- Table View
- List View
Proceedings of 2012 3rd International Asia Conference on Industrial Engineering and Management Innovation (IEMI2012)
by Runliang DouThe purpose of the 2012 3rd International Asia Conference on industrial engineering and management innovation (IEMI2012) is to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the application of informatics to industrial engineering and management innovation.
Reference Frames for Applications in Geosciences
by Xavier Collilieux Zuheir AltamimiReference systems and frames are of primary importance for many Earth science applications, satellite navigation as well as for practical applications in geo-information. A precisely defined reference frame is needed for the quantification of, e.g. Earth rotation and its gravity field, global and regional sea level variation, tectonic motion and deformation, post-glacial rebound, geocenter motion, large scale deformation due to Earthquakes, local subsidence and other ruptures and crustal dislocations. All of these important scientific applications fundamentally depend on a truly global reference system that only space geodesy can realize. This volume details the proceedigns of the IAG Symposium REFAG2010 (Marne la Vallée, France, October 4-8, 2010) The primary scope of REFAG2010 was to address today's achievements on theoretical concepts of reference systems and their practical implementations by individual space geodetic techniques and their combinations, underlying limiting factors, systematic errors and novel approaches for future improvements.
Cyclic β-Glucans from Microorganisms: Production, Properties and Applications (SpringerBriefs in Microbiology #0)
by Sathyanarayana Gummadi Mukesh Doble Geetha Venkatachalamto Cyclic glucans are polysaccharides that are predominantly produced by Agrobacterium, Bradyrhizobium and Rhizobium sp. and widely used in the pharmaceutical and food industries. In this book, the applications, properties, analytical tools, production and genes of four main cyclic β-glucans from microorganisms are highlighted and critically evaluated. As biocompatible and biodegradable renewable resources, they have an immense potential for future applications, which has not yet been fully exploited. This concise review will help to bridge this gap.
Cruise Tourism and Society: A Socio-economic Perspective
by Tihomir Lukovic Michael Vogel Alexis PapathanassisThe growth and increased popularity of cruises is accompanied by a number of sustainability issues concerning the environment, the port economies and societies; on board and at shore. The sustainability imperative ultimately leads to operational, economical as well as image-related challenges for the sector's decision-makers and stakeholders. This collection of peer-reviewed papers, presented during the 3rd International Cruise Conference (Dubrovnik, Croatia), seeks to address those issues and contribute to their management in the mid-term.
Intelligent Financial Portfolio Composition based on Evolutionary Computation Strategies
by Antonio Gorgulho Rui F.M.F. Neves Nuno C.G. HortaThe management of financial portfolios or funds constitutes a widely known problematic in financial markets which normally requires a rigorous analysis in order to select the most profitable assets. This subject is becoming popular among computer scientists which try to adapt known Intelligent Computation techniques to the market's domain. This book proposes a potential system based on Genetic Algorithms, which aims to manage a financial portfolio by using technical analysis indicators. The results are promising since the approach clearly outperforms the remaining approaches during the recent market crash.
Lungenmetastasen
by Stefan LimmerMit neu entwickelten diagnostischen Möglichkeiten und verbesserten Therapieverfahren ist eine zunehmend differenzierte Behandlung von Lungenmetastasen bösartiger Tumoren möglich geworden. Je nach Ursprungstumor und klinischer Situation wird ein unterschiedliches Vorgehen empfohlen. Neben onkologischen Gesichtspunkten rückt auch die verbleibende Lungenfunktion in den Mittelpunkt des Interesses. Die moderne Bildgebung, offene und minimal invasive Operationsverfahren und interdisziplinäre Therapiekonzepte zu den einzelnen Tumorentitäten sind detailliert und praxisorientiert beschrieben.
Meshfree Methods for Partial Differential Equations VII
by Michael Griebel Marc Alexander SchweitzerMeshfree methods, particle methods, and generalized finite element methods have witnessed substantial development since the mid 1990s. The growing interest in these methods is due in part to the fact that they are extremely flexible numerical tools and can be interpreted in a number of ways. For instance, meshfree methods can be viewed as a natural extension of classical finite element and finite difference methods to scattered node configurations with no fixed connectivity. Furthermore, meshfree methods offer a number of advantageous features which are especially attractive when dealing with multiscale phenomena: a priori knowledge about particular local behavior of the solution can easily be introduced in the meshfree approximation space, and coarse-scale approximations can be seamlessly refined with fine-scale information. This volume collects selected papers presented at the Seventh International Workshop on Meshfree Methods, held in Bonn, Germany in September 2013. They address various aspects of this highly dynamic research field and cover topics from applied mathematics, physics and engineering.
Introduction to Wind Energy Systems: Basics, Technology and Operation, 2nd Edition
by Hermann-Josef Wagner Jyotirmay MathurThe present book was written to address the needs of those readers interested in wind energy converters. The authors have tried to strike a balance between a short book chapter and a very detailed book for experts in the field. There were three prime reasons behind doing so: first, the field is highly interdisciplinary and requires a more accessible format for non-experts. The second reason for this more compact version is that both authors have encountered many students and technically oriented people who were searching for this type of book on wind energy. The third reason and motivation for writing this book was to provide some initial information to people who are embarking on a career in the wind industry. It is this group of people that the present book is targeted at.
Epitaxy of Semiconductors
by Udo W. PohlIntroduction to Epitaxy provides the essential information for a comprehensive upper-level graduate course treating the crystalline growth of semiconductor heterostructures. Heteroepitaxy represents the basis of advanced electronic and optoelectronic devices today and is considered one of the top fields in materials research. The book covers the structural and electronic properties of strained epitaxial layers, the thermodynamics and kinetics of layer growth, and the description of the major growth techniques metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy, molecular beam epitaxy and liquid phase epitaxy. Cubic semiconductors, strain relaxation by misfit dislocations, strain and confinement effects on electronic states, surface structures and processes during nucleation and growth are treated in detail. The Introduction to Epitaxy requires only little knowledge on solid-state physics. Students of natural sciences, materials science and electrical engineering as well as their lecturers benefit from elementary introductions to theory and practice of epitaxial growth, supported by pertinent references and over 200 detailed illustrations.
Tides in Astronomy and Astrophysics
by Jean Souchay Stéphane Mathis Tadashi TokiedaBased on the lecture notes of a school titled 'Tides in Astronomy and Astrophysics' that brought together students and researchers, this book focuses on the fundamental theories of tides at different scales of the universe--from tiny satellites to whole galaxies--and on the most recent developments. It also attempts to place the study of tides in a historical perspective. Starting with a general tutorial on tides, the theme of tides is approached in 9 chapters from many directions. They allow non-experts to pick up a physical intuition and a sense of orders of magnitude in the theory of tides. These carefully prepared lecture notes by leaders in the field include many illustrative figures and drawings. Some even offer a variety of simple back-of the-envelope problems.
Understanding Viscoelasticity: An Introduction to Rheology
by Nhan Phan-ThienThis book presents an introduction to viscoelasticity; in particular, to the theories of dilute polymer solutions and dilute suspensions of rigid particles in viscous and incompressible fluids. These theories are important, not just because they apply to practical problems of industrial interest, but because they form a solid theoretical base upon which mathematical techniques can be built, from which more complex theories can be constructed, to better mimic material behaviour. The emphasis is not on the voluminous current topical research, but on the necessary tools to understand viscoelasticity at a first year graduate level. The main aim is to provide a still compact book, sufficient at the level of first year graduate course for those who wish to understand viscoelasticity and to embark in modeling of viscoelastic multiphase fluids. To this end, a new chapter on Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) was introduced which is relevant to model complex-structured fluids. All the basic ideas in DPD are reviewed, with some sample problems to illustrate the methodology.
Dynamics of Gas-Surface Interactions
by Ricardo Diez Muino Heriberto Fabio BusnengoThis book gives a representative survey of the state of the art of research on gas-surface interactions. It provides an overview of the current understanding of gas surface dynamics and, in particular, of the reactive and non-reactive processes of atoms and small molecules at surfaces. Leading scientists in the field, both from the theoretical and the experimental sides, write in this book about their most recent advances. Surface science grew as an interdisciplinary research area over the last decades, mostly because of new experimental technologies (ultra-high vacuum, for instance), as well as because of a novel paradigm, the 'surface science' approach. The book describes the second transformation which is now taking place pushed by the availability of powerful quantum-mechanical theoretical methods implemented numerically. In the book, experiment and theory progress hand in hand with an unprecedented degree of accuracy and control. The book presents how modern surface science targets the atomic-level understanding of physical and chemical processes at surfaces, with particular emphasis on dynamical aspects. This book is a reference in the field.
The Nation State and Beyond
by Roland Wenzlhuemer Isabella LöhrThe history of globalization is anything but a no-frills affair that moves smoothly along a clear-cut, unidirectional path of development, eventually leading to seamless global integration. Accordingly, scholarship in the social sciences has increasingly argued against equating the history of globalization processes and transcultural entanglements with the master narrative of the gradual homogenization of the world. Examining the shifting patterns of global connections has, therefore, become the main challenge for all those who seek to understand the past, the present and the future of modern societies. And this challenge includes finding a place for the nation state. The studies presented here argue that looking at the nation state from the perspective of global entanglements opens the door for its interpretation as a dynamic and multi-layered structure that takes part in globalization processes and plays various and at times even contradictory roles at the same time.
Formulas Useful for Linear Regression Analysis and Related Matrix Theory: It's Only Formulas But We Like Them
by Simo Puntanen George P. Styan Jarkko IsotaloThis is an unusual book because it contains a great deal of formulas. Hence it is a blend of monograph, textbook, and handbook.It is intended for students and researchers who need quick access to useful formulas appearing in the linear regression model and related matrix theory. This is not a regular textbook - this is supporting material for courses given in linear statistical models. Such courses are extremely common at universities with quantitative statistical analysis programs.
Narrative Brand Planning
by Ralf Schmidt-Bleeker Frank Otto DietrichNarrative Brand Planning - wie Marken zu echten Helden werden Das digitale Zeitalter hat die gute alte Werbewelt gehörig auf den Kopf gestellt. Mediennutzer haben sich vom passiven Konsumenten hin zu aktiven Produzenten von Medieninhalten entwickelt - und das jederzeit und überall! Leider hat das konventionelle Marketing die Menschen schon seit langem aus den Augen verloren. Als Reaktion verhängen wir Menschen immer häufiger die Höchststrafe: vollkommenes Desinteresse an Marken und ihren Versprechen. Was die digitale Welt aus Menschen, Medien und Marken jedoch nach wie vor braucht wie die Luft zum Atmen, sind echte Geschichten! Werbung muss weg von fiktiven Erzählungen innerhalb einzelner Werbemaßnahmen, hin zu realen Handlungen auf Markenebene! Das erzeugt spannende, transmediale und vor allem glaubwürdige Geschichten, die sich Menschen gut und gerne erzählen. Frank Otto Dietrich und Ralf Schmidt-Bleeker entwerfen mit Narrative Brand Planning einen Ansatz, wie man im digitalen Zeitalter Relevanz für Geschäftsmodelle, für Markenstrategien und Markenkommunikation erzeugen kann. Oder kurz: wie man Marken Schritt für Schritt zu echten Helden macht.
On a Sustainable Future of the Earth's Natural Resources
by Mu. RamkumarOn a Sustainable Future of the Earth's Natural Resources is divided into three sections, with individual chapters contributed by experts on diff erent facets of the earth sciences, natural resources management and related issues. The first section focuses on the status of Earth's resources; land, water, biota and atmosphere. Reviews on the rate of exploitation and the need to conserve these resources for future sustenance are also covered in this section. Th e following section includes chapters elucidating environmental, ecological, climatological and anthropological pressures on sustained nourishment with the Earth's resources. The last section describes management practices, issues and perspectives on sociological, legal, administrative, ICT and strategic efforts that need to be implemented in order to sustain our natural resources. This book covers a broad spectrum of the Earth's resources and sustenance, offering a comprehensive perspective on their past, present and future.
Applied Panel Data Analysis for Economic and Social Surveys
by Katrin Golsch Hans-Jürgen Andreß Alexander W. SchmidtMany economic and social surveys are designed as panel studies, which provide important data for describing social changes and testing causal relations between social phenomena. This textbook shows how to manage, describe, and model these kinds of data. It presents models for continuous and categorical dependent variables, focusing either on the level of these variables at different points in time or on their change over time. It covers fixed and random effects models, models for change scores and event history models. All statistical methods are explained in an application-centered style using research examples from scholarly journals, which can be replicated by the reader through data provided on the accompanying website. As all models are compared to each other, it provides valuable assistance with choosing the right model in applied research. The textbook is directed at master and doctoral students as well as applied researchers in the social sciences, psychology, business administration and economics. Readers should be familiar with linear regression and have a good understanding of ordinary least squares estimation.
Stability and Bifurcation Theory for Non-Autonomous Differential Equations
by Miguel Ortega Russell Johnson Sylvia Novo Anna Capietto Jean Mawhin Maria Patrizia Pera Peter KloedenThis volume contains the notes from five lecture courses devoted to nonautonomous differential systems, in which appropriate topological and dynamical techniques were described and applied to a variety of problems. The courses took place during the C.I.M.E. Session "Stability and Bifurcation Problems for Non-Autonomous Differential Equations," held in Cetraro, Italy, June 19-25 2011. Anna Capietto and Jean Mawhin lectured on nonlinear boundary value problems; they applied the Maslov index and degree-theoretic methods in this context. Rafael Ortega discussed the theory of twist maps with nonperiodic phase and presented applications. Peter Kloeden and Sylvia Novo showed how dynamical methods can be used to study the stability/bifurcation properties of bounded solutions and of attracting sets for nonautonomous differential and functional-differential equations. The volume will be of interest to all researchers working in these and related fields.
Iptycenes Chemistry
by Chuan-Feng Chen Ying-Xian MaIptycenes Chemistry: From Synthesis to Applications provides a comprehensive overview of the development of iptycene chemistry in the past seventy years. This book covers: (1) the basic nomenclature and general properties of iptycenes and their derivatives; (2) the synthesis and functionalization reactions of triptycenes, pentiptycenes, higher iptycenes, heterotriptycenes, and homotriptycenes; (3) the methods for the preparation of iptycene-based polymers with different types; and (4) the applications of iptycenes and their derivatives in molecular machines, materials science, host-guest chemistry, self-assembly, coordination chemistry, physical organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and so on. Consequently, such a book is not only helpful to researchers working in iptycene chemistry, but can also facilitate future research in wide areas.
Mathematical Modeling and Validation in Physiology
by Mostafa Bachar Jerry J. Batzel Franz KappelThis volume synthesizes theoretical and practical aspects of both the mathematical and life science viewpoints needed for modeling of the cardiovascular-respiratory system specifically and physiological systems generally. Theoretical points include model design, model complexity and validation in the light of available data, as well as control theory approaches to feedback delay and Kalman filter applications to parameter identification. State of the art approaches using parameter sensitivity are discussed for enhancing model identifiability through joint analysis of model structure and data. Practical examples illustrate model development at various levels of complexity based on given physiological information. The sensitivity-based approaches for examining model identifiability are illustrated by means of specific modeling examples. The themes presented address the current problem of patient-specific model adaptation in the clinical setting, where data is typically limited.
Challenge Social Innovation: Potentials for Business, Social Entrepreneurship, Welfare and Civil Society
by Josef Hochgerner Jürgen Howaldt Hans-Werner FranzIn recent years, social innovation has experienced a steep career. Numerous national governments and large organisations like the OECD, the European Commission and UNESCO have adopted the term. Social innovation basically means that people adopt new social practices in order to meet social needs in a different or more effective way. Prominent examples of the past are the Red Cross and the social welfare state or, at present, the internet 2.0 transforming our communication and cooperation schemes, requiring new management concepts, even empowering social revolutions. The traditional concept of innovation as successful new technological products needs fundamental rethinking in a society marked by knowledge and services, leading to a new and enriched paradigm of innovation. There is multiple evidence that social innovation will become of growing importance not only concerning social integration, equal opportunities and dealing with the greenhouse effects but also with regard to preserving and expanding the innovative capacity of companies and societies. While political authorities stress the social facets of social innovation, this book also encompasses its societal and systemic dimensions, collecting the scientific expertise of renowned experts and scholars from all over the world. Based on the contributions of the first world-wide science convention on social innovation from September 2011 in Vienna, the book provides an overview of scientific approaches to this still relatively new field. Forewords by Agnès HUBERT (Member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA) of the European Commission) and Antonella Noya (Senior Policy Analyst at OECD, manager of the OECD LEED Forum on Social Innovations)
Innovation from Information Systems
by Tatiana Bouzdine-Chameeva C. Lakshman Olivier DupouetRelying on the extensive study of a multi-national Company, this work proposes a process view of the way firms balance tensions between exploring new knowledge and exploiting old one. First, ideas are generated throughout the organization. These ideas are funneled towards specific project teams that further develop and refine them. Second, projects are assessed by the top management. Agreed projects are then progressively transformed into exploitable products, following a transformative learning process. We then make propositions regarding the role information systems can play in sustaining this process. Regarding the first phase of the cycle, we will focus on systems that help in sustaining idea generation and in balancing explorative and exploitive projects in the technologies portfolio of the firm. Regarding the second phase, we will look at information systems that could be useful in supporting knowledge transfer and knowledge interpretation across a multi-national company.
Microbial Metal Respiration
by Andreas Kappler Johannes GescherMicrobes can respire on metals. This seemingly simple finding is one of the major discoveries that were made in the field of microbiology in the last few decades. The importance of this observation is evident. Metals are highly abundant on our planet. Iron is even the most abundant element on Earth and the forth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Hence, in some environments iron, but also other metals or metalloids, are the dominant respiratory electron acceptors. Their reduction massively drives the carbon cycle in these environments and establishes redox cycles of the metallic electron acceptors themselves. These redox cycles are not only a driving force for other biotic reactions but are furthermore necessary for initiating a number of geochemically relevant abiotic redox conversions. Although widespread and ecologically influential, electron transfer onto metals like ferric iron or manganese is biochemically challenging. The challenge is to transfer respiratory electrons onto metals that occur in nature at neutral pH in the form of metal oxides or oxihydroxides that are effectively insoluble. Obviously, it is necessary that the microbes specially adapt in order to catalyze the electron transfer onto insoluble electron acceptors. The elucidation of these adaptations is an exciting ongoing process. To sum it up, dissimilatory metal reduction has wide-spread implications in the field of microbiology, biochemistry and geochemistry and its discovery was one of the major reasons to establish a novel scientific field called geomicrobiology. Recently, the discovery of potential applications of dissimilatory metal reducers in bioremediation or current production in a microbial fuel cell further increased the interest in studying microbial metal reduction
Neurofibromatosis Type 1
by Meena Upadhyaya David N CooperNeurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), caused by mutational inactivation of the NF1 tumour suppressor gene, is one of the most common dominantly inherited human disorders, affecting 1 in 3000 individuals worldwide. This book presents in concise fashion, but as comprehensively as possible, our current state of knowledge on the molecular genetics, molecular biology and cellular biology of this tumour predisposition syndrome. Written by internationally recognized experts in the field, the 44 chapters that constitute this edited volume provide the reader with a broad overview of the clinical features of the disease, the structure and expression of the NF1 gene, its germ line and somatic mutational spectra and genotype-phenotype relationships, the structure and function of its protein product (neurofibromin), NF1 modifying loci, the molecular pathology of NF1-associated tumours, animal models of the disease, psycho-social aspects and future prospects for therapeutic treatment.
A Practical Design of Lumped, Semi-lumped & Microwave Cavity Filters (Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering #183)
by Dhanasekharan NatarajanThis book presents the application of microwave literature for designing lumped/semi-lumped filters and combline/iris-coupled microwave cavity filters. It provides the physical understanding of the terms and characteristics of radio frequency (RF) filters. The book complements engineering text books on RF components and provides support for the project assignments of students. In addition to the functional design of RF filters, the integrated design approach for produceability and reliability is explained.