Books published by Springer

This edited book includes over one hundred and eighty short papers that were presented during the third edition of EMCEI, which was held in Sousse, Tunisia, in June 2021. Nowadays, experts as well as most of the general public know that the Mediterranean and surrounding regions are facing environmental degradation that is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The main causes are the natural and human induced climate change, increasing pollution, urban growth, and the overexploitation and unsustainable use of resources due to rapid population growth. The effects are seen in several indicators such as the warming, more frequent extreme events, severe droughts, water shortages, contraction of natural resources, changes in land use and landscape deterioration, decreasing agricultural yields, biodiversity loss, deterioration of the ecosystems, corrosion of the natural coastal environment, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification. In addition to these more recent issues, the Mediterranean and surrounding region naturally experience a number of hazards such as floods, droughts, desertification, fires, catastrophic forest diebacks, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. By presenting a wide range of environmental topics and new findings relevant to a variety of problems in these regions, this book appeals to anyone working in the subject area and especially students interested in learning more about new developments in environmental research initiatives in light of the worsening environmental degradation of the Mediterranean and surrounding areas, making environmental and resource protection an increasingly important issue that impedes sustainable development and social well-being. The book addresses emerging environmental issues along with new challenges by focusing on innovative approaches that contribute to achieving a sustainable environment in and around the Mediterranean Sea and by highlighting to decision makers from relevant sectors the environmental considerations that should be integrated into their own activities.

Meliponini, the stingless bees of the tropics, process and store honey, pollen and plant resins to maintain their colonies. The chemical components of their nests are bioactive and believed to be therapeutic for a long list of maladies. However, only recently are tests and analyses being done with molecular and modern laboratory techniques, such as high throughput EDX, HPIC, HPLC, GC, NMR, PCR, and ultrastructural SEM; coupled with diverse detectors such as DAD, RI, MS, SCD.This two-volume book is about the cerumen -plant resins mixed with stingless bee wax- and propolis, which fortify the colony in ways that are beginning to be understood. It includes reviews and new research on diverse topics involving the chemistry and bioactivity of plant resins, cerumen, propolis, besides bee and microbe behavior and ecology. These analytic studies are presented along with stingless bee biodiversity, palynology, cultural knowledge, bee foraging behavior, resin flower evolution, ecology, and evolution of nest microbe mutualisms, social immunity, human health, the decisive role of microbiology investigation in moving forward, natural history of stingless bee colonies and nests, marketing, and bibliometrics for plant resin use by bees, propolis, and the Starmerella yeast.

In this textbook readers will acquire knowledge of problem-solving and learning to enhance both efficiency and the experience of service users in rapidly changing service environments, that can create new service models. Emphasizing that, above all else, individuals are at the centre of services, the book goes deeply into the nature of public services and their logic-of-practice. By applying learning and problem-solving approaches, the reader gains practical capabilities in addition to an appreciation of the latest research literature. Following a multidisciplinary, international approach, the book suggests a new typology of problem-framing and presents many examples of how new service solutions can be created in any public service context.  The book offers a conceptual toolkit to understand and analyse dynamically changing services and the application of new technologies. Topics covered include pressing issues surrounding public services, such as e-technology, digitalisation, e-services, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurialism, sustainability, climate, inequality, developing economies, and smart cities. Chapters follow a similar structure: issue, problems, what we know, learning framework, worked example, theory and practice conclusions, as well as teacher and learner notes. Addressing advanced undergraduate and graduate students of public administration, public management, political science, sociology, computer science, and information systems, the book will also be a valuable resource for practitioners, i.e. experts and managers in public organizations, professionals in organizations working at the business and public sectors, consultants, and IT suppliers.

Student engagement at the programme and university levels are both critical to students' success in higher education. This book establishes a theoretical and empirical framework for assessing these student experiences together. To this end, the book brings together the two major fields of university quality assurance (US [university engagement] and UK [programme experiences]). This edited book then shows how this integrated approach applies to university experiences across Pacific Asia (Hong Kong, Mainland China, Philippines, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan). It demonstrates how the proposed quality assurance framework can be applied as an intra-institutional tool to enhance student experiences. For readers interested in future of Asia Pacific higher education, this book presents a path towards enhanced cross-national communication between Asia Pacific universities.

This edited book is based on the best papers accepted for presentation during the 3rd Springer Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG-3). It is of interest to all researchers practicing geophysics/seismology, structural, and petroleum geology. It includes a set of research studies spanning a large spectrum of geological and geophysical topics with particular reference to Middle East, Mediterranean region, and Africa. It also presents a series of research methods that are nowadays in use for measuring, quantifying, and analyzing several geological domains. Papers cover new research studies on earthquake geodesy, seismotectonics, archeoseismology and active faulting, well logging methods, geodesy and exploration/theoretical geophysics, petroleum geochemistry, petroleum engineering, structural geology, basement architecture and potential data, tectonics and geodynamics, and thermicity, petroleum, and other georesources. The book follows a multidisciplinary approach which combined with the geodynamics of tectonic provinces and investigations of potential zones of natural resources (petroleum reservoirs) provides the basis for a more sustainability in the economic development.

The book includes the contributions to the international conference "18th 3D GeoInfo". The papers published in the book were selected through a double-blind review process. 3D GeoInfo has been the forum joining researchers, professionals, software developers, and data providers designing and developing innovative concepts, tools, and application related to 3D geo data processing, modeling, management, analytics, and simulation. A big focus is on topics related to data modeling for 3D city and landscape models as well as their many and diverse applications. This conference series is very successfully running since 2006 and has been hosted by countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and Australia. In the period 2006 to 2017, the proceedings has been published by Springer in this series with Thomas H. Kolbe being the editor of the 2010 edition of the conference proceedings.  18th 3DGeoInfo was organized by Technical University of Munich in cooperation with the German Society for Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation (DGPF), the local associations Runder Tisch GIS e.V. (Round Table GIS) and Leonhard Obermeyer Center-TUM Center of Digital Methods for the Built Environment, and the City of Munich. The international program committee consisted of committee members of previous 3D GeoInfo conferences and further leading scientists in the field of 3D Geoinformation Science.

The book presents the most advanced biotechnological information with respect to microbial applications in the treatment of mineral-metal bearing wastes. With growing interest in practical industrial applications of biomining microbes, of late, a lot of research has been devoted towards exploring their biotechnological potential for processing wastes derived from both primary and secondary resources for metal recovery. The chapters in the book present compiled information on several aspects of this exciting area of mineral biotechnology, that include fundamental, applied, bioprocess engineering and environment in separate chapters. These chapters provide updated information on the microbe-mineral interactions; resource specific bioleaching covering base, precious and rare earth elements leaching from primary and/or secondary resources; processing of leach solutions through biosorption, biomineralization, bio-electrochemical systems for resource recovery; treatment of mine waters, engineering and scale-up aspects of bioreactor systems for bioleaching of specific wastes and environmental challenges related to bio-mining. The book provides a unique platform for the dissemination of the state-of-the-art research on mineral biotechnology and serves as a bridge between academia and industry. Authored by well-renowned experts, it is an appropriate reference for graduate students, scientists, engineers, environmentalists working in the area of mineral biotechnology and industrial technologies.

In the last decades, machine learning techniques ¿ especially techniques of deep learning ¿ led to numerous successes in many application areas, including economics. The use of machine learning in economics is the main focus of this book; however, the book also describes the use of more traditional econometric techniques. Applications include practically all major sectors of economics: agriculture, health (including the impact of Covid-19), manufacturing, trade, transportation, etc. Several papers analyze the effect of age, education, and gender on economy ¿ and, more generally, issues of fairness and discrimination.We hope that this volume will:help practitioners to become better knowledgeable of the state-of-the-art econometric techniques, especially techniques of machine learning,and help researchers to further develop these important research directions. We want to thank all the authors for their contributions and all anonymous referees for their thorough analysis and helpful comments.

The book is the second volume of a collection which consists of surveys that focus on important topics in geometry which are at the heart of current research. The topics in the present volume include the conformal and the metric geometry of surfaces, Teichmüller spaces, immersed surfaces of prescribed extrinsic curvature in 3-dimensional manifolds, symplectic geometry, the metric theory of Grassmann spaces, homogeneous metric spaces, polytopes, the higher-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet formula, isoperimetry in finitely generated groups and Coxeter groups.Each chapter is intended for graduate students and researchers. Several chapters are based on lectures given by their authors to middle-advanced level students and young researchers. The whole book is intended to be an introduction to important topics in geometry.

William Thurston's ideas have altered the course of twentieth century mathematics, and they continue to have a significant influence on succeeding generations of mathematicians. The purpose of the present volume and of the other volumes in the same series is to provide a collection of articles that allows the reader to learn the important aspects of Thurston's heritage. The topics covered in this volume include Kleinian groups, holomorphic motions, earthquakes from the Anti-de Sitter point of view, the Thurston and Weil-Petersson metrics on Teichmüller space, 3-manifolds, geometric structures, dynamics on surfaces, homeomorphism groups of 2-manifolds and the theory of orbifolds.

This second edition offers a comprehensive introduction to loop quantum gravity (LQG) in self-dual variables, including the necessary prerequisites. Additionally, it delves into various significant research areas that have emerged in recent years. New content (including an entirely new chapter dedicated to dynamics of quantum spacetime) explores the description of spin networks and spin-foams, their historical development as well as connections to tensor networks, BF theory, and emerging approaches including the spinorial representation of LQG, SU(2) coherent states, and group field theory. Furthermore, the book provides expanded appendices covering essential tools and concepts, such as the connection between information theory and entropy, and overviews of group theory and differential geometry. All topics are presented from a non-expert perspective, ensuring self-containment and accessibility. The primary aim of this second edition remains helping researchers, bewildered bythe vast array of topics within this rapidly growing field of quantum gravity, to gain a fundamental understanding of the current developments.

This book describes the evolution of the Israeli-Palestinian peace-seeking process from 1967 to the present. Written from the perspective of Israel's most prominent peace activist, it offers an unparalleled insider's account of a crucial set of negotiations intended to settle a seemingly endless conflict. Hirschfeld's historical narrative provides a wealth of knowledge and experience that is indispensable to anyone seeking to seriously approach the Middle East conflict. The book's thorough analysis of the successes and failures of all peace efforts since the Six-Day War represents an essential asset for future negotiators, politicians, diplomats and peace activists alike. Moreover, the book shares pearls of human wisdom that anyone searching to resolve conflicts in general should take to heart. The book is of burning topicality. Not only with a view to the normalisation process between Israel and Arab countries that began with the recent Abraham Accords (2020) but also regarding the new "age of war" in Europe, sparked by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Meliponini, the stingless bees of the tropics, process and store honey, pollen and plant resins to maintain their colonies. The chemical components of their nests are bioactive and believed to be therapeutic for a long list of maladies. However, only recently are tests and analyses being done with molecular and modern laboratory techniques, such as high throughput EDX, HPIC, HPLC, GC, NMR, PCR, and ultrastructural SEM; coupled with diverse detectors such as DAD, RI, MS, SCD.This two-volume book is about the cerumen ¿plant resins mixed with stingless bee wax¿ and propolis, which fortify the colony in ways that are beginning to be understood. It includes reviews and new research on diverse topics involving the chemistry and bioactivity of plant resins, cerumen, propolis, besides bee and microbe behavior and ecology. These analytic studies are presented along with stingless bee biodiversity, palynology, cultural knowledge, bee foraging behavior, resin flower evolution, ecology, and evolution of nest microbe mutualisms, social immunity, human health, the decisive role of microbiology investigation in moving forward, natural history of stingless bee colonies and nests, marketing, and bibliometrics for plant resin use by bees, propolis, and the Starmerella yeast.

With Directive 2013/34/EU - which replaced the 4th and 7th accounting Directives - a new step towards European accounting harmonization has been taken: accounting rules on private firms have been further standardized and, at the same time, brought closer to IAS/IFRS. This book develops a comparative analysis of the most relevant issues in the process of preparing the financial statements after the recent transposition of the aforementioned Directive into the local accounting rules and standards. This book is of interest for several reasons. First, private firms, which are not necessarily small-medium sized companies, are the most prevalent and the engine of growth in all European countries. At the same time, the international academic literature is mainly devoted to listed companies, due to the limited availability of data for private companies and the idea that accounting information is less relevant for this kind of companies. In addition, the analysis contained in the book is the result of the work of more than 30 European researchers, who contributed to both a vertical analysis of eight countries (Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark) and a horizontal analysis of the most relevant cross-cutting issues (fundamental principles, financial statement formats, impairment losses, capital reserves and profit distribution, income taxes, and non-financial reporting). More specifically, the book aims to examine, from a comparative perspective, the methods of application of the Directive in Europe, in parallel with the evolutionary processes of national GAAPs, in order to verify the impact of both legal regulations and professional rules on the quality and comparability of accounting information, as well as the degree of convergence towards the IAS/IFRS model.

This book is a unified treatment of the most important core developments in the theory of completely regular semigroup theory as it stands today. This volume focuses on the lattice of varieties of completely regular semigroups. Since any in-depth study of the lattice of varieties requires an understanding of free completely regular semigroups, the book begins by describing the free object on countably infinite sets and the properties of the lattice of fully invariant congruences on the free object. The authors introduce various associated relations and operators on the lattice of varieties of completely regular semigroups. Following that, the book covers the sublattice of varieties of bands with a focus on the influence of that sublattice on the structure of the whole lattice. The book concludes with the remarkable theorem due to Polák describing the whole lattice of varieties of completely regular as a subdirect product of lattices, some of which are well understood. The authors include recent advances, insights, results, and techniques throughout the book.

The book is devoted to exploring the organizational dimensions of the general space of problem-solution dualities within epistemic fields to examine the diversity and unity of knowing and information-knowledge production in science and non-science and how to account for and explain the forces of variety transformations, as induced by decision-choice actions in creating the functor space and the space of categorial converters as well as to integrate decision-choice qualities of curiosity, creativity, hope, despair, success, failure, and their relationships with epistemic anomalies in the production of intellectual investment flows and capital stocks, and the rise and fall of institutions in response to the dynamics of the open space of problem-solution dualities with open algorithms under the principle of non-satiation. The conditions and sources of uncertainties in human actions are traced though the space of ontic-epistemic dualities as generated by cognitive capacity limitations leading to the concepts of imagination, possibility, and probability with corresponding worlds and then link to the discussions on thinking-reasoning processes with goals, objectives, and visions of education in social set-ups. The concepts and phenomena of anticipation, necessity, expectation, freedom, anomaly, curiosity, creativity, hope, despair, success, and failure contained in the space of imaginations are defined under the concepts of onticity and epistemicity, where their roles in the dualistic-polar journeys are discussed, analyzed, and connected to epistemic transversality conditions under the principle of opposites relative to the conditions of input-output and cost-benefit dualities. The book is to fill in some of the important phenomena needed in my investigation of theory of knowing as a production of intellectual investment flows and information-knowledge accumulation as the production of intellectual capital stocks relative to the disequilibrium dynamics of human intellectual heritage based on fuzzy paradigm of thought, thus providing an added foundation in integrating subjective elements into the development of open artificial intelligence, where cost-benefit values operate to determine varieties over the spaces of true-false and yes-no dualities in maching learning.

This book focuses on the relevance of equity-side innovative financial tools for SMEs in overcoming financial threats. Scholars identify difficulties in the financial sphere as the main causes of SME mortality. Such problems do not allow them to reach sustainable growth. It thus becomes critical to have the best knowledge of innovative financial tools to overcome financial constraints. By exploring the origin of financial needs, the book aims to observe how innovative equity-side financing tools, particularly equity crowdfunding, contribute to the SME dimension. The work outlines the main development factors, observing equity-crowdfunding's effect on the rate at which SMEs reach sustainable total development (STD). Moreover, outlining the fundamentals of the main theories developed on financing choices, the work concludes with a systematic literature analysis on equity crowdfunding, highlighting the main features that currently increase scholars' interest in the topic.

This book is a comprehensive resource on acute neurorehabilitation consultations. When a patient first undergoes a traumatic brain or acquired spinal cord injury, an immediate consultation is needed with a rehabilitation specialist. In-depth literature reviews, practice guidelines, and case studies offer in-depth, practical coverage of the complete neurorehabilitation consultation with information on specific testing tools and metrics. The acute care consultant works in concert with other physicians and medical professionals, so throughout the text considerations on how to best organize the team to maximize care is carefully considered. Chapters also explore acute neurological sequelae, including arousal and stimulation, sleep, agitation, spasticity, and seizure prevention, for which an acute care consultant could provide important insight, treatment, and future management recommendations. The book concludes with advice on how to best transition patients from acute to long-term care, including patient prognostication and family education. This is an ideal guide for physiatrists and neurologists aiming to maximize recovery outcomes for their patients.

Written by two experts of the domain, this book presents the most recent advances in computer arithmetic hardware, with a focus on application-specific arithmetic beyond the classic operators and the standard precisions. It targets silicon designers who have to do better with less in the post-Moore era, and FPGA developers who want to exploit the full possibilities of reconfigurable computing platforms.

Body contouring surgeries are pretty common among plastic surgeons and the Brazilian Plastic Surgery is one of the most recognized in terms of innovations. This book proposes a new approach for treatment of all body abnormalities in order to achieve aesthetic improvement. Written by Brazilian expert contributors, it addresses all body segments related to body contouring, such as breast, abdomen, dorsum, buttocks, lower and upper limbs, and also body lifting techniques after large weight loss. Associated surgeries, new invasive and non-invasive techniques and technologies such as: robotics, lasers, ultrasound, among others will be carefully described in 59 chapters. The work will also discuss the behavior of lipografting to improve body contouring as well as the importance of isolated medial tight lifting.Body contouring - Current Concepts and Best Practices is richly illustrated by images and will be a reference book for plastic surgeons worldwide.

This is the first comprehensive book on Trotter-Kato approximations of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) in infinite dimensions and applications. This research monograph brings together the varied literature on this topic since 1985 when such a study was initiated. The author provides a clear and systematic introduction to the theory of Trotter-Kato approximations of SDEs and also presents its applications to practical topics such as stochastic stability and stochastic optimal control. The theory assimilated here is developed slowly and methodically in digestive pieces.The book begins with a motivational chapter introducing several different models that highlight the importance of the theory on abstract SDEs that will be considered in the subsequent chapters. The author next introduces the necessary mathematical background and then leads the reader into the main discussion of the monograph, namely, the Trotter-Kato approximations of many classes of SDEs in Hilbert spaces, Trotter-Kato approximations of SDEs in UMD Banach spaces and some of their applications. Most of the results presented in the main chapters appear for the first time in a book form. The monograph also contains many illustrative examples on stochastic partial differential equations and one in finance as an application of the Trotter-Kato formula. The key steps are included in all proofs which will help the reader to get a real insight into the theory of Trotter-Kato approximations and its use. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students in mathematics specializing in probability theory. It will also be useful to numerical analysts, engineers, physicists and practitioners who are interested in applying the theory of stochastic evolution equations. Since the approach is based mainly in semigroup theory, it is accessible to a wider audience including non-specialists in stochastic processes.

In major areas of research concerned with science it is not uncommon to see that historical studies are accompanied by the rise of complementary or contradictory historiographies. With time, it seems, scholars discover new approaches to studying topics, thus questioning old concepts, traditions, periodizations and historical labels. Apparently, this has not been the case in evolutionary thought. In that area, prevailing historiographic labels such as "Darwinian Revolution", "Eclipse of Darwinism", and "Modern Synthesis" have been in place and largely uncontested for nearly 50 years. These labels seem to work as irrefutable, and often hidden, premises of many historical reconstructions, philosophical analyses, and scientific conceptualizations. This volume aims to address this situation, opening new avenues of thought by revisiting the traditional historiography and laying the groundwork for a "new historiography" which considers the intertwined threads that compose evolutionary biology. In particular, it is worth noting evolutionary studies have been marked by the tension between unification attempts and the proliferation of approaches, methodologies, and styles of thinking. As the contributors to this volume illustrate, research traditions have branched off throughout history, before and after Charles Darwin. The resulting complexity challenges traditional conceptual categories, throwing a somewhat different light on a more recent label like the "Extended Evolutionary Synthesis". More than 40 years after the now classic The Evolutionary Synthesis: Perspectives on the Unification of Biology (1980), edited by Ernst Mayr and William Provine, the contributors to this volume aim to reevaluate how best should evolutionary biology be conceived today.

I Introduction.- I-1 Femtosecond Technology and Its Industrial Impact.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Fundamental Nature of Femtosecond Optics.- 3. Device and Material Research Frontiers.- 4. Ultrafast System Goals.- 5. Summary and Future Tasks.- References.- II Optoelectronics Technology Roadmap and Industry.- II-1 Technology Roadmap for the Japanese Opto-Electronics Industry.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Roadmap for Optical Communication Technology.- 3. Future Prospects for Optoelectronics Technology in Japan.- 4. Summary and Conclusions.- Acknowledgment.- References.- II-2 Technology Roadmap for Optical Communication - A North American Perspective.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Socioeconomic Driving Forces.- 3. Anticipated Consumer Needs - Bandwidth Requirements.- 4. Core Network.- 5. Access Networks.- 6. LANs and Campus Networks.- 7. Conclusion.- References.- II-3 Structural Change in Industry and Reorganization of R&D Systems in Network-Oriented Societies.- 1. Introduction.- 2. From Vertical to Horizontal.- 3. Outsourcing of Industrial R&D Activities.- 4. From Linear Model to "Konoyubi-Tomar?" Model.- 5. From Proprietary to Licensing.- 6. Hopes for the Renaissance of Universities.- 7. Concluding Remarks.- References and Notes.- III Ultrafast Optoelectronics for Telecommunications.- III-1 Femtosecond Semiconductor-Based Optoelectonic Devices for Optical Communications and Signal-Processing Systems.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Semiconductor-Based Femtosecond Devices.- 3. Femtosecond Light Sources.- 4. Femtosecond All-Optical Switches.- 5. Conclusion.- Acknowledgment.- References.- III-2 Generation, Control and Processing of Ultrafast Optical Signals by Electrooptic Modulation/Deflection.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Generation of Wide Optical Spectra by Using Electrooptic Modulation.- 3. Generation of Ultrashort Optical Pulses by Electrooptic Modulation/Deflection.- 4. Overview of the Future.- References.- III-3 Subharmonic Mode-Locking of Semiconductor Lasers Operating at Millimetre-Wave Frequencies.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Devices.- 3. Subharmonic Hybrid Mode-Locking.- 4. Subharmonic Synchronous Mode-locking.- 5. Comparison between S L and SSML.- 6. Conclusions.- Acknowledgement.- References.- III-4 All-Optical Access Node Technologies.- 1. Introduction and Motivation for Ultrafast Systems.- 2. Soliton Ring Network Architecture & Protocols.- 3. Integration of Components for Access Node.- 4. Q-Parameter Measurements of System Performance.- 5. Summary.- References.- III-5 Ultrafast All-Optical Switch Using Low-Temperature-Grown InGaAs/InAlAs Multiple-Quantum Wells.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Nonlinear Properties of Multi-Quantum Well Structures.- 3. Operation Principle of a Surface-Reflection All-Optical Switch.- 4. Improvement in Switching Speed.- 5. Improvement in Optical Nonlinearity.- 6. Application to Optical Communication Systems.- 7. Future Works.- References.- III-6 High Bandwidth Photodetectors.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Vertically Illuminated Long-Wavelength p-i-n Photodetectors.- 3. Traveling-Wave Photodetector.- 4. Silicon Hetero-Interface Avalanche Photodetector.- 5. Summary.- Acknowledgment.- References.- III-7 Coherent Tunable THz Oscillation by Nonlinear Optics.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Calculation of Gain.- 3. Unidirectional THz-Wave Coupling.- 4. Experiments.- 5. Measurement.- 6. Conclusion.- Acknowledgment.- References.- III-8 Multi-Gap Photoconductive Switches Fabricated by a Scanning Probe Microscope.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Fabrication Process.- 3. Electrooptic Vector Sampling.- 4. Summary.- Acknowledgements.- References.- IV Semiconductor Quantum Structures for Femtosecond Devices.- IV-1 High Speed Quantum Dot Lasers: Phonon Bottleneck Issue in Quantum Dot Lasers.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Lifetime of Confined LO Phonons.- 3. Phonon Bottleneck Issue.- 4. Conclusion and Discussions.- References.- IV-2 Ultrafast Coherent Dynamics of Radiatively Coupled Excitons in Multiple Quantum Wells.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Theoretical Model.- 3. Experimental Techniques...

This book celebrates binocular vision by presenting illustrations that require two eyes to see the effects of cooperation and competition between them. Pictures are flat but by printing them in different colours and viewing them through similarly coloured filters (included with the hardcover book) they are brought to life either in stereoscopic depth or in rivalry with one another. They are called anaglyphs and all those in the book display the ways in which the eyes interact. Thus, the reader is an integral element in the book and not all readers will see the same things. The history, science and art of binocular vision can be experienced in ways that are not usually available to us and with images made specifically for this book. The study of vision with two eyes was transformed by the invention of stereoscopes in the early 19th century. Anaglyphs are simple forms of stereoscopes that have three possible outcomes from viewing them - with each eye alone to see the monocular images, with both eyes to see them in stereoscopic depth or rivalry, or without the red/cyan glasses where they can have an appeal independent of the binocularity they encompass. Through the binocular pictures and the words that accompany them there will be an appreciation of just how remarkable the processes are that yield binocular singleness and depth. Moreover, the opportunities for expressing these processes are explored with many examples of truly binocular art.

I Grundlagen.- Wer braucht wofür Avatare? Konzeption und Implementierung natürlichsprachlicher Systeme - Zur Einführung.- Die Bedeutung von natürlichsprachlichen Dialogsystemen im Internet-Business.- Technische Grundlagen von natürlichsprachlichen Dialogsystemen.- Ein Quantensprung für Dialogsysteme.- II E-Business und Avatare.- "Ich habe Ihre Eingabe leider nicht verstanden" - Qualitätskriterien für Online-Tests von Bots.- Strategien für Dialogführungssysteme - Automation der Kundenkommunikation im Kontaktkanal Internet.- Schön - schnell - schlau: Online-Marketing mit Avataren.- Avatare und die Usability von Websites.- Support-Chat und Avatare als Mittel der persönlichen Kundenbetreuung im World Wide Web.- Cor@: Der Avatar der Deutschen Bank - Eine Fallstudie aus der Sicht des Auftragnehmers.- PIA - Der virtuelle Einkaufs-Guide - Eine Fallstudie des Club Bertelsmann.- Ein virtueller Berater für Yello - Auswahl, Implementierung und Betrieb eines Avatars.- III Marketing und Avatare.- Darf's ein bisschen menschlicher sein? - Virtuelle Charaktere am Point of Sale.- Robert T-Online - Eine Karriere zwischen Wirklichkeit und Cyberspace.- Robert T-Online - Ein universeller Markenbotschafter.- Avatare und Entertainment.- It's time for a Strike! - Wahlkampf einer digitalen Präsidentschaftskandidatin.- IV Ausblick.- Mehr als nur ein nettes Gesicht: Embodied conversational interface agents.- Mit Hand und Fuß - Die Bedeutung der nonverbalen Kommunikation für die Emotionalisierung von Dialogführungssystemen.- Virtualisierung und Personalisierung - Technologietrends machen Avatare zur innovativen Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstelle.

I Introduction - Overview, Technical Papers.- 1 Landslide Hazard - A Conceptual Approach in Risk Viewpoint.- 2 Flood Hazard Assessment and Mitigation.- 3 The Recognition of Landslides.- 4 Climate Change Impact on Frequency and Distribution of Natural Extreme Events: an Overview.- II Tools and Methodology.- 5 Dendrogeomorphology in Landslide Analysis.- 6 Rainfall and Flow Forecasting Using Weather Radar.- 7 Numerical Modelling Techniques as Predictive Tools of Ground Instability.- 8 New Applications of Monitoring Networks, Multipurpose, Cost/Benefits, Management.- 9 The Importance and the Problems of Cartography - An Example.- 10 From Meteorological Modelling to Flood Forecasting and the Management of Emergencies.- 11 Real-Time Flood Forecasting Systems: Perspectives and Prospects.- 12 Relationships Between Environment and Man in Terms of Landslide Induced Risk.- III Management and Socio-Economic Aspects.- 13 Innovative Approaches to Integrated Floodplain Management.- 14 The Economical Consequences of Floods and Landslides.- 15 Socio-Economic Perspective of Developing Country Megacities Vulnerable to Flood and Landslide Hazards.- 16 The Potentialities of a Risk Disaggregation Between Vulnerability and Hazard: Example of the Relative Stability Induced for Flooding Risk Alleviation.- IV Case Studies.- 17 Landslide Hazard Investigations in the Dolomites (Italy): The Case Study of Cortina d'Ampezzo.- 18 Monitoring and Warning Systems: Methodological Approach and Case Studies.- 19 Mass Movements in Austria.- 20 Landslides and Precipitation: the Event of 4-6th November 1994 in the Piemonte Region, North Italy.- 21 Evaluation of Radar and Panchromatic Imagery for the Study of Flood and Landslide Events in Piemonte, Italy, November 1994.- 22 Longitudinal Evaluation of the Bed Load Size and of its Mobilisation in a Gravel Bed River.- 23 Morphological Changes in Mountain Rivers During a Flood Event.- 24 Methodological Approach in the Analysis of Two Landslides in a Geologically Complex Area: The Case of Varenna Valley (Ligury).

The scope of this book is cyber-physical systems used for the sustainable development and productivity of the agricultural sector. The book contains proceedings of the conference "Fundamental and Applied Scientific Research in the Development of Agriculture in the Far East" (AFE-2022, Tashkent, Uzbekistan). The results of research in the following areas are presented here: software-as-a-service solutions for orchard management, ICT components of Smart Agriculture (SA), farm management platforms, yield monitoring and estimation, IoTs in farming, water management, and smart agriculture machines. The book contains information on the latest technologies in precision agriculture, including real-time technology and big data analytics, fertilizer and sprayer controllers, robotics, variable rate irrigation, networks and remote sensing technologies, etc. The research results presented in the book help in making the right decisions about the allocation of resources in agricultural systems.

This book is based on the accepted research papers presented in the International Conference Artificial Intelligence in Engineering & Science (AIES-2022). The aim of the AIES Conference is to bring together researchers involved in the theory of computational intelligence, knowledge engineering, fuzzy systems, soft computing, machine learning and related areas and applications in engineering, bioinformatics, industry, medicine, energy, smart city, social spheres and other areas. This book presents new perspective research results: models, methods, algorithms and applications in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Particular emphasis is given to the medical applications - medical images recognition, development of the expert systems which could be interesting for the AI researchers as well for the physicians looking for the new ideas in medicine. The central audience of the book are researchers, industrial practitioners, students specialized in the Artificial Intelligence.

Wirtschaftliche Grundlagen von Multimedia-Produktionsverträgen.- Grundlegende Begriffe (Multimedia, Teledienste, Rundfunk, Mediendienste).- Produktionsvertrag.- Vorbestehende Rechte.- Kennzeichenrecht im Besonderen anhand des Beispiels Domain-Name.- Das Wichtigste zu E-Commerce-Angeboten.- Verbraucherschutzvorschriften.- Einbindung von Dritten auf Seite des Produzenten.- Steuerrecht.- Spiele.- 1 to 1 Marketing und Datenschutz.- Haftung für Multimediaprodukte.- Streitschlichtung.- Kommunen im Netz.- Verhalten bei Abmahnungen. Rechtsfragen der Unternehmensorganisation.- Rechtsfragen bei Einführung eines QM-Systems.- Der Kriterienkatalog für E-Commerce-Projekte.- Projektmanagement aus rechtlicher Sicht.- Projektdokumentation und Beweismittel aus rechtlicher Sicht.