This chapter show how throughout millennia, philanthropy has served as a catalyst for change and as a vehicle for community transformation. While COVID-19 has forced philanthropists worldwide to take immediate action and mobilise billions of dollars to save lives, African philanthropy and the culture of ‘giving’ are not new phenomena but are ingrained in the fabric of African societies. Before the arrival of colonialism, aid agencies and development partners, grassroots philanthropists and associations mobilised resources to address development issues. Within this context, the chapter focuses on the role of multi-sector partnerships in Africa and how they arose out of the crisis of the pandemic to drive the efficiency of vital collaborations between the African Union (AU), local governments, and the private sector. It shows how these partnerships helped the continent curb the pandemic and prevented the massive spread of infections. This chapter highlights the uniqueness and significance of these partnerships at the local and continental levels and identifies some of the core values underpinning them. The chapter also explores the importance and the impact of the AU’s strategic leadership and multi-sectoral partnerships in advancing the continent’s health and economic agenda while deconstructing some of the inherent challenges that were faced when trying to scale these alliances in Africa.

Having examined the production, consumption, and valuation of information and data, we can start to design business models for information goods. We examine the fundamental characteristics of information and data goods that we need to consider. It is critical for a digital innovator to design mechanisms that allow users to discover their valuation and preferences, and that allow the innovator to discover users’ willingness to pay. Ideally, such mechanisms account for cognitive tendencies to prefer intuitive, familiar, simple, and quick solutions to our data and information needs.

The components or functions derived from an eigenanalysis are linear combinations of the original variables. Principal components analysis (PCA) is a very common method that uses these components to examine patterns among the objects, often in a plot termed an ordination, and identify which variables are driving those patterns. Correspondence analysis (CA) is a related method used when the variables represent counts or abundances. Redundancy analysis and canonical CA are constrained versions of PCA and CA, respectively, where the components are derived after taking into account the relationships with additional explanatory variables. Finally, we introduce linear discriminant function analysis as a way of identifying and predicting membership of objects to predefined groups.

The analysis of ice response to stress using finite elements is described, using multiaxial constitutive relationships, including damage, in a viscoelastic framework. The U-shaped relationship of compliance with pressure is part of this formulation. The results show that the layer of damaged ice adjacent to the indentor arises naturally through the formulation, giving rise to a peak load and subsequent decline. This shows that there can be “layer failure” in addition to failure due to fractures and spalling. Tests on extrusion of crushed ice are described together with a formulation of constitutive relationships based on special triaxial tests of crushed ice. The ice temperature measured during field indentation tests showed a drop in temperature during the upswings in load. This was attributed to localized pressure melting. Small scale indentor tests are described, which show clearly the difference between layer failure and spalling, as found using high-speed video and pressure-sensitive film. The question of scaling, as used in ice tanks, is addressed. Flexural failure can be scaled to some extent; scaling of high-pressure zones lies in the mechanics as developed in the book.

In this chapter, a concept known as scaling is introduced. Scaling (also known as nondimensionalization) is essentially a form of dimensional analysis. Dimensional analysis is a general term used to describe a means of analyzing a system based off the units of the problem (e.g. kilogram for mass, kelvin for temperature, meter for length, coulomb for electric change, etc.). The concepts of this chapter, while not entirely about the fluid equations per se, is arguably the most useful in understanding the various concepts of fluid mechanics. In addition, the concepts discussed within this chapter can be extended to other areas of physics, particularly areas that are heavily reliant on differential equations (which is most of physics and engineering).

The knowledge economy represents a new domination by a longstanding factor of production. New insights and technological innovation have always shaped economic activity, but the rate of technological change and the proportion of knowledge as a factor of production and as a product have grown greatly in recent decades. This chapter describes the knowledge economy and explains how it makes it more likely that producers will have postive returns to scale – in other words, that profits will increase as the level of production grows. These features have profound implications for the international dimensions of the knowledge economy, as illustrated by branding and supply chains.

Empirical equations of downstream hydraulic geometry, entailing width, depth, velocity, and bed slope, can be derived using the scaling theory. The theory employs the momentum equation, a flow resistance formula, and continuity equation for gradually varied open channel flow. The scaling equations are expressed as power functions of water discharge and bed sediment size, and are applicable to alluvial, ice, and bedrock channels. These equations are valid for any value of water discharge as opposed to just mean or bank-full values that are used in empirical equations. This chapter discusses the use of scaling theory for the derivation of downstream hydraulic geometry. The scaling theory-based hydraulic geometry equations are also compared with those derived using the regime theory, threshold theory, and stability index theory, and the equations are found to be consistent.

This chapter discusses the ways in which natural selection has acted on the animal and primate brain, demonstrating that the human brain is better at some tasks, whereas other animals are better at certain others (e.g. special memory and chimpanzees). Human brains are the results of selection for very specific tasks, largely relating to social information. It also discusses the role of metabolism in brain evolution, reviewing the ‘expensive tissue hypothesis’. It summarizes brain anatomy, and shows that, anatomically, the human brain is essentially a scaled-up primate brain. Finally, it discusses the idea of consciousness, the ways we evaluate it in other animals, and how it may have arisen.

This chapter includes transcriptions and translations of material on keyboard instruments found in the writings of Jakob Adlung, Marin Mersenne, and Michael Praetorius, as well as technical descriptions of the keyboard instruments used by Johann Sebastian Bach, members of the Couperin family, George Frederick Handel, Domenico Scarlatti, Padre Antonio Soler, and other composers of the period. This chapter provides explicit tuning instructions and analysis of temperaments used in the period, notably meantone, temperament ordinaire, and various circulating and so-called “well temperaments” that appear in treatises written by Denis, Corrette, Kirnberger, Mersenne, Marpurg, Neidhardt, Rameau, Werckmeister, and others.

This chapter deals with the design and construction of keyboard instruments and covers topics such as Mersenne’s Law, keyboard compass, scaling, plucking and striking points, string tension, case and soundboard proportion and structure, as well as technical descriptions of harpsichord, clavichord, and piano mechanisms, including the so-called “English” and “Viennese” hammer actions. Early English, Nuremberg, Berlin, and Vienna wire gauges are compared.

This essay describes how the HKW (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) in Berlin was been transformed through its exploration of the Anthropocene. Originally an institution dedicated to showcasing non-European cultures, it now focuses on the new relationship between culture and the planet. The “Anthropocene-Project” began by asking how a cultural institution might approach the large-scale transformation confronting our societies? It soon became clear that the HKW must change its methods and processes. Instead of approaching the world via representations in exhibitions and talks, the HKW developed an experimental mode of active cultural production that called “curating ideas in the making.” This method combines aesthetic with scientific approaches, and reflects the fact that in the Anthropocene, knowledge production has to change: the categorical frameworks developed during the last 200 years are no longer adequate to confront the problems of the radically altered situation we find ourselves in.

The concepts of fluid dynamic and thermodynamic similarity are introduced. The key nondimensional parameters of relevance to radial compressors, such as flow coefficient, work coefficient, pressure coefficient and the blade tip-speed Mach number are explained. The appropriate nondimensional parameters allow the preliminary design of a new machine to be based on features of an existing machine, even one designed for a different size, a different fluid, other flow conditions or rotational speed. Its performance can also be estimated from that of a similar machine, even though it may be larger or smaller. The principle of similarity and the associated nondimensional parameters provide an invaluable aid to the design and testing of all turbomachinery and to the proper understanding of their performance maps and stage characteristics. A good grasp of these is an excellent basis for rationalising compressor performance in different applications. Deviations from similarity in real machines are considered leading to performance corrections for changes in Reynolds number and isentropic exponent.

Salt marshes are valuable but complex biophysical systems with associated ecosystems. This presents numerous challenges when trying to understand and predict their behaviour and evolution, which is essential to facilitate their continued and sustainable use, conservation and management1. Detailed understanding of the hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics, and ecology that control the system is required, as well as their numerous interactions2,3, but is complicated by spatial and temporal heterogeneity at a range of scales4,5. These complex interactions and feedbacks between the physical, biological, and chemical processes can be investigated in situ following natural, unintentional, or intentional manipulation6, but the mechanistic basis of any observations are confounded by the presence of collinear variables. Hence, laboratory investigations can be beneficial, as they provide the opportunity for systematic testing of subsets of coastal processes, mechanisms, or conditions typical of salt marsh systems, in the absence of confounding variables. With appropriate scaling, this allows a better understanding of the overall function of the salt marsh, and better predictions of their evolution.

The Conclusion uses Karl N. Llewellyn’s“What Price Contract? – An Essay in Perspective” to bring together many of the dominant themes discussed in the book. For three-dimensional law to arise legal scholars must be more refined in their perception of ideas – civilized growth, in Holmes’s view, depended on that. Holmes’s sensitivity to multivalency becomes then the leading goal of a well-wrought legal pedagogy. The more law could muster feeling, the more civilized the nation would grow. At least that was Holmes’s hope as he expressed it to Harold J. Laski.

This chapter discusses Feature Engineering techniques that look holistically at the feature set, therefore replacing or enhancing the features based on their relation to the whole set of instances and features. Techniques such as normalization, scaling, dealing with outliers and generating descriptive features are covered. Scaling and normalization are the most common, it involves finding the maximum and minimum and changing the values to ensure they will lie in a given interval (e.g., [0, 1] or [−1, 1]). Discretization and binning involve, for example, analyzing a feature that is an integer (any number from -1 trillion to +1 trillion) and realize that it only takes the values 0, 1 and 10 so it can be simplified into a symbolic feature with three values (value0, value1 and value10). Descriptive features is the gathering of information that talks about the shape of the data, the discussion centres around using tables of counts (histograms) and general descriptive features such as maximum, minimum and averages. Outlier detection and treatment refers to looking at the feature values across many instances and realizing some values might present themselves very far from the rest.

This chapter mostly explains the role of graphene as a prototype crystalline membrane. We discuss peculiarities of phonon spectra of two-dimensional crystals, such as existence of soft flexural modes and unavoidably decisive role of anharmonic effects, the physical origin of negative thermal expansion of graphene and Mermin–Wagner theorem forbidding long-range crystalline order for two-dimensional materials. We consider mechanics and statistical mechanics of crystalline membranes and especially the role of thermal fluctuations resulting in intrinsic ripples. At the end of this chapter, we give a basic introduction to Raman spectroscopy which is one of the most important experimental tools to probe the properties of graphene.