Search results for ""ISTE Ltd.""

Since their discovery by Barbara McClintock in the mid-20th century, the importance of transposable elements in shaping the architecture, function and evolution of genomes has gradually been unveiled. These DNA sequences populate nearly all genomes and are viewed as genomic parasites. They are mobile, capable of proliferating within genomes and also commonly travel between species. These elements are mutagenic and are responsible for several human genetic disorders, but they also constitute a major source of genetic diversity. Some insertions have beneficial effects for the host and are selected for, giving rise to significant evolutionary innovations. Their dynamics within genomes are intricate, as are their interactions with other genome components. To limit their proliferation, the genome has evolved sophisticated defense mechanisms. While researchers commonly use these elements as genetic tools, their identification in newly sequenced genomes remains a chall

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Urban Mobility Systems in the World provides insight into the geographical organization of urban mobility systems around the world. These "systems" consist of infrastructure networks, existing transport services and people's travel practices. Adopting a comparative approach, the book highlights the geographical diversity of mobility systems, based on case studies from Africa, North and South America, Asia and Europe. This multi-disciplinary book is organized into twelve chapters, divided into four parts. The first part gives an overview of urban mobility, and then examines the factors that determine everyday mobility in cities, revealing different travel practices among populations (poor, elderly and children). Parts 2 and 3, respectively, focus on urban public transport (trains, metros, minibuses) and active modes of transport (walking, cycling), and the related infrastructure policies. The final section examines the circulation of urban mobility analysis tools and public policy models.

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Sustainable urban planning and urban renewal are major challenges of the 21st century. In this context, Urbanism and Town Planning proposes a geohistorical approach to urban construction. The city and its neighborhoods are studied through their materials and general layout, which sometimes reveal a logic of economic profitability, prestige and social equity, and sometimes a more innovative approach from an environmental perspective. Across these elements, unbuilt spaces (distinctive streets and squares) and built spaces (commercial and residential areas, both individual and collective) form a three-dimensional grid of "voids" and "solids", characteristic of urban landscapes and lifestyles. Supported by numerous original examples, this book is a comprehensive summary of the most tangible elements of urban planning and development; elements that must be put into context in order to think concretely about the development of the cities of the future.

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Outer space is subject to a legal framework; there is a set of rules specifically dedicated to outer space and to the activities carried out there. These rules have developed since 1957, the year the first artificial satellite was launched. Major changes have also affected the technology used and the actors involved, as well as the domains concerned by the exploration and use of outer space. Space Law will lay out the progressive densification of the legal framework that is applicable to outer space and the activities that are carried out there. Without claiming to be exhaustive, the aim of this book is to present the main primary sources of space law, its main principles, the diversity of its fields of application and the challenges and issues that the development of space activities inevitably raises.

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This book offers a state-of-the-art analysis on the main challenges facing the aquatic products processing industry. The topics explored are particularly relevant to the issues faced by European consumers and processors, but the information provided within this book can be widely extrapolated. This book should be helpful for processors, fish traders, consumers, scientists and students. The first chapter is dedicated to the sociological definition of "fish" and consumers’ perceptions. The following chapters deal with the notions of quality sensu lato, biological risks and their control, as well as the risks linked to the pollution of oceans and ecosystems by microplastics. Two types of processes and processed products – smoked fish and surimi products – which are of great economic importance to the European market, are also presented. The process of adding value to co-products, including the "blue biorefinery" and the innovative pH-shift technology are also covered in this book.

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At every stage of the fuel cycle, the materials used are at the heart of nuclear energy safety issues. These materials, which range from steel to polymers, including ceramics, glass, concrete and graphite, are submitted to extreme stresses combining mechanical, thermal and irradiation constraints. The objective of this book is to provide a basis for the research of nuclear materials subjected to irradiation, with the desire to contextualize them in the industrial environment. Therefore, most of the chapters are co-authored and contain a mix of basic and applied research. The reader will find chapters on nuclear reactor materials (structural materials, neutron absorbers, moderators and nuclear fuel) and on materials in waste management (glass, concrete and organic materials). These material chapters are complemented by more general information on defects and their creation, radiolysis and irradiation and characterization tools.

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Omnidirectional cameras, vision sensors that can capture 360° images, have in recent years had growing success in computer vision, robotics and the entertainment industry. In fact, modern omnidirectional cameras are compact, lightweight and inexpensive, and are thus being integrated in an increasing number of robotic platforms and consumer devices. However, the special format of output data requires tools that are appropriate for camera calibration, signal analysis and image interpretation. This book is divided into six chapters written by world-renowned scholars. In a rigorous yet accessible way, the mathematical foundation of omnidirectional vision is presented, from image geometry and camera calibration to image processing for central and non-central panoramic systems. Special emphasis is given to fisheye cameras and catadioptric systems, which combine mirrors with lenses. The main applications of omnidirectional vision, including 3D scene reconstruction and robot localization and navigation, are also surveyed. Finally, the recent trend towards AI-infused methods (deep learning architectures) and other emerging research directions are discussed.

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How can atmospheric variables such as temperature, wind, rain and ozone be measured by satellites? How are these measurements taken and what has been learned since the first measurements in the 1970s? What data are currently available and what data are expected in the future? The first volume of this encyclopedic book answers these questions by reporting the history of satellite meteorology and addresses how national and international agencies define coordinated programs to cover user needs. It also presents the principles of satellite remote sensing to deliver products suited to user requirements. This book is completed by a glossary and appendices with a list of supporting instruments already in use.

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The Himalaya is well known as the largest and highest mountain belt on Earth. Advances in geoscience over the past few decades have revealed a complex picture of the dynamics of this giant, opening up questions about the initial stages of Himalayan building, lateral variations in its structures, variations in tectonic forcing, tectonic-climate coupling and assessments of the natural hazards affecting this area. In this three-volume book, we present the current knowledge on the building and present-day behavior of the Himalayan range. The objective is not to be exhaustive, but to provide some key elements used by researchers to unravel the many processes acting in the Himalayan dynamics. Mountain environments are at the forefront of climate change with glacier retreat, landslides, flash floods and water availability. Understanding the delicate balance that controls the dynamics of the Himalayan giant is now, more than ever, a major challenge for the scientific community.

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In recent years, significant developments have been made to increase the mechanical strength of steels in order to reduce the overall weight of structures, particularly in motor vehicles. Depending on the application, the increase in strength should not be at the expense of forming and in-use properties. The development of ultra-high strength steels requires a search for new trade-offs between these properties in order to optimize the final microstructure. New Advanced High Strength Steels analyzes the interactions between tensile mechanical properties and properties such as work hardening, anisotropy, resistance to rupture, fatigue life, corrosion resistance, crashworthiness, edge retention, hydrogen resistance and weldability. It also examines the links between the microstructural parameters of high-strength steels and the properties mentioned above. It highlights the metallurgical developments that have been necessary for the emergence of these new generations of steels. The book concludes with a look ahead to future developments in ultra-high strength steels.

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The genome of a living being is composed of DNA sequences with diverse origins. Beyond single-copy genes, whose product has a biological function that can be inferred by experimentation, certain DNA sequences, present in a large number of copies, escape the most refined approaches aimed at elucidating their precise role. The existence of what 20th century geneticists had already perceived (and wrongly described as "junk DNA"!) was confirmed by the sequencing of the first complex genomes, including that of Homo sapiens. A large part of what defines a living thing is not unique, but repeated, sometimes a very large number of times, increasing in complexity with successive duplications and multiplication. Understanding and defining the many functions of this myriad of repeated sequences, as well as their evolution through natural selection, has become one of the major challenges for 21st century genomics.

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Spatial planning has embraced the idea of dealing with territorial inequalities by focusing on equipment logic on a national scale, and then economic development on a local scale. Today, this issue is creating new angles of debate with strong political resonances (e.g. Brexit, French gilets jaunes movement). Interpretations of these movements are often quick and binary, such as: the contrast between metropolises and peripheries, between cities and the countryside, between the north and the south or between the east and the west of the European Union. Territorial Inequalities sheds light on the social, political and operational implications of these divergences. The chapters cover the subject at different scales of action and observation (from the neighborhood to the world), but also according to their interdependences. To deal with such a vast and ambitious theme, the preferred approach is that of territorial development in terms of public policy, namely spatial planning.

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This book presents the factual, precise, complete and accessible economic elements of nuclear energy in order to contribute to an informed and dispassionate debate. It begins with an in-depth analysis of the strategic policies relating to nuclear energy in France and around the world. The methodological aspects are presented exhaustively and illustrated with detailed examples and case studies. This book provides a relevant economic study of the fuel component of nuclear energy. In this context, aspects of the uranium market are presented, before describing in detail the technical and economic components upstream of the nuclear cycle.

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The Sun, our star, has inspired the research of many scientists and engineers and brings hope to many of us for a paradigm shift in energy. Indeed, the applications of solar energy are manifold, primarily because it concerns both light and heat. Photovoltaic (PV) conversion is the most well-known among these, but other modes of conversion include photochemical, photobiological, photoelectrochemical, thermal and thermochemical.This book covers the entire chain of conversion from the Sun to the targeted energy vector (heat, electricity, gaseous or liquid fuels). Beginning with the state of the art, subsequent chapters address solar resources, concentration and capture technologies, the science of flows and transfers in solar receivers, materials with controlled optical properties, thermal storage, hybrid systems (PV-thermal) and synthetic fuels (hydrogen and synthetic gas).Written by a number of experts in the field, Concentrating Solar Thermal Energy provides an insightful overview of the current landscape of the knowledge regarding the most recent applications of concentrating technologies.

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Rifted margins mark the transition between continents and oceans, which are the two first-order types of land masses on Earth. Rifted margins contribute to our understanding of lithospheric extensional processes and are studied by various disciplines of Earth Science (geology, geophysics, geochemistry).Thanks to better and wider public access to high-quality data, our understanding in these areas has improved significantly over these last two decades. This book summarizes this knowledge evolution and details where we stand today, with a series of case examples included. It is structured in a practical way, with concise text descriptions and comprehensive diagrams. Continental Rifted Margins 2 is a useful resource for students and newcomers to the rifted margin community – a "cookbook” of sorts to facilitate the reading of scientific publications and provide basic definitions and explanations.

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Rifted margins mark the transition between continents and oceans, which are the two first-order types of land masses on Earth. Rifted margins contribute to our understanding of lithospheric extensional processes and are studied by various disciplines of Earth Science (geology, geophysics, geochemistry). Thanks to better and wider public access to high-quality data, our understanding in these areas has improved significantly over these last two decades.This book summarizes this knowledge evolution and details where we stand today, with a series of case examples included. It is structured in a practical way, with concise text descriptions and comprehensive diagrams. Continental Rifted Margins 1 is a useful resource for students and newcomers to the rifted margin community - a "cookbook" of sorts to facilitate the reading of scientific publications and provide basic definitions and explanations.

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This book presents recent advances in fault diagnosis strategies for complex dynamic systems. Its impetus derives from the need for an overview of the challenges of the fault diagnosis technique, especially for those demanding systems that require reliability, availability, maintainability and safety to ensure efficient operations. Moreover, the need for a high degree of tolerance with respect to possible faults represents a further key point, primarily for complex systems, as modeling and control are inherently challenging, and maintenance is both expensive and safety-critical.Diagnosis and Fault-tolerant Control 1 also presents and compares different diagnosis schemes using established case studies that are widely used in related literature. The main features of this book regard the analysis, design and implementation of proper solutions for the problems of fault diagnosis in safety critical systems. The design of the considered solutions involves robust data-driven, model-based approaches.

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Change Detection and Image Time Series Analysis 1 presents a wide range of unsupervised methods for temporal evolution analysis through the use of image time series associated with optical and/or synthetic aperture radar acquisition modalities. Chapter 1 introduces two unsupervised approaches to multiple-change detection in bi-temporal multivariate images, with Chapters 2 and 3 addressing change detection in image time series in the context of the statistical analysis of covariance matrices. Chapter 4 focuses on wavelets and convolutional-neural filters for feature extraction and entropy-based anomaly detection, and Chapter 5 deals with a number of metrics such as cross correlation ratios and the Hausdorff distance for variational analysis of the state of snow. Chapter 6 presents a fractional dynamic stochastic field model for spatio temporal forecasting and for monitoring fast-moving meteorological events such as cyclones. Chapter 7 proposes an analysis based on characteristic points for texture modeling, in the context of graph theory, and Chapter 8 focuses on detecting new land cover types by classification-based change detection or feature/pixel based change detection. Chapter 9 focuses on the modeling of classes in the difference image and derives a multiclass model for this difference image in the context of change vector analysis.

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This book on liquid crystals reports on the new perspectives that have been brought about by the recent expansion of frontiers and overhaul of common beliefs.First, it explores the interaction of light with mesophases, when the light or matter is endowed with topological defects. It goes on to show how electrophoresis, electro-osmosis and the swimming of flagellated bacteria are affected by the anisotropic properties of liquid crystals.It also reports on the recent progress in the understanding of thermomechanical and thermohydrodynamical effects in cholesterics and deformed nematics and refutes the common belief that these effects could explain Lehmann’s observations of the rotation of cholesteric droplets subjected to a temperature gradient. It then studies the physics of the dowser texture, which has remarkable properties. This is of particular interest in regards to nematic monopoles, which can easily be generated, set into motion and collided within it.Finally, this book deals with the spontaneous emergence of chirality in nematics made of achiral molecules, and provides a brief historical context of chirality

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The study of earthquakes is a multidisciplinary field, an amalgam of geodynamics, mathematics, engineering and more. The overriding commonality between them all is the presence of natural randomness. Stochastic studies (probability, stochastic processes and statistics) can be of different types, for example, the black box approach (one state), the white box approach (multi-state), the simulation of different aspects, and so on. This book has the advantage of bringing together a group of international authors, known for their earthquake-specific approaches, to cover a wide array of these myriad aspects. A variety of topics are presented, including statistical nonparametric and parametric methods, a multi-state system approach, earthquake simulators, post-seismic activity models, time series Markov models with regression, scaling properties and multifractal approaches, selfcorrecting models, the linked stress release model, Markovian arrival models, Poisson-based detection techniques, change point detection techniques on seismicity models, and, finally, semi-Markov models for earthquake forecasting.

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Cognitive flexibility is the cornerstone of learning and enables us to cope with a constantly changing environment. By adapting our knowledge and habits in order to respond to new situations, cognitive flexibility plays a fundamental role in learning.This book proposes a study of the fundamental notions of cognitive flexibility: its measurement and development, its links with metacognition and critical thinking and the role of context in its expression, as well as its involvement in discovering solutions, transferring knowledge and processing analogies.Convergent perspectives are also presented in order to paint a clear picture of cognitive flexibility and to discuss the issues at stake. Thanks to the combined views of specialists in cognitive and developmental psychology, Cognitive Flexibility suggests new educational possibilities based on the results of empirical work on the subject.

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This book presents a global and synthetic vision of planetology – the study of objects in the Solar System. In the past several decades, planetology has undergone a real revolution, marked in particular by the discovery of the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune, the discovery of extrasolar planets, and also by the space exploration of ever more distant objects. Today, it is at the crossroads of many disciplines: astronomy, geophysics, geochemistry and biology.The Solar System 2 studies the outer Solar System: satellites and rings of giant planets, small bodies and dwarf planets. It also deals with meteorites and cosmochemistry, as well as the formation and dynamics of the Solar System. It addresses the question of the origin of life and extraterrestrial life, and presents all of the methods in the study of planetology.

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The study of biological data is constantly undergoing profound changes. Firstly, the volume of data available has increased considerably due to new high throughput techniques used for experiments. Secondly, the remarkable progress in both computational and statistical analysis methods and infrastructures has made it possible to process these voluminous data. The resulting challenge concerns our ability to integrate these data, i.e. to use their complementary nature effectively in the hope of advancing our knowledge. Therefore, a major challenge in studying biology today is integrating data for the most exhaustive analysis possible. Biological Data Integration deals in a pedagogical way with research work in biological data science, examining both computational approaches to data integration and statistical approaches to the integration of omics data.

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This book is part of Algebra and Geometry, a subject within the SCIENCES collection published by ISTE and Wiley, and the first of three volumes specifically focusing on algebra and its applications. Algebra and Applications 1 centers on non-associative algebras and includes an introduction to derived categories. The chapters are written by recognized experts in the field, providing insight into new trends, as well as a comprehensive introduction to the theory. The book incorporates self-contained surveys with the main results, applications and perspectives. The chapters in this volume cover a wide variety of algebraic structures and their related topics. Jordan superalgebras, Lie algebras, composition algebras, graded division algebras, non-associative C*- algebras, H*-algebras, Krichever-Novikov type algebras, preLie algebras and related structures, geometric structures on 3-Lie algebras and derived categories are all explored. Algebra and Applications 1 is of great interest to graduate students and researchers. Each chapter combines some of the features of both a graduate level textbook and of research level surveys.

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The volcanic island of Iceland is a unique geological place due both to its position in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and its repeated glaciations. It has been an accurate recorder of geodynamic and regional climatic evolutions for at least the last 15 million years.This book traces the history of Iceland, which is linked to the opening of the North Atlantic and the reactivation of the ancient suture of the Iapetus Ocean. It gives a view of climate evolution that is partly controlled by the dynamics of the ocean floor and analyzes the movement of the Jan Mayen tectonic plate and the progressive insularization of the Greenland–Faroe Ridge, which gave birth to Iceland. It also tries to understand the formation and migration of the deep Iceland hotspot and the lava flows that have, for millions of years, shaped this island.This book brings together the internal and external geodynamics of our planet to understand how Iceland functions and its role as a recorder of the paleoclimatic evolution of the Northern Hemisphere.

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Climate change has been a central concern over recent years, with visible and highly publicized consequences such as melting Arctic ice and mountain glaciers, rising sea levels, and the submersion of low-lying coastal areas during mid-latitude and tropical cyclones. This book presents a review of the spatial impacts of contemporary climate change, with a focus on a systematic, multi-scalar approach. Beyond the facts – rises in temperature, changes in the spatial distribution of precipitation, melting of the marine and terrestrial cryosphere, changes in hydrological regimes at high and medium latitudes, etc. – it also analyzes the geopolitical consequences in the Arctic and Central Asia, changes to Mediterranean culture and to viticulture on a global scale, as well as impacts on the distribution of life, for example, in the Amazon rainforest, in large biomes on a global scale, and for birds.

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The aim of this book is to reflect the current cutting-edge thinking and established practices in the investigation of queueing systems and networks. This first volume includes ten chapters written by experts well-known in their areas. The book studies the analysis of queues with interdependent arrival and service times, characteristics of fluid queues, modifications of retrial queueing systems and finite-source retrial queues with random breakdowns, repairs and customers’ collisions. Some recent tendencies in the asymptotic analysis include the average and diffusion approximation of Markov queueing systems and networks, the diffusion and Gaussian limits of multi-channel queueing networks with rather general input flow, and the analysis of two-time-scale nonhomogenous Markov chains using the large deviations principle. The book also analyzes transient behavior of infinite-server queueing models with a mixed arrival process, the strong stability of queueing systems and networks, and applications of fast simulation methods for solving high-dimension combinatorial problems.

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Symmetric cryptology is one of the two main branches of cryptology. Its applications are essential and vital in the Information Age, due to the efficiency of its constructions. The scope of this book in two volumes is two-fold. First, it presents the most important ideas that have been used in the design of symmetric primitives, their inner components and their most relevant constructions. Second, it describes and provides insights on the most popular cryptanalysis and proof techniques for analyzing the security of the above algorithms. A selected number of future directions, such as post-quantum security or design of ciphers for modern needs and particular applications, are also discussed. We believe that the two volumes of this work will be of interest to researchers, to master’s and PhD students studying or working in the field of cryptography, as well as to all professionals working in the field of cybersecurity.

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This book explores a key technology regarding the importance of connections via an Internet of Things network and how this helps us to easily communicate with others and gather information. Namely, what would happen if this suddenly became unavailable due to a shortage of power or electricity? Using thermoelectric generators is a viable solution as they use the heat around us to generate the much-needed electricity for our technological needs. This second volume on the challenges and prospects of thermoelectric generators covers the reliability and durability of thermoelectric materials and devices, the effect of microstructures on the understanding of electronic properties of complex materials, thermoelectric nanowires, the impact of chemical doping or magnetism, thermoelectric generation using the anomalous Nernst effect, phonon engineering, the current state and future prospects of thermoelectric technologies, transition metal silicides, and past, present and future applications of thermoelectrics.

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This book explores a key technology regarding the importance of connections via an Internet of Things network and how this helps us to easily communicate with others and gather information. Namely, what would happen if this suddenly became unavailable due to a shortage of power or electricity? Using thermoelectric generators is a viable solution as they use the heat around us to generate the much-needed electricity for our technological needs. This first volume explores the computational and data-driven development of these thermoelectric generators, as well as the use of various abundant materials such as copper and silver chalcogenides and nanocarbons. It also offers reviews on universal property enhancement principles and the case of strongly correlated oxides, and goes on to explore the metrology of the thermal properties of thermoelectric generators, detailing methods of how to measure the absolute Seebeck coefficient using the Thomson effect and the thermal diffusivity of thin films using the ultrafast laser flash method.

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Over the last 20 years, urbanization processes have undergone profound transformations under the growing influence of private actors, particularly in the financial sector. This has exposed the physical environment of various cities to global capital flows, which has generated an overall rise in real estate values on a global scale. This is often disconnected from the financial capacities of local actors – primarily households – which then increases the inequalities and vulnerabilities of societies regarding financial and environmental risks. This book offers the keys to understanding these new dynamics of capital accumulation in the general built-up environment of cities by taking into account the diversity of their configurations, their intensity and their urban effects according to national contexts. Beyond the cases involving the major Western countries, the initial centers of the financial industry and the theorizations on the urban, this book addresses the particular contexts of real estate production in four major regions: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and West Africa.

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The Himalaya is well known as the largest and highest mountain belt on Earth. Advances in geoscience over the past few decades have revealed a complex picture of the dynamics of this giant, opening up questions about the initial stages of Himalayan building, lateral variations in its structures, variations in tectonic forcing, tectonic-climate coupling and assessments of the natural hazards affecting this area. In this three-volume book, we present the current knowledge on the building and present-day behavior of the Himalayan range. The objective is not to be exhaustive, but to provide some key elements used by researchers to unravel the many processes acting in the Himalayan dynamics. Mountain environments are at the forefront of climate change with glacier retreat, landslides, flash floods and water availability. Understanding the delicate balance that controls the dynamics of the Himalayan giant is now, more than ever, a major challenge for the scientific community.

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A major transformation in the world of networks is underway, as the focus shifts from physical technology to software-based solutions. In this book, the authors present this new generation of networks that are based in the Cloud by detailing the transition from a complex environment to a simple digital infrastructure. This infrastructure brings together connected devices, the antennas that collect radio waves, the optical fibers that carry signals and the data center that handles all of the different processes. From this perspective, the data center becomes the brain, managing network services, controls, automation, intelligence, security and other applications. This architecture is relevant to carrier networks, the Internet of Things, enterprise networks and the global networks of the major Internet companies. Cloud and Edge Networking further discusses developments at the border of networks, the Edge, where data is processed as near as possible to the source. Over the next ten years, the Edge will become a major strategic factor.

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Recent advances in physics, material sciences and technology have allowed the rise of new paradigms with bright prospects for digital electronics, going beyond the reach of Moore's law, which details the scaling limit of electronic devices in terms of size and power. This book presents original and innovative topics in the field of beyond CMOS electronics, ranging from steep slope devices and molecular electronics to spintronics, valleytronics, superconductivity and optical chips. Written by globally recognized leading research experts, each chapter of this book will provide an introductory overview of their topic and illustrate the state of the art and future challenges. Aimed not only at students and those new to this field, but also at well-experienced researchers, Beyond-CMOS provides extremely clear and exciting perspectives about the technology of tomorrow, and is thus an effective tool for understanding and developing new ideas, materials and architectures.

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In the context of global warming and the energy transition, two essential questions arise: how to cool environments without major environmental impact and how to produce heat efficiently without combustion. These questions reveal a reversal of the energy paradigm that has prevailed since the Industrial Revolution, when the challenge was to produce work from heat. Reverse cycle thermal machines (refrigeration systems, heat pumps and thermofridges), operating in reverse of the thermomechanical conversion motor cycle, have a major role to play in answering these questions, which are at the heart of the energy challenges that humanity will have to face in the coming decades. This book first presents a state of the art on these systems, whose operating principle is sometimes old, but whose performance analysis and optimization have sometimes been neglected. Emerging technologies, which will certainly find their place in the future energy panorama, are also discussed.

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The crystallization of one or multiple salts in porous media (rocks, soils, building materials, etc.) is a subject of major interest in connection with numerous issues such as soil salinization, evaporation, CO2 injection into saline aquifers, the durability of building materials and the preservation of our cultural heritage. Salt Crystallization in Porous Media provides an interdisciplinary review of the key scientific knowledge required to understand this field of research, and illustrates the issues involved through a series of concrete examples. This book has been written for students completing their Master's level degree or higher in the field, as well as researchers and engineers interested in this research. It may also be of interest to a wider readership, as certain sections can be used to illustrate basic concepts, reaching beyond the subject of salt crystallization itself.

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This book deals with the geological record and the evolution of ideas concerning the Variscan orogenic belt in France and neighboring regions. Volume 1 is based on a general introduction concerning the imprint of the Variscan period on the geology of France, as well as on the particularities of the study of this ancient orogen. A history of the concepts applied to the Variscan belt is proposed in order to consider this orogen in the history of Earth Sciences. A paleogeodynamic analysis of the Variscan cycle sets the general framework for the evolution of the orogen, which is then tackled through the prism of the magmatic, metamorphic and tectonic record of the early phases (from Cambrian to Lower Carboniferous). Volume 2 proposes an analysis of the late evolution of the Variscan orogenic belt, reflecting its dismantling in a high-temperature context during the Upper Carboniferous and Permian. The sedimentary archives are described, as well as the questions raised by the specificities of this ancient orogen.

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Machine learning and optimization techniques are revolutionizing our world. Other types of information technology have not progressed as rapidly in recent years, in terms of real impact. The aim of this book is to present some of the innovative techniques in the field of optimization and machine learning, and to demonstrate how to apply them in the fields of engineering.Optimization and Machine Learning presents modern advances in the selection, configuration and engineering of algorithms that rely on machine learning and optimization. The first part of the book is dedicated to applications where optimization plays a major role, and the second part describes and implements several applications that are mainly based on machine learning techniques. The methods addressed in these chapters are compared against their competitors, and their effectiveness in their chosen field of application is illustrated.

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The recent progress in analytical methods, aided by bringing in a wide range of other disciplines, opens up the study to a broader field, which means that biogeography now goes far beyond a simple description of the distribution of living species on Earth.Originating with Alexander von Humboldt, biogeography is a discipline in which ecologists and evolutionists aim to understand the way that living species are organized in connection with their environments. Today, as we face major challenges such as global warming, massive species extinction and devastating pandemics, biogeography offers hypotheses and explanations that may help to provide solutions.This book presents as wide an overview as possible of the different fields that biogeography interacts with. Sixteen authors from all over the world offer different approaches based on their specific areas of knowledge and experience; thus, we intend to illustrate the vast number of diverse aspects covered by biogeography.

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Viruses interact with all forms of life and have shaped evolution for 4 billion years. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of conducting scientific research into viruses to understand the interactions between them and their hosts. Virology is made up of eight chapters, all of which have been written by outstanding female virologists, emphasizing women�s fundamental role in all aspects of science. It summarizes our current knowledge about the biology of viruses in general and analyzes the specific features of several ones of medical, veterinary and agricultural importance. Genome replication strategies of different virus families are covered, as well as strategies for survival within their hosts by counteraction of the cellular innate antiviral responses. Attention is also given to viral strategies for efficient dissemination in nature, as well as the evolution of a select group of viruses.

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