Books published by Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book summarizes the latest research on the origins of language, with a focus on the process of evolution and differentiation of language.

This book provides commentary on the influence of multi-layered political contexts that surround the work of teacher educators worldwide.

This book is the first edited book to cover a wide range of issues related to Chinese as a second language (CSL) speech, including tone and segment acquisition and processing, categorical perception of tones, CSL fluency, CSL intelligibility/comprehensibility and accentedness, and pronunciation pedagogy.

In the second part of the book, basic and advanced research in geotechnical engineering which can provide sustainable solutions to practical problems in foundations, retaining structures, soil dynamics, site characterization, slope stability, dams, rock engineering, environmental geotechnics, and geosynthetics are covered.

This book addresses the difficult decisions in the life of law students, graduates and young law professionals in deciding the area of legal practice to pursue as a career.

This book discusses the protection, planning, and design of sustainable urban water environments.

Several nano-scale devices have emerged that are capable of analysing plant diseases, nutrient deficiencies and any other ailments that may affect food security in agro-ecosystems. It has been envisioned that smart delivery systems can be developed and utilised for better management of agricultural ecosystems. These systems could exhibit beneficial, multi-functional characteristics, which could be used to assess and also control habitat-imposed stresses to crops.Nanoparticle-mediated smart delivery systems can control the delivery of nutrients or bioactive and/or pesticide molecules in plants. It has been suggested that nano-particles in plants might help determine their nutrient status and could also be used as cures in agro-ecosystems. Further, to enhance soil and crop productivity, nanotechnology has been used to create and deliver nano fertilizers, which can be defined as nano-particles that directly help supply nutrients for plant growth and soil productivity. Nano-particles can be absorbed onto clay networks, leading to improved soil health and more efficient nutrient use by crops. Additionally, fertilizer particles can be coated with nano-particles that facilitate slow and steady release of nutrients, reducing loss of nutrients and enhancing their efficiency in agri-crops. Although the use of nanotechnology in agro-ecosystems is still in its early stages and needs to be developed further, nano-particle-mediated delivery systems are promising solutions for the successful management of agri-ecosystems. In this context, the book offers insights into nanotechnology in agro-ecosystems with reference to biogenic nanoparticles. It highlights the: ¿ occurrence and diversity of Biogenic Nanoparticles¿ mechanistic approach involved in the synthesis of biogenic nanoparticles¿ synthesis of nanoparticles using photo-activation, and their fate in the soil ecosystem¿ potential applicationsof nanoparticles in agricultural systems¿ application and biogenic synthesis of gold nanoparticles and their characterization¿ impact of biogenic nanoparticles on biotic stress to plants¿ mechanistic approaches involved in the antimicrobial effects and cytotoxicity of biogenic nanoparticles¿ role of biogenic nanoparticles in plant diseases management¿ relevance of biological synthesized nanoparticles in the longevity of agricultural crops ¿ design and synthesis of nano-biosensors for monitoring pollutants in water, soil and plant systems¿ applications of nanotechnology in agriculture with special refer to soil, water and plant sciencesA useful resource for postgraduate and research students in the field of plant and agricultural sciences, it is also of interest to researchers working in nano and biotechnology.

This is the first comprehensive book to consider STEM education from early childhood through to senior secondary education.

This book presents the state-of-the-art in plant ecophysiology. With a particular focus on adaptation to a changing environment, it discusses ecophysiology and adaptive mechanisms of plants under climate change. Over the centuries, the incidence of various abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, extreme temperatures, atmospheric pollution, metal toxicity due to climate change have regularly affected plants and, and some estimates suggest that environmental stresses may reduce the crop yield by up to 70%. This in turn adversely affects the food security. As sessile organisms, plants are frequently exposed to various environmental adversities. As such, both plant physiology and plant ecophysiology begin with the study of responses to the environment. Provides essential insights, this book can be used for courses such as Plant Physiology, Environmental Science, Crop Production and Agricultural Botany.Volume 2 provides up-to-date information on the impactof climate change on plants, the general consequences and plant responses to various environmental stresses.

Nature-inspired Metaheuristic Optimization: Recent Advances and Applications.- Prediction in Nature Inspired Dynamic Optimization.- Plants Genetics Inspired Evolutionary Optimization: A Descriptive Tutorial.- Trends on fitness landscape analysis in evolutionary computation and meta-heuristics.- Lion Algorithm and its Applications.- A self-adaptive nature-inspired procedure for solving the quadratic assignment problem.

Conventional ultrasonic methods based on ultrasonic characteristics in the linear elastic region are mainly sensitive to mature defects but are much less responsive to micro-damage or incipient material degradation. Recently, nonlinear ultrasonic characteristics beyond the linear ultrasonic amplitude range have been studied as a method for overcoming this limitation, and hence, many researchers are engaged in theoretical, experimental, and various application studies. However, the nonlinear ultrasonic characteristics are quite exacting compared to the linear phenomena so that they require vast experience and high proficiency in order to obtain proper experimental data. Actually, many researchers, especially beginners including graduate students, have difficulty in reliably measuring nonlinear ultrasonic characteristics. This book provides key technological know-how from experts with years of experience in this field, whichwill help researchers and engineers to obtain a clear understanding and high quality data in the nonlinear ultrasonic experiments and applications.