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Detailing the estimation and perception of nuclear risk, this book follows military and civilian nuclear accidents, plus the systems put in place by national and international authorities for recording and analyzing feedback. Prevention and anticipation being the best defenses against a nuclear accident, the authorities have also categorized the different types of accidents, and are doing research to better understand and control them. In light of this, this book shows how the authorities take practical measures to protect neighboring populations and limit radioactive contamination of the environment. France�s experience in this arena is well-documented and a chapter of this book is devoted to the fight against terrorist attacks in the nuclear field. Nuclear Accidents is based on scientifically-recognized publications, as well as on reports from the various countries concerned, and the national and international organizations competent in this field (IAEA, WHO, UNSCEAR, IRSN, etc.).
Digital models based on data from medical images have recently become widespread in the field of biomechanics. This book summarizes medical imaging techniques and processing procedures, both of which are necessary for creating bone models with finite element methods. Chapter 1 introduces the main principles and the application of the most commonly used medical imaging techniques. Chapter 2 describes the major methods and steps of medical image analysis and processing. Chapter 3 presents a brief review of recent studies on reconstructed finite element bone models, based on medical images. Finally, Chapter 4 reveals the digital results obtained for the main bone sites that have been targeted by finite element modeling in recent years.
"Scientific research uses concepts (or constructs) and requires means to measure them. Often latent, abstract and not directly observable, these concepts demand special attention. When facing problems related to their operationalization, considerable efforts are required to construe measures that effectively represent the phenomena studied. Measurement in Marketing presents a wide range of ideas to help researchers in the selection, design and validation of measurements of constructs. It analyzes the provisions that must be implemented to allow the transition from a latent conceptual construct to an operational level close to reality, and thus to make possible a fluid, reliable and valid reading of the phenomena observed. This instructive book guides readers through all stages of the implementation of a measure. It is intended for a wide audience, offering examples, summary tables and boxes in order to emphasize the primary information."--Back cover.
The analysis of kinship plays a major role in social anthropology. However, the intellectual triumph of structuralism has transformed this analysis into an ivory tower and the methodological hegemony of functionalism inhibits any historical authority. Kinship, Ecology and History informs the reader of these old, yet long-lasting issues. By presenting new, original perspectives, this book reinvents the manner in which we can study kinship. It also examines ecology and history as a conjectural reflection, which make up the foundations on which human kinship can be reflected upon. Whether human kinship is understood in the form of systematics models or as articulated practices, it has to be conceived as a strategic means for modes of action and of transformation of life in society. The three case studies presented in this book give body to new issues. They deconstruct the existing models in order to re-establish kinship as a condition and consequence of social evolution.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of opinion-heavy texts on the Web: opinions of Internet users, comments on social networks, etc. Automating the synthesis of opinions has become crucial to gaining an overview on a given topic. Current automatic systems perform well on classifying the subjective or objective character of a document. However, classifications obtained from polarity analysis remain inconclusive, due to the algorithms' inability to understand the subtleties of human language. Automatic Detection of Irony presents, in three stages, a supervised learning approach to predicting whether a tweet is ironic or not. The book begins by analyzing some everyday examples of irony and presenting a reference corpus. It then develops an automatic irony detection model for French tweets that exploits semantic traits and extralinguistic context. Finally, it presents a study of portability in a multilingual framework (Italian, English, Arabic).
Recently, UNESCO has gradually started to recognize world geoparks ? territorial spaces with a geological heritage of international importance. This classification presents real challenges. Development strategies must align with the recommendations advocated by various non-governmental organizations. It is also necessary to involve the local actors, both in the preparation of application forms and in the implementation of a management plan that is suitable for sustainable global development. Managing the tensions and asymmetries that exist between the different groups of actors (politicians, managers, scientists, representatives of local populations) constitutes another major issue. It is in this context and through various case studies that this book questions the aims of the UNESCO global geoparks ? in terms of heritage inventory and conservation, the participation of local populations, the local development of a territory and its enhancement through heritage interpretation.
Interdisciplinarity research results from a growing need for multi-perspective methods, and knowledge on complex and multifaceted objects of study. It is not simply scientific research that involves several disciplines, but ultimately, the aim is confronting this knowledge and - if possible - articulating it coherently. Using specific examples, Methods and Interdisciplinarity categorizes the different modes of interdisciplinarity and discusses the mechanisms of hybridization between them. On the one hand, the book shows how the same issue can be treated according to various points of view from several disciplines, which can give rise to complementary or even contradictory knowledge. On the other hand, it illustrates how methods from some disciplines make it possible to articulate the qualitative or quantitative approaches of others.
Technological innovations, sociological and consumer trends, and growing internationalization are transforming the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). These changes present new challenges for CCIs that require original and inventive answers. Innovation in the Cultural and Creative Industries analyzes the powerful strategies put in place by CCI organizations such as Nintendo, the Lascaux Cave and Daft Punk. The case studies presented in this book cover video games, books, music, museums, fashion, film and architecture. Each chapter is organized around five key points: a theoretical framework that focuses on a specific concept, a description of the methodological mechanism mobilized, a presentation of the industry concerned, the analysis of the innovative strategy and a recap of the lessons and best practices demonstrated by the case.
Based on the paradigms of economics and management, inspired by the history of technology and the sociology of technological change, the concepts of shared inventions and competitive innovations make it possible to analyze the industrialization of the world in a fresh and efficient way. As a new approach, shared inventions are classified in this book as a set of existing knowledge that�s often associated with the rediscovery of old techniques. Determining capitalized and collective intelligence, this knowledge and reinvention allows us to create inventions which will be shared, first in their construction, then in their use. Another new approach is that these competitive innovations are defined in World Industrialization by associations of experiences of competitively-motivated actors - actors seeking to complement existing techniques by increasing their competitive power. These shared inventions and competitive innovations will also be defined by trajectories identifying their modes of creation, enabling us to overcome the peculiarities of these actions and competitions. This book also highlights four key areas in global industrialization: the emergence of machinism with the defense of Arts and Crafts from 1698-1760; the changes the Industrial Revolution wrought in developed nations from 1760-1850; the link between technology and social relations within modern companies from 1850-1914; and, from 1914 onwards, the birth of extended machinism, its world wars and its global crises.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is arguably the most significant tool that marketeers have to push online content. As the hub of the computational engineering fields, SEO encompasses technical, editorial and link-building strategies, and is an integral part of our daily lives. As important as it is ubiquitous, SEO is needed for the development of a brand�s website and online reputation. When a website is live, one of its priorities is to drive organic traffic towards it, in order to attract visibility. In order to achieve such an aim, many proactive measures must be put in place, advice followed and tips implemented. There should also be an understanding of the holistic connection between a website�s HTML sources, content management system and its relationship with external websites too (SEO off-site). There are many different search engines in the world and depending on the international boundary, one web browser usually dominates the landscape. Google features prominently in SEO Management, but this book also goes into detail regarding Baidu SEO (China), Yandex SEO (Russia) and Naver SEO (South Korea). There is also guidance given on how to manage a SEO project.
Based around the image of a carousel, this book uses epistemological theory to tackle the paradoxical acceleration and deceleration of time that is experienced by many. The consequence of this paradox is the observance of the past, present and future coinciding, where acceleration is combined with perfect immobility. The Carousel of Time proposes a model that focuses on a complex network of individual actors, and their relation to the analysis, structure and evolution of our socio-cognitive space-time. The first part of the book, "Foundations", presents the key bases of this model, as well as the notions that must be understood and integrated. The book then analyzes the concept of "Space", defining the parameters of the network's boundaries, and finishes with an exploration of "Time". This third part links the temporality of the network to its spatial characteristics and studies its evolution.
The status of knowledge management (KM) as a mature science has long been recognized in the academic world. However, in the economic arena, its connection with companies and organizations has been more gradual. Jean-Louis Ermine established a theoretical and practical framework for KM in his book, Knowledge Management: The Creative Loop - issued by the same publishers as this book. In this latest tome, practical examples are illustrated with real case studies. Modeled on the four-step operational approach inspired by �the creative loop�, this book includes four sets of real case studies - each one following the basic presentation of the fundamental material per step. Knowledge Management in Innovative Companies 1 is especially useful for practitioners, as there are numerous illustrations based on best practices for each specific KM step and for global project implementation. Indeed, the last chapter is dedicated to the implementation of a global KM corporate project.
As new information and communication technologies (NICTs) increasingly reorganize our practices and influence our daily lives, there is a pressing need to study their impact in the field of hospital logistics and to question their future use. Hospital Logistics and e-Management presents an inventory of the health information system, and deals with informational and logistical issues with regard to medical information. Through two case studies of hospital logistics systems which have drawn on academic research, this book examines how powerful decision support tools can improve the quality of patient service and logistics organization. The first case study deals with the influx of patients to emergency services and service organization, and the second with the optimization of product collection and distribution flows.
The conception of lasers and optoelectronic devices such as solar cells have been made possible, thanks to the modern day mastery of processes that harness the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. This first volume is dedicated to thermal radiation and experimental facts that reveal the quantification of matter. The study of black body radiation allows the introduction of fundamental precepts such as Planck�s law and the energy-related qualities that characterize radiation. The properties of light and wave-particle duality are also examined, based on the interpretation of light interferences, the photoelectric effect and the Compton effect. This book goes on to investigate the hydrogen atomic emission spectrum and how it dovetails into our understanding of quantum numbers to describe the energy, angular momentum, magnetic moment and spin of an electron. A look at the spectroscopic notation of the states explains the different wavelengths measured from the splitting of spectral lines. Finally, this first volume is completed by the study of de Broglie�s wave theory and Heisenberg�s uncertainty principle, which facilitated the advancement of quantum mechanics.
This book brings together a selection of the scientific results of the RI ADAPTCLIM project (International Network on Risk Assessment and Climatic Adaptation of Civil Engineering and Buildings Works). Funded by the Pays de la Loire region in France as part of the 2014 Stratégie Internationale call for projects, research teams from the scientific group LiRGeC (ECN, UN, IFSTTAR, CSTB) and several international partners contributed their human, experimental and digital resources. RI-ADAPTCLIM was established to study the short- and medium term effects of climatic conditions on buildings, infrastructures and the ground. Following an integrated, interdisciplinary and multi-physics approach, the researchers proposed decision support tools that would increase the resilience of structures and buildings against the impact of hazards due to climate change.
Mastering chance has, for a long time, been a preoccupation of mathematical research. Today, we possess a predictive approach to the evolution of systems based on the theory of probabilities. Even so, uncovering this subject is sometimes complex, because it necessitates a good knowledge of the underlying mathematics. This book offers an introduction to the processes linked to the fluctuations in chance and the use of numerical methods to approach solutions that are difficult to obtain through an analytical approach. It takes classic examples of inventory and queueing management, and addresses more diverse subjects such as equipment reliability, genetics, population dynamics, physics and even market finance. It is addressed to those at Master�s level, at university, engineering school or management school, but also to an audience of those in continuing education, in order that they may discover the vast field of decision support.
Those tasked with the planning and construction of infrastructure and development operations face an increasingly uncertain context in which they must address risks across a number of different fields. These range from the environmental and archaeological to the social, political and financial. As a consequence, the formal and informal practices of stakeholders often incorporate projections of risk and opportunity. Project Risks analyzes this paradigm shift. It reviews the origin and nature of these uncertainties, and the practices implemented by the actors to mitigate or take advantage of them. Paradoxically, these practices generate new risks and power relations that are not compatible with the collaborative planning model. These paradoxes force the rethinking of practices such as project territorialization, risk taking in planning and the responsibility of actors, as well as the societal and political choices that must be made between the realization of projects and the protection of the environment.
This book is an introduction to the linguistic concepts of argumentation relevant for argument mining, an important research and development activity which can be viewed as a highly complex form of information retrieval, requiring high-level natural language processing technology. While the first four chapters develop the linguistic and conceptual aspects of argument expression, the last four are devoted to their application to argument mining. These chapters investigate the facets of argument annotation, as well as argument mining system architectures and evaluation. How annotations may be used to develop linguistic data and how to train learning algorithms is outlined. A simple implementation is then proposed. The book ends with an analysis of non-verbal argumentative discourse. Argument Mining is an introductory book for engineers or students of linguistics, artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Most, if not all, the concepts of argumentation crucial for argument mining are carefully introduced and illustrated in a simple manner.
Mobile Robotics presents the different tools and methods that enable the design of mobile robots; a discipline booming with the emergence of flying drones, underwater mine-detector robots, robot sailboats and vacuum cleaners. Illustrated with simulations, exercises and examples, this book describes the fundamentals of modeling robots, developing the concepts of actuators, sensors, control and guidance. Three-dimensional simulation tools are also explored, as well as the theoretical basis for the reliable localization of robots within their environment. This revised and updated edition contains additional exercises and a completely new chapter on the Bayes filter, an observer that enhances our understanding of the Kalman filter and facilitates certain proofs.
Estimation of Stochastic Processes is intended for researchers in the field of econometrics, financial mathematics, statistics or signal processing. This book gives a deep understanding of spectral theory and estimation techniques for stochastic processes with stationary increments. It focuses on the estimation of functionals of unobserved values for stochastic processes with stationary increments, including ARIMA processes, seasonal time series and a class of cointegrated sequences. Furthermore, this book presents solutions to extrapolation (forecast), interpolation (missed values estimation) and filtering (smoothing) problems based on observations with and without noise, in discrete and continuous time domains. Extending the classical approach applied when the spectral densities of the processes are known, the minimax method of estimation is developed for a case where the spectral information is incomplete and the relations that determine the least favorable spectral densities for the optimal estimations are found.
The scientific expedition of H.M.S. Challenger in the 1870s marks the starting point of physical oceanography. This ship traveled the seas of the globe pursuing a dual objective: to conduct an in-depth study of animal life and to observe the physical properties of ocean waters. Volume 3 focuses on measurements and modeling of liquid compressibility. Based on the work initiated by the physicist Peter Tait, a detailed presentation of liquid equations-of-state is proposed. The physical interpretation of the parameters of these equations is discussed, leading to a description of the "structure" of liquid media. From Deep Sea to Laboratory is available in three volumes for curious readers drawn to travel, history and science. Students, researchers and teachers of physics, fluid mechanics and oceanography will find material to deepen their knowledge.
For chemists, attempting to mimic nature by synthesizing complex natural products from raw material is a challenge that is fraught with pitfalls. To tackle this unique but potentially rewarding task, researchers can rely on well-established reactions and methods of practice, or apply their own synthesis methods to verify their potential. Whatever the goal and its complexity, there are multiple ways of achieving it. We must now establish a strategic and effective plan that requires the minimum number of steps, but lends itself to widespread use. This book is structured around the study of a dozen target products (butyrolactone, macrolide, indole compound, cyclobutanic terpene, spiro- and polycyclic derivatives, etc.). For each product, the different disconnections are presented and the associated syntheses are analyzed step by step. The key reactions are described explicitly, followed by diagrams showing the range of impact of certain transformations. This set of data alone is conducive to understanding syntheses and indulging in this difficult, but worthwhile activity.
To formalize the dynamics of living things is to search for invariants in a system that contains an irreducible aspect of "fuzziness", because biological processes are characterized by their large statistical variability, and strong dependence on temporal and environmental factors. What is essential is the identification of what remains stable in a "living being" that is highly fluctuating. The use of mathematics is not limited to the use of calculating tools to simulate and predict results. It also allows us to adopt a way of thinking that is founded on concepts and hypotheses, leading to their discussion and validation. Instruments of mathematical intelligibility and coherence have gradually "fashioned" the view we now have of biological systems. Teaching and research, fundamental or applied, are now dependent on this new order known as Integrative Biology or Systems Biology.
Information, Knowledge and Agile Creativity will enlighten entrepreneurs, and is ideal for facilitating an organization's ability to react and adapt to its environment. Creativity is a system that engenders innovation. While integral at the conception stage, it is also important before and after this phase. This book offers a collection of tools, as well as a methodology, to estimate the agility of an organization to generate and transform ideas into solutions that are not only new but also adapted to their users. To this end, this book presents strategic foresight and problem comprehension methods; tools of sharing and visual information formatting; animation tips for creativity workshops; techniques for generating ideas; and tools for visualizing and mapping ideas, information, and knowledge.
Statistical tools are indispensable for the environmental sciences. They have become an integral part of the scientific process, from the development of the sampling plan to the obtainment of results. Statistics in Environmental Sciences provides the foundation for the interpretation of quantitative data (basic vocabulary, main laws of probabilities, etc.) and the thinking behind sampling and experimental methodology. It also introduces the principles of statistical tests such as decision theory and examines the key choices in statistical tests, while keeping the established objectives in mind. The book examines the most used statistics in the field of environmental sciences. Detailed descriptions based on concrete examples are given, as well as descriptions obtained through the use of the free software R (whose usage is also presented).
The legitimacy of environmental policies is an issue of increasing concern for analysts. Ecological stakes are deemed to be global, but global public decisions are rare and implemented with difficulty. Dissensus prevails on environmental ethics and there is little evidence of any greening of policy tools. The global framing of the environment fails to account for how people relate to the ecological realities which surround them. Rather than placing the environment at a distance, Politicization of Ecological Issues advocates for building legitimacy from people's perceptions of singular forms and patterns in their environment. Based on scholarly literature in political ecology and empirical cases of water policy in Europe, the book shows how the qualification of environmental realities has been politicized and translated into motives for public action. Similarly, it argues that theoretical debates addressing the ecological crisis are not only dealing with ideas, but rather advocating for specific environmental forms that are deemed to be motives of hope or worry.
As time goes on, big companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple become increasingly interested in virtual assistants. The interest and development of social robots has put research into affective and social computing at the forefront of the scene. The aim of Opinion Analysis in Interactions is to present methods based on artificial intelligence through a combination of machine learning models and symbolic approaches. Also discussed are natural language processing and affective computing, via the analysis and generation of socio-emotional signals. The book explores the analysis of opinions in human-human interaction and tackles the less-explored (yet crucial) challenges related to the analysis methods of user opinions within the context of human-agent interaction. It also illustrates the implementation of strategies for selecting and generating agent utterances in response to user opinions, and opens up perspectives on the agent's multimodal generation of utterances that hold attitudes.
Business Intelligence (BI) has emerged as a field which seeks to support managers in decision-making. It encompasses the techniques, methods and tools for conducting analytically-based IT solutions, which are referred to as OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing). Within this field, SQL has a role as a leader and is continuously evolving to cover both transactional and analytical data management. This book discusses the functions provided by Microsoft(R) SQL Server 2014/2016 in terms of business intelligence. The analytic functions are considered as an enrichment of the SQL language. They combine a series of practical functions to answer complex analysis requests with all the simplicity, elegance and acquired performance of the SQL language. Drawing on the wide experience of the author in teaching and research, as well as insights from contacts in the industry, this book focuses on the issues and difficulties faced by academics (students and teachers) and professionals engaged in data analysis with the SQL Server 2014/2016 database management system.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the digital and graphical representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a structure. It provides a reliable basis for decisions throughout a building's lifecycle, and with BIM it is possible to design, plan, build and track projects. In particular, BIM has sparked a transformation of the railway sector. Railway Information Modeling RIM is a compilation of two years' worth of academic, conceptual and practical research on the integration of BIM into railway. It summarizes and focuses on a survey carried out by the authors, who are experts in the field. The book also contains a literature review and a case study to demonstrate the benefits and sustainability of BIM integration, and finishes with the practical steps and considerations for the successful management of the integration process.
In the last few decades, metamaterials have revolutionized the ways in which waves are controlled, and applied in physics and practical situations. The extraordinary properties of metamaterials, such as their locally resonant structure with deep subwavelength band gaps and their ranges of frequency where propagation is impossible, have opened the way to a host of applications that were previously unavailable. Acoustic metamaterials have been able to replace traditional treatments in several sectors, due to their better performance in targeted and tunable frequency ranges with strongly reduced dimensions. This is a training book composed of nine chapters written by experts in the field, giving a broad overview of acoustic metamaterials and their uses. The book is divided into three parts, covering the state-of-the-art, the fundamentals and the real-life applications of acoustic metamaterials.
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