Search results for ""Springer International Publishing AG""

This book takes a deep dive into the factors that lead to countries’ success in elite sport. While some researchers have suggested looking at the political, economic, demographic, geographic and cultural characteristics of a country, other scholars have advocated that meso-level strategies such as financial support, governance, and talent identification systems are the factors that need to be taken into consideration. Taking into account the two sides of this debate, the authors review and evaluate these various components. They go on to use this review to propose a new holistic framework of analysis that includes the macro, meso and micro-level factors that lead to national success in elite sport. This is a valuable resource for researchers and students interested in sport management, particularly the subject of sport governance. In addition, sports consultants and policymakers will find this to be an eye-opening read.

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This textbook provides a grounding in complexity theory, demonstrating how it can influence and shape social work interventions in policy, management, and practice, as well as forming an epistemological and methodological basis for research. It provides a contemporary theoretical basis for social work practice, equipping social workers to work in a 21st-Century world. The authors argue that the history of social work demonstrates the profession's engagement with the social and structural problems of each era since its emergence 150 years ago. However, in the 21st Century, such things as globalisation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change have highlighted that existing theories and practice models are insufficient to the task of working with the complicatedness of contemporary life in a fast-changing world. Distilling the central tenets of Complexity Theory and the notion of complex adaptive systems in partnership with pragmatism, the book provides practice perspectives and guidelines which build on social work's enduring commitment to understanding the person-in-context. The recognition that social workers require conceptual and theoretical agility to work across micro, meso and macro 'levels' remains central, but the argument is made that their focus and practice must primarily be at the meso level. The authorship of combined academic and practice expertise enables such perspectives to be brought to life through the theoretical and practical analysis of conceptual and 'real-world' challenges. The book consists of 13 chapters organized in three sections: Part I: Complex Practice in a Complex World Part II: Thinking Complexity in Practice Part III: Thinking Complexity in Public Policy, Research and Education Complexity Theory for Social Work Practice encourages social workers to 'think complexity' and 'act pragmatically'. It is intended for final-year social work students; academics and researchers working in a range of disciplines, primarily in the social work field but also in the areas of sociology, psychology and anthropology; and practitioners in policy, research, management and practice settings.

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Recent technological advances have resulted in a new generation of powerful text processing and generation tools, that produce text very similar to what a human could do. Such tools have the potential to change the way we work, learn and teach – and this book enables you to understand and be part of this exciting development. Did you wonder how tools like ChatGPT or Bard work, but do not have a technical background? Then this is the right book for you! To discuss and better understand what such technologies are capable of and how this will impact our lives and our society, a basic background knowledge about text processing and generation technologies is required. In particular, the book discusses the following questions: How did the field of automated text processing and generation evolve over the last years, and what happened to allow the incredible recent advances? Are chatbots such as ChatGPT or Bard truly understanding humans? What pitfalls exist and how are stereotypes of the society reflected in such models? What is the potential of such technology, and how will the digital society of the future look like in terms of human-chatbot-collaboration? The book is aimed for a general audience, briefly explaining mathematical or technical background when necessary. After having read this book, you will be confident to participate in public discussions about how this new generation of language models will impact society. You will be aware of the risks and pitfalls these technologies can bring along, and how to deal responsibly when making use of tools built from AI technology in general.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) applications bring agility and modernity to our lives, and the reinforcement learning technique is at the forefront of this technology. It can outperform human competitors in strategy games, creative compositing, and autonomous movement. Moreover, it is just starting to transform our civilization.This book provides an introduction to AI, specifies machine learning techniques, and explores various aspects of reinforcement learning, approaching the latest concepts in a didactic and illustrated manner. It is aimed at students who want to be part of technological advances and professors engaged in the development of innovative applications, helping with academic and industrial challenges.Understanding the Fundamentals of Reinforcement Learning will allow you to: Understand essential AI concepts Gain professional experience Interpret sequential decision problems and solve them with reinforcement learning Learn how the Q-Learning algorithm works Practice with commented Python code Find advantageous directions

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This edited collection is a Festschrift to Helen M. Gunter, a leading scholar in the field of education policy and leadership. We draw on the concept of the Festschrift as a collection of papers, or chapters, that recognise, honour, and celebrate the work and contributions of an esteemed academic. Gunter’s work has opened up the field of critical education policy and leadership studies and provoked, if not revitalised, scholarly thinking about the origins, structures, patterns and impact of the field. Gunter’s personal commitment to intellectual leadership of the field and public education resonates across all her scholarly works. The core intention of this unique collection is to recognise Gunter’s scholarly contributions as an academic, practitioner and public intellectual. Invited authors have been asked to reflect critically on ways in which Gunter’s work and intellectual support have influenced their own research, teaching and academic engagement. In their reflections, contributors not only speak to the intellectual work of Gunter but suggest how they have taken this work forward and how this has advanced the field of education as well as the production of knowledge.

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This book provides an outline of the major challenges and methodologies for applying classic counterintelligence theory into the cybersecurity domain. This book also covers operational security approaches to cyber, alongside detailed descriptions of contemporary cybersecurity threats, in the context of psychological and criminal profiling of cybercriminals. Following an analysis of the plethora of counterespionage techniques that can be mapped to the cyber realm, the mechanics of undertaking technical surveillance are reviewed.A range of approaches to web and forum surveillance are outlined as a virtual addition to traditional video and audio surveillance captured regarding targets. This includes a description of the advances in Artificial Intelligence, predictive analysis, support for the disciplines of digital forensics, behavioural analysis and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). The rise of disinformation and misinformation and the veracity of widespread false flag claims are discussed at length, within the broader context of legal and ethical issues in cyber counterintelligence.This book is designed for professionals working in the intelligence, law enforcement or cybersecurity domains to further explore and examine the contemporary intersection of these disciplines. Students studying cybersecurity, justice, law, intelligence, criminology or related fields may also find the book useful as a reference volume, while instructors could utilise the whole volume or individual chapters as a secondary textbook or required reading.

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This book constitutes the refereed proceedings and revised selected papers from the 15th International Symposium on Music in the AI Era, CMMR 2021, which took place during November 15–19, 2021 as a virtual event. The 24 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 48 submissions. The papers are grouped in thematical sessions on Music technology in the IA era; Interactive systems for music; Music Information Retrieval and Modeling; and Music and Performance Analysis.

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“Following in the footsteps of Stephen Hawking's ‘A brief history of time’ and Simon Singh's ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ this exceptionally accessible book will you leave marveling at the wonders of the world and, if you didn't listen to your science teachers, wishing you had. Graham writes with the mind of a physicist and the soul of a poet.” Nicki Hayes, CCO, The Communications Practice, author of First Aid for Feelings. “Only a few writers have managed to turn the highly technical jargon of science into language accessible for interested lay readers. Isaac Asimov showed us how it could be done, and Carl Zimmer and Brian Greene are continuing today. In Molecular Storms, his first book, Liam Graham has shown that he has the essential quality required to join this group, a love of first learning then explaining how the universe works." David Deamer, Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, author of Assembling Life.Why is the universe the way it is? Wherever we look, we find ordered structures: from stars to planets to living cells. This book shows that the same driving force is behind structure everywhere: the incessant random motion of the components of matter. Physicists call it thermal noise. Let’s call it the molecular storm.This storm drives the fusion reactions that make stars shine. It drives whirlpools and currents in atmospheres and oceans. It spins and distorts molecules until they are in the right orientation to react and form new substances. In living cells, it drives proteins to fold and molecules to self-assemble. It is behind every detail of the astonishing molecular machines that control cellular processes.Using cutting-edge research, “Molecular Storms” takes us on a dazzling journey from the early universe to the interior of the smallest living things. There, in a nanoscale world of biological devices, it explains the physics behind the chemical system which we call Life.Whether you're someone with a general interest in science or a student looking to add context to your studies, this book is for you. "Molecular Storms" is an accessible and captivating read that will deepen your appreciation of the power of science to explain the world.

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This research monograph examines presidential constitutional conventions and the role they play in the political systems of four Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. As primarily unwritten rules of constitutional practice, constitutional conventions represent political arrangements and as such are political in origin. Not only this, constitutional conventions, in general, and presidential constitutional conventions, in particular, have significant political implications. They shape both the everyday operation and character of regimes. Central Europe represents a particularly useful example on which this role of constitutional conventions can be studied and assessed.

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This book provides an in-depth exploration of the field of augmented reality (AR) in its entirety and sets out to distinguish AR from other inter-related technologies like virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and extended reality (XR). The author presents AR from its initial philosophies and early developments, and in this updated 2nd edition discusses the latest advances and the ramifications they bring and the impact they have on modern society. He examines the new companies that have entered the field and those that have failed or were acquired giving a complete history of AR progress. He explores the possible future developments providing readers with the tools to understand issues relating to defining, building, and using their perception of what is represented in their perceived reality, and ultimately how we assimilate and react to this information. In Augmented Reality: Where We Will All Live 2nd Edition, Jon Peddie has amassed and integrated a corpus of material that is finally in one place. It will serve as a comprehensive guide and provide valuable insights for technologists, marketers, business managers, educators and academics who are interested in the field of augmented reality, its concepts, history, practices, and the science behind this rapidly advancing field of research and development.

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This book interrogates the relationship between the material conditions of Woolf's writing practices and her work as a printer and publisher at the Hogarth Press. In bringing to light her embodied literary processes, from drafting and composition to hand-printing and binding, this study foregrounds the interactions between Woolf's modernist experimentation and the visual and material aspects of her printed works. By drawing on the field of print culture, as well as the materialist turn in Woolf scholarship, it explores how her experience in print, book-design and publishing underlines her experimental writing, and how her literary texts are conditioned by the context of their production. This book, therefore, provides new ways of reading Woolf's modernism in the context of twentieth-century print, material, and visual cultures. By suggesting that Woolf's work at the Hogarth Press sensitized her to the significant role the visual aspects of a text play in its system of representation, it also considers the extent to which materiality informs both her work, as well as her engagement with Bloomsbury formalist aesthetics, which often exaggerate the distinction between visual and verbal modes of expression.

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This textbook demonstrates new paradigms for the interface between CMOS circuits and the biological world. A deep theoretical description of such an interface is defined and discussed, while various real applications are demonstrated by also discussing several analog CMOS circuits. Electrochemical techniques are proposed in detail to learn how to design integrated biosensors. Biological materials are described to provide devices selectivity. Nanoscale materials are discussed to provide device sensitivity. CMOS circuits are analyzed to provide real applications. Extensive examples with solutions are provided, as well as exercises at the end of each chapter. This book introduces students to the state-of-the-art in Bio/CMOS interfaces, describing leading-edge research in CMOS design and VLSI development for applications requiring intimate integration of biological molecules onto the chip. It provides multidisciplinary content ranging from biochemistry to CMOS design in order to address Bio/CMOS interface co-design in biosensing applications.

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World Energy Handbook presents an overview of the energy systems of selected countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It is a complete guide to energy history and generation in these countries, including renewable energy, storage, and use. The authors follow the same analytical approach for each country to construct comprehensive surveys of all aspects of energy systems, examining the advantages and disadvantages of each country’s energy infrastructures. The handbook aims to raise awareness about the condition and deficiencies of energy systems in developing countries, and the potential for the countries to improve, grow, and advance the technologies for energy generation – especially by turning to renewable energy sources to increase energy storage capacities and optimizing the way subsystems are integrated. The book serves as a must-have guide for decision-makers, investors, business people, and other professionals to understand the global distribution of energy generation, transmission, and each country’s carbon footprint and identify opportunities for energy system improvement worldwide.

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This open access book covers a century of research on wheat genetics and evolution, starting with the discovery in 1918 of the accurate number of chromosomes in wheat. We re-evaluate classical studies that are pillars of the current knowledge considering recent genomic data in the wheat group comprising 31 species from the genera Amblyopyrum, Aegilops, Triticum, and other more distant relatives. For these species, we describe morphology, ecogeographical distribution, phylogeny as well as cytogenetic and genomic features. For crops, we also address evolution under human selection, namely pre-domestication cultivation and domestication. We re-examine the genetic and archeological evidence of where, when, and how domestication occurred. We discuss unique aspects of genome evolution and maintenance under polyploidization, in natural and synthetic allopolyploids of the wheat group. Finally, we propose some thoughts on the future prospects of wheat improvement. As such, it can be of great interest to wheat researchers and breeders as well as to plant scientists and students interested in plant genetics, evolution, domestication, and polyploidy.

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This book provides an introduction to real analysis, a fundamental topic that is an essential requirement in the study of mathematics. It deals with the concepts of infinity and limits, which are the cornerstones in the development of calculus. Beginning with some basic proof techniques and the notions of sets and functions, the book rigorously constructs the real numbers and their related structures from the natural numbers. During this construction, the readers will encounter the notions of infinity, limits, real sequences, and real series. These concepts are then formalised and focused on as stand-alone objects. Finally, they are expanded to limits, sequences, and series of more general objects such as real-valued functions. Once the fundamental tools of the trade have been established, the readers are led into the classical study of calculus (continuity, differentiation, and Riemann integration) from first principles. The book concludes with an introduction to the study of measures and how one can construct the Lebesgue integral as an extension of the Riemann integral. This textbook is aimed at undergraduate students in mathematics. As its title suggests, it covers a large amount of material, which can be taught in around three semesters. Many remarks and examples help to motivate and provide intuition for the abstract theoretical concepts discussed. In addition, more than 600 exercises are included in the book, some of which will lead the readers to more advanced topics and could be suitable for independent study projects. Since the book is fully self-contained, it is also ideal for self-study.

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This book offers readers the methods that are necessary to apply the power of calculus to analyze real problems. While most calculus textbooks focus on formula-based calculus, this book explains how to do the analysis of calculus, rates of change, and accumulation from data. The author’s introductory approach prepares students with the techniques to handle numerically-based problems in more advanced classes or in real-world applications. This self-contained book uses the computer algebra system Maple for computation, and the material is easily adaptable for calculators or other computer algebra systems. The author includes historical context and example exercises throughout the book in order to provide readers with a thorough understanding of the topic. This book: Prepares students with the techniques to handle numerically-based problems in in real-world applications Provides historical context and example exercises to give a thorough understanding of the topic Utilizes Maple for computation and is adaptable for calculators or other computer algebra systems

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COVID19 pandemics has had profound consequences on public health and has represented a challenge for several medical specialties. Despite this was underestimated at the beginning of the outbreak, COVID19 is actually impacting on women and children health, as well. The consequences in this field are multifaceted and complex as they span from the occurrence of COVID19 in pregnant patients, to the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 mother-to-child transmission, the occurrence of neonatal COVID and pediatric sequelae. COVID19 and the related public health measures may also have important consequences on psychological well-being and organization of perinatal care as well as they raise relevant ethical issues. All these aspects were at risk to be forgotten within the many others highlighted by the pandemics but are important both for individual care and also from a political point of view and the organization of care. There is a large demand of high-quality education, information and training in this field and we answered that by organising the COVID19 in Pregnancy and Childhood Days: this book represents the hard legacy of this event with the contribution of key opinion leaders in all the aforementioned specialties. The book is answering a clear need and is directed to: 1) obstetricians, 2) neonatologists, 3) pediatricians, 3) public health specialists, 4) adult critical care physicians, 5) infectious disease specialists, 5) psychologists. Last but not least, the informations resumed in the book are going to be useful for healthcare authorities to program perinatal care and improve it. The book will also serve as textbook for post-graduate courses and academic review resuming the state-of-the art knowledge on this area. Thus, it will be cited and used by researchers in the field: this is not a secondary characteristics as it may be quite difficult to find relevant informations, in this infodemic era, using the usual channels and databases.

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Of the twelve Augustae who lived during the fifty years of the so-called “military anarchy” (235-284 A.D.), Ulpia Severina, wife of the “Illyrian” emperor Aurelian (270-275 AD), is certainly one of the most enigmatic and less known. The book focuses on Ulpia Severina, who, even though never mentioned by name in literary sources, has been studied almost exclusively from the perspective of the numerous coins issued in her name and is the subject of many interesting honorific inscriptions that had not been thoroughly examined or adequately valued until this study. This exceptional situation, represented by the sole presence of Ulpia Severina on the throne of Rome, deserves more attention than it has received. The pages of the university history textbooks dedicated to the reconstruction of a fifty-year phase of Roman-imperial history must be, if not rewritten, at least integrated in order to give the deserved space to this empress and, therefore, to the so-called “interregnum,” which lasted at least two months, between the death of Aurelian and the advent of emperor Tacitus.

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The free market underpins our economy and our way of thinking around enterprise and value, but it is also a major factor in the sustainability problems that we now live with. Climate change, child labour and oil spills are just a few of the many problems associated with our economic activity and, although many companies have made an effort to produce more sustainably, the pace of change is much too slow. This engaging and accessible textbook teaches students the relationship between the economy and sustainability, assessing the hand of the free market on company behaviour and, ultimately, providing a framework for transition to a sustainable economy.Using case studies and optional assessment questions, this textbook explains to students what a market is at the macro level and then translates the effects of the market to industries and subsequently to the strategic choices of companies at the micro level. It adopts a model of 8 guiding principles that underpin the current free market economy and 8 guiding principles for the sustainable market economy. Switching these deeply held principles will be essential to any serious transition to a sustainable economy.

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The Second Edition of The Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology, like the First Edition, represents a collaborative effort by a multidisciplinary group of cytopathologists, surgical pathologists, molecular pathologists, radiologists, and head and neck surgeons. This international group shares the goal of creating a practical and uniform reporting system for salivary gland fine needle aspiration (FNA). This book is organized into six general diagnostic categories: “Non-Diagnostic,” “Non-Neoplastic,” “Atypia of Undetermined Significance (AUS),” “Neoplasm: Benign,” “Neoplasm: Salivary Gland Neoplasm of Uncertain Malignant Potential (SUMP),” “Suspicious for Malignancy,” and “Malignant.” It includes definitions, morphologic criteria, and explanations for each of the diagnostic categories. Specific chapters are dedicated to the application of the latest available ancillary studies, radiologic features of salivary gland lesions, clinical management, and histological considerations including updates from the most recent 5th Edition WHO blue book. The Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology 2nd Edition represents an essential step towards increasing the overall effectiveness of salivary gland FNA and fostering better communication between clinicians and between institutions to improve overall patient care.

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Have you thought of how it feels to be an AI brain in the world of humans? This book allows such a brain to tell us how it takes on its mission of helping humans to develop a more efficient, sustainable, diverse and inclusive society.This book explains the principles and applications of artificial intelligence for a broad audience. Artificial intelligence, as part of computer science, is often inspired by human intelligence. At the same time, there is still reluctance in the applications and usability of artificial intelligence among citizens. Industries are deploying AI in their products and processes but the level of maturity is varying. The book is written as a first person narrative, from an AI perspective, having the AI brain tell the story.

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This book offers a comprehensive approach to organizational excellence based on the author’s vast experience in managing excellence at highly innovative and dynamic organizations. It integrates various approaches into a consistent view of achieving excellence in the context of dynamic technological and societal developments. Starting from purpose and mission, it describes stakeholder mapping and analysis, and process and quality management. In turn, it sheds light on how to deal with business dynamics of various types and demonstrates how quantum-mechanical models can help to understand and manage dynamic organizational processes. The book then introduces readers to result measuring and performance management, followed by organizational learning and rewards and recognition. Moreover, it discusses (innovation) ecosystem leverage and organizational culture management as further important capabilities of excellent organizations. Best practices in corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance aspects are fully integrated throughout the book, which concludes by explaining how the UN Sustainable Development Goals can be applied to optimize business initiatives. The book is intended as a source of inspiration for managers working under highly dynamic organizational conditions, helping them take their businesses to higher levels. It also provides valuable industrial insights for scholars with an interest in organizational excellence.

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This book aims to provide physicians and scientists with the basics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with a special focus on medical imaging. The contents of the book provide an introduction to the main topics of artificial intelligence currently applied on medical image analysis. The book starts with a chapter explaining the basic terms used in artificial intelligence for novice readers and embarks on a series of chapters each one of which provides the basics on one AI-related topic. The second chapter presents the programming languages and available automated tools that enable the development of AI applications for medical imaging. The third chapter endeavours to analyse the main traditional machine learning techniques, explaining algorithms such as random forests, support vector machines as well as basic neural networks. The applications of those machines on the analysis of radiomics data is expanded in the fourth chapter to allow the understanding of algorithms used to build classifiers for the diagnosis of disease processes with the use of radiomics. Chapter five provides the basics of natural language processing which has revolutionized the analysis of complex radiological reports and chapter six affords a succinct introduction to convolutional neural networks which have revolutionized medical image analysis enabling automated image-based diagnosis, image enhancement (e.g. denoising), protocolling etc. The penultimate chapter provides an introduction to data preprocessing for use in the aforementioned artificial intelligence applications. The book concludes with a chapter demonstrating AI-based tools already in radiological practice while providing an insight about the foreseeable future. It will be a valuable resource for radiologists, computer scientists and postgraduate students working on medical image analysis.

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The principle aim of this unique text is to illuminate the beauty of the subject both with abstractions like proofs and mathematical text, and with visuals, such as abundant illustrations and diagrams. With few mathematical prerequisites, geometry is presented through the lens of linear fractional transformations. The exposition is motivational and the well-placed examples and exercises give students ample opportunity to pause and digest the material. The subject builds from the fundamentals of Euclidean geometry, to inversive geometry, and, finally, to hyperbolic geometry at the end. Throughout, the author aims to express the underlying philosophy behind the definitions and mathematical reasoning. This text may be used as primary for an undergraduate geometry course or a freshman seminar in geometry, or as supplemental to instructors in their undergraduate courses in complex analysis, algebra, and number theory. There are elective courses that bring together seemingly disparate topics and this text would be a welcome accompaniment.

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This textbook will delve into the philosophical foundation of contemporary IS research design with particular emphasis on the methodological tools that can be applied to conduct effective research in the multidisciplinary area of contemporary IS. What sets the book apart is that it will cover the current social paradigm shift, global changes and the need for new methodological tools, which have revolutionised the way we use IS to support our daily practices. It considers the entire methodological procedures applied to research projects that investigate or explore multifaceted areas of contemporary IS, such as information management, digital business, ICT and information science.Featuring learning objectives, case studies, assessment questions and exercises, this textbook offers a practical outline for IS research methodology that will be of use to students and researchers. It aims to satisfy researchers who are seeking literature on applying methodological procedures to their research projects that delve into the world of contemporary IS that other titles have only considered in a much broader sense.

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This is an open access book.Creativity is a difficult concept, how can it best be defined, understood, applied, and practiced? This book provides important answers to these questions. Technology can enable artists to be more creative. Scientific and artistic thinking give us two complementary tools to understand the complexity of the world, with science reducing subjective experience to essential principles and art intensifying and expanding our experiences. These examples also show how artists can push the boundaries of technology into exciting new realms that have not been explored before. The impact that art and art practice can have on culture, society, and social responsibility is explored in detail through examples and case studies. In addition, the book presents how artists are creating and reflecting cultural and societal resonance in their work. Can other disciplines help artists to be more creative? All are part of an interrelated wider society and enables artists to develop artwork fit for highly interfaced and conceptually broad contemporary contexts. This is illustrated with examples which show exciting and challenging results. Creativity in Art, Design and Technology is relevant for artists, designers, scientists and technologists. All can benefit in a major way from a greater understanding of creativity, and the ways in which mutual interaction and collaboration enables all areas to develop. The potential for the future is immense and this book signposts the way forward.

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This practical question and answer book covers topics within the field of neurocritical care, including aspects of neurology, neurosurgery, general critical care, and emergency medicine. The updated second edition, with hundreds of new and revised test items, contains two full length practice exams that mimic the tone and scope of the recently introduced American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) certifying exam in Neurocritical Care, based on approval from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). At the conclusion of each exam, answer choices, rationale, and references are provided. The book is geared towards critical care fellows, but may also be useful for residents in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, emergency medicine, and internal medicine.

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This open-access book investigates Francophone Caribbean literature by exploring and analyzing French seventeenth-century travel writings. The book argues for a literary re-examination of the representation of the early colonial Caribbean by proposing theoretical linkages to contemporary Caribbean theories of creolization and archipelagic thinking. Using Édouard Glissant’s notion of points of entanglement, Christina Kullberg claims that the historical, social, and political messiness of the Caribbean seventeenth century make for complex representations and expressions, generating textual instability despite the travelers’ apparent desires to domesticate the islands. Taking a synoptic approach to travel narratives in French from 1620 up to the publication of Labat’s Nouveau voyage aux Isles de l’Amérique in 1722, Kullberg examines textual instances where the islands and the peoples of this period disrupt and unsettle dominant French narratives and enter productively into the construction of knowledge and the representations of the region. Kullberg’s contribution is to read French early modern travels in situ as shaped by the archipelagic geography, its history and social formations in order to interrogate both the construction and the limitations of discourses of power.

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This accessible textbook hinges on the central assumptions of Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Grammar, introducing students to the analytical tools they need to approach Stylistics, an essential area in language analysis. The author verifies the claim that alterations in style, triggered by different cognitive processes, reflect alterations in meaning, and shows how they are employed to achieve particular effects in context. The book links theory with practice, aiming both to acquaint students with the cognitive principles that account for stylistic expressions, and to provide them with the tools and techniques to conduct their own analyses. The textbook explores and explains how writers use the resources of language to create meaning, and how readers interpret texts. It will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students on courses in English Linguistics, as well as those working on other languages and in related areas such as Composition and Creative Writing.

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This book provides readers with international exemplars of nurse-led/nurse-directed pediatric models of care. It offers innovative and forward-thinking models of nursing care, incentives and opportunities for nurses to replicate similar nurse-led models of care in their own clinical and community-based settings. Readers will benefit from selected and proven nurse-led/nurse-directed pediatric models of care that have been developed, implemented and evaluated by advanced practice pediatric nurses, including successful examplars from less developed countries and underserved populations.This book is a welcome addition to faculty in child health graduate programs and/or clinicians in hospitals to have this kind of “model” for practice. This book encompasses an extensive compilation of contributions of international authors, also from countries that have been rarely featured in books, and it facilitates worldwide linkages with colleagues internationally.

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This book, the much-anticipated sequel to (Almost) Impossible, Integrals, Sums, and Series, presents a whole new collection of challenging problems and solutions that are not commonly found in classical textbooks. As in the author’s previous book, these fascinating mathematical problems are shown in new and engaging ways, and illustrate the connections between integrals, sums, and series, many of which involve zeta functions, harmonic series, polylogarithms, and various other special functions and constants. Throughout the book, the reader will find both classical and new problems, with numerous original problems and solutions coming from the personal research of the author. Classical problems are shown in a fresh light, with new, surprising or unconventional ways of obtaining the desired results devised by the author. This book is accessible to readers with a good knowledge of calculus, from undergraduate students to researchers. It will appeal to all mathematical puzzlers who love a good integral or series and aren’t afraid of a challenge.

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This book provides a practical guide on the art and science of compassionate care in an era of healthcare crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is inflicting long-lasting financial and psychosocial trauma on an unprecedented scale. A new approach to compassionate care is presented based on the overarching concepts of empathy, person and family centeredness, therapeutic relationship, kindness, gratitude, spirituality, communication skills, shared decision making, positive psychology, adversity-activated development, self-care, compassion fatigue, spirituality which are more than ever critical in successfully managing the pandemic adversity in front of us. This book draws on clinical experience, educational activities and evidence-based knowledge from academic physicians (primary, secondary and tertiary care), nurses, psychologists, health economists, healthcare managers, health policymakers, medical professionals students and patients. It provides skills and knowledge that can be implemented in daily clinical practice based on all levels of healthcare on a whole-person approach. An array of clinical cases, patient journeys, published evidence and practical experience is combined to deliver in a practical way unique guidance and advice. The target audience is all healthcare professionals, health policymakers, healthcare managers and patient associations. This approach of Compassionate Care is of great importance and can save lives and money in these unprecedented times of global healthcare care system challenges.

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This textbook provides an overview of organisation models used in practice from over a century ago to the present day. It outlines the effects these models have on efficiency, learning, innovation and workers’ health and offers critical reflections for students. Some of the models covered are Taylorism, bureaucracy, the socio-technical school, process organisation such as lean production, learning organisations, knowledge management, project organising including agile, platform economy, professional organisations, new public management and sustainable organisations. Featuring learning objectives and reflective questions for students of organisation studies and design, this textbook has a pedagogical structure based on the division of work and the coordination of work. Conclusions are presented on contemporary work organisation models’ impact on working life, ultimately encouraging students to ask the question, how can we create more sustainable work organisations.

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This open access book offers critical, multidisciplinary analyses on graduate employability. The book examines employability at the macro, meso and micro levels: higher education policy, the labour market, higher education institutions, organisations, individuals and social groups, in European, North American and Australian contexts. The contributors provide social and contextual analysis of graduate employability as a theoretical concept, a discourse and policy imperative and a social and discursive practice. The volume also introduces novel methodological perspectives to study the process of graduate employability. There is an urgent need for comprehensive and unified critical perspectives on graduate employability, as such analyses have so far been scarce and often isolated. Besides filling this gap in the literature, the book will also serve as essential reading on courses that focus on graduate careers and employability as well as higher education policy and practice.

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While most managers are primarily concerned with being able to make decisions quickly, manage meetings efficiently and drive innovation, there is often little time for reflection in a business world where opinions must be formed and decisions taken on the hoof. It often seems counterintuitive to stop the clock and take time to think things through. Philosophy, on the other hand, addresses the basic questions of our existence, our identity, our role in the world and the models for living that might inspire our actions. By understanding philosophy, it becomes more possible to provide meaning to many of our management practices and to business at large, while enhancing self-satisfaction and happiness at work. This latest book from Professor Santiago Iniguez presents a collection of management ideas inspired by renowned philosophers. It provides a framework, as well of a series of business situations, for analyzing decisions from the perspective of values and principles. With insights on topics such as, how to gain respect at work, how to cultivate an optimistic outlook and how to shrug off failure, it offers timeless advice for managers that can be applied for their personal and professional development. Offering a unique perspective and valuable insights on what leadership is, and the relevance of values and principles to becoming a successful, recognized manager, this book presents a thoughtful guide to anyone who wants to install meaning into their management practices and their lives.

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Superhero phenomena exploded into 20th- and 21st-century popular culture by way of the visual medium of comic books. In an increasingly secular (yet spiritual) culture that has largely renounced “the gods” (and even religion), what does the return of the superhero through our own pop cultural mythologies say to us—or even about us? This collection of essays from leading and up-and-coming scholars in the fields of comparative mythology and depth psychology considers the return of the superhero as representative of our own unique emergent modern mythology: a wildly diverse pantheon that reflects back to us our most far-reaching hopes and (im)possible (super)human desires. In placing the interpretive tools of comparative mythology and depth psychology alongside the comic book phenomenon, a super-powered palette emerges that unveils the hidden potential of modern readers’ own heightened imaginations. The essays in this anthology examine select comic book and superhero characters from the “Silver Age” 1960s through contemporary 21st-century adaptations and innovations, as readers are invited to discover and uncover what the (re)emergence of these perennial gods and goddesses have to say about our own secret super selves today.

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This open access book discusses the functionality of the use of the language of photography in teachers' initial and ongoing training. It analyzes the nature of photography as a representation system, facilitating inquiry and reflection on its practice for teachers and evocating on theories and beliefs that may guide their work in classrooms. Photography is used to represent symbolically and affectively possible contradictions in teaching activities or the inconsistencies between planned teaching tasks and the educational purposes pursued. Resolving these conflicts is one of the ways to promote professional development. This book also describes photo-elicitation and photographic storytelling as work procedures. By analyzing the contributions of these techniques, the development of teachers is improved.

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This book is the second edition of Women Spacefarers and tells the fascinating stories of the valiant women who broke down barriers to join the space program. Beginning with the orbital flight of USSR cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and continuing to the present day, it covers the many female players who have had a central role in the greatest adventure of our time. The book includes the biographies of, and in some cases interviews with, the brave women who have flown in space. For each entry, the author contextualizes the spacefarer's accomplishments in light of the political and cultural climate of the time. The second edition features fifteen additional profiles on figures such as Jessica Meir and Wally Funk; new interview material; a new thematic structure based on each woman's science specialty and role; an expanded glossary; and more. The result is a gallery of pioneering women who reached for the stars: women who, with exceptional skill, hard work, and dedication, reached impressive careers as accomplished pilots, researchers, engineers and managers, and left a legacy of strength for all aspiring spacefarers.

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This textbook offers an introduction to the theory of Drinfeld modules, mathematical objects that are fundamental to modern number theory.After the first two chapters conveniently recalling prerequisites from abstract algebra and non-Archimedean analysis, Chapter 3 introduces Drinfeld modules and the key notions of isogenies and torsion points. Over the next four chapters, Drinfeld modules are studied in settings of various fields of arithmetic importance, culminating in the case of global fields. Throughout, numerous number-theoretic applications are discussed, and the analogies between classical and function field arithmetic are emphasized.Drinfeld Modules guides readers from the basics to research topics in function field arithmetic, assuming only familiarity with graduate-level abstract algebra as prerequisite. With exercises of varying difficulty included in each section, the book is designed to be used as the primary textbook for a graduate course on the topic, and may also provide a supplementary reference for courses in algebraic number theory, elliptic curves, and related fields. Furthermore, researchers in algebra and number theory will appreciate it as a self-contained reference on the topic.

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This book is about scientific inquiry. Designed for early and mid-career researchers, it is a practical manual for conducting and communicating high-quality research in (mathematics) education. Based on the authors’ extensive experience as researchers, as mentors, and as members of the editorial team for the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (JRME), this book directly speaks to researchers and their communities about each phase of the process for conceptualizing, conducting, and communicating high-quality research in (mathematics) education.In the late 2010s, both JRME and Educational Studies in Mathematics celebrated 50 years of publishing high-quality research in mathematics education. Many advances in the field have occurred since the establishment of these journals, and these anniversaries marked a milestone in research in mathematics education. Indeed, fifty years represents a small step for human history but a giant leap for mathematics education. The educational research community in general (and the mathematics education community in particular) has strongly advocated for original research, placing great emphasis on building knowledge and capacity in the field. Because it is an interdisciplinary field, mathematics education has integrated means and methods for scientific inquiry from multiple disciplines. Now that the field is gaining maturity, it is a good time to take a step back and systematically consider how mathematics education researchers can engage in significant, impactful scientific inquiry.

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This book critically assesses arguments for the existence of the God of classical theism, develops an innovative account of objects’ persistence, and defends new arguments against classical theism. The authors engage the following classical theistic proofs: Aquinas’s First Way, Aquinas’s De Ente argument, and Feser’s Aristotelian, Neo-Platonic, Augustinian, Thomistic, and Rationalist proofs. The authors also provide the first systematic treatment of the ‘existential inertia thesis’. By connecting the thesis to relativity theory and recent developments in the philosophy of physics, and by developing a variety of novel existential-inertia-friendly explanations of persistence, they mount a formidable new case against classical theistic proofs. Finally, they defend new arguments against classical theism based on abstract objects and changing divine knowledge. The text appeals to students, researchers, and others interested in classical theistic proofs, the existence and nature of God, and the ultimate explanations of persistence, change, and contingency.

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This textbook shows how to develop the functional requirements of (information) systems. It emphasizes the importance to consider the complete development path of a functional requirement, i.e. not only the individual development steps but also their proper combination and their alignment. The book consists of two parts: Part I presents the underlying theory while Part II contains various illustrative case studies. Part I starts with an introduction to the topic (Chapter 1). Then it explains how to develop functional requirements that represent the conceptual dynamics of an information system (Chapters 2 and 3). Chapters 4 and 5 explain how to model the conceptual statics of an information system. Chapter 6 gives some directions for implementation. Finally, Chapter 7 explains how a ‘technical manager’ can organize and manage the development process. As an illustration of the theory, Part II contains three substantial case studies. The first one (Chapter 8) presents a stepwise development starting from an informal situation sketch via a simple domain model towards a precisely specified, full-fledged conceptual data model, which finally is translated to an SQL database. In the second case study (Chapter 9) the author converts the well-known non-trivial use case Process Sale from Larman into a textual System Sequence Description (SSD). For validation purposes, that textual SSD is subsequently translated into natural language and into a graphical SSD. The third case study (Chapter 10) shows the applicability of the author’s approach to a control system and also illustrates the typical situation that the requirements are constantly changing during development. This book is written for (under)graduate students in software engineering or information systems who want to learn how to carry out adequate problem analysis, to make good system specifications, and/or to understand how to organize and manage an IS-development process. It also targets practitioners who want to improve their problem analysis abilities and/or their ability to make good system specifications. To this end, it includes more than 150 explanatory figures and is accompanied by a Web site which provides additional course material such as slides, additional exercises, solutions to exercises, and the code for the figures used in the book.

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Rapidly developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems hold tremendous potential to change various domains and exert considerable influence on societies and organizations alike. More than merely a technical discipline, AI requires interaction between various professions. Based on the results of fundamental literature and empirical research, this book addresses the management’s awareness of the ethical and moral aspects of AI. It seeks to fill a literature gap and offer the management guidance on tackling Trustworthy AI Implementation (TAII) while also considering ethical dependencies within the company. The TAII Framework introduced here pursues a holistic approach to identifying systemic ethical relationships within the company ecosystem and considers corporate values, business models, and common goods aspects like the Sustainable Development Goals and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, it provides guidance on the implementation of AI ethics in organisations without requiring a deeper background in philosophy and considers the social impacts outside of the software and data engineering setting. Depending on the respective legal context or area of application, the TAII Framework can be adapted and used with a range of regulations and ethical principles. This book can serve as a case study or self-review for c-level managers and students who are interested in this field. It also offers valuable guidelines and perspectives for policymakers looking to pursue an ethical approach to AI.

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This open access book addresses the protection of privacy and personality rights in public records, records management, historical sources, and archives; and historical and current access to them in a broad international comparative perspective. Considering the question “can archiving pose a security risk to the protection of sensitive data and human rights?”, it analyses data security and presents several significant cases of the misuse of sensitive personal data, such as census data or medical records. It examines archival inflation and the minimisation and reduction of data in public records and archives, including data anonymisation and pseudonymisation, and the risks of deanonymisation and reidentification of persons. The book looks at post-mortem privacy protection, the relationship of the right to know and the right to be forgotten and introduces a specific model of four categories of the right to be forgotten. In its conclusion, the book presents a set of recommendations for archives and records management.

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This fully revised 3rd edition provides a comprehensive overview of the biology of fungi associated with plants. Since the publication of the 2nd Edition in 2009, tremendous new knowledge has been gained in the field of fungal-plant interactions, which is reflected in the contributions of this book. World-leading scientists in the field provide authoritative insights into fungal-plant interactions covering the following main topics: Mutualistic and pathogenic fungal-plant interactions in natural and agricultural ecosystems Sensing and signalling in fungus-plant interactions Regulation of fungal gene expression and development Fungal genomes and evolution Global pandemics caused by fungal pathogens and their implications for food security This volume will be of great interest to both specialists and generalists. It is an indispensable resource for researchers, lecturers and students in microbiology, mycology, and plant sciences, as well as agriculture and biotechnology.

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This book reflects on time, space and culture in the Game of Thrones universe. It analyses both the novels and the TV series from a multidisciplinary perspective ultimately aimed at highlighting the complexity, eclecticism and diversity that characterises Martin’s world. The book is divided into three thematic sections. The first section focuses on space—both the urban and natural environment—and the interaction between human beings and their surroundings. The second section follows different yet complementary approaches to Game of Thrones from an aesthetic and cultural perspective. The final section addresses the linguistic and translation implications of the Game of Thrones universe, as well as its didactic uses. This book is paired with a second volume that focuses on the characters that populate Martin’s universe, as well as on one of the ways in which they often interact—violence and warfare—from the same multidisciplinary perspective.

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“Humanization and the Law” combines two current and complementary trends in the business-to-business (B2B) market of the legal industry: digitalization and humanization. On the one hand, digital transformation in corporate legal departments and law firms continues to advance. Contract management, e-discovery, due diligence, legal operations, and forensic data analysis are just a few examples of task areas where the use of intelligent software solutions minimizes legal risks and increases compliance, enables efficiency gains and cost reductions through automation, and allows faster and more agile responses to changing market demands and client expectations. On the other hand, the increasing number of failed digitalization projects shows that technology alone is not enough to successfully transform legal departments and law firms. Software solutions must be integrated into existing work processes, be easy to use, and provide real benefits in order to be accepted by employees. People and their ability to make decisions and lead others remain the focus in an increasingly digitalized legal industry. More than 20 authors provide insights into why human aspects matter for business, what organizations can do to increase the mental well-being and motivation of their employees, and how to prevail in the upcoming war for talent in the legal industry. “The legal industry has been largely dismissive of “soft skills” and “humanizing law.” One of the paradoxes of our time is that the ascendency of automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, Big Data, and other technological platforms has elevated, not diminished, the importance of humanity. It is not only what distinguishes us from machines but it also enables us to apply our humanity to machines. The legal function will play an important role in this process but must first take a hard look at itself.” (Mark A. Cohen, in “Foreword”)

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This open access book demonstrates that, while occupation has been used to treat the mentally disordered since the early nineteenth century, approaches to its use have varied across different countries and in different time periods. Comparing how occupation was used in French and English mental institutions between 1918 and 1939, one hundred years after the heyday of moral therapy, the book is an essential read for those researching the history of mental health and medicine more generally. It provides an overview of the legislation, management structures and financial conditions that affected mental institutions in France and England, and contributed to their differing responses to the new theories of occupational therapy emerging from the USA and Germany during the interwar period.

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