Search results for ""Springer International Publishing""

This book provides the reader with up-to-date information on important advances in the understanding of breast cancer and innovative approaches to its management. Current and emerging perspectives on genetics, biology, and prevention are first discussed in depth, and individual sections are then devoted to pathology, imaging, oncological surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, medical oncology, and radiotherapy. In each case the focus is on the most recent progress and/or state of the art therapies and techniques. Further topics to receive detailed consideration include particular conditions requiring multidisciplinary approaches, the investigation of new drugs and immunological agents, lifestyle and psychological aspects, and biostatistics and informatics. The book will be an excellent reference for practitioners, interns and residents in medical oncology, oncologic surgery, radiotherapy, pathology, and human genetics, researchers, and advanced medical students.

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In this book I argue for an approach that conceives human rights as both moral and legal rights. The merit of such an approach is its capacity to understand human rights more in terms of the kind of world free and reasonable beings would like to live in rather than simply in terms of what each individual is legally entitled to. While I acknowledge that every human being has the moral entitlement to be granted living conditions that are conducive to a dignified life, I maintain, at the same time, that the moral and legal aspects of human rights are complementary and should be given equal weight. The legal aspect compensates for the limitations of moral human rights the observance of which depends on the conscience of the individual, and the moral aspect tempers the mechanical and inhumane application of the law. Unlike the traditional or orthodox approach, which conceives human rights as rights that individuals have by virtue of their humanity, and the political or practical approach, which understands human rights as legal rights that are meant to limit the sovereignty of the state, the moral-legal approach reconciles law and morality in human rights discourse and underlines the importance of a legal framework that compensates for the deficiencies in the implementation of moral human rights. It not only challenges the exclusively negative approach to fundamental liberties but also emphasizes the necessity of an enforcement mechanism that helps those who are not morally motivated to refrain from violating the rights of others. Without the legal mechanism of enforcement, the understanding of human rights would be reduced to simply framing moral claims against injustices. From the moral-legal approach, the protection of human rights is understood as a common and shared responsibility. Such a responsibility goes beyond the boundaries of nation-states and requires the establishment of a cosmopolitan human rights regime based on the conviction that all human beings are members of a community of fate and that they share common values which transcend the limits of their individual states. In a cosmopolitan human rights regime, people are protected as persons and not as citizens of a particular state.

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The aim of the book is to present original and though-provoking essays in human paleontology and prehistory, which are at the forefront of human evolutionary research, in honor of Professor Yoel Rak (a leading scholar in paleoanthropology).​ ​The volume presents a collection of original papers contributed by many of Yoel's friends and colleagues from all over the globe. Contributions from experts around the globe fall roughly into three broad categories: Reflections on some of the broad theoretical questions of evolution, and especially about human evolution; the early hominins, with special emphasis on Australopithecus afarensis and Paranthropus; and the Neanderthals, that contentious group of our closest extinct relatives. Within and across these categories, nearly every paper addresses combinations of methodological, analytical and theoretical questions that are pertinent to the whole human evolutionary time span. This book will appeal most to scholars and advanced students in paleoanthropology, human paleontology and prehistoric archaeology.

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This fifth edition provides information on techniques needed to analyze foods for chemical and physical properties. The book is ideal for undergraduate courses in food analysis and is also an invaluable reference to professionals in the food industry. General information chapters on regulations, labeling, sampling, and data handling provide background information for chapters on specific methods to determine chemical composition and characteristics, physical properties, and objectionable matter and constituents. Methods of analysis covered include information on the basic principles, advantages, limitations, and applications. Sections on spectroscopy and chromatography along with chapters on techniques such as immunoassays, thermal analysis, and microscopy from the perspective of their use in food analysis have been expanded. Instructors who adopt the textbook can contact the editor for access to a website with related teaching materials.

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This book gives a unified presentation of the research performed in the field of multiscale modelling in sheet metal forming over the course of more than thirty years by the members of six teams from internationally acclaimed universities. The first chapter is devoted to the presentation of some recent phenomenological yield criteria (BBC 2005 and BBC 2008) developed at the CERTETA center from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. An overview on the crystallographic texture and plastic anisotropy is presented in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is dedicated to multiscale modelling of plastic anisotropy. The authors describe a new hierarchical multi-scale framework that allows taking into account the evolution of plastic anisotropy during sheet forming processes. Chapter 4 is focused on modelling the evolution of voids in porous metals with applications to forming limit curves and ductile fracture. The chapter details the steps needed for the development of dissipation functions and Gurson-type models for non-quadratic anisotropic plasticity criteria like BBC 2005 and those based on linear transformations. Chapter 5 describes advanced models for the prediction of forming limit curves developed by the authors. Chapter 6 is devoted to anisotropic damage in elasto-plastic materials with structural defects. Finally, Chapter 7 deals with modelling of the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect. This volume contains contributions from leading researchers from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Clausthal University of Technology, Germany, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran, the University of Bucharest, Romania, and the Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy, Romania. It will prove useful to postgraduate students, researchers and engineers who are interested in the mechanical modeling and numerical simulation of sheet metal forming processes.

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This multi-disciplinary collection brings together work by scholars from Britain, America and Canada on the popular, personal and institutional histories of pregnancy. It follows the process of reproduction from conception and contraception, to birth and parenthood. The contributors explore several key themes: narratives of pregnancy and birth, the patient-consumer, and literary representations of childbearing. This book explores how these issues have been constructed, represented and experienced in a range of geographical locations from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Crossing the boundary between the pre-modern and modern worlds, the chapters reveal the continuities, similarities and differences in understanding a process that is often, in the popular mind-set, considered to be fundamental and unchanging.

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This book will cover several topics to elaborate how proteomics may enhance agricultural productivity. These include crop and food proteomics, farm animal proteomics, aquaculture, microorganisms and insect proteomics. It will also cover several technical advances, which may address the current need for comprehensive proteome analysis.An emerging field of the proteomics aim is to integrate knowledge from basic sciences and to translate it into agricultural applications to solve issues related to economic values of farm animals, crops, food security, health, and energy sustainability. Given the wealth of information generated and to some extent applied in agriculture, there is the need for more efficient and broader channels to freely disseminate the information to the scientific community.

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This book sheds light on cross-industry and industry-specific trends in today’s digital economy. Prepared by a group of international researchers, experts and practitioners under the auspices of SAP’s Digital Thought Leadership & Enablement team within SAP’s Business Transformation Services (BTS) unit, the book furthermore presents relevant use cases in digital transformation and innovation. The book argues that breakthrough technologies have matured and hit scale together, enabling five defining trends: hyper-connectivity, supercomputing, cloud computing, a smarter world, and cyber security. It presents in detail how companies are now reimagining their products and services, business models and processes, showcasing how every business today is a digital business. Digitalization, defined as the process of moving to a digital business, is no longer a choice but an imperative for all businesses across all industries and regions. Taking a step toward becoming a digital enterprise is demanding and challenging. The dimensions of customer centricity, leadership and strategy, business models, including offerings (products and services), processes, structure and governance, people and skills, culture, and technology foundation can serve as orientation for digitalization. The articles in this book touch on all dimensions of this digital innovation and transformation framework and offer possible answers to some of the pressing questions that arise when practitioners seek to digitalize their business.

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This is the first textbook on a generally applicable control strategy for turbulence and other complex nonlinear systems. The approach of the book employs powerful methods of machine learning for optimal nonlinear control laws. This machine learning control (MLC) is motivated and detailed in Chapters 1 and 2. In Chapter 3, methods of linear control theory are reviewed. In Chapter 4, MLC is shown to reproduce known optimal control laws for linear dynamics (LQR, LQG). In Chapter 5, MLC detects and exploits a strongly nonlinear actuation mechanism of a low-dimensional dynamical system when linear control methods are shown to fail. Experimental control demonstrations from a laminar shear-layer to turbulent boundary-layers are reviewed in Chapter 6, followed by general good practices for experiments in Chapter 7. The book concludes with an outlook on the vast future applications of MLC in Chapter 8. Matlab codes are provided for easy reproducibility of the presented results. The book includes interviews with leading researchers in turbulence control (S. Bagheri, B. Batten, M. Glauser, D. Williams) and machine learning (M. Schoenauer) for a broader perspective. All chapters have exercises and supplemental videos will be available through YouTube.

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This book provides semester-length coverage of electronics for embedded systems, covering most common analog and digital circuit-related issues encountered while designing embedded system hardware. It is written for students and young professionals who have basic circuit theory background and want to learn more about passive circuits, diode and bipolar transistor circuits, the state-of-the-art CMOS logic family and its interface with older logic families such as TTL, sensors and sensor physics, operational amplifier circuits to condition sensor signals, data converters and various circuits used in electro-mechanical device control in embedded systems. The book also provides numerous hardware design examples by integrating the topics learned in earlier chapters. The last chapter extensively reviews the combinational and sequential logic design principles to be able to design the digital part of embedded system hardware.

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The book provides an overview of the floods and major hydrological changes that occurred in the medieval Hungarian kingdom (covering the majority of the Carpathian Basin) between 1000 and 1500 AD. The analysis was based on contemporary documentary evidence presented for the first time and the results of archaeological and scientific investigations. Beyond the evidence on individual flood events, the book includes a comprehensive overview of short-, medium-, and long-term changes detected in a hydrologically sensitive environment during the transition period between the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. It also discusses the possible causes (including climate and human intervention) and the consequences for the physical and human environment, namely the related hydro-morphological changes, short- and long-term social response, and human perception issues.

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In this book, leading world authorities on brain edema and neurological disorders/injuries and experts in preconditioning join forces to discuss the latest progress in basic sciences, translational research, and clinical management strategies relating to these conditions. The range of topics covered is wide, including microglia, energy metabolism, trace metals and ion channels, vascular biology, cellular treatment, hemorrhagic stroke, novel technological advances, anesthesia and medical gases, pediatric brain edema, neuroimaging, behavioral assessment, clinical trials, peripheral to central signaling pathways, preconditioning translation, and animal models for preconditioning and brain edema research. The book comprises presentations from Brain Edema 2014, the joint meeting of the 16th International Conference on Brain Edema and Cellular Injury and the 3rd Symposium on Preconditioning for Neurological Disorders, held in Los Angeles on September 27–30, 2014.

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This book provides a comprehensive view of rational suicide in the elderly, a group that has nearly twice the rate of suicide when chronically ill than any other demographic. Its frame of reference does not endorse a single point-of-view about the legitimacy of rational suicide, which is evolving across societies with little guidance for geriatric mental health professionals. Instead, it serves as a resource for both those clinicians who agree that older people may rationally commit suicide and those who believe that this wish may require further assessment and treatment. The first chapters of the book provides an overview of rational suicide in the elderly, examining it through history and across cultures also addressing the special case of baby boomers. This book takes an ethical and philosophical look at whether suicide can truly be rational and whether the nearness of death in late-life adults means that suicide should be considered differently than in younger adults. Clinical criteria for rational suicide in the elderly are proposed in this book for the first time, as well as a guidelines for the psychosocial profile of an older adult who wants to commit rational suicide. Unlike any other book, this text examines the existential, psychological, and psychodynamic perspectives. A chapter on terminal mental illness and a consideration of suicide in that context and proposed interventions even without a diagnosable mental illness also plays a vital role in this book as these are key issues in within the question of suicide among the elderly. This book is the first to consider all preventative measures, including the spiritual as well as the psychotherapeutic, and pharmacologic. A commentary on modern society, aging, and rational suicide that ties all of these elements together, making this the ultimate guide for addressing suicide among the elderly.Rational Suicide in the Elderly is an excellent resource for all medical professionals with potentially suicidal patients, including geriatricians, geriatric and general psychiatrists, geriatric nurses, social workers, and public health officials.

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This book provides a comprehensive overview of the clinical phenomenon of pica. It focuses specifically on the disorder as it presents in children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disabilities (ID). Initial chapters introduce current theories and definitions, followed by a more detailed examination of how developmental disabilities complicate diagnosis and intervention. The volume describes evidence-based and clinically sound approaches to the treatment and prevention of pica in school and adult clinical settings, ranging from behavioral treatment to function-based interventions. In addition, it discusses common diagnostic, client, and provider issues that result in pica remaining undetected among individuals with ASD and ID.Featured topics include: Definition of pica in accessible terms, differentiating between various forms of the disorder. Issues and practical methods of prevention and treatment of pica in developmentally disabled persons. Functional and behavioral assessment methods for pica in individuals with ASD and ID. A range of effective behavioral and nonbehavioral treatments for pica. Illustrative cases and service delivery challenges. Areas for future research and practice. Pica in Individuals with Developmental Disabilities is an invaluable resource for researchers, clinicians and other professionals, and graduate students in clinical child and school psychology, behavior analysis/therapy, and social work as well as child and adolescent psychiatry, pediatrics, family studies, and special education.

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This book provides innovative practical suggestions regarding the production and management of medical records that are designed to address the inconsistencies and errors that have been highlighted especially in relation to national eHealth programs. Challenges and lessons that have emerged from the use of clinical information and the design of medical records are discussed, and principles underpinning the implementation of health IT are critically examined. New trends in the use of clinical data are explored in depth, with analysis of issues relating to integration and sharing of patient information, data visualization, big data analytics, and the requirements of modern electronic health records. The spirit pervading the book is one of co-production, in which the needs of practitioners are taken into account from the outset. Readers will learn the basic concepts of how clinical information emanating from the doctor–patient relationship can be effectively integrated with genetic and environmental data and analyzed by complex algorithms with the goal of improving medical decision making and patient care. The book, written by European experts and researchers, will be of interest to all stakeholders in the field, including doctors, technicians, and policy makers.

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This book provides a thorough background to the emerging field of medical robotics. It covers the mathematics needed to understand the use of robotic devices in medicine, including but not limited to robot kinematics, hand-eye and robot-world calibration, reconstruction, registration, motion planning, motion prediction, motion correlation, motion replication and motion learning. Additionally, basic methods behind state-of-the art robots like the DaVinci system, the CyberKnife, motorized C-arms and operating microscopes as well as stereotactic frames are presented. The book is a text book for undergraduates in computer science and engineering.The main idea of the book is to motivate the methods in robotics in medical applications rather than industrial applications. The book then follows the standard path for a robotics textbook. It is thus suitable for a first course in robotics for undergraduates. It is the first textbook on medical robotics.

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This book provides a narrative of how R can be useful in the analysis of public administration, public policy, and political science data specifically, in addition to the social sciences more broadly. It can serve as a textbook and reference manual for students and independent researchers who wish to use R for the first time or broaden their skill set with the program. While the book uses data drawn from political science, public administration, and policy analyses, it is written so that students and researchers in other fields should find it accessible and useful as well. By the end of the first seven chapters, an entry-level user should be well acquainted with how to use R as a traditional econometric software program. The remaining four chapters will begin to introduce the user to advanced techniques that R offers but many other programs do not make available such as how to use contributed libraries or write programs in R. The book details how to perform nearly every task routinely associated with statistical modeling: descriptive statistics, basic inferences, estimating common models, and conducting regression diagnostics. For the intermediate or advanced reader, the book aims to open up the wide array of sophisticated methods options that R makes freely available. It illustrates how user-created libraries can be installed and used in real data analysis, focusing on a handful of libraries that have been particularly prominent in political science. The last two chapters illustrate how the user can conduct linear algebra in R and create simple programs. A key point in these chapters will be that such actions are substantially easier in R than in many other programs, so advanced techniques are more accessible in R, which will appeal to scholars and policy researchers who already conduct extensive data analysis. Additionally, the book should draw the attention of students and teachers of quantitative methods in the political disciplines.

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This book aims to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of male stress urinary incontinence that will serve as a useful tool and reference for urologists, andrologists, physiotherapists, general practitioners, and nurses. Detailed information is provided on diagnostic workup, including clinical assessment and the role of urodynamic evaluations and other instrumental examinations, and on the full range of potential treatments, from conservative and pharmacological interventions to surgical options. In addition to careful descriptions of the surgical procedures themselves, clear advice is given on the management of iatrogenic complications of incontinence surgery. Helpful treatment algorithms and recommendations offer further practical support. Relevant background knowledge is provided in expert reviews of topics such as the functional anatomy of the male pelvis and the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and classification of male urinary incontinence.

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This textbook presents basic and advanced computational physics in a very didactic style. It contains very-well-presented and simple mathematical descriptions of many of the most important algorithms used in computational physics. The first part of the book discusses the basic numerical methods. The second part concentrates on simulation of classical and quantum systems. Several classes of integration methods are discussed including not only the standard Euler and Runge Kutta method but also multi-step methods and the class of Verlet methods, which is introduced by studying the motion in Liouville space. A general chapter on the numerical treatment of differential equations provides methods of finite differences, finite volumes, finite elements and boundary elements together with spectral methods and weighted residual based methods. The book gives simple but non trivial examples from a broad range of physical topics trying to give the reader insight into not only the numerical treatment but also simulated problems. Different methods are compared with regard to their stability and efficiency. The exercises in the book are realised as computer experiments.

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This snapshot volume is designed to provide a smooth entry into the field of protein folding. Presented in a concise manner, each section introduces key concepts while providing a brief overview of the relevant literature. Outlook subsections will pinpoint specific aspects related to emerging methodologies, concepts and trends.

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This book is aimed at everyone preparing for the ISTQB® Certified Tester – Foundation Level exam based on the Foundation Level syllabus (version 4.0) published in 2023. It provides candidates with reliable knowledge based on this document and thus distinguishes itself from all the information about ISTQB® syllabi and exams on the Internet, which is often of rather poor quality and may even contain serious errors. The book expands and details many issues that are described in the new 2023 version of the syllabus in a perfunctory or general way only. According to the ISTQB® guidelines for syllabus-based training, an exercise must be provided for each learning objective at the K3 level, and a practical example must be provided for each objective at the K2 or K3 level. In order to satisfy these requirements, the authors prepared numerous exercises and examples for all learning objectives at these levels. In addition, for each learning objective, one or more sample exam questions are presented which are similar to those that the candidate will see in the exam. This makes the book an excellent aid for studying and preparing for the exam and verifying acquired knowledge.

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This book analyses Member States’ and EU neighbours’ national visions for the enlargement of the European Union (EU), highlighting 41 national histories, policies, and corresponding public perceptions of European integration. In a geopolitical context in which Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has renewed the impetus for EU enlargement, national views vary considerably on the timing, conditions, and reforms necessary to welcome Eastern neighbours and the Western Balkans countries into the European family. Moreover, EU enlargement policy is not only an investment in peace and stability; it has also become a political tool in response to the exploitation of interdependencies and illiberal pressures. This book presents concrete policy recommendations to national governments and the EU on how to move forward productively.

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This textbook approaches the history of English from a theoretical perspective. The book provides a brief chronological overview describing the way in which the English language has changed over time from Old English to Modern English, while subsequent parts adopt a theoretical focus that is thematically organised to deal with the question of how and why English changed in the way it did, including a part addressing some specific contact-induced changes and key topics such as English as a Lingua Franca. Supported throughout with information boxes with empirical studies, the examples given are all drawn from English, but boxes with examples from other languages tie the development of the English language into changes in other contexts and settings. This book is an ideal resource for undergraduate students of the English Language and historical linguistics.

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This book includes studies that employ a variety of research techniques from diverse fields targeting a better understanding of the second language (L2)/foreign language (FL) acquisition process including issues of heritage language (HL) learning. Specifically, the chapters discuss matters such as speech perception and production patterns in a second/foreign language, factors that facilitate second language acquisition, acquisition of heritage languages, teaching of a second/foreign language, and acquisition of second/foreign language grammatical and other structures, among others. The investigation of L2/FL and HLs is of paramount importance for updating the existing theories in the field and maximizing learning outcomes for the sake of effective communication, cultivation of intercultural understanding, career advancement, and personal development. The book is of interest to a wide range of disciplinary audiences, including linguists, psychologists, educators, and social scientists.

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This book examines how entrepreneurship can be used as a tool to escape poverty. With relevance for both SDG 1: ‘No Poverty,’ and SDG 8: ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all,’ it pays special attention to women and minority ethnic groups. Offering a fresh perspective on entrepreneurship as a means of upward social mobility and rooted in research, the book explores the issue in three ways. Firstly, it pays special attention to the nexus between the entrepreneur, resources, institutions, opportunities, necessities, and the environment for drawing a comprehensive picture of how individuals could use entrepreneurship for successful upward social mobility in a changing world. Secondly, it emphasizes the peculiar challenges that female entrepreneurs face, how those challenges can be overcome, and how female entrepreneurship may be a route to women’s socio-economic advancement. Thirdly, it highlights the challenges faced by ethnic minority business owners and how such ethnic minority businesses could thrive amid institutional voids as well as direct and indirect forms of discrimination. Based on the latest research from developed and developing countries, the book offers compelling insights for sustaining entrepreneurial ventures in an evolving world.

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This book presents various forms of human trafficking, a growing trend in the exploitation of large numbers of people with concurrent public health, socio-cultural, and economic costs to countries burdened with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Edited by psychiatric-mental health nurses and an applied anthropologist, this volume covers all forms of human trafficking: sex trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, baby trafficking, organ trafficking, child marriage, and child soldiers with a global public health and policy focus. As such, it fills a gap in human trafficking knowledge and is built on courses springing up around the United States in multiple disciplines. Medical, mental health, and social work interventions are included as well as information about programs with documented outcomes. Each chapter includes state of the art of knowledge with case studies illustrating specific focal ideas, discussion, questions and exercises in order to help readers retain and reinforce chapter material. This textbook will be useful in the disciplines of nursing, medicine, public health, social work, and policy making, as well as in disciplines in which human trafficking is a current interest, such as law, criminal justice, and education.

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This book explores and demonstrates how geometric tools can be used in data analysis. Beginning with a systematic exposition of the mathematical prerequisites, covering topics ranging from category theory to algebraic topology, Riemannian geometry, operator theory and network analysis, it goes on to describe and analyze some of the most important machine learning techniques for dimension reduction, including the different types of manifold learning and kernel methods. It also develops a new notion of curvature of generalized metric spaces, based on the notion of hyperconvexity, which can be used for the topological representation of geometric information.In recent years there has been a fascinating development: concepts and methods originally created in the context of research in pure mathematics, and in particular in geometry, have become powerful tools in machine learning for the analysis of data. The underlying reason for this is that data are typically equipped with some kind of notion of distance, quantifying the differences between data points. Of course, to be successfully applied, the geometric tools usually need to be redefined, generalized, or extended appropriately.Primarily aimed at mathematicians seeking an overview of the geometric concepts and methods that are useful for data analysis, the book will also be of interest to researchers in machine learning and data analysis who want to see a systematic mathematical foundation of the methods that they use.

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This open access book from the world’s first 6G Flagship research program at the University of Oulu, Finland, provides a multi-disciplinary and insightful overview of the subject, with contributions from experts in the field. Today’s fourth generation of mobile connectivity services (4G) are available everywhere, and adoption of fifth generation (5G) networks is well underway. Compared to 4G, 5G has already brought about new business opportunities and enabled seamless virtual and augmented reality services, but also raised serious concerns on data privacy and security and the use of artificial intelligence. The sixth generation (6G) networks are already in R&D phase aiming at deployment in 2030. We need to understand today what 5G evolution and 6G may bring for the future of service delivery and how they will influence us. The contributions answer what 5G, its evolution, and 6G will be about; what kind of impacts 5G and 6G will have on future digital services, businesses, and society; how we could benefit from 5G and 6G innovations; and how 5G and 6G should be regulated in the future. Future 5G evolution and 6G are not only about moving toward faster, better, and more secure networks providing the basis for innovative digital services, they are also going to bring about a huge digital disruption that will affect all levels of society. This book will be of great interest to academics and students of management, telecommunications and digital innovation, as well practitioners and policymakers looking to the future of business.

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This two-volume work examines far-reaching debates on the concept of courage from Greek antiquity to the Christian and mediaeval periods, as well as the modern era. Volume 1 begins with Homeric poetry and the politics of fearless demi-gods thriving on war. The tales of lion-hearted Heracles, Achilles, and Ulysses, and their tragic fall at the hands of fate, eventually give way to classical views of courage based on competing theories of rational wisdom and truth. Fears of the enemy and anxieties about suffering and death are addressed through the lenses and teachings of medicine, geography, military history, moral philosophy, and metaphysics. For early Christian thinkers, the ethics of fear, fate, and fealty to the Almighty supplant the voice of reason and the wisdom of virtue. Much of Christian doctrine's history is a long journey towards bridging the gap between Greek philosophy and devotion to God and spirits in heaven. Some Church Fathers attempt to dispel the fear of suffering through a joyful craving for martyrdom and the eternal blessings that follow. Others show openness to one or more of the following principles: the abstractions of moral philosophy, the metaphysics of Gnostic enlightenment, the gift of free will and intentionality, the growth of church authority and hegemony, and the intrinsic worth of life on Earth. Augustine, Ambrose, Cassian, and Chrysostom play a central role in revisiting the foundations of Christian fortitude along some or all of these lines. They lay the groundwork for the scholastic adaptations of faith-based rationalism proposed by Peter Lombard, Philip the Chancellor, Albert the Great, and Thomas of Aquinas. The mediaeval period ends with church dissidents and Protestant Reform leaders condemning Rome’s corruption and calling for a return to early Christian faith and the courage of godly fear, submission, suffering, and fate.

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This book explains on what basis a nation can claim the status of space power, what are the criteria differentiating a space power from “lesser” space actors, and how their spacepower can be empirically measured and assessed. To this end, it sets forth a comprehensive multidisciplinary framework to enable a dynamic comparison of space actors and of the pathways that lead them in and out of the space powers’ club. Drawing upon a critical review of the existing literature, it conceptualises spacepower as a form of state power based on the complex interplay between the two defining dimensions of stateness, namely the well-studied dimension of capacity and the often neglected yet exceedingly important dimension of autonomy. The book demonstrates that only actors possessing high levels of both autonomy and capacity qualify as space powers. Different levels of either capacity or autonomy produce other types of space actors, including skilled spacefarers, self-reliant spacefarers, primed spacefarers, and emerging space actors. This innovative conceptual framework is complemented by an in-depth comparative assessment that collects and processes a large amount of hard-to-find data on the most active global space actors and aggregates multiple indicators into a compound, non-hierarchical index of space power visualised in the form of a matrix.

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The idea for the book emanated from the experience of one of the editors, Dr. Hana Ajouz, who encountered many general surgery residents who were seeking a good ABSITE review book from which to study, and none was found to be truly comprehensive and up-to-date. There is an immense need for a comprehensive yet concise and easy-to-use book that has a clear structure and one that reflects new findings, methods and references that current surgical residents will find to be applicable. The intentional structure of the book is simply this - capture the most pertinent information for each specialty that is on the SCORE® curriculum and frequently asked on the ABSITE exam and present it to the reader in a capsulized, simplified format of charts or tables. Hence, in addition to its study-friendly structure, this review book comprehensively mirrors most contemporary general surgery curricula. It also encompasses key operative steps of wider general surgery procedures, which most review books lack. Moreover, while most ABSITE review books are written by one or a few authors, each chapter in this book is reviewed/authored by someone with expertise in their specialty. This compiles the experience of many authorities into one resource helping general surgery residents stay up-to-date with the most recent and important concepts in the field.

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This undergraduate textbook introduces students to the subjects of public administration, government and governance. It provides an accessible and informative overview of the various substantive areas that comprise the study of public administration, drawing on examples and case studies from around the world. The opening chapters outline some of the basics of the political-administrative institutional arrangements for governing. The following chapters introduce students to the fundamentals of public administration. Study questions, supplemental guidance for instructors, and a glossary of terms will be useful for both students and teachers.

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The purpose of this open access edited collection is to discuss the role and importance of stakeholder engagement in a sustainable circular economy from multiple theoretical and practical perspectives. Developing and maintaining a circular economy is an essential step to a more environmentally friendly and socially inclusive society. In addition to redesigning products and business models to minimise waste and increase the reuse of materials, a transition towards a sustainable circular economy requires collaboration and co-operation between various stakeholders from all parts of society. An international team of contributors explore how stakeholder engagement can foster and support sustainable change, assessing current literature and laying out guidance for future study. The collection is of interest to academics and students of sustainability management and sustainable business models, stakeholder theory and practice, and the circular economy.

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This pocket-sized guide provides a practical and comprehensive resource for orthopedic, PM&R, and musculoskeletal specialists, as well as primary care physicians who work in the community outpatient clinic setting. Its consistent chapter format covers each area with anatomy, physical examination, preoperative management, and postoperative rehabilitation sections for the spine and extremities. The book presents treatment protocols for various injuries, including physical therapy measures such as weight bearing status, PRE, closed or open chain exercises, and timing for returning to routine or sport activities. Its concise presentation of rehabilitation for the upper and lower extremities, the hip and pelvis, and the spine enables quick reference and clinical decision-making. Furthermore, the book includes a chapter on rehabilitation following the use of orthobiologics, making it a valuable resource for healthcare professionals involved in orthopedic rehabilitation after regenerative interventions.

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This book pursues an interdisciplinary approach to studying family firms as a particular type of business strongly embedded in the territories in which they are located. Featuring an in-depth analysis of original research, the book employs both theoretical and empirical approaches to explore family firms and their relationships with their home territories. The book shows that family firms have unique bonds with their local areas, and these bonds profoundly shape their decision-making and outcomes.The book addresses two research questions, namely, how the connections between family firms and their home territories originate and develop, and how they influence firms’ economic performance and their corporate social responsibility initiatives. Uniquely, it seeks to develop an integrated framework that brings together family firms, local contexts, and places while also presenting new empirical evidence of relevance to scholars, managers, and policymakers alike. In addition, the book responds to the need for a greater understanding of what anchors entrepreneurial families to their home territories and the conditioning effect of local roots on such firms’ behavior.

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This book explores how the Humanities can play an essential services role in addressing global challenges such as the Covid pandemic. In arguing for their contribution alongside that of the Health Sciences, it calls for a new critical engagement – honest and self-reflective – from Humanities scholars with the question of how to overcome a fundamental challenge facing universities globally: finding a common language and set of ‘cultural’ assumptions between disciplines as the basis for communication. The book looks at the nature of the challenges that can beset collaboration across disciplines (and indeed across sectors, notably between researchers and the general public) and argues for a new Translational Humanities, in both the sense of an applied Humanities and a Humanities that can translate itself across disciplines and sectors. Crucially, too, it suggests that it is not narratives such as a pandemic novel or contagion film that successfully engage with contentious debates about the challenges of Covid, but rather critically distant texts and thematic contexts that typically place the self in the position of other like travel narratives. This book sits at a previously unconsidered intersection between debates around interdisciplinary collaboration and communication, theories of intercultural contact and encounter, and the role of the Humanities in tackling global issues.

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Numerous advancements are being brought in and incorporated into the cloud domain with the aim of realizing a trove of deeper and decisive automations.Rather than discussing the cloud paradigm in isolation, this fully updated text examines how cloud computing can work collaboratively with other computing models to meet the needs of evolving trends.This multi-dimensional approach encompasses the challenges of fulfilling the storage requirements of big data, the use of the cloud as a remote server for Internet of Things and sensor networks, and an investigation of how cloud computing is interlinked with other established computing phenomenon such as edge computing. New chapters illustrate the distinct ideals of the cloud-native computing, proclaimed as the next-generation cloud computing paradigm.Topics and features: Includes learning objectives, motivating questions, and self-test exercises Introduces the underlying concepts, fundamental features, and key technological foundations of cloud computing Examines how enterprise networking and cloud networking can work together to achieve business goals Reviews the different types of cloud storage available to address the evolution of data and the need for digitization Discusses the challenges and approaches to implementing cloud governance, security, and the hot topic of cloud management Describes the details of cloud migration, the crucial role of monitoring in optimizing the cloud, and the basics of disaster recovery using cloud infrastructure This technically rigorous, yet simple-to-follow textbook is an ideal resource for graduate courses on cloud computing. Professional software developers and cloud architects will also find the work to be an invaluable reference.

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This book takes the reader on an exploration of the Cosmos, from Mesopotamia and Egypt to China; it unveils the fascinating development of astronomy and mathematics. After an overview of the origins of these subjects, highlighting the contributions of Greek astronomers, the Arab culture, and Copernicus' solar system model, the book delves into the revolutionary work of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the solar system. Special attention is given to the instruments used by ancient astronomers, including the most important astronomical clocks and planetary machines. In light of this, the author examines Kepler's almost unknown design of a planetary machine and offers an interpretation using virtual reality techniques. The book also highlights the Chinese view of the Cosmos and the evolution of its astronomy and astronomical machines, offering readers a unique perspective and insight into the relationship between astronomy and technology in different cultures. Finally, the author provides a practical approach to understanding the construction and mechanics of astronomical machines, exploring the process of designing and manufacturing a Tellurium. The reading is enriched with short videos of the Tellurium, along with a translation of the description of the planetary machine by Christiaan Huygens. In addition, it provides a unique glimpse into the religious influences on astronomical studies during the mid-1700s through the translation of Johann Albrecht Bengel's book Cyclus. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science and technology. It appeals to astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, and historians of science and technology alike, providing fascinating descriptions and insightful analysis of the vision of the Cosmos from its earliest conceptions to the present day.

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This textbook offers an introduction to the field of bioethics, specifically from a practicing physician standpoint. It engages a wide range of recent scholarship and emerging research covering many crucial topics in clinical ethics. While there has been increasing attention to the role of bioethics in medicine, the gap between theory and practice still exists, and it continues to impede the dialogue between health care professionals from one side and bioethicists and philosophers of medicine from the other side. This book builds bridges and open channels of connection between different parties in these conversations. It does so from a physician’s practical perspective, engaging recent scholarship and emerging research, to shed light on pivotal ethical dilemmas in contemporary clinical practice.

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This Open access book is a collection of essays and offers an in-depth analysis of silence as an aesthetic practice and a textual strategy which paradoxically speaks of the unspoken nature of many inconvenient hidden truths of Irish society in the work of contemporary fiction writers. The study acknowledges Ireland’s history of damaging silences and considers its legacies, but it also underscores how silence can serve as a valuable, even productive, means of expression. From a wide range of critical perspectives, the individual essays address, among other issues, the conspiracies of silence in Catholic Ireland, the silenced structural oppression of Celtic Tiger Ireland, the recovery of silenced stories/voices of the past and their examination in the present, as well as millennial disaffection and the silencing of vulnerability in today’s neoliberal Ireland. The book ’s attention to silence provides a rich vocabulary for understanding what unfolds in the quiet interstices of Irish writing from recent decades. This study also invokes the past to understand the present and, thus, demonstrates the continuities and discontinuities that define how silence operates in Irish culture.Grant FFI2017-84619-P AEI, ERDF, EU (INTRUTHS “Inconvenient Truths: Cultural Practices of Silence in Contemporary Irish Fiction”) Funded by the Spanish Research Agency AEI http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Regional Development Fund ERDF "A Way of Making Europe"

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This volume provides a comprehensive, scholarly re-examination of the events and developments collectively referred to as Russiagate. In 2016 a consensus emerged within American and British intelligence, political, and news media establishments that Russia was interfering in the United States federal election vis-à-vis an “influence campaign,” in support of the candidacy of Donald Trump. This narrative monopolized western media attention for over five years but has proven poorly founded in fact. Russiagate Revisited examines the authenticity of official Russiagate claims, the role of mainstream and alternative media as both observers of and participants in the drama, what Russiagate reveals about the state of mainstream journalism, the gambits of professional propagandists within a long-established campaign of demonization of Russia, how Russiagate narratives were perceived in Russia, and the grave implications - of both Russiagate and the decline of trust in public information - for sustainable western democracy.

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This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to health services research. Health services research uses empirical studies to address challenges in the delivery and organization of health care. The book focuses on healthcare delivery (micro-level), which is embedded in institutions such as hospitals (meso-level) and healthcare systems (macro-level). The quality of the research approach determines the value of health services research to a large extent. The book, therefore, puts emphasis on research principles and research methods. The book provides an evidence-informed perspective on principles, methods and topics of health services research and uses examples of studies throughout the text. The 24 chapters are organised in four sections: Introduction to Health Services Research Principles of Health Services Research Research Methods in Health Services Research Emerging Topics in Health Services Research Foundations of Health Services Research: Principles, Methods, and Topics gives an overview of tools and strategies for learning and teaching at master and doctoral levels. It also is a useful resource for health researchers in clinical science and public health. Policy-makers and healthcare managers might also find the book helpful for their work.

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The book provides guidance and direction for any nurse educator teaching in the professional environment and must write questions to evaluate learning. It covers the basics of item writing and leveling of items using Bloom's taxonomy to the learner. In addition, the book provides stem examples and new types of questions expected on the National Council Licensure Examination for both the registered and practical nurse. Finally, case study development and item analysis are presented.Evaluation of student performance by examination is critical in nursing education, from undergraduate to continuing education programs. Many faculty have reported learning the item writing process in graduate programs, but it is often lost or not reused. Recent research reports nursing faculty using textbook questions that have not been validated and security of the questions have been compromised. A nursing education profession should have the ability to develop items to validate that learning has occurred. The skill is essential to any professional to evaluate the effectiveness of learning.Critical thinking is a skill necessary for licensure examinations, and students often need assistance to learn this skill to pass the licensure examination and practice as a nurse. Therefore, faculty need a source to facilitate their development of the learned item writing process to assist learners and prepare them for practice.This book is unique in that it addresses the basics and the advanced components. In addition, the book provides a substantial list of stems and case study ideas. Finally, the book describes how to use a knowledge-based item and develop an item to a higher level of Blooms' taxonomy and assists those nursing programs that educate international students to adequately prepare for the student to pass the national licensing examination required to practice in the US and Canada.

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This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Music, Sound, Art and Design, EvoMUSART 2023, held as part of Evo* 2023, in April 2023, co-located with the Evo* 2023 events, EvoCOP, EvoApplications, and EuroGP.The 20 full papers and 7 short papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 55 submissions. They cover a wide range of topics and application areas of artificial intelligence, including generative approaches to music and visual art, deep learning, and architecture.

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This book addresses the state of the art of reduced order methods for modelling and computational reduction of complex parametrised systems, governed by ordinary and/or partial differential equations, with a special emphasis on real time computing techniques and applications in various fields.Consisting of four contributions presented at the CIME summer school, the book presents several points of view and techniques to solve demanding problems of increasing complexity. The focus is on theoretical investigation and applicative algorithm development for reduction in the complexity – the dimension, the degrees of freedom, the data – arising in these models.The book is addressed to graduate students, young researchers and people interested in the field. It is a good companion for graduate/doctoral classes.

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In this book, part of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) textbook series, experts in the field of clinical ethics describe basic principles of clinical ethics and ethical reasoning, the fundamental pillars of intensive care medicine as well as the decision-making processes necessary to arrive at appropriate decisions for each individual patient. Specifically, the complex decision-making process, with regard to limiting life-sustaining therapies and integrating palliative care into intensive care, are expounded. Furthermore, the still controversial topics of ethical climate, proportionate care, and prioritization are elaborated upon. The so-called “soft skills” of inter-professional communication and co-operation are given the attention they deserve in order to overcome the gap between technological progress and interpersonal standstill. Finally, widely accepted ethical values and principles were challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing clinicians to elaborate recommendations regarding the prioritization of scarce resources. The book will be an invaluable tool for clinicians to understand ethical principles and reasoning to contend ethical challenges in intensive care medicine across the boundaries of disciplines and professions, in order to provide an appropriate individual plan of treatment for their patients.

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This open access book focuses on the importance that EU politicization has gained in European democracies and the consequences for voting behaviour in six countries of the EU: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Most of the studies which research the way the EU is being legitimised focus on the European Parliament elections. In this book we argue that to understand how EU accountability works, it is necessary to focus instead on national elections and the national political environment. Through a detailed, multimethod analysis this book establishes rigorously the paths of European accountability at the national level, its propitious contexts in the media and parliamentary debates, and whether the paths are similar from Greece to Germany. The findings have implications for both national and European Union democracy, underlining the importance that national institutions have in enabling citizens to hold the EU accountable.

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This is the long-awaited pocket text on risk assessment for students and professionals in all health and safety fields. Risk assessment and risk-based decision-making are essential skills in today’s health and safety fields, but a convenient pocket or desk reference has been needed with enough theory to begin a preliminary risk assessment, together with clear explanations, applications, and worked examples. This book addresses that need. It provides a practical resource for estimating risks in various applications, as well as assisting with the design of larger project-based assessments. It explains the two main numeric procedures: probabilistic, or “catastrophic”, and quantitative, or “chronic”, risk assessment, along with chapters on qualitative risk assessment and approaches to food-related risks. A final chapter examines how people perceive risk, and provides advice and assistance in the development of essential, effective risk communication with the public and with the media. Numerous case studies are analyzed. Assessment and Communication of Risk: A Pocket Text for Health and Safety Professionals is a one-stop resource for students in all health and safety fields, and provides a valuable guide for existing field practitioners in public health, occupational health and safety, hospitals, environmental assessment offices, and ministries of health, labour, and the environment.

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