Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer Nature Singapore

This edited book deals with land regeneration and management using living organisms for a sustainable future. It brings together the latest developments made by leading biotechnologists, bioengineers and environmental scientists in the area of land remediation. The chapters cover different aspects of soil's conventional and emerging pollutants (synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals). Global population is rapidly affected by this catastrophic situation, industrialization and overuse of chemical compounds. There are currently many bioengineering strategies used to eliminate these dangerous chemicals. In this book, the chapters present the current evidence and comprehensive studies that may be useful for reader. It provides a comprehensive text thereby filling the gap in the literature. The contents of the book further deliver a good understanding of emerging environmental contaminants and their sustainable remediation through the use of bioengineering toolsand techniques.This book is of interest to industry experts, researchers, academicians in bioengineering and biomedical sciences, graduates and undergraduates in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Environmental Sciences, Health, Clinical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. It is also a useful read for national and international agricultural scientists and policy makers.

This book involves collection of papers primarily focused on the origin and development of Chinese civilization in the concept of archaeological context from the 6000 BCE to 1300 BCE through archaeological cultural perspectives. It systematically illustrates the prehistoric cultural history of China at the period from Neolithic to the early Bronze Age during 20000-1300 BCE, composing not only the proper region around the Central Plain but also the margin areas mainly in the west, and examines the cultural relationship and exchanges nationally and internationally through thousand years of advancing social complexity in geographical and temporal genealogies. It introduces three prehistoric stages for the course of Chinese Civilization Development; the three major Civilization Development Models during the Chalcolithic period; how environmental changes and warfare functioned as the part of mechanism to make civilization evolve; the Bronze Age Revolution from the West; and the critical evaluation of the characteristics belonging to Chinese Civilization and the review of ancient legendary histories and legends through the archaeological perspectives. This book is essential reading for all those wanting more information about the foundations of Chinese history and civilization through archaeological studies.

This book offers an overview of the complex world of digital materials for music education and of their possible use in the everyday practice of music teachers. It presents a multidimensional taxonomy of digital materials for music education. Through the taxonomy it is possible to derive a clear framework of the whole field and to perform analysis of the state of art. The book shows the use of this flexible and powerful knowledge tool for reviewing the digital materials in the various domains and dimentions. The book provides researchers and designers with an overview of what has already been designed, proposed and tested in the field. It also offers music teachers a wider perspective of the possibilities connected to current technologies in the field of music education, and it suggests possible interrelationships between research and music education practices.

This book uses an economic approach to analyze the socioeconomic causes and consequences of mental health disorders in China, with a special focus on mental depression. Based on a nationally representative dataset, we first investigate the prevalence and distribution of depression and depressive symptoms among Chinäs adult population, and then use several econometric methods to estimate the multi-dimensional disease burden of the mental disorder, such as its direct medical costs, its indirect economic costs, and its hidden costs on social trust and life satisfaction. In addition, we specifically address the socioeconomic determinants of mental health by examining how the relative and absolute economic status may determine people¿s mental depression. Lastly, we propose an analytical framework to evaluate the four major hurdles that cause the treatment gaps of mental health care, and discuss the policy options to overcome such hurdles and to address the unmet mental healthcare needs inChina and other developing countries. The book may facilitate our understanding on the complex determinants and implications of the rising prevalence of mental health disorders in developing countries like China. In addition to the students, teachers, and researchers in the fields of health economics and public health, the book may also be of interest to health policy makers and non-government agencies who are concerned with addressing the global mental healthcare challenges using economic policy tools.

Living in urban areas has long been recognized as a risk factor for mental illness despite the advantages of cities over villages. The impact of urbanization on mental health and stress is significant and is likely to increase over the next few years. Thus, considering the stress difference in the world cities and its increase, urban planners, urban managers, and urban designers should urgently consider it an essential principle in their plans and designs to reduce its side effects.This book is a comprehensive guide for urban planners who seek to reduce urban stress in the urban environment but lack proper training and texts. Urban designers will have a unified vision to reduce urban stress caused by the appearance of the city environment. It will be useful for city managers and policymakers since this book identifies urban policies which reduce urban stress and stressful urban factors. Also, it will help urban psychologists, sociologists, architects, and social science researchers to better understand the relationship between their field and stress relief urban planning.

The book is a collection of best selected research papers presented at the 6th International Conference on Inventive Material Science Applications (ICIMA 2023) organized by PPG Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India, during May 11-12, 2023. The book includes original research by material science researchers toward developing a compact and efficient functional elements and structures for micro-, nano-, and optoelectronic applications. The book covers important topics like nanomaterials and devices, optoelectronics, sustainable electronic materials, nanocomposites and nanostructures, hybrid electronic materials, medical electronics, computational material science, wearable electronic devices and models, and optical/nanosensors.

This book focuses on the real-world application of the Philosophy for/with Children (P4wC) pedagogy to cultivate reasonableness in individuals through communities of philosophical inquiry. It presents a collection not only of theories but, more importantly, of experiences, discoveries, and innovations on P4wC by scholars, trainers, advocates, and practitioners around the world. Each chapter provides readers with insights and lessons that have resulted from the continuous application, exploration, and enrichment of the concepts, principles, and practices that were developed by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp into what P4wC is today - a dialogic pedagogical approach that may just be what is needed at a time when reasonableness and dialogue are essential to maintaining global stability and progress. In this light, this book also looks into how the P4wC approach can be practiced with adults such as when it is employed in various settings or contexts such as in business consulting, textbook writing, peace education, and extremism prevention, among others. Furthermore, this book also features chapters that discuss how the P4wC pedagogy can be beneficial once integrated into processes such as classroom teaching, teacher education, bioethics, and employee education. This book provides valuable insights about how reasonableness that is cultivated through building communities of philosophical inquiry in education can be a powerful tool for nation-building and social transformation.

The book presents the select proceedings of 9th National Conference on Wind Engineering. It covers the latest technology and research in the areas of wind engineering and wind energy technologies. Various topics covered in this book are wind-resistant design of structures, climate modeling, applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in fluid mechanics, novel ways to increase the efficiency of wind energy harnessing, characterization of airfoils, modern wind turbine designs and computational wind engineering studies. This book is useful for researchers and professionals in the areas of structural design, wind energy, wind engineering, renewable energy and fluid mechanics.

This book comprises the select proceedings of the national-level conference on Sustainable Waste Management Practices (SWMP 2023). The content focuses on industrial wastewater treatment, solid and hazardous waste management, municipal/plastic/biomedical/construction and demolition waste management, e-waste management, leachate treatment, case studies on best practices, among others for waste management. This book is of immense interest to researchers in academia and industry working in the fields of environmental and civil engineering.

This book has explored in depth the beliefs and practices of foreign language teachers regarding global awareness in the context of a Chinese senior high school. This book defines global awareness as a combination of global knowledge, global attitudes, and global skills for a global citizen to act from the local community to the global community. By analysing qualitative data such as classroom observations, interviews and focus groups with language teachers and linking these findings to language education policy and practice in China, this book has explored how English language teachers teach English language, intercultural communicative competence and global awareness in China. This book will be of interest to researchers, language teachers and students in the fields of language education and intercultural communication. It also provides a readable overview for those new to the field of ICC and global citizenship education.

Since the first works on Higher Education Administration in the 1970s no comprehensive work in terms of purpose and scope of Higher Education has been published. There have been important changes in people¿s aspirations vis-à-vis higher education globally. In parallel, the higher education systems, worldwide, have been undergoing constant transformation in response to these aspirations. From governments, employers and prospective students and their parents, the stakeholders in higher education system are now extremely varied paying close attention to the various aspects of higher education - from infrastructure, on-campus safety and security to administration, faculty and curricula. The present series attempts to take into account the issues of importance to all the stakeholders. Hence the series not only pays attention to the purpose and outcomes of higher education but also the economics surrounding higher education vis a vis marketization. The nitty gritty of running and maintaining a university infrastructure, impact of globalization and internationalization on delivery and demand of higher education, the commoditization of research, and changing paradigms of teaching and learning fall within the purview of the series. The increasing competition from other entities to provide degrees, certificates or other forms of credentials makes it important to have a work that brings all of the elements together to see how they actually interact and inter-relate from a systems perspective. The present series attempts to comprehensively attend to these issues and provide a complete reference resource to all those involved and interested in setting up of a Higher Education institution and its administration.

This book contains selected papers presented at the First International Symposium on Sustainable Energy and Technological Advancements (ISSETA 2021), which was organized by the Department of Electrical Engineering, NIT Meghalaya, Shillong, India, during September 24¿25, 2021. The topics covered in the book mainly focuses on the cutting-edge research domain with respect to sustainable energy technologies, smart building, integration, and application of multiple energy sources; advanced power converter topologies and their modulation techniques; and information and communication technologies for smart microgrids.

This book highlights the novel photoelectric detection technique on derived attributes of targets. Photoelectric detection on derived attributes of targets is a new target detection and monitoring method. It is achieved by acquiring three types of attributes of the target, including those that reflect the essential features of parts of the target, those directly generated from the target, and those synthesized by the target features. The book introduces the classification of derived attributes of targets and describes typical detection methods. Emphases are put on laser detection of aerial moving targets, using derived attributes such as the disturbance of atmospheric wind fields, trailing vortexes, and the disturbance of atmospheric components. The authors also elaborate on visible light imaging detection using derived attributes such as retroreflection and the identification of target carriers. Besides, the synthetic attributes processing of integrated aerospace images is introducedfor the detection of targets on the ground and sea surfaces. This book can be used as a good reference for researchers engaged in the fields of photoelectric detection, target detection and image processing, and as a reference book for senior undergraduates and postgraduates in relevant majors.

This book provides a general overview of different classes of nanomaterials, which includes the synthesis, fabrication, characterization, properties and technological applications of these materials. The book covers 4 main types of nanomaterials, namely: A) soft nanomaterials, B) biological nanomaterials, C) composite nanomaterials and D) green nanomaterials, where for each nanomaterials, a complete guide to material synthesis, characterization, their unique properties (as compared to a conventional bulk material) and potential technological applications is presented. One of the book's most notable characteristics is the inclusion of a section, a special focus on the future of nanomaterials for next-generation technology in electronic, power and energy devices. The content of this book is presented in a simple and lucid style which can also be used by professionals, scientists and students who are interested in the general research area of nanomaterials technology.

This book discusses the growing interest in realism in social sciences of the twenty-first century. The first part of this book provides recent discussions on realism in philosophy. The second part describes specific problems that have returned to realism in various fields of the social sciences, such as economics, cultural anthropology, management science, and statistics. This book clarifies what kinds of movements are taking place and consequently the direction in which the social sciences are heading in the future. Readers would also find that there is great diversity in the way realism and reality are perceived and understood, depending on the objectives and circumstances of each field of social science. This suggests that rather than having a unified view (stance) of realism and reality, it may be more meaningful to value the differences, diversity, and range itself. Therefore, this book does not present a unified view of realism, reality, and actuality. Although the definitions of realism and reality may differ from chapter to chapter, this represents a corner of the current state of the social sciences. This book is unique in that it examines how the issues of realism and reality are viewed, understood, and dealt with in the various fields of social science, instead of examining them by philosophers and philosophers of science. This would clarify how philosophical discussions have been translated into the various fields of social science.

This book explores the role and effect of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) with different dimensions. It is being supported with strong empirical evidence into various parameters of MFIs directed towards inclusive finance and the transformation journey of livelihoods of its beneficiaries.It also incorporates empirical evidence with the perception of both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Starting its journey toward the path of comprehending how MFIs make their footprint among the excluded population in the selected areas, it incorporates the different outcomes of MFI lending like credit utilisation patterns, income generation, and employability. As financial stability helps to break out the vicious cycle of poverty, this book emphasises the self-dependent element for the beneficiaries and their households. It addresses the important issue of the female counterparts in society. It shows how the MFIs work actively to generate female empowerment from multiple dimensions among the selected communities. It addresses key issues to consider for inclusive policy formulation, especially for backward communities in the backward areas and gives a realistic scenario of the MFI activities, their interactions with the respondents, the various outcomes, and areas for further developments, etc. This book is beneficial for academicians, researchers, and policymakers.

This book tackles the oft ignored role of conservation capital in mainstream discussions in maintaining sustainable development of a country in particular, and the world economy in general. A continuous increase in global temperature trends, climate change, and other related factors has compelled academicians from natural as well as social sciences to reorient classical thought from high growth through large resource extraction, to sustainable growth through lower extraction. This leads one to the important role of generation of conservation capital to satisfy long-term growth and development objectives of economies. This book covers studies on the related issues of conservation capital, environmental crisis, and health impacts from the perspectives of different countries. The highlight is inclusion of some studies on the impact of environmental degradation in relation to COVID 19 pandemic. The book coaxes policy makers to rethink on the optimum useof environmental resources for economic and social activities. The broad coverage of studies included from different regions across the globe ensures that the book finds a wide readership among students and researchers from economics and other social sciences and natural sciences, along with policy makers intent on forming policies leading to a more sustainable growth model.

The task of signal detection is deciding whether signals of interest exist by using their observed data. Furthermore, signals are reconstructed or their key parameters are estimated from the observations in the task of signal recovery. Sparsity is a natural characteristic of most of signals in practice. The fact that multiple sparse signals share the common locations of dominant coefficients is called by joint sparsity. In the context of signal processing, joint sparsity model results in higher performance of signal detection and recovery. This book focuses on the task of detecting and reconstructing signals with joint sparsity. The main contents include key methods for detection of joint sparse signals and their corresponding theoretical performance analysis, and methods for joint sparse signal recovery and their application in the context of radar imaging.

This book highlights processes, impacts and management practices of bamboo expansion occurring in areas where it is distributed around the world. Although not conceptually plant invasions, bamboo expansion has been considered an ¿invasion¿ based on its characteristics and the impacts it caused on adjacent ecosystems it expanded into, including altered element cycling, transformed soil microbial community compositions, decreased biodiversity, fluctuated primary productions, etc. However, the processes and impacts during or after complete expansion and the underlying mechanisms of successful expansion, are still unclear. The ecological effects of bamboo expansion are not given full consideration and are not thoroughly understood. Based on the latest studies, this book synthesizes research progress of bamboo expansion effects on the soil abiotic environment, soil microbial community compositions, plant characteristics, ecosystem biodiversity, element cycling process, and ecological effects of primary management practice, etc. This book will provide a thorough understanding of ecological changes following bamboo expansions, benefit the effective control of expanding bamboo with respect to decreased biodiversity and mitigation of global change, and accurate prediction and evaluation of bamboo expansion impacts currently and in the future occur around the world. This book presents critical points that need further investigation based on the latest findings, which will be helpful for ecological researchers, policymakers, forestry workers, or graduate and PhD students.

This book provides a comprehensive summary of the recent advances in the biofortification of plants under climate change and how it affects food security globally. The need for mineral biofortification to eradicate or alleviate malnutrition through sustainable agriculture is also discussed.Biofortification of edible plants is considered the most appropriate approach to alleviate nutritional problems and nutrient deficiencies. In contrast, biofortification focuses on improving the nutritional content of the region's current agricultural biodiversity while preserving its habits and customs. Emphasis is also placed on recent advances and developments in omics, particularly metabolomics and related techniques, to unravel the potential alterations in plants caused by biofortification. The book brings together eminent scientists to present the latest developments in the field.This timely publication addresses practical scenarios of bio-fortified food production and climate change. The book focuses on the methods, techniques, and environmental changes used to enhance and improve agricultural products. This book is one of the first to provide information on the use of modern biotechnologies to modify crops for health benefits. It also examines the mechanisms of the plant responses to genetically induced biofortification, the production and responses of fortified plants under climate change, and their effects on food security.The book will be useful for students and researchers, especially crop scientists, environmental scientists, biotechnologists, botanists, and agronomists, to understand the techniques and mechanisms of biofortification, and responses of biofortified plants under climate change.

This book addresses how to mitigate regional tensions and enhance cooperative opportunities through well-designed regional institutions and organizations among countries in geographical proximity. We use the case of Central Asia (i.e., Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) to employ our conceptual framework of ¿externally guided regionalism.¿ The following questions guide the study: How and by what forces has Central Asian regionalism evolved, and what are the main characteristics and political implications of the continuously evolving regional institutions? We discuss not only the extra-regional influential actors (i.e., Russia, the United States, the European Union, and China), but also intra-regional initiatives, strategies, and struggles in securing stability and sovereignty. Extra-regional actors¿ growing competition over molding their own kind of multilateralism involving this region has contributed to the current direction of Central Asiäs regionalization. Concurrently, Central Asiäs political conditions and constraints interactively contribute to ever-increasing institutional sprawl.

This book systematically studies the literary output of female writers in contemporary China within the frame of literary theories of feminism. With tools from psychoanalysis, structuralism and deconstructionism, the two female authors, Meng and Dai, analyze 9 important female writers from 1919 to 1949, including Yin Lu, Xin Bing, Ning Ding, Ailing Zhang. By decade, the authors provide a comprehensive depiction of these female writers' historic-cultural background as well as their reception by critics and audiences. Navigating the complex relation between mainstream literary trends and female writers¿ practice, this text represents a landmark of practice of literary feminist criticism within the Chinese language.

This book presents new global research on transmedia storytelling as a form of brand communication. It explores the theoretical underpinnings of transmedia storytelling and its practical application through survey and interview data from creatives, marketing, advertising and public relations practitioners. The final section analyzes contemporary campaigns from various countries and proposes a Transmedia Brand Storytelling Model for Practice, based on primary and secondary research data. The book aims to better understand and communicate the real-world opportunities and barriers to producing transmedia brand storytelling campaigns for practitioners.

This book explores the developmental direction of the modernization of China's basic public services in the context of national governance modernization. Describing the blueprint for the modernization of China's basic public services in 2030, including basic public education, basic medical and health services, basic old-age services, and basic public cultural services, this book reflects Chinese public management scholars' strategies for the modernization of Chinäs public services in the next 10 years and the path to get there. This book will interest scholars of Chinese governance, as well as readers who want to understand the current status, challenges and development strategies of China's public service and social policy fields.

This book provides an overview of bidirectional communication between gut-microbiome-brain, pathways, nutrients, and metabolites that are involved in microbiota gut-brain axis (MGBA) interactions. Further it reviews the relevance of this axis in the neurological disorders and potential therapeutic interventions, involving gut microbiome or probiotics and prebiotics which can ameliorate the neurological disorders. The book examines the role of gut microbiota in the establishment and hemostasis of innate immune response and explores the possibility of development of microbiome-targeted therapeutic interventions. Notably, the book discusses the role of the gut microbiota and immune system on the maintenance of brain functions and the development of neurological disorders. It also highlights the recent advances in improving neurological diseases by phytochemicals, prebiotics and probiotics. This book is useful for researchers working in neuropharmacology, Clinical Research, toxicology, neurodegeneration, and stroke biology.

The revolution in financial technology (FinTech) has created many advancements in the lending and investment space across the world. Law and Practice of Crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer Lending in Australia, China, and Japan is a timely publication as FinTech grows up and moved into the mainstream of finance in the last decade. Financial services is a highly regulated industry as it is the lifeblood of a modern economy. Pelma Rajapakse, Hatsuru Morita, and Yinxu Huang have done very solid work blazing a new trail in what is a new industry and how to regulate it properly instead of stifling innovation. They have carried out a deep exploration and a thorough compilation of research that will bring everyone up to date on what Australia, China, and Japan are planning and doing in the field of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending. In addition to peer-to-peer lending, the book focuses on laws and practices related to Central Bank digital currencies, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) which is very meaningful and forward-looking.   The authors presented their thoughts in such clarity that, even those who lack familiarity with Asia-Pacific, will see how FinTech was growing in various ways driven by different factors. For example, peer-to-peer lending in Japan is mostly for small and medium enterprises. It was popular in China but cracked down by the authorities for a few years. It provides an alternative fundraising channel for the capital market in Australia. We also see a set of regulatory approaches among jurisdictions. Some countries draft new regulations, while others amend existing laws. The mechanism of the regulatory sandbox was introduced. As we know, one size does not fit all. What kind of best practices or lessons learned can we apply to our own jurisdiction? This book covers all available answers to date. This volume speaks highly of the quality and foresight of Pelma Rajapakse and her co-authors.

This book reviews the potential therapeutic and reproductive applications of mesenchymal stem cells in veterinary regenerative and reproductive medicine. The systemic approach focuses on musculoskeletal structures like cartilage, bone, muscle, tendon, ligaments and nervous tissues. It also focuses on other body systems like gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, urogenital, respiratory and integumentary system. Besides, the special glands or organs like endocrine glands and eye and its adnexa are also focused. The book chapters discusses the problems and the need for regenerative medicine employing MSCs. It provides an ex vivo basis of MSCs therapeutics and reproductive potential followed by their in vivo applications. The book further provides an understanding on the behavior and mechanisms of action of mesenchymal stem cells. The book also abridges challenges and provides future prospects of mesenchymal stem cells in clinical and reproductive applications. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for students, veterinarians, and scientists working in the regenerative and reproductive sciences in human and veterinary medicine.

This book features selected papers presented at Third International Conference on International Conference on Information Management and Machine Intelligence (ICIMMI 2021) held at Poornima Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India during 23 - 24 December 2021. It covers a range of topics, including data analytics; AI; machine and deep learning; information management, security, processing techniques and interpretation; applications of artificial intelligence in soft computing and pattern recognition; cloud-based applications for machine learning; application of IoT in power distribution systems; as well as wireless sensor networks and adaptive wireless communication.

This book explores innovative approaches to teacher professional learning, examples of teaching enacted in classrooms, and factors affecting the promotion of quality teaching in socio-scientific issues and sustainability contexts. Since educational settings and cultures influence teaching, the different approaches and perspectives in various cross-national contexts enable us to appreciate the diversity of different countries' practices and provide insight into seminal approaches to socio-scientific issues-based teaching internationally. The book consists of three parts: innovative professional development programs, innovative teaching approaches, and issues relating to student engagement with socio-scientific issues and sustainability education. The book targets those who can be expected to develop curriculum, enact teaching practices, and facilitate teachers' professional development in socio-scientific issues and sustainability education.