Having appeared in the 1930s in Montreal, standardised neuropsychological evaluation has become an essential tool in the clinical diagnosis and evaluation of surgical epileptic patients. Nevertheless, despite great progress over the last 20 to 30 years in the diagnosis and medical treatment of epilepsy, clinical neuropsychology still remains largely associated with surgical epilepsy, particularly surgery of the temporal lobe. Clinical neurology has still not managed to clear a way in the daily practice with patients with all types of epilepsy despite significant advances in cognitive neuroscience and a large number of clinical studies on epilepsy and cognition. How is it that there are only rarely major advances in the field of clinical neuropsychology? It has long been time for this question to be asked, and for an attempt to be made to bring about changes. This was the aim of the Toronto workshop and the result of this book. Every approach was debated, providing important elements to reflect on and allowing a great forum for exchanges. This book includes the communications from the main participants and comments from some others on specific subjects.
Everywhere,new tax rules are under development to engage with the ever-increasing complexity and sophistication of aggressive tax planning and to reverse the tax base erosion it leads to. The most prominent initiative in this context is the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project of the OECD. Although double non-taxation is among the main issues the BEPS project intends to address, this book shows that this phenomenon has not yet been fully understood. Focusing on the fundamental freedoms and the State aid rules of the EU, this book thoroughly explains the nature of double non-taxation from an EU law perspective, its relation to double taxation, and the impact of EU law on these phenomena. Among the issues dealt with in the course of the analysis are the following: – locating the gaps and inconsistencies among domestic tax systems exploited by taxpayers; – hybrid mismatch arrangements as a prime example of double non-taxation; – political efforts undertaken within the EU in order to address double taxation and double non-taxation; – double non-taxation in the European VAT system; – the convergence of the fundamental freedoms and the State aid rules; – the ECJ’s dilemma with regard to juridical double taxation; – the deviating approach with regard to economic double taxation; – the potential impact of the ECJ’s case law on the EU law compatibility of double non-taxation. The tax jurisprudence of the ECJ is referred to and comprehensively analysed throughout this whole book. A final chapter provides an outlook on possible developments in the future. By providing the first in-depth analysis of EU law’s impact on double non-taxation – and the double taxation relief standards with which it is intimately related – this book takes a giant step towards greater legal certainty in this challenging area of tax law. It will quickly take its place as a major practical analysis which benefits tax authorities, scholars, and tax practitioners across Europe and even beyond.
Eduard Hanslick's On the Musically Beautiful (Vom Musikalisch-Schönen, 1854), written and published before the author turned 30, is a watershed document in the history of aesthetics, and of thought about music generally. The notion of "absolute music," which lies at the heart of the treatise, is now more than ever at the center of discussions about music, particularly that of the Classic and Romantic eras. Rothfarb and Landerer's translation includes three introductory essays offering fresh perspectives on Hanslick, and on the origins, publications, and translation history of his treatise, as well as its central concepts and philosophical underpinnings. The volume also includes thorough annotations, a readers' guide, a glossary of important terms and concepts, and an appendix, which comprises the original opening of Chapter 1, substantially rewritten in subsequent editions, as well as the original ending of the treatise that was excised by Hanslick in later editions. The book's ideas, cogently and often wittily expressed, are mandatory reading for anyone interested in eighteenth and nineteenth-century music and its cultural and intellectual background.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the taxonomy, biology, sedimentation, and carbonate geochemistry of modern species. Students, early career and advanced scientists alike will profit from a broad synthesis of the current understanding of planktic foraminifers as an ecological indicator, biogeochemical factories, and proxies in paleoceanography. The classification of modern species is amply illustrated with electron and light microscope images of morphotypes, addresses the state-of-the-art of molecular genetics of species, and provides a detailed guide for any laboratory analyses. The biology of planktic foraminifers is extensively discussed in chapters dedicated to the cellular ultrastructure, nutrition, symbionts, reproduction, ontogeny, and test architecture. Building on the biological prerequisites, the distribution of planktic foraminifers is discussed at regional to global scale. The geochemistry and sedimentation of tests are considered in relation to the ecology of the living animal. In the final chapter, which examines the most common methods in planktic foraminifer research, hands-on information is provided on sampling, processing and analyzing samples in the laboratory, as well as selected established methods for data interpretation. The various topics discussed in this book are aimed at the application of planktic foraminifers as sensitive indicators of the changing climate and marine environment.
This book outlines the principles behind the international law of foreign investment. The main focus is on the law governed by bilateral and multilateral investment treaties. It traces the purpose, context, and evolution of the clauses and provisions characteristic of contemporary investment treaties, and analyses the case law, interpreting the issues raised by standard clauses. Particular consideration is given to broad treaty-rules whose understanding in practice has mainly been shaped by their interpretation and application by international tribunals. In addition, the book introduces the dispute settlement mechanisms for enforcing investment law, outlining the operation of Investor-State arbitration. Combining a systematic analytical study of the texts and principles underlying investment law with a jurisprudential analysis of the case law arising in international tribunals, this book offers an ideal introduction to the principles of international investment law and arbitration, for students, scholars, and practitioners alike.
Lawyers involved in international commercial transactions know well that unforeseen events affecting the performance of a party often arise. Not surprisingly, exemptions for non-performance are dealt with in a significant number of arbitral awards. This very useful book thoroughly analyzes contemporary approaches, particularly as manifested in case law, to the scope and content of the principles of exemption for non-performance which are commonly referred to as 'force majeure' and 'hardship.' The author shows that the 'general principles of law' approach addresses this concern most effectively. Generally accepted and understood by the business world at large, this approach encompasses principles of international commercial contracts derived from a variety of legal systems. It's most important 'restatements' are found in the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC). Establishing specific standards and "case groups" for the exemptions under review, the analysis treats such recurring elements as the following: contractual risk allocations; unforeseeability of an impediment; impediments beyond the typical sphere of risk and control of the obligor; responsibility for third parties (subcontractors, suppliers); legal impediments (acts of public authority) and effect of mandatory rules; involvement of states or state enterprises; interpretation of force majeure and hardship clauses; hardship threshold test; frustration of purpose; irreconcilable differences; comparison with exemptions under domestic legal systems (impossibility of performance, frustration of contract, impracticability) The book is a major contribution to the development of the use of general principles of law in international commercial arbitration. It may be used as a comprehensive commentary on the force majeure and hardship provisions of the UPICC, as well as on Art. 79 of the CISG. In addition, as an insightful investigation into the fundamental question of the limits of the principle of sanctity of contracts, this book is sure to capture the attention of business lawyers and interested academics everywhere.
Highlights and setbacks, victories and defeats, emotional moments in the Race Across America (RAAM), anecdotes of 24-hour world records and other races—all this and much more are found in the autobiography of Christoph Strasser, today's most successful ultra-cyclist. The Austrian gives an insight into his world of thoughts and emotions, he says: "The joy in reaching a goal lasts only briefly, real satisfaction comes in the small daily steps on the way there." "The book is not a motivational guide, but an open, honest biography with many insights behind the scenes of RAAM. Above all, I want to shed more light on my weaknesses, and the roadblocks I faced—because these ultimately led me to continually look for improvements. And I want to share my message that as a "normal" person, you can achieve unimaginable things." "Strasser's Road - The Story of the Record-Setting Race Across America Winner" goes beyond the usual epic hero/sports biography; it teaches about goals, about achievements, and the many steps, joys, failures, and successes along the way.
Since the publication of the first edition of this book, there have been many im portant new developments in the field of molecular physics. The new methods and results which are most significant for students are treated extensively in this second edition. Among these are in particular single-molecule spectroscopy and the field of molecular electronics, which is in a stage of rapid development, including the areas of electroluminescence and organic light-emitting diodes. In addition, we have ex tended and corrected the earlier material in a number of places. We have also included exercises in this new edition; they will allow students to deepen their understanding and offer a basis for further individual study. The complete solutions to the exercises can be found on the Internet under www. springeronline. com/3-540-40792-S. We are grateful to Mr. C. -D. Bachem and Dr. Th. Schneider of the Springer Verlag for their continuous and very agreeable cooperation during the preparation of the book. We thank our colleague Prof. W. D. Brewer for his competent translation. Stuttgart, February 2004 H. Haken . H. C. Wolf Preface to the First Edition This textbook is intended for use by students of physics, physical chemistry, and theoretical chemistry. The reader is presumed to have a basic knowledge of atomic and quantum physics at the level provided, for example, by the first few chapters in our book The Physics of Atoms and Quanta.
This handbook in two volumes synthesises our knowledge about the ecology of Central Europe’s plant cover with its 7000-yr history of human impact, covering Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Based on a thorough literature review with 5500 cited references and nearly 1000 figures and tables, the two books review in 26 chapters all major natural and man-made vegetation types with their climatic and edaphic influences, the structure and dynamics of their communities, the ecophysiology of important plant species, and key aspects of ecosystem functioning. Volume I deals with the forests and scrub vegetation and analyses the ecology of Central Europe’s tree flora, whilst Volume II is dedicated to the non-forest vegetation covering mires, grasslands, heaths, alpine habitats and urban vegetation. The consequences of over-use, pollution and recent climate change over the last century are explored and conservation issues addressed.
This handbook in two volumes synthesises our knowledge about the ecology of Central Europe’s plant cover with its 7000-yr history of human impact, covering Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Based on a thorough literature review with 5500 cited references and nearly 1000 figures and tables, the two books review in 26 chapters all major natural and man-made vegetation types with their climatic and edaphic influences, the structure and dynamics of their communities, the ecophysiology of important plant species, and key aspects of ecosystem functioning. Volume I deals with forests and scrub vegetation and analyses the ecology of Central Europe’s tree flora, whilst Volume II is dedicated to the non-forest vegetation covering mires, grasslands, heaths, alpine habitats and urban vegetation. The consequences of over-use, pollution and recent climate change over the last century are explored and conservation issues addressed.
Cancer, which has become the second-most prevalent health issue globally, is essentially a malfunction of cell signaling. Understanding how the intricate signaling networks of cells and tissues allow cancer to thrive - and how they can be turned into potent weapons against it - is the key to managing cancer in the clinic and improving the outcome of cancer therapies. In their ground-breaking textbook, the authors provide a compelling story of how cancer works on the molecular level, and how targeted therapies using kinase inhibitors and other modulators of signaling pathways can contain and eventually cure it. The first part of the book gives an introduction into the cell and molecular biology of cancer, focusing on the key mechanisms of cancer formation. The second part of the book introduces the main signaling transduction mechanisms responsible for carcinogenesis and compares their function in healthy versus cancer cells. In contrast to the complexity of its topic, the text is easy to read. 32 specially prepared teaching videos on key concepts and pathways in cancer signaling are available online for users of the print edition and have been integrated into the text in the enhanced e-book edition.
The sixth edition includes new developments, as well as new experiments in quantum entanglement, Schrödingers cat, the quantum computer, quantum information, the atom laser, and much more. Many experiments and problems are included.
More than 20 years of experience in molecular structure generation, from conceptualization through to applications Innovative, interdisciplinary text demonstrating example queries with software packages such as MOLGEN-online Detailed explanations on establishing QSPRs and QSARs as well as structure elucidation using mass spectrometry and structure generation. Aims and Scope This work provides an introduction to mathematical modeling of molecules and the resulting applications (structure generation, structure elucidation, QSAR/QSPR etc.). Most chemists have experimented with some software that represents molecules in an electronic form, and such models and applications are of increasing interest in diverse and growing fields such as drug discovery, environmental science and metabolomics. Furthermore, structure generation remains the only way to systematically create molecules that are not (yet) present in a database. This book starts with the mathematical theory behind representing molecules, explaining chemical concepts in mathematical terms and providing exercises that can be completed online. The later chapters cover applications of the theory, with detailed explanations on QSPR and QSAR investigations and finally structure elucidation combining mass spectrometry and structure generation. This book is aimed in particular at the users of structure generation methods and corresponding techniques, but also for those interested in teaching and learning mathematical chemistry, and for software designers in chemoinformatics.
This book deals with the interconnection between the Brussels I Recast and Rome I Regulations and addresses the question of uniform interpretation. A consistent understanding of scope and provisions is suggested by the preamble of the Rome I Regulation. Without doubt, it is fair to presume that the same terms bear the same meaning throughout the Regulations. The author takes a closer look at the Regulations’ systems, guiding principles, and their balance of flexibility and legal certainty. He starts from the premise that such analysis should prove particularly rewarding as both legal acts have their specific DNA: The Brussels I Recast Regulation has a procedural focus when it governs the allocation of jurisdiction and the free circulation of judgments. The multilateral rules under the Rome I Regulation, by contrast, are animated by conflict of laws methods and focus on the delimitation of legal systems. This fourth volume in the Short Studies in Private International Law Series is primarily aimed at legal academics in private international law and advanced students. But it should also prove an intriguing read for legal practitioners in international litigation. Christoph Schmon is a legal expert in the fields of Private International Law, Consumer Law, and Digital Rights. After serving in research positions at academic institutes in Vienna and London, he focused on EU policy and law making. He is appointed expert of advisory groups to the EU Commission.
Bringing the image into dialogue with the imagination, mimesis and performativity, Christoph Wulf illuminates the historical, cultural and philosophical aspects of the relationship between images and human beings, looking both at its conceptual and physical manifestations. Wulf explores the cultural power of the image. He shows that images take root in our personal and collective imaginaries to determine how we feel, how we perceive the arts and culture, and how our bodies respond with physical actions, in games and dance to rituals and gesture. By showing how imagination occupies an essential place in our daily conduct, Wulf makes a significant contribution to how we think about the role of images in culture, the arts and society.
This book gives an introduction to Lie algebras and their representations. Lie algebras have many applications in mathematics and physics, and any physicist or applied mathematician must nowadays be well acquainted with them.
The Semantic Web is a vision – the idea of having data on the Web defined and linked in such a way that it can be used by machines not just for display purposes but for automation, integration and reuse of data across various applications. However, there is a widespread misconception that the Semantic Web is a rehash of existing AI and database work. Kashyap, Bussler, and Moran dispel this notion by presenting the multi-disciplinary technological underpinnings such as machine learning, information retrieval, service-oriented architectures, and grid computing. Thus they combine the informational and computational aspects needed to realize the full potential of the Semantic Web vision.
When was the score of the Requiem completed?' is a question that everyone has asked; . . .but Wolff goes on to ask: 'Where do the technical and stylistic premises for the Requiem lie, and to what extent could these be taken into account after Mozart's death?' This question is rich in implications, central to the uniqueness of the work, and virtually undiscussed in the Mozart literature."--Thomas Bauman, co-author of Mozart's Operas
Christoph Henning writes a concise history of misreadings of Marx in the 20th century. Focussing on German philosophy from Heidegger to Habermas, he also addresses the influence of Rawls and Neopragmatism, subsequently scrutinizing a previous history of Marx-interpretations that had served as the premises upon which these later works were based. Henning sketches a historical trajectory in which a theory of socialist politics enters the fields of economics, sociology, critical theory and theology, before finally – overloaded with intellectually dead freight – entering into philosophy. In so doing, he takes a hermeneutic approach to how misreadings in a specific field proliferate into further misreadings across a variety of fields, leading to an accumulation of questionable preconceptions. With the recent resurgence of interest in Marx, Henning's historical recursions make evident where and how academic Anti-Marxism had previously got it wrong. English translation of Philosophie nach Marx. 100 Jahre Marxrezeption und die normative Sozialphilosophie der Gegenwart in der Kritik, Transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld, 2005.
Between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries, Central Asia was a major political, economic and cultural hub on the Eurasian continent. In the first half of the thirteenth century it was also the pre-eminent centre of power in the largest land-based empire the world has ever seen. This third volume of Christoph Baumer's extensively praised and lavishly illustrated new history of the region is above all a story of invasion, when tumultuous and often brutal conquest profoundly shaped the later history of the globe. The author explores the rise of Islam and the remarkable victories of the Arab armies which - inspired by their vital, austere and egalitarian desert faith - established important new dynasties like the Seljuks, Karakhanids and Ghaznavids. A golden age of artistic, literary and scientific innovation came to a sudden end when, between 1219 and 1260, Genghiz Khan and his successors overran the Chorasmian-Abbasid lands. Dr Baumer shows that the Mongol conquests, while shattering to their enemies, nevertheless resulted in much greater mercantile and cultural contact between Central Asia and Western Europe.
Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation offers a resolution of one of the most vexing problems in Nietzsche scholarship. As perhaps the most significant predecessor of more recent attempts to formulate a postmetaphysical epistemology and ontology, Nietzsche is considered by many critics to share this problem with his successors: How can an antifoundationalist philosophy avoid vicious relativism and legitimate its claim to provide a platform for the critique of arguments, practices, and institutions? Christoph Cox argues that Nietzsche successfully navigates between relativism and dogmatism, accepting the naturalistic critique of metaphysics and theology provided by modern science, yet maintaining that a thoroughgoing naturalism must move beyond scientific reductionism. It must accept a central feature of aesthetic understanding: acknowledgment of the primacy and irreducibility of interpretation. This view of Nietzsche's doctrines of perspectivism, becoming, and will to power as products of an overall naturalism balanced by a reciprocal commitment to interpretationism will spur new discussions of epistemology and ontology in contemporary thought.
The Andes are attracting global interest again: they hold valuable mineral resources, tourists appreciate their great natural beauty and the diversity of indigenous cultures, climbers scale rock and ice faces, while many others are intrigued by regional political developments, such as the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela or the almost unfettered hegemony of the neoliberal economic model in Chile. This volume is the first attempt for decades to present a complete overview of the longest mountain chain on the planet – a region of remarkable climatic, floristic and geologic diversity, where advanced civilization developed well before the arrival of the Spanish. Today the Andes continue to be characterized by their ethnic, demographic, cultural and economic diversity, as well as by the disparity of local socioeconomic groups. The Andean countries pursue a wide range of approaches to tackle the challenges of making the best use of their natural and cultural potential without damaging their ecological basis, as well as to overcome economic disparity and foster social cohesion. This book provides insights into this unique region and its most pressing issues, complemented by a wealth of pictures and comprehensive diagrams, which, in sum, help to better understand these fascinating mountains.
Biogeochemical ocean general circulation models are important tools for quantifying the marine carbon cycle and its feedback to the climate system. These models simulate the inorganic carbon cycle and also the organic carbon cycle through a series of simplified process parameterizations. This chapter presents an overview of the major concepts and methods in marine biogeochemical modeling including the combination of models with observations. Because of the climatic relevance of the carbon cycle, major emphasis is placed on it, but some other related matter cycles are also touched upon. New developments in ocean biogeochemistry during the last decade are described including the marine anthropogenic carbon uptake and ocean acidification. The chapter tries to acquaint scientists from other disciplines with marine biogeochemical modeling and provides key literature resources for further in-depth studies.
This book represents an attempt to fully review the phenomenon of the blogosphere. The intention is to provide a reliable guide to understanding and analyzing the world of the unimaginable number of diverse blogs, each consisting of innumerable posts, which in their entirety form the blogosphere. We go on to answer the questions of how to grasp the complexity of the blogosphere and extract useful knowledge from it. In setting out to write this book, our central aim was to increase the reader’s awareness and understanding of the blogosphere phenomenon, including its structure and characteristics. This can be achieved through a better understanding of individual blogs and their particular technical characteristics, as well as a deeper knowledge of how a single blog is embedded and interconnected within the entire blogosphere. The shape and form of the blogosphere can be described using the analogy of different continents. In our description the defining features and characteristics of the continents are illustrated by paradigmatic example blogs. Following on from the structural analysis we provide details of the available methods and describe the complex challenge of automatically retrieving information from the abundance of data contained in the blogosphere. Finally, we present our blog search platform, called BLOGINTELLIGENCE and describe all the tools and features we have developed during the last couple of years to explore the blogosphere.
The present study is a slightly revised version of my PhD thesis which was accepted at the Economics Department of Dresden University of Technology in July 2008. It has a long and a short history. For it began, as suggested theme, as a fundamental evaluation of evolutionary economics for ecological economics, asking, especially, for what the two ?elds actually constitutes and, eventually, relates. In several years of unfruitful dwelling, however, neither of these two young, non-mainstream ?elds proved as constituted at a fundamental level as yet. Rather, ecological economics, founded at the end of the 1980s as an attempt to combine social and natural s- ence approaches(in particular economics and ecology) to study especially long-run environmental problems in an encompassing manner, has mainly developed into an interdisciplinary research forum on environmental-economicissues. Particularly uni?edbycertainnormativestances sharedwithinits community,it constitutes,well understood, a new discpline of its own right, distinct from economics, with its own scienti?c standards, questions, methodologies and institutions (Baumgartner ̈ and Becker 2005). Modern evolutionaryeconomicson the other hand has been a quarter of a century after its inception with Nelson and Winter (1982) still a mainly h- erogeneousendeavor, linked by a (rather amorphous) common interest in economic “evolution” and a critical stance towards neoclassical mainstream economics, with a certain strength in applied studies on industrial dynamics (Heinzel 2004, 2006).
The most comprehensive, global guide to business model design and innovation for academic and business audiences. Business Model Innovation Strategy: Transformational Concepts and Tools for Entrepreneurial Leaders is centered on a timely, mission-critical strategic issue that both founders of new firms and senior managers of incumbent firms globally need to address as they reimagine their firms in the post COVID-19 world. The book, which draws on over 20 years of the authors collaborative theoretical and rigorous empirical research, has a pragmatic orientation and is filled with examples and illustrations from around the world. This action-oriented book provides leaders with a rigorous and detailed guide to the design and implementation of innovative, and scalable business models for their companies. Faculty and students can use Business Model Innovation Strategy as a textbook in undergraduate, MBA, and EMBA degree courses as well as in executive courses of various designs and lengths. The content of the book has been tested in both degree and non-degree courses at some of the world's leading business schools and has helped students and firm leaders to develop ground-breaking business model innovations. This book will help you: Learn the basics of business model innovation ̄including the latest developments in the field Learn how business model innovation presents new and profitable business opportunities in industries that were considered all but immune to attacks from newcomers Learn how to determine the viability of your current business model Explore new possibilities for value creation by redesigning your firm's business model Receive practical, step-by-step guidance on how to introduce business model innovation in your own company Become well-versed in an important area of business strategy and entrepreneurship Authors Amit and Zott anchored the book on their pioneering research and extensive scholarly and practitioner-oriented publications on the design, implementation, and performance implications of innovative business models. They are the most widely cited researchers in the field of business model innovation, and they teach at the top-ranked Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the prestigious global business school IESE with campuses in Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, New York, and São Paulo.
Responsiveness to societal demands entails policy accumulation, which undermines the ability of democracies to communicate, implement and evaluate public policy.
Describing the Islamic State’s ideologues as ‘entrepreneurs of identity’, this book explores how the group defined categories of social identity and used them as tools of communicative and cognitive structuring. Based on a wide dossier of original texts, speeches, images, and videos, the book examines how these ideologues have built a symbolic repertoire around the black flag as well as ideas and social practices such as the dictum to command good and forbid wrong, the supervision of public behaviour, and the oath of allegiance to the Caliph.
The idea of comparing the performance of different risky investments, for example investment funds, on a quantitative basis dates back to the beginnings of the asset management industry and has been an important field of research in finance since then. Performance measures serve as valuable quantitative evidence for the portfolio manager's performance as well as for the evaluation of investment decisions ex post. Based on the idea of the capital asset pricing model proposed by Treynor, Sharpe and Lintner, Treynor developed the first quantitative performance measure intended to rate mutual funds, the Treynor Ratio. Since then, a large number of performance measures with very different characteristics have been developed. In addition to their power of rating investments ex post, their ability to predict future performance has been thoroughly analyzed by Grinblatt & Titman, Brown & Goetzmann, Carhart and others. Besides academia, the driving force behind the development of more sophisticated performance measures has always been the investors. This is understandable, as "the truly poor managers are afraid, the unlucky managers will be unjustly condemned, and the new managers have no track record. Only the skilled (or lucky) managers are enthusiastic." By combining and applying the results of previous research to a new sample of nearly 10,000 mutual funds that invest in different countries and asset classes, this thesis clarifies its central research question: Is the Information Ratio a useful and reliable performance measure? In order to answer this central question, it has been split up into the following sub-parts: What are the characteristics of a useful and reliable performance measure? What actually is "good" performance? Is the "good" performance a result of luck or of skilled decisions and does it persist over time? How does the Information Ratio compare to other performance measures, and what are its strengths and weaknesses? This empirical study aims at answeri
A project is a unique undertaking or endeavor to be accomplished that can be divided into individual subtasks or activities each of which requires time and scarce resources for its completion. Also there is a desired objective to be attained (for example, minimization of project duration or of variation of resource utilization, or maximization of net present value of the project). Moreover, there are given precedence relationships among activities prescrib ing the order in which activities must be carried out. Project scheduling, in its basic form, consists of finding start times for all activities such that pre scribed resource and precedence constraints are satisfied and an objective function is optimized. Since the concept of a project can be interpreted quite broadly, project scheduling problems arise in a great variety of practical situations. These in clude construction work, the development and introduction of new products, service systems, or software packages, strategic long-term planning in manu facturing and the service sector, emergency planning, and even the conduct ing of political campaigns. Recently, project scheduling has been successfully applied to production and operations management, e.g. make-to-order pro duction in manufacturing and batch production in process industries. Since the late 1950's, network-based planning methods for project sched uling problems have been developed, cf. Elmaghraby (1977) and Moder et al.
The present volume provides a fascinating overview of geometrical ideas and perceptions from the earliest cultures to the mathematical and artistic concepts of the 20th century. It is the English translation of the 3rd edition of the well-received German book “5000 Jahre Geometrie,” in which geometry is presented as a chain of developments in cultural history and their interaction with architecture, the visual arts, philosophy, science and engineering. Geometry originated in the ancient cultures along the Indus and Nile Rivers and in Mesopotamia, experiencing its first “Golden Age” in Ancient Greece. Inspired by the Greek mathematics, a new germ of geometry blossomed in the Islamic civilizations. Through the Oriental influence on Spain, this knowledge later spread to Western Europe. Here, as part of the medieval Quadrivium, the understanding of geometry was deepened, leading to a revival during the Renaissance. Together with parallel achievements in India, China, Japan and the ancient American cultures, the European approaches formed the ideas and branches of geometry we know in the modern age: coordinate methods, analytical geometry, descriptive and projective geometry in the 17th an 18th centuries, axiom systems, geometry as a theory with multiple structures and geometry in computer sciences in the 19th and 20th centuries. Each chapter of the book starts with a table of key historical and cultural dates and ends with a summary of essential contents of geometr y in the respective era. Compelling examples invite the reader to further explore the problems of geometry in ancient and modern times. The book will appeal to mathematicians interested in Geometry and to all readers with an interest in cultural history. From letters to the authors for the German language edition I hope it gets a translation, as there is no comparable work. Prof. J. Grattan-Guinness (Middlesex University London) "Five Thousand Years of Geometry" - I think it is the most handsome book I have ever seen from Springer and the inclusion of so many color plates really improves its appearance dramatically! Prof. J.W. Dauben (City University of New York) An excellent book in every respect. The authors have successfully combined the history of geometry with the general development of culture and history. ... The graphic design is also excellent. Prof. Z. Nádenik (Czech Technical University in Prague)
This volume addresses the most important issues of the ongoing discussion on designing social security. It provides fundamental results for pay-as-you-go social security, covers the issues of social security during demographic transition and examines the inclusion of risk aspects into the analysis of social security. An empirical case study of Germany yields the surprising result that de facto the German public pension scheme already comprises an implicit demographic factor. This book allows a subtle understanding of how interacting risks are treated within different pension systems and thereby provides a basis for the development of innovative ways of risk sharing.
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