Bøger udgivet af Springer Nature Switzerland

This open access book offers an essential overview of brain, head and neck, and spine imaging. Over the last few years, there have been considerable advances in this area, driven by both clinical and technological developments. Written by leading international experts and teachers, the chapters are disease-oriented and cover all relevant imaging modalities, with a focus on magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography.IDKD books are rewritten (not merely updated) every four years, which means they offer a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art in imaging. The book is clearly structured and features learning objectives, abstracts, subheadings, tables and take-home points, supported by design elements to help readers navigate the text. It will particularly appeal to general radiologists, radiology residents, and interventional radiologists who want to update their diagnostic expertise, as well as clinicians from other specialties who are interested in imaging for their patient care.

While electoral participation is a traditional topic in political science, voter turnout at the local level is still largely uncharted. There are very few large-N comparative works on municipal turnout and, as a result, a lack of a comprehensive comparative picture of local electoral participation. This book aims to fill that gap by taking an innovative approach to the topic. The volume makes three major advances at the empirical, methodological and theoretical levels. Empirically, it provides a large-N comparison by covering 18 European countries and more than 70,000 municipalities. Methodologically, the book uses the multi-level congruence theory to study municipal turnout in relation to national turnout, exploring the variation between those levels. Theoretically, it bridges the two main (and often mutually exclusive) strands in the literature on local elections ¿ the lower-rank and different-kind approaches ¿ and it assesses the features and mechanisms of local voting.

This is a comprehensive two-volumes text on plane and space geometry, transformations and conics, using a synthetic approach. The first volume focuses on Euclidean Geometry of the plane, and the second volume on Circle measurement, Transformations, Space geometry, Conics.The book is based on lecture notes from more than 30 courses which have been taught over the last 25 years. Using a synthetic approach, it discusses topics in Euclidean geometry ranging from the elementary (axioms and their first consequences), to the complex (the famous theorems of Pappus, Ptolemy, Euler, Steiner, Fermat, Morley, etc.). Through its coverage of a wealth of general and specialized subjects, it provides a comprehensive account of the theory, with chapters devoted to basic properties of simple planar and spatial shapes, transformations of the plane and space, and conic sections. As a result of repeated exposure of the material to students, it answers many frequently asked questions. Particular attention has been given to the didactic method; the text is accompanied by a plethora of figures (more than 2000) and exercises (more than 1400), most of them with solutions or expanded hints. Each chapter also includes numerous references to alternative approaches and specialized literature. The book is mainly addressed to students in mathematics, physics, engineering, school teachers in these areas, as well as, amateurs and lovers of geometry. Offering a sound and self-sufficient basis for the study of any possible problem in Euclidean geometry, the book can be used to support lectures to the most advanced level, or for self-study.

In light of the resurgence of inflation in developed industrialised countries following a period of inordinately low inflation, this book analyses the causes and devastating effects of inflation by drawing lessons from the past. Focusing on the German hyperinflation of the 1920s and the inflationary waves of the 1970s, it examines the resulting economic crises and their influence on the subsequent periods of social and political turmoil, namely the fascism of the 1930s and the neoliberal revolution of the 1980s. Featuring five detailed case studies on inflationary waves in various countries in the 1970s, the book identifies economic policy errors of the past, seeking to prevent their recurrence. Offering empirical and theoretical insights alike, the authors present strategies for effectively combating inflation and deflation. In turn, the book assesses the complex ties between wage increases, income distribution, and price changes, ultimately providing valuable recommendations on how wage policy can be used to stabilise price level increases at a low level in a world characterised by diverse and extreme economic shocks.¿The Resurgence of Inflation¿ fosters a vital discourse on wage and price dynamics, economic development and the role of trade unions, making it an essential read for policymakers, economists, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of today¿s economic challenges.

This book presents the results of an ethno-psychological study of Mexican siblings which aims to contribute to the study of the relationships between brothers and sisters from the perspective of social psychology. Building upon the Mexican school of ethnopsychology, the study presented in this volume shows how psychosocial processes shape the relationships between siblings and how these relationships affect the development of boys and girls in emerging adulthood (between 18 and 25 years). The relationship between siblings is the first laboratory through which anyone who has a brother or sister learns to establish social relationships. Taking this into account, the study presented in this book analyzed 1240 emerging Mexican adults to identify the most important psychosocial variables that contribute to the establishment and development of sibling relationships. The results of the study show the central role played by attachment styles in the establishment of this relationship and how both positive aspects ¿ such as closeness, similarity-complementarity and complicity ¿ and negative aspects ¿ such as favoritism, jealousy, conflict and aggression ¿ of the relationships between siblings are essential parts of the developmental processes though which boys and girls learn how to establish social relationships.Brothers and Sister in Emerging Adulthood: An Ethno-Psychological Study of Mexican Siblings will be of interest to social, developmental and family psychologists interested in understanding the psychosocial mechanisms behind the most durable relationship in the life of anyone who has a brother or sister.

Time, space and entanglement are the main characters in this book. Their nature is still a great mystery in physics and we study here the possibility that these three phenomena are closely connected, showing how entanglement can be at the basis of the emergence of time and space within closed quantum systems. We revisit and extend the Page and Wootters theory that was originally introduced in order to describe the emergence of time through entanglement between subsystems in a globally static, quantum Universe. In the book, after providing a complete review of the salient aspects of the theory, we establish a connection with recent research on the foundations of statistical mechanics and we provide a new understanding of the thermalization process. Furthermore, we generalize the framework in order describe the spatial degree of freedom and we provide a model of 3+1 dimensional, quantum spacetime emerging from entanglement among different subsystems in a globally "timeless" and "positionless" Universe. Finally, via the Page and Wootters theory, the evolution of quantum clocks within a gravitational field is treated and a time dilation effect is obtained in agreement with the Schwarzschild solution.

This book presents extensive research on the quality of 360° video perceived by users with HMDs. The book aims to develop a set of standard guidelines for the systematic visual quality assessment of 360° videos. Firstly, conventional subjective test methods such as Absolute Category Rating (ACR) and Double Stimulus Impairment Scale (DSIS) are applied to evaluate video quality, alongside the Modified ACR (M-ACR) method newly proposed. Building on the reliability and general applicability of the procedure across different tests, a methodological framework for 360° video quality assessment is then presented. The author also analyzes simulator sickness to investigate the impact of different influencing factors. The insights gained on simulator sickness related to 360° video contribute to a better understanding of this particular use case of VR and can help to improve comfort among users by suggesting improvements in the technical specifications of 360° video and HMD technology and thusimproving QoE.

The book offers a multi-scale, epistemically diverse, and sense-making perspectives on the food system. The book argues that sustainable food system transformation is a complex proposition that can better thrive upon the inclusion of consumer perspectives. The book brings together scholarly works of critical scholars and practitioners who bring to bear the uniqueness of places, cultures, histories and interactions in the milieu of food.

This book explores the challenges of the governance and public policy in the midst and after conflicts, revolutions, and civil wars in the Middle East and Africa. As anywhere else, the task of rebuilding peace and institutionalizing stability in countries experiencing a conflict or just emerging from it is daunting, uncertain and context specific. Yet, focusing on the Middle East and Africa is of particular relevance, as these two regions feature the highest numbers of inter- and intra-state conflicts on the one hand, and the central states are more often contested than in the rest of world regions. The first half of the book proposes different cases addressing the fundamental challenge of inclusion and cohesion as well as the recurring issue of exclusion in conflict-affected situations, with four different cultural and institutional settings. The second half of the book offers more theoretical insights and proposed pathways to develop more inclusive and peaceful governance settingsin Africa, the Middle East and beyond. This edited book has been designed to be a helpful contribution to the analysis of conflict and post-conflict governance and peacebuilding. To do so, it deploys different lenses of social sciences, especially public policy and international relations, but also benefits from social psychology, political anthropology, and other disciplines that enable a more comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted, complex and dynamic issues at play.

¿This book follows a Goffmanian approach to self-presentation to focus on the different strategies Spanish users employ to construct their digital identity in profiles, biographies, pictures, and statuses on platforms such WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. The author presents a functioning taxonomy of self-presentation strategies along the front-stage/back-stage continuum, including common strategies such as eudaimonic (or inspirational) messages and the use of humour. Special attention is paid to the effects of social variables such as the users' gender and age, and the perceived purposes of the different platforms (e.g. LinkedIn is often intended as a professional market for job hunting, whereas Facebook is rarely used in this context). The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Technologically Mediated Communication (traditionally known as Computer-Mediated Communication or CMC), media communication, internet pragmatics, digital discourse analysis, and related fields.

This book constitutes the First Segmentation of the Aorta Challenge, SEG.A. 2023, which was held in conjunction with the 26th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2023, on October 8, 2023. The 8 full and 3 short papers presented have been carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. They focus specifically on robustness, visual quality and meshing of automatically generated segmentations of aortic vessel trees from CT imaging. The challenge was organized as a ¿container submission¿ challenge, where participants had to upload their algorithms to Grand Challenge in the form of Docker containers. Three tasks were created for SEG.A. 2023.

This book encapsulates the innovative discussions held during the International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Systems for Sustainable Development (AI2SD'2023), which took place at Mohammed 6 University of Sciences and Health Casablanca, Morocco. This book delves into the multifaceted realm of advanced intelligent systems, specifically focusing on digital health technology. The book offers a comprehensive exploration of cutting-edge research and breakthroughs in this dynamic field, providing a holistic perspective on the latest advancements. Within these pages, you will find papers covering an array of captivating topics, including AI-driven diagnostics, wearable health devices, predictive analytics in health care, and much more. Each contribution delves into the synergy of intelligent systems and digital health, showcasing how these technologies intertwine to shape the future of healthcare. Designed for researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts alike, this book serves as an invaluable resource for staying updated on the latest trends and developments in the intersection of advanced intelligent systems and digital health technology. Whether you are seeking to broaden your knowledge or seeking practical insights, this book caters to a diverse readership eager to harness the potential of these innovative domains.

This book presents the reader with a streamlined exposition of the notions and results leading to the construction of normal forms and, ultimately, to the construction of smooth conjugacies for the perturbations of tempered exponential dichotomies. These are exponential dichotomies for which the exponential growth rates of the underlying linear dynamics never vanish. In other words, its Lyapunov exponents are all nonzero. The authors consider mostly difference equations, although they also briefly consider the case of differential equations. The content is self-contained and all proofs have been simplified or even rewritten on purpose for the book so that all is as streamlined as possible. Moreover, all chapters are supplemented by detailed notes discussing the origins of the notions and results as well as their proofs, together with the discussion of the proper context, also with references to precursor results and further developments. A useful chapter dependence chart is included in the Preface. The book is aimed at researchers and graduate students who wish to have a sufficiently broad view of the area, without the discussion of accessory material. It can also be used as a basis for graduate courses on spectra, normal forms, and smooth conjugacies.The main components of the exposition are tempered spectra, normal forms, and smooth conjugacies. The first two lie at the core of the theory and have an importance that undoubtedly surpasses the construction of conjugacies. Indeed, the theory is very rich and developed in various directions that are also of interest by themselves. This includes the study of dynamics with discrete and continuous time, of dynamics in finite and infinite-dimensional spaces, as well as of dynamics depending on a parameter. This led the authors to make an exposition not only of tempered spectra and subsequently of normal forms, but also briefly of some important developments in those other directions. Afterwards the discussion continues with the construction of stable and unstable invariant manifolds and, consequently, of smooth conjugacies, while using most of the former material.The notion of tempered spectrum is naturally adapted to the study of nonautonomous dynamics. The reason for this is that any autonomous linear dynamics with a tempered exponential dichotomy has automatically a uniform exponential dichotomy. Most notably, the spectra defined in terms of tempered exponential dichotomies and uniform exponential dichotomies are distinct in general. More precisely, the tempered spectrum may be smaller, which causes that it may lead to less resonances and thus to simpler normal forms. Another important aspect is the need for Lyapunov norms in the study of exponentially decaying perturbations and in the study of parameter-dependent dynamics. Other characteristics are the need for a spectral gap to obtain the regularity of the normal forms on a parameter and the need for a careful control ofthe small exponential terms in the construction of invariant manifolds and of smooth conjugacies.

Over time, philosophers and historians of science have introduced different notions of 'ways of thinking'. This book presents, compares, and contrasts these different notions. It focuses primarily on Ian Hacking¿s idea of 'style of reasoning' in order to assess and develop it into a more systematic theory of scientific thought, arguing that Hacking¿s theory implies epistemic relativism. Luca Sciortino also discusses the implications of Hacking¿s ideas for the study of the problem of contingency and inevitability in the development of scientific knowledge

This open access book offers comprehensive, self-contained knowledge on Digital Twin (DT), which is a very promising technology for achieving digital intelligence in the next-generation wireless communications and computing networks. DT is a key technology to connect physical systems and digital spaces in Metaverse.The objectives of this book are to provide the basic concepts of DT, to explore the promising applications of DT integrated with emerging technologies, and to give insights into the possible future directions of DT. For easy understanding, this book also presents several use cases for DT models and applications in different scenarios.The book starts with the basic concepts, models, and network architectures of DT. Then, we present the new opportunities when DT meets edge computing, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence, anddistributed machine learning (e.g., federated learning, multi-agent deep reinforcement learning). We also present a wide application of DT as an enabling technology for 6G networks, Aerial-Ground Networks, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).The book allows an easy cross-reference owing to the broad coverage on both the principle and applications of DT. The book is written for people interested in communications and computer networks at all levels. The primary audience includes senior undergraduates, postgraduates, educators, scientists, researchers, developers, engineers, innovators and research strategists.

This book publishes the work presented at the 1st Olympiad in Engineering Science (OES 2023), an international congress and contest aiming to disseminate and evaluate the recent advances in Engineering Science. The book covers diverse domains of engineering. From Machine Learning applications in Thrust Bearings' behavior to Optimization Techniques for space applications, each chapter presents innovative solutions to complex challenges. The Automatic Control section explores distributed intelligence in watercraft and supervisory control for manufacturing systems. In Data-Driven Engineering, simulations assess pedestrian comfort and model reconstruction. The Diagnostic-Prognostic Methods section delves into unbalance identification and steel truss bridge validation. Finally, Numerical and Analytical Methods in Engineering Mathematics cover everything from boundary integral methods to analytical solutions for fluid flows.

The book systematically accounts for the scientific and technological problems of nanostructured silicon in the form of porous and black silicon. Nanostructured silicon is currently a pioneer research topic worldwide due to its enormous potential applications for modern electronic devices, such as sensitive photodetectors, solar cells, biochemical sensors, hydrogen generators, and display devices. The main structural modifications of this nanomaterial are porous and black silicon. Porous silicon addresses crystalline silicon with nanopores and black silicon with nanoneedles. Historically, porous silicon is thought to be a kind of precursor to black silicon. The formation, research, and application of nanostructured silicon remains the main cornerstone of nanotechnologies, and this book is useful for a wide range of researchers in the fields of semiconductor physics, micro-, and nanoelectronics. The author outlines the prospect of black silicon fabrication and its various applications. As for porous silicon, the book contains a detailed analysis of this material as a precursor of black silicon. This allows it to be possible to carry out correlations between two structural modifications of nanostructured silicon to clearly and reasonably show their advantages and disadvantages. With many references to a vast resource of recently published literature, this book serves as an important and insightful source of valuable information and provides scientists and engineers with new ideas to better understand the formation processes of nanostructured silicon as well as improve and expand their properties.

This book explores the dissemination of knowledge around Chinese medicinal substances from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries in a global context. The author presents a microhistory of the caterpillar fungus, a natural, medicinal substance initially used by Tibetans no later than the fifteenth century and later assimilated into Chinese materia medica from the eighteenth century onwards. Tracing the transmission of the caterpillar fungus from China to France, Britain, Russia and Japan, the book investigates the tensions that existed between prevailing Chinese knowledge and new European ideas about the caterpillar fungus. Emerging in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe, these ideas eventually reached communities of scientists, physicians and other intellectuals in Japan and China. Seeking to examine why the caterpillar fungus engaged the attention of so many scientific communities across the globe, the author offers a transnational perspective on the making of modern Europeannatural history and Chinese materia medica.

The purpose of this book is to discuss the challenges that have arisen due to petroleum hydrocarbon wastes, their harmful effects to the ecosystem, and limitations as well as improvement of current biological techniques¿ use for management of petroleum hydrocarbon wastes. This book focuses on the role of advanced green engineering technologies for sustainable petroleum waste management in building an economic supportable society as a basic need of developing countries. The rapid economic growth achieved in last decade has been paralleled by an increase in global energy consumption resulting generation of massive amount of industrial wastes. Petroleum wastes release through spillages and leakage from underground tanks, steamers, unplugging of oil wells, and abandoned oil refinery sites that cause extensive contamination of surface soils, groundwater, seas, and ocean resulting in ecosystem damage. Apart from these, petroleum industries release a significant amount of hydrocarbonwastes during processing of crude oil. Improper waste management technique of these petroleum wastes may cause a serious effect toward the living beings. The presence of these hazardous wastes in the environment will make vulnerable conditions to the aquatic as well as terrestrial life. Till date, a number of conventional techniques have been implemented to treat these petroleum hazardous wastes, but biological treatment is more efficient among all on basics of economic and environmental point of view. Bioaugmentation, biostimulation, and combinatorial bioaugmentation and biostimulation waste management strategies are implemented to treat these wastes. In addition to these techniques, biocomposting/biopile, land treatment, and bio-slurry methods have also been employed to reduce the endanger effects of petroleum wastes. Integrating waste management through environmental sustainability and economic development is one of the prime milestones in the circular economy. There is anexigent necessity for developing countries to go ahead toward a circular economy for achieving its Sustainable Development Goals.

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Software Business, ICSOB 2023, which was held in Lahti, Finland, during November 27¿29, 2023. The special theme of ICSOB 2023 was Digital Agility: Mastering Change in Software Business and Digital Services.The 27 full papers and 8 short papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 79 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Requirements; software procurement; platforms, ecosystems and data; artificial intelligence; software startups; software product management; software and business co-development; and emerging digital world.

This edited volume explores the concept of institutional inertia and its relationship to economic growth and development. Including insights from experts across disciplines, chapters identify the types, causes and effects¿both positive and negative¿of institutional inertia. By questioning the types of institutional inertia that improve economic performance and impact the effectiveness of the state, as well as studying their role in the dynamics of institutional change, the volume attempts to trace and understand the different evolutionary paths of societies. Bridging important research gaps, this volume will be of use to students, researchers, and practitioners of institutional and evolutionary economics, development economics, management, and organizational theory.

This book explores the relationship between federalism, social divides and conflict in African countries. It details the origins, design and performance of major federal and quasi-federal states to assess their performance and propose new methods for managing these divides. Drawing on evidence from countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, the book examines the nature and causes of ethnonationalism, mobilisation and confrontation with the nation state. The book is a comprehensive treatment of the five major federal and devolved systems in Africa. It explains their origin, design and operation, and assesses their performance. More importantly, the book explains the distinct nature of federal and devolved systems in the Global South. Federal and devolved systems in Africa cannot be understood in isolation from the nature of state power on the continent. The book explains the impact of unregulated state power on the dynamics of federal and devolved systemsin Africa. Federalism and devolution have not failed but have been betrayed ¿ both in the past and the present ¿ in serving as a venue for accommodation, intergovernmental bargaining and negotiated reform.

This collection presents papers from the 152nd Annual Meeting & Exhibition of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.

This book presents a comprehensive set of methods for quantifying geometric quantities such as the volume of a tumor, the total surface area of the alveoli in a lung, the length of plant roots, or of blood vessels, the number of neurons in a brain compartment, the connectivity number of trabecular bone, the mean size of grains in a rock, etc.. The methods, illustrated by twenty solved case studies, are based on properly sampled slices, sections, or projections of the material, observable under light, laser, or electron microscopy, or under non-invasive radiological devices such as ecography, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging. Thus, the input usually consists of flat images, and the output consists of relevant quantities defined in three dimensions. Stereology is the discipline of providing sampling designs which warrant unbiased estimation of the corresponding quantities, that is, estimation with zero mean deviation from the target. Sampling is usually systematic (i.e., with regularly spaced probes), and sparse (as opposed to reconstructions) and it is thereby efficient and easy to implement.Stereology is essentially geometric sampling, grounded on integral geometry. The necessary elements of both disciplines are detailed in textbook style, and may be used for postgraduate courses, or to serve the interest of scientists in general. Hitherto no other book on stereology has appeared which encompasses the theory, methodology, and applications of stereology in an interconnected and comprehensive way. The currently available error variance prediction formulae under systematic sampling, and their (non-obvious) derivation, are all gathered, for the first time, in the last chapter. The exposition is augmented by 127 line drawings for the theory, and 27 color pictures of real materials for the case studies.

This is an instructor's manual for the popular textbook 'H2H Marketing: Case Studies on Human-to-Human Marketing' (Springer, 2023). The authors have provided a perfect companion that enables teachers to adopt a case-by-case approach when using the material in the classroom.'H2H Marketing' focuses on redefining the role of marketing by reshaping the mindset of decision-makers and integrating concepts such as Design Thinking, Service-Dominant Logic, and Digitalization. By following this carefully designed manual, teachers can assist their students in gaining a deeper understanding of the case studies that illustrate various aspects of the concept, its fundamental elements, and its implementation.

Advancing Medical Posthumanism Through Twenty-First Century American Poetry places contemporary poetics in dialogue with posthumanism and biomedicine in order to create a framework for advancing a posthuman-affirmative ethics within the culture of medical practice. This book makes a case for a posthumanist understanding of the body¿one that sees health and illness not as properties possessed by individual bodies, but as processes that connect bodies to their social and natural environment, shaping their capacity to act, think, and feel. Tana Jean Welch demonstrates how contemporary American poetry is specifically poised to develop a pathway toward a posthuman intervention in biomedicine, the field of medical humanities, medical discourse, and the value systems that guide U.S. healthcare in general.

The book offers a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities associated with the transition to sustainable energy, circular economy, and sustainable financing for ESG practices. The publication is needed at this time because the world is facing urgent environmental and social challenges, such as climate change, resource depletion, and social inequality, which require a fundamental transformation of our economic and social systems. The transition to sustainable energy, circular economy, and sustainable financing for ESG practices offers a promising pathway to address these challenges and achieve sustainable development goals.The purpose of the publication is to provide a holistic and practical guide for policymakers, business leaders, investors, and other stakeholders who are interested in advancing sustainable energy, circular economy, and ESG practices. The book covers a range of topics, including the drivers of the transition, policy frameworks and regulations, technology and innovation, business models and financial instruments, and the role of stakeholders in facilitating the transition. It also emphasizes the importance of integrated approaches that balance economic, social, and environmental objectives, and provides practical examples and case studies of successful sustainable energy, circular economy, and ESG practices from around the world.The new contribution of this publication is its interdisciplinary and practical approach to sustainable energy, circular economy, and ESG practices. The book draws on the latest research from various fields, including economics, engineering, environmental science, and social science, and provides a synthesis of best practices and lessons learned from a diverse range of stakeholders, such as governments, businesses, and civil society organizations. The publication also provides a roadmap for how stakeholders can work together overcome the challenges of the transition and create a more sustainable and equitable future.The book is a timely and essential guide for anyone who is interested in advancing sustainable development goals. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities associated with the transition to sustainable energy, circular economy, and sustainable financing for ESG practices and offers practical solutions and case studies from around the world. Its interdisciplinary and practical approach makes it a valuable resource for policymakers, business leaders, investors, and other stakeholders who are committed to creating a more sustainable and equitable future.

This volume explains how scientometrics can be used in understanding the research studies in applied linguistics and will assist applied linguists to examine different aspects of the research performed in their field. The book covers a diachronic and synchronic empirical analysis of research practices, concepts, and phenomena in applied linguistics. It builds upon the ideas and experience of international researchers and provides the reader with creative methods to apply the scientometric principles in their applied research. Aimed at emerging applied linguistics researchers, researcher-practitioners, and MA and PhD students, this book provides a wealth of research ideas for further analysis, to strengthen the knowledge of the field, and to help digest research practices, research publications, research trends, research policies, and research methods. The book will also be useful for the well-established applied linguistics researchers who are interested in a reconceptualization of the field.