Search results for ""springer verlag, singapore""

This book discusses the importance of knowledge as an intangible asset, separate from physical entities, that can enable us to understand and/or change the world. It provides a thorough treatment of knowledge, one that is free of ideological and philosophical preconceptions, and which relies exclusively on concepts and principles from the theory of computing and logic. It starts with an introduction to knowledge as truthful and useful information, and its development and management by computers and humans. It analyses the relationship between computational processes and physical phenomena, as well as the processes of knowledge production and application by humans and computers. In turn, the book presents autonomous systems that are called upon to replace humans in complex operations as a step toward strong AI, and discusses the risks – real or hypothetical – of the careless use of these systems. It compares human and machine intelligence, attempting to answer the question of whether and to what extent computers, as they stand today, can approach human-level situation awareness and decision-making. Lastly, the book explains the functioning of individual consciousness as an autonomous system that manages short- and long-term objectives on the basis of value criteria and accumulated knowledge. It discusses how individual values are shaped in society and the role of institutions in fostering and maintaining a common set of values for strengthening social cohesion. The book differs from books on the philosophy of science in many respects, e.g. by considering knowledge in its multiple facets and degrees of validity and truthfulness. It follows the dualist tradition of logicians, emphasizing the importance of logic and language and considering an abstract concept of information very different from the one used in the physical sciences. From this perspective, it levels some hopefully well-founded criticism at approaches that consider information and knowledge as nothing more than the emergent properties of physical phenomena. The book strikes a balance between popular books that sidestep fundamental issues and focus on sensationalism, and scientific or philosophical books that are not accessible to non-experts. As such, it is intended for a broad audience interested in the role of knowledge as a driver for change and development, and as a common good whose production and application could shape the future of humanity.

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This open access book considers a pivotal era in Chinese history from a global perspective. This book’s insight into Chinese and international history offers timely and challenging perspectives on initiatives like “Chinese characteristics”, “The New Silk Road” and “One Belt, One Road” in broad historical context. Global History with Chinese Characteristics analyses the feeble state capacity of Qing China questioning the so-called “High Qing” (shèng qīng 盛清) era’s economic prosperity as the political system was set into a “power paradox” or “supremacy dilemma”. This is a new thesis introduced by the author demonstrating that interventionist states entail weak governance. Macao and Marseille as a new case study aims to compare Mediterranean and South China markets to provide new insights into both modern eras’ rising trade networks, non-official institutions and interventionist impulses of autocratic states such as China’s Qing and Spain’s Bourbon empires.

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This book focuses on contemporary technologies and research in computational intelligence that has reached the practical level and is now accessible in preclinical and clinical settings. This book's principal objective is to thoroughly understand significant technological breakthroughs and research results in predictive modeling in healthcare imaging and data analysis. Machine learning and deep learning could be used to fully automate the diagnosis and prognosis of patients in medical fields. The healthcare industry's emphasis has evolved from a clinical-centric to a patient-centric model. However, it is still facing several technical, computational, and ethical challenges. Big data analytics in health care is becoming a revolution in technical as well as societal well-being viewpoints. Moreover, in this age of big data, there is increased access to massive amounts of regularly gathered data from the healthcare industry that has necessitated the development of predictive models and automated solutions for the early identification of critical and chronic illnesses. The book contains high-quality, original work that will assist readers in realizing novel applications and contexts for deep learning architectures and algorithms, making it an indispensable reference guide for academic researchers, professionals, industrial software engineers, and innovative model developers in healthcare industry.

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This comprehensive, illustrated guide presents representative general surgery, including gastrointestinal tract, hepatobiliary and inguinal hernia. Surgery is generally based on the microanatomy; however, in practice surgery involves more dynamic and floating anatomy. In the last decade, the methods have been constantly improved, shedding new light on classical anatomical science. Laparoscopic is one such methodology. All illustrations presented in this book have been drawn by the author – a pioneering surgeon – and show real-world procedures. All the methods introduced are practical and have been refined based on the precise clinical and embryological anatomy. This unique book offers readers essential insights into efficient and high-integrity surgeries in abdominal region. As such, it is a valuable resource for all gastrointestinal surgeons.

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As the main trend and key enabling technology for next-generation wireless networks (i.e., 6G), integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) can effectively improve spectrum efficiency, hardware efficiency, and information processing efficiency. However, it faces several deficiencies, including limited coverage due to high-frequency signals and limited communication-sensing performance due to uncontrollable wireless environments. Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) provides novel dimensions to address these deficiencies by intelligently manipulating the wireless propagation environment in an energy- and hardware-efficient manner. RIS-enabled ISAC is expected to comprehensively promote the multi-dimensional performance of 6G, such as communication capacity, sensing accuracy, and coverage. Nevertheless, to fully realize its potential, one needs to figure out the impacts of RIS on joint communication and sensing performance and tackle new technical challenges in beamforming design and signal processing. The goal of this book, therefore, is to deliver a thorough understanding of RIS-enabled ISAC from three perspectives: performance analysis, beamforming design, and signal processing. Specifically, the authors provide a brief introduction to RIS-enabled ISAC, including basic concepts, motivations, potential application scenarios, and an overview of the state-of-the-art research on RIS-enabled ISAC. The theoretical performance analytical frameworks of RIS-enabled ISAC and their corresponding results are also discussed. Based on this, several critical issues are identified and elaborated on, including signal processing technologies such as angle and Delay-Doppler information acquisition, and air interface technologies such as beamforming designs. Finally, the book concludes with future trends and open issues for further research.The book would be beneficial for researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals who wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of the latest developments and challenges in RIS-enabled ISAC. By providing insights into the potential of RIS-enabled ISAC and the technical challenges that need to be addressed, the book can aid in the development of practical solutions for next-generation wireless networks and contribute to the advancement of the field of wireless communications.

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This book mainly focuses on environmental and resource law under Chinese law, involving secondary disciplines such as international law, civil law, administrative law and criminal law, as well as issues related to other first-class disciplines such as environmental science and ecology. The contents include general theory of environmental law (basic theory), prevention and control of environmental pollution, natural resources protection law and international environmental law. It basically covers all fields of China's environmental law and is a handy reference for those seeking to understand it.

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This open access book is the first comprehensive and systematic study of Chinese Marxist literary criticism as an independent theoretical form. It discusses and describes the theoretical features of the Chinese form of Marxist literary criticism by refining and re-interpreting the iconic key concepts of “people,” “nation,” “politics,” “praxis,” along with the relationships between literature, technology and capital. Literary criticism and value judgment has also been discussed at length with insightful and valuable views being provided. This book is a brilliant introduction to the topic and ideal academic material for global readers to grasp the essence of Chinese Marxist literary critical thought.

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This open access book employs Paul Ricoeur's methodologies to identify, challenge, and replace with responsible language the many continuing abuses of power, including in the university curriculum and in the international discourse of right-wing populism. Using Ricoeur’s philosophy, the book provides a meta-frame for current debates about the university and a pragmatic micro-frame for supporting staff and students to develop important conversations on campus. It introduces the Community of Inquiry approach and describes its use to engage with complex ideas on which society has recently become silent. By contrasting Ricoeur’s work on Algeria and his work in Chicago, USA, .a bias blind spot is revealed in his desire for dialectical balance and reciprocity. This prevented him (and for some years the author) from accepting the connections between colonialism, slavery and racism and the urgent need for reparative justice. With Ricoeur, the readers can think differently: how to recognize and tackle racism and the democratic deficit, how to reduce epistemic injustice by learning how to speak out, how to move away from forced polarities and develop a pedagogy of hope as well as an acceptance of provisionality and the intractability of certain existential problems.

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Just as the six branches of a snow crystal converge in regular proportions toward their common center, the six contributions to this book point toward a future philosophy of cosmic life. In this sense, this edited volume represents a multidisciplinary and transcultural polylogue of distinguished authors from three continents, which aims to establish highly innovative perspectives and open new frontiers of developing philosophical reflections and scientific foundations for the emergence of a common cosmic consciousness, for an integral ecology, and for a cooperative planetary civilization of humanity. John B. Cobb, Jr. uses a process-philosophical foundation to describe life as living events expressing novelty and the cosmos as a process of self-enriching and self-evolving “Life Itself.” Chandra Wickramasinghe unfolds his scientific and philosophical perspective on cosmic life in twelve successive steps, offering a wide range of arguments and insights that support an up-to-date theory of panspermia. Attila Grandpierre presents the "Cosmic Life Principle" and the comprehensive science based upon it that is inextricably linked to the healthy and cooperative civilization, to the biological laws of nature, to the laws of logic, to the uplifting of the well-being of people and ecological communities. Chunyou Yan introduces the approach of his holographic philosophy, according to which the universe must be understood as a vast living entity, every aspect of which represents life. Bei Peng shows that the proportions of energy meridians in traditional Chinese medicine correspond to musical intervals, and on this basis she demonstrates the analogy of the human body to macrocosmic phenomena. David Bartosch offers an examination of three important systematic foundations for a poly-contextural, transcultural philosophy of cosmic life with roots in Greek, Chinese, South and West Asian, and European traditions of thought.

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This book provides theoretical background and state-of-the-art findings in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity for industry 4.0 and helps in implementing AI-based cybersecurity applications. Machine learning-based security approaches are vulnerable to poison datasets which can be caused by a legitimate defender's misclassification or attackers aiming to evade detection by contaminating the training data set. There also exist gaps between the test environment and the real world. Therefore, it is critical to check the potentials and limitations of AI-based security technologies in terms of metrics such as security, performance, cost, time, and consider how to incorporate them into the real world by addressing the gaps appropriately. This book focuses on state-of-the-art findings from both academia and industry in big data security relevant sciences, technologies, and applications. ​

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This book provides a clear understanding of quantum mechanics (QM) by developing it from fundamental postulates in an axiomatic manner, as its central theme. The target audience is physics students at master’s level. It avoids historical developments, which are piecemeal, not logically well knitted, and may lead to misconceptions. Instead, in the present approach all of QM and all its rules are developed logically starting from the fundamental postulates only and no other assumptions.Specially noteworthy topics have been developed in a smooth contiguous fashion following the central theme. They provide a new approach to understanding QM. In most other texts, these are presented as disjoint separate topics. Since the reader may not be acquainted with advanced mathematical topics like linear vector space, a number of such topics have been presented as “mathematical preliminary.” Standard topics, viz. derivation of uncertainty relations, simple harmonic oscillator by operator method, bound systems in one and three dimensions, angular momentum, hydrogen-like atom, and scattering in one and three dimensions, are woven into the central theme.Advanced topics like approximation methods, spin and generalized angular momenta, addition of angular momenta, and relativistic quantum mechanics have been reserved for Volume II. ​

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This book provides a comprehensive overview of diagnostic imaging in infectious and inflammatory diseases in central nervous system and spine. It starts with basic theory of infectious diseases, including pathological basis, laboratory diagnostic methods, and clinical imaging techniques. In following chapters, the authors firstly introduce the central nervous system infections related to respiratory, gastrointestinal, and contagious diseases. Then viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic and special infections in central nervous system and spine are presented with clinical cases. Each disease is clearly illustrated using cases combined with high-quality CT and MRI. The book provides a valuable reference source for radiologists and doctors working in the area of infectious and inflammatory diseases.

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This book helps the reader make use of the mathematical models of biological phenomena starting from the basics of programming and computer simulation. Computer simulations based on a mathematical model enable us to find a novel biological mechanism and predict an unknown biological phenomenon. Mathematical biology could further expand the progress of modern life sciences. Although many biologists are interested in mathematical biology, they do not have experience in mathematics and computer science. An educational course that combines biology, mathematics, and computer science is very rare to date. Published books for mathematical biology usually explain the theories of established mathematical models, but they do not provide a practical explanation for how to solve the differential equations included in the models, or to establish such a model that fits with a phenomenon of interest. MATLAB is an ideal programming platform for the beginners of computer science. This book starts from the very basics about how to write a programming code for MATLAB (or Octave), explains how to solve ordinary and partial differential equations, and how to apply mathematical models to various biological phenomena such as diabetes, infectious diseases, and heartbeats. Some of them are original models, newly developed for this book. Because MATLAB codes are embedded and explained throughout the book, it will be easy to catch up with the text. In the final chapter, the book focuses on the mathematical model of the proneural wave, a phenomenon that guarantees the sequential differentiation of neurons in the brain. This model was published as a paper from the author’s lab (Sato et al., PNAS 113, E5153, 2016), and was intensively explained in the book chapter “Notch Signaling in Embryology and Cancer”, published by Springer in 2020. This book provides the reader who has a biological background with invaluable opportunities to learn and practice mathematical biology.

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This open access book explores the past and present of Quanzhou (Zayton) and the rich diversity and tolerance that kindled Quanzhou’s innovativeness and helped it prosper both commercially and culturally—values that are today being embraced by China’s global trade partners. Quanzhou (Zayton), Marco Polo’s port of departure and Columbus’ goal in China, was not only the start of the Maritime Silk Road and the Middle Age’s greatest port but also centuries ahead of its time in its tolerance and diversity. The fabled “City of Light” had 7 mosques for its 40,000 Muslims, some of whom served in government, as well as 3 Franciscan cathedrals funded in part by the emperor, Jewish synagogues, and centers for Nestorian Christians, Hindus, Taoists, Manicheans, Jains, etc. As Franciscan Bishop Andrew of Perugia wrote in 1322, “Tis a fact that in this vast empire, there are people of every nation under heaven, and every sect, and all and sundry are allowed to live freely according to their creed.” In 2021, UNESCO designated “Quanzhou, Emporium of the World,” as a world heritage site, and the city is now the hub of the Belt and Road Initiative, the 21st Century Silk Road, which was inspired by ancient Quanzhou.

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This open access book covers the most cutting-edge and hot research topics and fields of post-quantum cryptography. The main purpose of this book is to focus on the computational complexity theory of lattice ciphers, especially the reduction principle of Ajtai, in order to fill the gap that post-quantum ciphers focus on the implementation of encryption and decryption algorithms, but the theoretical proof is insufficient. In Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 6, author introduces the theory and technology of LWE distribution, LWE cipher and homomorphic encryption in detail. When using random analysis tools, there is a problem of "ambiguity" in both definition and algorithm. The greatest feature of this book is to use probability distribution to carry out rigorous mathematical definition and mathematical demonstration for various unclear or imprecise expressions, so as to make it a rigorous theoretical system for classroom teaching and dissemination. Chapters 5 and 7 further expand and improve the theory of cyclic lattice, ideal lattice and generalized NTRU cryptography.This book is used as a professional book for graduate students majoring in mathematics and cryptography, as well as a reference book for scientific and technological personnel engaged in cryptography research.

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This book provides a comprehensive portrayal of the history of Indian mathematicians and statisticians and uncovers many missing parts of the scientific representation of mathematical and statistical research during the 19th and 20th centuries of Bengal (now West Bengal), India. This book gives a brief historical account about the establishment of the first-two departments in an Indian university, where graduate teaching and research were initiated. This was a unique distinction for the University of Calcutta which was established in 1857. The creation of the world famous Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Calcutta (now Kolkata) is also briefly described. The lives and works of the 16 pioneer mathematical scientists who adorned the above mentioned institutions and the first Indian Institute Technology (IIT) of India have been elaborated in lucid language. Some outstanding scholars who were trained at the ISI but left India permanently have also been discussed briefly in a separate chapter. This book fulfils a long-standing gap in the history of modern Indian mathematics, which will make the book very useful to researchers in the history of science and mathematics. Written in very lucid English with little mathematical or statistical jargon makes the book immensely readable even to general readers with interest in scientific history even from non-mathematical, non-statistical background. This book is a clear portrayal of the struggle and success of researchers in mathematical sciences in Bengal (an important part of the colonial India), unveils before the international community of mathematical scientists. The real connoisseurs will appreciate the value of the book, as it will clear up many prevailing misconceptions.

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Despite China’s rise to the status of global power, many Chinese youths are anxious about their personal future, in large measure because the rapid changes have left them feeling adrift. This book, available in open access, provides a manifesto of intellectual activism that counsels China’s young people to think by themselves and for themselves. Consisting of three conversations between Xiang Biao, a social anthropologist, and Wu Qi, a rising journalist, the book probes how China has reached its current stage and how young people can make changes. The conversations touch on issues of mobility, education, family, relations between the self and the authority, centers and margins, China, and the world. The Chinese version was named the “most impactful book of 2021” by Douban, China’s premier website for rating books, films, and music. The English version is translated by David Ownby, who also penned an introduction.

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The goal of this textbook is to equip readers with as structured knowledge of soft robotics as possible. Seeking to overcome the limitations of conventional robots by making them more flexible, gentle and adaptable, soft robotics has become one of the most active fields over the last decade. Soft robotics is also highly interdisciplinary, bringing together robotics, computer science, material science, biology, etc. After the introduction, the content is divided into three parts: Design of Soft Robots; Soft Materials; and Autonomous Soft Robots. Part I addresses soft mechanisms, biological mechanisms, and soft manipulation & locomotion. In Part II, the basics of polymer, biological materials, flexible & stretchable sensors, and soft actuators are discussed from a materials science standpoint. In turn, Part III focuses on modeling & control of continuum bodies, material intelligence, and information processing using soft body dynamics. In addition, the latest research results and cutting-edge research are highlighted throughout the book. Written by a team of researchers from highly diverse fields, the work offers a valuable textbook or technical guide for all students, engineers and researchers who are interested in soft robotics.

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This open access book is designed and written to bridge the gap on the critical issues identified in environmental education programs in Asian countries. The world and its environments are changing rapidly, and the public may have difficulty keeping up and understanding how these changes will affect our way of life. The authors discuss various topics and case studies from an Asian perspective, but the content, messaging, and lessons learned need not be limited to Asian cultures. Each chapter provides a summary of the intensive research that has been performed on pro-environmental behaviors, the experience of people working in industry and at home, and their philosophies that guide them in their daily lives. We highlight humanity’s potential to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by understanding better the environmental psychology, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability and stewardship protection elements that contribute to responsible environmental citizenship. The content of the chapters in this book includes a discussion of the crucial issues, plans, and evaluations for sustainability theories, practices, and actions with a proposed management structure for maximizing the cultural, social, and ecological diversity of Asian experiences compared to other theories and cultures internationally. We intend that the data in this book will provide a comprehensive guide for students, professors, practitioners, and entrepreneurs of environmental education and its related disciplines using case studies that demonstrate the relationship between the social and behavioral sciences and environmental leadership and sustainability.

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This book contains a collection of teaching cases that study and emphasise how twenty-first-century businesses address and satisfy the needs and wants of socially conscious consumers while remaining profitable. This book explores the practise of marketing for societal benefit through real-life case studies. It provides a critical understanding of marketing approaches such as social marketing, sustainability marketing, and other practises of a similar nature. This book is made up of both long and short real-life cases from various industries, with varying degrees of difficulty.

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This book provides a single source of reference for educators interested in understanding how industry-based ideas have been adapted into different educational contexts, and supports their utilisation in practice. The link between industry-based ideas and their application in education has enabled educators to develop engaging, collaborative, and creative learning environments, as well as better preparing their students for an increasingly complex and dynamic global environment. This book includes contributions from educators, researchers, and practitioners, who have integrated industry-based ideas into their teaching, and explores how these concepts and practices support the creation of effective learning environments. Through these diverse, international contributions, this book enables wider engagement with, and critical analysis of, the application of industry practices, processes and techniques in the development of collaborative and creative learning environments.

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This textbook explains the fundamentals of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) without assuming advanced knowledge of mathematics and programming. MCMC is a powerful technique that can be used to integrate complicated functions or to handle complicated probability distributions. MCMC is frequently used in diverse fields where statistical methods are important – e.g. Bayesian statistics, quantum physics, machine learning, computer science, computational biology, and mathematical economics. This book aims to equip readers with a sound understanding of MCMC and enable them to write simulation codes by themselves. The content consists of six chapters. Following Chap. 2, which introduces readers to the Monte Carlo algorithm and highlights the advantages of MCMC, Chap. 3 presents the general aspects of MCMC. Chap. 4 illustrates the essence of MCMC through the simple example of the Metropolis algorithm. In turn, Chap. 5 explains the HMC algorithm, Gibbs sampling algorithm and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, discussing their pros, cons and pitfalls. Lastly, Chap. 6 presents several applications of MCMC. Including a wealth of examples and exercises with solutions, as well as sample codes and further math topics in the Appendix, this book offers a valuable asset for students and beginners in various fields.

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This book focuses on piano teachers and the many pains they encounter in their careers. These pains play an essential role in blocking the musical inspiration of their students. The author identifies with the sensitivities of the teachers, aiming at the inspiration permeated and safer playing of their students.The book penetrates the protective mechanisms of the teachers that, on the one hand, maintain their professional functioning, while on the other hand, block refreshing ideas. It combines exploration of secure and culturally informed inspired playing, coping with exaggerated anxiety and understanding the interaction of piano actions with pianist’s physiology.This book helps to open teachers’ perceptions of the ways to enable more secure and more inspired performances while remembering the inner feelings of the piano teachers.

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This edited book analyses how artists, authors, and cultural practitioners have responded to and represented episodes of epidemics/pandemics through history. Covering a broad range of notable epidemics/pandemics (black death, cholera, Influenza, AIDS, Ebola, COVID-19), the chapters examine the cultural representations of epidemics and pandemics in different contexts, periods, languages, media, and genres. Interdisciplinary in nature and drawing on perspectives from medicine, literature, medical anthropology, philosophy of medicine, and cultural theory, the book investigates and emphasizes the urgent need to reflect on past catastrophes caused by such outbreaks. By delving into cultural history, it re-examines how societies and communities have responded in the past to species-threatening epidemics/pandemics. Sure to be of interest to lay readers as well as students and researchers, this work situates epidemics and pandemics outbreaks within the contexts of culture and narrative, and their complex and layered representation, commenting on intersections of contagion, culture, and community. It offers a cross-cultural, global, and comparative analysis of the trajectories, histories and responses to various epidemics/pandemics that impacted people worldwide.

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This book addresses the question of what Singapore's COVID-19 pandemic response in the first year can tell us about the strengths and weaknesses of the Singapore model and what its prospects might be in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous post-pandemic world. As a concise, holistic, and critical documentation of the first year of COVID-19 in Singapore, the multi-disciplinary chapters in this book provide a broad-ranging analysis of an internationally admired model of governance severely tested by a global pandemic crisis whose end is still not in sight.The book focuses specifically on the interconnections among Singapore’s political economy, public health policies, immigration policies, and the elite and pragmatic system of state authoritarianism that, especially since the 1980s, has been at the heart of managing the tensions and contradictions of a nation-state that is also a global city, an important node in a network of goods, services, investments, wealth, people, ideas, and images, all moving rapidly. The chapters critically employ topics and concepts such as neoliberal globalization, authoritarian populism, moral panic, social stigmatization, heterotopia, spatial segregation, and others to make sense of a thoroughly complex situation.

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This edited book highlights the latest information on the use of nanotechnology, satellite technology, and biotechnological tools in pest management. It covers the role of climate change and ecology in managing pests and also their molecular identification. Other methods that the book encompasses are organic pest management, host-plant resistance, semiochemicals, and bio-control technology. The book also covers insect pollinators which play important role for fruits in horticultural crop production. Intensive and extensive cultivation of horticultural crops lead to serious pest problem. Climatic conditions in India and elsewhere due to which new pests have emerged that causes severe damage to the horticultural crops. In response to this, researchers have developed new techniques to fight pests and their growing resistance to pesticides. This book covers the latest information on identity, biology, damage, seasonal development, and pest management of the horticultural crop pests. It serves to be an essential tool for horticultural professionals, including development officers, horticulturists, field-level extension workers, nurserymen, planters, and entomologists, and is a valuable source of reference for relevant researchers, teachers, and students in the region.

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This book comprehensively introduces data deduplication technologies for storage systems. It first presents the overview of data deduplication including its theoretical basis, basic workflow, application scenarios and its key technologies, and then the book focuses on each key technology of the deduplication to provide an insight into the evolution of the technology over the years including chunking algorithms, indexing schemes, fragmentation reduced schemes, rewriting algorithm and security solution. In particular, the state-of-the-art solutions and the newly proposed solutions are both elaborated. At the end of the book, the author discusses the fundamental trade-offs in each of deduplication design choices and propose an open-source deduplication prototype. The book with its fundamental theories and complete survey can guide the beginners, students and practitioners working on data deduplication in storage system. It also provides a compact reference in the perspective of key data deduplication technologies for those researchers in developing high performance storage solutions.

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This book offers a concise and yet diverse study on the Chengzhongcun. It has a broader scope, both geographical and temporal, than existing works on this topic. The typical Chinese urban informal settlement is related to morphologically similar communities to be found elsewhere in the world. The chapters’ themes were inspired by the methods in historical geography, citizenship studies, and new cultural geography. What is truly unique to this book is that ten years after the basis material of this book was defended, it is enriched with practical experience and first-hand observations of the rapidly changing Chinese city. As urbanization in China slows, this book will interest sociologists, urbanists and scholars of China.

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This book demonstrates the concept of ecological system of the smart ports. The innovation is emphasized as the essence of the ecological system as well as the prerequisite and foundation of sustainable development of smart ports. The main supporting technologies of smart ports, including cyber-physical system, middle-office system, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine vision, AR/VR, system simulation and emulation, digital monitoring and diagnosis, etc., are introduced with concepts and development descriptions as well as practical application cases. It could be used as demonstration and reference for the administrative staff, engineers and technicians as well as researchers in construction and operation of smart ports.

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This book combines energy economics and big data modeling analysis in energy conversion and management and comprehensively introduces the relevant theories, key technologies, and application examples of the smart energy economy. With the help of time series big data modeling results, energy economy managers develop reasonable and feasible pricing mechanisms of electricity price and improve the absorption capacity of the power grid. In addition, they also carry out scientific power equipment scheduling and cost–benefit analysis according to the results of data mining, so as to avoid the loss caused by accidental damage of equipment. Energy users adjust their power consumption behavior through the modeling results provided and achieve the effect of energy saving and emission reduction while reasonably reducing the electricity expenditure.This book provides an important reference for professionals in related fields such as smart energy, smart economy, energy Internet, artificial intelligence, energy economics and policy.

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This book urges readers to develop a radical capacity to unthink and rethink interculturality, through multiple, pluri-perspectival and honest dialogues between the authors, and their students. This book does not give interculturality a normative scaffolding but envisages it differently by identifying some of its polyphonic textures. China’s rich engagement with interculturality serves to support the importance of being curious about other ways of thinking about the notion beyond the ‘West’ only. As such, the issues of culture, identity, language, translation, intercultural competence and silent transformations (amongst others) are re-evaluated in a different light. This is a highly informative and carefully presented book, providing scientific insights for readers with an interest in interculturality.

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This book captures the evolution of consumerism in the human services. By addressing the changing roles and contributions of consumers (those working within human service organizations and systems and those working outside of those organizations and systems) the author offers an encompassing framework of consumerism. This framework is multidimensional and incorporates multiple types and forms of consumerism. The author offers a rationale for consumerism in the human services, illustrates its evolution, and considers multiple perspectives and models culminating in policy considerations, including specific strategies. This book will equip consumers, survivors, practitioners, and policy makers with substantive knowledge of how to advance human services through action and innovation.

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This open access book presents the novel concept of plaston, which accounts for the high ductility or large plastic deformation of emerging high-performance structural materials, including bulk nanostructured metals, hetero-nanostructured materials, metallic glasses, intermetallics, and ceramics.The book describes simulation results of the collective atomic motion associated with plaston, by computational tools such as first-principle methods with predictive performance and large-scale atom-dynamics calculations. Multi-scale analyses with state-of-the art analytical tools nano/micro pillar deformation and nano-indentation experiments are also described. Finally, through collaborative efforts of experimental and computational work, examples of rational design and development of new structural materials are given, based on accurate understanding of deformation and fracture phenomena.This publication provides a valuable contribution to the field of structural materials research.

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This open access book deals with global sanitation, where SDG 6.2 sets a target of enabling access to sanitation services for all, but has not yet been achieved in low- and middle-income countries. The transition from the United Nations MDGs to the SDGs requires more consideration based on the socio-cultural aspects of global sanitation. In other words, equitable sanitation for those in vulnerable situations could be based on socio-cultural contexts. Sanitation is a system that comprises not only a latrine but also the works for the treatment and disposal of human waste. Sanitation systems do not function by themselves but have significance only through social management. The process of decision-making also largely depends on socio-cultural conditions, and the importance of sanitation needs to be socially acknowledged. The health benefits of sanitation improvement—among the significant contributions of sanitation—also need to be considered in the socio-cultural milieu. Further, the social-culture itself is affected, and potentially even created, by sanitation. In this context, more progress on the improvement of sanitation requires a more holistic approach across disciplines.In this book, we present the concept of the Sanitation Triangle, which considers the interconnections of health, materials, and socio-culture in sanitation, as a holistic approach, and the case studies based on the Sanitation Triangle by diverse disciplines such as Cultural Anthropology, Development Studies, Health Sciences, Engineering, and Science Communication. By the deep theoretical examinations and inter-dialogues between the different disciplines, this book explores the potentialities of inter-disciplinary studies on global sanitation.

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This book critically surveys a decade of disasters in Ōtautahi Christchurch. It brings together a diverse range of authors, disciplinary approaches and topics, to reckon with the events that commenced with the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence. Each contribution tackles its subject matter through the frame of Critical Disaster Studies (CDS). The events and the subsequent recovery provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from a series of concatenating urban disasters in order to prepare us for our future on an urban planet facing unprecedented environmental pressures. The book focuses on the production of vulnerability, the human dimensions of disaster, the Indigenous response to disasters and the practical lessons that can be drawn from them.

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This book addresses the origin of gold deposits to answer questions of science and curiosity. These answers contribute in turn to the improved exploration and mining of gold. Initially there is a summary of the methods used to address the genesis of gold deposits including some of the essential science and concepts. Five basic observations follow that apply to many gold deposits and need to be considered in any genetic ideas. Magmatic processes enriching gold are discussed followed by the role of aqueous fluids during gold deposit formation at elevated temperatures and pressures. Modifying effects after deposit formation include high-grade metamorphism, retrogression, weathering, and erosion. The main types of gold deposits are then explained within the spectrum of viable genetic ideas, with informal names for these examples that include gold-only, gold-plus, Carlin, slate-belt, epithermal, porphyry, iron oxide copper gold, and Archean greenstone. Case histories are included in which the role of gold geology contributed directly to discoveries—one example is at the province-scale and another at the goldfield-scale. Unlike other books on the subject, this one addresses virtually all gold deposit types rather than focusing on one type in isolation. The primary readership includes industry geologists, senior undergraduates, postgraduates, and those with some knowledge of science and an interest in the gold industry.

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The last four years have seen significant damage in US-China relations that will take years to rebuild. Early signs within the Biden Administration indicate that an expeditious return to strong Sino-US ties is premature at best. To fully address these challenges and regain credibility both at home and abroad, the Biden team will need to recalibrate a new set of values, objectives, and thinking in redefining the most important bilateral relationship in the world. This edited book volume seeks to reimagine US-China relations, provide innovative policy analysis, and utilizes a truly multidisciplinary approach coupled with both first and second-hand quantitative data, infographics, geopolitical analysis, and perspectives from leading experts. More importantly, this book project provides a nuanced perspective highlighting the central issues that will define America and China both now and well into the future. Whether you are a policy-maker, business professional, academic, established practitioner, or a casual observer, this impressive volume provides exceptional insight on issues like technology, trade, cross-Strait relations, security & alliances in East Asia, geopolitics, climate change, and much more.

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This volume focuses on the fundamentals and advancements in micro and nanomanufacturing technologies applied in the biomedical and biochemical domain. The contents of this volume provide comprehensive coverage of the physical principles of advanced manufacturing technologies and the know-how of their applications in the fabrication of biomedical devices and systems. The book begins by documenting the journey of miniaturization and micro-and nano-fabrication. It then delves into the fundamentals of various advanced technologies such as micro-wire moulding, 3D printing, lithography, imprinting, direct laser machining, and laser-induced plasma-assisted machining. It also covers laser-based technologies which are a promising option due to their flexibility, ease in control and application, high precision, and availability. These technologies can be employed to process several materials such as glass, polymers: polycarbonate, polydimethylsiloxane, polymethylmethacrylate, and metals such as stainless steel, which are commonly used in the fabrication of biomedical devices, such as microfluidic technology, optical and fiber-optic sensors, and electro-chemical bio-sensors. It also discusses advancements in various MEMS/NEMS based technologies and their applications in energy conversion and storage devices. The chapters are written by experts from the fields of micro- and nano-manufacturing, materials engineering, nano-biotechnology, and end-users such as clinicians, engineers, academicians of interdisciplinary background. This book will be a useful guide for academia and industry alike.

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This book examines translanguaging pedagogy in Asia’s English-medium instruction (EMI) higher education. It presents an overview of concepts and common issues, and case studies from specific contexts in Asia. The book first interrogates macro-level English-medium instruction policies and implementation from English as a lingua franca (ELF) perspectives. Following this, implications of English as a lingua franca on English-medium instruction pedagogy will be explored, with a theoretical framework of 'translanguaging pedagogy' developed. The book concludes with a discussion on translanguaging and how the concept contributes to English-medium instruction in Asia. Through the book, the content focuses on the specificity of each Asian English-medium instruction context from a translanguaging lens. English-medium instruction policies and translingual practices from China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam are explored, and opportunities and challenges related to translanguaging pedagogy in Asian English-medium instruction classrooms are examined.

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This book aims at sensitizing readers towards sustainability and encourages them to understand the importance of lean, green and clean (LGC) issues pertaining to everyday life. The necessity of measurement-based evaluations, statistical significance of material use, and energy are discussed. The book focuses on the importance of climate change issues and environmental concerns associated with lean production and manufacturing. Emphasis is laid on understanding and applying the concepts of quality through project management and measurement based assessment methods. A wide range of audience, including students, teachers, quality professionals, management consultants, lean and Six Sigma practitioners, will find this book valuable.

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As a continuation of ‘Identity of Cities and City of Identities’, this book covers the arguments around the memory-experience-cognition nexus concerning palimpsests and urban places. As cities experience transitional phases of growth, development, decline, and decay, the author urges considering the notion of urban memory in place-making strategies and design decision-making processes. These explorations would add value to primary fields of architecture, architectural history, cognitive science, human geography, and urbanism. Divided into eight chapters, this book puts together a comprehensive knowledge of urban memory in city transitions. By studying urban memory, the author delves into conceptions of mental mapping, knowledge of environments, cognition of places, and the perceptual dimension of urbanism. Undoubtedly, urban memory plays a significant part in the future movements of humanistic urbanism. Given the significances of scale, pace, and mode of city transitions globally, we should remember who are the ultimate users of those living environments. Therefore, in this book, the author debates two contradictions of ‘memory of place vs. place of memory’, and ‘significance of place vs. place of significance’. Each of these is believed to be a paradox of its own, indicating places are significant through the systematic networks of cities, memories are meaningful through the neural information processing, and place memories are the essence of urban identities.The book's ultimate goal is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the space-time frame of place in making memorable places. Through the comprehensive explorations of many global examples, we can evaluate the significance of place in mind more carefully. This is narrated based on the recognition of nostalgia in cities, socio-temporal qualities in places, and the network of processes in our minds. In return, the aim is to provide new knowledge to make memorable cities, enhance social experiences, and capture and value the significance of place in mind.

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This book focuses on leadership and strategy, corporate governance, operational excellence, and corporate social responsibility. In doing so, it offers both conceptual perspectives and case studies on these topics that are targeted at business executives who want to develop and mature towards being successful value creators in their leadership roles. Authored by the former CEO of National Australia Bank (NAB), Don Argus, and business school professor Danny Samson, the book provides insights on the strategic leadership factors that make a significant and positive difference when they are executed effectively and, in contrast, what happens when ineffective leadership/ strategy are deployed. It proposes and illustrates core leadership axioms, and also delves into sustainable development as an element of strategy. The authors do this by developing and illustrating core concepts that relate to the two major case study companies of NAB and BHP.Readers will be particularly interested in the core elements of leadership and strategy, and the grounded reality of how they operated in the case studies. The authors bring insiders’ and leaders’ perspectives to these topics, including tables that document shareholder value creation, and the logic behind strategic decisions, as well as key organisational leadership and strategic decision processes.

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This book provides an insight into the issue of health inequity brought about by the violent conflict in Northeast India. While examining the deep vulnerabilities and loss of well-being suffered by families displaced by conflict in the Indo-Bhutan borderland region, the authors raise fundamental questions of accountability and the role of various stakeholders in providing humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict. It highlights for the reader the role played by conflict and armed violence in dismantling a functioning public health system and delineates the long-term barriers to post-conflict recovery. The book is written by those who have worked in implementing development and peacebuilding programs in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) of Western Assam. The book especially brings to the fore the voices of those communities directly affected by conflict in Bodoland. The book is valuable to researchers, development practioners and policy makers. Given the unique format of the book, which includes a number of case studies, it is particularly useful for students of development, public health and allied disciplines such as international relations as well as peace and conflict studies.

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This edited volume examines cultural criticism in the digital age. It provides new insights into how critical authority and expertise in a cultural context are being reconfigured in digital media and by means of digital media, as the boundaries of cultural criticism and who may perform as a cultural critic are redefined or even dissolved. The book applies cross-media and cross-disciplinary perspectives to advance cultural criticism as a wide-ranging and multi-facetted object of study in the 21st century. Presenting a broad collection of case studies, including global cases such as the Golden Globe, the Intellectual Dark Web, YouTube, Rotten Tomatoes and Artsy and particular national contexts such as Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark and the Netherlands, the book showcases the many theoretical and methodological approaches that may serve as useful frameworks for studying new critical voices in the digital age. It will be of interest to media, communication and journalism scholars as well as scholars from a range of aesthetic disciplines.

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This two-volume set (CCIS 1229 and CCIS 1230) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Recent Developments in Science, Engineering and Technology, REDSET 2019, held in Gurugram, India, in November 2019. The 74 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from total 353 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on data centric programming; next generation computing; social and web analytics; security in data science analytics; big data analytics.

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This book highlights the concept of informed architecture as an alternative to performance-based approaches. Starting with an analysis of the state of art, the book defines an operative methodology in which performative parameters lead to the generation of the shape becoming the design’s input, rather than being mere quantitative parameters. It then uses case studies to investigate the methodology. Lastly, the book discusses a novel way of conceiving and using the manufacturing tool, which is the basis for the definition of informed architectures in relation to data usage and the optimization process.

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This book addresses the background of classroom flipping, explores the theoretical underpinnings for why flipping works, and shares current success stories in practice. It provides diverse international examples of classroom flipping for all ages, includes discussions of the authors’ studies in the context of the existing research, and illustrates the impact that classroom flipping has had across a range of educational settings instead of focusing on a specific domain or learner context. Intended as a handbook for practitioners, the analysis of commonly used, highly effective techniques for learners of various ages fills a major gap in the literature. It offers a valuable resource for educators, helping them make the flipped learning experience an impactful and meaningful one.

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This book focuses on the application of data mining techniques in cricket. It provides detailed examples of how data mining can be helpful for decision-making in sports with special reference to cricket, particularly the quantitative features related to Twenty20 cricket, the latest and the most popular format of the game. The book highlights the performance quantification of cricketers (batsmen, bowlers, all-rounders, and wicket keepers), determining the market valuation of cricketers based on their on-field performances and the effect of age on the performance of the cricketers. It also provides a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of the game where quantitative techniques are beneficial, and highlights the use of statistical and data mining tools in analysing sports-related data and objective decision-making in sports. The book appeals to a wide readership, including postgraduate students of statistics/mathematics, data analysts, sports management bodies. It also offers data miners, such as researchers in statistics, mathematics, operations research, and computer science ideas for projects.

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