Simultaneously a critique of Foucauldian governmentalist interpretations of neoliberalism and a historical materialist reading of contemporary South Asian fictions, Allegories of Neoliberalism is a probing analysis of literary representations of capitalism’s “forms of appearance.� This book offers critical discussions on the important works of Akhtaruzzaman Elias, Amitav Ghosh, Aravind Adiga, Arundhati Roy, H. M. Naqvi, Mohsin Hamid, Nasreen Jahan, Samrat Upadhyay, and other writers from South Asia and South Asian diaspora. It also advances a re-reading of Karl Marx’s Capital through the themes and tropes of literature—one that looks into literary representations of commoditization, monetization, class exploitation, uneven spatial relationship, financialization, and ecological devastation through the lens of the German revolutionary’s critique of capitalism.

Simultaneously a critique of Foucauldian governmentalist interpretations of neoliberalism and a historical materialist reading of contemporary South Asian fictions, Allegories of Neoliberalism is a probing analysis of literary representations of capitalism’s “forms of appearance.� This book offers critical discussions on the important works of Akhtaruzzaman Elias, Amitav Ghosh, Aravind Adiga, Arundhati Roy, H. M. Naqvi, Mohsin Hamid, Nasreen Jahan, Samrat Upadhyay, and other writers from South Asia and South Asian diaspora. It also advances a re-reading of Karl Marx’s Capital through the themes and tropes of literature—one that looks into literary representations of commoditization, monetization, class exploitation, uneven spatial relationship, financialization, and ecological devastation through the lens of the German revolutionary’s critique of capitalism.

Exploring themes of identity and development in the post-Ottoman Arab world, this book updates the author’s earlier Islamic Identity and Development (Routledge, 1990) to analyse the root causes of chaos, civil war, and conflict in the Islamic Core today. Adopting a neo-Ottomanist framework, and using the latest scholarship on the Middle East, the author traces the historical development of the current crisis to the First World War, when the West instigated invasions, coup d’états, civil and proxy wars. It is argued that Western powers have facilitated the dispossession of the Arab people in their overarching aim to gain control of the oil fields. A range of historical case-studies are provided as evidence, from the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the creation of Israel and the displacement of Islamic refugees. Individual nations are also analysed, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Ultimately, the author suggests that artificial countries and unsustainable frontiers are the root causes of the Islamic crisis. However, a realistic (and long-term) solution may lie in the evolution of a new Silk Route Economy. This book will appeal to graduate-level students in political economy, area studies, international affairs, and Middle East studies generally.

Exploring themes of identity and development in the post-Ottoman Arab world, this book updates the author’s earlier Islamic Identity and Development (Routledge, 1990) to analyse the root causes of chaos, civil war, and conflict in the Islamic Core today. Adopting a neo-Ottomanist framework, and using the latest scholarship on the Middle East, the author traces the historical development of the current crisis to the First World War, when the West instigated invasions, coup d’états, civil and proxy wars. It is argued that Western powers have facilitated the dispossession of the Arab people in their overarching aim to gain control of the oil fields. A range of historical case-studies are provided as evidence, from the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the creation of Israel and the displacement of Islamic refugees. Individual nations are also analysed, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Ultimately, the author suggests that artificial countries and unsustainable frontiers are the root causes of the Islamic crisis. However, a realistic (and long-term) solution may lie in the evolution of a new Silk Route Economy. This book will appeal to graduate-level students in political economy, area studies, international affairs, and Middle East studies generally.

Since the late 1970s, China has experienced an unprecedented pace of urbanization. In 1978, only 17.8% of the population resided in urban areas, but by 2013 the level of urbanization had reached 53.8%. During the same period, China also enjoyed spectacular economic growth. China had become the second largest economy in the world by 2012, just behind the United States. Despite China's highly acclaimed achievements in urbanization and its economic miracle, urban China confronts a set of significant challenges. This book provides theoretically informed and empirically rich analyses of some of the key challenges facing China's urbanization. The first part deals with new patterns of urbanization, focusing on comprehensive measures and environmental dimensions of urbanization. The second part of the book focuses on several aspects related to migrants in cities: migrant entrepreneurship, return migration, and local people's attitudes toward migrants. The final section examines two key issues important for migrants, urban local residents, and policy-makers that have become quite contentious in China today: housing and urban health care. This collection presents original, cutting-edge research on some of the most pressing challenges confronting contemporary urban China, conducted by researchers from multiple social science disciplines. It will appeal to scholars and advanced students of urban studies and China studies, as well as those in sociology, anthropology, geography, and political science.

Since the late 1970s, China has experienced an unprecedented pace of urbanization. In 1978, only 17.8% of the population resided in urban areas, but by 2013 the level of urbanization had reached 53.8%. During the same period, China also enjoyed spectacular economic growth. China had become the second largest economy in the world by 2012, just behind the United States. Despite China's highly acclaimed achievements in urbanization and its economic miracle, urban China confronts a set of significant challenges. This book provides theoretically informed and empirically rich analyses of some of the key challenges facing China's urbanization. The first part deals with new patterns of urbanization, focusing on comprehensive measures and environmental dimensions of urbanization. The second part of the book focuses on several aspects related to migrants in cities: migrant entrepreneurship, return migration, and local people's attitudes toward migrants. The final section examines two key issues important for migrants, urban local residents, and policy-makers that have become quite contentious in China today: housing and urban health care. This collection presents original, cutting-edge research on some of the most pressing challenges confronting contemporary urban China, conducted by researchers from multiple social science disciplines. It will appeal to scholars and advanced students of urban studies and China studies, as well as those in sociology, anthropology, geography, and political science.

During his long and distinguished career, J. Rowland Higgins (1935-2020) made a substantial impact on many mathematical fields through his work on sampling theory, his deep knowledge of its history, and his service to the community.  This volume is a tribute to his work and legacy, featuring chapters written by distinguished mathematicians that explore cutting-edge research in sampling, approximation, signal analysis, and other related areas.  An introductory chapter provides a biography of Higgins that explores his rich and unique life, along with a bibliography of his papers; a brief history of the SampTA meetings – of which he was a Founding Member – is also included.  The remaining articles are grouped into four sections – classical sampling, theoretical extensions, frame theory, and applications of sampling theory – and explore Higgins’ contributions to these areas, as well as some of the latest developments.

Humans learn best from feedback-we are encouraged to take actions that lead to positive results while deterred by decisions with negative consequences. This reinforcement process can be applied to computer programs allowing them to solve more complex problems that classical programming cannot. Deep Reinforcement Learning in Action teaches you the fundamental concepts and terminology of deep reinforcement learning, along with the practical skills and techniques you'll need to implement it into your own projects. Key features * Structuring problems as Markov Decision Processes * Popular algorithms such Deep Q-Networks, Policy Gradient method and Evolutionary Algorithms and the intuitions that drive them * Applying reinforcement learning algorithms to real-world problems Audience You'll need intermediate Python skills and a basic understanding of deep learning. About the technology Deep reinforcement learning is a form of machine learning in which AI agents learn optimal behavior from their own raw sensory input. The system perceives the environment, interprets the results of its past decisions, and uses this information to optimize its behavior for maximum long-term return. Deep reinforcement learning famously contributed to the success of AlphaGo but that's not all it can do! Alexander Zai is a Machine Learning Engineer at Amazon AI working on MXNet that powers a suite of AWS machine learning products. Brandon Brown is a Machine Learning and Data Analysis blogger at outlace.com committed to providing clear teaching on difficult topics for newcomers.

Advances in Shannon's Sampling Theory provides an up-to-date discussion of sampling theory, emphasizing the interaction between sampling theory and other branches of mathematical analysis, including the theory of boundary-value problems, frames, wavelets, multiresolution analysis, special functions, and functional analysis. The author not only traces the history and development of the theory, but also presents original research and results that have never before appeared in book form. Recent techniques covered include the Feichtinger-Groechenig sampling theory; frames, wavelets, multiresolution analysis and sampling; boundary-value problems and sampling theorems; and special functions and sampling theorems. The book will interest graduate students and professionals in electrical engineering, communications, and applied mathematics.

This book presents innovative operations research applications in business, specifically industrial engineering and its sub-disciplines. It investigates new perspectives in operations research and management science with regard to research methods, the research context, and industrial engineering, offering readers a broad range of new approaches to management problems. The book features the latest work of researchers who have worked with Professor Fusun Ulengin or built upon her work in their academic careers. Written in honor of Prof. Ulengin, this book was edited by her former Ph.D. students, who are now experts in operations research, multiple criteria decision making, competitiveness, logistics, and supply chain management. Prof. Ulengin’s impact in academia is visible in the range of topics and methodologies featured in this book: Location and transportation problems, competitiveness of nations, food supply chains, debt collection, mathematical modelling, multiple criteria decision making, data envelopment analysis, random forests, and Bayesian networks.

Because of the wide use of adaptive filtering in digital signal processing and, because most of the modern electronic devices include some type of an adaptive filter, a text that brings forth the fundamentals of this field was necessary. The material and the principles presented in this book are easily accessible to engineers, scientists, and students who would like to learn the fundamentals of this field and have a background at the bachelor level. Adaptive Filtering Primer with MATLAB clearly explains the fundamentals of adaptive filtering supported by numerous examples and computer simulations. The authors introduce discrete-time signal processing, random variables and stochastic processes, the Wiener filter, properties of the error surface, the steepest descent method, and the least mean square (LMS) algorithm. They also supply many MATLAB functions and m-files along with computer experiments to illustrate how to apply the concepts to real-world problems. The book includes problems along with hints, suggestions, and solutions for solving them. An appendix on matrix computations completes the self-contained coverage. With applications across a wide range of areas, including radar, communications, control, medical instrumentation, and seismology, Adaptive Filtering Primer with MATLAB is an ideal companion for quick reference and a perfect, concise introduction to the field.

Advances in Shannon's Sampling Theory provides an up-to-date discussion of sampling theory, emphasizing the interaction between sampling theory and other branches of mathematical analysis, including the theory of boundary-value problems, frames, wavelets, multiresolution analysis, special functions, and functional analysis. The author not only traces the history and development of the theory, but also presents original research and results that have never before appeared in book form. Recent techniques covered include the Feichtinger-Gr?chenig sampling theory; frames, wavelets, multiresolution analysis and sampling; boundary-value problems and sampling theorems; and special functions and sampling theorems. The book will interest graduate students and professionals in electrical engineering, communications, and applied mathematics.

Because of the wide use of adaptive filtering in digital signal processing and, because most of the modern electronic devices include some type of an adaptive filter, a text that brings forth the fundamentals of this field was necessary. The material and the principles presented in this book are easily accessible to engineers, scientists, and students who would like to learn the fundamentals of this field and have a background at the bachelor level. Adaptive Filtering Primer with MATLAB (R) clearly explains the fundamentals of adaptive filtering supported by numerous examples and computer simulations. The authors introduce discrete-time signal processing, random variables and stochastic processes, the Wiener filter, properties of the error surface, the steepest descent method, and the least mean square (LMS) algorithm. They also supply many MATLAB (R) functions and m-files along with computer experiments to illustrate how to apply the concepts to real-world problems. The book includes problems along with hints, suggestions, and solutions for solving them. An appendix on matrix computations completes the self-contained coverage. With applications across a wide range of areas, including radar, communications, control, medical instrumentation, and seismology, Adaptive Filtering Primer with MATLAB (R) is an ideal companion for quick reference and a perfect, concise introduction to the field.

This book presents a systematic review of research concerning processes and systems in Emergency Departments (EDs), the issues faced by EDs, and their solutions to ensure the delivery of proper and ideal healthcare services for patients through superior quality process management. The book evaluates two decades of data, from 2000 to 2019, in order to examine the processes used in ED operations. Emergency Department has become evident particularly in the current scenario when the world is in the grip of the deadly COVID-19. The two decades of data revealed a lack of literary content on bringing improvement for EDs in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia through the deployment of simulation models. Simulation model in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia is being considered for the first time by this book.

Function transformations, which include linear integral transformations, are some of the most important mathematical tools for solving problems in all areas of engineering and the physical sciences. They allow one to quickly solve a problem by breaking it down into a series of smaller, more manageable problems.
The author has compiled the most important and widely used of these function transforms in applied mathematics and electrical engineering. In addition to classical transforms, newer transforms such as wavelets, Zak, and Radon are included.
The book is neither a table of transforms nor a textbook, but it is a source book that provides quick and easy access to the most important properties and formulas of function and generalized function transformations. It is organized for convenient reference, with chapters broken down into the following sections:

This book presents a systematic review of research concerning processes and systems in Emergency Departments (EDs), the issues faced by EDs, and their solutions to ensure the delivery of proper and ideal healthcare services for patients through superior quality process management. The book evaluates two decades of data, from 2000 to 2019, in order to examine the processes used in ED operations. Emergency Department has become evident particularly in the current scenario when the world is in the grip of the deadly COVID-19. The two decades of data revealed a lack of literary content on bringing improvement for EDs in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia through the deployment of simulation models. Simulation model in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia is being considered for the first time by this book.

This book discusses and addresses the rapidly increasing world population demand for food, which is expected to double by 2050. To meet these demands farmers will need to improve crop productivity, which relies heavily on nitrogen (N) fertilization. Production of N fertilizers, however, consumes huge amounts of energy and the loss of excess N fertilizers to leaching results in the pollution of waterways and oceans. Therefore, increasing plant nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is essential to help farmers produce more while conserving the environment. This book assembles some of the best work of top researchers from academic and industrial institutions in the area of NUE and provides valuable insight to scholars and researchers by its comprehensive discussion of current and future strategies to improve NUE through genetic manipulation. This book should also be highly valuable to policy makers, environmentalists, farmers, biotechnology executives, and to the hard-core researchers working in the lab.

This book discusses and addresses the rapidly increasing world population demand for food, which is expected to double by 2050. To meet these demands farmers will need to improve crop productivity, which relies heavily on nitrogen (N) fertilization. Production of N fertilizers, however, consumes huge amounts of energy and the loss of excess N fertilizers to leaching results in the pollution of waterways and oceans. Therefore, increasing plant nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is essential to help farmers produce more while conserving the environment. This book assembles some of the best work of top researchers from academic and industrial institutions in the area of NUE and provides valuable insight to scholars and researchers by its comprehensive discussion of current and future strategies to improve NUE through genetic manipulation. This book should also be highly valuable to policy makers, environmentalists, farmers, biotechnology executives, and to the hard-core researchers working in the lab.

Paul Butzer, who is considered the academic father and grandfather of many prominent mathematicians, has established one of the best schools in approximation and sampling theory in the world. He is one of the leading figures in approximation, sampling theory, and harmonic analysis. Although on April 15, 2013, Paul Butzer turned 85 years old, remarkably, he is still an active research mathematician. In celebration of Paul Butzer's 85th birthday, New Perspectives on Approximation and Sampling Theory is a collection of invited chapters on approximation, sampling, and harmonic analysis written by students, friends, colleagues, and prominent active mathematicians. Topics covered include approximation methods using wavelets, multi-scale analysis, frames, and special functions. New Perspectives on Approximation and Sampling Theory requires basic knowledge of mathematical analysis, but efforts were made to keep the exposition clear and the chapters self-contained. This volume will appeal to researchers and graduate students in mathematics, applied mathematics and engineering, in particular, engineers working in signal and image processing.

Paul Butzer, who is considered the academic father and grandfather of many prominent mathematicians, has established one of the best schools in approximation and sampling theory in the world. He is one of the leading figures in approximation, sampling theory, and harmonic analysis. Although on April 15, 2013, Paul Butzer turned 85 years old, remarkably, he is still an active research mathematician. In celebration of Paul Butzer's 85th birthday, New Perspectives on Approximation and Sampling Theory is a collection of invited chapters on approximation, sampling, and harmonic analysis written by students, friends, colleagues, and prominent active mathematicians. Topics covered include approximation methods using wavelets, multi-scale analysis, frames, and special functions. New Perspectives on Approximation and Sampling Theory requires basic knowledge of mathematical analysis, but efforts were made to keep the exposition clear and the chapters self-contained. This volume will appeal to researchers and graduate students in mathematics, applied mathematics and engineering, in particular, engineers working in signal and image processing.

Sampling, wavelets, and tomography are three active areas of contemporary mathematics sharing common roots that lie at the heart of harmonic and Fourier analysis. The advent of new techniques in mathematical analysis has strengthened their interdependence and led to some new and interesting results in the field. This state-of-the-art book not only presents new results in these research areas, but it also demonstrates the role of sampling in both wavelet theory and tomography. Specific topics covered include: * Robustness of Regular Sampling in Sobolev Algebras * Irregular and Semi-Irregular Weyl-Heisenberg Frames * Adaptive Irregular Sampling in Meshfree Flow Simulation * Sampling Theorems for Non-Bandlimited Signals * Polynomial Matrix Factorization, Multidimensional Filter Banks, and Wavelets * Generalized Frame Multiresolution Analysis of Abstract Hilbert Spaces * Sampling Theory and Parallel-Beam Tomography * Thin-Plate Spline Interpolation in Medical Imaging * Filtered Back-Projection Algorithms for Spiral Cone Computed Tomography Aimed at mathematicians, scientists, and engineers working in signal and image processing and medical imaging, the work is designed to be accessible to an audience with diverse mathematical backgrounds. Although the volume reflects the contributions of renowned mathematicians and engineers, each chapter has an expository introduction written for the non-specialist. One of the key features of the book is an introductory chapter stressing the interdependence of the three main areas covered. A comprehensive index completes the work. Contributors: J.J. Benedetto, N.K. Bose, P.G. Casazza, Y.C. Eldar, H.G. Feichtinger, A. Faridani, A. Iske, S. Jaffard, A. Katsevich, S. Lertrattanapanich, G. Lauritsch, B. Mair, M. Papadakis, P.P. Vaidyanathan, T. Werther, D.C. Wilson, A.I. Zayed

Since its emergence as an important research area in the early 1980s, the topic of wavelets has undergone tremendous development on both theoretical and applied fronts. Myriad research and survey papers and monographs have been published on the subject, documenting different areas of applications such as sound and image processing, denoising, data compression, tomography, and medical imaging. The study of wavelets remains a very active field of research, and many of its central techniques and ideas have evolved into new and promising research areas.

This volume, a collection of invited contributions developed from talks at an international conference on wavelets, is divided into three parts: Part I is devoted to the mathematical theory of wavelets and features several papers on wavelet sets and the construction of wavelet bases in different settings. Part II looks at the use of multiscale harmonic analysis for understanding the geometry of large data sets and extracting information from them. Part III focuses on applications of wavelet theory to the study of several real-world problems.

Overall, the book is an excellent reference for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in theoretical and applied mathematics, or in engineering.

This volume contains the proceedings of NOLISP 2009, an ISCA Tutorial and Workshop on Non-Linear Speech Processing held at the University of Vic (- talonia, Spain) during June 25-27, 2009. NOLISP2009wasprecededbythreeeditionsofthisbiannualeventheld2003 in Le Croisic (France), 2005 in Barcelona, and 2007 in Paris. The main idea of NOLISP workshops is to present and discuss new ideas, techniques and results related to alternative approaches in speech processing that may depart from the mainstream. In order to work at the front-end of the subject area, the following domains of interest have been de?ned for NOLISP 2009: 1. Non-linear approximation and estimation 2. Non-linear oscillators and predictors 3. Higher-order statistics 4. Independent component analysis 5. Nearest neighbors 6. Neural networks 7. Decision trees 8. Non-parametric models 9. Dynamics for non-linear systems 10. Fractal methods 11. Chaos modeling 12. Non-linear di?erential equations The initiative to organize NOLISP 2009 at the University of Vic (UVic) came from the UVic Research Group on Signal Processing and was supported by the Hardware-Software Research Group. We would like to acknowledge the ?nancial support obtained from the M- istry of Science and Innovation of Spain (MICINN), University of Vic, ISCA, and EURASIP. All contributions to this volume are original. They were subject to a doub- blind refereeing procedure before their acceptance for the workshop and were revised after being presented at NOLISP 2009.

Sampling, wavelets, and tomography are three active areas of contemporary mathematics sharing common roots that lie at the heart of harmonic and Fourier analysis. The advent of new techniques in mathematical analysis has strengthened their interdependence and led to some new and interesting results in the field.

This state-of-the-art book not only presents new results in these research areas, but it also demonstrates the role of sampling in both wavelet theory and tomography. Specific topics covered include:

* Robustness of Regular Sampling in Sobolev Algebras

* Irregular and Semi-Irregular Weyl-Heisenberg Frames

* Adaptive Irregular Sampling in Meshfree Flow Simulation

* Sampling Theorems for Non-Bandlimited Signals

* Polynomial Matrix Factorization, Multidimensional Filter Banks, and Wavelets

* Generalized Frame Multiresolution Analysis of Abstract Hilbert Spaces

* Sampling Theory and Parallel-Beam Tomography

* Thin-Plate Spline Interpolation in Medical Imaging

* Filtered Back-Projection Algorithms for Spiral Cone Computed Tomography

Aimed at mathematicians, scientists, and engineers working in signal and image processing and medical imaging, the work is designed to be accessible to an audience with diverse mathematical backgrounds. Although the volume reflects the contributions of renowned mathematicians and engineers, each chapter has an expository introduction written for the non-specialist. One of the key features of the book is an introductory chapter stressing the interdependence of the three main areas covered. A comprehensive index completes the work.

Contributors: J.J. Benedetto, N.K. Bose, P.G. Casazza, Y.C. Eldar, H.G. Feichtinger, A.Faridani, A. Iske, S. Jaffard, A. Katsevich, S. Lertrattanapanich, G. Lauritsch, B. Mair, M. Papadakis, P.P. Vaidyanathan, T. Werther, D.C. Wilson, A.I. Zayed

Numerical simulation of multiphase reactors with continuous liquid phase provides current research and findings in multiphase problems, which will assist researchers and engineers to advance this field. This is an ideal reference book for readers who are interested in design and scale-up of multiphase reactors and crystallizers, and using mathematical model and numerical simulation as tools.

Yang and Mao s book focuses on modeling and numerical applications directly in the chemical, petrochemical, and hydrometallurgical industries, rather than theories of multiphase flow. The content will help you to solve reacting flow problems and/or system design/optimization problems. The fundamentals and principles of flow and mass transfer in multiphase reactors with continuous liquid phase are covered, which will aid the reader s understanding of multiphase reaction engineering.
Provides practical applications for using multiphase stirred tanks, reactors, and microreactors, with detailed explanation of investigation methods.Presents the most recent research efforts in this highly active field on multiphase reactors and crystallizers. Covers mathematical models, numerical methods and experimental techniques for multiphase flow and mass transfer in reactors and crystallizers. "