الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Workers, Managers, Productivity : Kaizen in Developing Countries
This book explores how improving management techniques can support firms’ productivity and quality. Given its wide range of case studies from across Africa, Asia and Latin America, this book will be of value to scholars, policymakers and advocates of sustainable development alike.
What Have We Learned? : Macroeconomic Policy after the Crisis
Since 2008, economic policymakers and researchers have occupied a brave new economic world. Previous consensuses have been upended, former assumptions have been cast into doubt, and new approaches have yet to stand the test of time. Policymakers have been forced to improvise and researchers to rethink basic theory. George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate and one of this volume's editors, compares the crisis to a cat stuck in a tree, afraid to move. In April 2013, the International Monetary Fund brought together leading economists and economic policymakers to discuss the slowly emerging contours of the macroeconomic future. This book offers their combined insights.
Water Resources in the Middle East : Israel-Palestinian Water Issues : From Conflict to Cooperation
Demonstrates hope, optimism and the belief that people with good will can help contribute to peace and mutual cooperation in solving shared water problems essential for their mutual survival and welfare. The present water crisis facing the Middle East will become even more severe over the next twenty years, unless dealt with energetically and in good time. This situation requires urgent action by the countries of the region, the international community and civil society generally. This book provides valuable source material for water scientists, engineers, political scientists, specialists in conflict resolution, environmentalists, economists, lawyers, administrators, managers and policy makers interested in understanding, developing, managing and protecting the scarce shared water resources of the Middle East and for the promotion of "Water for Life" for the benefit of all the nations of the region.
Water Quality Hazards and Dispersion of Pollutants
Water resources are under stress worldwide and one of the elements of this stress - man's impact on water quality constitutes a key problem especially in well-developed countries. This problem receives an increasing attention of the public, politicians, decision makers nowadays. People have to answer how to achieve any given level and pattern of water quality in particular watercourses and also how to mitigate the catastrophes that are inseparable elements of civilization. The EU water framework directive, which came into force at the end of 2000, changes the way of monitoring, assessing and managing water in European countries. Three groups of quality elements (biological, hydromorphological and physico-chemical) have been identified in the water framework directive as necessary to classify the ecological status of a particular water body.
Vocationalisation of Secondary Education Revisited
The book is a cutting-edge contribution to the debate which has occurred for some time on the pros and cons of secondary education becoming more closely and explicitly related to preparing young people for the world of work. The book provides concrete examples of the vocationalisation of secondary education, with particular reference to the situation in Africa. The target audience for the book includes policy-makers, practitioners, administrators, education planners, researchers, teachers and teacher educators with a concern about the relationship between secondary education and education for the world of work (with particular reference to technical and vocational education and training - TVET.)
Virtual Reality ; 2nd International Conference, ICVR 2007, Held as Part of HCI International 2007, Beijing, China, July 22-27, 2007, Proceedings
This volume, edited by Randall Shumaker, contains papers in the thematic area of Virtual Reality, addressing the following major topics: • 3D Rendering and Visualization • Interacting and Navigating in Virtual and Augmented Environments • Industrial Applications of Virtual Reality • Health, Cultural, Educational and Entertainment Applications
Vermin, Victims and Disease : British Debates over Bovine Tuberculosis and Badgers
This book provides the first critical history of the controversy over whether to cull wild badgers to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in British cattle. This question has plagued several professional generations of politicians, policymakers, experts and campaigners since the early 1970s. Questions of what is known, who knows, who cares, who to trust and what to do about this complex problem have been the source of scientific, policy, and increasingly vociferous public debate ever since. This book integrates contemporary history, science and technology studies, human-animal relations, and policy research to conduct a cross-cutting analysis. It explores the worldviews of those involved with animal health, disease ecology and badger protection
Venezuela : A Petro-State Using Renewable Energies : A Contribution to the Global Debate about New Renewable Energies for Electricity Generation
In spite of the economic role of oil, Venezuela has started developing hydroelectricity since the 1950s. At present, the country is trying to introduce additional renewable energy sources (RES) but still has to overcome a series of hurdles in order to deploy them. Unlike other developing countries, oil countries such as Venezuela do not lack financial means and sometimes show a tendency to solve problems by using money when other approaches could be more helpful. The main goal of this qualitative, comparative policy analysis is to find out whether the availability of oil revenues restraints or favors the adoption of RES. Based on the rentier state theory, Germán Massabié examines the reasons why Petro states try to dispose of their natural wealth to take advantage of non-conventional energy sources. He analyses and interprets primary and secondary data collected in Germany and in Venezuela and draws on interviews with Venezuelan experts, policy makers, and key actors. The study allows a look beyond laws, development programs, and official statements.
Turning Hydropower Social : Where Global Sustainability ConventionsMatter
This book concerns footprints of the international environmental conventions in action. Hydropower projects have been selected as test case. The study is based on participatory research into a number of cases where implementation needs to meet new data requirements made by policy makers.
Transformation literacy : Pathways to regenerative civilizations
This book brings science and practice together and inspires a global movement towards co-creating regenerative civilizations that work for 100% of humanity and the Earth as a whole. With its conceptual foundation of the concept of transformation literacy it enhances the knowledge and capacity of decision-makers, change agents and institutional actors to steward transformations effectively across institutions, societal sectors and nations.
Towards a Natural Social Contract : Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation for a Sustainable, Healthy and Just Society
This book states that the endemic societal faultlines of our times are deeply intertwined and that they confront us with challenges affecting the security and sustainability of our societies. It states that new ways of inhabiting and cultivating our planet are needed to keep it healthy for future generations. This requires a fundamental shift from the current anthropocentric and economic growth-oriented social contract to a more ecocentric and regenerative natural social contract. The author posits that in a natural social contract, society cannot rely on the market or state alone for solutions to grand societal challenges, nor leave them to individual responsibility. Rather, these problems need to be solved through transformative social-ecological innovation (TSEI), which involves systemic changes that affect sustainability, health and justice. The TSEI framework presented in this book helps to diagnose and advance innovation and change across sectors and disciplines, and at different levels of governance. It identifies intervention points and helps formulate sustainable solutions for policymakers, administrators, concerned citizens and professionals in moving towards a more just and equitable society.
Tough on Criminal Wealth : Exploring the Practice of Proceeds from Crime Confiscation in the EU
The conclusion of the book is that the ‘tough on criminal wealth’ philosophy is largely alien to the everyday practice of law enforcement agencies. Putting criminals behind bars is still the main aim of the system, and most of the scarce resources available are devoted to achieving this.This title is of interest to academics and students in the fields of criminology, sociology, and law, as well as to law enforcement officers, public prosecutors, and policymakers.
Top 10 Challenges of Big Data Analytics
The application of big data analytics in all fields of research is a critical driver for the competitiveness of all countries in the modern world. Currently, governments and industry generate large amounts of data driven by record keeping, compliance, regulations, data privacy, and dynamic requirements, and thus there is a need to create better mechanisms to analyse data, and hence support organizational development, as well as providing aid to policymakers' decision-making processes. The book is focused on different sectors of activity (i.e. the Health sector, Public Administration, the Education sector, among others), and on different economic dimensions (i.e. Entrepreneurship, and Innovation) and links big data analytics to different fields of research, such as artificial intelligence and other emergent technologies; which are challenging organisations, governments, and societies, with the need to face the new imperative of being prepared for the very uncertain and tremendously complex future â in which big data analytics will play a very decisive and active role.
The State of Peacebuilding in Africa : Lessons Learned for Policymakers and Practitioners
This book on the state of peacebuilding in Africa brings together the work of distinguished scholars, practitioners, and decision makers to reflect on key experiences and lessons learned in peacebuilding in Africa over the past half century.
The RFID Roadmap : The Next Steps for Europe
RFID is a key technology for Europe. Today we are witnessing a noticeable shift away from RFID pilot projects of the early days, towards a broad deployment of RFID in order to increase efficiency and innovation of processes. These themes have been analysed by a network of European RFID technology providers, vendors and end users. The result of their work is summarised in this volume, giving recommendations for RFID stakeholders who wish to support the technology. By providing a comprehensive overview of state of play of RFID in Europe, this book is an indispensable read for decision makers in all areas of society who have to look into RFID.
The Prop Building Guidebook : For Theatre, Film, and TV
Experienced prop maker Eric Hart walks readers through techniques used in historical and contemporary prop making and demonstrates how to apply them to a variety of materials. Hundreds of full-color photographs illustrate the tools and techniques used by professional prop makers throughout the entertainment industry.
The pocket complete color harmony : 1,500 Plus color palettes for designers, artists, architects, makers, and educators
The Pocket Complete Color Harmony is the ultimate take-along guide to color, featuring curated palettes and valuable information on the powerful effects of color
The Knowledge Ahead Approach to Risk : Theory and Experimental Evidence
this little book makes a strong point for a new approach to decision making under risk. It emphasizes aspects of risk preferences largely neglected in the theoretical and experimental lite- ture. Before the outcome of a risky decision is known a decision maker may feel worries or thrills about what will happen at the end. It is c- vincingly argued that the anticipation of such ”secondary satisfactions” is, and should be, an important in?uence on the decision. The questi- naire data and the experiments support this view. The answers of participants in the questionnaires about the reasons for their decision are an important basis for the evaluation of the - periment. The evaluation of these questionnaires has led to impressive ndings.
The Impact of Market Makers on Liquidity at Bahrain Bourse
We compare between two types of trading systems at Bahrain Bourse; the first one is called auction trading while the second one called market making. We wanted to know which would could offer more liquidity and more activity on selling / buying securities. We use paired sample t-test to compare trading volumes of both trading systems and find that trading volumes increases upon the application of new trading system. This study gives important insights to the management of Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE) and recommends the need to a move to market makers system to avoid continuous changes in reference prices upon the activation of article 35 of trading regulations.
The Handbook of Environmental Voluntary Agreements : Design, Implementation and Evaluation Issues
Represent a “third wave” of regulation in the environmental field. “Command and control” was the first wave. Its core is based on uniform emission standards, the respect of which needs to be enforced through extensive monitoring and severe sanctions. The expected cost of sanction for non-compliance, calculated as its amount multiplied for the probability to be caught, must be superior to the benefits of non-compliance, in order to let the sanction be effective. As the benefits of non-compliance can vary among firms, sanctions need to be very high in order to be effective. In fact sanctions are ordinary correlated to environmental damage and not to the benefits of non-compliance. But very high sanctions can be difficult to enforce as they appear unfair and can lead to dramatic consequences on firms and workers, up to shut-downs of plants. Ambient standards reduce these problems, but oblige the regulator to know a huge amount of information, regarding the specific contribution of each polluter to the polluted body. Information is difficult to obtain because of asymmetric information and costly to produce because it requires large and skilled regulating and enforcing organizations. Nevertheless complex regulation is the base of any environmental policy framework, as it allows the policy maker to fully exercise its power of composition of various interests in a relatively transparent way. Economic instruments were the second wave.
