The economy as a complex Spatial System : Macro, meso and micro perspectives
Represents the final outcome of the COST Action IS1104 “The EU in the new complex geography of economic systems: models, tools and policy evaluation”.Visualizing the EU as a complex and multi-layered network, the book is organized in three parts, each of them dealing with a different level of analysis: At the macro-level, Part I considers the interactions within large economic systems (regions or countries) involving trade, workers migration, and other factor movements. At the meso-level, Part II discusses interactions within specific but wide-ranging markets, with a focus on financial markets and banking systems. Lastly, at the micro-level, Part III explores the decision-making of single firms, especially in the context of location decisions.
The Christian Religion and Biotechnology : A Search for Principled Decision-making
Strikes a rich balance between thorough analysis (in the body), anchored in sound references to religion, law and medical scientific analysis, and a strong scholarly direction in the end notes. It presents new insights into the decision-making processes of the new Age of Biotechnology and shows how religion, law and medical science interact in shaping, directing and informing the political processes.This volume will be of interest to both scholars and practitioners in the fields of religion and theology, philosophy, ethics, (family) law, science, medicine, political science and public policy, and gender studies. It will serve as a reference source and can be used in graduate and undergraduate courses in law, medicine and religion.
Text Analytics : An introduction to the science and applications of unstructured information analysis
A concise and accessible introduction to the science and applications of text analytics (or text mining), which enables automatic knowledge discovery from unstructured information sources, for both industrial and academic purposes. The book introduces the main concepts, models, and computational techniques that enable the reader to solve real decision-making problems arising from textual and/or documentary sources.
Taking the EU to Court : Annulment Proceedings and Multilevel Judicial Conflict
Provides an exhaustive picture of the role that annulment conflicts play in the EU multilevel system. Based on a rich dataset of annulment actions since the 1960s and a number of in-depth case studies, it explores the political dimension of annulment litigation, which has become an increasingly relevant judicial tool in the struggle over policy content and decision-making competences.
Symptoms in the Pharmacy : A Guide to the Management of Common Illnesses ; 8th ed.
Provides pharmacists working in the community with the treatment information they need when they need it. Each chapter incorporates a decision-making framework which distills the information necessary for treatment along with suggestions on “when to refer” set off in summary boxes. Elucidating case studies are provided throughout, in which pharmacists and doctors describe, in their own words, listening to and treating patients suffering with a range of common problems, from migraine to eczema to IBS. The indispensable guide to assessing and managing common symptoms seen in the pharmacy / Includes information about medicines recently reclassified for OTC supply such as those for malaria prophylaxis and erectile dysfunction / Now includes more highlights of “Red Flag” signs and symptoms / Covers respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin, ear and eye, cardiovascular, and pain conditions / Offers specific recommendations for women’s, men’s and children’s health problems / Provides decision making support for cases involving ethical dilemmas / Features a visual display of relevant treatment guidelines / Emphasizes the evidence base for OTC medicines
Symptoms in the pharmacy : A guide to the management of common illnesses
Supports pharmacists to recognize symptoms, advise with confidence, and recommend appropriate treatment or referral, while also providing a comprehensive digest of common conditions ideal for both practical use and reference. Includes: Consideration of conducting pharmacy consultations remotely as well as in person in the pharmacy / Information about medicines recently reclassified for OTC supply / Expanded content on women’s health including information on desogestrel, menopause and incontinence / Broadening of the insomnia chapter to include consideration of mental health problems / Increased content on non-drug treatment options and their supporting evidence / A summary of evidence sources at the end of each chapter / Decision-making support for unique cases which involve ethical dilemmas
Symmetry : Cultural-historical and ontological aspects of science-arts relations The natural and man-made world in an interdisciplinary approach
Symmetry used to be a fundamental phenomenon in crystallography, where its basic concept was elaborated, in morphological biology, and of course in mathematics, which provided its exact description. In the last half century symmetry (and symmetry breaking) has become a leading principle in physics, in all sciences that deal with the structure of matter, as well as in the biochemistry of proteins, the study of the genetic code, brain research (where functional asymmetries have been revealed), psychology, and in developing architectural structures and in business decision-making, to name but a few examples. This book seeks to find common regularities among these apparently disparate phenomena. It covers most of the achievements reached in the sciences in recent decades that have been given new impetus by the mutual influences of art and science related to symmetry (or the lack of it).
Surgery : Basic Science and Clinical Evidence
Fully revised and updated information on the evidence-based practice of surgery, significant new sections on trauma and critical care on the often challenging surgical care of unique populations; (elderly, pediatric, immunocompromised, and obese patients). The internationally recognized editors and authors have maintained their evidence-based approach throughout the text with thoughtful and timely new chapters on the pre- and post-operative care of the cardiac surgery patient, intestinal transplantation, surgical infections, the fundamentals of cancer genetics and proteomics, and discussions of electrosurgical instruments, robotics, imaging modalities, and other emerging technologies influencing the modern practice of surgery. The oft-cited chapter on the principles of evidence-based decision-making in surgical practice is completely updated for the second edition, presenting the reader with a framework for the evidence-based practice of surgery.
Successful Decision-making : A Systematic Approach to Complex Problems
Making decisions is certainly the most important task of a manager and it is often a very difficult one. This book offers a decision making procedure for solving complex problems step by step. Unlike other texts, the book focuses on problem analysis, on developing solution options and on establishing the decision making matrix.The book is intended for decision makers in companies, in non-profit organisations and in public administration. It is an approach to helping them to solve complex problems successfully. The book is also addressed to students and to participants in executive courses.
Subsidiarity and Economic Reform in Europe
Subsidiarity in the European Union, as the guiding principle of decision-making "close to the people", is often motivated and discussed from a predominantly political perspective. In this book, twenty-five renowned economic researchers and policy experts draw the demarcation between national and European policies from an economic viewpoint. Insights from economic theory and empirical research are used both to analyse the assignment of policies between the EU and its Member States and to identify appropriate levels of decision-making. Four key areas of the renewed Lisbon strategy are highlighted for their policy relevance: education and innovation, the internal market, corporate taxation, and regional and transport policy.
Strategic Corporate Crisis Management : Building an Unconquerable Organization
Focusing squarely on crisis management, the book challenges the notion that corporate crisis teams can be expected to swoop in and “save the day”: the role of the crisis team should be to advance a culture of readiness across an organization, and to foster leadership and crisis competency where it’s needed, when it’s needed
Strategic Closed-Loop Supply Chain Management
Closed loops depict supply chains for which Original Equipement Manufacturer reintegrate their returned products into their own production network. While the reverse logistics research has extensively addressed the technical aspects of product reintegration, very few insights are available on whether OEMs should commit themselves to a closed-loop. The structure of the monograph is aligned to the decision-making process of Original Equipment Manufacturers willing to investigate the potential of closed-loops. This decision-making process is structured around fundamental questions managers are expected to answer prior to running a circular supply chain: Does a closed-loop fit with the corporate objectives? Is it profitable to run a closed-loop? How should OEMs deal with free-riders’ competition? Which product/technology/location setup leads to a profit-maximizing supply chain? The planning framework is finally applied to two case studies from the tire and the computer industry.
Stochastic Dominance : Investment Decision Making under Uncertainty
Stochastic Dominance is devoted to investment decision-making under uncertainty. The book covers three basic approaches to this process: The stochastic dominance approach; the mean-variance approach; and the non-expected utility approach, focusing on prospect theory and its modified version, cumulative prospect theory. These approaches are discussed and compared in this book.
Stochastic Control in Insurance
Stochastic control is one of the methods being used to find optimal decision-making strategies in fields such as operations research and mathematical finance. In recent years, stochastic control techniques have been applied to non-life insurance problems, and in life insurance the theory has been further developed. This book provides a systematic treatment of optimal control methods applied to problems from insurance and investment, complete with detailed proofs. The theory is discussed and illustrated by way of examples, using concrete simple optimisation problems that occur in the actuarial sciences. The problems come from non-life insurance as well as life and pension insurance and also cover the famous Merton problem from mathematical finance. Wherever possible, the proofs are probabilistic but in some cases well-established analytical methods are used.
Stem Cell Transplantations Between Siblings as Social Phenomena : The Child’s Body and Family Decision-making
Offers insights in short- and long-term experiences from families with bone marrow transplantations between minor siblings. It is based on the first extended qualitative study with 17 families about experiences with recent transplants and experiences with transplants up to 20 years in the past. It covers reflections of donors, recipients and other family members, as well as family interactions. Transplantation of bone marrow from one sibling to another who is ill with a blood cancer (such as Leukemia) is a life-saving therapy. Young children however are not in a position to give consent themselves. How should they be adequately included, depending to their age? Which ethical questions are raised for the parents both at the time of treatment and afterwards, and for the medical professionals in clinical and regulatory contexts?
Social Multi-Criteria Evaluation for a Sustainable Economy
The real world is characterized by deep complexity. May be a rather unremarkable observation, yet it has important implications on the manner policy problems are represented and decision-making is framed. Is contemporary democracy compatible with science in real-world policy-making? This book gives answers in the affirmative. It also asserts that this congruence can have positive implications not only in terms of economic prosperity but also when dealing with the difficult sustainability policy problems of our millennium. To address contemporary issues economic science will have to expand its empirical relevance by introducing more and more realistic assumptions to its models. One of the most interesting research orientations in recent times in the field of public economics is the explicit attempt to take account of political constraints, interest groups and collusion effects. One of the main novelties of this book is its establishment of a clear relationship between social and public choice theories on one hand, and multiple criteria decision analysis on the other.
Social Choice and Strategic Decisions : Essays in Honor of Jeffrey S. Banks
Social choices, about expenditures on government programs, or about public policy more broadly, or indeed from any conceivable set of alternatives, are determined by politics. This book is a collection of essays that tie together the fields spanned by Jeffrey S. Banks` research on this subject. It examines the strategic aspects of political decision-making, including the choices of voters in committees, the positioning of candidates in electoral campaigns, and the behavior of parties in legislatures. The chapters of this book contribute to the theory of voting with incomplete information, to the literature on Downsian and probabilistic voting models of elections, to the theory of social choice in distributive environments, and to the theory of optimal dynamic decision-making. The essays employ a spectrum of research methods, from game-theoretic analysis, to empirical investigation, to experimental testing. In the manner of Jeffrey S. Banks` research, these pieces focus on fundamental social scientific issues, such as the welfare properties of voting systems, the existence and characterization of electroral equilibria, and the impact of parties on political processes.
Social Background and the Demographic Life Course : Cross-National Comparisons
Examines how childhood social disadvantage influences young-adult demographic decision-making and later-life economic and well-being outcomes. This book in particular focuses on testing whether the consequences of childhood social disadvantage for adult outcomes differ across societies, and whether these differences are shaped by the “context of opportunities” that societies offer to diminish the adverse impact of economic and social deprivation
Sketching : Drawing techniques for product designers
A must have for product design students! Are designers still making drawings by hand? Isn't it more advanced to use a computer in this computer era? Some may think sketching is a disappearing skill, but if you ever enter a design studio, you will find out differently. Studios still make sketches and drawings by hand and in most cases, quite a lot of them. They are an integral part of the decision-making process, used in the early stages of design, in brainstorming sessions, in the phase of research and concept exploration, and in presentation. Drawing has proved to be, next to verbal explanation, a powerful tool for communicating not only with fellow designers, engineers or model makers but also with clients, contractors and public offices. This book can be regarded as a standard book on design sketching, useful for students in product design.
Simulation-based Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes
Markov decision process (MDP) models are widely used for modeling sequential decision-making problems that arise in engineering, economics, computer science, and the social sciences. It is well-known that many real-world problems modeled by MDPs have huge state and/or action spaces, leading to the notorious curse of dimensionality that makes practical solution of the resulting models intractable. In other cases, the system of interest is complex enough that it is not feasible to specify some of the MDP model parameters explicitly, but simulation samples are readily available (e.g., for random transitions and costs). For these settings, various sampling and population-based numerical algorithms have been developed recently to overcome the difficulties of computing an optimal solution in terms of a policy and/or value function.



















