This open book features a selection of articles written by Erich Ch. Wittmann between 1984 to 2019, which shows how the "design science conception" has been continuously developed over a number of decades. The articles not only describe this conception in general terms, but also demonstrate various substantial learning environments that s...
This open book examines recent advances in how artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics have elicited widespread debate over their benefits and drawbacks for humanity. The emergent technologies have for instance implications within medicine and health care, employment, transport, manufacturing, agriculture, and armed conflict. While there has been...
This open book provides a concise introduction to economic approaches and mathematical methods for the study of water allocation and distribution problems. Written in an accessible and straightforward style, it discusses and analyzes central issues in integrated water resource management, water tariffs, water markets, and transboundary water manage...
While the rise of social protection in the global North has been widely researched, we know little about the history of social protection in the global South. This open book investigates the experiences of four middle-income countries - Brazil, India, China and South Africa - from 1920 to 2020, analysing if, when, and how these countries articulate...
This open handbook provides a multilevel view on family policies, combining insights on family policy outcomes at different levels of policymaking: supra-national organizations, national states, sub-national or regional levels, and finally smaller organizations and employers. At each of these levels, a multidisciplinary group of expert scholars ass...
This open book, like Rayleigh's classic Theory of Sound, focuses on experiments and on approximation techniques rather than mathematical rigor. The second edition has benefited from comments and corrections provided by many acousticians, in particular those who have used the first edition in undergraduate and graduate courses. For example, pha...
Organic waste composting is another excellent example to demonstrate the power and the benefits of nexus thinking. Even though organic waste composting itself is not a new topic, those who want to start a new project or align an ongoing project with nexus thinking, find it difficult to gather the necessary information. With nine case studies from f...
This open book examines the comparative evolution of social protection in Australia and New Zealand from 1890 to the present day, focusing on the relationship between employment relations and social policy. Utilising longstanding and more recent developments in historical institutionalist methodology, Ramia investigates the relationship between the...
This open book focuses on robot introspection, which has a direct impact on physical human - robot interaction and long-term autonomy, and which can benefit from autonomous anomaly monitoring and diagnosis, as well as anomaly recovery strategies. In robotics, the ability to reason, solve their own anomalies and proactively enrich owned knowledge is...
Aquatic ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and home to a diverse array of species and habitats, providing a wide variety of benefits to human beings. Many of these valuable ecosystems are at risk of being irreversibly damaged by human activities and pressures, including pollution, contamination, invasive species, overfishing and climate change. Su...
This open book describes and illustrates the surgical techniques, implants, and technologies used for the purpose of personalized implantation of hip and knee components. This new and flourishing treatment philosophy offers important benefits over conventional systematic techniques, including component positioning appropriate to individual anatomy,...
This open book is a collection of 12 case studies capturing decades of experience improving health care and outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Each case study is written by healthcare managers and providers who have implemented health improvement projects using quality improvement methodology, with analysis from global health experts on ...
This open book provides an overview of the recent advances in representation learning theory, algorithms and applications for natural language processing (NLP). It is divided into three parts. Part I presents the representation learning techniques for multiple language entries, including words, phrases, sentences and documents. Part II then introdu...
This open book presents the outcomes of the symposium "New Metropolitan Perspectives", held at Mediterranea University, Reggio Calabria, Italy on May 26 - 28, 2020.
Addressing the challenge of Knowledge Dynamics and Innovation-driven Policies Towards Urban and Regional Transition, the book presents a multi-disciplinary debate on the n...
This open volume provides in-depth analysis of the wide range of ethical issues associated with drug-resistant infectious diseases. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is widely recognized to be one of the greatest threats to global public health in coming decades; and it has thus become a major topic of discussion among leading bioethicists and scholar...
The importance of demonstrating the value achieved from IT investments is long established in the Computer Science (CS) and Information Systems (IS) literature. However, emerging technologies such as the ever-changing complex area of cloud computing present new challenges and opportunities for demonstrating how IT investments lead to business value...
This open book is the first compilation that reviews a wide range of social determinants of health (SDHs) for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and healthy ageing in Japan. With the highest life expectancy and the largest elderly population in the world, Japan has witnessed health inequality by region and social class becoming more prevalent since t...
This open book not only describes the challenges of climate disruption, but also presents solutions. The challenges described include air pollution, climate change, extreme weather, and related health impacts that range from heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity and chronic diseases to malnutrition and mental well-being.The ...
Arriving in the remote Arnhem Land Aboriginal settlement of Oenpelli (Gunbalanya) in 1925, Alf and Mary Dyer aimed to bring Christ to a former buffalo shooting camp and an Aboriginal population many whites considered difficult to control. The Bible in Buffalo Country: Oenpelli Mission 1925 - 1931 represents a snapshot of the tumultuous first six ye...
The Business of Plant Breeding is the result of a study on demand-led plant variety design for markets in Africa, sharing best practices from private and public sector breeding programmes worldwide that are applicable to improving tropical crops in Africa.
Beginning with an overview of the principles of demand-led plant breeding, the book then d...
We are entering a new era of technological determinism and solutionism in which governments and business actors are seeking data-driven change, assuming that Artificial Intelligence is now inevitable and ubiquitous. But we have not even started asking the right questions, let alone developed an understanding of the consequences. Urgently needed is ...
Containers change how developers build, test, and deploy code. Adopting them takes time. Using them the wrong way can slow down your delivery process.
But you don't have a team of engineers to dedicate to this like Spotify or Netflix do. Maybe you're a startup CTO with features to ship - you can't spend hundreds of hours on intern...
This book provides novel and in-depth perspectives on evaluating environment and sustainability issues in developing countries. Evaluating Environment in International Development focuses on the approaches and experiences of leading international organizations, not-for-profits, and multilateral and bilateral aid agencies to illustrate how systemati...
This open book is an introduction to algebra for undergraduates who are interested in careers which require a strong background in mathematics. It will benefit students studying computer science and physical sciences, who plan to teach mathematics in schools, or to work in industry or finance. The book assumes that the reader has a solid background...
Digital accessibility skills are in high demand, as the world becomes more aware of barriers in digital content that prevent some people from participating in a digital society. These are essential skills for web developers, and essential knowledge for organizations that want to ensure their web content is reaching the broadest audience possible.
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A short course for students to increase their proficiency in analyzing and interpreting data visualizations. By completing this short course students will be able to explain the importance of data literacy, identify data visualization issues in order to improve their own skills in data story-telling. The intended outcome of this course is to help s...
It is increasingly clear that the shapes of reality - whether of the natural world, or of the built environment - are in some profound sense mathematical. Therefore it would benefit students and educated adults to understand what makes mathematics itself 'tick', and to appreciate why its shapes, patterns and formulae provide us with preci...
Statistical studies over the last forty-five years show that, although there are success stories, very many mergers and acquisitions do not result in the increased operating profits that economics textbooks would lead one to expect. As consultancy McKinsey have put it, 'Anyone who has researched merger success rates knows that roughly 70% fail...
In this two-part anthology, Jan M. Ziolkowski builds on themes uncovered in his earlier The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity. Here he focuses particularly on the performing arts. Part one contextualises Our Lady's Tumbler, a French poem of the late 1230s, by comparing it with episodes in the Bible and miracles in a wide...
Microservices architectures introduce several benefits to the application development and delivery process. Microservices-based apps are easier to build, test, maintain, and scale. They also reduce downtime through better fault isolation.
While container-based microservices apps have profoundly changed the way DevOps teams deploy applications, t...
Nonprofit organizations are on the front lines in communities, providing an important foundation for the social safety net in the United States and around the world. They also provide places where people can gather, share ideas and build community. They often accomplish amazing feats with few resources. This book was designed to be used in an under...
The third installment of the 'European Public Investment Outlook' series is an important and timely publication that draws together recent analyses to recommend significant increases in public investment in green ventures. Compelling data from key economists affiliated with international organizations like the International Monetary Fund,...