الصفحة 2
الصفحة 2
New Political Economy of Exchange Rate Policies and the Enlargement of the Eurozone
This work examines the political economy of exchange-rate policies in the context of the eastward enlargement of the eurozone. The analysis shows that prospective members of the EMU are likely to pass on some of the incurred Maastricht costs of convergence to the current EMU-members. The transmission mechanism is an altered exchange-rate policy that is carried out utilizing a "threaten-thy-neighbour"-strategy. The nature of the arising conflict between current and prospective EMU-members originates from both parties' admitted inclination to complete the enlargement process, complicated by their disinclination to bear the costs. The ensuing moral-hazard behaviour of the CEECs proves to be one of brinkmanship.
New Frontiers in Banking Services : Emerging Needs and Tailored Products for Untapped Markets
This book is devoted to an issue that is the subject of growing interest amongst policy makers, financial providers and academics. That issue is the problem of unbanking or underbanking in developed countries. The issue has arisen because, faced with an ever more sophisticated and efficient financial system, an increasing number of people have found themselves in danger of being excluded from it. The goal of the papers that follow is to draw attention, both through a theoretical framework and through field study, to the need for banks, financial institutions, public authorities and non profit associations to increase their efforts to understand the process of financial exclusion, so that they can develop approaches to help people on low to moderate incomes to gain access to the whole range of financial services, from payment to savings, and from loans to investment.
New Computational Paradigms ; 1st Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2005, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 8-12, 2005, Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the first International Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2005, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in June 2005. The 68 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 144 submissions. Among them are papers corresponding to two tutorials, six plenary talks and papers of six special sessions involving mathematical logic and computer science at the same time as offering the methodological foundations for models of computation. The papers address many aspects of computability in Europe with a special focus on new computational paradigms. These include first of all connections between computation and physical systems (e.g., quantum and analog computation, neural nets, molecular computation), but also cover new perspectives on models of computation arising from basic research in mathematical logic and theoretical computer science.
Neuroimmune Pharmacology
This exciting new textbook, Neuroimmune Pharmacology, reflects the history and vision of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology and of the Society’s official publication, the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology. All three represent deliberations arising from a relatively young, interdisciplinary, and dynamic field of research, which have major translational implications for neurodegenerative, neuroinflammatory, neuropsychiatric diseases, and infections of the nervous system. They all demonstrate the synergistic value of integrating the parts: Neuroscience, Immunology, and Pharmacology. The extraordinary accomplishment of Neuroimmune Pharmacology is its comprehensive nature.
Neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis
In multiple sclerosis (MS), conventional magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) has proved to be a valuable tool to increase diagnostic reliability and to monitor the efficacy of experimental treatment. However, cMRI has limited specificity and accuracy as to the most disabling aspects of the MS pathology, known to occur in and outside macroscopic lesions. Modern quantitative MR techniques have the potential to overcome the limitations of cMRI, and their application is dramatically changing our understanding of how MS causes irreversible disability.
Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is a medical enigma. As a childhood neoplasm arising from neural crest cells, it is characterized by diverse clinical behaviors ranging from spontaneous remission to rapid tumor progression and death. Although clinical outcome can be predicted to a large extent by the stage of disease and the age at diagnosis, an in-depth understanding of its clinico-pathological behavior, now greatly aided by sophisticated molecular genetic profiling, will improve diagnostic precision and refine risk-based therapies. Comprehensive international efforts have advanced our understanding of tumor biology and improved the clinical management of children with neuroblastoma. This book reviews our current understanding of the genes and biological pathways that contribute to neuroblastoma pathogenesis, modern risk-based treatment approaches for these patients, and recent advances in biologically based therapy. It provides a concise up-to-date reference for practitioners, students, and researchers.
NETWORKING 2006 : Networking technologies, services, protocols ; performance of computer and communication networks ; Mobile and wireless communications systems ; 5th International IFIP-TC6 Networking Conference, Coimbra, Portugal, May 15-19, 2006, Proceedings
Networking 2006 was organized by the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and it was the fifth event in a series of International Conferences on Networking sponsored by the IFIP Technical Committee on Communication Systems (TC 6). Previous events were held in Paris (France) in 2000, Pisa (Italy) in 2002, Athens (Greece) in 2004, and Waterloo (Canada) in 2005. Networking 2006 brought together active and proficient members of the networking community, from both academia and industry, thus contributing to scientific, strategic, and practical advances in the broad and fast-evolving field of communications. The conference comprised highly technical sessions organized thematically, keynote talks, tutorials offered by experts, as well as workshops and panel discussions on topical themes. Plenary sessions with keynote talks opened the daily sessions, which covered Networking Technologies, Services and Protocols, Performance of Computer and Communication Networks, and Mobile and Wireless Communications Systems.
Nature Inspired Cooperative Strategies for Optimization (NICSO 2007)
The aim for NICSO 2007 was to provide a forum were the latest ideas and state of the art research related to cooperative strategies for problem solving arising from Nature could be discussed. The contributions collected in this book were strictly peer reviewed by at least three members of the international programme committee, to whom we are indebted for their support and assistance. The topics covered by the contributions include several well established nature inspired techniques like Genetic Algorithms, Ant Colonies, Artificial Immune Systems, Evolutionary Robotics, Evolvable Systems, Membrane Computing, Quantum Computing, Software Self Assembly, Swarm Intelligence, etc.
Natural Products : Drug Discovery and Therapeutic Medicine
Although the natural product drug discovery programs of the large drug companies are now equaled by programs for the high throughput screening of synthetic compounds generated through combinatorial chemistry, natural compounds still hold great promise to overcome such problems as antibiotic resistance, the emergence of new diseases, the failure to conquer old diseases, and the toxicity of some contemporary medical products. In Natural Products: Drug Discovery and Therapeutic Medicine, a panel of recognized experts and leaders in the field discuss the past successes of natural products as medicines and review future possibilities arising from both conventional and new technologies. High-performance liquid chromatography profiling, combinatorial synthesis, genomics, proteomics, DNA shuffling, bioinformatics, and genetic manipulation all now make it possible to rapidly evaluate the activities of extracts as well as purified components derived from microbes, plants, and marine organisms. The authors apply these methods to new natural product drug discovery, to accessing microbial diversity, to investigating specific groups of products (Chinese herbal drugs, antitumor drugs from microbes and plants, terpenoids, and arsenic compounds), and to exploiting specific sources (the sea, rainforest, and endophytes). These new opportunities show how research and development trends in the pharmaceutical industry can advance to include both synthetic compounds and natural products, and how this paradigm shift can be more productive and efficacious.
Natural language processing and information systems ; 12th International Conference on Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems, NLDB 2007, Paris, France, June 27-29, 2007, Proceedings
NLP techniques may substantially enhance most phases of the information system lifecycle, starting with requirement analysis, specification and validation, and going up to conflict resolution, result processing and presentation.
National Systems of Innovation in Comparison : Structure and Performance Indicators for Knowledge Societies
The book documents major elements of the joint work of eight leading German institutes, elaborated in the context of a regular annual report on Germany's technological performance. It provides much more than the pure compilation of quantitative indicators for international benchmarking, but gives support to an appropriate interpretation of the referring results and suggests relevant conclusions for innovation policy. A special focus is on Germany; so the book also aims at non-German readers interested in specific features of the German innovation system.
Nanopharmaceuticals in regenerative medicine
A collective and comprehensive volume of the latest innovations in nanoscience technology for practical use in clinical, biomedicine and diagnostic arena. The term nanotechnology pops up in every segment of modern-day life. The primary aim of this book is to deliver the precise information to students, educators, technologists and researchers. A conglomerate of scientists from various research fields contributed to the chapters, giving detailed descriptions on the most recent developments of nanotechnology in the area of disease management. This book will also be useful for industrial research and development partners, start-up entrepreneurs, government policy makers and other professionals who are interested in nanomedicines.
Mysteries of English Grammar : A Guide to complexities of the English Language
Despite a history of hundreds of years of research analysing aspects of English grammar, there are still open problems which continue to baffle language researchers today. Such ‘grammar mysteries’ arise for a number of reasons: because the language is changing; because different speakers of the language adhere to distinct norms and thus introduce and maintain variation in the system; because there are differences between the grammar of spoken and written English.
Musculoskeletal Sonography : Technique, Anatomy, Semeiotics and Pathological Findings in Rheumatic Diseases
Ultrasonography is effective in the evaluation of joint involvement in patients with rheumatic diseases, and may be useful in diagnosis and in monitoring the synovial inflammation by power Doppler technique, with great sensitivity in comparison with clinical examination. The high-resolution US combined with power Doppler technique is also able to detect the peripheral entheseal abnormality, the bone erosion and the tendon involvement. The purpose of this book is to elucidate the examination technique, the sonographic changes in musculoskeletal rheumatic involvement and the ultrasound assessment of joint rheumatic diseases. The atlas is enriched with several figures, in which the US picture is compared with that of conventional radiography, CT and MRI.
Multiscale Optimization Methods and Applications
One general strategy for dealing with a large or difficult problem is to partition it into smaller ones, which are hopefully much easier to solve, and then work backwards towards the solution of original problem, using a solution from a previous level as a starting guess at the next level.The topics of the chapters selected for this volume are focused on the development of new solution methodologies, including general multilevel solution techniques, for tackling difficult, large-scale optimization problems that arise in science and industry. Applications presented in the book include but are not limited to the circuit placement problem in VLSI design, a wireless sensor location problem, optimal dosages in the treatment of cancer by radiation therapy, and facility location.
Multiobjective Optimization : Interactive and Evolutionary Approaches
Multiobjective optimization deals with solving problems having not only one, but multiple, often conflicting, criteria. Such problems can arise in practically every field of science, engineering and business, and the need for efficient and reliable solution methods is increasing. The task is challenging due to the fact that, instead of a single optimal solution, multiobjective optimization results in a number of solutions with different trade-offs among criteria, also known as Pareto optimal or efficient solutions. Hence, a decision maker is needed to provide additional preference information and to identify the most satisfactory solution. Depending on the paradigm used, such information may be introduced before, during, or after the optimization process. Clearly, research and application in multiobjective optimization involve expertise in optimization as well as in decision support.
Multilevel Urban Governance and the `European City : Discussing Metropolitan Reforms in Stockholm and Helsinki
Urban scholars have come up with very different answers to the question of what the main defining characteristics of urban Europe are and whether they can be described in a distinct ideal-typical model, the ’European City’. In order to fully understand the prevailing political arrangements and ongoing transformations in urban Europe, they have increasingly turned towards ‘multilevel governance approaches’ to conduct more comprehensive and comparative analyses of urban politics and policies. Nico Giersig reflects on these debates and exemplifies the specificities of Nordic cities within Europe as a whole. He accomplishes this by means of a systematic comparison of governance arrangements and their dynamics in two Nordic capital regions.
Multilevel Block Factorization Preconditioners : Matrix-based Analysis and Algorithms for Solving Finite Element Equations
This monograph is the first to provide a comprehensive, self-contained and rigorous presentation of some of the most powerful preconditioning methods for solving finite element equations in a common block-matrix factorization framework. Topics covered include the classical incomplete block-factorization preconditioners and the most efficient methods such as the multigrid, algebraic multigrid, and domain decomposition. Additionally, the author discusses preconditioning of saddle-point, nonsymmetric and indefinite problems, as well as preconditioning of certain nonlinear and quadratic constrained minimization problems that typically arise in contact mechanics. The book presents analytical as well as algorithmic aspects.
Multi-dimensional Approaches Towards New Technology : Insights on Innovation, Patents and Competition
This open access edited book captures the complexities and conflicts arising at the interface of intellectual property rights (IPR) and competition law. To do so, it discusses four specific themes: (a) policies governing functioning of standard setting organizations (SSOs), transparency and incentivising future innovation; (b) issue of royalties for standard essential patents (SEPs) and related disputes; (c) due process principles, procedural fairness and best practices in competition law; and (d) coherence of patent policies and consonance with competition law to support innovation in new technologies.
Multidetector-Row CT Angiography
Multidetector-row CT has dramatically improved the results of computed tomography in all clinical applications, but its beneficial impact has been most striking in vascular imaging. The simplicity of acquisition and the wide availability of equipment make this modality especially suitable for routine clinical application. In this book the basic aspects of multidetector-row CT angiography are comprehensively reviewed. Individual chapters are included on technical principles, image processing techniques and contrast agent administration. All clinical applications are then discussed in depth, with lucid descriptions of the examination technique for particular clinical indications and of the findings that characterize specific diseases. Limitations and advantages in comparison with other imaging modalities are considered. A large number of high-quality black and white and color illustrations help to explain the clinical findings.
