This book provides authentic practice-based inquiries by pre-service teachers. Their reflective narratives showcase their individual inquiries as they navigated their self-chosen professional learning journeys through the teaching as inquiry framework. The narratives advance what it means to be a reflective practitioner in practice and highlight necessary dispositional skill sets to attain valuable professional learning through inquiry. Through an inquiry stance, pre-service teachers are liberated from being knowledge consumers to local knowledge producers relevant to their practice. The dissonance this shift creates, negates the ‘comfortable doing’ of teaching to make the act of teaching authentic, relevant, and powerful. 

Road accidents caused by impaired and distracted driving as well as traffic congestion are on the rise, with the numbers increasing dramatically every day. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) aim to improve the efficiency and safety of traveling by consolidating vehicle operations, managing vehicle traffic, and notifying drivers with alerts and safety messages in real time. Vehicular Cloud Computing for Traffic Management and Systems provides innovative research on the rapidly advancing applications of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. It also covers the need to fully utilize vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) resources to provide updated and dynamic information about the conditions of road traffic so that the number of road accidents can be minimized. Featuring research on topics such as identity management, computational architecture, and resource management, this book is ideally designed for urban planners, researchers, policy makers, graduate-level students, transportation engineers, and technology developers seeking current research on vehicle computational design, architecture, security, and privacy.

'This is exactly the kind of book, and collection of essays that we need.' - From the Foreword by R. Edward Freeman Ideas like corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stakeholder value creation are becoming second nature to businesses across the globe. Addressing the weakness of current CSR research, this Research Handbook provides a unique perspective on small business social responsibility in both the developed and developing world. Bringing together leading international experts, and including a foreword by R. Edward Freeman, this Research Handbook defines and contextualizes CSR in small businesses across the globe. It explores issues surrounding supply chains, responsible finance, and social enterprise, offering both practitioner insights and succinct case studies to go beyond the usual Western perspective and enable a globally relevant understanding of small business social responsibility. This Research Handbook will be an invaluable tool for researchers and educators, as well as for students of business and CSR, social enterprise, development and management. Contributors: A. Al Faruq, C. Ball, M. Beckmann, E. Benjamin, R.K. Blundel, G. Buchenrieder, D. Dore, R.E. Freeman, J.G. Frynas, R. Gapp, M. Gulati, M. Handley-Schachler, B. Hatipoglu, N. Hermes, P. Hind, D. Holt, S. Jeppesen, R. Lensink, D. Littlewood, P. Lund-Thomsen, F. Lyon, E. Maduekwe, A. Meesters, J.N. Muthuri, J. Navare, I. Patsch, M. Punt, S. Sahasranamam, R. Sanwal, A. Schaefer, A. Smit, V. Soundararajan, L.J. Spence, H. Stewart, S. Suresh, A.N. Tran, D. Vazquez-Brust, A.I. Wahga, A. Zeyen

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of condition monitoring, plant maintenance and reliability, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 5th International Conference on Maintenance Engineering and the 2020 Annual Conference of the Centre for Efficiency and Performance Engineering Network (IncoME-V & CEPE Net-2020), held in Zhuhai, China on October 23-25, 2020. Topics include vibro-acoustics monitoring, condition-based maintenance, sensing and instrumentation, machine health monitoring, maintenance auditing and organization, non-destructive testing, reliability, asset management, condition monitoring, life-cycle cost optimisation, prognostics and health management, maintenance performance measurement, manufacturing process monitoring, and robot-based monitoring and diagnostics. The contributions, which were selected through a rigorous international peer-review process, share exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book comprises the peer-reviewed proceedings of the International Conference on Communications, Signal Processing and VLSI (IC2SV) 2019. It explores the recent advances in the fields of signal and image processing, wireless and mobile communications, embedded systems, VLSI, microwave, and antennas. The contents provide insights into present technological challenges and discusses the emerging applications of different imaging techniques and communications systems. Given the range of topics covered, this book can be useful for students as well as researchers interested in the area of communications, signal processing, and VLSI technologies.

Mobile commerce, or M-commerce, is booming as many utilize their mobile devices to complete transactions ranging from personal shopping to managing and organizing business operations. The emergence of new technologies such as money sharing and transactional applications have revolutionized the way we do business. Wholeheartedly adopted by both the business world and consumers, mobile commerce has taken its seat at the head of the mobile app economy.Securing Transactions and Payment Systems for M-Commerce seeks to present, analyze, and illustrate the challenges and rewards of developing and producing mobile commerce applications. It will also review the integral role M-commerce plays in global business. As consumers' perceptions are taken into account, the authors approach this burgeoning topic from all perspectives. This reference publication is a valuable resource for programmers, technology and content developers, students and instructors in the field of ICT, business professionals, and mobile app developers.

Through a close examination of India's policies, economic system, social systems and politics, this study explores the numerous perspectives and debates on India's urbanization. The authors link contemporary urban issues with emerging challenges associated with policies and city management.

This book focuses on the 'functionings' and capabilities generated from land by their owners and the challenge in satisfactorily recreating these through the compensation paid in the case of compulsory acquisition of private land. These discussions initiate a new debate on the insufficiency of existing approaches to compensation that are ignorant of the losses of 'capabilities' and 'functionings'. The relationship between land, ownership and well-being of an individual is explained through the identification of various 'functionings' associated with the ownership of land in the context of Scotland. Contemporary approaches to compensation, founded on the utilitarian argument, have led to dissatisfactory outcomes for the affected landowners. Discussions in this book shift the focus to equalizing the share of burdens and benefits for each individual member of the society, through equalization of human capabilities. This book will be of value to development economists, researchers, policy makers and law makers concerned with compulsory acquisition of land.

Extrajudicial executions have blighted parts of the world for generations, but criminological coverage has been superficial and selective, in that it has concentrated on South America giving the impression that this is a problem specific to that part of the world and associated with military rule, dictatorial regimes and colonial heritage. Permission to Shoot?: Police Use of Deadly Force in Democracies brings a new dimension to the problem of police abuse of deadly force by concentrating on India and the United States, both large democracies and vibrant superpowers.

In the book, the research is based on primary sources-interviews with police officers of varying ranks: those who are involved in the killings; those who facilitate such operations; and those who are mute spectators. The book deals with universal, fundamental themes such as: what makes ordinary, decent human beings do horrible things? What motivational techniques and justifications are used to override social norms governing moral conduct, centring on the sector of society mandated to use deadly force against civilians? Why in a democratic country the abuse of police powers appears to be overtly and tacitly encouraged?

Permission to Shoot? seeks to provide broad guidelines and recommendations for reforms in policing policy and practice in developing countries. The research peels back the lies and deceit that surround this issue, but more than that it shows how those lies and deceit act to support the practice itself.

This book encompasses empirical evidences to understand the application of data analytical techniques in emerging contexts. Varied studies relating to manufacturing and services sectors including healthcare, banking, information technology, power, education sector etc. stresses upon the systematic approach followed in applying the data analytical techniques; and also analyses how these techniques are effective in decision-making in different contexts. Especially, the application of regression modeling, financial modelling, multi-group modeling, cluster analysis, and sentiment analysis will help the readers in understanding critical business scenarios in the best possible way, and which later can help them in arriving at best solution for the business related problems. The individual chapters will help the readers in understanding the role of specific data analytic tools and techniques in resolving business operational issues experienced in manufacturing and service organisations in India and in developing countries. The book offers a relevant resource that will help readers in the application and interpretation of data analytical statistical practices relating to emerging issues like customer experience, marketing capability, quality of manufactured products, strategic orientation, high-performance human resource policy, employee resilience, financial resources, etc. This book will be of interest to a professional audience that include practitioners, policy makers, NGOs, managers and employees as well as academicians, researchers and students.

The book "Advances in Biotechnology" is about recent advances in some of the important fields that are ongoing in certain biotechnological applications. Biotechnology has been quite helpful in keeping pace with the demands of every increasing human population and in improving the quality of human life. Major biotechnological achievements associated with human welfare have been from the fields like genetic engineering; transgenic plants and animals; genomics, proteomics, monoclonal antibodies for the diagnosis of disease, gene therapy etc. Fourteen authoritative chapters written by experts having experience in academics and research on current developments and future trends in biotechnology have been empathized. The book provides a detailed account of various methodologies used in biotechnology i.e. High capacity vectors, DNA sequencing dealing with next generation sequencing, Molecular markers, DNA microarray technology, as well as Proteomics that have revolutionized biotechnology with a wide array of applications. The book not only presents a well-founded explanation of the topics but also aims to present up-to-date reviews of current research efforts, some thoughtful discussions on the potential benefits and risks involved in producing biotechnological products and the challenges of bringing such products to market. It will prove to be an excellent reference work for both academicians and researchers, indicating new starting points to young researchers for new projects in the field. The book is intended for biotechnologist, biologist, researchers, teachers and students of Biosciences and Biotechnology.

An extraordinary personal story of spiritual awakening by an ordinary housewife, with spiritual insights for everyday people.

"A simple yet profound shift in consciousness is the way to light your spiritual lamp within, says Jyoti Sondhi in "Lighting the Lamp Within." This is the Light that all religious and spiritual traditions speak of, that shines away confusion, delusion, and suffering. Jyoti has glimpsed it. Chances are, you have too.

Jyoti's journey is a personal one, and now she shares the lessons she learned on her own path with you, the seeker. She succeeds in bridging the gap between dogmatic religious beliefs, and spiritual wakefulness that now informs her life. "Why look to external power, ego and pleasures to feel complete when you are already infused with the energy of love?" she asks. Jyoti discusses potent practices and realizations that can help change fears to love, obstacles to stepping-stones, and emptiness to completion. In so doing, and in just humbly "letting be," she provides a roadmap to joyous reconnection with our true identity in the One Presence.

So why attend to the unflashy thoughts of an "ordinary housewife," who found herself graced by a spiritual awakening? The answer is: precisely because it is so ordinary, so personally accessible and affecting."
"Jo- Ann Langseth, independent reviewer"

This book provides a detailed insight into Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technologies linked with AI that will help organizations implement Industry 4.0 procedures. RPA tools enhance their functionality by incorporating AI objectives, such as use of artificial neural network algorithms, text mining techniques, and natural language processing techniques for information extraction and the subsequent process of optimization and forecasting scenarios for the purpose of improving an organization's operational and business processes. The target readers of this book are researchers, professors, graduate students, scientists, policymakers, professionals, and developers working in the IT and ITeS sectors, i.e. people who are working on emerging technologies. This book also provides insights and decision support tools necessary for executives concerned with different industrial and organizational automation-centric jobs, knowledge dissemination, information, and policy development for automation in different educational, government, and non-government organizations. This book is of special interest to college and university educators who teach AI, machine learning, blockchain, business intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and brain intelligence courses in different capacities.

This book is about Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) that is the most expensive spice in the world. Though there are other books on saffron but none of them has comprehensive information on saffron genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome and microbiome. The book has been divided into five sections and 17 chapters that cover all the areas related to its cultivation, market & economy, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, tissue culture, microbiomics, metagenomics etc. In addition a chapter on molecular markers and their use in molecular genetic mapping in saffron that lacks genetic diversity as a sterile plant paves a way for selection of elite varieties based on the epigenetic variability. A section on in-vitro propagation elaborates on the corm production under controlled conditions. In summary this book encompasses most of the information available on this golden spice

The VETOMAC-X Conference covered a holistic plethora of relevant topics in vibration and engineering technology including condition monitoring, machinery and structural dynamics, rotor dynamics, experimental techniques, finite element model updating, industrial case studies, vibration control and energy harvesting, and signal processing. These proceedings contain not only all of the nearly one-hundred peer-reviewed presentations from authors representing more than twenty countries, but also include six invited lectures from renowned experts: Professor K. Gupta, Mr W. Hahn, Professor A.W. Lees, Professor John Mottershead, Professor J.S. Rao, and Dr P. Russhard. This work is of interest to researchers and practitioners alike, and is an essential book for most of libraries of higher academic institutes.