Books published by Springer International Publishing

The beautiful game is big business. Football leagues worldwide are being dominated by clubs which are becoming richer and more powerful. Since the first edition of this book was published in 2003, much has changed in the industry. However the central challenge remains how best football, its leagues and clubs can navigate a path between the logic of the market and the logic of community (social), while also remaining focused on a sporting logic.In this second edition, author Stephen Morrow offers a critique of football¿s economic structure, prevalent models of club ownership and governance, and new approaches to regulation that have emerged. The book also reflects on the Covid-19 pandemic and on ways in which it has illuminated many of the structural weaknesses inherent in football. It also offers an insight into the woman¿s game and its financial development in some countries, as well discussing issues such as football¿s response to environmental challenges.Drawing on theory and new literature from across relevant academic disciplines, this book seeks to make sense of the current challenges while also putting forward solutions as to how football can continue to harness and build on its social and community significance.

This book discusses the significant aspects of thermal transient testing, the most important method of thermal characterization of electronics available today. The book presents the theoretical background of creating structure functions from the measured results with mathematical details. It then shows how the method can be used for thermal qualification, structure integrity testing, determining material parameters, and calibrating simulation models. General practical questions about measurements are discussed to help beginners carry out thermal transient testing. The particular problems and tricks of measuring with various electronic components, such as Si diodes, bipolar transistors, MOS transistors, IGBT devices, resistors, capacitors, wide bandgap materials, and LEDs, are covered in detail with the help of various use cases. This hands-on book will enable readers to accomplish thermal transient testing on any new type of electronics and provides the theoretical details needed tounderstand the opportunities and limitations offered by the methodology. The book will be an invaluable reference for practicing engineers, students, and researchers.

This Handbook addresses the role of women in communism as a global, social and political movement for the first time, exploring their lives, forms of activism, political strategies and transnational networks. Comprising twenty-five chapters, based on new and primary research, the book presents the lives of self-identified communist women from a truly international perspective and outlines their struggles against fascism and colonialism, and for women¿s emancipation and national liberation. By using the lens of transnational political biography, the chapters capture the broader picture of these women¿s lives, unpacking the links between the so-called public and private, the power structures and inequalities of their societies, the formal networks and politics in which they were involved, and the informal connections and friendships that supported their activism both at the national and international level. Challenging androcentric and Eurocentric narratives about communism, this Handbook reveals the active and significant roles of women in nineteenth- and twentieth-century communist movements and regimes, and highlights the importance of communist women in shaping the agenda for women¿s rights worldwide.

This book demonstrates that the disciplinary boundaries present within international relations approaches to security studies are redundant when examining social media, and inter- and multi-disciplinary analysis is key. A key result of the analysis undertaken is that when examining the social media sphere security scholars need to ¿expect the unexpected¿. This is because social media enables users to subvert, contest and create security narratives with symbols and idioms of their choice which can take into account ¿traditional¿ security themes, but also unexpected and under explored themes such as narratives from the local context of the users¿ towns and cities, and the symbolism of football clubs. The book also explores the complex topography of social media when considering constructions of security. The highly dynamic topography of social media is neither elite dominated and hierarchical as the Copenhagen School conceptualises security speak. However, neither is it completely flat and egalitarian as suggested by the vernacular security studies¿ non-elite approach. Rather, social mediäs topography is shifting and dynamic, with individuals gaining influence in security debates in unpredictable ways. In examining social media this book engages with the emancipatory burden of critical security studies. This book argues that it remains unfulfilled on social media and rather presents a ¿thin¿ notion of discursive emancipation where social media does provide the ability for previously excluded voices to participate in security debates, even if this does not result in their direct emancipation from power hierarchies and structures offline.

This book provides new and established researchers with innovative methodologies and research strategies to explore European security integration from a different perspective, challenging traditional theoretical interpretations. It takes a step back from well-established theoretical approaches to the European Union¿s (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to ask more fundamental questions about the core assumptions underpinning research on European security integration. It supports methodological innovations with an analysis of the most significant empirical problems of European security governance, including the war in Ukraine or the role of Russia in European security. In the last chapter, the author offers ideas for new pedagogical approaches to teaching European Studies.

This textbook is an introduction to the methods needed to solve partial differential equations (PDEs). Readers are introduced to PDEs that come from a variety of fields in engineering and the natural sciences. The chapters include the following topics: First Order PDEs, Second Order PDEs, Fourier Series, Separation of Variables, the Fourier Transform, and higher dimensional problems. Readers are guided through these chapters where techniques for solving first and second order PDEs are introduced. Each chapter ends with series of exercises to facilitate learning as well as illustrate the material presented in each chapter.

This book investigates factors that contribute to the development of an efficient financial sector in Ghana. While sustainable finance has long been known to propel economic growth and development, and while many African countries have taken initiatives to develop integrated frameworks of their financial sectors that tackle developmental challenges, scholars and policymakers have always grappled with understanding of factors that enhance performance of the financial sector. In this book, an expert team of authors examines the financial landscape, central bank policies, competition, financial innovation, financial inclusion and banking stability in Ghana, while also exploring how financing models such as enterprise finance and microfinance can be more effective in sustaining financial markets. The authors discuss how Ghana can build fortified institutions, regulatory frameworks, and productive capacity to strengthen the financial sector and foster pathways that will enhance economicdevelopment. Empirical and scientific evidence give this book a unique approach that is both qualitative and quantitative.

Elinor C. Ostrom, a Nobel prize winning political economist, made important contributions to common pool resources, economic governance, and polycentricity. Viviana A. Zelizer, a prominent economic sociologist, has done groundbreaking work on how culture shapes our economic lives. Together, the work of Ostrom and Zelizer spans the disciplines of economics, sociology, political science, and public policy by exploring the social relations and community-based organization of everyday life. Both scholars examine the norms, social connections, and cultural impacts of exchange and governance. This volume explores their contributions and builds off of their research programs to explore the social movements, community recovery, and war, and women¿s issues across a variety of disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, history, and archaeology.Inspired by Zelizer¿s 2019 Ostrom Speaker Series lecture for the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, this volume explores the connections between the work of Elinor Ostrom and Viviana Zelizer. Beginning with a lead chapter by Zelizer where she reflects on the connections between her work and Ostrom¿s oeuvre, the volume brings together scholars who tease out some of the important concepts and implications of Ostrom and Zelizer¿s research. This volume furthers economic inquiry by ensuring that the critical examinations of these timely and important themes are made available to students and scholars.

This book comprehensively investigates the position of Chinäs working class between the 1980s and 2010s and considers the consequences of economic reforms in historical perspective. It argues the case that, far from the illusion during the Maoist period that a new society had been established where the working classes held greater political and economic autonomy, economic reforms in the post-Mao era have led to the return of traditional Marxist proletariats in China. The book demonstrates how the reforms of Deng Xiaoping have led to increased economic efficiency at the expense of economic equality through an extensive case study of an SOE (state-owned enterprise) in Sichuan Province as well as wider discussions of the emergence of state capitalism on both a micro and macroeconomic level. The book also discusses workers¿ protests during these periods of economic reform to reflect the reformation of class consciousness in post-Mao China, drawing on Marx¿s concept of a transition from äclass-in-itself' to a ¿class-for-itself¿. It will be valuable reading for students and scholars of Chinese economic and social history, as well as political economy, sociology, and politics.

This book addresses the need to view specific learning disorders (SLDs) within a mental health framework, as supported by their placement alongside autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). It describes how policy and practice point to a different perspective ¿ specifically that SLDs are often treated as educational rather than psychological problems ¿ and examines the implications of this dichotomy. The book reviews empirical research that suggests children need access to treatment for clinical components of SLDs that may respond to psychological intervention separately from, and in addition to, educational interventions. It provides a theoretical framework for organizing research findings and clinical perspectives that support understanding the clinical components of SLDs and addresses the need for a mental health framework within which to approach theory, treatment, and assessment of SLDs.Key areas of coverage include:Examining different theoretical orientations to learning disorders (e.g., cognitive, behavioral, neuropsychoeducational, psychoanalytic).Adapting evidence-based therapeutic techniques for use with children and adolescents who have learning disorders.The need for accurate and well characterized assessment of SLDs.How incorporating a cognitive neuroscience perspective into assessment can move LD treatment and research forward.Learning Disorders Across the Lifespan is an essential reference for clinicians, therapists, and other professionals as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in school and clinical child psychology, special education, speech-language therapy, developmental psychology, pediatrics, social work as well as all interrelated disciplines.

The recent unprecedented economic downturn and global supply chain disruption by the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the urgency for sustainable financing infrastructure that is agile, adaptable, and transformable. Sustainability and the 4th Industrial Revolution are about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policymakers and people from all income groups and nations, to navigate industry disruptions and transitioning to a new normal by harnessing converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centered future. The edited volume provides critical discussions on reframing the Islamic finance approach to sustainability and socio-economic development in the post-pandemic era. It highlights how selected Islamic finance tools alongside FinTech can not only ensure financial sustainability but also promote socio-economic policies that will aid the much-desired value and impact creation in the economy. The book focuses its analysis on the following three areas: reframing Islamic finance sustainability and socio-economic development; innovative Islamic financial tools for sustainable and socio-economic impact; and the role of FinTech in the road to sustainability. The edited volume will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and students of Islamic finance, sustainability, and financial technology.