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Sustainable Urban Logistics: Concepts, Methods and Information Systems
by Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu Frédéric Semet Jean-Louis RouthierSince the 1990's, researchers, practitioners and public administrations have given more thought to urban logistics. However, their interests and goals are not the same, and several approaches do not produce efficient logistics systems as a result. This book aims to provide both a conceptual framework for urban logistics planning and management and to create a basis for deploying solutions that aim to reduce the main nuisances related to urban goods. The proposed book is divided in two parts. The first proposes a set of methodological chapters, written by key authors, which aim to support decision makers in their current choices related to urban logistics. In addition to public authorities' aims and goals, the book highlights the importance of private actors, and shows how supply chain management can deal with the problems of the last urban mile and its integration in global logistics chains. The second presents several applied research works that deal with current planning and practice issues in urban logistics, such as the role of city planning, the place of night deliveries in carrier organization, the limits of logistics pooling, and the real estate market, among others. The book was written by key authors, all having considerable research experience and recognised as experts in their respective fields. Each chapter presents methods and results of research works, written for a broad audience, and more precisely directed to both academics and practitioners.
Clinical Cases in Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases: A Problem-Solving Approach
by Asghar Aghamohammadi Nima RezaeiPrimary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) are a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders characterized by different defects in the development and function of the immune system. This book aims to increase the clinical awareness and knowledge of practicing clinicians regarding the diagnosis and management of PIDs. In order to achieve this goal, about 90 cases drawn from real life are presented, along with approximately 300 related questions. The selected case reports are the result of the invaluable cooperation of more than 40 scientists in the field of immunodeficiency. They focus both on the presenting features of patients with PIDs and on the required further investigation and management. Each of the numbered cases is followed by the questions, their answers, and additional discussion. Each question focuses on a particular aspect of the PID under consideration, and the topics covered include clinical diagnosis, laboratory findings, molecular mechanisms, and therapy.
New Trends of Research in Ontologies and Lexical Resources
by Eduard Hovy Alessandro Oltramari Piek Vossen Lu QinIn order to exchange knowledge, humans need to share a common lexicon of words as well as to access the world models underlying that lexicon. What is a natural process for a human turns out to be an extremely hard task for a machine: computers can't represent knowledge as effectively as humans do, which hampers, for example, meaning disambiguation and communication. Applied ontologies and NLP have been developed to face these challenges. Integrating ontologies with (possibly multilingual) lexical resources is an essential requirement to make human language understandable by machines, and also to enable interoperability and computability across information systems and, ultimately, in the Web. This book explores recent advances in the integration of ontologies and lexical resources, including questions such as building the required infrastructure (e.g., the Semantic Web) and different formalisms, methods and platforms for eliciting, analyzing and encoding knowledge contents (e.g., multimedia, emotions, events, etc.). The contributors look towards next-generation technologies, shifting the focus from the state of the art to the future of Ontologies and Lexical Resources. This work will be of interest to research scientists, graduate students, and professionals in the fields of knowledge engineering, computational linguistics, and semantic technologies.
Employment Location in Cities and Regions
by Alan Wilson David Simmonds Francesca Pagliara Michiel De BokThe focus of this book is the modeling of the location of economic activities, measured in terms of employment, in land-use and transportation systems. These measures are key inputs to models at intra-urban scales of the flows of persons and goods for both urban and transport planning. The models described here are either components of comprehensive models or specialist studies. Economic activities can be defined in terms of jobs or private-sector firms and public service organisations. Different levels of aggregation are used both in terms of organisational and geographical dimensions. In the case of firms and public organizations, a distinction can be made between the organizations themselves and corresponding establishments. For urban simulation models, it is the location of establishments that is important. At the more coarse levels of aggregation that are usually used in comprehensive models, firms and organizations are aggregated into sectors.
Multilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators
by Da Chen Yafei ZhangMulilayer Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators mainly introduces the theory, design, fabrication technology and application of a recently developed new type of device, multilayer integrated film bulk acoustic resonators, at the micro and nano scale involving microelectronic devices, integrated circuits, optical devices, sensors and actuators, acoustic resonators, micro-nano manufacturing, multilayer integration, device theory and design principles, etc. These devices can work at very high frequencies by using the newly developed theory, design, and fabrication technology of nano and micro devices. Readers in fields of IC, electronic devices, sensors, materials, and films etc. will benefit from this book by learning the detailed fundamentals and potential applications of these advanced devices. Prof. Yafei Zhang is the director of the Ministry of Education's Key Laboratory for Thin Films and Microfabrication Technology, PRC; Dr. Da Chen was a PhD student in Prof. Yafei Zhang's research group.
The Atlas of Climate Change: Based on SEAP-CMIP5
by Fumin Ren Jianbin Huang Wenjie Dong Yan Guo"The Atlas of Climate Change--Based on SEAP-CMIP5" is intended to satisfy readers' curiosity: how will our climate system change over the next 100 years? It is the first showcase for the state-of -the-art earth system models that released their CMIP5 simulations for the IPCC AR5.The atlas focuses on both the past climate system change from 1850 and the projection of the future climate system change to 2100 using the RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios based on climate models. This provides the research and application community interested in the impact of climate change on fields such as agriculture, ecosystem, environment,water resources, energy, health, economy, risk governance and international negotiation, etc. with the newest climate change projection information. Additionally, the atlas will show the historical responsibility of the developed/developing countries and possible contributions to the mitigation of climate change according to their pledge of GHG emission reduction after the Cancun Agreement as an extension numerical experiment to CMIP5 with NCAR's CESM1.0. The authors will update this atlas after future releases of CMIP5 model outputs and update the figures in the second edition of the atlas in 2012-2013. Both Prof. Wenjie Dong and Yan Guo work at the Beijing Normal University, China. Prof. Fumin Ren works at the China Meteorological Administration, China. Prof. Jianbin Huang works at the Tsinghua University, China.
Agentensysteme in der Automatisierungstechnik (Xpert.press)
by Peter GöhnerBei modernen automatisierten Systemen gewinnen Anforderungen an die Flexibilität (z. B. Anpassungsfähigkeit, Skalierbarkeit und Integrationsfähigkeit) zunehmend an Bedeutung. Vielfach ist jedoch noch unklar, wie die gewünschte Flexibilität bei der Entwicklung eines automatisierten Systems erzielt und die dadurch entstehenden komplexen Abläufe und Verhaltensweisen beherrscht werden können. Mit Hilfe von Softwareagenten wird es möglich, die notwendige Flexibilität von automatisierten Systemen systematisch zu entwerfen. Im GMA-Fachausschuss 5.15 "Agentensysteme" erarbeiten Fachleute aus Wissenschaft und Industrie Richtlinien zur Entwicklung und Anwendung von Agentensystemen in der Automatisierungstechnik. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeiten sind viele Beiträge zum Stand der Technik bzw. Stand der Wissenschaft von Agentensystemen in der Automatisierungstechnik entstanden, die in diesem Werk zusammengestellt wurden.
Business Modelling in the Dynamic Digital Space: An Ecosystem Approach (SpringerBriefs in Digital Spaces)
by Francis Pereira Omar A El SawyThis Springer Briefs volume guides the reader in a comprehensive form to design new digital business models. The book provides strategic roadmaps for enterprises in the digital world, and a comprehensive framework to assess new business models. It aligns both, research and a practical perspective through real case study examples. Even extreme scenarios are employed to ensure that innovative approaches are being considered adequately.
Photoinduced Modifications of the Nonlinear Optical Response in Liquid Crystalline Azopolymers
by Raquel AlicanteNonlinear optical (NLO) phenomena such as frequency conversion have played a key role in the development of photonic technologies. This thesis reports a detailed study of the molecular response of a large variety of push-pull organic compounds using the Second Harmonic Generation technique, which will serve as a starting point for the investigation at the macroscopic scale of azobenzene-based liquid crystalline polymeric films and their blends with highly efficient NLO chromophores. These materials are designed with the aim of exploiting their photoadressability in order to tailor their nonlinear behaviour. The magnitude and symmetry of their NL response was successfully controlled via light irradiation and thermal treatments. Moreover, as a specific application, the recording of efficient NLO gratings was achieved.
Nanoenergy
by Edson Roberto Leite Flavio Leandro de SouzaLow dimensional systems have revolutionized the science and technology in several areas. However, their understanding is still a great challenge for the scientific community. Solar energy conversion devices based on nanostructured materials have shown exceptional gains in efficiency and stability. In this context, nanostructures allow an improvement of surface properties, transport and charge transfer, as well as direct application as sensors and storage devices and energy conversion. This book discuss the recent advances and future trends of the nanoscience in solar energy conversion and storage. It explores and discusses recent developments both in theory as well as in experimental studies and is of interest to materials scientists, chemists, physicists and engineers.
Human Factors on the Flight Deck
by Joachim Scheiderer Hans-Joachim EbermannWhat is for a professional pilot required to fly as safe as possible? Written by pilots the book gives a detailed introduction into the basics of accident prevention in air traffic. Explicit background knowledge as well as detailed listings of safety relevant features in human behaviour are included.
Astrochemistry and Astrobiology (Physical Chemistry in Action)
by Charles S. Cockell Ian W. Smith Sydney LeachAstrochemistry and Astrobiology is the debut volume in the new series Physical Chemistry in Action. Aimed at both the novice and experienced researcher, this volume outlines the physico-chemical principles which underpin our attempts to understand astrochemistry and predict astrobiology. An introductory chapter includes fundamental aspects of physical chemistry required for understanding the field. Eight further chapters address specific topics, encompassing basic theory and models, up-to-date research and an outlook on future work. The last chapter examines each of the topics again but addressed from a different angle. Written and edited by international experts, this text is accessible for those entering the field of astrochemistry and astrobiology, while it still remains interesting for more experienced researchers.
Computers and Creativity
by Jon Mccormack Mark D’invernoThis interdisciplinary volume introduces new theories and ideas on creativity from the perspectives of science and art. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, theorists and artists working in artificial intelligence, generative art, creative computing, music composition, and cybernetics, the book examines the relationship between computation and creativity from both analytic and practical perspectives. Each contributor describes innovative new ways creativity can be understood through, and inspired by, computers. The book tackles critical philosophical questions and discusses the major issues raised by computational creativity, including: whether a computer can exhibit creativity independently of its creator; what kinds of creativity are possible in light of our knowledge from computational simulation, artificial intelligence, evolutionary theory and information theory; and whether we can begin to automate the evaluation of aesthetics and creativity in silico. These important, often controversial questions are contextualised by current thinking in computational creative arts practice. Leading artistic practitioners discuss their approaches to working creatively with computational systems in a diverse array of media, including music, sound art, visual art, and interactivity. The volume also includes a comprehensive review of computational aesthetic evaluation and judgement research, alongside discussion and insights from pioneering artists working with computation as a creative medium over the last fifty years. A distinguishing feature of this volume is that it explains and grounds new theoretical ideas on creativity through practical applications and creative practice. Computers and Creativity will appeal to theorists, researchers in artificial intelligence, generative and evolutionary computing, practicing artists and musicians, students and any reader generally interested in understanding how computers can impact upon creativity. It bridges concepts from computer science, psychology, neuroscience, visual art, music and philosophy in an accessible way, illustrating how computers are fundamentally changing what we can imagine and create, and how we might shape the creativity of the future. Computers and Creativity will appeal to theorists, researchers in artificial intelligence, generative and evolutionary computing, practicing artists and musicians, students and any reader generally interested in understanding how computers can impact upon creativity. It bridges concepts from computer science, psychology, neuroscience, visual art, music and philosophy in an accessible way, illustrating how computers are fundamentally changing what we can imagine and create, and how we might shape the creativity of the future.
Biodiversity and Evolutionary Ecology of Extinct Organisms (Springer Theses)
by Rituparna BoseIncreasing rate of species extinction in the present day will lead to a huge biodiversity crisis; eventually, this will lead to the paucity of non-renewable resources of energy making our Earth unsustainable in future. To save our mother planet from this crisis, studies need to be performed to discover abundant new fossil sites on Earth for continued access to oil-rich locations. Most importantly, a holistic approach is necessary in solving the present problem of biodiversity loss. This book presents newly developed quantitative models in understanding the biodiversity, evolution and ecology of extinct organisms. This will assist future earth scientists in understanding the natural and anthropogenic causes behind biodiversity crisis and ecosystem collapse. In addition, this study would be of great interest to exploration geologists and geophysicists in potentially unraveling natural resources from our sustainable Earth.
Factoring Ideals in Integral Domains
by Evan Houston Marco Fontana Thomas LucasThis volume provides a wide-ranging survey of, and many new results on, various important types of ideal factorization actively investigated by several authors in recent years. Examples of domains studied include (1) those with weak factorization, in which each nonzero, nondivisorial ideal can be factored as the product of its divisorial closure and a product of maximal ideals and (2) those with pseudo-Dedekind factorization, in which each nonzero, noninvertible ideal can be factored as the product of an invertible ideal with a product of pairwise comaximal prime ideals. Prüfer domains play a central role in our study, but many non-Prüfer examples are considered as well.
The Treaty on European Union (TEU)
by Stelio Mangiameli Hermann-Josef BlankeThe major Commentary on the Treaty on European Union (TEU) is a European project that aims to contribute to the development of ever closer conceptual and dogmatic standpoints with regard to the creation of a "Europeanised research on Union law". This publication in English contains detailed explanations, article by article, on all the provisions of the TEU as well as on several Protocols and Declarations, including the Protocols No 1, 2 and 30 and Declaration No 17, having steady regard to the application of Union law in the national legal orders and its interpretation by the Court of Justice of the EU. The authors of the Commentary are academics from ten European states and different legal fields, some from a constitutional law background, others experts in the field of international law and EU law professionals. This should lead to more unity in European law notwithstanding all the legitimate diversity. The different traditions of constitutional law are reflected and mentioned by name thus striving for a common framework for European constitutional law.
Introduction to Stokes Structures
by Claude SabbahThis research monograph provides a geometric description of holonomic differential systems in one or more variables. Stokes matrices form the extended monodromy data for a linear differential equation of one complex variable near an irregular singular point. The present volume presents the approach in terms of Stokes filtrations. For linear differential equations on a Riemann surface, it also develops the related notion of a Stokes-perverse sheaf. This point of view is generalized to holonomic systems of linear differential equations in the complex domain, and a general Riemann-Hilbert correspondence is proved for vector bundles with meromorphic connections on a complex manifold. Applications to the distributions solutions to such systems are also discussed, and various operations on Stokes-filtered local systems are analyzed.
Analysis and Transceiver Design for the MIMO Broadcast Channel (Foundations in Signal Processing, Communications and Networking #8)
by Raphael HungerThis book deals with the optimization-based joint design of the transmit and receive filters in MIMO broadcast channel in which the user terminals may be equipped with several antenna elements. Furthermore, the maximum performance of the system in the high power regime as well as the set of all feasible quality-of-service requirements is analyzed. First, a fundamental duality is derived that holds between the MIMO broadcast channel and virtual MIMO multiple access channel. This duality construct allows for the efficient solution of problems originally posed in the broadcast channel in the dual domain where a possibly hidden convexity can often be revealed. On the basis of the established duality result, the gradient-projection algorithm is introduced as a tool to solve constrained optimization problems to global optimality under certain conditions. The gradient-projection tool is then applied to solving the weighted sum rate maximization problem which is a central optimization that arises in any network utility maximization. In the high power regime, a simple characterization of the obtained performance becomes possible due to the fact that the weighted sum rate utility converges to an affine asymptote in the logarithmic power domain. We find closed form expressions for these asymptotes which allows for a quantification of the asymptotic rate loss that linear transceivers have to face with respect to dirty paper coding. In the last part, we answer the fundamental question of feasibility in quality-of-service based optimizations with inelastic traffic that features strict delay constraints. Under the assumption of linear transceivers, not every set of quality-of-service requirements might be feasible making the power minimization problem with given lower bound constraints on the rate for example infeasible in these cases. We derive a complete description of the quality-of-service feasibility region for arbitrary channel matrices.
Introduction to Korean Law
by Korea Legislation Research InstituteAs a result of globalization, the barriers between countries are coming down. There is more interaction between countries than ever and mutual understanding and communication have become essential considerations. In such an atmosphere, the Korea Legislation Research Institute has published this book to spread awareness of outstanding Korean law and of its legal system throughout the globe, as the authoritative sources of legal information for other countries. This book explains Korean law in nine chapters that focus on its distinguishing aspects. The nine authors who have participated are all prominent scholars who have contributed their expertise to the project.
Tribology in Manufacturing Technology
by J. Paulo DavimThis book aims to show how tribological concepts can be applied in order to improve manufacturing technology in modern industry. It can be used as a guide book for engineering students or a reference useful for academics in the fields of tribology, manufacturing, materials and mechanical engineering.
CLEAN: CO2 Large-Scale Enhanced Gas Recovery in the Altmark Natural Gas Field - GEOTECHNOLOGIEN Science Report No. 19 (Advanced Technologies in Earth Sciences)
by Ute Münch Michael KühnThe project CLEAN (CO2 Large-Scale Enhanced Gas Recovery in the Altmark Natural Gas Field) provides site specific knowledge for a potential future pilot project. This contributed volume gives an overview and final results of the entire project which is finalized to the end of 2012.
New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment
by Bin Ye Yu Huang Faquan Wu Zhenming Shi"New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment" collects selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology (ISCEG-Shanghai 2012). These papers involve many subjects - such as engineering geology, natural hazards, geoenvironment and geotechnical engineering - with a primary focus on geological engineering problems in coastal regions. The proceedings provide readers with the latest research results and engineering experiences from academic scientists, leading engineers and industry researchers who are interested in coastal engineering geology and the relevant fields. Yu Huang works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Faquan Wu works at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, China and he is also the Secretary General of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment. Zhenming Shi works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Bin Ye works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China.
New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology, ISCEG-Shanghai 2012 (Springer Geology #9)
by Bin Ye Yu Huang Faquan Wu Zhenming Shi“New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment” collects selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology (ISCEG-Shanghai 2012). These papers involve many subjects – such as engineering geology, natural hazards, geoenvironment and geotechnical engineering – with a primary focus on geological engineering problems in coastal regions. The proceedings provide readers with the latest research results and engineering experiences from academic scientists, leading engineers and industry researchers who are interested in coastal engineering geology and the relevant fields. Yu Huang works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Faquan Wu works at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, China and he is also the Secretary General of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment. Zhenming Shi works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Bin Ye works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China.
RNA and Cancer
by Jane Y. WuAccumulating evidence supports the role of defects in post-transcriptional gene regulation in the development of cancer. RNA and Cancer examines the recent advances in our understanding of post-transcriptional gene regulation, especially RNA processing and its role in cancer development and treatment. A particular focus is mRNA splicing, but other topics such as microRNAs, mRNA stability, the perinucleolar compartment, and oligonucleotide therapeutics are also covered in detail. All chapters have been written by internationally renowned experts. The book is intended for all with an interest in gene regulation and cancer biology, and especially for those not directly working on RNA biology, including clinicians and medical students. It is hoped that it will stimulate further innovative research collaborations between RNA biologists and cancer researchers to the benefit of patients.
Managing Open Innovation Technologies
by Pär J. Ågerfalk Mikael Wiberg Jenny S. Eriksson Lundström Mats Edenius Stefan HrastinskiOpen innovation increases the profit of companies and organizations via the input and the adoption of new ideas that are transformed into new processes, products, and services. Yet, how do we ensure that adopters of such innovations focus on relevant problems and use appropriate methods? How should we manage open innovation technologies? How can we exploit distributed knowledge and inventions? And how can we promote them successfully on the market? With valuable lessons to be learned from academic research and industrial experiences of e.g. Intel, Nokia, Philips Healthcare, small municipalities, e-learning platforms and user communities, this book focuses on some of the key dimensions of open innovation and open innovation technologies. It is divided into three themes: theme 1 deals with open innovation as it is in use today, including theoretical underpinnings and lessons from related research fields. Theme 2 analyzes the use of open innovation in organizations today in order to extract best practices. Theme 3 presents forward-looking theoretical research as well as practical future uses of open innovation. Each chapter addresses the particular topics by presenting experiences and results gained in real life projects and/or by empirical research, and clearly states its purpose and how readers are supposed to benefit from it. Overall, the objectives of this book are to advance and disseminate research on systematic open innovation, and to make its results available to practitioners. Thus, the intended target audience includes the international academic community, industrial enterprises, and public authorities.