Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer Nature Singapore

This book documents and analyses the differentiated control policies, the determinant factors behind, social resilience, and international relations during the pandemic from a comparative perspective in a facts-based, data-supporting manner. The intermittent outbreak of cases, public sentiments after long anxiety, questions over the efficacy of vaccines, have forced governments as well as the public to rethink differing approaches and policies in the combat against not just COVID, but the delta variant. In this context, this book establishes itself as a timely product, perhaps the first of its kind, to provide a widely covered individual country-based observation of policies, with an emphasis on multidimensional determinant factors behind the policies. A comparative study of social resilience during the pandemic constitutes another highlight of the book. The different policies tested social resilience differently in parameters such as mortality rates, vaccination coverage, social mobility, travel arrangements, trust in government, and general human development. Above and beyond observations and analyses at local and national levels, this book expands its scope to incorporate international relations, contemplating over the impacts of the pandemic on international relations, power shifts, and new world/global orders, crystallized in the indisputable rise of China.

This book focuses on the public pension reform in China from both institutional and empirical studies perspectives. It introduces the process of the public pension reform in China and investigates its effects on households and firms¿ behaviors and individuals¿ well-being. It provides the reader with rich academic evidence for understanding the transformation of public pension and its effect on the household consumption, participating in risky financial market, and firms¿ decision making on wage and employment, as well as individuals¿ well-being. The main content of this book comprises three parts: (i) institutional transitions and issues on public pensions in China; (ii) the impact of public pensions on households or firms¿ behaviors in China; and (iii) the impact of public pensions on well-being in China. This book provides rich academic evidence about these issues based on economic theories and econometric methods using many kinds of Chinesenationwide representative survey data. This book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in up-to-date and in-depth empirical studies on the issues of public pension reform, and its impact on individuals, households, and firms¿ behaviors as well as well-being in China. This book is of interest to those who are interested in the Chinese economy, social security policymakers, and scholars with an econometric analysis background.

This book explores how globalization and ubiquity of digital technology combine to create specific global impacts, challenges and opportunities. Although globalization is already associated with the speeding up of interactions and change, digital globalization is characterized by immediacy. The utter pervasiveness opens new global vulnerabilities at international, national, social and personal levels. The Digital Global Condition examines the nature of digital globalization, enabling us to not only inhabit a digital world, but also to understand it, even to live well in it.

This book gets to the heart of trophy hunting, unpacking and explaining its multiple facets and controversies, and exploring why it divides environmentalists, the hunting community, and the public. Bichel and Hart provide the first interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach to the study of trophy hunting, investigating the history of trophy hunting, and delving into the background, identity and motivation of trophy hunters. They also explore the role of social media and anthropomorphism in shaping trophy hunting discourse, as well as the viability of trophy hunting as a wildlife management tool, the ideals of fair chase and sportsmanship, and what hunting trophies are, both literally and in terms of their symbolic value to hunters and non-hunters. The analyses and discussions are underpinned by a consideration of the complex moral and practical conflicts between animal rights and conservation paradigms. This book appeals to scholars in environmental philosophy, conservation and environmental studies, as well as hunters, hunting opponents, wildlife management practitioners, and policymakers, and anyone with a broad interest in human¿wildlife relations.

This book is devoted to illustrating the significance of perpetrator-victim relationship, including its status and state, in understanding intimate partner homicide (IPH) in the context of China today after comparing with the findings in the previous studies. By analyzing the correlation between intimate relationships as a focal variable and other variables such as IPH characteristics and risk factors, a deeper understanding of IPH in China today has emerged. Finally, this book shows that many perpetrators and victims had intimate relationships with people outside their marriages as the main reason for the rapid increase in the number of instances of IPH, which seems to be in tandem with Chinäs rapid modernization and urbanization. Presenting the sole academic research that closely investigates the characteristics of intimate partner homicide in modern China, the book is a valuable resource for not only for the Chinese government but also for Chinese and international researchers.

This book tries to build a broad view on industrial processes of large economies and their integration in the world. It provides insight into the industrialization progresses of the quartet of USA, China, Germany and Japan, all attaining individual industrialization success by distinct trade, fiscal and industrial policy path, the underlying principles of which can be traced back to respective nation's roots in civilization. The combination of their industrial output led to the integrated formation of international industrial distribution. While being highly productive, the current distributed pattern yields benefits that are unevenly dispersed among different regions, industries and societal groups within each participating nation and among engaging economies. To address the uneven benefits distribution at both domestic and international levels, large industrial economies took a plethora of policy actions that will impact industrial ecosystem and portfolio results. The book aims tohelp readers to build better investment strategies and robust risk management practice under the context of uncertainty and successfully navigate through choppy waters in the years ahead.

This is the first book that comprehensively describes the history of the game software industry in Japan. A major objective here is to identify the key determinants of the emergence of the business, the maturing of the market, and the changes brought about by innovations, based on the history of the Japanese industry. To date, similar books have focused only on particular topics of the game software industry, such as the success of Nintendo and Sony and the uniqueness of the Japanese industry. There are no books that interpret the development process of this industry from the point of view of innovation. To fully understand the business and derive insightful lessons from it, however, requires a careful and thorough examination of its development process. Currently, many companies aim to improve efficiency by using information and communications technology (ICT), but it is difficult to maintain a balance between the pursuit of efficiency and the encouragement of creativity.In the case of Japan¿s game software industry, firms have pursued higher efficiency in product development to build competitive advantage, resulting in a low rate of radical innovation and causing the slow growth of the industry. In certain situations, the development activities that target the creation of new products may, in themselves, hinder the creation of truly new products. This book conceptualizes this phenomenon as a ¿development productivity dilemmä and clarifies the mechanisms behind it. The dilemma, like the productivity dilemma in the manufacturing industry, evokes a certain innovation pattern and prevents potential growth. Understanding the lessons from the game software business presented in this book, managers, researchers, and policymakers can gain insight into the mechanisms leading to industrial maturity and clues to avoid the development productivity dilemma.

This book comprehensively addresses the economic and social implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. In each chapter of the book, the effects of the pandemic on different economic and financial sectors are discussed.The book tackles many topics and issues that are of relevance in the post-pandemic world. Some of these issues are the effects of the pandemic on countries' budgets, tax systems, financial and economic policies, and management, in addition, the evaluation of the pandemic in terms of migration and refugees, the historic comparison of its effects with other pandemics, the social media reflections of the pandemic and the global governance discussions. The book also considers the effects of pandemic on the use of digital currencies and the effects of digitalization of employment and robot employment.

This book treats the mechanisms of growth and cycles in capitalist economies in a unified manner, incorporating a highly original macro-dynamic theory based on Marxian micro-foundations and historical perspectives. That theory was developed about 50 years ago by Nobuo Okishio (1927¿2003) and included the ideas of Keynes and Harrod. In mainstream economics, it used to be standard to analyse long-term economic growth and business cycles in different frameworks. That approach has been changing recently, but it still tends to be common to discuss them separately. At the outbreak of the global financial crisis of 2007¿2008 and the prolonged stagnation that followed, there was strong criticism among policymakers and businesspeople that mainstream macroeconomics failed to provide convincing explanations and effective policy recommendations. This book offers an alternative perspective that responds to those criticisms. All these macroeconomic difficulties call for new wisdom beyondthe limited neoclassical framework. The sharp, wise thoughts of Okishio will add new tools for young researchers worldwide to meet the challenges of the current resource misallocation, the Great Recession and the Lost Decades problems.Okishio proposes a historical perspective for the capitalist system, first. He argues that production relations are conditioned by productive force. The former should evolve as the latter improves, and the latter should evolve in order for human society to survive. While reproduction is indispensable for the economy to continue in any production relations, it takes a specific form in capitalist economy. He next shows that the existence of profit requires the exploitation of the labourer. This is called the Fundamental Marxian Theorem. He also shows a trade-off relationship between the real wage rate and the profit rate. In his theory, the real wage rate is determined to clear commodity markets in the short run as in the Keynesian theory, while Marx believed that the real wage rate is given at subsistence level or is influenced by the labour market. Okishio attributes the origin of the business cycle to labourers¿ under-consumption and private capitalists¿ dispersive decision of accumulation. The former is caused by exploitation, and the latter is based on the capitalist class¿s private ownership of the means of production. Both are derived from the nature of the capitalist economy. He argues lastly that, in the long term, the development of productive force through the business cycle will transform the production relation into a new economic system.

Agriculture is the backbone of our economic system. It provides not only food and raw material but also employment opportunities to a very large number of people. Higher atmospheric temperature has an impact on crop yields while the changes in rainfall could affect both crop quality and quantity. Climate change, therefore, could increase the prices of major crops in some regions. For the most vulnerable people, lower agricultural output means lower income. In addition, climate change is expected to increase the risk of illness and death from extreme heat and poor air quality. Recent evidence is the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, climate change also affects the occurrence of other infectious diseases. A number of well-known diseases are climate-sensitive - malaria, dengue fever, and cholera among others. Tourism is considered as an industry and alternative contributor to a nation¿s income. It can generate employment opportunities and boost up the economy. This book, consisting of 26 chapters, focuses on the issues of agriculture, tourism and health for livelihood enhancement. It is essential to discuss these diverse issues in the field of geography as it encompasses interdisciplinary topics. The range of concerns at the national, regional and local levels is not confined to geography only but also involves other disciplines as well. Therefore, this book is a valuable source for scientists and researchers in allied fields such as livelihood, agriculture, land use, tourism management, health care and tribal studies. Furthermore, this book can be of immense help to the researchers, planners and decision makers engaged in solving problems in these areas in developing countries and beyond.

This book reviews and summarizes the studies on the fish diversity of Japan. It covers the present knowledge of ichthyofauna, habitat distribution, phylogeography, ecology, morphology, and conservation, as well as the history of ichthyology and fish collections in Japan. The book comprises five parts: I. Fish Diversity and Ichthyology of Japan, II. Habitat Distribution and Species Diversity, III. Diversity within Species: Phylogeographic Perspective on Japanese Fishes, IV. Morphological and Ecological Diversifications, and V. Conservation of Fish Diversity in Japan. The Japanese Archipelago is surrounded by two major warm and one cold currents. It is located in the western North Pacific and encompasses several climatic regimes from north to south. Although the land area of Japan is small, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Japan ranks as the sixth largest in the world, including several marginal seas (Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, and East China Sea), and deep trenches (Izu-Ogasawara, Japan, and Kurile Trenches). Owing to a variety of marine habitats and a complex geological history, Japan has a rich fish species diversity, representing over 4,500 species in 370 families. The richness of fish species diversity has attracted many scientists since the late 1700s, and continuous studies have led to the development of ichthyology in Japan. With chapters written by leading experts in the field, the book will provide a stimulating and reliable resource for future research and contribute to the progress of ichthyology of the world. 

This book reviews the science and technology of food packaging and covers the potential innovations in the food packaging sector. At the same time, it highlights the issues and prospects for linking the laboratory research to the market. In addition to typical packaging requirements such as food quality, shelf life, protection, communication, and marketing, the book emphasizes the need for novel packaging materials, including biodegradable packaging for a variety of food products. A wide range of food products has been kept in focus and includes animal-based food products such as dairy products and sea foods.The book presents the next level of packaging solutions i.e., smart packaging with the applications of potential tools such as intelligent and active packaging, and includes the latest research on emerging digital technologies for packaging development, assessment, and acceptability. It further highlights the strategies including blends, reinforcing agents, cold plasma, UV light applications, chemical, and enzymatic methods and explores the new opportunities leading to improvement in the packaging performance. Smart freshness indicator applications, including gas and time-temperature indicators for quality and safety of packaged products, have been covered in detail. The book also includes the functional characteristics of edible films and coatings, including their bioactive characteristics. Finally the book presents the rules and regulation related to packaging.

This book provides recent progress of neuroendovascular surgery, which is a minimally invasive treatment of cerebral aneurysms. Great advances have been made in the techniques, devices and large randomized clinical trials showing striking therapeutic benefit for cerebral aneurysms. The treatment of cerebral aneurysms has also seen substantial evolution, increasing the number of aneurysms that can be treated successfully with minimally invasive therapy. In the 17 chapters, authors introduce the techniques, devices, device structures and therapeutic concepts.Attendings, fellows, residents, medical students or anyone interested in sharpening their diagnostic and therapeutic skill set will benefit from reading this text. This book will include many clinical cases and skills and clinical concepts, which will benefit professional /practitioner.

This book highlights the mathematical models and solutions of the generalized dynamics of soft-matter quasicrystals (SMQ) and introduces possible applications of the theory and methods. Based on the theory of quasiperiodic symmetry and symmetry breaking, the book treats the dynamics of individual quasicrystal systems by reducing them to nonlinear partial differential equations and then provides methods for solving the initial-boundary value problems in these equations. The solutions obtained demonstrate the distribution, deformation and motion of SMQ and determine the stress, velocity and displacement fields. The interactions between phonons, phasons and fluid phonons are discussed in some fundamental materials samples. The reader benefits from a detailed comparison of the mathematical solutions for both solid and soft-matter quasicrystals, gaining a deeper understanding of the universal properties of SMQ. The second edition covers the latest research progress on quasicrystals in topics such as thermodynamic stability, three-dimensional problems and solutions, rupture theory, and the photonic band-gap and its applications. These novel chapters make the book an even more useful and comprehensive reference guide for researchers in condensed matter physics, chemistry and materials sciences.

This book provides comprehensive insights into the field of duck production and management. It presents a complete overview of different aspects of duck production with particular emphasis on rearing systems. The book reviews current knowledge on the anatomy, physiology, genetics, breeding, nutrition, incubation, and hatching practices of ducks. It further discusses the common diseases of duck, their treatment regime, and prevention strategies. The book additionally examines all aspects of the global duck industry, the constraints, and the recommendations. It also explores nutrient requirements and feed evaluation for duck and evaluates nutrition's influence on the gut microbiome. Towards the end, the book presents the latest genomic applications, including high throughput sequencing and various bioinformatics tools in duck production. This book serves as an essential resource for duck industry practitioners, researchers, and students.

This book focuses squarely on the problem of saving local government in the context of extraordinary financial challenges being faced across the globe. Saving Local Government is written principally for practitioners and employs a ¿conversational¿ tone which makes complex theory both engaging and accessible. It augments world-best scholarship with Professor Joseph Drew¿s extensive practical experience in guiding local governments away from the brink of financial insolvency. It is thus a ¿must read¿ for local government executives, Mayors, Councillors and the regulators that oversee the sector.In Saving Local Government Professor Drew also makes a number of important contributions to address significant gaps in the scholarly literature. In particular, the book includes extensive treatment of de-amalgamation, applied natural law philosophy, Aristotelian epistemology for evaluating public policy success, as well as alternatives to financial administration. The work is therefore also compelling reading for scholars.

Aesthetic or cosmetic gynecology is a rapidly expanding and much in demand field worldwide. This book covers all aspects of cosmetic gynecology in great details and interdisciplinary fields. It provides information and practical tips on the new evolving and fast growing branch of aesthetic and regenerative gynecology. The book covers basics along with illustrations, practical tips and troubleshooting points. Chapters include anatomy, physiology, pathology and comprehensive management of diseases in relation to cosmetic gynecology. The book explains the basics of techniques and devices used in this field such as several energy based and high tech devices like lasers, Hifu, HIFEM, their safety profile, scope and uses in an easy to understand language supported by illustrations. It also covers complications, controversies and medicolegal issues surrounding this field. The book includes chapters from national and international experts of each technique and helps in systematic evidence based learning.The book serves as a comprehensive book for postgraduates and consultants in gynecology, plastic surgery, dermatology, urogynecology, vascular surgery, general surgery, for cosmetologists and those interested in regenerative sciences.

This book describes recent advances in translational research in breast cancer and presents emerging applications of this research that promise to have meaningful impacts on diagnosis and treatment. It introduces ideas and materials derived from the clinic that have been brought to "the bench" for basic research, as well as findings that have been applied back to "the bedside". Detailed attention is devoted to breast cancer biology and cell signaling pathways and to cancer stem cell and tumor heterogeneity in breast cancer. Various patient-derived research models are discussed, and a further focus is the role of biomarkers in precision medicine for breast cancer patients. Next-generation clinical research receives detailed attention, addressing the increasingly important role of big data in breast cancer research and a wide range of other emerging developments. An entire section is also devoted to the management of women with high-risk breast cancer. Translational Research in Breast Cancer will help clinicians and scientists to optimize their collaboration in order to achieve the common goal of conquering breast cancer.