Books published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This book seeks to deepen readers¿ understanding of world history by investigating urbanization and the evolution of urban systems, as well as the urban world, from the perspective of historical analysis. The theoretical framework of the approach stems directly from space-economy, and, more generally, from location theory and the theory of urban systems.The author explores a certain logic to be found in world history, and argues that this logic is spatial (in terms of spatial inertia, spatial trends, attractive and repulsive forces, vector fields, etc.) rather than geographical (in terms of climate, precipitation, hydrography). Accordingly, the book puts forward a truly original vision of urban world history, one that will benefit economists, historians, regional scientists, and anyone with a healthy curiosity.

This book serves as a single-source reference to the latest advances in Approximate Computing (AxC), a promising technique for increasing performance or reducing the cost and power consumption of a computing system. The authors discuss the different AxC design and validation techniques, and their integration. They also describe real AxC applications, spanning from mobile to high performance computing and also safety-critical applications.

This extensively revised second edition provides a comprehensive overview of transient global amnesia (TGA). First, it deals with the history of TGA before moving on to clinical and diagnostic features and differential diagnosis. Subsequent chapters then discuss the investigation and predisposing and precipitating factors for TGA before attempting to synthesise these many strands in order to formulate ideas about the pathogenesis of TGA. Each of the chapters is devoted to a practical and structured overview of the particular topic, with use of case studies to illustrate the material. Based in part on the author¿s experience of TGA cases over 20 years and in part on a review of the published literature, this book will hopefully enlighten clinicians from a broad range of medical backgrounds on the clinical features, investigation, and pathogenesis of TGA.Transient Global Amnesia is aimed at any clinician with an interest in, or who encounters patients with, acute amnesia: neurologists, general physicians, old age psychiatrists, geriatricians, clinical neuropsychologists, and primary care physicians, as well as other professions allied to medicine with similar interests, such as members of memory assessment teams.

This book provides readers with an introduction to the materials and devices necessary for flexible sensors and electronics, followed by common techniques for fabrication of such devices and system-level integration. Key insights into fabrication and processing will guide readers through the tradeoff choices in designing such platforms. A comprehensive review of two specific, flexible bioelectronic platforms, related to smart bandages for wound monitoring and thread-based diagnostics for wearable health, will demonstrate practical application at the system level. The book also provides a unique electrical engineering perspective by reviewing circuit architectures for low noise signal conditioning of weak signals from sensors,, and for low power analog to digital converters for signal acquisition. To achieve energy autonomy, authors provide several example of CMOS energy harvesting front end circuits and voltage boosters. Beyond circuit architectures, the book also provides a review of the modern theory of sampling and recovery of sparse signals, also known as compressed sensing. They then highlight how these principles can be leveraged for design and implementation of efficient signal acquisition hardware and reliable processing of acquired data for flexible electronic platforms.

This book explains classic routing and transportation problems and solutions, before offering insights based on successful real-world solutions. The chapters in Part I introduce and explain the traveling salesperson problem (TSP), vehicle routing problems (VRPs), and multi-objective problems, with an emphasis on heuristic approaches and software engineering aspects. In turn, Part II demonstrates how to exploit geospatial data, routing algorithms, and visualization. In Part III, the above techniques and insights are combined in real-world success stories from domains such as food delivery in rural areas, postal delivery, workforce routing, and urban logistics.The book offers a valuable supporting text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses and projects in Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research, and Mathematics. It is accompanied by a repository of source code, allowing readers to try out the algorithms and techniques discussed.

This textbook explores the mystery of human origins in the Arabian Peninsula, the lost Southern Crescent where humanity took its first steps toward civilization. Under Arabiäs surface of sand and stone lies a primordial realm of rolling grasslands, freshwater lakes, and river floodplains. This book aims to restore a critical missing chapter in the prehistory of our species that played out in this forgotten place of plenty.The author has carried out more than twenty years of fieldwork in Yemen and Oman, weaving his research together into an unorthodox tapestry of archaeology, environmental science, genetics, and Middle Eastern mythology. This volume peers beneath Arabiäs abandoned deserts, revealing a land that once served as a bridge between prehistoric worlds. This textbook is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students as well as all readers who are interested in learning about Arabian prehistory.

The textbook acquaints the reader with the architecture of receivers of analog and digital radio systems, helps to study the stages of designing a modern radio receiver and reveals the reasons and methods for its effective operation in networks for various purposes. Particular attention is paid to the methods of generating and processing signals in the receivers of digital systems with multiple access, which make it possible to provide data transfer rates close to the maximum possible (according to Shannon). As a textbook for students studying methods of optimal signal reception, the book will also be useful to specialists in the field of telecommunications involved in the development of radio receivers. The book shows how the development of theoretical, circuitry and integrated technologies led to the active introduction of algorithmic methods for signal processing changed both the design of receivers and the methods of forming the information flow in free space (MIMO, beamforming). The creation of a global 5G network based on heterogeneous networks puts forward new requirements for the architecture of receivers, which are determined by the requirements to achieve high data rates, low time delays or use in networks with coordinated multipoint transmission and reception (CoMP). To consolidate the knowledge gained, the book includes a complete set of materials for online classes, including questions and answers, a guide to solving problems for each chapter, and computer modeling units of receivers in the MicroCAP environment, based on preliminary calculations.

This open access textbook provides an introduction to theories, concepts and methodological approaches concerning various facets of migration and migration-related diversities. It starts with an introduction to migration studies and continues with an introductory reading of migration drivers, migration infrastructures, migration flows, and several transversal topics such as gender and migration. It also covers politics, policies and governance as well as specific research methods.As an interactive guide, this book develops an innovative format that brings a connection with various online sources. This means that whereas the chapters bring together literature in a coherent way, they are also connected to IMISCOE's online interactive Migration Research Hub for further reading and for more empirical material on migration and diversity.As such, this textbook provides a very useful introductory reading for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for policymakers, policy advisors, and all those interested in studies on migration and migration-related diversities.

The concepts for Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will fundamentally change supply chains, production processes and industries. Intelligent technologies such as IoT, edge and cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and digital assistance systems are drivers of this change. This book provides a comprehensive overview of IoT use cases with illustrative practical examples of how digitization or innovation projects can be successfully implemented. It takes into consideration that processes are getting more flexible and efficient, and new digital technologies allow seamless, location-independent communication in near real time between things, processes and people through the digitization of physical objects and processes. Considering these changes, the book provides a guideline on how companies should position themselves for the future with industrial IoT in order to still play a decisive role in the industry in a few years' time. The book is aimed at both decision-makers and practitioners who, on the one hand, recognize the opportunities and possibilities for their company and, on the other hand, want to learn how to use the appropriate technologies. With this in mind it will be valuable for entrepreneurs, managers, architects and also developers in the field of Industry 4.0.