Books published by Springer Nature Singapore

The book analyses how Indiäs rise to the status of an emerging power has affected New Delhi¿s Africa policy, after sketching the historical evolution and normative underpinnings of Indo-African relations, and what challenges it has brought for New Delhi¿s engagement with the continent.India and Africa share a history dating back millennia. Today, India is one of Africäs biggest trading partner countries, second only to China. The country regularly extends lines of credit worth billions to African nations, and its pharmaceutical producers dominate many African markets; almost one-fifth of Indiäs oil imports and more than one-quarter of its natural gas imports come from the continent. However, relations between India and Africa are far from being limited to economic cooperation.The book scrutinises three foreign policy fields: (1) Indiäs foreign economic policy towards Africa with an in-depth analysis of Indo-African trade, investment and lines of credit; (2) NewDelhi¿s development cooperation policy vis-à-vis Africa, its principles, instruments and volume; (3) Indiäs politico-diplomatic foreign and security policy vis-à-vis Africa, including New Delhi's high-level diplomacy, security and diaspora policy as well as multilateral Africa policy.

This book focuses on the administration streamlining aligned with the market-oriented reform process in China. The book is divided into two parts. The first part clarifies why administration is necessary and important, what it covers, and how to deal with the relation between the central and the local governments. The second part presents empirical analysis in specific areas, including agricultural reform, fiscal reform, government reform and education reform, and a series of decentralization reforms. This book is a collective wisdom from Peking University and is edited by Chinese economist Yining Li.

This handbook offers readers various perspectives on globalization and multilateralism with Chinese characteristics. Its originality is derived from the hybrid approaches the handbook takes, where chapters provide complementary, intertwined, and multi-level analysis on the topic. Based on contributions of scholars and practitioners from a number of countries, the handbook helps readers to comprehend ongoing debates on the Belt and Road Initiative and global governance, within a shifting balance of world power, characterized by competing views between Western and Chinese norms, standards, values, and narratives.Split into three Parts, and consisting of 46 chapters, the handbook views globalization as comprehensive concept that benefits from the contributions of various disciplines such as geography, geo-economics, political science and international relations. In producing one of the most ambitious and updated outputs on the topic, the handbook as a whole seeks to discusswhat globalization with Chinese characteristics looks like, and the role of the Belt and Road Initiative in this process.

This book includes high-quality papers presented at Second International Conference on Computational Electronics for Wireless Communications (ICCWC 2022), held at National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, Karnataka, India, during June 9 ¿ 10, 2022. The book presents original research work of academics and industry professionals to exchange their knowledge of the state-of-the-art research and development in computational electronics with an emphasis on wireless communications. The topics covered in the book are radio frequency and microwave, signal processing, microelectronics, and wireless networks.

This book gathers outstanding papers presented at the International Conference on Data Science and Applications (ICDSA 2021), organized by Soft Computing Research Society (SCRS) and Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, from April 10 to 11, 2021. It covers theoretical and empirical developments in various areas of big data analytics, big data technologies, decision tree learning, wireless communication, wireless sensor networking, bioinformatics and systems, artificial neural networks, deep learning, genetic algorithms, data mining, fuzzy logic, optimization algorithms, image processing, computational intelligence in civil engineering, and creative computing.

This book primarily examines human-animal and human-plant interactions in Asian forests (Southeast Asiäand Japan) and inland waters (China). For comparison, cases from the Americas (whales in the Arctic, sea turtles in the Caribbean, and plants in the Amazon) and Central Asia are also included. The relationship between plants, animals, and humans in Asia is quite unique from a global perspective. For example, "satoyama" in Japan means ecotone area, or the boundary between a village and a forest. There, as the number of inhabitants declines, bears, wild boars, and other animals increasingly ravage crops, sometimes attacking humans as well.By showing the regional nature of human-animal and human-plant interactions in Asia, this book provides for the first time a framework for understanding the world's animal and plant-human relationships. It is assumed that the relationships between humans and animals and plants during this period were diverse, including hunting, taming, semi-domestication, and full domestication. At the same time, for regions outside of Asia, the extent to which these diverse relationships were adapted and how diversity was formed is explained from the perspective of historical ecology.Customers can expect to derive perspectives on the coexistence of human-animal and plant-animal relationships from this book in the near future.The conservation of rare species, diverse habitats, and biodiversity is a central theme in considering the relationship between modern civilization and the global environment. In post-industrial Japan, one focus has been the protection of iconic animals such as storks, crested ibis, dugongs, and sea turtles, while damage to crops and humans by deer, wild boars, monkeys, bears, and other common animals has become an important social issue. How can the world's 7.7 billion-plus people live in harmony with other species? We would like to get some hints on how to solve the problems we are facing.

This book contains select chapters on support vector algorithms from different perspectives, including mathematical background, properties of various kernel functions, and several applications. The main focus of this book is on orthogonal kernel functions, and the properties of the classical kernel functions¿Chebyshev, Legendre, Gegenbauer, and Jacobi¿are reviewed in some chapters. Moreover, the fractional form of these kernel functions is introduced in the same chapters, and for ease of use for these kernel functions, a tutorial on a Python package named ORSVM is presented. The book also exhibits a variety of applications for support vector algorithms, and in addition to the classification, these algorithms along with the introduced kernel functions are utilized for solving ordinary, partial, integro, and fractional differential equations.On the other hand, nowadays, the real-time and big data applications of support vector algorithms are growing. Consequently, the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) parallelizing the procedure of support vector algorithms based on orthogonal kernel functions is presented. The book sheds light on how to use support vector algorithms based on orthogonal kernel functions in different situations and gives a significant perspective to all machine learning and scientific machine learning researchers all around the world to utilize fractional orthogonal kernel functions in their pattern recognition or scientific computing problems.

This book discusses larger signal amplifiers (denoted as PA). Large signal amplifiers are dealing with signals whose magnitude is such that the operation of the active element can no longer be considered linear. They are usually designed to get as much power gain and efficiency as possible. That is why they are often called power amplifiers. In this book, two implementations of PA are considered. First, it is of interest to obtain large signals (current or voltage) at the output of a cascade of direct coupled amplifiers. In this case, linearity, frequency response, and speed are the most important requirements. Second are real power amplifiers where the power delivered to the load is of primary interest. Of course, efficiency, linearity, and high frequency response are of interest, too. A very special attention is paid to modern power electronic components such as Power BJT, VDMOS, IGBT, SiC MOS, and GaN HEMT. DC and switching properties of all these devices are studied in much detail. This book also includes a set of appendices which cover: solved problems, SPICE simulation results for selected set of circuits, and a short review of microelectronic technology process

This book provides an insight into the 11th International Conference on Soft Computing for Problem Solving (SocProS 2022). This international conference is a joint technical collaboration of the Soft Computing Research Society and the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. This book presents the latest achievements and innovations in the interdisciplinary areas of Soft Computing, Machine Learning, and Data Science. It brings together the researchers, engineers, and practitioners to discuss thought-provoking developments and challenges, in order to select potential future directions. It covers original research papers in the areas including but not limited to algorithms (artificial neural network, deep learning, statistical methods, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization) and applications (data mining and clustering, computer vision, medical and healthcare, finance, data envelopment analysis, business, and forecasting applications). This book is beneficial for young as well as experienced researchers dealing across complex and intricate real-world problems for which finding a solution by traditional methods is a difficult task.

The edited volume brings out a comprehensive collection of information relevant to wild food plants, their importance for global sustainable food security, future-readiness, and resilient agriculture. The book's primary focus is to cover topics on the diversity of wild food plants across the globe, their nutraceutical importance, production-consumption trends, integration into the current food menu, and marketing and livelihood opportunities to the indigenous people. Sustainable development goals 1, 2, and 3 are significant for a poverty-free, hunger-free world and ensure good health and wellbeing of the people, respectively. The three goals are important and interlinked as achieving zero poverty will help reduce hunger among the people. Availability of nutritional and balanced food ensures good health. Wild food plants are an essential part of a nourishing and healthy diet for indigenous communities. They are globally collected from natural habitats or cultivated at more minor scales. Although consumed locally, they are an essential part of the diets of tribal and indigenous communities worldwide and hold immense potential to alleviate global hunger. Considering their importance for global sustainable food security, it is essential to clearly understand the future role of wild food plants for future readiness and resilient agriculture. Therefore, this book provides a piece of important information on these aspects. The book is a valuable resource for the audience ranging from undergraduate science students to the NGOs and institutions involved in poverty alleviation programs, policymakers, dieticians, horticulturists, plant breeders, farmers, health experts, and food enthusiasts.

This book covers themes related to the geosphere, biosphere, sociosphere and ecosphere dealing with changing geographical, environmental and socio-economic realities to plan a sustainable future for the northeast region (NER) of India. The NER consists of eight states¿Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Sikkim¿and they carry political, economic and social importance. The book integrates the past, present and future of geospheric attributes incorporating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to meet the demands for improving human wellbeing under diverse and challenging socio-economic, political and environmental conditions. The key SDGs, as in food and agriculture, health, education, water, energy and other overarching goals of the region, have yet to incorporate providing sustainable jobs and promoting equality and inclusive development, although there have been a few studies in that regard.The challenges to achieve SDGs in the NER are formidable compared to the rest of India. The NER has put a great deal of effort into achieving the SDGs, mainly in poverty (SDG-1), good health (SDG-3), education (SDG-4), gender (SDG-5), decent work (SDG-8) and reduced inequalities (SDG-10), similar to the rest of the country. However, the standard development indicators such as road length, access to health care, power consumption and other measures are far below the national average. A multi-pronged strategy has played a pivotal role in the region, but development strategy to attain the SDGs 2030 must be more inclusive in empowering people with maximising self-governance, considering the resources, needs and aspirations of the people.This book evaluates the performance of the SDGs and fills in the gaps. It includes case studies focusing on different SDGs using advanced cartographic, statistical and GIS techniques and methods. It also provides unique findings that serve as valuable resources for plannersand policy-makers so that a sustainable future in Northeast India can be achieved.

The book collects relevant contributions presented at a conference, organized in honour of Carlo Cercignani, that took place at Politecnico di Milano on May 24¿28, 2021.Different research areas characterizing the scientific work of Carlo Cercignani have been considered with a particular focus on: mathematical and numerical methods for kinetic equations; kinetic modelling of gas mixtures and polyatomic gases; applications of the Boltzmann equation to electron transport, social phenomena and epidemic spread; turbulence modelling; the Einstein Classical Program; Dynamical Systems Theory.

This book presents a case study on lexical error analysis in the translation products of Arab English majors at the university level with important implications for Arabic-speaking countries. It provides detailed analyses and explanations of the main lexical areas that cause specific difficulties for these students, while also identifying their potential sources. The respective chapters discuss several areas related to the context of the research, the field of SLA, error analysis, language transfer, error taxonomies, language learning, language teaching, and translation training.The analyses and findings presented here contribute to the linguistic field by developing a comprehensive list of lexical error categories based on form, content, and origin of influence regarding translation products. In addition, the book sheds light on the pedagogical aspects contributing to the enhancement of ESL/EFL teaching in the Arab context as well as other contexts where English is taught as a foreign language. The book will help educators and curriculum writers in designing materials, and language researchers as a groundwork for their studies of L2 learners' written products.

This book focuses on the legal and procedural problems caused by Chinäs default in the South China Sea Arbitration. Many of these problems arose because in several respects, China departed from the conduct of other defaulting States in cases before the International Court of Justice.The book argues that the Tribunal, confronted with the difficulties of maintaining the balance between two parties in a situation of default, drew on the full range of its powers to ensure that neither China nor the Philippines would suffer from Chinäs default. Further, the book describes the shortcomings of the submissions of putative amicus curiae. It refutes Chinäs questioning of the independence and impartiality of the experts and of the judges. In so doing, it explains the expert opinions and the Tribunal ¿s assessments of the latter in the areas of satellite imagery, coral reef ecology, and navigational safety, while rebutting the half- truths and counter-truths disseminated by Chinese scholars about the proceedings. The book compares Chinäs threats to the independence of the Tribunal to its behavior towards Chinese judges. It places Chinäs accusations of bias against the Tribunal in the context of Chinäs domestic situation, and concludes that the Tribunal, acting independently and impartially, was able to perform the judicial function, despite Chinäs default.

This book provides a novel in-depth study of the early pandemic response policy at the intersection of political economy and law. It explores: (1) whether the responses to COVID-19 were democratically accountable; (2) the ways in which new surveillance and enforcement techniques were adopted; (3) the new monetary and fiscal policies which were implemented; (4) the ways in which employed and unemployed persons were differently impacted by the new policies; and (5) how companies were economically sustained through the pandemic. A compelling look at what happens to societies when disaster strikes, this book will be of interest to legal scholars, political scientists and economists.

This book provides essential information on Petri net theory and Petri net-based model checking methods. As for the Petri net theory, it involves the interleaving semantics and concurrency semantics of elementary net systems, some important net structures (e.g., invariant, repetitive vector, siphon, and trap), some classical net subclasses with special structures (e.g., state machine, marked graph, free-choice net,asymmetric-choice net, normal net, and weakly persistent net), and some basic properties (e.g., reachability, liveness, deadlock, and soundness). It also involves four high-level Petri nets: knowledge-oriented Petri nets, Petri nets with insecure places, time Petri nets, and plain time Petri nets with priorities, focusing on different fields of application. As for the model checking methods, this book introduces readers to computation tree logic (CTL), computation tree logic of knowledge (CTLK), and timed computation tree logic (TCTL), as well as Petri net-based methods for checking them. The basic principle of the reduced ordered binary decision diagram (ROBDD) is employed to compress the state space used in these model checking procedures. The book also covers time-soundness for time Petri nets and secure bisimulation for Petri nets with insecure places, both of which are based on the bisimulation theory. As such, it offers an introduction to basic information on bisimulation theory.

This book presents the select proceedings of the 48th National Conference on Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power (FMFP 2021) held at BITS Pilani in December 2021. It covers the topics such as fluid mechanics, measurement techniques in fluid flows, computational fluid dynamics, instability, transition and turbulence, fluid¿structure interaction, multiphase flows, micro- and nanoscale transport, bio-fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, turbomachinery, propulsion and power. The book will be useful for researchers and professionals interested in the broad field of mechanics.

This book presents relevant issues for the development of computer technology in general and civil aviation in particular, related to the promising task of developing magnetoresistive memory. In modern conditions of constantly increasing air traffic intensity, it is necessary to use both on board the aircraft and in ground services computing devices that guarantee the required level of flight safety. The book shows that in the multilayer ferromagnet-antiferromagnet system, the behavior of magnetic parameters in layers of nanometer thickness is largely determined by frustrations. The monograph provides not only a complete analysis of the current state of magnetic nanostructures but also predicts new types generated by exchange interaction frustrations. The phase diagrams "layer thickness (layers)¿roughness" of a thin ferromagnetic film on an antiferromagnetic substrate and a spin-valve system ferromagnet-antiferromagnet-ferromagnet are constructed taking into account the energy of single-ion anisotropy. The book presents experimental results that confirm the existence of a new type of domain walls. It is shown that the detected domain walls appear exactly at the locations of the atomic steps, and their thickness increases in proportion to the film thickness with a proportionality coefficient of the order of one. Special attention using mathematical models is placed for optimal orientation of spins at a smooth interface in the case of a compensated cross section of an antiferromagnet and an uncompensated cross section. The constructed phase diagrams and models are compared with the experiments. It is thus concluded that scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) makes it possible to study domain walls generated by frustration on the surface of the structure.

This book includes papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Electronic Engineering and Renewable Energy (ICEERE 2022), which focus on the application of artificial intelligence techniques, emerging technology and the Internet of things in electrical and renewable energy systems, including hybrid systems, micro-grids, networking, smart health applications, smart grid, mechatronics and electric vehicles. It particularly focuses on new renewable energy technologies for agricultural and rural areas to promote the development of the Euro-Mediterranean region. Given its scope, the book is of interest to graduate students, researchers and practicing engineers working in the fields of electronic engineering and renewable energy.

This book presents select proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Industrial and Manufacturing Systems (CIMS 2021) and discusses the applications of soft computing, modelling and optimization practices in industrial and manufacturing systems. Various topics covered in this book include advanced machining methods and performances, industrial operations, processing with hybrid manufacturing techniques, fabrication and developments in micro-machining and its applications, practical issues in supply chain, micro-structure analysis, additive manufacturing processes, reliability and system analysis, material science and metallurgical behaviour analysis, product design and development, etc. The book will be a valuable reference for beginners, researchers, and professionals interested in the modelling, optimization and soft computing related aspects of industrial and production engineering and its allied domains.

This book introduces the geological background of sandstone-type uranium deposits in the Ordos Basin, Northwest China. Through comparative study of a large number of practical data such as uranium, coal and oil boreholes, the research system takes sedimentary basin as a unit and fully utilizes geologicalprinciples and test analysis to study the basic geological, geophysical, geochemical and remote sensing image characteristics of the basin, and to restores the favorable uranium-forming geological background brought by the change of the cognitive sedimentary environment conditions. It can be used as a reference for researchers, practitioners and as well as teachers and graduate students working in uranium deposit geology, sedimentary geology and related areas

This book consolidates information about multifunctional epoxy as a frontier material, its composites, engineering and applications in a very detailed manner that encompasses the entire spectrum of up-to-date literature citations, current market trends and patents. It highlights latest experimental and theoretical studies on the atypical properties of epoxy resins such as self-healing, thermally and electrically conductivity; and its applications in devices where there is reliance on unsustainable sourced inorganic materials with comparable properties. It caters to polymer chemists, physicists and engineers who are interested in the field of next generation epoxy polymers.

This book examines food resistance movements as a form of alternative food network, charting the author¿s journey as a cultural anthropologist through three food resistance movements.In Australia, freegans¿ consumption of ¿garbage¿ in the food waste movement of the early 2000s reveals the extent of food going to waste from commercial sources while people go hungry. In contrast, Venezueläs food sovereignty movement is part of a national transition from a capitalist to socialist economy, highlighting processes of decentralisation, collectivisation, and government-grassroots¿ coalitions. The study of autonomous spaces in Catalonia illuminates how food sharing can enable people to live their politics, as well as the centrality of issues around urban governance, consumption, technology and use of space to food resistance efforts. This engaging volume brings an important and engaging contribution to current discussions around the transition to just and sustainable food systems.

This edited book reflects the state of the art in learner corpus and related approaches to Chinese as a second language (CSL). CSL as a field has flourished in the past few decades due to the increasingly important role of the Chinese language at the world stage, yet studies of Chinese as a second language based on learner corpora have been less well developed due to the limited availability of data and lack of theoretical insights. This book represents the latest research in this area by 1) assembling a large group of active researchers from multiple international research communities (USA, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, and France); 2) discussing the latest resources and technologies in Chinese and other Asian languages learner corpora and corpus building; 3) basing Chinese as a second language studies on data from learners of Chinese with a wide range of first language backgrounds (English, Japanese, Korean, French, among others); and 4) integrating corpus methodswith a wide range of related methods in allied fields¿language acquisition, usage-based linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics. This comprehensive collection is indispensable for anyone who is interested in corpus approaches to CSL and Chinese applied language studies in general.