Information and self-organization : A macroscopic approach to complex systems
This book presents the concepts needed to deal with self-organizing complex systems from a unifying point of view that uses macroscopic data. The various meanings of the concept "information" are discussed and a general formulation of the maximum information (entropy) principle is used. With the aid of results from synergetics, adequate objective constraints for a large class of self-organizing systems are formulated and examples are given from physics, life and computer science. The relationship to chaos theory is examined and it is further shown that, based on possibly scarce and noisy data, unbiased guesses about processes of complex systems can be made and the underlying deterministic and random forces determined. This allows for probabilistic predictions of processes, with applications to numerous fields in science, technology, medicine and economics. The extensions of the third edition are essentially devoted to an introduction to the meaning of information in the quantum context. Indeed, quantum information science and technology is presently one of the most active fields of research at the interface of physics, technology and information sciences and has already established itself as one of the major future technologies for processing and communicating information on any scale.
Information and communication technologies in tourism 2006 ; Proceedings of the International Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, 2006
This collection of papers presented at the 13th ENTER Conference represents a unique opportunity of sharing knowledge with researchers bridging the fields of travel and tourism, and information and communication technologies. This year’s 40 full research papers and 23 work in progress presentations cover the following topics: meta research and education; guides and information systems; website design; behaviour analysis; website evaluation; usability and accessibility; technology adoption by enterprises; pricing; information requirements; knowledge management; decision support and recommender systems; website evaluation; customer support and service; technology adoption by customers; business models, and marketing.
Information and communication technologies in tourism 2005 ; Proceedings of the International Conference in Innsbruck, Austria, 2005
The key objectives of this premier conference in ICT in travel and tourism are the dissemination of research findings and strong interaction among researchers and practitioners. The conference theme this year is "eBusiness is here ? – what is next?" The future is being explored by researchers from all perspectives – papers examine the basic architectures and systems underlying how toursim information is provided and how the marketplace is responding. Trip advisory research is now moving from the speculative to the sophisticated reflecting the rapidly changing individual skill sets, motivations and goals of today's tourist while an emerging collection of work is investigating the growing phenomenon of collaboration and community-building. A close examiniation of the 51 research papers will reveal the full extent of marketing-oriented research and show how strong the link is between ICT developments per se and business adoption and use of the new technologies and systems.
Influences of the IEA Civic and Citizenship Education Studies : Practice, Policy, and Research Across Countries and Regions
This book identifies the multiple ways that IEA’s studies of civic and citizenship education have contributed to national and international educational discourse, research, policymaking, and practice. The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), first conducted in 2009, was followed by a second cycle in 2016. The project was linked to the earlier IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED 1999, 2000). IEA’s ICCS remains the only large-scale international study dedicated to formal and informal civic and citizenship education in school. It continues to make substantial contributions to understanding the nature of the acquired civic knowledge, attitudes, and participatory skills. It also discusses in-depth how a wide range of countries prepare their young people for citizenship in changing political, social, and economic circumstances. The next cycle of ICCS is planned for 2022.
Inevitable Aging? : Contributions to Evolutionary-Demographic Theory
Aging is inevitable: this is gerontological dogma. And humans do inevitably grow old, which is probably why it seems so unlikely to us that other forms of life could escape aging. Escaping aging is not escaping death. Death is an inherent part of life, and it can strike any time. But the question is whether death necessarily becomes more likely as life proceeds. And it does not. The theoretical results in this monograph indicate that life provides alternative strategies. While some organisms will deteriorate over adult ages, for others mortality appears to fall or remain constant, at least over an extended period of life after reproductive maturity. This is empirically observed especially for species that keep on growing during adult ages. Perhaps the diversity of aging matches the diversity of life. My thesis, the central insight of this monograph, is: to deeply understand why some species age it is necessary to understand why other species do not.
Inelastic analysis of solids and structures
This book presents computational procedures for the stress integration of inelastic constitutive relations within the incremental-iterative finite element analysis and general strain-driven problems of solids and structures.
Industry 4.0 for SMEs : Challenges, opportunities and requirements
This book explores the concept of Industry 4.0, which presents a considerable challenge for the production and service sectors. While digitization initiatives are usually integrated into the central corporate strategy of larger companies, smaller firms often have problems putting Industry 4.0 paradigms into practice. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) possess neither the human nor financial resources to systematically investigate the potential and risks of introducing Industry 4.0. Addressing this obstacle, the international team of authors focuses on the development of smart manufacturing concepts, logistics solutions and managerial models specifically for SMEs. Aiming to provide methodological frameworks and pilot solutions for SMEs during their digital transformation, this innovative and timely book will be of great use to scholars researching technology management, digitization and small business, as well as practitioners within manufacturing companies.
Industrial enzymes : Structure, function and applications
Man's use of enzymes dates back to the earliest times of civilization. Important human activities such as the production of certain types of foods and beverages, and the tanning of hides and skins to produce leather for garments, serendipitously took advantage of enzyme activities. Important advances in our understanding of the nature of enzymes and their action were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeding the explosive expansion from the 1950s and 60s onward to the present billion dollar enzyme industry. Recent developments in the fields of genetic engineering and protein chemistry are bringing ever more powerful means of analysis to bear on the study of enzyme structure and function that will undoubtedly lead to the rational modification of enzymes to match specific requirements as well as the design of new enzymes with novel properties.
Individual Financial Planning for Retirement : Empirical Insights from the Affluent Segment in Germany
Over time, the responsibility for providing for a financially secure retirement has shifted more towards the individual. A number of implicit assumptions about perspectives, behavior, and individual choices underlie this shift. These assumptions presume that individuals are well-informed and reason unemotionally; that they process information correctly; and that they take rational decisions and act to maximize their own welfare. Empirical evidence, however, shows that such maxims do not often guide individuals’ actual behavior. Building on a new structure applied to insights drawn from behavioral finance, this book analyzes the perspectives of individuals with regard to their financial situation in retirement and compares the actions they take with ideal behavior. The work provides new insights into the broadly defined topic of individual retirement-specific financial planning behavior.
Indicator Systems for Sustainable Innovation
In the recent past, environmental innovations have led to a considerable reduction of many pollutants; however, further innovation is required to tackle remaining pollution sources. This work analyses the significance and the effects of framework conditions on innovation activities that contribute to the realisation of a sustainable development. The book links the experiences of different research projects with the aim to develop a system of indicators to evaluate sustainable effects of (environmental) innovations. A comprehensive framework for an indicator system is established that allows to include different environmental innovation fields such as process innovations in the steel production, substitution of dangerous chemicals, organisational innovations in the field of waste disposal or sustainable water management.
Index and Stability in Bimatrix Games : A Geometric-Combinatorial Approach
The contribution of this thesis can be divided into two parts. The first part concerns methods and techniques. By introducing a new geometriccombinatorial construction for bimatrix games, this thesis gives a new, intuitive re-interpretation of the index. This re-interpretation is to a large extent self-contained and does not require a background in algebraic topology. The second part of this thesis concerns the relationship between the index and strategic properties. In this context, the thesis provides two new results, both of which are obtained by means of the new construction and are explained in further detail below. The first result shows that, in non-degenerate bimatrix games, the index can fully be described by a simple strategic property.
Independent Component Analysis and Blind Signal Separation ; 6th International Conference, ICA 2006, Charleston, SC, USA, March 5-8, 2006, Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Independent Component Analysis and Blind Source Separation, ICA 2006, held in Charleston, SC, USA, in March 2006. The 120 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 183 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on algorithms and architectures, applications, medical applications, speech and signal processing, theory, and visual and sensory processing.
In Vivo Imaging of Cancer Therapy
In Vivo Imaging of Cancer Therapy addresses a variety of cutting-edge imaging techniques, including their use for best practice, and provides examples of results found in both pre-clinical and clinical studies. This comprehensive text covers the entire spectrum of in vivo imaging for oncology, including current approaches to detailed anatomic measurements, MR and optical spectroscopy, and molecular imaging techniques requiring exogenously administered imaging agents. The challenges and approaches to quantification are also outlined. The authors describe technologies and methods that are currently clinically available, and many that are still in a developmental stage or useful only in animal studies.
Improving outcomes in oral cancer : A clinical and translational update
Brings together experts in the field of maxillofacial and head and neck oncology to provide a comprehensive clinical and translational update on oral cancer that focuses especially on prognosis. Readers will find up-to-date information on disease staging and the pathological, genetic, and surgical factors that affect patient outcomes.
Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment
More countries are now using Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) than ever before. This timely and comprehensive Handbook describes the implementation of SEA in 18 countries around the world, as well as a critical analysis of different SEA methodologies. The Handbook starts by introducing key SEA principles and the legal requirements of the new European SEA Directive (which became law in 2004). It then describes the implementation of SEA in 11 European Union countries, as well as the USA, Canada and New Zealand. This is contrasted with SEA requirements of four developing countries. The Handbook explores public participation issues and the wide-range of SEA methodologies used in terms of resources (soils, water and biodiversity) and sectors of activity (transport, agriculture, waste management and industry). The Handbook concludes with a discussion on best practice, capacity building and the future of SEA.
Implementing semantic web services : The SESA framework
Service-oriented computing has become one of the predominant factors in IT research and development efforts over the last few years. In spite of several standardization efforts that advanced from research labs into industrial-strength technologies and tools, there is still much human effort required in the process of finding and executing Web services.
Implementation of functional languages ; 15th International Workshop, IFL 2003, Edinburgh, UK, September 8-11, 2003. Revised Papers
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 15th International Workshop on the Implementation of Functional Languages, IFL 2003, held in Edinburgh, UK in September 2003. The 11 revised full papers presented were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and revision from 32 workshop presentations. The papers are organized in topical sections on language constructs and programming, static analysis and types, parallelism, and generic programming.
Implementation and Application of Functional Languages ; Vol. 4015 ; 17th International Workshop, IFL 2005, Dublin, Ireland, September 19-21, 2005, Revised Selected Papers
The 17th International Workshop on Implementation and Application of Functional Languages (IFL 2005) was held in Dublin, Ireland, September 19–21, 2005. It was organized by the Department of Computer Science at Trinity College, University of Dublin. IFL 2005 was the 17th event in the annual series of IFL workshops. The aim of the workshop series is to bring together researchers actively engaged in the implementation and application of functional and function-based programming languages. It provides an open forum for researchers who wish to present and discuss new ideas and concepts, work in progress, preliminary results, etc., related primarily, but not exclusively, to the implementation and application of functional languages. Topics of interest cover a wide range from theoretical aspects over language design and implementation towards applications and tool support.
Implementation and application of functional languages ; Vol. 3474 ; 16th International Workshop, IFL 2004, Lübeck, Germany, September 8-10, 2004, Revised Selected Papers
The 16th International Workshop on Implementation and Application of Fu- tional Languages (IFL 2004) was held in Lub ¨ eck, Germany, September 8–10, 2004. It was jointly organized by the Institute of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics of the University of Kiel and the Institute of Software Technology and Programming Languages of the University of Lub ¨ eck. IFL 2004 was the sixteenth event in the annual series of IFL workshops. The aim of the workshop series is to bring together researchers actively engaged in the implementation and application of functional and function-based progr- ming languages. It provides an open forum for researchers who wish to present and discuss new ideas and concepts, work in progress, preliminary results, etc., related primarily, but not exclusively, to the implementation and application of functional languages. Topics of interest cover a wide range from theoretical - pects over language design and implementation towards applications and tool support.
Implementation and Application of Functional Languages ; 19th International Workshop, IFL 2007, Freiburg, Germany, September 27-29, 2007. Revised Selected Papers
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 19th International Workshop on Implementation and Applications of Functional Languages, IFL 2007, held in Freiburg, Germany in September 2007.The 15 revised full papers presented went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement and were selected from 33 submissions. The papers address all current theoretical and methodological issues on functional and function-based languages such as type checking, contract checking, compilation, parallelism, development and debugging, data structures, parsing as well as various performance related concepts.



















