Nova Reader - Subject

Microfinance 3.0

2013-12-01T18:30

This book focuses on the achievements, current trends and further potential of microfinance to scale-up and serve many more clients with financial services that enable them to improve their living conditions. The book asks what it takes to achieve sustainable impact: to know your clients and to understand their needs, to treat them in a fair and transparent way, and to safeguard the synthesis between the financial and social dimension of sustainable microfinance. The book also sheds light on the future funding landscape and what is necessary to bring more commercial funders on board while ensuring that these new funders will continue the commitment to responsible finance. While being forward looking, the book reflects the debate on core values of microfinance, triggered by recent criticisms of an approach that was hailed as a panacea in the beginning and which had proved over time as one of the most effective models of development finance. These criticisms emerged over signs of overheating in some markets, particularly the 2010 events in Andhra Pradesh, and turned into an assumption of a worldwide microfinance crisis, putting seriously at stake the good reputation microfinance had enjoyed so far.

Marine Anthropogenic Litter

2015-05-31T18:30

This book describes how man-made litter, primarily plastic, has spread into the remotest parts of the oceans and covers all aspects of this pollution problem from the impacts on wildlife and human health to socio-economic and political issues. Marine litter is a prime threat to marine wildlife, habitats and food webs worldwide. The book illustrates how advanced technologies from deep-sea research, microbiology and mathematic modelling as well as classic beach litter counts by volunteers contributed to the broad awareness of marine litter as a problem of global significance. The authors summarise more than five decades of marine litter research, which receives growing attention after the recent discovery of great oceanic garbage patches and the ubiquity of microscopic plastic particles in marine organisms and habitats. In 16 chapters, authors from all over the world have created a universal view on the diverse field of marine litter pollution, the biological impacts, dedicated research activities, and the various national and international legislative efforts to combat this environmental problem. They recommend future research directions necessary for a comprehensive understanding of this environmental issue and the development of efficient management strategies. This book addresses scientists, and it provides a solid knowledge base for policy makers, NGOs, and the broader public.

Marginality

2013-08-18T18:30

This book takes a new approach on understanding causes of extreme poverty and promising actions to address it. Its focus is on marginality being a root cause of poverty and deprivation. “Marginality” is the position of people on the edge, preventing their access to resources, freedom of choices, and the development of capabilities. The book is research based with original empirical analyses at local, national, and local scales; book contributors are leaders in their fields and have backgrounds in different disciplines. An important message of the book is that economic and ecological approaches and institutional innovations need to be integrated to overcome marginality. The book will be a valuable source for development scholars and students, actors that design public policies, and for social innovators in the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

Managing the Complexity of Critical Infrastructures

2017-02-09T18:30

This book summarizes work being pursued in the context of the CIPRNet (Critical Infrastructure Preparedness and Resilience Research Network) research project, co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project is intended to provide concrete and on-going support to the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) research communities, enhancing their preparedness for CI-related emergencies, while also providing expertise and technologies for other stakeholders to promote their understanding and mitigation of the consequences of CI disruptions, leading to enhanced resilience. The book collects the tutorial material developed by the authors for several courses on the modelling, simulation and analysis of CIs, representing extensive and integrated CIP expertise. It will help CI stakeholders, CI operators and civil protection authorities understand the complex system of CIs, and help them adapt to these changes and threats in order to be as prepared as possible for mitigating emergencies and crises affecting or arising from CIs.

Managing Protected Areas in Central and Eastern Europe Under Climate Change

2014-01-17T18:30

Beginning with an overview of data and concepts developed in the EU-project HABIT-CHANGE, this book addresses the need for sharing knowledge and experience in the field of biodiversity conservation and climate change. There is an urgent need to build capacity in protected areas to monitor, assess, manage and report the effects of climate change and their interaction with other pressures. The contributors identify barriers to the adaptation of conservation management, such as the mismatch between planning reality and the decision context at site level. Short and vivid descriptions of case studies, drawn from investigation areas all over Central and Eastern Europe, illustrate both the local impacts of climate change and their consequences for future management. These focus on ecosystems most vulnerable to changes in climatic conditions, including alpine areas, wetlands, forests, lowland grasslands and coastal areas. The case studies demonstrate the application of adaptation strategies inprotected areas like National Parks, Biosphere Reserves and Natural Parks, and reflect the potential benefits as well as existing obstacles. A general section provides the necessary background information on climate trends and their effects on abiotic and biotic components. Often, the parties to policy change and conservation management, including managers, land users and stakeholders, lack both expertise and incentives to undertake adaptation activities. The authors recognise that achieving the needed changes in behavior – habit – is as much a social learning process as a matter of science-based procedure. They describe the implementation of modeling, impact assessment and monitoring of climate conditions, and show how the results can support efforts to increase stakeholder involvement in local adaptation strategies. The book concludes by pointing out the need for more work to communicate the cross-sectoral nature of biodiversity protection, the value of well-informed planning in thelong-term process of adaptation, the definition of acceptable change, and the motivational value of exchanging experience and examples of good practice.

Linked Open Data -- Creating Knowledge Out of Interlinked Data

2014-07-30T18:30

Linked Open Data (LOD) is a pragmatic approach for realizing the Semantic Web vision of making the Web a global, distributed, semantics-based information system. This book presents an overview on the results of the research project “LOD2 -- Creating Knowledge out of Interlinked Data”. LOD2 is a large-scale integrating project co-funded by the European Commission within the FP7 Information and Communication Technologies Work Program. Commencing in September 2010, this 4-year project comprised leading Linked Open Data research groups, companies, and service providers from across 11 European countries and South Korea. The aim of this project was to advance the state-of-the-art in research and development in four key areas relevant for Linked Data, namely 1. RDF data management; 2. the extraction, creation, and enrichment of structured RDF data; 3. the interlinking and fusion of Linked Data from different sources and 4. the authoring, exploration and visualization of Linked Data.

A Life Course Perspective on Health Trajectories and Transitions

2015-08-10T18:30

This open access book examines health trajectories and health transitions at different stages of the life course, including childhood, adulthood and later life. It provides findings that assess the role of biological and social transitions on health status over time. The essays examine a wide range of health issues, including the consequences of military service on body mass index, childhood obesity and cardiovascular health, socio-economic inequalities in preventive health care use, depression and anxiety during the child rearing period, health trajectories and transitions in people with cystic fibrosis and oral health over the life course. The book addresses theoretical, empirical and methodological issues as well as examines different national contexts, which help to identify factors of vulnerability and potential resources that support resilience available for specific groups and/or populations. Health reflects the ability of individuals to adapt to their social environment. This book analyzes health as a dynamic experience. It examines how different aspects of individual health unfold over time as a result of aging but also in relation to changing socioeconomic conditions. It also offers readers potential insights into public policies that affect the health status of a population.

Innovations in Derivatives Markets

2016-12-01T18:30

This book presents 20 peer-reviewed chapters on current aspects of derivatives markets and derivative pricing. The contributions, written by leading researchers in the field as well as experienced authors from the financial industry, present the state of the art in:

Modeling counterparty credit risk: credit valuation adjustment, debit valuation adjustment, funding valuation adjustment, and wrong way risk.
Pricing and hedging in fixed-income markets and multi-curve interest-rate modeling.
Recent developments concerning contingent convertible bonds, the measuring of basis spreads, and the modeling of implied correlations.

The recent financial crisis has cast tremendous doubts on the classical view on derivative pricing. Now, counterparty credit risk and liquidity issues are integral aspects of a prudent valuation procedure and the reference interest rates are represented by a multitude of curves according to their different periods and maturities.

A panel discussion included in the book (featuring Damiano Brigo, Christian Fries, John Hull, and Daniel Sommer) on the foundations of modeling and pricing in the presence of counterparty credit risk provides intriguing insights on the debate.

Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Asia

2013-12-04T18:30

Public spending on infrastructure plays an important role in promoting economic growth and poverty alleviation. Empirical studies unequivocally show that under-investment in infrastructure limit economic growth. At the same time, numerous other studies have shown that investment in infrastructure can be a highly effective tool in fighting poverty reduction1. In that context, the financing of infrastructure has been a critical element of most economic growth and poverty reduction strategies in developing countries, since the start of this millennium. This book provides a comparative analysis of the aggregate and sectoral implications of higher spending on infrastructure in three very different Asian countries: China, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Particular attention is paid to the role of alternative financing mechanisms for increasing public infrastructure investment, namely distortionary and non-distortionary means of financing. The book will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers concerned with economic growth in developing countries.

The Impact of Food Bioactives on Health

2015-04-28T18:30

“Infogest” (Improving Health Properties of Food by Sharing our Knowledge on the Digestive Process) is an EU COST action/network in the domain of Food and Agriculture that will last for 4 years from April 4, 2011. Infogest aims at building an open international network of institutes undertaking multidisciplinary basic research on food digestion gathering scientists from different origins (food scientists, gut physiologists, nutritionists…). The network gathers 70 partners from academia, corresponding to a total of 29 countries. The three main scientific goals are: Identify the beneficial food components released in the gut during digestion; Support the effect of beneficial food components on human health; Promote harmonization of currently used digestion models Infogest meetings highlighted the need for a publication that would provide researchers with an insight into the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of respective in vitro and ex vivo assays to evaluate the effects of foods and food bioactives on health. Such assays are particularly important in situations where a large number of foods/bioactives need to be screened rapidly and in a cost effective manner in order to ultimately identify lead foods/bioactives that can be the subject of in vivo assays. The book is an asset to researchers wishing to study the health benefits of their foods and food bioactives of interest and highlights which in vitro/ex vivo assays are of greatest relevance to their goals, what sort of outputs/data can be generated and, as noted above, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various assays. It is also an important resource for undergraduate students in the ‘food and health’ arena.

High Density Lipoproteins

2014-12-17T18:30

In this Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology on “High Density Lipoproteins – from biological understanding to clinical exploitation” contributing authors (members of COST Action BM0904/HDLnet) summarize in more than 20 chapters our current knowledge on the structure, function, metabolism and regulation of HDL in health and several diseases as well as the status of past and ongoing attempts of therapeutic exploitation. The book is of interest to researchers in academia and industry focusing on lipoprotein metabolism, cardiovascular diseases and immunology as well as clinical pharmacologists, cardiologists, diabetologists, nephrologists and other clinicians interested in metabolic or inflammatory diseases.

Has Latin American Inequality Changed Direction?

2017-01-24T18:30

This book brings together a range of ideas and theories to arrive at a deeper understanding of inequality in Latin America and its complex realities. To so, it addresses questions such as: What are the origins of inequality in Latin America? How can we create societies that are more equal in terms of income distribution, gender equality and opportunities? How can we remedy the social divide that is making Latin America one of the most unequal regions on earth? What are the roles played by market forces, institutions and ideology in terms of inequality? In this book, a group of global experts gathered by the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL), part of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), show readers how various types of inequality, such as economical, educational, racial and gender inequality have been practiced in countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and manyothers through the centuries. Presenting new ideas, new evidence, and new methods, the book subsequently analyzes how to move forward with second-generation reforms that lay the foundations for more egalitarian societies. As such, it offers a valuable and insightful guide for development economists, historians and Latin American specialists alike, as well as students, educators, policymakers and all citizens with an interest in development, inequality and the Latin American region.

Handbook of Ocean Wave Energy

2016-12-06T18:30

This book offers a concise, practice-oriented reference-guide to the field of ocean wave energy. The ten chapters highlight the key rules of thumb, address all the main technical engineering aspects and describe in detail all the key aspects to be considered in the techno-economic assessment of wave energy converters. Written in an easy-to-understand style, the book answers questions relevant to readers of different backgrounds, from developers, private and public investors, to students and researchers. It is thereby a valuable resource for both newcomers and experienced practitioners in the wave energy sector.

Greening the Financial Sector

2011-12-05T18:30

Environmental finance, particularly energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) finance, can and should serve as an interface to other sub-sectors of financial sector promotion such as microfinance, housing finance or agricultural finance. For example, existing clients of financial institutions include small and medium-sized enterprises and households, and these are often suffering from high energy prices or have no access to sustainable energy supply. At the same time, these clients are vulnerable to extreme weather events, and often hit hardest by the impact of climate change. There are many other examples which show that the financial sector has an enormous potential to support “green” investments. In order to tap this potential on a sustainable basis, it is important to have a sound understanding which role financial institutions can and should play. This book provides a blend of well-founded professional and scientific perspectives on the potential of Environmental finance in developing and transition countries.

Governance for Drought Resilience

2016-05-10T18:30

This book presents the findings of a team of scientists and practitioners who have been working on the project “Benefits of Governance in Drought Adaptation” (in short: the DROP project), which is included in the European Union’s INTERREG IVB NWE programme. The DROP governance team developed a Governance Assessment Tool (GAT), which allows the governance setting of a given region for planning and realizing drought adaptation measures to be assessed. Based on this assessment, recommendations can be developed for regional water authorities concerning how to operate most effectively towards increased drought resilience in this context. The GAT has been applied to six regions in Northwest Europe: Twente and Salland in the Netherlands, Eifel-Ruhr in Germany, Brittany in France, Somerset in the United Kingdom, and Flanders in Belgium. These regions are subject to drought aspects related to nature, agriculture and freshwater. This book will aid regional water authoritiesand other relevant stakeholders interested in governance assessment, whether that context is about water, more specifically about drought or flooding events, or other environmental issues. Further, the GAT can and has also been applied more broadly to a range of governance contexts for water management and beyond.

Global Business Strategy

2015-03-24T18:30

This book presents theories and case studies for corporations in developed nations, including Japan, for designing strategies to maximize opportunities and minimize threats in business expansion into developing nations. The case studies featured here focus on Asia, including China and India, and use examples of Japanese manufacturers. Five case studies are provided, including Hitachi Construction Machinery and Shiseido in China and Maruti Suzuki in India. These cases facilitate the reader’s understanding of the business environments in emerging economies. This volume is especially recommended for business people responsible for international business development, particularly in China and India. In addition, the book serves as a useful resource for students in graduate-level courses in international management.

The Future Internet

2013-04-21T18:30

The Internet is the most vital scientific, technical, economic and societal set of infrastructures in existenceand in operation today serving 2.5 billion users. Continuing its developments would secure much of the upcoming innovation and prosperity and it would underpin the sustainable growth in economic values and volumes needed in the future. Future Internet infrastructures research is therefore a must. The Future Internet Assembly (FIA) is a successful conference that brings together participants of over 150 research projects from several distinct yet interrelated areas in the European Union Framework Programme 7 (FP7). The research projects are grouped as follows: the network of the future as infrastructure connecting and orchestrating the future Internet of people, computers, devices, content, clouds and things; cloud computing, Internet of Services and advanced software engineering; the public-private partnership projects on Future Internet; Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE). The 26 full papers included in this volume were selected from 45 submissions. Theyare organized in topical sections named: software driven networks, virtualization, programmability and autonomic management; computing and networking clouds; internet of things; and enabling technologies and economic incentives.

The Future Internet

2012-04-28T18:30

Irrespective of whether we use economic or societal metrics, the Internet is one of the most important technical infrastructures in existence today. It will serve as a catalyst for much of our innovation and prosperity in the future. A competitive Europe will require Internet connectivity and services beyond the capabilities offered by current technologies. Future Internet research is therefore a must. The Future Internet Assembly (FIA) is a successful and unique bi-annual conference that brings together participants of over 150 projects from several distinct but interrelated areas in the EU Framework Programme 7. The 20 full papers included in this volume were selected from 40 submissions, and are preceded by a vision paper describing the FIA Roadmap. The papers have been organized into topical sections on the foundations of Future Internet, the applications of Future Internet, Smart Cities, and Future Internet infrastructures.

The Future Internet

2011-04-07T18:30

Irrespective of whether we use economic or societal metrics, the Internet is one of the most important technical infrastructures in existence today. It will be a catalyst for much of our innovation and prosperity in the future. A competitive Europe will require Internet connectivity and services beyond the capabilities offered by current technologies. Future Internet research is therefore a must.

This book is published in full compliance with the Open Access publishing initiative; it is based on the research carried out within the Future Internet Assembly (FIA). It contains a sample of representative results from the recent FIA meetings spanning a broad range of topics, all being of crucial importance for the future Internet.

The book includes 32 contributions and has been structured into the following sections, each of which is preceded by a short introduction:

Foundations: architectural issues; socio-economic issues; security and trust; and experiments and experimental design. Future Internet Areas: networks, services, and content; and applications.

Fulfilling the Promise of Technology Transfer

2013-02-28T18:30

Universities and research institutes are increasingly expected to contribute to society by creating innovation from the returns of their research results and the establishment of new technologies. Toward that goal, Keio University in Japan held an international symposium titled “Fulfilling the Promise of Technology Transfer: Fostering Innovation for the Benefit of Society.” From that symposium the following contents are included in the present volume: 1) A showcase of ideas and case studies to promote future creation of innovation by universities and research institutes worldwide, including information on the R&D value chain, licensing, income generation, start-ups and mechanisms to encourage entrepreneurship, and the changing role of universities in fostering innovation. 2) Introduction of active research projects that aim to productize successful research results on an international level. For example, the book includes results of research on stem cell technologies and regenerative medicine as well as the realization and application of polymer photonics and the development of the core technology of polymer photonics. 3) Case studies from the U.K. in developing industry–academia collaboration with various business partners ranging from start-ups and spinout companies to large enterprises. 4) Reports of the achievements of the technological transfer activities at Keio University supported by the 5-year public fund, with suggestions for future prospects.

Finance for Food

2014-02-18T18:30

This book reflects the current state of discussion about agricultural and rural finance in developing and transition countries. It provides insight into specific themes, such as commodity value chains, farm banking and risk management in agricultural banking, structured finance, crop insurance, mobile banking and how to increase effectiveness in rural finance. Case studies illustrate various aspects of agricultural and rural finance in developing economies. The book is based on one of the yearly financial Sector Development Symposia held by the KfW Development Bank.

Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

2017-01-10T18:30

This authoritative book presents the ever progressing state of the art in evaluating climate change strategies and action. It builds upon a selection of relevant and practical papers and presentations given at the 2nd International Conference on Evaluating Climate Change and Development held in Washington DC in 2014 and includes perspectives from independent evaluations of the major international organisations supporting climate action in developing countries, such as the Global Environment Facility. The first section of the book sets the stage and provides an overview of independent evaluations, carried out by multilateral development banks and development organisations. Important topics include how policies and organisations aim to achieve impact and how this is measured, whether climate change is mainstreamed into other development programs, and whether operations are meeting the urgency of climate change challenges. The following sections focus on evaluation of climate change projects and policies as they link to development, from the perspective of international organisations, NGO’s, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, and academia. The authors share methodologies or approaches used to better understand problems and assess interventions, strategies and policies. They also share challenges encountered, what was done to solve these and lessons learned from evaluations. Collectively, the authors illustrate the importance of evaluation in providing evidence to guide policy change to informed decision-making.

Environmental Leadership Capacity Building in Higher Education

2013-03-28T18:30

The Graduate Program in Sustainability Science under the Department of Urban Engineering of The University of Tokyo has been running an environmental leadership education program at the graduate student level since 2007 called the Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL). This book describes the University’s experiences in establishing and organizing that program and provides some lessons learned for those who are considering starting environmental leadership education programs. APIEL’s curriculum includes the classroom topic “Environmental Challenges and Leadership in Asia.” As well, the APIEL program has field units to provide experience in problem solving, decision making, and participation, taking into consideration ecological, political, economic, social, aesthetic, and ethical aspects. Another characteristic feature of the program is that it promotes changes in attitudes and behavior that will help to solve existing environmental problems and to avoid a generation of new ones. Over the four years of study, efforts have been made to bond leadership with field-oriented exercises such as: 1) The Intensive Program on Sustainability; 2) an integral approach focused on sustainable integrated watershed management of arid regions; 3) sustainable development of programs in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand for qualifying students with problem-solving processes to combat issues such as flooding, lack of proper urban environmental infrastructure, and health risks; and 4) the Greater Pearl River Delta program with multicultural diversity to bring about sustainable urban development for a green city. All of those are described in the book. Last but not least, APIEL’s resonance throughout international networks and alumni are introduced.

Enabling Things to Talk

2013-10-27T18:30

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging network superstructure that will connect physical resources and actual users. It will support an ecosystem of smart applications and services bringing hyper-connectivity to our society by using augmented and rich interfaces. Whereas in the beginning IoT referred to the advent of barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which helped to automate inventory, tracking and basic identification, today IoT is characterized by a dynamic trend toward connecting smart sensors, objects, devices, data and applications. The next step will be “cognitive IoT,” facilitating object and data re-use across application domains and leveraging hyper-connectivity, interoperability solutions and semantically enriched information distribution. The Architectural Reference Model (ARM), presented in this book by the members of the IoT-A project team driving this harmonization effort, makes it possible to connect vertically closed systems, architectures and application areas so as to create open interoperable systems and integrated environments and platforms. It constitutes a foundation from which software companies can capitalize on the benefits of developing consumer-oriented platforms including hardware, software and services. The material is structured in two parts. Part A introduces the general concepts developed for and applied in the ARM. It is aimed at end users who want to use IoT technologies, managers interested in understanding the opportunities generated by these novel technologies, and system architects who are interested in an overview of the underlying basic models. It also includes several case studies to illustrate how the ARM has been used in real-life scenarios. Part B then addresses the topic at a more detailed technical level and is targeted at readers with a more scientific or technical background. It provides in-depth guidance on the ARM, including a detailed description of a process for generating concrete architectures, as well as reference manuals with guidelines on how to use the various models and perspectives presented to create a concrete architecture. Furthermore, best practices and tips on how system engineers can use the ARM to develop specific IoT architectures for dedicated IoT solutions are illustrated and exemplified in reverse mapping exercises of existing standards and platforms.

Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development

2015-11-10T18:30

This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation is especially severe on livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and lower cropland and rangeland productivity is estimated to be about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22%) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 38% of the cost of land degradation due to LUCC - which accounts for 78% of the US$300 billion loss – is borne by land users and the remaining share (62%) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm. The results in this volume indicate that reversing land degradation trends makes both economic sense, and has multiple social and environmental benefits. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns five US dollars. The findings of the country case studies call for increased investments into the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands, including through such institutional and policy measures as strengthening community participation for sustainable land management, enhancing government effectiveness and rule of law, improving access to markets and rural services, and securing land tenure. The assessment in this volume has been conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensified. In this regard, the results of this volume can contribute significantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and related effortsto address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Ecological Risk Assessment for Chlorpyrifos in Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems in the United States

2014-04-09T18:30

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

Corporate Data Quality

2015-10-11T18:30

Daten sind die strategische Ressource des 21. Jahrhunderts. Es findet kein Geschäftsprozess, keine Kommunikation zwischen Geschäftspartnern, keine Wertschöpfung statt, ohne dass die involvierten Personen, Maschinen und IT-Systeme Daten nutzen, erzeugen oder verändern. Trends wie die Digitalisierung, Industrie 4.0 und Social Media tragen ebenfalls dazu bei, dass Datenmanagement zu einer Kernkompetenz für erfolgreiche Unternehmen dieser Zeit geworden ist. Damit Daten ihren ganzen Wert entfalten können, müssen sie stets in angemessener Qualität zur Verfügung stehen. Dies gilt besonders für Stammdaten, die zentralen Geschäftsobjekte eines Unternehmens. Dieses Buch zeigt einen ganzheitlichen Ansatz zum qualitätsbewussten Management von Stammdaten auf und richtet sich damit sowohl an Praktiker als auch an die Wissenschaft. Das „Framework für Stammdatenqualitätsmanagement“ wurde im Rahmen des „Competence Center Corporate Data Quality“ der Universität St. Gallen seit dem Jahr 2006 gemeinsam mit Unternehmen aus unterschiedlichen Industrien in zahlreichen praktischen Anwendungen entwickelt und verbessert. Neben den theoretischen Grundlagen räumt das Buch der praktischen Sicht mit 10 Fallstudien großen Raum ein, die erfolgreich durchgeführte Datenqualitätsprojekte praxisnah aufbereiten. Schließlich führt das Buch noch Methoden und Werkzeuge für das Datenqualitätsmanagement auf, die (Stamm-)datenmanager bei Projekten im eigenen betrieblichen Umfeld unterstützen können.

Contemporary Bioethics

2015-05-26T18:30

This book discusses the common principles of morality and ethics derived from divinely endowed intuitive reason through the creation of al-fitr' a (nature) and human intellect (al-‘aql). Biomedical topics are presented and ethical issues related to topics such as genetic testing, assisted reproduction and organ transplantation are discussed. Whereas these natural sources are God’s special gifts to human beings, God’s revelation as given to the prophets is the supernatural source of divine guidance through which human communities have been guided at all times through history. The second part of the book concentrates on the objectives of Islamic religious practice – the maqa' sid – which include: Preservation of Faith, Preservation of Life, Preservation of Mind (intellect and reason), Preservation of Progeny (al-nasl) and Preservation of Property. Lastly, the third part of the book discusses selected topical issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction devices, genetics, organ transplantation, brain death and end-of-life aspects. For each topic, the current medical evidence is followed by a detailed discussion of the ethical issues involved.

Computer and Information Sciences

2016-09-22T18:30

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 31st International Symposium on Computer and Information Sciences, ISCIS 2016, held in Krakow, Poland, in October 2016. The 29 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 65 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on smart algorithms; data classification and processing; stochastic modelling; performance evaluation; queuing systems; wireless networks and security; image processing and computer vision.

Das Blaue Buch

2016-10-20T18:30

Einfach handhabbare und praxisorientierte Sammlung von Chemotherapie-Protokollen zur Behandlung von Tumorpatienten mit soliden und hämatologischen Erkrankungen. Wie gewohnt sind auf einen Blick Detailinformationen zu Chemotherapie, Begleitmedikation, Notfallsituationen, Nebenwirkungen, Kontrollen und supportiven Therapien sowie Zusatzinformationen für eine sichere Applikation zu finden. Das Buch richtet sich an behandelnde Ärzte, Pflegende, Apotheker und alle Tumortherapie-Interessierte.

Das Blaue Buch

2023-08-30T18:30

Bewährt und einfach zu handhaben: praxisorientierte Sammlung von Chemotherapie-Protokollen zur Behandlung von Tumorpatienten mit soliden und hämatologischen Erkrankungen. Wie schon in den Vorauflagen finden sich auf einen Blick Detailinformationen zu Chemotherapie, Begleitmedikation, Notfallsituationen, Nebenwirkungen, Kontrollen und supportiven Therapien sowie Zusatzinformationen für eine sichere Applikation. Das Werk richtet sich vor allem an behandelnde Ärzte, Pflegende, Apotheker und alle Tumortherapie-Interessierte.

Bisociative Knowledge Discovery

2012-06-26T18:30

Modern knowledge discovery methods enable users to discover complex patterns of various types in large information repositories. However, the underlying assumption has always been that the data to which the methods are applied to originates from one domain. The focus of this book, and the BISON project from which the contributions are originating, is a network based integration of various types of data repositories and the development of new ways to analyse and explore the resulting gigantic information networks. Instead of finding well defined global or local patterns they wanted to find domain bridging associations which are, by definition, not well defined since they will be especially interesting if they are sparse and have not been encountered before. The 32 contributions presented in this state-of-the-art volume together with a detailed introduction to the book are organized in topical sections on bisociation; representation and network creation; network analysis; exploration; and applications and evaluation.

Biotechnologies for Plant Mutation Breeding

2016-12-07T18:30

This book offers 19 detailed protocols on the use of induced mutations in crop breeding and functional genomics studies, which cover topics including chemical and physical mutagenesis, phenotypic screening methods, traditional TILLING and TILLING by sequencing, doubled haploidy, targeted genome editing, and low-cost methods for the molecular characterization of mutant plants that are suitable for laboratories in developing countries. The collection of protocols equips users with the techniques they need in order to start a program on mutation breeding or functional genomics using both forward and reverse-genetic approaches. Methods are provided for seed and vegetatively propagated crops (e.g. banana, barley, cassava, jatropha, rice) and can be adapted for use in other species.

Beyond the Limits to Growth

2014-02-17T18:30

At a time when contemporary challenges seem to many to be insurmountable, this book offers an optimistic view of the future and provides a road map for societies to get there. Drawing upon extensive research and many years as a thought leader in environmental and sustainability issues in Japan and internationally, Hiroshi Komiyama analyzes the most pressing challenges to the attainment of sustainability of economically advanced nations and argues forcefully for Japan to lead them out of the present dilemma through active promotion of creative consumer and societal demand. He shows how an active industry–government–academic partnership can provide the environment needed to promote such new creative demand and illustrates its potential through presentation of a Platinum Society Network that was launched on a regional basis in Japan in 2010 to facilitate the solution of common issues through the exchange of information and ideas. What is perhaps most surprising about the text is its unwavering optimism supported by hard evidence, history, and insightful observation. Problems arising from new paradigms of the 21st century (what the author refers to as “exploding knowledge, limited Earth resources, and aging societies“) thwart sustainable development in advanced and developing countries alike. All countries will struggle with issues that evolve from these paradigms including diminishing resources, expanding budget deficits, and growing global environmental problems. This window on potential practical pathways and solutions should be of interest to all those engaged in seeking ways to meet these contemporary challenges.

Autonomes Fahren

2015-05-05T18:30

Ist das voll automatisierte, autonom fahrende Auto zum Greifen nah? Testfahrzeuge und Zulassungen in den USA erwecken diesen Eindruck, werfen aber gleichzeitig viele neue Fragestellungen auf. Wie werden autonome Fahrzeuge in das aktuelle Verkehrssystem integriert? Wie erfolgt ihre rechtliche Einbettung? Welche Risiken bestehen und wie wird mit diesen umgegangen? Und welche Akzeptanz seitens der Gesellschaft sowie des Marktes kann hinsichtlich dieser Entwicklungen überhaupt erwartet werden? Das vorliegende Buch gibt Antworten auf ein breites Spektrum dieser und weiterer Fragen. Expertinnen und Experten aus Deutschland und den USA beschreiben aus ingenieur- und gesellschaftswissenschaftlicher Sicht zentrale Themen im Zusammenhang mit der Automatisierung von Fahrzeugen im öffentlichen Straßenverkehr. Sie zeigen auf, welche „Entscheidungen“ einem autonomen Fahrzeug abverlangt werden beziehungsweise welche „Ethik“ programmiert werden muss. Die Autorinnen und Autoren diskutieren Erwartungen und Bedenken, die die individuelle wie auch die gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz des autonomen Fahrens kennzeichnen. Ein durch autonome Fahrzeuge erhöhtes Sicherheitspotenzial wird den Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätzen, die bei der Absicherung des Sicherheitskonzeptes eine Rolle spielen, gegenübergestellt. Zudem erläutern sie, welche Veränderungsmöglichkeiten und Chancen sich für unsere Mobilität und die Neuorganisation des Verkehrsgeschehens ergeben, nicht zuletzt auch für den Güterverkehr. Das Buch bietet somit eine aktuelle, umfassende und wissenschaftlich fundierte Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema „Autonomes Fahren“.

Anti-fragile ICT Systems

2016-03-21T18:30

This book introduces a novel approach to the design and operation of large ICT systems. It views the technical solutions and their stakeholders as complex adaptive systems and argues that traditional risk analyses cannot predict all future incidents with major impacts. To avoid unacceptable events, it is necessary to establish and operate anti-fragile ICT systems that limit the impact of all incidents, and which learn from small-impact incidents how to function increasingly well in changing environments. The book applies four design principles and one operational principle to achieve anti-fragility for different classes of incidents. It discusses how systems can achieve high availability, prevent malware epidemics, and detect anomalies. Analyses of Netflix’s media streaming solution, Norwegian telecom infrastructures, e-government platforms, and Numenta’s anomaly detection software show that cloud computing is essential to achieving anti-fragility forclasses of events with negative impacts.

Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

2016-02-24T18:30

This book reports the results from on-site research into radioactive cesium contamination in various agricultural systems affected by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident that occurred in March 2011. This is the second volume from the research groups formed in the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences of The University of Tokyo who have published the initial data in their first volume. In this book, additional data collected in the subsequent years are presented to show how the radioactivity level in agricultural products and their growing environments have changed with time. The data clarify the route by which radioactive materials entered agricultural products and their movement among different components (e.g., soil, water, and trees) within an environmental system (e.g., forests). The book consists of various topics, including radioactivity inspection of food products; decontamination trials for rice and livestock production; the state of contaminationin wild animals and birds, trees, mushrooms, and timber; the dynamics of radioactivity distribution in mountain and paddy fields; damage incurred by the forestry and fishery industries; and the change in consumers’ minds. The last chapter introduces a real-time radioisotope imaging system, the forefront technique to visualize actual movement of cesium in soil and in plants. This is the only book to provide systematic data about the actual change of radioactivity, and thus is of great value for all researchers who wish to understand the effect of radioactive fallout on agriculture. The project is ongoing; the research groups continue their work in the field for further evaluation of the long-term effects.