-and-management-of-muscular-atrophy",bookSignature:"Julianna Cseri",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10192.jpg",editors:[{id:"135579",title:"Dr.",name:"Julianna",middleName:null,surname:"Cseri",slug:"julianna-cseri",fullName:"Julianna Cseri"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9243",title:"Coastal Environments",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"8e05e5f631e935eef366980f2e28295d",slug:"coastal-environments",bookSignature:"Yuanzhi Zhang and X. San Liang",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9243.jpg",editors:[{id:"77597",title:"Prof.",name:"Yuanzhi",middleName:null,surname:"Zhang",slug:"yuanzhi-zhang",fullName:"Yuanzhi Zhang"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9385",title:"Renewable Energy",subtitle:"Technologies and Applications",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"a6b446d19166f17f313008e6c056f3d8",slug:"renewable-energy-technologies-and-applications",bookSignature:"Tolga Taner, Archana Tiwari and Taha Selim Ustun",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9385.jpg",editors:[{id:"197240",title:"Associate Prof.",name:"Tolga",middleName:null,surname:"Taner",slug:"tolga-taner",fullName:"Tolga Taner"}],equalEditorOne:{id:"186791",title:"Dr.",name:"Archana",middleName:null,surname:"Tiwari",slug:"archana-tiwari",fullName:"Archana Tiwari",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/186791/images/system/186791.jpg",biography:"Dr. Archana Tiwari is Associate Professor at Amity University, India. Her research interests include renewable sources of energy from microalgae and further utilizing the residual biomass for the generation of value-added products, bioremediation through microalgae and microbial consortium, antioxidative enzymes and stress, and nutraceuticals from microalgae. She has been working on algal biotechnology for the last two decades. She has published her research in many international journals and has authored many books and chapters with renowned publishing houses. She has also delivered talks as an invited speaker at many national and international conferences. Dr. Tiwari is the recipient of several awards including Researcher of the Year and Distinguished Scientist.",institutionString:"Amity University",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"3",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"1",institution:{name:"Amity University",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"India"}}},equalEditorTwo:{id:"197609",title:"Prof.",name:"Taha Selim",middleName:null,surname:"Ustun",slug:"taha-selim-ustun",fullName:"Taha Selim Ustun",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/197609/images/system/197609.jpeg",biography:"Dr. Taha Selim Ustun received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. He is a researcher with the Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST (FREA), where he leads the Smart Grid Cybersecurity Laboratory. Prior to that, he was a faculty member with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. His current research interests include power systems protection, communication in power networks, distributed generation, microgrids, electric vehicle integration, and cybersecurity in smart grids. He serves on the editorial boards of IEEE Access, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Energies, Electronics, Electricity, World Electric Vehicle and Information journals. Dr. Ustun is a member of the IEEE 2004 and 2800, IEC Renewable Energy Management WG 8, and IEC TC 57 WG17. He has been invited to run specialist courses in Africa, India, and China. He has delivered talks for the Qatar Foundation, the World Energy Council, the Waterloo Global Science Initiative, and the European Union Energy Initiative (EUEI). His research has attracted funding from prestigious programs in Japan, Australia, the European Union, and North America.",institutionString:"Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, AIST (FREA)",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"1",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Japan"}}},equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"8985",title:"Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"5c2e219a6c021a40b5a20c041dea88c4",slug:"natural-resources-management-and-biological-sciences",bookSignature:"Edward R. Rhodes and Humood Naser",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/8985.jpg",editors:[{id:"280886",title:"Prof.",name:"Edward R",middleName:null,surname:"Rhodes",slug:"edward-r-rhodes",fullName:"Edward R Rhodes"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"10065",title:"Wavelet Theory",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"d8868e332169597ba2182d9b004d60de",slug:"wavelet-theory",bookSignature:"Somayeh Mohammady",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10065.jpg",editors:[{id:"109280",title:"Dr.",name:"Somayeh",middleName:null,surname:"Mohammady",slug:"somayeh-mohammady",fullName:"Somayeh Mohammady"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9644",title:"Glaciers and the Polar Environment",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"e8cfdc161794e3753ced54e6ff30873b",slug:"glaciers-and-the-polar-environment",bookSignature:"Masaki Kanao, Danilo Godone and Niccolò Dematteis",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9644.jpg",editors:[{id:"51959",title:"Dr.",name:"Masaki",middleName:null,surname:"Kanao",slug:"masaki-kanao",fullName:"Masaki Kanao"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}},{type:"book",id:"9550",title:"Entrepreneurship",subtitle:"Contemporary Issues",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"9b4ac1ee5b743abf6f88495452b1e5e7",slug:"entrepreneurship-contemporary-issues",bookSignature:"Mladen Turuk",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9550.jpg",editors:[{id:"319755",title:"Prof.",name:"Mladen",middleName:null,surname:"Turuk",slug:"mladen-turuk",fullName:"Mladen Turuk"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}}],latestBooks:[{type:"book",id:"9243",title:"Coastal Environments",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"8e05e5f631e935eef366980f2e28295d",slug:"coastal-environments",bookSignature:"Yuanzhi Zhang and X. San Liang",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9243.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"77597",title:"Prof.",name:"Yuanzhi",middleName:null,surname:"Zhang",slug:"yuanzhi-zhang",fullName:"Yuanzhi Zhang"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"10020",title:"Operations Management",subtitle:"Emerging Trend in the Digital Era",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"526f0dbdc7e4d85b82ce8383ab894b4c",slug:"operations-management-emerging-trend-in-the-digital-era",bookSignature:"Antonella Petrillo, Fabio De Felice, Germano Lambert-Torres and Erik Bonaldi",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10020.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"181603",title:"Dr.",name:"Antonella",middleName:null,surname:"Petrillo",slug:"antonella-petrillo",fullName:"Antonella Petrillo"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9521",title:"Antimicrobial Resistance",subtitle:"A One Health Perspective",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"30949e78832e1afba5606634b52056ab",slug:"antimicrobial-resistance-a-one-health-perspective",bookSignature:"Mihai Mareș, Swee Hua Erin Lim, Kok-Song Lai and Romeo-Teodor Cristina",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9521.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"88785",title:"Prof.",name:"Mihai",middleName:null,surname:"Mares",slug:"mihai-mares",fullName:"Mihai Mares"}],equalEditorOne:{id:"190224",title:"Dr.",name:"Swee Hua Erin",middleName:null,surname:"Lim",slug:"swee-hua-erin-lim",fullName:"Swee Hua Erin Lim",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/190224/images/system/190224.png",biography:"Dr. Erin Lim is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi Women\\'s College, Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and is affiliated as an Associate Professor to Perdana University-Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Selangor, Malaysia. She obtained her Ph.D. from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2010 with a National Science Fellowship awarded from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia and has been actively involved in research ever since. Her main research interests include analysis of carriage and transmission of multidrug resistant bacteria in non-conventional settings, besides an interest in natural products for antimicrobial testing. She is heavily involved in the elucidation of mechanisms of reversal of resistance in bacteria in addition to investigating the immunological analyses of diseases, development of vaccination and treatment models in animals. She hopes her work will support the discovery of therapeutics in the clinical setting and assist in the combat against the burden of antibiotic resistance.",institutionString:"Abu Dhabi Women’s College",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"3",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"Perdana University",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"Malaysia"}}},equalEditorTwo:{id:"221544",title:"Dr.",name:"Kok-Song",middleName:null,surname:"Lai",slug:"kok-song-lai",fullName:"Kok-Song Lai",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/221544/images/system/221544.jpeg",biography:"Dr. Lai Kok Song is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi Women\\'s College, Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan in 2012. Prior to his academic appointment, Dr. Lai worked as a Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia. His current research areas include antimicrobial resistance and plant-pathogen interaction. His particular interest lies in the study of the antimicrobial mechanism via membrane disruption of essential oils against multi-drug resistance bacteria through various biochemical, molecular and proteomic approaches. Ultimately, he hopes to uncover and determine novel biomarkers related to antibiotic resistance that can be developed into new therapeutic strategies.",institutionString:"Higher Colleges of Technology",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"8",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"0",institution:{name:"Higher Colleges of Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"United Arab Emirates"}}},equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9560",title:"Creativity",subtitle:"A Force to Innovation",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"58f740bc17807d5d88d647c525857b11",slug:"creativity-a-force-to-innovation",bookSignature:"Pooja Jain",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9560.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"316765",title:"Dr.",name:"Pooja",middleName:null,surname:"Jain",slug:"pooja-jain",fullName:"Pooja Jain"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9669",title:"Recent Advances in Rice Research",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"12b06cc73e89af1e104399321cc16a75",slug:"recent-advances-in-rice-research",bookSignature:"Mahmood-ur- Rahman Ansari",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9669.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"185476",title:"Dr.",name:"Mahmood-Ur-",middleName:null,surname:"Rahman Ansari",slug:"mahmood-ur-rahman-ansari",fullName:"Mahmood-Ur- Rahman Ansari"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"10192",title:"Background and Management of Muscular Atrophy",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"eca24028d89912b5efea56e179dff089",slug:"background-and-management-of-muscular-atrophy",bookSignature:"Julianna Cseri",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10192.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"135579",title:"Dr.",name:"Julianna",middleName:null,surname:"Cseri",slug:"julianna-cseri",fullName:"Julianna Cseri"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9550",title:"Entrepreneurship",subtitle:"Contemporary Issues",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"9b4ac1ee5b743abf6f88495452b1e5e7",slug:"entrepreneurship-contemporary-issues",bookSignature:"Mladen Turuk",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9550.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"319755",title:"Prof.",name:"Mladen",middleName:null,surname:"Turuk",slug:"mladen-turuk",fullName:"Mladen Turuk"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"10065",title:"Wavelet Theory",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"d8868e332169597ba2182d9b004d60de",slug:"wavelet-theory",bookSignature:"Somayeh Mohammady",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10065.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"109280",title:"Dr.",name:"Somayeh",middleName:null,surname:"Mohammady",slug:"somayeh-mohammady",fullName:"Somayeh Mohammady"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9313",title:"Clay Science and Technology",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"6fa7e70396ff10620e032bb6cfa6fb72",slug:"clay-science-and-technology",bookSignature:"Gustavo Morari Do Nascimento",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9313.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"7153",title:"Prof.",name:"Gustavo",middleName:null,surname:"Morari Do Nascimento",slug:"gustavo-morari-do-nascimento",fullName:"Gustavo Morari Do Nascimento"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}},{type:"book",id:"9888",title:"Nuclear Power Plants",subtitle:"The Processes from the Cradle to the Grave",isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:"c2c8773e586f62155ab8221ebb72a849",slug:"nuclear-power-plants-the-processes-from-the-cradle-to-the-grave",bookSignature:"Nasser Awwad",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/9888.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"145209",title:"Prof.",name:"Nasser",middleName:"S",surname:"Awwad",slug:"nasser-awwad",fullName:"Nasser Awwad"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}}]},subject:{topic:{id:"1248",title:"Autonomous Robot",slug:"aerial-robotics-autonomous-robot",parent:{title:"Aerial Robotics",slug:"aerial-robotics"},numberOfBooks:1,numberOfAuthorsAndEditors:1,numberOfWosCitations:73,numberOfCrossrefCitations:36,numberOfDimensionsCitations:61,videoUrl:null,fallbackUrl:null,description:null},booksByTopicFilter:{topicSlug:"aerial-robotics-autonomous-robot",sort:"-publishedDate",limit:12,offset:0},booksByTopicCollection:[{type:"book",id:"3602",title:"Robotic Soccer",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!1,hash:null,slug:"robotic_soccer",bookSignature:"Pedro Lima",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/3602.jpg",editedByType:"Edited by",editors:[{id:"78836",title:"Dr.",name:"Pedro U.",middleName:null,surname:"Lima",slug:"pedro-u.-lima",fullName:"Pedro U. Lima"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter",authoredCaption:"Edited by"}}],booksByTopicTotal:1,mostCitedChapters:[{id:"526",doi:"10.5772/5130",title:"FC Portugal - High-Level Coordination Methodologies in Soccer Robotics",slug:"fc_portugal_-_high-level_coordination_methodologies_in_soccer_robotics",totalDownloads:2095,totalCrossrefCites:8,totalDimensionsCites:16,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Nuno Lau and Luis Paulo Reis",authors:null},{id:"543",doi:"10.5772/5147",title:"RoboCup@Home: Creating and Benchmarking Tomorrows Service Robot Applications",slug:"robocup_home__creating_and_benchmarking_tomorrows_service_robot_applications",totalDownloads:1798,totalCrossrefCites:14,totalDimensionsCites:16,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Tijn van der Zant and Thomas Wisspeintner",authors:null},{id:"530",doi:"10.5772/5134",title:"Task Management for Soft Real-Time Applications Based on General Purpose Operating Systems",slug:"task_management_for_soft_real-time_applications_based_on_general_purpose_operating_systems",totalDownloads:2174,totalCrossrefCites:7,totalDimensionsCites:10,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Paulo Pedreiras and Luis Almeida",authors:null}],mostDownloadedChaptersLast30Days:[{id:"520",title:"Non-Monotonic Reasoning on Board a Sony AIBO",slug:"non-monotonic_reasoning_on_board_a_sony_aibo",totalDownloads:1939,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:3,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"David Billington, Vladimir Estivill-Castro, Rene Hexel and Andrew Rock",authors:null},{id:"526",title:"FC Portugal - High-Level Coordination Methodologies in Soccer Robotics",slug:"fc_portugal_-_high-level_coordination_methodologies_in_soccer_robotics",totalDownloads:2094,totalCrossrefCites:8,totalDimensionsCites:16,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Nuno Lau and Luis Paulo Reis",authors:null},{id:"521",title:"Color Classification and Object Recognition for Robot Soccer Under Variable Illumination",slug:"color_classification_and_object_recognition_for_robot_soccer_under_variable_illumination",totalDownloads:2309,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:2,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Nathan Lovell and Vladimir Estivill-Castro",authors:null},{id:"531",title:"Integrating Autonomous Behaviour and Team Coordination into an Embedded Architecture",slug:"integrating_autonomous_behaviour_and_team_coordination_into_an_embedded_architecture",totalDownloads:1860,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:1,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Bernd Kleinjohann, Lisa Kleinjohann, Willi Richert and Claudius Stern",authors:null},{id:"544",title:"VolksBot - A Construction Kit for Multi-Purpose Robot Prototyping",slug:"volksbot_-_a_construction_kit_for_multi-purpose_robot_prototyping",totalDownloads:3307,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Thomas Wisspeintner and Walter Nowak",authors:null},{id:"546",title:"The Robotic Water Polo and Underwater Robot Cooperation Involved in the Game",slug:"the_robotic_water_polo_and_underwater_robot_cooperation_involved_in_the_game",totalDownloads:2850,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:1,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Zhang Lee, Guangming Xie, Dandan Zhang and Jinyan Shao",authors:null},{id:"530",title:"Task Management for Soft Real-Time Applications Based on General Purpose Operating Systems",slug:"task_management_for_soft_real-time_applications_based_on_general_purpose_operating_systems",totalDownloads:2173,totalCrossrefCites:7,totalDimensionsCites:10,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Paulo Pedreiras and Luis Almeida",authors:null},{id:"536",title:"Event-driven Hybrid Classifier Systems and Online Learning for Soccer Game Strategies",slug:"event-driven_hybrid_classifier_systems_and_online_learning_for_soccer_game_strategies",totalDownloads:1881,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Yuji Sato",authors:null},{id:"545",title:"Collaborative Localization and Gait Optimization of SharPKUngfu Team",slug:"collaborative_localization_and_gait_optimization_of_sharpkungfu_team",totalDownloads:1668,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:1,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Qining Wang, Chunxia Rong, Guangming Xie and Long Wang",authors:null},{id:"524",title:"Simulated Environment in Robot Soccer",slug:"simulated_environment_in_robot_soccer",totalDownloads:2292,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,book:{slug:"robotic_soccer",title:"Robotic Soccer",fullTitle:"Robotic Soccer"},signatures:"Gregor Klancar and Rihard Karba",authors:null}],onlineFirstChaptersFilter:{topicSlug:"aerial-robotics-autonomous-robot",limit:3,offset:0},onlineFirstChaptersCollection:[],onlineFirstChaptersTotal:0},preDownload:{success:null,errors:{}},aboutIntechopen:{},privacyPolicy:{},peerReviewing:{},howOpenAccessPublishingWithIntechopenWorks:{},sponsorshipBooks:{sponsorshipBooks:[{type:"book",id:"10176",title:"Microgrids and Local Energy Systems",subtitle:null,isOpenForSubmission:!0,hash:"c32b4a5351a88f263074b0d0ca813a9c",slug:null,bookSignature:"Prof. Nick Jenkins",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/10176.jpg",editedByType:null,editors:[{id:"55219",title:"Prof.",name:"Nick",middleName:null,surname:"Jenkins",slug:"nick-jenkins",fullName:"Nick Jenkins"}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,productType:{id:"1",chapterContentType:"chapter"}}],offset:8,limit:8,total:1},route:{name:"profile.detail",path:"/profiles/158521/akiko-takatsu",hash:"",query:{},params:{id:"158521",slug:"akiko-takatsu"},fullPath:"/profiles/158521/akiko-takatsu",meta:{},from:{name:null,path:"/",hash:"",query:{},params:{},fullPath:"/",meta:{}}}},function(){var e;(e=document.currentScript||document.scripts[document.scripts.length-1]).parentNode.removeChild(e)}()