الصفحة 3
الصفحة 3
Solder Joint Technology : Materials, Properties, and Reliability
Solder joints are ubiquitous in electronic consumer products. The European Union has a directive to ban the use of Pb-based solders in these products on July 1st, 2006. There is an urgent need for an increase in the research and development of Pb-free solders in electronic manufacturing. For example, spontaneous Sn whisker growth and electromigration induced failure in solder joints are serious issues. These reliability issues are quite complicated due to the combined effect of electrical, mechanical, chemical, and thermal forces on solder joints. To improve solder joint reliability, the science of solder joint behavior under various driving forces must be understood. In this book, the advanced materials reliability issues related to copper-tin reaction and electromigration in solder joints are emphasized and methods to prevent these reliability problems are discussed.
Social Pacts, Employment and Growth : A Reappraisal of Ezio Tarantelli's Thought
Examines the current status of social pacts and their future. Particular focus is placed on the ideas of Ezio Tarantelli, a young Italian economist killed by Red Brigades in 1985. He thought that trade unions could play a positive role by agreeing to set wages on the basis of a target rate of inflation. Therefore, they would contribute to economic and social stability through influencing future price expectations, protecting real wages. But, if inflation did erode real wages, the government could compensate the union(s) through increased social expenditure. As the European Union expands and social change accelerates, this insightful book will be of interest to all concerned with social and economic developments across Europe.
Social Cash Transfer in Turkey : Toward Market Citizenship
This book asks whether cash-transfer programs for very low-income households promote social and economic citizenship and, if so, under what conditions. To this end, it brings together elements that are too often considered separately: the transformation of social and economic citizenship rights in a market-centered context, and the increasing popularity of cash transfer as an instrument both of social policy and humanitarian action.
Self-Employment Activities of Women and Minorities : Their Success or Failure in Relation to Social Citizenship Policies
The discussion on new forms of non-privileged self-employment of women and minorities is usually divided into separate discourses on women’s opportunities on the one hand and ethnic business on the other. The focus in the discussion about the special resources of migrant entrepreneurship has been above all on the assumed collective traditions of ethnic business and not on the individual emancipative resources of the self-employed. This book has brought the two discourses together. While women and migrants are most vulnerable to social exclusion on the labour market, at the same time they are subjects of unrecognized resources for self-employment that have to be taken into account under the special conditions of social citizenship policies in the European Union.
Secondary Education at the Crossroads : International Perspectives Relevant to the Asia-Pacific Region
Education is a universal priority. Currently, it is at a crossroad. In every society it is valued as a major road to produce more productive, more harmonious and healthier citizens. Yet, in every setting there is deep dissatisfaction with the overall performance of education and there are major moves towards reform, sometimes superficial but more often fundamental. These reform processes have had only moderate and very uneven success. Too often they are episodic, reflecting a short-term approach which is frequently changed for the latest enthusiasm or the most recent administration. In Asia and the Pacific countries many systems are in the process of construction or reconstruction.
Rule of law in Europe
Discusses the state of rule of law protection in Europe, by considering recent challenges to judiciary independence in EU countries. The purpose of the book is to advance solutions to such challenges. It looks at the challenges from the perspective of EU law and ECHR law and puts forward solutions for its improvement and paths of action to be taken by EU political institutions to solve the problems.
Road Pricing, the Economy and the Environment
Economic growth and globalisation create traffic growth, leading to congestion, which again increases travel times and costs. Traffic growth also increases CO2 emissions, air pollution, accidents, and noise. So, clearly there is a need to manage traffic, taking into account that there is a need for transportation; hence it cannot be restricted without costs. Road pricing, where motorists pay for driving on specific roads, is an instrument that may efficiently reduce the negative impacts. But despite technological development and the efforts of the EU, it is still not widely used. Apparently, more research-based knowledge about the positive and negative consequences of road pricing is required. This volume is a collection of research papers on the use of road pricing. The focus is on passenger transport, and the papers cover a wide range of approaches, including theoretical modelling and empirical studies of road pricing experience from different cities.
Rise and Decline of Industry in Central and Eastern Europe : A Comparative Study of Cities and Regions in Eleven Countries
In the course of the tremendous political and economic upheaval starting in 1989/1990 many industrial cities and regions in Central and Eastern Europe have been confronted with profound problems. This book presents eleven detailed national reports which describe the situation in such cities and regions as well as the strategies which have been employed to cope with structural change. The country reports are complemented by short case studies of selected cities and regions. An introduction gives background to such topics as structural change and the ramifications of EU enlargement. Finally some conclusions are drawn and recommendations offered for future policy.
Research, Quality, Competitiveness : European Union Technology Policy for the Information Society
The book is divided into three sections: an introduction to the structure of the EU, a review of EU competitiveness, and an analysis of research and technology policy in the EU. … may be useful to extract as an introduction for newcomers. It will also be useful for those coming to the book … with no knowledge of the EU.This book focuses on issues of European science and technology policy. … Overall, the book is interesting and pedagogically valuable. … it is very useful for understanding the institutional context of EU science and technology policy. Also the social and economic data the book provides are very rich.
Research and Technological Innovation : The Challenge for a New Europe
To explain the importance of scientific research and technological innovation for industrial countries and in particular for the EU, in order to improve or to maintain economic leadership, is the central idea of this volume. It starts with a historical and theoretical perspective on scientific-technological innovation and its importance for industrial growth. Then it analyzes EU policy framework and strategies for R&D and it presents several national success stories both from EU and non-EU countries to confirm the theoretical perspective.
Regulatory and Economic Challenges in the Postal and Delivery Sector
Worldwide, there is considerable interest in postal and delivery economics. Governments, particularly in the European Union, are examining closely the roles of the two systems and how best to regulate them. This volume brings together 20 essays originally presented at the 12th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held in Cork, Ireland in June 2004. Contributors include researchers, practitioners, and senior managers from throughout the world.
Regionalisation, Growth, and Economic Integration
The purpose of this book is to analyse the process of regionalisation and to plot its future development. Regionalisation is a common feature of the changing territorial organisation of European states today. Regionalisation alone, however, cannot produce any of the benefits we attribute to it without looking into the conditions in which it occurs. Therefore, this book tackles the following questions, bringing together theory and empirical applications: What are the main determinants and implications for regional policy? How does economic policy affect the growth and integration process? Why is innovation important for regional economic development? Why is the regional dimension important for the innovation promotion? What has been our policy response so far and what lesson did we learn from it? And finally, what are our action lines for the future
Regional Disparities in Small Countries
This volume revisits the common conception that countries characterized by small land area and small population sizes do not exhibit significant regional inequalities. … Together, these chapters convincingly demonstrate that small countries do not seem to have significantly small regional gaps than large ones, and inequalities are shown to have increased over time. … The book is recommended to any scholar studying spatial inequalities … peace researchers interested in the inequality-conflict nexus.All in all, the book stands out from many other edited volumes by being clearly focused on one particular topic, rather than being a collection of loosely related individual papers.
Reform Options for the EU Own Resources System
Develops a reform proposal for the future revenue system of the EU budget. The findings strongly reject the idea that a reform based on an EU tax-based own resource would remedy current problems. Against the background of the status quo analysis the authors present a reform model which includes the complete phasing out of the VAT resource, a financing of the budget completely on the basis of the GNI resource and a generalised but limited correction mechanism (GLCM). The GLCM would make a clear distinction between policies having an intentional distributive effect or not. A further element of the reform proposal is a move towards a stronger financial contribution of regions to EU spending.
Quantitative Economic Policy : Essays in Honour of Andrew Hughes Hallett
Quantitative economic policy and econometrics were developed along with macroeconomics in the 1930s. Econometric techniques and models are still being used extensively in the business of forecasting and policy advice. In particular, policy simulations with econometric models have become standard tools for evaluating and designing macroeconomic stabilization policies. For instance, such studies provided important arguments for the popularization of the recent steps towards European integration such as the European Single Market, the European Monetary Union, and the Enlargement of the European Union. In this book, some recent advances in the theory and applications of quantitative economic policy are presented, with particular emphasis on fiscal and monetary policies in a European and global context. Andrew Hughes Hallett, a pioneer and major scientist in quantitative economic policy analysis, is being honoured by this volume, whose contributors are among his friends and former students.
Public Administration in Germany
This book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector
Preferences and Procedures : European Union Legislative Decision-Making
Preferences and Procedures presents and tests game-theoretic models of European Union legislative decision-making. It is inspired by the idea of linking statistical testing strategies firmly to formal models of EU policymaking. After describing salient features of the EU legislative process and comparing different models of how the EU negotiates new legislative measures, the models' predictive power is evaluated. On a more general level, Preferences and Procedures answers questions regarding the empirically recognizable effects of institutional arrangements on joint bargaining outcomes.
Pollution of the Sea : Prevention and Compensation
In May 2005, the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs organized an international conference addressing marine pollution. At the conf- ence venue, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, academics and practitioners debated recent developments from an interdisciplinary perspective. The papers shed light upon ecological aspects, upon the efforts of the international community to prevent and combat marine pollution by appropriate institutions and regulations, and upon the compensation of losses which have occurred despite those efforts. The present volume collects the papers of the conference and at the same time conveys an impression of the diversity of subjects discussed in the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs.
Political Economies of Landscape Change : Places of Integrative Power
Examines the complex relationships between political economy and landscape change. It encompasses perspectives ranging from radical landscape interpretation to sustainable livelihoods, real estate economics, institutions, international landscape policies, and global finance. It asks what difference "design", can make within the broader structural contexts of landscape change. The perspectives in this book share a common concern for what economist and futurist Kenneth Boulding termed "integrative power" – the power of human solidarity, respect, and love – to direct political and economic change toward paths of sustainable landscape design.
Policy Challenges and Political Responses : Public Choice Perspectives on the Post-9/11 World
In Policy Challenges and Political Responses, leading public choice scholars confront the most significant problems facing democratic societies at the dawn of the 21st century. Ranging widely across the policy spectrum, this authoritative volume demonstrates the vibrancy and continuing relevance of the public choice research program by applying its ideas and methods to constitution-making in the European Union, terrorism, the growth of government, political campaign finance, vote-counting technologies, participatory democracy, corporate governance, school choice, and tort reform. Essays assessing the present state of the social contract and the enduring tensions between capitalism, socialism, and democracy broaden the book’s perspective.
