Böcker utgivna av Springer Nature Singapore

This book documents the global pearl millet research for achieving the sustainable development goals in the eve of International Year of Millets in 2023 by FAO. This book offers perspectives on the recent advances in the field of genomics, next-generation breeding approaches, hybrid development, crop production and protection technologies of pearl millets. Pearl millet is the world¿s most important millet grown in the hot, semi-arid ecologies of Asia and Africa with versatile end uses. Of all the world¿s cereals, pearl millet ranks the sixth most important crop after rice, wheat, maize, barley and sorghum. In the changing climatic condition, it can be pitched as strategic crop for food and nutritional security owing to its ability to survive in harsh ecologies and the higher micro-nutrients grain content. This books focuses on nutritional importance, climate resilience, seed systems, value-addition and market policies to enhance the genetic gain of pearl millets under marginal and favorable ecologies, and way forward for a food and nutrition secure world. It is a useful reading material for researchers and professionals working on small grains, millets and their cultivation and nutrition related aspects.

This book is the second volume that provides an unique overview of the most recent and relevant contributions in the field of mathematical physics with a focus on the mathematical features of quantum mechanics. It is a collection of review papers together with brand new works related to the activities of the INdAM Intensive Period "INdAM Quantum Meetings (IQM22)", which took place at the Politecnico di Milano in Spring 2022 at Politecnico di Milano. The range of topics covered by the book is wide, going ranging from many-body quantum mechanics to quantum field theory and open quantum systems.

This book systematically introduces design and fabrication of physical models for wind tunnel tests based on additive manufacturing technology, including model design technology, model fabrication process, strengthening technology, etc. On this basis, it introduces in detail the specific implementation process of commonly used models, e.g., force measurement models, pressure measurement models, elastic models, and flutter models. This book mainly provides references for researchers and engineers who are engaged in aircraft design, experimental fluid mechanics, and additive manufacturing technology research.

This book is a collection of outstanding research papers presented at the World Conference on Artificial Intelligence: Advances and Applications (WCAIAA 2023), organized by Sir Padampat Singhania University, India and is technically sponsored by Soft Computing Research Society during March 18¿19, 2023. The topics covered are agent-based systems, evolutionary algorithms, approximate reasoning, bioinformatics and computational biology, artificial intelligence in modeling and simulation, natural language processing, brain-machine interfaces, collective intelligence, computer vision and speech understanding, data mining, swarm intelligence, machine learning, human-computer interaction, intelligent sensor, devices and applications, and intelligent database systems.

This book provides a comprehensive discussion of Adaptable Design (AD). It covers the conception, method, and application of AD to the real-world product design. AD's benefits are substantial as it upgrades, reuses, remanufactures and recycles products throughout the product lifecycle. It rapidly adapts the existing design in development of new designs. Key elements of AD include rationalized function structures, adaptable product architectures, adaptable interfaces, and adaptability evaluations. The main feature of AD is adaptability in design methods and product applications with general and specific adaptability. AD has also modeling and evaluating adaptabilities.

This textbook investigates in detail the methods for stochastic dynamic response and stability analyses of nonlinear systems (especially ships and ocean engineering systems), elucidating the advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods (the statistical linearization method, the perturbation method, the Monte Carlo Simulation method, the numerical path integration method, the global geometric method and the first passage theory). Studies on stochastic dynamic analysis of nonlinear systems have attracted engineers and scientists from various disciplines, such as aeronautical, civil, mechanical and ocean engineering. Pursuing a systematic approach, this book establishes a fundamental framework for this topic, while emphasizing the importance of accurate and efficient analysis as well as the significant influence of choosing a suitable method in the design and optimization of various nonlinear engineering systems (especially ships and ocean engineering systems).The textbook is intended for upper undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in advanced dynamic analysis technologies, researchers investigating nonlinear systems under stochastic dynamic excitations, and civil/mechanical/structural/ocean engineers working on designing and optimization of real-world nonlinear engineering systems. The basis of English translation of this book from its Chinese original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision of the content was done by the author.

This book describes how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way of work, the division of household labor, and family formation in Japan. One of the characteristics of Japanese employment practices is a stable employer¿employment relationship and seniority-based wage system. In return, long working hours, especially for men who are called ¿salarymen¿ (salaried workers, or ¿company men¿), are required. The pandemic has led to an expansion of telework and has reduced their working hours, which has made them return to their homes to work. In contrast, non-regular employees, who are mostly women, has become more unstable in employment and their incomes fell. This tendency has become even stronger under the pandemic.Compared with conditions in Western countries, in Japan wives have a greater responsibility for domestic chores. In the pandemic, as children's classes shifted to online and childcare support facilities were temporarily closed, the burden of housework and child-rearing increased for wives. However, husbands who worked from home shared a part of the housework, and popular home delivery services helped to reduce the burdens on wives. Japan is one of the developed countries with low fertility rates. Under the pandemic, many Japanese postponed starting a family, which further shrank the country¿s birthrate. There was a remarkably significant tendency to postpone having children among economically disadvantaged and socially isolated families.This book provides a portrait of Japan¿s experience regarding the notable impacts of the pandemic on work and family life.

This monograph provides a detailed and systematic introduction to the application of deep learning technology in the intelligent monitoring of crop diseases and pests. Taking 24 types of crop pests, wheat aphids, and wheat diseases with complex backgrounds as examples, a large-scale crop pest and disease dataset was constructed to provide necessary data support for the deep learning module. Various schemes for identifying and detecting large-scale crop diseases and pests based on deep convolutional neural network technology have also been proposed. This book can be used as a reference for teachers and students majoring in agriculture, computer science, artificial intelligence, intelligent science and technology, and other related fields in higher education institutions. It can also be used as a reference book for researchers in fields such as image processing technology, intelligent manufacturing, and high-tech applications.

This book proposes new technologies and discusses future solutions for ICT design infrastructures, as reflected in high-quality papers presented at the 7th International Conference on ICT for Sustainable Development (ICT4SD 2022), held in Goa, India, on 29-30 July 2022. The book covers the topics such as big data and data mining, data fusion, IoT programming toolkits and frameworks, green communication systems and network, use of ICT in smart cities, sensor networks and embedded system, network and information security, wireless and optical networks, security, trust, and privacy, routing and control protocols, cognitive radio and networks, and natural language processing. Bringing together experts from different countries, the book explores a range of central issues from an international perspective.

This book presents the latest cutting-edge research on phase separation. It discusses the benefits and risks of phase separation for living cells from the perspectives of physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine.Phase separation is a physico-chemical process that induces a single solution of solvent and intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) to separate into two phases, one phase containing only solvent and the other containing IDPs in the solvent. A key molecule in phase separation is the intrinsically disordered region (IDR) proteins (IDPs), mostly comprised of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). One of the major roles of phase separation is to generate condensates, membrane-less organelles including stress granule, Cajal body, and nucleolus.Biological actions of phase separation in various aspects of science have received increasing attention in recent years. The book consists of four parts; Part I on physics and chemistry includes topics on structural biology of RBP FUS/TLS and chaperone for phase separation, computational approach of phase separation, and chemistry of G-quadruplex of DNA and RNA. Part II on molecular biology presents molecular mechanism of IDR sequence phase separation and potential cellular function of these labile fibers, formation of membrane-less organelles, and roles of noncoding RNAs in phase separation. Part III on biology covers topics from nuclear pore complex, developmental biology regarding force-dependent remodeling, and neurobiology and higher order brain functions. Finally, Part IV on medicine presents condensates and cancer therapy, pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases based on IDPs, and responses of microglia to amyloid. The last chapter highlights the latest topic on how the SARS-Cov-2 virus takes advantage of phase separation for its infections.This book brings together the studies of phase separation in each area in a single volume. The comprehensive approach provides new insights to the research andwill benefit the readers by responding to the emerging needs for understanding phase separation.

This edited book is an in-depth compilation of recent tools and techniques, concepts and strategies used globally in plant molecular farming (PMF) for the cost-effective bulk production of recombinant proteins, secondary metabolites, and other biomolecules. The book presents an overview of success stories of PMF applications from developing countries to address poverty, achieve zero hunger, good health and well-being, thus achieving the UN SDGs 1, 2, and 3.The book deep dives into recent extraction and downstream processing methodologies, its co-existence with conventional agriculture, global governance and finally opportunities, challenges, and future perspectives in plant molecular farming. It focuses on plastid/chloroplast transformation (transplastomics) and its application in plant molecular farming. The books highlight recent advances in genome editing, synthetic biology, glycosylation and glyco-engineering for improved plant molecular farming by marker-free andtissue-specific systems via cisgenic and transgenic crops. In depth discussions on biosafety issues and bio-containment strategies have also been included.The book has 15 chapters authored by globally leading experts on the subject, presenting opportunities & challenges for bio-industrial researchers and entrepreneurs. It is useful to researchers, industrialists, entrepreneurs, policy planners, academician, and students across the disciplines.

This book is a collection of studies on state-of-art techniques developed for producing value-added N-containing chemicals and N-doped carbon materials from renewable sources via sustainable technologies. Aiming to improve conversion effectiveness and develop innovative techniques for new value-added N-containing products, topics in the text address recent advances, assess and highlight promising methods or technological strategies, and outline direct conversion routes for conversion of renewable resources to N-containing chemicals and materials. World-renowned authorities, experts, and professionals have contributed individual chapters in selected areas to cover the overall topic comprehensively. In addition to researchers and professionals in the field, educators teaching university courses on biomass transformation, biomass energy, energy materials, heterocyclic chemistry, resource materials and sustainable development and green chemistry will find the text informative with new international perspectives.

This contributed volume is focused on SDG 3, 6, 7 ,9, 11, 15, and it covers extensive knowledge on damage and loss contexts of climate change in a developing country. Indiäs vast landscape with its diversity of eco-geo-physiography, socio-cultural, and developmental settings, coupled with climate change and anthropogenic factors, makes it one of the most disaster-prone countries of the world and, thus, representing almost all the disasters and extreme events associated with climate change, variability, and weather phenomenon.Besides common hazards,such as heavy rainfall, floods, drought, cyclone and heat wave, secondary and composite disasters like forest fires and disease epidemics are also covered with case studies and examples. Cross-cutting aspects like infrastructure resilience, gender and social equity concerns, legal and assessment tools, and futuristic vision have been covered well in the book. Disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and resilienceas central themes of adaptation to climate change are presented through policy discussions, tools, and strategic analysis of past and recent lessons.This book is of common interest to a wider range of readers across policyplanning, academia, research, and professional practitioners having interest in adaptation, resilience building and sustainability in developing countries of the world. Though it is primarily a reference book, it can also serve as a textbook for university courses and professional trainings in climate change adaptation, disaster management, sustainability and strategic management studies.

This book examines the childhood education policy development in China. It involves investigating the holistic landscape of China's childhood development from a policy perspective. It also offers a specific lens to examine the migrant childhood education policy in China, the left-behind childhood education policy in China, the ethnic childhood education policy development in China, the special childhood education policy in China, and the boarding schools' childhood education policy in China. The intended readers are scholars and researchers who are interested and work in research on China's childhood education reform/pre-K-12 in China. The administrators and stakeholders in Chinese education system and graduate students are majoring and minoring in the field of educational policy.

This book aims to provide a complete overview of the current status of lifestyle and transport changes in China, focusing on the ongoing trends in lifestyle and transport technologies, which are shaping a new lifestyle and transport system. An additional focus is to discuss the mechanism behind the influence of transport on lifestyles, and analyze the influence of transport facilities on lifestyles, which will help to give efficient and effective transport solutions. Using macro statistics and survey data from Beijing and Chinese villages and towns, this book explores the interactive development of lifestyle and transportation in China over the past 40 years. The analyses and findings in this book would enhance our existing knowledge of the relationship lifestyle and transport. The policies discussed in the book would provide fresh evidences for policy-making on updating transport services in order to cope with the changes of people's lifestyle. This book will be of great interest to scholars and governmental agencies interested in transport development, transport policy, social transition, sustainable transport, urban planning, urban governance, and is relevant to China and other developing countries.  

This book develops several novel foam-filled structures and steel-concrete-steel (SCS) sandwich structures, which provides more alternatives for ensuring the safety of buildings and infrastructures under extreme loading, like impact and blast. In the first part of this book, the aluminium foam- and polyurethane foam-filled structures have been developed for dissipating impact and blast energy. Experimental and numerical studies have been conducted to obtain their behaviours under impact loading. In addition, analytical models have also been proposed to assess their energy absorption performances and facilitate the impact and blast design when using the proposed foam-filled structures. In the second part of this book, SCS sandwich structures with novel shear connectors have been developed and their behaviours under impact and blast loading have been experimentally, numerically and analytical studied. Analytical models for predicting the impact and blast responses of SCS sandwich structures have also been developed. In the third part of this book, a new steel-polyurethane foam-steel-concrete-steel (SPUFSCS) panel (i.e. the combination of foam material and SCS panel) has been developed to achieve a higher impact resistant capacity. Owing to the increasing impact and blast threats on buildings and infrastructures, the studies presented in this book are of significant importance for providing several new solutions for impact and blast enhancement. 

The book is motivated by the pivotal issue: what is the performance limit of active control and energy harvesting? It aims to develop systematic design methodologies with a "e;visualization technique"e; where the performance limit can be readily determined solely based on visual inspections.Modern technological systems have evolved toward high speed, heavy load, lightweight, flexible operation and extreme conditions, as demonstrated in aerospace, marine, transportation and manufacturing industries. The associated vibration and noise issues have become such problematic that they may significantly confine the performance of the systems, to say the discomfort at least.Through the geometric representation of the performance specifications, fundamental issues such as (1) the existence of feasible controllers; (2) the optimality of controllers; (3) the performance limit of controllers; (4) compromisability among the performance specifications; (5) the synthesis of controllers; and (6) the influence of constraints on optimal solutions can all be resolved within the proposed framework. The state of the art is thus refined with a new approach complementary to those optimization-based routines, where extra effort would have to be exercised to disclose the compromisability of performance specifications.The proposed book will result in a new design methodology-performance limit-oriented active control. It was initiated by the author with the project "e;Active Control for Performance Limit"e; (ACPL). A series of fundamental results are obtained and will be disseminated in this book. The results are verified through extensive numerical demonstrations and are expected to provide useful guidance for practical engineering in the vibration and noise industry and research.

In an era of globalization, internationalization of higher education (IHE) has been constructed as an almost inevitable trend and has become a common pursuit of many nations in their higher education (HE) policies. This book focuses on two nations, China and Australia, in terms of this trend. The broadest aim of this book was to find out the interactive relationships between global and national pressures in policy development by comparing the international HE policies in China and Australia. The three categories, overarching meta-policies at the macrolevel (nation), institution focused policies at the mesolevel (universities), and people focused policies at the microlevel (individuals) are documented and analyzed. Similarities and differences are identified. Similarities include promoting and deepening IHE as one important agenda in national policies at the macrolevel in the two nations, promoting transnational cooperation in the provision of HE at the mesolevel, as well as increasing international student numbers and encouraging an outflow of student learning and exchanges at the microlevel. Differences include China's soft power initiatives and Australia's appeal for the sustainability of international HE as a national priority in the area of IHE at the macrolevel; the focus on "e;World Class Universities"e; construction in China and strengthening the overall HE system in Australia; and different issues in relation to people mobility and brain circulation-specifically, encouraging more outflow of students and attracting more inflow of talents and international students in China, and over-reliance on international students financially in Australia. It is suggested that different responses to the global trends reflect the specificities of each nation and the ways path-dependent factors mediate global pressures. This comparison will facilitate a better understanding of how globalization has affected and been responded to in IHE policies and enable a better understanding of their path-dependent mediation through a focus on two specific sets of national policies.

This book includes the synthesis, analysis and characterization of nanomaterials that are an important ingredient in nanotechnologies. Nanomaterials contain nanoparticles, smaller than 100 nanometers in at least one dimension. Nanomaterials are coming into use in health care, electronics, cosmetics and other areas. Their physical and chemical properties differ from those of bulk materials. This needs to cover health risks to workers and potential risks to environment. This is currently done on a case-by-case basis, but risk assessment methods need to be kept up to date as the use of nanomaterials expands, especially as they find their way into consumer products. This book covers the basics to advanced applications of nanomaterials and provides a useful resource for researchers and professionals in the field.

This book discusses a detailed overview of diabetic retinopathy, symptoms, causes, and screening methodologies. Using a deep convolution neural network and visualizations techniques, this work develops a prognosis system used to automatically detect the diabetic retinopathy disease from captured retina images and help improve the prediction rate of diagnosis. This book gives the readers an understanding of the diabetic retinopathy disease and recognition process that helps to improve the clinical analysis efficiency. It caters to general ophthalmologists and optometrists, diabetologists, and internists who encounter diabetic patients and most prevalent retinal diseases daily.

This book collates various aspects of stress tolerance in crop plants. It primarily focuses on the heat and temperature related stress, starting from the severity of the problem on quantity and quality of yield under the threat of global climate change. The content also explores other mechanistic dimensions such as physiochemical and molecular mechanism underlying thermotolerance, signaling mechanism under heat stress, role of heat shock proteins in modulating thermotolerance, omics approach for development of climate smart-crop. Chapters discuss different approaches used in the past to develop heat stress tolerant crop plants, list of developed thermotolerant agriculturally important crop plants, redox homeostasis under heat stress, nutrient uptake and use efficiency in plants under heat stress and much more. The book is a useful compilation for researchers working in the area of abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants, as well as for students of plant physiology and agricultural sciences.

This book traces archaeological exploration and discoveries as early as 2012 and reveals Liangzhu culture by reviewing seven years of archaeological findings at the Liangzhu historical site, developments in archaeology history, the psychological journeys of archaeologists, as well as the collision of schools of thought. It also contains in-depth interviews with archaeological experts and other specialists, building a bridge between popular interest and academic interest, and showcases Liangzhu civilization and archaeology for professionals and the general public alike.

This book proposes the use of green infrastructure to balance biodiversity conservation and disaster management. Paddy fields are one example of such infrastructure and are the focus of this book. In Japan, abandoned, once-cultivated land is increasing in the paddy fields due to the aging of society and recent depopulation. The author proposes to consolidate such lands and create wetlands because the paddy fields hold water during heavy rains, which prevents floods and protects cities. This is essential, considering that extreme weather conditions have increased the risk of flood damage in Japan. Not only do such wetlands hold water during the flood season, they also provide habitats for aquatic life and places for children to learn about the natural environment. In addition, fish farming in the wetlands will provide food for many people. The increase in water disasters associated with global warming is occurring not only in Japan but globally. The proposal presented in this book will help government officials around the world, especially those involved in urban and rural planning, to consider disaster management-an idea that will be welcomed by both engineers and biologists.

This book introduces the issues of the contemporary state of Bihar, India, in terms of its performance on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators and the initiatives taken by the central and state governments towards realizing human development. Doing so, it draws upon the mistakes committed in the past and moves ahead towards a better future with the idea of sustainable human development. The book also presents a comprehensive evaluation of the background and indicators of the human development index, and it analyses the impact of COVID-19 on India in general and on Bihar in particular.India is a nation of unbalanced states in terms of development. In spite of all the development initiatives, India still contains states that have not conformed to the breakthrough claimed by the nation, and the state of Bihar falls under this category. Bihar has emerged as the worst performer in human development, based on the ranking of the Human Development Index 2020. Nevertheless, Bihar has the potential for overall development to achieve its glorious past once again, by various pro-poor policies implemented by the government of Bihar in the last two decades, which is critically analysed in detail.