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Books in Social sciences

The Social Sciences collection forms a definitive resource for those entering, researching, or teaching in any of the many disciplines making up this interdisciplinary area of study. Written by experts and researchers from both Academic and Commercial domains, titles offer global scope and perspectives.

Key subject areas include: Library and Information Science; Transportation; Urban Studies; Geography, Planning, and Development; Security; Emergency Management.

BooksJournals

  • Rethinking Rural

    Data-Driven Approaches for Sustainable Development
    • 1st Edition
    • Luca Salvati
    • English
    Rethinking Rural: Data-Driven Approaches for Sustainable Development offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary exploration of sustainable rural development through a quantitative lens. Drawing on official statistics, spatial analysis, and refined indicators, this edited volume brings together leading scholars from ecology, economics, and planning to rethink the environmental-econom... nexus shaping rural territories. With a focus on Europe and the Mediterranean but applicable globally, the book emphasizes continuous, spatially explicit monitoring of socio-ecological and socio-economic complexities to inform effective, place-specific policies that enhance sustainability and resilience.Structure... in three parts, the book first presents integrated perspectives on rural system evolution, including climate change impacts, land use, and socio-economic drivers across diverse contexts such as Mediterranean landscapes and Colombia’s deforestation. The second part details traditional and advanced tools for monitoring rural environments, from territorial indicators to wildfire and habitat assessment. The final section addresses planning and policy challenges, evaluating natural disaster management, resilience strategies, environmental degradation costs, and socio-demographic influences on tourism insurance.Ideal for academics, researchers, and students in spatial planning, applied economics, environmental science, GIS, ecology, agronomy, demography, rural sociology, and geography, this volume equips readers with innovative methodologies and case studies to understand and shape sustainable rural futures.

  • Autonomous Driving and Traffic Dynamics in Road Transportation

    Modeling, Simulation, and Control
    • 1st Edition
    • Michail Makridis + 1 more
    • English
    Autonomous Driving and Traffic Dynamics in Road Transportation: Modeling, Simulation, and Control provides an introduction to autonomous vehicles (AV) in road transport systems, along with discussions on the critical similarities and differences with human drivers. Focusing on key concepts in traffic dynamics and AI-based modeling, the book also offers a comprehensive discussion of the unique dynamics introduced by AVs and their impacts on congestion, safety, energy, and their role in sustainable future intelligent transportation systems. Sections delve into traditional driving behaviors, examining the basics of car-following, driver characteristics, lateral movement, and how well AI models generalize these behaviors. Further sections covers shifts to autonomous driving systems, analyzing their operational principles and providing comparative evidence with human drivers. Assessments on the performance of traditional car-following models against artificial intelligence developments that highlight strengths and weaknesses for each approach are also included. Final sections integrate human drivers and AVs into broader traffic flow theories, presenting findings on how autonomous driving impacts traffic patterns, look at the role of AI and modeling, explore the pros and cons of various methods and data sources, and discuss real-world traffic management applications, combining AI and traditional models for traffic estimation, control, and ensuring fair, disruption-resilient outcomes.

  • Smart Cities of AI Robots and Autonomous Vehicles

    The Vision for 2030
    • 1st Edition
    • Paras Chawla + 2 more
    • English
    Smart Cities of AI Robots and Autonomous Vehicles: The Vision for 2030 explores the transformative potential and challenges of integrating AI-powered robots and autonomous vehicles in urban landscapes, envisioning a futuristic smart city landscape by 2030. It examines how artificial intelligence (AI) robots and self-driving cars will transform daily life, healthcare, education, industry, agriculture, and transportation.

  • Reinventing Transit for the 21st Century

    • 1st Edition
    • Baruch Feigenbaum
    • English
    Reinventing Transit for the 21st Century addresses the critical state of urban transit systems in the U.S., exacerbated by declining ridership and looming fiscal challenges post-COVID. The book advocates for substantial reforms, including transitioning to contracted services, fostering competition, and redesigning transit boards to emphasize expertise over politics. It also calls for integrating various service modes and adopting new technologies to reduce costs and enhance the rider experience.Spanning 10 chapters, the book begins with an overview of current transit systems and the factors behind their decline. It outlines a vision for modern transit, focusing on customer needs, service redesign, complementary services like bike-sharing, funding mechanisms, and international lessons on contracting. Governance improvements and the role of technology are also discussed, with a concluding chapter presenting a model 21st-century transit system.Accessible to political leaders, transit executives, researchers, planners, and riders, the book includes a glossary for clarity. It emphasizes the importance of serving transit-dependent riders, often from lower-income Communities of Color, to boost ridership and provide essential services. This book is essential for anyone invested in the future of urban transit.

  • Hospital and Healthcare Security

    • 7th Edition
    • Tony W. York
    • English
    Hospital and Healthcare Security, Seventh Edition reflects the current state of healthcare security, particularly in data security and privacy, patient-generated violence, new technologies, and regulatory changes. The book explains the basics and higher expertise concerns, such as the roles of design, emergency management, and policy. Conveying a wide spectrum of topics in an easy-to-comprehend format, it provides a thorough understanding of how the modern healthcare security program should be structured, resourced, and integrated around the principles of people, processes, and technology. This industry-leading resource includes best practices, security master planning, and how to layer in protection philosophies in policies and procedures. Due to rapid changes in violence in healthcare, regulatory requirements, litigation, accreditation standards, advancements in technology, and new healthcare security issues and topics, the new edition contains approximately 25-30% new and updated data and corresponding examples. It is deemed by healthcare executives, accrediting agencies, and industry associations to set the standard of care for healthcare security systems and programs.

  • Highway Safety Analytics and Modeling

    • 2nd Edition
    • Dominique Lord + 2 more
    • English
    Highway Safety Analytics and Modeling, Second Edition comprehensively covers the key elements for effective transportation engineering and policy decisions based on highway safety data analysis in a single reference. It includes all aspects of the decision-making process, from collecting and assembling data to developing models and evaluating results. It discusses the challenges of working with crash and naturalistic data, identifies problems, and proposes well-researched methods to solve them. It examines the nuances associated with safety data analysis and shows how to best use the information to develop countermeasures, policies, and programs to reduce the frequency and severity of traffic crashes.This thoroughly updated second edition updates the material contained in the book based on the latest advancements in highway safety research as well as feedback from readers. It includes entirely new sections on topics such as digital twins as a source of data, model validation, extreme value models, temporal instability, joint crash frequency and severity modeling, sample size, quasi-induced exposure method, autonomous vehicle safety estimate, and more.This book serves as a valuable reference for students, researchers, and practitioners alike. It provides more examples and exercises to help in using the book for courses, and it continues to complement the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AAHSTO), thus helping in the training of engineers and practitioners to better understand the concepts and methods outlined in the forthcoming HSM.

  • New Transportation Modes and ‘Old’ Transportation Modes that are in the Process of Renewing Themselves

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 17
    • English
    New Transportation Modes and ‘Old’ Transportation Modes that are in the Process of Renewing Themselves, Volume 17 highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters written by an international board of authors. Topics in this new release include The environmental impact of high-speed rail, Past, Present and Future States of Research on Autonomous Electric Vehicles, Urban Air mobility, Micromobility, Mobility as a Service, Aviation, Sustainable city logistics, Autonomous vehicles, Light Rail, Bus Rapid Transit, and more.

  • Spatial Analysis for Complex Territorial Systems

    Geo-information Technologies and European Official Statistics
    • 1st Edition
    • Luca Salvati
    • English
    Spatial Analysis for Complex Territorial Systems: Geo-information Technologies and European Official Statistics offers a multidisciplinary exploration of spatial analysis, geo-information technologies, and official statistics, focusing on their applications in environmental, economic, and planning challenges in Europe and the Mediterranean. Comprising 16 insightful chapters authored by leading scholars from Southern and Eastern Europe, Ireland, and the United States, the book delves into the complexities of socio-ecological monitoring through data integration and refined statistical indicators. Key topics include climate monitoring, land degradation, settlement patterns, and disaster resilience, providing a comprehensive understanding of local contexts and policy implications.The book begins with contributions from a traditional ecological, agronomic, and environmental vision, then continues with a set of studies with stricter socio-demographic and economic focus. It then discusses how other quantitative approaches (e.g., based on big data and primary surveys) may clarify the role of policies and planning, addressing sustainable development goals in the ‘kaleidoscopic’ European landscapes. Conclusions confirm the urgent need of integrating the vast potential of geo-information techniques, together with spatial analysis and official statistics, into more flexible sustainable development strategies that reflect local conditions and spatially explicit background contexts.

  • Traffic Flow Theory

    • 2nd Edition
    • Daiheng Ni
    • English
    Creating traffic models is a complex task due to the intricacies of road networks, space–time dependencies, heterogeneous traffic patterns, and numerous interacting components. The second edition of Traffic Flow Theory builds on foundational knowledge to express these elements in mathematical form and offers updated coverage of the latest field developments.Authore... by a leading academic, the volume dissects everyday traffic phenomena, detailing their characteristics, mechanisms, and dynamics through multi-level modeling approaches (macroscopic, microscopic, mesoscopic, and picoscopic) to explain why these phenomena occur and how they can be effectively simulated. The book then explores the practical applications of these simulations and contributes new, research-informed evidence showing that integrating the various analytical frameworks leads to a unified perspective—with significant benefits for optimizing safety and efficiency in transportation systems.With its comprehensive, coherent, and self-contained treatment, Traffic Flow Theory 2E is set to become a staple reference for a broad transportation engineering audience and a valuable resource for readers in interconnected disciplines.

  • Future Smart Cities

    A Blueprint for Inclusive and Sustainable Living
    • 1st Edition
    • Uday Chatterjee + 1 more
    • English
    Future Smart Cities: A Blueprint for Inclusive and Sustainable Living provides a guide to the intricate process of urban development in the 21st century. As an extensive manual for those involved in urban planning, policy-making, technology, and community leadership, it provides a clear blueprint for constructing cities that are intelligent and fair, ecologically conscious, and economically sustainable.Examinin... the convergence of technology, sustainability, and social fairness from an interdisciplinary perspective, it offers valuable insights into the transformative capabilities of smart city programs. The content explores fundamental concepts such as digital innovation, data-driven decision-making, inclusive governance, and sustainable design. These principles are shown through the analysis of real-world case studies and the presentation of best practices. The book aims to inspire practical approaches for urban development that prioritize the well-being of all people, minimize environmental impact, and promote resilience in the face of global crises by highlighting the significance of inclusion and sustainability.Futur... Smart Cities: A Blueprint for Inclusive and Sustainable Living provides readers with the necessary knowledge, resources, and motivation to contribute to a future in which cities flourish as dynamic, inclusive, and environmentally-frie... centers of innovation and potential.

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