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Rural Technology Development and Delivery (Design Science and Innovation)
by Sreenivas Chigullapalli S. U. Susha Lekshmi Abhijit P. DeshpandeThis book comprises the proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Rural Technology Development and Delivery organized by Rural Technology Action group Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. The book highlights research on demand driven technologies and innovations, mostly on energy, environment, water resources, livelihood and smart technologies for the development of rural India. Spanning multi-disciplinary research aspects on rural technologies and development, this book would be useful for rural entrepreneurs, researchers, students and academic/R&D institutions for getting them involved in appropriate rural technology and development.
Sound and Reason: Synesthesia as Metacognition (Palgrave Studies in Sound)
by Sven Hroar KlempeThis book is about the human mental capacities that are mostly veiled in the use of language yet can be revealed through music activities. In speech, just one word is articulated at the time, whereas in music different pitches sound simultaneously. This conflict demonstrates that rationality must be regarded as relative, as rationality in music may create chaos in speech. Moreover, investigating the role of sound in synesthesia reveals that its aesthetic combinations are related to the human capacity to enjoy different types of harmonies in music. Drawing on new research regarding synesthesia as a more fundamental basis for human cognition, this book brings this a step further by introducing synesthesia as a general metacognitive process, hinting at the aesthetical origin of fundamental logical operations. Bringing together a number of cultural perspectives on music, language, and mathematics, this volume expertly illustrates that music reveals a fundamental system that deeply combines the sensorial and the intellectual human capacities.
Recent Advancements in ICT Infrastructure and Applications (Studies in Infrastructure and Control)
by Manish Chaturvedi Pankesh Patel Ramnarayan YadavThis book covers complete spectrum of the ICT infrastructure elements required to design, develop and deploy the ICT applications at large scale. Considering the focus of governments worldwide to develop smart cities with zero environmental footprint, the book is timely and enlightens the way forward to achieve the goal by addressing the technological aspects. In particular, the book provides an in depth discussion of the sensing infrastructure, communication protocols, computation frameworks, storage architectures, software frameworks, and data analytics. The book also presents the ICT application-related case studies in the domain of transportation, health care, energy, and disaster management, to name a few. The book is used as a reference for design, development, and large-scale deployment of ICT applications by practitioners, professionals, government officials, and engineering students.
Smart Master Planning for Cities: Case Studies on Domain Innovations (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements)
by T. M. Vinod KumarThis book, based on international collaborative research, presents a state-of-the-art design for “Smart Master Planning” for all metropolises, megacities and meta cities as well as at sub-city zonal and community and neighborhood level. Smart Master Planning accepts that all cities are a smart city in making in a limited way as far as the six components for Smart Cities; namely, smart people, smart economy, smart environment, smart mobility and smart Governance are concerned. Smart Master Planning in any city can only be designed and executed by active roles of Smart People and Smart City Government and is a joint and synchronous effort of E-Democracy, E-Governance and ICT-IOT system in a 24 hour 7-day framework on all activities. In addition to use of Information and Communication Technologies, and Remote Sensing, the design of smart Master Planning utilizes domain specific tools of many aspects of a city to realize the coordinated, effective and efficient planning, management, development and conservation that improve ecological, social, biophysical, psychological and economic well-being in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of development ecosystems and stakeholders. This book will present 12 case studies covering more than 12 cities or more cities centered on domain-specific smart planning components.Case studies of Domain Innovations include Urban Land management, Master Planning for Water Management, Comprehensive Master Planning Innovations, Smart Use of Master Plan basics, Integrated Smart Master Planning, and Citizen-Centric Master Planning.
Proceedings of Seventh International Congress on Information and Communication Technology: ICICT 2022, London, Volume 3 (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems #464)
by Xin-She Yang Simon Sherratt Nilanjan Dey Amit JoshiThis book gathers selected high-quality research papers presented at the Seventh International Congress on Information and Communication Technology, held at Brunel University, London, on February 21–24, 2022. It discusses emerging topics pertaining to information and communication technology (ICT) for managerial applications, e-governance, e-agriculture, e-education and computing technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) and e-mining. Written by respected experts and researchers working on ICT, the book offers a valuable asset for young researchers involved in advanced studies. The work is presented in four volumes.
Proceedings of Seventh International Congress on Information and Communication Technology: ICICT 2022, London, Volume 4 (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems #465)
by Xin-She Yang Simon Sherratt Nilanjan Dey Amit JoshiThis book gathers selected high-quality research papers presented at the Seventh International Congress on Information and Communication Technology, held at Brunel University, London, on February 21–24, 2022. It discusses emerging topics pertaining to information and communication technology (ICT) for managerial applications, e-governance, e-agriculture, e-education and computing technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) and e-mining. Written by respected experts and researchers working on ICT, the book offers a valuable asset for young researchers involved in advanced studies. The work is presented in four volumes.
Environmental Sustainability in Emerging Markets: Consumer, Organisation and Policy Perspectives (Approaches to Global Sustainability, Markets, and Governance)
by Ninh Nguyen Hoang Viet Nguyen Clare D’Souza Carolyn StrongIncreasing evidence of environmental deterioration in emerging markets, climate change, and consequences of environmental waste have compelled not only businesses but also consumers to reduce the environmental burden, mitigate waste and preserve resources for future generations. What actions, strategies, practices, and policies can be developed to sustain environmental sustainability in emerging markets? This book brings together fresh insights, ideas, and new research directions. This book consists of eleven chapters which examine environmental sustainability from consumer, organisation and policy perspectives. These chapters are contributed by emerging and eminent authors from different regions of the world including Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. This book provides an insightful and valuable compendium for sustainability researchers, businesses, educators, and policymakers, and readers concerned about socio-environmental issues and sustainable development. The book provides policymakers and businesses with information to assist the development of policies, strategies, and programs which will develop and encourage environmentally sustainable behaviours and practices in emerging markets and the wider global community
Service-Learning Capacity Enhancement in Hong Kong Higher Education (Quality of Life in Asia #14)
by Grace Ngai Daniel T. L. ShekThis book provides an in-depth, multi-faceted look into capacity building for service-learning, using the case of the higher education landscape in Hong Kong. Service-learning has been proven to be an effective pedagogy for the holistic development of students, as well as promotion of their well-being. It also attempts to promote the well-being of the service recipients and the community. While service-learning is becoming increasingly popular in many higher educational institutions around the world, the learning gains that can be attained from service-learning are only as good as the learning experience allows, and poorly-developed or motivated service-learning may potentially do adverse harm to students and the community. This book reinforces the imperative to enhance the capacity of the institution, teachers, students and community partners by exploring a diverse range of methods for achieving capacity building among different stakeholders. Examples of the methods explored include formal course-based professional development, scale development, action research, and communities of practice. Furthermore, the book includes a series of detailed, qualitative case studies that are aimed at embodying good practice, unpacking “what matters” from service-learning. Aa a useful resource for scholars and educators who are passionate about holistic youth leadership development, this book is also relevant to researchers in the intersection between well-being and higher education.
A Buddhist Theory of Killing: A Philosophical Exposition
by Martin KovanThis book provides a philosophical account of the normative status of killing in Buddhism. Its argument theorises on relevant Buddhist philosophical grounds the metaphysical, phenomenological and ethical dimensions of the distinct intentional classes of killing, in dialogue with some elements of Western philosophical thought. In doing so, it aims to provide a descriptive account of the causal bases of intentional killing, a global justification and elucidation of Buddhist norms regarding killing, and an intellectual response to and critique of alternative conceptions of such norms presented in recent Buddhist Studies scholarship. It examines early and classical Buddhist accounts of the evaluation of killing, systematising and rationally assessing these claims on both Buddhist and contemporary Western philosophical grounds. The book provides the conceptual foundation for the discussion, engaging original reconstructive philosophical analyses to both bolster and critique classical Indian Buddhist positions on killing and its evaluation, as well as contemporary Buddhist Studies scholarship concerning these positions. In doing so, it provides a systematic and critical account of the subject hitherto absent in the field. Engaging Buddhist philosophy from scholastic dogmatics to epistemology and metaphysics, this book is relevant to advanced students and scholars in philosophy and religious studies.
The Logic of Chinese Behaviors
by Xuewei ZhaiThis book presents a discussion on Chinese people’s internal and external psychologies and logics, as well as the respective stage of social development and cultural context they were raised in, and from sociological, social psychological, and cultural anthropological perspectives. In particular, the book explores the relationship between Chinese people’s behaviors and China’s social and cultural structure. It puts forward a theoretical framework for the analysis of Chinese social behaviors, which is based on the realistic aspects of Chinese people’s day-to-day-lives. The book also concludes that any attempt to study Chinese psychologies and behaviors should “seek the constant among the changes, or at least those aspects that are hardest to change” and investigate the context and background, which can provide a point of departure for current and future research.
Figure: Concept and Method
by Celia Lury William Viney Scott WarkThis open access book shows how figures, figuring, and configuration are used to understand complex, contemporary problems. Figures are images, numbers, diagrams, data and datasets, turns-of-phrase, and representations. Contributors reflect on the history of figures as they have transformed disciplines and fields of study, and how methods of figuring and configuring have been integral to practices of description, computation, creation, criticism and political action. They do this by following figures across fields of social science, medicine, art, literature, media, politics, philosophy, history, anthropology, and science and technology studies. Readers will encounter figures as various as Je Suis Charlie, #MeToo, social media personae, gardeners, asthmatic children, systems configuration management and cloud computing – all demonstrate the methodological utility and contemporary relevance of thinking with figures. This book serves as a critical guide to a world of figures and a creative invitation to “go figure!”
Picturing Ecology: Photography and the birth of a new science
by Damian HughesThis book examines the role of photography and visual culture in the emergence of ecological science between 1895 and 1939.
Smart Master Planning for Cities: Case Studies on Digital Innovations (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements)
by T. M. Vinod KumarThis book, based on international collaborative research, presents a state-of-the-art design for “Smart Master Planning” for all metropolises, megacities and metacities as well as at subcity zonal and community and neighborhood level. Smart Master Planning accepts that all cities are a smart city in making in a limited way as far as the six components for smart cities, namely smart people, smart economy, smart environment, smart mobility and smart governance are concerned. Smart Master Planning in any city can only be designed and executed by active roles of smart people and smart city government and is a joint and synchronous effort of e-democracy, e-governance and ICT-IOT system in a 24 hour 7-day framework on all activities. In addition to use of information and communication technologies and remote sensing, the design of Smart Master Planning utilizes domain-specific tools of many aspects of a city to realize the coordinated, effective and efficient planning, management, development and conservation that improve ecological, social, biophysical, psychological and economic wellbeing in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of development ecosystems and stakeholders. This book will present 12 case studies covering more than 12 cities or more cities centered on domain-specific smart planning components.Case studies of digital innovations in the Smart Master Planning include Application of Artificial Neural Network in Master Planning for cities, Smart Master Plan and 3 D GIS Planning Support System and Digital Spatial Master Planning Incorporating Machine to Machine Automation for Smart Economic Community (IoT, ICT and M2M based Digital Integration).
Work, Inheritance, and Deserts in Joseph Conrad’s Fiction
by Evelyn Tsz ChanThis book focuses on the complex relationships between inheritance, work, and desert in literature. It shows how, from its manifestation in the trope of material inheritance and legacy in Victorian fiction, “inheritance” gradually took on additional, more modern meanings in Joseph Conrad’s fiction on work and self-making. In effect, the emphasis on inheritance as referring to social rank and wealth acquired through birth shifted to a focus on talent, ability, and merit, often expressed through work.The book explores how Conrad’s fiction engaged with these changing modes of inheritance and work, and the resulting claims of desert they led to. Uniquely, it argues that Conrad’s fiction critiques claims of desert arising from both work and inheritance, while also vividly portraying the emotional costs and existential angst that these beliefs in desert entailed. The argument speaks to and illuminates today’s debates on moral desert arising from work and inheritance, in particular from meritocratic ideals. Its new approach to Conrad’s works will appeal to students and scholars of Conrad and literary modernism, as well as a wider audience interested in philosophical and social debates on desert deriving from inheritance and work.
Franz Kafka and Chinese Culture
by Yanbing ZengThis book conducts a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of Franz Kafka’s relation to China. Commencing with an examination of the myriad Chinese cultural influences to which Kafka was exposed, it goes on to explore the ways in which they manifest themselves in canonical stories, such as Description of A Struggle, The Great Wall of China, and An Old Manuscript. This leads the way to thought-provoking comparative studies of Kafka and major Chinese writers and philosophers, such as Zhuang Tzu, Pu Songling, Qian Zhongshu, and Lu Xun. Highlighting kindred philosophical concepts, shared aesthetic tastes, and parallel narrative strategies, these comparisons transcend mere textual analysis, to explore the profound cultural, historical, and philosophical implications of Kafka’s works. Finally, the book turns to an examination Kafka’s impact on modern life in China, including its translation studies, literature, and even its mass culture.
Affective-Discursive Practice in Online Medical Consultations in China: Emotional and Empathic Acts, Identity Positions, and Power Relations (The Humanities in Asia #11)
by Yu ZhangThis book provides readers with the latest research on the affective aspect of online interactions between doctors and e-patients in the context of China from a poststructuralist discourse analysis perspective. At the heart of this book is the presentation of four chapters which address (1) indirect negative emotional acts by e-patients and empathic acts by doctors (constituting “affective practice”), (2) the interactional discursive features involved in the affective practice, (3) discursive positions of e-patients and doctors within the affective practice context, and (4) power relations that are reflected in the positionings. This book sheds light on the importance of examining the affective facet of medical consultation, when it comes to identifying non-traditional positions and power relations in doctor-patient communication. It also provides the implication that e-healthcare platforms, especially those with an e-commercialized model for healthcare services, have potential to produce a type of neo-liberal discourse—the e-commercialized medical consultation discourse—in which patients and caregivers, who are acknowledged as the less powerful group in the traditional healthcare activities, are empowered and privileged.
Understanding Psychology in the Context of Relationship, Community, Workplace and Culture
by Surendra Kumar Sia Lauren S. Crane Ajay K. Jain Shabana BanoThis book explores the significant deliverables of psychology to society in five sections: identity and relationship, psychology for gainful employment, psychology customized to the community, culturally embedded psychology and alternatives for maximizing psychology. The authors, social scientists of diverse nationalities, represent novel psychological methods, tools and procedures that can have immense social utility in strengthening the relationship and rejuvenating the community. The first section offers an in-depth perspective on the dynamics between identity and relationship. The second section encompasses psychology's contribution in addressing community-based issues like farmer suicide, cyberbullying, smartphone overuse, substance abuse and collective environmental behaviour. The authors in the third section have deliberated upon the behavioural issues pertinent for gainful employment. The fourth section delineates the influence of culture on specific psychological processes. The last section touches upon means beyond conventional strategies, techniques and approaches that may augment psychology's deliverability. The chapters in this book are based upon evidence-based scholarships from seven different countries. As such, it represents an invaluable resource for research scholars and academicians in psychology, human resource managers and mental health practitioners.
Psychological Perspectives on Identity, Religion and Well-Being: Empirical Findings from India
by Preeti Kapur Girishwar Misra Nitin K. VermaThis book takes a social psychological perspective to study the ways in which identity, religious beliefs and well-being are related to and affect each other in the contemporary world. It simultaneously draws upon intellectual resources from the extant interdisciplinary literature to build connections within the broader societal context. In view of the social diversity and changes in post-globalization India, issues of identity, religion and well-being emerge as dynamic and vibrant aspects of social reality in both individual and group contexts, across age groups and genders. The current social-cultural-political scenario in the India, therefore, points to the need to investigate the outcome of personal and social well-being in relation to identity and religion. As contexts change, these issues take different shades and influence human conditions differentially. This book undertakes the investigation by going beyond the traditional tropes of behavioral science and discussing the dynamic interplay and confluence of socio-cultural-political variables in changing times. It draws from a large sample from the four major religious faiths in India—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism—and enables readers to understand significant interactions among facets of identity (personal and social), religious beliefs and practices and well-being (personal and social) with age and gender in an important segment of the global population.
Emerging IT/ICT and AI Technologies Affecting Society (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems #478)
by Mousmi Ajay Chaurasia Chia-Feng JuangThis book presents the applications of future technologies to overcome the toughest humanitarian challenges from an engineering approach. COVID-19, a worldwide pandemic, has limited many physical operational areas and at the same time has motivated to uplift the initiative to digitalize the world. Society is facing ever more intense and protracted humanitarian crises, and as a result, the global community is pressed to find new ways to help people and communities in need. This interdisciplinary book highlights the exchange of relevant trends and research results as well as the presentation of practical experiences gained while developing and testing elements of technology enhanced learning experiences with the help of emerging technologies like IT/ICT, AI, ML, edge computing, robotics automation, 5G for the betterment of humanity. It highlights the analytics and optimization issues impacting society and technology for example on security, sustainability, identity, inclusion, working life, corporate and community welfare, and well-being of people to create a secure tomorrow.
Conflict, Culture and Identity in GP Training
by Jennifer L. JohnstonThis book explores the identity work and conflicted perspectives of general practitioner (GP) trainees working in hospitals in the UK. Drawing on empirical and theoretical scholarship, and privileging the analysis of social language-in-use, Johnston describes primary care medicine as a separate paradigm with its own philosophy, identity and practice. Casting primary and secondary care in historical conflict, the perceived lower status of primary care in the world of medicine is explored. Significant identity challenges ensue for GP trainees positioned at the coalface of conflict. Problematising structures of GP training and highlighting how complex historical power dynamics play out in medical training, the author advocates for radical change in how GPs are trained in order to manage the current primary care recruitment and retention crisis.
L. S. Vygotsky's Pedological Works, Volume 3: Pedology of the Adolescent I: Pedology in the Transitional Age (Perspectives in Cultural-Historical Research #11)
by L. S. VygotskyThis book contains the first complete translation of the first half of the Pedology of the Adolescent by the Soviet thinker, educator, and teacher L.S. Vygotsky. It was the longest work published in his lifetime and was a correspondence course written by Vygotsky for teachers across the Soviet Union. The book is a sustained argument about the borders of pedology, the nature of the transition between childhood and adulthood, and the concrete character of the distinction between the lower psychological functions that we largely share with animals and those that are specific to fully socialized humans. After an initial methodological introduction, three kinds of maturation—general anatomical, sexual, and sociocultural—are explored. This book will be followed by a companion volume covering pedology of the transitional age as a psychological and social problem.
Evolution of Digitized Societies Through Advanced Technologies (Advanced Technologies and Societal Change)
by Amitava Choudhury T. P. Singh Arindam Biswas Mrinal AnandThis book provides an understanding of the evolution of digitization in our day to day life and how it has become a part of our social system. The obvious challenges faced during this process and how these challenges were overcome have been discussed. The discussions revolve around the solutions to these challenges by leveraging the use of various advanced technologies. The book mainly covers the use of these technologies in variety of areas such as smart cities, healthcare informatics, transportation automation, digital transformation of education. The book intends to be treated as a source to provide the systematic discussion to the bouquet of areas that are essential part of digitized societies. In light of this, the book accommodates theoretical, methodological, well-established, and validated empirical work dealing with various related topics.
Menstrual Bodies and Gender: The Transnational Business of Menstruation from Latin America
by Eugenia TarzibachiThis book interrogates how the so-called “Feminine Care” industry travelled from the United States to Latin America via manufactured and disposable menstrual management technologies and certain narratives about menstrual bodies. The author focuses on Argentina as a case study to deepen the analysis of transnational politics and business practices around menstruation, drawing on women’s voices to unveil why menstruation is still a bodily process that is natural yet taboo in Latin America. This fascinating volume is a must-read for anyone interested in how the “Feminine Care” industry helped reify the insidious social mandate of shame and secrecy over women’s bodily experiences.
Studies on Tantra in Bengal and Eastern India
by Madhu KhannaThis book explores the tantric concept of Shakti, or the principal female cosmic entity and her pilgrimage sites. It offers a first-hand view of the multidimensional ways in which Shakti asserted its supremacy over existing Vaishnava and orthodox Brahmanical traditions in post mediaeval Bengal and India. The interdisciplinary chapters pave the way to understanding the intra-textual relationships between philosophical and conceptual ideas in literary texts and their oral transmission. Divided into three thematic sections: Cult Inclusiveness, Śakti Pithas, and the Śākta Philosophy, the book invites readers to explore a contested area of scholarship from unique perspectives, offering rich insights into the nature of negotiations between diverse religious streams. It also urges readers to examine the many innovative approaches and theoretical models on the goddess culture of East India. The book is of interest to students and scholars of religious textual studies, anthropology, pilgrimage studies, comparative religion, Sanskrit and Bengali languages, regional studies, South Asian cultures, goddess traditions and cultural history of mediaeval Bengal.
Creative Industries and Digital Transformation in China
by Sabine Chrétien-Ichikawa Karolina PawlikAs China gains momentum in economic terms, its technological transformation, cultural confidence, and creative influence also grow steadily. This book explores socio-cultural context, in which new trends, enabled by the power of digital technology, emerge. Focused on the urban context, in China's large cities like Shanghai, and through the lens of art, design, fashion, gaming, and media industries, this book highlights innovation processes in the making, as well as ongoing shifts in Chinese identities and narratives. This collaborative work written by European authors based in China offer new insights from within. Their shared, yet multi-faceted, engagement with China and its creative industries culminates in this book written for international scholars, students, and industry players.