Search results for ""springer international publishing ag""

This comprehensive and timely textbook covers all aspects of the evidence-based management of genitourinary cancers and explains the fundamental principles underlying the available diagnostic and treatment approaches, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery. For each type of cancer – prostate, bladder, renal, testicular, and penile, plus rare urologic malignancies – clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment strategies are described in detail and information is provided on etiology, epidemiology, risk factors, and pathology, including TNM classification. Careful attention is also devoted to the complications that may be encountered when treating urologic malignancies and to the management of these complications. The text is complemented by the inclusion of numerous high-definition photographs and illustrations. Urologic Oncology will be a valuable reference and source of guidance for all oncologists, urologists and practitioners in related disciplines who treat patients with urologic cancers.

Read more less

This thesis addresses the surprising features of zero-temperature statics and dynamics of several spin glass models, including correlations between soft spins that arise spontaneously during avalanches, and the discovery of localized states that involve the presence of two-level systems. It also presents the only detailed historiographical research on the spin glass theory. Despite the extreme simplicity of their definition, spin glasses display a wide variety of non-trivial behaviors that are not yet fully understood. In this thesis the author sheds light on some of these, focusing on both the search for phase transitions under perturbations of Hamiltonians and the zero-temperature properties and responses to external stimuli. After introducing spin glasses and useful concepts on phase transitions and numerics, the results of two massive Monte Carlo campaigns on three-dimensional systems are presented: The first of these examines the de Almeida–Thouless transition, and proposes a new finite-size scaling ansatz, which accelerates the convergence to the thermodynamic limit. The second reconstructs the phase diagram of the Heisenberg spin glass with random exchange anisotropy.

Read more less

This book reviews the key policy debates during the post-crash era, describing the issues that policymakers grappled with, the decisions that they took and the details of the policy instruments that were created. It focuses specifically on the policy regimes at the epicentre of the crisis: micro- and macro-prudential policy with chapters exploring the revolution in the conduct of macroeconomic policy in the period since the financial crisis. The author shows that throughout this period policymakers have had to balance two conflicting objectives – to repair balance sheets in the banking and public sectors whilst simultaneously trying to catalyse an economic recovery – and that has required them to innovate new tools and even new policy regimes in response. This book goes behind the jargon and explains what exactly policymakers at the Bank of England, the Treasury and beyond did and why, from QE to austerity to Basel III.

Read more less

Prepared under the auspices of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), this first volume provides a comprehensive overview of the rapidly emerging field of advanced nursing practice. It addresses central issues in the role and practice development that are fundamental to defining and differentiating the nature of this field. Topics include defining the role, role characteristics, scope of practice, education, regulation and research. Obstacles to and facilitators of that role are addressed and include ethical questions arising in the context of practice development. With an international focus, this volume examines international developments in the field, as reflected in country-specific case studies and examples. It offers a valuable resource for advanced practice nurses, educators and administrators at healthcare institutions.

Read more less

This book contains a compendium of 25 papers published since the 1970s dealing with pi and associated topics of mathematics and computer science. The collection begins with a Foreword by Bruce Berndt. Each contribution is preceded by a brief summary of its content as well as a short key word list indicating how the content relates to others in the collection. The volume includes articles on actual computations of pi, articles on mathematical questions related to pi (e.g., “Is pi normal?”), articles presenting new and often amazing techniques for computing digits of pi (e.g., the “BBP” algorithm for pi, which permits one to compute an arbitrary binary digit of pi without needing to compute any of the digits that came before), papers presenting important fundamental mathematical results relating to pi, and papers presenting new, high-tech techniques for analyzing pi (i.e., new graphical techniques that permit one to visually see if pi and other numbers are “normal”). This volume is a companion to Pi: A Source Book whose third edition released in 2004. The present collection begins with 2 papers from 1976, published by Eugene Salamin and Richard Brent, which describe “quadratically convergent” algorithms for pi and other basic mathematical functions, derived from some mathematical work of Gauss. Bailey and Borwein hold that these two papers constitute the beginning of the modern era of computational mathematics. This time period (1970s) also corresponds with the introduction of high-performance computer systems (supercomputers), which since that time have increased relentlessly in power, by approximately a factor of 100,000,000, advancing roughly at the same rate as Moore’s Law of semiconductor technology. This book may be of interest to a wide range of mathematical readers; some articles cover more advanced research questions suitable for active researchers in the field, but several are highly accessible to undergraduate mathematics students.

Read more less

This volume provides updates and informs the reader about the development of the current empirical research on the flow experience. It opens up some new research questions at the frontiers of the field. The book offers an overview on the latest findings in flow research in several fields such as social psychology, neuropsychology, performing arts and sport, education, work and everyday experiences. It integrates the latest knowledge on experimental studies of optimal experience with the theoretical foundation of psychological flow that was laid down in the last decades.

Read more less

This book focuses on the issues encountered by children and young people who are living with HIV/AIDS. It examines their lived experiences associated with HIV/AIDS, and studies groups of children and youngsters from around the globe. Connecting empirical information with real-life situations, the book brings together results from empirical research that relates to these children and young people. Its chapters can be used as evidence for health care providers to implement socially and culturally appropriate services to assist individuals and groups of children and young people who are living with HIV/AIDS in many societies. Many of these young people are from the most marginalized and vulnerable groups; and many have been orphaned by the death of their HIV-positive parents. Marginalized young people such as refugees, migrants and street children are most at risk due to the use of illicit drugs, their exposure to unprotected sex (in exchange for food, money and protection), and stigma associated with their marginalized lives. The impact that HIV/AIDS has on the opportunities for these young people to be able to lead healthy adult lives is considerable. This book gives a voice to these children and young people and advances our understanding of their lived experiences and needs.

Read more less

This book critically explores the interconnections between tourism and the contemporary city from a policy-oriented standpoint, combining tourism perspectives with discussion of urban models, issues, and challenges. Research-based analyses addressing managerial issues and evaluating policy implications are described, and a comprehensive set of case studies is presented to demonstrate practices and policies in various urban contexts. A key message is that tourism policies should be conceived as integrated urban policies that promote tourism performance as a means of fostering urban quality and the well-being of local communities, e.g., in terms of quality spaces, employment, accessibility, innovation, and learning opportunities. In addition to highlighting the significance of urban tourism in relation to key urban challenges, the book reflects on the risks and tensions associated with its development, including the rise of anti-tourism movements as a reaction to touristification, cultural commodification, and gentrification. Attention is drawn to asymmetries in the costs and benefits of the city tourism phenomenon, and the supposedly unavoidable trade-off between the interests of residents and tourists is critically questioned.

Read more less

This Open Access book highlights the ethical issues and dilemmas that arise in the practice of public health. It is also a tool to support instruction, debate, and dialogue regarding public health ethics. Although the practice of public health has always included consideration of ethical issues, the field of public health ethics as a discipline is a relatively new and emerging area. There are few practical training resources for public health practitioners, especially resources which include discussion of realistic cases which are likely to arise in the practice of public health. This work discusses these issues on a case to case basis and helps create awareness and understanding of the ethics of public health care. The main audience for the casebook is public health practitioners, including front-line workers, field epidemiology trainers and trainees, managers, planners, and decision makers who have an interest in learning about how to integrate ethical analysis into their day to day public health practice. The casebook is also useful to schools of public health and public health students as well as to academic ethicists who can use the book to teach public health ethics and distinguish it from clinical and research ethics.

Read more less

This highly anticipated second edition features new chapters and sections, 225 new references, and comprehensive R software. In keeping with the previous edition, this book is about the art and science of data analysis and predictive modelling, which entails choosing and using multiple tools. Instead of presenting isolated techniques, this text emphasises problem solving strategies that address the many issues arising when developing multi-variable models using real data and not standard textbook examples. Regression Modelling Strategies presents full-scale case studies of non-trivial data-sets instead of over-simplified illustrations of each method. These case studies use freely available R functions that make the multiple imputation, model building, validation and interpretation tasks described in the book relatively easy to do. Most of the methods in this text apply to all regression models, but special emphasis is given to multiple regression using generalised least squares for longitudinal data, the binary logistic model, models for ordinal responses, parametric survival regression models and the Cox semi parametric survival model. A new emphasis is given to the robust analysis of continuous dependent variables using ordinal regression.As in the first edition, this text is intended for Masters' or PhD. level graduate students who have had a general introductory probability and statistics course and who are well versed in ordinary multiple regression and intermediate algebra. The book will also serve as a reference for data analysts and statistical methodologists, as it contains an up-to-date survey and bibliography of modern statistical modelling techniques.

Read more less

This textbook explores both the theoretical foundation of the Finite Volume Method (FVM) and its applications in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Readers will discover a thorough explanation of the FVM numerics and algorithms used for the simulation of incompressible and compressible fluid flows, along with a detailed examination of the components needed for the development of a collocated unstructured pressure-based CFD solver. Two particular CFD codes are explored. The first is uFVM, a three-dimensional unstructured pressure-based finite volume academic CFD code, implemented within Matlab. The second is OpenFOAM®, an open source framework used in the development of a range of CFD programs for the simulation of industrial scale flow problems.With over 220 figures, numerous examples and more than one hundred exercise on FVM numerics, programming, and applications, this textbook is suitable for use in an introductory course on the FVM, in an advanced course on numerics, and as a reference for CFD programmers and researchers.

Read more less

Designed to provide a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of the use of urologic catheters and devices in clinical practice. Sections of the book have been structured to review the overall indication for the use of urologic catheters and devices, types available, complications and management. This text fills a critical need for resource materials on these topics. The book also includes highly practical presentations and of typical patients with catheters or devices seen in the clinical practice of geriatric urology, all in the form of case presentations with expert analysis and editorial commentary. Highlighting the integrated multidimensional aspects of care for urology patients, this book is unique in the inclusion of collaborating multidisciplinary authors who are all recognized experts in their field.Written entirely by urologic specialists, Clinical Application of Urologic Catheters, Devices and Products provides a unique and valuable resource in the field of practicing urology, for urologists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and for those currently in training.

Read more less

Featuring numerous case examples from companies around the world, this second edition integrates theoretical advances and empirical data with practical applications, including in-depth discussion on the COBIT 5 framework which can be used to build, measure and audit enterprise governance of IT approaches. At the forefront of the field, the authors of this volume draw from years of research and advising corporate clients to present a comprehensive resource on enterprise governance of IT (EGIT).Information technology (IT) has become a crucial enabler in the support, sustainability and growth of enterprises. Given this pervasive role of IT, a specific focus on EGIT has arisen over the last two decades, as an integral part of corporate governance. Going well beyond the implementation of a superior IT infrastructure, enterprise governance of IT is about defining and embedding processes and structures throughout the organization that enable boards and business and IT people to execute their responsibilities in support of business/IT alignment and value creation from their IT-enabled investments.Featuring a variety of elements, including executive summaries and sidebars, extensive references and questions and activities (with additional materials available on-line), this book will be an essential resource for professionals, researchers and students alike

Read more less

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to performing meta-analysis using the statistical software R. It is intended for quantitative researchers and students in the medical and social sciences who wish to learn how to perform meta-analysis with R. As such, the book introduces the key concepts and models used in meta-analysis. It also includes chapters on the following advanced topics: publication bias and small study effects; missing data; multivariate meta-analysis, network meta-analysis; and meta-analysis of diagnostic studies.

Read more less

This well-illustrated book, by two established historians of school mathematics, documents Thomas Jefferson’s quest, after 1775, to introduce a form of decimal currency to the fledgling United States of America. The book describes a remarkable study showing how the United States’ decision to adopt a fully decimalized, carefully conceived national currency ultimately had a profound effect on U.S. school mathematics curricula.The book shows, by analyzing a large set of arithmetic textbooks and an even larger set of handwritten cyphering books, that although most eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors of arithmetic textbooks included sections on vulgar and decimal fractions, most school students who prepared cyphering books did not study either vulgar or decimal fractions. In other words, author-intended school arithmetic curricula were not matched by teacher-implemented school arithmetic curricula. Amazingly, that state of affairs continued even after the U.S. Mint began minting dollars, cents and dimes in the 1790s. In U.S. schools between 1775 and 1810 it was often the case that Federal money was studied but decimal fractions were not. That gradually changed during the first century of the formal existence of the United States of America. By contrast, Chapter 6 reports a comparative analysis of data showing that in Great Britain only a minority of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century school students studied decimal fractions. Clements and Ellerton argue that Jefferson’s success in establishing a system of decimalized Federal money had educationally significant effects on implemented school arithmetic curricula in the United States of America.The lens through which Clements and Ellerton have analyzed their large data sets has been the lag-time theoretical position which they have developed. That theory posits that the time between when an important mathematical “discovery” is made (or a concept is “created”) and when that discovery (or concept) becomes an important part of school mathematics is dependent on mathematical, social, political and economic factors. Thus, lag time varies from region to region, and from nation to nation.Clements and Ellerton are the first to identify the years after 1775 as the dawn of a new day in U.S. school mathematics—traditionally, historians have argued that nothing in U.S. school mathematics was worthy of serious study until the 1820s. This book emphasizes the importance of the acceptance of decimal currency so far as school mathematics is concerned. It also draws attention to the consequences for school mathematics of the conscious decision of the U.S. Congress not to proceed with Thomas Jefferson’s grand scheme for a system of decimalized weights and measures.

Read more less

Net Zero is not enough. We have dithered so long about climate change that, by now, we would need to go to negative-emissions territory, well before 2050, to keep global warming under the iconic 1.5°C target. The national commitments made so far fall short of what is needed, and so do the investments envisioned. But even with the best of intentions, it is hard for policymakers and potential investors to discern where, in the profusion of initiatives and technologies, it would make sense to focus their attention and resources. This is where this book comes in. It offers a clear-eyed view of how far along the decarbonization path six key sectors of the economy are—namely energy, utilities, transportation, industry, buildings, and agriculture—and which areas and technologies within each sector are promising in terms of investments to advance the cause. Furthermore, a special chapter on Africa spotlights a continent that is simultaneously one of the worst affected by climate change, the most likely to see its greenhouse gas emissions increase—and the one with the greatest potential for solving the West's, and the world’s, energy transition and economic growth conundrum. As such, the book serves as a concise guide both to the state of the battle against global warming, and for investors, professionals, and policymakers to find their way through the maze of options.

Read more less

For thousands of years, music has acted as a powerful medium for evoking emotions, facilitating communication, and nurturing overall well-being. With the advent of new sophisticated neuroimaging technology, human responses to music and music therapy are being viewed through a new lens. As a consequence, new knowledge is being obtained about how music can produce significant improvements in cognitive, social, overt and agitated behaviours. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of neurocognitive music therapy, its impact and implications in the practice of evidence-based music interventions. The book seeks to provide researchers, psychologists, music therapists, musicians and physicians interested in the therapeutic applications of music, with a source of information about current techniques and novel music interventions. It is structured into several chapters, each of them presenting peer-reviewed research and evidence-based procedures carried out in a specific clinical context. Topics covered in the book include: Musical engagement for individuals with motor disabilities Enhancing emotional processing in autism through music Stroke rehabilitation via musical interventions Musical neurofeedback for emotional disorders Emotional modulation with music therapy in palliative care AI-driven personalisation in music interventions The book highlights the profound capacity of music-based interventions to facilitate cognitive and emotional processing, enhance communication, and promote motor rehabilitation. At the same time, the book demonstrates how modern technologies offer new opportunities to evaluate, validate, and potentiate music-based interventions, allowing new and innovative possibilities and more personalised interventions. This book aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge in this field and inspire further research and innovation in the practice of music therapy.

Read more less

This study guide is designed for students taking a Calculus II course. The textbook includes examples, questions, and practice problems that will help students to review and sharpen their knowledge of the subject and enhance their performance in the classroom. The material covered in the book includes applications of integration, sequences and series and their applications, polar coordinate systems, and complex numbers. Offering detailed solutions, multiple methods for solving problems, and clear explanations of concepts, this hands-on guide will improve students’ problem-solving skills and foster a solid understanding of calculus, which will benefit them in all of their calculus-based courses

Read more less

This book discusses the key problems and solutions with various applicable approaches to combat antibiotic-resistant genes in industrial waste water. Several genes are selected within the chapters to illustrate the past and future roles of molecular ecophysiology and genomics in the development of wastewater microbiology as an important subdiscipline of microbial ecology. As we have very limited knowledge of composition, dynamics and stability of microbial communities, various processes in wastewater treatment have been generally considered to be "black box." In recent years, with the development of several new high throughput sequencing platforms, metagenome sequencing strategies and bioinformatics toolboxes, the analysis of the genome of complex communities has become much more accessible and means easier.The opening of the biological wastewater treatment “black box” is not the unpleasant experience it was before. The viable, but not cultural, ceases to be the inconsequential, uncharacterizable enigma that existed today. Metagenomics leads the way for more specific studies in related fields. Finally, genomic studies of wastewater treatment microbes, in addition to their biotechnological applications, are also an excellent testing ground for variety of other ecological and environmental burns questions. Wastewater treatment plants are considered hotspots for the environmental dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant determinants. Comparative genomics of antibiotic resistant genes isolated from conventional activated sludge and biological aerated filter wastewater treatment plants is discussed.

Read more less

Competing through advanced services involves offering products-as-a-service, delivering outcomes for customers, and regularly earning revenue when customers get the results they value. This strategic move towards delivering outcomes can present many challenges for a firm. Part of the Palgrave Executive Essentials series, this book introduces outcome-based business models as Advanced Services Business Models and provides a practical guide on how a firm can innovate these services through a process known as servitization.Servitization offers businesses a pathway to both improve economic productivity and sustainability. It can create greater value for customers, while also improving resource efficiency and dematerialisation of the supply chain. It has the potential to reshape the industrial landscape for businesses, markets, and consumers around the world. This book is for executives, professionals, and anyone else who is looking for a practical guide to implementing service-based business models or seeking to innovate their business models to focus on services. It functions as a companion for students in executive education courses on servitization, business model innovation, strategy, and operations and should be on the radar of all instructors in those fields.

Read more less

The second edition of Long Life Strategy builds upon the practical tips and knowledge in the first edition by providing readers with an outline to living a longer, healthier, more enjoyable life and late life. The book elaborates on three major areas, which include what you can do to live a long life, what your doctor should be doing to help you achieve this goal, and what society, of which we are all part, should be doing to better accommodate a growing number of older people in the coming decades. Dr. Caplan begins by introducing what it means to live a longer life and explaining the current research on delaying, preventing, and reversing aging in our cells. The next chapters detail how to prevent diseases and conditions commonly associated with aging, including diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, mental health decline, sexual dysfunction, and heart disease. The author provides instruction for good diet and exercise choices. The concluding chapters provide useful advice for managing a fixed income, becoming a grandparent, dealing with the sickness and loss of a life partner, and how to maintain social relationships into late life. No matter where you are on life’s journey, Long Life Strategy can provide a roadmap to living a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.

Read more less

Now in its second edition, Parenting Culture Studies seeks to understand how parenting is taken as a particular mode of childrearing that reflects broader social trends. Ten years after the initial volume's groundbreaking publication, the authors once again closely examine how the main aspects of parenting have been established, explored, and critically evaluated. Chapters revisit phenomena such as intensive parenting and politics around parenting, as well as controversial issues including policing pregnant women's bodies and parental determinism. In addition to updates throughout the volume, including those addressing literature that has built from the book’s original publication, the book features a new third part discussing parents dealing with risk assessment, school closures, contradictory care arrangements, and vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more less

This book demonstrates how to transform pricing, often considered the neglected aspect of marketing, into the most influential marketing tool that positively impacts the company's profits in a sustainable manner. Ultimately, every aspect of marketing is reflected in the price, as it represents the customer's value exchange for the other three value-creating marketing instruments: the product (functional value), communication (emotional value), and distribution (availability). The authors present the essential framework conditions and fundamental principles of active price management. They specifically emphasize those aspects that have proven particularly relevant to business practice through the Executive Education program at the University of St. Gallen (HSG).

Read more less

This textbook is a practical guide to achieving professional-level audio productions using digital audio workstations. It contains 27 chapters divided into three sections, with specially devised diagrams and audio examples throughout. Aimed at students of all levels of experience and written in an easy-to-understand way, this book simplifies complex jargon, widening its appeal to non-academic creatives and is designed to accelerate the learning of professional audio processes and tools (software and hardware).The reader can work through the book from beginning to end or dip into a relevant section whenever required, enabling it to serve as both a step by step guide and an ongoing reference manual. The book is also a useful aid for lecturers and teachers of audio production, recording, mixing and mastering engineering.

Read more less

This memoir chronicles the journey of an academic, tracing a path from primary school in Zambia to a career in higher education as a mathematician and educational leader. Set against the backdrop of the 20th century, the book explores how early influences and historical events shape an individual's life and professional trajectory. The author shares childhood experiences across three parts of Africa, providing an original perspective as a witness to the post-colonial period. Through personal reflections, the memoir delves into the emergence of ideas and collaborations in mathematics and how these shape career choices. It also offers candid observations on the major changes in British higher education since the 1980s. Intended for a general audience, this book provides a compelling read for anyone interested in the experience of becoming a mathematician, and higher education in general.

Read more less

This uniquely written title presents both the fascinating biography of Dr. John Loeser, a visionary pioneer in the field of pain medicine, as well as the compelling account of the birth and evolution of pain medicine in the United States and beyond. In this captivating work, readers are taken down the path of an extraordinary man who not only shaped the discipline of pain medicine but also embraced a multitude of passions, leaving an indelible mark on those lucky enough to know him. Prior to the pivotal role Loeser played in helping pain medicine emerge as a recognized field in the 1980s, he had already established himself as a highly respected neurosurgeon and co-author of a definitive text on neuroembryology. However, when he became immersed in the world of pain medicine, an entirely new frontier beckoned—one that held the promise of reducing human suffering and revolutionizing the way we understand and manage pain. Soon Loeser was deeply engaged in pain research and clinical practice and was advocating for better diagnostics, cutting-edge technologies, and a deeper understanding of pain mechanisms. Loeser not only played a leading role in the evolution of pain medicine in the 1980s but became the chief architect and champion of multidisciplinary pain management. Indeed, this outstanding biography amounts to two absorbing stories in one – the exceptional life of Loeser, complete with engrossing details of his early-life background, along with an absorbing history of the modern pain management movement. A colleague of Loeser for many years, the author skillfully and colorfully details the major, and often intimate, landscape of people, friendships, anecdotes, episodes, and ideas that weave into a rich context for understanding a multi-talented man who was not only a fighter for his beliefs and a major leader among all pain management professionals and organizations, but was also equally at home in his command of the operating room and in carving wooden masks based on northwestern indigenous traditions. An invaluable contribution to the literature, John Loeser: The Man Who Reimagined Pain will be of great interest to physicians and clinicians in every field, as well as to laypersons interested in the incomparable story of a man who accomplished so much and means so much to family, friends, and colleagues around the world.

Read more less

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the world. Indeed a real race took place worldwide between SARS-CoV-2 on the one hand and researchers on the other – especially those specializing in messenger RNA vaccines. Four years after its emergence, the pandemic is not over, but some decisive battles have been won, thanks to the great success of mRNA vaccines. The Marathon of The Messenger presents the history of these mRNA vaccines, combining a scientific background with historical and economic perspectives. It appears that an important page in the history of these new vaccines was written in Europe, thanks to the crucial work of German and French scientists; this effort began in 1993 and continues to this day. In the face of a prevailing single-mindedness, these researchers pushed through a new therapeutic concept and defined the biotechnological keys that would open the way to the production of therapeutic messenger RNA in the fight against cancer and viral infections. Written for a broad audience and accompanied by humorous cartoons, this book will appeal to anyone looking for scientific and historical answers about mRNA vaccines. Readers will discover not only the technical and scientific knowledge of how these vaccines work, but also the economic levers that were necessary to create this technology. This book has been written in collaboration with Dr. Steve Pascolo, former director of CureVac, and the RNA messenger expert Professor Chantal Pichon. It also features a preface by Dr. Pierre Meulien, former director of the European Union public-private partnership Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI).

Read more less

Why are we willing to believe that technology can bring about war… but not peace? PeaceTech: Digital Transformation to End War is the world's first book dealing with the use of technological innovation to support peace and transition processes. Through an interwoven narrative of personal stories that capture the complexity of real-time peace negotiation, Bell maps the fast-paced developments of PeaceTech, and the ethical and practical challenges involved.Bell locates PeaceTech within the wider digital revolution that is also transforming the conduct of war. She lays bare the ‘double disruption’ of peace processes, through digital transformation, and through changing conflict patterns that make processes more difficult to mount. Against this backdrop – can digital peacebuilding be a force for good? Or do the risks outweigh the benefits?PeaceTech provides a 12-Step Manifesto laying out the types of practice and commitment needed for successful use of digital tools to support peace processes. This open access book will be invaluable primer for business tech entrepreneurs, peacebuilders, the tech community, and students of international relations, informatics, comparative politics, ethics and law; and indeed for those simply curious about peace process innovation in the contemporary world.

Read more less

This timely book offers a comprehensive examination of the current state of nuclear stability postures worldwide, effectively highlighting their inherent limitations. Through their analysis, the authors illustrate how the seemingly contradictory perspectives of deterrence optimists, disarmament idealists, and warfighting pessimists can be reconfigured into a unified approach towards achieving regional and global peace. They suggest that these strategies can be reconciled as complementary, rather than substitute approaches, to achieve the common goal of nuclear stability.To achieve this objective, the book employs a game-theoretical framework to analytically define the conditions for nuclear war. Drawing from extensive observations of significant crises, the model incorporates identifiable systemic regularities that influence the strategic decision-making process during severe crises and establish the prerequisites for different levels of nuclear confrontation. Additionally, by tracing the strategic-technological trajectories of nuclear powers, the authors present a novel analysis that explores the potential for stable coexistence to replace unstable confrontation between global powers, ultimately fostering nuclear peace.The author's theoretical explorations lead to the policy conclusion that establishing a nuclear oligopolistic hierarchy, under the leadership of preponderant global powers committed to a no-first-use pledge, presents the most effective international system for enhancing both regional and global nuclear stability. This book aims to surpass the Cold War origins of current nuclear strategy and develop a comprehensive policy framework that guarantees enduring nuclear stability in the contemporary world.

Read more less

This book tells the story of the probability integral, the approaches to analyzing it throughout history, and the many areas of science where it arises. The so-called probability integral, the integral over the real line of a Gaussian function, occurs ubiquitously in mathematics, physics, engineering and probability theory. Stubbornly resistant to the undergraduate toolkit for handling integrals, calculating its value and investigating its properties occupied such mathematical luminaries as De Moivre, Laplace, Poisson, and Liouville. This book introduces the probability integral, puts it into a historical context, and describes the different approaches throughout history to evaluate and analyze it. The author also takes entertaining diversions into areas of math, science, and engineering where the probability integral arises: as well as being indispensable to probability theory and statistics, it also shows up naturally in thermodynamics and signal processing. Designed to be accessible to anyone at the undergraduate level and above, this book will appeal to anyone interested in integration techniques, as well as historians of math, science, and statistics.

Read more less

This edited volume discusses the socioeconomic, environmental, and policy implications of smart cities. Written by international experts in energy economics and policy, the chapters present wide range of high quality theoretical and empirical studies at the nexus of social, entrepreneurial, governmental and ecological transformation. The book covers a wide range of topics, with a view towards providing empirical evidence of the benefits of smart cities as well as practical frameworks for smart city initiatives. Topics discussed include: smart city transition pillars, innovation for smart and sustainable cities design and implementation, smart city governance, smart mobility within cities, and smart cities in emerging economies. This volume will be of use to students and researchers interested in resource economics, energy economics, sustainability, ICT, and governance, as well as policymakers working on smart city initiatives.This is an open access book.

Read more less

This book explores communication as a key influence on the trajectory of conflicts and crises in the specific context of academia. From the ideological responsibilities of academia to the profit-seeking motives of institutions, the authors explore challenges facing faculty across multiple disciplines. Critique of the higher education industry is more necessary than ever in the context of academic corporatization and marketization. Academia in Conflict reveals how institutional discourses can contribute to or mitigate conflict and crisis, offering communication practices that prioritize stakeholder experiences and needs. Enduring academic crises are addressed, including declines in public funding, mental health emergencies, and threats to job stability. Academia in Conflict provides crucial insights for navigating the challenges of higher education today.

Read more less

This textbook offers an essential introduction to survey research and quantitative methods with clear instructions on how to conduct statistical tests with R. Building on the premise that we need to teach statistical methods in a holistic and practical format, the book guides students through the four main elements of survey research and quantitative analysis: (1) the importance of survey research, (2) preparing a survey, (3) conducting a survey and (4) analyzing a survey. In detail, students will learn how to create their own questionnaire on the basis of formulating hypotheses; sampling participants; disseminating their questionnaire; creating datasets; and analyzing their data. The data analytical sections of this revised and extended edition explain the theory, rationale and mathematical foundations of relevant bivariate and multi-variate statistical tests. These include the T-test, F-test, Chi-square test and correlation analyses, as well as bivariate and multivariate regression analyses. In addition, the book offers a brief introduction to statistical computing with R, which includes clear instructions on how to conduct these statistical tests in R. Given the breadth of its coverage, the textbook is suitable for introductory statistics, survey research and quantitative methods classes in the social sciences.

Read more less

This molecular dynamics textbook takes the reader from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics and vice versa, and from few-body systems to many-body systems. It is self-contained, comprehensive, and builds the theory of molecular dynamics from basic principles to applications, allowing the subject to be appreciated by readers from physics, chemistry, and biology backgrounds while maintaining mathematical rigor. The book is enhanced with illustrations, problems and solutions, and suggested reading, making it ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses or self-study. With coverage of recent developments, the book is essential reading for students who explore and characterize phenomena at the atomic level. It is a useful reference for researchers in physics and chemistry, and can act as an entry point for researchers in nanoscience, materials engineering, genetics, and related fields who are seeking a deeper understanding of nature.

Read more less

This book explores how humorous depictions of the Great War worked to familiarise, domesticate, and tame the conflict. While well-known examples of First World War literature often emphasize enormous emotional disruption and the war’s extremes, other writers used humour to encourage a gentle, mild amusement, drawing on familiar, popular genres and forms used before 1914. In humorous portrayals of the war, tameness outdoes the unmanageable and the temperate exceeds the extraordinary. Humour in British First World War Literature is based on little-known primary material uncovered from detailed archival research, as well as works that, though written by celebrated authors, tend not to be placed in the canon of Great War literature. Each chapter examines key examples of literary texts, ranging from short stories and poetry to theatre and periodicals, in doing so investigating the complex representational, political, and social significance of the tame strand in humorous Great War literature.

Read more less

. The main aim of this book is to shine a spotlight on key experiments and their crucial importance for advancing our understanding of physics. Physics is an empirical science, and experiments have always been a driving force in the development of our understanding of nature. Facts matter. In that sense, the book attempts to be complementary to the many popularizations of theoretical physics, and to counterbalance the frequent emphasis there on more speculative ideas.Experimental physics is also an essential pillar in physics teaching, as well as helping broader audiences to better understand important concepts, particularly in challenging fields such as relativity or quantum physics, where our common sense intuition often fails.Readers are taken on an historical journey, starting with “Free Fall” and culminating in “Spooky Action at a Distance”. En route they will encounter many important branches of physics, whose main ideas and theoretical description will be given a more empirical meaning. At the end, the reader is invited to reflect on what could be exciting and important directions for fundamental physics. All readers with an undergraduate degree in physical sciences or engineering will enjoy and learn much from this stimulating and original text.

Read more less

This open access book is a groundbreaking volume that creates a new field within the intersection of “global health” and “LGBTQ health” delineating specific health challenges and resiliencies. There has been increasing awareness of the importance in recognizing LGBTQ health issues and disparities. However, there is a dearth of research and scholarship that examines LGBTQ health through global and comparative perspectives. This book addresses this gap.In the pursuit of scientific inquiry, the disciplines in public health have often emphasized reductionist perspectives that are particularized to a specific locale, municipality, or country. This book's provision of broader perspectives, cross-cutting disparities and issues, and socio-political-cultural contextualization inform the development of new research, policies, interventions, and programs. Students benefit by learning about LGBTQ health research, policies, and programs in various countries and regions. Public health researchers benefit by learning about research conducted in various countries and regions, along with understanding how research has been linked to and impacted by various policies and programs. Policymakers benefit from learning about overarching and comparative perspectives that could inform more effective policies, including those connected to multiple locations. Practitioners learn about various public health practices in multiple countries and regions that could contribute to novel and creative solutions and approaches within the respective contexts. The nine chapters of this volume facilitate greater socio-political-cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence; undertake an in-depth literature review of health factors and outcomes; and provide recommendations for increasing health-related capacity through development and collaborations between agencies, organizations, and institutions across countries and/or regions. Global LGBTQ Health: Research, Policy, Practice, and Pathways is primarily intended for students and instructors in public health, medicine, nursing, other health professions, psychology, social work, LGBTQ or gender/sexuality studies, human rights, and the social sciences. The book is also a useful resource for public health researchers and practitioners, policymakers, and healthcare and social service providers.

Read more less

This book shows how California’s weather and climate have drastically changed and what we can expect in the near future. California’s weather and climate are becoming as common a topic in the media as inflation and wars. It comes into our lives during heat waves when we require more cooling and during droughts when we are asked to limit our use of water. We may not be able to visit state and national parks when fires rage nearby. Indeed, California does have weather. LaDochy and Witiw dispel the erroneous myths about the state’s climate in a colorful, entertaining way. California does have seasons. It does rain in Southern California. It is not always sunny and mild throughout the year. And not all El Niños bring abundant rainfall every time throughout the state. These and other myths are discussed and dismissed with the latest science and remarkable vignettes. The authors describe the diversity of the state’s physical environment, both natural and man-made and how climate change is currently altering this diverse environment. Climate change, in the past, present and future, continues to influence this most populous state. Yes, California does have weather.

Read more less

This book addresses domestic abuse and stalking among young people in the UK and Ireland, with a focus on intersectionality and lifestyle settings. In partnership with the Alice Ruggles Trust, this book draws on a wealth of expert contributions including those with lived experience, frontline services such as Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service, charities EmilyTest and Hollie Gazzard Trust, researchers of so-called honour-based abuse and online harms, and forensic psychologists who work with people who stalk. It begins with an overview of ways to recognise harmful behaviours, including those carried out online. The discussion then moves on to methods and motivations of stalking and coercive control and the various lifestyle contexts including education environments, young people in the workplace, and the role of the police and frontline support services in tackling these issues. It is a vital resource for undergraduate students across criminology, sociology, law, psychology, education, social justice, policing, and forensic psychology, as well as a combination of academic researchers and professionals working within stalking and domestic abuse support and prevention. This action-orientated book also includes 'Key Points' and ‘Discussion Questions’ in each chapter to direct student learning in the classroom and to create discussion points for wider readers.

Read more less

This book aims at disseminating information and knowledge in Gerontechnology, a topic that is still considered a specific area of interest for techno-experts (i.e. informatics, engineers, bio-engineers, bio-statistics, etc.) while there is a relatively low diffusion of technological expertise among clinicians and other health professionals who are involved in the care of older people. In many parts of the world, average life expectancy is rising consistently, and at the same time technology is developing at a dramatic pace. This means having completely new options for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of diseases and disabilities of older people but also a new challenge to improve the quality of life by promoting an active and healthy aging at population level. This book explores the technical developments that are beginning to change the management of diseases and disabilities of geriatric patients. These include advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), i.e. the new online services in healthcare and electronic medical-health records, Assistive Technologies (AT), i.e. behavior and motility monitoring sensorial tools, smart homes tools and telemedicine tools as well as Human–Computer Interaction technologies (HCI), i.e. robots for supporting people with mobility or cognitive limitations, humanoid robots, exoskeletons and rehabilitation robots. The Work is divided into three main parts: 1) Technology in a world of aging people, 2) Clinical applications of technologies in older people, and 3) Older people and technologies interaction including privacy issues, acceptability of technologies by older people and education and training of healthcare professionals in gerontechnology. The book will be an invaluable tool for geriatricians and other health professionals who are involved in the care of older people.

Read more less

With an ever-growing body of evidence on the links between different oppressions, never have the debates in Critical Animal Studies surrounding intersectionality in relation to animal ethics been more important. In particular, the arguments related to anthropomorphic attributes of mentality to other than humans promise to provide fruitful new ground for re-assessing human-animal relations. This book maps the central debates surrounding anthropomorphism in relation to our descriptions of animals, their lives, animal mentality, and meaningful communication in the nonhuman world. Rebekah Humphreys synthesizes the work of critical animal theorists, philosophers, and cognitive ethologists, and provides a critical account of how the debates concerning anthropomorphism play a key role in a proper understanding of animal ethics.

Read more less

This manual is an instructional guide to provide healthcare educators with best practices for acknowledging and addressing racial and ethnic health disparities (REHD) in medical education. As a collaborative effort written by both medical students and educators, this manual examines the impact of race, racism, and ethnic biases on medical care and health outcomes. This book enables readers to understand and apply key terms encompassing health disparities, bias, and cultural humility as an approach to demystify stereotypes, social assumptions and long-held misperceptions that influence the misuse of race in medical teachings. By examining the construct of race, differences between race-based and race-conscious medicine are distinguished. As such, medical educators will be guided to consider the effects of socioeconomic differences, environmental factors, and institutional racism between population categories with regard to healthcare compliance and outcomes. Supported by evidence-based recommendations, this manual provides medical educators, curriculum managers, and institutions with strategies and checklists to improve their medical curricula to ensure a well-defined understanding of race and ethnicity in medicine. This book serves as a resource for medical educators and students as they aspire to become more culturally competent, equity-minded, and inclusive healthcare professionals.

Read more less

This book comprehensively assesses the growing importance of project data for project scheduling, risk analysis and control. It discusses the relevance of project data for both researchers and professionals, and illustrates why the collection, processing and use of such data is not as straightforward as most people think. The theme of this book is known in the literature as data-driven project management and includes the discussion of using computer algorithms, human intuition, and project data for managing projects under risk. The book reviews the basic components of data-driven project management by summarizing the current state-of-the-art methodologies, including the latest computer and machine learning algorithms and statistical methodologies, for project risk and control. It highlights the importance of artificial project data for academics, and describes the specific requirements such data must meet. In turn, the book discusses a wide variety of statistical methods available to generate these artificial data and shows how they have helped researchers to develop algorithms and tools to improve decision-making in project management. Moreover, it examines the relevance of project data from a professional standpoint and describes how professionals should collect empirical project data for better decision-making. Finally, the book introduces a new approach to data collection, generation, and analysis for creating project databases, making it relevant for academic researchers and professional project managers alike.

Read more less

This book discusses theoretical predictions and their comparison with experiments of extended and modified classical and quantum theories of gravity. The goal is to provide a readable access and broad overview over different approaches to the topic to graduate and PhD students as well as to young researchers. The book presents both, theoretical and experimental insights and is structured in three parts. The first addresses the theoretical models beyond special and general relativity such as string theory, Poincare gauge theory and teleparallelism as well as Finsler gravity. In turn, the second part is focused on the observational effects that these models generate, accounting for tests and comparisons which can be made on all possible scales: from the universe as a whole via binary systems, stars, black holes, satellite experiments, down to laboratory experiments at micrometer and smaller scales. The last part of this book is dedicated to quantum systems and gravity, showing tests of classical gravity with quantum systems, and coupling of quantum matter and gravity.

Read more less

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of new forms of working and new working arrangements largely enabled by technology. The Future of Work is a projection of how work, working, workers and the workplace will evolve in the years ahead from the perspective of different actors in society, influenced by technological, socio-economic, political, and demographic changes.This open access book is a timely exploration of some of the challenges and prospects for the future of work from two main perspectives: how work is changing and how to prepare for work in the future. An evidence-based assessment of these topics offers some critical perspectives that challenge old assumptions and opens up emerging trends and possibilities for work in the future. As part of the Palgrave Studies in Digital Business & Enabling Technologies series, this book is an essential resource for academics of Business, Human Resource Management, Organisational Psychology and Industrial Relations, as well as practitioners and policy makers.

Read more less

This book provides an application of the concepts and recommendations of The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity Report, a Consensus Study from the US National Academy of Medicine. It offers complementary guidance through tools, tips, examples and storytelling. As such this book, written by prominent international academics and nurse practitioners, offers program and policy recommendations for health equity. As the world’s largest and most trusted workforce, nurses are in a key position thus must step up to help address these inequities now. The recent pandemic has laid bare these inequities in ways that are stark and demanding of our attention. This book offers program and policy recommendations, along with case studies, designed to empower nurses to understand and ACT to improve health equity. This text provides nurses an opportunity to clearly see the need for an equitable, just, and fair society. There has never been a more urgent call to action.

Read more less

This book uniquely combines the authors’ personal experiences, deep cultural and professional experience of living and working in Russia and the former USSR, and interest and experience with language and computational analysis, to shed light on a highly contemporary question: what is motivating conflict and unrest in Russia and its surrounding countries? How does Russian government suppression of information manifest in practice today, and how does it fit into the historical cultural pattern for Russia? The authors take a computational look at social and traditional media in the original languages, from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and the English-speaking world, to glean insights and separate fact from fiction.This book helps readers interested in Eastern Europe to ‘take the temperature’ of the region today, but it is also of interest to readers in the policy and analysis community, because it offers a template, an analytical ‘how-to’ guide which aims to follow in the footsteps of CIA author Richards Heuer’s ‘Psychology of Intelligence Analysis’, to show how state-of-the-art computational analysis techniques could be applied to similar problems in other topic areas, with the human analyst and computational techniques each working together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Read more less

Is death inevitable? Until now, the history of mankind has been marked by this fatal fact. Religions, borders and progress are born from an ancient fear of death, comfort from this fear man often found only in religious paradigms. But according to José Luis Cordeiro and David Wood, the incontrovertible fact of death is no longer an absolute certainty - science and technology are preparing to tear down the final frontier: that of immortality.This accessible book provides insight into recent exponential advances in artificial intelligence, tissue regeneration, stem cell treatment, organ printing, cryopreservation, and genetic therapies that, for the first time in human history, offer a realistic chance to solve the problem of the aging of the human body. In this book, Cordeiro and Wood not only present all the major developments, initiatives, and ideas for eternal life, they also show why there are a number of good arguments for seeing death for what it is: the last undefeated disease.Enter any drugstore or bookstore, and we confronted with a mountain of nonsense concerning the aging process. Society seems obsessed with aging. That is why The Death of Death is such a refreshing delight, able to cut through the hype and reveal a balanced, authoritative, and lucid discussion of this controversial topic. It summarizes the astonishing breakthroughs made recently in revealing how science may one day conquer the aging process.Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and author of The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything We are entering a Fantastic Voyage into life extension, crossing different bridges that will take us to indefinite life spans. The Death of Death explains clearly how we might soon reach longevity escape velocity and live long enough to live forever. Ray Kurzweil, co-author of Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever and co-founder of Singularity University The Death of Death is a truly revolutionary book. This is a visionary book that confronts us with the terrible reality of aging, and its authors are friends and connoisseurs of the subject. I believe that the authoritative and exhaustive description of this crusade that José and David make in this excellent book will accelerate this process. Forward! Aubrey de Grey, founder of LEV (Longevity Escape Velocity) Foundation and co-author of Ending Aging

Read more less