In its constructive and speculative nature, design has the critical potential to reshape prevalent socio-material realities. At the same time, design is inevitably normative, if not often violent, as it stabilises the past, normalises the present, and precludes just and sustainable futures. The contributions rethink concepts of critique that influence the field of design, question inherent blin…
Working within a framework of environmental philosophy and environmental ethics, this book describes and postulates alternative understandings of nature in Indian traditions of thought, particularly philosophy. The interest in alternative conceptualizations of nature has gained significance after many thinkers pointed out that attitudes to the environment are determined to a large extent by our…
This book presents research dedicated to solving scientific and technological problems in many areas of electronics, photonics and renewable energy. Progress in information and renewable energy technologies requires miniaturization of devices and reduction of costs, energy and material consumption. The latest generation of electronic devices is now approaching nanometer scale dimensions; new ma…
This book provides an up-to-date review of the biology of myxozoans, which represent a divergent clade of endoparasitic cnidarians. Myxozoans are of fundamental interest in understanding how early diverging metazoans have adopted parasitic lifestyles, and are also of considerable economic and ecological concern as endoparasites of fish. Synthesizing recent research, the chapters explore issues …
This unique text/reference highlights a selection of practical applications of advanced image analysis methods for medical images. The book covers the complete methodology for processing, analysing and interpreting diagnostic results of sample CT images. The text also presents significant problems related to new approaches and paradigms in image understanding and semantic image analysis. To fur…
This book is the first of its kind to highlight the positive impact of natural UV radiation on plants through unique adaptations in various metabolic pathways, and provides an evolutionary sketch of the development of molecular mechanisms for protecting plants from solar UV ever since their migration to terrestrial habitats. Experimental evidence is provided for establishing how plants, through…
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems, NLDB 2015, held in Passau, Germany, in June 2015. The 18 full papers, 15 short papers, 14 poster and demonstration papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 100 submissions. The papers cover the following topics: information extraction…
This book serves as an introductory reference on clinical aspects of glaucoma and myopia, providing essential guidelines for diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma progression in patients, especially those with high myopias. Many clinical studies are presented by leading experts in the field in an accessible style, making the content suitable not only for ophthalmologists but also for optometrist…
This volume provides a transdisciplinary and translational review of many of the leading murine models used to study the mechanisms, mediators and biomarkers linking energy balance to cancer. It provides a review of murine models that should be of interest to basic, clinical and applied research investigators as well as nutrition scientists and students that work in cancer prevention, cancer co…
Susanne Michalik analyzes why authoritarian regimes allow for multiparty elections and how they affect political outcomes. Even though their introduction rarely leads to a change in power, such elections should not be regarded as mere window-dressing. She argues that competitive elections are installed to deal with a split among the incumbent elite and to facilitate the formation of a new rulin…