Contemporary Issues in Luxury Brand Management
Provides a comprehensive overview of the key themes surrounding luxury brand management and the core issues faced by luxury firms today. The luxury industry has undergone a series of dynamic changes in the past twenty years. Economic trends, digital transformation, and changing consumer habits are creating a new competitive landscape where traditional strategies will not necessarily provide continued growth and profitability. Approaching luxury from a realistic brand management perspective, this book works step-by-step through a typical luxury course structure, covering sustainability, heritage, emerging brands, digital marketing and analytics, curation, intellectual property, and start-ups.
Contemporary Cryptology
The aim of this text is to treat selected topics of the subject of contemporary cryptology, structured in five quite independent but related themes: Efficient distributed computation modulo a shared secret / Multiparty computation / Foundations of modern cryptography / Provable security for public key schemes / Efficient and secure public-key cryptosystems.
Constituents of Modern System-safety Thinking
Constituents of Modern System-safety Thinking contains the invited papers presented at the Thirteenth annual Safety-critical Systems Symposium, held at Southampton, UK in February 2005. The papers included in this volume bring together topics that are of the utmost importance in current safety thinking. The core of modern safety thinking and practice is a risk-based approach, and, this is not only a common thread running throughout the papers, but is also explored in two of them. Other themes considered include the safety case, safety assessment, accident investigation, and the commonality between the processes and techniques employed in safety and security engineering. Papers contain extensive industrial experience as well as recent academic research and are presented under the headings: Independent Safety Assessment, Safety and Security, Accident Investigation, Risk and its Tolerability, Achieving and Arguing the Safety of Modular Systems, and Technologies for Dependability.
Computer Simulations of Liquid Crystals and Polymers ; Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Computational Methods for Polymers and Liquid Crystalline Polymers, Erice, Italy. 16-22 July 2003
Liquid crystals, polymers and polymer liquid crystals are soft condensed matter systems of major technological and scientific interest. An understanding of the macroscopic properties of these complex systems and of their many and interesting peculiarities at the molecular level can nowadays only be attained using computer simulations and statistical mechanical theories. Both in the Liquid Crystal and Polymer fields a considerable amount of simulation work has been done in the last few years with various classes of models at different special resolutions, ranging from atomistic to molecular and coarse-grained lattice models. Each of the two fields has developed its own set of tools and specialized procedures and the book aims to provide a state of the art review of the computer simulation studies of polymers and liquid crystals. This is of great importance in view of a potential cross-fertilization between these connected areas which is particularly apparent for a number of experimental systems like, e.g. polymer liquid crystals and anisotropic gels where the different fields necessarily merge. An effort has been made to assess the possibilities of a coherent description of the themes that have developed independently, and to compare and extend the theoretical and computational techniques put forward in the different areas.
Computational Noncommutative Algebra and Applications
The fusion of algebra, analysis and geometry, and their application to real world problems, have been dominant themes underlying mathematics for over the years. This book features topics such as: signal and image processing in remote sensing, computer vision, medical image processing, biological signal processing, geometric algebras, and more.
Computational Mind : A Complex Dynamics Perspective
Computational Mind: A Complex Dynamics Perspective is a graduate–level monographic textbook in the field of Computational Intelligence. It presents a modern dynamical theory of the computational mind, combining cognitive psychology, artificial and computational intelligence, and chaos theory with quantum consciousness and computation. The book introduces to human and computational mind, comparing and contrasting main themes of cognitive psychology, artificial and computational intelligence. It presents brain/mind dynamics from the chaos theory perspective, including sections on chaos in human EEG, basics of nonlinear dynamics and chaos, techniques of chaos control, synchronization in chaotic systems and complexity in humanoid robots. This book presents modern theory of quantum computational mind, including sections on Dirac–Feynman quantum dynamics, quantum consciousness, and quantum computation using Josephson junctions. The book is designed as a one–semester course for computer scientists, engineers, physicists and applied mathematicians, both in industry and academia. It includes a strong bibliography on the subject and detailed index.
Combined Scintigraphic and Radiographic Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Diseases
In addition to the bone and joint diseases described in the two earlier editions, this book encompasses novel applications of pinhole scanning to the diagnosis of a broader spectrum of skeletal disorders. It has been considerably expanded to discuss five new themes and is complemented by the addition of some 90 recently acquired cases
Combinatorial Algebraic Topology
Combinatorial algebraic topology is a fascinating and dynamic field at the crossroads of algebraic topology and discrete mathematics. This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject in book form. The first part of the book constitutes a swift walk through the main tools of algebraic topology, including Stiefel-Whitney characteristic classes, which are needed for the later parts. Readers - graduate students and working mathematicians alike - will probably find particularly useful the second part, which contains an in-depth discussion of the major research techniques of combinatorial algebraic topology. Our presentation of standard topics is quite different from that of existing texts. In addition, several new themes, such as spectral sequences, are included.
Collaborating against child abuse : Exploring the Nordic Barnahus model
This edited collection explores the background and implementation of the Nordic Barnahus (or 'Children's House') model – recognised as one of the most important reforms related to children who are the victims of crime in the Nordic region. This book discusses both its potential to affect change and the challenges facing it. The model was introduced as a response to a growing recognition of the need for more integrated and child-centred services for children exposed to violence and sexual abuse. In the Barnahus structure, different professions work together to ensure that victimized children receive help and treatment and that their legal rights are met. This original study is organised into four broad themes: child-friendliness, support and treatment; the forensic child investigative interview; children’s rights perspectives; and interagency collaboration and professional autonomy.
Cold War Civil Defence in Western Europe : Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Survival and Preparedness
This edited collection brings together established and new perspectives on Cold War civil defence in Western Europe within a common analytical framework that also facilitates comparative and transnational dimensions. The current interest in creating disaster-resilient societies demands new histories of civil defence. Historical contextualization is essential in order to understand what is at stake in preparing, devising, and implementing forms of preparedness, protection, and security that are specifically targeted at societies and citizens. Applying the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to civil defence history, the chapters of this volume cover a range of new themes, from technology and materiality to media, memory, and everyday experience.
Mathematical Methods in Computer Science : Essays in Memory of Thomas Beth
This Festschrift volume contains the proceedings of the conference Mathematical Methods in Computer Science, MMICS 2008, which was held during December 17-19, 2008, in Karlsruhe, Germany, in memory of Thomas Beth.The themes of the conference reflected the many interests of Thomas Beth. Although, these interests might seem diverse, mathematical methods and especially algebra as a language constituted the common denominator of all of his scientific achievements.
Mass Customization : Challenges and Solutions
Mass Customization: Challenges and Solutions defines the parameters of the emerging business strategy, mass customization. The book will cover the main categories of the area with a systematic examination of the following themes: manufacturing systems and mass customization, supply chain management and mass customization, and information systems and mass customization.
Marxist Philosophy in China : From Qu Qiubai to Mao Zedong, 1923-1945
The book sets the philosophical writings of philosophers in the context of the development of Marxist philosophy internationally, and examines particularly the influence on these philosophers of Soviet Marxist philosophy. It argues that these Chinese Marxist philosophers’ interpretations of Marxist philosophy were quite orthodox when judged by the standards of contemporary Soviet Marxism. The book explores core themes in Marxist philosophy in China, including the dilemma of determinism, and investigates the way in which these Chinese Marxist philosophers sought a formula for the ‘Sinification’ of Marxist philosophy that both retained the universal dimensions of Marxism and allowed its application to the Chinese context. The book concludes with analysis of the role of the Yanan New Philosophy Association in developing from Soviet Marxist philosophy the philosophical dimension of Mao Zedong Thought, the official ideology of the Chinese Communist Party after 1945.
Marine Biodiversity : Patterns and Processes, Assessment, Threats, Management and Conservation
Understanding the functioning of Marine Ecosystems is the first step to measure and predict the influence of Man, and to find solutions for the enormous array of problems we face today. This volume is organised according to the four subthemes of the symposium and to issues commonly perceived as relevant by scientists concerned with the study, protection and management of Marine Biodiversity: patterns and processes, assessment, threats and management and conservation.
Man as a place of God : Levinas' Hermeneutics of Kenosis
Man as a Place of God is an examination of Levinas’ philosophy of religion in the light of his ethics and anthropology. It provides a lively introduction to the main themes of Levinas’ thought and offers critical perspectives on Levinas by relating his work to that of Heidegger, Ricoeur, Rorty, Derrida and Vattimo.
Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics Paradigms : Analysis, Applications and Challenges
Intended to present the state of the art in research on machine learning and big data analytics. The accepted chapters covered many themes including artificial intelligence and data mining applications, machine learning and applications, deep learning technology for big data analytics, and modeling, simulation, and security with big data. It is a valuable resource for researchers in the area of big data analytics and its applications.
Logic for Computer Scientists
This book introduces the notions and methods of formal logic from a computer science standpoint, covering propositional logic, predicate logic, and foundations of logic programming. It presents applications and themes of computer science research such as resolution, automated deduction, and logic programming in a rigorous but readable way.The style and scope of the work, rounded out by the inclusion of exercises, make this an excellent textbook for an advanced undergraduate course in logic for computer scientists.
Life System Modeling and Simulation; International Conference on Life System Modeling, and Simulation, LSMS 2007, Shanghai, China, September 14-17, 2007. Proceedings
The International Conference on Life System Modeling and Simulation (LSMS) was formed to bring together international researchers and practitioners in the field of life system modeling and simulation as well as life system-inspired theory and methodology. The arrival of the 21st century has been marked by a resurgence of research interest both in arriving at a systems-level und- standing of biology and in applying such knowledge in complex real-world appli- tions. Consequently, computational methods and intelligence in systems, biology, as well as bio-inspired computational intelligence, have emerged as key drivers for new computational methods. For this reason papers dealing with theory, techniques and real-world applications relating to these two themes were especially solicited.
Le choix bayésien: Principes et pratique
Covers the so-called Bayesian approach to statistical inference and in particular its decision-making aspects. The bases of this axiomatics (choice of the a priori, optimal decisions, tests and regions of confidence) are discussed in detail, as well as more recent openings of Bayesian analysis such as the choice of models, the use of numerical methods. Stochastic approximation (MCMC), the theory of noninformative laws (Berger-Bernardo axioms) and the relation to the classical theory of admissibility. Each chapter is completed by an extensive series of exercises of increasing difficulty and by bibliographical notes on the themes addressed. This book can be used in a Master's program in Applied Mathematics, Biometrics, Econometrics or any other program that uses quantitative information processing techniques. It only requires a basic course in probability theory and mathematical statistics as a preliminary.
Landscape Design in Color : History, Theory, and Practice 1750 to Today
Posits that though color and lighting effects appear natural, fleeting, and difficult to comprehend, the sensory palette of built landscapes and gardens has been carefully constructed to shape our experience and evoke meaning and place character. Landscape Design in Color: History, Theory, and Practice 1750 to Today is an inquiry into the themes, theories, and debates on color and its impact on practice in Western landscape architecture over the past three centuries.



















