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This is the first comprehensive monograph dedicated to using Nicotiana species for tobacco genetic improvement. Unlike typical chapters constrained by size and scope, this book offers a detailed species-by-species analysis, with 27 tables providing relevant information. It marks a shift from focusing on specific topics to giving due attention to individual species. The review reflects on a century of exploiting Nicotiana species for usable germplasm and serves as an exhaustive guide to global literature on the subject, citing nearly 1000 literature items.The review delves into the involvement of Nicotiana species in interspecific hybrids with cultivated tobacco, covering sexual and asexual methods, including grafting. It addresses challenges in hybridization, such as cross incompatibility, maternal phenotypes, interspecific incongruity, lethality, and sterility, providing methods to overcome these barriers. Records on disease resistance for each Nicotianae species are compiled, and mechanisms of introgression, barriers, and limitations are discussed. The book lists Nicotiana species as successful donors of cytoplasmic genetic factors leading to cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) and discusses negative effects of alien cytoplasm, providing a list of agronomically acceptable CMS sources. Controversial issues, including the identity of genetic accessions, are explored. The book concludes with an updated list of all reported interspecific combinations for Nicotiana.Primarily aimed at scholars and students interested in the genus for genetic diversity, this book serves as a historical reference guide to the realized and potential uses of Nicotiana species in tobacco improvement.

Preliminary​This volume provides comprehensive overviews of each European bat species'biology including palaeontology, physiology, genetics, reproduction and development, ecology, habitat, diet, mortality and age determination. Their economic significance and management, as well as future challenges for research and conservation are also addressed. Each chapter includes a distribution map, a photograph of the animal and key literature. This authoritative volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of Europe is a timely and detailed compilation of all European bats and will appeal to academics, students and professionals in mammal research.

This book constitutes proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Logics in Artificial Intelligence, JELIA 2023, held in Dresden, Germany, in September 2023.The 41 full papers and 11 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 111 submissions. The accepted papers span a number of areas within Logics in AI, including: argumentation; belief revision; reasoning about actions, causality, and change; constraint satisfaction; description logics and ontological reasoning; non-classical logics; and logic programming (answer set programming).

In addition to complementary radiographic imaging, the physical exam is an essential diagnostic element for the orthopedic surgeon. As such, learning to perform this exam thoroughly is of utmost importance to medical students, residents and interns on an orthopedic rotation and in later practice.This practical text succinctly presents all of the necessary information regarding the physical examination of the lower extremity and lumbar spine. The lower spine, hip, knee, and foot and ankle are discussed in dedicated thematic sections, with each section comprised of three main chapters. The initial chapter describes the musculoskeletal anatomy and function of the joint, presenting the tests themselves along with the rationale for performing them. The second chapter presents the systematic examinations carried out in every case, and the third chapter describes examinations for specific conditions relating to the joint, including tendinopathies, osteoarthritis, neurological conditions, deformities and more. Plentiful bullet points and color images throughout the text describe and illustrate each test and physical sign.Convenient and user-friendly, Handbook of Lumbar Spine and Lower Extremity Examination is a valuable, portable guide to this all-important diagnostic tool for students and practitioners alike.

This handbook showcases an Africa-wide compendium of Stone Age archaeological sites and methodological advances that have improved our understanding of hominin lifeways and biogeography in the continent. The focal time spans the Pleistocene Epoch (c. 2.5 million–11,700 years ago) during which important human traits, such as obligate bipedalism that freed the hands to engage in creative activities, a large brain relative to body size, language, and social complexity, developed in the general forms that they are found today. The handbook is the first of its kind, and it is expected to play a significant role in human evolutionary research by:❖ Collating the African Stone Age record, which exists in a fragmented state along the lines of national boundaries and colonial experiences.❖ Showcasing emerging conceptual and methodological advances in African Pleistocene archaeology.❖ Providing reference datasets for teaching and researching African prehistory.❖ Making Africa's Stone Age record accessible to researchers and students based in Africa who may not have access to journal publications where most new field discoveries are published.The Handbook features 128 chapters, of which 116 are site entries grouped by the host countries and presented in an alphabetical order. A number of those site-related entries examine multiple archaeological localities lumped under specific projects or study areas. The rest of the contributions deal with methodological topics, such as luminescence and radiocarbon dating, field data recovery, lithic analysis, micromorphology, and hominin fossil and zooarchaeological records of Pleistocene Africa. The introductory chapter provides an historical overview of the development of Stone Age (Paleolithic) archaeology in Africa beginning in the mid-19th century, and paleoenvironmental and chronological frameworks commonly used to structure the continent's Pleistocene record. By making a good amount of AfricanStone Age literature accessible to researchers and the public, we wish to promote interest in human evolutionary research in the continent and elsewhere.

This book examines the role of technology-assisted interventions for substance use disorders (SUD). It considers this topic alongside the dramatic increase in SUDs and associated harm in the United States'past decade.Chapters relay the impact and effectiveness of technology-assisted interventions, which include telemedicine, assisted therapies, and support. These treatments not only offer practical care but also address the issue of access to care, particularly in the wake of the global pandemic (COVID-19). Organized into three sections, section one covers the use of telemedicine and technology-assisted therapies as it relates to the treatment of various SUDs, achieving recovery and maintenance. Each chapter will expand on a specific aspect of technology-assisted intervention. Following this, section two explores the differences in technology-assisted interventions and approaches while taking into account age, gender, sexuality, identity, and psychosocial factors. This section will be divided into chapters on children and adolescents, women and pregnancy, older adults, LGBTQIA+, and professionals. To close the book, section three discusses the media impact on SUDs and the legal technology adopted by drug courts.Unique and timely, Technology-Assisted Interventions for Substance Use Disorders is an invaluable resource to learners and practitioners in the field. It provides a concise yet comprehensive summary of the current status of the field that will help guide the implementation of technology-assisted interventions for all SUDs into practice and stimulate investigative efforts.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Higher Education Learning Methodologies and Technologies Online, HELMeTO 2022, held in Palermo, Italy, in September 2022. The 59 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 126 submissions. The papers present recent research on challenges of implementing emerging technology solution for online, online learning pedagogical frameworks, online learning technologies in practice, online learning strategies and resources, etc.

Tuberculosis have been documented since antiquity and the search of the microbes that cause this disease started more than three hundred years ago. Nevertheless, tuberculosis remains an important global health issue, with millions of people affected per year in addition to millions that remain undiagnosed and untreated. Patients with tuberculosis face the full range of recurrence, reinfection, and resistance due to diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic procedures that are not as effective as they should be. In addition, variability in susceptibility to tuberculosis pose a complex problem with numerous interrelated variables. This volume is devoted to the understanding of Tuberculosis focusing on its heterogeneity, its transmission, manifestations, related conditions, diagnosis, treatments, drug resistance and prevention.

This book unites studies in the fields of archaeometry, geoarchaeology, and ancient technologies, based on cases from northern Eurasia, and includes archaeometallurgy, stone tools investigation, exploitation of geological resources in the past, bioarchaeology, residue analysis, pottery and lithics investigation, and use of the GIS in archaeology. The book of Springer Proceedings in Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy contains selected papers presented at the 8th Geoarchaeology Conference, which took place during September 20–23, 2021, at the South Urals Federal Research Center, the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Miass, Russia. A study of non-organic materials, rocks, minerals, ores, metals and metallurgical slags is a special focus of the book. Many papers also use modern analytical methods of isotopic, chemical, and mineralogical analysis to study the composition and structure of ancient materials and the technological practices of past human populations of Modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Mongolia. The book is intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers and geologists, as well as students, researchers from other disciplines and the general public interested in the interdisciplinary research in the field of archaeology and archaeological materials, strategies and techniques of past quarrying, mining, metallurgy and lithic technologies at different chronological periods in Eurasian steppe and adjacent forest zone.

This book describes the environment in Galicia (NW Spain), with researchers and professors presenting their own photographs of relevant aspects. This richly illustrated book explains atmospheric, geologic, water, soils, landscapes, and environmental issues and treatments for a broad audience, including students and the general public, to raise awareness and effectively develop strategies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

The two-volume set LNAI 13817 and 13818 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2022, which took place in Florence, Italy, in December 2022. The 111 papers presented in the proceedings set were carefully reviewed and selected from 143 submissions. The contributions were organized in topical sections as follows: Social robot navigation and interaction capabilities (voice, tactile); Social robot perception and control capabilities; Investigating non verbal interaction with Social robots; Foster attention and engagement strategies in social robots; Special Session 1: Social Robotics Driven by Intelligent Perception and Endogenous Emotion-Motivation Core; Special Session 2: Adaptive behavioral models of robotic systems based on brain-inspired AI cognitive architectures; Advanced HRI capabilities for interacting with children; Social robots as advanced educational tool; Social robot applications in clinical and assistive scenarios; Collaborative social robots through dynamic game; Design and evaluate user's robot perception and acceptance; Ethics, gender & trust in social robotics.

This volume constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 49th International Workshop on Graph-Theoretic Concepts in Computer Science, WG 2023. The 33 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 116 submissions. The WG 2022 workshop aims to merge theory and practice by demonstrating how concepts from graph theory can be applied to various areas in computer science, or by extracting new graph theoretic problems from applications.

This book presents research on geographical naming on land and sea from a wide range of standpoints on: theory and concepts, case studies and education. Space and place naming or toponymy has a long tradition in the sciences and a renewed critical interest in geography and allied disciplines including the humanities. Place: location and cartographical aspects, etymology and geo-histories so salient in past studies, are now being enhanced from a range of radical perspectives, especially in a globalizing, standardizing world with Googlization and the consequent ‘normalization'of place names, perceptions and images worldwide including those for marketing purposes. Nonetheless, there are conflicting and contesting voices. The interdisciplinary research is enhanced with authors from regional, national and international toponymy-related institutions and organizations including the UNGEGN, IGU, ICA and so forth.

This Handbook offers the first comprehensive reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of abductive cognition, providing readers with extensive information on the process of reasoning to hypotheses in humans, animals, and in computational machines. It highlights the role of abduction in both theory practice: in generating and testing hypotheses and explanatory functions for various purposes and as an educational device. It merges logical, cognitive, epistemological and philosophical perspectives with more practical needs relating to the application of abduction across various disciplines and practices, such as in diagnosis, creative reasoning, scientific discovery, diagrammatic and ignorance-based cognition, and adversarial strategies. It also discusses the inferential role of models in hypothetical reasoning, abduction and creativity, including the process of development, implementation and manipulation for different scientific and technological purposes. Written by a group ofinternationally renowned experts in philosophy, logic, general epistemology, mathematics, cognitive, and computer science, as well as life sciences, engineering, architecture, and economics, the Handbook of Abductive Cognition offers a unique reference guide for readers approaching the process of reasoning to hypotheses from different perspectives and for various theoretical and practical purposes. Numerous diagrams, schemes and other visual representations are included to promote a better understanding of the relevant concepts and to make concepts highly accessible to an audience of scholars and students with different scientific backgrounds.

In this book, rock-cut and underground structures of Koramaz Valley on the Anatolian Plateau in Turkey are described in detail. The valley; located in eastern Turkey near the town of Kayseri, has hundreds of rock-cut structures, in addition to several underground cities, and almost none of them have been studied before. Research conducted by a team from 2014 to 2020, resulted in this overview of all the rock-cut and underground structures in and around seven different settlements in the valley and aims for the physical documentation and inventory of all these structures. The book studies cliff settlements, rock-cut churches, underground cities, and funerary architecture in the valley. These shelters are estimated to have been built between the 7th and 10th centuries and even the smallest of these structures offer rich details for architectural, socio-cultural and historical studies. The rock-cut churches date to the Byzantine Empire period and during the research period, over 400 of these structures were explored, surveyed, and mapped in the region and with all these historical and natural values. Recently, the Koramaz Valley was accepted to the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list. This book is of interest to archaeologists and scholars of built heritage.

This book illustrates the significance of probiotics and prebiotics for the management of various types of cancers. The up-to-date chapters provide recent information about the effect of anticancer treatment approaches on gut microbiota, the correlation between ROS and synbiotics for effective cancer treatment, and the influence of synbiotics on inflammation and immune microenvironment for cancer treatment. It also describes the regulatory issues about synbiotics in the management of cancer. This book is an essential resource for scientists working in the field of cancer, pharmaceutical & clinical sciences, and cancer clinicians. This book is also very useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Pharmacy and Biotechnology and medical researchers, mainly working in microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology.

This book studies the intersection between cryptography and AI, highlighting the significant cross-impact and potential between the two technologies. The authors first study the individual ecosystems of cryptography and AI to show the omnipresence of each technology in the ecosystem of the other one. Next, they show how these technologies have come together in collaborative or adversarial ways. In the next section, the authors highlight the coevolution being formed between cryptography and AI. Throughout the book, the authors use evidence from state-of-the-art research to look ahead at the future of the crypto-AI dichotomy. The authors explain how they anticipate that quantum computing will join the dichotomy in near future, augmenting it to a trichotomy. They verify this through two case studies highlighting another scenario wherein crypto, AI and quantum converge. The authors study current trends in chaotic image encryption as well as information-theoretic cryptography and show how these trends lean towards quantum-inspired artificial intelligence (QiAI). After concluding the discussions, the authors suggest future research for interested researchers.

This book gathers a selection of papers presented at the 5th International Scientific Conference “Environmental Challenges in Civil Engineering”, ECCE 2022, held on September 26-28, 2022, in Opole, Poland. Written by an international group of experts, it reports on findings concerning structural material behavior, and new methods and technologies in constructions. A special emphasis is given to sustainable constructions practices, including material recycling and reuse, renovation and restoration of historical building and to those fostering sustainable development of cities and rural areas, and a better integration of buildings with the environment. Offering a good balance of theory and practice, and covering both technical and organizational aspects in civil engineering and architectural projects, this book offers extensive information on solutions and current challenges in construction projects and structural interventions in the context of environmental protection and earthquake prevention.

The encyclopedia consists 13 subareas as follows:1: Synthesis and Characterisation of Ionic Liquids (Section Editors: Prof. Fu-Wei Li and Prof. Zhen Li)2: Physicochemical Properties of Ionic Liquids (Section Editors: Asso. Prof. Qing Zhou, Prof. Xingmei Lu and Prof. Xiaoyan Ji)3: Computational and Theoretical Modeling of Ionic Liquids (Section Editors: Prof. Guang Feng and Prof. Peter T. Cummings)4: Toxicology and Biodegradation of Ionic Liquids (Section Editors: Prof. Chunxi Li and Prof. Stefan Stolte)5: Ionic Liquids in Electrochemistry (Section Editors: Prof. Yingying Lu, Prof. Houlong Zhuang and Prof. Chuan Zhao)6. Ionic Liquids in Organic Reaction (Section Editors: Prof. Liang-Nian He and Prof. Bhalchandra M. Bhanage)7. Ionic Liquids in Separation (Section Editors: Prof. Huabin Xing)8. Ionic Liquids in Biomass and Biomolecules (Section Editors: Prof. Toshiyuki Itoh and Prof. Jian Sun)9. Ionic Liquids in Materials Science (Section Editors: Prof. Sheng Dai and Prof. Tao Wang)10. Ionic Liquids in Polymer Science (Section Editors: Asso. Prof. Jinming Zhang and Prof. Jun Zhang)11. Ionic Liquids in Environmental Science (Section Editors: Prof. Tiancheng Mu, Prof. Arunprakash T. Karunanithi and Prof. Yingxiong Wang)12. Ionic Liquids in Green Chemistry (Section Editors: Prof.Buxing Han and Prof. Peter Licence)13. Emerging Applications of Ionic Liquids (Pharmacology, Food Science, Agriculture, Nuclear Science Technology, Optics) (Section Editors: Prof. Zhonghao Li and Prof. Maya Guncheva)This encyclopedia is systematic and comprehensive, with detailed descriptions about theory, technology, and industrial applications. This encyclopedia is valuable for students, researchers and industrial players, giving them a quick understanding and overview of ionic liquids in various aspects.

This volume provides the most comprehensive contemporary academic writing on Ukrainian competition and intellectual property law in English. Especially over the last few years, these areas have been in considerable flux, a main driver being the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement. The chapters cover a broad range of different topics and share a forward-looking perspective. They also outline the basic background that is necessary to understand the context of the issue discussed, especially with regards to the legal system of Ukraine. The publication is the result of a two-year project, and it is addressed to a wide range of international scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. It aims to make the state-of-the-art in Ukrainian legal scholarship visible and accessible to the international research community and to stimulate global debates in academia and politics. Therefore, it may be of interest and use to anyone who is interested in competition and intellectual property law, and/orin Ukraine.

This book focuses on some important aspects of Physics Education: the role of metaphors in Physics teaching and learning, the connections between Physics and Mathematics, the interaction of young children with Physics at the primary level, and recent developments in teacher education in the USA. Contributors present their research related to: • Preparing teachers for TPACK (technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge) and laboratory work. • Developing and evaluating teacher PCK (pedagogical content knowledge) in Quantum Mechanics. • In-service Physics teacher education for early childhood and primary levels. • Pre-service Physics teacher education at all levels. • In-service Physics teacher professional learning for second and higher-level education. Chapters in this book inevitably look into how Physics teacher education is organizedin different countries. Suggestions are offered for possible ways of supporting Physics teachers'learning. An emphasis is made on the much-needed measurements of the effectiveness of different teaching strategies that improve teaching for learning.All this should help professionals, researchers, and pre-service, as well as in-service teachers to get acquainted with the most recent research contributions in the field.

This open access book provides an extensive overview of the usage of information and communication technologies in the tourism and hospitality industry. It presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)'s 30th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2023 conference. The enclosed papers cover various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics and recommendation systems.

This engaging book is focused on surgical devices applied to several robotic systems, besides the da Vinci Robotic System, covering more than ten surgical medical specialties. The eighteen well written, objective and didactic chapters are divided into types of devices, their limitations and indications. Great exponents of surgery in Robotic System science and technology provides the readers with innovations in the field of Plastic Surgery, Orthopedics, Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Cardiac Surgery, Gastrosurgery, Head and Neck Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Urology and Thoracic Surgery in Solo Surgery Robots. Robotic Surgery Devices in Surgical Specialties will cover a target audience that goes beyond a single specialty; medical students, residents, fellows and even experts on the subject will find this title of great value. It will certainly be the bedside book for several professionals and a source of inspiration for many to follow the field of robotic surgery.

This book highlights some of the latest advances in nanotechnology and nanomaterials from leading researchers in Ukraine, Europe and beyond. It features contributions presented at the 8th International Science and Practice Conference Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials (NANO2020), which was held on August 25–28, 2021 at Lviv Polytechnic National University, and was jointly organized by the Institute of Physics, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv Polytechnic National University, University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Turin (Italy), Pierre and Marie Curie University (France), European Profiles S.A. (Greece), Representation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, University of Angers (France), Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (Germany). Internationally recognized experts from a wide range of universities and research institutions share their knowledge and key findings on material properties, behavior, and synthesis. This book's companion volume also addresses topics such as nano-optics, energy storage, and biomedical applications.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the International Conference on Web-Based Learning, ICWL 2023, in Sydney, NSW, Australia, in November 2023.The 9 full papers together with 7 short papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. The conference focuses on subjects such as Semantic Web for E-Learning, through Learning Analytics, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, Assessment, Pedagogical Issues, E-learning Platforms, and Tools, to Mobile Learning.

This book provides an overview of the archaeological sites and cultural assemblages in the world and presents an archaeological database that has been established through two large-scale research projects conducted between 2010 and 2022. The projects were Replacement of the Neanderthals by Modern Humans (2010–2015) and The Cultural History of PaleoAsia (2016–2022), both of which were carried out with the aid of the Japanese Government. They deal with multi-disciplinary studies of the demise of more archaic hominins and the survival of anatomically modern humans. Although the database is designated PaleoAsiaDB, which may imply a focus on Asia, it incorporates the dataset collected from Africa and Europe by the Replacement of the Neanderthals by Modern Humans project. PaleoAsiaDB provides a list of more than 3,300 sites and 7,600 cultural assemblages of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic (Middle and Late Stone Age) of the Eastern Hemisphere as of 2020. This database is the first attempt ofits kind to document the related sites of 200-20ka. The full version of the database is available at the University Museum on the University of Tokyo homepage.

Cancer treatment is a challenging issue, while the treatment modalities have extended from traditional surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy to new therapeutic approaches, including targeted therapy, immunotherapy, stem cell transplantation, and hormone therapy. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach is needed to find a better therapeutic protocols in order to increase the prognosis and quality of life of patients with cancer. The second volume of the “Interdisciplinary Cancer Research” series, entitled “Cancer Treatment: An Interdisciplinary Approach” publishes comprehensive volumes on different cancer treatment modalities and presents the most updated and peer-reviewed articles on cancer therapy. This interdisciplinary series is of special value to researchers and practitioners working on cell biology, immunology, hematology, biochemistry, genetics, oncology and related fields. This is the main concept of Cancer Immunology Project (CIP), which is a part of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN). This interdisciplinary book will be of special value for researchers and clinicians who wish to extend their knowledge on cancer treatment.

This book provides a detailed evaluation of the hydro-ecological characteristics of the Western Balkans, an area characterized by still preserved inland waters and fish resources important for the European continent, as well as the biodiversity of inland waters important for the planet Earth. Freshwater ecosystems cover only 1% of the Earth's surface; however, they are a habitat for about 40% of fish species. At the same time, inland fisheries make less than 12% of the world's global fish catch, with 43% coming from low-income and food-deficient countries (Africa, South America, Southeast Asia). In Europe, the Western Balkans have significant fishing waters and fish resources, including the Middle Danube drainage (Sava, Drina, Velika Morava river systems), large ancient lakes (Skadar/Shkodra, Ohrid, Prespa, Dojran), and the Adriatic basin characterized by endemic and commercially important species. However, in contrast to the high fishing potential in a significant part of the Western Balkans, diverse and specific political, economic, and social factors largely had a negative impact on the state of fish resources. This volume is multidisciplinary and provides a sound knowledge base for scientific and practical fisheries. In addition, it may be a valuable guide for managers and conservationists worldwide to adapt methods and procedures for the ecological sustainability of fish resources under specific local, natural, and socio-economic conditions. Finally, the content is a good reference for natural sciences and agriculture students studying fish, fish resources, and fisheries sciences. It would improve their knowledge and perspectives on the challenges of sustainable use and conservation of inland water resources.

Confronted with an increase in floods, droughts and other natural hazards, cities and regions are alert to find climate proof solutions that overcome the limitations of traditional grey infrastructure.Nature-based solutions are proposed as a valid way to address risk and adapt to climate change while increasing resilience through the multiple benefits they generate. However, in spite of the widespread academic and political support for NBS, their implementation is lacking. As key barriers to implementation there are institutional and regulatory barriers, an absence of clear evaluation of NBS performance, funding/financing barriers and knowledge and acceptance barriers.This Open Access book provides a hands-on guide to overcome these barriers, through the stepwise creation of nature-assurance schemes that operationalize the insurance value of ecosystems. At the basis thereof is an integrated biophysical, economic and social assessment which is integrated with implementation considerations through the generation of business models and blended funding and financing schemes.This book will be of interest to practitioners and researchers who want to better understand how to operationalize the insurance value of ecosystems. The book provides 9 DEMO examples on the application of this method across different scales: urban, medium and large catchments and target both floods and droughts.

This book provides an overview of Educational Robotics and includes information that reflects the current status of the field, research activity, experiences, and new tools. It compiles the contributions presented at the 14th International Conference on Robotics in Education (RiE2023). Beyond insights into theoretical aspects, practical projects and syllabus activities exemplify the concepts and provide implementation ideas, which span the whole educational system from kindergarten to the university level. The relevance to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is highlighted by teaching the topics in a unified framework. The book constitutes a valuable resource for educators, researchers, scientists, and engineers interested in robotics. It covers topics including school teaching curricula, educational methodologies and pedagogy, projects, competitions, hardware, simulations, programming, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in education.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Algebraic Informatics, CAI 2022, held as virtual event, in October 27–29, 2022.The 2 abstracts, 3 full papers of invited speakers, and 12 contributed papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 17 submissions. The papers contain original and unpublished research; the topics of them lie in automata theory, cryptography, coding theory, DNA computation, computer algebra, and theory of software architectures.

This book presents a series of perspectives showing the current knowledge about human evolution. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Darwin's book, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he explicitly addresses the natural origin of the human species, this collective work reviews current and diverse aspects of human evolution: from psychology, linguistics, genomics, paleontology, artistic expression or sexual selection. It also offers a historical, social and ideological context of what is often considered to be Darwin's second great work after The Origin of Species.Although current research is concentrated largely on fossils and genomes, this book also deals with the main points Darwin centered his attention on; comparative morphology and psychology, and sexual selection. It also covers other new aspects, such as the origin of art, social structure and social learning. With contributions from leading experts in their respective fields, the book guides readers to the study of the social context of Darwin and his time, and the state of the art of studies on human evolution and sexual selection, considering all aspects that Darwin examined, including those that emerged later and now are important disciplines in our understanding of our own evolution.The English translation of parts of this book from its Spanish original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.

This book describes Hungarian karst areas and Hungarian karst research results. The chapters present the general characteristics of karst areas, their geology, their paleokarst, their hydrology, their surface and subsurface morphology (more significant caves are classified according to karst areas and their morphology and development is described), ecology and flora and fauna.This book also includes a separate chapter which deals with the history of Hungarian karst and cave research. Another chapter deals with theories that were made during Hungarian karst researches.

This book focuses on the analysis of different scales of mobility and addresses parameters and proxies of population movement aiming at the formation of a ‘ground'for the further development of quantitative approaches. In order to do so, the volume explores wide scale mobility (environmental contexts and cross-cultural trends), seasonal mobility of Paleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, and migration, niche construction, utilitarian and non- utilitarian factors of mobility.Chapters in the volume include case studies from across Europe and Asia. The editors'introduction addresses the current state of mobility discourse in archaeology. The chapters address questions related to parameters used to describe different factors of movement and examines correlations between parameters describing environmental diversity, demography, and the values representing spatial movement. This volume is of interest to students and researchers of mobility of human beings in the past.

Landscapes and Landforms of the Slovakia provides an attractive physiographical overview of the most prominent landscapes of Slovakia and the distinctive landforms associated with them. It describes the main driving factors leading to their evolution and importance for geoconservation and geotourism.The richly illustrated book provides the reader with enjoyable and informative descriptions of the selected sites within their regional geographical and geological settings range from the Tatras Mts. with glacially shaped relief as the highest region in the Carpahians to caves and lowlands taking into account fluvial, gravity-induced, karst and structural landscapes of the Slovakia.The book is organized in 3 parts: a) Introduction, which presents a general framework of the physical geography of Slovakia, b) Geomorphological landscapes, presenting papers dealing with key geomorphological areas, resp. landforms, c) Geoheritage and landscape protection, providing an updated vision on the geomorphological/geological heritage sites and landscape protection policy in Slovakia.The book will be relevant to scientists, scholars and any readers interested in geomorphology, geology, physical geography, geoheritage, landscape tourism and environmental protection. It can be also used for undergraduate and graduate courses in Earth and environmental sciences.

This book highlights recent findings in civil and environmental engineering and urban planning, and provides an overview of the state of the art in these fields, mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe. A broad range of topics and issues in modern engineering are discussed, including construction, buildings and structures, advanced materials, innovative technology, methods and techniques in civil engineering, heating, gas supply, water supply and sewerage, foundation engineering, BIM, structural reliability, durability and monitoring, special and unique structures construction (bridge, tunnel, road, railway engineering), design and construction of hydraulic structures, concrete engineering, urban regeneration and sustainable development, urban transport system, engineering structure safety and disaster prevention, water resources engineering, water and wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse of wastewater, etc. The volume gathers selected papers from the 5th International Conference on Construction, Architecture and Technosphere Safety (ICCATS), held in Sochi, Russia in September 2021. The authors are experts in various fields of engineering, and all papers have been carefully reviewed.

This book provides an overview of the electronic applications of nanotechnology. It presents latest research in the areas of nanotechnology applied to the fields of electronics and energy. Various topics covered in this book include nanotechnology in electronic field, electronic chips and circuits, batteries, wireless devices, energy storage, semiconductors, fuel cells, defense and military equipment, and aerospace industry, This book will be useful for engineers, researchers and industry professionals primarily in the fields of electrical engineering engineering, materials science and nanotechnology.

There is a huge collection of literature relating to death, grief and bereavement, but one aspect that has received relatively little attention is that of death management practices (by which we mean the various ways of managing the circumstances of the death, ritually acknowledging it and sensitively handling the disposal of the body and so on). While ways of disposing of the dead and grief practices have been thought of as based upon individual responses, grief and bereavement practices can be understood not only by looking at psychological and medical frameworks, but also by examining people as part of a complex structure of social arrangements, institutions, structures, and patterns. By examining the social and institutional structures of various groups around the world, we provide an international framework for a better understanding of the study of dying, death, and bereavement.This book highlights the significance of these matters in an international context, reflecting common themes and important differences. It will highlight common themes across diverse cultures and national settings, while also drawing attention to significant differences. If professionals working in the field of death, grief and bereavement are not aware of such differences, their practice can be insensitive, discriminatory and therefore ineffective, if not actually counterproductive. As such, the book provides an invaluable resource for a wide variety of professionals and students, including medicine and health care; social work; counselling and psychotherapy; chaplaincy and pastoral work; and, of course, those involved in the funeral industry. In addition, students of sociology, psychology and anthropology will find much of interest here in terms of appreciating the diversity of ways in which funerals and other death management practices are managed and integrated into social life.

This edited volume analyses and discusses the systematisation of Polish socio-economic transformations of the last three decades using selected examples of the most important changes. 1989 marked the onset of the political transformation process in Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The transition involved a shift from a socialist system to a parliamentary democracy and from a command economy to a market one. Due to the deep economic crisis that culminated in 1988 and the peaceful model of change developed and implemented in Poland, the magnitude and manner of implementing various initiatives was unprecedented and had specific implications. This transformation opened Polish society and the Polish economy to the impact of global social and economic changes, triggering successive transformations, often overlapping in terms of their causes and consequences. This publication aims to present the course and effects, in particular territorial, of Poland's socio-economic transformation in the years 1990–2020. The analysis covers the key aspects of this transformation, illustrated with references to the concepts and theories of development, domestic and foreign literature, own empirical research and existing or newly developed model approaches to transformation in the territorial dimension. The book appeals to researchers and student in the fields of geography, spatial management, economics and business, sociology and political sciences, public and private economic research institutes, employees of governmental bodies and corporations, consultants in public administration, journalists and policymakers.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 17th International Computer Science Symposium in Russia, CSR 2022, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 29-July 3, 2022. The 21 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 51 submissions. The papers cover a broad range of topics, such as formal languages and automata theory, geometry and discrete structures; theory and algorithms for application domains and much more.

This monograph presents the results of over 10 years of paleontological and geological survey in the Baynunah Formation of the United Arab Emirates. Exposed widely in western Abu Dhabi Emirate, the Baynunah Formation and its fossils provide the only record of terrestrial environments and evolution in the Arabian Peninsula during the late Miocene epoch (12-5 Ma). This volume describes new fossils collected since 2002, presented systematically by taxon, and including mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates, as well as fossil trackways. The discoveries are framed within the results of new geological, geochemical, and geochrononological analyses, providing an updated and synthetic view of the age, environments, and biogeographic relationships of this important fossil assemblage.

This textbook addresses the growing international need for a practical manual that teaches physicians how to apply cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) in the day‐to‐day provision of patient healthcare.The book introduces readers to the concept of CAP, how it works, and how safe it is, before describing several diseases and other medical indications for its application. The book subsequently provides guidelines for daily clinical practice, e.g. for treating chronic wounds, decontaminating infected skin lesions, and rendering multi-resistant bacteria inert, as well as a detailed overview of plasma devices. In closing, it addresses organizational aspects, which are essential to cultivating and maintaining quality standards in the application of cold medical plasma.This textbook offers a unique educational resource and provides relevant information on plasma medicine as an emerging multidisciplinary discipline. Practitioners will appreciate this integrated, comprehensive guide, which is also suitable for advanced students of medicine and dentistry, and for nurses serving on plasma-assisted medical teams.

This book presents an interdisciplinary study of the El Mirador cave located on the Atapuerca karstic system, one of the longest Pleistocene and Holocene archaeopaleontological deposits in Iberia. This book presents the results including new unpublished and published data to discuss different aspects related to the prehistoric herders and farmers that occupied this territory. Divided into four parts, the book covers site presentation and the paleoenvironmental reconstruction covering a chronological span between 7060 ± 40-3040 ± 40 yrs. The history of the excavation and the excavation methodology is detailed in this part including new unpublished recording techniques using 3D scanning and photogrammetry and a very meticulous sampling strategy. The book presents formation processes of the deposit which are key to understanding the successive occupations of the caves regarding its use as sheepfold cave as well as human remains that are part ofdifferent funerary contexts in the cave. In the last section, the book covers material culture found in the cave including lithic tools and pottery. This interdisciplinary work is of interest to scholars in anthracology, zooarchaeology, paleoanthropology, lithic technology, and experimental archaeology.

The book retraces the history of the Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (AIMETA) since its establishment in 1965. AIMETA is the official Italian association of mechanics adhering to IUTAM (International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics), which organizes and coordinates a meaningful number of research activities, the most important of which are the biennial National Congress and the internationally renowned journal “Meccanica”, published by Springer. Besides collecting and organizing all related important data and information, as far as possible, by distinguishing among the five scientific areas – general mechanics, solids, structures, fluids, machines – encompassed by AIMETA, the history of the association is assumed as a proper perspective to overview the evolution of theoretical and applied mechanics in Italy over about the last fifty years. This is accomplished in the first part of the book. with also a specific focus on the mechanics of solids and structures, where the biographies of a meaningful number of recognized Italian scholars of mechanics in all areas are also provided, along with testimonials and memories by a few senior people meaningfully involved with AIMETA and Italian mechanics. The second part gives an account, although unavoidably incomplete, of recent developments of mechanical sciences in Italy, as reflected also in the activities of AIMETA and with reference to the international context. Contributions by a number of invited senior scholars, still very active, consist of overviews on some scientific themes in the various areas, summaries of achievements of research groups, expressions of research viewpoints, prospects for future developments.

This encyclopedia, representing one of the most multi-disciplinary areas of research, is a comprehensive examination of the key areas in animal cognition and behavior. It will serve as a complementary resource to the handbooks and journals that have emerged in the last decade on this topic, and will be a useful resource for student and researcher alike. With comprehensive coverage of this field, key concepts will be explored. These include social cognition, prey and predator detection, habitat selection, mating and parenting, development, genetics, physiology, memory, learning and perception. Attention is also given to animal-human co-evolution and interaction, and animal welfare. All entries are under the purview of acknowledged experts in the field.

This volume is a monograph of the genus Diplusodon (Lythraceae), written by the world authority on this plant group. Diplusodon is a monophyletic genus of shrubs and subshrubs, with showy, 6-merous, actinomorphic flowers, and floral tubes on which the sepals alternate with conspicuous epicalyx segments. The capsular fruit contains winged seeds and, uniquely for the family, is divided by a bipartite placenta with two semi-lunate septa. Diplusodon is the second largest genus in the Lythraceae and occurs mostly in the Cerrado Biome, the floristically diverse savannah that covers more than two million km2 of the Central Brazilian Plateau, extending west into Bolivia, south to Paraguay and east to the Caatinga. A total of 104 species and eight varieties are recognized in the genus, for which 46 lectotypes, one neotype, one new status and one new combination are designated, nine new species are described, and 15 taxaare placed in synonymy. New information on floral and vegetative morphology, pollen, cytology, chemistry, floral biology, and habitat are provided for the genus. In addition, keys to the species are accompanied by descriptions, illustrations, distribution maps, and assignment of conservation status.

The human foot is a unique and defining characteristic of our anatomy. Most primates have grasping, prehensile feet, whereas the human foot stands out as a powerful non-grasping propulsive lever that is central to our evolution as adept bipedal walkers and runners and defines our lineage. Very few books have compiled and evaluated key research on the primate foot and provided a perspective on what we know and what we still need to know. This book serves as an essential companion to “The Evolution of the Primate Hand” volume, also in the Developments in Primatology series. This book includes chapters written by experts in the field of morphology and mechanics of the primate foot, the role of the foot in different aspects of primate locomotion (including but not limited to human bipedalism), the “hard evidence” of primate foot evolution including fossil foot bones and fossil footprints, and the relevance of our foot's evolutionary history to modern human foot pathology.This volume addresses three fundamental questions: (1) What makes the human foot so different from that of other primates? (2) How does the anatomy, biomechanics, and ecological context of the foot and foot use differ among primates and why? (3) how did foot anatomy and function change throughout primate and human evolution, and why is this evolutionary history relevant in clinical contexts today?This co-edited volume, which relies on the insights of leading scholars in primate foot anatomy and evolution provides for the first time a comprehensive review and scholarly discussion of the primate foot from multiple perspectives. It is accessible to readers at different levels of inquiry (e.g., undergraduate/graduate students, postdoctoral research, other scholars outside of biological anthropology). This volume provides an all-in‐one resource for research on the comparative and functional morphology and evolution of the primate foot.

This book accompanies you on a journey that starts with the basics of mine water treatment and takes you further through correct sampling for planning to active and passive systems. In the respective chapters you will learn the most important techniques about the parameters to be measured (e.g. on-site parameters, flow rate), which methods are available to actively treat your mine water (e.g. high density sludge method, reverse osmosis, ion exchange) and which ones to perform passive treatment (e.g. constructed wetlands, vertical flow reactor, limestone channel). You will also get an insight into the use of mine water. Don't expect a cookbook – rather, it's an ingredients and utensils list to help you find the right recipe. For extended help on this, check out the more than 1000 references on all the techniques presented. I wrote this book for hydrogeologists, engineers, graduate students, government officials, miners, geoecologists, chemical engineers – in the broadest sense: you.This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision and a thorough copy editing and update by the author ensured that the contents are correctly represented.

This book presents proceedings from the XXIV DAE-BRNS High Energy Physics (HEP) Symposium 2020, held at the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Jatni, Odisha, India. The contributions cover a variety of topics in particle physics, astroparticle physics, cosmology and related areas from both experimental and theoretical perspectives, namely (1) Standard Model Physics, (2) Beyond Standard Model Physics, (3) Relativistic Heavy-Ion Physics & QCD, (4) Neutrino Physics, (5) Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, (6) Detector Development Future Facilities and Experiments, (7) Formal Theory, (8) Societal Applications: Medical Physics, Imaging, etc.