Automotive production systems and standardisation : From Ford to the case of Mercedes-Benz
The introduction of the Mercedes-Benz Production System (MPS) is exemplary of a trend within the automotive industry: the creation and introduction of company-specific standardised production systems. This book contributes to the debate about production systems by examining the social and economic implications of the role of standardisation in production systems. In this context it addresses three core issues: First, the driving forces behind the changing forms and functions of standardisation and the role of institutions therein. Second, the impact of standardisation on the evolution of automotive production systems. Third, based on the author's own empirical research conducted over a three year period at the Mercedes-Benz plant Stuttgart-Untertürkheim/Germany, the book examines the influence of standardisation on the work of actors on the shop floor in terms of organisational learning processes and the regulation of work.
Lone Parenthood in the Life Course
Provides a comprehensive portrait of lone parenthood at the beginning of the XXI century from a life course perspective. The contributions included in this volume examine the dynamics of lone parenthood in the life course and explore the trajectories of lone parents in terms of income, poverty, labour, market behaviour, wellbeing, and health. Throughout, comparative analyses of data from countries as France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, and Australia help portray how lone parenthood varies between regions, cultures, generations, and institutional settings. The findings show that one-parent households are inhabited by a rather heterogeneous world of mothers and fathers facing different challenges.
Junge Perspektiven der Türkeiforschung in Deutschland = Young perspectives of Turkey research in Germany
This volume creates an interdisciplinary forum for contemporary Turkey research in Germany. It presents research results from young scientists who are characterized by a fresh view of Turkey, methodological diversity and interdisciplinary approaches. The volume thus contributes to a better understanding of the society, politics, economy, history and culture of the country, which is playing an increasingly important role both regionally and in the European context.
IUTAM Symposium on Multiscale Problems in Multibody System Contacts ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Stuttgart, Germany, February 20–23, 2006
The investigation of multiscale problems in multibody system contacts is an interesting and timely topic which has been the subject of intensive research. This proceedings volume summarizes contributions of many authors active in the field and gives insight in very different areas of this fascinating research.
Comparative Corporate Governance : Shareholders as a Rule-maker
It is fairly easy for a Finnish Jurist to understand German Company law. On the other hand, UK Company law seems very confusing. What is even more confusing is that the UK corporate govemance model is often regarded as one of the best in the World. Clearly German law cannot be as bad as it is often said to be. This books results from these kinds of thoughts and an interest in comparative law, Company law and securities markets law. I wanted to find out whether the functional method would give anything new to say about the regulation of corpo rate govemance in Germany and the UK. As I have been lecturing on Company law and corporate govemance myself, I also wanted to write a book that I could use as a textbook in my courses. For this reason, I focused on one of the key questions in corporate govemance: the regula tion of shareholder activism.
Childlessness in Europe : Contexts, Causes, and Consequences
This open access book provides an overview of childlessness throughout Europe. It offers a collection of papers written by leading demographers and sociologists that examine contexts, causes, and consequences of childlessness in countries throughout the region.The book features data from all over Europe. It specifically highlights patterns of childlessness in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. An additional chapter on childlessness in the United States puts the European experience in perspective.
Characterisation in Federations : Six Countries Compared
In this work Dr. Taylor surveys the federal countries of the world and asks how they divide power among the constituent units of the federation. In so doing, he considers not only the formal constitutional text, but, far more importantly, the case law that has grown up around it as the Courts develop approaches to interpreting provisions for the distribution of powers. This enables conclusions to be drawn about the effectiveness of various structural and interpretative approaches to the distribution of powers within federations.
Business processes : An archival science approach to collaborative decision making, records, and knowledge management
Collaborative decision making processes are a form of communication inside organizations. Their functioning can teach lessons for the design of electronic office systems. Those processes are open ended and therefore decide themselves on their form. Like oral deliberations which cannot be modelled in advance any open ended communication process needs means for common control over the further advancement and the ending of the process.The book is a reworked English version of a thesis for the official qualification for university professorship accepted by the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer. Germany.
Assessing Quality in European Higher Education Institutions : Dissemination, Methods and Procedures
This book collects the evaluation and accreditation experiences gathered by higher education institutions in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
Arnheim, Gestalt and Art : A Psychological Theory
The book discovers an unappreciated unity to Arnheim’s thinking. Not content to simply summarize Arnheim’s theory, however, Arnheim, Art, and Gestalt goes on to enrich (and occasionally question) Arnheim’s findings with the contemporary results of gestalt-theoretical research from around the world, but especially in Italy and Germany. The result is a workable overview of the psychology of art with bridges built to contemporary research, making Arnheim’s approach living and sustainable.
Analysis and Simulation of Contact Problems
Contact mechanics was and is an important branch in mechanics which covers a broad field of theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations. In this carefully edited book the reader will obtain a state-of-the-art overview on formulation, mathematical analysis and numerical solution procedures of contact problems. The contributions collected in this volume summarize the lectures presented during the 4th Contact Mechanics International Symposium (CMIS) held in Hannover, Germany, 2005, by leading scientists in the area of contact mechanics.
Advances in solid state physics ; Vol. 47
The present volume 47 of the Advances in Solid State Physics contains the written version of a large number of the invited talks of the 2007 Spring Meeting of the Arbeitskreis Festkörperphysik which was held in Regensburg, Germany, from March 26 to 30, 2007 in conjunction with the 71st Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.It gives an overview of the present status of solid state physics where low-dimensional systems such as quantum dots and quantum wires are dominating. The importance of magnetic materials is reflected by the large number of contributions in the part dealing with ferromagnetic films and particles. One of the most exciting achievements of the last couple of years is the successful application of electrical contacts to and the investigation of single layers of graphene.
Advances in solid state physics ; Vol. 45
The book presents, to some extent, the status of the field of solid-state physics in 2005 not only in Germany but also internationally. It is ''nanoscience'', namely the physics of quantum dots and wires, electrical transport, optical properties, spin transport in nanostructures, and magnetism on the nanoscale, that is of central interest to the physics community. Also, soft matter and biological systems are covered.
A Life (Un)Worthy of Living: Reproductive Genetics in Israel and Germany
This book presents the findings of a study into the social shaping of reproductive genetics in Germany and Israel, two exceptionally interesting social settings, which share a traumatic history. ‘This is a unique and courageous book. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev studied the field of reproductive genetics in Israel and Germany, and found out that while in Germany social, cultural, legal and religious conditions restrict the selection of embryos based on prenatal diagnosis, it is strongly encouraged in Israel. This unexpected finding is brilliantly analyzed by the author. Thus this excellent book must be read and discussed by social scientists, human geneticists, genetic counsellors, bio ethicists and medical students.'













