Open Access Books

This book focuses primarily on speech recognition and the related tasks such as speech enhancement and modeling. This book comprises 3 sections and thirteen chapters written by eminent researchers from USA, Brazil, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Ireland, Taiwan, Mexico, Slovakia and India. Section 1 on speech recognition consists of seven chapters. Sections 2 and 3 on speech enhancement and speech modeling have three chapters each respectively to supplement section 1. We sincerely believe that thorough reading of these thirteen chapters will provide comprehensive knowledge on modern speech recognition approaches to the readers.

Herbert Simon held that the fundamental turn in the study of bounded rationality is the turn from substantive to procedural rationality. Theories of substantive rationality begin with normative questions about attitudes: what should we prefer, intend, or believe? By contrast, theories of procedural rationality begin with normative questions about processes of inquiry: how should we determine what to prefer, intend, or believe? If Simon was right, then the central task for theories of bounded rationality is to develop an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents. We need, that is, a theory of inquiry under bounds. Inquiry under bounds takes as its starting point a five-point bounded rationality program inspired by recent work in cognitive science. To elaborate and defend that program, I argue, we need an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents. Inquiry under bounds develops an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents: the reason-responsiveness consequentialist view. I use this account to clarify and defend key insights from the bounded tradition as well as to shed light on recent controversies in the epistemology of inquiry.

Im 20. Jahrhundert investierten die Schweizer Unternehmen massiv in die berufliche Bildung, bauten das Lehrlingswesen aus und schufen Weiterbildungsabteilungen. Ihre pädagogischen Ambitionen gingen aber weit über den Qualifikationsbedarf hinaus. Mit dem Ausbau der Berufsbildung sollte auch die Loyalität der Belegschaft gesichert werden. Aufklärungskampagnen dienten der Konsumentenerziehung oder der ökonomischen Jugendbildung. Ausgangspunkt dieser Untersuchung sind die Konflikte zwischen Industrie und Gewerbe und zwischen Kapital und Arbeit. Das Buch bezieht die Krisen in den 1920er- und 1930er-Jahren und die Hochkonjunktur nach 1945 ein und schliesst mit der Durchsetzung mikrochipbasierter Anwendungen in Industrie, Verwaltung und Privathaushalten. Es zeigt, wie die Wirtschaftsverbände um die richtige Form der Lehrlingsausbildung rangen und fragt, warum einzelne Unternehmer und Wirtschaftsberater den Kapitalismus ausgerechnet durch eine konsequente Selbsterziehung zivilisieren wollten.

Nowadays, 25% of materials used are metals, and this ratio is not expected to decrease, as metals are indispensable for many applications due to their high resistance to temperature. The only handicap of metals is their relatively higher density with respect to composites. Lightening of metallic structures is possible in three ways: (i) employing low density metals, (ii) developing new ones, and (iii) increasing the yield strength of existing high-density metals. The Laboratory of Excellence of the Lorraine University in France, called ‘Design of Alloy Metals for Low-Mass Structures’, is working to lighten metal via metallurgical means. Two leading research laboratories compose this Laboratory of Excellence within the Lorraine University: the Laboratory of Microstructure Studies and Mechanics of Materials (LEM3), based in Metz, and the Jean Lamour Institute (IJL), located in Nancy. In this Special Issue, they report on some of their major progress in the different fields of metallurgy and mechanics of metallic materials. There are articles in the three major fields of metallurgy: physical, chemical, and mechanical metallurgy. All scales are covered, from atomistic studies to real-scale metallic structures.

This is an open access book. With a wealth of exciting data emerging in this rapidly evolving field this book will review the state-of-the-art knowledge with emphasis on multidisciplinary decision and management of head and neck cancer. The book provides significant detail on a wide range of topics including: the role of new targets for treatment, immunotherapy, resistance mechanisms, standardizing molecular profiling programs, and new methods to guide therapeutic approaches. In addition different disease situations are addressed including different treatment approaches in primary disease and in recurrent and/or metastatic disease as well as new developments in pathology, surgery and reconstruction techniques, new systemic therapies in salivary gland cancer, and supportive care and follow-up. All disciplines involved in the treatment of head & neck cancer are covered with a focus on translation into daily practice. The 8th-THNO is designed for medical oncologists, head and neck surgeons, radiation oncologists, otolaryngologists, and other medical professionals involved in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer.

Écrire l’histoire médiévale de la montagne vosgienne à partir des découvertes archéologiques relève, aujourd’hui encore de la gageure tant il est vrai que les données sont rares, partielles et, lorsqu’elles existent, qu’elles ne concernent que quelques domaines spécifiques de l’activité humaine. Le cloisonnement régional, dû peut-être à la barrière de la langue autant qu’à l’histoire spécifique de choque versant, a, en effet, probablement joué contre une histoire globale « de la conquête des Hauts », mais l’on peut convenir, à l’inverse, que cette situation a stimulé une myriade de recherches dont il faut regretter, tout de même, et le caractère disparate et le manque de coordination institutionnelle. En devenant une science à port entière, affranchie des disciplines desquelles elle était traditionnellement dépendante, et en s’appuyant sur de nouvelles méthodes et pratiques d’investigations, l’archéologie a permis de définir des problématiques inédites, spécifiques aux espaces d’altitude, ouvrant sur de nouvelles pistes de recherche, elles-mêmes susceptibles d’offrir de plus amples résultats sur leur anthropisation et l’impact qu’elle eut sur les paysages autant que sur le culture matérielle telle qu’elle se comprend aujourd’hui, à savoir sur les conditions concrètes d’existence des populations locales, sur leur travail, leur savoir-faire et les productions qui en découlent, sur leur consommation et les échanges qu’elle suscite, sur l’organisation de leur(s) espace(s), domestique(s) ou professionnel(s). Cette rencontre, pensée non comme un aboutissement mais comme un état des lieux des Vosges médiévales – alsaciennes, lorraines et comtoises –, est apparue comme un préalable indispensable à un projet de recherche collectif pluri-, voire inter-, disciplinaire, dont il reste désormais à définir les contours et la problématique.

In this book the reader will find a collection of chapters written by different research teams, describing different applications of optical fibers for sensing. This work is mainly addressed to researchers already working in this area, but it is also accessible to anyone with a scientific background who desires to have an updated overview of the recent progress in this domain. It will also be valuable to scientists and engineers who have become newly involved in this field. Each chapter is self-contained and can be read independently of the others. This book intends to provide highlights of the current research in this area, showing the recent advances in the field of optical fiber sensing.

"This imaginative and empowering book explores the ways that our emotions entangle us with climate change and offers strategies for engaging with climate anxiety that can contribute to social transformation. Climate educator Blanche Verlie draws on feminist, more-than-human and affect theories to argue that people in high-carbon societies need to learn to ‘live-with’ climate change: to appreciate that human lives are interconnected with the climate, and to cultivate the emotional capacities needed to respond to the climate crisis. Learning to Live with Climate Change explores the cultural, interpersonal and sociological dimensions of ecological distress. The book engages with Australia’s 2019/2020 ‘Black Summer’ of bushfires and smoke, undergraduate students’ experiences of climate change, and contemporary activist movements such as the youth strikes for climate. Verlie outlines how we can collectively attune to, live with, and respond to the unsettling realities of climate collapse while counteracting domineering ideals of ‘climate control.’ This impressive and timely work is both deeply philosophical and immediately practical. Its accessible style and real-world relevance ensure it will be valued by those researching, studying and working in diverse fields such as sustainability education, climate communication, human geography, cultural studies, environmental sociology and eco-psychology, as well as the broader public."

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences.

Fiducial Governance: An Australian republic for the new millennium represents an attempt to grapple with the challenges of designing governance regimes suited to the new millennium. Power's monograph asserts the need for the reform of Australian governance and charts Australia's fitful progress towards a republican future. Along the way he sketches a framework for constitutional reform, mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of the current system of government and the contest of ideas about the role and configuration of Australian Heads of State. Long a frustrated Australian republican, Power contends that the republican log jam is due in significant part to a lack of respect shown by the republican policy community to the contribution long made to good governance by monarchical heads of state. This monograph seeks to draw lessons from this experience, so as to make the republican venture one of substance for the Australian public. In so doing, Power draws on a range of republican, indigenous and feminist writings in order to develop a new framework of 'fiducial governance' aimed at enhancing the trustworthiness and integrity of our institutions of governance, thereby paving the way for the replacement of the monarch by a directly elected head of state. This is an erudite and thoughtful book that will be of interest to those with an interest in systems of governance and to constitutional scholars, whether they be republicans or monarchists.

In this book, experts discuss the use of ‘theatre’ and ‘metatheatre’ to describe ancient Greek dramatic activities. By examining how these two concepts are used in very different ways by scholars of various horizons, this collective volume aims both at widening what should be encompassed under the label ‘theatre’ when looking at the ancient Greek world and at better defining what could count as ‘metatheatre’ in ancient Greek dramatic production.

Pour Charles Magnin, critique du Globe, le XIXe siècle serait « l’âge de l’esthétique ». Cet ouvrage collectif, centré sur la période romantique, se propose de vérifier cette assertion en étudiant la ruine progressive des poétiques normatives et l’acclimatation en France de cette notion qui fut d’abord allemande. Sous le signe de l’interculturalité, ont été étudiés les modèles germaniques (Schiller, les frères Schlegel, Schelling, Heine), la rémanence d’un sublime de terreur tel qu’il avait é...

This volume is about India’s deep and complex relationship with its chosen form of government. It is an interdisciplinary book with approaches drawn from history, anthropology, sociology, political science and social geography. We believe this volume provides new perspectives on how to approach and analyse the complexity of India’s democracy. The book’s unfortunate publishing history also tells a tale of India.

There is no doubt that the hydrogen bond is one of the most-often analyzed interactions, and there is also no doubt that experimental studies, especially those based on the determination of crystal structures are very important since they deliver valuable information on the nature of this interaction, on different types of the hydrogen bonds, and also on reactions where a hydrogen bond may be treated as the preliminary step. Since the role of the analysis of crystal structures for investigations concerning hydrogen-bonded systems is valuable, the Editorial Board of Crystals, thus, decided to devote a Special Issue of the journal to the analysis of hydrogen bonds in crystals.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has played a critical role in the global economy since the postwar era. But, claims Claudia Kedar, behind the strictly economic aspects of the IMF’s intervention, there are influential interactions between IMF technocrats and local economists—even when countries are not borrowing money.↵In The International Monetary Fund and Latin America, Kedar seeks to expose the motivations and constraints of the operations of both the IMF and borrowers. With access to never-before-seen archive materials, Kedar reveals both the routine and behind-the-scenes practices that have depicted International Monetary Fund–Latin American relations in general and the asymmetrical IMF-Argentina relations in particular.↵Kedar also analyzes the “routine of dependency” that characterizes IMF-borrower relations with several Latin American countries such as Chile, Peru, and Brazil. The International Monetary Fund and Latin America shows how debtor countries have adopted IMF’s policies during past decades and why Latin American leaders today largely refrain from knocking at the IMF’s doors again.