Chance : The life of games and the game of life
With its many easy-to-follow mathematical examples, this book takes the reader on an almost chronological trip through the fascinating and amazing laws of chance, omnipresent in the natural world and in our daily lives. Along the route many fascinating topics are discussed, such as: challenging probability paradoxes; "paranormal" coincidences; game odds; causes and effects; interpretation of opinion polls; winning chances as a game proceeds; the nature of randomness; entropy and randomness; randomness in life; algorithmic complexity and the undecidability of randomness; possibilities and limitations of learning the laws of a Universe immersed in chance events. This charming book will inform and entertain the scientist and non-scientist alike.
Business Resilience : A Practical Guide to Sustained Progress Delivered at Pace
Business Resilience is a practical guide to making organizations more resilient and improving current practices by building on what the organization does well. It explains how managers should constantly monitor their business environment and adapt their priorities depending on the level of disruption - from gradual innovation and improvement in good times to swarming on a single problem during a crisis.
Business process management Workshops ; Vol. 3812 : BPM 2005 International Workshops, BPI, BPD, ENEI, BPRM, WSCOBPM, BPS, Nancy, France, September 5, 2005. Revised Selected Papers
Six parallel Business Process Management workshops were held on September 5th, 2005,The topics of the workshops ranged from fundamental process modeling primitives to the recently emerged field of Web service choreography and orchestration, rep- sented in the “Workshop on Business Processes and Services” and the “Workshop on Web Service Choreography and Orchestration;” a topic which intersects the research fields of business process management and Web services.
Browning Agents and Active Particles : Collective Dynamics in the Natural and Social Sciences
Lays out a vision for a coherent framework for understanding complex systems'' (from the foreword by J. Doyne Farmer). By developing the genuine idea of Brownian agents, the author combines concepts from informatics, such as multiagent systems, with approaches of statistical many-particle physics. This way, an efficient method for computer simulations of complex systems is developed which is also accessible to analytical investigations and quantitative predictions. The book demonstrates that Brownian agent models can be successfully applied in many different contexts, ranging from physicochemical pattern formation, to active motion and swarming in biological systems, to self-assembling of networks, evolutionary optimization, urban growth, economic agglomeration and even social systems.
Biotechnology and sustainable agriculture 2006 and beyond ; Proceedings of the 11th IAPTC&B Congress, August 13-18, 2006 Beijing, China
Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture 2006 and Beyond is a collection of papers presented at the XIth international congress of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture & Biotechnology (IAPTC&B). It continues the long tradition of the IAPTC&B to publish the proceedings of its quadrennial congresses. It provides an up-to-date report of the most significant advances in plant tissue culture and biotechnology as presented by leading international scientists.
Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements in Arid Environments
Global warming has worsened the water resource crisis in many arid zones worldwide, from Africa to Asia, affecting millions of people and putting them at risk of hunger. Effective management of arid zone resources, including understanding the risks of toxic trace and heavy elements to humans, coupled with the need to produce more food to feed the world’s growing population, has thus become increasingly important. This very timely book, the only one of its kind on the market, fills the gap of our knowledge of trace elements in these regions. This book begins by introducing the nature and properties of arid zone soil, followed by an updated overview and comprehensive coverage of the major aspects of the trace elements and heavy metals of most concern in the world’s arid and semi-arid soils. These aspects include: - content and distribution - solution chemistry - solid-phase chemistry - selective sequential dissolution techniques - transfer fluxes - bioavailability - pollution and remediation In order to illustrate the themes, a comprehensive and focused case study on transfer fluxes of trace elements in Israeli arid soils is presented. Finally it closes with the global perspectives on anthropogenic interferences in the natural trace elements’ distribution.
Biogeochemical cycles in globalization and sustainable development
This valuable study of environmental subsystems functioning under various climatic and anthropogenic conditions provides a unique insight into the social context of global changes in biogeochemical cycles and demonstrates current understanding of globalization and sustainable development.
Big Data in Context : Legal, Social and Technological Insights
Sheds new light on a selection of big data scenarios from an interdisciplinary perspective. It features legal, sociological and economic approaches to fundamental big data topics such as privacy, data quality and the ECJ’s Safe Harbor decision on the one hand, and practical applications such as smart cars, wearables and web tracking on the other. Addressing the interests of researchers and practitioners alike, it provides a comprehensive overview of and introduction to the emerging challenges regarding big data.All contributions are based on papers submitted in connection with ABIDA (Assessing Big Data), an interdisciplinary research project exploring the societal aspects of big data and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Bearing Witness : Ruth Harrison and British Farm Animal Welfare (1920–2000)
This book is the biography of one of Britain’s foremost animal welfare campaigners and of the world of activism, science, and politics she inhabited. In 1964, Ruth Harrison’s bestseller Animal Machines triggered a gear change in modern animal protection by popularising the term ‘factory farming’ alongside a new way of thinking about animal welfare.
Assessing Climate Change : Temperatures, Solar Radiation, and Heat Balance
The chapters of the book attempt to answer a number of essential questions in relation to global warming and climate change. He begins by showing how the earth’s climate has varied in the past, discussing ice ages, the Holocene period since the end of the last ice age, particularly during the past 1000 years. He investigates the reliability of "proxies" for historical temperatures and assesses the hockey stick version of global temperatures for the past millennium. To do this effectively he looks carefully at how well near surface temperatures of land and ocean on earth have been monitored during the past 100 years or more, and looks at the utility and significance of a single global average temperature
Artificial intelligence techniques in hydrology and water resources management
The sustainable management of water cycles is crucial in the context of climate change and global warming. It involves managing global, regional, and local water cycles, as well as urban, agricultural, and industrial water cycles, to conserve water resources and their relationships with energy, food, microclimates, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and anthropogenic activities. Hydrological modeling is indispensable for achieving this goal, as it is essential for water resources management and the mitigation of natural disasters. In recent decades, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in hydrology and water resources management has led to notable advances. In the face of hydro-geo-meteorological uncertainty, AI approaches have proven to be powerful tools for accurately modeling complex, nonlinear hydrological processes and effectively utilizing various digital and imaging data sources, such as ground gauges, remote sensing tools, and in situ Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Antidepressants Beyond Depression, and Into Bacteria
Antidepressants are one of the most predominant drug groups in the pharmaceutical world, primary care units and the general public. Their original use was majorly for the treatment of depression along with other mental disorders. Today, antidepressant consume over 20% of the medical prescriptions and healthcare plans due to their recently discovered applications outside the psychiatry field. Due to the alarming rise of antibiotic resistance and the slow pace of new drug discovery, the world has been searching frantically for new or alternative drugs with antibacterial activity. Repurposing already FDA- approved drugs for uses that are off-label has become an important preposition in the pharmacy world due to its availability, low risk and low cost.
Analytical and Stochastic Modeling Techniques and Applications ; 15th International Conference, ASMTA 2008 Nicosia, Cyprus, June 4-6, 2008 Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Analytical and Stochastic Modeling Techniques and Applications, ASMTA 2008, held in Nicosia, Cyprus, in June 2008.
An ecological and societal approach to biological control
Biological control is among the most promising methods for control of pests (including vectors), diseases and weeds. In this book ecological and societal aspects are for the first time treated together. In an ecological approach the aim is to evaluate the significance of certain biological properties like biodiversity and natural habitats. Also, it is important to see biological control from an organic (or ecological) farming point of view. In a societal approach terms like ‘consumer’s attitude’, ‘risk perception’, ‘learning and education’ and ‘value triangle’ are recognised as significant for biological production and human welfare.
Algorithms for Approximation ; Proceedings of the 5th International Conference, Chester, July 2005
Approximation methods are vital in many challenging applications of computational science and engineering. This is a collection of papers from world experts in a broad variety of relevant applications.
Agroforestry in Europe : Current Status and Future Prospects
Brings together some of the most important current research in European agroforestry, and evaluates the current scope and future potential of agroforestry across the EU.While the majority of Europe’s agroforestry practices are currently focused in the Mediterranean, this volume draws together examples from a wide range of countries – including Greece, Spain, the UK, Hungary, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Slovenia. The book also covers a range of agroforestry types, including silvopastoralism – Europe’s predominant form of agroforestry – as well as alley cropping, forest farming, silvoarable systems and the use of trees for shelter. Through these examples the book also discusses the potential roles for these traditional land management systems in addressing both environmental issues such as water quality, biodiversity conservation, desertification, ecosystem services and socioeconomic issues such as rural population stabilization.
Agroecology now! : Transformations towards more just and sustainable food systems
Develops a framework for advancing agroecology transformations focusing on power, politics and governance. It explores the potential of agroecology as a sustainable and socially just alternative to today’s dominant food regime. Agroecology is an ecological approach to farming that addresses climate change and biodiversity loss while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals
Agricultural value chains in India : Ensuring competitiveness, inclusiveness, sustainability, scalability, and improved finance
This book provides a clear holistic conceptual framework of CISS-F (competitiveness, inclusiveness, sustainability, scalability and access to finance) to analyse the efficiency of value chains of high value agricultural commodities in India. It is based on the understanding that agriculture is an integrated system that connects farming with logistics, processing and marketing. Farmer’s welfare being central to any agricultural policy makes it very pertinent to study how a value chain works and can be strengthened further to realize this policy goal.
Agricultural Biotechnology in China : Origins and Prospects
Building on a long tradition of agricultural advances, Chinese scientists have applied biotechnology techniques to develop hundreds of novel crop varieties suited to local farming conditions and challenges.Agricultural Biotechnology in China: Origins and Prospects is a comprehensive examination of how the origins of biotechnology research agendas, along with the effectiveness of the seed delivery system and biosafety oversight, help to explain current patterns of crop development and adoption in China. Based on firsthand insights from China’s laboratories and farms, Valerie Karplus and Dr. Xing Wang Deng explore the implications of China’s investment for the nation’s rural development, environmental footprint, as well as its global scientific and economic competitiveness.
Advances in Energy System Optimization : Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Energy System Optimization
The papers presented in this book address diverse challenges in decarbonizing energy systems, ranging from operational to investment planning problems, from market economics to technical and environmental considerations, from distribution grids to transmission grids, and from theoretical considerations to data provision concerns and applied case studies.



















