From Bilateral Arbitral Tribunals and Investment Courts to a Multilateral Investment Court : Options Regarding the Institutionalization of Investor-State Dispute Settlement
This book considers the potential setup for a future Multilateral Investment Court (MIC). The option of an MIC was first discussed by the EU Commission in 2016 and has since been made an official element of the EU Common Commercial Policy. In 2017, UNCITRAL also decided to discuss the possibility of an MIC, and on 20 March 2018, the Council of the EU gave the EU Commission the mandate to negotiate the creation of an MIC. The “feasibility study” presented here is intended to contribute to a broader discussion on the options for a new international court specialized in investment protection.
From Assessing to Conserving Biodiversity : Conceptual and Practical Challenges
This book despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so? The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation actions imply. But this is not the whole story. This book develops a different perspective on the problem by exploring the conceptual challenges and practical defiance posed by conserving biodiversity, namely: on the one hand, the difficulties in defining what biodiversity is and characterizing that “thing” to which the word ‘biodiversity’ refers to; on the other hand, the reasons why assessing biodiversity and putting in place effective conservation actions is arduous.
Freshwater Microplastics : Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
Focuses on microscopic plastic debris, also referred to as microplastics, which have been detected in aquatic environments around the globe and have accordingly raised serious concerns. The book explores whether microplastics represent emerging contaminants in freshwater systems, an area that remains underrepresented to date.Given the complexity of the issue, the book covers the current state-of-research on microplastics in rivers and lakes, including analytical aspects, environmental concentrations and sources, modelling approaches, interactions with biota, and ecological implications. To provide a broader perspective, the book also discusses lessons learned from nanomaterials and the implications of plastic debris for regulation, politics, economy, and society. In a research field that is rapidly evolving, it offers a solid overview for environmental chemists, engineers, and toxicologists, as well as water managers and policy-makers.
Free-Radical-Induced DNA Damage and Its Repair : A Chemical Perspective
Understanding of the molecular basis of DNA damage and its repair has increased dramatically in recent years, and substantial knowledge now exists concerning the products arising from free-radical attack on DNA. Free-radical DNA damage may lead to mutations, cancer, and cell death. Free radicals have various sources, notably ionizing radiation and oxidative stress. In radiotherapy for cancer and with some anticancer drugs, use is made of cell death by excessive DNA damage. The mechanisms leading to products of free-radical attack which have been studied in models and with small double-stranded DNA fragments are discussed in detail, and the basics of the underlying free-radical chemistry are dealt with in separate chapters.
Framing global mathematics : The international mathematical union between theorems and politics
This book is about the shaping of international relations in mathematics over the last two hundred years. It focusses on institutions and organizations that were created to frame the international dimension of mathematical research. Today, striking evidence of globalized mathematics is provided by countless international meetings and the worldwide repository ArXiv. The text follows the sinuous path that was taken to reach this state, from the long nineteenth century, through the two wars, to the present day. International cooperation in mathematics was well established by 1900, centered in Europe. The first International Mathematical Union, IMU, founded in 1920 and disbanded in 1932, reflected above all the trauma of WW I. Since 1950 the current IMU has played an increasing role in defining mathematical excellence, as is shown both in the historical narrative and by analyzing data about the International Congresses of Mathematicians. For each of the three periods discussed, interactions are explored between world politics, the advancement of scientific infrastructures, and the inner evolution of mathematics. Readers will thus take a new look at the place of mathematics in world culture, and how international organizations can make a difference. Aimed at mathematicians, historians of science, scientists, and the scientifically inclined general public.
Fragmentation in Semi-Arid and Arid Landscapes : Consequences for Human and Natural Systems
Exploring the concept of fragmentation, the ecological processes interrupted by fragmentation, and the social consequences of fragmented landscapes, this book presents a timely synthesis on the effects of fragmentation on arid and semi-arid pastoral systems throughout the world. the authors examine how fragmentation occurs, the patterns that result, and the consequences of fragmentation for ecosystems and the people who depend on them. The book will provide a valuable reference for students and researchers in rangeland ecology, park and natural resource management, environmental and ecological anthropology, economics and agriculture.
Fractional-in-time semilinear parabolic equations and applications
This book provides a unified analysis and scheme for the existence and uniqueness of strong and mild solutions to certain fractional kinetic equations. This class of equations is characterized by the presence of a nonlinear time-dependent source, generally of arbitrary growth in the unknown function, a time derivative in the sense of Caputo and the presence of a large class of diffusion operators. The global regularity problem is then treated separately and the analysis is extended to some systems of fractional kinetic equations, including prey-predator models of Volterra–Lotka type and chemical reactions models, all of them possibly containing some fractional kinetics.
Fourier Series in Control Theory
Fourier Series in Control Theory successfully gathers all of the available theory of these "nonharmonic Fourier series" in one place, combining published results with new results, to create a unique source of such material for practicing applied mathematicians, engineers, and other scientific professionals.Starting with an overview of the problems of observability, controllability, and stabilization of linear systems and their interconnections, the text contains complete proofs along with a short, simplified, presentation of some properties of Bessel functions for the convenience of the reader. Only basic knowledge of functional analysis is required.
Foundations of genetic algorithms ; 8th International Workshop, FOGA 2005, Aizu-Wakamatsu City, Japan, January 5-9, 2005, Revised Selected Papers
The8thWorkshopontheFoundationsofGeneticAlgorithms,FOGA-8,washeld at the University of Aizu in Aizu-Wakamatsu City, Japan, January 5–9, 2005. This series of workshops was initiated in 1990 to encourage further research on the theoretical aspects of genetic algorithms, and the workshops have been held biennially ever since. The papers presented at these workshops are revised, edited and published as volumes during the year following each workshop. This series of (now eight) volumes provides an outstanding source of reference for the theoretical work in this ?eld. At the same time this series of volumes provides a clear picture of how the theoretical research has grown and matured along with the ?eld to encompass many evolutionary computation paradigms including evolution strategies (ES), evolutionary programming (EP), and genetic programming (GP), as well as the continuing growthininteractionswith other ?elds suchas mathematics,physics, and biology.
Foundations for Local Governance : Decentralization in Comparative Perspective
Various forms of decentralization are recently pursued in the world, including developing countries. However, there has not been a coherent framework to access these intended outcomes generated by decentralization measures implemented in Asian and African countries. This book provides such a framework based on comparative analyses of different experiences of decentralization measures in six developing countries, where the policy rationale to “bring services closer to people” originated in different socio-political backgrounds. Although decentralization measures are potentially useful for attaining both political democratization and economic efficiency, what is often packaged under the umbrella of “decentralization” needs to be disaggregated analytically. Successful reforms need coherent approaches in which a range of stakeholders would become willing to share responsibilities and resources in order to achieve the ultimate outcome of poverty reduction in the developing countries.
Foundational texts in modern criminal law
Presents essays in which scholars from various countries and legal systems engage critically with formative texts in criminal legal thought since Hobbes. It examines the emergence of a transnational canon of criminal law by documenting its intellectual and disciplinary history and provides a snapshot of contemporary work on criminal law within that historical and comparative context.
Foundation XML for Flash
XML is a completely platform-agnostic data medium. Flash is able to make use of XML data, which is very useful when creating rich Internet applications. It allows you to populate Flash web interfaces with data from almost any source that supports XML as a data medium, be it databases, raw XML files, or more excitingly, .NET applications, Web Services, and even Microsoft Office applications like Excel and Word! In this book, Sas Jacobs first introduces XML itself—what it is, its syntax, its associated technologies (such as CSS and XSLT,) and how to get XML out of your applications in a format Flash can use. Then, she shows how to use the XML object to stream XML data into Flash, and how to use the XMLConnector component and XML Sockets to build advanced Flash/XML applications.
Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8
In this book, we look specifically at using Dreamweaver's built-in server behaviors to build dynamic web sites using PHP and MySQL, the world's most popular open source server-side language and database server combination, which are both reliable, powerful, and open source (and therefore free to use). This version of Dreamweaver includes more powerful support for PHP and MySQL than ever before, and we'll show you how to make this work for you. No previous experience of PHP or MySQL is necessary to use this book. Examples built throughout the book include a content management system, and an online image gallery. All examples are designed to meet modern usability requirements and be web standards-compliant.
Foundation Flex for Developers : Data-Driven Applications with PHP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion, and LCDS
Flex is a very powerful and versatile technology for creating web application front-ends. But what every good web application needs is a robust data source, be it XML, or a database. Flex is very adaptable in terms of connecting to data sources, and that is the main focus of this book. In Foundation Flex for Developers, author Sas Jacobs assumes that you've got the basics of Flex down already, and explores in detail how to create professional data-centric Flex 2 and Flex 3 applications. In the first half of the book, she starts off with a brief exploration of Flex and ActionScript 3.0, before looking at application essentials in detail—creating custom components, user and web browser interactions, binding, formatting, and validating data, debugging, and more. In the second half of the book, the focus is on connecting Flex to data sources, and covers XML, LiveCycle Data Services, PHP, ASP.NET, and ColdFusion in detail, via a series of step-by-step case studies.
Foundation ActionScript 3.0 with Flash CS3 and Flex
If you want to create exciting dynamic web sites that will amaze your online audience, then the Flash platform is a great way to go, with it's many features, including powerful graphical and sound and video capabilities. To really harness the power of Flash though, you need to make use of ActionScript to provide dynamic effects, enable user interaction, and manipulate data. ActionScript 3.0, the Flash Platform's scripting language, offers a lot of new and powerful features. ActionScript is now a full-fledged programming language, with complete object-oriented capabilities, improved event handling, sound and video support, drawing capabilities, support for regular expressions, and much more. This book covers all the essential techniques from the ground up, allowing you to get up and running quickly and easily. Starting with the fundamentals, you'll learn about using ActionScript objects, manipulating sound and video, and harnessing the power of regular expressions and XML.
Fortschritte der Chemie organischer Naturstoffe 89 = Progress in the chemistry of organic natural products
The volumes of this classic series, now referred to simply as "Zechmeister" after its founder, L. Zechmeister, have appeared under the Springer Imprint ever since the series' inauguration in 1938. The volumes contain contributions on various topics related to the origin, distribution, chemistry, synthesis, biochemistry, function or use of various classes of naturally occurring substances ranging from small molecules to biopolymers. Each contribution is written by a recognized authority in his field and provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the topic in question. Addressed to biologists, technologists, and chemists alike, the series can be used by the expert as a source of information and literature citations and by the non-expert as a means of orientation in a rapidly developing discipline.
Fortschritte der Chemie organischer Naturstoffe = Progress in the chemistry of organic natural products 88
The volumes of this classic series, now referred to simply as "Zechmeister" after its founder, L. Zechmeister, have appeared under the Springer Imprint ever since the series' inauguration in 1938. The volumes contain contributions on various topics related to the origin, distribution, chemistry, synthesis, biochemistry, function or use of various classes of naturally occurring substances ranging from small molecules to biopolymers. Each contribution is written by a recognized authority in his field and provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the topic in question. Addressed to biologists, technologists, and chemists alike, the series can be used by the expert as a source of information and literature citations and by the non-expert as a means of orientation in a rapidly developing discipline.
Form-oriented analysis : A new methodology to model form-based applications
Form-based applications range from simple web shops to complex enterprise resource planning systems. Draheim and Weber adapt well-established basic modeling techniques in a novel way to achieve a modeling framework optimized for this broad application domain. They introduce new modeling artifacts, such as page diagrams and form storyboards, and separate dialogue patterns to allow for reuse. In their implementation they have developed new constructs such as typed server pages, and tools for forward and reverse engineering of presentation layers. The methodology is explained using an online bookshop as a running example in which the user can experience the modeling concepts in action. The combination of theoretical achievements and hands-on practical advice and tools makes this book a reference work for both researchers in the areas of software architectures and submit-response style user interfaces, and professionals designing and developing such applications. More information and additional material is also available online.
Forest Strategy : Strategic Management and Sustainable Development for the Forest Sector
The book will provide a valuable resource for both forestry professionals – particularly those in managerial positions in government departments and forest services throughout the world – and for advanced students and researchers exploring the issues around forest sector administration. The latter will include researchers from a range of backgrounds, including forestry, ecology, geography, conservation, rural development, economics, forest or environmental policy, social studies and public affairs, and will be of particular interest to groups adopting an interdisciplinary approach to forestry issues.
Forest Policies and Social Change in England
The book stresses how values and perceptions shape policies, and conversely how policies can modify perceptions, and also how policies can fail if they do not take perceptions into account. She concludes that many of the issues facing English forestry in the 21st century – from leisure, health and amenity provision, through education and rural as well as urban regeneration, to biodiversity conservation – go well beyond both national borders and the scope of forestry. This novel synthesis provides a valuable resource for advanced students and researchers from all areas of natural resource studies, including those interested in social history, socio-economics, cultural geography and environmental psychology, as well as those studying landscape ecology, environmental history, policy analysis and natural resource management.



















