Recent Progress and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in Bioinformatics and New Medicine
Information technology Artificial Intelligence
This Reprint showcases cutting-edge research at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformatics, and new medicine. It highlights recent advances and persistent challenges in leveraging AI to address complex biological and clinical problems, such as multi-omics integration, cancer discovery, single-cell analysis, and network modeling. Contributions include innovative deep learning methods, data mining approaches, and computational tools designed to decode disease mechanisms, identify risk factors, and accelerate translational medicine.
MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Artificial Intelligence Algorithms and Generative AI in Education
This Reprint explores the transformative influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI on education. It presents a collection of research studies examining how advanced algorithms, adaptive systems, and intelligent tutoring technologies are reshaping teaching, learning, and assessment. The contributions analyze both opportunities and challenges arising from AI integration, highlighting the potential of personalized and data-driven approaches to improve educational outcomes. Ethical considerations, innovative methodologies, and practical implementations are also discussed, offering a comprehensive perspective on how AI can support inclusive and engaging learning environments.
Antonio Sarasa Cabezuelo, María Estefanía Avilés Mariño
Artificial Intelligence and Blended Learning
This is a reprint of the Special Issue “Artificial Intelligence and Blended Learning: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions” in the Technology-Enhanced Education section of the Education Sciences journal. The call for papers was open from November 2024 through the end of December 2025. The issue comprises eight papers—six research articles and two systematic reviews—covering a broad range of topics, including AI adoption among college students, AI readiness of pre-service teachers, prediction of segment access frequency in lecture archives, frameworks for AI-driven metaverse technologies, evaluation of the accuracy of an educational AI model, and analyses of subject-specialized chatbots. The systematic reviews focus on cybersecurity curricula and on the use of ChatGPT in teaching and learning.
Financial Technology (Fintech) and Sustainable Financing, 3rd Edition
This edited volume, sourced from the Journal of Risk and Financial Management, explores the critical intersection of modern finance, technological innovation (FinTech), and sustainable development. It features cutting-edge research on how FinTech is driving the transition toward a globally sustainable financial system. This book details the synergy between digital infrastructure and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) imperatives.
Granular materials are ubiquitous, encompassing sand, dirt, medications, and industrial powders. Comprehending their behavior is essential for progress in engineering, industry, and scientific inquiry. Granularity of Materials – Modern Applications examines the physics, mechanics, and practical uses of granular materials, connecting foundational ideas with advanced technology. This book addresses the fundamental physics and behavior of granular materials.
Technologies in Cell Culture - A Journey From Basics to Advanced Applications is a comprehensive book that offers a broad overview of the subject, encompassing fundamental concepts, modern techniques, and their diverse applications across various fields. Comprising eleven chapters authored by leading international experts in their respective fields, this book adeptly navigates the complexities of cell culture. It provides valuable insights into bioprocessing, cancer biology, regenerative medicine, and more.
This reprint captures how functional connectivity research is revolutionizing brain science. The featured papers bridge fundamental discovery with tangible applications, uncovering the neural architecture of decision-making, social cognition, and clinical disorders. Integrating methods from electrophysiology to artificial intelligence, the contributions advance beyond correlation toward predictive modeling and mechanistic insight. This collection affirms that mapping brain networks is a foundational tool for progress in healthcare, neurotechnology, and our core understanding of the human mind.
Artificial Intelligence Applied to Medical Imaging and Computational Biology
Medical imaging and computational biology continuously pose new fundamental medical and biological questions that often give rise to novel challenges in Artificial Intelligence. These research fields present an increasing need for the application of cutting-edge computational approaches that generally involve machine learning or computational intelligence techniques, which can effectively perform bioimage and biosignal processing in different clinical areas.
Leonardo Rundo, Carmelo Militello, Andrea (Tangherloni
Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovation
Computer science Artificial Intelligence
The idea of an intelligent machine has fascinated humans for centuries. Intelligence can be defined as the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, or the aptitude for grasping truths, relationships, facts, or meanings. Any of these perspectives requires the capacity to acquire data from the surrounding environment and possibly act over that environment. In short, the building of autonomous agents served with sensors and actuators, capable of learning and producing educated answers was long foreseen. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is impacting our day-to-day lives, our cities, and even our free time.
João M. F. Rodrigues, Pedro J. S. Cardoso, Marta Chinnici
Artificial Intelligence in Neurobiology and Neurologic Diseases
Medicine and Nursing Neurology and clinical neurophysiology
Millions of people are affected by neurological disorders. Patients with such conditions have a variety of limitations that impact not just their lives but also the lives of their caregivers. Early detection of the condition can be improved with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based techniques. AI is having a disruptive and transformative effect on clinical medicine. In the fields of neurology and neurobiology, there has been increasing interest regarding developing models and tools to address the complex patterns of connectivity in brain tissue.
Advances in Diagnostic Analysis, Strategic Management, and Proactive Maintenance of Electrical Equipment
The reliability and safety of modern power systems depend heavily on the optimal performance of electrical equipment. As energy networks become increasingly complex due to the integration of renewable sources and smart grid technologies, the strategies that are used to manage these assets must evolve. This Reprint compiles cutting-edge research and practical case studies dedicated to the lifecycle management of critical power infrastructure. The collected works explore sophisticated diagnostic techniques, including non-invasive sensing, signal processing, and AI-driven fault detection.
This reprint focuses on data-driven software solutions and their impact on research and development at the academic, industry, business, and government levels to exploit the hidden knowledge and big data that can be offered to cities and citizens in the future. Data-driven software solutions are different from “traditional” software development projects, as the focus of the main development core is on managing the data (e.g., data store and data quality) and designing behavioral models with the aid of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.
Computational Analysis and Conformational Modeling for Protein Structure and Interaction
Protein structure and interactions underpin the molecular logic of life, driving essential processes such as signal transduction, molecular recognition, and catalysis. Insights into this domain are pivotal for elucidating biological mechanisms, advancing therapeutic discovery, and enabling the rational design of engineered proteins. Experimental approaches notably X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and cryo-EM together with recent AI-driven tools such as AlphaFold3, ESMFold, and RoseTTAFold All-Atom, have transformed protein structure determination.
“Advancing Nonprofit Management: Innovations, Challenges and Best Practices” is a Reprint of a Special Issue in Administrative Sciences. It includes an introduction looking broadly at the field and eight articles examining specific innovations. Nonprofits operate in diverse environments, sometimes with clear boundaries and accountabilities and other times in ways that blur with other institutions’ goals, actions, and outcomes. Over the past decade, many nonprofits have implemented new practices, processes, and structures that raise questions about how management innovations emerge, diffuse, and shape performance.
Critical Perspectives on EdTech in Higher Education
Higher education Artificial intelligence
This open access book provides critical perspectives on educational technology (EdTech) platforms and platformisation in higher education. It focuses on three analytical dimensions: higher education actors’ struggles with the tension between autonomy from and dependence on EdTech platforms, the effects of platform features and platformisation on human interactions in higher education, and future scenarios and alternatives to dominant commercial paths.
This Reprint of the Special Issue, titled "Cognitive Load Theory: Emerging Trends and Innovations" (Education Sciences, April 2025) explores the latest advancements in cognitive load theory (CLT), a pivotal framework for optimizing learning through cognitive psychology and instructional design. Featuring 15 articles from the 15th International Cognitive Load Theory Conference, it examines how CLT adapts to modern challenges like technology-enhanced learning, embodied cognition, and individual learner differences.
Healthy, Digital and Sustainable Buildings and Cities
The following Special Issue on Healthy, Digital, and Sustainable Buildings and Cities features 16 papers that collectively explore enhancing built and urban environments through a focus on health, technology, and sustainability. Topics include biophilic design, strategies to reduce indoor air pollution, and the Smart Readiness Indicator's application in educational buildings. The included studies also address thermal comfort in sports halls, trends in sustainability research, and project management methodologies for construction projects.
This Reprint brings together a curated selection of peer-reviewed articles published within the Topical Collection on multimedia-based digital learning in the journal Digital. The collection addresses recent advances in the design, implementation, and evaluation of digital learning environments that leverage multimedia technologies to enhance learning effectiveness, accessibility, and engagement. The Reprint covers a broad range of topics, including e-learning and blended learning frameworks, multimedia educational content, learning analytics, educational software and games, digital platforms for distance education, and emerging technologies supporting data-driven and personalized learning experiences.
Educational Leadership and Management in the Modern Era
Educational Leadership and Management in the Modern Era offers a global, future-oriented perspective on how leadership and management practices can transform educational institutions to meet the needs of the twenty-first century. The volume examines key themes such as social justice, equity, technological innovation, instructional leadership, and organizational change, emphasizing how effective leadership can foster inclusive learning environments, enhance institutional resilience, and promote innovation across educational settings.
Despite the massive costs associated with data breaches, ransomware, viruses, and cyberattacks, most organizations remain thoroughly unprepared to safeguard consumer data. Over the past two decades, the insurance industry has begun offering cyber insurance to help organizations manage cybersecurity and privacy law compliance, while also offering risk management services as part of their insurance packages. These insurers have thus effectively evolved into de facto regulators—yet at the same time, they have failed to effectively curtail cybersecurity breaches.
Digital and information technologies Computer security
Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. What does it mean to live in a world where our most essential systems are digital—and vulnerable? This book takes readers beyond the technical aspects of cybersecurity to explore how the management of digital risk shapes politics, policy and everyday life. Drawing on case studies from corporate boardrooms to international affairs, it reveals the social and political logics driving the fast-growing cyber risk industry.
The contributions in this Reprint cover various aspects of application such as diagnosis, imaging, and assessing prognosis, collectively demonstrating the improvements in diagnostic accuracy and medical decision making that can be achieved by machine learning approaches
Advanced Research in Shipping Informatics and Communications
The aim of this Special Issue is to provide the reader with an overview of the technological revolution the shipping industry is experiencing through the integration of informatics and digitalization. Shipping 4.0 is leading the industry ahead, embracing new technologies, and, at the same time, facing an evolving cyber security threat landscape. In this Special Issue a number of leading academic and industry experts are providing their insight through published research covering areas including maritime cyber security, additive manufacturing, e-navigation technologies, telecommunications, Artificial Intelligence, and autonomous maritime systems and robotics.
This Edited Volume, Public Finance and Accounting is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field of Public Finance and Accounting. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and edited by an expert active in the field. All chapters are complete in themselves, but they are united under a common research study topic. This publication aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest research efforts by international authors and to open up new possible research paths for further novel developments.
Information-Theoretic Methods in Deep Learning
The rapid development of deep learning has led to groundbreaking advancements across various fields, from computer vision to natural language processing and beyond. Information theory, as a mathematical foundation for understanding data representation, learning, and communication, has emerged as a powerful tool in advancing deep learning methods.This Special Issue, "Information-Theoretic Methods in Deep Learning: Theory and Applications", presents cutting-edge research that bridges the gap between information theory and deep learning.
Advances in Deep-Learning-Based Sensing, Imaging, and Video Processing
This Topical Collection focuses on fundamental and applied research on deep learning based visual sensing, imaging and video processing. Deep learning techniques have shown their capabilities to discover knowledge from massive unstructured data, providing data-driven solutions for representation and decision making. They have demonstrated significant technical advancement potential for many research fields and applications, such as sensors and imaging, audio-visual signal processing, and pattern recognition.
Morphological Design and Synthesis of Nanoparticles
The aim of this reprint is to capture some of the current trends in nanoparticle research focused on the correlation between nanoparticle morphology and function. For instance, the asymmetry of Janus nanoparticles gives them amphiphilic properties and the ability to partition at interfaces, self-assemble into superstructures, emulsify, or act as unidirectional nanomotors, among other things. However, there are countless other examples of functionality that stem from the morphological design of the nanoparticles, such as in nanoparticle catalysis, in drug delivery systems, or for nanoparticles used as technology facilitators for designing nanostructured materials, interfaces, and composites.
Morphological and Physiological Research on Fish
The Special Issue “Morphological and Physiological Research on Fish” focuses on the application of morphological and physiological research conducted on fish, with the goal of providing information on the relevance of morphological studies and their relationships to functions. Fish are not only the largest and most diverse group of vertebrates, but they also have a wide range of applications in research and industry.
Sosial Science Sociology Knowledge Management
Paradigm Shifts in Management Theory is an illuminating exploration of the evolving landscape of management science. This book goes beyond the surface, delving into profound insights and perspectives that redefine traditional paradigms. Through rigorous analysis and reflective narratives, each chapter unveils the transformative shifts shaping organizational leadership, offering a comprehensive understanding of key concepts and methodologies.
Modern liberal democracy and authoritarian collectivism have known diverse political regimes; autocratic, oligarchic or democratic, they each consist of a mixed, partly oligarchic regime in which plebeian politics are subordinated. With authoritarian collectivism’s defeat, a return to modernity has produced one more hybrid configuration. An in-depth investigation of political modernity and how it is differentiated from other forms of society, this book researches its origins and trajectory as a specific dimension of modern civilisation – articulating a renewed critical theory through an analysis of rights and law, politics, state and autonomy, social reproduction, crisis and political change.
Economic theory Economic history Philosophy
This book adopts an integrated history and philosophy of science approach to consider the historical origins and methodological pitfalls of field experiments in economics. It explains key concepts such as control and randomization and identifies two distinct origins of field experimentation in economics: controlled laboratory experiments and randomized field trials. Careful historical analysis reveals that two strands of field experiments have developed, with rather different methodological rationales regarding the validity, both internal and external, of inferences about experimental results.
Skin Sensitization Testing Using New Approach Methodologies
Skin sensitization, representing one of the regulatory toxicity endpoints, is seeing significant progress in the uptake of new approach methodologies, comprising non-animal evaluations, to provide regulatory and product development information on chemical and product hazard and potency.
This book discusses the state of the art of the human lymphatic system and its involvement in health and disease conditions. The modulation of lymphatic organs and their interplay could be valid strategies to prevent and treat different diseases, promoting a global healthy state. The authors emphasize the strict correlation between anatomic-morphological and functional changes and different pathophysiological states. This book is designed to encourage researchers to investigate the anatomic morphology of the lymphatic system and its correlation to different disease states.
Clinical Advances in Allergy and Asthma: Issues, Strategies, and Future Directions
This reprint aims to provide the reader with the latest clinical strategies and therapeutic innovations employed in managing asthma and allergies. This Special Issue seeks to unveil the potential and prospects of a multidisciplinary approach from traditional diagnostic methods to advanced functional monitoring techniques and the innovation of conventional and emerging therapies, including revolutionary monoclonal antibody-based biologic therapies. In this reprint, leading experts share their insights and cutting-edge visions for redefining the treatment of complex diseases, highlighting the path to increasingly personalized and effective management.
Towns between Empires contains contributions regarding urban administration and governance in the historical regions that are now in Romania, and that fall under the early modern concept of good governance. Chapters give insight into the concepts and solutions applied by urban governments to political, social and economic issues that were under their care and control. The authors approach various aspects of this topic: town councils as political and economic elites of early modern towns, urban political systems as models of early modern ideas of administration, relations between towns and central authorities (the Prince), healthcare as good governance.
This book studies the social consequences of bureaucratic and scientific change during the transition to modern states and societies in the Age of Enlightenment, as it explores how the Habsburg Empire deployed new ways and means to integrate existing structures into supra-regional systems of order. Exemplarily focused on Lower Austria, the book ties together the bustling imperial capital of Vienna and its hinterlands, where there was little economic, political, and social change before 1850.
Damage and Failure Analysis of Polymer-Based Composites
A thorough understanding of the damage and failure mechanisms of composites is fundamental to improving the performance of composite structures and achieving optimized designs. In this Special Issue, we present the latest research findings on damage and failure analysis of polymer-based composites, covering a wide range of important topics from the damage mechanisms of composite materials and structures to the enhancement of durability in high-performance materials, utilizing various advanced analytical methods and testing technologies.
Xiaoquan Cheng, Wenjun Huang, Qian Zhang
Advances in Mine Backfilling Technology and Materials
Backfill mining has become a key sustainable solution for waste management and ground control in underground mines, valued for its efficiency and environmental benefits. Recent research has significantly advanced backfill methods, materials, and system performance, driving broader industry adoption. This Special Issue highlights innovative studies across multiple dimensions, from fundamental material properties under dynamic loads to practical applications like improved dewatering and optimized mining techniques.
New Advances in the Management of Voice Disorders
Despite recurring symptoms in voice disorder patterns, experience and know-how of clinicians—the practical knowledge acquired over the years on various medical or therapeutic methods of providers—the extent of the voice disorder, prognosis, and effective as well as efficient treatments for the individual patient remain unaffected. In order to optimize medical–therapeutic action, it is necessary to be regularly informed about the selection of appropriate treatment options for voice disorders based on new research evidence from, for example, clinical trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, in order to pursue better clinical reasoning and treatment success.
Cables, as the "arteries" and "nerves" of the national economy, are widely used in energy transmission, information transmission and various motor instruments. However, with the increasing demand for electricity and the energy infrastructure’s inevitable aging, cable and electrical fires have become the main cause of fire-related accidents. Our Special Issue, named “Cable and Electrical Fires”, compiles current research on cable and electrical fires, as well as present progress to the wider community and encourage further research in this area. Up to now, 11 high-quality articles have been included in this Special Issue.
Polymeric Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications
Recently, polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted significant attention in biomedical applications. Due to their advantageous properties, including biodegradability, biocompatibility, and non-toxicity, natural and synthetic polymers are versatile materials that offer several advantages for the therapy and diagnosis of a vast range of diseases and health conditions.
Stephanie Andrade, Joana A. Loureiro, Maria João Ramalho
Advances in Polymer Blends and Composites
Polymer blends and composites are seen as valuable technical solutions to improve the mechanical and other properties of polymers. Hence, nowadays, these materials are used in a wide range of applications. The actual trends in research and development of these materials arise from two main requirements, which often need to be conciliated: i) increasing performance of polymer materials and extending their applications as advanced materials in various fields; ii) better fitting of new materials to sustainable development requirements that involve the improvement of the environmental behavior of polymer materials.
Eduard-Marius Lungulescu, Radu Setnescu, Cristina Stancu
Computing and Information Computer science
With the popularity of the social media, a large amount of user-generated content, such as comments, is emerging, which is crucial for all industries. Recently, the development of deep learning and computing power have made it possible to handle complex data. However, there are still some including (but are not limited to): (1) How can we construct a multi-modal sentiment analysis framework? (2) How can we accurately extract aspect–sentiment quadruples? (3) How can we generate fine-grained sentiment text? To tackle these challenges, this Special Issue focuses on multi-modal sentiment analysis, aspect–sentiment extraction, interpretability, and so on.
This book is a dissemination of research on mental health and school adjustment approached from a psychoeducational perspective. From this perspective, mental health and/or psychological variables are examined for higher academic performance and better school adjustment. The study of mental health and school adjustment is especially relevant if we want to improve the quality of education and school performance from primary education to university.
Arantzazu Rodríguez-Fernández, Iker Izar-de-la-Fuente
Self-cleaning surfaces can be achieved using a variety of strategies, materials and technologies, and their applications are as wide as their production methods. The interdisciplinary topic “advanced self-cleaning surfaces” has collected a variety of approaches for self-cleaning, including theoretical approaches, as well as small-scale laboratory experiments and material validation in relevant environments, demonstrating how tailoring the surface for the nano- and micro-meter scale surface phenomena can affect the larger-scale phenomena.
Maria Vittoria Diamanti, Massimiliano D'Arienzo
This is one of the few books nurses wrote on their own professional and educational challenges. Therefore, the book is of great importance to nurses and nursing teachers. It covers various topics from standardized education to the professional pathology of nurses and the nurses' approach to different chapters of human pathology. We are proud to present you a true example of inclusivity, because our book benefits from a global perspective, including chapters written by specialists from four continents, each reflecting and sharing their own experience.
The Nursing Process as a Strategy for a (De-)Professionalization in Nursing
The nursing process generally is understood as key element of professional nursing care in Germany. This study follows this argument back to the introduction of the nursing process in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the German healthcare system underwent dramatic changes and economic reorganization, which can be understood as the emergence of the neoliberal rationale in Germany. The argument of cost explosion was used to restructure hospitals into enterprises that were to operate based on the logic of the market. Its cybernetic logic made the nursing process an ideal instrument to restructure nursing care.
Hot Topics in Reproductive Medicine Research
This Special Issue titled "Hot Topics in Reproductive Medicine Research" tries to cover some of the most debated topics in this field from a scientific and clinical point of view. In particular, the quality of embryos using compared tools such as incubator time-lapse and aneuploidy detection, the endometrioma impact on embryo quality, the influence of paternal age on obstetrical and perinatal outcome in IVF, and the possibility of performing assisted reproductive technology (ART) without discarding or freezing embryos.
Linear models are statistical models that play a crucial role in several fields of science and are of practical importance in statistics. The most typical type is the linear regression model. Many phenomena, such as those in biology, medicine, economics, management, geology, meteorology, agriculture and industry, can be approximately described with linear models. Thus, the further research and development of linear models is still a hot research topic.
Emotional regulation refers to recognising, managing, and responding to emotional experiences in a healthy and constructive way. It involves adjusting one's emotional responses, whether by suppressing, amplifying, or changing how emotions are expressed, depending on the context and situation. Emotional regulation is crucial for mental health because it helps individuals cope with stress, prevent emotional overwhelm, and maintain emotional stability. Effective regulation can improve relationships, decision-making, and overall well-being, reducing the risk of mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation disorders.
This is a reprint of the Special Issue “Urban-Rural-Partnerships: Sustainable and Resilient” in Land, which, based on the URP2020 objectives, invited original contributions dealing with interactions in regional systems, particularly between urban and rural actors, institutions and projects to tackle great societal challenges. The 16 contributions published included conceptual and methodological papers, as well as case studies dedicated to striking examples and providing transferable knowledge and solutions.
The Constitutional Court of Indonesia functions in one of the most diverse societies in the world. It is required to resolve disputes within a kaleidoscope of diversity and plurality with flexibility, pragmatism, asymmetry, and wisdom. Whilst national minimum norms are important for nation-building, recognition of local customs, diversities and indigenous systems are equally important to protect the territorial integrity of Indonesia and ensure local peace and stability.
Bertus de Villiers, Saldi Isra, Pan Mohamad Faiz
Globalization, climate change, and digitalization are fundamentally changing the business environment. Companies face growing challenges that require new approaches to internationalization, sustainable development, and innovation. This publication provides a comprehensive overview of the current trends and strategies that are shaping the future of business in the 21st century. In the first section of the book, the authors examine internationalization in the current business environment – from the influence of top management on the performance of Indian companies to the dynamics of global labor mobility and its impact on trade and investment.
Application of Intelligent Techniques in Power System Stability, Control and Protection
The central objective of this reprint is to present the vital factors associated with smart grid systems, reliability assessment, protection methodologies, and design advancements through recent research findings to utility engineers, engineering students, research scholars, and power managers. This reprint includes ten chapters, covering all the prime critical aspects of modern power systems like uncertainty in electricity pricing due to solar or wind systems, distribution system coordination, frequency control challenges due to RE, and artificial intelligence-based protection methodologies.
Veerapandiyan Veerasamy, Shailendra Singh, Sunil Kumar Singh
The management of hydrocephalus is a complex and significant challenge in neurosurgical practice, with varied clinical presentations and multiple treatment options. The book Hydrocephalus - Surgical Treatment covers hydrocephalus secondary to subarachnoid and intraventricular hemorrhage, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, and post-traumatic hydrocephalus. The book presents the personal experiences of experts, as well as current evidence-based approaches for the diagnosis and surgical management of hydrocephalus.
Applications of Antenna Technology in Sensors
Antenna-based sensors have gained significant attention in recent years, particularly within wireless sensor networks (WSNs), due to their strong potential for current and near-future applications. These systems offer broad utility across a wide range of fields, including military operations, emergency response, healthcare, environmental monitoring, and entertainment. Depending on the application, operating frequencies can span from UHF to millimeter-wave bands.
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity in Mobile Crowdsensing
Mobile crowdsensing (MCS) has emerged as a pivotal element in contemporary communication technology, witnessing substantial growth recently. The advent of 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing has propelled MCS researchers to achieve enhanced sensing efficiency and broaden its application spectrum across various domains such as environmental monitoring, traffic management, and healthcare. However, despite these advantages, MCS confronts significant security and privacy challenges due to its open and diverse nature. Critical concerns encompass data leakage, unauthorized access, data tampering, and cross-network attacks.
Antenna Design and Optimization for 5G, 6G, and IoT
In the ever-evolving landscape of wireless communication, antenna design and optimization play a crucial role in enabling next-generation networks. As we transition from 5G to 6G and expand the Internet of Things (IoT), the demand for compact, efficient, and high-performance antennas continues to grow. Seamless connectivity, ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) require innovative antenna solutions to meet diverse performance needs.
Advances in Medical Image Processing, Segmentation and Classification
Medical data typically include physiological signals, diagnostic images, and treatment histories, offering essential insights into patient conditions and outcomes. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems—used for detection, segmentation, and classification—are now key components of clinical workflows. These systems apply image processing techniques to ensure accurate analysis across CT, MRI, X-ray, and ultrasound scans. Artificial intelligence (AI), especially machine learning and deep learning, has further advanced CAD by enabling automated, accurate disease detection.
Technological and Experimental Advances in Microgrids and Renewable Energy Systems
Technology Engineering Electronics engineering
Research is underway to expedite the development of green and sustainable energy solutions, which is crucial for achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Among these efforts, the integration of microgrids and renewable energy systems emerges as a pivotal area, enhancing the flexibility and autonomy of the power infrastructure. This Special Issue covers a broad spectrum of the most recent technological and experimental advancements to facilitate the global expansion of microgrids and renewable energy systems.
Maintenance 4.0 Technologies for Sustainable Manufacturing
Maintenance 4.0’s core objective is to revolutionize and improve maintenance processes, demonstrating the practical application of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing. While technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Big Data Analytics, and AI are the primary drivers of Industry 4.0, it is Maintenance 4.0 that brings them to life. The literature reveals that implementing I4.0 technologies offers numerous advantages. However, it is important to note that realizing these potential maintenance benefits requires more than just overcoming the technological challenges associated with Industry 4.0 integration.
Applied and Computational Mathematics for Digital Environments, 2nd Edition
The present reprint contains a total of 10 articles accepted and published in the Special Issue “Applied and Computational Mathematics for Digital Environments, 2nd Edition”. The topics of interest include, among others, scientific research, applied tasks, and problems in the following areas: 1. Building mathematical, structural, and information models of intelligent computer systems for monitoring and managing the parameters of digital environments;2. Software and mathematical technologies in the implementation of the intelligent monitoring and computer control of digital environments’ parameters; 3. The application of mathematical models, Internet of Things technologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence for big data analysis of digital environments; 4. Mathematical models and algorithms for identifying stable patterns between the parameters of digital environments and their complex and separate influence; 5. Mathematical modeling, machine learning, and their implementation within the concept of “smart” digital environments.
Internet of Things, Embedded Solutions, and Edge Intelligence for Smart Health
The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming increasingly popular in the healthcare domain due to the possibilities offered to monitor patients' health status remotely in real time. Moreover, the integration of IoT with edge intelligence solutions has started to bring further advantages in its use; in fact, by allowing the devices to locally process and analyze the data, it can make a difference in applications where real-time decision-making or low latency is required.
Blockchain Security and Its Application in Internet of Things
The reprint aims to guide readers through the latest cybersecurity approaches in applying blockchain technology across various fields of the Internet of Things (IoT). From addressing the security and privacy challenges faced by blockchain, the authentication and authorization mechanisms in blockchain and IoT, and the cryptographic protocols for these technologies, to the design of services and trust management in blockchain-IoT systems, we seek to unveil the potential and prospects of these cutting-edge solutions. In this reprint, leading experts in the field share their research findings, innovative insights, and visions for the future.
Deep Learning and Edge Computing for Internet of Things
Information technology Deep learning Internet of Things
The evolution of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is leading to ubiquitous connections between humans and their environment, such as autopilot transportation, mobile e-commerce, unmanned vehicles, and healthcare applications, bringing revolutionary changes to our daily lives. Moreover, the computing environment results in the requirement for support of an increasing range of functionality: multi-sensory data processing and analysis, complex systems control strategies, and, ultimately, artificial intelligence.
The Internet of Things—Current Trends, Applications and Future Challenges
The Internet of Things (IoT) represents one of the most significant technological advancements of our era. It interconnects a multitude of devices and systems, thereby transforming how we interact with the world around us. The breadth and depth of IoT applications span various domains, offering innovative solutions and posing new challenges. This reprint, "The Internet of Things—Current Trends, Applications and Future Challenges," explores these dimensions through a curated selection of research studies and reviews that address the multifaceted nature of IoT technologies
Evaluation and Prevention of Mycotoxin Contamination and Toxicological Effects
Over the last few decades, mycotoxins, toxic fungal secondary metabolites that frequently contaminate foods and feeds, have attracted great interest at both scientific and industrial levels. The toxicity of these compounds has led to several regulations in many countries to control and quantify these contaminants for their subsequent risk assessment.
Agribusiness Agricultural science Economics
Revitalising the way the social sciences question agri-environmental governance, this book introduces ""the everyday governance approach"" as a means to improving the sustainability of agriculture and food systems. The ""everyday"" refers to localised practices, specific networks, and practical norms that emerge in a process of interaction, translation, and reinterpretation. The authors build this approach on assemblage thinking and theory, which focuses on the collective production of the social through complex sets of connections.
Jérémie Forney, Dana Bentia, Angga Dwiartama
Application of Artificial Intelligence in Industrial Process Modelling and Optimization
Artificial Intelligence industrial process modeling
This Special Issue aims to enable readers to understand the latest technologies in artificial intelligence in industrial process modelling and optimization. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into industrial process modelling and optimization has emerged as a transformative force. This Special Issue aims to explore the application of AI approaches in industrial process modelling and optimization.
Advanced in Dewatering and Drying Processes
Drying and dewatering processes have many industrial applications, such as in the agricultural, energy, food, chemical, pharmaceutical, paper, and textile industries. In most drying applications, there is a need to control or improve the quality of the output product. At the same time, since the drying process is an energy-intensive operation, improvements to the existing dryer design are desirable in order to save energy. This is a motivation for further research on process intensification and energy consumption reduction, while ensuring a high-quality final product.
Advanced Research in Inactivation Technologies of Foodborne Microorganisms
During the last few decades, alternative inactivation processes have gained increasing attention from the food industry. These involve alternative technologies to thermal treatments that have unquestioned limitations, such as the denaturation of thermolabile compounds and the substantial modification of nutritional and sensorial aspects, of which the modern consumer is increasingly aware. Indeed, they show great potential for the inactivation of foodborne microorganisms on a wide range of both solid and liquid food products, assuring their microbial safety without altering their fresh-like aspects and quality.
This book explores the types and processing of olives, olive oil, and its by-products, which are increasingly recognized as an important supply of bioactive compounds. By using unique biotechnological processing methods, the value of olive mill by-products can be upgraded, thus establishing a sustainable circular economy. Bioactive polyphenols such as oleuropein obtained from olive industry by-products can be applied to develop innovative products such as nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals.
Agricultural Land Management to Meet Future Global Food Demand
In the 21st century, global agriculture is facing two major competing issues, urgently calling for us to investigate the nexus of land–food–climate. First, food production will need to substantially increase to meet the growing demand of a larger and wealthier population. Moreover, climate change, urbanization, and several other drivers are posing challenges to food production. Farmers can increase food production either by expanding their land area or by raising existing agricultural land productivity.
Global Perspective on the Relationship Between Dietary Habits and Health
The relationship between lifestyle habits and health has always been and continues to be an important area of interest to public health professionals. Among the lifestyle factors, diet is considered to play a crucial role in managing physical and mental health, as well as reducing the risk of other diseases. Dietary habits and their patterns vary considerably around the globe, depending upon many factors, including cultural and religious beliefs, economic stability, technological development, and food security.
Akkinapally Venketeshwer Rao, Leticia Rao
Aflatoxins are among the most dangerous natural contaminants affecting global food and feed systems. This book offers a concise yet comprehensive overview of recent scientific and technological advances in detecting, controlling, and mitigating aflatoxin contamination. Addressing a wide range of multidisciplinary perspectives, from food safety and toxicology to biotechnology and regulatory science, this book explores innovative strategies for minimizing risks associated with aflatoxins in agriculture and food processing.
Antioxidant Activity of Fermented Foods and Food Microorganisms
This Special Issue focuses on the antioxidant activity of fermented foods, but also on biosynthesis and mass production of antioxidants from fermented foods and food microorganisms (e.g., lactic acid bacteria, yeast, fungi, bacteria, etc.) and the evaluation of their antioxidative functions.
Study on Physicochemical Properties of Food Protein
This reprint discusses the importance of studying the physicochemical properties of food proteins, which play crucial roles in providing essential amino acids and contributing to the overall quality of our foods. The demand for sustainable and nutritious food sources has led to a surge of interest in understanding and utilizing proteins derived from various sources. The studies in this reprint explore various aspects, including protein solubility, structural integrity, emulsifying properties, and allergenic epitopes, as well as the application of different processing techniques such as ultrasonication, high-pressure processing, and esterification.
Food Polysaccharides, Starch, and Protein
Natural macromolecular substances, such as polysaccharides, starch, and protein, are prevalent in the organs of plants and animals and are major types of biopolymer components in food. They not only provide people with energy and nutrition but are also used in food processing as natural additives due to their gelling, emulsifying, film-forming properties, etc. The food industry has been gaining increasing impetus recently to create desired nutritional profiles and to improve the quality of food products, and so we expect a greater emphasis will be placed on understanding the physicochemical characteristics of food polysaccharides, starch, and protein.
Emerging Non-Thermal Food Processing Technologies
There is a strong consumer trend towards high-quality and healthy foods with ‘fresh‐like’ characteristics. On the other hand, thermal processing technologies, especially conventional ones, negatively affect both the sensory and nutritional properties of foods. At the same time, limited shelf-life and safety concerns of fresh foods necessitate food processing. Therefore, scientists are exploring the possibility of using nonthermal technologies for various purposes such as shelf-life extension and safety improvement. However, their applicability and scalability are still under intensive investigation.
Asgar Farahnaky, Mahsa Majzoobi, Mohsen Gavahian
Further Research in Food Processing Safety and Quality from Field to Fork
The global population is continuously growing, increasing the demand for food production. While agricultural innovations support this goal, food safety is often overlooked. Additionally, the nutritional value of food changes during storage, highlighting the need for efficient contaminant monitoring and sensitive detection techniques to track harmful substances. Advances in green extraction methods, pesticide residue analysis, and novel sensor technologies are essential for addressing contemporary food safety challenges.
Tamara Lazarevic-Pasti, Nebojsa Potkonjak
Milk Processing and Dairy Products Industry
Milk Processing and Dairy Products Industry offers a comprehensive overview of the processing and manufacturing stages involved in transforming milk into a wide range of dairy products, from the reception of raw materials to final packaging. It also addresses key aspects of quality assurance and food safety. As a unique and authoritative reference, this book bridges the gap between theoretical foundations and real-world applications. It provides readers with a thorough understanding of the technologies, processes, and quality standards that shape today’s dairy industry.
Effect of Processing on Sensory Quality and Bioactive Components in Food Products
In order to obtain high-quality food products, we need to control them from their origin. This ranges from the crops themselves to the reception of raw materials at the factory. The effect of industrial processing on the final quality of food is an essential factor that can guarantee its acceptance for sale, thus avoiding the losses that a rejected or withdrawn product could cause a company. In addition, preserving the integrity of bioactive ingredients during food processing is a challenge in the agri-food industry.
Antonio José Pérez-López, Luis Noguera-Artiaga
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Food Industry
With breakthroughs of artificial intelligence (AI) under the fourth industrial revolution, intelligent applications are providing innovative solutions for the food industry. AI is able to support the positive transformation and upgrading of food technologies alongside the digitization, automatization, and intelligence of the food industry in light of its powerful perceiving, reasoning, and decision-making capabilities. Novel applications based on AI are changing all activities in the food industry, ranging from production to processing and packaging, transporting and storing, and consuming and disposing, benefiting all actors in food industry.
Development, Characterization, and Application of Bioactive Peptides, Diagnostic Biomarkers, and Pharmaceutical Proteins
As proteins and peptides are the most abundant and versatile biomolecules, playing many critical roles in nearly every life process, many proteins/peptides are also strongly associated with human health and diseases. Various protein/peptide molecules have been proposed as biomarkers with potential diagnostic or prognostic value, and renewed interests in exploring peptides/proteins as crucial targets for therapeutic purposes have arisen. Bioactive proteins/peptides including various enzymes, antibodies, and peptide hormones have been developed and serve as biopharmaceuticals for clinical use.
Patient-focused Development of Biopharmaceutical Products
Biotechnology Medicinal chemistry Pharmacology
This open access book builds the case for the business motivation, techniques, and approaches to use in development of a medicinal product for human therapy, whether delivered via an oral dose form (“pill” or solution) or a delivery system (device). It shares the growing demands by patients and caregivers, as well as regulators, for designs which are most easily understood and usable, and which can ensure the medication can be consistently delivered and will, therefore, allow best outcomes.
Robert R. Nesbitt, Ramakrishna Venugopalan, Wolfgang Fraunhofer
Computational Intelligence and Human–Computer Interaction
The present Special Issue contains all of the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue of MDPI’s journal Mathematics titled "Computational Intelligence and Human–Computer Interaction: Modern Methods and Applications, 2nd Edition", as a follow-up on the first edition. This Special Issue covered a wide range of topics connected to the theory and application of different computational intelligence techniques to the domain of human–computer interaction, such as automatic speech recognition, speech processing and analysis, virtual reality, emotion-aware applications, digital storytelling, natural language processing, smart cars and devices, and online learning.
Grigoreta Sofia Cojocar, Maja Jazvinšćak Jembrek
In recent years, interest in nutrition has grown, with a particular focus on the pivotal role of antioxidants in the formulation of functional diets essential for animal health and disease prevention. This comprehensive reprint offers a deep dive into the world of innovative antioxidants that can be used in animal nutrition. The key to this field lies on the oxidative balance. The inclusion of antioxidants aligns with sustainable farming practices, following the One Health principles, thus supporting health and feed and food safety
Osteoporosis is defined as a systemic bone loss disease exemplified by the deterioration of bone tissues and low bone mineral density (BMD), subsequently leading to an enhanced risk of developing fragility-related fractures. It’s a chronic inflammatory condition and is the 4th most burdensome chronic disease after ischemic heart disease, dementia, and lung cancer, with a huge economic burden on the world economy. This skeletal disorder affects predominantly women compared to men, and the risk increases with age.
Coagulation is a crucial and essential defense mechanism that is typically well-balanced and effective under normal circumstances. However, since Virchow’s Triad was published in the mid-19th century, its elements have inspired an overwhelming amount of innovative and cutting-edge research, much of which was initiated at the bedside and later unraveled in the laboratory. These approaches have been multidisciplinary, driven by out-of-the-box thinking, keen observation, and problem-solving.
Treatment and Management of Fusarium Disease in Wheat
Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by several Fusarium species—mainly Fusarium graminearum, F. culmorum, and F. avenaceum—is a devastating disease of wheat which reduces both grain yield and quality. FHB affects the grain protein content by destroying starch granules, storage proteins, and cell walls and consequently decreases the quality of dough properties. It is also associated with mycotoxin contamination and is a significant threat to animal and human health.
Chitosan and Other Edible Coatings with Antimicrobial Activity: Synthesis, Properties and Horticultural Applications
Antimicrobial edible coatings for whole or fresh-cut fruits and vegetables based on natural biopolymers that serve as carriers of antimicrobial agents or that are inherently antimicrobial, such as chitosan, are increasingly gaining interest from researchers and industry due to their potential to maintain quality and safety. Additionally, edible coatings can also function as a barrier to water vapors and gases, regulating physiological aspects in fruit.
Abiotic Stress Signaling and Responses in Plants
Plant responses to environmental factors are extraordinarily complex. They can be observed at various levels of plant organization, ranging from changes in the intensity of basic biochemical processes, such as respiration, photosynthesis, and transpiration, to morphological and anatomical changes in organs. However, these biochemical changes are preceded by the activation of an efficient signaling system which endures environmental fluctuations. This Special Issue showcases the latest reports on the impact of abiotic factors on plant responses. It contains 3 reviews and 9 original works and is preceded by an editorial summarizing the most important issues discussed in the publications.
Małgorzata Nykiel, Mateusz Labudda, Beata Prabucka
Emerging Strategies in Drug Development and Clinical Care in the Era of Personalized and Precision Medicine
In the dynamic realm of modern medicine, we stand at a pivotal juncture where the convergence of disease, drugs, and patient individuality is shaping a new paradigm. The field is transitioning from traditional drug development towards personalized therapeutic strategies tailored to the unique physiology of each person. Over past decades, significant progress in preventive measures, diagnostic techniques, and treatment approaches has greatly improved patient care.
Cristina Manuela Dragoi, Alina Crenguța Nicolae, Lon-Bogdan Dumitrescu
Biochemistry, as an interdisciplinary science, is very dynamic, and its boundaries are very hard to define not only because they are constantly changing but also because they are dependent on the specificities of each time period and scientific environments. Nevertheless, understanding life on earth and human health are long-lasting topics in biochemistry. This reprint is based on the Special Issue titled “Feature Papers in BioChem”, which included an editorial, six articles, and four reviews.
Biochemical Interactions of Iron Nutrition in Plants
Iron is an essential micronutrient. Plants acquire iron from the soil, and its uptake, transport, and assimilation have been intensively studied for the last few decades. The basic mechanisms of root iron uptake, the biochemical processes of iron assimilation, and the major components of the genetic background of iron homeostasis and its regulation have been revealed. Important topics have emerged, such as the correction of iron deficiency, biofortification, the interaction of iron with other elements, and the interaction of plants with fungi and bacteria affecting iron acquisition.
Chemical and Biochemical Processes for Energy Sources
This Issue illustrates the variety of contributions made by chemical and biochemical processes to the production of energy carriers, mostly renewables, to carbon dioxide processing (the capturing, storage, and recycling of value-added chemicals), and to some auxiliary unit operations make the recovery of the main product possible. The main renewable fuels considered are ethanol, biodiesel, biogas, and methane production, as well as hydrogen production based on chemical catalysis and biological processes.
Advances in Disease Diagnostics and Pathogen Biocontrol of Horticulture Crops
This Special Issue addresses current challenges in the plant health of horticultural crops, highlighting the role of biocontrol agents as sustainable alternatives to the overuse of chemical pesticides. In a context where pathogens threaten global agricultural productivity, this collection of studies offers innovative approaches. The included articles range from region-specific epidemiological analyses, such as the study of downy mildew in Spanish vineyards, to findings on new diseases, such as the occurrence of Botrytis cinerea on pecan nuts in China.
Graciela Dolores Ávila-Quezada, Irasema Vargas-Arispuro
The aim of this Special Issue on Landscape Heritage: Geomorphology, Geoheritage and Geoparks is to expose to the international scientific community the most innovative studies that are being developed in the field of applied geomorphology, especially those related to the conservation, protection and sustainable management of abiotic heritage and its relationship with other territorial aspects (ecosystemic, historical–cultural, educational and divulgation) and exceptional landscapes.
Rafael Becerra-Ramírez, Javier Dóniz-Páez
Gel-Based Materials for Biomedical Engineering
This Special Issue, entitled “Gel-Based Materials for Biomedical Engineering”, presents recent advances in the design, fabrication, and biomedical application of gel-based materials. Gels, particularly hydrogels, have attracted considerable attention in tissue engineering, wound healing, drug delivery, and regenerative medicine due to their high water content, biocompatibility, and structural tunability. The contributions in this collection highlight a variety of gel systems, including natural and synthetic polymer-based hydrogels, nanocomposite gels, and stimuli-responsive materials.
Medicinal Plants Alternative Medicine - Therapuetics
For centuries, plants have been humanity's most reliable and accessible source of healing. From ancient civilizations to modern herbal medicine, medicinal plants have provided remedies for countless ailments, both physical and mental. They hold within them the power to treat, prevent, and promote health naturally, making them an integral part of human survival and wellness. Medicinal Plants - Harnessing the Healing Power of Plants is a comprehensive exploration of the rich heritage of plant-based medicine.
Calcified aortic valve disease (CAVD) affects over six million Americans and is associated with changes in the mechanical properties of valve leaflets, resulting in impaired valvular blood flow. CAVD is a fibrocalcific disease with multifactorial risk factors that are related to the complex environment where the aortic valve (AV) resides. This special issue focuses on the field of heart disease, exploring the relationship between heart valve disease, arrhythmia, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease, as well as research progress on new treatment strategies and risk prediction.
Oxidative stress (OS) is recognized as a pivotal contributor to the pathogenesis of various, chronic human ailments, including cardiovascular and renal diseases, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, inflammatory conditions, and the aging process. It manifests as an imbalance between the generation and accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) within cells and tissues. OS occurs when the production of these species surpasses the detoxification capacity of the biological system.
Periodontitis: Current Status and the Future
Periodontitis is a common inflammatory disease, in which the composition of the oral biofilm and the individual immune response have significant impacts. Severe periodontitis is one of the most prevalent conditions in the world, leading to periodontitis being a public health concern. It is widely accepted that periodontitis may be a modifiable risk factor/modulator for several systemic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic kidney disease.
The Special Issue “Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Cardiorenometabolic Syndrome and Its Components”, guest-edited by Dr. Andrej Belančić, Prof. Bojan Jelaković, and Dr. Martina Matovinović, explored the complex interrelationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the global burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This interdisciplinary collection examined how insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, central obesity, and hypertension—core components of MetS—converge to elevate the risk of T2DM and cardiovascular disease, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
Andrej Belancic, Bojan Jelakovic, Martina Matovinović
Sympathetic Nerves and Cardiovascular Diseases
This Special Issue aims to assemble the latest perspectives and research findings to illuminate the role of altered sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) in cardiovascular disease (CVD) pathogenesis. It comprises one editorial article, five review articles, and six original research articles, which collectively emphasize the significance of SNA in the pathogenesis of various CVDs, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, diabetic wound healing, and chronic pain-associated CVDs.
Advancements in Cardiovascular and Antidiabetic Drug Therapy
The aim of this reprint is to immerse the reader in the transformative advancements in drug-based therapies for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, two major contributors to global morbidity and mortality. From the groundbreaking use of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in heart failure and diabetes management to the development of novel incretin therapies and innovative insulin delivery systems, this collection examines the potential and promise of these cutting-edge pharmacological strategies.
C-Reactive Protein and Cardiovascular Disease : Clinical Aspects
This Special Issue focuses on the clinical relevance of the C-reactive protein. Most physicians are familiar with it as a diagnostic biomarker. Only a few have realized that it can be a pathomolecule. After all, the biomarker is, of course, not a physiological function. The main task of CRP is to mark cells to be disposed of, which has been shown for decades in various animal models and has been broken down into molecular detail. The articles presented in this Special Issue reveal a broad spectrum of indications with CRP involvement.
Renin-Angiotensin System in Cardiovascular Biology
Medicine and Nursing Cardiovascular Biology
The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) plays an important role in maintaining the salt and water balance of very diverse animal species under very diverse conditions. Angiotensin II (Ang II) is a hormone with much more complex actions than is typical for other agonists with heterotrimeric G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Its principal receptor, angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R), is distributed in many cells of the body in diverse organs, controlling the water and salt balance, vascular contractility, and blood pressure.
Mária Szekeres, György L. Nádasy, András Balla
This book provides a comprehensive review of inflammatory myocardial diseases. It is organized into three sections: (1) Pathobiology of Myocardial Inflammatory Diseases; (2) Imaging for Inflammatory Myocardial Diseases; and (3) Interventions for Inflammatory Myocardial Diseases. Chapters address topics including inflammatory diseases in rheumatological patients; acute and recurrent pediatric pericarditis; clinical detection methods; imaging methods, including cardiac magnetic resonance in scleroderma; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for fulminant myocarditis complicated with cardiogenic shock and surgical interventions.
New Insights into Cardiovascular and Exercise Physiology
This reprint aims to provide insights into recent knowledge on the cardiovascular system and its adaptation to different diseases and exogenous conditions. Considering the increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases, a major cause of death worldwide, and the need to attain treatment strategies, knowledge of the physiological processes behind them remains the basis for future research and is a prerequisite for improved clinical studies. Physical exercise is increasingly being regarded as one of the potentially beneficial measures to improve cardiovascular health, interfering with numerous elements of the cardiovascular system and affecting a multitude of potential mechanisms.
Modern Pharmaceutics for Cardiovascular Diseases
Although various non-pharmaceutical strategies addressed to the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases such as tobacco control policies, reducing the consumption of harmful food, and increasing physical activity still represent a key strategy, often they are not sufficient. Moreover, despite the availability of a plethora of pharmaceutic approaches specifically targeting mechanisms involved in cardiovascular diseases over recent years, the burden of these pathologies has only been marginally alleviated.
Advances in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
Medicine and Nursing Cardiovascular System - Medicine
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is a versatile and non-invasive imaging modality that accurately diagnoses and characterizes cardiovascular disease. CMR is widely accepted as the gold standard for the evaluation of cardiac function. CMR can also characterize various conditions affecting myocardial tissue such as inflammation, edema, necrosis, and fibrosis. Recently, new techniques including T1 mapping, extracellular volume fraction, myocardial strain, 4D flow, DWI/DTI, and chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) have further expanded the role of CMR in the diagnosis, risk stratification, and management of cardiovascular diseases.
Nonlinear Dynamics in Cardiovascular Signals
The cardiovascular system involves many regulatory mechanisms that maintain the stability of blood pressure by interacting strongly with other vital systems (including the respiratory, endocrine, and autonomous nervous systems). Non-invasive measurements of cardiovascular signals have enhanced the study of the cardiovascular system, providing deeper insights into its physiological modulation, the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, and new methods to improve their diagnosis and prognosis.
Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Intervention Strategies for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
Medicine and Nursing Cardiovascular medicine
This reprint provides insights into the cardiovascular risk landscape, emphasizing the impact of major risk factors and their interaction with the cardiovascular system. In this Special Issue, the role of other less established risk factors such as uric acid, sleep disorders, or blood pressure variability has been taken into consideration. Evidence-based strategies to prevent the detrimental consequences of these risk factors have been focused on in this Special Issue, with particular emphasis on glycemic control, lipid management, hypertension diagnosis, blood pressure regulation, and implementation of lifestyle modifications. By implementing the most modern strategies and fostering collaboration across disciplines, we can reduce the cardiovascular risk, thereby avoiding adverse outcomes.
Statistical Methods in Data Science and Applications
The rise of big data has significantly elevated the significance of data science, catalyzing extensive research across multiple fields, including mathematics, statistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. Data science encompasses modeling, computation, and learning processes to transform data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into actionable decisions.
This Special Issue focuses on novel and scarcely investigated topics in relation to atrial fibrillation (AF), from the role of f-wave harmonic spectral structures in improving the preoperative prediction of catheter ablation outcomes in AF to the design of a study to investigate the effectiveness of a hand-held device in screening for AF when embedded into the handles of supermarket trolleys.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a common but complicated condition that is often associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This book is an essential resource for healthcare professionals, combining expert knowledge with practical strategies for managing the challenges of VTE in various clinical contexts.
This open access book explores the linkages between geopolitics and hosting mega-events. It encompasses and transcends the international and domestic dimensions of soft power to unpack how mega-events shape cities and societies through notions of unity and greatness, but also investigates local developments beneath the Potemkin surface of the global spectacle. Drawing on a global range of case studies from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, this volume features the sensitivity of grounded local research framed within geopolitical perspectives.
Gender, Class, and Respectability in Leisure
This book interrogates the role of gender and class in shaping women’s everyday leisure practices. Drawing on empirical research in urban Turkey, the book explores how leisure is perceived and practised by women within their communities. The book examines the relationship of women’s leisure to their labour, women’s access to and uses of public leisure spaces, and the dynamics of their everyday sociability within their neighbourhoods. It is the first book to apply Skegg’s concept of ‘respectability’ – socially recognised judgments and standards which label the ‘right’ practices, that hold morality and power in a given context – as a theoretical tool with which to understand leisure in a country in which modernisation and Westernisation have been a central dynamic shaping political, social, and cultural life.
This anthology brings together a set of 10 critical analyses of the intersection of sociology, politics, and policy within the contested terrain of sport. The concept of contested terrain is used to capture the uniqueness and complexity of sport as a site for discussion, debate, negotiation, and conflict involving diverse interest groups with varying levels of resources and contrasting, competing sets of ideas and beliefs. The contested terrain of sport includes the politics of recognition and legitimacy for new sports, as witnessed by the entry of breakdancing into the 2024 Paris Olympics and the increasing pressure to include e-sports.
Governance, Regulation and Management of Global Sport Organisations
Sports management International institutions
This book is a bold and ambitious analysis of the challenges facing global sport in the 21st century and how those challenges can be met through good governance, management and regulation. Connecting the political and managerial dimensions of sport, from international governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee through to national governing bodies, leagues and professional sport organisations, the book offers a new way of thinking about the trajectory of contemporary sport.
Entrepreneurial Education Strengthening Resilience, Societal Change and Sustainability
Working life is in a major transition and environmental, societal, and economic problems challenge human activities. The need to develop reliance and sustainability also through higher education is evident. It has been anticipated that emphasis on entrepreneurship competencies will be even stronger in the future. In this reprint, we provide insights on how to develop entrepreneurial competencies within higher education and its existing networks.
Jaana Seikkula-Leino, Mats Westerberg, Priti Verma, Maria Salomaa
Advances in Developmental Biology in Tree Fruit and Nut Crops
This reprint of the Special Issue “Advances in Developmental Biology in Tree Fruit and Nut Crops” brings together 16 diverse studies that illuminate how genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors shape the growth and productivity of key tree fruit and nut species. Several articles explore hormone-mediated processes, such as the role of exogenous abscisic acid in anthocyanin biosynthesis in blueberry leaves, the effects of gibberellic acid on Shine Muscat grapes, and the influence of endogenous hormones on seed hardness in pomegranate.
Fractional-order systems extend classical integer-order models, providing a more accurate description of real-world physical phenomena. In image processing, critical techniques like noise suppression and image fusion in medical imaging are essential for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The increasing diversity of image acquisition models has further emphasized the importance of these techniques.
Research and information Artificial Intelligence
The present book contains all the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue “Advances in Artificial Intelligence: Models, Optimization, and Machine Learning, 2nd Edition” of the MDPI Mathematics journal. The content of this Special Issue encompasses a diverse array of topics related to artificial intelligence, spanning both foundational theories and practical applications.
Florin Leon, Mircea Hulea, Marius Gavrilescu
At the crossroads of culture and commerce, the advertising industry is a regime of paradoxes. This book examines the place of advertising on today’s creative industries, exploring the major challenges advertisers confront as they engage with other creative sectors. Izabela Derda, author, media scholar, and industry expert, offers insights into how the industry keeps deconstructing its own creative processes and collaborative models as it attempts to stay relevant. Through extensive case studies and interviews with industry professionals and thought leaders, this book examines the sector’s struggle to adapt to new business models and to monetize creativity in today’s media landscape, from re-engaging audiences through media more typical of arts and entertainment to managing intricate cross-sectoral creative collaborations.
Vocational Education, Skill Formation, and Social Development
Vocational education and training (VET) systems are increasingly recognized not only as pathways to employment but also as critical mechanisms for fostering lifelong learning, personal development, and social cohesion. Research in this field spans diverse topics, including the integration of soft skills into educational programs, the challenges and opportunities of work-place learning, and the inclusive practices that are required for equitable education. While advancements in pedagogy and technology have enhanced the potential of VET, challenges remain in aligning training with dynamic labor market needs, ensuring access and equity, and supporting the holistic development of learners.
Climate change is expected to have a wide range of impacts on plant physiology and metabolism, soil fertility and carbon sequestration, and microbial diversity and activity. This imposes direct limitations on plant growth, fertility, and productivity. To promote the sustainability of ecosystems, efforts are needed to enhance our knowledge of molecules that govern key processes that may play a role in stress resilience mechanisms in plants. In this context, this reprint covers basic and applied innovative research aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with plant responses to abiotic stresses, including drought, cold, heat, high light, and salinity.
Isabel Marques, Ana I Ribeiro-Barros, José C. Ramalho
The modern world is characterized by intense and increasing conditions of uncertainty, with the result that any economic turbulences and economic recessions create issues to be addressed for the entire world, regardless of the degree of development of each economy. This book presents the consequences of economic recessions, giving readers a comprehensive understanding of the causes of the crises, their effects, the solutions, and how economies can be put on a more sustainable path in the future. Considering critical events in the global economy, the book describes how the turbulence from such crises affects economies in today’s complex world.
Climate Changes and the Impacts on Power and Energy Systems
The pressing topic of "climate change" has drawn significant interest and critical attention from researchers and engineers in electrical power and energy. The relationship between these two fields is bidirectional. This reprint compiles recent studies addressing essential points related to the resilience and adaptation of electrical power and energy systems to climate change, covering areas such as electric vehicles, renewable energy resources, electricity demand, buildings, power grids, and innovative solutions like machine learning, among others.
Chapter Skill, industrial transformation and work in a climate-changing world
Working patterns Climate change Industrial
This book offers a genuinely interdisciplinary engagement with the future of paid and unpaid work in the context of the twin challenges of decarbonisation and the growing impacts of an unstable climate. It is innovative in its grounding of such discussions in the everyday realities of workers’ experiences with an empirical focus on skill, occupational shifts and technological change at the workplace level. Part I: Skills and Training delves into how workers gain crucial skills across their lifetimes.
New Challenges in Marine Aquaculture Research
This Special Issue addresses the key challenges facing marine aquaculture, including species diversification, improving animal growth efficiency, adapting to climate change, developing alternative feed sources, conserving natural resources, and reducing environmental impact. The Special Issue brings together a diverse range of research studies that tackle these challenges, covering topics such as environmental and ecological assessments, innovative approaches to optimizing feed and growth performance, as well as technological advancements aimed at promoting sustainability in marine aquaculture.
Technological innovation continues to challenge and redefine the foundations of legal theory, policy, and practice. This volume presents a collection of rigorous scholarly contributions examining the multifaceted intersections between emerging technologies and the law. It offers an adaptive conceptualization of artificial intelligence within regulatory and ethical frameworks and explores the transformative potential of the EU AI Act on autonomous maritime navigation.
Esther Salmerón-Manzano, Francisco Manzano Agugliaro
Self-Regulated Learning - Insights and Innovations explores the multifaceted nature of self-regulated learning (SRL) in today's dynamic educational landscape. This book serves as both a reflection on current SRL practices and a roadmap for future advancements. It offers a comprehensive look at SRL across diverse educational settings, examining topics from the application of AI in predicting educational outcomes to integrating digital tools for self-directed learning in pre-service teachers. Readers will discover the latest research, theoretical insights, and actionable strategies applicable to various learning environments.
Current Trends, Innovations and Issues in Nursing Practice and Education
The development of health sciences in recent years has made it necessary to implement changes in the training of health professionals from the undergraduate level. This training must include the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that ultimately improve patient safety and quality of care. Concurrently, the use of different tools to assess the level of knowledge in certain areas of the training of nurses and analysis of the different study plans allow training to be oriented to the specific needs of each reality.Nowadays, it is necessary to develop, plan, and utilize new teaching methodologies and tools that allow us to assess and measure the level of knowledge of professionals and students and evaluate the quality of training at the different levels of care.
Antonio Martinez-Sabater, Elena Chover-Sierra, Carles Saus-Ortega
Intelligent Localization for Integrated Sensing and Communication
Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) systems. As 6G networks advance, the need for more efficient data collection, more intelligent system adaptability, and more accurate localization results. Traditional outdoor localization methods like GPS are limited indoors due to signal blockages, underscoring the need for innovative indoor localization technologies to meet the evolving requirements of modern applications. This "Open Access" book addresses key challenges in indoor localization using Channel State Information (CSI) and machine learning.
Mechatronics System Design in Medical Engineering
As the healthcare sector adapts to the evolving standards of Industry 4.0, there is a pressing need for more intelligent, automated, and efficient solutions. This evolution demands cutting-edge research that meets the increasing technical and functional requirements of modern medical applications. The integration of advanced mechatronic systems is essential to create value-added products that are not only highly functional, but also seamlessly adaptable to dynamic healthcare environments.
Interdisciplinary Research into Cultural and Biological Transformations in the Paleolithic Period
The incredibly long Paleolithic period is still considered by some to be a stagnant phase in human cultural and biological evolution prior to the appearance of our direct ancestors. However, in recent years, extensive interdisciplinary research has clearly demonstrated that this is not the case. Starting from the earliest stages of human presence on the planet some three million years ago, an impressive series of transformations, innovations, modifications and adaptations characterise our lineage.
Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Education
Artificial intelligence education educational technology
This Reprint presents a collection of cutting-edge research and reviews on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in education, focusing on both theoretical advancements and practical implementations. It examines how AI can be leveraged to enhance personalized learning, support adaptive assessment, enable intelligent learning environments, and facilitate more effective human–computer interaction in educational contexts. The contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics, including student and cognitive modeling, educational data mining, natural language processing for educational purposes, learning analytics, and the design of automated assistants and intelligent tutoring systems.
Agroforestry as Climate Change Adaptation
This open access book provides multidisciplinary perspectives on the potential of agroforestry to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on cocoa production. Against the backdrop of increasingly precarious farmer livelihoods, it focuses on cocoa-agroforestry in Ghana – the second largest producer of cocoa in the world. Taking the reader on a journey across experimental plots and on-farm studies, the book delivers a holistic understanding of cocoa-agroforestry. Chapters examine historical yield and climate interactions, the effects of heat and drought on cocoa plants and the role of differing shade trees on soil fertility, yields, pests and diseases.
Mette Fog Olwig, Aske Skovmand Bosselmann, Kwadwo Owusu
Level Up! Exploring Gamification's Impact on Research and Innovation
Level Up! Exploring Gamification's Impact on Research and Innovation explores the transformative power of gamification in various fields. This edited book shows how game design elements, when integrated into non-gaming contexts, can revolutionize education, health care, luxury tourism, language learning, and more. Through a series of case studies and research, the book demonstrates the potential of gamification to enhance user engagement, improve knowledge retention, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
Cutting-Edge Innovations in Teaching, Leadership, Technology, and Assessment
Cutting-Edge Innovations in Teaching, Leadership, Technology, and Assessment explores the dynamic and evolving field of education. This book is a testament to the ever-advancing landscape of education, examining four pivotal domains reshaping the educational experience. The first domain provides innovative teaching methodologies, and delves into the transformative power of active learning, gamification, and project-based learning. An emphasis is placed on their effectiveness in engaging students and fostering deeper learning.
Asma Khaleel Abdallah, Ahmed Mohammed Alkaabi, Rashid Al-Riyami
Business Model-the Perspective of Systems Thinking and Innovation
The business model concept has gained a prominent position both in academia and among practitioners during the past 30+ years. The aim of this Special Issue of Systems is to contribute to a stronger theoretical basis for the business model concept. This includes a focus on the systemic character of business models and the systems approaches that this entails. Another important aspect is to allocate more attention to innovations of business models. The business models that emerged with e-commerce and e-business as such were in themselves innovations.
Innovative Technologies and Translational Therapies for Deafness
This reprint focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and technological innovations related to inner ear diseases. It encompasses cutting-edge areas, such as virtual reality training, to enhance hearing adaptation, gene therapy, microneedle drug delivery, and more.
Olivier Sterkers, Ghizlène Lahlou, Huan Jia
The Adaptability of Residential Planning and Design to World-Changing Events
The Special Issue, "The Adaptability of Residential Planning and Design to World-Changing Events," explores innovative approaches to residential design that can effectively respond to short-, medium-, and long-term challenges posed by recent extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, and devastating natural disasters. It provides a comprehensive guide to creating residential environments that are not only resilient to the immediate impact of these events but also adaptable to the ongoing challenges and shifts in society.
Carlos C. Duarte, Nuno D. Cortiços, et.al
Critical Thinking for Global Citizenship Education
This open access book shares a two-part conceptual framework for critical global learning which weaves together theory and practice. The author shares the outcomes of her research and experiences developing students’ critical thinking skills within the context of global citizenship education. While rooted in literature and research findings, the book is personal and reflexive, as the author shares her experiences as a teacher trying, and sometimes failing, to support critical thinking development which allows readers to reflect on their own practice.
Education Adult education Civics and citizenship
This open access book presents the final findings from the case studies developed within the Horizon 2020 SMOOTH project Educational Spaces. Passing through Enclosures and Reversing Inequalities through Educational Commons. The overall objective of the project was to understand, develop, and accelerate the potential impact of education on reversing inequalities for active social inclusion of children and young people at risk in Europe, through introducing the emergent paradigm of the “commons” as an alternative value and action system in the field of education (preschools, schools, and after-school programs).
This open access book provides the theoretical and pedagogical foundations for a promising new approach to civic education: using social media to teach civics. While many measures indicate that youth civic engagement has long been in decline, many of these measures fail to take into account all of the ways that youth can interact with civic life. One of these understudied ways is through social media, including platforms like Twitter, where young people have the opportunity to encounter the news, engage with people in power, and bring attention to the needs in their community.
Educational strategies Education Civics and citizenship
Advances in the Experimentation and Numerical Modeling of Material Joining Processes
“Advances in the Experimentation and Numerical Modeling of Material Joining Processes" is an innovative compilation offering a comprehensive exploration of the latest developments in material-joining techniques. With 22 chapters, this MDPI scientific reprint addresses adhesive bonding, welding, friction stir welding, hybrid joining, and miscellaneous topics. The editorial (Chapter 1) provides the main limitations, possible improvements, active research lines, and prospects of material joining processes. Chapters 2 to 10 relate to adhesive bonded and welded joints.
Life-Cycle Performance of Green Cementitious Composites under Complex Environmental Conditions
Green composites aiming to find ecofriendly ingredients and save natural resources have been widely investigated for years using agricultural and industrial wastes and by-products, natural biomaterials, etc. Besides the basic mechanical performance of green composites, the life-cycle performance of green composites under single/multiple environmental conditions should also be worthy of attention, since green ingredients sometimes reduce the durability performance of green composites, especially under fire/high temperatures, freeze–thaw cycling, dry–wet cycling, and salt corrosion.
Reliability Analysis of Electrotechnical Devices
This is a book on the practical approaches of reliability to electrotechnical devices and systems. It includes the electromagnetic effect, radiation effect, environmental effect, and the impact of the manufacturing process on electronic materials, devices, and boards.
Occupational Health in the Construction Industry
The construction industry is a high-hazard industry that comprises a wide range of activities involving construction, alteration, and/or repair and has a significant impact on the health and safety of the workers. Construction workers engage in many activities that may expose them to serious hazards, such as falling from rooftops, unguarded machinery, being struck by heavy construction equipment, electrocution, etc. To promote and maintain safety in the workplace, knowledge about the primary causes of accidents helps to assess the level of safety.
This Open Access textbook, endorsed by UK Oncology Nursing Society (UKONS), covers the effects impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Cancer care and how health care professionals and people with a cancer diagnosis have been affected. It discusses current research covering COVID and Cancer and considers the different impacts on patients with solid tumours and those with a haematological malignancy. The authors critically appraise how technology has been used to combat the pandemic as well as impacts on patient management and their well-being, education of health care professionals as well as the delivery of oncology cancer treatments.
Mark Foulkes, Helen Roe, Andreas Charalambous
A History of Rhetoric, Sound, and Health and Healing
A History of Rhetoric, Sound, and Health and Healing argues for medico-sonic knowledge — systematically interpreted bodily sounds with medical knowledge mediated by rhetoric — as an evolving corporeal practice with an incomparable, sprawling history. Taking a materialist-feminist perspective, the book rhetorically accounts for sound and suggests rhetoric enables bodily sounds as understandable, knowable, and treatable with power to help and discipline bodies in health, healing, and hospital contexts.
Smart Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring and Nondestructive Evaluation
Structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies can be used to identify defects or damage and evaluate the health status of components or systems to avoid structural failure. Sensors are widely used to collect information about the status of engineering components or systems, and their development and application are key research topics in SHM and NDE. This reprint focuses on the most recent original contributions relating to the use of smart sensors in structural health monitoring and nondestructive evaluation.
Ageing induces an increased prevalence of chronic skeletal diseases such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and intervertebral disc degeneration/herniation. Dietary nutrition is an essential factor for skeletal health, the level of which is relatively easy to modify. For certain kinds of nutrients, including calcium and vitamin D, adequate dietary intake helps to reduce the risk of bone diseases. That said, some other kinds of dietary constituents, like fat and carbohydrates, play a much more complex role in bone health.
Geographic Information Systems and Cartography for a Sustainable World
Sustainable development is an interdisciplinary challenge that involves the environment, society, and the economy. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), outlined in the 2030 Agenda, serve as a call for action for all countries. Fulfilling the SDGs grows more pressing, while the consequences of no action are becoming evident to citizens. Scientists and spatial data stakeholders worldwide utilize Geographic Information Systems and Cartography to analyze, assess, visualize, and communicate spatial and developmental inefficiencies in support of planning efforts and policy pathways that aim to achieve sustainability objectives.
Andriani Skopeliti, Anastasia Stratigea, et.al
This reprint provides an overview of the state of edge intelligence research and practice, including innovative programming frameworks, intelligent resource orchestration, secure communication protocols, and healthcare applications. It highlights how edge intelligence can revolutionize network infrastructure, enable innovative applications, and address technical challenges facing 5G and the IoT. This reprint aims to provide opportunities for academic researchers and industry practitioners to exchange creative ideas and then inspire further innovation and foster progress in academia and industry.
The security technology of new information technologies in scenarios such as smart life, smart cities, smart networks, etc., and the promotion and enhancement of the development of network security are mainly included here. New-generation network attacks and defense technology, new secure cryptographic algorithms, data security and privacy protection technology, network and communication security protocol, security analysis, and the evaluation of new application scenarios are discussed.
Artificial intelligence Digital Political economy
Artificial intelligence (AI) is heralded as a revolutionary force in the global economy. But the transformation it brings is not simply about new technology as a driver of change. It is about who owns it, what they want to do with it, who can pay for it, and how other economic actors around the world – from legacy manufacturing firms in the Global North to farmers in the Global South – must adjust. This book explores AI systems as products of unequal and conflictual power relations.
Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in Sensors and Applications
The aim of this reprint is to address increasingly complex human problems by utilizing various sensors to collect data, enabling the formulation of solutions through deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI). This trend creates a high demand for sensors while presenting new challenges in developing sensor devices and applications across various fields, such as healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, construction, and environmental monitoring.
Shyan-Ming Yuan, Zeng-Wei Hong, Wai-Khuen Cheng
The Future of Television and Video Industry
This Edited Volume is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field of digital industry technologies and the future landscape of television. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and edited by an expert active in the pioneering advancements in digital technologies, particularly in the future landscape of television, machine learning, VLSI, FPGA systems, cloud computing, cybersecurity, video processing algorithms and architectures, IoT, and wireless communication research area.
Advancement in Blockchain Technology and Applications
This special issue addresses critical aspects such as privacy, security, and trust in blockchain applications across diverse industries. Scholars and practitioners delve into topics including adoption challenges, smart contract precision, defense strategies, consensus mechanisms, data protection, and regulatory frameworks. Featuring contributions from esteemed experts, this compilation offers comprehensive analyses and innovative proposals to enhance understanding and implementation of secure and privacy-preserving blockchain solutions. Explore the forefront of blockchain research, forging a path towards reliable, safe, and resilient decentralized systems.
Sustainable and Green Technologies for Industrial Chemical Engineering
Today, industrial processes are subject to continuous review to minimize the emission of pollutants, as well as purify the effluents that are produced. Likewise, a continuous review of the raw materials used is necessary to make them more sustainable. This is the objective of this Special Issue; we set out to present examples of industrial processes adapted to these current requirements.
This reprint features 18 selected high-quality research articles spanning diverse domains in the field of energy-efficient wireless communication and networking. The contributions in this reprint collectively underscore the significance of energy optimization in wireless systems, illuminating innovative approaches, algorithms, and technologies that pave the way for sustainable and efficient wireless communication in various application scenarios. This reprint brings together a rich tapestry of research that illuminates the ongoing efforts to design, optimize, and implement energy-efficient wireless communication and networking solutions.
R. .Maheswar, M. Kathirvelu, K. Mohanasundaram
Efficient Intelligence with Applications in Embedded Sensing
This reprint delves into the realm of efficient intelligence, encompassing fundamental and applied research. It explores the applications of embedded sensing in a variety of embedded devices, including industrial robots, unmanned vehicles, elevator traction machines, fuel cells, and more. Special attention is given to collaborative autonomous navigation, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), target object tracking, LiDAR point cloud analysis, prognostic methods for fuel cells, fabric defect detection in manufacturing, elevator traction machine recognition, object detection, vision-based autonomous forklifts, among others.
Disruptive Trends in Automation Technology
The industrial sector is being transformed by the convergence of information technology and operational technology. The latter is another name for automation technology and covers established systems such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), programmable logic controllers (PLC), fieldbuses, and automation and control systems. As this technology is connected to the Internet and 5G networks, some monitoring, control, and analytic functionalities are deployed to the edge or cloud, and researchers are challenged to ensure the security, dependability, real-time performance, and maintainability of the resulting systems.
Seppo Sierla, David Hästbacka, Kai Zenger
Sensors and Advanced Sensing Techniques for Computer Vision Applications
Technology Information technology industries
This is a reprint of the Special Issue on “Sensors and Advanced Sensing Techniques for Computer Vision Applications” aims to address many topics related to the challenging problems of computer vision and pattern recognition in conjunction with the emerging field of deep learning and remote sensing. As a result of the open call for papers, papers related to deep learning, neural networks, and soft computing have been accepted after a rigorous peer review process and assessed for their technical merit and relevance.
Christos Nikolaos E. Anagnostopoulos, Stelios Krinidis
Application of Vision Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Smart Farming
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been gaining traction in smart agriculture. Machine learning (ML) can be used for environmental and production performance data analysis and prediction, and computer vision (CV) can monitor abnormal phenotypes in plants and animals. They have massive potential to enhance the overall functioning of smart farming and reduce manual labor.
Cloud Computing and High Performance Computing (HPC) Advances for Next Generation Internet
Cloud computing and high-performance computing have emerged as transformative paradigms reshaping the information and communication technology landscape. This reprint explores cutting-edge advancements and breakthrough research in the field to address critical challenges. Key topics include high-availability solutions in container platforms; AI-driven predictions for cloud pricing; dynamic redundancy models for balancing cost and reliability in clouds; IoT and edge computing for smarter building solutions; transparent performance debugging for microservices; game-theoretic pricing mechanisms for fair and efficient cloud resource allocation; innovative tools for GPU virtualization and optimization in HPC systems; real-time workload optimization for crowdsourced platforms; advanced genomic sequence alignment techniques using HPC; and automated resiliency enhancements for distributed applications.
Edge-Cloud Computing and Federated-Split Learning in the Internet of Things
Federated Learning (FL) is a new collaborative learning method that allows multiple data owners to cooperate in ML model training without exposing private data. Split Learning (SL) is an emerging collaborative learning method that splits an ML model into multiple portions that are trained collaboratively by different entities. FL and SL, each have unique advantages and respective limitations, may complement each other to facilitate effective collaborative learning in the Internet of Things (IoT). The rapid development of edge-cloud computing technologies enables a distributed platform upon which the FL and SL frameworks can be deployed.
Intelligent Point Cloud Processing, Sensing and Understanding
Point clouds are deemed to be one of the foundational pillars in representing the 3D digital world, despite irregular topologies among discrete points. Recently, advancements in sensor technologies that acquire point cloud data for flexible and scalable geometric representation have paved the way for the development of new ideas, methodologies, and solutions in countless remote sensing applications. State-of-the-art sensors are capable of capturing and describing objects in a scene by using dense point clouds from various platforms (satellites, aerial, UAVs, vehicle-borne, backpacks, handheld, and static terrestrial), perspectives (nadir, oblique, and side view), spectra (multispectral), and granularity (point density and completeness).
Miaohui Wang, Guanghui Yue, Jian Xiong, Sukun Tian
The demand for advanced materials precisely tailored to specific industrial applications is becoming increasingly complex and challenging. Meeting this need requires the adoption of emerging manufacturing and environmentally friendly technologies to produce high-performance materials, which will be essential in the coming years. The future of the emerging ceramics industry lies in developing flawless materials with exceptional properties that are carefully engineered to meet changing market demands.
Biology Nutrition and Food Sciences Cultural studies
As many aspects of the food system’s sustainability occur between the production and distribution of foods, the importance of consumers as a primary driver for effectively integrating sustainability efforts cannot be forgotten. This Special Issue on “Adopting Sustainable Dietary Patterns: Effects of Food Labeling, Food Choices, and Eating Behaviors” presents data across relevant themes that aim to contextualize factors that can assist with the integration of one or more domains of sustainability in food choices and dietary patterns.
Catalysts for Sustainable Hydrogen Production: Preparation, Applications and Process Integration
In this book, we propose a collection of scientific and review articles on the production of hydrogen. The articles focus on the controlled storage and release of hydrogen; on the production of hydrogen from reforming from renewable sources, water splitting, and biological and photonic methods; on the intensification of the water gas shift process; and on the integration with purification methods such as pressure swing adsorption.
Innovative Materials and Processes for Removal of Biopersistent Pollutants
Hazardous artificial contaminants are molecules of inorganic and organic nature (pharmaceuticals, food sources, heavy metals, dyes, personal care products, detergents, flame retardants, cosmetics, and pesticides) with potential toxicological effects on human health and the environment (air, water, and soil) due to their ubiquity at trace levels. These products could be bio-persistent during conventional treatment processes; accordingly, the adoption of proper and innovative technologies is necessary for the removal of these hazardous, persistent chemicals before their release into the environment.
Andrea Petrella, Marco Race, Danilo Spasiano
Catalytic Reforming and Hydrogen Production
This Special Issue explores cutting-edge advances in catalytic reforming processes for sustainable hydrogen production, presenting eight original research articles and two comprehensive reviews. Topics include the dry reforming of methane (DRM), methanol steam and aqueous-phase reforming, bio-oil reforming, and photocatalytic hydrogen production. The studies reveal innovative catalytic systems, such as Ni-Ag and Ni-Ga, that enhance stability and reduce carbon deposition, while platinum-based catalysts and carbon supports optimize methanol reforming.
Georgios Bampos Paraskevi Panagiotopoulou, Eleni A. Kyriakidou
Plant viruses cause many of the most important diseases threatening crops worldwide. Over the last quarter of a century, an increasing number of plant viruses have emerged in various parts of the world, especially in the tropics and subtropics. As is generally observed for plant viruses, most of the emerging viruses are transmitted horizontally by biological vectors, mainly insects. Reverse genetics using infectious clones—available for many plant viruses—has been used for identification of viral determinants involved in virus–host and virus–vector interactions.
Jesús Navas Castillo Elvira Fiallo-Olivé
We hope that the publication of this Special Issue will provide an overview of recent systematic advances in plant science research in China, particularly within forestry research, introduce in-depth perspectives on future developments, and provide a tribute to the 120th anniversary of NJFU. NJFU, as the national "Double First-Class" initiative university featuring modern forestry science, aims to strengthen major national strategies such as biological breeding, ecological civilization construction, rural revitalization, carbon peaks and carbon neutrality, and healthy China, as well as to support high-quality development with high levels of scientific and technological self-reliance.
Urban Forestry and Sustainable Environments
The planet is moving towards a complex future, under the pressure from climate change and rapid urbanization. According to the United Nations, there was an estimated average urbanization rate of ~80% and 55% in developed and developing countries, respectively, as of the end of 2021. Green infrastructure in urban areas provides people with a multitude of ecosystem benefits. However, the quality of urban green infrastructure varies among cities in the different countries/regions; key ecological processes, maintenance mechanisms, as well as policy-making routes remain unclear.
Nancai Pei, Qian Sun, Jiali Jin, Zezhou Hao
The Great Powers and the Survival of the Liberal International Order
This scholarly monograph examines the sustainability of the Liberal International Order (LIO) by critically examining the conduct of the Permanent Five (P5) members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. As principal custodians of global peace and security under the Charter of the United Nations, the P5’s alignment, or misalignment, with the foundational principles of the LIO holds profound implications for its legitimacy and endurance.
Environmental, Social, and Governance Ratings
In recent years, the world of finance and investments has changed, considering measures related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors for socially responsible investments. ESG scoring and ratings are used to estimate ESG risk. This book presents ESG ratings and scorings and their providers and lists problems with data quality, data sources, and unknown methodology, contributing to the green- and social-washing ESG rating phenomenon. The value of assets invested in green instruments relies on high-quality ESG ratings to measure green transition. Data greenwashing negatively impacts the financial market, especially the stock price, fund activities, and bond markets.
Comparative Vertebrate and Human Anatomy: Ecology, Evolution, and Function
This book provides an ecology- and function-oriented approach to understanding the evolution of vertebrate structure. The text has a modular format, such that each module can be used as a stand-alone instructional tool, or grouped together as a comprehensive textbook, making the text versatile for use in courses with diverse structures. The text also includes human-specific modules for each anatomical system, as many small, liberal arts colleges teach comparative and human anatomy in a single course. Detailed, human-specific modules may be added or removed, as needed for individual courses, depending on the scope and learning objectives of the class.
Vanessa K Hilliard, Lisa Whitenack, Bill Ryerson, Amy Cheu
Computational Methods in Wind Engineering
In wind engineering, in parallel to all other engineering disciplines, the impact of computational methods is rapidly increasing. As far as computational aspects are concerned, wind engineering embodies a series of specific challenges, including the availability of suitable validation data, the definition of boundaries and boundary conditions, scale disparities, and fluid–structure interaction. The present Special Issue shows recent advances in the development and application of computational methods in wind engineering.
A Contemporary Approach to Research and Statistics in Psychology
This book is designed as a short and introductory resource specifically aimed to help students grasp key concepts typically found in undergraduate psychology statistics subjects. It was initially developed for online and intensive programs, which are becoming increasingly popular in psychology education. The book utilises jamovi, a free and open-source statistical software.
Council of Australian University Librarians
Property law Engineering law Building construction
The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Specification for Tunnelling, Fourth edition is a standard industry document for tunnelling contracts and forms the basis of tunnelling specifications for projects throughout the world. It reflects current industry best practice and considers technological advancements over the last ten years. It also investigates a range of new topics.
Greening Urban Spaces: A Healthy Community Design
The focus of this reprint is to draw attention to Greening Urban Spaces. Cities play a central role in advancing economic and social developments and addressing the challenges that humanity face today. Although cities provide access to better health services, urban life is also associated with factors that are deleterious to human health, such as increased stress, mental fatigue, pollution, as well as sedentary lifestyles and a disconnection to the natural environment.
Environment Ocean - Geographics Information Systems
This Open Access book “Ocean Governance (Beyond) Borders” is concerned with the persistence of bordering in ocean space, and the possibilities that might arise if we think beyond borders for modes of oceanic management, engaging the ocean’s fluid physicality and the mobile human and more-than-human life entangled with it. At a moment where ocean governance is a pressing topic amongst academics, policy makers, governments and non- governmental agencies alike, this book takes on one of the most overlooked but central devices underscoring many modes of oceanic management: the border.
Sustainable Rural Development : Strategies, Good Practices, and Opportunities Ⅱ
In 2023, a Special Issue titled “Sustainable Rural Development: Strategies, Good Practices and Opportunities: Second Edition” was launched, in which 26 papers were published. It is a continuation of a previous Special Issue also published in Land in 2021, which included 16 papers with the same thematic structure. Inhabitants of rural areas are emigrating to urban areas due to the labour and service opportunities offered by the latter. This is causing a demographic decline in rural areas, with depopulation trends, high rates of ageing, masculinisation, and low demographic growth.
Ana Nieto Masot, José Luis Gurría Gascón
Advancing Sustainability through Land-Related Approaches
Society and Social Sciences Earth Sciences Environment
The aim of this reprint is to immerse the reader in the latest scholarly advancements at the intersections between sustainability science and various land-related sciences (e.g., land system science, landscape ecology, natural resource management, geography, public administration, etc.); furthermore, it aims to illustrate how these fragmented research intersections form a coherent research field with a unique niche for producing actionable sustainability knowledge.
Bing-Bing Zhou, Taiyang Zhong, Yujia Zhang, Ligang Lv, Yuzhu Zang.
Agricultural Landscape Stability and Sustainable Land Management
This reprint focuses on the theme of agricultural landscape stability and sustainable land management, including the ecosystem service values of agricultural landscapes, the development of multifunctional agricultural landscapes, protection of agricultural landscapes, reform of rural land ownership, comprehensive rural development, and remote sensing monitoring of agricultural landscapes.
Frontiers in Nucleic Acid Chemistry —in Memory of Professor Enrique Pedroso for His Outstanding Contributions to Nucleic Acid Chemistry
This reprint is dedicated to the memory of Enrique Pedroso, Professor Emeritus of Organic Chemistry at University of Barcelona, who passed away at the age of 72 on September 2020. Professor Enrique Pedroso has been one of the pioneers of Nucleic Acids Chemistry in Spain, significantly contributing to the development of this highly interdisciplinary field which combines organic chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, materials chemistry, and biophysics.
Ramon Eritja, Daniela Montesarchio, Montserrat Terrazas
Human Sustainability and Cognitive Overload at Work
This innovative book considers the cost of cognitive overload and psychological distress on human sustainability, and suggests ways to prevent employees from becoming a psychologically depleted workforce. Employee attentional processing capacity is maxed out, and psychological distress is at an all-time high. Alexander D. Stajkovic and Kayla S. Stajkovic explain how human cognitive ‘broadband’ is at the hunter-gatherer level and changes at an evolutionary snail’s pace.
Alexander D. Stajkovic, Kayla S. Stajkovic
Membrane Proteins : Function, Structure, and Dynamic
This reprint focuses on cutting-edge advancements and forthcoming prospects in membrane proteins. It encompasses the function, structure, and dynamics of membrane proteins from various perspectives, including cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.
Vitamin B is a water-soluble vitamin that plays important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Many foods contain B vitamins, including meat, poultry, and fish, among others. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin with antioxidant properties that can be found in vegetable oils, cereals, meat, poultry, eggs, and fruits. Both vitamins B and E are important for human health. This book provides a comprehensive overview of vitamins B and E.
Juber Akhtar, Mohammad Ahmad, Mohammad Irfan Khan
This book offers a comprehensive overview of food additives, exploring their chemistry, applications, and safety implications. It delves into the various classes of additives, including antioxidants, sweeteners, flavorings, and preservatives, providing detailed insights into their extraction, mechanisms of action, chemical properties, and quality assurance parameters.
Cysteine, a sulfur-containing amino acid, is vital in preserving the redox potential of cells and is a crucial component of the antioxidant molecule glutathione. Cysteine is involved in numerous vital functions in the body and has been linked to several medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, diabetes, cancer, and kidney dysfunction. The objective of this book is to provide a comprehensive summary of the most recent insights on cysteine metabolism and its significance in different pathological conditions.
Biochemical and Physiological Response During Oxidative Stress
The present volume provides an all-around overview of the complicated system that is oxidative stress, from basic knowledge at the level of the molecular mechanism of the process itself right through to complex relationships connecting it with a broad spectrum of pathologies in light of consequences to human health and ecological balance. It shall give substantial scientific support for stimulating further research with open prospects to get innovative preventive and therapeutic strategies.
Marika Cordaro, Rosanna Di Paola, Roberta Fusco
Physiological and Molecular Biology Research on Ornamental Flower
Ornamental plants play an essential role in human life and hold broad applications in agriculture, industry, and medicine, making them of paramount research interest. This Special Issue of Horticulturae belongs to the section "Physiological and Molecular Biology Research on Ornamental Flowers”. It is aimed at elucidating the potential mechanisms behind the growth, development, and stress responses of ornamental plants. It highlights new insights into the variations in flower color and scent, the development and utilization of ornamental flowers, and the environmental adaptation of these plants.
Molecular Mechanisms and Biological Procedures of Biomaterials in Medical Applications
Biomaterials have emerged as a potentially powerful paradigm in clinical medicine due to their unique physicochemical properties such as topographical cues, charges, etc. Many efforts have been made to explore various avenues to process tailored nanomaterials for medical applications, including regenerative medicine, therapeutic delivery, and additive manufacturing. Intriguingly, many studies have identified the existence of bio–nano interactions, which play important roles in biological procedures.
Molecular World Today and Tomorrow: Recent Trends in Biological Sciences
Various molecular techniques based on omics (transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics) and phylogenetics have been applied in biological sciences. Molecular dynamics and approaches evolved over time into various quantitative tools that allow researchers from multiple disciplines to design different studies. The molecular-based techniques can be comprehensive and systematic, as they allow identification, resolve genetic differences, molecular docking, and prediction models of ecological niches and taxonomic ranks.
Food Composition and Dedicated Databases: Key Tools for Human Health and Public Nutrition
This Special Issue collects research on and applications of the relationship between food, nutrition, and databases. The development of databases of nutrients, bioactive compounds, and metabolites are key tools for human health and public nutrition and represent resources for a wide range of applications in food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, epidemiology, and medicinal areas. The current research trends are highlighted.
Inputs of Engineering Education towards Sustainability
This Special Issue does not aim to address the technical approach of each solution but rather to share educational experiences and maybe influence other teachers to invest in similar practices, from simple individual actions to departmental or school directives. Teachers, no matter the expertise, may contribute to this problem of civic awareness. Discussing these issues within the academia may harvest some day-to-day action changes, which may become the motor for new and bigger ones.
Applications of Fractional Operator in Image Processing and Stability of Control Systems
Research and information Mathematics and Science
Fractional calculus and fractional processes are research areas that are gaining increasing attention, with applications in control systems and image processing. Fractional-order systems are a natural generalization of classical integer-order systems with the ability to accurately model a wide range of real-world physical systems. The fusion and noise suppression of medical images in image processing are essential, as these techniques provide valuable information to support clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Xuefeng Zhang, Driss Boutat, Da-Yan Liu
Dental Education Social and ethical issues
The dental curriculum is like a living organism—it has developed through time, manifesting regional, cultural, and scientific heritage, and reflecting modern trends. The undergraduate dental curriculum is periodically rebuilt to ensure the harmonization of higher education systems between countries, especially in Europe. Structure, content, learning, and assessment in undergraduate and postgraduate dental education and auxiliary dental personnel training are shaped based on professional consensus.
An Interdependent Approach to Happiness and Well-Being
Personnel & human resources management Sustainability
This open access book examines an interdependent approach to happiness and well-being, one that contrasts starkly with dominant approaches that have originated from Western culture(s). It highlights the diversity of potential pathways towards happiness and well-being globally, and answers calls - voiced in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals - for more socially and environmentally sustainable models.
Culturally Responsive Assessment in Classrooms and Large-Scale Contexts
Education Educational psychology Higher education
Culturally Responsive Assessment in Classrooms and Large-Scale Contexts explores how scholars and professionals in educational measurement and assessment can use the unique cultural and social identities of students to shape assessment purpose, design, implementation, use, and validation processes. Despite the sheer diversity of student populations in the United States, the tools used to understand their performance and progress have not substantively changed in decades.
Multilevel Pedagogical Leadership in Higher Education
Education Educational strategies Higher education
This Open Access book addresses the theoretical grounding of the pedagogical dimensions of higher education leadership and its empirical study. The book’s general point of departure is that educational leadership is a multi-level phenomenon, operating as policy work on a transnational and national level, as educational leadership on various organizational levels, and as supervision and teaching on an interactional level. It is in and through these discursive practices that policies are initiated, interpreted, translated and enacted.
Cerium - Chemistry, Technology, Geology, Soil Science and Economics illustrates the global interest in rare earth elements. The first section on potential new mining resources focuses on the global issues of rare earth element scarcity and procurement pollution because of rare earth element ion exchange deposits. The section on the technology and utilization of rare earth elements addresses research on the usage of rare earth elements in emerging technologies involving medicine, digital technology, and chemistry.
The reprint “Advances in Pharmaceutical Sciences: In Honor of Dr. Jean Jacques Vanden Eynde (JJ)” aims to honor the scientist and former Editor-in-Chief of Pharmaceuticals (2015 to 2022), Dr. Jean Jacques Vanden Eynde, being an organic chemist, his vision and his important contributions to the success of the journal, including fostering a friendly atmosphere between the journal and Section Editors, have been essential and are highly appreciated.
Polymers/Their Hybrid Materials for Optoelectronic Applications
This reprint represents a comprehensive collection of cutting-edge research in the field of polymer materials and their hybrid composites tailored for optoelectronic applications. This reprint brings together contributions from leading experts across the globe, showcasing innovative approaches to developing advanced materials that push the boundaries of technology in areas such as solar cells, organic thin-film transistors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and sensors.This volume includes chapters on novel conjugated polymers designed for high-performance polymer solar cells/organic thin-film transistors, defect passivation strategies enhancing halide perovskite solar cells.
In recent years, inorganic oxidic nanomaterials have been extensively investigated for their outstanding properties that allow their use within a large variety of raising fields of interest, ranging from (photo)catalysis to the development of functional nanocomposites. Nanoscopic metal (eventually mixed) oxides are often fabricated following soft-chemistry approaches, characterized by the possibility of favouring specific morphologies, particles dimensions, and surface porosities through different synthetic methods and templating processes.
This book provides an overview of hydrogels and nanogels, including their manufacturing techniques, physicochemical and mechanical properties, and applications in medicine, as well as bioengineering strategies and their impacts on the functions of carrier systems. It explores the fundamentals of the synthesis, synthetic chemistry, and development of hydrogels and nanogels. It discusses the fabrication of stimuli-responsive hydrogels and nanogels and biomaterial requirements, as well as reviews the various classifications of hydrogels and nanogels and their self-assembly and gelation mechanisms.
Chukwuebuka Umeyor, Emmanuel Uronnachi, Pratik Kakade
The never-ending quest to understand environmental changes and the measures our bodies can take may end with exploring the significant role of antioxidants. The Power of Antioxidants - Unleashing Nature's Defense Against Oxidative Stress investigates the relationships between man, plants, and bioactive substances, thus opening the way for understanding some of the natural systems in nature.
In an era where environmental challenges are more pressing than ever, Bisphenols - New Environmental, Pathophysiological and Social Perspectives offers a multidisciplinary exploration of bisphenols’ complex and pervasive world. From the historical evolution of bisphenol A (BPA) to the emergence of structurally similar alternatives, this book delves deep into the scientific, social, and institutional responses to these controversial compounds.
Functional Photocatalysts: Material Design, Synthesis and Applications
Mathematics Chemistry Physical chemistry
Sustainable green and efficient technologies are recognized as one of the greatest challenges in chemical engineering. It has been reported that photocatalysis is one of the most promising eco-friendly technologies that can work under milder operating conditions than conventional processes when photon activation is performed using a cost-effective light source rather than thermal activation. Many studies have concentrated on some applications of heterogeneous photocatalysis, such as air and water cleaning, organic synthesis, and hydrogen production.
Liposomes as Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Delivery Systems
Liposomes provide an excellent way to enhance nutrient bioavailability, drug uptake and absorption, vaccine delivery and the delivery of therapeutic genes. The ability of liposomes to fuse with the plasma membranes of barrier and target cells increases the diffusability of hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules into cells and throughout the body. In addition to the increased diffusibility of liposomes, decorating liposomes with target ligands presents a promise to more selectively deliver drugs, nutrients and therapeutic genes with enhanced bioavailability and uptake into target cells.
This reprint mainly covers the topics of the synthesis of polyurethane and the preparation of its composite materials, as well as the latest research progress of polyurethane in different fields. This reprint collects the latest research progress of scholars from different countries across the globe, and each author has established good research findings in their studies, using various characterization methods to elaborate on the research phenomena in detail. I hope this reprint acts as a reference and provides inspiration for researchers engaged in polyurethane-related work.
Organic Optoelectronics: Photoelectronic Conversion Materials, Physics and Devices
This is a collection of research articles reporting the most recent progress in organic optoelectronic materials and devices. The involved research work covers materials of organic and hybrid semiconductors, designs in micro and nano scales, structures for microcavity and random lasing, and devices for light emission or detection. Although these research results deal with only a narrow band of the broad topic of organic optoelectronics, they are believed to make excellent contributions to the new development of related fields.
New Approaches to Synthetic Organic Chemistry
The "New Approaches to Synthetic Organic Chemistry" Special Issue has continued to challenge and expand our scientific knowledge of the surrounding world, exploring the frontiers between at least two of its dynamic interfaces: human life and the environment. Subject to all evolutionary facets of organic chemistry, its perpetual developments reimagined within the current organic synthesis (strategies, methodologies, reaction mechanisms, reagents, catalysts, chemical and instrumental auxiliaries) nevertheless obey two crucial common denominators, "selectivity" vs. “specificity” (these terms being, equally, preceded by typical prefixes, either chemo-, regio- or stereo-), as mandatory criteria
Mircea Darabantu, Alison Rinderspacher, Gloria Proni
Heterocyclic compounds are one of the most prevalent groups of organic molecules, playing crucial roles in a variety of applications. From medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis to supramolecular chemistry, agrochemicals, biology, and materials science, heterocycles are integral to our daily lives and scientific advancement. This book presents a comprehensive exploration of the latest applications and research in heterocyclic systems. It provides readers with insights into new and impactful frontiers within this fascinating field.
Schiff Base in Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry
A Schiff base (imine -N=CH-) is a part of a popular group of organic compounds prepared form primary amines and aldehyde. Many studies have been carried out on Schiff bases not only as organic compounds but also as ligands for metal complexes. In this context, this book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review of Schiff base compounds, with an emphasis on the latest advances. It compiles research results, commentary, reviews, and more dealing with preparation, spectroscopy, crystallography, (asymmetric) synthetic roles, physical properties (magnets, optics, etc.), computational chemistry, and theoretical chemistry.
Methanogens are unique prokaryotes critical in the carbon cycle and environmental sustainability. This book offers a comprehensive examination, spanning from the role of methanogens in the gut microbiota to their applications in biotechnology and energy production. It explores how methanogens contribute to digestion, immune regulation, and even the gut-brain axis, focusing on their effects on gastrointestinal and neurological health. Beyond their biological significance, the book highlights the transformative potential of methanogens in industrial applications.
Over the past few decades, Salmonella has been one of four key global causes of diarrheal diseases and the major cause of foodborne pathogens that could lead to salmonellosis globally. Thereby, a comprehensive overview of recent trends in Salmonella is of great importance for its accurate detection and precise control under different conditions. This book provides an insightful overview of Salmonella, starting from the mechanism of Salmonella transmission, infection, and antimicrobial resistance.
In the intricate world of microbiology, few names evoke as much intrigue and concern as Enterococcus. Once considered a benign inhabitant of the human gut, this resilient bacterium has emerged as a formidable pathogen, capable of outwitting some of our most advanced medical defenses. Enterococcus - Unveiling the Emergence of a Potent Pathogen is a compelling exploration into the rise of this tenacious microorganism and the chapters of this book dig into the complex biology, adaptive mechanisms, and the significant clinical implications of Enterococcus.
Guillermo Tellez-Isaias, Danielle Graham, Saeed El-Ashram
Recent Advances in Applied Microbiology and Food Sciences
Progressive changes in technology also cause changes in the methods used in food research, including microbiological aspects. The cooperation of research centers with industry is also important, as it poses new challenges to science. This reprint is devoted to the latest achievements in analytics, and to the application of new methods in food production technology. We present both original research and review articles focused on recent advanced technology in food science and microbiology, especially modern methods of the production and testing of food as well as the sustainable development of agriculture and the food industry.
Marek Kieliszek, Przemyslaw Lukasz Kowalczewski
Study of Microbiological Safety in the Food Chain
Ensuring microbiological safety in the food (of animal origin) chain is a challenging task due to the complex interactions among animals, humans and the environment. However, technological and analytical advances in recent years have provided a broader insight into microbiological hazards in the food chain and risk assessment. The objective of the proposed Special Issue “Study of Microbiological Safety in the Food Chain” was therefore to obtain scientific papers addressing microbiological hazards in the food chain, such as bacterial antimicrobial resistance, bacterial or fungal spoilage of foods, the antimicrobial potential of the indigenous microbiota, the aminogenic or amine-reducing capacity of the microbiota, and papers that apply novel methods to study the food microbiome to discover potential, previously unknown microbial hazards.
Personalized Management in Orthopedics and Traumatology
Sports Medicine and Injury Prevention: The shift towards personalized approaches in sports medicine optimizes athlete care by considering unique biomechanics, medical history, and performance goals. This Special Issue highlights personalized medicine's impact on injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance management. Kopf et al. investigated painkiller use in amateur football, revealing that 36.2% of players used painkillers for pain relief. While 74% of coaches opposed their use in competition, 56.2% admitted to using them, indicating a need for preventive measures.
Wearable and Portable Devices in Sport Biomechanics and Training Science
Sport biomechanics and training have been traditionally tested under laboratory conditions, requiring both specific conditions and expensive equipment. The novel use of wearable devices aims to fulfill the lack of ecology for such measures and provides an affordable and easy-to-use option to perform biomechanics. Lately, wearable sensors have allowed for the quantification of performance and workload by providing mechanical and physiological parameters and their popularity has grown exponentially.
Felipe García-Pinillos, Alejandro Pérez-Castilla, Diego Jaén-Carrillo
Applied Biomechanics in Sports Performance, Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation
I am pleased to present this Special Issue on applied biomechanics in sports performance, injury prevention, and rehabilitation. Advances in modern technological devices have allowed sports scientists to gather increasingly detailed information about the sports field and movement performance analysis. The availability of a wide range of kinetic and kinematic parameters has led to significant improvements in our ability to analyze various aspects of sports performance. Additionally, biomechanical studies have facilitated the development of efficient movement patterns, proper postural habits, and energy conservation through the economy of movement.
The year 2020 is considered by the World Health Organization to be the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. This book supports the visibility of the contribution of nurses to society. We have included 30 articles on high-quality original research or reviews that provide solid new discoveries that expand current knowledge.
Elena Fernández-Martínez, Lisa Alves Gomes, Cristina Liébana-Presa
Policies and Strategies in Sexual and Reproductive Health
The topics covered in the book cover different aspects of sexual and reproductive health. This book provides novel research results that may be essential as a basis for the development of health policies and strategies in sexual and reproductive health. These policies are necessary to achieve greater health protection. Among others, issues as important as the increase in STIs, their risk factors, vulnerable situations and populations, as well as the issue of priority in reproductive health, such as the care that must be provided during pregnancy and childbirth in order to guarantee healthy women and children, are developed in the book.
Juan Miguel Martínez Galiano, Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez
Successful breastfeeding has benefits for both mother and infant that extend the lifespan. Unfortunately, the health disparities in breastfeeding are striking, and the variable rate of breastfeeding across racial or ethnic groups and among individuals with different socioeconomic statuses is an under-appreciated public health crisis. Overall parity in breastfeeding rates through 6 months could substantially reduce the incidence of childhood infection and the devastation of sudden infant death syndrome.
Reproductive injustice is an urgent global problem. We are faced with the increased criminalization of abortion, higher maternal and neonatal mortality rates for people of color, and more and more research addressing the structural nature of obstetric violence. In this collection of essays, the cause of reproductive injustice is understood as the institutionalized isolation of (potentially) pregnant people, making them vulnerable for bio- and necropolitical disciplination and control.
Discover fresh insights and confront emerging challenges in the world of midwifery with Midwifery - New Perspectives and Challenges. This edited volume delves into the evolving landscape of midwifery, offering a comprehensive exploration of contemporary issues, practices, and perspectives shaping this vital field. From the latest advancements in maternal care to the evolving role of midwives in today’s healthcare system, this book brings together a diverse range of voices and expertise to illuminate the transformative potential of midwifery.
This book on ‘Cooperative Learning in Higher Education’ addresses the development of both reflective teaching and learning in higher education to promote sustainable education in several disciplines where reflection is at the core of sustainable development. The book explores reflection within higher education and/or within instructional approaches to higher education, not only via in-house and external individuals, collective initiatives and activities that focus on reflection and the generation of knowledge, but also on the transformative outputs of learning communities.
Higher education Personnel and human resources management Educational administration
The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Up until now Talent Management (TM) in higher education institutes has received limited academic attention. This diverse collection offers a thoughtful overview of how talent is defined in higher education; the implementation of TM practices; how this is perceived by employees; and its impact on academic performance. Talent Management in Higher Education uses a multi-level and multi-actor perspective and positions the contemporary TM issues of universities in the broader institutional context in which universities are constituted and the historical developments regarding HRM and TM policies.
Transforming Higher Education Scholarship after Covid-19 and in the Context of the 4th Industrial Revolution
In this edited book we are compelled to think about the convergences between the technological advances made possible by lockdowns brought on by the Covid-19 Pandemic and increased 4IR use in the South African context. The insights presented in this edited volume make a case that transformation of higher education scholarship cannot happen without making space for historically excluded knowers, thinking differently about historically marginalized knowledges and by constantly grappling with new developments and how they facilitate or encumber the transformation project.
Segalo Puleng, Nompumelelo Zodwa Radebe, et.al.
Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking
Looking at higher education policy actors connecting the Finnish and the European Union (EU) contexts, this volume explores the power and influence of networks on decision-making and the utilisation of knowledge within higher education policy. It is unique in providing a new understanding of how European higher education policies are shaped and implemented in day-to-day policymaking. Building on existing literature and robust empirical work to focus on EU–Finland knowledge networks, the book develops a novel methodological approach that combines social network analysis, network ethnography, interviews, and observation data to capture how networks can significantly affect the way higher education is governed.
Novel Trends in Urban Planning for Building Urban Resilience
The purpose of the reprint is to present current research on novel trends in urban planning to build social, economic, and environmental resilience in cities of various scales and densities. The future of humanity is undoubtedly urban. Global disruptions in recent years have changed the thinking about resilient urban planning, including compactness, mixed land use, density, diversity, sustainable transportation, and green space.
Steffen Lehmann, Monika Szopinska-Mularz
Conflict Conservation of the environment
This book provides an empirically formulated foundation for conflict-sensitive conservation, a field in which the existing literature relies primarily on anecdotal evidence. Seeking to better understand the impact of conflict on the implementation and outcomes of environmental projects, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Independent Evaluation Office and the Environmental Law Institute undertook an evaluation of GEF support to fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Multidisciplinary Teamwork in Healthcare
Effective healthcare is vital to prevent illnesses and injuries, to provide treatments and rehabilitation from illnesses and injuries, and to enhance physical, psychological, and social health and well-being. Twenty-first-century healthcare has become a “team sport” that requires multidisciplinary teams with diverse knowledge, skills, abilities, perspectives, and wisdom. Multidisciplinary healthcare teams include physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, and other healthcare practitioners; healthcare researchers, scholars, and educators; healthcare administrators and policymakers; as well as patients and patients’ significant others.
Rethinking Agri-Food and Marine Waste and Byproducts for Circular and Sustainable Bio-Based Food Packaging
Psychological theory Environmental science
This Special Issue on food waste and byproduct-based packaging presents innovative research on repurposing food industry byproducts into sustainable packaging solutions, targeting waste reduction and environmental impact. Papers in this issue showcase the development of biomaterials and packaging materials from byproducts like potato chips, apple and pear pomaces, pomegranate peels, and fish scales. For instance, potato byproducts, apple and pear pomace—a leftover from juice production—are used to create biodegradable films with antioxidant properties, ideal for food preservation.
Biomass Conversion and Organic Waste Utilization
Technology Engineering Environmental science
Due to the global shortage of energy and some natural resources, the recycling and reutilization of biomass and organic wastes has emerged as a critical strategy. Recently, biomass and organic wastes have begun to be produced in huge amounts. The inappropriate disposal of biomass and organic wastes can lead to serious environmental problems. In contrast, the effective treatment and refinery of biomass and organic wastes can produce biomaterials, biofuels, and biochemicals.
Disaster Mitigation, Risk Reduction, and Resilience Design of Engineering Structures
The disaster mitigation, risk reduction, and resilience design of engineering structures under natural hazards are topics of great interest, as well as being crucial for protecting human life and reducing economic losses. In recent decades, with the help of emerging knowledge regarding the mechanisms of natural hazards, new methods and facilities for disaster mitigation and risk reduction are being developed. Furthermore, resilience designs have been proposed for the improvement of post-disaster retrofits and repairs for modern engineering structures.
Environmental Disasters and Individuals’ Emergency Preparedness
Environmental disasters are becoming more frequent. These disasters not only include the most common natural disasters, but also include man-made disasters, such as public health, accident disasters, etc., which have caused greater damage to human society and cities. Because of the limitations of a single government-led model in emergency response, the emergency preparedness of communities, families and individuals are more important.
Advances in Intelligent Sensors and IoT Solutions
Technological progress has led to the prominence of sensors and the Internet of things (IoT) as crucial components in numerous monitoring environments. Sensors are devices capable of detecting and measuring a variety of phenomena, whether physical, structural, environmental, chemical, or biological. These sensors are supported by the IoT, a network that enables the gathering and sharing of data across connected devices. The integration of sensors with the IoT has driven significant transformations in industries such as healthcare, agriculture, transportation, construction, and urban management by facilitating real-time data collection and analysis.
Role of Agriculture in Implementing Concept of Sustainable Food System
The aim of this reprint is to present the role of agriculture in advancing the concept of a sustainable food system. From shaping the quantity and quality of crops and supporting biodiversity in organic agriculture to promoting sustainable practices from food production to consumption, the aim of this reprint is to highlight innovative solutions in agricultural practice that directly impact food quality. Leading experts in this field share their observations, research results, and future perspectives.
Contract Farming in Developing Countries
Agricultural science Agribusiness Development economics
Contract farming is an institutional arrangement between farmers and businesses to produce and transact agricultural commodities at predetermined prices and conditions, and it has recently received a heightened amount of attention despite being a relatively old phenomenon. A new wave of agricultural industrialization and the emergence of large-scale food retailing in developing countries may be precipitating the unprecedented shift in favor of contract farming.
The Social Epistemology of Engineered Agricultural Ecologies
Ethics and moral philosophy Philosophy Technology
This open access collection of new interdisciplinary essays discusses philosophical and social implications of new biotechnologies, methods, and tools used in agriculture from a multispecies perspective. Contributors employ philosophy, sociology, and history of agriculture; agricultural ethics; philosophy of science; and science and technology studies to investigate agricultural research, farming practice, and agricultural policy.
Extraction and Fractionation Processes of Functional Components in Food Engineering
This Special Issue on the "Extraction and Fractionation Processes of Functional Components in Food Engineering" aims to bring together novel advances in the development and application of innovative processing strategies to extract, isolate, and modify food compounds to produce ingredients and foods with improved nutritional, functional, and biological properties.
Juliana Maria Leite Nobrega De Moura Bell, Blanca Hernández-Ledesma, Roberta Claro da Silva
Fermentation and Bioprocess Engineering Processes
This is the Reprint of the Special Issue of Processes on “Fermentation and Bioprocess Engineering Processes”, contributing 11 interesting and high-quality papers in the broad field of research on fermentation and bioprocess engineering. This convergence of waste utilization and microbial synthesis demonstrates the potential for innovation in the field of biotechnology that promotes resource efficiency and environmental sustainability.
Ali Demirci, Irfan Turhan, Ehsan Mahdinia
Special Abilities of Microbes and Their Application in Agro-Biology
Amid the growing challenges posed by climate change, securing global food security has never been more critical. This imperative is at the heart of the United Nations' "Zero Hunger" SDG. This reprint unveils the innovational role of microbial-based biofertilizers in creating sustainable agricultural solutions. Microbes, resilient and adaptable, thrive in the most extreme environments on Earth—from the icy polar regions and searing hot springs to polluted and arid lands.
Anuj Ranjan, Vishnu D. Rajput, Abhishek Chauhan
Reinventing Processes for Sustainability via Process Intensification and Integration
In this Special Issue, readers will find selected works pertaining to the integration and intensification methods that are currently adopted for carbon capture, stemming from the generation of waste gasses. Novel optimization methods achieved through modeling as well as numerical studies are also reported in these papers in order to improve industries such as textile, and also to predict the onset of local diseases.
This open access edited volume discusses the impact of digitalization on taxation, using the Swedish welfare state model as a lens through which to examine the disruptive effect of new technologies on traditional tax models. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, it integrates perspectives from economics, law, audit, and public policy to shed light on contemporary challenges in taxation. With Sweden as a central case study, the chapters in this book address broader concerns surrounding the impact of digital transformation on how states calculate and enforce tax, as well as the role of international coordination in reforming tax policy.
Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus and Related Pestiviruses
The pestiviruses encompass some of the most economically important viral infections in the cattle, swine, and sheep industries worldwide. Discovered more than 70 years ago, bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and classical swine fever virus (CSFV) were long the main concern, but many new pestiviruses have emerged in recent years, which may also present additional threats to biosecurity and food safety.
Recent Development in Novel Green Asphalt Materials for Pavement
With the continuous development of social civilization and the gradual improvement in the level of road engineering construction, there are more urgent requirements for road service functions, including green construction and safety guarantees. Asphalt is the world's most commonly used material in the construction of pavement engineering and coatings.
Qian Chen, Xiaolong Sun, Tao Wang, Guoqiang Sun
Performance and Safety Enhancement Strategies in Vehicle Dynamics and Ground Contact
Recent trends in vehicle engineering are testament to the great efforts that scientists and industries have made to seek solutions to enhance both the performance and safety of vehicular systems. This Special Issue aims to contribute to the study of modern vehicle dynamics, attracting recent experimental and in-simulation advances that are the basis for current technological growth and future mobility.
Flavio Farroni, Andrea Genovese, Aleksandr Sakhnevych.
Emerging Transportation Safety and Operations
This reprint reflects the collective expertise of contributors from diverse disciplines and regions, emphasizing the interconnected nature of transportation issues. It serves as a resource to inspire innovative thinking and collaboration in addressing pressing safety and operational concerns.As transportation systems face increasing demands for adaptability and resilience, this reprint aims to contribute to the dialogue shaping the future of transportation, ensuring it meets the needs of future generations.
Deogratias Eustace, Bhaven Naik, Heng Wei, Parth Bhavsar
Education and Digital Societies for a Sustainable World
Sustainability is a goal for all of humanity. In a context where digitalization is increasingly shaping social processes, with its advantages but also limitations and even dangers, this analysis is critical to fostering increased knowledge of these phenomena and the consequent implementation of the actions resulting from said knowledge. However, individual and collective development is only possible if we consider that the starting characteristics and contexts in question are dissimilar and often unequal.
Despite the increasing influence of data technologies on our world, many people still lack a profound understanding of what this ›datafication‹ means for their lives and our societies. Ina Sander argues that this knowledge gap cannot be addressed by digital skills alone, but that more critical and empowering approaches are needed. Through a review of existing literacies, an analysis of established education concepts, and empirical research on online educational resources about datafication, she develops a framework for »critical datafication literacy«. Novel insights on the design strategies, pedagogical methods and challenges of practitioners who foster such education add to her analysis.
Chapter 1. Theoretical Principles of a New Media and Technology Education. Description: Theoretical approach to the problems addressed in the book. Chapter 2. Outside Training of Spanish University Students of Education for the Didactic Application of Cinema: Formal, Non-Formal, and Informal Perspectives.Description: Study on the effect of training on perceptions of the educational potential of cinema in universities as a teaching instrument.Chapter 3. The Development of the Competency of “Cultural Awareness and Expressions” Using Movie-Induced Tourism as a Didactic Resource. Description: Analysis of the role of film tourism in the development of skills in the cultural sphere.Chapter 4. Assessment of Digital Competencies of University Faculty and Their Conditioning Factors: Case Study in a Technological Adoption Context.Description: Ex post facto methodology for the study of the development of digital competences among university teaching staff. Chapter 5. Tourism and ICT. Bibliometric Study on Digital Literacy in Higher Education.Description: Literature review on digital literacy and tourism in universities. Chapter 6. Portuguese Primary and Secondary Education in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study on Teacher Training and Challenges.Description: Exploratory analysis of ICT teacher training in Portuguese primary and secondary education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Infrared Thermography as a Tool for Assessing Animal Welfare and Its Usefulness in Veterinary Research
This Special Issue, Infrared Thermography as a Tool for Assessing Animal Welfare and its Usefulness in Veterinary Research, presents leading research on the application of infrared thermography (IRT) and thermal imaging to analyze temperature variations in domestic and wild animals, encompassing both poikilothermic and homeothermic species. These variations reflect physiological responses to environmental stressors, including cold, heat, pain, fear, hunger, anxiety, and boredom, as well as natural processes such as illness, growth, aging, weight fluctuations, exercise, courtship, mating, imprinting, and stages like estrus, pregnancy, parturition, and lactation.
This book introduces the fundamentals of nanocelluloses. Nanocellulose is a cellulosic material with one dimension in the nanometer range and is derived from natural cellulosic materials, animals, and bacterial sources. This book discusses the mechanical, optical, ecofriendly, and thermal properties of nanocelluloses as well as their availability, recyclability, and renewability. It also highlights manufacturing methods and environmentally friendly extraction methods involving enzymatic processes.
Synthesis, Applications and Biological Impact of Nanocellulose
This book aims to highlight recent advances in the synthesis of nanocellulose and surface modifications for the design of functional nanocellulose, as well as its applications and potential biological impact. It features two review articles and four original research articles which targets a broad readership of chemists, materials scientists, biochemists, nanotechnologists and others with an interest in nanocellulose research.
Metals and their alloys are one of the oldest biomedical materials known to human beings. They still play an irreplaceable role in modern clinical treatment with excellent mechanical load-bearing properties, chemical stability, and good biocompatibility. In recent years, the R&D and design of metal implants and devices, the further exploration of their powerful functions, and the in-depth exploration of their interaction with the body microenvironment have made great progress.
Ultrasonic Modelling for Non-destructive Testing
Ultrasonic techniques are used for non-destructive purposes to assess the properties and state of structures designed for a wide range of applications (engineering, construction materials, medicine, etc.). Different types of material properties (mechanical, chemical, physical, biological, etc.) with different physical states/compositions (solid, liquid, heterogeneous, inhomogeneous, complex, moving, etc.) can be studied.
Structural Health Monitoring and Performance Evaluation of Bridges and Structural Elements
Bridges and critical infrastructure are vital to communities but are aging, leading to structural deficiencies. This necessitates robust methods for health monitoring and performance evaluation to ensure safety and prevent costly damage. Conventional monitoring techniques have proven insufficient, especially in disaster-prone areas where resilience is key. Therefore, the current research focuses on two areas: improving structural health monitoring (SHM) and non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods for current infrastructure and developing durable, low-maintenance alternatives for new structures.
Armin Mehrabi, Seyed Saman Khedmatgozar Dolati
Strengthening, Corrosion and Protection of High Temperature Structural Materials
High-temperature structural materials are characterized by their high melting point, high-strength and high-temperature creep resistance, low thermal expansion coefficient, and excellent corrosion resistance. Such materials are widely used in metallurgy, chemical applications, aerospace, nuclear reactors, and other situations where extreme environments are encountered. During high-temperature service, high-temperature structural materials are exposed to extremely harsh high-temperature environments, bear mechanical and thermal loads, and are exposed to high-temperature oxidation, erosion, corrosion, etc.
Yingyi Zhang, Shahid Hussain, Awais Ahmad
Explore the complex field of corrosion engineering with this well-structured guide, a comprehensive resource designed to clarify the complexities of material deterioration. This expert book thoroughly explores the fundamental principles governing corrosion, emphasizing the key processes and critical factors that influence these phenomena. Discover advanced methods for managing corrosion, focusing on smart material selection, innovative design strategies, and creative use of protective coatings.
Coasts are highly dynamic and geomorphologically complex systems that evolve under the growing pressures of climate change and anthropogenic activities, which can have direct or indirect impacts on the coastal environment. Among the major adverse effects, coastal erosion represents one of the most pressing global issues, especially in flat and low-lying coastal areas that appear to be particularly susceptible to beach erosion and related shoreline retreat.
Gianluigi Di Paola, Germán Rodríguez, Carmen M. Rosskopf
Advances in Remote Sensing in Coastal Geomorphology ?
For the geomorphological study of the coast, there is now a great number of available methods for remote detection, including satellite images or aerial photogrammetry, as well as other methods closer to land, in which geodesic–topographic, on-land photogrammetry, UAV, lidar, and TLS techniques are utilized. Depending on the methodology, precisions can vary from metric to millimetric. Studies in emerging sectors are often linked to underwater dynamics, sedimentation, and morphology.
José Juan de Sanjosé Blasco, Germán Flor-Blanco, Ramón Blanco Chao.
Artificial Intelligence in Fault Diagnosis and Signal Processing
The aim of this reprint is to immerse the reader in the latest technological approaches employed in the detection and diagnosis of faults in industrial processes. As the early detection of faults avoids damage that may be irreparable to machinery, reducing the performance of the control system and reducing the process efficiency, which would result in a decrease in production, new approaches to the detection and diagnosis of faults have become a compulsory task in any Industry 4.0 implementation.
Roque Alfredo Osornio-Rios, Athanasios Karlis, Andres Bustillo Iglesias
Feature Papers in Agriculture Technology
In the ever-changing world of agriculture, marked by the constant need to produce more food while balancing resource and sustainability demands, the creation of better farming equipment plays a crucial role. Embracing technology and innovation is key to tackling these challenges, and computer simulation stands out as a powerful tool in this endeavour. This Special Issue, titled "Using Computer Simulation for Agricultural Machinery Design and Development", explores the broad landscape of applying computer simulation techniques in agriculture.
Advances in Modern Agricultural Machinery
Agricultural production is essential to deal with the issue of food supply, which is one of the main problems in modern societies. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), the food demand in the world may increase by 70% by 2050. Broadacre farming enables large-scale crop production and is vital to producing abundant food. Machinery systems used in broadacre farming also significantly affect crop production.
New Energy Special Vehicle, Tractor and Agricultural Machinery
The main objective of this Special Issue is to compile recent research and development efforts contributing to the design and application of new energy technology on special vehicles, tractors, forestry and agricultural machinery, etc. High-quality papers that explore these areas and provide different solutions and fields for future research activities are published within it. New energy vehicles refer to vehicles that use new power systems, completely or mainly relying on new energy-driven technology.
Bio-Inspired Smart Machines : Structure, Mechanisms and Applications
By imitating certain characteristics of creatures in nature, such as grasp, twist, locomotion, or flying, etc., bio-inspired smart machines can engage in certain difficult tasks instead of human beings, such as medical surgery, rapid manufacture and assembly, disaster search and rescue, and scientific investigation, and this has become one of the most interesting areas in the robotics community. This reprint focuses on the latest theoretical and technological advances in bio-inspired smart machines and their structure, mechanisms, and applications. Generally, bio-inspired smart machines can be divided into two categories: rigid machines and soft machines.
Yanjie Wang, Xiaofeng Liu, Aihong Ji, et. al.
Medicine Information technology industries
Neuroimaging is a rapidly evolving field that involves the use of non-invasive imaging techniques to visualize and study the structure and function of the human brain. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the field of neuroimaging has seen significant breakthroughs in terms of accuracy, speed, and efficiency in identifying various brain disorders. AI models have been widely applied in the analysis and interpretation of neuroimaging data, aiding researchers and clinicians to diagnose, treat, and monitor patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Iman Beheshti, Daichi Sone, Carson K. Leung
This Special Issue (SI) focuses on a rare disease by the name of solitary fibrous tumor. This SI includes review articles and original reports. The original reports range from translational to cinical science and focus on gaining new treatment and management approaches for this rare disease. I want to thank all contributing authors for their efforts and hard work that made this SI possible.
In the evolving field of orthopedics, the shift towards personalized medicine heralds a new era of patient care—promising enhanced treatment accuracy and improved outcomes. This collection, derived from the Special Issue in the Journal of Personalized Medicine, showcases cutting-edge research and reviews focusing on tailoring orthopedic treatments to individual patient needs. Emphasizing innovation in surgical technologies, implant designs, and non-operative approaches, this SI critically addresses the challenges of standardization and the necessity for patient-specific treatment strategies.
In the orthopedic surgical field, knee surgeries, including articular cartilage repair procedures, meniscus surgery, ligament reconstruction surgery, osteotomy surgery, and partial/total knee arthroplasty surgery, have made great advances over the last few decades. This Special Issue highlights and focuses on the surgical concepts and techniques, decision-making processes, perioperative management protocols, and clinical outcomes of the recent various advanced knee surgery procedures. URI
Written by renowned neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons, Adult and Pediatric Spinal Deformities - Recent Advances and Evolution of Technologies provides insights into the latest development of technologies and their application in managing both adult and pediatric spinal deformities. The primary goal of this book is to help the spine surgeons navigate a daunting number of available devices and modern techniques and leverage the latest technologies to achieve optimal patient outcomes.
Advances in Scoliosis, Spinal Deformity and Other Spinal Disorders
The present Special Issue focuses on the management of spinal deformity, including contributions from international experts. Points of discussion include nonoperative management, instrumentation level determination, and complication prediction (e.g., infection and durotomy). Though far from being all-encompassing, this Special Issue aims to highlight ongoing areas of investigation in the management of spine deformity and should be of interest to those practicing within this field.
Zach Pennington, Daniel M. Sciubba, Benjamin D. Elder
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are associated with various degrees of disability affecting participation in activities of daily living (ADL) and the overall quality of life (QoL) of affected individuals. MSDs pose a significant burden to health systems, social care systems and caregivers. Such disorders encompass a diverse group of conditions affecting bones, muscles and joints, including degenerative conditions, inflammatory rheumatic diseases, fragility conditions and several types of bodily pain.
This Special Issue addresses the problem of treating neurodegenerative diseases from a variety of perspectives, from basic research into the molecular mechanisms responsible for a disease to reviews of the most advanced therapies available. This topic can provide exciting insights into new therapeutic approaches for various neurodegenerative disorders, expanding our knowledge on the biological basis and clinical research, as well as new challenges and future perspectives in neurodegeneration.
Effect of Long-Term Insomnia on Mental Health
The purpose of this reprint is to explain the health-related factors, mechanisms, and consequences of mental health problems associated with chronic sleep disorders. The reprint presents how insomnia and sleep disorders affect mental health across genders and high-risk groups, including populations such as university students, healthcare workers, firefighters, people with ADHD symptoms, people with chronic spinal pain, and patients of forensic hospitals suffering from chronic neuropsychiatric disorders.
Acute Trauma and Trauma Care in Orthopedics
Orthopedics and trauma surgery are clinically challenging areas involving the treatment of injuries and related diseases of the musculoskeletal system, which can be caused by trauma, accidents, sports injuries, degenerative and congenital diseases, infections, and tumors. We have witnessed developments in all aspects of orthopedic surgery, such as the use of both invasive procedures and non-invasive and non-surgical methods to correct and treat disease. Common orthopedic problems include knee osteoarthritis, spinal deformities, and a variety of different sports injuries.
Cropping Systems and Agronomic Management Practices of Field Crops
Agriculture is facing the challenge of the transition to sustainability under a changing climatic scenario. Understanding the complexity of the agroecosystems can favor research on innovative agronomic practices to guide this change. The optimization of the spatiotemporal combination among plants in farming systems (crop sequence and intercropping), the exploitation of the different forms of biodiversity at the soil and plant levels, the increase in the use efficiency of native resources (radiation and rainfall, N2, CO2, H2O, etc.), and the reduction in the dependence on external energy input (soil tillage, agrochemicals, and mineral fertilizers) represent the driving force behind this paradigmatic change.
Sustainable Utilization of Humic Substances and Organic Waste in Green Agriculture
Organic waste (OW), continuously created by agriculture, livestock farming, forestry and cities, is biodegradable matter, a plant nutrient source functioning—after processing—as effective fertilizer replacement. Humic substances (HS), produced via physical, chemical and microbial processes during early diagenesis in the decay of biomass, are redox-active, refractory, dark-colored mixtures of heterogeneous organic compounds and represent an important source of organic carbon and nitrogen in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. HS and processed OW have a beneficial effect on agricultural soil properties, pollutant sequestration, nutrient immobilization and transport.
Advances in Ecophysiology of Root Systems-Environment Interaction
Mathematics and Science Biology Environmental
Despite their significance, root physiology and root function remain relatively underexplored in plant science research. Soil microorganisms, including mycorrhizae and bacteria, exert profound effects on nutrient cycling, root development, soil health, and overall plant productivity. In addition, different propagation methods can significantly influence root system architecture, further highlighting the complexity of underground dynamics. Various factors, such as nutrient levels, organic matter content, and management practices, impact both root and soil health.
Perspectives and Insights on Soil Contamination and Effective Remediation Techniques
Weathering of rocks and subsequent enrichment of organic matter contribute to soil formation, but soil contaminants can arise from diverse sources, such as industrial activities, agricultural practices, and improper waste disposal. These pollutants may include radioactive materials, petroleum products, heavy metals, and pesticides. To restore soil quality, the harmful effects of these contaminants must be reduced through effective remediation approaches.
Responses of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics and GHG Fluxes in Forest Ecosystems to Climate Change and Human Activity
Forest soils are considered the largest carbon and nitrogen pools in soil organic matter among terrestrial ecosystems, and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are normally affected by climate change and human activity. This Special Issue includes the effects of climate changes such as changes in throughfall, snow cover, and permafrost degradation; human activities such as nitrogen and/or phosphorus addition and the use of biochar; and soil–plant interactions on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and GHG fluxes in forest ecosystems.
This open access book offers a comprehensive analysis of hydrogen strategies in major economies, exploring their domestic and international dimensions while highlighting the significance of bilateral and multilateral engagements. The authors contextualize these strategies within the geopolitical landscape, examining how governments shape the emerging hydrogen economy and the underlying interests that drive these policies. Each country chapter provides an in-depth review of hydrogen policy, encompassing both domestic and international aspects.
This open access book raises some central questions: Do we need moonshot policies to spur innovation and economic growth? What are the risks associated with such policies? Economic turbulence, the COVID-19 pandemic, and mounting environmental concerns have paved the way for a renaissance of targeted industrial policy. In particular, the idea that society should be organized around large missions is gaining momentum among high-income economies.
Magnus Henrekson, Christian Sandström, Mikael Stenkula.
Political economy Politics and government
Grounded on an analysis of informalized labour in the urban economy of Dar es Salaam, Processes of Economic Informalization explores the conceptual politics involved in the political construction of the informal economy – diverse economic activities that are not regulated or protected by the state, now estimated to make up more than sixty per cent of all employment worldwide. The author draws attention to the dynamic political, legal, and social processes shaping the formal-informal boundary.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a (currently) incurable and irreversible lung condition with worldwide mortality rates similar to stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Treatments are limited to the removal of the underlying causes (e.g., exposure to smoke), easing some of the symptoms, and slowing the rate at which the disease worsens. As a consequence of smoking, it is less well known than lung cancer even though it has an equal or higher mortality rate.
Iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are global problems that affect more than 2 billion people, accounting for significant mortality annually worldwide. Children, girls, and women of reproductive age are particularly vulnerable to ID and IDA due to their high physiological iron demands. The consequences of IDA include deleterious effects on cognition, mental function, work performance, and pregnancy outcomes.
Advances in Endodontics and Periodontics
This Special Issue of Applied Sciences, titled "Advances in Endodontics and Periodontics", aims to improve the state of the art in relation to the most relevant advances in Endodontics and Periodontics. Topics addressed in this Special Issue include alternative treatment strategies such as “green” antimicrobials, the relationship with systemic diseases, new devices and materials which enable a reduction in therapy failures, as well as updating evidence-based knowledge pertaining to endodontics and periodontics.
This reprint compiles thirty-two peer-reviewed articles that capture the broad landscape of COVID-19 research three years after the pandemic. Organized into six thematic sections—Epidemiology and Public Health Perspectives (7 papers: 1–7), Pathophysiology and Mechanistic Insights (9 papers: 8–16), Diagnostics and Detection Methods (7 papers: 17–23), Therapeutics and Clinical Management (5 papers: 24–28), Vaccines and Immunization Studies (2 papers: 29–30), and Long COVID and Future Directions (2 papers: 31–32)—these works address key scientific and clinical developments in viral evolution, host–pathogen interactions, and public health policies.
Dear Colleagues, this Special Issue presents a comprehensive collection of studies showcasing the latest innovations in dentistry, emphasizing the integration of multidisciplinary approaches and technological advancements. With a focus on improving patient outcomes and advancing oral health care, the contributions explore a range of topics, including the development of new biomaterials, minimally invasive techniques, and novel treatment protocols.
Parasitism is an ecological relationship in which an organism, a parasite, lives inside or on another organism, the host, with the former depending on the latter to acquire shelter and essential nutrients, and survive. Thus, it is a relationship that benefits the parasite at the expense of the host, but does not necessarily result in the host's death. In humans, parasitic diseases hamper development and still cause high mortality, especially in children in developing countries.
The Role of Natural Products on Diabetes Mellitus Treatment
The utilization of medicinal plants in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM) holds significant promise due to their diverse bioactive compounds. These plants have been historically acknowledged for their potential in managing DM and its complications. They often contain secondary metabolites with inherent hypoglycemic properties, aiding in regulating blood glucose levels. Several plants and secondary metabolites have shown effectiveness in improving insulin sensitivity, enhancing glucose uptake, and mitigating the adverse effects associated with DM. For instance, bitter melon (Momordica charantia) contains charantin and polypeptide-p, both known for their hypoglycemic effects.
Diana Marcela Aragon Novoa, Fátima Regina Mena Barreto Silva
Advances in Clinical Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolic Diseases
This reprint is a collection of peer-reviewed articles originally published in the Special Issue "Advances in Clinical Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolic Diseases" in Medicina. It explores recent developments in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of metabolic disorders, highlighting the role of novel pharmacological agents, real-world data, and clinical strategies. This reprint serves as a valuable reference for endocrinologists, internists, clinical researchers, and healthcare professionals engaged in metabolic disease management.
Yuzuru Ohshiro, Kunimasa Yagi, Yasuhiro Maeno.
Sex and gender can affect the incidence, prevalence, symptoms, course and response to drug therapy in many illnesses, with sex (the biological side) and gender (the social‒cultural one) being variously interconnected. During the two days of the meeting "Gender Differences in Diabetic Disease" held in Olbia, Italy, on 4 and 5 December 2020, we discussed the various medical, social, ethnic, psychological and anthropological aspects of gender differences to build as broad a picture as possible of how these differences are present and evident in diabetic disease.
Diabetes, Hypertension, and Cardiovascular Disease: Clinical Insights, Mechanisms, and Pharmacotherapies
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading causes of mortality in patients with diabetes, and many factors, including hypertension, contribute to this high prevalence of CVD. The current evidence regarding these diseases is quickly expanding, especially in the vascular mechanisms that predispose someone to both conditions. Furthermore, several novel therapies, such as sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, have recently beenshown to have benefits against CVD in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is a leading global health problem. Long-term diabetes-associated complications include nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a disease that damages the tiny blood vessels in the retina and is a leading cause of blindness among diabetic adults worldwide. Despite extensive laboratory and clinical investigations, the fundamental root cause of vision loss due to diabetes remains uncertain.
New Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches in Diabetic Microvascular Complications
Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem globally, with an ascendant trend, and is expected to reach up to 700 million cases by 2045. The microvascular triad includes diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy, unique in diabetes. Despite significant achievements in early diagnosis and therapy, diabetic retinopathy remains the leading cause of blindness in the working-age population, with a severe impact on patients' quality of life.
The threat of nuclear conflict loomed menacingly over the world during the Cold War. Early warning of an attack was a crucial focus for military and political intelligence. Intelligence networks in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom came together, forming a tripartite intelligence relationship dedicated to indications that the Cold War would turn hot. The Next War is the first full account of the development of the allied indications network. Timothy Andrews Sayle dives deeply into recently declassified documents to explore this previously hidden history.
Humanitarian Protection for Prisoners of War and Refugees in the Long Aftermath of the First World War
Humanitarian law, Public international law
At the end of WWI, millions of prisoners of war and civilians were displaced across Europe, the South Caucasus, and the Eastern Mediterranean. While many made their way home, genocide, revolution, and post-war instability delayed the repatriation of prisoners of war from Russia and the Central Powers, while Russian and Armenian refugees were forced into exile. In response to the inconsistent efforts of governments, a series of international organizations intervened.
This open access book explores the rise of ecological jurisprudence, a transformative legal theory that challenges traditional legal boundaries. Drawing on over 15 years of research and teaching, the book offers a comprehensive theoretical exploration of this new approach to law, via a comprehensive examination of a wide range of initiatives from around the world, as well as a deep theoretical engagement with the implications of this novel legal theory.
Consumer protection law Constitutional and administrative law
This book is a seminal study of the European Ombudsman, focusing on current challenges and future developments by its leading expert commentators. This open access volume traces the evolution of the European Ombudsman over its first almost three decades. Its focus however lies on the current challenges and future perspectives of this ever-innovative EU institution. It brings together leading voices from academia, EU institutions, civil society, and the European Ombudsman’s office.
Justice and Recovery for Victimised Children
Crime and criminology Society and social sciences
This open access book contributes to ongoing discussions about how societies should respond to children who have experienced violence and abuse by delving into the Barnahus model: a multidisciplinary and co-located model whose aim is to provide both justice and recovery to victimised children. The promising model was first implemented in the Nordic region and is currently being diffused across Europe, although scientific knowledge about the model remains scarce: the Barnahus model’s potential for delivering holistic services, the various tensions and dilemmas involved in the model, and how dual mandate of Barnahus can be managed all require further research.
Susanna Johansson, Kari Stefansen, et.al
Medicine and Nursing Mental health services
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic came in as an unexpected storm; it was an occasion to evidence the strengths of medicine (vaccines being the clearest example), as well as its weaknesses. Children and adolescent were a particularly sensitive population during this time, due to both the limitations of daily life (for their loved ones and themselves) and problems in accessing health services, not to mention those with pre-existing psychiatric conditions or disability.
This open access book draws on recent developments in children’s rights, particularly concerning the child’s right to participation, provision and protection. Since 1989, the UNCRC has become a catalogue of rights that expresses legal norms used by all countries in the world. The UNCRC can be considered a toolkit that expresses a normative order, that is, a human rights standard for how to legitimately protect children, and to facilitate processes of participation.
Professional Practice in Child Protection and the Child’s Right to Participate
This book explains and discusses how a child’s right to freedom of expression is upheld through practice and decision-making in Child Protection Services (CPS). Using the right to expression as stipulated in Article 12.2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as a point of departure, it explains what CPS practices should look like and how they must operate to uphold and enforce the rights of the child by providing ""the opportunity to be heard"" in any administrative practice.
International Trade Law and Global Data Governance
Public international law Communications law
This open access book examines how international trade agreements apply to domestic regulations on cross-border data flows and then proposes a multilayered framework to align international trade law with evolving norms and practices in global data governance. Digital trade and global data governance are at a unique crossroads, raising significant policy challenges. The book focuses on five policy areas at the interface of digital trade and global data governance: privacy, cybersecurity, governmental access to data, data divide, and competition. In five separate chapters, the book analyses how different types of domestic laws in each of these policy areas interface with existing provisions in international trade law.
Crime and criminology Sociology Criminal justice law
This book explores the structural harm of borders and non-citizenship, specifically temporary non-citizenship, in the perpetuation of domestic and family violence (DFV). It focuses on the stories and situations of over 300 women in Australia. The analysis foregrounds how the state and the migration system both sustain and enable violence against women. In doing so this book demonstrates how structural violence is an insidious component of gendered violence – limiting and curtailing women’s safety. The Borders of Violence advances contemporary research on DFV by considering the role of the state and the migration system.
Criminal justice law Legal aspects of criminology
Exploring the rationales behind legal anger, its logic and origins, this book builds on the perspectives of judges and prosecutors in Italy, Sweden, the United States, and Scotland. When do judges and prosecutors become angry in court, what do they become angry about, and which other emotions open up for anger? Anger brings people to court and is essential in evaluating wrongdoing and attributing blame, but at the same time, anger is seen as a threat to well-reasoned and just decision-making.
Modern horticulture depends heavily on the external supply of mineral nutrients in the form of synthetic fertilizers. The substantial use of synthetic fertilizers has for several years been associated with a vision of agricultural modernization aimed at drastically increasing food production. The attempt to "industrialize" agricultural systems, particularly horticultural production, has entailed very high costs for the environment and human health, as well as the degradation of planetary conditions.
Francesco De Mastro, Gennaro Brunetti, et.al
New Insights into Pathogen, Insect Pest, and Weed Control in Field and Greenhouse Cropping Systems
This Special Issue reprint showcases the latest research focusing on the methods to manage agricultural pests without relying on pesticides. It covers pathogens, insect pests and weeds, emphasizing innovative physical control approaches based on electrostatic principles. Electrostatic techniques involve creating an electric field using charged conductors. Insulated charged conductors produce a static electric field, useful for trapping airborne fungal spores and insects that pass through an insect net, and for repelling insect pests. On the other hand, non-insulated charged conductors generate a dynamic electric field, useful for electrocuting pests.
Commercial horticulture Agricultural science Weed
Weeds are a major pest that reduce aesthetics and functionality of turfgrass systems. Knowledge required for effective weed management has evolved in recent years as weeds develop resistance to herbicides, government restriction of broad-spectrum herbicides has increased, and registration of new herbicide active ingredients has slowed. This chapter discusses relevant and recent developments in synthetic herbicides, alternatives to synthetic herbicides, and non-chemical strategies for weed management including cultural, physical, and genetic approaches.
Matthew T. Elmore, Aaron J. Patton, et. al
The parasitic lifestyle in plants has always been the subject of curiosity of scientists, but during the last decade, our understanding of parasitic plant–host interactions has greatly evolved due to rapid advances in molecular and genomic tools, especially high throughput DNA sequencing, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Recent findings taken the science of parasitic plants to a higher level, opening up new horizons in parasitic weed management.
Weeds are the most important biological factor that affects yield in herbaceous and perennial crops. Nowadays, following the recommendations of government institutions and public opinion, there is an urgent need to search for sustainable weed management practices that have a low impact on the environment and on the health of living organisms.
The term “weed” is rather subjective, as we are the ones who decide what plants are called weeds, and the term usually carries a negative connotation. However, there is a reason why weeds grow in some places and behave in their particular manner. Today, certain groups of weeds have become extremely rare, and some species have even gone extinct where they were once abundant. Climate change also creates a huge challenge, and weeds often act as indicators of this change. This Special Issue discusses the ecology and diversity of weeds in natural and human-impacted agroecosystems on different continents.
Viability of UNCLOS amid Emerging Global Maritime Challenges
Public international law Politics and government
This open access book assesses UNCLOS' resilience and vitality as a legal framework for addressing emerging global maritime challenges. Against the backdrop of a number of emerging global maritime challenges, including the rise of sea levels and the maintenance of maritime safety and connectivity, the preservation of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the promotion of marine scientific research, a contention has been made that UNCLOS does not provide sufficient or efficient regulation, and therefore, that countries should negotiate new legal provisions to complement or replace UNCLOS.
This book presents new socio-legal perspectives and insights on the social life of corruption and anticorruption in authoritarian regimes. This book takes up the case of Uzbekistan—an authoritarian regime in Central Asia and one of the most corrupt countries in the world according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index—and examines the corruption that developed in a tightly closed authoritarian regime permeated by a large-
Combining the Legal and the Social in Sociology of Law
This open access book pays homage to Reza Banakar, who passed away in August 2020, exploring the many different areas of socio-legal research that he worked on and influenced. It begins with a summary of his career and explains how he sparked a debate on the identity and aims of legal sociology
This Special Issue of Religions analyzes the concept of charisma in the Middle Ages based on St. Paul’s original use of the term in the first century, freeing it from its anachronistic Weberian and post-Weberian definitions. Though governed by medievalists, this collection comprises a solid interdisciplinary group of historians, art historians, classicists, literary critics, and political philosophers.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune condition characterized by various interacting susceptibility factors. Significant progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms that underlie its pathogenesis, as well as in identifying diagnostic markers. This advancement has led to the development of targeted therapies and alternative treatment options. The future management of SLE lies in molecular and personalized medicine, aiming to create high-quality treatments tailored to individual patients. This book on lupus offers a comprehensive analysis of the current status and future prospects of SLE diagnostics, along with recent developments in the field.
Ankylosing Spondylitis - Recent Concepts provides a comprehensive overview of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). It includes five chapters organized into two sections. The first section is dedicated to the history of AS, the chronology of diagnostic/classification criteria across the years, and imaging in AS. The second section examines the molecular genetics, immunology, enteric microbiome, and pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of AS.
This book offers remarkable coverage of innate immunity from its molecular basis to its crucial role in controlling infectious diseases, inflammation and cancer. It provides an updated and novel approach to innate immunity and how it controls infection, inflammation and cancer. To ensure the high quality of this book, important insights are included, and the book is rigorously and authentically discussed. This book discusses relevant immunological processes for establishing antibiotic resistance, inflammation, and cancer.
Biology of T Cells in Health and Disease
More than half a century of groundbreaking discoveries in the field of immunology have been made, and no cells have shown more potential than the lymphocytes known as T cells.This book aims to foster collaboration between world-class bench scientists and clinicians in the fields of immunology, pathology, and oncology as they come together to highlight the complexity and diversity of T cells as well as their contributions to our immune homeostasis and overall health and to discuss the revolutionary therapeutic applications of T cells in fighting infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and malignant neoplasms.
Heritage – Between and Beyond Nature, Culture and Agency
In an era of climate emergency and political upheaval, heritage demands radical rethinking. This volume confronts the Enlightenment-rooted dualisms that fragment heritage into opposing categories. By embracing posthumanist concepts like naturecultures and agency, this volume explores entangled human and nonhuman pasts, from the contested Białowieża Forest to ancient sensory environments. Through case studies spanning archaeology, museum studies, and literary analysis, contributors unravel heritage as a dynamic, more-than-human meshwork.
Joanna Godlewicz-Adamiec, Monika Stobiecka
Risk in Sports and Challenges for Sports Organizations
Success, injuries, future career opportunities of athletes, and the societal gains of participating in sports and organizing (mega) sports events are all related to individual risk-taking behavior. Although the sports economics and management literature has broadly addressed these issues, it is surprising that less attention has been paid to the implications of risk-taking on the organization of sports in general and, more particularly, on the design and behavior of sports organization members.
Hannes Winner, Michael Barth, Martin Schnitzer
Climate risks for Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly experiencing the effects of climate change. Over the past two decades, the countries in the region have experienced as many as 1 350 natural disasters attributable to the climate, affecting more than 170 million people.We analysed climate risks in Latin America and the Caribbean, expanding the analysis to understand what these risks imply for the financial sector, particularly for banks.
Urban and Regional Nitrogen Cycle and Risk Management
Research and information Ecological science
The disturbance of urban and regional nitrogen cycles as a result of urbanization has many consequences, from the greenhouse effect and acid rain to eutrophication and reductions in biodiversity. The aim of this reprint is to immerse readers in the latest research on how risk management can address issues related to urban and regional nitrogen cycles. In the reprint, leading experts in the field share their research findings related to new developments and applications related to urban and regional N risk management on multiple scales (e.g., indoor laboratories, city blocks, cities, regions, etc.).
Risk Assessment for Biological Invasions
Risk Assessment Biological Ecological science
This Special Issue aims to address the complex challenges associated with invasive alien species and the critical role of risk assessment in managing these threats. The issue underscores the importance of prioritizing limited resources to identify and rank invasive alien species, pathways, and habitats, and it seeks to collect diverse examples of overcoming dilemmas and effectively controlling biological invasions.
Fire Hazards: Socio-economic and Regional Issues
The open access book aims to show the readers novel, relevant and reproducible power of synergistic collaborations between European research groups and stakeholders with the objective to synthesize the existing knowledge and expertise about fire management and hazard and defining a concerted research agenda that promotes an integrated approach to create fire-resilient landscapes, taking into account biological, biochemical and physical, but also socio-economic, historical, geographical, sociological, perception and policy constraints.
Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration
This Special Issue of Minerals presents a curated selection of studies that reflect current directions in magnetic and electromagnetic exploration for mineral resources. It particularly highlights case studies demonstrating innovative or unconventional applications of these methods in mineral discovery.
New Trends in Production and Operations Management
The scope of this Special Issue on “New Trends in Production and Operations Management” is to provide scientific research on the interests and concerns of managers who manage the operations, design, and supply chains of products and processes.
Financial Analysis, Corporate Finance and Risk Management
This reprint offers a comprehensive exploration of contemporary financial challenges, bringing together eighteen high-quality research contributions. It covers diverse topics such as corporate debt patterns, earnings quality in small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the role of governance structures in financial decision-making. Additionally, it delves into the topics of advanced risk management techniques, financial sustainability, and the integration of technological innovations, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Eulália Mota Santos, Margarida Freitas Oliveira
Climate change is reshaping our world with increasing intensity and frequency, resulting in devastating hurricanes, catastrophic floods, prolonged droughts, and wildfires. As these extreme events become more frequent, the need for comprehensive strategies to manage risks and adapt to new realities is more urgent than ever.Climate Change and Risk Management - Strategies, Analysis, and Adaptation offers a multidisciplinary approach to understanding and addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change.
Antonio Di Pietro, José R. Martí, Vinay Kumar
Healthy Eating in Relation to National Dietary Guidelines
National dietary guidelines provide a set of principles to guide decisions about healthy diet and lifestyle. They should be informed by scientific evidence and country-specific public health and nutrition priorities, as well as sociocultural and contextual factors. Dietary guidelines commonly propose a set of recommendations related to the consumption of individual foods and/or food groups in sufficient quantities to meet nutrient intake requirements based on life stage and sex, for both health promotion and chronic disease prevention.
Boundary Layer Processes in Geophysical/Environmental Flows
Boundary layer processes play a crucial role in establishing the circulation patterns of the oceans and atmosphere, significantly affecting both regional climates and the global climate, as well as the distributions of heat, nutrients, species, pollutants, and more. This Special Issue of Fluids is dedicated to recent advances in the theoretical, numerical, observational (including instrumentation development), and experimental investigation of geophysical/environmental boundary layer processes and how those process may influence regional and global circulation.
Joseph Kuehl, Pengfei Xue, Fabrice Veron
Water Management for Climate Smart Agriculture
Global climate change has resulted in significant changes in local weather conditions in many countries. Changes in rainfall and temperature threaten agricultural production and increase the vulnerability of individuals who are dependent on agriculture. In particular, water shortages in arid and semi-arid regions will become more prominent. In such regions, irregularly distributed rainfall will result in increased droughts as well as extreme rainfall events. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach that aims to transform and reorient agricultural systems to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Michel Riksen, Coen Ritsema, Karrar Mahdi
Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and the Circular Economy
Water is fundamental to life, society, and ecological sustainability, yet its management remains one of the most pressing global challenges. "Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and the Circular Economy" addresses this critical issue, bringing together recent advancements in sustainable practices and innovative technological approaches. The book explores cutting-edge methodologies for wastewater treatment, pollution control, and circular economy applications, highlighting their significant roles in ensuring environmental sustainability.
Pathogen Detection and Identification in Wastewater
Our Special Issue reprint highlights the latest advancements in water safety and public health. This curated collection of articles delves into the critical challenges and innovative solutions associated with detecting and managing pathogens in wastewater systems worldwide. Featuring contributions from leading experts in the field, this reprint provides comprehensive insights into the mechanisms of pathogen survival, novel detection methodologies and applications in wastewater-based epidemiology.
Guangming Jiang, Ryo Honda, Sudipti Arora
Promising Research and Strategies in Wastewater Treatment, Sludge Management and Valorization
Technology History of engineering Environmental science
Rapid urbanization and industrialization, in addition to the presence of new pollutants, make it necessary to search for new wastewater treatment technologies to achieve future water quality requirements. Additionally, waste reduction and the reuse of treated wastewater seem to be excellent options to realize the concept of a circular economy.
Second Edition of Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater Treatment History of engineering
Water scarcity is a global issue. Municipal wastewater treatment aims to remove contaminants before releasing the effluent back into the environment. The treated effluent can be repurposed for water reuse and resource recovery initiatives. This reprint explores various aspects of wastewater treatment. Studies address the influence of salts on the photocatalytic degradation of formic acid, the impact of COD in toxic industrial wastewater on nitrification efficiency, and the efficiency of side stream nitrification in two-stage activated sludge plants.
Yung-Tse Hung, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Issam A. Al-Khatib
Clinical Updates on the Aortic Aneurysm and Aortic Dissection
Aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections are potentially life-threatening conditions that require urgent attention. In recent years, a substantial amount of research has been conducted. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, there are significant treatment gaps that need to be addressed to save lives. One major gap is the early detection and diagnosis of aortic aneurysms, as they often present no symptoms until a catastrophic event occurs. Increased awareness and effective screening programs are crucial to identify at-risk individuals.
Advances in Intelligent Data Analysis and Its Applications, 2nd Edition
This Special Issue highlights the growing importance of intelligent data analysis and its profound applications in addressing the challenges of the big data era. As a key driver of innovation and progress across diverse sectors, intelligent data analysis requires robust research and implementation to derive actionable insights from vast, complex datasets. By fostering advancements in various industries, this field plays a vital role in meeting the dynamic demands of modern data-centric environments.
Plant Fungal Diseases and Crop Protection
Fungi are the largest group of plant pathogens, infecting hosts through leaves, seeds, and the soil. These pathogens inflict significant damage on crops through various methods of attack, leading to reduced global production and an ongoing need for new control strategies. The comprehensive approach to managing these crop diseases relies on a deep understanding of the fungi involved, the susceptible growth phases, and the environmental conditions that influence disease development.
Otoliths and Their Applications in Fishery Science
This reprint focuses on fish otoliths, as one of the most useful and important biological structures for fishery scientists and managers around the world. Collected papers cover several different research areas, from the otolith macro- to the microstructure and microchemistry, analyzing different types of otoliths and investigating various freshwater and marine species in their larval, juvenile and adult stages. Special attention is given to different approaches in otolith research and to many practical applications of such studies.
Advanced Techniques for the Analysis of Protein and RNA
Proteins and RNAs are vital components of cellular machinery, playing diverse roles from structural functions to regulating signaling pathways and cellular processes. Their involvement is especially critical during development and in response to environmental stimuli, influencing growth, differentiation, immune responses, and other key biological activities. Enhancing the detection of proteins and RNAs, including mRNA and microRNA, is crucial for deepening our understanding of cellular dynamics and their roles in health and disease.
Meeting Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a progressive, multifactorial optic neurodegenerative disease that affects over 80 million patients worldwide. The disease’s insidious onset, combined with our reliance on subjective diagnostic tools, hinders early detection and timely intervention. Current treatments, while beneficial, often fail to provide consistent intraocular pressure control, and management is further complicated by variability in disease progression, non-adherence to therapy, socioeconomic challenges, complications from surgical interventions, and new risk factors.
Advances in Object and Activity Detection in Remote Sensing Imagery
The recent revolution in deep learning has enabled considerable development in the fields of object and activity detection. Visual object detection tries to find objects of target classes with precise localisation in an image and assign each object instance a corresponding class label. At the same time, activity recognition aims to determine the actions or activities of an agent or group of agents based on sensor or video observation data. It is a very important and challenging problem to detect, identify, track, and understand the behaviour of objects through images and videos taken by various cameras.
Anwaar Ulhaq, Douglas Pinto Sampaio Gomes
Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South
Rural communities Feminism Gender studies
strong The ebook edition of this title is Open Access, thanks to Knowledge Unlatched funding, and freely available to read online.strong The COP27 climate change conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt made it clear that fighting global warming will require continuing commitment, cooperation, and collaborative action from multiple constituencies around the world. Urging readers from the Global North to rethink their approaches and potential contributions to long-term change, Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South explains how woman climate change leaders are confronting patriarchal structures to achieve social justice.
Scientific Excellence and Equality at University
Based on the EU-funded project RESET (Redesigning Equality and Scientific Excellence Together) and written by members of seven European partner universities representing different disciplines, this book combines theory and practice to discuss and reflect on the concept of scientific excellence within higher education. It considers the pitfalls and the need to revisit an understanding of inclusivity by asking how scientific excellence and professional equality can be made compatible in practice.
Marion Paoletti, Marisa Matias, Aleksandra Różalska
Cultural studies Migration Theory of education
In an era of heightened global interconnectedness and cultural exchange, social cleavages and dynamics of alienation become increasingly apparent. This necessitates a closer look at the intricate relationship between translations and participations as they unfold together. The contributors to this volume spark a cross-disciplinary dialogue on the interdependencies between translational practices — lingustic as well as cultural — and social participation.
This reprint is a Special Issue of MDPI’s Mathematics, titled “Geometry and Topology with Applications”, and it collects several papers that are in some way related to the general research field of geometry. More specifically, among the 13 papers composing the reprint, there are several specific topics, ranging from low-dimensional topology to geometric group theory, differential geometry to algebraic topology, and group theory to graph theory.
Qualitative Approaches to the Social Psychology of Populism
Social Research methods Politics and government
This edited volume presents a social psychological exploration of populism and provides a unique qualitative understanding of the phenomenon’s appeal, bringing together an international mix of experts to interrogate populist attraction worldwide. Featuring contributions from Finland, Greece, and Switzerland, the book offers nuanced theoretical, methodological, and empirical approaches for understanding populism, with chapters investigating topics such as populist communication, lay discourse, social representations of the elite and the people, and the mobilisation of young people.
Innovative Approaches toward Healthy and Sustainable Environment
Sustainable solutions are urgently needed in a world facing environmental challenges such as air pollution, water scarcity, food insecurity, and waste management. This special issue “Innovative Approaches toward a Healthy and Sustainable Environment: Air, Water, Food, and Waste Treatment” explores groundbreaking strategies and technologies that address these critical issues. This volume unites leading experts, researchers, and practitioners worldwide.
Economics Business strategy The environment
This open access book shows how governments can motivate companies to make a positive impact on society and why this is necessary in light of today’s pressing social, economic and environmental challenges and transitions. It shows obstacles companies face in conducting socially responsible business. Focusing on government-business relations in the Netherlands, the book also exposes key policy bottlenecks: the tendency of the Dutch government to hold on to the status quo and shield incumbent firms through tax breaks and lax enforcement.
Marthe Hesselmans Bart Stellinga, et. al
Digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for organizations to realize efficiency gains and explore new lines of business. However, their integration into existing corporate structures and routines hardly materializes without frictions and the need for organizational adaptation. This collection of corporate narratives assembles best practice cases of companies – ranging from startups to multinational players and Hidden Champions – that have successfully managed to implement and leverage these innovations.
The modern market-based economy generates great wealth, but it lags on well-being; it has mastered efficiency, but struggles with equity; it boasts size, but falls short on sustainability. Core Assumptions in Business Theory proposes a revised profit function that integrates harm, outlines how economic actors may draw on moral philosophy to enact Pareto equity (and not just Pareto efficiency), suggests a two-stage rationality approach that can attend to well-being, and recasts marketing as consumer education and not merely demand promotion.
Monitoring and Promoting Physical Activity, Physical Fitness and Motor Competence in Children
As we know, a large amount of research confirms that physical activity (PA), physical fitness (PF), and motor competence (MC) are associated with health benefits in individuals of all ages. Achieving a sufficient level of PA and PF will consequently further contribute to better health-related biomarkers. Moreover, holding a good MC allows better participation in PA and exercise in life, promoting greater physical literacy.It is true that the measurement of PA in children and young people is subject to several conditioning factors which threaten validity and reliability.
Badicu Georgian, Ana Filipa Silva, Hugo Miguel Borges Sarmento
Sexual education is a worldwide concern that intersects with various attitudes, values, and cultural norms. It is an area of life that has for many years been kept private, but now there is recognition that there is a need to support people, especially young people in modern societies. The way sexual education is taught and applied within institutions shapes the way we understand and approach human sexuality. Various societies have chosen various means to provide sexual education both at school and to the wider society.
Updates on Physical Fitness in Children is a comprehensive compilation shedding light on vital aspects of children's physical health and well-being. Spanning five insightful chapters, this book delves into the intricate relationship between physical fitness, body composition, cognitive skills, and the crucial role of physical activity in a child's life. From exploring the impact of growth on fitness to practical strategies for incorporating physical activities into daily routines, each chapter offers valuable insights backed by empirical research.
Alesandra Araújo de Souza, Souza-Filho, Anastácio
Internationalization of Teacher Education in Higher Education
The anthology discusses the importance of internationalization of higher education and focuses on how internationalization can be implemented in teacher education. Internationalization is particularly important in teacher education because teachers need to deal productively with the increasing heterogeneity of the student body in schools, and are charged with preparing students for life in a diverse society and developing them into responsible, tolerant, and interculturally competent adults.
Annika Brück-Hübner, Ulrike Beate Müller
Physical Education at School and in Today's Society
This book emphasizes the role of physical education in shaping individuals and society, extending beyond movement to promote holistic well-being – physical, mental, and emotional. In an era of sedentary lifestyles and digital distractions, the book emphasizes the urgent need for physical education to cultivate lifelong habits that foster health and resilience in schools and society.
Maximising Triathlon Health and Performance
This Special Issue presents some of the latest findings at the cutting edge of triathlon health and performance. The idea for this issue arose from round table discussions on how to optimise training and performance between Dr Veronica Vleck, Professor Maria Francesca Piacentini, and some of the best coaches, medics, sports physiologists, researchers, and athletes in the sport.
Veronica Vleck Maria Francesca Piacentini
Focus on Exercise Physiology and Sports Performance
The fields of exercise physiology and sports performance explore the intricate relationship between physical activity, the body's physiological responses, and athletic performance. Within this context, the study of how the body functions during exercise is essential. The goal of this Special Issue is to synthesize the latest research that demonstrates how the body adapts to exercise and provides insights into how training can enhance performance and optimize athlete's capabilities.
Explore the dynamic intersection of technology and sports in Technology in Sports - Recent Advances, New Perspectives, and Application. This comprehensive volume covers a wide array of topics, from the biomedical and legal aspects of nutrition for athletes to cutting-edge developments in sports analytics and talent identification. Discover how computer simulations are revolutionizing training strategies and delve into the role of ECG in athlete health assessment.
This Special Issue delves into cutting-edge methodologies and research in kinesiology aimed at optimizing motor skills and enhancing athletic performance. Building upon the success of the first edition, this updated collection presents a range of innovative approaches that bridge the gap between theory and practice in sports science. Topics include neuromuscular adaptations, biomechanics, motor learning strategies, and technological advancements in training and assessment.
Biomechanical Analysis in Physical Activity and Sports
This reprint, published by the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, presents a comprehensive collection of research focused on the role of biomechanics in athletic performance. Featuring contributions from leading experts in the field, this reprint explores advanced biomechanical analysis techniques and their practical applications in sports and physical activity.
Wellness, Fitness, Body Composition, Training and Performance Monitoring to Improve Athletes Life Quality
The present reprint presents information to update the state of the art in professional and recreational, male and female athletes of different sports (e.g., soccer, speed skating, triathlon, strength training, and pole dancing). Moreover, it addresses some gaps in the literature, such as immunological and hormonal responses, body composition effects, and well-being/wellness. Notwithstanding, this reprint contributes information to improve load monitoring practices (of training and competition) and quality of life through direct or indirect research.
Despite facing profound teaching anxiety stemming from the politically intense surroundings in Israel and his own writer’s block, Oded Löwenheim crafted an innovative college course that breaks free from the traditional classroom setting to explore the depths of Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus campus. He takes his class—and by extension, the reader—to explore the political and historical imprints scattered throughout Mount Scopus, such as the Jerusalem British War Cemetery, the botanical garden of the campus, and the bomb shelter of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute.
This open access book takes an innovative and critical look at the ways in which digital data and algorithms are changing the face of higher education in multiple ways. It examines their impact at both the macro scale of universities and systems worldwide, but also at the more subtle level of effects on academics and students. In doing so, it focuses on the day-to-day life of the university, examining how the digital is changing the way that we communicate, learn, and create new knowledge.
In this book, leading experts in the field of exercise medicine reveal the transformative impact of exercise/physical activity on health and well-being. From historical perspectives to the latest research, this comprehensive guide covers: • The evolution of exercise medicine: from ancient practices to modern therapies • The science behind exercise: understanding its physiological and psychological benefits • Lifestyle intervention strategies: promoting physical activity for health and disease prevention
Interrogating Integration explores how international sporting spectacles, media campaigns, and public debates construct racialized national identity in an era of rising right-wing nationalism. Across Europe, “integration” has emerged as a guiding concept to regulate cultural differences, particularly in Germany, where integration became a watchword after the introduction of birthright citizenship in 2000. The legal expansion of German citizenship threatened the homogeneous definition of the nation and spurred increased scrutiny of immigrants and Germans of color, primarily Muslim and Black Germans.
Creating with Roots is a critical introduction to the history, theory, and creative practice of Chinese national folk dance, the Chinese-speaking world’s most popular contemporary dance form. A complex cultural and artistic phenomenon that resists simple categorization, Chinese national folk dance merges folkloric material with contemporary stage aesthetics and blends rural folk dances of the Han majority with dances representing China’s minoritized ethnic communities, bridging cultural differences of geography, economic class, and ethnicity.
Redefining Management: The Manager/Leader–Relevant Stakeholder Paradigm presents a groundbreaking shift in management philosophy, theory, and practice, introducing the innovative concept of the manager/leader–relevant stakeholder. This paradigm challenges the traditional manager–subordinate model and offers a holistic approach to organizational management and performance management theory and practice. Drawing on digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and intellectual capital, this book reshapes approaches, policies, decision-making processes and provides insights into organizational strategies, leadership, human resources management, and sustainable performance in the context of the new paradigm.
Bank Management, Finance and Sustainability
This book comprises a collection of empirical and theoretical studies covering a wide range of themes related to bank management, finance and sustainability. Sustainability represents an opportunity for banks as it contributes to improvements in trust in the banking system. However, sustainable business models must be financially viable so that they can have a positive impact on banks’ profitability, stimulating the long-term growth and resilience of the banking industry and overall financial stability.Banks are widely acknowledged as playing a crucial role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they can promote responsible investments and integrate environmental and social criteria into lending and investment strategies.
A Religious Foundation for Global Business Ethics
This book aims to draft a viable path for establishing a business ethics model based on the wisdom traditions of nine of the world's great religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, and Animism. In light of the failure of many models based on various philosophies, we turn to the only cultural and anthropological realities that have proven to withstand the test of time and move the consciences of billions of people throughout history: religions.
Children and Youth at Risk in Times of Transition
History and Archaeology Cultural history
Children and youth belong to one of the most vulnerable groups in societies. This was the case even before the current humanitarian crises around the world which led millions of people and families to flee from wars, terror, poverty and exploitation. Minors have been denied human rights such as access to education, food and health services. They have been kidnapped, sold, manipulated, mutilated, killed, and injured.
Baard Herman Borge, Elke Kleinau, Ingvill Constanze Ødegaard
Intelligent Safety Monitoring and Prevention Process in Coal Mines
This Special Issue collects research papers relating to advances in intelligent safety monitoring and prevention in coal mines. The content covers the safety technology research of coal mine disaster mechanism and risk identification, coal mine disaster multi-information intelligent early warning, coal mine disaster prevention mechanisms, and their intelligent prevention and control. The findings highlight the critical role of technology in protecting workers' lives and ensuring the sustainability of coal mine operations.
Managing refuse-derived and solid recovered fuels
Waste treatment practices generate left-over materials, including refused-derived fuels, which need to be managed effectively to meet the European Union’s ambitious circular economy targets, especially regarding landfilling.This study identifies key considerations for the use of refuse-derived fuels and solid recovered fuels in energy-intensive industrial processes and shows that the use of these fuels could be a viable option for reducing landfilling in several EU countries.
Conservation Agricultural Practices for Improving Crop Production and Quality
In crop production, the conventional management of agroecosystems often leads to a reduction in soil quality and alters the soil processes involved in providing many ecosystem services. Intensive tillage, combined with high-mineral fertilization, increases the mineralization of organic carbon in the soil, thereby contributing to an increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
Mariola Staniak, Ewa Szpunar-Krok, Małgorzata Szostek
Present and Future of E-Learning Technologies
This reprint, Present and Future of E-Learning Technologies, explores the evolving landscape of digital education, focusing on the integration of cutting-edge technologies into learning environments. As e-learning becomes increasingly embedded in both formal and informal educational contexts, this volume examines how innovations such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things are reshaping instructional design and learner engagement.
Antonio Sarasa Cabezuelo, Covadonga Rodrigo San Juan
Higher education University Climate Change
Universities have a pivotal role to play in addressing the climate crisis, not only educating an increasingly large proportion of the global population, but also through scientific breakthroughs, technological innovation and raising public awareness. Higher education is particularly important given the roots of ecological and social breakdown in our models of civilisation, culture and knowledge. Yet its potential has not always been realised, and universities have historically been implicated in the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment and human communities.
Perspectives and Practices of Education for Sustainable Development
Informed by theory and full of practical advice, this key title offers a clear route to education for sustainable development (ESD) whilst questioning how we reconcile participatory, inclusive processes and the urgency of global crises. This handbook provides guidance for those with an interest in the purpose and direction of learning and the principles and practices of sustainability in universities in the UK and beyond.
The Changing World of Mobile Communications
This open access book from the world’s first 6G Flagship research program at the University of Oulu, Finland, provides a multi-disciplinary and insightful overview of the subject, with contributions from experts in the field. Today’s fourth generation of mobile connectivity services (4G) are available everywhere, and adoption of fifth generation (5G) networks is well underway. Compared to 4G, 5G has already brought about new business opportunities and enabled seamless virtual and augmented reality services, but also raised serious concerns on data privacy and security and the use of artificial intelligence.
Digital Transformation in Educational Organizations
Economics Educational administration Management
Technological transformation should lead to enhance people’s potential and the development of their cognitive and social competences, especially those connected with effective communication on different levels. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified all these processes and, for better resilience and effectiveness at work, it requires now different sets of competences. This book gives direct insight into changes that take place in education in the context of an unprecedented and rapid technological advancement, which requires the reorientation of goals and functions based on innovative, adaptive and flexible solutions – in most cases driven by individual leadership.
Dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, despite current traditional therapies (e.g., statins), significant residual risks for the onset of ASCVD remain, warranting the need to better understand newer therapeutic options for diminishing this prospect. This Special Issue will discuss state-of-the-art clinical trials and other research developments regarding newer and emerging therapies for the management of dyslipidemia to reduce the residual risks of ASCVD.
Sexuality, Family Planning, and Reproduction
The history of sexuality, family planning, and reproduction in Central and Eastern Europe sounds out the historical dimensions across a broad field where human biology, medicine, policy, and government social programmes intersect with fundamental conceptions of desired or feared social developments. From contraception to representations of motherhood, and controversies over reproductive rights, using the example of the historically changing political, social, cultural and scientific interconnections in Central and Eastern Europe, the contributors to this volume invite reflections on historical developments that open new perspectives for the 21st century.
Fritz Dross, Birgit Nemec, Igor Kąkolewski
This book presents the new advances and new perspectives of personalized medicine, emphasizing personalized, predictive medicine, personalized preventive medicine, personalized therapy, and personalized diagnosis/prognostic assessment. The research and practice of multiomics-based pattern biomarkers will significantly contribute to personalized medicine, including deeply addressing the accurate molecular mechanism, stratifying the patients, discovering effective biomarkers, and determining the effective therapeutic targets/drugs for patients to significantly benefit the patients and their families to reduce the medical cost and improve the life quality of patients.
Surgery Gastroenterology Family medicine
This open access book offers a comprehensive review of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a particular focus on the pathobiology and clinical aspects of the disease, including diagnosis and treatment. HCC is becoming one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide. It is the fifth most common malignancy in men and the ninth in women, with an estimated 500,000 to 1 million new cases annually around the world. Independent of its cause, cirrhosis is considered a major clinical and histopathological risk factor for HCC development.
Global Challenges in Cardiovascular Prevention in Populations with Low Socioeconomic Status
Cardiovascular Systems - Medicine Family medicine
Cardiovascular Prevention (CVP) has included important technological advances and determined improvements in morbidity and mortality since the last 70 and 60 years. However, in populations with socioeconomic limited resources even basic health preserving tools such as access to a primary care provider and basic drug therapy for diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are not within the reach of many. This book, in contrast, will go precisely in the opposite direction, defining the most basic and known effective CVP tools applied in the largest segment of the world’s population.
Tomás Romero, Carolina Nazzal Nazal, Fernando Lanas
Gender, Work and Family in Turbulent Times
This is an open access book. This book provides a distinctive perspective on the daily utilization and consumption of medicines and drugs. It seamlessly integrates the research traditions of the medical and pharmaceutical realms with the approach of fostering the relationship between users and products, a characteristic of design and user studies. By applying a diverse range of expertise, the authors endeavor to reestablish the interconnectedness of issues that place the drug and the indispensable information for its use directly into the hands of the patient.
Basic Health Care in Family Medicine and Public Health
Although shaped primarily according to the economic and social structures of countries, basic health services aim to provide equal and accessible health services to everyone. While the public health discipline is involved in the planning and supervising of basic health services, the family medicine discipline is directly responsible for ensuring the implementation of these services. These disciplines must cooperate and coordinate to provide organized and effective basic health services.
The Role of Religion in Marriage and Family Life
The creation of this reprint was prompted by the creation of a section in the journal Religions, entitled "The Role of Religion in the Life of Marriage and Family". It contains several peer reviewed articles. The authors are specialists in various fields and denominations. All of them, in different ways, show the value of religion for individuals and the relationships they establish. Religion accompanies people of different ages and in different life situations. It is support for engaged couples, spouses, and parents in preparing for marriage, in raising children, as well as in experiencing difficult moments, such as mourning the death of a loved one and preparing for one's own death.
The Forum of Federations Handbook of Fiscal Federalism
Political structure Comparative politics
This open access handbook compares fiscal federalism arrangements in eleven federal/ decentralized countries. Each chapter examines an individual country, laying out its constitutional design as relates to fiscal powers and the division of those powers between levels of government. Specifically, the analyses consider powers of taxation, spending, regulation, and more.
Responsible Use of AI in Military Systems
Information technologies Environmental science Artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely used in society today. The (mis)use of biased data sets in machine learning applications is well‑known, resulting in discrimination and exclusion of citizens. Another example is the use of non‑transparent algorithms that can’t explain themselves to users, resulting in the AI not being trusted and therefore not being used when it might be beneficial to use it. Responsible Use of AI in Military Systems lays out what is required to develop and use AI in military systems in a responsible manner.
Energy Policy, Regulation and Sustainable Development
This reprint is mainly aimed at economists involved in the energy market. Energy market processes have an enormous impact on people's day-to-day economic activities. The economics of sustainability leads the way in theorizing how best to prevent environmental degradation whilst also fostering positive economic development. For these reasons, the focus of this reprint is mainly on pollution and the energy transition.
Unleashing Society’s Innovative Capacity
This is an open access book. Europe faces significant challenges in the coming decades: geopolitical, demographic, technological, increased competition, climate-related, and health issues due to an aging population, to mention a few. Given these challenges, technological progress and new ways of handling complex issues will be key to continued prosperity and growth.
Truthfulness or trib-truthfulness of financial reporting? A Historical Analysis
The book aims to analyze the issue of fiscal interference. This first volume examines the Italian situation from the 1860s to the 1960s. The analysis is carried out by comparing the articles of the Commercial Code first, and the Civil Code later with the concept of true income, which would be appropriate to identify taxable income as well. The period from the late 1960s to the present is analyzed in the second volume of the series.
Local Tax Policy in Central and Eastern Europe
Political economy Public finance accounting
This book navigates the complexities of local real estate taxation in the dynamic region of Central and Eastern Europe, providing a meticulous analysis of the diverse approaches taken across the region. From Poland to Hungary, Romania to the Czech Republic, this book explores the historical roots and evolution of local real estate tax, its importance in municipal fiscal policy and its impact on communities.
Fourth Revolution and the Bottom Four Billion
Products and services based on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain are normally considered to be for rich consumers in advanced countries. Fourth Revolution and the Bottom Four Billion demonstrates how marginalized and vulnerable groups with limited resources can also benefit from these technologies. Nir Kshetri suggests that the falling costs and the increased ease of developing and deploying applications based on these technologies are making them more accessible.
PeaceTech : Digital Transformation to End Wars
International relations Political science Social Science
Why are we willing to believe that technology can bring about war… but not peace? PeaceTech: Digital Transformation to End War is the world's first book dealing with the use of technological innovation to support peace and transition processes. Through an interwoven narrative of personal stories that capture the complexity of real-time peace negotiation, Bell maps the fast-paced developments of PeaceTech, and the ethical and practical challenges involved. Bell locates PeaceTech within the wider digital revolution that is also transforming the conduct of war.
Customer relationship management (CRM) has gone beyond traditional frameworks and immersed itself in innovative strategies. Customer Relationship Management - Contemporary Concepts and Strategies is a highly influential book. This book examines the dynamics in CRM due to cutting-edge technologies and human-centric approaches that redefine businesses’ engagement with their customers.
Transdisciplinarity in Financial Communication
This open access book identifies and analyses problems of text production in finance from three complementary perspectives: problem identification, problem analysis, and problem solution. By doing so, it explains why solving these problems in transdisciplinary collaboration benefits theory, practice, and society at large.
Human Privacy in Virtual and Physical Worlds
This open-access book is premised on the belief that understanding and protecting privacy requires a multidisciplinary approach. The editors of this contributed book believe that privacy is a ‘wicked problem’ because of its social complexity. In the modern world, political, social, and technological structures increasingly violate human privacy in physical and virtual spaces. Our behaviors are surveilled, captured, and monetized—often without our knowledge.
Global Mindset and International Business
International business Globalization Business
Global mindset is an emerging concept, influenced by globalization, that can support companies’ growth in international settings and help develop a more effective, skilled workforce that can be open and adaptable. This book presents an analysis of current global mindset knowledge and explores how national culture and international business behaviors affect global mindset development in business process outsourcing organizations in both managerial and non-managerial groups.
Communication studies Economics Corporate finance
Financial communication and investor relations are strategic corporate functions, tasked with fostering relationships with financial audiences, such as investors, analysts, and journalists. These financial audiences are of critical importance to the establishment, growth, and sustainable success of corporations. This book draws on insights from finance and accounting research, economics, and psychology as well as media and communication studies to explain the role of effective financial communication in corporate disclosure, storytelling, and relationship management on capital markets. This book develops a distinct perspective, guiding readers through the state of research by focusing on the effects and effectiveness of financial communication.
Christian Pieter Hoffmann\ Nadine Strauß
Law and Order for Energy Transition: Public Policies at the Crossroads
“Law and Order for Energy Transition: Public Policies at the Crossroads” explores the pivotal role of legal frameworks in the global shift towards sustainable energy systems. This insightful reprint examines national and international policies, renewable energy impacts, regulatory instruments, and the intersection of energy and climate change policies.
Accounting and Auditing Small and Medium-Sized Practices
Business strategy Management accounting Corporate finance
This book addresses the recent trends, developments, and future of accounting and auditing of small and medium-sized practices (AASMPs) in the public and private sectors. The book has three main objectives: firstly, to provide an analysis of how different societal trends, including digitalization, impact AASMPs and what role education and training play in proactive adaptation to those trends; secondly, to outline major scenarios for global AASMP development by 2035; and thirdly, to offer a conceptual framework for better understanding of AASMPs' dynamic and transformative capabilities that are necessary to create sustained competitive advantage in a rapidly changing society.
Anatoli Bourmistrov, Levi Gårseth-Nesbakk, et.al
Advances in Accounting & Auditing Research
This reprint collection features the complete set of articles from the Special Issue in the Journal of Risk and Financial Management, titled Advances in Accounting and Auditing Research, focusing on timely and emerging themes in various areas of accounting and auditing. The Special Issue is edited by Prof. Dr. Rania Mousa. It is a compilation that provides a comprehensive overview of current research on financial reporting, ESG reporting, earnings management, audit quality, and accounting standards integration.
Enhancing effective public sector governance
Audit committees are formed to provide impartial advice on matters of governance, risk management, internal controls and audits, performance management, compliance and financial reporting. It is alarming to see communities deteriorating due to poor municipal services, despite existing audit committees serving as independent advisory boards. This book examines the obstacles that hinder audit committees from effectively executing their duties, giving a thorough analysis and resolutions to the South African service delivery crisis.
Audrey H. Legodi, Legodi Coetzee, Lourens Erasmus.
Understanding and mitigating cyberfraud in Africa
The book covers the overview of cyberfraud and the associated global statistics. It demonstrates practicable techniques that financial institutions can employ to make effective decisions geared towards cyberfraud mitigation. Furthermore, the book contains some emerging technologies, such as information and communication technologies (ICT), forensic accounting, big data technologies, tools and analytics employed in fraud mitigation.
Oluwatoyin E Akinbowale, Mariann P Mashigo, Prof. Mulatu Zerihun
Statistical Physics and Its Applications in Economics and Social Sciences
Econophysics and sociophysics are interdisciplinary research fields that merge social and economic problems using techniques derived from statistical physics. While econophysics delves into financial market behavior and wealth distribution inequality, sociophysics explores opinion formation, polls and technology adoption. Over the past three decades, these interdisciplinary fields have undergone significant development, capturing ongoing interest as they strive to provide statistical descriptions of various phenomena in the realm of social sciences.
Body Condition and Productivity, Health and Welfare
This reprint focuses on applied research on growth traits, fat reserves, fatty acid profiles and enriched diets and their effects on reproduction, health status and welfare. The studies contained in the volume have been carried out in both monogastric organisms and ruminants, fish, broilers or pigeons. Fundamental studies with rats or mice are also presented.
Class and Time-Based Subjective Inequality
Challenging the inference in social science that taking subjectivity into account somehow conflicts with approaches that emphasize the reality of the material conditions of existence, this book shows how subjective perceptions of one’s future can help to capture class and inequality, considering the extent to which material conditions (such as wealth, income, and power) are revealed by subjective indicators.
Accounting for Social and Environmental Sustainability
Business strategy Development studies Environmental economics
For a company, managing its social and environmental performance is no longer just a matter of reducing its impact; it must also be able to assess its contribution to resolving or aggravating social and environmental problems. This book argues that the current work on accounting for sustainability has not yet given organisations a tool to integrate their performance within the planetary and social framework that conveys actual "planetary and social budgets", and that business organisations lack the possibility to go beyond incremental performance measurement.
Breeding Strategies for Healthy and Sustainable Development of Animal Husbandry
Healthy and sustainable animal husbandry is the goal of animal breeding. This book provides a detailed overview of applications of post-genome era techniques for livestock genetics and breeding. It also describes techniques for genetically selecting highly productive animals without producing large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, community-based breeding programs for breeding rams and bucks, the response of bovine species to in vitro thermal stress stimulation, and the semen characteristics of wool-breed ram lamb-raised in conditions of high altitude. The book not only presents advanced animal genetic and breeding methods but also highlights useful, practical technology for animal breeding under specific climate, geographic, and environmental conditions.
Plant metabolic engineering is an effective strategy to produce desired chemicals, enhance natural compound yields, and design novel metabolites through genetic modifications. This Reprint comprises 10 studies addressing critical challenges in metabolite identification, key gene isolation, and precise genome engineering for plant metabolic pathways. The contributions emphasize using innovative technologies to accelerate metabolite discovery and optimize biosynthesis.
Genetics, Genomics, and Breeding of Legume Crops
Legume crops are grown worldwide and provide a major source of protein, oil, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and dietary minerals. Legume crops also play an important role in international trade. Genetic improvement has been a key to the growth of crop production, and it continuously contributes to sustainable agriculture and food security.
Genetics and Genomics of Livestock Health, Fertility and Product Quality
The global population is expected to approach 10 billion people by 2050, with the expectation that the economic status of individuals in developing countries will continue to improve. As a result, worldwide demand for animal products is expected to increase by 70% by 2050. Increasing animal production will require a deep understanding of animal biology through genetics and genomics to feed the world’s growing population. Furthermore, consumers desire high-quality products.
Genetics, Phylogeny, and Evolution of Insects
This reprint, focusing on the “Genetics, Phylogeny, and Evolution of Insects,” presents a comprehensive collection of studies that delve into the intricate genetic and evolutionary dynamics of various insect species. As the field of entomology evolves, understanding the genetic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and evolutionary mechanisms of insects becomes increasingly vital. This reprint features research on various topics, such as the phylogeny and evolutionary history of moths, the genetic diversity of white-backed planthoppers, and the assembly of mitochondrial genomes across multiple species.
This book examines the importance of DNA molecules as fundamental genomic elements in different types of organisms. In recent years, a wide range of tools and techniques have become available to investigate the versatility of genomic variabilities, exchanges, and differentiations. This book presents data and information from population genetics and evolutionary biology, making it a useful resource for scientists worldwide.
This open access book aims to provide the reader with some basic insight into the AI Act (REGULATION (EU) 2024/1689) and its relevance for the development of high-risk AI systems. It covers all aspects relevant in a safety plan that should serve as the foundation for developing future safety cases for AI safety systems.
Thor Myklebust, Tor Stålhane, Dorthea Mathilde Kristin Vatn
Design and Optimization of Pharmaceutical Gels
This Special Issue, entitled “Design and Optimization of Pharmaceutical Gels”, in Gels, was established to shed light on gels in terms of material development, system construction, structural characterization, and the effect for disease treatment, since research on gels with high translational potential is particularly sought after. We received submissions from around the world, reflecting high cultural diversity.
Ying Huang, Zhengwei Huang, Xuanjuan Zhang
Advanced Materials Structures for Sound and Vibration Damping
This collection of cutting-edge research explores advances in vibration suppression, sound absorption, and materials optimization. Highlights include the optimization of thin-walled cylindrical shells using graded materials, innovative approaches to material damping simulation, and the integration of acoustic metamaterials for noise reduction.
In the proposed reprint, readers will have the opportunity to explore contemporary numerical optimization methods that address a wide range of problems. Some of the topics covered include GNN and ZNN dynamic systems, differential evolution methods, inclusion models, multi-product and multi-criteria supply–demand network equilibrium models, and conjugate gradient and accelerated hybrid quasi-Newton approaches for determining optimal solutions to given problems, among others.
Milena J. Petrović, Predrag S. Stanimirović, Gradimir Milovanović
Introductory textbooks on algebraic geometry typically demand a strong mathematical background and can be challenging even for advanced students. While many excellent texts aim to bridge the gap to mastering this rich field, learners who are new to abstract algebra—or who have never studied it through a geometric lens—still often find the subject inaccessible. Beginning in Algebraic Geometry achieves a remarkable balance, offering a rigorous and detailed development of algebraic geometry that is nevertheless intended to be readable by students with only a first course in abstract algebra and linear algebra as prerequisites.
Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Experiments
This open access book is a pedagogical text on nuclear reactor experiments, covering almost all the experiments that can be carried out at the University Training Reactor, Kindai University (UTR-KINKI) with respect to reactor physics and radiation detection, and additionally including academic materials of test and research reactors, nuclear instrumentation, nuclear laws and regulations, in this main body.
Genichiro Wakabayashi Takahiro Yamada, et.al
Neutron stars are considered extraordinary astronomical laboratories for the physics of nuclear matter as they have the most fascinating constitution of energy and matter in the universe. Recently, the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars, in a binary neutron star system, has opened a new window to explore the physics of neutron stars.
Physiological Aspects of Plant Response to Pathogens and Abiotic Stress—2nd Edition
This reprint aims to introduce the readers to the latest research in plant physiology under the stimulation of various biotic and abiotic stresses. Environmental factors can affect plant primary and secondary metabolite-dependent processes and, consequently, a plant's physiological state. Therefore, in this reprint, research groups from around the world have investigated physiological aspects of resistance, tolerance, and susceptible responses of plants induced by plant pathogens, i.e., viruses, bacteria, and fungi-causing diseases as well as abiotic factors such as heavy metals, fluctuations in temperature, salinity, and drought.
Violetta Katarzyna Macioszek Iwona Ciereszko Andrzej K. Kononowicz
Biological Control of the Plant Pathogens
One of the greatest challenges facing agricultural scientists is developing efficient technologies for sustainable and eco-friendly management of crop losses caused by plant pathogens. The effectiveness of microbial biocontrol agents (BCAs) in ensuring food security has garnered global attention, both for halting pre-harvest crop losses and for enhancing crop yields. Harnessing the potential of BCAs could not only aid in the transition to sustainable agriculture, but it would ultimately benefit farmers by reducing the crop loss burden.
Advanced Research on Biological Control of Plant Disease or Microbial Interactions
Plant diseases are caused by a large number of plant pathogens, with fungi, bacteria, and viruses being the main causes of the loss of crop yield and quality worldwide. Although several control strategies have been developed to reduce the negative effects of plant diseases, biological control remains an environmentally friendly and cost-effective green technique in environmental protection and agricultural production; it generally uses selected bioresources, including beneficial microorganisms.
Beibei Ge, Tomislav Cernava, Kyungseok Park
Plant Pathogenic Microorganisms: State-of-the-Art Research in Spain
Pathogenic microorganisms, including fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, and viroids, constitute a serious threat to agriculture worldwide. In Spain, one of the countries with the highest proportion of agricultural gross domestic product in Europe, the agri-food industry is the main manufacturing activity. Consequently, the presence and emergence of microorganisms causing serious plant diseases to economically important crops is especially relevant.
Elvira Fiallo-Olivé Soledad Sacristán Ana Palacio-Bielsa
Marine ecosystems are very productive and include the open ocean, the deep-sea ocean, and coastal marine ecosystems, each of which has different physical and biological characteristics. The biodiversity of some of these ecosystems is very rich and abundant, offering unique opportunities for high-yield production of proteinaceous material, which is a source of high-quality foods. Biodiversity is fundamental to sustaining marine ecosystem services, such as food security, maintenance of water quality, and recovery from perturbations, which are currently being threatened worldwide.
Eigenvalue theory is a cornerstone of applied mathematics, playing a fundamental role in stability analysis, control theory, computational methods, and engineering applications. This volume explores the interplay between theoretical insights and real-world implementations, demonstrating how eigenvalue-based techniques drive advancements in modern engineering. Covering topics such as numerical linear algebra, spectral analysis, high-performance computing, and data-driven methodologies, this collection presents innovative approaches for solving complex eigenvalue problems in control systems, structural analysis, machine learning, and large-scale simulations alongside cutting-edge numerical methods that enhance computational efficiency and accuracy.
Operator theory is a fascinating model that includes essential theorems and diverse applications in all science. This book discusses some fundamental aspects of pure and applied operator theory and the use of the theory to solve a large array of problems. As such, it will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and undergraduate and graduate students in pure and applied mathematics, classical and modern physics, engineering, and science in general.
Number Fields is a textbook for algebraic number theory. It grew out of lecture notes of master courses taught by the author at Radboud University, the Netherlands, over a period of more than four decades. It is self-contained in the sense that it uses only mathematics of a bachelor level, including some Galois theory. Part I of the book contains topics in basic algebraic number theory as they may be presented in a beginning master course on algebraic number theory. It includes the classification of abelian number fields by groups of Dirichlet characters.
Numerical Linear Algebra and the Applications
Numerical linear algebra is a very important topic in mathematics and has important recent applications in deep learning, machine learning, image processing, applied statistics, artificial intelligence and other interesting modern applications in many fields. The purpose of this Special Issue in Mathematics is to present the latest contributions and recent developments in numerical linear algebra and applications in different real domains.
Agricultural Environment and Intelligent Plant Protection Equipment
The agricultural environment refers to the combination of various natural and artificially modified natural factors that affect the survival and development of agricultural organisms, including farmland, forest, grassland, irrigation water, air, light, the heat and chemical fertilizers applied to farmland, pesticides, and agricultural equipment. These factors constitute a comprehensive agricultural environment system, interacting with each other and affecting agricultural production together. As a vital component of the agricultural environment, plant protection equipment plays an indispensable role in agricultural production.
Impact of Environmental Factors and Management Practices on Bee Health
This compilation of twenty-three original articles and a communication underscores the urgency of using interdisciplinary approaches to safeguard bee health and ecosystem sustainability. The published articles explore complex factors affecting health, emphasizing the global honeybee and pollinator populations crisis.
Pesticides - Agronomic Application and Environmental Impact is a seminal work that navigates the delicate balance between the indispensable role of pesticides in modern agriculture and the critical need for environmental preservation. In an era where food security and ecological sustainability are paramount, this book emerges as a beacon of knowledge and understanding. This volume encapsulates a comprehensive exploration of the world of pesticides, shedding light on their vital function in ensuring crop health and abundance.
Chromatographic Analysis of Pesticide in Environmental and Food
Humans are constantly engaged in struggles against competitors and diseases. One way to gain an advantage in many of those ecological interactions is through the use of pesticides. These substances are used to protect crop plants, livestock, domestic animals and people from damage and diseases caused by microorganisms, fungi, insects, rodents and other "pests,'' and to defend crops from competition with unwanted but abundant "weeds".
Food Pesticide Residues Monitoring and Health Risk Assessment
Pesticide residue and food safety problems have become concerns that need to be addressed all over the world. This reprint presents recent developments in pesticide residue monitoring and risk assessment in food and contains studies and reviews involving the pre-treatment of pesticide residues in food and detection methods for and the risk assessment of these residues.
Advances in Textile Structural Composites
The direction of fiber orientation plays a crucial role in deciding the mechanical performance of textile structural composites. Unlike conventional composite materials, geometrically oriented textile structures, e.g., woven, knitted, and braided constructions, can be designed and developed for load bearing in a particular direction. Their properties can be enhanced by modifying the geometry and material composition.
Fiber-reinforced composites have been widely applied in different industrial areas. This book focuses on the recent advances, new perspectives, and applications of different fiber-reinforced composites, such, as ceramic-matrix composites, fiber-reinforced concrete, wood–plastic composites, and so on. The design, fabrication, and application of fiber-reinforced composites are related to the high mechanical properties and nondestructive damage monitoring techniques.
Functional Polymer Composites : Synthesis, Characterization and Application
Functional polymer composites are showing increasing potential as materials in chemistry and materials science. Polymer composites, including nanocomposites, are made via the incorporation of fillers in polymer matrices and offer many advantages. The properties of polymer composites are further improved via the surface modification of fillers or the matrix phase. Currently, there is an increasing demand for smart materials based on eco-friendly polymers for a wide variety of applications.
Navigating Issues of Equity in Schools Through Research-Practice Partnerships
Education Higher education Educational administration
This book provides a wealth of rich cases describing how research-practice partnerships (RPPs) in K-12 schools navigate equity in the design and implementation of their projects and shares insightful recommendations for both research-side and practice-side RPP leaders engaged in this work. Chapter authors from both researcher and practitioner communities unpack real examples that illustrate how RPPs conceptualized, conducted, and shared research related to prominent equity challenges in K-12 schools.
Jesse Senechal David Naff Hillary Parkhouse
Rheological Measurement Techniques and Analysis Methods
Rheological Measurement Techniques and Analysis Methods provides a comprehensive exploration of modern rheological analysis, offering key insights into the flow and deformation behaviors of complex materials across various industries. This edited volume brings together advanced techniques and methodologies, with a particular focus on real-time measurements, modeling of viscoelastic materials, and practical applications in fields such as plastics and petroleum.
Practical Theology Amid Environmental Crises
The field of Practical Theology has been slow to address the realities of environmental crises in its teaching, research, and practice. While there are relevant chapters and articles in books and journals, they are often difficult to find and their contents reveal a lack of conversational engagement. The present volume seeks to change this reality by bringing together key voices in the field from across the world to engage with the theme of Practical Theology amid Environmental Crises.
Transformations in Social Science Research Methods during the COVID-19 Pandemic
This volume explores how researchers made innovative use of online technologies to innovate, define, and transform research methodologies in light of the varying impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those related to the ability to conduct qualitative research. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a radical shift in the way that people all over the world were/have been able to live, work, study, and conduct their daily lives. Academics and other professionals who routinely engage in research were no exception.
J. Michael Ryan, Valerie Visanich, Gaspar Brändle
Application of the Bayesian Method in Statistical Modeling
Bayesian statistics is a theory in the field of statistics based on the Bayesian interpretation of probability, where probability expresses a degree of belief in an event. Bayesian statistical methods use Bayes' theorem to compute and update probabilities after obtaining new data. Named after Thomas Bayes, Bayes' theorem (1973) describes the conditional probability of an event based on data, as well as prior information or beliefs about the event or conditions related to the event. This approach differs from other interpretations of probability, such as the frequentist interpretation, which views probability as the limit of the relative frequency of an event after many trials.
With Response Surface Methods - Theory, Applications, and Optimization Techniques, one can unlock the full potential of experimental designs. This comprehensive guide delves into the complexity of Response Surface Methodology (RSM), offering both foundational theories and cutting-edge applications. This book provides novices and experienced practitioners with the tools and knowledge required to optimize processes, enhance quality, and drive innovation. Through a mix of theoretical insights and practical case studies, one addresses how RSM can be applied across a diverse set of fields, including engineering, chemistry, biology, health care, and more.
Heat Transfer - Advances in Fundamentals and Applications explores new knowledge in the domain of fundamental and applied advances in heat transfer. This book specifically emphasizes advanced topics of heat transfer. Professionals, researchers, and academics working in various areas of heat transfer will find this a useful reference for finding new solutions to heat transfer problems. The book is organized into two sections on the fundamental advances in heat transfer and advances in applications of heat transfer.
Current Research in Thermal Conductivity
The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy in nature always increases, with temperature being the conjugate variable associated with entropy. Temperature gradients act as driving forces, generating heat fluxes governed by thermal conductivity. As a result, thermal conductivity is fundamental to understanding entropy and heat transfer processes. On this foundation, this book focuses on recent advancements in the study of thermal conductivity and its role in applications such as nanofluids, nanocomposites, and nuclear fusion technologies.
Thermodynamic Optimization of Industrial Energy Systems
This reprint, entitled "Thermodynamic Optimization of Industrial Energy Systems", explores the application of thermodynamic principles and process integration methods to enhance energy efficiency and minimize environmental impact in industrial processes. It bridges thermodynamics and engineering design, offering practical examples of energy system optimization approaches. By focusing on sustainability and innovation, this equips professionals and researchers with the knowledge needed to meet energy transition challenges in a rapidly evolving industrial landscape.
Daniel Flórez-Orrego, Meire Ellen Ribeiro Domingos, Rafael Nogueira Nakashima
Quantum physics Atomic Applied mathematics
Written by two of the most prominent leaders in particle physics, Relativistic Quantum Mechanics: An Introduction to Relativistic Quantum Fields provides a classroom-tested introduction to the formal and conceptual foundations of quantum field theory. Designed for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level physics students, the text only requires previous courses in classical mechanics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. The introductory chapters of the book summarise the theory of special relativity and its application to the classical description of the motion of a free particle and a field.
Quantum mechanics has brought a gigantic breakthrough to physics since its introduction more than a century ago. It has led to many discoveries at the microscopic level, initiated new pathways to unsuspected properties of matter, and produced new and amazing usable applications. This Special Issue of Symmetry is devoted to recent advances in theoretical developments in quantum mechanics. It is part of the global effort to provide a continuous supply of information to the research community.
Multiscale Simulation of Composite Structures
Technology History of engineering Mechanical engineering
Composites can be engineered to exhibit high strength, high stiffness, and high toughness. Composite structures have increasingly been used in various engineering applications. In recent decades, most fundamentals of science have expanded in length by many orders of magnitude. Nowadays, one of the primary goals of science and technology seems to be to develop reliable methods for linking the physical phenomena that occur over multiple length scales, particularly from a nano-/microscale to a macroscale.
Differential Equations for Studies in Computational Electrophysiology
Mathematics Computer science Life sciences
This open access text aims at giving you the simplest possible introduction to differential equations that are used in models of electrophysiology. It covers models at several spatial and temporal scales with associated numerical methods. The text demonstrates that a very limited number of fundamental techniques can be used to define numerical methods for equations ranging from ridiculously simple to extremely complex systems of partial differential equations.
Creative Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Education
Education Higher education Artificial intelligence
This open access book explores the synergy between AI and education, highlighting its potential impact on pedagogical practices. It navigates the evolving landscape of AI-powered educational technologies and suggests practical ways to personalise instruction, nurture human-AI co-creativity, and transform the learning experience. Spanning from primary to higher education, this short and engaging volume proposes concrete examples of how educational stakeholders can be empowered in their AI literacy to foster creativity, inspire critical thinking, and promote problem-solving by embracing AI as a tool for expansive learning.
Social Behaviors in Childhood: Causes and Consequences
This reprint, titled "Social Behaviors in Childhood: Cause and Consequence", offers a groundbreaking exploration of the complex interplay between early social development and lifelong outcomes. Drawing on interdisciplinary research spanning psychology, neuroscience, and education, this reprint provides a comprehensive analysis of the origins, manifestations, and long-term implications of social behaviors in children.
Delivering Effective Adventure Therapy: A Therapist’s Guide to Producing Transformative Change for Clients provides effective interventions for enriching therapeutic techniques using experiential methodology infused with metaphor. Therapists continuously search for effective therapeutic interventions to engage clients in treatment and promote positive change. Adventure therapy overcomes the barriers of traditional therapeutic interventions such as, passivity, lack of input, and increased levels of resistance from clients.
Sport and Exercise for Health and Performance
This reprint aims to make a significant contribution to the field by exploring a broad spectrum of interconnected areas that can directly influence the safety and effectiveness of training regimens. Another key focus is the role of relational coordination between individuals, trainers, administrators, health personnel, clubs, and other stakeholders. Effective communication and coordination across these entities are critical to ensuring a safe environment for all participants.
This reprint provides a rich and varied collection of articles reflecting the landscape of contemporary research and scholarship on chronic pain and its management. The collection includes reviews and primary research that challenge established beliefs and open new avenues for exploration. The collection has been edited by Mark I. Johnson, PhD, Professor of Pain and Analgesia, and Director of the Centre for Pain Research at Leeds Beckett University.
Athletes Performance and Analysis in Combat Sports and Martial Arts
This reprint, originally published as a Special Issue of Applied Sciences, focuses on the performance and analysis of athletes in combat sports and martial arts. The volume takes an interdisciplinary approach, exploring physiological, biomechanical, psychological, and tactical aspects of athlete performance. The collected articles include empirical research, reviews, and innovative applications of technology in the assessment of competitive bouts.
Łukasz Rydzik, Tadeusz Ambrozy, Wojciech Cynarski, Wojciech Czarny, Wiesław Błach
Bridging Behavioral Sciences and Sports Sciences
This Special Issue features innovative research exploring the interdisciplinary nexus used to enhance sports sciences, optimizing athletic performance, health and well-being. Highlighted studies include Taveira et al.'s investigation into older adults' continuance intentions for online exercise classes, revealing psychological motivators and barriers. Koybulan et al. examine smartphone addiction among athletes, identifying behavioural and environmental correlates and their impact on performance and mental health. Deng et al. contribute a systematic review on motor imagery training, elucidating its benefits for tennis players.
José Eduardo Teixeira, Luís Branquinho, Ricardo Ferraz.
Participatory Research in Sport and Physical Activity
This is the first book to focus on participatory research in the context of sport and physical activity. It explores the transformative potential of participatory research methods and provides an introduction to the practicalities of doing participatory research in sport and physical activity. The book is structured around phases of the research process, covering research design, data collection, data analysis, and knowledge mobilization and translation. Chapters cover research design topics such as building research partnerships, reflexivity and ethical issues; methods such as social photo-elicitation, go-along interviews, and biographical mapping; analytical approaches such as collective memory work and collaborative analysis; and knowledge mobilization and translation topics such as podcasting, digital tools, and peer review.
Kyle A. Rich, Robyn Smith, Audrey R. Giles.
This book considers how sport organizations can create inclusive practices to strengthen social progress, focusing on the importance of leadership in fostering positive change. Drawing on original research, and adopting a meso-level, multi-disciplinary approach that includes perspectives from sport management, the sociology of sport and organizational psychology, the book considers the evidence for sport as a vector of social progress.
Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Western Balkans
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is increasingly recognized as an attractive alternative to national court proceedings, especially in international business relations. This open access book focuses on ADR mechanisms in one specific geographical region: the Western Balkans. This region comprises Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Serbia. Although these countries generally have legal frameworks for ADR mechanisms in place, they remain largely underutilised in practice. Promoting ADR mechanisms in the countries of the Western Balkans could make them more attractive to foreign investors, thereby fostering economic growth.
The Printed Edition of the Special Issue "Organophosphorus Chemistry: A New Perspective" takes the reader on a journey through the chemistry of organophosphorus compounds. It contains seven original research articles and three reviews covering aspects of recent advances in the synthesis, transformation, and properties of P-compounds.
Metal-Based Radiopharmaceuticals in Inorganic Chemistry
The field of radiopharmaceuticals is constantly evolving thanks to the great contributions of specialists coming from different disciplines such as inorganic chemistry, radiochemistry, organic and biochemistry, pharmacology, nuclear medicine, physics, etc. In particular, the use of radiometals has experienced a great increase as a result of the development of radionuclides production technologies.
The Future Health Workforce: Integrated Solutions and Models of Care
This edited collection brings together a diverse set of original research and review articles that contribute towards a unified objective of redesigning the future health workforce. Our fundamental premise is that the future health workforce needs to be more closely aligned to population needs and be able to address emerging challenges of the 21st century. • The collection includes 13 articles (11 original research; 2 review) from nine countries.
Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters
The Special Issue (SI) discusses the topic of Disaster Risk Management and its cornerstones: vulnerability reduction and resilience building. The focus of the SI is the impact of risk information, communication and representation, risk knowledge as related to science and practice, risk perception and awareness, and risk culture on multi-faceted vulnerability and several aspects of resilience.
Computational and Mathematical Methods for Neuroscience
This reprint immerses readers in the latest advancements in the computational and mathematical modeling of neural systems, with a focus on brain functionality. It explores foundational principles, established models, and emerging technologies that are shaping the future of computational neuroscience. By integrating theoretical foundations with empirical data, the approaches presented not only enhance our understanding of neural dynamics but also pave the way for transformative applications in clinical practice and therapeutic innovation.
This reprint delves into the relationship between religious leaders and movements and secular political systems. While the secularisation thesis predicted the decline of religion in both private and public life, this reprint challenges this narrative by exploring the diverse approaches of religious actors towards politics within secular systems. The reprint includes theoretical explorations and country case studies, analyzing the roles of religious leaders in the political arena of secular countries.
Psychological theory Politics and government
Anyone who’s had an argument about politics with a friend may walk away wondering how this friend could possibly hold the beliefs they do. A few self-reflective people might even wonder about their own political beliefs after such an argument. This book is about the reasons that people have, and could have, for political beliefs: the evidence they might draw on, the psychological sources of their views, and the question of how we ought to form our political beliefs if we want to be rational.
Is Environmental Virtue Ethics a "Virtuous" Anthropocentrism?
This Special Issue addresses the preconception that virtue ethics is intrinsically anthropocentric and cannot fulfill the task of developing a moral attitude toward the environment. The provocative notion of “virtuous anthropocentrism” is intended to stimulate a renewal in the field of environmental ethics at large, including environmental virtue ethics as one of its most promising strains. More specifically, the field of environmental virtue ethics aims to overcome the dichotomy between human flourishing and environmental welfare.
The Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency
Ethics and moral philosophy Social and political philosophy Public health
The Covid-19 pandemic is arguably the first international emergency of the twenty-first century. In order to respond to this emergency, countries and governments around the world were forced to engage in a range of actions and policies that would not otherwise have been permitted. Looking in particular at the use of surveillance technologies, this book examines the challenge of ethics in emergencies. The ethics of surveillance in times of emergency is both of its time, and ongoing; we must learn our lessons from the last emergency, to be prepared for the next ones.
Antimicrobial Biomaterials: Recent Progress
Biomaterials can be used as implantable devices or drug delivery platforms with a significant influence on a patients’ quality of life. Indeed, every year a substantial number of new biomaterials and scaffolding systems are engineered and introduced in the biomedical field with increased potential for biomedical uses. However, their long-term use can be threatened by the adhesion and proliferation of microorganisms, which can interact and form biofilms, or the formation of fibrosis, with cytotoxic responses being very common.
This open access book brings together experts from both EU competition law as well fundamental rights backgrounds, discussing the most recent developments in EU legislation on digitalisation. Most prominently, it explores the recently introduced Digital Markets Act (DMA), including a discussion on other related legislative acts and the respective case law. It is aimed mostly at academics and researchers in the area of digitalisation, EU competition law, and the EU Charter, but will also provide some useful insights from practitioners in the field.
Annegret Engel, Xavier Groussot, Gunnar Thor Petursson
The interaction between urban planning and the housing market plays a key role in the context of progressing urbanization, urban population growth, and the rising demand for housing. The rational distribution of housing resources in cities (and functional urban areas) is one of the crucial priorities of urban planning. The relevant measures should align with the principles of sustainable development, as well as the rational management of space and social justice.
Information technology Media studies Internet
This book offers a unique methodological guide for social and marketing scholars interested in understanding and using digital methods to explore the processes of platformisation of consumer culture unfolding on digital media. The book introduces the reader to key digital methods concepts, strategies, and techniques through a set of ad hoc case studies focused on the most prominent digital platforms (such as Facebook, Spotify, or TripAdvisor) as well as emerging trends in digital consumer culture (such as, the consumption of nostalgia, the radicalisation of taste, or ephemeral consumption).
Alessandro Caliandro, Alessandro Gandini, Lucia Bainotti, Guido Anselmi
Studies on the Real Estate Market and Property Management in the Post-pandemic Era
This reprint provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving landscape of real estate markets and property management in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how the global health crisis accelerated structural changes in housing demand and supply, housing affordability, and the rental market, as well as assessing the long-term implications for urban planning, investment strategies, and asset management practices.
NFTs, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Metaverse
The following Special Issue examines the rapid evolution of the NFT art market, tracing its trajectory from an experiment to a global phenomenon. The sale of Beeple’s “Everydays—The First 5000 Days” for over USD 69 million at Christie’s online auction in 2021 marked a watershed moment, catapulting NFT art into the mainstream.
Sustainable Marketing, Branding and CSR in the Digital Economy
Information technology industries Marketing
Sustainable marketing practice is essential for developing a more comprehensive understanding of consumers’ purchase decisions in dynamic digital marketing environments. Scholars and practitioners conceive sustainable marketing practices as episodic, predicated on temporal practices in response to emerging digital environments. Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the ecological issues that their consumption creates in the marketplace.
The caesarean section is a widely accepted surgical procedure, that is mainly used in complex cases. However, the significant increase in caesarean section rates especially in developed countries, causes several medical and socio-economic problems. The main role of this book project is the presentation of recent advances in caesarean section surgical technique, most common perioperative complications and appropriate measures in order to reduce unnecessary caesarean section procedures.
This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date examination of appendicitis, a condition that continues to present challenges to medical professionals worldwide. It explores the latest developments in minimally invasive surgical techniques, non-surgical treatment options, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in diagnosis and treatment. Readers are offered global insights into disparities in healthcare access, particularly in rural areas of developing countries, with personal accounts that illustrate the real-life experiences of patients. The book also takes a holistic approach to the diagnosis and management of appendicitis in both children and adults, offering a complete overview of this common surgical condition.
Infections in surgery, commonly known as surgical site infections (SSIs), are complications that may occur after a surgical procedure. SSIs represent a serious problem leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, highlighting the need for continued efforts to improve surgical practices and reduce their incidence.
Stefano Bartoli, Francesco Cortese, et. all
Young pediatric surgeons usually look for a comprehensive textbook updating their surgical knowledge and skills in a simple way. This is the idea behind the project of this series regarding pediatric surgical procedures. We try to update theoretical information, clinical decision-making, and surgical steps via chapters with many illustrations and figures that could guide the surgeon’s decisions and pave the way for competent training and skills improvement. In this Volume I, six chapters are included, starting with a general section covering general anaesthesia background for pediatric laparoscopic surgery.
The aim of this reprint is to present current trends and future perspectives in wastewater and waste treatment methods, including economic and environmental assessments. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:Novel biological, advanced oxidation, and physicochemical wastewater and waste treatment methods;Current trends in wastewater and waste treatment systems;High-environmental-impact waste streams and treatment challenges;The environmental and economic impacts of wastewater and waste treatment methods.
This book, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, delivers the latest information on biotransformation and other pharmacokinetic parameters required to assess drug safety in drug discovery and development. Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) is considered a rational strategy for the design, optimization, and selection of successful drug candidates in the pre-clinical stages of drug discovery. The evaluation of various pharmacokinetic parameters such as aqueous solubility, lipophilicity, cell permeability, bioavailability, protein binding, and metabolism and elimination half-life, drug–drug interactions (DDIs), and toxicokinetics is essential for a candidate drug to become a successful therapeutic agent. This book discusses recent advances in in-silico tools and in vitro/in vivo experimental techniques applied in pharmacokinetic, metabolomic, and bioanalytical studies.
Plant–Soil–Microorganism Interaction in Grassland Agroecosystem
Mathematics and Science Biology Microbiology
Plant–soil–microorganism interactions span a vast continuum, from beneficial to detrimental, and play a major role in natural and agricultural ecosystems. Beneficial or mutualistic plant-colonizing microbiology is widely distributed and provides benefits to the plant by supplying nutrients and increasing plant stress tolerance or disease resistance. This is the case with mycorrhizal fungi, a group of diverse fungal taxa that are associated with the roots of about 90% of all plant species and provide plants with mineral nutrients in exchange for fixed carbon.
Recent Advances in the Health Benefits of Tea
Alternative medicine - Therapetics Tea - Food
Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world, and the second most consumed after water. Based on evidence from cellular, animal, epidemiological, and clinical studies, tea consumption has been linked to several health benefits, including cancer chemoprevention, chronic inflammation, heart and liver diseases, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. This book provides an up-to-date critical view of the health benefits of tea, including its phytochemistry, traditional usage, current applications, and future directions for the development of tea compounds as effective medicinal agents.
Interactions between animals and plants exist on a spectrum that ranges from completely antagonistic relationships to those of obligatory mutualism, as seen in the pollination of certain tropical orchid species. In fact, these relationships are highly conditional and can change radically depending on variations in environmental conditions such as temperature, rainfall, and fluctuations in the populations of other interacting species.
Medicine and Nursing Medical toxicology Drug Abuse
Over the last decades, interest in forensic toxicology has continually increased. Consequently, the discipline assumed a leading role, becoming one of the reference sciences for elucidating events of judicial importance. The need to reconcile analytical problems (e.g., relating to the qualitative/quantitative analysis of substances of abuse in complex biological matrices) with judicial requirements (i.e., providing data that can be used as documentary evidence in proceedings) makes the discipline unique among all "analytical" sciences.
The domain of environmental analytical chemistry includes all analytical aspects of studies related to environmental problems and their management. The analysis of organic, inorganic, and radioactive pollutants in air, water, soil, and biota is quite a challenging task at a time of large social development and climate change. In addition, the development of new analytical methods or the improvement of existing ones for the monitoring of pollutants is of paramount importance for achieving such goals.
Green Chemistry for Environmental Sustainability
Green chemistry for environmental sustainability is an interdisciplinary science that seeks to reduce environmental problems and establish global sustainability. Given the recent development of energy-efficient technologies and the synthesis of green materials, research shows that green chemistry can be a powerful candidate for future technologies. This book discusses synthesis, catalysis, nanosynthesis, green processes, energy-efficient materials, biodegradable raw materials, and comprehensive environmental remediation, making it an excellent resource for aspiring researchers.
2nd Edition of Integrated Human Exposure to Air Pollution
This reprint, entitled "Second Edition of Integrated Human Exposure to Air Pollution", presents new insights into key aspects of human exposure to air pollution. It compiles seventeen innovative studies, exploring five main areas: advanced methodologies for exposure assessment, citizen engagement in addressing pollution, outdoor air pollution, indoor air quality, and the health impacts of pollution
Nuno Canha Marta Almeida Evangelia Diapouli
Air Quality Characterisation and Modelling
Research and information Environmental economics Pollution
Air pollution is a mixture of particles and gases, which can reach unsafe concentrations for human health, the environment, vegetation, and materials. It has become one of the main sustainability issues and a concerning topic in atmospheric science. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90% of the world’s population lives in highly polluted environments, and about 7 million premature deaths are caused yearly by outdoor and indoor air pollution.
José Carlos Magalhães Pires, Álvaro Gómez-Losada
Food Labeling: Analysis, Understanding, and Perception
This Special Issue includes original research and reviews of the literature focusing on food labels, which are a tool to promote public health that, at the same time, may represent a marketing tool and may influence consumers’ perception of food quality.
Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Value in Non-communicable Diseases
It is well known that the quality of human nutrition is fundamental to human health and affects the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The global food system has been dramatically changing in recent years, which results in negative consequences concerning the nutritional quality of foods, and consequently, the risk of NCDs. Therefore, the need for diagnostic tools to use in the evaluation of nutritional value and the improvement of nutrition counseling and disease prevention is more important than ever before.
Andriana Kaliora, Chara Tzavara, Charalampia Amerikanou
The field of infant nutrition and feeding has been a long-standing and permanent concern within the field of child health, given the crucial role it plays in the current and future health and development of individuals. Although optimal feeding practices are recognized to achieve greater well-being, growth, and child health, differences and gaps still persist. This book covers a variety of crucial topics related to infant nutrition and feeding, which have been grouped into four sections.
Genetic, Epigenetic, Environmental, and Pharmacological Models for Neuroscience, Neurologic Diseases, and Psychiatric Disorders: Advancement in Bench-to-Bedside Translational Research
The Special Issue, "Genetic, Epigenetic, Environmental, and Pharmacological Models for Neuroscience, Neurologic Diseases, and Psychiatric Disorders: Advancement in Bench-to-Bedside Translational Research," delves into the complexities of neurological and psychiatric disorders, which affect millions worldwide. Despite advances, the etiology and pathogenesis of these disorders remain largely unknown, and current treatments often fall short or have adverse effects.
Insights into Antibiotics in Human, Animal, and Agriculture: Resistance, Determinant, and Treatment
This Special Issue assembles a set of fifteen articles, consisting of one review and fourteen research articles. The review by Liang S. and colleagues covers the application of bacteriophage therapy. The 14 research articles included (1) methodologies and techniques to detect AMR organisms, such as VRE by Saenhom N et al. and carbapenemase-producing Eterobacterales by Hatrongjit R. et al.; (2) characterization of AMR from patients, foods, and the environment, such as by Yinsai et al., Li R. et al., Kamal Hossain M., et al., Kansaen R., et al., Tabut et al., Lopes E.S. et al., and Kumar Rout A. et al., respectively; (3) antibiotics residue management approached, such as by Chokejaroenrat et al. and Sakulthaew et al., and (4) medical care of AMR patients and carriage, such as by Ngamprasertchai T et al.
Dermatology: Advances on Pathophysiology and Therapies
This reprint presents a meticulous compilation of 11 cutting-edge articles from leading authors in the field of dermatology, originally featured in our previous manuscript. This collection illustrates the significant advancements and innovations that have shaped dermatological science and practice in recent years. Each article within this compendium delves into various aspects of dermatological advancements, ranging from the development of novel therapeutic approaches and understanding the genetic underpinnings of skin diseases to the exploration of new diagnostic tools and the integration of technology in dermatological care.
Montserrat Fernández-Guarino, Asunción Ballester-Martinez
Diabetic Foot Complications: Current Challenges and Future Prospects—Part II
Diabetic foot is a growing complication due to the global increase in diabetes mellitus prevalence; this disease affects 9.1 to 26.1 million people annually, and between 19% and 34% of people develop diabetes at least once in their life. Diabetic foot is sometimes associated with lower limb amputations and higher rates of mortality than certain types of cancer, such as breast or prostate cancer. In recent years, research has focused on managing the main complications that lead to limb loss, such as diabetic foot infections or peripheral vascular disease.
José Luis Lázaro-Martínez, Luigi Uccioli
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Current State and Future Perspectives
Public health and preventive medicine Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI), which is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, is having a growing impact on healthcare. Via AI, researchers can provide new approaches to merge, analyze, and process complex “big data” and gain more actionable insights, understanding, and knowledge at an individual and population level. Medical staff can be helped by AI-assisted clinical decision support (CDS), i.e., machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models that analyze large medical datasets. They do this by summarizing radiology and pathology reports by means of natural language processing (NLP), automating repetitive but time-consuming tasks, and much more. Patients can talk to chatbots who have access to all medical knowledge in the world, including the patient’s medical history, and provide personalized advice. This Special Issue intends to show some examples of how AI impacts healthcare, with some discussion on potential future developments as well as challenges.
Focusing on the provision of gender-affirming care, Health Care Civil Rights analyzes the difficulties and potential of discrimination law in health care settings. The application of civil rights law could be a powerful response to health inequalities in the US, but conservative challenges and the complex and fragmented nature of our health care system have limited the real-world success of this strategy.
Public Health and International Economic Law
Public Health - Medicine Public International law
Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Although non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancers, diabetes, and heart diseases are preventable, they have risen dramatically over the last 30 years. This is in part due to increased international trade and foreign direct investment in the tobacco, alcohol and food industries. As governments attempt to regulate these industries, this book raises important and timely questions about the relationship between public health and international trade and investment law.
Recent Trends on Cheese as Functional Food with Great Nutritive and Health Benefits
Cheese is a palatable and dense model food with great nutritional value. Cheese lovers all over the world have access to an almost overwhelming variety of cheeses. Cheese has many health benefits that go beyond its nutritional and flavor properties. The health benefits are due to the presence of unique bioactive peptides and fatty acids in cheese. Furthermore, cheese is an excellent tool for making functional foods because it can serve as an excellent delivery vehicle for bioactive peptides, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, postbiotics, prebiotics, and other novel bioactive substances. This book offers opportunities for cheese manufacturers, cheese researchers, nutritionists, and even cheese lovers to learn more about the hidden health and nutritive benefits of cheese. The book reflects the trends and innovations in the development of cheese as a functional food.
Food quality, including dietary quality and diversity, is as essential to human health as air is to human life. In addition, other healthy lifestyle factors, including a healthy body mass index, regular exercise, no smoking, and sufficient sleep duration, are associated with a lower incidence of chronic non-communicable diseases and longer life expectancy. More importantly, maternal healthy lifestyle factors are also associated with a substantially reduced risk of chronic diseases in their offspring.
Leadership and Governance in Primary Healthcare
Good leadership and governance at all levels of the healthcare system is necessary for better performance of the system and health outcomes. Lack of good leadership and governance practices can lead to misuse of health system inputs such as human resources, health commodities and financial resources hence lowering the quality of services delivered. Thus, this guide was developed through collaborative efforts envisioned to respond to the needs of improving good governance practices at the primary healthcare level in resource-limited healthcare systems.
Mackfallen G. Anasel, Ntuli A. Kapologwe, Albino Kalolo
A Classification for Medical and Veterinary Libraries
The third edition of Classification for Medical and Veterinary Libraries is a long overdue revision of Cyril C. Barnard’s scheme, last updated in 1955. Barnard devised his scheme to meet the specialist focus of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, focusing on tropical medicine and public health. Unlike many schemes, Barnard’s is based on specific entry, with an almost entirely alphabetical notation system.
Cyril Cuthbert Barnard, Eloise Carpenter
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Semantic Web Technology and Recommender Systems
In this book (Volume I), 13 papers have been published on different topics of the wide research areas of Semantic Web and Recommender systems. These papers have been carefully selected based on the peer review of several respectful reviewers organized by MDPI’s BDCC journal. This issue has attracted well-known international research teams, who we would like to thank for their work.
Konstantinos Kotis, Dimitris Spiliotopoulos
Shareholders, Strategy and Value Creation
The central task of contemporary strategic management is to look for sources of value and to achieve above- average firm performance. The effective implementation of a value creation strategy requires a comprehensive approach, including the creation of a systemic management structure aimed at increasing company value.
Wojciech Muras, Katarzyna Szczepańska-Woszczyna
This heavily revised open access edition provides a thorough overview of the technologies available to assemble, manage and assess the quality of health information systems. It details a variety of scenarios in the context of both health and heath care, including where prevention and wellness are related, such as the treatment of both acute and chronic diseases.
Alfred Winter, Elske Ammenwerth, Medical equipment and techniques
Information Theoretic Methods for Future Communication Systems
Information technology Information technology industries
This reprint focuses on information and coding theoretic metrics, analyses, and methods applied to future communication and computation systems. Analyses of learning algorithms and information security problems are studied in detail. The main themes addressed are multiple access channels, interference channels, and delay-Doppler domain analysis, as well as secure and private compression, matrix multiplication, and transmission methods.
Information retrieval Management Information Systems
This book is intended for the technical reader who works with large volumes of data. Written by experts in information systems management, the book includes chapters on software development, cloud implementation, networking, and handling large datasets, among other topics. Blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) are the foundations of automated systems and the authors provide their viewpoints on information management by using these fundamental domains of information technology.
Sustainability and Human Resources Management: Evaluating Challenges and Impacts for the Employee-Organization Relation
Although sustainability is hardly a new subject for research, recent years have moved the theme toward the perspective of human resource management (HRM). In effect, it has become a recent target of attention for HRM researchers in the search for valid ways to stimulate the area and be committed and resourceful regarding structural paths leading to overall sustainable development.
Sustainable Management of Natural Resources
Natural resources are necessary for meeting simple human needs such as food, water, clothing, shelter, and air. They are part of humanity’s natural heritage or protected in nature reserves. Therefore, sustainable management of natural resources is crucial to ensure the stability of the ecosystem, prevent further damage to the environment, and avoid over-consumption of the resources.
Mohd Nazip Suratman, Engku Azlin Rahayu Engku Ariff
Personnel Management Human resources management
Human Resource Management - An Update deals with the major theoretical and practical issues of managing people in different kinds of businesses in different countries around the world. Chapters address such topics as theoretical bases for human resource management in the new work age, performance management and organizational management, leadership and job analysis, diversity, work–life balance, and sexual harassment, among others.
Medicine and Nursing Public health - Medicine
Digital pathology workflow implementation remains challenging. In laboratories worldwide, there are growing examples of successful implementation and pathologists acknowledging the advantages of this new model of practicing pathology. This Special Issue of Diagnostics is a collection of records of successful digital pathology implementation for primary diagnosis or secondary applications, that serve as an inspiration to those readers who are still skeptical about it.
The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a broad view on the studies that focus on the anatomical field, and to stimulate a holistic and humanistic perspective, taking into account the innumerous connections between the history of anatomy and the recent advances of this discipline. Multidisciplinary approaches related to anatomy include historical aspects, morphological techniques, anatomical education, and comparative and veterinary anatomy.
Protection and Prevention Approaches in Occupational Health and Safety
Developments in working life have also brought about occupational health and safety (OHS) problems. While the development of technology and protective equipment has created a safer working environment over time, new risks that pose a danger have also emerged. OHS aims to prevent the deterioration of employees' health in all occupational groups, protect employees from the hazards and risks in the environment, and provide environments that will allow individuals to continue to work at the highest level physiologically and spiritually.
New Perspectives in Oral Health for Patients with Special Needs and Compromised Older Adults
This Special Issue was designed to provide a multifaceted look at the latest clinical and research findings in the field of geriatric dentistry, which has rapidly gained importance since the beginning of the 21st century. It covers oral frailty, rapid oral health deterioration (ROHD), and oral hypofunction syndrome as comprehensive disease concepts related to the oral health of older people, explains their causes, and introduces the latest technology for diagnosing the deterioration of the oral environment and of oral function.
Takahiro Ono, Leonardo Marchini, Anastassia E. Kossioni
Influence of Domestic Violence on Mental Health
Domestic violence (also referred to as family or intimate partner violence) is a public health problem that continues to affect the lives of individuals of all backgrounds, with women and children being the most common victims of acts of physical, psychological, and sexual violence. Longstanding research has recognized the mental health sequelae of domestic violence and the potential role of social, economic, and environmental factors.
Behavioral and Mental Health Problems in Children
Today’s world is fraught with crisis and uncertainty. This creates a significant obstacle in child rearing and development. Children, inherently a vulnerable demographic, are at the epicenter of these crises. Approaches to address these problems need to be based on high-quality scientific research, to understand the root causes and determine effective approaches to reduce behavioral and mental health problems in children (BMPC).
Mining Technologies Innovative Development
The present book covers the main challenges, important for future prospects of subsoils extraction as a public effective and profitable business, as well as technologically advanced industry. In the near future, the mining industry must overcome the problems of structural changes in raw materials demand and raise the productivity up to the level of high-tech industries to maintain the profits.
Sustainable Energy Systems Planning, Integration and Management
Energy systems worldwide are undergoing major transformation as a consequence of the transition towards the widespread use of clean and sustainable energy sources. Basically, this involves massive changes in technical and organizational levels together with tremendous technological upgrades in different sectors ranging from energy generation and transmission systems down to distribution systems.
Behnam Mohammadi-ivatloo, Somayeh Asadi, et.all
Power System Dynamic and Stability Issues in Modern Power Systems Facing Energy Transition
Dynamic stability basically deals with the interactions between the system's components. Following a disturbance, the system's variables undergo transitions that can induce oscillations in active and reactive power generation, resulting in the occurrence of voltage oscillatory modes and frequency deviation in the system. Depending on the entity of the disturbance, the small- or large-signal stability of the system under consideration can be investigated.
Electronically Active Textiles (e-textiles) are a type of textile material that has some form of electronic functionality. This can be achieved by attaching electronics onto the surface of the textile, incorporating electronic components as part of the fabrication of the textile itself, or by integrating electronics into the yarns or fibers that comprises the textile. The addition of electronic components can give textiles a wide range of new functions from lighting or heating to advanced sensing capabilities.
Advances in Photoelectric Tracking Systems
The photoelectric tracking system, which is made up of optical, mechanical, electrical, and computer components, is in charge of tracking targets at extremely long distances. Tracking accuracy and stability accuracy are two of the system's most crucial performance metrics. Currently, quantum communication, free-space laser communication, aerospace, space observation, and other fields make extensive use of the photoelectric tracking system.
Optical Technologies for Advancing Communication, Sensing, and Computing Systems
Applied optics Optical Communication - Engineering
Optical technology is a cornerstone in communication, computing, and sensing. This book aims to explore the dispersion, attenuation, and nonlinear effects that occur as light signals propagate through specialized fibers, while also investigating the emerging and enabling technologies such as optical fiber sensors, quantum computing, free-space optical communication, and photonic crystal-based optical devices.
Recent Advances in Biomaterials and Dental Disease
The researchers involved in this reprint will continue their studies to improve the existent dental biomaterials in order to achieve optimal dental treatment with biocompatible, bioactive, and stable properties. As the Guest Editors, we sincerely value and thank the reviewers for their insightful comments and the support of the team at Bioengineering.
Naji Kharouf, Salvatore Sauro, Davide Mancino
Functional Biomaterials and Digital Technologies in Dentistry
The publication "Functional Biomaterials and Digital Technologies in Dentistry: From Bench to Bedside," featured in the Journal of Functional Biomaterials, signifies a pivotal advancement in dental and maxillofacial healthcare. It underscores groundbreaking innovations in the field of biomaterials, including the use of metals, polymers, and composites, alongside the revolutionary role of digital technologies such as computer-aided imaging (CAI), design (CAD), and manufacturing (CAM) in dentistry.
The continuous demand for electronic devices operating at increasing current and power levels has driven research into wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors in recent decades. In particular, the 4H hexagonal polytype of silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is the most promising for use in power electronic applications in the medium- to high-voltage range.
Origins and Natures of Inflation, Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Exploring the origins of a field to understand inflation, dark matter, and dark energy is one of the most important problems in modern physics and cosmology. The future detection of primordial gravitational waves is strongly expected to reveal the energy scale of inflation in the early universe. Furthermore, there are two possibilities for the origin of dark matter, namely, new particles in particle-theory models beyond the standard model, and astrophysical objects.
Discover the power and versatility of optical fiber in Optical Fiber and Applications. This comprehensive book explores the fundamental principles, advanced technologies, and wide-ranging applications of optical fiber that have revolutionized industries and transformed our lives. From sustainable management of glass fiber waste to underground network analysis using optical time domain reflectometry, this book covers crucial topics.
Remote Sensing Observations to Improve Knowledge of Lithosphere- Atmosphere- Ionosphere Coupling during the Preparatory Phase of Earthquakes
This Special Issue Reprint focuses on the study of the preparation phase of earthquakes, searching for possible coupling between the lithosphere, atmosphere, and ionosphere before their occurrences. The topic is afforded by investigating data from the lithosphere (earthquakes’ catalogs and seismic tomography), atmospheric parameters—especially from remote sensing satellites—and in situ ionospheric observations from China Seismo Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01) and Swarm constellations.
Advances in Environmental Remote Sensing
Atmospheric environmental issues are a common challenge of humankind in the 21st century, having received significant attention worldwide. Extensive and comprehensive atmospheric environment management practices have been carried out in countries around the world. At present, atmospheric environmental governance is entering a new stage of pollution reduction and carbon reduction.
This Special Issue of Atmosphere, “Atmospheric Aqueous-Phase Chemistry”, comprises ten original articles dealing with different aspects of chemistry in atmospheric liquid water. Liquid water in cloud and fog droplets and in moist aerosol particles is ubiquitous in the atmosphere. Dissolved species from the soluble aerosol fraction, as well as soluble trace gases, undergo chemical reactions in the aqueous phase via different mechanisms, usually yielding different products from those in the gas phase.
Recent Topics and Innovations in Quantum Field Theory
In the mid-19th century, the scientific community was convinced that physics had been fully discovered and only isolated, peripheral issues remained unexplained. One of these was black body radiation (CDC) and the transformation of electromagnetic waves. In 1893, Wien proved that the wavelength at which CDC radiates the greatest amount of energy is inversely proportional to body temperature.
Quantum Entanglement in High Energy Physics
This book is devoted to research topics in quantum entanglement at the energy frontier of particle and nuclear physics, and important interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues from fields outside of physics. A non-exhaustive list of examples of the latter can include mathematics, computer science, social sciences, philosophy, and how physics can interact with them in a way that supports successful outcomes.
This book presents a collection of chapters highlighting advances in research work in quantum computing and quantum communication. Quantum computing research is a very active and diverse area of research. In this book, the main focus is on quantum computing for computational science and engineering applications.
This book presents in a systematic fashion a number of quantum field theoretic phenomena that have a topological underpinning. The systematics is provided by the homotopy groups of the configuration space: solitons and instantons are related to the zeroth and first homotopy groups respectively, and quantized parameters to the second.
Plasma Science and Engineering is a multidisciplinary area encompassing some of the most exciting fundamental applied research themes in today's scientific landscape, having an extraordinarily broad impact on science, technology and industry. The measurement of the parameters of plasmas, usually termed as plasma diagnostics, is a key challenge in all of these applications, both for understanding the basic principles and, in many cases, for the optimization and control of processes.
High-Pressure Physical and Chemical Behaviors of Minerals and Rocks
The Key Laboratory of High-temperature and High-pressure Study of the Earth’s Interior belongs to the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. It is a unique and authoritative key laboratory at the provincial and ministerial levels. The Key High-Pressure Laboratory is primarily focused on the high-temperature and high-pressure experimental sciences, in combination with filed geophysical observation, theoretical calculation and advanced analysis tests in order to explore the chemical composition, cycling structure, geological state, material circulation, etc.,
Crystallography remains, for mineralogy, one of the main sources of information on natural crystalline substances. A description of mineral species shape is carried out according to the principles of geometric crystallography; the crystal structure of minerals is determined using X-ray crystallography techniques, and physical crystallography approaches allow one to evaluate various properties of minerals, etc.
Thermodynamics and Equilibria in Earth System Sciences: An Introduction
Thermodynamics is needed to understand many processes on Earth, be they physical, chemical, or biological. Thermodynamics is critical to study the atmosphere (lapse rate, fohn winds, circulation), hydrosphere (latent and sensible heat, pressure dependence of freezing/boiling points), geosphere (geothermal gradients, mineral stability) and the biosphere (redox zonation, evolution of biogeochemical cycles).
Data Processing and Modeling on Volcanic and Seismic Areas
This special volume aims to collecg new ideas and contributions at the frontier between the fields of data handling, processing and modeling for volcanic and seismic systems. Technological evolution, as well as the increasing availability of new sensors and platforms, and freely available data, pose a new challenge to the scientific community in the development new tools and methods that can integrate and process different information.
Auditory and Phonetic Processes in Speech Perception
In the past two decades, great advancements have been made in phonetic, auditory, and psycholinguistic research on speech perception. As the fields have advanced, there has been increasing interdisciplinary collaboration between them, which has, in turn, revealed their interdependence.
A companion volume to Ethics and Literary Practice I (MDPI 2020), this book collects thirteen original essays under the governing rubric, “Refugees and Representation.” Drawing on theoretical frameworks and displaying a repertoire of performative practices,the essays across the disciplinary fields political theory, philosophy, literary and cultural studies, and history, explore the layered nature of the often-intractable questions accompanying the right to asylum.
Michelle Boulous Walker Adam Zachary Newton
The Visual Worlds of Life Writing brings into conversation the two most popular genres in long-eighteenth-century England: portraits and biographies. As key instruments of social formation when Britain was “forging the nation” (Linda Colley), they were wielded alike by Whigs and Tories, the aristocracy and the commercial middle-classes, high-class artists and grub-street writers.
A Multidisciplinary Exploration into Flow in Writing
Offering a multidisciplinary exploration of “flow” and the often-nebulous ways it is conceptualized and operationalized in writing pedagogy, this book addresses a critical gap in writing studies. Bringing together practice-based and scholarly perceptions, it outlines the key features and definitions of flow, and identifies pedagogical approaches and opportunities for classroom instruction.
Deborah F. Rossen-Knill, Katherine L. Schaefer, et.al
This volume contributes to the vibrant, ongoing recuperative work on women’s writing by shedding new light on a group of authors commonly dismissed as middlebrow in their concerns and conservative in their styles and politics. The neologism ‘interfeminism’ – coined to partner Kristin Bluemel’s ‘intermodernism’ – locates this group chronologically and ideologically between two ‘waves’ of feminism, whilst also forging connections between the political and cultural monoliths that have traditionally overshadowed them.
Sport Modalities, Performance and Health
Sport modalities are highly practiced in order to improve many aspects of human beings, including performance and health. The increasing interest in the quantitative and qualitative aspects of sport training is ascribable to the fact that several training systems and new methodologies are appearing in all sport modalities.
Diego Muñoz Marín José Alberto Frade Martins Parraca
Digital Technologies: Applications, Window of Opportunity and Challenges in Exercise, Health and Sports
Digital technology is opening unique opportunities for exercise, health, and sports development. Experience in these areas is growing fast due to advances in digital technologies. From the use of software and wearable devices to advanced data analysis approaches, there is a great range of possibilities and improvements to come from using digital technologies.
Rodrigo Zacca, Flávio Antônio de Souza Castro
Physical Activity, Exercise Testing and Clinical Assessment in Sports Medicine
Physical activity and exercise testing are two key points in sports medicine. Sports medicine is a field of medicine concerned with the prevention and treatment of injuries and disorders that are related to participation in sports. Clinical assessment in sports medicine can solve many questions about diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis related to health in sports.
Research and information Biology Microbiology
Antibiotic resistance represents one of the most important challenges in the world and involves humans, animals and the environment.For this reason, it is increasingly important to focus our attention on the present scenarios and the future prospects relating to this problem. The One Health approach helps us and can provide the tools to consider the problem from different points of view, also providing alternative solutions to the use of the antibiotic itself.
Affordable housing shortage and social exclusion have become severe societal problems across the globe. Increasing numbers of people are suffering from social eviction and displacement due to urban densification, modernization, rising rents, and intense housing commodification. Vulnerable resident groups – such as old-aged or households with children – who often live in old housing stocks planned to be densified, renovated, or upgraded with higher rents, are forced to leave the urban core centers because they can no longer afford to live in central locations, or because they experience unstable or insecure housing conditions. A scenario that is highly unsustainable.
The Political Economy of Central Asian Law
This open-access book provides fresh and much-needed insights into the interconnections between law, society and governance in Central Asia. By taking the interdisciplinary perspective of law and society, the book explores the social life of law and legal institutions in Central Asia in broader terms, encompassing not only the state legal system and institutions but also various informal (non-legal) forms of normative ordering.
Economic economic security trade investment
This book provides insights on the art of governing a state and managing its external relations from a wealth-power logic. It looks at ""economic statecraft"", which consists of wealth production, wealth mobilization, and wealth-power conversion by a state. This book reconceptualizes what economic statecraft is and proposes a new theory focused on wealth-power conversion.
In this book, Dana Simmons explores the enduring production of hunger in US history. Hunger, in the modern United States, became a technology—a weapon, a scientific method, and a policy instrument. During the nineteenth century, state agents and private citizens colluded in large-scale campaigns of ethnic cleansing using hunger and food deprivation.
In the age of Apple Watches and Fitbits, the concept of “health” emerges through an embodied experience of a digital health device or platform, not simply through the biomedical data it provides. Sensing Health: Bodies, Data, and Digital Health Technologies analyzes popular digital health technologies as aesthetic experiences to understand how these devices and platforms have impacted the way individuals perceive their bodies, behaviors, health, and well-being.
As an organization operating under extreme conditions, the military is often confronted with destructive behavior from individuals, organizations, and societies. Written by experts from a variety of disciplines, this open access book reflects on confrontations with violence under extreme conditions and the various challenges that arise.
Modeling, Analysis and Optimization for Mathematical Finance, Economics and Risks
Modeling, Analysis, and Optimization for Mathematical Finance, Economics, and Risks is a critical domain that integrates mathematical theory with practical applications to address the complexities of modern financial and economic systems. This special issue focuses on recent studies that are helping to develop sophisticated mathematical models to better understand, predict, and optimize financial markets, economic behaviors, and risk management.
Essays in Political Economy and International Public Finance
The essays of the book are contributions to the game theoretic analysis of the State. Two of the essays develop further the analysis of political accountability. Political accountability is the study of how the behavior of politicians is shaped by the prospect of reelections. The essays in this book enrich this field by introducing aspects of coalition government and ideology. A third essay focuses on strategic behavior by states in repeated tax competition. The contribution of this essay is the reevaluation of a lower bound to admissible taxrates as a policy instrument to contain tax competition.
Peter Lang International Academic Publishers
Communication Research into the Digital Society
Media and communication have become ubiquitous in today’s societies and affect all aspects of life. On an individual level, they impact how we learn about the world, how we entertain ourselves, and how we interact with others. On an organisational level, the interactions between media and organisations, such as political parties, NGOs, businesses and brands, shape organisations’ reputation, legitimacy, trust and (financial) performance, as well as individuals’ consumer, political, social and health behaviours.
Recent Advances and Applications in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM)
This reprint includes 23 research articles and 1 review accepted and published by MDPI in the Special Issue entitled "Recent Advances and Applications in Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM)", comprising 7 articles in Economies, 6 articles in Mathematics, 10 articles in Sustainability and 1 article in Data.
Public Health Palliative Care and Public Palliative Care Education
The collection on “Public Health Palliative Care (PHPC) and Public Palliative Care Education (PPCE)” highlights recent advances and challenges in PHPC and PPCE. The articles demonstrate the breadth and diversity of local responses from across the globe, including Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows how collaboration between healthcare services and communities is an essential component of public health.
Early childhood education Parenting leave
Written by two leading international experts, Early Childhood in the Anglosphere offers a unique comparison of early childhood education and care services, and parenting leave, across seven high-income Anglophone countries. Peter Moss and Linda Mitchell explore what these systems have in common, including the dominance of 'childcare’ services, widespread privatisation and marketisation, and weak parenting leave.
Computational Mathematics and Applied Statistics
Information technology industries Computer science
Rapid advances in modelling research have created new challenges and opportunities for statisticians. Statistical inference in observational studies and many other emerging fields have motivated statisticians worldwide to develop cutting-edge methods and analytical strategies.
The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Next year, there will be a 100-year celebration of quantum mechanics, but there is no consensus on the interpretation of this theory. This reprint presents recent works on one of the most intriguing interpretations, the many-worlds interpretation, presented at a workshop in October 2022 at Tel Aviv University. The many-worlds interpretation solves the measurement problem, avoids action at a distance and indeterminism, and does not contradict empirical evidence.
The concept of distance is important for establishing the degree of similarity and/or closeness between functions, populations, or distributions. As a result, distances are related to inferential statistics, including problems related to both estimation and hypothesis testing, as well as modelling with applications in regression analysis, multivariate analysis, actuarial science, portfolio optimization, survival analysis, reliability theory, and many other areas.
This Special Issue presents recent developments in the field of structures on manifolds and their submanifolds. This volume covers a vast range of topics, including twister product Hermitian manifold, Legendrian warped product submanifold, Bertrand curve pair, CR-slant warped product, RW spacetime, Li–Yao-type gradient, Ricci–Yamabe solutions, etc., thus stimulating further research in this area.
The present reprint contains articles accepted and published in the Special Issue “Submanifolds in Metric Manifolds” of the MDPI journal Mathematics; said articles cover a wide range of topics connected to the theory and applications of the geometry of manifolds and their submanifolds, alongside the geometrical and topological structures of submanifolds endowed by special structures in manifolds .
Theory of Functions and Applications published the latest results in the field of theory of functions, in particular, the theory of functions of a real variable, the theory of approximations, the theory of functions of a complex variable, and the theory of entire and meromorphic functions.
New Developments in Geometric Function Theory II
This project aimed to gather together the latest developments in research concerning complex-valued functions from the perspective of geometric function theory. Scholars’ contributions were sought on topics including, but not limited to: new classes of univalent and bi-univalent functions; studies regarding coefficient estimates including the Fekete–Szego functional, Hankel determinants, and Toeplitz matrices; applications of different types of operators in geometric function theory including differential, integral,
Mathematics Learning Mathematics Number Theory
This is a textbook for beginning mathematics students. Knowledge of school mathematics is not presumed: it starts with the basics of counting. The underlying idea is that the best way to learn mathematics is by doing mathematics. For beginning students it is sometimes a problem to assume when looking for proof.
Algebraic, Analytic, and Computational Number Theory and Its Applications
Analytic number theory is a branch of number theory which uses methods from mathematical analysis in order to solve difficult problems about integers. Analytic number theory can be split into two major areas: multiplicative number theory and additive number theory.
Population and demography Refugees Social mobility
What became of the upsurge in civic action that saw millions of volunteers rally in support of migrants during the 2015/16 refugee reception crisis in Germany? Clara van den Berg examines the aftermath of that unprecedented mobilization, exploring how pro-refugee communities evolved in Germany. Drawing on interviews, observations, and document analysis, she finds that some pro-refugee communities managed to survive. The study provides fresh insights into how mobilization periods impact the local structure of civil society and its networks, and offers a new perspective on the role of solidarity with refugees and migrants today.
Thought-provoking analysis of how illiberalism, major crises and digital transformation are changing our politico-administrative systems. What does the future hold for the public sector? A convergence of illiberalism, major crises, system quakes and digital transformations are reshaping current politico-administrative systems.
This Special Issue, "High Fat Diet with Chronic Diseases," delves into the intricate relationship between dietary fat intake and chronic disease. Via a comprehensive exploration of topics such as obesity and metabolic disorders, pancreatic health and diabetes, skeletal and muscle health, and neurological and cognitive function, it provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between dietary factors and chronic diseases.
Research Progress of Plant Compounds for Diabetes and Its Complications
Numerous chronic complications appear in the evolution of diabetes mellitus type 2 and type 1, and they significantly influence the duration of life of the patient. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease where pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory mechanisms are intensely expressed.
Animal Nutrition and Productions: Series II
The externalization of animals’ genetic potential is determined by a number of external factors, of which feeding plays a major role. Animal nourishment is one of the most important levers in ensuring the efficiency of animal production due to both the high share of feed costs in the total cost of products and the influence this has on the growth, reproduction, and health of animals, as well as the quality of products obtained from them.
Sports or/and Special Populations: Training Physiology in Health and Sports Performance
Several factors have been identified as interfering with the success, rehabilitation, and fitness of athletes from childhood to adulthood, as well as in para-sport, and special populations, according to research. The performance and health of this population are affected by the relationships between stress, maturation, training load, and recovery. Environmental approaches aim to increase efficiency and physiological adaptations in this sense.
Assessment of Physical Fitness and Training Effect in Individual Sports
Physical fitness is the basis for the success of players in sports, and its monitoring makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of training and identify possible errors. During training, thanks to the use of control results, these activities are modified, which better prepares players for competition.
Symmetry and Symmetry-Breaking in Fluid Dynamics
Symmetry underlies many fluid phenomena and often provides a key to a better understanding as well as simpler analytical or numerical solutions for a variety of flows. This Special Issue of Symmetry aims to stimulate new insights and perspectives into the role of symmetry in a wide range of fluid flows, symmetry-breaking phenomena, and flows that are symmetric partially, locally, or intermittently.
Investment strategies relate to an extensive range of aspects and have attracted the attention of investors and students, academics, researchers, financial executives, portfolio managers, security analysts, financial engineers, practitioners, including at the level of Nobel prizes (Tobin, 1981, for the analysis of financial markets; Markowitz, Sharpe, 1990, for modern portfolio models; Black, Scholes, Merton, 1997, for option pricing; Akerlof, Stiglitz, Spence, 2001, for markets with asymmetric information).
Recent Trends and Developments in Econophysics
The current Special Issue brought out the newest trends in Econophysics that have made use of the most recent available tools, such as Big Data. The emphasis of the reprint is on deciphering the effects of current world events, such as the repercussions of the recent war conflicts, the oil and gas crises, the abrupt rise of the prices of commodities, the new findings in environmental issues, etc.
This open access book investigates how digitalization and service infusion are changing service provision and the customer experience. It highlights the central role of service management and service innovation in making these changes not only appear in theory but also implementing them in business practice. At the beginning of the 21st century, many manufacturing firms struggled to exploit the financial potential of service businesses, a phenomenon described as the service paradox.
Market-Oriented Disinformation Research explores the spread of false or misleading information online through the lens of marketing theory and consumer research. It examines how the business models of digital platforms and advertising technology firms (AdTech) generate digital markets that incentivize the circulation of harmful content for profit.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the essential topics in the field of management in marketing communication. These substantial topics are examined and addressed by scholars from the marketing and management discipline.
Medical and Philosophical Perspectives on Illness and Disease in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, physicians, philosophers, and theologians developed a complex and rich discourse on the concept of sickness. Illness (infirmitas) was perceived as the natural state of existential imperfection for homo viator, fallen due to sin and impaired in his bodily integrity.
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
This reprint focuses on research and practice concerning assessment and evaluation in higher education, crucial processes for the advancement of higher education. The different dimensions and forms of assessment within higher education, the impact of assessment methods on students’ learning processes and approaches to learning are of particular interest.
Sandra Raquel Fernandes, Gonçalves, et.al.
Education Artificial Intelligence Education administration
Augmented Education in the Global Age: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Learning and Work is an edited collection that explores the social impact of Artificial Intelligence over the coming decades, specifically how this emerging technology will transform and disrupt our contemporary institutions.
The university is struggling to keep up with the demands of a fast-changing world, and, as a system, higher education generally does not respond quickly to change. Its institutions produce valuable knowledge about social issues and problems, but this is so often not followed by action constructively using that knowledge to effectively address these problems.
Research Mobilities in Primary Literacy Education
This book delves into the intriguing question of why certain types of literacy research gain more traction than others in educational settings. It draws upon findings from Research Mobilities in Primary Literacy Education, an innovative and interdisciplinary study conducted in England and supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/W000571/1]. The study investigated the types of literacy research that reach teachers, the ways in which human and non-human actors mobilise research and the transformation of research as it circulates.
School Children and the Challenge of Managing AI Technologies
This edited volume recognises the need to cultivate a critical and acute understanding of AI technologies amongst primary and elementary school children, enabling them to meet the challenge of a human- and ethically oriented management of AI technologies.
Innovation and Evolution in Higher Education
Higher education fulfills vital functions in talent cultivation, scientific research, social service, and innovation. Its innovation and transformation play a critical role in societal development. In recent years, countries around the world have been actively exploring effective pathways for the innovation and transformation of higher education.
Higher education Theory of education Research methods
This book explores methodologies and strategies for enhancing educational practices through interdisciplinary research and open science. Featuring global contributions, it shows how integrating diverse disciplines can drive innovation, improve teaching, and tackle modern educational challenges. The book begins by highlighting the value of interdisciplinary research, technological advancements, and innovative processes for enriching education.
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya, Miguel A. Montoya, et.al
Fusion Bonding/Welding of Polymer Composites
This Special Issue reprint focuses on the latest advances and development of fusion bonding/welding of polymer composites. It contains research articles addressing materials, processing, modeling, monitoring, or performance issues with experimental or numerical approaches.
Patricia Krawczak André Chateau Akué Asséko
Chemical Bond and Intermolecular Interactions
This reprint focuses on the geometrical and spectroscopic features as well as potential applications of halogen, chalcogen, pnictogen, tetrel, and triel bonds in chemical reactions, crystal engineering, molecular recognition, and biological systems.
The replacement of the bridging H atom in H-bonds by a multitude of other, more electronegative, atoms has led to the rapidly growing study of related noncovalent bonds generally known as halogen, chalcogen, and pnicogen bonds. It has recently been recognized that elements of the tetrel family (C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) also engage in such bonds, wherein the tetrel atom serves as an electron acceptor to an incoming Lewis base, and that these bonds can be quite strong.
The development of health and social care policy is crucial for ensuring the welfare of individuals and communities. It involves a complex interplay of political, economic, social, and ethical factors. It addresses the social determinants that impact health outcomes and seeks to promote equity in healthcare delivery. Health and social care policy aims to address inequalities and improve access to quality care for all individuals.
Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Immigrant Health
This open access book analyses the ever-complex relationship between immigration and health in contemporary societies using the Spanish society as a case study. It addresses some of the main dimensions of migrant health in Spain, including migrant-specific vulnerability factors, health changes associated with time spent at the migratory destination, and differentiated problems of certain subpopulations of migrants.
This book focuses on health risks, a domain in which risk expansion has been particularly prolific. As a result of massive gains in scientific knowledge, made possible by statistical developments, data accumulation and computerisation over the last decades, more and more attention has been geared towards risks in the fields of public health and medicine.
Education, Parenting, and Mental Health Care in Europe
This edited collection investigates, from a sociological perspective, what it means to create an autonomous individual through a novel exploration of three central fields of sociology: education, mental health care, and parenting. By linking these three aspects through their contribution to the building of an autonomous child, the volume analyses the intersecting roles of parent, teacher, and caregiver as well as the transformations in identities of child, pupil, and patient to understand the construction and repair of autonomy
As we adopt a One Health philosophy to how we view the welfare of animals, specifically those housed in zoos and used in farming or production, our global views have undergone a significant change. Zoos have shifted their prime focus from entertainment to conservation of species, educating the public, and working to improve upon the animals’ welfare.
Plants contain green organelles called chloroplasts, which are inherited from the mother plant in most cultivated species. These organelles have a double-stranded, circular genome with inverted repeats that duplicate genes, increasing their expression levels. Chloroplasts are ideal manufacturing units for pharmaceuticals and vaccines due to their polyploidy at both the organelle and genome levels.
Phosphorus (P) stands second to nitrogen in terms of its essentiality as a plant macronutrient, as well as due to its involvement in almost all plant developmental stages, primary and secondary plant metabolisms, maintenance of membrane structures, and in the structural skeleton of major biomolecules.
Ecology and Management of Invasive Plants
The ecological problems caused by invasive plants have become increasingly prominent, and the level of environmental risk caused by invasive plants will continue to increase with the rising frequency and intensity of anthropological activities. More importantly, biological invasion as a result of invasive plants has become a major cause of biodiversity loss in recent years.
Intelligent Forecasting and Optimization in Electrical Power Systems
This reprint explores the latest developments and advancements in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for forecasting and optimization in the field of power engineering. In recent years, AI and ML methods have been gaining significant traction and are becoming two of the most important fields in computing.
Exploring the Unseen Hazards of Our World
Natural hazards and environmental challenges shape our planet profoundly and often unpredictably. From climate variability and seismic activity to tsunami risks and post-disaster recovery, these phenomena test the resilience of communities and demand innovative, collaborative solutions. Exploring the Unseen Hazards of Our World brings together a diverse collection of peer-reviewed research investigating these critical issues.
Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Statistical Techniques with Applications to Health and Education
The present reprint contains all of the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue " Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Statistical Techniques with Applications to Health and Education" from the MDPI journal Mathematics. This Special Issue aims to develop more efficient and effective approaches to healthcare and education, leveraging the increasing availability of big data and advancements in artificial intelligence.
The 2024 Special Issue of Inequality in Immunization collates 14 global research and review contributions that spotlight differences in the attainment of immunization coverage across population groups, capturing findings pertaining to various types of immunization (including COVID-19 and childhood immunization).
Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Devaki Nambiar, et. al
International Financial Markets and Monetary Policy
The global financial crisis plunged the global economy into a great recession. Many central banks responded with unconventional monetary policies such as quantitative easing, negative policy rates, and forward guidance to calm down financial markets. The COVID-19 pandemic led the global economy, financial markets, and central banks to face even more severe problems. Central banks set up further asset purchase programmes to complement existing unconventional monetary policy measures that have already been in place to help the economy to absorb the COVID-19 shock.
Agricultural Land Use and Rural Development
Agricultural land provides essential goods and services for human society, and it is the basis for ensuring food security and rural development. Under the background of rapid urbanization, population growth, and climate change, the use of agricultural land has intensified and changed on local, regional, and global scales.
Optimal Water Management and Sustainability in Irrigated Agriculture
As the global demand for food continues to rise, it is crucial to ensure that our agricultural practices are sustainable and efficient, especially when it comes to water management in irrigated agriculture. The sustainability of irrigated agriculture requires the efficient management of the available but limited water resources under the existing constraints.
Pantazis E. Georgiou Dimitrios K. Karpouzos
Advancement in Propagation, Breeding, Cultivation and Marketing of Ornamentals
The availability of new products has always been the driving force of the ornamental sector. Nevertheless, the sector is currently facing important challenges related to reducing production costs in order to cope with new climatic and phytopathological adversities, as well as to respond to sustainable production not only from an economic point of view but also from an environmental and social point of view. Moreover, new uses and new needs of end-consumers have led us to consider that it is important to envisage new organizational systems and new forms of propositions in the market.
In any engineering field (including manufacturing, construction, transportation, aerospace, food and agriculture, oil and gas, etc.), ensuring product quality is fundamental to achieving success. Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are integral components of managing quality. According to the American Society for Quality (ASQ), QA is defined as the part of quality management that focuses on instilling confidence in meeting quality requirements, while QC is concerned with fulfilling those requirements.
Separation Techniques and Circular Economy
Efficient separation techniques play an important role in the process of resource recovery, and these techniques include physical, chemical, physicochemical, and/or biological methods that are selected for their low cost and low energy consumption and for being free of secondary pollution. Additionally, the highest possible value added of the separated products is obtained to enhance the economy.
Impact of Climate and Socio-Economic on Irrigation Water Management and Agricultural Water Productivity
Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water consumption, underscoring the crucial role of efficient irrigation and sustainable water management in ensuring stable food production. Climate change, human activities, and socio-economic development are key factors influencing agricultural water management and agro-hydrological systems.
Digital Innovations in Agriculture—Series II
Research and information Biology Technology
The significantly increased world population and accelerated climate change are strongly affecting agricultural production. These aspects, as well as the latest socio-economic limitations caused by the standoff following the COVID-19 pandemic, are part of the ongoing economic crisis bringing new challenges to modern agriculture and the need to have high production efficiency combined with high-quality products in accordance with the principles of sustainable production.
New Insights in the Research of Bioactive Compounds from Plant Origin with Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Potential
Plant bioactive compounds are essential for human health due to their multiple biological effects, such as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antiallergenic, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, and antimicrobial activities leading to beneficial effects on various non-communicable diseases, such as autoimmune, inflammatory, cardiovascular, cancer, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Extraction and Purification of Bioactive Compounds
Bioactive compounds, which are abundant in flora, fauna, and microorganisms, can potentially be used by various industries, including pharmaceuticals, functional foods, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. Their extraction and purification, however, pose significant challenges due to the presence of impurities, interference from other compounds, and the need to maintain their stability as well as activity.
Physical and Mechanical Properties of Wood- and Bamboo-Based Materials
The purpose of this reprint is to furnish readers with the most recent advancements in wood and bamboo processing applications. The reprint covers a wide range of topics, from the preservation of archaeological wood and the mechanisms behind the formation of wood and bamboo properties to biomimetic applications and methods for enhancing the performance and composite uses of bamboo and wood materials.
Magnetic, Dielectric, Electrical, Optical and Thermal Properties of Crystalline Materials
This Special Issue titled "Magnetic, Dielectric, Electrical, Optical and Thermal Properties of Crystalline Materials" is devoted to a general overview of the subject of crystalline materials and may extend to the nanocrystalline field.
Conductivity and Thermoplastic Elastomer Properties of Polypropylene Materials
This book compiles recent studies by researchers in polypropylene materials, offering information in a format that is easily accessible to a wide audience. It discusses the thermoplastic elastomer features of polypropylene, which play an important role in industrial processes, as well as its usability as an electrostatic discharge (ESD) material.
The idea that persons or animals possess properties of two types, physical and mental, or psychological and cognitive, inevitably raises the question of how such cognitive properties can be causally efficacious, with respect to other cognitive, physiological, or physical properties, of the person herself or her environment. People, though composed exclusively of atoms like any other material object, have emergent properties that none of those components possess.
Recent Advances in the Development of Thin Films
Thin-film coating technology has revolutionized various industries by offering functional solutions that enhance efficiency, flexibility, and performance in electronic devices, optics, solar cells, hard coatings, sensors, and even food preservation.
Polymer Thin Films: From Fundamentals to Applications
The use of polymer thin films is currently implemented in almost every aspect of modern life due to their cost-efficiency, lightness, flexibility, and unique physical and chemical properties.
Innovative Research Approaches & Practices towards Sustainable Land Management, Preservation & Restoration
Sustainable Land Management (SLM) is vital for soil health, biodiversity, and resilience. Climate change and human activity both accelerate land degradation, prompting urgent action according to the IPCC Climate Change Report (2023).
Kleomenis Kalogeropoulos Andreas (Tsatsaris
Temporal Resolution, a Key Factor in Environmental Risk Assessment
The field of geomatics, which encompasses a range of techniques for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of spatial data, is undergoing a period of rapid growth. In recent years, spatial analysis tools have diversified and technologically advanced, allowing us to use satellite images with superior spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions.
Adrian Ursu Cristian Constantin Stoleriu
Forest Management and Biodiversity Conservation
In the current context of global change and global interconnectedness, our role in connecting the dots and finding solutions to current and future problems is very important. When talking specifically about the management of forests, we can see its continuous evolution and, more importantly, its adaptation to contemporary challenges.
Psycho-Educational Assessments: Theory and Practice
Psycho-educational assessments, such as intelligence tests, cognitive test batteries and behavioral measures, serve as invaluable tools for school psychologists and educators. They provide profound insights into children's learning and behavioral profiles, enhancing our understanding of their academic and cognitive capacities.
Electron and Photon Interactions with Bio(Related) Molecules
This reprint compiles several studies on radiation interactions with biomolecules. The fragmentation induced by slow electron and electron scattering processes are described, and the induced processes by UV radiation are characterised.
Mobile Health Technologies for Ambient Assisted Living and Healthcare
The use of telemedicine and mobile devices is growing, and sensors might aid in creating creative solutions. Developing these solutions is crucial for monitoring senior citizens, lifestyles, and medical procedures. This Special Issue’s goal was to bring together academics and professionals in healthcare and medicine interested in using information and communication technologies (ICT) to serve people with special needs.
Advances in Colorimetry covers the fundamentals of the science of the measurement of color. It is organized into six sections: 'Advanced Methods and Tools for Color Measuring and Matching”, 'Fundamentals and Applications of Colorimetric Analysis”, 'Applications of Colorimetric Analysis for Forensic and Defence Industry”,
Surface Modification Technology of Biomedical Metals
Biomaterials are natural or artificial materials used to manufacture implants to replace lost or diseased biological structures in order to restore form and function. Biomaterials that require long-term service, such as orthopedic implants, need good physical and chemical stability, such as stainless steel and titanium alloys.
Healthcare Strategies for Patients with Chronic Diseases in an Ageing Society
The ageing of society has become a significant global issue, with over 30% of the population aged 65 and above in some developed countries. In this context, the required forms of healthcare and medical services are also evolving.
This reprint considers studies related to the bone graft materials used for bone regeneration in dental and medical areas, and particularly studies on new development and development directions, such as synthetic bone and heterologous bone. Bone regeneration is one of the most important challenges in medicine.
Progress in Laser Accelerator and Future Prospects
The Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) has advanced the accelerating gradient many orders of magnitude over the conventional technologies. Their application to high energy accelerators has been considered, while a new field of micrometric accelerators appears for medical applications.
Effects of Physical Activity on Chronic Disease
This Special Issue focuses on the recent research on the effect of physical activity on chronic diseases, including COPD, other lung diseases, cognitive impairment, irritable bowel syndrome, and atherosclerosis . The associated factors, the evaluation methods, and the effective interventions were evaluated. Two review papers and eight original articles are included.
New Developments in Physical Education and Sport
Continuous professional development is of great importance if one is to develop quality professional work. This book contains some of the latest research advances related to the field of Physical Education and Sports. In today's globalized world, continuous and permanent education is necessary and essential to complement the initial training and previous experience.
This book presents a comprehensive overview of density functional theory (DFT), from its basics to its practical application and implementation. It also discusses the breakthroughs in the field and the complete integration of physical and chemical aspects. It examines both orbital and time-dependent functions along with their variations according to semiquantitative analysis. The book also discusses analytical and computational techniques and principles, considering the classical and quantum approaches.
Basics and Applications in Quantum Optics
Quantum optics has received a lot of attention in recent decades due to the handiness and versatility of optical systems, which have been exploited both to study the foundations of quantum mechanics and for various applications. In this Special Issue, we collect some articles and a review focusing on some research activities that show the potential of quantum optics in the advancement of quantum technologies.
Since the concept of evidence-based medicine was introduced into medical practice, a paradigm shift from conventional empirical-based physical therapy to evidence-based physical therapy has been promoted. In order to practice evidence-based physical therapy, the elements of "using evidence," "creating evidence," and "communicating evidence" are essential.
Bayesian Filter Design for Computational Medicine
This book serves as a tutorial that explains how different state estimators (Bayesian filters) can be built when all or part of the observations are binary. The book begins by briefly motivating the need for point process state estimation followed by an introduction to the overall approach, as well as some basic background material in statistics that are necessary for the equation derivations that are utilized in subsequent chapters.
Dilranjan S. Wickramasuriya Rose T. Faghih
Business Fundamentals is an all-encompassing introductory textbook designed to introduce readers to the business world. Geared toward college and university students, especially those with little to no prior experience in business, this resource lays a strong foundation for individuals embarking on their academic journey with ambitions of pursuing a business career. The book delves into key functional areas of business, illustrating how departments within organizations work together to generate sales, boost revenue, manage finances, develop innovative products and services, attract and retain customers, manage resources, and make sound decisions.
Enabling and Optimising Recovery from COVID-19
This textbook provides readers with up to date knowledge about the assessment, management and support of people experiencing Long COVID. Learning activities draw upon personas co-authored with people with Long COVID.
Danielle Hitch, Deakin University Genevieve Pepin, Deakin University Kelli Nicola-Richmond, Deakin University Valerie Watchorn, Deakin University
Light is an essential factor for the growth and quality of horticultural plants and its effects depend upon parameters such as duration, intensity and quality. It is an energy source for photosynthesis as well as a signal triggering plant photomorphogenesis and physiological, biochemical and molecular responses.
Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System
Assessment should benefit all students’ learning and retention. However, current systems do not take into account the diverse characteristics, backgrounds, and situations of students. Instead, universities rely on accommodations – which are only available to specific groups – to make case-by-case adjustments, rather than proactively improving assessment designs in ways that are socio- culturally, and research informed, for the purposes of inclusion. This resource is an outcome of a project which explored assessment policy and practice across the university sector. It introduces assessment for inclusion concepts, drawing on curated resources and case study examples, to offer introductory considerations for anyone in higher education interested in being a leader in assessment for inclusion, at all levels from the classroom through to institutional decision makers.
Joanna Tai, Deakin University Johanna Funk, Deakin University Lois Harris, Deakin University Joanne Dargusch, Deakin University Roseanna Bourke, Deakin University
The Effects of LED Light Spectra and Intensities on Plant Growth
Light is the main source of energy for the primary process that sustains life on our planet, known as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the strategy adopted by many living organisms for capturing and incorporating energy, and it is under this context that light is primarily experienced, explored, and exploited.
The photoelectric tracking system, which is made up of optical, mechanical, electrical, and computer components, is in charge of tracking targets at extremely long distances. Tracking accuracy and stability accuracy are two of the system's most crucial performance metrics.
In this Special Issue, you will find new directions in the research on liquid crystal applications. To be honest, we were surprised to find 10 papers covering a variety of application areas, with no overlap between them. The only important application without a related article was “display”! This was exactly the situation we hoped for. In this Special Issue, you can find 10 articles discussing the applications of LC devices or LC materials.
Advanced Pulse Laser Machining Technology
This reprint is the printed edition of the Special Issue published in Materials. The reprint provides an overview on current international research activities in the field of advanced pulse laser machining technology.
Traditionally, nutritional supplements were limited to essential vitamins and minerals. However, in recent years, scientists have identified several biologically active compounds from plant and animal foods having beneficial health effects.
Advances in Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Technologies (CCUS)
CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) is the technology most commonly recognized globally as being capable of achieving the goal of carbon neutrality.
Algorithmic Foundations for Social Advancement Recent Progress on Theory and Practice
This Open access book provides an overview of the cutting-edge research to systematize innovative foundations in algorithmic theories and techniques, and apply them to solve socially significant real-life problems, thereby driving social transformation and advancement. Formulating such social problems into well-defined mathematical or computational terms requires not only a solid theoretical foundation but also a deep understanding of the application domain itself. The content is divided into three parts. Following an introductory chapter in Part I, Part II discusses how to bridge the gap between algorithmic solutions and social advancement
Minato, Shin-ichi (editor) Uno, Takeaki (editor) Yasuda, Norihito (editor) Horiyama, Takashi (editor) Kawarabayashi, Ken-ichi (editor) Yamashita, Shigeru (editor) Ono, Hirotaka (editor)
Biomechanical Insights into Osteoporosis
Dive into the intricate realm of osteoporosis through the lens of biomechanics with Biomechanical Insights into Osteoporosis. This pioneering volume offers a comprehensive exploration of this debilitating condition, providing an in-depth understanding of its biomechanical foundations and implications.
Innovative Strategies for Solid Waste Minimisation in the Mining and Minerals Industry
The mining and minerals industry has witnessed a significant increase in the generation of solid waste (e.g., mine tailings, coal gangue, coal fly ash, slag) as the industry has evolved. Due to the substantial potential for environmental harm, the management of solid waste remains one of the most challenging issues facing the industry.
Heavy Metal: Earth’s Minerals and the Future of Sustainable Societies brings together world-leading experts from across the globe to reimagine the future of mineral exploration and mining in a post-fossil fuel world. Minerals and metals – for batteries, circuit boards, wiring and other components – are essential to a digital, carbon-neutral economy.
The Role of Mineral Elements in the Crop Growth and Production
With the ever-increasing global population, the challenge of sustainably meeting the escalating demand for food is more critical than ever. This pressing issue necessitates the optimization of plant mineral nutrition, which is pivotal for enhancing agricultural productivity, improving resource efficiency, and fostering environmental stewardship. In this Reprint, we bring together key insights from a Special Issue of Agronomy, underscoring the crucial role that mineral elements play in crop growth and production.
Advances in the Characterisation and Remediation of Sites Contaminated with Petroleum Hydrocarbons
This open access book synthesizes important advances in the assessment and management of soil and groundwater systems contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, especially in the form of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs). LNAPL characterization and remediation is challenging due to the multi-phase, multi-component nature of the problem and the various physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in a dynamic and heterogeneous hydrogeological setting. This book focuses on the current state of practice of LNAPL characterization and remediation and seeks to provide information and a framework that would allow some of these complexities to be better addressed by contaminated land practitioners, researchers, and regulators.
García-Rincón, Jonás (editor) Gatsios, Evangelos (editor) Lenhard, Robert J. (editor) Atekwana, Estella A. (editor) Naidu, Ravi (editor)
Advances in Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing II : Proceedings of the 2nd European Symposium on Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, October 16, 2024, Athens, Greece
Artificial intelligence, Mechanical Engineering
This open access book reports on recent developments of artificial intelligence applications in the manufacturing industry. Gathering contributions to the second European Symposium on Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, held on October 16, 2024, in Athens, Greece, it reports on machine learning, deep learning and generative AI models for process monitoring, optimization, and control, flexible and precise industrial robots, human-robot collaboration, data management and information technologies, digital twins, data augmentation and synthetic data.
Alexopoulos, Kosmas (editor) Makris, Sotiris (editor) Stavropoulos, Panagiotis (editor)
Valuable Metals Recovery by Mineral Processing and Hydrometallurgy
Various metals (including precious, critical and strategic metals) are needed for technologies, the sustainable development of society and everyday life. The demand for metals will increase over time. The processing of lower-grade and complex ores and metal extraction waste is essential, necessitating the implementation of novel approaches and technologies for carrying out mineral processing and metal extraction. To ensure a sufficient supply of metals in the future, they need to be recovered from unconventional sources.
Panayotova, Marinela Panayotova Vladko Panayotov
Application of Geophysical Data Interpretation in Geological and Mineral Potential Mapping
This reprint, Application of Geophysical Data Interpretation in Geological and Mineral Potential Mapping, published by MDPI, is a compilation of scientific papers on new interpretation results in geological and mineral potential mapping using geophysical methods such as seismic, electrical resistivity, gravity and magnetic methods. It also provides some new methodologies for a variety of geophysical methods to aid geological methods with an emphasis on mineral exploration.
The Key Laboratory of High-temperature and High-pressure Study of the Earth’s Interior belongs to the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. It is a unique and authoritative key laboratory at the provincial and ministerial levels.
Experimental, Theoretical, Numerical and Big-Data-Based Investigations on Characterizations for Geomaterials
Rock and rock-like materials such as concrete, soil, and underground backfilling materials are considered to be geomaterials. Geomaterials are essential for life due to human construct extraction, mining, storage, and transport areas in the Earth’s crust for raw material.
Microstructure, Characterization and Mechanical Properties of Coal and Coal-Like Materials
In view of the general trend that the development of the global energy industry is oriented toward green, low-carbon, and efficient utilization, scientific research teams in various fields dominated by the coal industry have conducted much research on coal and coal-like materials by borrowing the technologies and concepts of modern materials science and rock mass mechanics, hoping to explore new directions for the high value-added utilization of structural coal resources and the development of new coal-like materials.
Impacts of Climate Change on Hydrology and Water Resources
This Special Issue focuses on the impacts of climate change on regional hydrological resources, further improving simulation accuracy and the research system related to the impacts of climate change on water resources.
Sonia Raquel Gámiz-Fortis Matilde García-Valdecasas Ojeda
This book navigates the neglected territory where far-right populism intersects with climate change, presenting a nuanced examination that transcends traditional research boundaries. In recent decades, Europe has grappled with the surge of far-right and populist movements, fueling robust academic debates.
Never has the reality of climate change and its ramifications been so obvious around the world. Humankind is currently living in times when the reality of global climate change is unequivocal. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change AR6 report further depicts the veracity of climate change by highlighting historically changing patterns of precipitation and temperature across the world, amidst heightened and varied levels of vulnerability around the world.
The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
This IPCC Special Report provides the latest comprehensive assessment of the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Panel on Climate Change, Intergovernmental
Plasma Science and Engineering is a multidisciplinary area encompassing some of the most exciting fundamental applied research themes in today's scientific landscape, having an extraordinarily broad impact on science, technology and industry.
Martial Arts and Well-Being explores how martial arts as a source of learning can contribute in important ways to health and well-being, as well as provide other broader social benefits. Using psychological and sociological theory related to behaviour, ritual, perception and reality construction, the book seeks to illustrate, with empirical data, how individuals make sense of and perceive the value of martial arts in their lives.
This Special Issue focuses on feeding and feed technology advances and challenges in aquaculture. These are of particular interest since aquaculture and fisheries are considered crucial sources of animal protein in human diets, providing around 17% of global edible animal protein.
Soil Mechanical Systems and Related Farming Machinery
The mechanization of agricultural works has greatly contributed to an improvement in agricultural productivity and a reduction in production costs. Since the beginning of mechanization, various kinds of agricultural machinery related to soil preparation, sowing, harvesting, post-harvesting, etc., have been developed. Moreover, customized agricultural machines that are suitable for the cultivation types and soil characteristics of each country and region have been developed.
Computer Science for Game Development and Game Development for Computer Science
Computer games have their basis in mainframe computers from the 1960s. Their spread among people came after the arrival of small (8-bit) home computers. In the beginning, their development was influenced by both the technical and program resources of these computers. These games usually form the first level of communication between a human and a computer.
Preharvest and Postharvest Factors Improving Horticultural Crops Quality and Shelf-Life
Mathematics and Science Biology Agriculture
The quality and safety of fresh horticultural products involves their own development, environmental factors, and interactions with postharvest pathogens. Effective pre- and post-harvest techniques play a key role in improving the quality of fresh horticultural products, and this reprint focuses on the understanding of the pre- and post-harvest factors that affect postharvest quality, disease, ripening and senescence, and the shelf life of horticultural crops.
Effects of Processing on Food Composition, Nutritional Value and Sensory Quality
Food is subjected to various treatments and processes before human consumption, which have an effect on the food’s shelf life, nutritional value, and sensory qualities. This Special Issue reprint contains studies regarding cold storage, refrigeration, freezing, fermentation, cold plasma, cooking, shaping, reforming, and packaging.
Postharvest Management of Fruits and Vegetables Series II
The following research articles provides insights into advanced fruit preservation and quality enhancement techniques. Mango Quality Enhancement: Studies show that treatments incorporating 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and melatonin significantly improve mango appearance, sugar content, and antioxidant activities, highlighting their potential to extend shelf life.
Coatings on Food Packaging and Shelf Life
Food packaging plays an important role in the preservation and transportation stages of food. In recent years, coating packaging has become a research hotspot. Coatings can inhibit the growth of microorganisms during food storage, control gas exchange, water penetration, and oxidation processes in food, thus improving food safety and extending the shelf life of food, which brings convenience to consumers.
Plant-Soil Interactions in Agricultural Systems
The goal of this Special Issue reprint is to introduce the reader to the latest insights into the improvement of water use efficiency under dryland farming systems and the identification of cases of plant–soil interactions and ecological damage under climate change conditions. The evolution of drought and crop ecology under dryland agricultural systems is used to describe agricultural practices that only depend on precipitation to obtain water.
Reflecting on the Future of the Built Environment
This reprint explores the landscape of the Built Environment, an area undergoing transformative shifts in response to contemporary challenges. The collective insights presented stem from a wide array of disciplines, offering forward-looking perspectives on urban climate mitigation, adaptive planning, and the integration of nature-based solutions, reflecting on the imperatives of resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity in urban planning and development in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elizelle Juanee Cilliers, Sarel Cilliers
Artificial Earth: A Genealogy of Planetary Technicity offers an intellectual history of humanity as a geological force, focusing on a prevalent contradiction in the Anthropocene discourse on global environmental change: on the one hand, it has been argued that there are hardly any pristine environments anymore, to the degree that the concept of nature has lost its meaning; while on the other, that anthropogenic environmental change has become so prevailing that it ought to be conceived of as a force of nature, in the literal sense of the expression.
This innovative, open access volume explores the core characteristics of the halal industry through case studies of five East and Southeast Asian countries—Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia and China—representing both Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority societies. The contributors focus on some of the leading sectors of the Islamic economy, comprising food, finance, pharmaceuticals, and travel and tourism, in order to diagnose the challenges they face and the opportunities that present themselves.
Towards Sustainable Good Health and Well-being
The purpose of this open access book is threefold. The first is to shed light on patient participation and health literacy for Good Health and Well-being, which is one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Health literacy is considered a prerequisite for patients to be able to participate in shared decisions on their own treatment (WHO,1998).
The Power of Rankings in Economics and Research Organizations
Discourses around research excellence and quality are predominant within the economic sciences, with various forms of ranking playing a central role. They make “excellence” in research and teaching visible, but they also create hierarchical orders between researchers, institutions, publication outlets and countries.
Chan’s book explores the challenges in assessing experiential learning, deepens our understanding, and inspires readers to think critically about the purpose of assessment in experiential learning. Experiential learning has been studied and proven to be effective for student learning, particularly for the development of holistic competencies (i.e. 21st century skills, soft skills, transferable skills) considered essential for individuals to succeed in the increasingly global and technology-infused 21st century society.
Clinical Diagnosis and Management of Pregnancy Complications
This reprint focuses on emerging trials related to pregnancy complications, including new diagnostic approaches for hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes thresholds, and innovative management strategies for preterm birth and fetal growth restrictions.
Deep Learning for Pathology Detection and Diagnosis in Medical Imaging
Severe pathologies, such as the diffuse liver diseases or tumors, can lead to the significant degradation of the human health and sometimes to lethal stages. The most reliable methods for the diagnosis of these affections, such as the classical biopsy or surgery, are invasive and dangerous. Advanced computerized methods are urgently needed to reduce invasiveness and enhance the information derived from medical images as much as possible by unveiling their subtle aspects, conducting to a virtual biopsy.
Sergiu Nedevschi Delia-Alexandrina Mitrea
Advances in Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacing
Today, interventional treatment and clinical management of cardiac arrhythmias represent a continuous challenge. This is mainly due to the widening of indications for implantable electronic devices and for catheter ablation procedures as well as the continuous improvement of technologies and medical therapies.
In order to be able to analyze and give proper advice on sport techniques, it is important to understand the biomechanical and physiological demands of different sports. In a coaching situation, feedback to the athlete should be given without too much delay.
Current Status and Future Directions of Bone Trauma Surgery
The field of bone trauma surgery and bone regeneration is constantly evolving, driven by ongoing advancements in medical technology, surgical techniques, and a deeper understanding of the biological processes involved in bone healing and regeneration.
Recent Clinical and Basic Research on Endocrine Surgery
Endocrine surgery pertains to surgery for thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal diseases, and the role of surgical treatment is the most important aspect of patients’ care.
Implementation of Chemometrics and Other Techniques as Means of Authenticity and Traceability to Detect Adulteration in Foods for the Protection of Human Health
Authenticity and traceability are crucial in order to overcome frauds in the international food trade. Control measures are perceived as the greatest vulnerability in the food supply chain. In order to decrease contribution to the overall perceived fraud vulnerability, analytical approaches and chemometrics are usually employed.
Reconstructive Microsurgery: Challenges and New Perspectives
The subspecialty of reconstructive microsurgery utilizes microsurgical techniques to allow surgeons to operate on the smallest of structures, including vessels, lymphatics, and nerves. Traditionally, these procedures have been used by microsurgeons to reconstruct complex tissue defects through the use of free tissue transfer, which involves the transfer of tissue (free flaps) between distant anatomic sites on the body.
Application of Artificial Intelligence in Maritime Transportation
Artificial Intelligence Maritime Transportation
Maritime transportation assumes a large number of cargo-delivering tasks in world trade. It is noted that maritime traffic safety and efficiency may be affected by varied factors such as weather, ship crew proficiency, etc. The topic Reprint focuses on the use of artificial intelligence techniques to enhance maritime transportation efficiency.
Open Mathematics is a challenging notion for theoretical modeling, technical analysis, and numerical simulation in physics and mathematics, as well as in many other fields, as highly correlated nonlinear phenomena, evolving over a large range of time scales and length scales, control the underlying systems and processes in their spatiotemporal evolution.
Artificial Intelligence Advances for Medical Computer-Aided Diagnosis
This Special Issue, "Artificial Intelligence Advances for Medical Computer-Aided Diagnosis," explores the transformative role of AI and ML in modern diagnostics. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, this collection highlights innovative algorithms, models, and applications that enhance diagnostic accuracy, speed, and predictive power across various medical fields, including radiology, pathology, genomics, and personalized medicine.
Emerging Technologies towards Energy Cooperation between Smart Grid and Microgrids
The growing propagation of microgrids and their remarkable effects on the operation of the smart grid is leading to the development of a sustained environment which is moving away from traditional frameworks. Therefore, tending to microgrid systems to increase their range of benefits can play a significant role in outlining an effective negotiation framework for the microgrids that are connected to the smart grid.
Evolutionary computation offers powerful problem-solving methodologies inspired by models of natural genetics and evolutionary processes. Potential applications are wide-ranging and include problems related to combinatorial optimization, numerical optimization, multi-objective optimization, and others, as well as specific applications of these problems in diverse domains, such as engineering, design, medicine, robotics, science, etc.
In this edition of Genetic Algorithms - Theory, Design and Programming, we present a series of scientific contributions that delve into the intricate theoretical foundations and practical nuances of genetic algorithms (GAs). Beyond the academic realm, GAs have demonstrated profound applications in societal decision-making and engineering optimization, showcased through real-world examples and case studies.
The solution to many real-world problems lies in optimizing processes, parameters, or techniques, which requires dealing with immense search spaces. As such, finding solutions involves exhaustive methods to evaluate all possible solutions in the search for a global optimum.
Sebastián Ventura (editor). José María Luna (editor)
Environmental Toxicology and Human Health
Humans and animals may be exposed on a continuous daily basis to a mixture of environmental contaminants that may cause adverse consequences. This Topic focuses on environmental pollutants including heavy metals, pesticides, nanoparticles, micro-nanoplastics, indoor air pollutants, pharmaceuticals, and industrial toxicants with effects on human health, risk assessment, and the relationship between various diseases and environmental pollutants.
Antimicrobial Resistance and Environmental Health
Environmental Health Environmental economics
This reprint comprises 11 articles addressing diverse aspects of the environmental dimension of AMR. It provides a comprehensive update on antimicrobial resistance and environmental health. One article reviewed the impact of tetracycline pollution on AMR in the environment and its ripple effect on ecological and human health.
Environmental Health Environmental factors
Authored by contributors from diverse backgrounds, this book compiles new evidence, methodologies, and perspectives to redefine the environmental health literacy paradigm, aiming to enhance the well-being of current and future generations. Explore critical topics, from the impact of plastics on child health to the significance of environmental studies on microplastic pollution.
Health Inequality - A Comprehensive Exploration is an insightful and significant work delving into the complex realm of health disparities and their multifaceted impact on society. This book skillfully bridges the gap between theoretical understanding and practical realities, presenting a holistic view of health inequality from various global perspectives.
Groundwater occurs throughout the complex subsurface of the globe, and it is an unexplored zone of great scientific and environmental importance. The book Groundwater Frontiers - Techniques and Challenges examines hydrogeological research and management approaches throughout African terrains while penetrating into the delicate area of underground water supplies.
Water Resources and Sustainable Development
This Reprint is designed to serve as a platform for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to disseminate their most recent findings, innovative ideas, and effective strategies to address the critical issue of water security.
Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Hydrology and Water Resources Management
The sustainable management of water cycles is crucial in the context of climate change and global warming. It involves managing global, regional, and local water cycles, as well as urban, agricultural, and industrial water cycles, to conserve water resources and their relationships with energy, food, microclimates, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and anthropogenic activities.
Fi-John Chang (editor) Li-Chiu Chang (editor)
Feature Papers of Water Resources Management, Policy and Governance
Water resource management includes the consideration of all disciplines of hydrology and water sources. Water supplies are allocated and diverted to cover the water needs of a range of agricultural, municipal, industrial, hydro-electrical, and ecological water uses.
Athanasios Loukas (editor) Luis Garrote (editor)
The two-volume open access book set LNCS 14576 + 14577 constitutes the proceedings of the 33rd European Symposium on Programming, ESOP 2024, which was held during April 6-11, 2024, in Luxemburg, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2024.
Secession in International Law with a Special Reference to the Post-Soviet Space
The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. International law is increasing in relevance to the topic of secession. This book demonstrates that if a secessionist entity’s effectiveness is achieved in violation of peremptory norms, the emergence of statehood is precluded, thereby challenging a classical view of secession as purely factual and meta-legal.
Advanced Structural Concrete Materials in Bridges
Many existing and newly constructed bridges are composed of reinforced and prestressed concrete. Advanced concrete materials play an increasingly important role in concrete bridges to facilitate the strengthening and repair of existing bridges, to facilitate a (fast) replacement solution for (part of) an existing bridge, and for the design of new challenging bridge projects.
Concrete cracking is a crucial factor that threatens the durability and strength of concrete. Especially for concrete building structures with complex working environments such as hydraulic structures and long-span building structures, concrete cracking seriously threatens the safe operation of engineering projects.
Łukasz Sułkowski Regina Lenart-Gansiniec
Competitiveness in the New Era is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in business, management, and economics. The book is authored by various researchers and edited by an expert active in social sciences and humanities research. It provides a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors on social sciences and humanities, opening new possible research paths for further novel developments.
Muhammad Mohiuddin (editor) Elahe Hossein1 (editor)
Morality Management and Situation Ethics
This book presents the philosophical assumptions of situation ethics to show the practice of morality management that follows from them. This research comprises theoretical and applied aspects: It is an investigation into metaethics that encompasses strategic and quality management problems.
The Routledge Handbook of Global Islam and Consumer Culture
The Routledge Handbook of Global Islam and Consumer Culture is an outstanding inter- and transdisciplinary reference source to key topics, problems, and debates in this challenging research field. The study of Islam is enriched by investigating religion and, notably, Islamic normativity (fiqh) as a resource for product design, attitudes toward commodification, and appropriated patterns of behavior.
Birgit Krawietz (editor) François Gauthier (editor)
When describing the legal systems and laws of today’s Muslim-majority states in the Middle Eastern and North African region, two categories of laws are identified: one derived from Islamic and one from non-Islamic law. Following this notion, the literature finds that novel legal areas do not have any connection to Islamic law since they were not regulated by classical Islamic law. In contrast, the topic of organ transplantation is inherently connected to Islamic law because Islam considers itself to encompass all aspects of life.
This book explores dementia-related aggression, violence, and homicide through a detailed analysis of “gray mist killings.” The term gray mist killing refers to intimate partner homicides (IPHs) committed by spouses/partners suffering from dementia, homicides of dementia sufferers committed by their caregiving spouses/partners or other family members, and IPHs attributable to the complications of caring for a co-resident family member suffering from dementia.
Mal-Nutrition documents how maternal health interventions in Guatemala are complicit in reproducing poverty. Policy makers speak about how a critical window of biological growth around the time of pregnancy—called the ""first 1,000 days of life""—determines health and wealth across the life course. They argue that fetal development is the key to global development.
Food Environment and Its Effects on Human Nutrition and Health
In addition to the proportions of foods we include in our diet, there are other conditioning factors that can affect the effects of these foods on human health. Thus, food contributions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, food additives, residues of chemical substances, or exoxomes can have an important effect on human health.
Nutritional Value of Meat and Meat Products and Their Role in Human Health
Meat and meat products are among the most nutrient-dense food sources in the human diet. They fulfill most of our bodily requirements, acting as important sources of energy and a variety of essential nutrients needed for metabolic functions. Meat and meat products may also contain non-nutritive components, such as sodium, saturated fat, nitrites, heterocyclic aromatic amines, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are associated with negative health-related outcomes.
Nutritional Status and Interventions for Patients with Cancer
Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The World Cancer Research Fund determined that the diet and nutrition conditions of the individuals are modifiable risk factors in the development of several cancers and a predominant component in the recovery and effectiveness of the treatments. Nutritional intervention is critical, but nutritional support is not widely accessible to all individuals, leading to potential nutritional risk and nutrition wasting.
Annisa Triyanti (editor) Mochamad Indrawan (editor)
Drawing upon law, history, and social science, this book is a close investigation of an important yet neglected area of constitutional law: the state police power and its function in regulatory governance in the US It is a major contribution to state constitutional law literature and contemporary regulatory policy.
Welcome to the edited volume Weed Management - Global Strategies, which presents a unique exploration of weed management strategies. This book aims to highlight the relevance of weeds in modern farming systems because they have emerged as nature's most persistent invaders, posing enormous challenges for researchers, farmers, gardeners, and environmentalists alike.
There are at least 14,350 freshwater fish species in the world living in lakes and rivers with a salinity level of less than 1.05%. In 2021, it was estimated that one-third of the global freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction. Therefore, conservation issues are crucial as is the decision whether to allow alien species to improve the production or instead concentrate on the well-being of the native species. At the same time, it is necessary to remember that as food, fish are an important human resource.
Modern Technology and Traditional Husbandry of Broiler Farming
Modern Technology and Traditional Husbandry of Broiler Farming offers essential insights for thriving in today’s evolving poultry landscape by harmonizing cutting-edge technology with time-honored practices. Explore optimal nutrition strategies to enhance the health and growth rates of both broiler and indigenous slow-growing chickens while uncovering emerging trends and challenges that shape the future of the industry.
Regenerative Farming and Sustainable Diets
This book makes the case for an urgent move away from industrial agriculture towards regenerative farming and the promotion of plant-based diets. How we produce, distribute and consume food are critical issues for the health and well-being of humans, animals and the environment. In order to develop a sustainable food system, this book argues for a radical change in farming and food consumption.
Joyce D'Silva (editor) Carol McKenna (editor)
In this volume, the latest information on sheep farming concerning the effects of climate change is summarized in eight chapters. Climate change basically determines changes in the environment, which affect the keeping, feeding, animal health, and breeding conditions of sheep. These changes affect the sustainability of sheep farming, the sheep’s resilience, and based on this, the livelihood opportunities of the people who keep the sheep.
Climate Neutral and Resilient Farming Systems
This book presents evidence-based research on climate-neutral and resilient farming systems and further to provide innovative and practical solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impact of climate change. Intensive farming systems are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to global warming and the acceleration of climate change. As paddy rice farming is one of the largest contributors, and most environmentally damaging farming systems, this will be a particular focus of the book.
Agricultural Food Consumption, Public Policy, and Farm Household Economics
Agricultural Product - Economics Applied mathematics
Family farms account for most of the farm population in many countries. Ensuring farm household well-being has been a longstanding objective of agricultural policies. The interaction between food consumption, public policy, and farm household well-being has been the heart of academic research for a long time. Over the past few decades, farm production practices and the objectives of agricultural policies have changed to cope with the changing world.
Hung-Hao Chang (editor) Pei-An Liao(editor)
The open access book combines insights from policy sciences (backgrounds of cross-border coordination challenges), design science (development of architectures for mobile services), information ethics (privacy and security of e-government services in international arenas) and business studies (changes in existing business models).
International politics Migration Refuees
This open access book discusses the impact of cross-border migration on the relationships between sovereign states. While there is already a vast amount of literature on immigration, it often focuses on issues such as human rights, citizenship, and social integration, reflecting the contemporary interests of Western countries. However, as long as the most fundamental norm of international politics remains the mutual recognition of exclusive jurisdictional rights over territory by sovereign states, people crossing borders pose various challenges to this system of sovereign states. It is this awareness of the issue that makes this book unique.
The European Integrated Border Management
Territory of Stare - law of nations Immigration law
What are the human rights obligations of Frontex and its member states at the borders of Europe? Who is responsible when the rights of people crossing those borders are breached? Those are the main questions that this open access book addresses while exploring the evolution of the European integrated border management (EIBM).
In an era marked by rising securitarian policies and contested human mobility, Borders, Migrations, and Human Rights offers a rigorous and interdisciplinary examination of the complex relationship between state sovereignty, migration, and fundamental rights. Edited by Maurizio Ambrosini, Marilisa D’Amico, and Emilia Perassi, this volume brings together leading scholars to analyze the resurgence of border enforcement as a central political priority, often at the expense of international legal obligations and human dignity.
Social and Marketing Aspects of Relationship Shaping on the Cross-Border Market for Cultural Services
The book is primarily addressed to cultural managers, employees of cultural institutions, cultural animators, impresarios, and independent artists who independently disseminate their work, especially in the Polish-Czech cross-border market for cultural services.
Numerical Methods for Solving Nonlinear Equations
The present reprint contains 10 articles which have been published in a Special Issue of MDPI’s journal Mathematics titled, ‘Numerical Methods for Solving Nonlinear Equations’, covering a wide range of topics on the numerical methods for solving nonlinear differential equations, nonlinear integral equations, nonlinear integro-differential equations, nonlinear variational equations, nonlinear optimization problems, nonlinear control problems, equilibrium problems or nonlinear algebraic equations.
Maria Isabel Berenguer (editor) Manuel Ruiz Galán (editor)
Advanced Numerical and Computational Methods for Engineering and Applied Mathematical Problems
This reprinted special issue contains all of the articles published in the Special Issue “Advanced Numerical and Computational Methods for Engineering and Applied Mathematical Problems” from the MDPI Mathematics journal. This Special Issue provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to examine topics pertaining to meshfree/particle methods and advanced numerical methods in the domains of engineering and scientific computation.
Lihua Wang (editor) Benny Yiu-Chung Hon (editor)
This open access book elucidates new biological phenomena caused by extracellular fine particles and highlights the development of base technologies for their control. In this book, the latest knowledge is collected on the principles of extracellular fine particles recognition, action, and biological responses.
Yoshinobu Baba (editor) Rikinari Hanayama (editor)
This open access textbook introduces beginning undergraduate students and high school students to the world of quantum mechanics and atomic spectroscopy. Requiring no previous knowledge of physics and no math beyond basic algebra and sines and cosines, this book focuses on concepts to make the excitement of atomic physics more accessible for learners than ever before.
This book is an important guide to aluminum alloys. It discusses the basics of aluminum alloys, how they are prepared, how their properties can be altered, the relationship between their microstructures and properties, and their advanced applications. This book includes eleven chapters organized into four sections: “Introduction to Aluminum Alloys”, “Fabrication of Aluminum Alloys”, “Properties of Aluminum Alloys”, and “Advanced Applications of Aluminum Alloys”.
Catalytic Processes for Water and Wastewater Treatment
Chemistry Research and information: general
Catalytic oxidation or reduction processes are among the most efficient processes for water and wastewater treatment. These include photocatalysis, sulfate and hydroxyl-radical-based advanced oxidation processes.This Special Issue contains the contributions of different research groups and discusses the recent progress and advances in catalytic processes in water and wastewater treatment.
chemistry Industrial chemistry and chemical engineering
Drying Science and Technology provides a thorough and current investigation of the complex area of drying processes. This book is a collaborative effort that brings together prominent professionals to give a comprehensive grasp of drying science’s concepts, methodology, and applications. The book opens by underlining the importance of drying operations in a variety of sectors, including food preservation and materials processing.
Synthetic chemistry has greatly enriched people’s lives and dramatically changed the world in a multitude of aspects due to its impressive capacity to construct diverse functional groups and structurally complex molecules. However, traditional synthetic reactions normally suffer from low atom economy, harsh conditions, as well as hazardous waste production. Recently, the general principles of green chemistry have required the design of environmentally benign organic reactions, which is of great importance for the sustainable development of our society.
We present our book “Developmental Education in Children,” as part of the academic studies conducted by the İstanbul University Center for Research and Practice in Child Education, i.e., Child University. The book is authored by academic members of the University and the members of the Advisory Board of the University’s Research Center.
Selman Yilmaz (editor) Birce Arslandogan (editor)
Early Childhood Language Education and Literacy Practices in Ethiopia
This edited volume explores how indigenous knowledges and practices can be instrumental in improving literacy outcomes and teacher development practices in Ethiopia, aiding children’s long-term reading, and learning outcomes.
Kassahun Weldemariam (editor), Margareth Sandvik (editor)
Students’ Collaborative Problem Solving in Mathematics Classrooms
Education Teaching of a specific subject
This open access book provides key insights into the social fundamentals of learning and indications of social interactive modes conducive and restrictive of that learning in China. Combining theoretical and technical advances in an innovative research design, this book focuses on collaborative problem solving in mathematics to increase the visibility of social interactions in teachers’ designing, students’ learning and teachers’ instructional intervention. It also explores students’ cognitive and social interaction as well as teacher intervention in students’ group collaboration.
Effective Use of Collective Peer Teaching in Teacher Education
Effective Use of Collective Peer Teaching in Teacher Education investigates the learning benefits of letting students assume leadership roles in the classroom, emphasizing both theoretical analysis and firsthand empirical research conducted with pre-service teachers.
Effects of Learning Environments on Student Outcomes
In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in school and curriculum reform worldwide. Educators and policymakers now recognize that success hinges on understanding the intricate connections between student learning, social and emotional factors, and the learning environment. Researchers have delved into the effects of the learning environment on student outcomes, exploring topics such as students’ and teachers’ perceptions, attitudes toward specific subjects, and cognitive achievements in diverse, multicultural settings.
Computational Methods and Application in Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence machine learning
The present reprint contains 17 in total articles that are accepted and published in the Special Issue “Computational Methods and Application in Machine Learning, 2023” of the MDPI Mathematics journal. The articles cover a wide range of topics with respect to the theory and applications of the computational method in machine learning.
Tian, Chunwei (editor), Huawen Liu (editor)
Critical Digital Pedagogy in Higher Education
Recent efforts to solve the problems of education—created by neoliberalism in and out of higher education—have centred on the use of technology that promises efficiency, progress tracking, and automation. The editors of this volume argue that using technology in this way reduces learning to a transaction.
George Veletsianos (editor) Suzan Köseoğlu (editor)
Educational Technology's Influence in Higher Education Teaching and Learning
Although many educational researchers were pioneers in the integration of technology into teaching and learning prior to 2000, institutions started extensively adopting technology in their courses around this period. However, the adoption process was slow and mainly followed the traditional mode of teaching in the formal university learning environment.
Japan's Territory under International Law
This volume sheds light on Japan's territorial situation from a unique perspective by analyzing the historical evolution of the concept of “territory” and the various legal theories on resolving territorial disputes. Each of the chapters in this book presents multiple points of view that provide significant insight into the resolution of Japan’s territorial issues, such as those concerning the Northern Territories, Takeshima, and the Senkaku Islands.
Masaharu Yanagihara (editor), Atsuko Kanehara (editor)
Much of the information that libraries make available is protected by copyright or subject to the terms of license agreements. This reader presents an overview of current issues in copyright law reform. The chapters present salient points, overviews of the law and legal concepts, selected comparisons of approaches around the world, significance of the topic, and opportunities for reform, advocacy, and other related resources.
Jessica Coates (editor), Victoria Owen (editor)
Overriding Mandatory Rules in International Commercial Disputes
International law International commercial
This open access book analyses how to identify and treat overriding mandatory rules in international commercial litigation and arbitration from a Korean and comparative law perspective. In addition to providing a deeper understanding of the concept of overriding mandatory rules and setting out standards and factors to identify such rules, the book provides a solution to the problems that third-country mandatory provisions pose in international commercial disputes.
The Normative Foundations for EU Criminal Justice
Should the European Union regulate criminal justice? This open access book explores the question forensically, establishing whether a compelling normative justification for EU action in the field exists. It develops an integrated standard based on the perspectives of the effective allocation of regulatory authority between the EU and the Member States, representation-based political theories, and harm-based theories of criminal law.
Corruption and Illegality in Asian Investment Arbitration
This open access book explores Asian approaches towards investment arbitration—a transnational procedure to resolve disputes between a foreign investor and a host state—setting it in the wider political economy and within domestic law contexts. It considers the extent to which significant states in Asia are, or could become, “rule makers” rather than “rule takers” regarding corruption and serious illegality in investor-state arbitration.
Nobumichi Teramura (editor), Luke Nottage (editor)
Social Media and Law Enforcement Practice in Poland
This book explores the role of social media in the daily practice of Polish criminal justice and how social media is, in turn, reshaping this practice. Based on empirical research, it confronts common beliefs about how police officers, prosecutors, and judges use social media in their work.
Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation around the World
Sex work is often called the oldest profession in the world. It manifests itself in a plethora of forms. A move to private locations is now taking place: contacts are established via the Internet and meetings take place at appointed places. This makes it more difficult to monitor forced work, and exploitation therefore risks remaining undetected.
Marijke Malsch (editor) Janine Janssen (editor)
The policing of rape is in permacrisis. This book addresses the question of why police investigations continue to fail most rape victim-survivors and puts forward a framework for what policing can do to change this. Low conviction rates and poor victim-survivor experiences are the hallmarks of the rape justice gap.
Bifurcation Theory with Applications is a collection of chapters that describe the theory and application of nonlinear dynamics to a wide variety of problems in physics and engineering. Each chapter is self-contained and includes an introduction, main contributions, and details of up-to-date theoretical, computational, and experimental results. The book examines various practical systems, including models of target detection in cells through the analysis of bio-nanomachine, attractant, and repellent concentrations.
The author invites the reader to embark on a journey through the interesting and surprising subject of sequences and series of real numbers and functions in this clear and easy-to-read theoretical exposition. The book provides several examples and applications of sequences and series, as well as a list of proposed exercises to provide a full learning experience. From the secondary to the university level, this textbook provides a solid foundation in mathematics and a basis for further studies.
A Coupled System of Differential-Algebraic Equation and Hyperbolic Partial Differential Equation
Coupled systems of differential-algebraic equations (DAEs) and partial differential equations (PDEs) appear in various fields of applications such as electrical engineering, bio-mathematics, or multi-physics. They are of particular interest for the modeling and simulation of flow networks, for instance energy transport networks. In this thesis, we discuss a system in which an abstract DAE and a second order hyperbolic PDE are coupled through nonlinear coupling functions.
Mathematical Inequalities in Fractional Calculus and Applications
In recent years, fractional differential equations have been used frequently in modelling of real systems in numerous fields of applied sciences. To study the existence, uniqueness, and stability of solutions in a system of fractional differential equations, inequalities involving derivatives and integrals of arbitrary powers, also known as fractional inequalities, have been used.
Seth Kermausuor (editor), Eze Nwaeze (editor)
This project is dedicated to fractional calculus, one of the most dynamic areas of mathematical science today. For 50 years, the number of researchers and scientific publications dealing with this topic has been increasing day by day, which clearly demonstrates the growing interest in fractional calculus, both from a practical and a theoretical point of view.
Péter Kórus (editor), Juan Eduardo Nápoles Valdés (editor)
Applications of Fractional-Order Calculus in Robotics
This reprint has captured the breadth of research on fractional calculus applications in various robotic systems. This reprint highlights fractional calculus's numerous and diverse applications in improving robotic systems, emphasizing its importance in modern robotics research and development.
Abhaya Pal Singh (editor) Kishore Bingi (editor)
This book covers recent developments in the field of functional calculus. Calculus is the elementary subject of applied analysis and its study provides a rich variety of functions and their behavior. The book brings together a range of different but related concepts from across the wide spectrum of the concept of calculus.
Across North and South America, Indigenous people play a dual political role, building self-governing structures in their own nations and participating in the elections of settler states. Doing Democracy Differently asks how states are responding to demands for Indigenous representation and autonomy and in what ways the ongoing project of decolonization may unsettle the practice of democracy.
The Fundamentals of Campaign Finance in the U.S
Before the U.S. campaign finance system can be fixed, we first have to understand why it has developed into the system as it exists today. The nature of democracy itself, the American capitalist economic system, the content of the U.S. Constitution and how it is interpreted, the structure of our governmental institutions, the competition for governmental power, and the behavior of campaign finance actors have all played a role in shaping the system.
Party System Changes and Challenges to Democracy
This open access book focuses on the nexus between “party system stability” and “democratic consolidation”, using Slovenia as a case study. Its findings are presented from a comparative perspective to illustrate the commonalities and differences found in research on Central European post-socialist countries and former Yugoslav countries. On the one hand, Slovenia’s characteristics (including the characteristics of its transition to democracy) are far more similar to those of Central European post-socialist countries than Western Balkan countries.
Chapter 9 Best Practice Guidance for Political Staffing for Political Managers, Advisers, and Reformers
This chapter sets out an overall vision and architecture for political staffing and why it is needed. It discusses the privilege of service in political staffing, notes the current crisis in political staffing human resource management but also argues strongly for the potential for positive human resource management. It provides guidance for practitioners by outlining best practice guidance for political staffers, their managers, and reformers.
Political Behaviour in Contemporary Finland
This book presents a comprehensive overview of Finnish electoral democracy, expertly detailing both its typical representation of a stable European party democracy and its particularities such as a personalized electoral system, a fragmented party system with tradition of grand government coalitions and its sensitive geopolitical location.
Åsa von Schoultz (editor), Kim Strandberg (editor)
Exploring Party Switching in East-Central European Legislatures
This book challenges the approach of relying on election outcomes to analyse party systems, contending that changes can be also identified and documented beyond the scope of parliamentary elections through legislative party switching. It argues that significant party system changes occur often within parliamentary terms, and legislative party switching is not a pathological feature of democracy but rather an integral component of democratic party systems.
Andrzej Antoszewski, Przemysław Żukiewicz
This book provides a comprehensive examination of the subject of cultural expertise, addressing its theoretical developments, ethical debates, regulatory frameworks, and practices. Elaborating the theory and practice of cultural expertise as it crosscuts legal systems and disciplinary boundaries, the book offers a thorough understanding of the scope, application, and impact of cultural expertise in various socio-legal contexts.
In an era where technology is rapidly transforming the legal landscape, Transforming Arbitration explores how innovations like AI, blockchain, the Metaverse, and Web3 are reshaping arbitration as a key form of dispute resolution. The book features insights from leading academics, practitioners, and policymakers, offering a comprehensive look at how these advancements are influencing our conceptual, substantive and procedural understandings of many parts of this field.
Maud piers (editor), Sean McCarthy (editor)
Soft Law and its Importance in Ensuring Member Statesʼ Compliance with Union Law
This book is dedicated to the role of soft law in the enforcement of EU law vis-à-vis the Member States. Apart from the Treaty infringement procedure, there is an increasing number of procedures, mostly laid down in secondary law, by which the EU – often availing itself of soft law – aims at ensuring Member States’ compliance with EU law. These procedures are compared with each other, also with respect to their use of soft law, and their conformity with primary law is examined.
Human–Robot Interaction in Law and Its Narratives
Robots are with us, but law and legal systems are not ready. This book identifies the issues posed by human-robot interactions in substantive law, procedural law, and law's narratives, and suggests how to address them. This title is Open Access.
Sabine Gless (editor) Helena Whalen-Bridge (editor)
This open access collection of 17 original essays is the first volume to provide an in-depth exploration of the potential of a rights-based approach to criminal law. The book presents a comprehensive treatment of the role of rights in criminal law, ranging from a conceptual analysis and questions of justified criminalisation, to specific legal implications for substantive criminal law and criminal procedure.
Philipp-Alexander Hirsch (editor) Elias Moser (editor)
The EPPO/OLAF Compendium of National Procedures: Cyprus
This Cypriot EPPO/OLAF volume deals with the link between national law and EU law (EPPO and OLAF Regulations) and enables professionals from the justice sector to understand the national law in comparative perspective and to plan further investigations. It refers to fraud cases, the link between OLAF and AFCOS, and the activities of the new EPPO regional offices.
Improving Health Literacy for People with Low Literacy
Health literacy and low health literacy have received increased attention due to their association with poor understanding of health information, and consequently negative health outcomes. Although much research discusses health literacy and its role; there are gaps in explaining the relationship between health literacy and low literacy; as well as various determinants of health (i.e., social, cultural, political, etc.).
Disparities in Health-Risk Behaviors and Health
As they have become inherently ingrained in our society and societies worldwide, the noxious disparities in health-risk behaviors and health require far-reaching investigation, supporting greater uniformity across groups. The deep-seated nature of discrimination, stigmatization, and marginalization in our social structure means that the human rights and health of too many individuals suffer, while social injustice and inequity persist.
Celia C. Lo (editor), William Ash-Houchen (editor)
Development, Education and Learning in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s early achievements in education and literacy became well known among the international development community in the middle of the last century and were often used to benchmark progress elsewhere. Development, Education and Learning in Sri Lanka presents an illuminating narrative of changing education fortunes and inequalities, based on half a century of research.
Institutional Challenges at the Early Stages of Development
Based on in-depth country case studies, this book offers a novel approach to the role of institutions in early development with special attention devoted to historical context, political constraints and state-business interaction.
François Bourguignon, Jean-Philippe Platteau
Health and development require one another: there can be no development without a critical mass of people who are sufficiently healthy, and people cannot be healthy without societal developments. 11 case studies from 9 countries on 3 continents since the late 19th century show how different actors have struggled to reconcile the nature of health and development policies, and the subordination of these policies to a range of political objectives.
Iris Borowy (editor), Bernard Harris (editor)
Private Sector Development in an Emerging World
Private Sector Development Industrial Policy
This book explores the interactions between private sector development, public policies and societal institutions with a strong view on contributing to sustainable and inclusive development in emerging countries. The private sector is often praised as an engine of economic growth. This belief has led to significant efforts to promote private sector development in emerging countries.
Diederik Boer (editor), Harald Sander (editor)
An Introduction to Energy Economics and Policy
This book offers a novel introduction to energy economics and policy for students in economics, social science, engineering and environmental science. Readers can understand discussions in policy debates on issues related to energy and climate policy instruments from an economic point-of-view, integrating insights from behavioural economics.
This open access book explores new developments in various aspects of peer learning processes and outcomes. It brings together research studies examining how peer feedback, peer assessment, and small group learning activities can be designed to maximize learning outcomes in higher, but also secondary, education.
Revisiting Judicial Politics in the European Union
Addressing the tensions between the political and the legal dimension of European integration as well as intra-institutional dynamics, this insightful book navigates the complex topic of judicial politics. Providing an overview of key topics in the current debate and including an introductory chapter on different conceptions of judicial politics, experts in law and politics interrogate the broader political role of the European Court of Justice.
Political Islam and Religiously Motivated Political Extremism
This open access book presents an international comparison of religiously motivated extremism in the Arab world and around the globe. Based on data from the Arab Barometer and the World Values Survey, it applies advanced statistical techniques to analyze how religiously motivated political extremism affects political and social outcomes as well as political violence.
This textbook is designed to serve as an additional resource for the course "Fundamentals of Finance." It provides an introduction to the field of finance, encompassing a broad range of key topics. These include the time value of money, bond and equity valuations, risk and returns, and various sources of capital. This book aims to enhance the learning experience by offering a thorough understanding of these fundamental financial principles.
Redefining the Political documents the political life of a community of Black women living below the poverty line. Alex Moffett-Bateau spent a year interviewing residents of a public housing development on the far South Side of Chicago about their politics, political communities, and how they create collective power.Moffett-Bateau uses radical Black feminist political theory and develops a framework called the political possible-self, which argues that belonging to a community and developing political imagination foment change.
Principles of Cultivar Development is intended to help you learn how to be a successful manager of a cultivar development program. In this text, you will apply the principles learned in Plant Breeding Methods to design a breeding program that makes effective use of available resources and alternative breeding strategies. By the end of this volume, readers will be able to describe the process for developing clonal, pure-line, hybrid, and synthetic cultivars. Each chapter includes additional readings and examples of how breeders have implemented the concepts in their breeding programs.
Danielle Hitch, Genevieve Pepin, Kelli Nicola-Richmond, Valerie Watchorn,
Communication challenges abound in the 21st century. Communicators everywhere are struggling to connect with diverse, distracted audiences, in both urgent and everyday contexts. In other words, communication has never been more vital, but it’s becoming harder and harder to be heard. In this book, we make sense of communication. From multiple perspectives, we unpack the practices, politics, pleasures, and problems that are activated when meaning is shared across real and virtual spaces. This book will help you use the thinking tools of communication theory to understand why communication matters and how it impacts (and is impacted by) our rapidly changing world.
The book provides a comprehensive overview of the up-to-date, practical knowledge in highway engineering. It highlights the latest industry standards and policies, such as the best-value award algorithms in the selection of design-builders, the urban logistics guidelines for the efficiency of goods distribution, and the adoption of a uniform increased service load based on vehicle characteristics.
Tertiary care requires highly specialized doctors, medical experts, and equipment to care for serious or life-threatening illnesses in tertiary-level hospitals or similar specific centers. This book provides a comprehensive overview of tertiary health care, including case examples. Chapters address such topics as tertiary care in India, psychosocial care, treatment services in tertiary care, and much more.
Entangled Histories of Art and Migration
Dedicated to the stories of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and exiles, this collection asks how these stories are interwoven with art, art practices, activism, reception, and (re-)presentation. It explores the complex entanglements of art and aesthetic practices with migration, flight, and other forms of enforced dislocation and border/border crossings in global contexts - the latter significant phenomena of social transformation in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Cathrine Bublatzky (editor) Burcu Dogramaci(editor)
An overview of the study of human behavior through a biological lens, this text focuses on the role of the central nervous system and its role in the regulation and control of human behavior. Topics include both structure and function of neurons, neurophysiology of the nervous system, basic neuroanatomy, drugs and behavior, internal regulatory processes, learning and memory, emotions, and some forms of psychopathology.
This approachable and conversational textbook is intended for undergraduate communication courses. Dr. Jeremy Rose draws from an accomplished lecturing career to explore the fundamentals of communication with media examples and real world scenarios.
University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing
HyFlex Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Educational Innovation
This comprehensive guide explores HyFlex learning - an innovative approach that combines hybrid flexibility to transform teaching and learning experiences. Authors Lisa Jacka and Julie Lindsay expertly demonstrate how HyFlex empowers students through choice, flat learning, and accessibility, creating truly equivalent learning experiences regardless of mode.Perfect for educators, course coordinators, and learning designers, this resource provides practical strategies for implementing digital-first design, overcoming common barriers, and reimagining assessment practices.
Strategies for Conducting Literary Research - 2e
This book, built in PressBooks with financial support from the UCF Digital Learning Course Redesign Initiative, contains 14 chapters, each of which contains two to six pages about the process of literary research. Pages contain learning objectives, infographics, videos, examples, key takeaways, and exercises. The course contains numerous discussion areas and quizzes.
Atomic Physics for Everyone: An Introduction to Atomic Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and Precision Spectroscopy with No College-Level Prerequisites
This open access textbook introduces beginning undergraduate students and high school students to the world of quantum mechanics and atomic spectroscopy. Requiring no previous knowledge of physics and no math beyond basic algebra and sines and cosines, this book focuses on concepts to make the excitement of atomic physics more accessible for learners than ever before. It comes replete with learning goals, exercises and solutions, and an optional experimental component, making this text readily adoptable for both the classroom and the undergraduate lab
Printable study companion aligned with Medical Terminology, an open educational resource that focuses on breaking down medical terms into their word parts, pronouncing medical terms, and learning the meaning of medical terms. This resource is targeted for health services students in the first year of their college programs.
This volume explores innovations in journalism: the goals and expectations associated with them, promoting and hindering framework conditions, and their social and industrial impact. Drawing on an international research project conducted in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, the book takes a complex approach, considering media policy preconditions and the social impact of journalistic innovation from a comparative perspective.
Klaus Meier (editor) Jose Alberto García-Aviles (editor)
Pearls in Biological and Molecular Tissue Repair Pathways
The field of biological and molecular tissue repair, regeneration, and wound healing techniques and treatment strategies is a promising and continually developing area of advanced healthcare activities. There is an unmet need to treat complex pathological tissue conditions, like chronic wounds and traumatized and degenerative tissue structures, in a multidisciplinary fashion at the point of care.
Peter A. Everts (editor) Robert W. Alexander (editor)
Evolving Therapies and Technologies in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
Over the past 20 years, coinciding with the global H1H1 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics, there has been an exponential increase in the application of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) therapies for acute cardiac and/or respiratory failure. Not only has the number of patients supported with ECMO increased substantially but so has the number of centers offering such technologies and the types of clinical problems successfully managed with ECMO.
African history Social and cultural history
This volume on Ethiopian women’s history is a pioneering project in Ethiopian educational documentation, bringing together the research that has been developed on Ethiopian women’s history up to the 2010s. It examines a wide range of topics related to women’s issues using critical, methodological and chronological approaches.
A Literary History of Medicine by the Syrian physician Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah (d. 1270) is the earliest comprehensive history of medicine. It contains biographies of over 432 physicians, ranging from the ancient Greeks to the author’s contemporaries, describing their training and practice, often as court physicians, and listing their medical works; all this interlaced with poems and anecdotes.
Geert Jan Gelder (editor) Emilie Savage-Smith(editor)
This open access book pertains to the "International Conference on Cultural Tourism Advances," held on June 27 and 28, 2023, at KU Leuven, Belgium. It focuses on advancing understanding of the sustainable development potential of cultural tourism by examining successful policy interventions, emerging cultural tourism trends, advancements in visitor management systems, new business and governance models, and the opportunities arising from ICT in the twenty-first century. This book presents recent key advances and their significant outcomes in the domain of European Cultural Tourism.
Neuts, Bart (editor) Martins, João (editor) Ioannides, Marinos (editor)
Advanced Construction Technology and Research of Deep-Sea Tunnels
This open access book focuses on cutting-edge construction techniques for deep-sea tunnels. A world leader in construction technology for deep-sea tunnels and large undersea engineering structures, China has in these years completed several world-renowned undersea tunnel projects, such as the undersea tunnel connecting Shenzhen and Zhongshan, and the Shantou Bay undersea tunnel. The nation also boasts mature technology and enviable scientific research achievements in large-scale shield technology and deep-sea soil hydrostatic surveying. This book intends to provide a review of relevant studies on deep-sea tunnel construction for civil engineers around the globe and equip scholars in related fields of research with a deeper insight into this domain through comprehensive analyses of real-world engineering cases and the most up-to-date research results.
Mei, Guoxiong (editor) Xu, Zengguang (editor) Zhang, Fei (editor)
This open access book highlights the negative and positive health effects of chronic exposure to environmental sound. It describes the state of the art in the field from a public health point of view and puts it in a broad societal perspective looking at sound from physical, social, psychological, economic and governance angles. Rather than a mere collection of papers around the theme as usually provided in special issues, this book offers a comprehensive look at the meaning of sound in society and its impacts and provides directions to further advance the field.
van Kamp, Irene (editor), Woudenberg, Fred (editor)
A Pragmatic Approach to Conceptualization of Health and Disease
Schermer, Maartje (editor), Binney, Nicholas (editor)
A Practical Guide to Understanding and Implementing Challenge-Based Learning
This open access book maps the role of challenge-based learning (CBL) in the transformation of higher education pedagogy, towards being sector-informed as well as student-driven. CBL democratises the process of learning by repositioning students as drivers, who are empowered to make decisions on course content, assess needs in the real world and develop opinions. Teachers monitor student learning and engagement and mentor students to express their needs. Chapters showcase existing CBL practices in different settings, and include case studies which detail the practical application of CBL in multiple contexts. The authors develop an emerging theory of practical learning based on the insights of the curriculum designers, practitioners and students. The book will be of interest to researchers, teacher educators/trainers and research supervisors in higher education.
Dikilitaş, Kenan , Marshall, Tim , Shahverdi, Masoumeh
A Practical Guide to Atmospheric Simulation Chambers
This open access title presents atmospheric simulation chambers as effective tools for atmospheric chemistry research. State-of-the-art simulation chambers provide unprecedented opportunities for atmospheric scientists to perform experiments that address the most important questions in air quality and climate research. The book covers technical details about chamber preparation and practical guidelines on their usage, while also delivering relevant historical and contextual information. It not only serves as a key publication for knowledge transfer within the simulation chamber research community, but it also provides the global atmospheric science community with a unique resource that outlines best practice for the operation of simulation chambers. The authors summarize the latest advances in chamber interoperability and standard protocols in order to provide the research community and the next generations of scientists with a unique technical reference guide for the use of simulation chambers. The volume will be of great interest to researchers and graduates working in the fields of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences.
Doussin, Jean-François (editor) Fuchs, Hendrik (editor) Kiendler-Scharr, Astrid (editor) Seakins, Paul (editor) Wenger, John (editor)
Khazanah Pernaskahan Nusantara: Rekam Jejak dan Perkembangan Kontemporer
Khazanah pernaskahan Nusantara adalah harta karun intelektual yang mencatat warisan budaya dan sejarah masyarakat Nusantara. Naskah-naskah Nusantara yang berupa manuskrip atau naskah kuno tersebut mengandung kekayaan informasi yang melimpah, mencakup berbagai aspek kehidupan, mulai dari sastra, agama, hingga ilmu pengetahuan yang menjadi saksi bisu sejarah dan budaya masyarakat Nusantara. Isinya tidak terbatas pada kesusastraan belaka, melainkan juga berbagai bidang lain seperti agama, sejarah, hukum, adat, obat-obatan, teknik, dan lain-lain.
Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century
heorising STEM Education in the 21st Century is a book that captures the essence of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and the intricacies of STEM education in the contemporary society. It explores STEM as an interdisciplinary field as well as the individual disciplines that make up STEM. This ensures the field of STEM as a whole is theorised.
Teknologi dan Kearifan Lokal untuk Adaptasi Perubahan Iklim
Perubahan iklim telah terjadi secara alamiah di lapisan biosfer sepanjang waktu. Namun, perubahan iklim yang terjadi saat ini makin meningkat intensitas dan lajunya dikarenakan aktivitas manusia melalui emisi antropogenik gas rumah kaca (GRK). Meningkatnya konsentrasi GRK dan suhu permukaan bumi telah menyebabkan pemanasan global yang mengakibatkan terjadinya perubahan iklim yang memberikan dampak yang kompleks pada semua sektor kehidupan manusia.
Elza Surmaini (editor) Lilik Slamet Supriatin (editor) Yeli Sarvina (editor)
Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Perikanan Laut Berkelanjutan
Buku Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Perikanan Laut Berkelanjutan mengulas tentang pemanfaatan perikanan laut bagi generasi sekarang maupun bagi kepentingan generasi masa depan. Dengan kata lain, populasi ikan di laut harus dijaga agar tidak menurun akibat praktik penangkapan ikan yang dilakukan oleh manusia. Perikanan laut Indonesia memiliki potensi yang sangat besar sehingga dapat diandalkan sebagai sumber penting bahan pangan nasional, penghasil devisa negara dari hasil ekspor, penyedia lapangan kerja, serta menjadi sumber pendapatan domestik yang potensial. Jika dikelola dan dimanfaatkan secara optimal, tentu dapat membantu Indonesia dalam mencapai tujuan pembangunan nasional.
Khairul Amri (editor), Husain Latuconsina (editor), Riesti Triyanti (editor)
Quantitative Problem Solving in Natural Resources - Second Edition
This book is a collection of resources focused on solving quantitative problems that non-mathematicians interested in biology and environmental sciences may find compelling. It is not intended as a guide to be followed through a series of skills, but rather as a resource to support the problem-solving process and help lower conceptual and computational barriers along the way.
Linear Algebra with Applications - 2023-A-D
The aim of this textbook is to achieve a balance among computational skills, theory, and applications of linear algebra. It is a relatively advanced introduction to the ideas and techniques of linear algebra targeted for science and engineering students who need to understand not only how to use these methods but also gain insight into why they work. The content has enough flexibility to present a traditional introduction to the subject, or to allow for a more applied course. Chapters 1–4 contain a one-semester course for beginners, whereas Chapters 5–9 contain a second semester course.
This book, built in PressBooks with financial support from the UCF Digital Learning Course Redesign Initiative, contains 14 chapters, each of which contains two to six pages about the process of literary research. Pages contain learning objectives, infographics, videos, examples, key takeaways, and exercises. The course contains numerous discussion areas and quizzes. It also contains a “Foundational Materials” assignment that provides a platform for student success with whatever research project their instructor assigns. The book is highly flexible and instructors may use all or any part of the book within their own webcourse.
Noteworthy: Reading Strategies in Practice
Noteworthy: Reading Strategies in Practice introduces students to skills and strategies for college reading. This reader-style textbook contains excerpts from several texts that serve as both explorations of reading strategies and opportunities for students to practice using those strategies. Original chapter features, including introductions and Tip! boxes, present new topics and guide students as they engage with each reading.
Multimodal Transportation Planning introduces readers to the principles and practice of integrated land use and transportation planning. The primary focus of the textbook is on planning for the mobility needs of all transportation system users, with an emphasis on pedestrian, bicycle, automobile, and transit modes. A related focus is on reducing society’s dependence on the automobile for personal travel. Readers of the text will be able to gain knowledge that supports a variety of learning objectives. Key themes and objectives relate to conveying an understanding of the relationship between land use and transportation, the difference between traditional methods and multimodal planning best practices, and the importance of evaluating performance from an accessibility and quality of service perspective.
Peng Chen, Ph.D., Tia Boyd, Kristine Williams
Transportation Policies, Programs and History
This open text features ten chapters addressing leading topics in transportation planning, programs, policies, history and emerging transportation trends.
Ivonne Audirac, Amber Raley, Jenifer Reiner,
Learning Statistics with jamovi: A Tutorial for Beginners in Statistical Analysis
Based on Danielle Navarro’s widely acclaimed and prize-winning book Learning Statistics with R, this elegantly designed textbook offers undergraduate students a thorough and accessible introduction to jamovi, as well as how to get to grips with statistics and data manipulation.
Community and Public Health Nursing: A Call to Action
Community and Public Health Nursing: A Call to Action is a primer exploring the diverse roles of community and public health nurses through a social justice lens. Students will gain the fundamental knowledge and skills to work with community members and other stakeholders to promote health and well-being and to prevent disease. This textbook examines key issues such as health disparities, access to care, cultural competence, and the impact of social determinants on public health outcomes. Students will gain knowledge, practical skills, and insight into how nurses can improve community health, advocate for health-related policies, and promote health equity at the individual through systemic levels. The textbook also maps the content to the AACN New Essentials for Baccalaureate Nursing Education.
Felisa Smith, Gretchen Wiersma, Jamela M. Martin, Judith Rogers Fruiterman, Roy Brown,
eep is undoubtedly one of the most intricate and abstruse issues in humans. Disturbances of sleep are widespread and can have a great impact on involved individuals as well as an economic influence on society. The COVID-19 pandemic forced predominant changes in recent years, such as the development of wearable devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) in telehealth. These are helpful for disease evaluation and treatment, however, they may not be adequate for dealing with the complexity of sleep medicine.
Methods of Teaching Agriculture - Third edition
Providing a clear and concise framework for teaching and problem solving in agricultural education, Methods of Teaching Agriculture, third edition is a necessary text for any teaching methods course. It includes a comprehensive examination of theory and research in guiding principles for how students learn best. Numerous illustrations and graphs clarify all concepts discussed within the text. Methods of Teaching Agriculture, third edition is a republished work. This text was originally published by Pearson Prentice Hall in 2004 (ISBN 0131134183). Rights to the book have been reverted to the authors. The book was reformatted and republished in its entirety in 2025.
L. H. Newcomb, J. David McCracken, J. Robert Warmbrod (1929-2022), M. Susie Whittington,
Linear Algebra Done Right - Fourth Edition
Now available in Open Access, this best-selling textbook for a second course in linear algebra is aimed at undergraduate math majors and graduate students. The fourth edition gives an expanded treatment of the singular value decomposition and its consequences. It includes a new chapter on multilinear algebra, treating bilinear forms, quadratic forms, tensor products, and an approach to determinants via alternating multilinear forms. This new edition also increases the use of the minimal polynomial to provide cleaner proofs of multiple results. Also, over 250 new exercises have been added.
This textbook focuses on writing and digital media. Increasingly, writing is published on digital platforms like social media, websites, and blogs, and this online writing performs a variety of personal, professional, academic, and civic functions. The textbook discusses these functions from a critical and rhetorical perspective and provides practical skills and strategies that students can put into practice in their own digital writing.
This Introduction to Philosophy: An Anthology is a collection of essential readings from a wide variety of contemporary writers and philosophers designed to help students unfamiliar with philosophy understand that they know more than they think. This OER asks students to think about how they think and how they know what they know. Students will start by challenging assumptions and flexing those critical thinking skills we all have—not just in an abstract way but in a practical, everyday way. Students will explore the branches of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics.
Human Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory Manual: Understanding How Structure Determines Function
This lab manual introduces students to Human Anatomy and Physiology concepts. The laboratory exercises contain applied activities and experiments to help students visualize anatomical structures and relate them to specific functions and the complex physiological events that allow us to maintain homeostasis.
This book has three sections that discuss selected topics on foreign bodies in the ear, nose, and aerodigestive tract in children and adults, which may be organic or inorganic, highlighting recent updates in diagnosis, complications, and management. Organic foreign bodies, unlike inorganic or inert ones, present early due to the more inflammatory response at the site of impaction. For the aerodigestive foreign bodies, the cricopharyngeus is the narrowest part of the airway among the pediatric group with high risks of airway foreign body impaction.
Rational Use of Intravenous Fluids in Critically Ill Patients
This open access book, published by Springer under the Open Access CC BY 4.0 Licence in collaboration with the International Fluid Academy (IFA, www.fluidacademy.org), explores rationalized intravenous fluid therapy for critically ill patients. Despite being commonly prescribed in inpatient settings, intravenous fluids are often administered without evidence-based guidelines, neglecting essential considerations such as the fact they are drugs, that need proper dosing, duration, indications, contraindications, side effects, and de-escalation.
Manu L.N.G Malbrain. (editor) Adrian Wong (editor)
This book highlights heat-related illness, and its better management and prevention. Medicine is a continuously advancing and progressive science, and healthcare providers constantly enhance their knowledge and develop their clinical management skills.
The book Advances in Hematologic Malignancies presents new knowledge of cellular disease processes, molecular pathology, and cytogenetic, epigenetic, and genomic changes that have influenced the current outlook toward hematological malignancies.
Burnout is a relatively common yet poorly understood phenomenon that often results from relentlessly giving of oneself in the service of others. It has also been known to occur in non-human service work. When this giving of oneself becomes excessive, dysfunctional consequences can develop, such as emotional exhaustion, cynicism, depression, and withdrawal. A range of physical consequences can also develop, including high blood pressure, immune system depletion, and a wide range of physical ailments. This book details our evolving knowledge of burnout syndrome and addresses a variety of proposed interventions.
Chapter 1 Posthuman Feminism as a Theoretical and Methodological Approach to International Law
Jurisprudence Environment law International law
Assembling a series of voices from across the field, this book demonstrates how posthuman theory can be employed to better understand and tackle some of the challenges faced by contemporary international law. With the vast environmental devastation being caused by climate change, the increasing use of artificial intelligence by international legal actors and the need for international law to face up to its colonial past, international law needs to change.
From Theory of Knowledge Management to Practice
From Theory of Knowledge Management to Practice is a collaborative compilation featuring contributions from various authors. The book amalgamates analytical principles with the practical aspects of knowledge management in the business realm. Its unique contribution lies in bridging the gap between engineering/technology disciplines and the organizational, administrative, and planning dimensions of knowledge management.
Fausto Pedro García Márquez (editor) René Sánchez Loja, (editor)
This open access book provides a unique perspective on the relationship between immigration, culture, and health. It presents a cross-cultural perspective between culture and illness. It touches upon identity struggles, the notion of not feeling “safe, understood, accepted,” and its relation to Arab American health.
In the technological tide of the 21st century, acoustics—a discipline steeped in history yet bursting with vitality—is advancing at an unprecedented clip, showcasing the immense potential for application across various fields. The book Acoustical Engineering - The Intricate World of Sound Technology reviews and offers an in-depth analysis of the latest research breakthroughs and technological advancements in acoustic engineering over the past few years.
Development of a System for Fast Identification and Characterization of Biological Cells
Bio Impedance Spectroscopy (BIS) consists in the application of a small frequency variable electrical signal to a biological material and measuring its response. This research explores BIS applied to cancer and healthy cells and tissues, with the objective to try to distinguish them and also to explore differences between metastatic and non-metastatic cancers.
Veterinary Medical Education: Challenges and Perspectives
Veterinarians are valued and respected professional figures. Veterinary research transcends species boundaries and includes the study of both spontaneously occurring and experimentally induced models of both human and animal diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the One Health program, and this adaptive and responsive approach should be implemented in veterinary medical education.
Simona Sacchini (editor) Ayoze Castro Alonso
This Open Access book examines the link between intercultural competence (IC) and pragmatics by asking frontline modern foreign language teachers in higher education teaching a variety of languages (e.g., Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish) how they conceptualise intercultural competence and which skills, competences and knowledge they consider important in their teaching contexts.
This book includes eight chapters that focus on various important aspects of dental prosthetics and implantology, such as modern materials choices, prosthetic management of teeth malposition, and novel approaches to restoration design.
Lavinia Cosmina Ardelean (editor) Laura Cristina Rusu (editor)
This open access book presents technologies and methods of lightweight system design to support future low-emission aviation in achieving climate targets. It will be shown how reduction of weight and aerodynamic drag affects the energy consumption of commercial aircraft and what characterizes lightweight system design.
Second Language Acquisition - Learning Theories and Recent Approaches will aim to present the process of learning an additional language apart from one’s native language. The process of understanding, writing, and speaking another language with fluency involves complex intellectual and emotional responses as well as continuous information processing abilities. A variety of perspectives is needed in order for learning to take place.
Antimicrobial Use across Different Healthcare Settings, Countries and Specific Populations
Antimicrobial use is one of the main drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a crisis threatening modern medicine. To combat and reverse AMR, finding determinants of resistance development/antibiotic use, identifying the target points of interventions, and implementing antibiotic stewardship measures are crucial. This Special Issue disseminates a wide variety of research conducted by various study designs and diverse settings and populations.
Gyöngyvér Soós (editor) Ria Benkő (editor)
Advances in Plant Reproductive Ecology and Conservation Biology
New advances and research in plant reproductive ecology continue to provide key insights into common and rare plant species. Similarly, the emerging technologies, techniques, and tools in data collection and analyses continue to advance the fields of plant conservation biology and plant reproductive ecology, allowing for discoveries and interpretations that were not feasible at the beginning of the century.
Brenda Molano-Flores (editor) James Cohen (editor)
COVID-19 Pandemic as a Catalyst for Change – Consumer's Perspective
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered the functioning of modern societies and economies, causing a global crisis on an unprecedented scale. This book considers whether the end of the pandemic has marked a new beginning or a return to the pre-pandemic reality. It identifies diverse changes in consumer and organizational behavior during the pandemic, discussing both the negative and positive influences of the pandemic on consumers.
Barbara Kucharska Grzegorz Maciejewski et.al
A panoramic view of the evolution of life on our planet, from its origins to humanity's future.In A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds, Francisco Aboitiz provides a brief history of life, the brain, and cognition, from the earliest living beings to our own species. The author proceeds from the basic premise that, since evolution by natural selection is the process underlying the origin of life and its evolution on earth, the brain—and thus our minds—must also be the result of biological evolution.
This open access book is dedicated to exploring methods and charting the course for enhancing engineering education in and beyond 2023. It delves into the idea that education, coupled with social connections, is indispensable for a more profound comprehension of the world and the creation of an improved quality of life. The book serves as a conduit for incorporating complex problem-solving into engineering education across various formats. It offers a structured approach for tackling complex issues, comparing an array of techniques for managing complexity within the realm of engineering education.
Nursing - Trends and Developments brings together different, innovative, and challenging perspectives on the future of nursing. It includes eleven chapters that discuss innovation and technology, teaching and learning, and trends and development in nursing.
A comprehensive theoretical and practical guide to the operating principles of knowledge auditing, illustrated with numerous case studies.A knowledge audit provides an “at a glance” view of an organization's needs and opportunities. Its purpose is to improve an organization's effectiveness through a better understanding of the dynamics and levers of knowledge production, access, and use. However, this developing field is hampered by the lack of a common language about the origins and nature of knowledge auditing.
Business Knowledge management Education
In an era of rapid change and increasing societal demands, the role of universities as knowledge producers and catalysts for change has come under scrutiny. This open access book offers a fresh perspective on the significance of universities in society, shedding light on how their knowledge can truly matter beyond academia.
In this rapidly evolving era, grasping the intricacies of corporate governance is essential for organizations aiming to secure a sustainable competitive edge. This book provides an extensive overview of the multifaceted aspects of governance, including ethical considerations, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, and stakeholder engagement, offering a critical examination of both established practices and innovative strategies within diverse organizational contexts.
Women’s Health Problems - A Global Perspective demonstrates the outcome of a considerable evolutionary search for the improved human condition. This edited volume thoroughly examines fundamental aspects of women`s health focusing on environmental, social, and age factors. Esteemed contributors from various disciplines present critical analyses and evidence-based insights on topics such as reproductive and sexual health, menstruation, women’s and maternal diseases, healthcare access, gender-based violence, and systemic inequalities.
Despite enormous technical and scientific advances in medicine, neglected tropical diseases continue to be a major challenge in many regions of the world. As a result, the health systems of developing countries are overwhelmed by a double burden of disease, one represented by common health problems and another represented by these diseases.
The current book, Global Health Security - Contemporary Considerations and Developments, represents a collective work of multiple authors from around the world, with an ultimate goal of providing the reader with a comprehensive exploration of critical issues shaping modern global health security, especially in the post-COVID-19 reality of today.
Allincia Michaud (editor) Stanislaw P. Stawicki (editor)
Ensuring the delivery of quality, accessible, affordable, and safe healthcare presents an ongoing complex challenge crucial to the progression and advancement of modern healthcare systems. In addition to providing the highest quality health care to patients, healthcare leadership and systems must also provide for the safety and security of healthcare providers throughout the entire, complex healthcare conglomerate, including pre-hospital providers, pharmacists, patient care technicians, radiological technicians, nurses, physical therapists, physician extenders, and physicians.
Philip N. Salen (editor) Stanislaw P. Stawicki (editor)
Over the past many years, new and novel antibiotics have been developed against resistant bacterial species, but their increased clinical usage has led to reduced bacterial susceptibility and increased bacterial resistance to these novel agents. When a new antibiotic is developed, bacterial species initially show susceptibility to the agent, but with the passage of time, as the use of the antibiotic increases, the bacterial species acquire resistance against the drug or even the drug class.
This book discusses existing and future trends concerning the development of migratory policies between local and global levels, to understand the challenges and gaps in the protection of migrants. The collection explores international migration and its impact on sovereignty, international cooperation, security, and human rights.
Angela Di Stasi (editor) Ida Caracciolo (editor)
Children and mental health law; Decision-making capacity; Justice and mental health law; Mental health law; UN Convention on Rights of the person with disabilities; World Health Organization’s QualityRights Initiative; coercion; forensic psychiatry and criminal law; gender and mental health law; human rights; involuntary psychiatric treatment; mental health and criminal law; older adults and mental health law
Brendan D. Kelly (editor) Mary Donelly (editor)
Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing in International Law
equity international environmental law international human rights law
Fair and equitable benefit-sharing is a diffuse legal phenomenon in international law that remains perplexing with regard to its general nature, extent, content, and implications. The continued proliferation of benefit-sharing clauses in international law can in effect be explained by its intuitive appeal as an optimistic frame.
Proportionality is a ubiquitous concept in law. While mostly associated with fundamental rights review, it also plays an important role in private law. In this context, proportionality requirements can be the result of both traditional private law reasoning and the influence of constitutional law. The present volume aims to explore different forms and functions of proportionality in selected private law contexts and jurisdictions.
New Materialist Explorations into Language Education
This open access book analyzes language education through a socio-material framework. The authors revisit their position as researchers by decentering themselves and humans in general from the main focus of research activities and giving way to the materialities that are agentive but often overlooked parts of our research contexts and processes.
Johanna Ennser Kananen (editor) Taina Saarinen
Language teaching and learning cultural history
This intellectual history of Standard Swahili explores the long-term, intertwined processes of standard making and community creation in the historical, political, and cultural contexts of East Africa and beyond. Morgan J. Robinson argues that the portability of Standard Swahili has contributed to its wide use not only across the African continent but also around the globe. The book pivots on the question of whether standardized versions of African languages have empowered or oppressed.
Compliance and Initiative in the Production of Safety
This open access book addresses the idea that there are two ways to go about achieving a safe working environment. The text challenges the prevailing notion that compliance with a rule system, imposed from the top of an organization and designed to anticipate possible hazards in system operation, is really incompatible with the idea that the professional expertise of front-line workers is what promotes safe outcomes despite inevitable unanticipated perturbations.
Le Coze Jean Christophe (editor) Benoît Journé (editor)
Women's Empowerment and Public Policy in the Arab Gulf States
This open access book explores the various dimensions of women’s empowerment in public policy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with a particular focus on Qatar, comparing the country to the other Gulf states. Through its rich compilation of empirical qualitative research, the text unpacks the various ways in which women’s empowerment materializes in the GCC context, providing insights into public policy perspectives in high-income rentier states more broadly.
This open access book examines the chronic underperformance of economies with respect to inclusion, sustainability and resilience. It finds that the standard liberal economic growth and development model has evolved over the past century in a fundamentally unbalanced manner that underemphasizes the crucial role of institutions – legal norms, policy incentives and public administrative capacities – in translating market-based growth in the production of goods and services into broad and sustainable gains in social welfare at the household level.
Evaluating Sustainable Food System Innovations
This book presents Urbal, an approach that applies impact pathway mapping to understand how food system innovations in cities, and their territories, change and impact food system sustainability. Around the world, people are finding innovative ways to make their food systems more sustainable. However, documenting and understanding how these innovations impact the sustainability of food system can be a challenge.
Élodie Valette (editor) Alison Blay-Palmer (editor) et.al
When describing the legal systems and laws of today’s Muslim-majority states in the Middle Eastern and North African region, two categories of laws are identified: one derived from Islamic and one from non-Islamic law. Following this notion, the literature finds that novel legal areas do not have any connection to Islamic law since they were not regulated by classical Islamic law.
This volume is a call to embrace the power of positionality, telling a new history of law and society through the experiences of successful scholars from populations that academia has historically marginalized. Experts record their positionalities across their research and document what they learned about the law in the process.
Lynette J. Chua (editor) Mark Fathi Massoud (editor)
Law and society Public international law
This open access book explores how legal proceedings in and out-of-court can be matched to the complex problems underlying disputes concerning child custody, residence and contact between parents. It focusses in particular on Nordic experiences of in and out-of-court mechanisms as means of resolving custody disputes.
Millets are a group of small-seeded grasses that have been grown as food sources for humans and animals since ancient times. These crops are highly nutritious and have a range of health benefits. They are also highly adaptable to different growing conditions, making them an important crop for farmers in arid and drought-prone regions.
The following research articles provides insights into advanced fruit preservation and quality enhancement techniques. Mango Quality Enhancement: Studies show that treatments incorporating 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and melatonin significantly improve mango appearance, sugar content, and antioxidant activities, highlighting their potential to extend shelf life. Modified Atmosphere Packaging for Fresh-Cut Melons: Research demonstrates the effectiveness of passive modified atmospheres in extending the freshness of fresh-cut melons, especially non-climacteric types, by adjusting packaging perforation levels.
Yoshihiro Imahori (editor) Jinhe Bai (editor)
Corn Rootworm: Biology, Ecology, Behavior and Integrated Management
Mathematics and Science Biology, life sciences Agriculture and farming
Species of the beetle genus Diabrotica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are native to North and South America, with their greatest diversity occurring in neotropical areas. Little is known about the biology and ecology of many of the 400 described species, with current knowledge primarily limited to the small number of species that are pests in agricultural systems.
Lance J. Meinke (editor) Joseph L. Spencer (editor)
This edited volume Irrigation Systems and Applications will introduce the reader to new irrigation technology and its diverse applications in modern farming. This work is organized into two distinct sections on 'Irrigation Systems” and 'Irrigation Applications” each offering a unique view into the potential of smart farming practices. From the deployment of hybrid energy-powered systems for smallholder farmers to the revolutionary impact of advanced micro-irrigation techniques, this book presents the reader with the latest trends and innovations in sustainable agriculture.
Join the exciting world of functional foods with Functional Food - Upgrading Natural and Synthetic Sources. Exploring the link between diet and metabolic syndrome with attention to diets from Ibero-American countries this publication provides an overview of dietary patterns, components in functional foods, bioactive food compounds related to inflammation as well as clinical nutrition for specific health issues.
Ana Novo Barros (editor) Joana Campos (editor)
Given the current research direction toward ubiquitous information sharing and digitalization, the huge amount of documents in the world’s largest libraries and archives are stored as digital data in big data centers, including those of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, IBM, and others. The recent advancements in the fast Internet, smart computing, information technologies, and management information systems created a platform for ultra-smart cyberspace and cyber automation driven by digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), and ultra-smart humanoid robotics.
Advanced Virtual Assistants - A Window to the Virtual Future
Advanced Virtual Assistants (AVAs) are computer programs that use artificial intelligence (AI) to perform various tasks for human users. These AI-powered assistants can help with multiple activities, including scheduling appointments, answering questions, managing email and social media, and even performing complex calculations.
The GLAM-E Lab is a joint initiative between the Centre for Science, Culture and the Law at the University of Exeter and the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at NYU Law to work with smaller and less well-resourced UK and US cultural institutions and community organizations to build open access capacity and expertise.
Mathilde Pavis, Co-Director Andrea Wallace Co-Director Michael Weinberg, Co-Director
This textbook and OER material cover tools and basic knowledge required to prepare transportation engineers and planners to contribute towards a carbon-neutral mobility future. In addition, we will explore the potential for vehicle electrification, automation, connectivity, and ridesharing to reduce the carbon impacts of auto mobility. The textbook modules are intended to inform and teach students how to design streets for modes that have almost no carbon emissions. The goal of the textbook is to train engineering students on existing tools and policy levers that can be used to incorporate emerging transportation technologies in a sustainable, equitable, and efficient manner. The course is designed for graduate transportation engineering, and city and regional planning students.
This textbook equips advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the knowledge, skills, and multidisciplinary perspectives needed to understand how sustainable mobility and infrastructure can support climate change mitigation and transportation equity for low-income commuters. The textbook is organized into three sections: Sustainability, Transportation Equity, and Planning. Case Studies and Lessons from the North and South. Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Cities, and Mobility. It includes eleven chapters, each featuring discussion questions, reading materials, and in-class exercises designed to help students develop a research paper on transportation.
Ariadna Reyes, Soheil Sharif-Asl, Ladan Mozaffarian,
The Mass Media Landscape is a compilation of lessons to help audiences understand the evolution of U.S. mass media and disruptive media technologies. It includes overviews of media law, media ethics and media literacy. Chapters contain interactive exercises, review quizzes, writing assignments, and multimedia content. Following are four points of emphasis: Media literacy extends beyond the ability to identify misinformation and disinformation or follow reliable news sources.
Dave Bostwick, Alyssa Riley, Dominique M.
Optimizing Population Health: Strategies for Advanced Level Nurses
This resource provides an overview of population health concepts along with health promotion strategies utilized by advanced practice nurses. Resources are intended to be exemplary, but not exhaustive and introduce the reader to strategies that can be practiced while in graduate school as well as in healthcare settings.
This open textbook presents a contemporary overview of Value-based Healthcare: a healthcare delivery and reimbursement model that focuses on achieving the best possible health outcomes for patients while controlling costs. It represents a shift of focus from quantity to quality, and aims to align incentives to bring together the interests of patients, healthcare providers, and payers. The resource covers core content in the following topics: an introduction to value based healthcare, funding models, leadership and governance, models of care, shared decision making models, case studies, global perspectives, resources management and cost control.
This book presents the original works of Environmental Justice students from Linn-Benton Community College. Students select and design projects based on their experiences and interests to contribute to this living anthology each term. The goal of this publication is to increase the impact of student scholarship, research, creativity, and activism to work for environmental and social justice in our communities. These openly-licensed works span multiple formats and genres based on student interest.
Annals of Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics 2021
This Open Access proceedings presents a good overview of the current research landscape of assembly, handling and industrial robotics. The objective of MHI Colloquium is the successful networking at both academic and management level. Thereby, the colloquium focuses an academic exchange at a high level in order to distribute the obtained research results, to determine synergy effects and trends, to connect the actors in person and in conclusion, to strengthen the research field as well as the MHI community. In addition, there is the possibility to become acquatined with the organizing institute. Primary audience is formed by members of the scientific society for assembly, handling and industrial robotics (WGMHI).
Schüppstuhl, Thorsten (editor), Tracht, Kirsten (editor), Raatz, Annika (editor)
Annals of Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics 2022
Schüppstuhl, Thorsten (editor), Tracht, Kirsten (editor),Fleischer, Jürgen (editor)
Alternating Current Field Measurement Technique for Detection and Measurement of Cracks in Structures
This open access book serves as a comprehensive exploration of Alternating Current Field Measurement (ACFM), encompassing the foundational theory crucial for subsequent chapters, as well as the design and testing of ACFM probes, instruments, and software. Providing guidance and serving as a reference for ACFM instrument development, the text delves into visualization research in ACFM, offering valuable insights for technical engineering applications. Nondestructive testing (NDT) emerges as a pivotal method for detecting and assessing defects, offering support for safety pre-warning and maintenance decisions in industrial structures.
AI, Data, and Digitalization : First International Symposium, SAIDD 2023, Sogndal, Norway, May 9–10, 2023, Revised Selected Papers
This open access book constitutes the revised selected papers of the First International Symposium on AI, Data and Digitalization, SAIDD 2023, held in Sogndal, Norway, during May 9–10, 2023. The 13 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 42 submissions. The papers deal with the impact of data and AI on the digital revolution and their contribution to solving societal challenges.
AI in Drug Discovery : First International Workshop, AIDD 2024, Held in Conjunction with ICANN 2024, Lugano, Switzerland, September 19, 2024, Proceedings
This open Access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Workshop on AI in Drug Discovery, AIDD 2024, held as a part of the 33rd International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, ICANN 2024, in Lugano, Switzerland, on September 19, 2024. The 12 papers presented here were carefully reviewed and selected for these open access proceedings. These papers focus on various aspects of the rapidly evolving field of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery in chemistry, including Big Data and advanced Machine Learning, eXplainable AI (XAI), Chemoinformatics, Use of deep learning to predict molecular properties, Modeling and prediction of chemical reaction data and Generative models.
Advances in Cultural Tourism Research : Proceedings of the International Conference on Cultural Tourism Advances, June 2023, Belgium
Neuts, Bart (editor), Martins, João (editor), Ioannides, Marinos (editor)
This open access book addresses the gap in existing knowledge on cultural heritage from a circular economy and sustainable development perspective for cities. It introduces innovative economic, environmental and governance models and evaluation tools tested and validated for adaptive reuse within the “CLIC - Circular models Leveraging Investments in Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse” project funded by the European Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Action Program. The CLIC project is a trans-disciplinary research project bringing together expertise from disciplines such as heritage studies, regeneration and urban development, business management, economics, ecology and social sciences. The research covered in this book, responds to the European Societal Challenge 5 'Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials', aimed at achieving resource efficient and climate change resilient economy and society through systemic innovation.
Fusco Girard, Luigi (editor), Gravagnuolo, Antonia (editor)
A New Gender Equality Contract for Europe
This open access book, supported by FEPS and Fondation Jean-Jaurès, centres on the work of contemporary progressive feminist thinkers and the idea that there is no democracy without gender equality. The authors develop the concept of a feminism that works for everyone – regardless of their gender, social or cultural identity – in the context of EU policy. The book features gender experts with multidisciplinary backgrounds from across Europe, providing a comprehensive exploration of efforts to move away from “gender backlash” rhetoric and towards a new gender contract for a fairer, more equal European Union.
Pető, Andrea (editor), Thissen, Laeticia (editor), Clavaud, Amandine (editor)
This book focuses on genomics and plant biotechnology approaches used in plant breeding, the analysis of genomic data, and their application in quality control measures. The application of alternative genomic technologies to enhance conventional breeding strategies is also presented.
This volume focuses on the constitutional doctrine and law in the areas of civil rights and liberties. It contains excerpts of landmark cases covering the first amendment, second amendment, fourteenth amendment and the right to privacy. The excerpts include the constitutional issues in these cases that are related to civil rights and liberties with other questions of law and dicta omitted. Data dashboard
Becoming a climate conscious lawyer: Climate change and the Australian legal system
Overview: As the world grapples with the escalating challenges of climate change, the legal profession finds itself at a crossroads. Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate and the Australian Legal System provides an original, innovative, and accessible analysis of the impact of climate change on legal doctrines and principles. It offers an overview of cutting-edge developments and how the transition to a low-carbon society is reshaping a wide range of laws, from corporate to criminal law, and beyond.
CU Write - The Cameron Composition Textbook
English Language Arts Language Grammar and Vocabulary
Textbook for English Composition courses at Cameron University, including for Developmental Writing, Supplemental Writing Instruction, English Composition I, and English Composition II. Material covers basic writing skills and conventions of academic writing, as well as specific sections devoted to the major assignments in CU composition curriculum: narrative essays, critical thinking, rhetorical analysis, research and argumentation, and reflective writing. Includes student examples by winners of the CU Write essay contests.
The authors of ‘Trauma Informed Behavior Support’, Dr Kay Ayre and Dr Govind Krishnamoorthy, speak with interdisciplinary experts from education and mental health about trauma informed education and practical strategies to support students.
Dayna Schimke Govind Krishnamoorthy Kay Ayre
Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Educational Resources (OER)
This practical guide provides a framework and tips to enhance inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in Open Educational Resources.
This remixed Open Educational Resource textbook provides an exploration of educational learning theories. The chapters include scenarios that center the learning theories on student experiences.
Jennifer Margolis, Sam May-Varas, Tanya Mead
Natural-Hazards Risk Assessment for Disaster Mitigation
Technology: general issues History of engineering and technology Natural disasters
Knowledge and awareness of the risks generated by natural hazards are essential requirements for the enhancement of communities' resilience to disasters. United Nations directives have recently pointed out the necessity of undertaking actions aimed at anticipating, managing, and mitigating disaster risks to reduce their economic and social impact and protect the health, socioeconomic assets, cultural heritage, and ecosystems of communities and countries. While the increasing occurrence of disasters caused by meteorological events, such as floods, storms, and droughts, can be directly ascribed to the consequence of climate change, disasters induced by earthquakes and tsunamis are increasing even if their frequency of occurrence is historically unchanged.
Designing Knowledge Economies for Disaster Resilience
Science Global Warming & Climate Change Natural Disasters Social Science
Disaster research has been studied from many angles, seldom targeting its implications for vulnerable territories in Africa. Entities most subject to the effects of climate change are often undeveloped and located in disadvantaged regions. Post-disaster communities need to scrutinize the social, political, economic, and cultural structures that stagnate sustainable growth. Acknowledging that low economic development and high climate costs cannot coexist, this collected volume interrogates the challenge for disaster-prone territories to determine strategies for restructuring and redesigning their environment. This book proposes the creation of knowledge economies, whereby empowered communities may produce innovative knowledge translatable across the African diaspora.
Literary Collections; European; German; Literary Collections; Medieval
Die vorliegende Studie gilt dem poetischen Prinzip der Kürzung, das zu einem Kernelement literarischer Praxis schlechthin gehört. Sie bietet erstmals eine gattungsspezifische Bestimmung einer historischen Abbreviationspoetik, wie sie sich in Kurzfassungen mittelhochdeutscher Epen konstituiert. Ausgehend von einem zeitlichen Spektrum vom 12. bis zum 15. Jahrhundert und anhand modellhafter Konstellationen wird ein für das Verfahren der Kürzung systematisches Profil erarbeitet.
Ökologische Transformation von Gesellschaft und Recht
Jurisprudence and general issues Methods, theory and philosophy of law Law and society, sociology of law Law and society, gender issues Legal ethics and professional conduct Law: Human rights and civil liberties Constitutional and administrative law: general Animal law Environment law
Der gegenwärtige Klimawandel ist menschengemacht. Bei allem Erschrecken darüber birgt diese Erkenntnis jedoch den Ansatz zur Bewältigung der Krise: Was von Menschen gemacht ist, kann der Mensch auch ändern. Die Ursachen des Klimawandels sind eng verknüpft mit dem Ressourcenverbrauch einer einseitig wachstumsorientierten Wirtschaftsweise und der ihr korrespondierenden gesellschaftlichen Mentalität. Sie fordern uns heraus, die Strukturen, die unserer Rechtsordnung zu Grunde liegen, neu zu denken. "Climate Justice" lässt sich aus verschiedenen Perspektiven angehen. In unserer Gesellschaft dominiert eine anthropozentrische Sichtweise, der sich in verschiedenen Spielarten physiozentrische Positionen entgegen stellen.
A Comprehensive Survey of Rock Art in Upper Tibet
Archaeology Anthropology History of art / art & design styles
Focusing on the central and western parts of the region, this is the second in a series of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau. The pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings), host sites, and descriptions and analyses presented are the direct result of intensive fieldwork conducted by the author in Upper Tibet between 1995 and 2016.
Botany and plant sciences Agricultural science
This open access book is an update of genome editing techniques applied to a range of plants. We discuss the latest techniques and applications to cereals, roots and tubers, oilseed crops, fruit and forest trees, vegetables, legumes and algae including resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, improved quality, drug production, yield and adaptation to climate change.
Ricroch, Agnès, Eriksson, Dennis, Miladinović, Dragana, Sweet, Jeremy, Van Laere, Katrijn, Woźniak-Gientka, Ewa (editor)
Evolving the common agricultural policy for tomorrow's challenges
Environmental policy and protocols Agricultural law
As in other parts of the world, agriculture in Europe is not sustainable. It must urgently and importantly evolve. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) must foster this evolution. In that perspective, this book draws the contours of an ambitious CAP that would facilitate the necessary agro-ecological transition of agricultural systems in the European Union. The book is divided into three parts. The economic aspects are the subject of the first part. The climate, environmental and health dimensions are addressed in the second part. The third part deals with rural development and innovation. With the exception of the first chapter, which provides a brief history of the CAP, the different chapters are organized according to the same structure. They begin with a description of the issue; they continue with a critical presentation of how the issue has been considered within the CAP to date and, if relevant, in other public policies; they finally propose policy recommendations to better address the issue. Each chapter can be read independently.
Mauguin, Philippe, Détang-Dessendre, Cécile Guyomard, Hervé (editor)
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 1.6 million people will be diagnosed with cancer during this year. Outcomes have steadily risen over the last several decades with the advent of newer therapies. As outcomes have improved, more and more cancer patients are developing critical illness. In the not-too-distant past, patients with active malignancy were thought not appropriate for critical care services as decreased longevity related to the cancer suggested poor prognosis for intensive care utilization. More recently, evidence supports rapid activation of critical care services leading to improved outcomes in cancer patients. Moreover, just as sub-subspecialty critical care experience in trauma and neurosciences has proved beneficial, the emerging field of oncology critical care warrants specific attention.
This book highlights heat-related illness, and its better management and prevention. Medicine is a continuously advancing and progressive science, and healthcare providers constantly enhance their knowledge and develop their clinical management skills. Written by leading and experienced authors, the book addresses the need for a ready reference for emergency and acute care physicians, surgeons, and anesthesiologists, as well as intensive care teams. This book is written in a simplified, understandable language and hence is an equally useful resource for medical and paramedical healthcare providers.
Effective airway management is a cornerstone of emergency medicine, and timely intervention can be lifesaving. Healthcare providers must be prepared to assess, intervene, and manage the airway efficiently in a variety of emergency situations to optimize patient outcomes. This book provides valuable information about emergency airway management.
Aslanidis, Theodoros (editor), Darcy Alves Bersot, Carlos (editor)
The world is currently experiencing the advent of new information technologies with dynamic changes, which can be considered as one of the greatest business threats today. Accordingly, international business and academia have claimed to be working towards developing innovations in accounting and finance that are useful for all stakeholders. The recent accounting and finance scholarship has moved forward toward new innovations that advance professional practice. This book introduces and discusses new innovations in accounting and finance, including management accounting, blockchain, E-business models, data analytics, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, bitcoin, digital assets, and associated risks.
Mechanisms of soil organic carbon sequestration and implications for management
Organic carbon sequestration is delineated from the different mechanisms underlying the storage of organic matter in mineral soils. The scene is set with definitions of the major terms within the complex of organic matter formation in soils, followed by describing the types of organic matter entering the soil and the major processes during turnover and the protective mechanisms leading to organic matter storage in soils. Detritusphere and rhizosphere are identified as soil compartments with high and specific organic matter input. From the process complex of OM degradation and binding, the potential of different soils for sequestering organic carbon is delineated and its limitations discussed with regard to the possibility of C saturation of mineral soils. In the light of these considerations, soil management options are deduced either by increasing organic carbon inputs to the soil by improved land use/management practices or by decreasing organic carbon outputs.
Kӧgel-Knabner, Ingrid ,- Wiesmeier, Martin, -Mayer, Stefanie
Management of organic soils to reduce soil organic carbon losses
Organic soils of intact peatlands store 1/4 of the global soil organic carbon (SOC). Despite being an important source of methane (CH4), they are climate coolers because they continuously accumulate new organic carbon. However, when these organic soils are drained for agriculture, the resulting aerobic conditions lead to fast decomposition of the peat and the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O), turning them into net greenhouse gas (GHG) sources. Reducing the environmental footprint of managing these soils requires a good understanding of the processes during drainage of formerly anoxic soil horizons and eventual subsequent rewetting. We describe changes in soil properties and carbon dynamics following drainage of peatlands and discuss management strategies to reduce carbon loss from drained peatlands by raising the water table to either restore the peatland ecosystem, or to cultivate water-tolerant crops. In addition to rewetting, engineering approaches with continuous management at deeper water tables are evaluated in terms of SOC loss.
This book describes some recent advances in rice research in terms of crop breeding and improvement (Section 1), crop production and protection (Section 2), and crop quality control and food processing (Section 3). It contains fourteen chapters that cover such topics as two-line rice breeding in India, the different aspects of aromatic rice, bacterial diseases of rice, quality control and breeding strategies, and much more. This volume is a useful reference for professionals and graduate students working in all areas of rice science and technology.
In the early 20th century, coffee wilt disease (CWD) caused by the vascular wilt pathogen, Fusarium xylarioides, spread across Africa destroying coffee trees, reducing yields and significantly impacting producer livelihoods. Through systematic sanitation and establishment of breeding programmes in affected countries, CWD appeared to decline. However, the disease re-emerged and increased to epidemic proportions in the 1990s affecting robusta coffee in DRC, Uganda and Tanzania and arabica coffee in Ethiopia. In 1999, 14.5 million robusta coffee trees were estimated to have been destroyed in Uganda alone. This chapter discusses the history, impact, symptoms, cause and spread of CWD. A summary of the Regional Coffee Wilt Programme (RCWP) which examined many aspects of the disease and its management is also provided. Future research trends include host specificity, underlying resistance mechanisms and the role of alternative hosts. Investigation of pathogen ecology is needed to allow greater focus on agroecological management practices.
Organic soils of intact peatlands store 1/4 of the global soil organic carbon (SOC). Despite being an important source of methane (CH4), they are climate coolers because they continuously accumulate new organic carbon. However, when these organic soils are drained for agriculture, the resulting aerobic conditions lead to fast decomposition of the peat and the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O), turning them into net greenhouse gas (GHG) sources. Reducing the environmental footprint of managing these soils requires a good understanding of the processes during drainage of formerly anoxic soil horizons and eventual subsequent rewetting.
This edited volume Irrigation Systems and Applications will introduce the reader to new irrigation technology and its diverse applications in modern farming. This work is organized into two distinct sections on 'Irrigation Systems” and 'Irrigation Applications” each offering a unique view into the potential of smart farming practices. From the deployment of hybrid energy-powered systems for smallholder farmers to the revolutionary impact of advanced micro-irrigation techniques, this book presents the reader with the latest trends and innovations in sustainable agriculture. Explore the evolution of rice production in the face of climate change, the enhanced productivity achievable through hydroponics, and the application of geospatial techniques in agricultural resource management.
Sultan, Muhammad (editor), Imran, Muhammad (editor), Ahmad, Fiaz (editor)
Irrigation and Drainage : Recent Advances
Uneven distribution and depletion of good-quality water reserves significantly devastate the agriculture sector. In this scenario, water management as well as efficient irrigation and drainage strategies are primarily required to conserve water resources and enhance farm efficiency. Irrigation and Drainage – Recent Advances provides insights into irrigation methods, scheduling possibilities, and optimal irrigation frequencies. It also discusses management strategies including methods of groundwater recharging and rainwater harvesting, restoration, and modification of drainage networks for manifesting the cropping index. The book presents key aspects and examines the role of Agrovoltaic energy, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the development of smart irrigation systems for sustainable farming.
Sultan, Muhammad (editor), Ahmad, Fiaz (editor)
Intensive Animal Farming : A Cost-Effective Tactic
Livestock farming supports livelihood and provides food security. It is the fastest-growing sector of the agriculture economy. This book is about using modern technology to increase yields, income, and ultimately food security. It is organized into three sections on livestock and poultry farming, fish farming, and innovations and advances in technology.
Manzoor, Shumaila (editor), Abubakar, Muhammad (editor)
Food security and accessibility are being threatened by climate change, inadequate agricultural practices, and poor post-harvest techniques, among other factors. This book discusses sustainable approaches that can be utilized to ensure food security, such as fortification of bioactive components, genetic modification of food, and utilization of insects as food. It also describes practices to improve agricultural productivity and discusses the impact of natural disasters on food security.
Haseeb Ahmad, Muhammad (editor), Imran, Muhammad (editor), Kamran Khan, Muhammad (editor)
Best Crop Management and Processing Practices for Sustainable Cotton Production
Best Crop Management and Processing Practices for Sustainable Cotton Production presents current studies related to sustainable cotton production. It specifically addresses integrated pest management, natural coloured cotton production, water use efficiency, smart cotton precision farming schemes, and biotic and abiotic factors in cotton production. This book is a useful reference for students, teachers, professors, scientists and farmers working in all areas of cotton science and technology.
Gürsoy, Songül (editor), Akın, Songül (editor)
Understanding Acoustics : An Experimentalist’s View of Sound and Vibration
This open access textbook, like Rayleigh’s classic Theory of Sound, focuses on experiments and on approximation techniques rather than mathematical rigor. The second edition has benefited from comments and corrections provided by many acousticians, in particular those who have used the first edition in undergraduate and graduate courses. For example, phasor notation has been added to clearly distinguish complex variables, and there is a new section on radiation from an unbaffled piston. Drawing on over 40 years of teaching experience at UCLA, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Penn State, the author presents a uniform methodology, based on hydrodynamic fundamentals for analysis of lumped-element systems and wave propagation that can accommodate dissipative mechanisms and geometrically-complex media.
This book describes advances in the field of noise control. It includes six chapters that discuss different control techniques, EVAC systems, the effects of the pandemic on environmental noise, and more. Chapters present different situations and case studies to better elucidate noise control approaches and applications, including noise mapping and outdoor barriers.
Caniato, Marco (editor), Bettarello, Federica (editor)
Exploring Animal Behavior Through Sound: Volume 1 : Methods
This open-access book empowers its readers to explore the acoustic world of animals. By listening to the sounds of nature, we can study animal behavior, distribution, and demographics; their habitat characteristics and needs; and the effects of noise. Sound recording is an efficient and affordable tool, independent of daylight and weather; and recorders may be left in place for many months at a time, continuously collecting data on animals and their environment. This book builds the skills and knowledge necessary to collect and interpret acoustic data from terrestrial and marine environments. Beginning with a history of sound recording, the chapters provide an overview of off-the-shelf recording equipment and analysis tools (including automated signal detectors and statistical methods); audiometric methods; acoustic terminology, quantities, and units; sound propagation in air and under water; soundscapes of terrestrial and marine habitats; animal acoustic and vibrational communication; echolocation; and the effects of noise.
Erbe, Christine (editor), Thomas, Jeanette A. (editor)
Denoising - New Insights provides a comprehensive overview of signal and image denoising techniques. It also examines and compares the performance of several innovative denoising approaches involving the use of mathematical tools such as wavelets, deep learning, minimum mean square error, and more. This book is a useful resource for engineers and researchers in signal and image processing.
Aviation Noise Impact Management : Technologies, Regulations, and Societal Well-being in Europe
This open access book provides a view into the state-of-the-art research on aviation noise and related annoyance. The book will primarily focus on the achievements of the ANIMA project (Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches), but not exclusively. The content has a broader theme in order to encompass. regulation issues, the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) balanced approach, progresses made on technologies and reduction of noise at source, impact of possible future civil supersonic aircraft, land-use planning issues, as well as the core topics of the ANIMA project, i.e. impact on human beings, annoyance, quality of life, health and findings of the project in this respect. This book differs from traditional research programmes on aviation noise as the authors endeavour, not to lower noise at source, but to reduce the annoyance.
Leylekian, Laurent (editor), Covrig, Alexandra (editor), Maximova, Alena (editor)
This manual is a guide for anatomy and physiology laboratory exercises. It includes dissection guidance with detailed images; instructions for physiology experiments including foundational content; and gross anatomy study guides for six body systems. Videos and tutorial links provide additional support.
Genetics, Agriculture, and Biotechnology
This textbook provides an introduction to plant genetics and biotechnology for the advancement of agriculture. A clear and structured introduction to the topic for learners new to the field of genetics, the book includes: an introduction to the life cycle of the cell, DNA and how it relates to genes and chromosomes, DNA analysis, recombinant DNA, biotechnology, and transmission genetics.
Chromosomes, Genes, and Traits: An Introduction to Genetics
This resource is written for an introductory or intermediate-level college genetics course. The work begins with an exploration of DNA and genome structure, including landmark experiments that contributed to our early understanding of the relationship between DNA, genes, and traits. It continues with the central dogma of molecular genetics: the molecular mechanisms that allow cells to use the information stored in DNA. It also discusses the cause and effect of mutation. The molecular processes are then linked back to classical transmission genetics experiments.
Direct Energy Conversion discusses both the physics behind energy conversion processes and a wide variety of energy conversion devices. A direct energy conversion process converts one form of energy to another through a single process. The first half of this book surveys multiple devices that convert to or from electricity including piezoelectric devices, antennas, solar cells, light emitting diodes, lasers, thermoelectric devices, and batteries. In these chapters, physical effects are discussed, terminology used by engineers in the discipline is introduced, and insights into material selection is studied.
Electromagnetics, volume 2 by Steven W. Ellingson is a 216-page peer-reviewed open textbook designed especially for electrical engineering students in the third year of a bachelor of science degree program. It is intended as the primary textbook for the second semester of a two-semester undergraduate engineering electromagnetics sequence. The book addresses magnetic force and the Biot-Savart law; general and lossy media; parallel plate and rectangular waveguides; parallel wire, microstrip, and coaxial transmission lines; AC current flow and skin depth; reflection and transmission at planar boundaries; fields in parallel plate, parallel wire, and microstrip transmission lines; optical fiber; and radiation and antennas.
The Fundamentals of Healthcare Administration: Navigating Challenges and Coordinating Care
This book is written for those interested in acquiring a thorough knowledge base relative to the intricacies of the organizational theories, customs, and insights significant to the management of health service organizations. It examines the foundational aspects of leadership and management as they relate to establishing and maintaining the principles and practices within healthcare organizations. The book opens with a discussion on the differences between health, healthcare, and health care while providing an overview of healthcare management and organizational trends. It culminates in discussions of leadership, management, motivation, organizational behavior, and management thinking.
Whitney N. Hamilton, Dorothy J. Howell, Melissa Jordan
Learning from Arguments: An Introduction to Philosophy
Learning from Arguments is a novel approach to teaching Introduction to Philosophy. It advances accessible versions of key philosophical arguments, in a form that students can emulate in their own writing, and with the primary aim of cultivating an understanding of the dynamics of philosophical argumentation. The book contains ten core chapters, covering the problem of evil, Pascal’s wager, personal identity, the irrationality of fearing death, free will and determinism, Cartesian skepticism, the problem of induction, the problem of political authority, the violinist argument, the future-like-ours argument, the ethics of eating meat, utilitarianism (both act and rule), and the trolley problem.
Knowledge for Humans is a textbook aimed at introducing students to fundamental questions about knowledge and skepticism. Many topics often covered in epistemology textbooks are also covered here, such as radical Cartesian skepticism, phenomenalism, externalism, and naturalism. But the text also covers useful topics that are not usually included, such as the social conditions for knowledge, common fallacies, Bayesianism, the internet, conspiracy theories, and how we should go about arguing with one another. It’s written in an easy-going style with clear examples and funny diagrams.
Increasingly, the concept of marketing research is being replaced with the term ‘customer or consumer insights’. As decision-makers are bombarded with data, it is important to have an Insights Team or Department which can sift through it all and identify those nuggets of information that can meaningfully explain human behaviour. Such insights must translate into an informed business strategy for success. This book has been curated to ensure that the practice of data collection, analysis, and interpretation is presented from an industry perspective.
Aila Khan, Mohammad Munir Hossain, Sabreena Zoha Amin
Literary Studies for a Sustainable Future: An Introductory Course with Social Justice and Ecocriticism Intersections
Literary Studies for a Sustainable Future: An Introductory Course with Social Justice and Ecocriticism Intersections is a university literature textbook that offers a sampling of the vast array of storytelling and literary traditions from around the world. Led by course outcomes, the book’s readings, activities, and assignments aim to establish a 21st century framework. Novice literary scholars establish correlations between local and regional literature with those from distant lands on relevant concerns and topics, like those outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Culturally Responsive Computing: An Introduction into Computer Science, Security, and Technology
"Culturally Responsive Computing" is an essential textbook that explores the intricate relationship between technology and global societies. It gives students and professionals a deep understanding of how cultural contexts shape and are shaped by computing practices, from algorithm design to user interface development. This book equips readers with the knowledge and skills to create inclusive, ethical, and culturally sensitive technological solutions for our diverse world.
The Data Renaissance: Analyzing the Disciplinary Effects of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond
The Data Renaissance delves into the complexities of data's role in various industries and its broader impact on society. It highlights the challenges in investigating data practices, citing examples like TikTok, where algorithms and data handling are closely guarded secrets. The content, contributed by students under the guidance of an expert, covers a wide range of topics, including the ethical aspects of generative AI in education and the workplace, and case studies reflecting real-world experiences. This evolving text, intended to be updated with each class, serves as a dynamic resource for educators and students alike, offering insights and discussion guides for an in-depth understanding of the ever-changing landscape of data in our digital age.
Introduction to Communication and Media Studies
Introduction to Communication and Media Studies is an in-depth exploration of how communication shapes our world. This book traces the historical evolution of media, from the early days of the printing press to today’s digital age, examining key developments such as the telegraph, radio, television, and the internet. It also covers critical theories that explain media’s impact on society, including the effects of advertising, the role of public relations, and the emergence of social media as a powerful force in modern communication. Chapters on media literacy, critical thinking, and rhetorical analysis help students develop critical skills for understanding and analyzing media messages.
Digital Cartography covers foundational cartographic principles that are needed to make effective maps. lt explores such concepts as data, lettering, along with multivariate and uncertainty visualization. By the end of this book, a reader will be able to: (1) Describe how cartographic concepts such generalization, scale and projection will affect mapping products; (2) Identify the medium, purpose, and spatial data requirements to create a map that is appropriate to a specific audience; (3) Evaluate maps produced by peers and various organizations; and (4) Construct maps that effectively use color, font, and other design elements using ArcGIS Pro.
This text has been compiled to provide an overview of how plant breeders develop cultivars of plant species. The methods that breeders use depend directly on the type of cultivar used to produce a commercial crop. The four most common types of cultivars are (a) clonal cultivars (b) synthetic cultivars (c) pure-line cultivars and (d) hybrid cultivars. These types of cultivars will be discussed throughout the book, alongside review questions for self-study.
Open Signals and Systems Laboratory Exercises - Second Edition
Open Signals and Systems Laboratory Exercises is a collection of lab assignments that have been used in EE 224: Signals and Systems I in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. These lab exercises have been curated, edited, and presented in a consistent format to improve student learning. This second edition provides a thorough coverage of the MATLAB concepts needed to complete each exercise, and incorporates hardware descriptions and explanations into the exercises that had integrated new lab equipment. A ZIP file containing additional materials is also available.
Fundamentals of Human Anatomy Laboratory Manual
This laboratory manual is meant to be used in a lab course that accompanies a college-level introductory human anatomy course. It covers the language of anatomy, cells and tissues, and the organ systems that comprise the human body. Multiple open textbooks were adapted to create this lab manual. Attribution for these sources are provided at the end of each chapter.
Advancing Responsible Sourcing in Mineral Value Chains : Environmental, Social, and Economic Sustainability
This book examines the responsible sourcing of raw materials within global value chains. With the need for a vast amount of additional raw materials to enable the global green energy transition, it examines the current responsible sourcing landscape, with the aim of bringing clarity and harmony to theories and practices that are characterized by systemic fragmentation. Normative elements are introduced to create a framework for a functioning responsible sourcing system built around the behavioural change of supply chain actors. Drawing from state of the art conceptual ideas and practical experience, an impactful and economically viable approach to the responsible sourcing of raw material is presented
Farooki, Masuma (editor), Graf, Alexander (editor), Degreif, Stefanie (editor)
This open access book is an integrated historical and philosophical investigation of several problematic situations that emerge from diverse areas of medical practice. These include (but are not limited to): Paying less attention to patients who are suffering with symptoms because no identifiable pathological lesion or pathophysiological process can be found. Paying too much attention to patients who are not suffering with symptoms because pathological lesions or pathophysiological processes have been found. The tendency to understand patients at risk of developing pathology as being diseased. The tendency to disregard the importance of wider societal consequences of definitions of disease and health. The book shows that many of these problems are related to what disease and health are considered to be and argues that these problems can be addressed by reconsidering the concepts of health and disease employed in practice.
66 Simple Rules for Entrepreneurs : A Roadmap for Improved Performance
This open access book is your ticket to entrepreneurial success! Learn practical tips to think more like an entrepreneur, spot opportunities, build key relationships, tell compelling stories, and grow your venture. Discover the secrets to overcoming challenges, managing stress, and making decisions in the dynamic world of entrepreneurship. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, these straightforward tools will guide you to success in the complex entrepreneurial landscape. Say goodbye to overwhelming decisions and hello to a simplified path to building your entrepreneurial dream!
Shepherd, Dean A., Patzelt, Holger, Breugst, Nicola
Quality Management and Accounting in Service Industries : A New Model of Quality Cost Calculation
The process of globalisation in world markets and the growing number of enterprises competing with one another in terms of the products and services they offer, naturally leads to the improved efficiency of management systems. Efficiency is required in order for these entities to maintain competitiveness. To assess the efficiency of their management systems, enterprises use quality cost calculation. This book fills the research gap concerned with the scientific study of the quality cost calculation, with regard to service companies. It offers the authors' concept of using the cost of quality calculation as a tool for assessing the efficiency of the management systems of service companies. The book consists of six chapters that present both a theoretical and an empirical part. In the theoretical part, the following issues are discussed: quality costs; the evolution of quality cost calculation; quality cost calculation models and their applications to date; and the specific way in which service companies operate.
Practicing Embodied Thinking in Research and Learning
This book delves into the embodied ground of thinking, illuminating the transition from theorising about the embodied mind to actively practising embodied thinking in research, teaching, and learning. The authors speak from immersing themselves in novel methods that engage the felt, experiential dimensions of cognition in inquiry. The turn to embodiment has sparked the development of new methodologies within phenomenology, pragmatism, and cognitive science. Drawing on Eugene Gendlin’s philosophical work on felt understanding, and Francesco Varela’s enactivist approach, contributors explore innovative embodied thinking methods such as Focusing, Thinking at the Edge, micro-phenomenology, and mindfulness practices. They demonstrate the practical applications of these methods in research, teaching, and learning, highlighting their liberating and empowering potential for researchers and students.
Schoeller, Donata (editor), Thorgeirsdottir, Sigridur (editor), Walkerden, Greg (editor)
Patterns of Inclusion : How Gender Matters for Automation, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work
It is widely presumed that digitalisation, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) shape the future of work; yet, gender is rarely considered in those debates. This ground-breaking book, written by a leading thinker on gender, inclusion and organisations, is based on in-depth research to show which patterns of gender and digitalisation emerge. By weaving these different patterns together, is it possible to understand the dynamic and complex ways gender and digitalisation intertwine in the work context? The book highlights how futures of work are imagined between automation and augmentation: it shows which tasks are expected to be done by machines, and where humans are expected to have a competitive advantage. The book showcases how algorithmic bias is constructed as ultimately fixable, and analyses in/visibilities in AI production processes.
Practices, Education and Technology in Audiovisual Translation
This book explores the intersections of education and technology in audiovisual translation, unpacking the evolution of AVT ecosystems and looking ahead to future directions for the role of technology in the translation industry and higher education. The volume begins by outlining a holistic account of audiovisual translation scholarship, which includes work on subtitling and dubbing but which has grown to encompass a wider range of practices in light of new technologies, before looking at the current landscape of translator education, including greater interest in distance education and AVT-centered curriculum design. These foundations set the stage for an examination of technological inroads which have permeated AVT practice, including the rise of cloud-based technologies and their use by major media companies.
Why has East Asia emerged as the global leader in green energy industries but—until recently—lagged on carbon emission reduction? What is new and distinctive about East Asia’s approach to the green energy transition? And what does this approach mean for the world? This book provides the first comprehensive account of East Asia’s green energy shift. Through an analysis of the ambitious national strategies of China and South Korea, the authors show how state actors have pursued a distinctively East Asian approach to transforming their energy systems, involving first the rapid creation of new green energy industries and then the coordinated destruction of fossil fuel incumbencies. This approach—described as ‘developmental environmentalism’—is aimed at establishing East Asian economies as leaders in the green industries of the future, while at the same time addressing the pressing environmental, social, and political problems associated with the carbon-intensive industries of the past.
Thurbon, Elizabeth, Kim, Sung-Young, Tan, Hao , Mathews, John A.
Informed by critical theory, this book employs Social Network Analysis (SNA) to examine the ever-increasing impact that social media has on politics and contemporary civic discourse. In just the past decade, social media platforms have been at the forefront of political discord that played out in the January 6th insurrection, the expulsion of a US President from major social media platforms, the attempted regulation of social media in various states, and the takeover of Twitter (now “X”) by one of the richest and (arguably) most financially influential persons in the world. This book examines these phenomena through a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of their meaning and implication for democratic society. Informed by SNA, James Jaehoon Lee and Jeffrey Layne Blevins examine several types of social and political commentary on one of the most influential social media networks and argue that the use of emotional appeals in these posts about social and political topics degrades the quality of civic discourse and encourages the abandonment of reasoning in democratic self-governance.
Lee, James Jaehoon , Blevins, Jeffrey Layne
Health Security Intelligence : Managing Emerging Threats and Risks in a Post-Covid World
The book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to explore the role national security intelligence agencies played in supporting national governments’ response to COVID-19. Spanning the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence countries (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), this book offers the first cross-comparative analysis of what intelligence agencies need to focus on in responding more effectively to future emerging health and biological security threats risks and hazards post-COVID-19. The volume addresses three principal issues. First, it investigates what roles the Five Eyes intelligence communities played (along with other key stakeholders, such as public health agencies) in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, it assesses the challenges of and lessons learnt from these intelligence communities’ engagement in managing aspects of the pandemic.
Innovative Public Governance in Times of Crisis
The book combines two important trends in the current development of public administration and administrative law. It examines how innovations in the institutional or regulatory area can contribute to crisis management. The volume brings together international legal and social science scholars who analyze innovative governance arrangements at national, European and international level as responses to the financial, migration, and corona crises. The editors of the volume are experts in the fields of administrative law, administrative science, European law and public policy.
Kohtamäk, Natalia (editor), Peuker, Enrico (editor), Zaun, Natascha (editor)
Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials Used to Improve the Environment and Human Health
The Special Issue of Crystals entitled “Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Materials Used to Improve the Environment and Human Health” resulted in the publication of 11 articles. This reprint focuses on theoretical and experimental research works providing new insights and practical findings on topics of real interest, such as catalytic processes, solar cells, and sensors. The interconnection between the two fields, environment and health, has led to original monographs on new ways and methods of reducing or monitoring pollution, which directly influences people's health. At the same time, organic–inorganic hybrid materials with luminescent properties with uses in various fields such as optical, medical, and food industry applications, which directly influence human health and condition, were addressed.
Fierascu, Radu Claudiu (editor), Raduly, Florentina Monica (editor)
Teaching Artistic Strategies : Playing with Materiality, Aesthetics and Ambiguity
Artistic strategies have a great transformative potential to improving research, teaching, and artistic expression. The contributors to this volume show how to unleash this potential by presenting a variety of epistemological experiments at the intersection of artistic research, pedagogy, and innovative practices in art and design education. The diversity of contributions demonstrates the non-exhaustive space for experimental phenomenological adventures. This collection strengthens new communities of educators and researchers in arts and design, whose practices are built on the concept of care as empathetic knowledge production.
Kargin, Fatma (editor), King, Dorothée (editor),Savic, Selena (editor)
Innovation is ubiquitous and has become a universal term that is indispensable to describe interventions, projects, or products. Franziska Sörgel argues that emotions influence innovations as they are inherent in initial ideas, expectations and habitual evaluation criteria that impact the development process. Instead of assuming that the innovation process is subject to rational and linear creativity, the study adopts the notion of ›moral economies‹ by Lorraine Daston as a space for negotiation. Such an approach enables decision-makers to question the evaluation criteria and patterns for technological developments before implementing them in society.
At the Edge of AI : Human Computation Systems and Their Intraverting Relations
How are human computation systems developed in the field of citizen science to achieve what neither humans nor computers can do alone? Through multiple perspectives and methods, Libuse Hannah Veprek examines the imagination of these assemblages, their creation, and everyday negotiation in the interplay of various actors and play/science entanglements at the edge of AI. Focusing on their human-technology relations, this ethnographic study shows how these formations are marked by intraversions, as they change with technological advancements and the actors' goals, motivations, and practices. This work contributes to the constructive and critical ethnographic engagement with human-AI assemblages in the making.
Biodiversity - Handbook of the Anthropocene in Latin America II
Biodiversity should not be understood in biological terms only and as a thing apart from society, but rather as biocultural diversity present in the social world and in various cultures. Such a perspective might allow to relieve social conflicts as well as abuses of power, and slow the appropriation of the biosphere. This volume of the Handbook »The Anthropocene as Multiple Crisis« focuses on biodiversity in the main macro-regions of Latin America from the colonial regime to the contemporary era of the Anthropocene. The contributions enrich contemporary debates surrounding the genealogy of the Anthropocene in Latin America with critical perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities.
Kaltmeier, Olaf (editor), Acker, Antoine (editor), Ávila Romero, León Enrique (editor), Horta Duarte, Regina (editor)
Mastering Enterprise Networks, is a comprehensive guide to building, defending, and attacking enterprise networks. It covers a wide range of topics, from network fundamentals to advanced security concepts. The book is well-organized and easy to follow, making it a valuable resource for both beginners and experienced network professionals. One of the strengths of this book is its focus on hands-on learning. The book includes 50 chapters of labs that allow readers to practice the concepts they have learned. These labs are a great way to reinforce your understanding of enterprise networks while developing practical skills.
These lecture notes are a follow up on Adjustment theory. Adjustment theory deals with the optimal combination of redundant measurements together with the estimation of unknown parameters. There are two main reasons for performing redundant measurements. First, the wish to increase the accuracy of the results computed. Second, the requirement to be able to check for mistakes or errors. The present book addresses this second topic. Although one always will try one's best to avoid making mistakes, they can and will occasionally happen. It is therefore of importance to have ways of detecting and identifying such mistakes. Mistakes
This eBook was written as the third installment in the series that coincide with three engineering courses taught at the University of Oklahoma (ENGR 2431, ENGR 2531, and ENGR 3431). These courses were designed to provide non-major students – those not majoring in electrical or computer engineering (ECE) – a foundation in various ECE topics. ENGR 2431 is a prerequisite for both ENGR 2531 and ENGR 3431 and it is recommended that the DC Circuits book be studied prior to beginning the eBooks created for the other two courses.
Comparative Politics: A Practical Guide for a Globalizing World
Comparative Politics: A Practical Guide for a Globalizing World is perhaps the first to be written with an emphasis on case studies from the Global South and other alternative perspectives in comparative politics. This text focuses on themes and case studies that are often missing in more traditional comparative politics textbooks, and thus is best accompanied by other resources to give students a foundation in the fundamentals.
Public Policy: Origins, Practice, and Analysis
Public policy is created by the government, and private business activity is not included in its definition. For instance, popular social networking websites, owned by private entities, can make it their policy to prohibit specific individuals (suspected terrorists, hate groups, criminals) from using their platforms. This practice is not truly public policy since it does not originate from the government. There are, however, instances in which public policy and private sector policy intersect.
Kimberly Martin , Keith E. Lee Jr., John Powell Hall
From theORy to application: learning to optimize with Operations Research in an interactive way
This book serves as a comprehensive roadmap for navigating the realm of Operations Research (OR). From laying down fundamental mathematical principles to crafting precise modeling techniques and their solution methods, it culminates in a panoramic view of OR models mirroring real-world operations. Delving into diverse applications-from assignment problems to network problems like graph coloring and minimum spanning trees, and navigating through routing problems that are very common in logistics-the book equips readers with practical insights. Each model is accompanied by meticulously detailed examples, seamlessly integrated with hyperlinked codes accessible via an open repository. Moreover, it introduces an engaging dimension with hyperlinks to three serious games replicating some cornerstone OR models, offering a playful yet educational environment for solo or group experimentation.
Introduction to Mechanical Design and Manufacturing
This book is an introduction to product design and manufacturing, with a focus on the mechanical engineering aspects. It covers the principles, methods, tools and techniques that are used to create, analyze, optimize and manufacture products that meet the needs and wants of customers. The book is intended for students, educators, practitioners and researchers who are interested in learning about the theory and practice of product design and manufacturing. The book is open access, which means that it is freely available online for anyone to read, download, share and reuse. The book aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the current state of the art in product design and manufacturing, as well as to inspire new ideas and innovations.
Textbook prices for introductory accounting courses are typically very high and new editions are frequently introduced, limiting the resale value and use of older editions. Simply put, a free, open-source textbook increases accessibility by eliminating the cost barrier. Free is my favorite price! Second... Accounting textbooks also commonly seen as. This book is uniquely constructed to integrate reading, video tutorials, links and practice to make learning… dare I write it, maybe that’s overstating a bit, but this is not your typical accounting text.
Advanced-Level Writing in the University Classroom and Beyond: Mindful Practices for Technical, Business, and Scientific Communication - 2024 Edition
Welcome to Advanced-Level Writing in the University Classroom and Beyond: Mindful Practices for Technical, Business, and Scientific Communication. To encourage this open textbook’s use in various undergraduate classes, it has been developed as an all-in-one resource that concentrates on technical writing, business writing, scientific writing, and technical editing. It offers a no-cost alternative to commercial products, combining practical guidance with interactive exercises and thoughtfully designed writing opportunities.
Human evolutionary demography is an emerging field blending natural science with social science. This edited volume provides a much-needed, interdisciplinary introduction to the field and highlights cutting-edge research for interested readers and researchers in demography, the evolutionary behavioural sciences, biology, and related disciplines. By bridging the boundaries between social and biological sciences, the volume stresses the importance of a unified understanding of both in order to grasp past and current demographic patterns. Demographic traits, and traits related to demographic outcomes, including fertility and mortality rates, marriage, parental care, menopause, and cooperative behavior are subject to evolutionary processes.
Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Sustainability
Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Sustainability is a college-level Open Educational Resource (OER) that focuses on the most relevant environmental science issues and addresses ways to incorporate sustainable practices. The text is designed for an introductory-level college science course. Topics include the fundamentals of ecology, biodiversity, pollution, climate change, food production, human population growth, and incorporating sustainable approaches in our communities, economies, and environments. This resource is targeted at environmental science students.
Basic Statistics Using R for Crime Analysis
Limited access to subscription-based statistical software poses obstacles when students want to apply the skills they acquired in college. Although students may learn programs like SPSS or Stata while at the university, they often find themselves unable to continue using these programs after graduation, making their acquired skills obsolete. As an open-source software program, R offers a solution to this challenge. It is freely accessible to anyone, including students, after they graduate. Therefore, I decided to write a freely available book for those interested in becoming crime analysts, focusing on learning statistics without delving too deeply into mathematics.
The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT)
Adjustment theory can be regarded as the part of mathematical geodesy that deals with the optimal combination of redundant measurements together with the estimation of unknown parameters. It is essential for a geodesist, its meaning comparable to what mechanics means to a civil engineer or a mechanical engineer. Historically, the first methods of combining redundant measurements originate from the study of three problems in geodesy and astronomy, namely to determine the size and shape of the Earth, to explain the long-term inequality in the motions of Jupiter and Saturn, and to find a mathematical representation of the motions of the Moon. Nowadays, the methods of adjustment are used for a much greater variety of geodetic applications, ranging from, for instance, surveying and navigation to remote sensing and global positioning.
Green Tea Intermediate English Communication OER
This set of multimedia materials incorporates interesting topics and real-world language in an accessible way for adult English language learners at the low-to-mid intermediate level, using eclectic methods (communicative activities, content-based instruction lite, focus on form), all while maintaining a connection to our learners’ lives. Each unit has handouts, presentation slides, key vocabulary lists, informative speeches recorded by ESOL teachers at PCC, dialogs, extension activities, and additional videos or materials for assessment.
Eric Dodson, Luciana Diniz, Nanci Leiton
Contemporary societies are aging – but what does that mean? Is this something bad? And can societies age as a whole? By bringing together psychological, gerontological, and sociological findings, this open access book opens up a hitherto unique, multifaceted, and realistic view of the phenomenon of old age and the process of aging. The volume is based on the results of the project “Ageing as Future”, a long-term project network (2007-2021) involving a total of more than 30 scientists worldwide. The focus of the project was threefold: A first issue was concerned with how views on aging influence development in old age; secondly, the project analyzed determinants and consequences of provision for old age; and thirdly, it investigated the different ways in which aging is shaped by managing time in old age.
Lang, Frieder R. Lessenich, Stephan Rothermund, Klaus
Advanced Technologies for Protein Complex Production and Characterization
This edited volume discusses the identification, discovery, characterization, structure determination and modeling of multicomponent macromolecular complexes, and as such, it fully complements the first volume (ISBN 978-3-319-27214-6), which targeted methods of recombinant production of protein complexes. This book is divided in 8 sections offering a selection of technologies widely used in the characterization of protein and protein-nucleic acid complexes for different purposes and at different scales. From native electrophoresis methods, that are accessible to any reasonably well-equipped laboratory, to the sophisticated setup required for structure determination by cryo-electron microscopy or X-ray crystallography, this book contains a wide variety of clearly explained analytic and preparative approaches, connected with the production techniques developed on the previous volume.
Vega, M. Cristina (editor), Fernández, Francisco J. (editor)
Advanced Mathematical Science for Mobility Society
This open access book presents the mathematical methods for huge data and network analysis. The automotive industry has made steady progress in technological innovations under the names of Connected Autonomous-Shared-Electric (CASE) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Needless to say, mathematics and informatics are important to support such innovations. As the concept of cars and movement itself is diversifying, they are indispensable for grasping the essence of the future mobility society and building the foundation for the next generation. Based on this idea, Research unit named "Advanced Mathematical Science for Mobility Society" was established at Kyoto University as a base for envisioning a future mobility society in collaboration with researchers led by Toyota Motor Corporation and Kyoto University. This book contains three main contents. 1. Mathematical models of flow 2. Mathematical methodsfor huge data and network analysis 3. Algorithm for mobility society The first one discusses mathematical models of pedestrian and traffic flow, as they are important for preventing accidents and achieving efficient transportation.
This open access book is an update of genome editing techniques applied to a range of plants. We discuss the latest techniques and applications to cereals, roots and tubers, oilseed crops, fruit and forest trees, vegetables, legumes and algae including resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, improved quality, drug production, yield and adaptation to climate change. The regulations in different countries worldwide, the patentibility and the perception by society of the applications of new genomic techniques are examined. This book is written by a multidisciplinary and multisectoral collective of high-profile scientists and other experts belonging to the COST Action network PlantEd, which is mainly European but with contributions from American, Australian, Canadian, Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Pakistani and Peruvian scientists. The book is aimed at a wide audience consisting of students, academics, private and public breeders, other actors in the food and bioeconomy value chains and policy and law makers. This is an open access book.
A Primer on Memory Consistency and Cache Coherence, Second Edition
Many modern computer systems, including homogeneous and heterogeneous architectures, support shared memory in hardware. In a shared memory system, each of the processor cores may read and write to a single shared address space. For a shared memory machine, the memory consistency model defines the architecturally visible behavior of its memory system. Consistency definitions provide rules about loads and stores (or memory reads and writes) and how they act upon memory. As part of supporting a memory consistency model, many machines also provide cache coherence protocols that ensure that multiple cached copies of data are kept up-to-date. The goal of this primer is to provide readers with a basic understanding of consistency and coherence
Nagarajan, Vijay Sorin, Daniel J. Hill, Mark D. Wood, David A.
For many people, thoughts of the United Arab Emirates conjure images of ultramodern skyscrapers and rolling sand dunes. However, the Emirates are a rich mosaic of ecosystems and habitats that support surprisingly diverse communities of organisms, and there is growing awareness of the importance of these previously underappreciated natural assets. A Natural History of the Emirates provides a comprehensive overview of the unusual environmental setting of this young nation, and surveys the major ecosystems and the marine and terrestrial organisms occurring across the nation. From freshwater streams in the hyperarid Hajar Mountains to the world’s most temperature-tolerant coral reefs, the UAE is home to an astounding variety of uniquely adapted organisms that are providing insights into climate change and how organisms cope with and respond to extreme environmental conditions.
A Decade of Research Activities at the Department of Industrial Engineering (UniNa-DII) : From Five Existing Departments to the Excellence in Research
This open access book celebrates the decennial of the Department of Industrial Engineering of Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy. It covers the main research achievements developed at the department in the fields of aerospace, marine, energy, statistical, mechanical and management engineering. Five pre-existing departments merged in 2013, and the research results are here summarized to certify how important it was to join skills, expertise, and projects. The industrial engineering area is huge, but it is now dominated by the need to conceive and analyze new solutions, human and climate oriented to face with the actual challenges which dictate the new paradigm, which evolved from “is it feasible?” to “is it compatible with the environment and the human beings?”. There is still a lot to do, but the contents of this book demonstrate that the first steps have been done.
A Circular Built Environment in the Digital Age
This open access book offers a comprehensive exploration of the digital innovations that have emerged in recent years for the circular built environment. Each chapter is meticulously crafted to ensure that both academic readers and industry practitioners can grasp the inner workings of each digital technology, understand its relevance to the circular built environment, examine real-life implementations, and appreciate the intriguing business models behind them. Our primary objective is to blend scholarly knowledge with practical inspiration by providing real-life case studies for each innovation. The authors, who possess extensive expertise in their respective fields, have contributed chapters dedicated to digital technologies within their areas of specialization. The book is organized into three distinct parts.
De Wolf, Catherine (editor) Çetin, Sultan (editor) Bocken, Nancy M. P. (editor)
3 Degrees More : The Impending Hot Season and How Nature Can Help Us Prevent It
This open access book describes in detail what life on this planet would be like if its average surface temperature were to rise 3 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial level. On this basis, the book argues that it is imperative to keep this temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. It then lays out a detailed plan of what politically feasible, cost-effective measures should now be taken to achieve this goal. In this context, the book provides detailed discussions of climate finance, climate education and nature-based solutions. The book has been translated into English from the original German version published in 2022, and contains an original foreword and preface.