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This book analyzes how the increase in migration from other Latin American countries to countries of the American Southern Cone such as Brazil, Argentina and Chile has generated a crisis fueled by the emergence of hate discourses towards migrant populations. While extracontinental migration to Europe, North America and elsewhere has waned over the last decades, migration between Latin American countries has increased dramatically as a product of the differential development of the region¿s economies, violence, and political turmoil. This book sets out to explain the effects of these trends by analyzing statistical data, official documents and ethnographic material gathered over a long period of research carried out throughout South America. The volume is divided in two parts. In the first part, it presents a theoretical contribution, synthesizing particularities of intraregional migration in Latin America, as well as the emergence of hate discourses towards migrant populations, developing approaches oriented towards a critical gender perspective. It also underlines important contributions that Latin American migration studies can make to current debates about migration across the globe. In the second part, it presents case studies dedicated to Argentina, Brazil and Chile.The Migration Crisis in the American Southern Cone: Hate Speech and its Social Consequences will be a valuable resource to migration studies researchers by presenting fresh theoretical and empirical contributions to the field from a Latin American perspective.

This book presents the latest findings relating to behavioral economics and the digital tools applied to contract management. There has been a decisive change in the role of contracts in the past decade, with contracts being transformed from purely legal necessities designed to protect against worst-case scenarios into tools for optimizing ongoing and mutually profitable business relationships with customers. There is an increasing emphasis on tight contracts, where time-risk and additional costs are passed on to the prime contractor, who may suffer heavy penalties in the event of non-performance. Contracts shape the behavior of the parties involved and as such have a major impact on project success. The contract manager¿s goals are to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders by minimizing the company¿s financial and contractual liabilities and to maximize its profitability while ensuring end-user satisfaction. Thecontract is usually written before the design is fully developed, and there is often a mismatch between contractual specifications and what the customer actually wants. Good contract management entails preserving the rights of the contractor by ensuring all parties respect their contractual obligations; providing advice to the project managers and engineering team; preparing profitable amendments to contracts or change requests; maintaining good record-keeping in the event that claims arise; filing notices when necessary; and guiding the project to a profitable conclusion. Like the ancient Chinese game of Go, moves made early in the game (notification of events) can shape the nature of a potential conflict one hundred moves later (arbitration threat). Contract management can also smooth the relationship between partners, allowing well-balanced ¿don¿t-trade-a-dollar-for-a-penny¿ contracts to be managed through an established process rather than as sporadic events (we cannot claim to bein control of our business if we are not in control of the contracts on which it depends). Managing a contract with a mix of incomplete manuals, fragmented information, and poor planning can drive companies to ¿reinvent the wheel.¿ Contract management promotes a three-phase sequence to streamline information flows across the contract lifecycle, from the bid phase to performance, project closeout, and final payments.

This book ties together classical and modern topics of advanced vibration analysis in an interesting and lucid manner. It is intended for advanced students, university teachers, and researchers in mechanical/structural engineering dynamics, and professional engineers aiming at strengthening their theoretical foundation. Assuming background knowledge in elementary vibrations, it provides a set of useful tools for understanding and analyzing the more complex dynamical phenomena that can be met in engineering and scientific practice. Summarizing first basic linear vibration theory, it progresses over various types of nonlinearity and nonlinear interaction to bifurcation analysis, chaotic vibrations, and special high-frequency effects. It trains the student to analyze simple models, recognize nonlinear phenomena, and work with advanced tools such as perturbation analysis and bifurcation analysis. Focusing attention on a limited number of simple, generic models, the book covers the qualitative behavior of a wide variety of mechanical/structural systems; the key examples dealt with can be fabricated as simple physical models for classroom demonstrations. Explaining theory in terms of relevant examples from real systems, this book is user-friendly and meets the increasing interest in, and significance of, nonlinear dynamics in mechanical/structural engineering. This 3rd edition adds many new topics, sections, figures, exercise problems, literature references, and other updates; it is backed up by a separately available booklet with worked out solutions to exercise problems.

This book directly addresses the explosion of literature about leveraging analytics with employee data and how organizational psychologists and practitioners can harness new information to help guide positive change in the workplace. In order for today¿s organizational psychologists to successfully work with their partners they must go beyond behavioral science into the realms of computing and business acumen. Similarly, today¿s data scientists must appreciate the unique aspects of behavioral data and the special circumstances which surround HR data and HR systems. Finally, traditional HR professionals must become familiar with research methods, statistics, and data systems in order to collaborate with these new specialized partners and teams. Despite the increasing importance of this diversity of skill, many organizations are still unprepared to build teams with the comprehensive skills necessary to have high performing HR Analytics functions. And importantly, all these considerations are magnified by the introduction and acceleration of machine learning in HR. This book will serve as an introduction to these areas and provide guidance on building the connectivity across domains required to establish well-rounded skills for individuals and best practices for organizations when beginning to apply advanced analytics to workforce data. It will also introduce machine learning and where it fits within the larger HR Analytics framework by explaining many of its basic tenets and methodologies. By the end of the book, readers will understand the skills required to do advanced HR analytics well, as well as how to begin designing and applying machine learning within a larger human capital strategy.

This book aims at providing insights into the collagen superfamily and the remarkable diversity of collagen function within the extracellular matrix. Additionally, the mechanisms underlying collagen-related diseases such as dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, osteogenesis imperfecta, as well as collagen-related myopathies and neurological disorders are discussed.Collagens are the most abundant extracellular matrix proteins in organisms. Their primary function is to provide structural support and strength to cells and to maintain biomechanical integrity of tissues. However, collagens can no longer be considered just as structural proteins. They can act as extracellular modulators of signaling events and serve critical regulatory roles in various cell functions during embryonic development and adult homeostasis. Furthermore, collagens are associated with a broad spectrum of heritability-related diseases known as ¿collagenopathies¿ that affect a multitude of organs and tissues including sensorial organs.The book is a useful introduction to the field for junior scientists, interested in extracellular matrix research. It is also an interesting read for advanced scientists and clinicians working on collagens and collagenopathies, giving them a broader view of the field beyond their area of specialization.

This book is based upon a comparative public administration research project, initiated by the Hertie School of Governance (Germany) and the Bertelsmann Foundation (Germany) and supported by a network of researchers from many EU countries. It analyzes both the regimes and the practices of local fiscal regulation in 21 European countries. The book brings together key findings of this research project. The regulatory discussion is not limited to the prominent issue of fiscal rules but focuses on every component of regulation. Beyond this, the book covers affiliated topics such as the impact of regulation for local governments, evolution of regulation, administrative costs and crisis prevention. The various book chapters throughout provide a broad picture of local public finance regulation in theory and in practice, using different theoretical and national lenses for the analysis. Furthermore, the authors investigate the effects of budgetary constraints and higher-level regulatory efforts on local governments and on democracy and public services in every European country. This book fills a gap with respect to the lack of discussion on local government finance from an international, comparative perspective and, in particular, the regulation of local public finance. With its mix of authors, this book will be useful for practitioners as well as for scholars and for theory-driven research.

This book relates research being implemented in three main research areas: secure connectivity and intelligent systems, real-time analytics and manufacturing knowledge and virtual manufacturing.Manufacturing SMEs and MNCs want to see how Industry 4.0 is implemented. On the other hand, groundbreaking research on this topic is constantly growing. For the aforesaid reason, the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), has created the model factory initiative. In the model factory, manufacturers, technology providers and the broader industry can (i) learn how I4.0 technologies are implemented on real-world manufacturing use-cases, (ii) test process improvements enabled by such technologies at the model factory facility, without disrupting their own operations, (iii) co-develop technology solutions and (iv) support the adoption of solutions at their everyday industrial operation. The book constitutes a clear base ground not only for inspiration of researchers, but also for companies who will want to adopt smart manufacturing approaches coming from Industry 4.0 in their pathway to digitization.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of US policy from the perspective of an analyst and scholar from the region. This volume discusses the US energy diplomacy in the Caspian Sea region since 2001. It compares the foreign policy of the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, following the changing role of energy in the behavior of the US toward states in the energy hubs of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea. The chapters employ historical analysis, regional analysis, interviews, and case studies to trace the evolution of US interests in the area and posits likely trends for future policy. Topics discussed include:Chinäs massive Belt and Road Initiativethe energy and foreign policies of the Caspian littoral states in comparison with those of China, India, the European Union, and Turkeythe escalation of differences among key OPEC members during the Trump erathe impact of the oil price war on the US shale industrythe spread of COVID-19 and its impact on the oil marketRussian and U.S. competition in the EU energy marketthe US-China trade war and the role of energy in the first phase of the US-China trade dealthe energy policy of the incoming US President, Joe BidenShedding light on the complex geopolitics of the US-Caspian Sea Energy diplomacy, this volume will be of interest to researchers of foreign policy, diplomacy, international relations, and energy policy as well as policymakers and analysts working in related areas.

This book provides information on genome complexity and evolution, transcriptome analysis, miRNome, simple sequence repeats, genome relationships, molecular cytogenetics, polyploidy induction and application, flower and embryo development. Orchids account for a great part of the worldwide floriculture trade both as cut flowers and as potted plants and are assessed to comprise around 10% of global fresh cut flower trade. A better understanding of the basic botanical characteristics, flower regulation, molecular cytogenetics, karyotypes and DNA content of important orchids will aid in the efficient development of new cultivars. The book also describes the composition, expression and function of various microRNAs and simple sequence repeats. Information on their involvement in all aspects of plant growth and development will aid functional genomics studies .

This book constitutes revised papers from the International Workshops held at the 18th International Conference on Business Process Management, BPM 2020, during September 13-18, 2020. The conference was planned to take place in Seville, Spain, but changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Papers from the following workshops are included:Workshop on Security and Privacy-Enhanced Business Process Management (SPBP 2020)Workshop on Social and Human Aspects of Business Process Management (BPMS2 2020)Workshop on Business Processes Meet the Internet-of Things (BP-Meet-IoT 2020)Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Business Process Management (AI4BPM 2020)Workshop BPM in the Era of Digital Innovation and Transformation (BPMinDIT 2020)Workshop on Business Process Intelligence (BPI 2020)Workshop on Declarative, Decision and Hybrid Approaches to Processes (DEC2H 2020)Each of the seven workshops focused onparticular aspects of business process management, either from a technical or from a domain perspective. Overall, after a thorough review process there were 28 full and 1 short paper selected from 53 submissions.

The Bahía Blanca Estuary is one of the largest coastal systems in Atlantic South America. This mesotidal estuary, situated in a sharp transition between humid subtropical and semiarid climates, has a unique combination of large interannual climatic variations. The estuarine area encompasses roughly 2300 square kilometers and is composed of wide expanses of intertidal flats, salt marshes, and emerged islands, which create intricate landscape patterns. Natural environments in the estuary sustain a high concentration of marine and terrestrial species, including endemic, threatened, and endangered fish and shorebirds. Puerto Cuatreros, in the inner zone of the estuary, hosts a permanent marine research station, whose records span more than 30 years of biophysical variables, and represent one of the largest time series of ecological data in South America. Beyond its ecological relevance, the Bahía Blanca Estuary is under increasing anthropogenic pressure from large urban settlements, industrial developments and harbors, raising the question of how to balance conservation and development. The Bahía Blanca Estuary: Ecology and Biodiversity offers a comprehensive review of life in the ecosystems of the estuary. The book is divided into five major sections, the first of which provides a description of the regional setting and covers key aspects of estuarine dynamics. The three following sections are dedicated to different habitat types and, within each section, the chapters are organized around major functional groups from pelagic and benthic environments. The fifth and final section covers issues related to management and conservation. Overall, the book provides essential and up-to-date reference material on the biodiversity and ecosystem processes of the Bahía Blanca Estuary, and will appeal to a broad international audience.

This book describes the basic functions of the European Digital Radio DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting plus) with its direct possible applications in a simple way. The book refers to fundamentals of DABs 80+ norms and specifications. Presented subjects are indicating problems of DAB signal propagation and possible multimedia applications. The book provides about 130 figures for explaining new concepts in an easy to approach manner. Applications include, but are not limited to audio compression MPEG, OFDM, SFN phasor representation, multiplexes, MOT, and conditional access. The book is intended for those interested in decisions regarding radio at various levels, owners of radio stations, and designers of various multimedia applications of digital radio in the field of security, students of wireless systems, etc. ¿ Presents the fundamental functions of DAB / DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting) along with its applications¿ Outlines the European Digital Radio system¿ Explains the functions of worldwide emerging digital radio subsystems

Since its inception, fuzzy logic has attracted an incredible amount of interest, and this interest continues to grow at an exponential rate. As such, scientists, researchers, educators and practitioners of fuzzy logic continue to expand on the applicability of what and how fuzzy can be utilised in the real-world. In this book, the authors present key application areas where fuzzy has had significant success. The chapters cover a plethora of application domains, proving credence to the versatility and robustness of a fuzzy approach.A better understanding of fuzzy will ultimately allow for a better appreciation of fuzzy. This book provides the reader with a varied range of examples to illustrate what fuzzy logic can be capable of and how it can be applied. The text will be ideal for individuals new to the notion of fuzzy, as well as for early career academics who wish to further expand on their knowledge of fuzzy applications. The book is also suitable as a supporting text for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level modules on fuzzy logic, soft computing, and applications of AI.

This book highlights original approaches of modelling and intelligent control of cyber-physical systems covering both theoretical and practical aspects. The novel contribution of the book covers the transformation of scientific research and their results into applications for cyber-physical systems design and operation during the whole life cycle in different domains. Given its scope, the book offers an excellent reference book for researchers and other readers in the fields of cyber-physical systems modelling and intelligent control, space exploration and practical implementation of cyber-physical systems. The book also benefits researchers and practitioners in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as described results can be applied in cyber-physical systems design and cost-effectively maintenance. The target audience of this book also includes practitioners and experts, as well as state authorities and representatives of international organizations interested in creating mechanisms for implementing Cyber-Physical Systems projects.

This edited book uses the concept of diversity in child foreign language education as a major organizing principle. Since a foreign language, most typically English, is taught globally to an increasing number of children, the variability in the process and varied learning outcomes are inescapable phenomena. This book has been constructed on the premise that heterogeneity, first, concerns young language learners, who due to the disparity in the pace of development need appropriately tailored educational solutions, and, second, it refers to a diversity of contexts in which learning takes place. The contexts can be defined on a macroscale (e.g. different countries), mesoscale (e.g. different institutions), and microscale (e.g. specific learner groups). The book consists of four thematic strands. In Part One the learner-internal causes of heterogeneity of young language learners are clarified. Part Two presents a sample of classroom studies in which learner variables, such as gender, learner preferences, and special needs are taken into account. Part Three looks at teaching materials and how they meet learners¿ needs. Finally, Part Four highlights diversity issues that teachers should be prepared to face.

In the recent past, threats from climate change and unforeseeable environmental extremes to plant growth and productivity have consistently increased. The climate change-driven effects, especially from unpredictable environmental fluctuations, can result in an increased prevalence of abiotic and biotic stresses in plants. These stresses have slowed down the global yields of crop plants. On the other hand, food security for the rapidly growing human population in a sustainable ecosystem is a major concern of the present-day world. Thus, understanding the core developmental, physiological and molecular aspects that regulate plant growth and productivity in a challenging environment is a pivotal issue to be tackled by the scientific community dealing with sustainable agricultural and horticultural practices. Plants are influenced by the adverse environmental conditions at various levels, their different and diverse responses play a significant role in determining their growth, production and the overall geographical distribution. The chapters in this book focus on the biological mechanisms and fundamental principles that determine how different plant species grow, perform and interact with a challenging environment. This book covers a broad range of topics in plant science, including gene function, molecules, physiology, cell biology and plant ecology, to understand the functioning of plants under harsh environmental conditions. The book elucidates the physiological and molecular mechanisms in different plant species, ecophysiological interactions of plants, interplay between plant roots, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, biosensors for monitoring stress, production of secondary metabolites, stress alleviation processes, and more.

This book provides both an introduction to the philosophy of scientific modeling and a contribution to the discussion and clarification of two recent philosophical conceptions of models: artifactualism and fictionalism. These can be viewed as different stances concerning the standard representationalist account of scientific models. By better understanding these two alternative views, readers will gain a deeper insight into what a model is as well as how models function in different sciences.Fictionalism has been a traditional epistemological stance related to antirealist construals of laws and theories, such as instrumentalism and inferentialism. By contrast, the more recent fictional view of models holds that scientific models must be conceived of as the same kind of entities as literary characters and places. This approach is essentially an answer to the ontological question concerning the nature of models, which in principle is not incompatible with a representationalist account of the function of models. The artifactual view of models is an approach according to which scientific models are epistemic artifacts, whose main function is not to represent the phenomena but rather to provide epistemic access to them. It can be conceived of as a non-representationalist and pragmatic account of modeling, which does not intend to focus on the ontology of models but rather on the ways they are built and used for different purposes. The different essays address questions such as the artifactual view of idealization, the use of information theory to elucidate the concepts of abstraction and idealization, the deidealization of models, the nature of scientific fictions, the structural account of representation and the ontological status of structures, the role of surrogative reasoning with models, and the use of models for explaining and predicting physical phenomena.