Yes. It's an automatic vent opener but it doesn't look like its set correctly.
The long arm with all the holes in is the adjuster. Most of the ram, the shiny bar connected to it, should be inside its housing cylinder when the window is closed and its cold.
When the cylinder heats up, the (usually wax) filling heats up and expands pushing the ram out and forces the window open. As it cools down the cylinder cools the filling contracts and the weight of the window forces the ram back into the cylinder and it closes.
There is actually very little that can go wrong with them as long as they're not rusty and from the picture I suspect your's will work fine once adjusted correctly.
