Books published by Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book offers a considered voice on the advertising chaos that colours our rapidly changing media environment in a world of fake news, fast facts and seriously depleted attention stamina.

This book highlights the main features of shipbuilding management which lead to successful completion of shipbuilding projects. Building a ship is a complex project, so the principles of project management are described, first in general terms and then with specific reference to their application in shipbuilding.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the current status of molecular hydrogen medicine, a young field that emerged with the discovery that inhalation of hydrogen gas leads to the elimination of harmful reactive oxygen species in rats.

This book illustrates how to design and implement co-creation, a powerful form of collective creativity that harnesses the potential of teams and can generate breakthrough insights.

This book describes the concept, characteristics, methodology, design, management, business, recent advances and future technologies of plant factories with artificial lighting (PFAL) and indoor vertical farms.The third wave of PFAL business started in around 2010 in Japan and Taiwan, and in USA and Europe it began in about 2013 after the rapid advances in LED technology. The book discusses the basic and advanced developments in recent PFALs and future smart PFALs that emerged in 2016.There is an emerging interest around the globe in smart PFAL R&D and business, which are expected to play an important role in urban agriculture in the coming decades. It is also expected that they will contribute to solving the trilemma of food, environment and natural resources with increasing urban populations and decreasing agricultural populations and arable land area.Current obstacles to successful PFAL R&D and business are: 1) no well-accepted concepts and methodology for PFAL design and management, 2) lack of understanding of the environmental effects on plant growth and development and hydroponics among engineers; 3) lack of understanding of the technical and engineering aspects of PFAL among horticulturists; 4) lack of knowledge of the technical challenges and opportunities in future PFAL businesses among business professionals, policy makers, and investors and 5) lack of a suitable textbook on the recent advances in PFAL technologies and business for graduate students and young researchers. This book covers all the aspects of successful smart PFAL R & D and business. 

Lyndall Strazdins is a Professor at the Australian National University and an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship.This book is about the urgent need to have time for health. It's about why people don't exercise, rest or eat healthy food even when they know they need to. Time has become the prescription needed to halt chronic diseases, 30 minutes of physical activity every day is a minimum, but this book argues against telling people to do more. It explains why it's not laziness, ignorance or lack of motivation that's the problem for unhealthy lifestyles, and why so many people lack time for their health. The book connects ideas from economics, sociology, political economy and public health to work-family dilemmas, gender and social inequality. It ends by canvassing interventions and actions from the personal, to the workplace, health promotion and urban design.

This handbook addresses issues around urban growth in early India. It provides theoretical and empirical insights from the perspective of the different regions of the subcontinent using various sources. The book chapters discuss how early urban forms evolved, transformed, and survived on the subcontinent, beginning with the third millennium BCE. This volume also looks at how urban space gradually emerged in borderland areas of the subcontinent and hill areas, which throw up relevant issues and questions of how we need to review elements of what we define as 'urban'. It includes chapters on both the early historic and early medieval periods. The book provides a comprehensive view of early India's urban history, insights into metallic money and cities, the origin of cities and waterways, geospatial and remote sensing techniques to reflect on the emergence of historic settlements, and so on. The contributors have presented the dialectical relationship between the city and the country in their chapters. The book covers themes such as the Indus Valley civilization, the rise of cities in the Ganges valley, the cultural setting of the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Kushan cities, the dynamic of the growth of cities in the ancient Tamilakam, theories of urbanization, archaeological and epigraphic material reflecting on the first cities in different regions of the subcontinent, etc. It is an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and scholars in history, architecture, and archaeology, as well as scholars working on Indic studies.

In the era of digital economy with highly-connected world, the ability to comprehend social network computing has become an indispensable skill. This book serves as a vital guide for academics and professionals engaged in research within this rapidly expanding field.The book is organized into three parts, each dedicated to different facets of social network computing. The journey commences with an exploration of foundational principles, encompassing triadic closure, strong and weak ties, network homophily, and positive and negative balance. This lays the groundwork for an in-depth examination of fundamental theories governing social networks. Subsequently, the focus shifts to the laws dictating social networks, elucidating phenomena like the small world effect, power law distribution, community detection, diffusion processes, game theory dynamics, and hypernetworks, also including multiplex networks, multi-mode networks and temporal networks. The final section of the book centers on the practical aspects of social network analysis, delving into topics such as link prediction, influence evaluation, dynamic analysis, random experiments, modeling and simulation, and representation learning. This provides a comprehensive exploration of the applicability of social network analysis in real-world scenarios.This book seamlessly integrates theory with practice by incorporating popular social network computing software, including igraph, Gephi, Ucinet, and Netlogo. By mastering the computational thinking methods presented in this book, readers will deepen their understanding of social network computing and acquire the skills to effectively apply it in various real-world contexts.

This book provides an accessible overview of one particular type of social panic: that of the phantom attacker. Such panics are characterised by outbreaks of sensational claims of attacks by mysterious figures that seem to emerge from nowhere, attack their innocent human and animal victims, only to vanish without a trace. Taking the recent wave of needle-spiking reports in Europe as a starting point, this book does more than just catalogue such outbreaks historically and geographically. It also ties the phenomenon of phantom assailants to the moral panics literature.Meticulously investigating archival sources, the authors examine the social construction of social panics and unearth the parallels between contemporary episodes and historical antecedents in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Focusing on the sociohistorical and -cultural context, they uncover the role of mass media in creating and perpetuating these panics, which respond to anxieties pervading societies at particular points in history.Written in a lively style, this book is not only of interest for scholars and students of sociology, criminology, social psychology, media studies and history but also appeals to a lay audience interested in urban legends and true crime.

This book compares and contrasts 10 distinct investment philosophies and how each leads to different approaches to investment selection, portfolio construction, and risk management in practice. Each chapter aims to outline the principles and practical decisions of each different way of investing with the goal of helping readers better understand the logical implications of their own way of investment thinking, as well as a framework for evaluating how higher level investment decisions are made by their pension funds and other institutions.

This book emphasizes the concepts of strategic innovation and entrepreneurship, which are quite prevalent in today's organizations. Going beyond traditional approach that follows strategic analysis, choice and implementation framework, and traditional theories based on industrial organization paradigm and resource-based view, the book considers current business environment, which is volatile, uncertain, complex, chaotic, conflicting, and ambiguous (VUCA). It takes the strategic flexibility view to cope with these strategic challenges.The book introduces the subject matter of strategic management in retrospect and prospect, highlighting critical theories of strategic management. It uses a strategic learning framework rather than a purely analytical approach to dynamically learn about the external situation, internal resources, and capabilities. The evolution of strategy is given in terms of generic strategies in practice and adaptation in specific contexts. It further deals with essential topics such as strategic alliances and networks, mergers and acquisitions, and global strategy. It then provides the execution framework and models covering restructuring, leadership, corporate governance, and change management. The strategy in specific areas such as strategic technology management, e-business and knowledge management, and functional strategies and policies are discussed to understand the implementation depth. Finally, it touches upon contemporary issues such as sustainable enterprise, stakeholder perspectives, and comparative strategies in various contexts. It then outlines future directions of strategic management. In the end, case analysis guidelines are provided with sample cases from different parts of the world. The book also used interpretive and simulation methods such as system dynamics and total interpretive structural modeling to grasp the relationships and their dynamic impact provided throughout the book. It will be an invaluable resource for researchers of business strategy as well as students studying these courses; it will also be useful for industry practitioners, corporates and business policy makers.

This book project was part of an annual series of Summer seminars held at Hong Kong's Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, which brought the intellectual community together to debate the social issues of the day. The artists, writers, and scholars included in these texts represent unconventional thinkers completing rigorous scholarship that we think is important to be published today, as Hong Kong seeks for social and political alternatives. This book will be of interest to public intellectuals, political/cultural theorists and thinkers, as well as the international art community.Dr. Melissa Lee is CEO of the Chinese Canadian Museum. Previously, during the commissioning of this book and project, she was the Education and Public Programmes Curator at Tai Kwun. She holds degrees from McGill, University of Canterbury, and Lancaster.Daniel Ho is Senior Editor at Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, Hong Kong. Previously, he was Chief Editor of Ran Dian magazine. He holds a MA from McGill University.

"This book will help build strong bridges between Europe and Taiwan by enhancing mutual understanding, inviting Europeans to learn from Taiwan's experience and arguing for principled solidarity between our democracies."-Reinhard Bütikofer, former Member of the European Parliament"A timely, up-to-date and comprehensive book on the new generation Taiwan-EU relationship with a balanced perspective. Timely, because both sides elected a new leadership in 2024. Up-to-date, because bilateral relations entered a new phase in 2019, and were further elevated after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Comprehensive, because the discussion includes all EU institutions and covers important domains, namely trade and technology. The perspective is balanced because it considers both Taiwan and EU views. In short, a must-read piece."-Ambassador Dr. Roy Chun LEE, Taipei Representative Office in the EU and BelgiumThis book addresses the following fundamental questions: With the EU seeing Taiwan as a partner on its own merit (rather than exclusively through the China factor lens), how can the two sides consolidate this new normal, what next? How can they expand cooperation in a way that both increases the EU's role in shaping Taiwan's future and empowers Taiwan to exercise agency? Taiwan's geo-strategic relevance is likely to grow in the Indo-Pacific, a region of great significance to the EU's own interests. Protecting these will require a more engaged Europe. In this trenchant and engaging volume, Dr. Ferenczy explores what European policy towards the Asian hotspot should be, of interest to policymakers, scholars and journalists.Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy is Assistant Professor at the National Dong Hwa University in Hualien, Taiwan, and Affiliated Scholar at the Department of Political Science of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Between 2008 and 2020 Zsuzsa worked as a political advisor in the European Parliament. Her areas of expertise include European foreign and security policy, Europe's relations with China and Taiwan in the framework of the Indo-Pacific. In 2019, her first book "Europe, China, and the Limits of Normative Power" was received to wide acclaim.

This book provides a clear understanding of quantum mechanics (QM) by developing it from fundamental postulates in an axiomatic manner, as its central theme. The target audience is physics students at master¿s level. It avoids historical developments, which are piecemeal, not logically well knitted, and may lead to misconceptions. Instead, in the present approach all of QM and all its rules are developed logically starting from the fundamental postulates only and no other assumptions.Specially noteworthy topics have been developed in a smooth contiguous fashion following the central theme. They provide a new approach to understanding QM. In most other texts, these are presented as disjoint separate topics. Since the reader may not be acquainted with advanced mathematical topics like linear vector space, a number of such topics have been presented as ¿mathematical preliminary.¿ Standard topics, viz. derivation of uncertainty relations, simple harmonic oscillator by operator method,bound systems in one and three dimensions, angular momentum, hydrogen-like atom, and scattering in one and three dimensions, are woven into the central theme.Advanced topics like approximation methods, spin and generalized angular momenta, addition of angular momenta, and relativistic quantum mechanics have been reserved for Volume II. ¿

This open access book offers an introduction to the field of the environmental humanities in India. The environmental humanities, often referred to as 'EH', are a multifaceted, relatively new, and swiftly evolving field of scholarship that integrates the theories and approaches of various disciplines - from anthropology, art, communications, cultural studies, philosophy and ecology to history, literature, media, music, performance, politics, sociology, theology and theater. Practitioners of this considerably integrative and widely ranging field aim to address and, in certain cases, confront today's urgent ecological and cultural challenges, namely climate change, urban sustainability, biodiversity conservation, species decline, energy policy, the exigencies of the Anthropocene, environmental activism, and Indigenous peoples' justice. Although the environmental humanities have been relatively slow to gain traction in South Asia, an increasing momentum towards transdisciplinary approaches to ecology and sustainability is palpable in India. Comprising fourteen chapters, this contributed volume is the first major publication to call attention to current work in the environmental humanities in India. The volume foregrounds particular ecohumanist theories and methodologies evolving from Indian biocultural contexts. Towards this aim, the book consists of four thematic sections: Indigenous Perspectives: Conservation, Spirituality, and Language; Theoretical Grounding: Education, Law, and Ethics; Literary Formulations: Memoir, Parable, and Storyworlds; and Popular Narratives: Myth, Travel, and Music. The volume is of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, early career scholars, and more established researchers in the environmental humanities and the allied fields of ecopoetics, ecocriticism, ecomusicology, environmental art, cultural ecology, postcolonial studies, and South Asian studies.This is an open access book.

This open access book critically examines the policies and practices related to climate-related human mobility in Asia-Pacific and the legal and policy protection framework for climatically displaced migrants (CDMs) through an interdisciplinary human rights-based approach. While covering the policy and theoretical dimensions of mobility, it also evaluates the issue through empirical studies. The book illustrates how interdisciplinary rights-based approaches address and identify gaps in the protection framework for the region regarding dimensions of climate change displacement, migration, forced migration, susceptibility to climate change, and typology of climate change-induced displacement. Presenting multiple case scenarios, it recommends a legal mechanism based on human rights in a region brimming with variety and multiculturalism.Bringing together voices from the Asia-Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement, the book examines issues that are immediately relevant in countries where they are living and working. In addition to academic perspective, the chapters also bring perspectives from positions held in national human rights institutions and government. They bring insight into lived experience and policy processes, seeking to avert, minimize, and address displacement, including through general disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation initiatives, as well as specific initiatives around emergency preparedness for response and planned relocation and resettlement. The chapters examine diverse forms of human mobility, including displacement, planned relocation, and forced immobility. The combination of studies focusing on both sudden onset and slower onset movement is also distinctive. With a thorough understanding of the interdisciplinary rights-based approaches to the issue, students, researchers, policymakers, administrators, and all those engaged in studying these topics can quickly evaluate and appreciate how the rights of CDMs are protected on a national, regional, and international level in Asia-Pacific.

This book explains basic ideas behind several methods used in artificial intelligence-based knowledge management techniques. It also shows how these techniques are applied in practical contexts in different education sectors. The book discusses AI-based knowledge management applications, AI-empowered knowledge management in primary and higher education, and technical and ethical challenges and opportunities.

This open access edited volume presents a series of studies utilizing a variety of linguistic research techniques to investigate areas of language education, acquisition and assessment, contemporary political debate, modern and historical print media, and clinical language disorders, in the Indonesian context. In doing so, the authors provide a rich and diverse overview of current research in the fields of linguistics and applied linguistics. The initial section focuses on research conducted in educational settings, focusing on English-medium instruction (EMI), reading assessment, discovery-based learning, cultural elements in textbooks, and pre-service teacher preparation in Indonesia, offering recommendations for improving language education. The second section demonstrates the applications of corpus linguistics, focusing on collocation patterns in different languages, lexical use and context of rhetorical markers, and authorship determination. A third section presents investigations related to aspects of historical and contemporary language use in a variety of contexts, including advertisements, political debate, Indonesian print media, and translanguaging and multilingual writings, discussing the social and cultural dimensions of language use in Indonesia. The final section focuses on clinical linguistics, investigating the relationship between language disorders and language use, including spoken narratives provided by patients with Alzheimer's and the structure and time reference use of agrammatic speakers, with valuable insights into the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of language disorders. Brought together in a single volume, the chapters illustrate how linguistic analysis can be applied across a variety of disciplines and research sites. The volume is relevant to linguists, educators, sociologists, historians, and members of the medical community with particular interest in the Indonesian context.

The five-volume set LNCS 14884, 14885, 14886, 14887 & 14888 constitutes the refereed deadline proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management, KSEM 2024, held in Birmingham, UK, during August 16-18, 2024. The 160 full papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 495 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Volume I: Knowledge Science with Learning and AI (KSLA) Volume II: Knowledge Engineering Research and Applications (KERA) Volume III: Knowledge Management with Optimization and Security (KMOS) Volume IV: Emerging Technology Volume V: Special Tracks

This book adopts a methodology-focused approach, concentrating on quantitative techniques for transportation. It specifically focuses on methods that have been or potentially could be applied to study the effects of transportation policies and projects. The prevailing research features three key research categories: cross-sectional regression models, simulation (forecasting) methods, and causal inference models.

However, the contents of this book differ significantly from most commutative algebra texts: namely, its treatment of the Dedekind-Mertens formula, the (small) finitistic dimension of a ring, Gorenstein rings, valuation overrings and the valuative dimension, and Nagata rings.

This book focuses on the emerging topic of embedded artificial intelligence and provides a systematic summary of its principles, platforms, and practices. In the section on principles, it analyzes three main approaches for implementing embedded artificial intelligence: cloud computing mode, local mode, and local-cloud collaborative mode. The book identifies five essential components for implementing embedded artificial intelligence: embedded AI accelerator chips, lightweight neural network algorithms, model compression techniques, compiler optimization techniques, and multi-level cascaded application frameworks. The platform section introduces mainstream embedded AI accelerator chips and software frameworks currently used in the industry. The practical part outlines the development process of embedded artificial intelligence and showcases real-world application examples with accompanying code.As a comprehensive guide to the emerging field of embedded artificial intelligence, the book offers rich and in-depth content, a clear and logical structure, and a balanced approach to both theoretical analysis and practical applications. It provides significant reference value and can serve as an introductory and reference guide for researchers, scholars, students, engineers, and professionals interested in studying and implementing embedded artificial intelligence.

This book provides the first comprehensive demographic overview of remarriage in Japan. Despite the fact that nearly one in five marriages in Japan now involves at least one formerly married spouse, very little is known about the nature of remarriages and how they differ from first marriages. One important focus of this book is to examine fertility intentions and outcomes in remarriages and to compare them with marriages in which both partners are in their first marriage. It is well known that low rates of first marriage contribute to Japan's very low total fertility rate (TFR), but there is currently no theoretical or empirical basis for understanding how levels and patterns of remarriage are related to the TFR.To understand trends and patterns of remarriage in Japan, the book begins with an overview of the voluminous research literature on remarriage in the USA and other Western countries. This overview consists of a summary of trends and theoretical frameworks for understanding remarriage and is followed by a summary of existing research on correlates of remarriage and outcomes associated with higher-order marriages. Of particular importance is the attention paid to stepfamily fertility and the extent to which remarriage is associated with overall levels of fertility.An important contribution of this book is its presentation of basic descriptive information about levels and correlates of remarriage in Japan. These descriptive analyses are based on published data in the vital statistics reports and individual-level data from the National Fertility Surveys conducted by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research and the National Survey of Households with Children conducted by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training.

This book conveys the essence of a series of guided conversations with leading Malaysian intellectuals-predominantly writers, journalists, academicians, some artists, and other thinkers-in the early 1970s. Based on interviews with 133 intellectuals, supplemented by hours of informal conversation, socializing, and common attendance at intellectual activities or events, the book highlights the cultural significance of the 1970s, an under-appreciated era, and features "conversations" on topics that are integral to the nation's intellectual history. Topics covered include freedom of speech and expression, their most admired cultural centres, religion, democracy, and the role for intellectuals in Malaysian society. The project uses an innovative approach that eschews conventional biographical sketches in favour of allowing intellectual informants to "speak" in their own voices.Daniel Regan, a sociologist, holds a Ph.D. in the field from Yale University (USA) as well as an M.A. in Southeast Asia Studies from Yale. His B.A. (Hons) is from Amherst College. Before turning to academic administration, he was a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh (USA) for 21 years, six of them as Sociology department head. He has held academic administrative positions at Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho, USA) and, before retiring, as long-time dean of academic affairs at Northern Vermont University-Johnson (now part of Vermont State University) in Vermont, where he lives. His academic writings have focused on higher education, religion and politics, intellectual life, and Malaysia.

This open access book gathers selected high-quality research papers presented at the Ninth International Congress on Information and Communication Technology, held at Brunel University, London, on February 19-22, 2024. It discusses emerging topics pertaining to information and communication technology (ICT) for managerial applications, e-governance, e-agriculture, e-education and computing technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), and e-mining. Written by respected experts and researchers working on ICT, the book offers an asset for young researchers involved in advanced studies. The work is presented in ten volumes.

This book provides a concise overview of intelligent technologies for vision and sensing, with a particular focus on their applications in various multispectral configurations, including safety monitoring in rural areas. Within the realm of intelligent perception and contemporary healthcare, the book emphasizes the real-time monitoring, analysis, and prediction of vital signals using biomedical optical sensors. This approach aims to offer more adaptable and personalized services within the medical health management domain. Furthermore, the book delves into the comprehensive comprehension of physiological signals and additional data sources, such as environmental and motion data. The goal is to enhance the breadth and depth of data analysis, providing more integrated support for the life and health sector. Additionally, the book explores the implementation of edge intelligence algorithms at the sensor level to enable real-time analysis, enhancing the efficiency of sensor data processing and utilization. Detailed explanations of the configuration and deployment of an active vision camera system featuring an integrated edge algorithm are provided to elucidate the coordination and communication mechanisms of edge intelligence technology across multiple edge devices. A specific application case is then presented-the universal camera jamming system-which underscores the benefits of intelligent sensing fusion for tasks such as attitude and position recognition, as well as self-feedback excitation jamming. The book underscores the pervasive and seamless integration of smart sensing in both current and future lifestyles, spanning from active vision cameras to diverse applications across multiple spectrums. Its insights are poised to stimulate innovation and application within the realms of smart vision and sensing, including a comprehensive analysis of future healthcare paradigms.

This open access book analyzes the achievements and challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from the macro and industrial, real and financial, domestic and international perspectives, and explores the opportunities for future development and related public policy issues. It is a new research achievement of CICC Research and CICC Global Institute on major issues in China's new development stage.The year 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past decade, BRI has established more than 3,000 cooperation projects, galvanized nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars of investment, created more than 420,000 jobs, and lifted nearly 40 million people out of poverty. BRI has made remarkable achievements in promoting connectivity and cooperative development between China and participating countries, and has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperation platform.Compared with ten years ago, the global environment has undergone profound changes. COVID-19 epidemic has brought great impacts to the world, and the post-epidemic economic recovery is uneven, with some long-term scarring effects still emerging. New changes and constraints, such as geopolitical events, industry chain adjustment, and green transition, have also exerted far-reaching influences on the economic fundamentals and global governance. Under the new situation, international cooperation mechanisms, including BRI, are facing new problems and challenges, which need to be explored and solved in practice.This book is both academically rigorous and readable, and provides valuable references for public policy departments, enterprises, and financial institutions who seek to better understand the macro, financial and industrial trends of BRI.

This open-access book offers a clear and thorough exploration of Asia's history from an international relations perspective. The book investigates key political, economic, and cultural forces defining Asia. It highlights the historical and current significance of the Indo-Pacific region, particularly shedding light on its strategic role in global geopolitics. Through detailed historical analyses, the authors guide readers toward a comprehensive understanding of Asia's complex international relations, from colonization and imperialism, through the Cold War, into decolonization and the wave of democratization in the region, to the rise of China, unpacking the various dimensions of regionalism in Asia. This book serves as a practical scholarly resource for advanced students, researchers, and lecturers interested in understanding the region's past and its implications for future geopolitical dynamics. It is relevant to historians focused on Asia and to international relations and political science scholars interested in the shift to an Asian world order, from past to present.