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Green China: Sustainable Growth in East and West
by Taco C.R. Someren Shuhua van Someren-WangChina is creating the third growth wave in the sustainable sector. This greening of the Chinese economy offers threats and opportunities for Western organizations. Getting a piece of this new cake requires strategic innovations in both policy and corporate strategy. Based on the theory of strategic innovation and their extensive practical experiences in doing business with China, the authors propose potential areas and activities for strategic innovation in the West in response to Green China.
Mathematical Models for Evacuation Planning in Urban Areas
by Sarah BretschneiderDisasters like floods, hurricanes, chemical or nuclear accidents may cause the necessity to evacuate the affected area. The evacuation of the urban area needs to be planned carefully. One issue is the reorganization of the traffic routing. Congested urban areas have usually complex street networks that are composed of many intersections with streets connecting them. The population density of a congested urban area is usually high and the street network is already used to capacity during rush hour traffic. The considered problem of this work is the reorganization of the traffic routing of an urban area for the case of an emergency mass evacuation. Especially aspects of the evacuation like safety, avoidance of delays and the total system travel time are taken into account. Combinatorial and graph theoretical aspects are adapted for the evacuation problem and highlight issues concerning especially conflicts within intersections. This work gives an extensive summary of literature of evacuation of urban areas. Mixed-integer linear programming models are developed for evacuation problems and heuristic algorithms are provided and tested.?
Isotope-Based Quantum Information
by Vladimir G. PlekhanovThe present book provides to the main ideas and techniques of the rapid progressing field of quantum information and quantum computation using isotope - mixed materials. It starts with an introduction to the isotope physics and then describes of the isotope - based quantum information and quantum computation. The ability to manipulate and control electron and/or nucleus spin in semiconductor devices provides a new route to expand the capabilities of inorganic semiconductor-based electronics and to design innovative devices with potential application in quantum computing. One of the major challenges towards these objectives is to develop semiconductor-based systems and architectures in which the spatial distribution of spins and their properties can be controlled. For instance, to eliminate electron spin decoherence resulting from hyperfine interaction due to nuclear spin background, isotopically controlled devices are needed (i.e., nuclear spin-depleted). In other emerging concepts, the control of the spatial distribution of isotopes with nuclear spins is a prerequisite to implement the quantum bits (or qbits). Therefore, stable semiconductor isotopes are important elements in the development of solid-state quantum information. There are not only different algorithms of quantum computation discussed but also the different models of quantum computers are presented. With numerous illustrations this small book is of great interest for undergraduate students taking courses in mesoscopic physics or nanoelectronics as well as quantum information, and academic and industrial researches working in this field.
Corneal Disease: Recent Developments in Diagnosis and Therapy (Essentials In Ophthalmology Ser.)
by Thomas Reinhard Frank LarkinThis book, written by leading clinicians and scientists, focuses on recent clinically relevant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of corneal disorders. After an opening chapter considering the latest knowledge on the heredity of keratoconus, important advances in corneal imaging are discussed, in particular the use of optical coherence tomography and in vivo confocal microscopy for evaluation of the normal and the diseased cornea. Antiangiogenic treatment options are then reviewed, and new aspects in the diagnosis and therapy of mycobacterial keratitis explained. Further chapters address the storage of donor cornea for penetrating and lamellar keratoplasty and the keratoplasty in infants. The book closes by discussing new developments in antibacterial chemotherapy for bacterial keratitis.
Radioactivity Transfer in Environment and Food
by Fokion K. VosniakosThe book deals with various consequences of major nuclear accidents, such as in 1986 in Chernobyl and in 2011 in Fukushima. The public is extremely interested in learning more about the movements and risks posed by radiation in the environment related to food supply and food safety. Radionuclides are found in air, water, soil and even in us not only after nuclear accidents because they occur also in nature. Every day, we ingest and inhale radionuclides in our air and food and the water. This book provides a solid underpinning of the basic physical-chemistry and biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthrop radioactivity. The mechanisms of radioactive element transfer in the atmosphere, tropospheric and stratospheric diffusion of radioactivity, environmental contamination from accidents and the impact of atmospheric pollution on the food chain, soil and plants, are analyzed and the analytical methods are illustrated. The question of natural radioactivity concentration in building materials is addressed too. While the book contains many case studies and data for Greece, it is of general value. It contributes to the development of international environmentally safe standards and economically reasonable standard regulations based on justified radiological, social and economical legislation concepts.
Semantic Web Services
by David Martin Brian Blake Birgitta König-Ries Liliana Cabral Ulrich KüsterOver the last decade, a great amount of effort and resources have been invested in the development of Semantic Web Service (SWS) frameworks. Numerous description languages, frameworks, tools, and matchmaking and composition algorithms have been proposed. Nevertheless, when faced with a real-world problem, it is still very hard to decide which of these different approaches to use. In this book, the editors present an overall overview and comparison of the main current evaluation initiatives for SWS. The presentation is divided into four parts, each referring to one of the evaluation initiatives. Part I covers the long-established first two tracks of the Semantic Service Selection (S3) Contest - the OWL-S matchmaker evaluation and the SAWSDL matchmaker evaluation. Part II introduces the new S3 Jena Geography Dataset (JGD) cross evaluation contest. Part III presents the Semantic Web Service Challenge. Lastly, Part IV reports on the semantic aspects of the Web Service Challenge. The introduction to each part provides an overview of the evaluation initiative and overall results for its latest evaluation workshops. The following chapters in each part, written by the participants, detail their approaches, solutions and lessons learned. This book is aimed at two different types of readers. Researchers on SWS technology receive an overview of existing approaches in SWS with a particular focus on evaluation approaches; potential users of SWS technologies receive a comprehensive summary of the respective strengths and weaknesses of current systems and thus guidance on factors that play a role in evaluation.
Clinical Management of Urolithiasis
by Margaret S. Pearle Thomas KnollA host of new technologies, techniques, and medical regimens have been introduced over the past 30 years for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of urinary calculi. These range from novel imaging procedures and medical expulsive therapy to interventional treatment options. The contemporary urologist should be familiar with and adept at implementing these new concepts and techniques. Clinical Management of Urolithiasis will serve as a practical guide to every clinically relevant aspect of urolithiasis and its treatment, both surgical and medical. In addition to providing up-to-date evidence-based recommendations regarding stone management, the book reflects the real-life experience of well-known international experts. Each chapter includes tables and algorithms that allow the reader easily to check the requirements for specific procedures and to translate them into clinical practice.
Progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science VIII
by Kaoru Yamanouchi Mauro Nisoli Wendell T. Hill IIIThe PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science and optical science which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed articles authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter opens with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield as well as graduate students can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand. These are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This eighth volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on molecules interacting with ultrashort and intense laser fields, advanced technologies for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses and their applications, laser plasma formation and laser acceleration.
Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction (Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences #13)
by Rainer Spanagel Wolfgang SommerThe question how alcohol alters mood states and why this may end up becoming an addiction is puzzling alcohol researchers since decades. In this volume, an assembly of highly distinguished experts and leaders in alcohol addiction research provides lucid presentations of the current knowledge and research challenges as well as interesting viewpoints on future research directions aimed to stimulate communication and convergence between clinical and preclinical researchers, and to renew interest in the vibrant field of alcohol addiction research among a wide scientifically minded audience. Five Current Topics are discussed in this volume: Neurobiological mechanisms of alcoholism, Genetics, Clinical phenotypes and their preclinical models, Brain imaging, and Translational approaches for treatment development, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological. These areas have in our opinion brought alcohol research substantially forward and influenced our thinking about how to reach our common paramount goal, namely to offer effective treatment solutions for an extensive group of patients with largely unmet medical needs.
Brain Imaging in Behavioral Neuroscience (Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences #11)
by Cameron S. Carter Jeffrey W. DalleyThis volume highlights the remarkable new developments in brain imaging, including those that apply magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), that allow us to non invasively study the living human brain in health and in disease. These technological advances have allowed us to obtain new and powerful insights into the structure and function of the healthy brain as it develops across the life cycle, as well as the molecular make up of brain systems and circuits as they develop and change with age. New brain imaging technologies have also given us new insights into the causes of many common brain disorders, including ADHD, schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer's disease, which collectively affect a large segment of the population. These new insights have major implications for understanding and treating these brain disorders, and are providing clinicians with the first ever set of biomarkers that can be used to guide diagnosis and monitor treatment effects. The advances in brain imaging over the last 20 years, summarized in this volume, represent a major advance in modern biomedical sciences.
RNA Metabolism in Trypanosomes
by Albrecht BindereifTrypanosomes are unicellular protozoa of ancient evolutionary origin that are responsible for several tropical diseases, such as African sleeping sickness. Over the last few decades, research in trypanosome biology has revealed many unique and fascinating features, many of which have helped to establish new paradigms in other biological systems. This applies in particular to studies in gene expression and regulation, which benefit enormously from the trypanosome genome projects and from the new genome-wide approaches recently introduced in trypanosome research. This volume covers the most important aspects of biosynthesis, processing, and functions of RNA in trypanosomes, ranging from transcription to RNA editing, mRNA splicing/translation/turnover, processing of transfer and ribosomal RNA, RNA interference, and current transcriptome-wide analyses. Recent progress in RNA-focused research in trypanosomatids promises to yield novel insights into trypanosome-specific features, as well as to reveal in the process new potential therapeutic strategies for combating these parasitic diseases.
Statistical Physics
by Josef HonerkampThe application of statistical methods to physics is essential. This unique book on statistical physics offers an advanced approach with numerous applications to the modern problems students are confronted with. Therefore the text contains more concepts and methods in statistics than the student would need for statistical mechanics alone. Methods from mathematical statistics and stochastics for the analysis of data are discussed as well. The book is divided into two parts, focusing first on the modeling of statistical systems and then on the analysis of these systems. Problems with hints for solution help the students to deepen their knowledge. The third edition has been updated and enlarged with new sections deepening the knowledge about data analysis. Moreover, a customized set of problems with solutions is accessible on the Web at extras. springer. com.
Solid Waste Management
by Ramesha Chandrappa Diganta Bhusan DasSolid waste was already a problem long before water and air pollution issues attracted public attention. Historically the problem associated with solid waste can be dated back to prehistoric days. Due to the invention of new products, technologies and services the quantity and quality of the waste have changed over the years. Waste characteristics not only depend on income, culture and geography but also on a society's economy and, situations like disasters that affect that economy. There was tremendous industrial activity in Europe during the industrial revolution. The twentieth century is recognized as the American Century and the twenty-first century is recognized as the Asian Century in which everyone wants to earn 'as much as possible'. After Asia the currently developing Africa could next take the center stage. With transitions in their economies many countries have also witnessed an explosion of waste quantities. Solid waste problems and approaches to tackling them vary from country to country. For example, while efforts are made to collect and dispose hospital waste through separate mechanisms in India it is burnt together with municipal solid waste in Sweden. While trans-boundary movement of waste has been addressed in numerous international agreements, it still reaches developing countries in many forms. While thousands of people depend on waste for their livelihood throughout the world, many others face problems due to poor waste management. In this context solid waste has not remained an issue to be tackled by the local urban bodies alone. It has become a subject of importance for engineers as well as doctors, psychologist, economists, and climate scientists and any others. There are huge changes in waste management in different parts of the world at different times in history. To address these issues, an effort has been made by the authors to combine their experience and bring together a new text book on the theory and practice of the subject covering the important relevant literature at the same time.
Living in a Seasonal World
by Walter Arnold Claudia Bieber Eva Millesi Thomas RufThis book summarises the newest information on seasonal adaptation in animals. Topics include animal hibernation, daily torpor, thermoregulation, heat production, metabolic depression, biochemical adaptations, neurophysiology and energy balance. The contributors to this book present interdisciplinary research at multiple levels ranging from the molecular to the ecophysiological, as well as evolutionary approaches. The chapters of this book provide original data not published elsewhere, which makes it the most up-to-date, comprehensive source of information on these fields. The book's subchapters correspond to presentations given at the 14th International Hibernation Symposium in August 2012 in Austria. This is a very successful series of symposia (held every four years since 1959) that attracts leading researchers in the field. Like the past symposia, this meeting - and consequently the book - is aimed not only at hibernation but at covering the full range of animal adaptations to seasonal environments. For the next four years, this book will serve as the cutting-edge reference work for graduate students and scientists active in this field of physiology and ecology. .
Einführung in die Mathematische Optimierung
by Uwe T. Zimmermann Rainer E. BurkardMathematische Optimierung spielt aufgrund der verbreiteten Anwendung des Verfahrens und seiner raschen wissenschaftlichen Entwicklung eine wichtige Rolle im Mathematikstudium. In dem Buch führen die Autoren in die Lineare und Konvexe Optimierung ein und vermitteln darauf aufbauend Fragen der Diskreten und Nichtlinearen Optimierung. Vorausgesetzt werden nur Grundkenntnisse der Linearen Algebra und Analysis. Alle Verfahren werden anhand von ökonomischen Beispielen dargestellt, die einzelnen Schritte im Open-Source-Programm Scilab sind dokumentiert.
Gesprächspsychotherapie
by Eva-Maria Biermann-Ratjen Diether Höger Jochen EckertBei der von Carl Rogers begründeten Gesprächspsychotherapie steht die therapeutische Beziehung im Mittelpunkt. Handlungsleitend ist eine Theorie des psychotherapeutischen Prozesses und der Entwicklung der Person. Das Lehrbuch vermittelt die theoretischen Grundlagen der Gesprächspsychotherapie, liefert aber auch das Handwerkszeug für das tägliche therapeutische Handeln - jeweils abgestimmt auf unterschiedliche Anwendungsfelder und Settings. Der Band enthält außerdem die Behandlungsleitlinien sowie Infos zur Aus- und Weiterbildung.
The Chinese Economy: Recent Trends and Policy Issues
by Giorgio Gomel Ignazio Musu Daniela Marconi Beniamino QuintieriThis book takes readers on a unique journey across some of the most debated implications of the rise of the Chinese economy on the global scene. From the analysis, suggestions emerge on how to improve statistical tools to measure performance and to obtain more precise macroeconomic forecasts. Moreover, it confirms the suspicion that a governance model of firms that does not sufficiently encourage market competition may have significant costs in terms of efficiency for the Chinese production system. The analysis of demographic factors and of household savings gives further support to calls for a serious reform effort, particularly of the pension and health care systems, to utilize households' savings more efficiently and equitably. Finally the analyses of Chinese and global trade underscore the need for a less superficial consideration of the implications of the Chinese presence in global markets.
Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Systems Non-fragile H-infinity Filtering
by Xiao-Heng ChangTakagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Systems Non-fragile H-infinity Filtering investigates the problem of non-fragile H-infinity filter design for Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems. Given a T-S fuzzy system, the objective of this book is to design an H-infinity filter with the gain variations such that the filtering error system guarantees a prescribed H-infinity performance level. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the solution of non-fragile H-infinity filter design problem can be obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The intended audiences are graduate students and researchers both from the fields of engineering and mathematics. Dr. Xiao-Heng Chang is an Associate Professor at the College of Engineering, Bohai University, Jinzhou, Liaoning, China.
Imaging for Pediatricians
by Antonio Martínez-Valverde Luisa Ceres-Ruiz María I. Martínez-LeónThe book, written by expert pediatricians and radiologists, is divided into ten chapters covering neurology, cardiology, neonatology, interventional radiology, the abdomen, the musculoskeletal system, the thorax, the genitourinary system, the fetus, and emergencies. Each chapter comprises ten cases that are presented in a standard way. After discussion of the disorder in question, four representative images are displayed and described with special attention to distinctive features. In addition, informative key references are provided, including a book or book chapter, a web link, and ten recent articles.
Stress, Mobbing und Burn-out am Arbeitsplatz
by Sven Litzcke Horst Schuh Matthias PletkeStress gilt als eine der größten Gesundheitsgefahren - häufig ist die Ursache der Dauerstress, den Leistungs- und Zeitdruck am Arbeitsplatz erzeugen. Dabei kann Stress positiv wirken, wenn die Bedingungen stimmen. Die Autoren zeigen, wie sich ein Weg zwischen negativem Stress und positiven Herausforderungen finden lässt. Dazu liefern sie Grundlagenwissen zur Entstehung und zu den Folgen von Stress sowie praxisorientierte Methoden zur Stressbewältigung. Neu in der 6. Auflage: Material zu Mobbing und Burn-out sowie Hinweise zu rechtlichen Problemen.
Business Process Management: Concepts, Languages, Architectures (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #3080)
by Mathias WeskeBusiness process management is usually treated from two different perspectives: business administration and computer science. While business administration professionals tend to consider information technology as a subordinate aspect in business process management for experts to handle, by contrast computer science professionals often consider business goals and organizational regulations as terms that do not deserve much thought but require the appropriate level of abstraction. Matthias Weske argues that all communities involved need to have a common understanding of the different aspects of business process management. To this end, he details the complete business process lifecycle from the modeling phase to process enactment and improvement, taking into account all different stakeholders involved. After starting with a presentation of general foundations and abstraction models, he explains concepts like process orchestrations and choreographies, as well as process properties and data dependencies. Finally, he presents both traditional and advanced business process management architectures, covering, for example, workflow management systems, service-oriented architectures, and data-driven approaches. In addition, he shows how standards like WfMC, SOAP, WSDL, and BPEL fit into the picture. This textbook is ideally suited for classes on business process management, information systems architecture, and workflow management. This 2nd edition contains major updates on BPMN Version 2 process orchestration and process choreographies, and the chapter on BPM methodologies has been completely rewritten. The accompanying website www.bpm-book.com contains further information and additional teaching material.
Isotope Low-Dimensional Structures
by Vladimir G. PlekhanovThis Briefs volume describes the properties and structure of elementary excitations in isotope low-dimensional structures. Without assuming prior knowledge of quantum physics, the present book provides the basic knowledge needed to understand the recent developments in the sub-disciplines of nanoscience isotopetronics, novel device concepts and materials for nanotechnology. It is the first and comprehensive interdisciplinary account of the newly developed scientific discipline isotopetronics.
Gonioscopy
by Christoph Faschinger Anton HommerGonioscopy is a very important differential diagnostic tool that permits assessment of the anterior chamber angle and correct classification of glaucoma as a basis for specific treatment. This book clearly explains how to perform gonioscopy to best effect. The anatomy of the chamber angle is systematically described, and the impact of age, developmental disorders, and other pathologies on the chamber angle is explained. Particular attention is focused on primary and secondary open-angle and angle-closure glaucomas. In each case, the role of gonioscopy in evaluating the chamber angle is described with the help of many photographs and illustrations. The importance of knowledge of the chamber angle for laser treatment and surgery is fully explained, and the impact of medications is discussed. The practitioner will find in Gonioscopy all the information required to use the technique effectively in diagnosis and treatment.
Asian Punches: A Transcultural Affair (Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context)
by Barbara Mittler Hans HarderThis book deals with Punches and Punch-like magazines in 19th and 20th century Asia, covering an area from Egypt and the Ottoman Empire in the West via British India up to China and Japan in the East. It traces an alternative and largely unacknowledged side of the history of this popular British periodical, and simultaneously casts a wide-reaching comparative glance on the genesis of satirical journalism in various Asian countries. Demonstrating the spread of both textual and visual satire, it is an apt demonstration of the transcultural trajectory of a format intimately linked to media-bound public spheres evolving in the period concerned.
Micromagnetics and Recording Materials
by Dan Wei"Micromagnetics and Recording Materials" is a book trying to give a systematic theory of computational applied magnetism, based on Maxwell equations of fields and Landau-Lifshitz equations of magnetic moments. The focused magnetic materials are magnetic recording materials utilized in computer hard disk drives. Traditionally, "Micromagnetics" includes the areas of "magnetization curve theory", "domain theory" and "read and write process analyses in recording systems". As Springer Briefs, this book includes the first two areas of micromagnetics. M-H loops of hard magnetic thin film media, soft magnetic layers and Tunneling MagnetoResistive spin valves are solved based on the microstructures of thin films. Static domain structures and dynamic switching processes are analyzed in the arbitrary-shaped magnetic devices such as write head pole tips and magnetic force microscope tips. The book is intended for researchers who are interested in applied magnetism and magnetic recording in all disciples of physical science. Prof. Dan Wei works at Tsinghua University, China.