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This edited volume presents current archaeological research and data from the major early Acheulean sites in East Africa, and addresses three main areas of focus; 1) the tempo and mode of technological changes that led to the emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa; 2) new approaches to lithic collections, including lithic technology analyses; and 3) the debated coexistence of the Developed Oldowan and the early Acheulean. The chapters are the proceedings from the workshop titled “The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa”, held at University of Rome “La Sapienza” on September 12–13, 2013. The aim of the workshop was to bring together researchers currently working in this field in East Africa, in order to define the characteristics and the evolution of the early Acheulean. The volume was expanded with some chapters on the preceding Oldowan, on the African fauna and on paleovegetation, on the Acheulean in Asia and, eventually, on the Acheulean in Europe. The book is addressed to the scientific community, and will be of interest to researchers, graduate students, archaeologists, paleontologists, and paleoanthropologists. This volume is dedicated to the memory of Jean Chavaillon (March 25, 1925 - December 21, 2013), the leading archaeologist and Quaternary geologist who researched with unfailing enthusiasm the earliest human cultures and directed from 1965 to 1995 the French Archaeological Mission at Melka Kunture.

This Festschrift volume is published in honor of Juraj Hromkovič on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Juraj Hromkovič is a leading expert in the areas of automata and complexity theory, algorithms for hard problems, and computer science education.The contributions in this volume reflect the breadth and impact of his work. The volume contains 35 full papers related to Juraj Hromkovič's research. They deal with various aspects of the complexity of finite automata, the information content of online problems, stability of approximation algorithms, reoptimization algorithms, computer science education, and many other topics within the fields of algorithmics and complexity theory. Moreover, the volume contains a prologue and an epilogue of laudatios from several collaborators, colleagues, and friends.

This book gathers revised and extended versions of the best papers presented at the 8th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence (IJCCI 2016), which was held in Porto, Portugal from 9 to 11 November 2016. The papers address three main fields of Computational Intelligence, namely: Evolutionary Computation, Fuzzy Computation, and Neural Computation. In addition to highlighting recent advances in these areas, the book offers veteran researchers new and innovative solutions, while also providing a source of information and inspiration for newcomers to the field.

The book is aimed at people working in number theory or at least interested in this part of mathematics. It presents the development of the theory of algebraic numbers up to the year 1950 and contains a rather complete bibliography of that period. The reader will get information about results obtained before 1950. It is hoped that this may be helpful in preventing rediscoveries of old results, and might also inspire the reader to look at the work done earlier, which may hide some ideas which could be applied in contemporary research.

Dieses Buch untersucht Korruption und korruptionsnahe Erscheinungsformen im Bereich des Pharmamarketings und Arzneimittelvertriebs. Dabei geht es insbesondere der Frage nach, ob die zunehmende Kriminalisierung und/oder die Ausbreitung von Compliance Management Systemen zu substanziellen Veränderungen und „Konformitätsgewinnen'geführt haben. Auf der Grundlage einer qualitativen Interviewstudie und ergänzender empirischer Erhebungen wird gezeigt, dass und warum diese fortschreitende (Selbst-)Regulierung bereichsweise zu formaler Regeleinhaltung im Pharmavertrieb beiträgt, ohne aber die Herstellung und Nutzung problematischer Interessenkonflikte grundlegend einzudämmen. Vielmehr besteht eine spezifische „institutionelle Korruption“ fort. Die dafür maßgeblichen Einzelausprägungen werden im Detail analysiert.

The Wetland Book is a comprehensive resource aimed at supporting the trans- and multidisciplinary research and practice which is inherent to this field. Aware both that wetlands research is on the rise and that researchers and students are often working or learning across several disciplines, The Wetland Book is a readily accessible online and print reference which will be the first port of call on key concepts in wetlands science and management. This easy-to-follow reference will allow multidisciplinary teams and transdisciplinary individuals to look up terms, access further details, read overviews on key issues and navigate to key articles selected by experts.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th IFIP WG 8.9 Working Conference on Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems, CONFENIS 2018, held as part of the World Computer Congress, WCC 2018, in Poznan, Poland, in September 2018. The 12 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 28 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: EIS management and case studies; data management and applications for EIS; collaborative and social interaction; and data access, security, and privacy.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Web-Based Learning, ICWL 2018, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in August 2018.The 11 revised full papers presented together with 4 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 37 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on learning assessment and behavior; case studies; augmented reality and collaborative learning; game-based learning; and learning content management and experience sharing.

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the Final Conference of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Initial Training Network for Digital Cultural Heritage, held in Olimje, Slovenia, in May 2017.The 29 revised full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 198 submissions. They focus on interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research concerning cutting edge cultural heritage informatics, -physics, -chemistry and -engineering and the use of technology for the representation, documentation, archiving, protection, preservation and communication of cultural heritage knowledge.

The second edition of the book begins with the description of the diversity of wine-related microorganisms, followed by an outline of their primary and energy metabolism. Subsequently, important aspects of the secondary metabolism are dealt with, since these activities have an impact on wine quality and off-flavour formation. Then chapters about stimulating and inhibitory growth factors follow. This knowledge is helpful for the growth management of different microbial species. The next chapters focus on the application of the consolidated findings of molecular biology and regulation the functioning of regulatory cellular networks, leading to a better understanding of the phenotypic behaviour of the microbes in general and especially of the starter cultures as well as of stimulatory and inhibitory cell-cell interactions during wine making. In the last part of the book, a compilation of modern methods complete the understanding of microbial processes during the conversion of must towine.This broad range of topics about the biology of the microbes involved in the vinification process could be provided in one book only because of the input of many experts from different wine-growing countries.

Until about 10 years ago, the general view in the field was that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of human tuberculosis was a “clone” with insufficient natural sequence variation between clinical strains to be considered biologically and epidemiologically “relevant”. This view has now changed quite dramatically thanks to the –omics revolution, particularly the advent of next generation DNA sequencing. Large-scale comparative genomic studies over the last few years have revealed that M. tuberculosis clinical strains are more genetically diverse than appreciated previously. Moreover, an increasing number of experimental and epidemiological studies are showing that this genetic diversity also translates into important phenotypic variation. Taken together, these findings have led to a paradigm shift, such that currently phylogenetic diversity among M. tuberculosis clinical strains is being considered in the development of new tools to combat tuberculosis. The purpose of this book is to bring together a series of contributions from some of the most influential groups working on various aspects of M. tuberculosis diversity, and which through their work have contributed to the this paradigm shift. This includes authors focusing on the evolution of M. tuberculosis in relation to other members of the M. tuberculosis complex adapted to animals, the co-evolution between M. tuberculosis and humans, the phenotypic consequences of strains diversity both from an experimental and epidemiological point of view, the ecology and evolution of drug resistant tuberculosis, the diversity and evolution of the BCG vaccine strains, and the use of mathematical modelling to study strain diversity and drug resistance in human tuberculosis. No such book has ever been published, and given the paradigm shift described above, this book will be a valuable resource both for established researchers as well as new scientists, clinicians and public health officials joining the growing field of tuberculosis research.

This book examines a range of contemporary ideas and arguments concerning the core yet unsettled clinical issues. Important aspects of pulmonary disorders are tackled such as occupational and environmental respiratory health hazards, the role of vitamin D supplementation in airway allergy, or nutritional aspects of care for lung cancer patients. Metabolic disorders affecting the processes of atherogenesis and systemic inflammation also are tackled. Attention is directed to rare but severe pediatric disease entities. Articles give readers practice at analyzing clinical data. The practical insights emphasize the role of science in transforming biomedical knowledge and care. This volume will be essential reading for clinicians, researchers, and other healthcare professionals engaged in effective patient care and therapy.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Web-Based Learning, ICWL 2017, held in Cape Town, South Africa, in September 2017. The 13 revised full papers presented together with 9 short papers and 3 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 56 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on Inquiry-Based Learning and Gamification; Learning Analytics; Social Media and Web 2.0-based Learning Environments; Assessment and Accessibility in Higher Education; Open Educational Resources and Recommender Systems; and Practice and Experience Sharing.

This book is a concise guide to the clinical diagnosis and management of chronic pancreatitis, presenting the latest research into the disease. It focuses on pathogenesis, epidemiology, genetics, diagnosis, endoscopic and surgical treatment, and prognosis. It also offers comprehensive descriptions of 4 diagnostic methods and discusses the contemporary management of chronic pancreatitis, including conservative, ESWL, interventional and surgical treatments. The final chapter includes 6 typical case presentations, which taken together provide a standard description of this condition.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the tourism market development in Central and Eastern European countries. It is divided into 13 chapters, including a chapter dedicated to Belarus, all richly illustrated with colorful maps and illustrations. The book presents the output of international conferences organized every two years by the Department of Regional Geography and Tourism of the University of Wroclaw which have served as inspiration for this book. Chapter 1 provides the characteristics of 20 post-communist countries of the region on the international tourism market and it sets the background and context for the following chapters. Chapters 2 to 13 present the condition of research on tourism, tourist attractions, tourist infrastructure, tourism movement, main types of tourism as well as tourist regionalization in 12 Central and Eastern European countries. All chapters have been updated with reference to the statistics.This book is a revised and updated version of“The Geography of Tourism of Central and Eastern Europe Countries” published by the Department of Regional Geography and Tourism of Wroclaw University in 2012. It has been developed by a group of specialists through their exchange of research experience in the scope of international tourism in Central and Eastern Europe.

New and innovative scientific theories, discussion and explanations are presented on landform dynamics and evolution in Romania along with a comprehensive understanding of the geomorphological processes shaping the large variety of Romania's landscape. Thematically arranged the book deals with landform dynamics of specific relief types: glacial and periglacial, denudational, fluvio-denudational, fluvial, karst and coasts, as well as sediment fluxes, geomorphic hazards and risks. The authors are key scientists and researchers in the field and offer innovative views on research methods and concepts applied to the topics in question. This work will be of interest to students and researchers in geography, geomorphology, geology, environmental science, paleoclimatology and soil science as well as policy and decision-makers in spatial planning.

This thoroughly revised second edition reflects the exponential growth in the complex field of decision making in colorectal surgery, since the first edition published in 2017. Recommendations are based on newly published data and this book has 30% new additions with 58% chapters completely rewritten by new authors. The chapters in each volume adhere to a specific format. This approach provides uniformity to the presentations, making it possible to identify useful material at a glance.Covering new technology, brief chapters are multi-authored, and each devoted to one or two specific questions or decisions within that specialty that are difficult or controversial. Physicians from nonsurgical specialties give alternative and competing therapies for what was once the exclusive province of the surgeon.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Data-Driven Innovation, ICT Innovations 2017, held in Skopje, Macedonia, in September 2017. The 26 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 90 submissions. They cover the following topics: big data analytics, cloud computing, data mining, digital signal processing, e-health, embedded systems, emerging mobile technologies, multimedia, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, software engineering, security and cryptography, coding theory, wearable technologies, wireless communication, and sensor networks.

This book illustrates the diversity of hypogene speleogenetic processes and void-conduit patterns depending on variations of the geological environments by presenting regional and cave-specific case studies. The cases include both well-known and newly recognized hypogene karst regions and caves of the world. They all focus on geological, hydrogeological, geodynamical and evolutionary contexts of hypogene speleogenesis.The last decade has witnessed the boost in recognition of the possibility, global occurrence, and practical importance of hypogene karstification (speleogenesis), i.e. the development of solutional porosity and permeability by upwelling flow, independent of recharge from the overlying or immediately adjacent surface. Hypogene karst has been identified and documented in many regions where it was previously overlooked or misinterpreted. The book enriches the basis for generalization and categorization of hypogene karst and thus improves ourability to adequately model hypogene karstification and predict related porosity and permeability. It is a book which benefits every researcher, student, and practitioner dealing with karst.

This book focuses on the Nordic countries through a European perspective and wishes to draw attention to their place in the new world order. The volume emphasizes the specificity of their cooperation within the region itself as well as within the European Union, and stresses the importance of the Nordic region as an area of possibilities and tangible chances resulting from the challenges of globalization.The social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of these countries are characterized by cooperation among states, their collaboration with other regional organizations and within international projects, as well as exchange of viewpoints on the specificity of the current Norden issues. The cooperation of the Nordic countries and their inhabitants as well as migrations between the Scandinavian states have been a trademark of the common and shared history of Norden.

This volume offers an up-to-date and broad perspective of the archaeology of human-animal interactions through time in the Neotropical Biogeographic Region, ranging from southern North America to southern South America. The region has a rich and singular biotic history. The collection of works included in the volume –originally presented at the Second Academic Meeting of the NZWG-ICAZ – describes some of the instances of the diverse interactions of human and faunal populations in such a setting and the particular properties characterizing the derived archaeofaunal record. Understanding the zooarchaeological imprint of human insertion and evolution in this context represents an opportunity for improving our knowledge on the many ways modern humans have dealt with the colonization of the whole globe, and on the varied forms of organization they assumed within such diverse environments. The topics covered in this volume shed light on different and complementary aspects of the state ofthe art in zooarchaeological research in the Neotropics, and reveal how much Neotropical zooarchaeology has been growing in the past few decades. Several chapters focus on marine resources, covering a broad range of the diversity found in the Neotropical coastal environments. Another set of chapters deals primarily with inland Neotropical animals –including terrestrial, riverine/estuarine and avian faunas– and also with varying societal organizations. Natural formation processes in Neotropical environments are also dealt with in this collection of works. Finally, Neotropical faunas also entail unique methodological challenges, and some chapters provide new information from this perspective. Altogether, these contributions help grasp how unique human-animal interactions have been in the Neotropics, and yet how much can be learnt from them even for other settings and other times.

This book reveals how school memories offer not only a tool for accessing the school of the past, but also a key to understanding what people today know (or think they know) about the school of the past. It describes, in fact, how historians'work does not purely and simply consist in exploring school as it really was, but also in the complex process of defining the memory of school as one developed and revisited over time at both the individual and collective level. Further, it investigates the extent to which what people “know” reflects the reality or is in fact a product of stereotypes that are deeply rooted in common perceptions and thus exceedingly difficult to do away with.The book includes fifteen peer-reviewed contributions that were presented and discussed during the International Symposium “School Memories. New Trends in Historical Research into Education: Heuristic Perspectives and Methodological Issues” (Seville, 22-23 September, 2015).

This book presents current research on Ulam stability for functional equations and inequalities. Contributions from renowned scientists emphasize fundamental and new results, methods and techniques. Detailed examples are given to theories to further understanding at the graduate level for students in mathematics, physics, and engineering.Key topics covered in this book include: Quasi means Approximate isometries Functional equations in hypergroups Stability of functional equations Fischer-Muszély equation Haar meager sets and Haar null sets Dynamical systems Functional equations in probability theory Stochastic convex ordering Dhombres functional equation Nonstandard analysis and Ulam stability This book is dedicated in memory of Stanisław Marcin Ulam, who posed the fundamental problem concerning approximate homomorphisms of groups in 1940; which has provided the stimulus for studies in the stability of functional equations and inequalities.

This books gives a complete overview of the Soils of Slovenia, from soil research history, climate, geology, geomorphology, major soil types, soil maps, soil propoerties, classification, fertility, land use and vegetation, soil management, soils and humans, soils and industries and future soils issues.

The aim of the book is to present original and though-provoking essays in human paleontology and prehistory, which are at the forefront of human evolutionary research, in honor of Professor Yoel Rak (a leading scholar in paleoanthropology).​ ​The volume presents a collection of original papers contributed by many of Yoel's friends and colleagues from all over the globe. Contributions from experts around the globe fall roughly into three broad categories: Reflections on some of the broad theoretical questions of evolution, and especially about human evolution; the early hominins, with special emphasis on Australopithecus afarensis and Paranthropus; and the Neanderthals, that contentious group of our closest extinct relatives. Within and across these categories, nearly every paper addresses combinations of methodological, analytical and theoretical questions that are pertinent to the whole human evolutionary time span. This book will appeal most to scholars and advanced students in paleoanthropology, human paleontology and prehistoric archaeology.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This volume contains peer-reviewed papers from the Fourth World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), the Global Promotion Committee of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), University of Ljubljana (UL) and Geological Survey of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 29 to June 2, 2017. The complete collection of papers from the Forum is published in five full-color volumes. Thisfirst volume contains the following:• Three forum lectures• Background and Content of the Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025• Contribution from the signatory organizations of the Sendai Partnerships• Landslide Dynamics: ISDR-ICL Landslide Interactive Teaching Tools (LIT T)• Progress of the World Report on Landslides (WRL)• International Programme on Landslides (IPL): Objects, History and List of WCoE/IPL projects• UNESCO-KU-ICL UNITIWIN Network supporting IPL• Landslides: Journal of International Consortium on Landslides• International Programme on Landslides (IPL): WCoEs and IPL Projects• Landslides and SocietyProf. Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). He is Executive Director of ICL and the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal Landslides since its foundation in 2004.Prof. Matjaž Mikoš is the Forum Chair of the Fourth World Landslide Forum. He is the Vice President of International Consortium on Landslides and President of the Slovenian National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.Prof. Yueping Yin is the President of the International Consortium on Landslides and the Chairman of the Committee of Geo-Hazards Prevention of China, and the Chief Geologist ofGeo-Hazard Emergency Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources, P.R. China. IPL (International Programme on Landslides) is a programme of the ICL. The programme is managed by the IPL Global Promotion Committee including ICL and ICL supporting organizations, UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UNISDR, UNU, ICSU, WFEO, IUGS and IUGG. The IPL contributes to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the First International Symposium, SETE 2016, held in conjunction with ICWL 2016, Rome, Italy, in October 2016. The 81 revised papers, 59 full and 22 short ones, were carefully reviewed and selected from 139 submission. They cover latest findings in various areas, such as emerging technologies for open access to education and learning; emerging technologies supported personalized and adaptive learning; emerging technologies support for intelligent tutoring; emerging technologies support for game-based and joyful learning; emerging technologies of pedagogical issues; emerging technologies for affective learning and emerging technologies for tangible learning.

This volume contains peer-reviewed papers from the Fourth World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), the Global Promotion Committee of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), University of Ljubljana (UL) and Geological Survey of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 29 to June 2,. The complete collection of papers from the Forum is published in five full-color volumes. This second volume contains the following: • Two keynote lectures • Landslide Field Recognition and Identification: Remote Sensing Techniques, Field Techniques • Landslide Investigation: Field Investigations, Laboratory Testing • Landslide Modeling: Landslide Mechanics, Simulation Models • Landslide Hazard Risk Assessment and Prediction: Landslide Inventories and Susceptibility, Hazard Mapping Methods, Damage Potential Prof. Matjaž Mikoš is the Forum Chair of the Fourth World Landslide Forum. He is the Vice President of International Consortium on Landslides and President of the Slovenian National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Prof. Binod Tiwari is the Coordinator of the Volume 2 of the Fourth World Landslide Forum. He is a Board member of the International Consortium on Landslides and an Executive Editor of the International Journal “Landslides”. He is the Chair-Elect of the Engineering Division of the US Council of Undergraduate Research, Award Committee Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineering, Geo-Institute's Committee on Embankments, Slopes, and Dams Committee. Prof. Yueping Yin is the President of the International Consortium on Landslides and the Chairman of the Committee of Geo-Hazards Prevention of China, and the Chief Geologist of Geo-Hazard Emergency Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources, P.R. China. Prof. Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). He is Executive Director of ICL and the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal“Landslides” since its foundation in 2004. IPL (International Programme on Landslides) is a programme of the ICL. The programme is managed by the IPL Global Promotion Committee including ICL and ICL supporting organizations, UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UNISDR, UNU, ICSU, WFEO, IUGS and IUGG. The IPL contributes to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025.

This volume contains peer-reviewed papers from the Fourth World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), the Global Promotion Committee of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), University of Ljubljana (UL) and Geological Survey of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 29 to June 2, 2017. The complete collection of papers from the Forum is published in five full-color volumes.This fourth volume contains the following:• Earthquake-Induced Landslides• Rainfall-Induced Landslides• Rapid Landslides: Debris Flows, Mudflows, Rapid Debris-Slides• Landslides in Rocks and Complex Landslides: Rock Topples, Rock Falls, Rock Slides,Complex Landslides• Landslides and Other Natural Hazards: Floods, Droughts, Wildfires, Tsunamis, VolcanoesProf. Matjaž Mikoš is the Forum Chair of the Fourth World Landslide Forum. He is the Vice President of International Consortium on Landslides and President of the Slovenian NationalPlatform for Disaster Risk Reduction.Prof. Nicola Casagli is Founding member of the International Consortium on Landslides(ICL), professor at the University of Florence and founder of the UNESCO Chair on geohydrological hazards at the same University.Prof. Yueping Yin is the President of theInternational Consortium on Landslides and the Chairman of the Committee of Geo-Hazards Prevention of China, and the Chief Geologist of Geo-Hazard Emergency Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources, P.R. China”.Prof. Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President of the International Consortium on Landslides(ICL). He is Executive Director of ICL and the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal“Landslides” since its foundation in 2004. IPL (International Programme on Landslides) is a programme of the ICL. The programme is managed by the IPL Global Promotion Committee including ICL and ICL supportingorganizations, UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UNISDR, UNU, ICSU, WFEO, IUGS and IUGG. TheIPL contributes to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015-2025.

This book is a systematized overview of wild edible plants eaten in the territory of present Estonia, with a focus on the systematic changes within the field. Starting in the end of 18th century, when the first data was published, the text is an extended version and compilation of articles on the subject published by Drs. Kalle and Sõukand and includes unpublished fieldwork results. This work covers changes and tendencies not covered previously due to the limits of article length. Included in this data is a general overview table containing all used plant taxa, parts used and purposes of use. More details on specific food-uses are provided in separate chapters analysing dynamics of changes of the importance of wild plants within the specific food category.

This volume contains pioneering contributions to both the theory and practice of optimal experimental design. Topics include the optimality of designs in linear and nonlinear models, as well as designs for correlated observations and for sequential experimentation. There is an emphasis on applications to medicine, in particular, to the design of clinical trials. Scientists from Europe, the US, Asia, Australia and Africa contributed to this volume of papers from the 11th Workshop on Model Oriented Design and Analysis.

This handbook compiles state-of-the-art empirical studies and applications using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It includes a collection of 18 chapters written by DEA experts. Chapter 1 examines the performance of CEOs of U.S. banks and thrifts. Chapter 2 describes the network operational structure of transportation organizations and the relative network data envelopment analysis model. Chapter 3 demonstrates how to use different types of DEA models to compute total-factor energy efficiency scores with an application to energy efficiency. In chapter 4, the authors explore the impact of incorporating customers'willingness to pay for service quality in benchmarking models on cost efficiency of distribution networks, and chapter 5 provides a brief review of previous applications of DEA to the professional baseball industry, followed by two detailed applications to Major League Baseball.Chapter 6 examines efficiency and productivity of U.S. property-liability (P-L) insurers using DEA, while chapter 7 presents a two-stage network DEA model that decomposes the overall efficiency of a decision-making unit into two components. Chapter 8 presents a review of the literature of DEA models for the perfoemance assessment of mutual funds, and chapter 9 discusses the management strategies formulation of the international tourist hotel industry in Taiwan. Chapter 10 presents a novel use of the two-stage network DEA to evaluate sustainable product design performances. In chapter 11 authors highlight limitations of some DEA environmental efficiency models, and chapter 12 reviews applications of DEA in secondary and tertiary education.Chapter 13 measures the relative performance of New York State school districts in the 2011-2012 academic year. Chapter 14 provides an introductory prelude to chapters 15 and 16, which both provide detailed applications of DEA in marketing. Chapter 17 then shows how to decompose a new total factor productivity index that satisfies alleconomically-relevant axioms from index theory with an application to U.S. agriculture. Finally, chapter 18 presents a unique study that conducts a DEA research front analysis, applying a network clustering method to group the DEA literature over the period 2000 to 2014.

This book provides a review of mechanical ice drilling technology, including the design, parameters, and performance of various tools and drills for making holes in snow, firn and ice. The material presents the historical development of ice drilling tools and devices from the first experience taken place more than 170 years ago to the present day and focuses on the modern vision of ice drilling technology. It is illustrated with numerous pictures, many of them published for the first time. This book is intended for specialists in ice core sciences, drilling engineers, glaciologists, and can be useful for high-school students and other readers who are very interested in engineering and cold regions technology.

This first volume of the Trilogy of Traditional Foods, part of the ISEKI Food Series, covers general and consumer aspects of traditional foods. It offers numerous recipes of traditional foods from across the world, with some chapters providing detailed descriptions on how to mix, cook, bake or store a particular food item in order to produce the desired effect.Traditional Foods; General and Consumer Aspects is divided into six sections. The first section focuses on general aspects of traditional foods and covers the perception of traditional foods and some general descriptions of traditional foods in different countries. This is followed by sections on Traditional Dairy Products, Traditional Cereal Based Products, Traditional Meat and Fish Products, Traditional Beverages and Traditional Deserts, Side Dishes and Oil products from various countries.The international List of Contributors, which includes authors fromChina, Bulgaria, Portugal, France, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, and Brazil, to name a few, shows its truly international perspective. The volume caters to the practicing food professional as well as the interested reader.

This second edition reflects significant progress in tsunami research, monitoring and mitigation within the last decade. Primarily meant to summarize the state-of-the-art knowledge on physics of tsunamis, it describes up-to-date models of tsunamis generated by a submarine earthquake, landslide, volcanic eruption, meteorite impact, and moving atmospheric pressure inhomogeneities. Models of tsunami propagation and run-up are also discussed. The book investigates methods of tsunami monitoring including coastal mareographs, deep-water pressure gauges, GPS buoys, satellite altimetry, the study of ionospheric disturbances caused by tsunamis and the study of paleotsunamis. Non-linear phenomena in tsunami source and manifestations of water compressibility are discussed in the context of their contribution to the wave amplitude and energy. The practical method of calculating the initial elevation on a water surface at a seismotectonic tsunami source is expounded. Potential and eddy traces ofa tsunamigenic earthquake in the ocean are examined in terms of their applicability to tsunami warning. The first edition of this book was published in 2009. Since then, a few catastrophic events occurred, including the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, which is well known all over the world. The book is intended for researchers, students and specialists in oceanography, geophysics, seismology, hydro-acoustics, geology, and geomorphology, including the engineering and insurance industries.

This book integrates diversified methodologies of area studies, regional economic development, regional science, and related fields to draw up a strategy for forming the “regional food industrial cluster” in Northeast Asia. This is done by assigning “innovation” to a core concept, with the basic problem of food security as the horizontal axis and the areas of Northeast Asia as the vertical axis. Specifically, the principle of “collaborative advantage” as a key factor is extracted from case studies on food industrial clustering in each area. As a final objective, a practical policy recommendation is presented while the theorization of the industrial cluster is developed. Therefore it is also a challenge to the old and new issue of food security which has been argued until now.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Workshop on Algorithms in Bioinformatics, WABI 2016, held in Aarhus, Denmark. The 25 full papers together with 2 invited talks presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 54 submissions.The selected papers cover a wide range of topics from networks, tophylogenetic studies, sequence and genome analysis, comparative genomics, and mass spectrometry data analysis.

This book includes a selection of revised and extended versions of the best papers from the seventh International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence (IJCCI 2015), held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 12 to 14 November 2015, which was composed of three co-located conferences: The International Conference on Evolutionary Computation Theory and Applications (ECTA), the International Conference on Fuzzy Computation Theory and Applications (FCTA), and the International Conference on Neural Computation Theory and Applications (NCTA). The book presents recent advances in scientific developments and applications in these three areas, reflecting the IJCCI's commitment to high quality standards.

This book provides an overview of covered karst types, covered karst features, functioning of covered karst features, the evolution of covered karst features and the development of covered karst reliefs. The introductory chapters present the characteristics of karst, the investigated areas and the applied methods. The covered karsts are categorized according to the quality and development of the superficial deposit and its geomorphological position and environment. The morphology, development, functioning, sediment development and the transformation of the karst features are presented. The relationship between the covered karst formation and climate is analyzed; including the covered karst formation of the tundra climate, taiga climate, temperate zone climate, subtropical, tropical climate and the high mountains. The manifestation of the human activity on covered karsts is presented.

The aim of the atlas is to provide images of taphonomic modifications, making it as comprehensive as possible with evidence presently available. This volume is intended both as a field guide for identifying taphonomic modifications in the field, and for use in the laboratory when collections of fossils are being analyzed. Images in the book are a combination of scanning electron micrographs, regular photographs, cross-sections of bones and line drawings and graphs. By providing good quality illustrations of taphonomic modifications, with links between similar types of modification, the atlas provides a reference source for identifying the agents responsible for the modifications, the processes by which they were formed, and the potential bias introduced by the processes.The authors also aim to emphasize on the directions they consider taphonomic studies should be headed. Firstly, we should seek to quantify the degree of bias introduced into a fossil fauna and to take account of this bias before interpreting the palaeoecology of the fossil site. Secondly, we should recognize that taphonomic modifications increase the information encoded in fossils by identifying perimortem and postmortem contexts. This provides a more dynamic and realistic view of the past.

In the last quarter century, advances in mass spectrometry (MS) have been at the forefront of efforts to map complex biological systems including the human metabolome, proteome, and microbiome. All of these developments have allowed MS to become a well-established molecular level technology for microorganism characterization. MS has demonstrated its considerable advantage as a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective method for microorganism identification, compared to conventional phenotypic techniques. In the last several years, applications of MS for microorganism characterization in research, clinical microbiology, counter-bioterrorism, food safety, and environmental monitoring have been documented in thousands of publications. Regulatory bodies in Europe, the US, and elsewhere have approved MS-based assays for infectious disease diagnostics. As of mid-2015, more than 3300 commercial MS systems for microorganism identification have been deployed worldwide in hospitals and clinical labs. While previous work has covered broader approaches in using MS to characterize microorganisms at the species level or above, this book focuses on strain-level and subtyping applications. In twelve individual chapters, innovators, leaders and practitioners in the field from around the world have contributed to a comprehensive overview of current and next-generation approaches for MS-based microbial characterization at the subspecies and strain levels. Chapters include up-to-date reference lists as well as web-links to databases, recommended software, and other useful tools. The emergence of new, antibiotic-resistant strains of human or animal pathogens is of extraordinary concern not only to the scientific and medical communities, but to the general public as well. Developments of novel MS-based assays for rapid identification of strains of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms are reviewed in the book as well. Microbiologists, bioanalytical scientists, infectious disease specialists, clinical laboratory and public health practitioners as well as researchers in universities, hospitals, government labs, and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will find this book to be a timely and valuable resource.

The book covers nonlinear physical problems and mathematical modeling, including molecular biology, genetics, neurosciences, artificial intelligence with classical problems in mechanics and astronomy and physics. The chapters present nonlinear mathematical modeling in life science and physics through nonlinear differential equations, nonlinear discrete equations and hybrid equations. Such modeling can be effectively applied to the wide spectrum of nonlinear physical problems, including the KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM)) theory, singular differential equations, impulsive dichotomous linear systems, analytical bifurcation trees of periodic motions, and almost or pseudo- almost periodic solutions in nonlinear dynamical systems.

This book is based on the 55th International Conference of Machine Design Departments 2014 (ICMD 2014) which was hosted by the Czech Technical University in September 2014. It features scientific articles which solve progressive themes from the field of machine design. The book addresses a broad range of themes including tribology, hydraulics, materials science, product innovation and experimental methods. It presents the latest interdisciplinary high-tech work. People with an interest in the latest research results in the field of machine design and manufacturing engineering will value this book with contributions of leading academic scientists and experts from all around the world.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Language and Automata Theory and Applications, LATA 2016, held in Prague, Czech Republic, in March 2016. The 42 revised full papers presented together with 5 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 119 submissions. The papers cover the following topics: algebraic language theory; algorithms for semi-structured data mining, algorithms on automata and words; automata and logic; automata for system analysis and program verification; automata networks, concurrency and Petri nets; automatic structures; cellular automata, codes, combinatorics on words; computational complexity; data and image compression; descriptional complexity; digital libraries and document engineering; foundations of finite state technology; foundations of XML; fuzzy and rough languages; grammatical inference and algorithmic learning; graphs and graph transformation; language varieties and semigroups; parallel and regulated rewriting; parsing; patterns; string and combinatorial issues in computational biology and bioinformatics; string processing algorithms; symbolic dynamics; term rewriting; transducers; trees, tree languages and tree automata; weighted automata.

The soils are fundamental to our existence, delivering water and nutrients to plants, that feed us. But they are in many ways in danger and their conservation is therefore a most important focus for science, governments and society as a whole. A team of world recognised researchers have prepared this first English edition based on the 16th European edition. • The precursors and the processes of soil development • The physical, biological and chemical properties of soils • Nutrients and Pollutants • The various soil classifications with the main focus on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) • The most important soils and soil landscapes of the world • Soil Evaluation Techniques • Basic Principles of Soil Conservation Whoever works with soils needs this book.

This pioneering book addresses the entirety of river flooding issues in the Upper Vistula Basin, where considerable flood generation potential exists. It analyses the factors influencing flood risk, investigates variations in observation records and discusses projections for the future and adaptation to changing risk. It serves the general interest in understanding the floods that cause massive destruction in Europe, with dozens of fatalities and tremendous material damages. This interdisciplinary book, which covers aspects of climatology, geomorphology, hydrology, and water and flood risk management, unveils the complexity of the current situation. Access to reliable and accurate information can help solve important practical problems related to flood risk reduction strategies, and is at the core of the EU Floods Directive. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for scientists, educators and practitioners involved in water management, natural disaster reduction and adaptationto climate change.

This volume constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the First EAI International Summit, Smart City 360°, held in Bratislava, Slovakia and Toronto, ON, Canada, in October 2015.The 77 carefully reviewed papers include eight conferences: The Bratislava program covered the Conference on Sustainable Solutions beyond Mobility of Goods (SustainableMoG 2015), the MOBIDANUBE conference which strengthens research in the field of mobility opportunities and within Danube strategy, and the conference on Social Innovation and Community Aspects of Smart Cities (SmartCityCom 2015). In parallel the SmartCity360 Toronto included five conferences addressing urban mobility (SUMS), sustainable cities (S2CT), smart grids SGSC), wearable devices for health and wellbeing SWIT Health), and big data (BigDASC).

This book presents selected contributions of the 34th International School of Hydraulics that was held in May 2015 in Zelechów, Poland. It gives an overview about the state of the art in environmental hydraulics. A special emphasis is put upon physical, biochemical and ecological processes that act at interfaces in natural surface water bodies but also other important hydraulic problems are considered. The achievements of well-known researchers from all over the world as well as the results obtained by young researchers, among others within a Marie Curie funded Initial Training Network, led by the University of Padua (HYTECH - HYdrodynamic Transport at Ecologically Critical Heterogeneous Interfaces) are gathered in this volume.

This book details the crux of green fashion, addressing various environmental aspects and discussing the importance of sustainable fashion in the apparel industry. It addresses various important topics such as Relationship marketing in green fashion, Animal Ethics and Welfare in the Fashion and Lifestyle Industries, Green Flame retardants, etc.

This book provides an archival forum for researchers, academics, practitioners and industry professionals interested and/or engaged in reforming teaching and learning methods by transforming today's learning environments into smart learning environments. It will facilitate opportunities for discussions and constructive dialogue between various stakeholders on the limitations of current learning environments, the need for reform, innovative uses of emerging pedagogical approaches and technologies, and sharing and promoting best practices, which will lead to the evolution, design and implementation of smart learning environments. The focus of the contributions is on the interplay and fusion of pedagogy and technology to create these new environments. The components of this interplay include but are not limited to:Pedagogy: learning paradigms, assessment paradigms, social factors, policy Technology: emerging technologies, innovative uses of mature technologies, adoption, usability, standards, and emerging/new technological paradigms (open educational resources, cloud computing, etc.)Fusion of pedagogy and technology: transformation of curricula, transformation of teaching behavior, transformation of administration, best practices of infusion, piloting of new ideas.