Books published by Springer

This proceedings volume convenes selected, revised papers presented at the 52nd Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing (SEICCGTC 2021), virtually held at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, USA, on March 8-12, 2021. As has been a tradition since its inception in 1970, this edition once more brought together mathematicians, practitioners, and scientists around novel findings in combinatorics, graph theory and computing, and their interactions.The lectures and works presented at the Conference have proven to be of great interest to other scientists and analysts employing these mathematical sciences in their professional activities in business, industry, and government. Such an environment promotes a better understanding of the roles of modern applied mathematics, combinatorics, and computer science. Many works have demonstrated that disciplines have increasingly contributed to each other. With this series of Conferences, the gaps between the fields tend to decrease even further.This volume is of particular interest for the community of pure and applied mathematicians in academia, industry, and government, working in combinatorics and graph theory, as well as related areas of computer science and the interactions among these fields. Its findings can also benefit a general audience of practitioners and students from related fields.

This book deals with the ethics of technology and addresses specific ethical problems related to some emerging technologies, mainly in the field of computer science (from machine learning models to extracting value from data to human-robot interaction). The contributions are authored mainly by scholars in ICT and other engineering fields who reflect on ethical and societal issues emerging from their own research activity. Thus, rather uniquely, the work overcomes the traditional divide between pure ethical theory that disregards what practitioners do and mere R&D practice that ignores what theorists conceptualize. Conversely, the reader is enabled to understand what ethics means when it is actually put into work by engineering researchers. The book arises from a joint program between MIT and Politecnico di Milano aimed at training early career researchers in addressing the ethical issues of technology and critically reflecting on the social impacts of the emerging, and even disruptive, technologies they are currently developing through their novel research. Overall, it aims at spreading the task of developing technologies that, from the beginning, are designed to be responsible for human life, society, and nature.

This book advances the peace discourse as defined in UN guidelines, while also working towards the implementation of the science of peace in various educational contexts in Africa, particularly at universities. The contributions gathered here are intended to highlight the role of university peace studies programs, particularly their relevance for peace education, peace research and peace work.The book is dedicated to students and teachers of Peace Studies and Development Studies at universities as well as civil society experts. They bear a great responsibility with regard to shaping the "Culture of Peace" called for by the UN, based on the foundation of peace education and peace work and in the context of an adequate peace policy. The book seeks to strengthen African pillars of lasting peace through Peace Studies. Analyzing the latest topics in Africa of universal importance, it offers a valuable reference guide for researchers and professionals grappling with the realities of nonviolence and other essential topics in Peace Studies.

This book offers a theory of ekphrasis--the literary description of an artwork--from the perspective of Visual Culture studies. A theory of ekphrasis must take into account not only the rhetorical strategies articulated in the description of artworks, but also the complex interplay that holds together the pictures that are described, the gazes that rest on them, and the dispositives that mediate them. It is therefore a matter of linking the study of the verbal rhetoric with the dynamics that are established between the author, the reader, and the visual artworks, real or fictive, as well as the performative aspects of description and the mediascapes that, from time to time, condition the gaze and the visual experience of the authors and the readers. This book proposes thus to consider both the intradiegetic aspects of description and the extradiegetic ones that condition its verbal texture. Following the rhetorics of ekphrasis throughout the Western tradition, from its origins in Philostratus, its reappraisal by Johann Joachim Winckelmann, to the twentieth-century avant-garde, this book shows how ekphrastic techniques are historically determined by the relationship between pictures, gazes, and dispositives.

This book presents a collection of research papers that explore how ICT experts, managers, and policymakers can address sustainability issues in digital transformation (DT) by considering people practices, organizational processes, and platform design issues. Each chapter offers insights into how to create sustainable digital solutions that benefit both society and the environment. The diversity of views presented makes this book particularly relevant for scholars, companies, and public sector organizations. The content is based on revised versions of selected papers (original double-blind peer-reviewed contributions) presented at the annual conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS, which took place in Catanzaro, Italy, in October 2022.

The book offers a transdisciplinary eco-systemic framework for analysis of ecosystems. It uses eight dimensions (economic-social-political-environmen-tal) and 40 factors to diagnose degenerating ecosystems and to synthesize regenerative ecosystems amid growing uncertainty, and inequality in the Anthropocene. Chapter 1 broadly defines the `all interacting evolving systems science' (AIESS) approach in terms of its eco-systemic and transdisciplinary action research methodology. Chapter 2 provides a detailed explanation of the AIESS approach through the four concepts of interconnectedness, interdependence, interactions, and intent to diagnose degeneration and synthesize regenerative systems. Part 1 of the book discusses the issues and approaches to Regenerativeness. Part 2, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate cases of regenerative systems in different ecosystems viz. natural, rural-indigenous, urban, and industrial ecosystems.Not only the researchers and scholarsin systems science, systems dynamics, systems design, and sustainable transition strategies but also the policy makers, corporate leaders, and development experts will greatly benefit from this book.1. Presents a ground breaking explanation of the science of change in the Anthropocene and in epochs prior to it through its all interacting evolving systems science framework. 2. Provides a unique transdisciplinary eco-systemic framework as a methodology to diagnose the complex degenerating ecosystems and to synthesize regenerative ecosystems in different geographies of the world. 3. Through various cases from different ecosystems viz., natural ecosystems, rural-indigenous ecosystems, urban ecosystems, and industrial ecosystems, the book presents the challenges as well as the steps and processes to synthesize regenerative ecosystems.

This book analyses dominant discourses of globalisation, cultural diversity and schooling. The collection in this volume advance further the discussions on the phenomenon of globalisation, and its far-reaching effects on our world, and consider cultural diversity in its broadest sense, as it manifests itself in a globalised world. Zajda has argued that globalisation represents a synthesis of technology, ideology and organisation, specifically related to border crossings of people, global finance and trade, IT convergence as well as cross-cultural communication. The reality of cultural diversity has been brought into stronger focus because of globalisation. Cultural diversity, always present in society is more evident today because of globalisation. The ways society copes with cultural diversity have changed such that the embrace of cultural diversity as part of identity is encouraged in liberal democracies. Cultural diversity, as presented in this volume is seen in a broad contextand includes factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientations, socio-economic status, culture, age, and physical ability as well as a variety of beliefs and values. The book contributes in a very scholarly way, to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between globalisation, cultural diversity, democracy, and equality for all.

This book analyses dominant discourses of globalisation and leadership in schools. The chapters in this volume advance further the discussions of the nexus between globalisation and leadership in schools. The politics of education reforms, governance and school leadership in the 21st century reflect a new emerging paradigm of standards-driven and outcomes-defined educational policy change. This ethos of academic performance has affected the nature and the role of school leadership in the 21st century, and emerging educational challenges and strategies. Academic achievement, standards, and educational results overall, depend on the nature and quality of school leadership, teachers and school¿s culture. Another emerging change affecting school leadership is autonomy in schools in designing curricula and managing resources, where the role of the school leader has grown far beyond that of administrator. School autonomy has also affected the changing role of school leadership. The other key role of effective leadership is the focus on diagnosing the school¿s needs, and supporting, evaluating and developing teacher quality. Developing school leaders in the 21st century requires clearly defining their key leadership roles and responsibilities for leading and inspiring teachers to achieve high academic standards, and the quality of the curriculum, and acknowledging, and accepting their significant role in improving school¿s image, as a standards-driven and academically performing institution.The book contributes in a very scholarly way, to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between globalisation, and dominant discourses of leadership in schools.

This book presents the Fifth International Conference on Safety and Security with IoT (SaSeIoT 2023), which took place Bratislava, Slovakia, October 24-26, 2023. The conference aims to explore not only IoT and its related critical applications but also IoT towards Security and Safety. The conference solicits original and inspiring research contributions from experts, researchers, designers, and practitioners in academia, industry and related fields and provides a common platform to share knowledge, experience and best practices in various domains of IoT.

This open access book provides a historical treatment of scientific control in experimentation in the longue durée. The introduction distinguishes four related strands in the history of experimental control: the development of practices to stabilize experimental conditions; the career of the comparative design; the unfolding of methodological discussions about control practices and designs; and the history of the term "control". Each chapter brings these distinctions to bear on specific historical episodes. The focus is on experiments with complex, elusive phenomena such as perception and learning, irregular movements, and unobservable elements. Such experiments bring control issues to the fore because they are difficult to design and stabilize and often controversial. Together, the chapters show that the local context shapes what exactly is controlled, how control can be accomplished, and how controls are justified. They also show that control strategies and methodological ideas often remain stable for a long time and change only gradually. This book, as well as the volume on analysis and synthesis in experimentation by the same editors, contains contributions by an array of experts from multiple disciplines, making it suitable for historians and philosophers of science and students alike.

This manual provides a quick reference guide to assist educators in providing authentic feedback, how to address feedback in pre-clinical and clinical situations, and the benefits of two-way feedback in improving instruction. This manual is a collective effort between medical educators designed to ensure authentic feedback is structured for both the learner and the learning environment.This manual enables medical educators to move from theory to practical application in both the preclinical and clinical settings. Through theory, the practical application of authentic feedback becomes a concrete application rather than a profound concept. Educators gain knowledge regarding how theoretical concepts become a reality leading to student success and self-directed learning. The manual guides the educator through the various modalities in which feedback is required to drive student success, such as formative practice, learning environments, small group learning, multiple-choice assessments, and clinical settings. Finally, the manual ends with two-way communication and describes the steps medical educators can take to become reflective professionals. Supported by experienced and evidence-based recommendations, medical educators, administrators, and institutions are presented with checklists, strategies, and best practices for providing authentic feedback.

This open access book presents the state-of-the-art environmental governance research and practices in Indonesia. It offers a wide scope, covering different sectors (e.g., forestry, mining) and geographical landscapes (e.g., inland and coastal areas). This book engages with existing theories and frameworks, including Earth System Governance, Adaptive and Interactive Governance, among others to trigger a debate regarding the operationalization of such concepts, which are mostly developed for the Global North context. It is also our ambition to incorporate more empirical knowledge from local contexts to indicate research gaps and future directions for environmental governance research agenda to be more diverse, inclusive, and facilitate the incorporation of inter-and transdisciplinary knowledge. This book will be useful for researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in the field of environmental governance, especially in Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the countries with the fastest-growing economies in Asia. Indonesia is rich in natural resources but also suffers from overexploitation and environmental threats exacerbated by climate and human pressures. Along with the growing global ambitions for achieving sustainable development and capacity to adapt to current and future threats, including climate change impacts and disaster risk, Indonesia's commitments to balance development while safeguarding a good environmental status are also increasing. The challenge is on how to govern complex and systemic natural, social and governance systems while adhering to the principle of equity and justice? As it will require more than traditional hierarchical modes of governance and current regulatory instruments (i.e., law and regulations).This is an open access book.

This book shows how managers at all levels of the company can master the challenges of sustainable corporate management with confidence. Concrete action plans are presented for this purpose. Climate change and the finite nature of natural resources are already taking their toll worldwide. A rethink towards ecological sustainability is not only urgently needed at a global level. The orientation of corporate strategies is also increasingly determined by the socio-political morals of customers and other stakeholders, where economic and socio-political interests must be in harmony with social and ecological challenges. Using the three-pillar model for sustainability (Triple Bottom Line) and further topics (such as supply chain law and ESG criteria), the author shows in a practical way how companies can successfully meet these major challenges in the long term. The key to success lies in a change in values towards ecological, social and economic sustainability that is defined and practiced at all levels of the company. Nicola Oudejans, Course Director Chief Digital Officer at the University for Continuing Education Krems/Danube University Krems

This textbook deals with the Middle East conflict as a key element of international relations. The origins of the conflict and its international dimensions, the major Israeli-Arab wars, attempts at a solution, peace plans and visions for the future are presented in a concise manner. Extensive map material illustrates the findings.The English translation of this book, originally in German, was facilitated by artificial intelligence. The content was later revised by the author for accuracy.

This book addresses the pressing problem of drug resistance in the treatment of breast cancer. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying drug resistance and presents the latest advances in therapeutic approaches to overcome this enormous challenge. The book begins with an introduction to the biology of breast cancer, treatment modalities and the mechanisms of drug resistance. This includes the principles of drug resistance in targeted, immune-, endocrine and chemotherapy. In the following sections, the authors present innovative strategies to overcome drug resistance and new research directions, among others the role of the microbiome in drug resistance, molecular profiling of patients for personalized medical care, and new drug delivery systems. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of the differences in the prevalence and treatment success of breast cancer between high- and low-income countries. This book is an informative resource for students, researchers, and clinicians in the field of breast cancer research and oncology in general.

This comprehensive resource explains the FDA's classification of devices and provides expert guidance on differentiating between significant risk and non-significant risk medical device studies. The book is divided into two parts: Significant Risk Medical Devices and Non-Significant Risk Medical Devices. Each chapter includes a general introduction and overview of the device, along with guidance on its working principles, beneficial and toxicological effects, and potential risks to the health and safety of a patient/subject. The coverage also includes reports of prior investigations on the basics of risk determination and the nature of potential harm associated with using individual devices.Significant and Non-Significant Risk Medical Devices is designed to assist practicing engineers, academic researchers, and clinical investigators in navigating the complex regulatory environment associated with medical device research and development.

The 2024 U.S. presidential election is likely to hinge on two very different basic approaches to domestic and foreign policy, two very different sets of underlying premises, and two very different types of presidential and high-level official personalities at the administrative helm putting them into effect. This volume comparatively analyzes the choices of presidential doctrine that are likely to foreshadow alternatives concerning the principles, beliefs, and nature of U.S. foreign policy in the years following the election.

Life Cycle Assessment in Aviation: Theory and Applications provides readers with a comprehensive analysis that examines various elements within the aviation sector, including aircraft operations, maintenance and repair activities, aircraft gas turbine engine processes, airport auxiliary vehicles, airport operations, airport construction, airport access traffic, and airport wastes. The book's content has been meticulously crafted to address the specific needs and interests of a diverse audience encompassing researchers, engineering students, and civil aviation organization officials. Readers will find valuable insights and up-to-date information about the latest developments in the aviation field, serving as a valuable resource for their investigations and studies.

This Open Access book reviews recent theoretical and numerical developments in nonlinear model order reduction in continuum mechanics, being addressed to Master and PhD students, as well as to researchers, lecturers and instructors. The aim of the authors is to provide tools for a better understanding and implement reduced order models by using: physics-based models, synthetic data forecast by these models, experimental data and deep learning algorithms. The book involves a survey of key methods of model order reduction applied to model-based engineering and digital twining, by learning linear or nonlinear latent spaces.Projection-based reduced order models are the projection of mechanical equations on a latent space that have been learnt from both synthetic data and experimental data. Various descriptions and representations of structured data for model reduction are presented in the applications and survey chapters. Image-based digital twins are developed in a reduced setting. Reduced order models of as-manufactured components predict the mechanical effects of shape variations. A similar workflow is extended to multiphysics or coupled problems, with high dimensional input fields. Practical techniques are proposed for data augmentation and also for hyper-reduction, which is a key point to speed up projection-based model order reduction of finite element models. The book gives access to python libraries available on gitlab.com, which have been developed as part of the research program [FUI-25] MORDICUS funded by the French government. Similarly to deep learning for computer vision, deep learning for model order reduction circumvents the need to design parametric problems prior reducing models. Such an approach is highly relevant for image-base modelling or multiphysics modelling.

This proceedings volume provides in-depth research in the fields of quality innovation, sustainability, and operations management. It features contributions from the 4th International Conference on Quality Innovation and Sustainability (ICQIS) that explore how research in quality and innovation boost sustainability and includes solutions to complex industrial problems presented by researchers, professionals, and managers in the field. It also examines the drivers of quality management and sustainability in VUCA environments, with a special focus on supply chain management and innovation. Featuring real business cases on quality and sustainability, this book is useful for researchers, scholars, students, and academics interested in quality management, supply chain management, circular economy, and sustainability.

The Brief explores the relationship between industrial dynamics, business strategies, and environmental regulations in the agrochemical industry. Focusing on contested technologies that continue to be used despite evidence of their hazardous impacts, the book calls for investigating the potential hazards during the inventive phase of companies to anticipate future risks. Combining patent analysis with computational chemistry and toxicology, the author examines the toxicity of chemical inventions and the effectiveness of environmental regulations in curbing harmful products. The result is a comprehensive dataset that combines patent data with chemical structures, which provides valuable insights into firms' innovation strategies as well as their potential hazards. Underscoring the importance of effective regulation in addressing social and environmental challenges, this Brief will be of interest to researchers and practitioners at the intersection of numerous fields, including economic policy, industrial economics, agribusiness, management, life sciences, and sustainability.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Dynamic Data Driven Applications Systems, DDDAS 2022, which took place in Cambridge, MA, USA, during October 6-10, 2022.The 31 regular papers in the main track and 5 regular papers from the Wildfires panel, as well as one workshop paper, were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. They were organized in following topical sections: DDAS2022 Main-Track Plenary Presentations; Keynotes; DDDAS2022 Main-Track: Wildfires Panel; Workshop on Climate, Life, Earth, Planets.

This open-access book presents the best research papers from the XIV International Congress on Tourism and Information and Communications Technologies (TURITEC2023), held in Málaga, Spain from 19 to 20 October 2023. The book explores the profound impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry and the increasing importance of digitalization and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as key drivers for the industry's recovery, alongside sustainability. This curated collection of research papers offers conceptualizations, methodologies, analyses, and empirical case studies that illuminate the path to a resilient and sustainable future for tourism.

This book comprehensively covers various aspects of research and development (R&D). Intended for a classroom or professional setting, the book provides valuable insights into the significance of R&D for organizations, its role in enhancing processes, reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and fostering innovation. The author offers understanding of how R&D contributes to developing new technologies, products, and services that help companies remain competitive in dynamic marketplaces. The book delves into topics such as the fundamentals of R&D, its role in business, project management, performance management, success evaluation, risk management, team building, and practical execution of R&D projects. In essence, the book aims to be a comprehensive guide for students and professionals interested in understanding and effectively implementing R&D practices within various industries and sectors. The author includes case studies to enhance reader understanding byshowcasing successful R&D initiatives, challenges faced, and strategies employed to overcome them. By embracing a holistic approach, this book emerges as a forward-thinking guide that encourages readers to navigate the evolving landscape of R&D with a conscientious and innovative mindset.

This book presents the intersection of two dynamic fields: Reinforcement Learning (RL) and RIS- Assisted Wireless Communications. With an emphasis on both discrete and continuous problems, it introduces a comprehensive overview of RL techniques and their applications in the evolving world of RIS-assisted wireless communications. Chapter 1 introduces the fundamentals of RL and deep RL (DRL), providing a solid foundation for understanding subsequent chapters. It also presents the Q-learning, deep Q-learning, and deep deterministic policy gradient algorithms. Chapter 2 provides a holistic overview of RIS-assisted systems and details several use cases in wireless communications. Then, Chapters 3 and 4 present various applications of the discrete and continuous DRL to RIS-assisted wireless communications. From maximizing the sum-rate to minimizing, the system resources and maximizing the energy efficiency. These chapters showcase the versatility of the DRL algorithms in tackling arange of challenges. This book concludes with Chapter 5, which introduces the challenges and future directions in this field. It explores the particulars of hyperparameter tuning, problem design, and complexity analysis, while also highlighting the potential of hybrid DRL, multi-agent DRL, and transfer learning techniques for advancing wireless communication systems. Optimizing RIS-Assisted Wireless Systems requires powerful algorithms to cope with the dynamic propagation environment. DRL is envisioned as one of the key enabling techniques to exploit the full potential of RIS-Assisted Wireless Communication Systems. It empowers these systems to intelligently adapt to dynamic wireless environments, maximize performance metrics, and adjusts their configurations to accommodate diverse use cases efficiently. This book serves as a valuable resource, shedding light on the potential of DRL to optimize RIS-Assisted Wireless Communication, enabling researchers, engineers, advanced level students in computer science and electrical engineering and enthusiasts to grasp the intricacies of this topic. It offers a comprehensive understanding of the principles, applications, and challenges, making it a reference to recognize the full potential of the RIS technology in modern wireless communication systems.

This book provides professionals and practitioners with a comprehensive guide on credit risk modeling, capital modeling, and validation for Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL), International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS9), Basel Capital and Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) procedures. It describes how credit risk modeling, capital modeling, and validation are done in big banks with code and examples. The book features innovative concepts such as Binary Logit Approximation (BLA) for Competing Risk Framework; Adaptive and Exhaustive Variable Selection (AEVS) for automatic modeling; Full Observation Stratified Sampling (FOSS) for unbiased sampling; and Prohibited Correlation Index (PCI) for Fair Lending Texts. It also features a chapter on credit underwriting and scoring, addressing the credit underwriting risk with some innovations. It is a valuable guide for professionals, practitioners and graduate students in risk management.

This book documents the development of early intervention systems (EISs) internationally, and provides evidence for and against their effectiveness as a key tool to reduce police misconduct and improve the physical and psychological health of officers. Featuring practical illustrations to support textual examples, this volume offers valuable best practices for police departments and policing students.

This book presents a comprehensive and actionable framework for individuals and leaders seeking to promote human dignity within healthy environments. Rooted in the policy sciences approach, it equips readers with the essential concepts, tools, and skills necessary to address indignity and unhealthy conditions collectively. Despite international commitments and domestic laws advocating for human dignity, a glaring "human dignity gap" persists in numerous regions and problem contexts. This book sheds light on this disparity, examining its manifestations in global environmental change, development efforts, water insecurity, wildfires, human-wildlife conflict, access to public health, and much more. While existing scholarship often focuses on legal rights, the authors emphasize untapped opportunities for everyday citizens and leaders to foster human dignity within their communities and beyond. By offering fresh perspectives, practical concepts, and exercises, this book empowers readers to bridge the performance gap, ultimately enabling the realization of human dignity from the grassroots level. It provides innovative strategies and frameworks to address this pressing global issue, making it an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, and concerned citizens alike.

The book is designed to serve as a textbook for courses offered to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in data science. This book aims to help the readers understand the basic and advanced concepts for developing simple programs and the fundamentals required for building machine learning models. The book covers basic concepts like data types, operators, and statements that enable the reader to solve simple problems. As functions are the core of any programming, a detailed illustration of defining & invoking functions and recursive functions is covered. Built-in data structures of Python, such as strings, lists, tuples, sets, and dictionary structures, are discussed in detail with examples and exercise problems. Files are an integrated part of programming when dealing with large data. File handling operations are illustrated with examples and a case study at the end of the chapter. Widely used Python packages for data science, such as Pandas, Data Visualization libraries, and regular expressions, are discussed with examples and case studies at the end of the chapters. The book also contains a chapter on SQLite3, a small relational database management system of Python, to understand how to create and manage databases. As AI applications are becoming popular for developing intelligent solutions to various problems, the book includes chapters on Machine Learning and Deep Learning. They cover the basic concepts, example applications, and case studies using popular frameworks such as SKLearn and Keras on public datasets