Books published by Springer

This volume provides a comprehensive survey that covers various modern methods used for detecting and estimating change points in time series and their models. The book primarily focuses on asymptotic theory and practical applications of change point analysis. The methods discussed in the book go beyond the traditional change point methods for univariate and multivariate series. It also explores techniques for handling heteroscedastic series, high-dimensional series, and functional data. While the primary emphasis is on retrospective change point analysis, the book also presents sequential "on-line" methods for detecting change points in real-time scenarios. Each chapter in the book includes multiple data examples that illustrate the practical application of the developed results. These examples cover diverse fields such as economics, finance, environmental studies, and health data analysis. To reinforce the understanding of the material, each chapter concludes with several exercises.Additionally, the book provides a discussion of background literature, allowing readers to explore further resources for in-depth knowledge on specific topics. Overall, "Change Point Analysis for Time Series" offers a broad and informative overview of modern methods in change point analysis, making it a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in analyzing and modeling time series data.

This accessible and classroom-tested textbook/reference presents an introduction to the fundamentals of the interdisciplinary field of data science. The coverage spans key concepts from statistics, machine/deep learning and responsible data science, useful techniques for network analysis and natural language processing, and practical applications of data science such as recommender systems or sentiment analysis. Topics and features: Provides numerous practical case studies using real-world data throughout the book Supports understanding through hands-on experience of solving data science problems using Python Describes concepts, techniques and tools for statistical analysis, machine learning, graph analysis, natural language processing, deep learning and responsible data scienceReviews a range of applications of data science, including recommender systems and sentiment analysis of text data Provides supplementary code resources and data at an associated website This practically-focused textbook provides an ideal introduction to the field for upper-tier undergraduate and beginning graduate students from computer science, mathematics, statistics, and other technical disciplines. The work is also eminently suitable for professionals on continuous education short courses, and to researchers following self-study courses.

Comprising the major theorems of probability theory and the measure theoretical foundations of the subject, the main topics treated here are independence, interchangeability, and martingales. Particular emphasis is placed upon stopping times, both as tools in proving theorems and as objects of interest themselves. No prior knowledge of measure theory is assumed and a unique feature of the book is the combined presentation of measure and probability. It is easily adapted for graduate students familiar with measure theory using the guidelines given. Special features include: - A comprehensive treatment of the law of the iterated logarithm - The Marcinklewicz-Zygmund inequality, its extension to martingales and applications thereof - Development and applications of the second moment analogue of Walds equation - Limit theorems for martingale arrays; the central limit theorem for the interchangeable and martingale cases; moment convergence in the central limit theorem - Complete discussion, including central limit theorem, of the random casting of r balls into n cells - Recent martingale inequalities - Cram r-L vy theorem and factor-closed families of distributions.

Dealing with methods for sampling from posterior distributions and how to compute posterior quantities of interest using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) samples, this book addresses such topics as improving simulation accuracy, marginal posterior density estimation, estimation of normalizing constants, constrained parameter problems, highest posterior density interval calculations, computation of posterior modes, and posterior computations for proportional hazards models and Dirichlet process models. The authors also discuss model comparisons, including both nested and non-nested models, marginal likelihood methods, ratios of normalizing constants, Bayes factors, the Savage-Dickey density ratio, Stochastic Search Variable Selection, Bayesian Model Averaging, the reverse jump algorithm, and model adequacy using predictive and latent residual approaches. The book presents an equal mixture of theory and applications involving real data, and is intended as a graduate textbook or a reference book for a one-semester course at the advanced masters or Ph.D. level. It will also serve as a useful reference for applied or theoretical researchers as well as practitioners.

This volume gathers refereed papers presented at the 1994 UCLA conference on "La- tent Variable Modeling and Application to Causality. " The meeting was organized by the UCLA Interdivisional Program in Statistics with the purpose of bringing together a group of people who have done recent advanced work in this field. The papers in this volume are representative of a wide variety of disciplines in which the use of latent variable models is rapidly growing. The volume is divided into two broad sections. The first section covers Path Models and Causal Reasoning and the papers are innovations from contributors in disciplines not traditionally associated with behavioural sciences, (e. g. computer science with Judea Pearl and public health with James Robins). Also in this section are contri- butions by Rod McDonald and Michael Sobel who have a more traditional approach to causal inference, generating from problems in behavioural sciences. The second section encompasses new approaches to questions of model selection with emphasis on factor analysis and time varying systems. Amemiya uses nonlinear factor analysis which has a higher order of complexity associated with the identifiability condi- tions. Muthen studies longitudinal hierarchichal models with latent variables and treats the time vector as a variable rather than a level of hierarchy. Deleeuw extends exploratory factor analysis models by including time as a variable and allowing for discrete and ordi- nal latent variables. Arminger looks at autoregressive structures and Bock treats factor analysis models for categorical data.

This book will be of interest to mathematical statisticians and biometricians interested in block designs. The emphasis of the book is on the randomization approach to block designs. After presenting the general theory of analysis based on the randomization model in Part I, the constructional and combinatorial properties of design are described in Part II. The book includes many new or recently published materials.

This book discusses the requirements and preconditions for transforming the economy in order to achieve defined goals while maintaining and utilizing the efficiency of markets. It shows how economic concepts and practices need to be reconsidered and revised in the face of enormous ecological damage and significant economic inequality across much of the world. The book systematizes essential ecological and social targets and presents factors influencing Economic Transformation. Various transformation concepts are discussed with regard to their contribution to adequate economic design and corresponding options for action are developed. Businesses, private households, the state and the commons are involved in these reflections, but also supranational institutions and (civil) society. The ecological compatibility of the economy and the reduction of excessive divergencies in income and wealth are the guiding principles of the overall considerations. In addition, the extent to which the concerns of Economic Transformation are reflected in the government programs of the USA, Great Britain, South Africa and Germany is examined. The book will be of interest to anyone who shares the belief that increasing well-being in a market-oriented society must go hand in hand with ecological compatibility and improved social equity, both globally and within societies.

This book discusses school leaders' ability to use digital technologies successfully through specific approaches and techniques. It also discusses the technological challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the obstacles derived from the lack of digital capacity of school leaders in various contexts. The work addresses school leaders' experiences, confidence, competence, skills, and practices to use digital technologies effectively. Also, it explores how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced school leaders' role in establishing effective processes towards educational digital transformation, and provides further knowledge as part of school leaders' digital professional development aspect.The book draws information and knowledge from the thematic areas of technology and school leadership in educational practice and includes both conceptual and empirical information on autonomous and less autonomous educational systems (centralized and decentralized education systems). Overall, this edited book fills the gap with information on the connection between school leadership and technology, as an aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in school organizations.

The proper use of statistical methods is essential in food processing and biotechnology, and very few publications have focused on the practical application of these methods. This book utilizes case studies to explain the corresponding basics with a focus on understanding how and when to use the appropriate statistical methods. The text is structured according to practical applications, starting from data collection and data treatment, moving to product development, process control and analytical methods. Practical Examples of Using Statistics in Food and Biotechnology begins with a detailed introduction to statistics and their use in food processing. The first main section focuses on statistics for data collection and treatment featuring scales of measurement, sampling and summarizing and presenting data. Another section looks at statistics for food product and process development, examining mixture experiments for different food groups from meat and fish to vegetables, juices, rice and olive oils. Further sections focus on statistical process control, statistics for sensory science and a wide range of analytical methods including LC-MS/MS and other cutting edge methods. In providing practical, hands-on information on the use of statistics in food processing, this work will be of major importance for food professionals, industry staff and researchers in food and biotechnology. .

This book shares innovative approaches to effectively engage students and faculty working in research labs, lab-based classrooms and courses to build inclusive ethical cultures. The frameworks and approaches presented move beyond traditional research ethics training to strengthen the ethical culture in research labs. The chapters in the book showcase best practices and approaches to embedding educational interventions in courses, research labs and departments. The book is based on the two-day workshop "Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM" (April 23-24, 2021). Moving beyond the two-day conference that inspired this collected volume, the various chapters address questions like: What are approaches and tools to integrate ethics education in STEM effectively? How can STEM ethics education be improved? What can researchers do to build more inclusive research environments? How can meaningful discussions about ethics be effectively integrated into STEM courses, research labs, and workplace environments? While each chapter takes a different perspective and is located in its respective context, the contributions are united by the goal of effectively including ethical reflection in STEM education. Instructors from both four-year and two-year colleges who teach STEM and lab-based STEM courses; young principal investigators/junior faculty who are in the process of building their research groups; departmental chairs interested in programmatic approaches for improving mentoring, research ethics education, and the research culture of their department, will find this work to be a very valuable resource in their daily practice.

The book contains the results of the best research developments obtained during the implementation of major scientific events organized and carried out with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation and the President of the Russian Federation.The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time at the level of Russian and international interdisciplinary social and humanitarian sciences, primarily economic and legal, firstly, philosophical concepts and regulatory legal approaches to the regulation of remote investment transactions have been studied; secondly, a set of economic and legal conditions and means of harmonizing and observing the mutual interests of participants in remote investment transactions has been developed and proposed in order to prevent and minimize potential conflicts between the parties; thirdly, the current state and international regulation of investment transactions concluded and executed on Internet platforms was critically assessed; fourthly, a system of guarantees and protection of the rights of participants in remote investment transactions is proposed, including special contractual structures and an economic and legal model for the proper fulfillment of obligations.Measures are substantiated to expand and increase the intensity of the national investment turnover based on the improvement of the current legislation regulating investments through remote digital technologies in the Internet space, which provided a solution to the world scientific problem of great socioeconomic and economic importance. The book is designed for a wide target audience--scientists of different generations, different disciplinary and industry affiliations. Among them are young researchers, as well as scientists who have received recognition from the world scientific community, studying the socioeconomic, managerial, and legal consequences of the emergence and spread of digital technologies in the field of investment. Readers can be all individuals and legal entities interested in the development of digital technologies in the field of investment.

This edited book presents a comprehensive analysis of the multidimensional aspects associated with decision making in renewable energy investment projects. It delves into the interplay between interdisciplinary studies, sustainability considerations, and circular economy principles within the renewable energy sector. By examining the impact of these interconnected domains, the book offers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities inherent in decision making for renewable energy investments. The book is tailored to a diverse audience, including researchers, scholars, and professionals in the fields of renewable energy, sustainability, circular economy, and business management. It is equally suitable for graduate and undergraduate students studying environmental studies, renewable energy, sustainability, and related disciplines. Professionals working in the renewable energy industry, including project developers, investors, and policymakers, will find valuable insights to inform their decision-making processes. Additionally, engineers, economists, social scientists, and environmental consultants interested in interdisciplinary studies and their intersection with renewable energy will benefit from the book's comprehensive analysis.

This book chronicles the role of travel intermediaries: global distribution systems (GDS), travel management companies (TMC), and online travel agencies (OTA) in the distribution of travel products. The book covers the historical development of these intermediaries and explores their current state and future prospects. Almost six decades after the introduction of computerized reservations systems and four decades after the introduction of Global Distribution Systems that allowed travel agents to make automated airline bookings, the distribution of air products is amid a major transition. A fundamental change is pricing power, which shifts from the GDSs to the airlines for the indirect channel. These changes are driven by advancements in technology, market economics, and airline cost controls, leading to the emergence of new revenue models that will permanently alter the landscape of air distribution. As a result, travel intermediaries are experiencing the effects of these turbulenttimes and must adopt innovative approaches and initiatives to adapt and transform their business models rather than maintaining the status quo. In addition to the ongoing transformation, over the next decade, the advancements in emerging technologies like blockchain and decentralized digital identity will further revolutionize the distribution landscape across all sectors of the travel industry.

This book is the third of a three-volume set introducing the history of scientific thought (including social and human science). The area covered in this volume is Western Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Combining general descriptions with extensive excerpts from original sources in English translation, it concentrates on ways of thinking and actual argumentation and not just on results and mistakes; questions of validity are primarily dealt with in the perspective of the time of the writing, not on that of the 21st century. The work is of great interest to historians of science and culture, students as well as seasoned workers - but also for amateurs willing to invest the necessary serious efforts.

This book is the second of a three-volume set introducing the history of scientific thought (including social and human science) and covers the Latin Middle Ages, the Renaissance period, and the 17th century. Combining general descriptions with extensive excerpts from original sources in English translation, it concentrates on ways of thinking and actual argumentation and not just on results and mistakes; questions of validity are primarily dealt with in the perspective of the time of the writing, not on that of the 21st century. The work is of great interest to historians of science and culture, students as well as seasoned workers - but also for amateurs willing to invest the necessary serious efforts.

This open access book presents outstanding doctoral dissertations in Information Technology from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Information Technology has always been highly interdisciplinary, as many aspects have to be considered in IT systems. The doctoral studies program in IT at Politecnico di Milano emphasizes this interdisciplinary nature, which is becoming more and more important in recent technological advances, in collaborative projects, and in the education of young researchers. Accordingly, the focus of advanced research is on pursuing a rigorous approach to specific research topics starting from a broad background in various areas of Information Technology, especially Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics, Systems and Control, and Telecommunications. Each year, more than 50 Ph.D.s. graduate from the program. This book gathers the outcomes of the best theses defended in 2022-23 and selected for the IT Ph.D. Award. Each of the authors provides a chapter summarizing his/her findings, including an introduction, description of methods, main achievements and future work on the topic. Hence, the book provides a cutting-edge overview of the latest research trends in Information Technology at Politecnico di Milano, presented in an easy-to-read format that will also appeal to non-specialists.

This book is the first of a three-volume set introducing the history of scientific thought (including social and human science). The area covered in this volume is ancient Mesopotamia, classical Antiquity and the Islamic Middle Ages. Combining general descriptions with extensive excerpts from original sources in English translation, it concentrates on ways of thinking and actual argumentation and not just on results and mistakes; questions of validity are primarily dealt with in the perspective of the time of the writing, not on that of the 21st century. The work is of great interest to historians of science and culture, students as well as seasoned workers - but also for amateurs willing to invest the necessary serious efforts.

**Descriptive text needs to be reviewed before accepted for publicationThis open access book is written for educators and policymakers who seek to empower young people with competencies necessary for fulfilling lives in the 21st century. It reports how a large group of educators from government and civil society organisations, together with researchers from universities, used their curriculum, assessment, and social economy expertise to develop contextualised definitions of life skills and values, and associated assessment tools. The book also reports on levels of these competencies of over 45,000 adolescents, from a household-based assessment conducted in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The results describe how these adolescents vary in proficiency by region, age, and other factors, providing a resource for national education ministries to factor into policy decisions. Given the technical requirements of measuring individuals' social-emotional and related competencies, how is it possible to capture an adolescent's life skills across varied contexts? The book provides readers with a pragmatic yet technically robust process for undertaking a large-scale assessment program designed to inform policy.

This book presents cutting-edge research and developments in the field of medical and biological engineering, which a special emphasis on activities carried out in the Asian-Pacific region. Gathering the proceedings of the 12th Asian-Pacific Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering (APCMBE 2023), held on May 18-21, 2023, in Suzhou, China, this second volume of a two-volume set covers advances in computer-aided surgery, biomechanics and micro-nanoengineering, health informatics and health engineering, as well as computational modeling and simulation, as well as AI applications in biology and medicine. It addresses a broad audience of researchers and professionals active in biomedical engineering, biomechanics, medical biophysics, and health informatics.

This is the fourth edition of the successful textbook on computational chemistry which continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of computational chemistry. Notable updates include a review of references up to mid-2023, encompassing recent developments in scientific journals, books, and software. The evolving prominence of density functional theory (DFT) is emphasized, and attention is given to the increasing application of artificial intelligence in computational chemistry. The book maintains key features from the previous edition, delving into the mathematical intricacies of ab initio and density functional methods at an introductory level. Clear explanations of matrix methods are provided, offering a direct approach to obtaining energy levels and molecular orbitals. Additionally, each chapter includes sets of "Easier" and "Harder" drill questions, with suggested answers at the end of the book, enhancing the learning experience. The book is intended for upper-year undergraduate and graduate students studying computational and theoretical chemistry and for self-study by researchers in universities and industry to whom computational chemistry may be useful.

This book builds bridges between two yet separated branches of theoretical and mathematical chemistry: Chemical Graph Theory and Electronic Structure Calculations. Although either of the fields have developed their own techniques, problems, methods, and favorite benchmark cases independent from each other, the authors have managed to bring them together by using the localization-delocalization matrix (LDM). The LDM is a novel molecular descriptor that fingerprints a molecule by condensing the complicated electronic information in one, mathematically manageable, object. In this book, the authors introduce the readers to modeling techniques based on LDMs. Their technique offers a high accuracy as well as robust predictive power, often dramatically surpassing the potential of either of the constituting methods on their own. In addition to the comprehensive and accessible introduction to this new field of theoretical chemistry, the authors offer their self-developed software free to download, so that readers can try running their own simulations. The described methods are very general and can easily be implemented for calculating various properties and parameters such as mosquito repelling activity, ionic liquid properties, local aromaticity of ring molecules, log P's, pKa's, LD50, corrosion inhibition activities, and Lewis acidities and basicities - to only name a few. The free downloadable software helps readers automate the analysis of the matrices described in this book and hence facilitates application of the described methodology.

This textbook serves as an introduction to the rising field of complexity economics. In thirteen chapters, it provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the concepts and methods of complexity economics and their applications to economic issues. The book explains that the complexity approach is not just another method, but a worldview that is different from the one of academics with neoclassical training. By contrasting complexity economics with neoclassical economics, the readers are induced to reflect on their own unconscious beliefs about the economic world and develop their own approach to dealing with the pervasive complexities and uncertainties of reality. The first five chapters serve as an introduction and overview. Chapters 6 - 12 present the core concepts of the book. Each of the seven chapters introduces a key concept of complexity and provides applications to economics topics. The final chapter discusses the implications of complexity thinking for economic policy and for the future development of economics.This textbook addresses advanced undergraduate students and graduate students of economics, interested in a better understanding of the concepts and the way of thinking in complexity economics, as well as in acquiring a sound technical foundation to understand most of the research literature.

Following on from the highly acclaimed Parts 1 to 3, this book provides detailed insights into how space and popular culture intersect across a broad spectrum of examples, including cinema, music, art, arcade games, cartoons, comics, and advertisements. This is a pertinent topic since the use of space themes differs in different cultural contexts, and these themes can be used to explore various aspects of the human condition and provide a context for social commentary on politically sensitive issues. With the use of space imagery evolving over the past sixty years of the space age, this is a topic ripe for in-depth exploration. The book also discusses the contrasting visions of space from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the reality of today and analyzes space vehicles and habitats in popular depictions of space from an engineering perspective, exploring how many of those ideas have actually been implemented in practice and why or why not (a case of life imitating art and vice versa). As such, it covers a wide array of relevant and timely topics examining intersections between space and popular culture and offering accounts of space and its effect on culture, language, and storytelling from the southern regions of the world.

This is an introductory textbook on geometry (affine, Euclidean and projective) suitable for any undergraduate or first-year graduate course in mathematics and physics. In particular, several parts of the first ten chapters can be used in a course of linear algebra, affine and Euclidean geometry by students of some branches of engineering and computer science. Chapter 11 may be useful as an elementary introduction to algebraic geometry for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of mathematics. Chapters 12 and 13 may be a part of a course on non-Euclidean geometry for mathematics students. Chapter 13 may be of some interest for students of theoretical physics (Galilean and Einstein¿s general relativity). It provides full proofs and includes many examples and exercises. The covered topics include vector spaces and quadratic forms, affine and projective spaces over an arbitrary field; Euclidean spaces; some synthetic affine, Euclidean and projective geometry; affine and projective hyperquadrics with coefficients in an arbitrary field of characteristic different from 2; Bézout¿s theorem for curves of P^2 (K), where K is a fixed algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic; and Cayley-Klein geometries.

This book introduces interior design as a conceptual way of thinking, which is about ideas and how they are formulated. Now in its second edition, the book is enlarged to include topical subjects such as artificial intelligence, sustainability and climate change. The book prepares designers to focus on each concept independently as much as possible, whilst acknowledging relative connections without unwarranted influences unfairly dictating a conceptual bias, and is about that part of the design process called conceptual analysis. The major themes of this second edition of Interior Design: Conceptual Basis are the seven concepts of planning, circulation, 3D, construction, materials, colour and lighting, which cover the entire spectrum of a designer's activity. It is assumed that the site, location, building and orientation as well as the client's brief of activities and needs have been digested and analysed to provide the data upon which the design process can begin. Designed as a highly visual illustrative book, as the interior design medium demands, the hands-on creative process of designing is detailed with original drawn illustrations. Concentrating on the conceptual process of designing interiors, and defining what these concepts are, this book helps the designer to organise his/her process of designing and to sharpen the links between the various skill bases necessary to do the job. This book is stimulating for students and instructors alike and is aimed at any student who maybe majoring in interior design, interior architecture, architecture, design thinking or furniture design. It is also useful reference for students of design management and design leadership.

1905 is probably the best-known year in physics, since it was the year of the discovery of the special theory of relativity. For decades, historiography has told us that Albert Einstein, then a patent examiner in Bern, succeeded in developing this theory on his own, overcoming all the difficulties that the greatest scientists of his time had not been able to solve. However, some have pointed out that, before Einstein's first publication in this field, the French mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré had obtained the same results, which he had published several months before Einstein. Yet today, this theory is known as Einstein's special theory of relativity. Thus, considering the indisputable anteriority of Poincaré's contributions, there is only one real question that needs to be answered: Why didn't Poincaré claim the authorship of special theory of relativity?After recapping on the ideas and concepts of the special theory of relativity in a manner accessibleto non-specialists and recalling the historical context of the discovery of this theory, we will answer this question and thus put finally an end to this long-running controversy.

This practical guide assists university faculty in developing and implementing service-learning courses and projects across multiple disciplines. It examines how embedding academic service-learning projects into the core curricula benefits not only the students, but also their universities and communities. The book describes ways in which service learning becomes a powerful teaching method using step-by-step explanations, real-world examples, and instructor checklists and handouts. Chapters detail how to integrate academic service-learning projects into classroom pedagogy and evaluate student experience.Key areas of coverage include: Strategies for ensuring that students engage with academic service-learning projects from the initial stages through completion.Guidance on embedding an academic service-learning curriculum into traditional coursework to supplement students' textbook knowledge and classroom experiences to address real-world problems in the community.Research confirming the ways in which students learn more and score higher on end-of-the-semester tests when courses incorporate academic service-learning projects.Steps to incorporate service-learning projects across various disciplines and coursework to enrich student learning and produce positive outcomes for universities and communities. Service Learning in Higher Education is an essential resource for professors and graduate students as well as teachers and educational professionals in such varied fields as school and clinical child psychology, educational psychology, social work, pedagogy, educational practice and policy, sociology, anthropology, and all related disciplines.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a grand vision project to build the most sensitive radio telescope in the world. This open access book tells the story of its development - a story of transformational science, innovative engineering, and global collaboration. Its journey has been long and complex, reflecting the many issues faced in creating an affordable design, choosing a site, and developing a viable global organisation starting from a simple working group of far-sighted and persistent astronomers in 1993.The book begins with the emergence of the SKA concept and the first working group. It traces the development of global scientific and engineering collaborations and ever more comprehensive governance structures for the SKA, the involvement and roles of funding agencies and governments, and the long, political site selection process. This occurred alongside efforts to overcome technical barriers and the difficult process of selecting technology. It follows these themes up to the point in 2012 when the project had just transitioned from a collaboration to a legal entity and the site decision was made - a pivotal moment when it was clear the SKA would be built.The book is based on the authors' personal experience at the leading edge of the project over many years, as well as access to hitherto unpublished material from project archives, interviews, and presentations from many of the key players at a specially convened conference. It has a Foreword written by John Womersley, former Chair of the Agencies SKA Group and SKA Organisation Board. The book is intended for an audience ranging from funding agencies and governments involved in major research infrastructures, to historians of science and professional researchers studying mega-projects, to the astronomy and physics communities in general and interested lay readers.

This contributed volume takes a holistic view of the international waste trade and in doing so argues that the transfer of plastic waste from mainly Global North to primarily Global South countries constitutes a form of 21st Century colonialism. The book first describes the history of the plastic waste trade, from toxic disasters in the 1970s and 1980s through the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal in 1989 through China's 2018 implementation of a "National Sword" policy that effectively banned importation of plastic waste. From there, the authors explore both the legal trade in plastic waste and the underground illegal trade in waste, arguing that both lead to devastating impacts on ecosystems, workers, and communities in receiving countries and highlighting how countries that receive waste are often less equipped to process it than the countries that export waste. The last section of the book presents cases from countrieson the receiving end of the plastic waste trade, highlighting inherent problems from sociological and environmental justice perspectives.

This textbook concentrates on processes, activities and results related to software architectures. It describes the separation of architecture artefacts corresponding to their nature, their logical or their modeling level on one hand and at the same time emphasizes their integration based on their mutual relations. Design or development processes demand for integration, as different artifacts must be elaborated, which are mutually dependent and need to be in a consistent form. The book is structured in four parts. The introductory Part I deals with the relevance of architectures, the central role of the design subprocess both in development or maintenance, and the importance of the decisions and artefacts in the overall result. Another topic is the spectrum of views an architecture language has to offer, and that there are different architectures to be regarded, from abstract and static to detailed, technical, and specific. Part II then discusses "important topics" onthe architecture level. It deals with adaptability especially for embedded systems, with integrating styles/ pattern notations, with different reuse forms and how to find them, with the role of architectures for integrating different existing systems, and with reverse and reengineering of legacy systems. Next, Part III covers architecture modeling and its relation to surrounding activities, as well as architectures to surrounding other results. The single chapters are on transformation between requirements and architectures, architectures and programming, architectures and project management and organization, as well as architectures and their relations to quality assurance or documentation. Eventually, Part IV summarizes the main messages and presents open problems, both for every single chapter and across chapters. Every chapter focuses on a specific problem it addresses, a question it answers, the attention it demands, a message it conveys, and further open questions it raises. The chapters are mostly independent, which implies a certain redundancy, yet it allows lecturers (and their students) to either use the book as the basis of teaching software architecture or design, or to just pick those aspects that need special attention in a more advanced course.