A Risk-Benefit Perspective on Early Customer Integration
Customer integration in the early innovation phase has been considered the method of choice in theory and practice. Growing experience with the concept has shown unexpected side effects that may even outweigh its recognized advantages. Therefore, management needs to be able to assess in advance whether the involvement of customers will add overall value to each particular innovation project. To support but not to replace the final managerial decision, a mathematical formula is developed. It can be applied to all kinds of process structures, takes into account the risks and benefits contingent on a company's situation as well as risk-reducing and benefit-increasing measures and translates them into numerical values. The resulting figure indicates the prospective value of customer integration in a specific project.
A Primer on Environmental Decision-Making: an integrative quantitative approach
Integrates decision-making and environmental science. For ecologists it will bridge the gap to economics. For practitioners in environmental economics and management it will be a major reference book. It probably contains the largest collection available of expressions and basic equations that are used in environmental sciences. Applying these expressions as "rules-of-thumb" will give participants in a decision-making process a common platform for discussion and arbitration.
A Practical Programming Model for the Multi-Core Era ; 3rd International Workshop on OpenMP, IWOMP 2007, Beijing, China, June 3-7, 2007 Proceedings
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the Third International Workshop on OpenMP, IWOMP 2007, held in Beijing, China, in June 2007.The 14 revised full papers and 8 revised short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 28 submissions. The papers address all topics related to OpenMP, such as OpenMP performance analysis and modeling, OpenMP performance and correctness tools and proposed OpenMP extensions, as well as applications in various domains, e.g., scientific computation, video games, computer graphics, multimedia, information retrieval, optimization, text processing, data mining, finance, signal and image processing, and numerical solvers.
A practical guide to corporate finance : Breaking the financial lce
Offers an approachable guide to all key concepts within corporate finance. Emphasizing the use of common sense rather than number-crunching models, A practical guide to corporate finance begins with the basics of how to read financial statements and how to estimate future cash flows. It also includes a guide to subjects such as capital budgeting decisions, the cost of financing for businesses, cash and working capital management, The process of business valuation, and how stock markets work. This textbook breaks the financial ice by offering real, practical advice, helping the reader to avoid common pitfalls, and translate the 'financialese', or business jargon that can cause confusion for those without a financial or banking background.
A New Foundation of Physical Theories
Written in the tradition of G. Ludwig’s groundbreaking works, this book aims to clarify and formulate more precisely the fundamental ideas of physical theories. By introducing a basic descriptive language of simple form, in which it is possible to formulate recorded facts, ambiguities of physical theories are avoided as much as possible. In this approach the field of physics that should be described by a theory is determined by basic concepts only, i.e. concepts that can be explained without a theory.In this context the authors introduce a new concept of idealization and review the process of discovering new concepts. They believe that, when the theories are formulated within an axiomatic basis, solutions can be found to many difficult problems such as the interpretation of physical theories, the relations between theories as well as the introduction of physical concepts.
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Capability in Age and Ageing
This book provides insight on how to interpret capability in ageing – one’s individual ability to perform actions in order to reach goals one has reason to value – from a multidisciplinary approach. the book describes this demographic trends as well as the large global challenges and important societal implications this will have such as a worldwide increase in the number of persons affected with dementia, and in the ratio of retired persons to those still in the labor market. Through contributions from many different research areas, it discussed how capability depends on interactions between the individual (e.g. health, genetics, personality, intellectual capacity), environment (e.g. family, friends, home, work place), and society (e.g. political decisions, ageism, historical period).
A Modern Introduction to Probability and Statistics : Understanding Why and How
A Modern Introduction to Probability and Statistics has numerous quick exercises to give direct feedback to the students. In addition the book contains over 350 exercises, half of which have answers, of which half have full solutions. A website at www.springeronline.com/1-85233-896-2 gives access to the data files used in the text, and, for instructors, the remaining solutions. The only pre-requisite for the book is a first course in calculus; the text covers standard statistics and probability material, and develops beyond traditional parametric models to the Poisson process, and on to useful modern methods such as the bootstrap.
A Modern Approach to Intelligent Animation : Theory and Practice
Part of the new series, Advanced Topics in Science and Technology in China, this book discusses concepts, theory, and core technologies of intelligent theory and human animation, including video based human animation, and intelligent technology of motion data management and reusing. It introduces systems developed to demonstrate the technologies of video based animation. Each chapter is independent. Lively pictures and demos will be presented to make the theory and technologies more understandable.
A History of Thermodynamics : The Doctrine of Energy and Entropy
The development of thermodynamics in the second half of the 19th century has had a strong impact on both technology and natural philosophy. It is true that the steam engine for the conversion of heat into work existed before thermodynamics was developed as a branch of physics. However, the systematic theory improved the conversion process, and it succeeded in developing other processes essential to modern life, notably refrigeration and rectification. So, altogether thermodynamics has provided humanity with cheap energy, and cheap fuel, -- consequently with cheap, and abundant, and unspoiled food. Thus thermodynamics has made populations grow, and life expectancy increase beyond anything people could possibly have imagined 200 years ago.
A History of Interior Design ; 5th Ed
Interior design describes the process by which an interior space is made into an effective setting for whatever range of human activities are to take place there. Much like the history of art, the history of interior design encompasses numerous styles, movements, and the influence of international, political, and social developments. A basic understanding of this history is important to students taking survey courses, professional designers looking to the past for inspiration, and for those interested in antiques, furniture design, and the general evolution of the spaces where we work and live
A healthcare professionals training system
The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a type of examination often used in health sciences. It is designed to test clinical skill performance and competence in a range of skills. It is a practical, real-world approach to learning and assessment. Comprises a circuit of short (5-10 minutes) stations, in which each candidate is examined on a one-to-one basis with one or two impartial examiner(s) and patients who are either real or simulated (actors or electronic patient simulators). Each station has a different examiner; in comparison, the traditional method of clinical examination is when a candidate is assigned to an examiner for the entire examination.
A General introduction to data analytics
A guide to the principles and methods of data analysis that does not require knowledge of statistics or programming. A guide to the reasoning behind data mining techniques. A unique illustrative example that extends throughout all the chapters. Exercises at the end of each chapter and larger projects at the end of each of the text’s two main parts
A Distributed Coordination Approach to Reconfigurable Process Control
A Distributed Coordination Approach to Reconfigurable Process Control presents research that addresses this critical question, via developing a new distributed framework that will enable the building of a process control system that is capable of reconfigurability.
A dictionary of law
A Dictionary of Law' is an essential reference work, described by leading university lecturers as 'the best law dictionary' and favoured by law students and legal professionals alike. The tenth edition features over 4,900 clear and concise definitions on major terms, concepts, and processes within the English legal system, and is a useful source of information for any of the many countries that base their legal system on English law.
A Dictionary of Electronics and Electrical Engineering
This popular dictionary, formerly published as the Penguin Dictionary of Electronics, has been extensively revised and updated, providing clear, concise, and jargon-free A-Z entries on key terms, theories, and practices in the areas of electronics and electrical science. Topics covered include circuits, power, systems, magnetic devices, control theory, communications, signal processing, and telecommunications, together with coverage of applications areas such as image processing, storage, and electronic materials.
A Dictionary of Construction, Surveying and Civil Engineering
Covers the key areas of civil and construction engineering, construction technology and practice, construction management techniques and processes, as well as legal aspects such as contracts and procurement. It has been updated with more than 600 new entries spanning subjects such as sustainability, new technologies, disaster management, and building software. New additions include terms such as Air source heat pump, hydraulic failure, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, off-site construction, predictive performance, sustainable development, and value engineering.
A Demographic Perspective on Gender, Family and Health in Europe
Examines the triangle between family, gender, and health in Europe from a demographic perspective. It helps to understand patterns and trends in each of the three components separately, as well as their interdependencies. It overcomes the widely observable specialization in demographic research, which usually involves researchers studying either family or fertility processes or focusing on health and mortality.
A cost based approach to project management : Planning and controlling construction project costs
Illustrates the principles of project management and the essentials of cost planning and control with easy-to-understand examples from the construction industry. Includes step-by-step details of project planning, cost estimating, and management processes. Offers clear, cost-based methods for defining scope, preparing bids, and planning for contingencies, as well as monitoring progress and determining when to take remedial action. Contains a user-friendly guide to project management acronyms and terminology. Provides sample construction schedules, budgets, and progress report forms
A Contingency-Based View of Chief Executive Officers' Early Warning Behaviour : An Empirical Analysis of German Medium-Sized Companies
Organizations need to identify risks and chances of environmental changes in order to adapt to or possibly even to influence them. Early warning which comprises scanning and interpretation plays an important role in this process. Whereas the traditional contingency approach considers early warning as a part of the organizational structure, the extended contingency theory assumes the additional influence of an individual’s personality on early warning. Andreas Kirschkamp empirically analyses the early warning behavior of Chief Executive Officers in German medium-sized companies. First, he presents the design variables of early warning, then the influencing contingency variables. On the basis of the scholarly research on psychological and contingency theory, the author deduces hypotheses and tests them. The results show that early warning behavior is not only influenced by traditional contingency variables but also by personal attitudes.
A Concise Introduction to Data Compression
Compressing data is an option naturally selected when faced with problems of high costs or restricted space. Written by a renowned expert in the field, this book offers readers a succinct, reader-friendly foundation to the chief approaches, methods and techniques currently employed in the field of data compression.



















