What do the movements of molecules and the migration of humans have in common? How does the functionality of our brain tissue resemble the flow of traffic in New York City? How can understanding the spread of ideas, rumors, and languages help us tackle the spread a pandemic? This book provides an illuminating look into these seemingly disparate topics by exploring and expertly communicating the fundamental laws that govern the spreading and diffusion of objects. A collection of leading scientists in disciplines as diverse as epidemiology, linguistics, mathematics, and physics discuss various spreading phenomena relevant to their own fields, revealing astonishing similarities and correlations between the objects of study—be they people, particles, or pandemics. This updated and expanded second edition of an award-winning book introduces timely coverage of a subject with the greatest societal impact in recent memory—the global fight against COVID-19. Winner of the 2019 Literature Prize of the German Chemical Industry Fund and brainchild of the international and long-running Diffusion Fundamentals conference series, this book targets an interdisciplinary readership, featuring an introductory chapter that sets the stage for the topics discussed throughout. Each chapter provides ample opportunity to whet the appetite of those readers seeking a more in-depth treatment, making the book also useful as supplementary reading in appropriate courses dealing with complex systems, mass transfer, and network theory.

This easy-to read book looks at the many ways in which diffusion bears on processes that involve dispersion, starting from the Brownian motion of molecules, covering the invasion of exotic plants, migration of populations, epidemics, and extending to the spreading of languages and ideas. Recently, there has been a growing interest in understanding migrations, diffusion and spreading outside the “hard” natural sciences of physics and chemistry, for example the spreading of plants introduced as a result of globalization. Another fascinating story is that of human migration in the distant past, i.e. the immigration of our ancestors who brought agriculture from the Near East, or the fast spread of the Palaeo-Indians into the Americas after the end of the Ice Age. Likewise, the spread of languages in the past, and even more so the current spread and retreat of languages will be described here in terms of diffusion. By understanding these principles, there is hope that some of the less common languages that are threatened by globalization can be saved. Another important implication discussed by the author concerns the outbreak of epidemics; these may be mitigated if we understand their spreading mechanism. Last but not least the spreading of ideas and innovations, a process which changes the world sometimes faster than we wish, can also be usefully described in this picture.

This text is about spreading of information and influence in complex networks. Although previously considered similar and modeled in parallel approaches, there is now experimental evidence that epidemic and social spreading work in subtly different ways. While previously explored through modeling, there is currently an explosion of work on revealing the mechanisms underlying complex contagion based on big data and data-driven approaches. This volume consists of four parts. Part 1 is an Introduction, providing an accessible summary of the state of the art. Part 2 provides an overview of the central theoretical developments in the field. Part 3 describes the empirical work on observing spreading processes in real-world networks. Finally, Part 4 goes into detail with recent and exciting new developments: dedicated studies designed to measure specific aspects of the spreading processes, often using randomized control trials to isolate the network effect from confounders, such as homophily. Each contribution is authored by leading experts in the field. This volume, though based on technical selections of the most important results on complex spreading, remains quite accessible to the newly interested. The main benefit to the reader is that the topics are carefully structured to take the novice to the level of expert on the topic of social spreading processes. This book will be of great importance to a wide field: from researchers in physics, computer science, and sociology to professionals in public policy and public health.

Neutrosophy as science has inclusive attributes that make possible to extract the contributions of neutral values in the analysis of data sets; it builds a unified field of logic for transdisciplinary studies that transcend the boundaries between natural and social sciences. Neutral philosophy seeks to solve the problems of indeterminacy that appear universally, to reform the current natural or social sciences, with an open methodology to promote innovation. The research products related in this special issue start from the premise that the difficulty is not the complexity of the social environment, but the instrumental obsolescence to observe, interpret and manage that complexity, there are bold approaches and proposals for valid solutions that come to enrich the universe of resolution through the use of neutral methods. In the last year, the use of tools related to neutrosophy and its application to the social sciences, modeling of social phenomena based on simulation agents, problems associated with health, psychology, education, environmental management and sustainability solutions and legal sciences has increased in the events organized by the Asociacion Latinoamericana de Ciencias Neutrosoficas (ALCN in Spanish). The methods of higher incidence are cognitive maps, neutral Iadovs, neutral Delphi, analytical hierarchy process methods, neutral statistics, neutral personality models, among the most significant. In this special issue, there is a predominance of research from Ecuadorian universities, demonstrating how neutrosophy and its methods are consolidated as instruments of analysis, inference and research validation.

Contributors to current issue (listed in papers’ order): Noel Batista Hernández; C.V. Valenzuela Chicaiza; O.G. Arciniegas Paspuel; P.Y. Carrera Cuesta; D.R. Álvarez Hernández, C.E. Pozo Hernández; E.T. Mejía Álvarez; E.T. Villa Shagnay; S. Guerrón Enríquez; M.A. Tello Cadena; E.M. Pinos Medina; M. Jaramillo Burgos; F. Jara Vaca; R. Aguilar Berrezueta; E.M. Sandoval; B. Villalta Jadán; D. Palma Rivera; L.E. Valencia Cruzaty; M. Reyes Tomalá; C.M. Castillo Gallo, M.R. Velázquez; M.R. Mena Peralta; L. Ricardo Domínguez; D. Andrade Santamaría; X.Cangas Oña; M. Jaramillo Burgos; G.A. Calderón Vallejo; M. Orellana Cepeda; M.F. Galarza Villalba; M.S. Serrano Viteri; I. Ramos Castro; F. Vera Díaz; N.P. Lastra Calderón; D.L. Villarruel Delgado; D. Sandoval Malquín; E. Araujo Guerrón; A.R. Pupo Kairuz; D.V. Ponce Ruiz; F. Viteri Pita; F.S. Bustillo Mena; M.E. Narváez Jaramillo; M.A. Guerrero Ayala; D.A. Flores Jurado; O.M. Alonzo Pico; A.I. Utrera Velázquez; D.A. García Coello; E. Real Garlobo; C. Escobar Vinueza; R.C. Hernández Infante; M.E. Infante Miranda; F.R. Rivadeneira Enríquez; C.J. Galeano Páez; R.M. Montalvo Pantoja; K.A. Narváez Ortiz; S. Guaytarilla Salas; A.D. Rodríguez Lara; C.P. Rendón Tello; J. Almeida Blacio; R. Hurtado Guevara; L.G. Guallpa Zatán; H.J. Paillacho Chicaiza; J. Yaguar Mariño; M. Aguilar Carrión; D.A. Viteri Intriago; L. Álvarez Gómez; D. Ponce Ruiz; L.H. Carrión Hurtado; W.R. Salas Espín; M. Benalcázar Paladines; L. Moreira Rosales; L.K. Baque Villanueva; M.A. Mendoza; R. Salcedo; A.M. Izquierdo Morán; M.A. Checa Cabrera; B.J. Ipiales Chasiguano; A.L. Sandoval Pillajo; R. Díaz Vázquez; N.P. Becerra Arévalo; M.F. Calles Carrasco; John Luis Toasa Espinoza; M. Velasteguí Córdova; V.M. Parrales Carvajal; M.T. Macías Valverde; R. Aguas Pután; N. García Arias; N. Quevedo Arnaiz; S. Gavilánez Villamarín; M. Cleonares Borbor; M.F. Galarza Villalba; R. Aguas Pután; J. Mora Romero; J.E. Espìn Oviedo; L.J. Molina Chalacán; L.O. Albarracín Zambrano; E.J. Jalón Arias; A. Zúñiga Paredes; F. Smarandache; J. Estupiñán Ricardo; E. González Caballero; M.Y. Leyva Vázquez.

Nanoporous Materials for Molecule Separation and Conversion cover the topic with sections on nanoporous material synthesis and characterization, nanoporous materials for molecule separation, and nanoporous materials for energy storage and renewable energy. Typical nanoporous materials including carbon, zeolite, silica and metal-organic frameworks and their applications in molecule separation and energy related applications are covered. In addition, the fundamentals of molecule adsorption and molecule transport in nanoporous materials are also included, providing readers with a stronger understanding of the principles and topics covered. This is an important reference for anyone exploring nanoporous materials, including researchers and postgraduate students in materials science and chemical engineering. In addition, it is ideal for industry professionals working on a wide range of applications for nanoporous materials. - Outlines the fundamental principles of nanoporous materials design - Explores the application of nanoporous materials in important areas such as molecule separation and energy storage - Gives real-life examples of how nanoporous materials are used in a variety of industry sector

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Transport of Fluids in Nanoporous Materials" that was published in Processes

Sustainable Nanoscale Engineering: From Materials Design to Chemical Processing presents the latest on the design of nanoscale materials and their applications in sustainable chemical production processes. The newest achievements of materials science, in particular nanomaterials, opened new opportunities for chemical engineers to design more efficient, safe, compact and environmentally benign processes. These materials include metal-organic frameworks, graphene, membranes, imprinted polymers, polymers of intrinsic microporosity, nanoparticles, and nanofilms, to name a few. Topics discussed include gas separation, CO2 sequestration, continuous processes, waste valorization, catalytic processes, bioengineering, pharmaceutical manufacturing, supercritical CO2 technology, sustainable energy, molecular imprinting, graphene, nature inspired chemical engineering, desalination, and more. - Describes new, efficient and environmentally accepted processes for nanomaterials design - Includes a large array of materials, such as metal-organic frameworks, graphene, imprinted polymers, and more - Explores the contribution of these materials in the development of sustainable chemical processes

Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy, Volume 108, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters written by an international board of authors. - Serves as the premier resource for learning new techniques and applications in NMR spectroscopy - Provides a key reference for chemists and physicists using NMR spectroscopy to study the structure and dynamics of molecules - Covers all aspects of molecular science, including MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

To fully understand not only the past, but also the trajectories, of human societies, we need a more dynamic view of human social systems. Agent-based modeling (ABM), which can create fine-scale models of behavior over time and space, may reveal important, general patterns of human activity. Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeology is the first ABM textbook designed for researchers studying the human past. Appropriate for scholars from archaeology, the digital humanities, and other social sciences, this book offers novices and more experienced ABM researchers a modular approach to learning ABM and using it effectively. Readers will find the necessary background, discussion of modeling techniques and traps, references, and algorithms to use ABM in their own work. They will also find engaging examples of how other scholars have applied ABM, ranging from the study of the intercontinental migration pathways of early hominins, to the weather–crop–population cycles of the American Southwest, to the trade networks of Ancient Rome. This textbook provides the foundations needed to simulate the complexity of past human societies, offering researchers a richer understanding of the past—and likely future—of our species.