Books published by Springer

This book uncovers the basic principles of microbial photosynthesis and the latest technological interventions of this crucial phenomenon. In the recent past, the basic principles of microbial photosynthesis were technologically articulated to engineer several cell factories that can utilize waste resources and generate different groups of industrially valuable products. Also, the list of model organisms for specific usage have been increasing enormously. This volume covers the material in four sections; each of the part dealing with the basic principles of microbial photosynthesis in an applied orientation focusing on waste valorization and circular bioeconomy. Furthermore, the following chapters deal with the very recent advancements in metabolic engineering and artificial photosynthesis with respect to value addition. Not only will this book be available for graduate and postgraduate students in microbiology, biotechnology, plant sciences, environmental sciences, energy engineering, and renewable energy, it is also an excellent material for researchers needing a multidisciplinary approach.

This book emphasises the need for language resource development and its impact on society. It covers latest AI based tools and techniques used to preserve indigenous and endangered languages. The book also highlights latest AI based technologies such as Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) towards endangered language preservation. It discusses morphology analysis, translation support and shallow parsing of various tribal languages of India and abroad. This book tries to answer how digital technologies can make language revitalization accessible to future generations.

The book is a tour de force by a world renowned legal expert and senior diplomat. Its main feature is a well-balanced integration of diplomatic thinking and legal analysis, based on the 70-year diplomatic theory and practice in China. Rich in content and thought provoking, it systematically discusses the international law issues faced by China in the development of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. The author creatively develops the concepts of Blue Diplomacy to refer to global ocean governance, Green Diplomacy to deal with climate change, Red Diplomacy to cope with anti-corruption, Digital Diplomacy for cyberspace governance, each with amplified amount of cases and materials. The author also deliberates the "one country, two systems" policy and the building of "community with shared future of mankind". The book helps the readers to better understand the fundamental principles and policies of China's diplomacy. For students, it is a key that opensup the door to international law studies; for researchers, it is a rich mine of international legal issues; for diplomats, it is a valuable guidance to master the art and science of legal diplomacy.

This book provides a critical review of research in mathematics education published in or about the Australasian region in the four years from 2020 to 2023. Research in Mathematics Education in Australasia 2020-2023 (RiMEA 2020-2023) is the eleventh edition of the four-yearly review of mathematics education research in Australasia. It is compiled by the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). It is primarily focused on research from Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore but also includes research from other Southeast Asian countries and the South Pacific.Although each edition of RiMEA is shaped by the preceding volumes, each new edition evolves in response to events coinciding with each new review period. Following an introduction by the editors, RiMEA 2020-2023 will contain a reflection chapter authored by the editors of the previous edition, 'Research in Mathematics Education in Australasia 2016-2019, ' on how research in mathematics education in theAustralasian region has progressed over the four years since.This book provides a comprehensive critical review of research literature in the Australasian region on significant topics published within the review period. It serves as a resource for researchers and promotes quality research in the Australasian region. Furthermore, it provides an introduction to mathematics education research in the Australasian region for Ph.D. candidates, early career researchers, and other researchers beginning a new field of research.

3D point clouds has broad applications across various industries and contributes to advancements in fields such as autonomous driving, immersive media, metaverse, and cultural heritage protection. In the fast-growing field of 3D point cloud data and its applications, the need for efficient compression technologies has become paramount. This book delves into the forefront of point cloud compression, exploring key technologies, standardization efforts, and future prospects. This comprehensive book uncovers the foundational concepts, data acquisition methods, and datasets associated with point cloud compression. By examining the fundamental compression technologies, readers gain a clear understanding of prediction coding, transform coding, quantization techniques, and entropy coding. Through vivid illustrations and examples, the book elucidates how these techniques have evolved over the years and their potential for the future. To provide a complete picture, the book presents cutting-edge research methods in point cloud compression and facilitates comparison among them. Readers are equipped with an in-depth understanding of the latest advancements and gain insights into the various approaches employed in this dynamic field. One distinguishing aspect of this book is its exploration of standardization works for point cloud compression. Notable standards, such as MPEG G-PCC, AVS PCC, and MPEG V-PCC, are thoroughly illustrated. By delving into the methods used in geometry-based, video-based, and deep learning-based compression, readers become familiar with the latest breakthroughs in standard communities.

The book explores the intersection of nanotechnology and allergic airway diseases. With a focus on diagnosis and management, each chapter delves into specific areas of interest. Beginning with an introduction to the diseases, the book progresses to uncover the pathophysiology and immunology underlying allergic airway diseases. The epidemiology chapter provides insights into the prevalence and impact of these conditions. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to nanotechnology applications, with chapters on metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, nanomicelles, carbon nanotubes, liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanofibers, and quantum dots. These chapters delve into the potential of these nanomaterials in managing allergic airway diseases, highlighting their unique properties, and promising therapeutic approaches. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on future directions, exploring emerging trends and potential advancements in the field. This book will be a valuable resource for academics, caregivers, researchers, and industry professionals working in the field of airway allergic diseases. It includes translational and clinical researchers, under-graduates and postgraduates (Masters), PhDs, and post-doctoral researchers of various disciplines, including pharmaceutical sciences, biotechnology, immunology, and medical and health sciences.

This book presents the existing photocatalytic reactor design and the future developments and the progress needed for both solar light-driven hydrogen generation and environmental purification. The chapters discuss the renewable and commercial aspects of translucent polymer-linked heterojunction nanocomposites as visible light-responsive photocatalysts. Relevant to these areas, the field of growing interest in black-TiO2, perovskites, MXenes and their numerous applications are presented. The framework, structural features and the need of mesocrystals for solar light-driven photocatalysis are also included. The book also discusses the additional features of green chemistry-based synthesis of nanomaterials in order to reduce any secondary pollution that may be released in the environment due to unsafe disposal of solvents. In addition, the importance of bismuth-based nanophotocatalysts towards energy and environmental applications and their future development as alternative photocatalysts for the prevailing nanomaterials are presented. The book also touches upon the idea to generate green fuel hydrogen through photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical techniques. Overall the book highlights contemporary developments in the last decade, the future perspectives of photocatalysis and its application towards energy and environment.

This book examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism performance in Africa. It covers a wide range of topics that will interest academic readers and researchers, including the effects of COVID-19 on various segments of the tourism sector. The aim is to provide a deeper understanding of the damage caused by the pandemic, enriching future research based on the findings and conclusions presented in the book. The research presented in this book is new and original, representing different perspectives from across Africa's 52 countries. It offers valuable insights for the business world on how to adapt and adopt communication strategies during crises such as COVID-19. Themes such as innovation, service quality, and continuous improvement during the pandemic are explored, providing lessons that can benefit the tourism industry in navigating similar challenges in the future. Additionally, the book discusses the future of tourism, presenting various perspectives on what the future holds for the tourism industry. This provides an exciting platform for tourism stakeholders to learn about the future of the sector from diverse and knowledgeable angles. The unique perspectives offered, especially those from Africa, will appeal to a wide and diverse audience, including ecotourists, educational tourists, adventure tourists, governments, academics, and other stakeholders.

This book presents insights into how affective educational experiences may be associated with youth criminal behaviour and the pathway to recidivism. It explores the perspectives and lived school experiences of five young adult male prison inmates, including while they were incarcerated as youths. Through these case studies, the book explores the relationship between affective engagement in education and recidivism.This book shows that participants were affectively disengaged from education prior to their initial incarceration in a youth detention facility, and that their disaffection before, during, and after youth incarceration both generated and impacted on their cognitive and behavioural disengagement from education. Moreover, a range of additional factors not directly causally related to their schooling were shown to have had a significant effect on their engagement in education. The book considers a number of key findings. First, the foundational role that a sense of belonging plays in how young people experience education and its relation to crime. Second, the importance of individualized transition plans for youth at risk, and youth offenders before, during, and after incarceration. Third, the extent to which successful transition from youth offending and recidivism hinges on interagency collaboration. This book will be beneficial to teacher educators, education researchers, criminologists and sociologists.

This book provides an in-depth exploration of microbial biodiversity and its crucial role in diverse biotechnological and industrial sectors. It covers topics such as the integration of molecular approaches for identifying industrially significant strains, omics roles in the production of bioproducts, and modern genetic engineering techniques. It discusses biostatistical investigations and the impact of microbial biotechnology on healthcare and emerging contaminants. It highlights the significance of food microbiology, fermentation, and the latest technologies in improving human health. Additionally, the book delves into emerging trends in oligosaccharide production, biobased approaches for a sustainable future, and the importance of microbial biomolecules and secondary metabolites. It also explores the identification and production of industrially significant biocatalysts/enzymes, the valorization of agro-industrial waste using microorganisms for green energy generation, and the development of bioreactor systems for the biobased economy. The book covers advancements in solid-gaseous biofuels production, impact assessment of synthetic microfiber pollution, sustainable management strategies for waste management, and the impact of emerging technologies in medical microbiology. The book also discusses the development of healthcare products using nano-biotechnological advancements, the impact of novel remediation technology, and the utilization of microbial products in biomaterial development. It further explores microbial regulatory systems, gene expression studies, and the significance of mutations in microbial technology. This book serves as a great reference for researchers, environmentalists, microbiologists, biotechnologists, and graduate, post-graduate students, and doctoral students working on microbial biotechnology and industrial microbiology.

This book investigates the role of cloud seeding laws in governing regional solar radiation management (SRM) activities. It challenges the prevailing belief that cloud seeding laws are irrelevant to regional SRM governance and argues for their applicability. Through case studies in Australia, Canada, and the United States, the book highlights the need for legal frameworks that promote cross-scale interactions, stakeholder participation, flexible decision-making, and conflict resolution. It advocates for adopting adaptive governance principles to effectively manage the risks and uncertainties associated with regional SRM interventions. By filling a gap in the existing literature, this book offers valuable insights and recommendations for the governance of regional SRM, shedding light on the potential of cloud seeding laws to inform and shape SRM governance frameworks. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal and normative aspects, offering practical guidance for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders involved in regional SRM initiatives.

This open access book is the second of a two-volume series that explores how people are living well and creating a "World Worth Living in for All". It engages in deep listening of voices from across the world and considers the role of education in creating a more just and sustainable world for the future. The book asks what can be learnt to create change in policy and practice in order to enact praxis. It showcases chapters from international authors who discuss current or new projects to address the overarching questions explored in the book. It also provides an overview of perspectives that connect both volumes and the individual projects presented together through the lens of practice architectures.

This book makes an insightful investigation of historical agrotechnical geography in West China in the Qing Dynasty from the perspective of historical geography and the history of agricultural technology. This study first divides West China into four regions, i.e., the Loess Plateau, Northwest China except the Loess Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and Southwest China. Based on a systematic analysis of the geographical factors, such as heat, moisture, topography, soil, this study discusses the distribution and differentiation of the major technology types in these regions, ranging from the most primitive shifting cultivation and extensive cultivation to the most intensive cultivation, which are manifested in the crop structure and distribution, planting technology, water conservancy, tools, etc., as well as various combinations of these technologies. The diverse types and forms of technology and their specific combinations in different geographical spaces are mainly determined bythe diverse environmental conditions, which embodies the multi-factor correlation between technology mode and geographical environment and the internal unity of regional agricultural technology mode. In addition to the relationship between agricultural technology and geographical factors, it also takes social-economic, religious, and other cultural factors as important parameters, which were unique in West China, and significantly influence the trend of agrotechnological development. Through this study, it constructs the basic theoretical framework of historical agrotechnical geography and enlarges the scope of historical geography studies. And, since the author chose West China in the Qing Dynasty as the research subject, which was characterized by significant diversity and complexity in terms of natural geographical factors and socio-economic circumstances like religion and customs, this study provides a typical case for in-depth understanding of West China, so it is still of great academic value and important practical significance for the development of West China today.

This edited volume covers the key role of bioeconomy for next-generation industrial production to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. It addresses the key environmental challenges due to biowaste generation and their application in boosting the economy through the conversion of biowaste into valuable products for sustainable growth and future needs. This book also describes the potential future research scope and possibilities in bioeconomy towards sustainable industrial ecology and circular economy. In recent years, competition has increased for determinate resources. There is an urgent need to look for sustainable, non-polluting alternate sources to meet the demands of an ever-increasing population. Sustainable processes and production while using biological material can produce food, fodder, agricultural inputs, fuel etc. with lesser inputs and reduced emission of pollutants. Agricultural waste and food waste are another concern which demands immediate interventions. The Bioeconomy can be a possible way to address these challenges. It includes sustainable production of food, fodder, fiber, fuel, agricultural inputs, and other goods while using renewable resources or different types of waste. This is beneficial to resolve diverse environmental problems such as future bioenergy production technology, societal transformations, pollution management, industrial circular economy, agricultural practices and food securities, climate management etc. Bioeconomy helps to move from a linear economy to a circular economy. This book is a valuable source for researchers, teachers, and undergraduate and graduate students of environmental science, environmental economics, agriculture science, biotechnology, ecology, and soil science. It also serves as additional reading material for professionals, scientists, stakeholders of government and non-government organizations, industrialists, and policymakers of the relevant fields.

This book offers a unique perspective on the colonial roots of modern science, technology, and medicine (STM) in South Asia. The book questions the deconstruction of imperial visions and definitions of science and modernity in South Asia. It presents an in-depth analysis of the contested relationship between science, modernity, and colonialism. It explores how new research can contribute to the diversification of perspectives in the history and sociology of modern South Asian studies. The chapters in the book delve into various aspects of STM in South Asia. It covers diverse topics, including the social, cultural, and pedagogic context of early modern Bengal, the popularization of science in colonial Punjab, the Hindi science periodical Vigyan, and the emergence of the Indian science community. The book also examines the intersection of indigenous medical practices, ayurveda, and medical revivalism and highlights peripheral creativity in science. The contributors engage with the existing historiography to raise new questions concerning the global circulations of scientific knowledge from the perspective of South Asia and the regional appropriation of the same. It connects the history of science and modernity with South Asia's socio-economic and cultural background. It offers valuable insights into the decolonization of STM. It greatly interests scholars and students of modern South Asian history, sociology, social anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society Studies (STS).

This book presents a detailed discussion of Indonesian future teachers' experience of religious diversity, tolerance and intolerance, their level of intellectual humility, and intentions to foster religious tolerance. Drawing from large-scale mixed methods research conducted in Indonesian universities involving over one thousand three hundred future teachers from diverse religious backgrounds, this book demonstrates that religion and religious beliefs can, and do, shape the way future teachers view their teaching practices and pedagogies. The book sheds light into the under-researched yet prominent issue of integrating tolerance into teacher education preparation. It is set in the largest Muslim-majority country in the world which, in recent years, has seen a gradual degradation of secularity while religion becomes more dominant across all levels and sectors of society. This novel and timely book is of interest to researchers, scholars, and students in religious studies, education, social sciences, and Asian studies, as well as anyone interested in the interplay between religion and education in the 21st century.

This book offers a philosophical account of violence, engaged with both empirical and theoretical debates in disciplines such as cognitive science, sociology, psychiatry, anthropology, political theory, evolutionary biology, and theology. The primary thesis is that violence is intertwined with morality and typically enacted for "moral" reasons. To show this, the book compellingly demonstrates how morality operates to trigger and justify violence and how people, in their violent behaviors, can engage and disengage with discrete moralities. The author's fundamental account of language, and in particular its normative aspects, is particularly insightful as regards extending the range of what is to be understood as violence beyond the domain of physical harm. By employing concepts such as "coalition enforcement", "moral bubbles", "cognitive niches", "overmoralization", and "military intelligence", the book aims to spell out how perpetrators and victims of violence systematically disagree about the very nature of violence. The author's original claim is that disagreement can be understood naturalistically, described by an account of morality informed by evolutionary perspectives as well. This book helps us come to terms with the fact that we are intrinsically "violent beings". To acknowledge this condition, and our stupefying capacity to inflict harm, is a responsibility we must face up to: such understanding could ultimately be of help in order to achieve a safer ownership of our destinies, by individuating and reinforcing those cognitive firewalls that would prevent violence from always escalating and overflowing. This second edition is thoroughly revised and integrated with two new chapters to cover new aspects of violence and its understanding, such as the role of looting finance in facilitating violent outcomes and the attack to scientific cognition and human creativity.

This book examines the processes and dynamics of cooperation between different actors in civil peace service projects in Kenya, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The joint handling of conflicts and peacebuilding challenges by local and international actors has a long tradition in German peace work and is becoming increasingly important in a globalized world. Therefore, the book explores the question, relevant for both academia and peace practitioners, to what extent an equal partnership can exist in the context of civil conflict transformation. By focusing on the opportunities and challenges of cooperation, the work succeeds in focusing on everyday activities, analyzing the actual processes and frictions of peace work, and making a valuable contribution to critical peace research and the discussion of hybridity and friction.

Since its existence in the 1950s, consumer policy in Germany has been understood and pursued primarily as a bundle of actions and measures initiated and institutionalised by the state. In many cases, the state has also issued corresponding mandates and set up support models, which has created the impression that we are basically dealing with a 'consumer policy from above' imposed by macro-politics. Not that there have not been repeated attempts in the past decades to give impetus to consumer policy from the middle of civil society - often in the form of small citizens' initiatives. And in recent years in particular, a number of new consumer organisations have emerged which operate much closer to the grass roots. Nevertheless, the impression seems to have taken root among the large, government-related 'players' in the field, who have been in the 'business' for decades, not to mention government-internal consumer policy, that consumer policy concerns a policy field that is essentially ordered by a collaboration of the state on the one hand, and consumer protection organisations representing all consumers equally on the other, while the many small consumer initiatives, not even started by individual committed consumers, regularly fall behind in comparison. This perspective refers largely to the view of and from the centre of politics. This volume is intended to go some way towards countering the institutionally prevailing impression that, in principle, there is only 'consumer policy from above' that is really effective and assertive.The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.

This two-volume set, CCIS 2068 and 2069, constitutes selected papers presented during the Second Pan-African Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PanAfriCon AI 2023, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in October 2023. The set goal of the conference is to exchange the best practices of joint Pan-African efforts to provide solutions for Africa's key 21st century challenges in the social, economic and ecologic domains. The 29 papers were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 134 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Medical AI; Natural Language Processing, Text and Speech Processing; AI in Finance and Cyber Security; Autonomous Vehicles; AI Ethics and Life Sciences.

This edited volume brings together papers by both eminent and rising scholars to celebrate Saul Kripke¿s singular contributions to modal logic. Kripke¿s work on modal logic helped usher in a new semantic epoch for the field and made facility with modal logic indispensable not only to technically oriented philosophers but to theoretical computer scientists and others as well. This volume features previously unpublished work of Kripke¿s as well as a brief intellectual biography recounting the story of how Kripke became interested in, and made his first contributions to, modal logic. However, the majority of the volume¿s contributions are forward-looking, and produce new philosophical and technical insights by engaging with ideas tracing back to Kripke.

This two-volume set, CCIS 2068 and 2069, constitutes selected papers presented during the Second Pan-African Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PanAfriCon AI 2023, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in October 2023. The set goal of the conference is to exchange the best practices of joint Pan-African efforts to provide solutions for Africa's key 21st century challenges in the social, economic and ecologic domains. The 29 papers were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 134 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Medical AI; Natural Language Processing, Text and Speech Processing; AI in Finance and Cyber Security; Autonomous Vehicles; AI Ethics and Life Sciences.

Since its beginning the International Conference on Applied Sciences and Advanced Technology (ICASAT) was planned as a multidisciplinary space and as a platform to explore the frontiers of knowledge in different areas such as Machine Vision, Biotechnology, Computer Sciences, Mechatronics and, Sustainability. Also, a multidisciplinary perspective is required in all aspects of science, engineering, and research, moving towards a more complete overview of recent advances. On its third edition, ICASAT received works focused on the Trends and Challenges for Global Sustainable Development. This book is a collection of the works presented during ICASAT 2023.

Combinatorial Optimization represents a major component of Operations Research, Mathematical Programming, and, in a broader sense, the development of digital intelligence (and society). It covers, in particular, such important areas as network design, location, routing, and scheduling, with major applications in transportation, logistics, health systems, production, communications, and energy.Starting from the exceptional contribution Professor Bernard Gendron made to combinatorial optimization and its applications in multiple areas, the book presents a state-of-the-art view on the field through a combination of surveys, expository articles, and focused methodological and applied research. The authors hail from various Operations Research areas and institutions around the world. Having collaborated closely with Professor Gendron, they drew on his foundational work to showcase a variety of models and algorithms that draw a living picture of the multifaceted word of applied combinatorial optimization.

This text gives a comprehensive, largely self-contained treatment of multivariate heavy tail analysis. Emphasizing regular variation of measures means theory can be presented systematically and without regard to dimension. Tools are developed that allow a flexible definition of "extreme" in higher dimensions and permit different heavy tails to coexist on the same state space leading to "hidden regular variation" and "steroidal regular variation". This emphasizes when estimating risks, it is important to choose the appropriate heavy tail. Theoretical foundations lead naturally to statistical techniques; examples are drawn from risk estimation, finance, climatology and network analysis. Treatments target a broad audience in insurance, finance, data analysis, network science and probability modeling. The prerequisites are modest knowledge of analysis and familiarity with the definition of a measure; regular variation of functions is reviewed but is not a focal point.

This textbook introduces readers to international law by linking it to the Harry Potter universe. Given the current changes in the international sphere away from a state-centric system to a multitude of non-state actors, it tests the legal regime by applying it to the out-of-the-box concept of wizards and thus rids the doctrinal debate of political factors. More specifically, the book explains core concepts of public international law, covering the elements of a state, state responsibility, jurisdiction, enforcement of international law and immunity. In the wizarding world, it addresses questions of statehood by discussing when a wizarding state is responsible for the crimes committed by its wizards, who has jurisdiction over crimes, and how international law is enforced. In addition, it introduces and explains the fundamentals of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law, and air law by applying them to the wizarding world. The textbook is intended for anyone looking for an accessible introduction to public international law and its application.

Since the last edition of this book (2014), progress has been astonishing in all areas of Natural Language Processing, with recent achievements in Text Generation that spurred a media interest going beyond the traditional academic circles. Text Processing has meanwhile become a mainstream industrial tool that is used, to various extents, by countless companies. As such, a revision of this book was deemed necessary to catch up with the recent breakthroughs, and the author discusses models and architectures that have been instrumental in the recent progress of Natural Language Processing.As in the first two editions, the intention is to expose the reader to the theories used in Natural Language Processing, and to programming examples that are essential for a deep understanding of the concepts. Although present in the previous two editions, Machine Learning is now even more pregnant, having replaced many of the earlier techniques to process text. Many new techniques build on the availability of text. Using Python notebooks, the reader will be able to load small corpora, format text, apply the models through executing pieces of code, gradually discover the theoretical parts by possibly modifying the code or the parameters, and traverse theories and concrete problems through a constant interaction between the user and the machine. The data sizes and hardware requirements are kept to a reasonable minimum so that a user can see instantly, or at least quickly, the results of most experiments on most machines.The book does not assume a deep knowledge of Python, and an introduction to this language aimed at Text Processing is given in Ch. 2, which will enable the reader to touch all the programming concepts, including NumPy arrays and PyTorch tensors as fundamental structures to represent and process numerical data in Python, or Keras for training Neural Networks to classify texts. Covering topics like Word Segmentation and Part-of-Speech and Sequence Annotation, the textbook also gives an in-depth overview of Transformers (for instance, BERT), Self-Attention and Sequence-to-Sequence Architectures.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Foundations and Practice of Security, FPS 2023, held in Bordeaux, France, during December 11-13, 2023.The 27 regular and 8 short papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 80 submissions. The papers have been organized in the following topical sections: Part I: AI and cybersecurity, security analysis, phishing and social network, vulnerabilities and exploits, network and system threat, malware analysis.Part II: security design, short papers.

Human digital twin (HDT) is a transformative technology poised to transform various human-centric systems. With its potential applications in personalized healthcare, HDT promises swift, precise, and efficient healthcare services through the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, internet of things, cybersecurity as well as virtual and augmented reality. This book addresses the critical gap in the existing literature by offering a comprehensive exploration of connectivity solutions for HDT while prioritizing reliability, security, and privacy. Key topics covered include the foundational concept of HDT, its design requirements and associated challenges, edge-assisted human-to-virtual solutions, blockchain-enabled data-sharing mechanisms, and differentially private federated multi-task learning (DPFML) methodologies tailored for HDT.The discussion on the concept of HDT encompasses an overview of its applications and its specific characteristics when compared to the conventional digital twin models. In addressing the design requirements and challenges of HDT, the text delves into the complexities of securing high-quality data, ensuring ultra-reliable and low-latency communication, data privacy and integrity, while managing storage, computation and analytics. Exploring edge-assisted human-to-virtual solutions, the book also introduces a connectivity framework and details the modeling process for human-to-virtual twin connectivity. The book later presents an in-depth examination of the practical Byzantine fault tolerance framework, followed by a discussion on shard-based Byzantine fault-tolerant schemes tailored for HDT, along with analyses of latency and throughput.Furthermore, the book outlines the framework for DPFML-assisted human-to-virtual twin connectivity, accompanied by a novel consensus algorithm known as the proof of model quality. Finally, it presents future research directions aimed at addressing communication challenges hindering the seamless design and development of HDT. By offering this comprehensive exploration, the book serves as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to navigate the evolving landscape of HDT and its transformative potential in various domains.

This proceedings constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques, SIMUTools 2023, held in Seville, Spain, in December 2023. The 23 revised full papers were carefully selected from 58 submissions. The papers focus on various areas such as Simulation Tools and Methods; Artificial Intelligence and Simulation; Transportation and Logistics; Medical Sciences; and Network Simulations.