Bøger udgivet af Springer Nature Singapore

This book looks into the processes sustaining the administrative reform in Chinese local government and the roles of different actors during different phases by tracing a vivid administrative reform process in Shunde district, Guangdong province between 2009 and 2014. In 2008, Chinese central government initiated a new round of large-scale, top-to-bottom administrative reform¿¿mega-ministry¿ administrative reform¿to address the long-lasting administrative problems. Against this background, the reforms in Shunde government (county level) operated well and sustained for several years, which was enlarged to the administrative licensing field and hence influenced Chinäs reforms in the following 10 years. Shunde case could allow us a better peep at the factors that contribute to the sustenance of reform. The analyses in this book find that sustenance of reform reflects, ironically, the logics of both path dependence and path creation. The past reform trajectories have created a favorable background for further reform to evolve, and a receptive ground in which exogenous forces interacted with the local reform-minded actors to create the new reform innovations. The combination of path dependence and path creation kept local reform afloat.

This book presents a novel method of engineering to create advanced frugal products from scratch. It outlines a frugal design and frugal manufacturing approach, and delineates concepts and principles underlying different types of frugal innovations. The contents present advanced frugal innovations (AFIs) in a variety of sectors bringing out their widespread presence in rich and emerging economies of the world. This book discusses applications of such innovations in aerospace, automotive, healthcare, particle-physics, and other important sectors, emphasizing the significant potential of frugal engineering. AFIs are not jugaad, rather, they are engineered to harness frugality with cutting-edge research using classical and modern scientific principles. Frugal engineering uses advances in science and other knowledge-areas, including 3D printing, biomimetics, artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, and others, to frugalize pillars of engineering in modern problems. This book willbe of interest to academics, industry professionals, policymakers, product designers and developers, among others. It introduces the reader to the wonderful world of frugal engineering. In doing so, this book shines light on the significant difference that meticulous creation of these innovations through systematic application of science, engineering, and other knowledge-bases can make to the cause of sustainable development. Frugal engineering of AFIs is indispensable to achieving the sustainable development goals. We can help manage our every growing need for energy and resources effectively by going frugal in the current age of climate change.

This book introduces recent advances in implants and surgical techniques for osteoporotic fractures. It covers most frequent fractures especially in the geriatric population, such as fractures of the hip, distal radius, proximal humerus, peri-prosthetic fractures and drug associated atypical femoral fractures, etc. The book details special surgical techniques which are required to treat these challenging and complex fractures. It also covers the current concept of geriatric fracture care and encompasses the holistic management of these patients from surgical management of the fracture to rehabilitation and prevention of subsequent fragility fractures.

This book presents research advancements in the dynamics of systems with time delay conducted by the group led by Professor Jian Xu. Addressing the challenges arising from the joint impact of time delay and nonlinearity, novel theoretical approaches are developed to formulate the nonlinear response of the system. This facilitates the classification of complex nonlinear dynamics, especially the non-resonant and resonant double Hopf bifurcation. In contrast to systems without time delay, time delay systems require specific considerations when identifying system parameters, particularly the time delay. Consequently, inverse problems of systems with time delay are also explored in this book. Moreover, detailed investigations on vibration suppression methods and experimental prototypes based on time delay, such as time delay isolators with quasi-zero stiffness, are conducted. Simultaneously, this book is enriched with a large number of case studies ranging from manufacturing, network science, biology, and public transportation, illuminating the mechanisms of delay-induced nonlinear dynamics in practical applications. This book is suitable for graduate students and researchers who are eager to understand the delay-induced nonlinear dynamics, or technical personnel in whose projects small variations of time delay may cause significant changes in system responses.

This book describes the disability rights movement that started in the USA and its influence on the disability rights movement in Lebanon, which has led to the endorsement of the Lebanese Disability Act 220/2000. The book introduces the reader to the Lebanese Disability Act 220/ 2000, its definition of disability, and its relation to the medical and social models of disabilities and then articulate the Act articles. Then, it defines the inclusive design paradigm that acknowledges the needs of all people at each stage of their life cycle and presents the difference between inclusive design and accessibility and disability notions. Moreover, the book reviews the different international accessible design standards (American and French) that are adopted in Lebanon with the absence of a nationalized Lebanese design standard and its effect on eliminating barriers and enhancing accessibility at university buildings. Besides, the book presents students' experiences and their satisfaction with the university built environments. 6 university buildings case studies at the American University of Beirut are assessed and analysed to check whether they adopt the inclusive design approach and then propose inclusive design solutions for both heritage and modern university buildings. What makes the book unique is its combination of empirical and theoretical application of inclusive design. The last section, reflects the author¿s inclusive design teaching pedagogy. In this section, the author shares samples of students¿ class design project and provides recommendations and guidelines for teaching inclusive design so it becomes mainstream.

This book includes original, peer-reviewed research papers from the 14th China Academic Conference on Printing and Packaging (CACPP 2023), held in Beijing, China on November 24-26, 2023. The proceedings cover the latest findings in color science and technology, image processing technology, digital media technology, mechanical and electronic engineering and numerical control, materials and detection, printing and packaging technology, and so on. As such, the book is of interest to university researchers, R&D engineers and graduate students in the fields of color science, image science, materials science, computer science, digital media, network technology, smart manufacturing technology and printing and packaging.

This book focuses on discrete element methods for arbitrarily shaped granular materials, including super-quadric models, spherical harmonic functions and level set methods, and numerical analysis of the flow characteristics of non-spherical granular materials. This book is used as a reference book for scientific researchers engaged in dynamic analysis of granular materials and optimal design of equipment structures in the fields of engineering mechanics, applied physics, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering, as well as for graduate students or senior undergraduates of related majors in institutions of higher education.

This book, drawing from internationally renowned scales like Bayley and Gesell, develops a child developmental assessment scale based on research data from Chinese children. It stands as a meticulous creation of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, a national-level institution for children¿s development research in China. The scale demonstrates good reliability and validity, meeting psychometric standards in various statistical aspects. In the revised scale, developmental quotients are classified into six levels, distributions of percentiles for developmental quotients are provided, and screening indices for autism spectrum disorders are added. In doing so, the revised scale can not only identify developmental delays but also concurrently screen for autism spectrum disorder risks, providing a foundational reference for tracking children¿s developmental status in follow-up studies. The book holds vital value and significance in fostering communication among scholars from universities and research institutions, as well as pediatricians, neurologists, and rehabilitation specialists in hospitals.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th China Health Information Processing Conference, CHIP 2023, held in Hangzhou, China, during October 27¿29, 2023. The 27 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 66 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: healthcare information extraction; healthcare natural language processing; healthcare data mining and applications.

This book presents several robust sliding mode protocols for achieving the formation and tracking of Quadcopter swarm for a given pattern. In entire book, the concept of leader-follower formation control of a multi-agent system is exploited for deriving the protocols and the graph theory is used to represent the communication between the Quadcopters. The book covers two types of formation protocols of the Quadcopter swarm namely, continuous-time sliding mode protocols and discrete-time sliding mode protocols. First, the continuous-time higher order sliding mode protocols using super-twisting algorithm are designed for formation using linear and non-linear models of Quadcopter. Then, the discrete-time sliding mode protocols using power rate reaching law, discrete-time super twisting algorithm, and exponential reaching law are presented. The protocols are thoroughly analysed for robustness, chattering, control effort, and convergence time for achieving the formation. Also, the stability conditions using the Lyapunov function are derived to ensure the stability of the swarm with each protocol. Further, each chapter includes extensive simulation and comparative studies to show the efficacy of each protocol. The book will be useful to graduate students, research scholars, and professionals working in the domain of civilian and military usage of the drone technology.

This book showcases a portion of the iM3F 2023 conference proceedings, focusing on the recent advancement in sustainable manufacturing and materials. It emphasizes recent progress, significant advancements, and challenges to the materials science and engineering community, along with the emergence of intelligent manufacturing engineering and technology while addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The book discusses both traditional and advanced approaches used in various sustainable manufacturing and materials applications. Readers can expect to gain a comprehensive understanding of current trends, challenges, solutions, and mitigating factors from this publication.

This edited collection develops a more balanced understanding of the dilemmas, challenges and opportunities associated with youth policy formulation and implementation in contemporary Saudi Arabia. It does so by considering the dilemmas, challenges and opportunities present in the contemporary Saudi sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural spheres, as well as ways and means by which these can be addressed. Underpinning this is a comprehension of the necessity in understanding policies and processes as related to youth policy formulation and implementation. With regards to Saudi youth policy, decision makers want to be able to prioritize the most important issues. As such, policy and decision makers need ¿direction¿ in terms of policy formulation, policy recommendations and policy implementation - that is, they are often searching for viable policies that resonate with young Saudis. Furthermore, lessons can be learnt from previous youth policy initiatives by asking: Why was thispolicy successful? If this policy failed, what were the reasons? Did this policy resonate with young nationals? This edited book unpacks the ways in which comprehending policies and processes are important for youth policy development and implementation in Saudi Arabia. It is relevant to policymakers, as well as scholars in Gulf Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies more broadly, as well as those in youth studies, area studies, and social studies.

This book is designed to serve as a textbook for courses on renewable energy technology targetted at upper undergraduate or graduate students. This book can also be used as a core or supplementary text for courses in energy conservation and management and solar photo-voltaic design and application. This textbook covers the basic concepts of renewable energy resources, especially wind and solar energy. It contains 8 chapters covering all major renewable energy systems, resources, and related topics, as well as a brief introductory chapter on grid integration techniques in solar and wind energy systems. The book includes pedagogical features like examples and review questions and multiple choice questions to help the readers test their understanding. Reading lists, including web-based material, are included at the end of each chapter. The structure and pedagogy makes this book useful for self-study as well as for classroom use. The book can also be used as text for professional development courses for engineers employed in the energy industry.

The book gathers the emerging technologies and applications in various disciplines involving green building, smart infrastructure and 3D Printing, which are presented in high-quality papers of GBCESC. Moreover, by sharing knowledge and experiences around emerging civil engineering and smart city, the book aims to provide readers with an overview of the emerging trends in the fields of green building, Civil Engineering and Smart City. The topics covered include Structural Engineering, Geological Engineering, Smart Cities, Urban Planning and Design, Construction Technology, green building technology, etc. This book will be useful for researchers and professionals in designing, building, and managing sustainable buildings and infrastructure.

This book focuses on "doing Chinese philosophy", the concept of which is a derivative form of Ludwig Wittgenstein's expression "doing philosophy". On the one hand, its approach differs from the traditional philosophical study method, which tends to discuss rather than do; on the other, it focuses on the unique features of Chinese philosophy. The concept of "Chinese philosophy" combines classical philosophy and contemporary philosophy. Whether classical Chinese philosophy still holds power depends on its ability to compete with contemporary philosophies (from the West, or ideology). At the very least, it has to convincingly show that classical thought has a unique role in interpreting and shaping the function of modern spiritual culture. Providing insights into China's excellent philosophical ideas, this book will appeal to all readers who have a basic understanding of philosophy and are interested in Chinese philosophical thought. It not only explains the author's proposal for studying Chinese philosophy in terms of methodology, but also answers the question of how classic Chinese works should influence other cultures.

This book presents select proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development (IACESD 2023) hosted under the aegis of the Group of Twenty (G20) and Civil 20 (C20) at Jyothy Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, India. The topics covered include sustainable and resilient communities, sustainable construction materials, disaster resilient infrastructure, nano-composites and bio-composites, sustainable geotechnics and earthquake engineering. This book serves as a resource material for researchers and industry professionals interested in disaster risk reduction.

This book provides a systematic presentation of the major results in the field of the theory of k-out-of-n systems obtained in recent years and their applications for the reliability assessment of high-altitude unmanned platforms. Mathematical models, methods, and algorithms, presented in the book, will make a significant contribution to the development of reliability theory and the theoretical foundations of unmanned UAV-based aerial communications networks in the framework of the concept of creating the 5G and beyond networks. The book gives a description of new mathematical methods and approaches (based on decomposable semi-regenerative processes, simulation and machine learning methods, and inventory models) to the study of the complex k-out-of-n systems, which makes it possible to carry out numerical calculations of reliability indicators. Organized into five chapters, each chapter begins with a summary of the main definitions andresults contained in the chapter. The content of this book is based on the original results developed by the authors, many of which appear for the first time in book form.

This book explains why universities, and academics within them, must engage with the diversity of knowledges and knowers that exist in the world. Through philosophical perspectives, theoretical frameworks and practical examples from around the world, the book searches for opportunities for renewal and inclusion in universities. It explains how higher education can better serve the purposes of social justice by re-evaluating the types of knowledge it promotes. Going beyond the identification and analysis of injustices in ways of knowing in academia, the book offers insights and examples of practices in teaching, research and work with the community which aim to move towards justice on an epistemic level. It argues that inclusion in the domain of knowledge can lead to the generation of knowledges and understandings that are more robust and better equipped to address the pressing needs of the plural worlds outside the university.Contributions are included from authors working in varied disciplinary and cultural contexts in universities, who describe and explicate their work towards identifying epistemic injustice and finding spaces to advance knowledge justice in theory and in practice. The book will be beneficial to academics and those with an interest in the role of universities in serving the public good.

This book serves as an illuminating introduction to the intricacies of the geometry of numbers. It commences by exploring basic concepts of convex sets and lattices in Euclidean space and goes on to delve into Minkowski¿s fundamental theorem for convex bodies and its applications. It discusses critical determinants and successive minima before explaining the core results of packings and coverings. The text goes on to delve into the significance of renowned conjectures such as Minkowski¿s conjecture regarding the product of linear forms, Watson¿s conjecture, and the conjecture of Bambah, Dumir, and Hans-Gill concerning non-homogeneous minima of indefinite quadratic forms. Dedicated to Prof. R.P. Bambah on his 98th birthday, a living legend of number theory in India, this comprehensive book addresses both homogeneous and non-homogeneous problems, while sprinkling in historical insights and highlighting unresolved questions in the field. It is ideally suited for beginnersembarking on self-study as well as for use as a text for a one- or two-semester introductory course.

The book reports on the development and validation of a computerized adaptive EFL test, which is used as an exit requirement for non-English-major undergraduates at a major Chinese university. Unlike the tests reported in previous research on computerized adaptive language test (CALT), which were mostly designed to assess vocabulary, grammar and reading, this test consists of listening and reading components using both dichotomously-scored stand-alone items and polytomously-scored testlet-based items. The book is an essential and stimulating read for researchers and graduate students in the testing domain, particularly for those who are interested in CALT, item response theory (IRT), and quantitative research methods in general. It also constitutes a solid reference resource for L2 teachers and test developers. One of the distinctive features of the book is its operationalization of assessment use argument (AUA) in the investigation of the construct validity of the CALT. Another strength of this book is that it provides insight into the specific procedures that are followed in the development of CALTs and addresses a few key issues, such as local item dependence and DIF detection that were ignored in previous CALT development research.

This book aims to collect the latest theoretical and technological ideas in design and construction for different kinds of oceanic wave energy converters including linear electrical generators and drive systems. Advancements in new wave energy converters, linear machine topologies, integrated mathematical modeling, application of high graded magnetic materials, and high-performance control strategies are of great interest. With the ability to generate direct thrust without any mechanical transmission, the linear electrical machines serve as the excellent choice for wave energy generators, free piston engine, industrial applications requiring linear motion, and so on. On the other hand, the special characteristics of linear electrical machines, such as the large air gap length, force ripples, end effects, cogging force, cut open magnetic circuit, half-filled end slot, pose a great challenge to the engineer and scientist. The challenge is not only for designing electrical machines but also for control strategies. The chapters of this book have been structured with theoretical, simulation, and experimental results in such a way that it provides a consistent compilation of fundamental theories, a compendium of current research and development activities as well as new directions to overcome critical limitations.

This book covers the latest developments in sustainable textiles and how they can help mitigate the fashion industry's environmental impact. It focuses on innovative textile production approaches by prioritizing eco-friendly materials, responsible sourcing, ethical manufacturing practices, using cutting-edge technology to create textiles that are not only sustainable but also high-performing and durable. This book further explores the wide range of possibilities for reducing the fashion industry's environmental impact, from natural dyeing techniques to biodegradable fibers. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, fashion industry professionals, environmentalists and anyone who is interested in learning more about sustainable fashion.