Books published by Springer

This book initially delves into its fundamentals to initiate the exploration of online incentive mechanisms in wireless communications. Three case studies are provided to elaborate details on designing online mechanism design in practical system. For crowdsensing with random task arrivals, this book introduces a linear online incentive mechanism model with insurance of the quality of information for each incoming task. In the context of edge computing systems, the authors model a nonlinear online incentive mechanism with the consideration of mobile users' energy budget constraints. It also explores online incentive mechanism for collaborative task offloading in mobile edge computing to achieve on-arrival instant responses. This book not only disseminates current knowledge but also sheds light on future research directions. The design of incentive mechanisms in wireless communication systems is of paramount importance as it encourages dormant terminals within networks to contribute their valuable resources. The consideration of randomness of network processes enhances the mechanism design under online settings and decision making on the fly. This book endeavours to bridge existing knowledge gaps by comprehensively presenting and developing fundamental insights into online incentive mechanisms and their design methods in the realm of wireless communications. It's one of the first books to provide a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles of online incentive mechanisms and their intricately designed methods in the dynamic world of wireless communications. Future research directions include an investigation in the evolving domain of online incentive mechanism designs within wireless communications. This book strikes a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical application, making it a valuable resource for both researchers and practitioners in the field of wireless communications and network economics. Advanced-level students majoring in computer science and/or electrical engineering will want to purchase this book as a study guide.

This book features a selection of papers presented at the 15th International Conference "Economies of the Balkan and Eastern European Countries" (EBEEC), held at the University of the Aegean in Chios, Greece, May 12-14, 2023. The EBEEC conference serves as an annual meeting of policy makers from Eastern European and Balkan countries as well as scientists. More than 300 researchers and students attended the conference and presented their work in parallel sessions.This volume deals with various aspects of economic growth, prosperity and (environmental, social and economic) sustainability of countries in the region in the context of globalization and digitalization. It also examines topics such as consumer behavior towards new products and services, human capital, teleworking, the food market, international trade and foreign direct investment. In turn, the book proposes frameworks and solutions to help countries deal with and manage the complex local and global environment.

This volume features more than 20 essays that explore the work of one of the most important contemporary philosophers of mathematics. It will help readers to better appreciate this significant and prolific philosopher. Within philosophy of mathematics, Penelope Maddy initially advocated realism. She then went on to advance naturalism. Both of her positions became very influential in the field, along with her other work in the philosophy of logic. The contributors comment on and otherwise engage with Maddy's work. They also weigh in on the state of set theory and its philosophy, the philosophy and history of logic, naturalism, skepticism, and the myriad other areas to which Maddy left her mark. Overall, coverage traces her influence on these various ideas over the years. It will also help readers to better understand how philosophers working at the forefront of these areas see these concepts today. These essays will be essential reading for the wide group of philosophers working in these different areas as well as graduate students studying philosophy of mathematics and logic and the other related issues to which Maddy has contributed. The volume will also appeal to logicians and set theorists in general, as well as to philosophers working in analytic philosophy more widely, as well as to those working in the history of philosophy.

NEW VERSION This book introduces readers to the astonishing civilisation of the Incas. Its novelty lies in its general but highly informative synthesis of their history and astronomy through the accounts of contemporary chronicles and recent archaeological findings. Richly illustrated with the author's own photographs, it will attract the attention of seasoned travellers interested in ancient civilisations and keen to discover what people were capable of achieving so long ago, but also any reader interested in the history and prehistory of South American peoples, including students or university researchers wanting to know more about the pre-Columbian civilizations of Peru. The Inca civilisation was in fact the culmination of cultural contributions from a dozen or so complex pre-Columbian civilizations, such as those of Chavín, Nazca, Wari, or Tiwanaku. Intensely spiritual, the Inca people attributed metaphysical powers to all manner of objects and places they considered sacred, but at the same time the numerous alignments in their buildings show that they result from careful observations of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars at different times of the year. Indeed, the Incas were an essentially agrarian people, so time measurement and calendar devices were essential for the purely pragmatic problem of planning agricultural tasks during the tropical year. The book sets out to describe the Incas in their historical and geographical context, avoiding specialization or excessive technicality, but retaining a certain scientific rigor, and including a detailed consideration of their interest in the sky and astronomy. OLD VERSION The aim of this book is to transport the reader to the heart of the marvelous and fascinating history of the Andean peoples.This work synthesizes information about the Inca civilization and those which preceded it and highlights for these cultures the intimate relationships between the life of the peoples and the observation of the sky. The novelty of this work lies in the general character of the synthesis, avoiding specialization or excessive technicality but retaining the scientific rigor. The text immediately immerses the reader in the surprising cultural diversity of Peru. It quickly becomes apparent that limiting the history to only the Inca Empire would amount to considering only part of the historical diversity of this society and would neglect a major part of its richness.The prestigious Inca civilization was in fact the culmination of the cultural contributions of a dozen astonishing and complex pre-Columbian civilizations such as those of Chavín, Nazca, Wari or Tiwanaku. A major part of the book is focused on the study of the sky and on astronomy, which was of considerable importance in the peruvian universe. If these populations devoted themselves to observing the Sun, the Moon or the brightest planets, they also observed certain "dark" constellations appearing clearly in contrast against the bright background of the Milky Way which played an important role in the cosmic conception of the pre-Columbian worlds. The study of numerous architectural alignments testifies to the fact that these result from astronomical considerations such as the observations of the Sun and other stars (the Pleiades for example) at privileged moments (solstices and equinoxes) of the year. The importance of time measurement and calendar devices used for correct planning of agricultural tasks during the different seasons of the tropical year is also emphasized. The observation of the Sun certainly played a key role in the Inca civilization, particularly for determining the privileged moments of the astronomical year in relation to the agrarian rhythms associated with the tropical year. The history of the Inca people is imbued with an astonishing and pervasive spirituality that is discussed in great detail. These people in fact attributed metaphysical power to objects and places considered sacred which were integrated into a system of privileged directions radiating from the Cuzco temple of the Sun. On reading the various chapters of this book, the reader will undoubtedly retain the dominant idea that Peru has a long, eventful and fascinating history of very rich cultures and civilizations. This book is aimed at a rather wide and cultivated audience, passionate about history, ethnology, and astronomy of south american cultures. It is also intended for students or university researchers interested in the pre-Columbian civilizations of Peru.

This book presents the proceedings of the NeuroIS Retreat 2023, May 30¿June 1, Vienna, Austria, reporting on topics at the intersection of information systems (IS) research, neurophysiology and the brain sciences. Readers will discover the latest findings from top scholars in the field of NeuroIS, which offer detailed insights on the neurobiology underlying IS behavior, essential methods and tools and their applications for IS, as well as the application of neuroscience and neurophysiological theories to advance IS theory.

This book explores fundamental and advanced concepts related to the AI-enabled Edge Technology paradigm, also known as Edge Intelligence, within the framework of the Internet of Things (IoT). Expanding the application of Edge computing is increasingly necessary. This can involve exploring automated, intelligent computational learning theorems, and ANN-oriented, trustworthy machine learning perspectives to enhance computational intelligence. The book functions as a valuable resource for professionals in the sector and also acts as a comprehensive learning tool for newcomers in the field of AI-enabled Edge Technologies and their applications, covering both fundamental and advanced concepts. This book uses data and network engineering and intelligent decision support system-by-design principles to design a reliable IoT edge-cloud ecosystem and to implement cyber-physical pervasive infrastructure solutions. The book will help readers understand the design architecture and AI algorithms and learn analytics through IoT edge, device-edge and the state-of-the-art in cloud-IoT countermeasures. The book is a valuable reference for anyone doing undergraduate or postgraduate studies, conducting research, or working in the computer science, information technology, electronics engineering, and complicated mathematical modeling domains.

This edited collection is a follow-up to Algoma University's inaugural conference on mental health and addiction held at the Brampton campus in Ontario, Canada. We live in a society where many marginalized communities continue to bear a historically disproportionate burden on their psychological, mental, and economic well-being, especially under the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has had a continuing impact on marginalized and racialized communities at all levels. We are now witnessing the compounded effects in the form of a worsening mental health and addiction crisis and its subsequent impact on children's education, service delivery, and overall psychosocial well-being.Covid-19 has widened the gap and increased poverty disparities between high-income and low-income individuals. Furthermore, it has affected the psychosocial resilience of people. As communities of scholars, practitioners, and researchers, we have a responsibility to address these existential issues in ways that are ethical and transformative. This type of engagement should help mitigate the consequences of the pandemic in an intersectional manner. These conversations should assist us in understanding and addressing the trauma and suffering that marginalized communities and individuals continue to endure. Together, we can work to find answers to mental health and addiction challenges, while valuing people's histories and realities within this intersectional engagement.This book aims to redefine psychiatric discourse in the age of the pandemic and encourage us to imagine how the world can be reformed in ways that are both ethical and political. It has the potential to shed light on the values and realities of communities in discussions of medical sociology, particularly concerning the impact of Covid-19 on marginalized communities.This book is structured into three volumes. Volume one delves into the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of various ethnic groups. Volume two specifically addresses the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of Afro-Black individuals. Volume three explores the connections between the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological well-being, and colonialism.

This edited collection is a follow-up to Algoma University's inaugural conference on mental health and addiction held at the Brampton campus in Ontario, Canada. We live in a society where many marginalized communities continue to bear a historically disproportionate burden on their psychological, mental, and economic well-being, especially under the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has had a continuing impact on marginalized and racialized communities at all levels. We are now witnessing the compounded effects in the form of a worsening mental health and addiction crisis and its subsequent impact on children's education, service delivery, and overall psychosocial well-being. Covid-19 has widened the gap and increased poverty disparities between high-income and low-income individuals. Furthermore, it has affected the psychosocial resilience of people. As communities of scholars, practitioners, and researchers, we have a responsibility to address these existential issues in ways that are ethical and transformative. This type of engagement should help mitigate the consequences of the pandemic in an intersectional manner. These conversations should assist us in understanding and addressing the trauma and suffering that marginalized communities and individuals continue to endure. Together, we can work to find answers to mental health and addiction challenges, while valuing people's histories and realities within this intersectional engagement. This book aims to redefine psychiatric discourse in the age of the pandemic and encourage us to imagine how the world can be reformed in ways that are both ethical and political. It has the potential to shed light on the values and realities of communities in discussions of medical sociology, particularly concerning the impact of Covid-19 on marginalized communities. This book is structured into three volumes. Volume one delves into the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of various ethnic groups. Volume two specifically addresses the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of Afro-Black individuals. Volume three explores the connections between the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological well-being, and colonialism.

Focusing on emerging features of digital transformation, digital economy, digital innovation, and digital entrepreneurship, this edited volume highlights new aspects of digital transformation and research progress in the field. Chapters cover a wide range of topics such as: promoting the growth of the digital economy through the alertness of entrepreneurs; predicting entrepreneurial performance through the lens of entrepreneurial orientation and digital adoption with a machine learning approach; proposing a guide to emphasize the key aspects of social media analytics; examining the digital pathology ecosystem and key drivers for investment in more efficient disease diagnosis and monitoring; exploring how humane orientation contributes to the intention to use digital entrepreneurship with a gender perspective. Concluding with a review of the extant digital economy literature, the volume proposes a future research agenda which will be useful not only for researchers and academics, but also for entrepreneurs and policymakers.

This book summarizes the past, present, and future work in biotribology with a special emphasis on its applications in the design and manufacture of biomedical devices and their potential future uses. The book covers several aspects of biotribology such as biocompatible materials, joint tribology, skin tribology, oral tribology, tribology of the other human bodies or tissues, animal tribology, plant tribology, medical device tribology, and more.This is an essential reference for academics, biomedical researchers, biologists, tribologists, chemists, physicists, biomedical scientists, materials engineers, mechanical engineers and other professionals in related engineering, medicine, and biomedical industries. This book can also serve as a useful research text for undergraduate and graduate engineering courses such as tribology, materials, biomaterials, material characterization, interface science, and biomedical science.

This monograph discusses the concept of solidarity. Using Germany as a case study, the book investigates how political actors - political parties in specific - use the term solidarity in their programmatic documents. It maps out the attitudes, features, and behaviors that the parties continuously denote as expressions of solidarity and reconstructs the generalized concept of solidarity held by each party. It categorizes earlier ideas of solidarity into micro and macro perspectives and uses both theoretical and empirical considerations to build a model of solidarity and identify the elements that make solidarity what it is.Departing from the typical procedure in intellectual history research, this volume takes inspiration from Wittgenstein, starting with the language and tracing it back to its historical setting. Thus, it avoids the trap of speaking of only one meaning of solidarity and allows for more attuned analysis of the differences in understanding the concept. Furthermore, it links the scientific study of the concept of solidarity with research on political competition, and - in broader sense - political theory and party politics research. Closing the gap in scientific coverage of the concept of solidarity, this book will be of interest to students and researchers studying political theory, political sociology, political philosophy, political history, and political parties.

This book examines women's behavioral health (defined as alcohol, drug use, and mental health) problems from a population or public health perspective. It provides the current state of knowledge for women¿s behavioral health and examines the need for behavioral health services and implications for policy. It also reviews major issues in the organization, financing, and provision of women¿s behavioral health services.Global and national studies show that women are nearly twice as likely as men to have selected mental disorders. There also has been increasing attention to the social, behavioral, institutional, and economic determinants of health that result in service inequities for women in the United States compared to women in other countries. This textbook highlights mental and substance use disorders of particular concern to women, emphasizes services research issues in women¿s behavioral health, incorporates the social determinants of health, and provides a discussion of these critical issues from an interprofessional and interdisciplinary public health perspective. It also presents an overview of the epidemiology of mental and substance use disorders across the lifespan of women and service delivery issues from a population and system-level perspective. Applied services research chapters comprise the book's 14 chapter contributions that are organized into three parts: Part I. Framing Women¿s Behavioral Health; Part II. Selected At-Risk Populations; and Part III. Services Delivery issues.Women's Behavioral Health: A Public Health Perspective is a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in many academic disciplines, including the social and behavioral sciences, public health, women¿s studies, medical anthropology, and medical sociology. It also is useful for postdoctoral students in public health, population health, and the health professions. This volume can serve as a reference book for academicians and researchers in community and social psychology, community health, community nursing, community and preventive medicine, and public health; practitioners and policymakers at various levels of government; and behavioral health professionals at mental health and substance use programs in various national and global healthcare organizations.

This book is for patients with thyroid diseases and anyone interested in the thyroid, including carers of thyroid patients, members of the lay public and healthcare workers who deal with thyroid patients. The intention is to provide the means by which good quality information about the thyroid gland and its diseases can be found, accessed, weighed and judged for scientific merit. The book can be read like a story, but can also serve readers as a reference manual when looking for information on a thyroid-related topic. Thyroid diseases affect 10% of the population. People with thyroid problems, their family, carers and health professionals often seek information. The available sources are disappointing and misleading. There is an unmet need and a desire by patients, the lay public, students and early career healthcare workers to learn how to access and appraise the evidence, which is rarely fulfilled by existing resources. The book consists of two parts. Part One contains six chapters. The first Chapter ("Obstacles to seeking the truth") discusses the common hurdles that can come between us and the knowledge we seek. Chapter Two ("Thyroid basics") is an overview of the structure and function of the thyroid gland and the common diseases that affect it, narrated through the convoluted history of discoveries relating to the thyroid. In Chapter Three ("What is the evidence") evidence-based medicine is discussed, how different medical publications are classified, the processes involved in publishing medical papers and how they are structured. This is relevant and important in understanding the selection process in play that a piece of academic work is subjected to before it reaches its readers, how it varies and how it may correlate with the quality of the end product. Chapter Four ('Mining the truth') is about conducting searches. It identifies appropriate search engines and gives tips on how to stay on course. Chapter Five ("Appraising the evidence") outlines how to judge the quality of published papers based on checklists. Chapter Six ("Interpreting the evidence") will help extract the meaning of a piece of research. Part Two ("What is the optimal range?") is an example of a common question asked by patients with hypothyroidism (the commonest thyroid condition). It will reveal a truth that should be making headlines and attracting the attention of patient advocates, thyroid specialists, their professional organisations and the public at large. Yet all relevant parties seem to choose to ignore it and channel their energies in other directions. It is an example of good science yielding valuable knowledge, which is undermined and made worthless by poor implementation. Herein lies the most important message of this book: seeking truth and getting close to it is not enough, how it is used to change the lives of patients is what really matters. Relevant references are included at the end of each chapter to indicate the sources in case the reader wishes to access them.

An award-winning text on the latest operational hydrometeorological forecasting and warning techniques for flood, drought, reservoir, water resources and water quality applications. Hydrometeorology: Forecasting and Applications is the latest edition of this award-winning book first published in 2010. It provides an introduction to the latest developments in this area for practicing engineers and scientists and examples of operational systems, including from the USA, UK, the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal. It also provides useful background for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in areas such as engineering, earth sciences, environmental sciences, geography, meteorology and hydrology. Practical applications include flood warning, drought early warning, irrigation scheduling, hydropower generation, water pollution and water supply operations. Throughout, there is a focus on end-to-end warning systems, forecast uncertainty and risk-based and impact-based approaches. Each chapter now concludes with a summary of key points regarding current research themes and the extensive sets of references that were a feature of previous editions have been revised and updated. The first part considers meteorological and hydrological monitoring and forecasting techniques and approaches to issuing warnings and alerts. Hydrological forecasting topics include rainfall-runoff models, flow routing and data assimilation, forecast verification and ensemble techniques. Additional topics in this new edition include the role of low cost monitoring, citizen science and social media in monitoring and early warning applications. The text on weather radar, satellite precipitation estimates, hydrometry, catchment monitoring, numerical weather prediction, demand forecasting, uncertainty estimation and warning dissemination has been updated. The second part considers flood, drought, reservoir, water quality and water resources applications. As before, riverine and flash flood forecasts are considered separately including flash flood guidance techniques, community based flood warning systems and methods for providing early warnings of debris flows, surface water flooding and ice jam floods. Other applications include famine and drought early warning systems, reservoir and tidal barrier operations, bathing water quality alerts, harmful algal bloom prediction and seasonal flow forecasting. Land surface and global hydrological models are now discussed in more detail, including the opportunities from 'Big Data' and artificial intelligence. A new chapter on climate change prediction discusses approaches to assessing potential hydrological impacts and improving modelling techniques, including expert elicitation exercises and the use of experimental catchments. "There are few books that have ever attempted to discuss all aspects of hydrometeorology in one volume. This one does so." (from a review of the 1st edition in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society)

This proposed book aims to present an analysis of several crisis issues induced by global climate changes and implications at the micro-level, particularly from the perspective of ground-based study. Climate crisis leads to several socio-ecological issues which need to discuss with some empirical case studies from the contextual global evidences. Climatic crisis generates several social responses which are associated with mitigating issues in addition to sustainable development goals. Under these circumstances, several loopholes interlinked with climatic crisis need to expose in the present-day context. This book argues that it is important to understand the issues from multiple dimensions. It identifies some important dimensions to discuss in the process. Themes we purpose to cover are: several field-based studies are included for which micro-level field-based data would incorporate to understand current crisis induced by climate change, thus exposing the vulnerabilities of the communities which would be incorporated in different chapters with adequate representation of qualitative methods, modelling-based geospatial approach. Therefore, some secondary data-based studies have also been included to provide a broader picture. Additionally, this book aims to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the issues mainly from the lenses of Geography, Economics, and Sociology as well as Environmental Studies too. Given the focus of this study, it is believed that an approach that harmonizes the cognitive domain from different discipline is appropriated. A combination of chapters using qualitative as well as quantitative methods also made this book exclusive from others. We believe that this edited book surely contributes the knowledge domain with some relevant chapters' discussion in the contemporary time and leads to reduce the gap of knowledge.

This textbook introduces fundamental concepts of game theory and demonstrates its uses and application in the social sciences. Written in plain English and without overwhelming mathematical jargon, it serves as an invaluable resource for undergraduate students in economics, law, political sciences, and related social sciences. Starting from non-cooperative games and progressing to cooperative games, it explores a wide range of topics, including the analysis of zero-sum games, voting rules and their practical implications, and other applications of game theory. Uniquely, it emphasizes cooperative concepts and their normative applications, providing a fresh perspective.With "Game Theory for the Social Sciences", readers will be equipped with the analytical tools to analyze conflict resolution, bargaining strategies, cooperative decision-making, and the dynamics of power relationships. Through engaging examples drawn from real-world scenarios, readers will develop a solid understanding of how game theory can be applied to diverse fields in social sciences.¿Pierre Dehez offers a consistent kit of classic game theoretic tools, from equilibrium concepts to bargaining solutions and power indices, all illustrated with insightful examples and applications.¿Françoise Forges, Professor of Economics, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL¿This book is written clearly and pedagogically without resorting to difficult mathematics. It provides many different and interesting examples from problems of fair sharing, bargaining to voting systems and many others. It is a perfect introduction to this subject too often quoted but too often misunderstood.¿Alan Kirman, Directeur d¿études, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and Emeritus Professor, Aix-Marseille University

This book focuses on Perüs highest and most glacierized mountain range ¿ the Cordillera Blanca. This mountain range experienced numerous disasters in the past (e.g. lake Palcacocha outburst in 1941, earthquake-induced ice and rock avalanche from Mt. Huascarán in 1970) and has attracted the attention of researchers from around the world. The 15 chapters of the book span from broadly thematic topics of geology, geomorphology, climate, hydrology and hydrogeology, lakes, glaciation, and environmental settings to more specific topics and emergent themes of relevance for the Cordillera Blanca, including studies of various types of natural hazards (landslides, GLOFs). While most of the chapters focus on biophysical processes of the natural environment, several chapters explore the complex interactions between humans and environmental factors, providing insights and perspectives from social science and the humanities. This book offers an unprecedentedly comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art knowledge about the geo-environmental changes in the Cordillera Blanca.

This book comprehensively discusses the development, application and challenges of network slicing technology in wireless communications. Starting with the basic concept and enabling technologies of network slicing, this book introduces how to integrate AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology into the end-to-end deployment, resource allocation and performance enhancement for multi-tenant slicing. An in-depth exploration of managing multi-domain slices deployed in the federated infrastructure networks is presented, including on-demand cooperation among multiple infrastructure networks, distinct slice deployment, hierarchical slice orchestration and fast slice adaption. As a guide to leveraging AI to enhance traffic performance of multi-tenant slicing and customize resource slicing for industrial scenarios, this book provides insights, modeling, applications and research issues. A holistic perspective on prominent role of network slicing in managing wireless network resources is provided as well. Overall, network slicing as a key technology of wireless networks, enables to satisfy differentiated service demands of multiple tenants from vertical industries with the same shared physical infrastructure network. As future wireless networks are expected to facilitate the evolution of vertical industries, various vertical enterprises as tenants require an intelligent network slicing paradigm to provide highly customizable services. AI-based management system for network slicing excel at deploying slices rapidly, allocating resources efficiently and avoiding service quality degradation. With the increasing diversity of service demands and complexity of communication environment, incorporating AI into network slicing is a necessity for improving flexibility and automation of resource management. This book targets advanced-level students in information and communication sciences as a secondary textbook. Researchers and industry professionals working in various areas, such as wireless communication systems, network management and orchestration, resource allocation and AI-enabled wireless networks will also find this book useful as reference book.

This book provides state-of-the-art Face De-Identification techniques and privacy protection methods, while highlighting the challenges faced in safeguarding personal information. It presents three innovative image privacy protection approaches, including differential private k-anonymity, identity differential privacy guarantee and personalized and invertible Face De-Identification. In addition, the authors propose a novel architecture for reversible Face Video De-Identification, which utilizes deep motion flow to ensure seamless privacy protection across video frames.This book is a compelling exploration of the rapidly evolving field of Face De-Identification and privacy protection in the age of advanced AI-based face recognition technology and pervasive surveillance. This insightful book embarks readers on a journey through the intricate landscape of facial recognition, artificial intelligence, social network and the challenges posed by the digital footprint left behind by individuals in their daily lives. The authors also explore emerging trends in privacy protection and discuss future research directions.Researchers working in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data privacy and cybersecurity as well as advanced-level students majoring in computers science will find this book useful as reference or secondary text. Professionals working in the fields of biometrics, data security, software development and facial recognition technology as well as policymakers and government officials will also want to purchase this book.

The proposed book is a bridge between the foundations of quantum mechanics and the theory of open quantum systems. The treatment of open quantum systems is a rapidly growing subject, of interest to an ever-increasing number of scientists. The main focus is on overcoming the idealization of perfect isolation of a quantum system, so as to allow for a more realistic treatment and to provide the relevant background for the development of quantum technologies. The book is addressed to students and researchers in the field of open quantum systems and more generally quantum mechanics, a wide community of physicists, mathematicians, and chemists. It is devised both to enter the field and to prepare a series of lectures or a one-semester course on the topic.

This book constitutes the post-conference proceedings of the First International Workshop on Value Engineering in Artificial Intelligence, VALE 2023, held in Krakow, Poland, on September 30, 2023. The 16 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected. The papers have been grouped into four themes, addressing a number of research questions for each: I. Frameworks for norms and values: What are existing or new frameworks for norms and values and how can they be represented in AI systems in order to make these systems norm- and value-aware? II. Detection of moral values: Given an existing AI system, how can we figure out whether its behavior is aligned with human values? III. Learning and engineering of value-aligned policies: How can policies for implementing norms and values be acquired or designed? IV. Implementation of norms: How can norms be implemented in concrete AI applications?

This book examines the nexus of collective intelligence (CI), a feature of online projects in which various types of communities solve problems intelligently, and open policymaking, as a trend of large groups of people shaping public policies.While doing so, it presents the current state of theoretical knowledge for these concepts, many practical examples of successful and unsuccessful projects, as well as additional research and laboratory experiments. The book develops an analytical framework based on qualitative research, which is applied to the analysis of different projects in selected case studies, such as Decide Madrid; Better Reykjavik; Loomio; Deliberatorium; Civic Budget of the City of Kraków.The book is structured into four chapters, addressing essential questions in the field: (1) Opening Policymaking; (2) Beyond the Individual: Understanding the Evolution of Collective Intelligence; (3) A Review of the Projects Using Collective Intelligence in Policymaking; (4) Online Public Debate. How Can We Make it More Intelligent?The book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of political science, public policy, and public administration, as well as policymakers interested in a better understanding of collective intelligence and open policymaking.

The three-volume set CCIS 2009, 2010 and 2011 constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Vision and Image Processing, CVIP 2023, held in Jammu, India, during November 3-5, 2023. The 140 revised full papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 461 submissions. The papers focus on various important and emerging topics in image processing, computer vision applications, deep learning, and machine learning techniques in the domain.

This book is devoted to eruptive phenomena on the Sun, the most dangerous sources of space weather disturbances. It discusses the latest achievements in this field, described in the scientific literature and obtained by the author himself. The initial chapters of the book give a brief description of the role of the Sun in the life and history of mankind, a general description of the solar interior and the atmosphere of the Sun, the causes and drivers of solar activity and its impact on the Earth's environment and human life. The book provides a detailed description of eruptive phenomena on the Sun, a review of observations of solar activity and theoretical ideas about the mechanisms and causes of a sudden release of energy in the solar atmosphere.Much attention is paid to the solar magnetic fields, their characteristic features and measured values in the photosphere, the observed manifestations in the chromosphere and corona, and methods for extrapolating photospheric data to the upper layers of the solar atmosphere. It is assumed that the magnetic field is the source of energy suddenly released during eruptive phenomena observed in the form of flares, prominence eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Energy is accumulated and stored in the non-potential (associated with electric currents) part of the coronal magnetic field (free magnetic energy). This part of the field is the most variable and can provide energy for fast eruptive processes. CMEs, propagating through the interplanetary medium, significantly perturb it and cause the strongest geomagnetic storms when they affect the Earth's magnetosphere. The prediction of the arrival of the CME is the key problem of the entire space weather forecast. Thus, pre-eruptive conditions in CME source regions are of great importance. Solar prominences and filaments are considered the most likely progenitors of CMEs.Most of the book is devoted to the description and analysis of their equilibrium and stability. It is shown that there are measurable characteristics of the proximity of the prominence to the instability threshold, which can be very useful in the problem of space weather forecasting. The book contains many illustrations and links to the latest scientific articles and reviews on the topic. It will be useful to researchers in the field of astrophysics, solar physics, geophysics, as well as PhD and graduate students.

The three-volume set CCIS 2009, 2010 and 2011 constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Vision and Image Processing, CVIP 2023, held in Jammu, India, during November 3-5, 2023. The 140 revised full papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 461 submissions. The papers focus on various important and emerging topics in image processing, computer vision applications, deep learning, and machine learning techniques in the domain.

This LNCS conference volume constitutes the proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Data Augmentation, Labeling, and Imperfections (DALI 2023), held on October 12, 2023, in Vancouver, Canada, in conjunction with the 26th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2023). The 16 full papers together in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. The conference fosters a collaborative environment for addressing the critical challenges associated with medical data, particularly focusing on data, labeling, and dealing with data imperfections in the context of medical image analysis.

Comprehensive overview of car-following traffic models which include delays in their system representation Enhances relevance of theoretical results with illustrative case studies Provides detailed comparison of existing solutions with author-generated approaches

This book provides a complete round-up of developments concerned with the application of partial moments in system identification and data-driven modelling; it captures the essence of work carried out at the Laboratoire d'Informatique et d'Automatique pour les Systèmes for more than 40 years. The book begins with introductory material, describing both the mathematical tools associated with partial moments and reinitialized partial moments and an example demonstrating their use. The authors then proceed to show how these tools can be used for the identification of continuous-time linear models, discrete-time linear models, continuous-time linear state-space models, linear parameter-varying models and multidimensional models based on partial differential equations. The properties and performances of each of these approaches are presented. The analogy with algebraic approaches is proved, thus opening perspectives for extension to other fields. The text removes some long-standing limitations on the implementation of partial-moment-based tools in system identification. This book is of interest to researchers and postgraduates studying system identification, control theory, applied mathematics and computer science. It is also useful for engineers working on industrial applications of the parametric estimation of mathematical models.

This book highlights stories of the most important 13 ground-based observatories and 14 space probes in human history, leading readers through each significant step of human's astronomical observation journey. From the earliest Hooker Telescope and the Mount Wilson Observatory, to the latest FAST, JWST and DAMPE, the targets of observation range from large systems such as the solar system, the milky way, and the universe, to individual planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and the remote stars, and to the matters that reveal the origin of the universe, such as dark matter and cosmic background radiation. The book presents the mysteries of the sky in an easily readable manner suitable for audiences of all ages who are curious about the universe and thirsty to know all the important discoveries in the past century, especially the last decade. With carefully-selected contents, the book weaves together a series of tales to make the convoluted history of astronomical observation full offun and excitement, ensuring that readers never lose interest during reading.