Böcker utgivna av Springer Nature Singapore

This book is a collection of selected papers presented at the Fourth Congress on Intelligent Systems (CIS 2023), organized by  CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India, under the technical sponsorship of the Soft Computing Research Society, India, during September 4-5, 2023. It includes novel and innovative work from experts, practitioners, scientists, and decision-makers from academia and industry. It covers topics such as the Internet of Things, information security, embedded systems, real-time systems, cloud computing, big data analysis, quantum computing, automation systems, bio-inspired intelligence, cognitive systems, cyber-physical systems, data analytics, data/web mining, data science, intelligence for security, intelligent decision-making systems, intelligent information processing, intelligent transportation, artificial intelligence for machine vision, imaging sensors technology, image segmentation, convolutional neural network, image/video classification, soft computing for machine vision, pattern recognition, human-computer interaction, robotic devices and systems, autonomous vehicles, intelligent control systems, human motor control, game playing, evolutionary algorithms, swarm optimization, neural network, deep learning, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, fuzzy logic, rough sets, computational optimization, and neuro-fuzzy systems.

This book focuses on the development of artificial intelligence and rule of law in the world, by collecting and summarizing the information about the development of artificial intelligence and rule of law in China and the world, covering topics like AI strategy, policy, law, theoretical research and practical application, etc. It makes an in-depth analysis so as to provide an objective, fair and accurate report. The purpose is to promote the study of AI and law, promote the construction of AI and rule of law system and create an AI and rule of law environment. In particular, it aims to play an active role in promoting the establishment of legislative norms, legal systems, policy systems and ethical norms that are compatible with the innovative development of AI, promoting the implementation of a new generation of national AI development strategies, ensuring the safe, reliable, controllable, healthy and sustainable development of AI. It is hoped that this book may provide useful reference for researchers of AI and law.

This book focuses on ¿Disruption and Change¿ in the Asian region. In this context, managers and policymakers face a fast transformation of existing structures and business environments. From a business perspective, change is the adoption of business strategies, activities, and operations that meet the needs of the firm and its stakeholder today while protecting, sustaining, and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future. Disruption refers to the radical changes in existing industries or markets due to technological innovation breakthroughs. There is a consensus among scholars and practitioners that organizations must manage the change well to flourish in a competitive business environment. Many business models need to be rethought to establish new ways to stay competitive. The book, with its practical examples, gives the reader impulses for new Asian¿s approaches and encourages the readers to dare to think and act in new ways.

This book takes a theoretical and empirical distance from urban slums/low-income settlements as a threat to environmental sustainability and recast them as places where environmentally rehabilitative and circular practices occur¿drawing on the theoretical lens of the circular economy (CE). CE is defined as regenerative system that minimizes waste, emission, and energy leakage by slowing, closing, and narrowing material and energy loops. In principle, CE departs from the traditional linear model of take-make-use-dispose. As conceived in urban contexts, circular cities offer possibilities to regenerate natural systems, design out waste, and keep products in use. While the CE key principles of reduce, repair, and reuse are essential to the sustainable and inclusive interventions in urban slums, there is lack of case studies exploring the role of place and agency, especially the slum living-CE nexus in global south contexts. In inequitable urban transitions, a nuanced understanding of thesynergies between urban slums and the circular economy is not only theoretically relevant for reconceptualizing the slum in urban sustainability discourses but also exert policy and practice ramifications to decidedly figure out how the urban slum phenomenon can foster the sustainable and inclusive development of marginal areas through contextual and people-centered initiatives.

This book highlights the development of cotton sector and its related issues, in Ethiopia. The book is a comprehensive collection of detailed chapters ranging from agricultural aspects of cotton, its value chain, and economics. It provides an overview of the cotton sector development and the challenges faced in the growth and extension of cotton production and research in three separate sections i.e., cotton agriculture, cotton fibre technology and cross-cutting issues in the cotton sector. In the first part of the book, agricultural aspects of cotton fibre production such as, cotton agronomy, genetics and breeding, biotechnology, mechanized production, crop harvesting management are discussed in detail. This is followed by chapters concerned to a comprehensive knowledge on cotton fibre demand and supply in Ethiopia, ginning technology and industries, cotton quality testing and grading, quality requirements for spinning, cotton fabric production, chemical processing aspects and therole of cotton fabrics in the Ethiopian fashion industry. The final section of the book deals with chapters on the cotton seed production techniques, cotton research and promotion, challenges in quality cotton production, cotton value chain and economics and sustainable cotton production. This book is a valuable resource for all those concerned with cotton biology and agriculture, production and extension, research and development, fashion industry, research and academia. ¿

This revised book provides an accessible presentation of concepts from probability theory, statistical methods, the design of experiments, and statistical quality control. It is shaped by the experience of the two teachers teaching statistical methods and concepts to engineering students. Practical examples and end-of-chapter exercises are the highlights of the text, as they are purposely selected from different fields. Statistical principles discussed in the book have a great relevance in several disciplines like economics, commerce, engineering, medicine, health care, agriculture, biochemistry, and textiles to mention a few.Organised into 16 chapters, the revised book discusses four major topics¿probability theory, statistical methods, the design of experiments, and statistical quality control. A large number of students with varied disciplinary backgrounds need a course in basics of statistics, the design of experiments and statistical quality control at an introductory level to pursue their discipline of interest. No previous knowledge of probability or statistics is assumed, but an understanding of calculus is a prerequisite. The whole book also serves as a master level introductory course in all the three topics, as required in textile engineering or industrial engineering.

This book presents select proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2023), and focuses on sustainability, promotion of new ideas and innovations in design, construction and maintenance of geotechnical structures with the aim of contributing towards climate change adaptation and disaster resiliency to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It presents latest research, information, technological advancement, practical challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the field of geotechnical engineering for sustainable infrastructure towards climate change adaptation. This volume will be of interest to those in academia and industry alike.

This textbook delves into the practical applications of surface and groundwater hydrology, as well as the environment. The Part I, "Practical Python for a Water and Environment Professional," guides readers through setting up a scientific computing environment and conducting exploratory data analysis and visualization using reproducible workflows. The Part II, "Statistical Modeling in Hydrology," covers regression models, time series analysis, and common hypothesis testing. The Part III, "Surface and Subsurface Water," illustrates the use of Python in understanding key concepts related to seepage, groundwater, and surface water flows. Lastly, the Part IV, "Environmental Applications," demonstrates the application of Python in the study of various contaminant transport phenomena.

The book provides an overview of various autoimmune disorders and how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will be used for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of these disorders. AI algorithms are used to create synthetic patient populations with the properties of actual patient cohorts, build personalized predictive models of drug combinations and unravel complex relationships between diet, microbiome, and genetic line-up to determine the comparative treatment response. The book highlights clinical applications and challenges of AI for the diagnosis and treatment/management of autoimmune disorders which includes Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Type I Diabetes, Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA), and other critical diseases.

This book presents select proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Construction Resources for Environmentally Sustainable Technologies (CREST 2023), and focuses on sustainability, promotion of new ideas and innovations in design, construction and maintenance of geotechnical structures with the aim of contributing towards climate change adaptation and disaster resiliency to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It presents latest research, information, technological advancement, practical challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the field of geotechnical engineering for sustainable infrastructure towards climate change adaptation. This volume will be of interest to those in academia and industry alike.

This book shows how different types of motion can be disambiguated into their components in a richer way than that currently possible in computer vision.Previous research of motion analysis has generally not yet considered the basic nature of higher orders of motion such as acceleration. Hence, this book introduces an approximation of the acceleration field using established optical flow techniques. Further, acceleration is decomposed into radial and tangential based on geometry and propagated as a general motion descriptor; this book shows the capability for differentiating different types of motion both on synthesized data and real image sequences.Beyond acceleration, the higher orders of motion flow and their continuant parts are investigated for further revealing the chaotic motion fields. Naturally, it is possible to extend this notion further: to detect higher orders of image motion. In this respect, this book shows how jerk and snap can be obtained from image sequences. The derived results on test images and heel strike detection in gait analysis illustrate the ability of higher-order motion, which provide the basis for the following research and applications in the future.We hope that the publication of this book will bring a new perspective to researchers and graduate students in the field of video analysis in computer vision.

This book compares the population history of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China to understand such emergent changes as extremely low fertility in Korea and Taiwan, compressed urbanization and a massive diaspora from Korea, early population aging relative to economic development in China, and changing patterns of cross-border migration in the region. After discussing the origin of each ethnic group, premodern population changes are examined by reviewing historical demographic studies including those written in local languages. A new population estimation for premodern Korea is also presented. Topics covered in this book include population growth, fertility, mortality, domestic and cross-border migration, marriage, divorce, and households. Contrasts between economic and population giants (China and Japan), former Japanese colonies (Korea and Taiwan), feudalism and Confucianism (Japan and others), and capitalism and socialism of the same ethnic groups (South and North Korea, Taiwan, and China) provide a fresh view of population dynamics in relation to political, economic, and cultural changes. The population study of Eastern Asia has great importance. If economic development is checked by early and rapid aging, it functions to preserve the conventional Euro-centric world system and Pax Americana. On the other hand, if China succeeds in further development while sustaining a socialist dictatorship, it is a challenge to the authority of liberal democracy. If the institution of marriage remains robust and extramarital births do not increase in Eastern Asia, it implies that an aspect of family change is culturally dependent. This book provides clues to help answer such important questions.

This book reflects the latest research trends, methods, and experimental results in the field of electrical and information technologies for rail transportation, which covers abundant state-of-the-art research theories and ideas. As a vital field of research that is highly relevant to current developments in a number of technological domains, the subjects it covered include intelligent computing, information processing, communication technology, automatic control, etc. The objective of the proceedings is to provide a major interdisciplinary forum for researchers, engineers, academicians, and industrial professionals to present the most innovative research and development in the field of rail transportation electrical and information technologies. Engineers and researchers in academia, industry, and government will also explore an insightful view of the solutions that combine ideas from multiple disciplines in this field. The volumes serve as an excellent reference work for researchersand graduate students working on rail transportation and electrical and information technologies.

This book presents the latest research in the areas of development and application of risk-informed and risk-based technologies. The book discusses how advances in computational technologies, availability of accumulated experience and data on design, operations, maintenance and regulations, new insights in human factor modelling and development of new technologies, such as physics-of-failure modelling, prognostics and health management, have paved the way for implementation of risk and reliability tools and methods. The book will be useful for researchers, academicians, and engineers, particularly the field engineers, designers and regulators working on complex engineering systems.

This book focuses on many aspects of mass transfer dynamics of contamination in fractured media. First, it discusses the concept, structure and properties of fractured media. It then traces topics such as basic law of seepage in fractured media, the basic mass transfer theory of fractured media, numerical simulation of mass transfer process in fractured media, mathematical model and parameter inversion of mass transfer in fractured media and the frontier of mass transfer in fractured media. The book is a comprehensive reference for both graduate students and scientific and technological teams working in the fields of hydrogeology, water conservation, mining and civil engineering, environmental engineering, transportation, civil air defense and national defense.

The scope of this book is to map Chinäs city clusters and their individual directions for the national-level strategies in line with the 2060 carbon neutrality plan. Since China announced the carbon neutrality plan in autumn 2020, no study has looked at the role of city clusters in achieving this long-term plan. Hence, this study is believed to be the first attempt to explore this important topic from the city cluster perspective. It explores the challenges, opportunities, and directions of all 19 city clusters, allowing readers to have a clear picture of Chinäs historical and ongoing progress, as well as the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. In a short time, Chinäs city clusters have helped boost regional economic development, infrastructure development, trade and business, and better urban¿rural integration. With enhanced coordination of connection and transport networks in and between the city clusters, we see a growing number of initiatives beyond just the initial economic strategies. The dual approach of top-down policies and infrastructure systems and bottom-up governance and investments has helped China consider urban¿rural development strategies and regional sustainable development. These factors are essential to be explored from the city cluster perspective and in line with Chinäs sustainable development and carbon neutrality directions. Hence, the book covers these points holistically, ensuring that regional planning and development are favored in the face of uneven urbanization trends.We anticipate this book to be a valuable resource for local governments and authorities, urban planners and practitioners, developers, and urban researchers. While the focus is on Chinäs city clusters, we believe there are similar examples elsewhere. Hence, lessons learnt from this book could apply to other countries, regions, and subregions. Lastly, the book aims to put regional sustainable development at the heart of longer-term strategies and plans, such as the case of Chinäs carbon neutrality plan.

This book highlights the latest advances in advanced insulating materials. Energy crisis and environmental pollution are two major themes currently faced by the human society. It is of unprecedented strategic importance to construct a strong smart grid with super/ultra-high voltage network as the backbone and clean energy transmission as the leading force. However, the performance of electrical equipment and devices is greatly determined by the properties of their insulating materials, especially when they have to work in extreme circumstances including high-temperature differences, intense radiation, and strong electric fields. The key advantage of polymers is that their properties could be adjusted by changing their chemical composition and molecular structure. Research on polymer insulating materials has been highly successful as progress has been made in characterizing these properties, designing molecular structures, and studying polymers¿ specialized properties. On the other hand, nanodielectrics are prepared by adding certain nanoscale fillers into a polymer matrix to yield better electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. When the particle pretreatment methods and the content or category of fillers are adjusted, nanodielectrics tend to have greater breakdown strength as well as better high-temperature resistance and space charge suppression. Therefore, this book covers investigations of properties of insulating materials that explore their interface effects and composite structures and introduces findings in methods that improve the performance of electrical devices. The book is not only used as a timely reference for engineering and technical personnel in related fields but also as a comprehensive textbook for college students.

This book reviews the potential of next-generation point-of-care diagnosis in healthcare. It also discusses the printed chip-based assay (Lab-on-a-Chip, Lab-on-a-PCB) for rapid, inexpensive biomarkers detection. The book presents the development of sensory systems based on the use of nanomaterials. It examines different biosensors for medical diagnosis using surface modification strategies of transducers. It presents electrochemical concepts based on different nanobiomaterials and nanocomposites for cancer theranostics. Notably, the book examines the recent advances in wearable, cost-effective hemodynamic sensors to detect diseases at an early stage. It further explores the combination of redox cycling and electrochemical detection to develop ultrasensitive and reproducible biosensors for point-of-care testing. Finally, the book summarizes the significant challenges in the point of care diagnostics and its future opportunities in healthcare. 

This book successfully represents the indispensable interdisciplinarity of viewpoints by its authors combining legal perspectives with architectural and anthropological approaches. With the observation and analysis presented here, this book is the first to demonstrate research-based governance solutions for cultural heritage within the process of recovering from traumatic events. Its opening statement is that universal international standards are not effective enough for the specific situations of disaster-struck places.A major objective of this monograph is to allow its readers to go through a learning experience, from plural cases where reconstruction of cultural heritage became central to rebuilding a post-disaster society. This book introduces Japan as the most disaster-prone country, with a long history of confronting and overcoming the power of nature, resulting in its unique solutions for cultural heritage resilience and sustainability. But how do leadership and decision making become efficient in times of recovery? Bearing in mind what may be lacking in Japanese practices, this work also presents comparable governance models from other countries which indicate alternative solutions.While a traumatic event may occur within one night, the process of recovery could last for decades. Such disasters also tend to recur. In order that directly affected communities can sustain resilience throughout the long recovery period, and that equally severe social trauma will not be repeated, a continuous, well-maintained governance response is required, whether grounded in local knowledge or national policy frameworks. At the heart of this book is the matter of the reconstruction process involving networks of small and large communities. Each of those has a role that becomes operational through linkages of contacts, the interchange of knowledge and skills, and above all through the sharing of common goals.

This book investigates the disagreement behavior analysis problems for signed networks in the presence of both cooperative and antagonistic interactions among agents. Owing to the existing antagonistic interactions, signed networks exhibit a variety of disagreement behaviors subject to different topology conditions, especially in comparison with commonly considered unsigned networks involving only cooperative interactions among agents. Since signed networks are generally adopted to describe the dynamics of some practical network systems, they have attracted much attention in many areas, such as biology, sociology, economics, and politics. By focusing on agents with the first-order linear dynamics, the book establishes the systematic behavior analysis frameworks for signed networks, under which diverse disagreement behaviors have been disclosed, including both convergence and fluctuation behaviors, regardless of static or dynamic network topologies. In particular, a class of dynamic signed networks has been introduced, together with the associated dynamic distributed controller design and disagreement behavior analysis of agents. This book is intended for undergraduate and graduate students, engineers, and researchers who are interested in control of network systems, multi-agent systems, social networks, and so on.

The book is a collection of peer-reviewed best selected research papers presented at the International Conference on Data Intelligence and Cognitive Informatics (ICDICI 2021), organized by SCAD College of Engineering and Technology, Tirunelveli, India, during  July 16-17, 2021. This book discusses new cognitive informatics tools, algorithms, and methods that mimic the mechanisms of the human brain which leads to an impending revolution in understating a large amount of data generated by various smart applications. The book includes novel work in data intelligence domain which combines with the increasing efforts of artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and cognitive science to study and develop a deeper understanding of the information processing systems.

This edited book highlights the latest information on the use of nanotechnology, satellite technology, and biotechnological tools in pest management. It covers the role of climate change and ecology in managing pests and also their molecular identification. Other methods that the book encompasses are organic pest management, host-plant resistance, semiochemicals, and bio-control technology. The book also covers insect pollinators which play important role for fruits in horticultural crop production. Intensive and extensive cultivation of horticultural crops lead to serious pest problem. Climatic conditions in India and elsewhere due to which new pests have emerged that causes severe damage to the horticultural crops. In response to this, researchers have developed new techniques to fight pests and their growing resistance to pesticides. This book covers the latest information on identity, biology, damage, seasonal development, and pest management of the horticultural crop pests. It serves to be an essential tool for horticultural professionals, including development officers, horticulturists, field-level extension workers, nurserymen, planters, and entomologists, and is a valuable source of reference for relevant researchers, teachers, and students in the region.

This book addresses the transfer of rhetorical knowledge from a first language (L1) to a second language (L1-to-L2 rhetorical transfer), a common cognitive phenomenon in the L2 writing of students in foreign language learning environments. It investigates L1-to-L2 rhetorical transfer from a cognitive perspective and examines a specific component of L2 writers¿ agency in this transfer, namely metacognition. The book¿s ultimate goal is to enhance our understanding of the cognitive mechanism of rhetorical transfer across languages. This goal is in turn connected to the need to determine how L1 rhetorical knowledge can be steered and oriented toward successful L2 writing.To this end, this book proposes a theoretical framework for transfer studies, encompassing the dimensions of text, transfer agency, and L2 essay raters. It facilitates an in-depth exploration of the intricacies involved in L1-to-L2 rhetorical transfer. It then presents empirical studies on this transfer. Embracing a dynamic perspective, this book furthers our understanding of interlingual rhetorical transfer as a conscious or intuitive process for making meaning, one that can be monitored and steered. Moreover, it discusses the pedagogical implications for L2 writing instruction that guides students to use metacognition to transfer L1 rhetorical knowledge during L2 writing.

This book examines educational resource allocation in Beijing, the allocation of educational resources in student resource optimization analysis in Tianjin, educational resource allocation in Hebei Province, and the optimal allocation of vocational education resources in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. It also offers a holistic landscape of exploring coordinated education development historically. This book has interdisciplinary appeal and is of interest to all studying and researching Chinese educational policy.

Metamaterials and metasurfaces are developing exciting new frontier researches on reconfigurable materials with promising applications on tunable and active devices. The combination of metamaterials and microsystems not only uncap the controllability limits of optical metamaterials, but also pave the way for vast applications. This book focuses on structural reconfiguration of metasurfaces and metamaterials using microsystems, which have previously been developed for tiny machines and droplets formations. It covers multi-disciplinary researches on reconfigurable metamaterials and metasurfaces revealing their potential applications on densely integrated devices with working frequencies ranging from GHz to infrared region. Topics like MEMS metamaterials, frequency selective surface, photonic reconfigurable metasurfaces, and microfluidic metamaterials are just a few examples, which present lively research communities within the scope of this book. This book is intended for undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in fundamental science and technology of micro-optics and artificial materials, researchers in the field of reconfigurable and tunable metamaterials, and engineers working on tunable lens, Lidar, beam steering devices, or other applications.

This is the first book to examine the contemporary seasonal migration of Pacific islanders to Australia through the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). It reflects on this new age of guestwork from a broad social, economic, political and cultural perspective in both source countries and destinations. In so doing, it offers a critical perspective on different phases of managed labour migration from nineteenth century practices of 'blackbirding' to the present day. This book examines why and how guestworker policies and programmes have developed, and the impact this has had in Australia and for the people, villages and islands of the sending states. It particularly focuses on Vanuatu, the main source of labour, and draws upon studies based in Australia, Vanuatu and other Pacific Island countries. The book therefore traces new patterns of migration, with intriguing economic and social consequences, that are restructuring parts of rural and regional Australia in response to labour demands from agriculture and evolving regional geopolitics. 

This book comprises the select peer-reviewed proceedings of the Indian Geotechnical Conference (IGC) 2021. The contents focus on Geotechnics for Infrastructure Development and Innovative Applications. The book covers topics related to soil behavior and characterization of geomaterials, geotechnical, geological, and geophysical investigation of special topics such as behavior of unsaturated soils, offshore and marine geotechnics, remote sensing and GIS, instrumentation and monitoring, retrofitting of geotechnical structures, reliability in geotechnical engineering, geotechnical education, codes and standards, among others. This volume will be of interest to those in academia and industry.

This book highlights the discussions by renown researchers on questions emerged during transition from the relativistic heavy-ion collider (RHIC) to the future electron ion collider (EIC). Over the past two decades, the RHIC has provided a vast amount of data over a wide range of the center of mass energies. What are the scientific priorities, after RHIC is shut down and turned to the future EIC? What should be the future focuses of the high-energy nuclear collisions? What are thermodynamic properties of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at large baryon density? Where is the phase boundary between quark-gluon-plasma and hadronic matter at high baryon density? How does one make connections from thermodynamics learned in high-energy nuclear collisions to astrophysical topics, to name few, the inner structure of compact stars, and perhaps more interestingly, the dynamical processes of the merging of neutron stars? While most particle physicists are interested in Dark Matter, we should focus on the issues of Visible Matter! Multiple heavy-ion accelerator complexes are under construction: NICA at JINR (4 ~ 11 GeV), FAIR at GSI (2 ~ 4.9 GeV SIS100), HIAF at IMP (2 ~ 4 GeV).  In addition, the heavy-ion collision has been actively discussed at the J-PARC. The book is a collective work of top researchers from the field where some of the above-mentioned basic questions will be addressed. We believe that answering those questions will certainly advance our understanding of the phase transition in early universe as well as its evolution that leads to today's world of nature.

This book is a convergence of heterogeneous insights (from languages and literature, history, music, media and communications, computer science and information studies) which previously went their separate ways; now unified under a single framework for the purpose of preserving a unique heritage, the language. In a growing society like ours, description and documentation of human and scientific evidence/resources are improving. However, these resources have enjoyed cost-effective solutions for Western languages but are yet to flourish for African tone languages. By situating discussions around a universe of discourse, sufficient to engender cross-border interactions within the African context, this book shall break a dichotomy of challenges on adaptive processes required to unify resources to assist the development of modern solutions for the African domain.