Matthias Bertram aims to develop a deeper understanding of software customization and its strategic role for software product management. Drawing on the conceptual foundation of the resource-based view of the firm, such as resources, capabilities, and dynamic capabilities, the author conducts two qualitative investigations: the first within vendor and customer firms to develop an in-depth understanding of the value of software customization as well as the vendor resources and capabilities necessary to successfully provide software customization and the second on the vendor’s dynamic capabilities necessary to generate temporary competitive advantage from software customization in product management activities.
Matthias Bertram aims to develop a deeper understanding of software customization and its strategic role for software product management. Drawing on the conceptual foundation of the resource-based view of the firm, such as resources, capabilities, and dynamic capabilities, the author conducts two qualitative investigations: the first within vendor and customer firms to develop an in-depth understanding of the value of software customization as well as the vendor resources and capabilities necessary to successfully provide software customization and the second on the vendor’s dynamic capabilities necessary to generate temporary competitive advantage from software customization in product management activities.
In Towards a Reformed Enlightenment: Salomon van Til (1643–1713) and the Cartesio-Cocceian Debates in the Early Modern Dutch Republic, Matthias Mangold offers the first in-depth investigation into the theological and philosophical convictions of an influential, yet hitherto much neglected, Dutch theologian working around the turn of the eighteenth century. With its strong contextual approach, this analysis of Van Til’s thought sheds new light on various intellectual dynamics at the time, most notably the long-standing conflict between the Voetian and Cocceian factions within the Dutch Reformed Church and the reception of Cartesian philosophy in the face of emerging Radical Enlightenment ideas.
This book introduces readers to the field of conformance checking as a whole and outlines the fundamental relation between modelled and recorded behaviour. Conformance checking interrelates the modelled and recorded behaviour of a given process and provides techniques and methods for comparing and analysing observed instances of a process in the presence of a model, independent of the model’s origin. Its goal is to provide an overview of the essential techniques and methods in this field at an intuitive level, together with precise formalisations of its underlying principles. The book is divided into three parts, that are meant to cover different perspectives of the field of conformance checking. Part I presents a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the essential concepts used to interrelate modelled and recorded behaviour. It also serves as a reference for assessing how conformance checking efforts could be applied in specific domains. Next, Part II provides readers with detailed insights into algorithms for conformance checking, including the most commonly used formal notions and their instantiation for specific analysis questions. Lastly, Part III highlights applications that help to make sense of conformance checking results, thereby providing a necessary next step to increase the value of a given process model. They help to interpret the outcomes of conformance checking and incorporate them by means of enhancement and repair techniques. Providing the core building blocks of conformance checking and describing its main applications, this book mainly addresses students specializing in business process management, researchers entering process mining and conformance checking for the first time, and advanced professionals whose work involves process evaluation, modelling and optimization.
Epistemic Artefacts A Dialogical Reflection on Design Research in Architecture Edited by Matthias Ballestrem and Lidia Gasperoni Architectural artefacts are negotiated as epistemic objects, an autonomous and innovative form of knowledge capable of inaugurating and institutionalising architectural research. The backbone of this publication is a dialogue between the architect Matthias Ballestrem and the philosopher and architectural theorist Lidia Gasperoni. In a vibrant discussion, they consider the epistemic value of the architectural artefact, the role of research practices in making this knowledge explicit and accessible, and the criteria for qualifying as design-based research. Alex Arteaga, Fabrizia Berlingieri, Peter Bertram, Helga Blocksdorf, Anđelka Bnin-Bninski, Marta Fernández Guardado, Joerg Fingerhut, Anke Haarmann, Rolf Hughes, Rachel Hurst, Daniel Norell, Tomas Ooms, Claus Peder Pedersen, Tim Simon-Meyer, and Philip Ursprung have added short comments and images to enrich the arguments with criticism, extensions, associations, and references. An afterword by Marcelo Stamm provides a theoretical reflection on a possible taxonomy of epistemic artefacts.
This book reviews interdisciplinary work on the mental processing of syntax and morphology. It focuses on the fundamental questions at the centre of this research, for example whether language processing proceeds in a serial or a parallel manner; which areas of the brain support the processing of syntactic and morphological information; whether there are neurophysiological correlates of language processing; and the degree to which neurolinguistic findings on syntactic andmorphological processing are consistent with theoretical conceptions of syntax and morphology. The authors describe the outcomes of methods in neurophysiology (for example, functional magnetic resonance imaging), behavioural psycholinguistics, and neuropsychological lesion studies, and provide briefintroductions to the methods themselves. They extend basic findings at the word and sentence level by considering how the mental processing of syntax and morphology relates to prosody, discourse, semantics, and world knowledge. They have divided the work into four parts concerned with word structure, sentence structure, processing syntax and morphology at the interfaces, and a comparison of different models of syntactic and morphological processing in the neurophysiological domain. The book isdirected at graduate students and researchers in theoretical linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics, neurophysiology, and psychology.
This book on fintechs shows an international comparison on a global level. It is the first book where 10 years of financing rounds for fintechs have been analyzed for 10 different fintech segments. It is the first book to show the Canvas business model for fintechs. Professionals and students get a global understanding of fintechs. The case examples in the book cover Europe, the U.S. and China. About the author: Matthias Fischer is professor of finance and banking at the Institute of Technology Nuremberg Georg-Simon-Ohm in Germany. His research has focused on strategy and M&A in the banking sector, value-based management, robo-advisory and fintechs. Dr. Fischer also serves as a member of the Groupe de Recherche en Management at the IAE Nice Graduate School of Management, Université Côte d'Azur in France. He is internationally active as a strategy and financial advisor. Reviews of the book: FinTech is not the next 'big thing.' It is the big thing now! FinTech is the new business model for the global financial sector, offering clear and enormous potential for vast economies of scale and scope, massive cost savings and efficiency gains, significant risk reduction, and opening the door to banking for literally billions of currently unbanked people. Professor Fischer has done a masterful job of expertly and informatively taking us through all aspects of the revolutionary new FinTech business models. Using state-of-the-art research techniques, he insightfully shows us how FinTech firms are financed and how they aspire to create value. His in-depth case studies unlock the keys to success in the FinTech sector. His fascinating book is a 'must read' for all financial professionals. Dr. Stephen Morrell, Professor of Economics and Finance, Andreas School of Business, Barry University, Miami, USA Matthias Fischer's latest book offers a comprehensive overview of Fintech business models around the world. With a very pedagogical approach, and in a particularly fluid style, the author takes us into the strategic logics of these new entrants to finance, who are carriers of innovation and sometimes of disruption, and whose strategies are focused on the need to always meet the emerging expectations of their customers. This precise and well-documented analysis should enable banks to reposition themselves in their ecosystem by studying these new business models, which will enable them to boost their growth. Professor Dr. Nadine Tournois, Dean of IAE Nice Graduate School of Management, Université Côte d'Azur, France, Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur Fintech Business Models is a must-have book to understand the rapid and intense changes occurring in the financial sector. New technologies have allowed the birth of new financial species, such as Fintech, more adapted to the new digital economy. The content dedicated to the application of blockchain technology helps to understand its opportunities in the financial sector, not only in the means of payment and cryptoactives, but also in how blockchain can make multiple internal processes improve, allowing to optimize the management, efficiency and even security of operations. Without any doubt, this book offers an extraordinary vision of how the fintech sector has become a catalyst for change in banking in the context of the current Digital Society. Phd. Ricardo Palomo, Full Professor of Finance, Deputy Chancellor for Digital Transformation at Universidad CEU San Pablo, Madrid, Spain and member of the Board of Alastria Blockchain Ecosytem This book provides a detailed and original overview of the most important fintech business models in the major global markets. Through a savvy use of the well-known Business Model Canvas methodology, the author explores the unique ecosystem, business model’s components, and sources of competitive advantage of successful fintech firms. The book, in particular, offers an insightful and comprehensive analysis of the winning and losing strategies and performances of fintech firms by segment of activity such as, instant digital payments, crowd-funding, robo-advisory, alternative finance, credit & factoring, social trading, personal finance management, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. It is indeed a very unique and valuable study on the fintech industry, its trends, and its emerging business models. Prof. Ivo Pezzuto, The International School of Management, Paris, France and Adjunct Professor of International Business and Strategic Management Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Department of Business Management, Milan, Italy The emergence of fintechs is one of the most relevant drivers of change in the financial services industry. The book presented here delivers an impressing overview of fintechs’ activity areas, business models and funding patterns. The book reflects the state of the art of the current fintech world. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Moormann, Professor of Bank and Process Management at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany
What justifies political power? Most philosophers argue that consent or democracy are important, in other words, it matters how power is exercised. But this book argues that outcomes primarily matter to justifying power.
Successful businesses are built on trust. Employees and colleagues need to trust one another and they need to deserve and receive trust from customers and suppliers. Anti-Corruption provides resources for building trust through the implementation of comprehensive guidelines on how to professionalize ethics and anti-corruption education worldwide in a variety of classroom settings. It is written and tested by highly experienced program directors, deans and professors, in how to adopt, adapt and develop best teaching practice. It highlights successful patterns, details illustrative case studies and offers clear, hands-on recommendations. Anti-Corruption enables business schools, management-related academic institutions, and Executive Training Programs to embed curriculum change quickly to achieve positive outcomes. It enables degree programs and executive education programs to achieve global standards that will be widely followed.
In the 1920s Germany was in the grip of social and political turmoil: its citizens were disillusioned by defeat in World War I, the failure of revolution, the disintegration of their social system, and inflation of rampant proportions. Curiously, as this important book shows, these years of upheaval were also a time of creative ferment and innovative accomplishment in literature, theater, film, and art. Glitter and Doom is the first publication to focus exclusively on portraits dating from the short-lived Weimar Republic. It features forty paintings and sixty drawings by key artists, including Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, and George Grosz. Their works epitomize Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), in particular the branch of that new form of realism called Verism, which took as its subject contemporary phenomena such as war, social problems, and moral decay. Subjects of their incisive portraits are the artists' own contemporaries: actors, poets, prostitutes, and profiteers, as well as doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and other respectable citizens. The accompanying texts reveal how these portraits hold up a mirror to the glittering, vital, doomed society that was obliterated when Hitler came to power.
Poverty still persists in today’s low-income countries despite decades of international aid, and extensive research on the determinants of growth and development. The book argues that meeting this challenge requires a holistic understanding of the context-specific factors that influence economic behavior and structures in poor countries. Contextual Development Economics approaches this task by offering a methodology that allows analysing the dynamic interrelations between economic, cultural and historical determinants of economic life in low-income countries. The book starts with an empirical inquiry into the economic characteristics of low-income countries that create the context by which the specific forms of organising economic activity in these countries are determined. It then looks at how different generations of development economists sought to explain economic realities in low-income countries from the 1940s through today. The book finally synthesises the results from this empirical and methodological analysis with insights from an inquiry into contributions of the German Historical School, from which it borrows the concept of the economic style as a methodological alternative to the universal and hence often irrelevant models of mainstream development economics. This book offers a promising perspective for the future of development economics that will be of interest to researchers and development practitioners alike. It will also be relevant for academics and students with an interest in applications of the method and concepts of the Historical School to contemporary problems.
This book examines the various patterns of nominal and pronominal address used in Jamaica and Trinidad, the two most populous islands of the English-speaking Caribbean. Given that the Anglo-Caribbean context has so far been largely neglected in address research, this study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the linguistic means Jamaicans and Trinidadians have at their disposal and make use of to address each other. A particular focus will be on variation in the speakers’ address behaviour with regard to their sex, age, social class, ethnicity, and regional background. The study draws both on data from a self-compiled corpus of postcolonial Jamaican and Trinidadian literary works, and on questionnaire and interview data collected during fieldwork. This book contributes to the ever-growing body of research in the field of nominal and pronominal address, and will be relevant to researchers interested in the fields of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and World Englishes.
Scholarship often treats the post-Roman art produced in central and north-western Europe as representative of the pagan identities of the new 'Germanic' rulers of the early medieval world. In this book, Matthias Friedrich offers a critical reevaluation of the ethnic and religious categories of art that still inform our understanding of early medieval art and archaeology. He scrutinises early medieval visual culture by combining archaeological approaches with art historical methods based on contemporary theory. Friedrich examines the transformation of Roman imperial images, together with the contemporary, highly ornamented material culture that is epitomized by 'animal art.' Through a rigorous analysis of a range of objects, he demonstrates how these pathways produced an aesthetic that promoted variety (varietas), a cross-cultural concept that bridged the various ethnic and religious identities of post-Roman Europe and the Mediterranean worlds.
What is the story behind the paradoxical survival of small and weak states in a world of great powers and crude power politics? And what explains the dramatic rise and fall in the number of states overtime, following no consistent trend and not showing an immediately obvious direction or pattern? The answers lie at the system-level: Small states survival is shaped by the international states system. Small state survival and proliferation is determined first and foremost by features of and dynamics created at the states system. As the states system changes and evolves the chances for small states to survive or proliferate change as well. In fact, a quantitive investigation confirms this, showing that over the course of more than 31⁄2 centuries, the number of small states did fluctuate widely and at times dramatically.
In a time of unprecedented transformation as society seeks to build a more sustainable future, education plays an increasingly central role in training key agents of change. This book asks how we can equip students and scholars with the capabilities to promote sustainability and how the higher education curriculum can be changed to facilitate the paradigm shift needed. Across the globe, a rising number of higher education institutions and academics are responding to these questions by transforming their own teaching and learning and their institutions’ curricula. This book contributes to that development by examining in-depth case studies of innovative approaches and curriculum changes at multiple levels of the education sector. Elaborating key principles of higher education for sustainable development and identifying drivers and barriers to implementing sustainability in the curriculum, the book provides a comprehensive overview of what makes higher education for sustainable development a unique field of research and practice, as well as offering a coherent narrative of how change can be effected in it. This much-needed book is a valuable resource to inform, guide and inspire students, academics, administrators and community partners, whether experienced or new to the field, whether already committed or not to higher education for sustainable development in an age of transformation.
The leading reference on this topic has just gotten better. Building on the success of the previous two editions, all the chapters have been updated to reflect the latest developments in the field, and new chapters have been added on picolinic acids, oxathiapiprolin, flupyradifurone, and other topics. This third edition presents the most important active ingredients of modern agrochemicals, with one volume each for herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. The international team of first-class authors from such renowned crop science companies as Bayer, Syngenta, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont (now Corteva Agriscience), and BASF, address all crucial aspects from the general chemistry and the mode of action to industrial-scale synthesis, as well as from the development of products and formulations to their application in the field. A comprehensive and invaluable source of timely information for all of those working in modern biology, including genetics, biochemistry and chemistry, and for those in modern crop protection science, whether governmental authorities, researchers in agrochemical companies, scientists at universities, conservationists, or managers in organizations and companies involved in improvements to agricultural production.
Coronations are the grandest of all state occasions. This is the first comprehensive in-depth study of the music that was performed at British coronations from 1603 to the present, encompassing the sixteen coronations that have taken place in Westminster Abbey and the last two Scottish coronations. Range describes how music played a crucial role at the coronations and how the practical requirements of the ceremonial proceedings affected its structure and performance. The programme of music at each coronation is reconstructed, accompanied by a wealth of transcriptions of newly discovered primary source material, revealing findings that lead to fresh conclusions about performance practices. The coronation ceremonies are placed in their historical context, including the political background and the concept of invented traditions. The study is an invaluable resource not only for musicologists and historians, but also for performers, providing a fascinating insight into the greatest of all Royal events.
For ensuring a software system's security, it is vital to keep up with changing security precautions, attacks, and mitigations. Although model-based development enables addressing security already at design-time, design models are often inconsistent with the implementation or among themselves. An additional burden are variants of software systems. To ensure security in this context, we present an approach based on continuous automated change propagation, allowing security experts to specify security requirements on the most suitable system representation. We automatically check all system representations against these requirements and provide security-preserving refactorings for preserving security compliance. For both, we show the application to variant-rich software systems. To support legacy systems, we allow to reverse-engineer variability-aware UML models and semi-automatically map existing design models to the implementation. Besides evaluations of the individual contributions, we demonstrate the approach in two open-source case studies, the iTrust electronics health records system and the Eclipse Secure Storage.
Although electric vehicles (EVs) are theoretically capable of emissions-free driving, their market penetration is still pending, which is reflected in their low sales numbers. This is mainly due to three major barriers to the widespread adoption of these vehicles, with one of them being their limited average driving distance. Although the limited range of these cars would theoretically be sufficient to match the usage patterns of most drivers, they are generally unwilling to accept it. In this regard, users often report serious concerns about not reaching their planned destinations due to battery depletion, which is commonly referred to as range anxiety. Within this cumulative dissertation, four research questions were derived, aiming to investigate measures that mitigate range anxiety and thus positively affect the attitude toward using EVs. To answer these research questions, six studies were conducted. The insights gained from analyzing the data provide researchers with an in-depth knowledge for investigating the influence of information systems on range anxiety. In addition, practitioners find decision support for addressing the phenomenon of range anxiety in implementing and designing information systems.
The relationship between ignorance and surprise and a conceptual framework for dealing with the unexpected, as seen in ecological design projects. Ignorance and surprise belong together: surprises can make people aware of their own ignorance. And yet, perhaps paradoxically, a surprising event in scientific research—one that defies prediction or risk assessment—is often a window to new and unexpected knowledge. In this book, Matthias Gross examines the relationship between ignorance and surprise, proposing a conceptual framework for handling the unexpected and offering case studies of ecological design that demonstrate the advantages of allowing for surprises and including ignorance in the design and negotiation processes. Gross draws on classical and contemporary sociological accounts of ignorance and surprise in science and ecology and integrates these with the idea of experiment in society. He develops a notion of how unexpected occurrences can be incorporated into a model of scientific and technological development that includes the experimental handling of surprises. Gross discusses different projects in ecological design, including Chicago's restoration of the shoreline of Lake Michigan and Germany's revitalization of brownfields near Leipzig. These cases show how ignorance and surprise can successfully play out in ecological design projects, and how the acknowledgment of the unknown can become a part of decision making. The appropriation of surprises can lead to robust design strategies. Ecological design, Gross argues, is neither a linear process of master planning nor a process of trial and error but a carefully coordinated process of dealing with unexpected turns by means of experimental practice.
Legal argumentation consists in the interpretation of texts. Therefore, it has a natural connection to the philosophy of language. Central issues of this connection, however, lack a clear answer. For instance, how much freedom do judges have in applying the law? How are the literal and the purposive approaches related to one another? How can we distinguish between applying the law and making the law? This book provides answers by means of a complex and detailed theory of literal meaning. A new legal method is introduced, namely the further development of the law. It is so far unknown in Anglo-American jurisprudence, but it is shown that this new method helps in solving some of the most crucial puzzles in jurisprudence. At its centre the book addresses legal indeterminism and refutes linguistic-philosophical reasons for indeterminacy. It spells out the normative character of interpretation as emphasized by Raz and, with the help of Robert Brandom's normative pragmatics, it is shown that the relativism of interpretation from a normative perspective does not at all justify scepticism. On the contrary, it supports the claim that legal argumentation can be objective, and maintains that statements on the meaning of a statute can be right or wrong, and take on inter-subjective validity accordingly. This book breaks new ground in transferring Brandom's philosophy to legal theoretical problems and presents an original and exciting analysis of the semantic argument in legal argumentation. It was the recipient of the European Award for Legal Theory in 2002. 'This book represents, on the one hand, a reception of Robert Brandom's important theory including applications of this theory in the field of legal philosophy and, on the other, an exploration of the limits of an appeal in legal interpretation to the text. The enquiry thereby impinges upon the central juridico-philosophical themes of meaning, objectivity, and normativity. The author's work counts as a significant contribution to analytical jurisprudence and is deserving of a wide readership.' Robert Alexy, Professor for Public Law and Legal Philosophy, Kiel. 'Klatt focuses on a very profound theory of concept formation and uses this theory in a creative way to solve classical problems of legal argumentation.' Aleksander Peczenik
This book originates from the First International Workshop on Computational Autonomy -Potential, Risks, Solutions, AUTONOMY 2003, held in Melbourne, Australia in July 2003 as part of AAMAS 2003. In addition to 7 revised selected workshop papers, the volume editors solicited 14 invited papers by leading researchers in the area. The workshop papers and the invited papers present a comprehensive and coherent survey of the state of the art of research on autonomy, capturing various theories of autonomy, perspectives on autonomy in different kinds of agent-based systems, and practical approaches to dealing with agent autonomy.
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