Books published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Machine learning and artificial intelligence increasingly use methodological tools rooted in statistical physics. Conversely, limitations and pitfalls encountered in AI question the very foundations of statistical physics. This interplay between AI and statistical physics has been attested since the birth of AI, and principles underpinning statistical physics can shed new light on the conceptual basis of AI. During the last fifty years, statistical physics has been investigated through new geometric structures allowing covariant formalization of the thermodynamics. Inference methods in machine learning have begun to adapt these new geometric structures to process data in more abstract representation spaces.This volume collects selected contributions on the interplay of statistical physics and artificial intelligence. The aim is to provide a constructive dialogue around a common foundation to allow the establishment of new principles and laws governing these two disciplines in a unified manner. The contributions were presented at the workshop on the Joint Structures and Common Foundation of Statistical Physics, Information Geometry and Inference for Learning which was held in Les Houches in July 2020. The various theoretical approaches are discussed in the context of potential applications in cognitive systems, machine learning, signal processing.

This second fully updated and extended edition of the textbook serves as a highly readable guide on latest developments in vaccine development and vaccination programs in infants, children and adolescents from a European perspective. The first part of the book introduces to general vaccinology, immunization programs and formulation, effects and unwanted effects of vaccines. The second and third part provide an overview on current viral and bacterial vaccines. The fourth and last part of this book discusses new vaccines in the pipeline and gives insights into safety and regulatory matters. This second edition is extended by a whole new chapter on COVID-19 vaccines.This book serves as a reference textbook in the field and helps to standardize the information on vaccines and immunization programs in the WHO European Region.

The relationship between geography and philosophy is still largely in need of being explored. Geographers and philosophers share the responsibility for that. On the one hand, geographers have considered as a dangerous deviation any attempt to elaborate an image of the Earth which was not a mere replica of a cartographic representation. On the other hand, philosophers have generally been uninterested in a discipline offering little chance for critical reflection. In light of these considerations, the purpose of this book is to identify some fundamental philosophical issues involved in the reflection of geography by adopting a perspective which looks at the discipline with a specific focus on its fundamental concepts and distinctions.

Dynamics of Civil Structures, Volume 2: Proceedings of the 39th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2021, the second volume of nine from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of the Dynamics of Civil Structures, including papers on:Structural VibrationHumans & StructuresInnovative Measurement for Structural ApplicationsSmart Structures and Automation Modal Identification of Structural SystemsBridges and Novel Vibration AnalysisSensors and Control

Nonlinear Structures & Systems, Volume 1: Proceedings of the 39th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2021, the first volume of nine from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering.  The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Nonlinear Dynamics, including papers on:Nonlinear Reduced-order ModelingJointed Structures: Identification, Mechanics, DynamicsExperimental Nonlinear DynamicsNonlinear Model & Modal InteractionsNonlinear DampingNonlinear Modeling & SimulationNonlinearity & System Identification

This open access book includes a selection of contributions from the Life Cycle Management 2019 Conference (LCM) held in Poznä, Poland, and presents different examples of scientific and practical contributions, showing an incorporation of life cycle approach into the decision processes on strategic and operational level. Special attention is drawn to applications of LCM to target, organize, analyze and manage product-related information and activities towards continuous improvement, along the different products life cycle. The selection of case studies presents LCM as a business management approach that can be used by all types of businesses and organizations in order to improve their sustainability performance. This book provides a cross-sectoral, current picture of LCM issues. The structure of the book is based on five-theme lines. The themes represent different objects that are focused on sustainability and LCM practices mainly related to: products, technologies, organizations, markets and policy issues as well as methodological solutions. The book brings together presentations from the world of science and the world of enterprises as well as institutions supporting economic development.

In this volume, the contributing authors from top labs involved in stem cell theranostics share the latest advances in the field of stem cell research. The book covers many aspects of stem cell-based therapy and the progress made toward stem cell therapy for liver, ocular, and cardiovascular diseases as well as cancer. This volume serves as a continuation of Prof. Khawaja Husnain Haider¿s previously edited books pertaining to stem cells-based therapnostics. This is an ideal book for researchers involved in drug development as well as regenerative medicine and stem cell-based therapy. The secondary audience includes graduate and postgraduate medical students, doctors, cellular pharmacology, drug industry, and researchers involved in using stem cells as ex-vivo disease models for drug development.

This book discusses how Big Data could be implemented in educational settings and research, using empirical data and suggesting both best practices and areas in which to invest future research and development. It also explores: 1) the use of learning analytics to improve learning and teaching; 2) the opportunities and challenges of learning analytics in education.As Big Data becomes a common part of the fabric of our world, education and research are challenged to use this data to improve educational and research systems, and also are tasked with teaching coming generations to deal with Big Data both effectively and ethically.The Big Data era is changing the data landscape for statistical analysis, the ways in which data is captured and presented, and the necessary level of statistical literacy to analyse and interpret data for future decision making. The advent of Big Data accentuates the need to enable citizens to develop statistical skills, thinking and reasoning needed for representing, integrating and exploring complex information.This book offers guidance to researchers who are seeking suitable topics to explore. It presents research into the skills needed by data practitioners (data analysts, data managers, statisticians, and data consumers, academics), and provides insights into the statistical skills, thinking and reasoning needed by educators and researchers in the future to work with Big Data. This book serves as a concise reference for policymakers, who must make critical decisions regarding funding and applications.

A year after the second edition of his famous translation and commentary on Vitruvius, Daniele Barbaro published The Practice of Perspective, a text he had begun working on many years before. Barbaro was the first to publish a formal treatise entirely dedicated to the science of geometric perspective. In an informal style especially addressed to practicing artists and architects, Barbaro begins by drawing on and expanding the manuscript treatise of Piero della Francesca with regards to basics of perspective constructions for representing three-dimensional solids on two-dimensional media, and then goes on to show that perspective is a particularly suitable instrument for other scientific and artistic applications as well, including cartography, cosmology, stage set design, and anamorphosis. Here for the first time Barbarös The Practice of Perspective is made available to contemporary scholars in an English translation, augmented by annotations relating the printed treatise to the three unpublished manuscripts in Italian and Latin of the work now conserved in Venice¿s Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. A foreword by Philip Steadman sets the stage for this book. In-depth essays by authors Kim Williams and Cosimo Monteleone situate the treatise within the editorial panorama of the Cinquecento, outline the innovations that Barbaro brought to the study of perspective, and focus particularly on his creative explorations of geometric solids and the construction of clocks. Sometimes dismissed in recent studies as a compilation of known principles, the aim of this present book is to reveal the truly innovative nature of Barbarös experiments and results and restore him to his rightful place as an original scholar of Renaissance perspective theory.

This book reviews concepts and recent advances of biotechnological approaches for livestock production. Indeed, biotechnologies have recently emerged as powerful tools for animal breeding, genetics, production, nutrition, and animal health. Applications to the production of livestock such as cattle, camel, and poultry are detailed. Chapters also present biotechnological applications for diagnostics, animal nutrition, and animal food production.

¿Rotating Machinery, Optical Methods & Scanning LDV Methods, Volume 6: Proceedings of the 39th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2021, the sixth volume of nine from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Structural Health Monitoring, including papers on:Novel TechniquesOptical Methods,Scanning LDV MethodsPhotogrammetry & DICRotating Machinery

This book fills a major gap in research into smoking and tobacco control in China. In recent decades, few studies have explored the significance of geographical factors and the role they have played either in affecting the prevalence of smoking or in tobacco control responses to the smoking epidemic in China. In light of this, the book investigates the importance of national, regional and local environmental factors affecting smoking in China. It shows how geographical, social and institutional contexts have influenced the implementation and success of tobacco control initiatives, and situates smoking trends in China in a broader global context. The authors synthesize Chinese and western research on the smoking epidemic and uniquely focus on the importance of environmental factors and Chinese cultural perspectives in understanding smoking behaviour and the ineffectiveness of many tobacco control initiatives, especially how these conflict with Chinese economic policy. The book is aimedat academic and policy audiences both internationally and inside China, and will be of interest to a wide audience, not only geographers, but also epidemiologists, sociologists and others working in public health.

Data Science and Engineering Volume 9: Proceedings of the 39th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2021, the ninth volume of nine from the Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Data Science in Engineering, including papers on:Data Science in Engineering ApplicationsEngineering MathematicsComputational Methods in Engineering