springer international publishing jun 2015 (575 resultados)

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume presents five different methods recently developed to tackle the large scalebehavior of highly correlated random systems, such as spin glasses, random polymers, local times and loopsoups and random matrices.These methods, presented in a series of lectures delivered within the Jean-Morletinitiative (Spring 2013), play a fundamental role in thecurrent development of probabilitytheoryand statisticalmechanics.The lectures were: Random Polymers by E. Bolthausen, Spontaneous Replica Symmetry Breaking and Interpolation Methods by F. Guerra, Derrida's Random Energy Modelsby N. Kistler, Isomorphism Theoremsby J. Rosen and Spectral Properties of Wigner Matrices by B. Schlein.This book is the first in a co-edition between the Jean-Morlet Chair at CIRM and the Springer Lecture Notesin Mathematics which aims to collect together courses and lectures on cutting-edge subjects given during the term of the Jean-Morlet Chair, as well as new material produced in its wake. It is targeted at researchers, in particular PhDstudents and postdocs, working in probability theory and statistical physics.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book addresses an essential gap in the regulatory regime, which provides legislation, statements and guidelines on airlines, airports, air navigation services providers and States in the field of aviation, but is notably lacking when it comes to the rights of the airline passenger, and the average citizen who is threatened by military air strikes. It addresses subjects such as international resolutions on human rights and other human rights conventions related to aviation that impact both air transport consumers and people on the ground who are threatened by air strikes through drone attacks; disabled and obese airline passengers; compensation for delayed carriage and the denial of carriage; noise and air pollution caused by aviation and their effects on human health and wellbeing; prevention of death or injury to passengers and attendant compensatory rights; risk management; relief flights; and racial profiling. These subjects are addressed against the backdrop of real case studies that include but are not limited to instances of drone attacks, and contentious flights in the year 2014 such as MH 370, MH 17 and QZ 8501.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) are used in hospitals for the reimbursement of inpatient services. The assignment of a patient to a DRG can be distinguished into billing- and operations-driven DRG classification. The topic of this monograph is operations-drivenDRG classification, in which DRGs of inpatients are employed to improve contribution margin-based patient scheduling decisions. In the first part, attribute selection and classification techniques are evaluated in order to increase early DRG classification accuracy. Employing mathematical programming, the hospital-wide flow of elective patients is modelled taking into account DRGs, clinical pathways and scarce hospital resources. The results of the early DRG classification part reveal that a small set of attributes is sufficient in order to substantially improve DRG classification accuracy as compared to the current approach of many hospitals. Moreover, the results of the patient scheduling part reveal that the contribution margin can be increased as compared to current practice.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book presents a state-of-the art collection of original contributions on democracy, addressing three related themes: the complexity of modern democracies and their structural diversity; coping strategies of democracies in times of crises; and current and potential trajectories and transformations of democracy. The first part of the book maps the democratic landscape by revealing the diversity of democratic political systems, through either comparative analysis or case studies on the specific nature of political and administrative systems in interest intermediation and identity construction. The second part presents articles that investigate the response of democracies to times of crisis, with an emphasis on political economies and policy processes within the European Union. The third part offers studies on democracies that explore their adaptive potential in the context of globalization and in that of broader technical, institutional or cultural changes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book includes case studies that examine the application of operations research to improve or increase efficiency in industry and operational activities. This collection of ¿living case studies¿ is all based on the author¿s 30-year career of consulting and advisory work. These true-to life industrial applications illustrate the research and development of solutions, as well as potential implementation and integration problems that may occur when adopting these methods into a business. Among the topics covered in the chapters include optimization in circuit board manufacturing, Decision Support System (DSS) for plant loading and dispatch planning, as well as development of important test procedures for tyre and pharma industry with shelf life constraints. In particular, the study on deckle optimization should be of great help to managers in paper industry and consultants for development of deckle optimization software. The application of operations research throughout the industry makes it an ideal guide for industrial executives, professionals and practitioners responsible for quality and productivity improvement.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book provides research findings and practical information on online communication strategies in politics. Based on communication research and real-world political-campaign experience, the author examines how to use the Web and social media to create public visibility, build trust and consensus and boost political participation. It offers a useful guide for practitioners working in the political arena, as well as for those managing communication projects in institutions or companies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The People¿s Republic of Chinäs tax policies and international obligations are as multifaceted and dynamic as they are complex, developing closely with the nation¿s rise to the world¿s fastest-growing major economy. Today, after decades of reform and the entry into the World Trade Organization, China has developed regulatory systems that enable it to provide stable administration, including a tax structure. Chinäs main tax reform can be attributed to the enactment of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2008. Chinese tax regulations include direct taxes, indirect taxes, other taxes, and custom duties and from a collection point of view, Chinäs tax administration adopts a very devolved system, with revenue collected and shared between different levels of government in accordance with contracts between the different levels of the tax administration system. With respect to international treaties, China has established a network of bilateral tax treaties and regional free trade agreements. This publication describes in detail Chinäs complex tax system and policies, as well as major bilateral treaties in which China has entered into using country-by-country analysis.Lorenzo Riccardi is Tax Advisor and Certified Public Accountant specialized in international taxation. He is based in Shanghai, where he focuses on business and tax law, assisting foreign investments in East Asia. He is an auditor and an advisor for several corporate groups and he is partner and Head of Tax of the consulting firm GWA, specializing in emerging markets.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book offers a framework for the analysis of political communication in election campaigns based on digital trace data that documents political behavior, interests and opinions. The author investigates the data-generating processes leading users to interact with digital services in politically relevant contexts. These interactions produce digital traces, which in turn can be analyzed to draw inferences on political events or the phenomena that give rise to them. Various factors mediate the image of political reality emerging from digital trace data, such as the users of digital services¿ political interests, attitudes or attention to politics. In order to arrive at valid inferences about the political reality on the basis of digital trace data, these mediating factors have to be accounted for. The author presents this interpretative framework in a detailed analysis of Twitter messages referring to politics in the context of the 2009 federal elections in Germany. This book will appeal to scholars interested in the field of political communication, as well as practitioners active in the political arena.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The book examines the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the subprime mortgage crisis. The CRAs are blamed for awarding risky securities ¿3-A¿ investment grade status and then failing to downgrade them quickly enough when circumstances changed, which led to investors suffering substantial losses. The causes identified by the regulators for the gatekeeper failure were conflicts of interest (as the issuers of these securities pay for the ratings); lack of competition (as the Big Three CRAs have dominated the market share); and lack of regulation for CRAs. The book examines how the regulators, both in the US and EU, have sought to address these problems by introducing soft law self-regulation in accordance with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions Code and hard law statutory regulation, such as that found in the ¿Reform Act¿ and ¿Dodd-Frank Act¿ in the US and similar provisions in the EU.The highly topical book examines these provisions in detail by using a doctrinal black-letter law method to assess the success of the regulators in redressing the problems identified. It also examines the US case law regulation relating to the legal liability of CRAs. The book examines whether the regulations introduced have had a deterrent effect on the actions of CRAs, whether investors are compensated for their losses, and how the regulators have dealt with the issues of conflicts of interest and an anti-competitive environment. Should liability be introduced for CRAs through changes in the law so as to compel them to issue reliable ratings and solve the current problems The book seeks to simplify the complex issues involved and is backed by concrete evidence; as such, it will appeal to both the well-informed and the lay general public who are interested in learning more about the role of CRAs in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and regulators¿ attempts to remedy the situation. Novice readers can familiarise themselves withthe legal and financial terminology used by referring to the glossary at the end of the book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book explores the relations between the EU and the BRICS in the areas of politics, economic development, trade and security. The contributions cover topics such as the position of the EU and BRICS in the global order and the EU as a 'normative power,' as well as the evolution, characteristics and institutionalization of BRICS and the roles of its member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. The book will appeal to researchers and scholars interested in the rise of BRICS and the resulting challenges and opportunities for the European Union and Global Governance.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume of selected articles was released in light of the new economic, social and environmental challenges Europe and the United States have been faced with following the end of the Cold War and in the evolving era of globalization. National security, immigration, and the provision of health and other key social services call for a radically different outlook in terms of policy discussions. The contributors of this book focus on seven key policy issues and challenges that currently affect the United States and Europe: income distribution, the gender pay gap, crime and security, unemployment, health care, the demographic question, and environmental regulation. The purpose of this volume is to analyze how public policy within the European context is responding to the challenges posed by this new global era.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 164 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This monograph addresses several critical problems to the operations of shipping lines and ports, and provides algorithms and mathematical models for use by shipping lines and port authorities for decision support. One of these problems is the repositioning of container ships in a liner shipping network in order to adjust the network to seasonal shifts in demand or changes in the world economy. We provide the first problem description and mathematical model of repositioning and define the liner shipping fleet repositioning problem (LSFRP). The LSFRP is characterized by chains of interacting activities with a multi-commodity flow over paths defined by the activities chosen. We first model the problem without cargo flows with a variety of well-known optimization techniques, as well as using a novel method called linear temporal optimization planning that combines linear programming with partial-order planning in a branch-and-bound framework. We then model the LSFRP with cargo flows, using several different mathematical models as well as two heuristic approaches. We evaluate our techniques on a real-world dataset that includes a scenario from our industrial collaborator. We show that our approaches scale to the size of problems faced by industry, and are also able to improve the profit on the reference scenario by over US$14 million.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book covers research design and methodology from a unique and engaging point of view, based on accounts from influential researchers across the field of Criminology and Criminal Justice.Most books and articles about research in criminology and criminal justice focus on how the research was carried out: the data that were used, the methods that were applied, the results that were achieved. While these are all important, they do not present a complete picture. Envisioning Criminology: Researchers on Research as a Process of Discovery aims to fill that gap by providing nuance--the ¿back story¿ of why researchers selected particular problems, how they approached those problems, and how their background, training, and experience affected the approaches they took.As the contributions in this book demonstrate, research is not a cut-and-dried process, as all too many methods books imply, but a living, breathing¿and in some ways quirky¿process that is influenced by non-¿scientific¿ factors. The path taken by a researcher is important, and an appreciation of his or her background, experience, knowledge¿and the setbacks and triumphs of performing the research¿provides a much more complete picture of how research is done.The twenty-eight chapters in this book describe the back stories of their authors, which serve to enlighten readers about the interplay between the personal and the methodological. While primarily aimed as a textbook, this work will also be of interest to researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and related Social and Behavioral Science fields as an account of how seminal researchers in the field developed their key contributions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -In this edited volume, a set of issue and country experts tackle questions regarding Chinäs current rise to power within the current international economic and political order. The current international system is governed by a ¿Western¿ conception of order and based on the primacy of post¿World War II rules, drawn from liberal models of capitalism and democracy practiced in the US and in Western Europe. In this context, the most important and most uncertain questions facing the West over the next decade concern how the EU and the US will respond to Chinäs rapid growth. Will the transatlantic relationship hold and become stronger, faced with this new economic and geopoliticalchallenge Or will the US and the EU¿an increasingly prominent global player¿compete for economic and political advantage After a brief introduction laying out the circumstances of Chinäs economic and political rise and the challenges that this poses to the existing international order, the book proceeds in three sections. The first section provides competing theoretical perspectives on Chinäs rise in a historical context.The second section provides a distinctly Chinese perspective on Chinäs current rise. The third section looks at responses from the United States and the European Union, focusing on both economic and security issues as well as the implications of Chinäs rise for US-EU relations. This book is relevant to both scholars and policymakers concerned with Chinese domestic politics and foreign policy, US foreign policy, EU foreign policy, China-US relations, China-EU relations, international security, international political economy and emerging markets.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book covers several dimensions of the undercount of young children in the U.S. Decennial Census, examines the data from the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census in detail and looks at trends in the undercount of children over time. Other aspects included are the geographic distribution of the net undercount and an exploration for some of the potential explanations for the high net undercount of children. The number of young children in the US is growing, but almost one million young children (under age 5) were missed in the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census. The net undercount of young children has been higher than any other age group for the past several decades and is increasing rapidly, but little attention has been paid to the issue but demographers or the public.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 124 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book isthe first comprehensive, full-scale treatment of the politics, law, and economics with regard to the policies and policy instruments for budget stabilization at the local level. It examines budget stabilization in the United States from the 1910s to 2010 (from adoption of public budgeting in this country through the Great Recession). In addition, it provides details on the methods and results of empirical tests of the effects of budget stabilization instruments on government operations, key/basic services provision, and some other aspects of social and economic life at the local level, including full-purpose governments (county, metro city, municipality, township, and village) as well as special (single-) purpose governments (like school districts and transportation districts). This book dissects an important and pressing issue in public financial administration, analyzes a lesson that has been in the learning process, especially in the United States, and identifies theoretical threads for scholarly refinement, which will be put into specific contexts of policy design and implementation. This book will be of interest to scholars in political science, economics, public choice andinpublic administration, where it will also appeal to policy-makers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -A change in the way humans relate to nature could be the starting point for a new politics, which will also affect relations among humans. A new approach would help to radically transform the production system, not because it is unjust in the usually considered social terms, but because it endangers nature and humanity.So far, the citizens¿ grassroots organizations have failed to win broad consensus and political power in the representative institutions. When the time comes to transform the single environmental issue into an electoral platform, environmentalists lose unity and effectiveness since they lack a common political vision and an ensuing strategy. On the other hand European politics is rapidly transforming because the challenge brought by so-called populist movements.We need to transform activists¿ shared emotions and attitudes into political ideologies and platforms. Moreover, a new educational process and a new science politics are necessary to reform environmental policy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -¿This book examines the relationship between information society and information communication technology (ICT) markets, while evaluating the ICT impact on Albanian society and its economy. It offers insights on the country¿s information society development and compares it to other nations. The book begins with a general introduction to information society and efforts that can be used for ICT strategy. It then takes a look at ICT as an industrial sector and uncovers the importance for a strong ICT infrastructure management. Using this background information, the book finally explores the growing information society and ICT sector found in Albania. It measures the information society being created, and compares it to other countries in South Eastern Europe. Next the authors introduce a theoretical model for ICT driven development, focusing on ICT innovation and investment as factors that can affect the ICT market. These factors have also taken into account for strategy development in the national and industry level.¿Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -In this book, Alexander Häntzschel presents the benefits of organized networks and provides a first-ever overview of German-Sino business networks. Based on more than 20 expert interviews and research of 30 different cases, the analysis covers the different forms of organization, their target groups and members, services and activities, and accessibility and membership fees. Complementary to the analysis, the results of a survey bring forward the experiences and expectations of professionals involved in such networks. With this Springer Brief, business professionals get a quick and useful overview of the leading networks such as the German Asia-Pacific Business Association, the German-Chinese Business Association, and the Asian Social Business Community.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book contains the extended and revised versions of selected papers from the 4th International Symposium on Business Modeling and Software Design, BMSD 2014, held in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, in June 2014. The symposium was organized and sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Institute for Collaboration and Research on Enterprise Systems and Technology (IICREST), in collaboration with the Public Research Centre Henri Tudor (TUDOR). Cooperating organizations were the Dutch Research School for Information and Knowledge Systems (SIKS), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the UTwente Center for Telematics and Information Technology (CTIT), and AMAKOTA Ltd.The 37 papers presented at BMSD 2014 were selected from 52 submissions. The seven papers published in this book were carefully reviewed, selected, revised, and extended from the presented papers. The selection considers a large number of BMSD-relevant research topics: from modeling and simulation-related subjects, such as declarative business rules, business (process) modeling, business process simulation, and information systems modeling, through architectures-related areas, such as impact analysis with regard to enterprise architectures and architectural principles for service cloud applications, to topics touching upon quality-of-service-aware service systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the proceedings of the 5th Enterprise Engineering Working Conference, EEWC 2015, held in Prague, Czech Republic, during May 15¿19, 2015. EEWC aims at addressing the challenges that modern and complex enterprises face in a rapidly changing world. The participants of the working conference share a belief that dealing with these challenges requires rigorous and scientific solutions, focusing on the design and engineering of enterprises. The goal of EEWC is to stimulate interaction between the different stakeholders, scientists as well as practitioners, interested in making enterprise engineering a reality.The 10 papers included in this book were presented at EEWC after being carefully reviewed and selected out of 29 submissions. The topics of the presented papers allowed for active participation in interesting discussions and exchange of ideas and stimulated future cooperation among the participants. This made EEWC a real 'working conference' contributing to the further development of enterprise engineering as a mature discipline. Topics covered include: enterprise engineering and DEMO; business process management, simulation, and analysis; and complexity, transformation, and modeling.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This open access book draws on award-winning cross-generational research comparing the complex and life-changing processes of settlement among Albanian migrants and their adolescent children in three European cities: London (UK), Thessaloniki (Greece), and Florence (Italy). Building on key concepts from the social sciences and migration studies, such as identity, integration and transnationalism, the author links these with emerging theoretical notions, such as mobility, translocality and cosmopolitanism. Ethnic identities, transnational ties and integration pathways of the youngsters and adults are compared, focusing on intergenerational transmission in particular and recognizing mobility as an inherent characteristic of contemporary lives.Departing from the traditional focus on the adult children of settled migrants and the main immigration countries of continental North-Western Europe, this study centres on Southern Europe and Great Britain and a very recently settled immigrant group. The result is an illuminating early look at a second generation ¿in-the-making¿. Indeed, the findings provide ample grounds for pragmatic and forward-looking policy to enable these migrant-origin youngsters, and others like them, to more fully attain their potential.The book ends with a call to reassess the term ¿second generation¿ as it is currently used in policy and scholarly works. Children of migrants seldom see themselves as a particular and homogeneous group with ethnicity as an intrinsic identifying quality. More importantly, they make use of all the limited resources at their disposal, and view their integration processes through broader geographies ¿ showing sometimes a cosmopolitan orientation, but also using localized reference points, such as the school, city, or urban neighbourhood.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book provides an extensive overview of the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in developing countries between 2000 and 2012. It covers issues such as country-specific ICT diffusion patterns, technological substitution and technological convergence. By identifying social, economic and institutional prerequisites and analyzing critical country-specific conditions, the author develops a new approach to explaining the emergence of their technological takeoff. Readers will discover how developing countries are now adopting ICTs, rapidly catching up with the developed world in terms of ICT access and use.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 320 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book offers a complete and detailed account of the evolution of an internationally successful, evidence-based program that has been the result of almost two decades of action research into conflict and bullying. It addresses one of the most serious problems encountered in schools and work places worldwide: that of bullying and inter-personal conflict. The book presents a comprehensive account of the research, development and refinement of the DRACON Project and the Acting Against Bullying and Cooling Conflicts programs. The effective strategies that emerged from the extensive international research and practice use a combination of theories of conflict and bullying management with drama techniques and peer teaching which have been unique in their application. The book analyses their evolution into an effective program that has impacted positively on bullying and conflict in a number of settings. In the UK the program successfully addressed behavioural problems amongst girls in schools through the use of peer teaching in a drama setting. In Sweden the program assists nursing students, nurses and other health professionals to deal with conflict in the workplace. In Australia it has been applied in hundreds of schools to reduce bullying and assist newly arrived refugees to deal with cultural conflict and develop resilience and self- identity in their new country. This volume makes a major and authentic contribution to the international effort to find effective strategies and techniques to deal with interpersonal conflict and bullying across a range of contexts.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This open access book explores how research and policymaking in the field of migrant integration have developed historically and how this interrelationship plays out in the strongly politicised climate of opinions on migration in Europe. It features interdisciplinary theoretical contributions as well as original empirical studies on research-policy dialogues at both the EU and country level.The chapters study not only how the dialogue between research and policy is structured (such as advisory bodies, research agencies, and ad-hoc committees), but also how these dialogues affect policymaking and the development of migrant integration research itself as well.The analysis reveals profound changes in the dialogue structures associated with the research-policy nexus in the domain of migrant integration. On the one hand, dialogue structures have become more ad-hoc, often established in response to distinct political events or to specific problems. On the other, politicisation has not thwarted all efforts to develop more institutionalised dialogue structures between producers and users of knowledge. In addition, research has contributed to policymaking in very different ways in various European countries.This edited volume is unique in this effort to reflect on the impact of research-policy dialogues both on the development of migrant integration policies as well as on migrant integration research. It will be of importance to scholars in this field as well as to policymakers and other stakeholders involved in migrant integration policymaking.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book discusses the philosophy and educational reforms initiated by Wilhelm von Humboldt as well as their legacy in the modern university system. It begins with a discussion of the history of the university from antiquity and the Middle Ages through the era of Humboldt¿s reforms and its remnants in and implications for the present day. The authors then delve into policy, outlining the key conflicts that have informed the development of university educational policy, such as the clash between academia and professional education, the coordination of public administration and educational institutions, and the perennial issue of funding. Humboldt¿s ideas are then discussed within an economic context, using his principals of the state to analyze the relationship between current models of household and family economics and German economic and social policy. The book is rounded off by a philosophical analysis of the institution of the university and concludes with an update of the remains Humboldt¿s reforms within the currentuniversity system. With its multidisciplinary approach to the study of higher education reform in Europe and its key players, this book will appeal to scholars of economic history, educational policy, and public administration as well as administrators and policy makers in higher education. ¿Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 92 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Thebook presents theoretical and empirical research on the integrated assessment of cartels¿ effects on national economies. The empirical analysis is based onthree cases in Lithuania, a country chosen because it corresponds to the features of a small economy with a developing culture of competition. An integrated assessment of a cartel¿s impact by measuring the net economic effect created by its operations on the market is extremely important at the scale of national economies. If a cartel¿s true impact is not identified and evaluated, it is impossible to make important strategic decisions, for the whole economy instead of individual affected parties and to establish an optimum baseline for mitigating the harm done to the economy. Thus, an integrated cartel impact assessment can help to more proactively combat cartel agreements on the market and improve the economic welfare of the respective country.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book analyses policy making processes at the micro-level and offers a unique insight into the fascinating world of policy entrepreneurs, elucidating their strategic modus operandi. The author identifies change strategies and explores the role of individuals in policy change processes. Readers will see how these highly talented and exceptional bureaucrats are constantly on the alert for new opportunities and have the capacity to ¿sell¿ and ¿market¿ new ideas. Based on a uniquely comprehensive four-year study, entailing more than 60 in-depth interviews and an extensive survey of over 300 water policy entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, this book explores the different strategies that policy entrepreneurs employ. It identifies which conditions affect the policy entrepreneur¿s selection of strategies and more importantly, it assesses the (contextual) effectiveness of these strategies. Although the context of the study makes this work directly relevant to those in the fields of water resources and environmental management, it deliversuniversally relevant conclusions on affecting policy change. In addition to the theoretical material that will appeal to scholars and students, this book highlights a series of concrete recommendations for practitioners on how to affect policy change, making it of interest to academics and decision makers in the broad areas of policy change, sustainability and water management.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book presents solutions to the general problem of single period portfolio optimization. It introduces different linear models, arising from different performance measures, and the mixed integer linear models resulting from the introduction of real features. Other linear models, such as models for portfolio rebalancing and index tracking, are also covered. The book discusses computational issues and provides a theoretical framework, including the concepts of risk-averse preferences, stochastic dominance and coherent risk measures. The material is presented in a style that requires no background in finance or in portfolio optimization; some experience in linear and mixed integer models, however, is required. The book is thoroughly didactic, supplementing the concepts with comments and illustrative examples.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This textbook is an elementary introduction to the key topics in mathematical finance and financial economics - two realms of ideas that substantially overlap but are often treated separately from each other. Our goal is to present the highlights in the field, with the emphasis on the financial and economic content of the models, concepts and results. The book provides a novel, unified treatment of the subject by deriving each topic from common fundamental principles and showing the interrelations between the key themes. Although the presentation is fully rigorous, with some rare and clearly marked exceptions, the book restricts itself to the use of only elementary mathematical concepts and techniques. No advanced mathematics (such as stochastic calculus) is used.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 236 pp. Englisch.