Integral Methods in Science and Engineering : Techniques and Applications
The physical world is studied by means of mathematical models, which consist of differential, integral, and integro-differential equations accompanied by a large assortment of initial and boundary conditions. In certain circumstances, such models yield exact analytic solutions. When they do not, they are solved numerically by means of various approximation schemes. Whether analytic or numerical, these solutions share a common feature: they are constructed by means of the powerful tool of integration—the focus of this self-contained book. This work illustrates the application of integral methods to diverse problems in mathematics, physics, biology, and engineering. The thirty two chapters of the book, written by scientists with established credentials in their fields, contain state-of-the-art information on current research in a variety of important practical disciplines.
Intangible capital and growth : Essays on labor productivity, monetary economics, and political economy ; Vol.1
It is now widely recognized that intangible capital has been a crucial element in the growth performance of these economies and their firms. In the author's view, “intangible capital” serves as the most appropriate umbrella term for capturing several dimensions of capital that are not tangible in nature but are nevertheless fundamentally important for growth. The term encompasses investments in education (human capital) and in informal (social capital) and formal (rule of law) institutions by the public sector and households, as well as investments by businesses aimed at enhancing their knowledge base, such as software, innovative property, and economic competencies.
Insurance intermediation : An economic analysis of the information services market
Insurance intermediaries can help consumers to economize on information and transaction costs in insurance markets. However, competing intermediaries provide heterogeneous information services, which are difficult to assess by incompletely informed consumers. Conduct and performance in the market for insurance information services are analyzed by applying search theoretical and industrial organization approaches. Based on a sample of 927 insurance intermediaries, the factors that affect the quality of the information services provided by them are studied empirically. The results obtained support the main hypotheses derived from industrial organization theories as to the poor working of quality competition under incomplete and asymmetric information on the side of consumers.
Insurance distribution directive : A legal analysis
This book of the AIDA Europe Research Series on Insurance Law and Regulation offers the first comprehensive legal and regulatory analysis of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD).
Insulating Modernism : Isolated and Non-Isolated Thermodynamics in Architecture
What is the best way to achieve sustainable energy savings in buildings? This book describes the history, theory and facts of the mainstream insulation technology and the emerging alternative design approaches.
Institutions, Sustainability, and Natural Resources : Institutions for Sustainable Forest Management
A new economic theory, rather than a new public policy based on old theory, is needed to guide humanity toward sustainability. Institutions are a critical dimension of sustainability and sustainable forest management, and economic analysis of institutional dimension requires an inclusionist rather than an exclusionist approach. This book provides a systematic critique of neoclassical economic approaches and their limitations with respect to sustainability. Leading institutional economists discuss theoretical perspectives about appropriate institutions for sustainable forest management, markets for environmental services, deforestation and specialization, and some country experiences about Kyoto Protocol, international trade, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable forest management in general. The book includes the ideas from old as well as new institutional economics and discusses the main features of Post-Newtonian economics.This book follows a companion book, Economics, Sustainability, and Natural Resources: Economics of Sustainable Forest Management, volume 1 of the series.
Institution-independent Model Theory
A model theory that is independent of any concrete logical system allows a general handling of a large variety of logics. This generality can be achieved by applying the theory of institutions that provides a precise mathematical formulation for the intuitive concept of a logical system. Especially in computer science, where the development of a huge number of specification logics is observable, institution-independent model theory simplifies and sometimes even enables a concise model-theoretic analysis of the system. Besides incorporating important methods and concepts from conventional model theory, the proposed top-down methodology allows for a structurally clean understanding of model-theoretic phenomena. As a consequence, results from conventional concrete model theory can be understood more easily, and sometimes even new results are obtained.
Institutional Reform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship : An Agenda for Europe
The authors of this book advise the economies of the European Union to become more entrepreneurial in promoting innovation and economic growth. The authors propose a reform strategy with respect to several aspects to achieve this goal. Starting with the rule of law and the protection of property rights; the tax system; the authors deal with regulations governing savings, capital and finance, and the organization of labor markets and social insurance systems. Framework strategies related to the regulations governing goods and service markets, bankruptcy and insolvency are also put forward. A core understanding and future path is also provided towards R&D, commercialization and knowledge spillovers; human capital investments; and informal institutions.
Insider attack and cyber security : Beyond the hacker
This book sets an agenda for an ongoing research initiative to solve one of the most vexing problems encountered in computer security, and includes the following topics: critical IT infrastructure protection, insider threats, awareness and dealing with nefarious human activities in a manner that respects individual liberties and privacy policies of organizations while providing the best protection of critical resources and services. In some sense, the insider problem is the ultimate security problem. This volume concludes with technical and legal challenges facing researchers who study and propose solutions to mitigate insider attacks.
Inside/outside Islamic art and architecture: a cartography of boundaries in and of the field
When we walk into a gallery, we have a fairly good idea where the building begins and ends; and inside, while observing a painting, we are equally confident in distinguishing between the painting-proper and its frame and borders. Yet, things are often more complicated. A building defines an exterior space just as much as an interior, and what we perceive to be ornamental and marginal to a given painting may in fact be central to what it represents. In this volume, a simple question is presented: instead of dichotomous separations between inside and outside, or exterior and interior, what other relationships can we think of? The first book of its kind to grapple with this question, Inside/Outside Islamic Art and Architecture focuses on a wide spectrum of mediums and topics, including painted manuscripts, objects, architectural decoration, architecture and urban planning, and photography. Bringing together scholars with diverse methodologies-who work on a geographical span stretching from India to Spain and Nigeria, and across a temporal spectrum from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century-this original book also poses engaging questions about the boundaries of the field.
Insects as natural enemies : A practical perspective
This book it is an account of major aspects of the biology of predators and parasitoids, punctuated with information and advice on which experiments or observations to conduct, and how to carry them out. Guidance is provided, where necessary, on the literature that may need to be consulted on particular topics.
Insect Conservation and Islands
A series of original papers and reviews dealing with the peculiarities of island insects and their conservation in many parts of the world. Contributions to this special issue of Journal of Insect Conservation range from biogeographical analyses andecological features of island insects and their evolution to the variety of concerns for their wellbeing, and practical conservation through a variety of, sometimes novel, approaches. They provide a valuable and up-to-date resource for entomologists and conservation practitioners.
Innovative Tools and methods using BIM for an efficient renovation in buildings
This book describes a BIM-based toolkit that has been developed according to the latest research activities on building information modelling and semantic interoperability to optimize the building process. It highlights the impacts of using such new tools to fast renovation activities starting from the decision-making and design stages to the construction site management with the possibility to monitor occupants' and owners’ feedback during the realization process. In this process, a framework has been developed and implemented to allow stakeholders involved in a renovation project to efficiently compile, maintain, and add data about (i) building elements, (ii) building services systems, (iii) tenants, operators, and owners of the building, and (iv) current and predicted performance of the building from the various data sources available. The framework applies and specializes the existing practices in the Semantic Web, Linked Data, and ontology domain to the management of renovation projects. It has been designed to be open so that any system which implements the required functions and uses the specified conventions will be able to achieve semantic interoperability with other framework-compliant systems in the renovation domain. Finally, this book represents the validation process of the toolkit that has been held in three demo sites: a social housing building in Italy and two private residential buildings in Poland and Finland. The outcome shows that the toolkit facilitates the renovation process with relevant reductions of time, costs, and energy consumption and that the inhabitants can take advantage of the increase in building performances, quality, and comfort.
Innovative Internet Community Systems ; Vol. 3473 ; 4th International Workshop, IICS 2004, Guadalajara, Mexico, June 21-23, 2004. Revised Papers
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed postproceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Innovative Internet Community Systems, IICS 2004, held in Guadalajara, Mexico, in June 2004. The 25 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited papers have been carefully reviewed. They focus mainly on system-oriented problems, text processing, and theoretical foundations of distributed and Internet systems. They also deal with speed and quality-of-service problems of Internet protocols, aspects of cooperation and collaboration in Internet systems, as well as agent and text-processing-based methods. In addition, 9 papers stem from two mini-workshops, one on computational epidemiology and the other on optimization of urban traffic systems.
Innovations and advanced techniques in systems, computing sciences and software engineering
Innovations and Advanced Techniques in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering includes a set of rigorously reviewed world-class manuscripts addressing and detailing state-of-the-art research projects in the areas of Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Systems Engineering and Sciences.Innovations and Advanced Techniques in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering includes selected papers form the conference proceedings of the International Conference on Systems.
Innovations and Advanced Techniques in Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering
Innovations and Advanced Techniques in Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering is a collection of world class paper articles addressing the following topics: Signal and Image Processing: Content Based Video Retrieval, Character Recognition, Incremental Learning for Speech Recognition, Signal Processing Theory and Methods, and Vision-based Monitoring Systems. Software and Systems: Activity-Based Software Estimation, Algorithms, Genetic Algorithms, Information Systems Security, Programming Languages, Software Protection Techniques, Software Protection Techniques, and User Interfaces. Distributed Processing: Asynchronous Message Passing System, Heterogeneous Software Environments, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Resource Allocation, and Sensor Networks. Advanced and innovative techniques in computing: e-Science and Virtual Instrumentation, Fault-Tolerant Scheduling, Grid Computing, Microcracking in Cortical Bones, Service-oriented Architectures, and Virtualization in Data Warehouses.
Innovation Matters : Competition Policy for the High-Technology Economy
A proposal for moving from price-centric to innovation-centric competition policy, reviewing theory and available evidence on economic incentives for innovation. Competition policy and antitrust enforcement have traditionally focused on prices rather than innovation. Economic theory shows the ways that price competition benefits consumers, and courts, antitrust agencies, and economists have developed tools for the quantitative evaluation of price impacts. Antitrust law does not preclude interventions to encourage innovation, but over time the interpretation of the laws has raised obstacles to enforcement policies for innovation. In this book, economist Richard Gilbert proposes a shift from price-centric to innovation-centric competition policy. Antitrust enforcement should be concerned with protecting incentives for innovation and preserving opportunities for dynamic, rather than static, competition. In a high-technology economy, Gilbert argues, innovation matters.
Innovation Management
Not solely covering new products, Innovation Management focuses on new services and new business models; in doing so, it provides an introduction to new business development. The book follows the logic of the innovation process, from idea development via selection to implementation, and discusses these topics both on the level of the company and individual projects. Its content is evidence-based, but with many practical examples.
Innovation in manufacturing networks ; 8th IFIP International Conference on information technology for balanced automation systems, Porto, Portugal, June 23–25, 2008
The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of refereed international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured.
Innovation in European Freight Transportation : Basics, Methodology and Case Studies for the European Markets
Serious problems and risks can be observed in European freight transportation development. However, the transport and logistics sector shows a lack of tradition in utilising systematic innovation management to overcome these problems. Hence, this volume puts forward a specific and comprehensive Systemic Migration-Oriented Innovation Management Method.



















