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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.
This book introduces phenomenology to reveal how the atmosphere and relationships in the workplace are generated and how this affects creativity. In their daily work, people sometimes feel that "today's meeting was more exciting than expected" or that "everyone's motivation is down". This unspoken workplace atmosphere has a significant impact on their work. But has enough thought been given to how this workplace atmosphere is created? Phenomenology reveals the basic structure of human relationships in the workplace. Are there any general rules that govern human interaction and the nature of relationships in that workplace? If these unspoken rules can be made explicit - clearly felt and spoken -- people can work together to bring about a creative workplace in which individuals can maximize their abilities. The main point of the book is that human relationships are based on a two-layered structure: "emotional communication", which is rooted in human sensitivity and centers on sensation and emotion; and "verbal communication", which is based on shared intelligence and relies upon language and thought. The invisible layer of emotional communication is always at work as the foundation of verbal communication, creating what can be described as the "workplace atmosphere". This book offers a new perspective on promoting creativity in the workplace by unraveling the principles behind the structure of workplace atmospheres.
This textbook demonstrates how economic theories can be used for environmental policy evaluations. A notable feature of this book is that, unlike most textbooks in environmental economics written in English, it draws on examples from Japan's policy on energy, resource, pollution, and carbon emissions. Policy measures discussed in this book include controls on motor vehicle emissions, pricing of waste disposal, deposit-refund scheme for recycling, carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes. With topics involving transboundary environmental concerns such as climate change, air pollution, and waste management and recycling, the book also integrates international perspectives and provides comparisons of policies across regions and countries. A major objective of this book is to present a concise and accessible introduction to environmental economics as applied to policy evaluations in and beyond Japan. The knowledge available from this book must be very useful for students, policymakers and practitioners who seek environmental policy solutions from an economic point of view.This is an open access book.
The book focuses on some of the most pressing issues in international investment law in Asia, such as the role of developing countries, the rebalancing between the investors' rights protection and the host states' right to regulate, the ISDS reform, among others. The book investigates these issues by looking into the bilateral investment treaties and investment arbitration cases in the region. The readers will benefit from this book's rich content and wide coverage. For instance, the readers would learn more about Asian states' Bilateral Investment Treaty law and practice and their standing on international investment law. The book provides a fresh angle to most readers who may be more exposed to the Western perspective on the topic, providing a more complete picture to add to the readers' understanding of international investment law and in particular its evolution and future possibilities.
This book presents research studies investigating innovative curriculum design, effective teaching pedagogies, skilling and assessment of relevant competencies, and innovative and learning-associated technology. The book is categorized into three sections: (I) innovative and digital learning environments; (II) assessment and development of future professional competencies; and (III) innovative curriculum design and teaching pedagogies. It serves as a useful resource for academic instruction in higher education. Employers, administrators, practitioners, postgraduate students, and postsecondary students in general will also find it informative.
This book discusses the importance of plants in terms of their natural bioactive products and medicinal, nutraceutical and health benefits. Plants are natural sources of many pharmaceutical compounds used in traditional and modern medicine, and their mass production and efficient use is imperative in view of the new emerging diseases. This book covers breakthroughs in the research of plant natural products by focusing on how different state-of-the-art biotechnologies facilitate their discovery, the molecular basis of their biosynthesis, as well as synthetic biology. Research on plant's natural products in the pre-genomic era was focused on discovering bioactive molecules with pharmaceutical activities, and identifying individual genes responsible for biosynthesis. In the post-genomics era, however, integration of inter-disciplinary approaches and detailed analysis of all accessible data from multi-informatics is necessary. This would accelerate the full characterization of biosynthetic and regulatory circuit for producing plant natural products.This book is an important reference book for the researchers working in the field of plant natural products and pharmaceutical industries at global level.
This book provides a comprehensive account of one significantly underreported aspect of violence affecting young refugee girls today, that of forced child marriage. It examines the ongoing, insidious practice via the lens of international human rights laws and contextualising human rights laws and discourses in relation to Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Jordanian understandings of international law and human rights, where the practice in directly impacting young Syrian refugee girls who are seeking refuge in Jordan with their displaced families. The book finds that in a juxtaposition of human rights definitions and obligations, between the traditional and modern, the religious and the secular, there are mixed implications for the realisation of universal human rights and that this has consequences for the most vulnerable--child refugees. As a result, Syrian children exist in a precarious situation. They are living in a foreign state with an unclear legal status, are largely unidentified, and, in effect, stateless. It is in this liminal space that Syrian children are vulnerable and voiceless and highly exposed to forced marriages and the resultant violence and possibly death. While allowed to continue, the practice of child marriage not only severely impedes upon progressive international human rights efforts to eliminate gender-based violence, slavery, and discrimination, but significantly impacts on children's physical, mental and emotional health, and their opportunities for growth and development in society. As a case study this book seeks to inform how vulnerable Syrian children have come to be increasingly confronted by child marriage and to consider why it occurred and continues to occur, even though the idea of children being forcibly marriage is considered ethically and legally objectionable within international human rights law.
The book describes the technique of electrochemical exfoliation, which possesses remarkable ability to bring about transformation. Among various known synthesis methods, the electrochemical exfoliation approach eliminates the use of harsh chemicals and energy-intensive methods commonly linked to the synthesis of graphene. Electrochemical exfoliation utilizes electrical energy to gently remove layers of graphene from its original source, providing a more environmentally friendly method. This precise and careful synchronization heralds a new era in the field of materials science, where the principles of sustainability converge with unmatched performance. Moreover, the benefits extend beyond environmental excellence. This book also examines the complexities of electrochemical exfoliation, highlighting its clear advantage over traditional techniques. The approach demonstrates process in manipulating the structure and properties of graphene, allowing for the customization of specific capabilities to suit a wide range of applications.
The aim of this book is to provide readers with a better understanding of the experimental methods and computational modeling techniques employed in the characterizations of diverse hybrid composite materials. It covers the mechanisms, important aspects, characteristics, formulations, significant elements, and case studies of the hybrid composite materials used in a wide range of applications. To inspire researchers, the most recent studies in the field as well as potential directions for more study are also emphasized.
The book aims to clarify from a demographic and geographical perspective how population trends of the Tohoku Region were changed as a result of the GEJED. The author shows how different the 2011 GEJED was from past disasters in this region with regard to the impacts on population change in the Tohoku Region. He explains how the recent disaster is different from past disasters, based on the theories of the first and second demographic transitions. He also clarifies the causality between the extent of housing damage and mortality through geographical analysis. Furthermore, this book shows how migration patterns were changed before and after the GEJED, and it identifies the differences between the areas affected by the tsunami and by the nuclear power plant accident.Investigating the GEJED as a case study, the book presents a method to analyze the relationship between natural disasters and population change. This book is especially useful for researchers inthe fields of disaster, environment, and population to better understand the relationship between the environment and population.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in nanotechnology as an alternative strategy for addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Examining nanotechnology-based methods such as nanoencapsulation, drug delivery, and conjugation, the text highlights their successful application in treating microbial infections with reduced resistance and off-target toxicity. The introductory section outlines AMR and explores diverse mechanisms of microbial resistance, emphasizing the potential of nanotechnology to surmount these challenges. Subsequent chapters investigate the role of specific nanomaterials-metal nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles, functionalized quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles, bimetallic nanoparticles, nanocomposites, carbon nanomaterials, and polymer-based nanomaterials-in overcoming antimicrobial resistance. Several chapters focus on the efficacy of nanoemulsions as an antimicrobial delivery method, underscoring their inherent antimicrobial properties, capacity to enhance drug solubility, stability, bioavailability, and targeting potential at the organ and cellular levels. The concluding section provides a detailed review of liposomes, dendrimers-based nanoparticles, and micelles as drug delivery vehicles in the context of combating pathogens resistant to antimicrobials.
This book offers 117 concrete applicable behavior patterns for an improved user experience and conversion rate along the customer journey. The author explains how people decide, which unconscious behavior patterns they use, and how these can be addressed in digital marketing. Science now agrees that our brain works with two systems: an emotional-intuitive and a rational decision-making system. The rational system is provided with sufficient arguments in e-commerce, but accounts for only around 5% of all decisions! The remaining 95% of the customer's brain has so far been largely neglected. There, decisions are made based on deeply anchored, unconscious patterns of behavior - the so-called "behavior patterns". Knowledge of behavior patterns makes it possible to finally understand online customer behavior in depth. This reveals the opportunity to specifically improve the user experience and make your business more successful. The content behavior patterns and how they can be used in the digital environment improving the user experience and your conversion rate library of 117 behavior patterns from awareness to retention framework for identifying suitable behavior patterns ethical-moral limits of use
Putins Krieg in der Ukraine wird nicht nur auf dem Schlachtfeld ausgetragen. Gekämpft wird auch an der digitalen Front. Worte und Informationen sind die Munition der modernen, der hybriden Kriegsführung - gegen das gegnerische Militär, aber insbesondere gegen Zivilisten. Es geht um Manipulation und Kontrolle. Um Verwirrung und Ablenkung von dem, was wirklich geschieht. Das Internet wird nicht nur zur Propaganda intensiv genutzt, sondern auch für die Aufklärung und die Logistik. Und dabei hinterlässt Russland eine Menge Spuren. Analyst Steven Broschart zeigt konkret, welche psychologischen und kommunikativen Mittel an Putins digitaler Frontlinie zum Einsatz kommen. Und: was hinter der digitalen Frontlinie wirklich geschieht. Dazu wurden unzählige Datensätze zum Suchverhalten bei Google ausgewertet und Fragen beantwortet, die bislang nicht beantwortet werden konnten - im gröÃten bewaffneten Konflikt im Europa des 21. Jahrhunderts. Wie wurde der Kriegseintritt vorbereitet? Inszeniert der Kreml Stimmungsmanipulation in Deutschland? Was geschah in Butscha? Wer hat den Bahnhof in Kramatorsk angegriffen? War der Angriff auf das Einkaufszentrum in Krementschuk ein Versehen? Haben die Vereinigten Staaten Nord Stream gesprengt? Lässt Kadyrow politische Kritiker mit Hilfe von Putin aus dem Weg räumen? Wer hat den Damm am Kachowka-Stausee zerstört? Was steckt hinter der Militärrevolte der Wagner Gruppe? Und handelt es sich beim Ableben unzähliger russischer Oligarchen um Zufälle?
Helps ensure smooth and efficient operation of electrostatic precipitators.Shows the different grounding requirements for electric gas cleaning.Provides quantitative solutions for grounding these types of filters.
This book offers a comprehensive examination of the fundamental concepts and principles crucial to the taxation and management of natural resources, specifically tailored to the unique challenges faced by developing African countries. It delves into the key instruments that comprise a resource tax policy, providing invaluable insights into the tax reforms necessary to maximize economic rent for African nations.Written by experts in the field, this book explores the potential application of effective revenue management principles by African governments to achieve desired developmental outcomes. It covers a wide range of topics, including socio-political risks, ethical dilemmas, accountability and transparency, resource rent and capital gains taxes, tax administration and reforms, taxation of oil and gas revenue, environmental taxation, globalization's impact, and the promotion of inclusive development. Designed for scholars, tax professionals, and individuals interested in natural resources management and revenue mobilization strategy in Africa, this book bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing valuable insights and recommendations for sustainable and responsible management of Africa's rich natural resources.
This textbook guides the student step-by-step in developing and solving a DSGE (Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium) model-not only from the technical and conceptual aspects but also through the simulation process of each model. Characterized by a learning-by-doing approach, the book is set apart from the extant textbooks in three ways. First, it performs all the algebra associated with each model, such as the calculation of steady-state and the log-linearization of the model. Second, each model developed has been generated in Dynare, and every chapter is accompanied by a set of codes (mod-files and m-files) that the reader can use to replicate the model developed in every chapter. Finally, the models considered are toy models in the closed and open economy, which allows the student to learn the basic lessons and understand the fundamental relationships of the variables. All of this prepares the student to deal with more complex models. This book is intended for advanced undergraduate graduate courses in economics, finance, or applied mathematics, as well as practitioners in central banks that use these models daily in the preparation of forecasts or simulations of aggregate variables.
This book provides the theoretical background and the practical tools to assess the energy behaviour of different responsive envelope technologies in current and future climate scenarios. Starting from the state of the art of the climate change and of the most innovative responsive technologies, it includes a detailed description of the tools and settings required to run building energy simulations that properly account for the envelope responsiveness in current and future scenarios. The purpose of the book is to help architects, façade consultants, researchers, and students of building engineering and environmental design of buildings to understand, simulate, and consider the emerging responsive envelope technologies as viable solutions to improve the energy consumption and the climate resilience of buildings. Therefore, it bridges the gap between innovative technologies and design practice, providing all the required tools to begin to spread these systems improving the climate resilience of the built environment.
This book gathers original peer-reviewed papers reporting on innovative methods and tools in design, modeling, simulation and optimization, and their applications in engineering design, manufacturing, and other relevant industrial sectors. Based on contributions to the Third International Conference on Design Tools and Methods in Industrial Engineering, ADM 2023, held on September 6-8, 2023, in Florence, Italy, and organized by the Italian Association of Design Methods and Tools for Industrial Engineering, and the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence, this second volume of a 2-volume set focuses on interdisciplinary topics in design, such as human body acquisition and modelling, human factors and user-centered design, digital factories, and design methods for different engineering applications. All in all, this book provides academics and professionals with a timely overview and extensive information on trends and technologies in industrial design and manufacturing.
This textbook unlocks modern computer organizations' secrets, with real-world examples from RISC-V, ARM, and Intel-based computer systems. The guide provides a comprehensive yet accessible explanation of fundamental principles and components and serves as a gateway to mastering the interplay between hardware and software. It demystifies complex concepts and provides clear explanations and practical insights into their roles in computing systems. Topics and features: Provides comprehensive coverage of computer organization principles across three major architectures (RISC-V, ARM Cortex, and Intel), ensuring a broad understanding of modern computing Includes numerous practical explanations using real-world examples from each architecture, offering hands-on insights into memory-mapped I/O, interrupts, DMA, and various memory technologies Presents detailed exploration of diverse components such as interrupts and their usage, interrupt controllers, DMA transfers, and DMA controllers Offers exploration of DDRx SDRAM memory, SDRAM controllers, DIMM modules, caches, and virtual memory Concise and yet thorough, this useful textbook/guide equips readers with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the complexities of computer organization, making it essential reading for students and professionals.
This book constitutes the proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Comparative Genomics, RECOMB-CG 2024, which was held in Boston, MA, USA, during April 27-28, 2024. The 13 full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 21 submissions. The papers are divided into the following topical sections: phylogenetic networks; homology and phylogenetic reconstruction; tools for evolution reconstruction; genome rearrangements; and genome evolution.
This book explores emerging justifications of capitalism based on the views of academics from around the world in business. The traditional justification for capitalism has been that it is the one system that produces the most wealth with the least cost for the most people. While this justification no longer has the taken-for-granted status it once enjoyed, it remains the dominant and mainstream argument in favor of capitalism, especially in the United States. Despite capitalism's production of human wealth, it is implicated by trends such as income and wealth inequalities, climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels and racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. This volume asserts that in this age of complexity, inequality, and ecological instability, capitalism's future depends on our ability to broaden the justifications for it to include a much more elaborate list of values beyond wealth and efficiency. It does so without claiming tologically or empirically prove that capitalism is the best of all possible economic systems, but rather to explore a new and hopeful future for the system; Next stage capitalism. Written by an international group of scholars from various disciplines, this book is of great interest to those who work in philosophy, sociology, political science, history and theology and religious studies.
Banking, and investment banking in particular, is to a large extent investigated empirically in the academic literature. The theory of investment banking behaviour and the relationship between investment banks and their clients is not widely known and applied to analyse developments in this industry. This book provides readers with a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of the theories of investment banking. It presents theories in all areas that investment banks are active, using a consistent and coherent framework, that allows combining different theories to develop more comprehensive analysis of developments in this important industry. Going beyond the activities of investment banks, this book also includes an analysis of some of the employment practices and strategies found in investment banks. The book is intended for students. However, it will also benefit practitioners working in the field and professionals who aspire to such professional activities in the financial industry.
This graduate textbook provides a basic introduction to experimental philosophy (x-phi). In eight chapters, different methods and tools used in X-Phi are explained, spanning quantitative vignette studies, interactive experiments, corpus analysis, psycholinguistic experiments as well as qualitative interview studies. Each chapter introduces a specific experimental method by means of a case study in an easily accessible way and covers the whole research process- from the development of a research question to the interpretation of the data.
This book explores journeys in a time context with a focus on places, place meanings, and landscapes. Whether the journey relates to ancient or modern trails, roads, or railroads, or a historical or contemporary pilgrimage or a tourist venture in social contexts, the book addresses the importance of places and environmental settings, whereby time itself is described and defined in multiple contexts. The chapters discuss among others archaeological and pre-history settings, tourism settings, and heritage events, as well as regional and transnational migration routes and those used by historical nomadic cultures and postmodern nomads. Some time and place journeys are fluid and dynamic and re-interpreted while for others there is much "sameness" in the visible landscapes. Retaining the past and reconstructing the past are both journeys. That sameness concept is also applied to cultural and political worlds where there is little progress or reform to address social welfare and empowerment. This book opens the door for exploring shallow and deep journeys by those in the humanities and social sciences at local, national, and regional scales.
This book mainly focuses on the recent trends and sustainability challenges in the valorization of agro-wastes, emphasizing the role of microbial biotechnology. Processing of various kinds of agro-wastes such as lignocellulosic materials, food industry wastes, dairy wastes, etc., into several bioactive compounds, enzymes, biofuels, biogas, biofertilizers, nutraceuticals, nanoparticles, etc., will be discussed elaborately in more detail. This book investigates the theoretical and practical aspects of modern research regarding the valorization of agro-wastes through microbial technology. Moreover, the role of valorization research in circular bio-economy will also be addressed in this book.
This book provides a discussion of privacy in the following three parts: Privacy Issues in Data Aggregation; Privacy Issues in Indoor Localization; and Privacy-Preserving Offloading in MEC. In Part 1, the book proposes LocMIA, which shifts from membership inference attacks against aggregated location data to a binary classification problem, synthesizing privacy preserving traces by enhancing the plausibility of synthetic traces with social networks. In Part 2, the book highlights Indoor Localization to propose a lightweight scheme that can protect both location privacy and data privacy of LS. In Part 3, it investigates the tradeoff between computation rate and privacy protection for task offloading a multi-user MEC system, and verifies that the proposed load balancing strategy improves the computing service capability of the MEC system. In summary, all the algorithms discussed in this book are of great significance in demonstrating the importance of privacy.
This book introduces a 'triple-bottom-line' approach to the concept and practice of family business sustainability. It is geared towards a broad audience covering social, economic, and environmental issues, to focus on implementation of sustainable practices. Having this in mind, this book provides possible ways of successfully managing family businesses in a sustainable manner, which should also lead to long-term business longevity. The social perspectives addressed by this book discuss the social responsibility of the family business, using a two-way approach contributing to the development of society. The economic outlook is introduced by aiming at a sustainable competitive advantage with an economic impact, and how a family business should adapt to changes and be proactive to gain economic sustainability. The environmental dimension is focused on actions against global warming and global agreements aimed at businesses to change their policies to prioritize the environment as part of their strategy. This book thus explores possibilities for family firms to add values along all chains in business activities and to contribute to introducing green environment products, or environmentally safe products. Each part of the book represents an important pillar of the family business unit that helps the firm to achieve and sustain its competitive advantage using the triple-bottom-line approach. Besides the objectives and the content, each chapter provides one short story applicable to a chapter's content and a case study for each chapter or topic. As learning tools besides case studies, the book provides key summaries, terminology, group assignments, and projects.
This book presents selected papers from the 17th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management in 2023. The Conference was promoted by ADINGOR (Asociación para el Desarrollo de la IngenierÃa de Organización) and organized by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain, on July 6th and 7th, 2023. The book provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary research and practical applications in various domains of industry and academia. Spanning a wide array of topics, readers will delve into studies on prosocial choice replication, project risk prioritization through Monte Carlo simulation, linear representation of greenhouse gas emissions, barriers to total productive maintenance implementation, and critical examinations of emerging technologies like ChatGPT and blockchain in educational and industrial contexts. Additionally, case studies explore themes such as influencer impact on student purchasing behavior, lean manufacturing, additive manufacturing parameter definition, and the application of Benford's Law in network science. The book also delves into sustainability concerns, including last-mile delivery solutions, carbon footprint reduction in public transport, and integration of operations strategies into circular supply chains. From advanced optimization models to the role of artificial intelligence in machinery design and workforce scheduling, this compilation serves as a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners, and students alike, offering insights into the forefront of research and innovation shaping contemporary industries and academic disciplines.
This book offers a comprehensive presentation of the theory and methods of risk-averse optimization and control. Problems of this type arise in finance, energy production and distribution, supply chain management, medicine, and many other areas, where not only the average performance of a stochastic system is essential, but also high-impact and low-probability events must be taken into account. The book is a self-contained presentation of the utility theory, the theory of measures of risk, including systemic and dynamic measures of risk, and their use in optimization and control models. It also covers stochastic dominance relations and their application as constraints in optimization models. Optimality conditions for problems with nondifferentiable and nonconvex functions and operators involving risk measures and stochastic dominance relations are discussed. Much attention is paid to multi-stage risk-averse optimization problems and to risk-averse Markov decision problems. Specialized algorithms for solving risk-averse optimization and control problems are presented and analyzed: stochastic subgradient methods for risk optimization, decomposition methods for dynamic problems, event cut and dual methods for stochastic dominance constraints, and policy iteration methods for control problems. The target audience is researchers and graduate students in the areas of mathematics, business analytics, insurance and finance, engineering, and computer science. The theoretical considerations are illustrated with examples, which make the book useful material for advanced courses in the area.
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