Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer International Publishing AG

This open access book reviews the trends of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in human milk and discusses the main findings of five global surveys that were coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) from 2000 to 2019. Human milk was selected as core matrix for human exposure under the Global Monitoring Plan for effectiveness evaluation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Milk from well-defined groups of mothers was collected and mixed to form a representative sample per country. Datasets collected represent the largest global human tissues survey with a harmonized protocol, carried out in a uniform format for more than two decades. Altogether 69 countries participated in these studies between 2000 and 2015, and more than 40 countries participated in the study from 2016 to 2019.Divided into 5 parts, the book offers an authoritative overview of human milk biomonitoring; collates the harmonized sampling requirements and analytical methods for the identification and quantification of contaminants in human milk; examines the results of the WHO/UNEP-coordinated exposure studies, including the identification of selected chlorinated pesticides, dioxin-like compounds, industrial chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and chlorinated paraffins, polybrominated POPs and PFAS, among others; and traces geographic, temporal and cross-substance trends and correlations, and human health risks. The book finishes by providing the reader with the summary of the main findings and outlook from these studies, in which the comparison of concentrations found for the wide range of POPs listed in the Stockholm Convention allowed the identification of possible needs for actions and follow-ups in different countries/regions.This book contributes to the understanding of exposure to hazardous chemicals and pollution as addressed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals on Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3) and will appeal to environmental and analytical chemists, researchers, professionals, and policymakers interested in learning more about contaminants in human milk. Given its breadth, this book will also appeal to a broader audience interested in maternal and child health.

This book explores and demonstrates how geometric tools can be used in data analysis. Beginning with a systematic exposition of the mathematical prerequisites, covering topics ranging from category theory to algebraic topology, Riemannian geometry, operator theory and network analysis, it goes on to describe and analyze some of the most important machine learning techniques for dimension reduction, including the different types of manifold learning and kernel methods. It also develops a new notion of curvature of generalized metric spaces, based on the notion of hyperconvexity, which can be used for the topological representation of geometric information.In recent years there has been a fascinating development: concepts and methods originally created in the context of research in pure mathematics, and in particular in geometry, have become powerful tools in machine learning for the analysis of data. The underlying reason for this is that data are typically equipped with some kind of notion of distance, quantifying the differences between data points. Of course, to be successfully applied, the geometric tools usually need to be redefined, generalized, or extended appropriately.Primarily aimed at mathematicians seeking an overview of the geometric concepts and methods that are useful for data analysis, the book will also be of interest to researchers in machine learning and data analysis who want to see a systematic mathematical foundation of the methods that they use.

This open access book examines how the form of the list features as a tool for meaning-making in the genre of detective fiction from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The book analyzes how both readers and detectives rely on listing as an ordering and structuring tool, and highlights the crucial role that lists assume in the reading process. It extends the boundaries of an emerging field dedicated to the study of lists in literature and caters to a newly revived interest in form and New Formalist approaches in narratological research. The central aim of this book is to show how detective fiction makes use of lists in order to frame various conceptions of knowledge. The frames created by these lists are crucial to decoding the texts, and they can be used to demonstrate how readers can be engaged in the act of detection or manipulated into accepting certain propositions in the text.

This book provides a unique introduction for business leaders to the philosophical lexicon of classical and contemporary ideas¿for and against¿that are relevant to business and those destined to lead it. Rather than presenting the reader with a ¿philosophy of leadership¿ the author uses his experiences in academia and as a leader in business to illustrate the practical application of philosophical ideas and methodologies covering the art and science of being a business leader: motivating stakeholders to deliver the initial phase of a business plan for a new product or service; processing information (and risky ¿hidden-information¿) that brings the company vision into reality; and ethically managing relationships to enhance the quality of decision-making and its outcomes. Creative aspiration, knowledge and ethical character are the three pillars of leadership. Within that construct, this book challenges leaders to seek their own path to self-development inspired by ideas that shape the ecology of capitalism and the opportunities it provides stakeholders to endow meaning and dignity to their lives through their participation in business.

This book is a self-contained treatment for those who study or work on the computational aspects of classical modular forms. The author describes the theory of modular forms and its applications in number theoretic problems such as representations by quadratic forms and the determination of asymptotic formulas for Fourier coefficients of different types of special functions. A detailed account of recent applications of modular forms in number theory with a focus on using computer algorithms is provided. Computer algorithms are included for each presented application to help readers put the theory in context and make new conjectures.

This book provides an in-depth exploration of the field of augmented reality (AR) in its entirety and sets out to distinguish AR from other inter-related technologies like virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR).

As mainstream psychology was never intended for the HCI practitioner, this second edition of A Psychology of User Experience takes the opportunity to create a new chapter specifically written for practitioners, that is, UX-oriented psychology rather than the all-too familiar everyday variety. For example, we discuss our two modes of cognition (fast / slow or controlled / automatic); we underline the importance of familiarity; and how and why we check our phones every few seconds day or night. We also establish the ¿context for user experience¿ noting that just about everyone uses a cell phone and very many own a smartphone too and have done so for years (so, how did they learn to use them?). User experience reflects the current vogue for ¿designing for experience¿ within HCI which we recognise as something we feel rather than have reasoned about. In the real world, our feelings tell us how we are doing but with UX, they tell us how we feel about using digital technology. Topics are introduced to UX which maybe unfamiliar such as virtual experiences and virtual emotions and the affect associated with the uncontrolled use of digital technology.A Psychology of User Experience stands as a companion text to the author¿s HCI Redux text which discusses the contemporary treatment of cognition in human-computer interaction.

This book aims at disseminating information and knowledge in Gerontechnology, a topic that is still considered a specific area of interest for techno-experts (i.e. informatics, engineers, bio-engineers, bio-statistics, etc.) while there is a relatively low diffusion of technological expertise among clinicians and other health professionals who are involved in the care of older people.In many parts of the world, average life expectancy is rising consistently, and at the same time technology is developing at a dramatic pace. This means having completely new options for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of diseases and disabilities of older people but also a new challenge to improve the quality of life by promoting an active and healthy aging at population level. This book explores the technical developments that are beginning to change the management of diseases and disabilities of geriatric patients. These include advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), i.e. the new online services in healthcare and electronic medical-health records, Assistive Technologies (AT), i.e. behavior and motility monitoring sensorial tools, smart homes tools and telemedicine tools as well as Human¿Computer Interaction technologies (HCI), i.e. robots for supporting people with mobility or cognitive limitations, humanoid robots, exoskeletons and rehabilitation robots. The Work is divided into three main parts: 1) Technology in a world of aging people, 2) Clinical applications of technologies in older people, and 3) Older people and technologies interaction including privacy issues, acceptability of technologies by older people and education and training of healthcare professionals in gerontechnology. The book will be an invaluable tool for geriatricians and other health professionals who are involved in the care of older people.

This edited volume brings together innovative research in the field of Science Education, fostering scientific citizenship in an uncertain world. The nineteen chapters presented in this book address diverse topics, and research approaches carried out in various contexts and settings worldwide, contributing to improving and updating knowledge on science education. The book consists of selected high-quality studies presented at the 14th European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) Conference, held online (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) by the University of Minho, Portugal, between August 30th and September 3rd, 2021. Being of great relevance in contemporary science education, this book stimulates reflection on different approaches to enhance a deeper understanding of how better prepare the coming generations, which is of great interest to science education researchers and science teachers.

Numerous advancements are being brought in and incorporated into the cloud domain with the aim of realizing a trove of deeper and decisive automations.Rather than discussing the cloud paradigm in isolation, this fully updated text examines how cloud computing can work collaboratively with other computing models to meet the needs of evolving trends.This multi-dimensional approach encompasses the challenges of fulfilling the storage requirements of big data, the use of the cloud as a remote server for Internet of Things and sensor networks, and an investigation of how cloud computing is interlinked with other established computing phenomenon such as edge computing. New chapters illustrate the distinct ideals of the cloud-native computing, proclaimed as the next-generation cloud computing paradigm.Topics and features:Includes learning objectives, motivating questions, and self-test exercisesIntroduces the underlying concepts, fundamental features, and key technological foundations of cloud computingExamines how enterprise networking and cloud networking can work together to achieve business goalsReviews the different types of cloud storage available to address the evolution of data and the need for digitizationDiscusses the challenges and approaches to implementing cloud governance, security, and the hot topic of cloud managementDescribes the details of cloud migration, the crucial role of monitoring in optimizing the cloud, and the basics of disaster recovery using cloud infrastructureThis technically rigorous, yet simple-to-follow textbook is an ideal resource for graduate courses on cloud computing. Professional software developers and cloud architects will also find the work to be an invaluable reference.

There are moments in leadership when opportunities open up: Opportunities for better teamwork, opportunities for orientation, for professional conversations, and for personal development and reflection. This book describes over 60 such opportunities, pragmatic, solution-oriented, and tested for many years. Based on concrete examples, it thus provides impulses for effective strategies and new ways of solving problems in all areas of cooperation and leadership. The book is intended to serve as a guide from which not only leaders but also managers and coaches can benefit.

This book explores communication as a key influence on the trajectory of conflicts and crises in the specific context of academia. From the ideological responsibilities of academia to the profit-seeking motives of institutions, the authors explore challenges facing faculty across multiple disciplines. Critique of the higher education industry is more necessary than ever in the context of academic corporatization and marketization. Academia in Conflict reveals how institutional discourses can contribute to or mitigate conflict and crisis, offering communication practices that prioritize stakeholder experiences and needs. Enduring academic crises are addressed, including declines in public funding, mental health emergencies, and threats to job stability. Academia in Conflict provides crucial insights for navigating the challenges of higher education today.

In an era of significant geopolitical shifts, unrelenting violent confrontation, nationalism and identity politics, the institutions in which Canada and its allies have invested significant capital such as trade, political, and security organisations are being tested and stretched to the limit. This edition will look back on Canadäs approach to encouraging democracy abroad, it will consider ways to enhance middle power democracy statecraft in an era of growing international and domestic insecurity, backsliding and populism, and discern patterns and recurring themes in Canadian support for rights and democracy, as well as efforts to grapple with novel trends like digital threats to democracy.

This open access book provides basic concepts on Integrated Diagnostics and Theranostics with special emphasis on different human thyroid diseases. Thyroid diseases are increasingly detected (incidentally in many cases) but are clinically negligible in a significant proportion of patients. Accordingly, it is urgent to move from the simple disease detection to a reliable disease characterization in order to concentrate efforts on patients in need of tailored disease management. The current scenario of in vitro and in vivo diagnostics, is fastly moving toward the Integrated Diagnostics (i.e. convergence of imaging, pathology and laboratory tests with advanced information technology). Furthermore, the integration of different information will aid clinicians to properly select treatments and stratify patients¿ prognosis over time. Theranostics is a perfect paradigm of such integrated approach and radioiodine, indicated for benign and malignant thyroid disease management, was the first and is still the mostly used theranostic agent in medicine.Featuring basics concepts and clinical cases discussions the Atlas will be an invaluable tool for clinicians, laboratory specialists, imaging physicians and biomedical technologists involved in diagnosis and therapy of thyroid diseases.

This English edition helps students and nursing professionals give each patient their unique position in healthcare delivery. The book provides tools to connect key topics and innovations in healthcare, developing a complete perspective on patient/person-centred care. It provides a comprehensive picture of important and recent insights on health and care. At its core, nurses provide care with a focus on the patient as a person. This person-centred care engages each patient's needs, preferences and expectations when providing integrated care.In this volume, care starts from the patient's point of view rather than from the role and function of the healthcare professional. The author relates themes such as relational care delivery, shared decision-making and empowerment to key concepts such as patient- and family-centred care, integrated care, patient-centred leadership(styles), quality of care and value-based healthcare.This book briefly and powerfully integrates these themes and describes them from a patient and client perspective, underpinned by the scientific literature on them. The themes are linked in a flowchart, starting from illness and working towards health, extending health even if people have a (physicalor mental) health problem. The purpose of this book is to offer a professional view of person-centred care. It stresses the importance of shared-decision making and leadership in promoting health in the care-setting. As such, it will be essential for any healthcare professional.

¿This book focuses on closing the gap between scientific insights on pressing environmental issues that do not often reach the general public, and putting that scientific knowledge in the hands of everyday people who can use these insights to take action against climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. The goal of this work is to share fascinating facts about nature and sustainability to inspire taking action toward a healthier planet, and to provide ideas on how we can take action to solve environmental issues in an informed and easy-to-understand way. The chapters are sourced from the author's work published on medium.com/@ErlijnG with added content not available on medium.com.All chapters are based on open-access research articles covering various environmental issues and solutions that are not often disseminated in popular discourse but are nonetheless important for non-scientific audiences to understand and become familiar with. They allow readers to explore the broad range of concepts and issues and recognize the far-reaching consequences, and trigger the desire to take action. Also, each chapter provides concrete ideas of how we as individuals can take action in daily life to make a positive difference related to the issues described. The book is a multimodal work, as it includes images and videos that accompany the text.

Do you know why honey drips whereas ketchup refuses to budge in the bottle? Or what kettles have in common with power stations, or how to cook with radar?This delightful and accessible book provides a smorgasbord and a whirlwind tour of the multitude of physical phenomena that occur in a kitchen: from the diffusion of nutrients during cooking to how an extractor fan works, how smells disperse, and where quantum effects are hidden. These and numerous other fascinating phenomena are served up in an engaging manner that will fascinate and tantalise the taste buds of anyone who enjoys eating, cooking or simply spending time in the kitchen. No specialist technical or mathematical knowledge is required to enjoy this book. Tuck right in and discover the universe of physical laws in your very own kitchen...

Comprehensive and high-yield, this text is a digestible resource for the major anatomic, physiologic, and therapeutic principles of surgical diseases. Rather than focus on clinical presentation and pre-operative management, it presents sensible algorithmic approaches to treatment for each pathology, with particular attention to operative options. This allows the reader to develop a large armamentarium of surgical options to safely treat surgical problems and aid in the decision-making process in an organized fashion, with critical steps and techniques of specific operations included in each chapter. Importantly, this book provides a concise list of steps for common surgical operations, namely those frequently encountered during the Certifying Oral Board exam after completing residency, which is uncommon in the currently available study material. Chapters also include suggested readings and summaries of pivotal studies on the specific topics, serving as an easy reference for the content provided. The topics covered begin with pre-operative evaluation and anesthesiology, then proceed anatomically across all relevant body systems and organs, as well as trauma, transplantation, pediatric surgery, and much more.Written with senior-level general surgery residents preparing for the qualifying (written) and certifying (oral) board examinations clearly in mind, it will also be valuable to all levels of trainees preparing for the annual American Board of Surgery In-service Training Exam (ABSITE) as well as medical students with an interest in surgical training and trainees in their fellowship after completing residency.

The book explores how mentoring, theoretical background of mentoring and how mentoring is used by nurses in all arenas where they work in health care, education, research, policy, politics, and academia in supporting nurses with their professional and career development. Over 300 mentors and mentees, from a wide range of countries across all continents, share their stories of mentoring reflecting on their development in leadership, clinical practice, education, research and politics. The book describes various types of mentoring including more traditional types of mentoring as well as virtual, online and peer mentoring. During the mentorship trajectories the nurses address an inclusive collection of issues that they are faced with and share supporting strategies. The book highlights the importance of mentoring for nurses to support their personal, and professional leadership development. Also, it emphasizes the importance of mentoring for when nurses engaged in variety of projects that could entail or encompass evidence-based clinical practice, development within education, research in the clinical arena, policy formation, political affairs, or cultural inclusion that present significant impact in patient care and healthcare outcomes within and across countries. With The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report from the National Academies of Sciences, published in 2021, the role of nursing will become ever more dynamic and therefore the profession of nursing must be visible in improving and securing the future for patients, families, and communities across the globe. Mentoring practices to build the profession¿s leaders are forever essential, acute, and imperative.This book shows how mentoring can support nurses in further developing nursing as a profession and scientific discipline across countries to support clinical application of evidence based practice, and nursing education and research dissemination. Accordingly, this book shares essential, diverse and pioneering expertise through wide range of narrative stories that will benefit nurses at all years of experience, from early career nurses, emerging leaders, nurse educators, leaders, policy makers and nurse scientists around the globe. The nursing profession must magnify its position in health care and nurses need to proliferate their contributions throughout the globe. They can accomplish that through mentoring and ¿growing and nurturing other nurses¿ to advance and thrive in today¿s world.

This book presents 101 unique and extraordinary cases in interventional radiology (IR) and endovascular therapy. Extreme IR is an internationally recognized event that Dr. Ziv Haskal created and held in early 2000's at mountaintop venues, then at successive Society of Interventional Radiology annual conference meetings, and later, published monthly within the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) for which he was editor-in-chief for 10 years. The ever-popular Extreme IR sessions at conferences have drawn more than 5,000 attendees. Cases are presented in a rapid-fire format designed to maximize relevancy, excitement, and unique knowledge. This book aims to replicate that experience for a wider audience.The book is divided into twelve sections, including venous, portal hypertension, and biliary, arterial, oncology, etc. cases. Most cases span two pages and include large, illustrative images with bullet-pointed text to present essential information in a concise and focused fashion. The global list of authors exemplifies the extraordinary breadth of the cases for interventional radiologists, endovascular specialists. It is ideal for interventional radiologists and endovascular specialists at all levels of seniority and training.

With more than 10,000 species that vary in size, use diverse habitats that extend across latitudes and altitudes, consume a wide variety of food items, differ in how they fly (or not), communicate, and reproduce, and have different life histories, birds exhibit remarkable variation in form (anatomy) and function (physiology). Our understanding of how natural selection has generated this variation as birds evolved and as different species adapted to their unique circumstances has grown considerably in recent years. In In a Class of Their Own: A Detailed Examination of Avian Forms and Functions, this variation is explained in great detail, beginning with an overview of avian evolution and continuing with information about the structure and function of the avian skeleton, muscles, and the various body systems. Other chapters focus on avian locomotion (including flight), migration, navigation, communication, energy balance and thermoregulation, and various aspects of avian reproduction, such as nests and nest building, clutch sizes, and parental care. In a Class of Their Own: A Detailed Examination of Avian Forms and Functions will be must reading for anyone, professional or non-professional, who needs or wants to learn more about birds.

This book is a brief and accessible popular science text intended for a broad audience and of particular interest also to science students and specialists. Using a minimum of mathematics, a number of qualitative and quantitative examples, and clear illustrations, the author explains the science of thermodynamics in its full historical context, focusing on the concepts of energy and its availability and transformation in thermodynamic processes. His ultimate aim is to gain a deep understanding of the second law¿the increase of entropy¿and its rather disheartening message of a universe descending inexorably into chaos and disorder. It also examines the connection between the second law and why things go wrong in our daily lives. Readers will enhance their science literacy and feel more at home on the science side of author C. P. Snow's celebrated two-culture, science-humanities divide, and hopefully will feel more at home in the universe knowing that the disorder we deal with in our daily lives is not anyone's fault but Nature's.

Timbuktu Unbound: Islamic Texts, Textual Traditions and Heritage in West Africa is a cutting edge collection offering a reconsideration of manuscripts in Muslim West Africa. The contributors give voice to the dynamic ways in which textuality operates through technological innovations, ongoing habituated practices, and how the workings of power and authority within these communities inform these texts and their roles. To that end this book explores a number of interrelated themes: the social value of texts as objects; personal libraries as forms of investment/legacy; social practices involved in the exchange, movement and gifting of certain kinds of manuscripts; hierarchies and evaluative treatments of manuscripts, and quasi-market forces. The recent destruction and subsequent salvage operations to protect the Timbuktu manuscript libraries has highlighted their role as the quintessential exemplar of manuscript heritage in newly historicized Africa. Yet these events also underscore the prevalent narrative about Muslim West African cultural heritage - embodied in the form of manuscripts, archives and documents - as under dramatic and existential threat. This volume seeks to diverge from this dominant salvific starting point of heritage discourse - namely, that such objects are things of intrinsic value to be saved - in order to examine the more nuanced activities of diverse actors engaged in the study, preservation, acquisition, movement and, in some cases, destruction and disposal of the wide range of materials that constitutes the textual heritage of these societies.

This book offers a comprehensive explanatory account of Trump's foreign policy by assessing its nature, determining the extent to which it broke with the policy of preceding presidencies, and explaining how this shift came about. We argue that Trump has succeeded in remaking Americäs grand strategy by unmaking its long-standing strategy of what we call Open Door Globalism, a strategy of economic expansionism through the promotion of open markets across the globe and its institutionalization into a US-led liberal world order. Trump has broken with Open Door Globalism in probably lasting ways by adopting an outlook and strategy of neo-mercantilist economic nationalism based upon an ¿America First¿ redefinition of US sovereignty and national interests. We explain this Trumpian shift in US foreign policy by focusing on the social sources of Trump¿s foreign policy-making elite¿s agency, analysing it both in terms of foreign policy-makers¿ embeddedness in elite networks and within the changing global and domestic context. The latter, coupled with a crisis of established elite power, also indicates why Biden has not returned to Open Door Globalism but doubled down on some aspects of the Trumpian economic nationalist break.

A key point in the book is the need to focus more seriously at the energy problem as the real problem behind global warming. The failure of global climate policies to reduce CO2 emissions and halt climate change has led an increasing number of scientist and activists to lose confidence in democracy's ability to handle climate change and led them to look to more authoritarian measures to meet the problem. The book documents these trends, also from a historical perspective, criticize them and sketches more democratic alternatives.

This textbook is a thorough, up-to-date introduction to the principles and techniques that guide the design and implementation of modern programming languages. The goal of the book is to provide the basis for a critical understanding of most modern programming languages. Thus, rather than focusing on a specific language, the book identifies the most important principles shared by large classes of languages. The notion of ¿abstract machine¿ is a unifying concept that helps to maintain an accurate and elementary treatment. The book introduces, analyses in depth, and compares the imperative, object-oriented, functional, logic, concurrent, constraint-based, and service-oriented programming paradigms. All material coming from the first English edition has been updated and extended, clarifying some tricky points, and discussing newer programming languages. This second edition contains new chapters dedicated to constraint, concurrent, and service-oriented programming.Topics and features:Requires familiarity with one programming language is a prerequisiteProvides a chapter on history offering context for most of the constructs in use todayPresents an elementary account of semantical approaches and of computabilityIntroduces new examples in modern programming languages like Python or ScalaOffers a chapter that opens a perspective on applications in artificial intelligenceConceived as a university textbook, this unique volume will also be suitable for IT specialists who want to deepen their knowledge of the mechanisms behind the languages they use. The choice of themes and the presentation style are largely influenced by the experience of teaching the content as part of a bachelor's degree in computer science.