This book deals with complex problems in the fields of logistics and supply chain management and discusses advanced methods, especially from the field of computational intelligence (CI), for solving them. The first two chapters provide general introductions to logistics and supply chain management on the one hand, and to computational intelligence on the other hand. The subsequent chapters cover specific fields in logistics and supply chain management, work out the most relevant problems found in those fields, and discuss approaches for solving them. Chapter 3 discusses problems in the field of production and inventory management. Chapter 4 considers planning activities on a finer level of granularity which is usually denoted as scheduling. In chapter 5 problems in transportation planning such as different types of vehicle routing problems are considered. While chapters 3 to 5 rather discuss planning problems which appear on an operative level, chapter 6 discusses the strategic problem of designing a supply chain or network. The final chapter provides an overview of academic and commercial software and information systems for the discussed applications. There appears to be a gap between general textbooks on logistics and supply chain management and more specialized literature dealing with methods for computational intelligence, operations research, etc., for solving the complex operational problems in these fields. For readers, it is often difficult to proceed from introductory texts on logistics and supply chain management to the sophisticated literature which deals with the usage of advanced methods. This book fills this gap by providing state-of-the-art descriptions of the corresponding problems and suitable methods for solving them.
Multiple criteria decision-making research has developed rapidly and has become a main area of research for dealing with complex decision problems which require the consideration of multiple objectives or criteria. Over the past twenty years, numerous multiple criterion decision methods have been developed which are able to solve such problems. However, the selection of an appropriate method to solve a particular decision problem is today's problem for a decision support researcher and decision-maker. Intelligent Strategies for Meta Multiple Criteria Decision-Making deals centrally with the problem of the numerous MCDM methods that can be applied to a decision problem. The book refers to this as a `meta decision problem', and it is this problem that the book analyzes. The author provides two strategies to help the decision-makers select and design an appropriate approach to a complex decision problem. Either of these strategies can be designed into a decision support system itself. One strategy is to use machine learning to design an MCDM method. This is accomplished by applying intelligent techniques, namely neural networks as a structure for approximating functions and evolutionary algorithms as universal learning methods. The other strategy is based on solving the meta decision problem interactively by selecting or designing a method suitable to the specific problem, for example, the constructing of a method from building blocks. This strategy leads to a concept of MCDM networks. Examples of this approach for a decision support system explain the possibilities of applying the elaborated techniques and their mutual interplay. The techniques outlined in the book can be used by researchers, students, and industry practitioners to better model and select appropriate methods for solving complex, multi-objective decision problems.
The work presented in this book is based on empirical study undertaken as a case study to understand the challenges faced in massively open online course (MOOC) based learning and experimentation to understand the challenges for presenting theoretical and practical courses. The book proposes a flexible online platform. This solution provides flexibility in distance learning processes including course enrollment, learning, evaluation, and outcome of degrees. The proposed system not only gives students freedom to choose their courses in accordance with their needs but also use earned credit towards online degrees of any university of their choice.
This volume is the first comprehensive and practical clinical reference on proton and charged particle radiotherapy. The first half of the book explains the treatment delivery systems used, offers detailed guidance on treatment planning techniques, examines key clinical issues in proton radiotherapy, and reviews recent experience with heavier charged particle radiotherapy. The second half of the book offers ""how-to"" information on treatment of pediatric tumors, lymphomas, and tumors of the central nervous system, eye, skull base, cervical spine, bone and soft tissue, paranasal sinus, nasal c.
This volume is a complete and definitive guide to performing and interpreting breast ultrasound examinations. The book explains every aspect of the examination in detail—from equipment selection and examining techniques, to correlations between sonographic and mammographic findings, to precise characterization of sonographic abnormalities. A chapter on Doppler characterization of breast lesions is included. Complementing the text are more than 1,500 illustrations, including ultrasound scans, corresponding mammographic images, and diagrams of key aspects of the examination.
Thomas Mann wrote his last great novel, Doctor Faustus, during his exile from Nazi Germany. Although he already had a long string of masterpieces to his name, in retrospect this seems to be the novel he was born to write. A modern reworking of the Faust legend in which a twentieth-century composer sells his soul to the devil for the artistic power he craves, the story brilliantly interweaves music, philosophy, theology, and politics. Adrian Leverkühn is a talented young composer who is willing to go to any lengths to reach greater heights of achievement. What he gets is twenty-four years of genius—years of increasingly extraordinary musical innovation intertwined with progressive and destructive madness. A scathing allegory of Germany’s renunciation of its own humanity and its embrace of ambition and nihilism, Doctor Faustus is also a profound meditation on artistic genius. Obsessively exploring the evil into which his country had fallen, Mann succeeds as only he could have in charting the dimensions of that evil; his novel has both the pertinence of history and the universality of myth. Translated from the German by H. T. Lowe-Porter
Originally published as part of the renowned Bergmann-Schaefer textbook series on experimental physics, this volume fills an important void by providing a thorough treatment of the basic: atoms, molecules, nuclei, and particles. Written by experimentalists, it forms a unique compendium of our practical knowledge of the basic elements While keeping all of the rigor necessary for a clean treatment, the authors go beyond theory and describe major experimental results that give readers a clear view of the practical side of nature.
The contributors to this groundbreaking book look at methods of micro process analyses used in a variety of music therapy contexts, both clinical and research-based. They outline their methods and also give examples of the practical application of microanalysis from their clinical experience.
Democratic and consolidated states are taken as the model for effective rule-making and service provision. In contrast, this book argues that good governance is possible even without a functioning state.
As globalization proceeds at an ever increasing and more unrelenting pace, relations among the world’s religions are taking on both a new visibility and a new urgency. Christian theologians and others intent on innovative formulations in the theology of religions are making interreligious dialogue with non-Christians a priority. One way to promote creative scholarship in this quest is to tap into interdisciplinary resources, and the author of this volume is uniquely qualified to do so since he holds graduate degrees in both theology and cultural anthropology. Refuge in Crestone: A Sanctuary for Interreligious Dialogue elucidates how the praxis of interreligious dialogue, as outlined in key Vatican documents in the Catholic Church, could be better served by attending to the qualitative ethnographic methods of sociocultural anthropology. Because the material, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of dialogue—as revealed in daily life, common social and political action, religious experience, and theological exchange—are embedded in culture, they are amenable to ethnographic analysis. Using the unique, multi-religious Colorado site of Crestone and its environs as a fieldwork “laboratory” and self-described “Refuge for World Truths,” the ethnographic data gleaned from this project exemplify the creative interdisciplinary contributions of anthropology to theologizing. It seeks to demonstrate, using an empirical, multi-religious community as its focus, how anthropology can support interreligious dialogue. The results of such dialogue could not only assist the scholarly community by helping theologians arrive at new formulations in the burgeoning area of the theology of religions, but might also serve the more practical goal of promoting peace—as an alternative to violence—in today’s complex and sorely troubled world.
This biography probes the unusual mind, the dramatic life, and the outstanding scientific work of Danish-born immunologist Niels Jerne (1911–1994). Jerne’s Nobel Prize-winning achievements in the field of immunology place him in the pantheon of great twentieth-century biomedical theorists, yet his life is perhaps even more interesting than his science. Science as Autobiography tells Jerne’s story, weaving together a narrative of his life experiences, emotional life, and extraordinarily creative scientific work. A legendary figure who preferred an afternoon of conversation in a Paris wine bar to work in the laboratory, Jerne was renowned for his unparalleled powers of concentration and analytical keenness as well as his dissonant personal life. The book explores Jerne the man and scientist, making the fascinating argument that his life experience and view of himself became a metaphorical resource for the construction of his theories. The book also probes the moral issues that surrounded Jerne’s choice to sacrifice his family in favor of scientific goals and the pursuit of excellence.
An exploration of the historical origins of the “witches’ ointment” and medieval hallucinogenic drug practices based on the earliest sources • Details how early modern theologians demonized psychedelic folk magic into “witches’ ointments” • Shares dozens of psychoactive formulas and recipes gleaned from rare manuscripts from university collections all over the world as well as the practices and magical incantations necessary for their preparation • Examines the practices of medieval witches like Matteuccia di Francisco, who used hallucinogenic drugs in her love potions and herbal preparations In the medieval period preparations with hallucinogenic herbs were part of the practice of veneficium, or poison magic. This collection of magical arts used poisons, herbs, and rituals to bewitch, heal, prophesy, infect, and murder. In the form of psyche-magical ointments, poison magic could trigger powerful hallucinations and surrealistic dreams that enabled direct experience of the Divine. Smeared on the skin, these entheogenic ointments were said to enable witches to commune with various local goddesses, bastardized by the Church as trips to the Sabbat--clandestine meetings with Satan to learn magic and participate in demonic orgies. Examining trial records and the pharmacopoeia of witches, alchemists, folk healers, and heretics of the 15th century, Thomas Hatsis details how a range of ideas from folk drugs to ecclesiastical fears over medicine women merged to form the classical “witch” stereotype and what history has called the “witches’ ointment.” He shares dozens of psychoactive formulas and recipes gleaned from rare manuscripts from university collections from all over the world as well as the practices and magical incantations necessary for their preparation. He explores the connections between witches’ ointments and spells for shape shifting, spirit travel, and bewitching magic. He examines the practices of some Renaissance magicians, who inhaled powerful drugs to communicate with spirits, and of Italian folk-witches, such as Matteuccia di Francisco, who used hallucinogenic drugs in her love potions and herbal preparations, and Finicella, who used drug ointments to imagine herself transformed into a cat. Exploring the untold history of the witches’ ointment and medieval hallucinogen use, Hatsis reveals how the Church transformed folk drug practices, specifically entheogenic ones, into satanic experiences.
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