This open access book addresses challenges related to women in STEM in higher education, presenting research, experiences, studies, and good practices associated with the engagement, access, and retention of women in the STEM disciplines. It also discusses strategies implemented by universities and policymakers to reduce the existing gender gap in these areas. The chapters provide an overview of implementations in different regions of the world and provide numerous examples that can be transferred to other higher education institutions.

This book discusses the digital design of integrated circuits under process variations, with a focus on design-time solutions. The authors describe a step-by-step methodology, going from logic gates to logic paths to the circuit level. Topics are presented in comprehensively, without overwhelming use of analytical formulations. Emphasis is placed on providing digital designers with understanding of the sources of process variations, their impact on circuit performance and tools for improving their designs to comply with product specifications. Various circuit-level "design hints" are highlighted, so that readers can use then to improve their designs. A special treatment is devoted to unique design issues and the impact of process variations on the performance of FinFET based circuits. This book enables readers to make optimal decisions at design time, toward more efficient circuits, with better yield and higher reliability.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 4th World Summit on the Knowledge Society, WSKS 2011, held in Mykonos, Greece, in September 2011. The 90 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 198 submissions. The papers address issues such as information technology, e-learning, e-business, cultural heritage, e-government.

Current political discourse emphasizes the globalized nature of security threats, and focusing on Latin America, this book identifies local complexities of Human Security. From Human to Post Human Security in Latin America provides a fresh look to some acute problems regarding human security in Latin America: human rights and dignity, water, food and health insecurities. These problems are persistent and constitute human security threats in the near future. In this book, each chapter studies a critical social problem in Latin America and analyzes it from the human security perspective, providing examples that illustrate the critical state in which Latin America is found regarding environmental security and providing a comparative perspective to give a wider view of these issues. Now security threats are truly global; given the limits of the international community and the nation state to solve these issues, it is necessary to revisit the most acute problems that the planet faces from a more comprehensive perspective. This is essential reading for professionals in the field of policy making, practitioners with a need of a conceptual support, and those interested in human security in Latin America from a Latin American perspective.

In this timely book, Emilio Jose Garcia and Brenda Vale explore what sustainability and resilience might mean when applied to the built environment. Conceived as a primer for students and professionals, it defines what the terms sustainability and resilience mean and how they are related to each other and to the design of the built environment. After discussion of the origins of the terms, these definitions are then compared and applied to case studies, including Whitehill and Bordon, UK, Tianjin Eco-city, China, and San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, which highlight the principles of both concepts. Essentially, the authors champion the case that sustainability in the built environment would benefit from a proper understanding of resilience.

This book gathers peer-review contributions to the 4th International Workshop on Gerontechnology, IWoG 2021, held on November 23-24, 2021, in Evora, Portugal. They report on cutting-edge technologies and optimized workflows for promoting active aging and assisting elderly people at home, as well as in healthcare centers. They discuss the main challenges in the development, use and delivery of health care services and technologies. Not only they propose solutions for improving in practice the monitoring and management of health parameters and age-related diseases, yet they also describe improved approaches for helping seniors in their daily tasks and facilitating their communication and integration with assistive technologies, thus improving their quality of life, as well as their social integration. All in all, this book provides health professionals, researchers, and service providers with extensive information on the latest trends in the development and practical application of gerontechnology, with a special emphasis on improving quality of life of the elderly.

In this timely book, Emilio Jose Garcia and Brenda Vale explore what sustainability and resilience might mean when applied to the built environment. Conceived as a primer for students and professionals, it defines what the terms sustainability and resilience mean and how they are related to each other and to the design of the built environment. After discussion of the origins of the terms, these definitions are then compared and applied to case studies, including Whitehill and Bordon, UK, Tianjin Eco-city, China, and San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, which highlight the principles of both concepts. Essentially, the authors champion the case that sustainability in the built environment would benefit from a proper understanding of resilience.

This book uncovers the crucial issues in learning technologies in this digital transformation moment, specifically within the COVID-19 umbrella effects. Remote learning, educational technologies, or distance learning are usually used topics by teachers, students, and researchers because the educational context should be transformed and even reinvented itself drastically. Technologies have been used more intensively in the last year than during the last decade. However, what is the effect of these "new" technologies on the teaching and learning methodologies? Are teachers and students fully digital competent to integrate these technologies in their teaching and learning activities? In this book, the authors claim to go forward that the online teaching conception to replicate the face-to-face teaching through a camera. They propose adapting the active methodologies to the online or hybrid context, which is a challenge that must be corroborated with rigorous educational research.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence, ANTS 2022, held in Malaga, Spain, in November 2022. The 19 full papers presented, together with 14 short papers and 4 extended abstracts were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. ANTS 2022 contributions are dealing with any aspect of swarm intelligence such as behavioral models of social insects, empirical and theoretical research in swarm intelligence, application of swarm intelligence methods, and much more.

Superconducting quantum circuits are among the most promising solutions for the development of scalable quantum computers. Built with sizes that range from microns to tens of metres using superconducting fabrication techniques and microwave technology, superconducting circuits demonstrate distinctive quantum properties such as superposition and entanglement at cryogenic temperatures. This book provides a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the world of superconducting quantum circuits, and how they are used in current quantum technology. Beginning with a description of their basic superconducting properties, the author then explores their use in quantum systems, showing how they can emulate individual photons and atoms, and ultimately behave as qubits within highly connected quantum systems. Particular attention is paid to cutting-edge applications of these superconducting circuits in quantum computing and quantum simulation. Written for graduate students and junior researchers, this accessible text includes numerous homework problems and worked examples.

This open access book addresses challenges related to women in STEM in higher education, presenting research, experiences, studies, and good practices associated with the engagement, access, and retention of women in the STEM disciplines. It also discusses strategies implemented by universities and policymakers to reduce the existing gender gap in these areas. The chapters provide an overview of implementations in different regions of the world and provide numerous examples that can be transferred to other higher education institutions.

This book gathers revised selected papers from the 3rd International Workshop on Gerontechnology, IWoG 2020, held on October 5-6, 2020, in Evora, Portugal. They reports on cutting-edge technologies and optimized workflows for promoting active aging and assisting and elderly people at home, as well as in healthcare centers. It discusses the main challenges in the development, use and delivery of health care services and technologies. Not only they proposes solutions for improving in practice the monitoring and management of health parameters and age-related diseases, yet they also describes improved approaches for helping seniors in their daily tasks and facilitating their communication and integration with assistive technologies, thus improving their quality of life, as well as their social integration. The book provides health professionals, researchers, and service providers with extensive information on the latest trends in the development and practical application of gerontechnology in elderly care.

This book investigates the sustainability performance of system that use microgrids in desalination processes. Climate change may be especially dramatic in its effects on island environments. In these environments, aquifers and wells could become over exploited resulting the use of desalination plans. The synergies between water, energy, and food sectors have been identified as vital in achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. The book explores desalination and microgrids technically as well the economic and legal aspects that must be considered in order explore their techno-economic feasibility - analyzing how to improve the desalination process, proposing a method to locate and size a microgrid. Other synergies between the water, energy, and food system are discussed and the benefits to society that might result in these systems. Also, the lessons learned are highlighted in the context of how they may apply to other sustainable enterprises.

This book gathers revised selected papers from the 3rd International Workshop on Gerontechnology, IWoG 2020, held on October 5-6, 2020, in Evora, Portugal. They reports on cutting-edge technologies and optimized workflows for promoting active aging and assisting and elderly people at home, as well as in healthcare centers. It discusses the main challenges in the development, use and delivery of health care services and technologies. Not only they proposes solutions for improving in practice the monitoring and management of health parameters and age-related diseases, yet they also describes improved approaches for helping seniors in their daily tasks and facilitating their communication and integration with assistive technologies, thus improving their quality of life, as well as their social integration. The book provides health professionals, researchers, and service providers with extensive information on the latest trends in the development and practical application of gerontechnology in elderly care.

This book summarizes the latest studies regarding innovation in urban design and planning. It shares many tips and insights about sustainable solutions for the issues facing transport systems, innovative digital technologies, and ICT trends. The book touches upon the need to integrate the three fields of Architecture, Engineering, and Technology that have become indispensable. This is intended to respond to the increasing human needs and population growth in cities on one hand and to develop a holistic approach that helps overcome challenges to sustainability and environment management on the other hand. With the power of engineering in practice, problems of design and development once considered too complex to be dealt with other than empirically, intuitively, or by trial and error, are now becoming more solvable and applicable. This book offers strategies and solutions that enable designers to bring together knowledge in the fields of architecture, engineering, and technology to overcome challenges facing in modern times.

This book discusses the digital design of integrated circuits under process variations, with a focus on design-time solutions. The authors describe a step-by-step methodology, going from logic gates to logic paths to the circuit level. Topics are presented in comprehensively, without overwhelming use of analytical formulations. Emphasis is placed on providing digital designers with understanding of the sources of process variations, their impact on circuit performance and tools for improving their designs to comply with product specifications. Various circuit-level "design hints" are highlighted, so that readers can use then to improve their designs. A special treatment is devoted to unique design issues and the impact of process variations on the performance of FinFET based circuits. This book enables readers to make optimal decisions at design time, toward more efficient circuits, with better yield and higher reliability.

In the increasingly volatile American economy, where close to 800 billion dollars is owed in credit card debt and where there has been a steady decline in work-related benefits like health insurance and pensions, consumer debt has become a fact of life. Credit cards are the new safety net being used by desperate middle and low income families to manage essential expenses such as groceries and medical bills. Here is a troubling examination of the causes and consequences of the explosive rise in American consumer debt.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the First International Workshop on Gerotechnology, IWoG 2018, held in Caceres, Spain on December 14, 2018, and in Evora, Portugal, on December 17, 2018. The 24 revised full papers along with 8 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 71 submissions.The papers are organized in topical sections on knowledge management for health: context, cognition, behavior and user modeling; technologies to increase the quality of life of the elderly population; Internet of Things (IoT); smarts technologies and algorithms for health; monitoring and management of chronic and non-chronic diseases;solutions for active aging, social integration and self-care; health interventions to support caregivers of elderly people; public health initiatives.

In the past, elderly patients were given artificial airway technologies, such as a tracheostomy tube, to assist with their breathing. However, thanks to the advances in medical technologies, older patients now may receive respiratory care while enjoying the comfort of their own home. Noninvasive Ventilation Technologies and Healthcare for Geriatric Patients is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the models and processes of care for elderly subjects that require noninvasive ventilation as well as the development of technological solutions. While highlighting topics such as elderly care, respiratory failure, and home care, this publication explores healthcare management as well as the methods of professional homecare medical services. This book is ideally designed for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, senior health technicians, hospital administrators, clinical directors, laboratories, medical practitioners, nurses, and medical students.