When political parties make policy decisions they are influenced by the competition they face from other parties. This book examines how party competition and party systems affect reforms of social protection. Featuring a historical comparison of Italy and Germany post-1945, the book shows how a high number of parties and ideological polarisation lead to fragmented and unequal social benefits. Utilising a comparative approach, the author brings together two important issues in welfare state research that have been insufficiently investigated. Firstly, the complex influence of party competition on social policy-making, and second, how some social groups enjoy better social protection than others. Moving beyond the two countries of the case study, the book proposes an innovative framework for studying segmentation of social protection and applies this framework to a wider set of 15 advanced welfare states. Overall, this book draws together different strands of research on political parties and on welfare states, and introduces a new argument on how party politics shapes social policy. An invaluable text on the political economy of the welfare state, Politics of Segmentation will be of interest to scholars of political economy, social policy and comparative politics.
When political parties make policy decisions they are influenced by the competition they face from other parties. This book examines how party competition and party systems affect reforms of social protection. Featuring a historical comparison of Italy and Germany post-1945, the book shows how a high number of parties and ideological polarisation lead to fragmented and unequal social benefits. Utilising a comparative approach, the author brings together two important issues in welfare state research that have been insufficiently investigated. Firstly, the complex influence of party competition on social policy-making, and second, how some social groups enjoy better social protection than others. Moving beyond the two countries of the case study, the book proposes an innovative framework for studying segmentation of social protection and applies this framework to a wider set of 15 advanced welfare states. Overall, this book draws together different strands of research on political parties and on welfare states, and introduces a new argument on how party politics shapes social policy. An invaluable text on the political economy of the welfare state, Politics of Segmentation will be of interest to scholars of political economy, social policy and comparative politics.
This book assesses the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) regarding agricultural activities by comparing how specific questions arising in this context must be dealt with under the Italian and Austrian legal systems. In this regard, Council Regulation (EC) No. 1435/2003, of 22 July 2003, on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE), is used as a tool for the structured analysis of various aspects of agricultural cooperatives. However, a comparison is only meaningful if the results are made comparable on the basis of a previously defined standard. Accordingly, the study uses, on one hand, a cooperative model developed by European legal scholars that defines general guidelines on how cooperatives should function (PECOL). On the other, the results are presented in connection with economic considerations to discuss how efficient rules can be developed.
The whole world is witnessing radical economic changes. Traditional markets are stagnating; global markets are emerging. Business processes are becoming more mobile, more flexible, and much more streamlined. The boom companies of yesterday have disappeared from the scene. Such an environment calls for innovative ideas - for new ways of doing business, for new products and services, and for a totally new world. To survive, companies will have to be resilient and yet adaptable. To turn their visions into reality, they will have to act as well as react. Growth will come to only those companies that can identify demand and apply the right technological know-how to create tangible customer benefit. Development, marketing, and sales departments must arrive at the right strategies, just as corporate organization, production, and logistics managers must devise and implement the best possible processes. The book lays out some remarkable scenarios and ambitious visions for the future. It helps readers to formulate ideas and plot new directions for their business and points out the changes needed to meet challenges that lie ahead. The new role people will play in the evolving world of business also receives attention in this book that is at once informative and inspiring.
In a field where even experts may find that years have elapsed since they last encountered a child with a given disorder, it is essential for the clinician to have a comprehensive source of practical and highly illustrated information covering the whole spectrum of metabolic disease to refer to. The third edition of this highly regarded book, autho
In a field where even experts may find that years have elapsed since they last encountered a child with a given disorder, it is essential for the clinician to have a comprehensive source of practical and highly illustrated information covering the whole spectrum of metabolic disease to refer to. The content is divided into sections of related disorders, including disorders of amino acid metabolism, lipid storage disorders, and mitochondrial diseases for ease of reference, with an introductory outline where appropriate summarizing the biochemical features and general management issues. Within the sections, each chapter deals with an individual disease, opening with a useful summary of major phenotypic expression including clear and helpful biochemical pathways, identifying for the reader exactly where the defect occurs. Throughout the book, plentiful photographs, often showing extremely rare disorders, are an invaluable aid to diagnosis. Key Features • Fully updated to incorporate all new developments in the field • Brand new chapters cover methylmalonic aciduria of ACSF3 deficiency, branched chain keto acid dehydrogenase deficiency, serine deficiencies, purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency, antiquitin deficiency, and others • Excellent and detailed clinical descriptions, with numerous valuable hints and suggestions for management • Helpful explanatory algorithms and decision trees, and high-quality illustrative material including biochemical pathways and an unrivaled photographic collection, which enhance clinical applicability The fourth edition of this highly regarded book, authored by two of the foremost authorities in pediatric metabolic medicine, continues to provide incomparable insight into the problems associated with metabolic diseases and remains invaluable to pediatricians, geneticists, and general clinicians worldwide.
Whereas some Western democracies have turned toward substantially tougher law and order policies, others have not. How can we account for this discrepancy? In The Partisan Politics of Law and Order, Georg Wenzelburger argues that partisan politics have shaped the development of law and order policies in Western countries over the past twenty-five years. Wenzelburger establishes an integrated framework based on issue competition, institutional context, and policy feedback as the driving factors shaping penal policy. Using a large-scale quantitative analysis of twenty Western industrialized countries covering the period from 1995 to 2012, supplemented by case studies in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Sweden, Wenzelburger presents robust empirical evidence for the central role of political parties in law-and-order policy-making. By demonstrating how the configuration of party systems and institutional context affect law and order policies, this book addresses an understudied but key dynamic in penal legislation. The argument and evidence presented here will be of interest to political scientists, sociologists, criminologists, and criminal justice scholars.
This book introduces a unique, new dataset on welfare state reforms in the UK, Denmark, Finland, France and Germany from 1974 to 2014. Using a variety of welfare state types in Europe, the authors have systematically investigated core questions that have preoccupied the welfare state literature at least since the 1990s. These include the extent of path dependency in mature welfare states, the usage of so-called "invisible" policy instruments for hiding cutbacks, and the role of partisanship – on whether the ideological color of the incumbent affects policy – which have been analysed in depth by examining the new dataset presented in this book. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners studying, and working in, welfare and the welfare state, and more broadly to political science, sociology and social policy.
Superconducting quantum circuits are promising candidates for solid-state based quantum computation. However, minimizing dissipation caused by external noise sources remains a tough challenge. Here, we present an analytic dissipative theory for a complex circuit of two resonators coupled via a flux qubit. In this 'quantum switch', the qubit acts as a tunable coupler between the resonators, which enables switching their interaction on and off. A natural application of this setup is to create entangled two-resonator states. However, it turns out that, even if the qubit has no dynamics, qubit dissipation affects the resonators to a considerable degree. For successful quantum information processing, it is desirable to demonstrate the coherence of qubit time evolution in single-shot experiments without too much backaction on the qubit. In the second part of this thesis, we present a novel scheme for a time-resolved single-run measurement of coherent qubit dynamics. For a charge qubit probed by a weak high-frequency signal, we find that the reflected outgoing signal possesses a time-dependent phase shift that is proportional to a qubit observable. A similar approach is presented for a flux qubit coupled to a resonantly driven high-frequency oscillator, which serves as a meter device for monitoring the time-resolved qubit dynamics.
Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: Utopia, the ideally perfect state in social and moral aspects, the imaginary island represented by Thomas More in 1516 enjoying the greatest degree of perfection in politics and laws, the perfect society, have we already reached it? Several artists and authors who dealt with the subject of geographical design and functional planning of new municipal constructions have elaborated drafts and ideas about future types of society and urbanity as a Utopia of a technological and highly regulated society. This genre of literature culminated in masterpieces such as Fritz Lang s Metropolis (1927), Aldous Huxley s Brave New World (1931) and George Orwell s Nineteen Eigthy-Four (1949). In their visions the modern city provides a lifestyle full of comfort and convenience: push button factories, flyways that put an end to traffic jams, electronically operated high-speed trains and many other inventions that are a vital part of a goal-oriented urban management to ensure maximal efficiency. However, Fritz Lang as well as Huxley and Orwell show that all the convenience and comfort is a thigh costs. The urban habitat is depressing and in its design not aimed at recreation and personal development but at control of each individual. This culminates in the erosion of any kind of individualism. The life on the assembly line de-individualizes the inhabitants, equalizes and transforms them into machines that mechanically perform their work. Moreover, the people are no longer distinguishable, they wear the same clothes, and finally they are as the machines as which they work for... In this light, as a consequence of industrialization and the quest for maximal efficiency, the trepidation emerges whether we are running into a state of deprivation, oppression, and terror. Are we developing towards a Dystopia, a state in which the condition of life is extremely depressing? This is the starting point for a theory of optimal employment of resources, of banishing waste, a quest in pursuit of excellence, without disregarding the focal point, the individual. In fact, among successful managers there are no two identical strategies, management models or packages of techniques. To desperately cling to systems and self proclaimed panacea definitely is the wrong way as it is to call for an ideal rather than an effective manager. As Fredmund Malik (2000) argues that the key to the achievements of effective managers is not their personality but their way [...]
This second edition of An Introduction to Plastics is the answer to manifold requests for an updated version by the readership. Since publication of the first edition in 1993, the field of plastics has seen tremendous development. Their manufacture and properties are discussed and correlated to the molecular and supermolecular properties of polymers. The contents have been thoroughly revised, restructured and enlarged. Several topics such as polymer composites and mixtures, morphology, flow properties and processing have been given more space, and chapters on electrical conductivity and non-linear optical properties have been newly added. Reviews of the first edition: "This book presents a precise, yet non-mathematical introduction to plastics, their raw materials, syntheses, properties and applications." (B. Sillion, Revue de l'Institut Francais du Pétrole) "The volume is excellently written, with a simple, straightforward and comprehensive index. It provides an overview of all plastics, including raw materials: manufacture, structure, processing, properties and, of course, applications" (D.W. Taylor and J.F. Kennedy, Polymer International) "This book has all the earmarks of becoming a guide to or even a reference book for polymers in structural applications" (Willi Kreuder, Acta Polymerica)
Georg Stampfl explores in detail the nature of business model innovation processes in established companies from the organizational and the individual perspective. He outlines when and why the process of business model innovation is started, how the process of business model innovation unfolds and what contributes to or inhibits success. Moreover, the author investigates how individuals discover new business models and how innovation teams collaborate in business model innovation projects. Based on these insights the author provides helpful guidelines on how companies can tackle the business model innovation challenge.
There is now a certain tradition of Anglo-German comparative research on new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Two of the most influential studies in this area have both been sponsored by the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of In dustrial Society (AGF). Starting in 1977, the first AGF project on NTBFs, which was carried out by the consultancy firm Arthur D. Little, has been one ofthe most important early contributions in this field (Little 1977). This report was the first public document to use the term 'new technology-based firm' and to provide a definition, which despite its operational limitations subsequently became an es tablished term in the literature. More importantly, this study represented one ofthe first serious attempts to survey the existing stock of this type of firm. The report was critical of the contemporary situation in Europe. (This is a policy area which continues to be hotly debated, see European Commission 1995, Bank of England 1996 and HM Treasury 1998. ) It emphasised that, in comparison with the USA, Germany and the UK were each lagging behind if judged by the rate of formation of NTBFs and in their total contribution to the overall economic activity of both countries. In terms of a policy contribution, this study was instrumental in high lighting the lack ofsupport infrastructures for the genesis and growth of high-tech start-ups in two of Europe's leading economies.
Macromolecules" provides a broad survey of the entire subject; integrated representations of chemistry, physics, and technology; precise descriptions and definitions of basic phenomena; and balanced treatments of facts and theory. The book series thus intends to bridge the gap between introductory textbooks and the highly specialized texts and monographs that cover only part of polymer science and technology. Volume I is concerned with the fundamentals of chemical structure and principles of synthesis of macromolecules: constitution, configuration, conformation, polymerization equilibria, polymerization mechanisms (ionic, coordination, free-radical, step reactions, including solid-state and biochemical polymerizations), polymer reactions, and strategies for defined polymer architectures. Volume II discusses individual polymers and their industrial syntheses, Volume III the fundamentals of physical structures and properties, and Volume IV the processing and application of polymers as plastics, fibers, elastomers, thickeners, etc. The world of macromolecules in a nutshell.
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