Böcker utgivna av Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book presents the outcome of two-day 2nd International e-Conference on Sustainable and Innovative Solutions for Current Challenges in Engineering and Technology (ICSISCET 2020) held at Madhav Institute of Technology & Science (MITS), Gwalior, India, from December 18¿19, 2020. The book extensively covers recent research in artificial intelligence (AI) that knit together nature-inspired algorithms, evolutionary computing, fuzzy systems, computational intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, etc., which is very useful while dealing with real problems due to their model-free structure, learning ability, and flexible approach. These techniques mimic human thinking and decision-making abilities to produce systems that are intelligent, efficient, cost-effective, and fast. The book provides a friendly and informative treatment of the topics which makes this book an ideal reference for both beginners and experienced researchers.

This book presents best selected research papers presented at Innovation in Sustainable Energy and Technology India (ISET 2020), organized by Energy Institute Bangalore (A unit of RGIPT, an Institute of National Importance), India, during 3¿4 December 2020. The book covers various topics of sustainable energy and technologies which includes renewable energy (solar photovoltaic, solar thermal and CSP, biomass, wind energy, micro hydro power, hydrogen energy, geothermal energy, energy materials, energy storage, hybrid energy), smart energy systems (electrical vehicle, cybersecurity, charging infrastructures, IOT & AI, waste management, PHEV (CNG/EV) and mobility (smart grids, IOT & AI, energy-efficient buildings, mart agriculture).

Feeding the increasing global population, which is projected to reach ~10 billion by 2050, there has been increasing demands for more improved/sustainable agricultural management practices that can be followed by farmers to improve productivity without jeopardizing the environment and ecosystem. Indeed, about 95% of our food directly or indirectly comes from soil. It is a precious resource, and sustainable soil management is a critical sociöeconomic and environmental issue. Maintaining the environmental sustainability while the world is facing resource degradation, increasing climate change and population explosion is the current challenge of every food production sectors. Thus, there is an urgent need to evolve a holistic approach such as conservation agriculture to sustain higher crop productivity in the country without deteriorating soil health. Conservation Agriculture (CA), is a sustainable approach to manage agröecosystems in order to improve productivity, increase farm profitabilty and food security and also enhance the resource base and environment. Worldwide, it has been reported various benefits and prospects in adopting CA technologies in different agro-climatic conditions. Yet, CA in arid and semi-arid regions of India and parts of south Asia raises uncertainities due to its extreme climates, large scale residue burning, soil erosion and other constraints such as low water holding capacity, high potential evapotranspiration, etc . Thus, the proposed book has 30 chapters addressing all issues relevant to conservation agriculture/no-till farming system. The book also gives further strengthening existing knowledge in relation to soil physical, chemical and biological processes and health within close proximity of CA as well as machinery requirements. Moreover, the information on carbon (C) sequestration, C credits, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, mitigation of climate change effects and socio-economic view on CA under diverse ecologies namely rainfed, irrigated and hill eco-region is also deliberated. For large scale adoption of CA practices in South Asian region especially in India and other countries need dissemination of best-bet CA technologies for dominant soil types/cropping systems through participatory mode, strong linkages and institutional mechanism and public-private-policy support.We hope this book gives a comprehensive and clear picture about conservation agriculture/no-till farming and its associated problem, challenges, prospects and benefits. This book shall be highly useful reference material to researchers, scientists, students, farmers and land managers for efficient and sustainable management of natural resources.

This book presents selected papers from the International Conference on Renewable Energy Systems (ICRES 2020). It throws light over the state of the art of renewable energy sources and their technological advances. Renewable energy sources discussed in this book include solar, wind, biomass, fuel cells, hydropower , hydrogen, nuclear, and geothermal. This book comprehensively explains each of these sources, materials associated, technological development, economics and their impact on the environment. As the renewable energy sources are intermittent, they require specific power electronic converter to convert the generated power into useful form that can be used for utility. Hence, this book describes different forms of power converter such as AC-DC, DC-DC, DC-AC and AC-AC. Advanced power semiconductor devices, their gate drive and protection circuits, heat sink design and magnetic components for power converter are the additional topics included in this book. The topics coveredin these proceedings will have a large impact among academicians, researchers, policy makers, scientists, practitioners and students in fields of electronics and electrical engineering, energy engineering, automotive engineering, and so on.

This book is an historical narrative of academic appointments, significant personal and collaborative research endeavours, and important editorial and institutional engagements. For forty years Michael Matthews has been a prominent international researcher, author, editor and organiser in the field of 'History, Philosophy and Science Teaching'. He has systematically brought his own discipline training in science, psychology, philosophy of education, and the history and philosophy of science, to bear upon theoretical, curricular and pedagogical issues in science education. The book includes accounts of philosophers who greatly influenced his own thinking and who also were personal friends - Wallis Suchting, Abner Shimony, Robert Cohen, Marx Wartofsky, Israel Scheffler, Michael Martin and Mario Bunge. It advocates the importance of clear writing and avoidance of faddism in both philosophy and in education. It concludes with a proposal for informed and enlightened science teacher education.

Microbes play a major role in the degradation of various pollutants. Therefore, microbes find potential application in the area of energy and environmental technology. The book provides in-depth literature on the topics of environmental and industrial importance. It is compiled to explore the application of microbe used in the degradation of aflatoxin, polymers, biomass into fuel, disinfectants, food products, xenobiotic compounds, lipids, steroids, organic pollutants, proteins, oil waste, and wastewater pollutants.This book will be of interest to teachers, researchers, scientists, and capacity builders. Also, the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of microbiology and environmental sciences. National and international remediation and restoration scientists, policymakers will also find this to be a useful read.

This book presents the select proceedings of Conference on Research and Developments in Material Processing, Modelling and Characterization (RDMPMC 2020). It highlights the new technologies developed in the generation of rational materials for various applications with tailored properties. It covers fundamental research in emerging materials which includes biomaterials, composites, ceramics, functionally graded materials, energy materials, thin film materials, nanomaterials, nuclear materials, intermetallic, high strength materials, structural materials, super alloys, shape memory alloys and thermally enhanced materials. It includes the numerical modeling and computer simulation to investigate the properties and structure of materials. Few of the most relevant manufacturing techniques highlighted in this book are welding, coating, additive manufacturing, laser-based manufacturing, advanced machining processes, casting, forming and micro and nanoscale manufacturing processes. Given its contents, this book is beneficial to students, researchers and industry professionals.

This book provides policymakers, researchers, and other interested audiences with knowledge on how to quantify and integrate and advance co-benefits in their decisions. It begins with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the concept of co-benefits. This followed by a section that details quantitative approaches to estimate co-benefits, particularly in cities. A third section presents a series of case studies from the energy sector in Northeast and Southeast Asia. A final section focuses on new perspectives on co-benefits from linking climate change with biodiversity, social justice, and through new models of co-innovation. The book is particularly timely as many countries in Asia seek to achieve objectives in the national climate policies and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The climate emergency poses an increasingly severe threat to the health and well-being of more than a billion people in Asia. Policymakers in the region have sought to curb this threat by adopting clean energy, energy efficiency, and other sectoral policies. In some cases, these policies can bring additional benefits beyond mitigating climate change. These so-called ¿co-benefits¿ --ranging from improved air quality to better health to socioeconomic equity--could not only offset the costs of climate mitigation but also make Asiäs development more sustainable. Yet all too frequently policymakers lack the analytical methods and practical experiences to incorporate co-benefits into their decisions. This has created difficulties in aligning climate and sustainable development policies in Asia.

This edited volume is a comprehensive account of plant diseases and insect pests, plant protection and management for various crops using microbial and biotechnological approaches. The book elucidates the role of biotechnology for the enhancement of crop productivity and management of bacterial and fungal diseases via eco-friendly methods. It discusses crop¿pest¿ pathogen interaction and utilizing this interaction in a beneficial and sustainable way. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, plant scientists and plant pathologists. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, soil science, and environmental sciences.

This book cover all types of microbe based polymers and their application in diverse sectors with special emphasis on agriculture. It collates latest research, methods, opinion, perspectives, and reviews dissecting the microbial origins of polymers, their production, design, and processing at industrial level, as well as improvements for specific industrial applications. Book also discusses recent advances in biopolymer production and their modification for amplifying the value. In addition, understanding of the microbial physiology and optimal conditions for polymer production are also explained. This compilation of scientific chapters on principles and practices of microbial polymers fosters the knowledge transfer among scientific communities, industries, and microbiologist and serves students, academicians, researchers for a better understanding of the nature of microbial polymers and application procedure for sustainable ecosystem

This book showcases cutting-edge research papers from the 8th International Conference on Research into Design (ICoRD 2021) written by eminent researchers from across the world on design processes, technologies, methods and tools, and their impact on innovation, for supporting design for a connected world. The theme of ICoRD¿21 has been ¿Design for Tomorrow¿. The world as we know it in our times is increasingly becoming connected. In this interconnected world, design has to address new challenges of merging the cyber and the physical, the smart and the mundane, the technology and the human. As a result, there is an increasing need for strategizing and thinking about design for a better tomorrow. The theme for ICoRD¿21 serves as a provocation for the design community to think about rapid changes in the near future to usher in a better tomorrow. The papers in this book explore these themes, and their key focus is design for tomorrow: how are products and their development be addressed for the immediate pressing needs within a connected world? The book will be of interest to researchers, professionals and entrepreneurs working in the areas on industrial design, manufacturing, consumer goods, and industrial management who are interested in the new and emerging methods and tools for design of new products, systems and services.

This book includes selected peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Optimization, organized by National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam, India, during 3¿5 August 2020. The book covers topics of modeling, simulation and optimization, including computational modeling and simulation, system modeling and simulation, device/VLSI modeling and simulation, control theory and applications, modeling and simulation of energy system and optimization. The book disseminates various models of diverse systems and includes solutions of emerging challenges of diverse scientific fields.

This book brings together all the major components of the private health care sector in India, with detailed description of its evolution, the foundational ideas, its development, the positives and ill effects on the population. It suggests intelligible and practical remedies for public good. The book presents a comprehensive review of private health care sector's resistance to Indian Government's reforms like the national medical commission, NEET, clinical establishment act and the new boost to the traditional medicine by the Indian government. The author has discussed contentious areas like Corporate Hospitals, Capitation Fee Colleges, Pharmaceutical Industry, Western Models in Health Care, Integration of Medical Systems, Ayushman Bharat Scheme, Health Insurance and Public Private Partnership on a massive scale.

This book is a collection of original papers presented at the International Conference on Computational Mathematics in Nanoelectronics and Astrophysics (CMNA 2018) held at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India, from 1 to 3 November 2018. It aims at presenting recent developments of computational mathematics in nanoelectronics, astrophysics and related areas of space sciences and engineering. These proceedings discuss the most advanced innovations, trends and real-world challenges encountered and their solutions with the application of computational mathematics in nanoelectronics, astrophysics and space sciences. From focusing on nano-enhanced smart technological developments to the research contributions of premier institutes in India and abroad on ISRO¿s future space explorations¿this book includes topics from highly interdisciplinary areas of research. The book is of interest to researchers, students and practising engineers working in diverse areas of science and engineering, ranging from applied and computational mathematics to nanoelectronics, nanofabrications and astrophysics.

This book comprises select peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Development through Engineering Innovations (SDEI) 2020. It presents recent advances, new directions, and opportunities for sustainable and resilient approaches to design and protect the built-environment through engineering innovations & interventions. The topics covered are highly diverse and include all civil engineering and construction-related aspects such as construction and environmental Issues, durability and survivability under extreme conditions, design of new materials for sustainability, eco-efficient and ultra-high performance cementitious materials, embedded structural and foundation systems and environmental geomechanics. The book will be of potential interest to the researchers and students in the fields of civil engineering, architecture and sustainable development.

This book is a treatise against neoliberalism illuminated by the path of China. China is a model to be mimicked, but more so theoretically than by replication. If anything, nations of the global South must rid themselves of neoliberally imposed ¿one-size-fits all¿ models, instrumentalised to shift value to US empire. Neoliberal models, robbing nations of their histories and resources, are negative ¿best practice¿ serving the interests of the hegemon. Developing nations need to search for the theory that corresponds to their own conditions and development strategies. Chinäs experience, anchored in labour as the historical agent, offers numerous theoretical cues as to how to build comparable home-grown paths. Thinking development with a subject voids reductionist politics in favour of sober class analysis. The study concludes by restating the age-old wisdom that there is no development without the rule of labour.