There has been a multitude of studies focused on the COVID-19 pandemic across fields and disciplines as all sectors of life have had to adjust the way things are done and adapt to the constantly shifting environment. These studies are crucial as they provide support and perspectives on how things are changing and what needs to be done to stay afloat. Connecting COVID-19-related studies and big data analytics is crucial for the advancement of industrial applications and research areas. Applied Big Data Analytics and Its Role in COVID-19 Research introduces the most recent industrial applications and research topics on COVID-19 with big data analytics. Featuring coverage on a broad range of big data technologies such as data gathering, artificial intelligence, smart diagnostics, and mining mobility, this publication provides concrete examples and cases of usage of data-driven projects in COVID-19 research. This reference work is a vital resource for data scientists, technical managers, researchers, scholars, practitioners, academicians, instructors, and students.

This book intends to report the new results of the efforts on the study of Layered Intelligence of the Machine Brain (LIMB). The book collects novel research ideas in LIMB and summarizes the current machine intelligence level as "five layer intelligence"- environments sensing, active learning, cognitive computing, intelligent decision making and automatized execution. The book is likely to be of interest to university researchers, R&D engineers and graduate students in computer science and electronics who wish to learn the core principles, methods, algorithms, and applications of LIMB.

This book presents state-of-the-art research, challenges and solutions in the area of human-robot collaboration (HRC) in manufacturing. It enables readers to better understand the dynamic behaviour of manufacturing processes, and gives more insight into on-demand adaptive control techniques for industrial robots. With increasing complexity and dynamism in today's manufacturing practice, more precise, robust and practical approaches are needed to support real-time shop-floor operations. This book presents a collection of recent developments and innovations in this area, relying on a wide range of research efforts. The book is divided into five parts. The first part presents a broad-based review of the key areas of HRC, establishing a common ground of understanding in key aspects. Subsequent chapters focus on selected areas of HRC subject to intense recent interest. The second part discusses human safety within HRC. The third, fourth and fifth parts provide in-depth views of relevant methodologies and algorithms. Discussing dynamic planning and monitoring, adaptive control and multi-modal decision making, the latter parts facilitate a better understanding of HRC in real situations. The balance between scope and depth, and theory and applications, means this book appeals to a wide readership, including academic researchers, graduate students, practicing engineers, and those within a variety of roles in manufacturing sectors.

This book presents state-of-the-art research, challenges and solutions in the area of cloud-based cyber-physical systems (CPS) used in manufacturing. It provides a comprehensive review of the literature and an in-depth treatment of novel methodologies, algorithms and systems in the area of architecture design, cyber security, process planning, monitoring and control. The book features detailed descriptions of how to derive solutions in a cloud environment where physical machines can be supported by cyber decision systems when engaged in real operations. It presents a range of novel ideas and is characterized by a balanced approach in terms of scope vs. depth and theory vs. applications. It also takes into account the need to present intellectual challenges while appealing to a broad readership, including academic researchers, practicing engineers and managers, and graduate students. Dedicated to the topic of cloud-based CPS and its practical applications in manufacturing, this book benefits readers from all manufacturing sectors, from system design to lifecycle engineering and from process planning to machine control. It also helps readers to understand the present challenges and future research directions towards factories of the future, helping them to position themselves strategically for career development.

Novel Nanomaterials for Biomedical, Environmental, and Energy Applications is a comprehensive study on the cutting-edge progress in the synthesis and characterization of novel nanomaterials and their subsequent advances and uses in biomedical, environmental and energy applications. Covering novel concepts and key points of interest, this book explores the frontier applications of nanomaterials. Chapters discuss the overall progress of novel nanomaterial applications in the biomedical, environmental and energy fields, introduce the synthesis, characterization, properties and applications of novel nanomaterials, discuss biomedical applications, and cover the electrocatalytical and photothermal effects of novel nanomaterials for efficient energy applications. The book will be invaluable to academic researchers and biomedical clinicians working with nanomaterials.

This book represents an ethnographic study of an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in a school in mainland China, serving Chinese students and staffed by teachers from a variety of origins. It offers in-depth descriptions of the way in which students, teachers, and managers interact and communicate with one another in a variety of school activities. Through the communication process, cultural experiences and understandings are negotiated constantly among school participants. The ethnographic study also has a critical intention. Going beyond description, the author discusses the extent to which networks of social relationships in the case are imbued by asymmetries in power, and how this leads to people's inability, unwillingness, and unawareness to interact with those from different cultural backgrounds. As research findings reveal, where the construction of meaning is less equally available to each participant, prejudice and exclusiveness are more likely to be assumed, impeding individuals' intercultural learning. The key is to empower those less privileged, giving them legitimacy to come to voice in an institutional context on the one hand, and protecting their reflections on hegemonic discourse meticulously on the other hand. Since the research explores the complexities and subtleties of the communication process that are bound to particular contexts, like most ethnographic studies, it aims at adding a body of experience and humanistic understanding of cultures, rather than testing theories. Although the IB Program being studied can hardly be representative of the overall development of international education in China, the detailed description of contextual issues of the case and the research procedures could facilitate the readers to vicariously experience these events, thus they can make their own decisions about the transferability of the research to their own unique situations.

This state-of-the-art Dictionary defines terms employed in international agreements, national legislation and scholarly legal studies related to comparative and international environmental law and the emerging law of climate change. In acknowledgement of China's growing role in this arena, each term also includes its pinyin translation in order to facilitate access to the Mandarin variants.The international community is developing increasingly complex environmental provisions and participating in a number of international treaties and agreements related to environmental law and regulation. The complicated and highly specific nature of environmental law has led to the development of localized terminology that is not easily understood outside its country of origin. Jointly prepared by scholars in China and the US, the Dictionary provides a linguistic bridge between English and Chinese speakers as well as an essential reference for those interpreting and applying international environmental law, multilateral environmental agreements, and domestic laws that implement these treaties. Students, scholars and practitioners in the area of environmental law will find this groundbreaking Dictionary an invaluable addition to their libraries.

This book presents state-of-the-art research, challenges and solutions in the area of human-robot collaboration (HRC) in manufacturing. It enables readers to better understand the dynamic behaviour of manufacturing processes, and gives more insight into on-demand adaptive control techniques for industrial robots. With increasing complexity and dynamism in today's manufacturing practice, more precise, robust and practical approaches are needed to support real-time shop-floor operations. This book presents a collection of recent developments and innovations in this area, relying on a wide range of research efforts. The book is divided into five parts. The first part presents a broad-based review of the key areas of HRC, establishing a common ground of understanding in key aspects. Subsequent chapters focus on selected areas of HRC subject to intense recent interest. The second part discusses human safety within HRC. The third, fourth and fifth parts provide in-depth views of relevant methodologies and algorithms. Discussing dynamic planning and monitoring, adaptive control and multi-modal decision making, the latter parts facilitate a better understanding of HRC in real situations. The balance between scope and depth, and theory and applications, means this book appeals to a wide readership, including academic researchers, graduate students, practicing engineers, and those within a variety of roles in manufacturing sectors.

This book intends to report the new results of the efforts on the study of Layered Intelligence of the Machine Brain (LIMB). The book collects novel research ideas in LIMB and summarizes the current machine intelligence level as “five layer intelligence”- environments sensing, active learning, cognitive computing, intelligent decision making and automatized execution. The book is likely to be of interest to university researchers, R&D engineers and graduate students in computer science and electronics who wish to learn the core principles, methods, algorithms, and applications of LIMB.

The research focus for the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in 2003 was a timely and challenging one, entitled 'The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development'. As contemporary world politics demonstrates, energy resources and generation are crucial issues facing the international community. As research on energy law, at the international, regional, and national level is in its infancy, the insights provided by the contributors to this 2005 volume are a significant addition to the field.

In November 2003, the Commission on Environmental Law (CEL) of IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) launched a new scholarly network of environmental law faculties and professors: the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. The IUCN Academy, a consortium of specialized research centers in university law faculties worldwide, constitutes a learned society examining how law advances a just society that values and conserves nature. As part of the Academy's mandate, a significant topic of interregional research will be identified each year and the results presented at an annual meeting and published for wide dissemination. The timely and challenging research focus for 2003 was The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development. This volume comprises the contributions of the 2003 conference.