Intended to introduce readers to the use of artificial neural networks in the study of music, this volume contains numerous case studies and research findings that address problems related to identifying scales, keys, classifying musical chords, and learning jazz chord progressions. A detailed analysis of the internal structure of trained networks could yield important contributions to the fiel…
Nucleation is the key event in mineralisation, but a general molecular understanding of phase separation mechanisms is still missing, despite more than 100 years of research in this field. In recent years, many studies have highlighted the occurrence of precursors and intermediates, which seem to challenge the assumptions underlying classical theories of nucleation and growth. This is especiall…
The book presents research papers addressing a wide range of environmental topics: water and wastewater treatment and management, soil degradation and conservation, sediment pollution control, environmental impacts of technologies, life cycle analysis (LCA), air quality and indoor environment, and advanced environmental materials. The contributions provide novel and significant scientific resul…
The main focus of this monograph on whistled speech is the result of a worldwide inquiry primarily based on the author’s unprecedented fieldwork and laboratory experience. The different questions raised by the origin and the evolution of whistled forms of languages are also explored, including the role of environmental constraints in the emergence of whistled speech, their phonetic and phonol…
This book is about China’s ambitions in its most complex and internationally visible space endeavor, namely its human space exploration programme. It provides a comprehensive reflection on China´s strategic direction and objectives in space, including in particular those set forth in its human spaceflight programme and analyses the key domestic and external factors affecting the country’s …
This informative volume synthesizes the literatures on health economics, risk management, and health services into a concise guide to the financial and social basics of health insurance with an eye to its wide-scale upgrade. Its scope takes in concepts of health capital, strengths and limitations of insurance models, the effectiveness of coverage and services, and the roles of healthcare provid…
This book deals with the very real possibility of earthly immortality and the human and societal implications of such immortality, including whether it is desirable. It looks at what makes immortality appear so attractive and at the possibility that we would be better served with longer lives and the freedom to terminate our lives at the time when life has given us all the joy, inspiration a…
The book addresses the interactions between wetlands and human health and well-being. A key feature is the linking of ecology-health and the targeting of practitioners and researchers. The environmental health problems of the 21st Century cannot be addressed by the traditional tools of ecologists or epidemiologists working in their respective disciplinary silos; this is clear from the emergence…
This unconventional book addresses the imbalance of power between countries that give and receive funds for international financial development, with particular attention to the outcomes and impacts of this imbalance on recipient countries. It provides an in-depth analysis of the perceptions that population segments of recipient countries have of the power plays inherent in giving and receiving…
This updated volume covers the basic principles and practice of dialysis access management. To cover the latest trends and evidence from clinical trials, new chapters on the management of cephalic arch stenosis and swing zone stenosis, the role of drug eluting balloon in dialysis access interventions, the management of central vein stenosis, endovascular creation of AVF, and the management of s…