Bücher veröffentlicht von World Scientific Publishing Company

Data analysis and instrumentation applications require an excellent knowledge of the interactions between radiation and matter, radiation and particle detectors, the principles and conditions of detector operation, as well as the limitations and advantages. This book provides abundant information about the energy deposition in detecting systems, the performance and optimization of detectors. It also addresses the situation where detectors (scanners of various types, etc.) have to be modified and improved to full optimization by the users. Furthermore, the book offers a description of detectors and techniques used in medical physics and covers physics principles and instrumentation knowledge needed in radioprotection and nuclear engineering.This book will benefit graduate (MSc and PhD) and final year BSc students as a reference and a supplement for courses in particle/astroparticle/space physics and instrumentation. A large part of it is directed toward courses in medical physics. The book can also be used by researchers in experimental particle physics at low, medium and high energy who are dealing with instrumentation.

This book serves as an introductory volume to Yair Aharoni's remarkable impact on international business (IB) research. Most IB researchers will be familiar with at least one aspect of his work, but relatively few will be familiar with his broader body of work, as it spans so many of the issues addressed today in IB and strategy. This book aims to introduce readers to the depth and breadth of his impact.Unquestionably a founder of the IB field, over the course of his long career, Aharoni influenced its earliest development and, driven by a deep connection to policy and managerial practice, continually challenged conventional thinking on IB and strategy. He generated seminal insights into many aspects of why and how firms internationalize, including managerial decision-making processes, the strategies employed by state-owned enterprises, the interaction between firms and governments, and the foreign expansion of firms - including small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and those operating in the service sector - based in small and open economies. His research contributed to several salient research directions, including the behavioral theory of the firm, emerging-market multinationals, international entrepreneurship, the service economy, and non-market strategies.Aharoni was also an influential educator, having served as the founding dean of two top business schools in Israel. He was deeply engaged with the Israeli business environment - particularly senior executives of start-up companies - and a highly-valued advisor to the Israeli government. In honor of these contributions, Aharoni was the first management scholar in Israel, to be awarded the prestigious Israel Prize in 2010. Few scholars have had such meaningful impact on research, practice, and policy.

There are many theories on why managers do not (as a behavior) or should not (as a value) supplement profit orientation with people-centrism and planet sensitivity. In practice, managers do not supplement profit orientation with considerations for people and the planet unless they have the tools and know how to make that possible. This book seeks to address that by focusing on the normative dimension of organizational development. There are two competing norms for developing an organization: first, as a profit-oriented business enterprise; and second, as a people-centric, planet-sensitive, profit-oriented business or social enterprise.The performance of a business is a concern for all stakeholders. With the growing realization of the importance of indirect stakeholders like the society and the planet, it is increasingly important to raise awareness about the social and environmental responsibilities of businesses and organizations. This book is a must-read for academics, researchers, practitioners and policymakers who are concerned about the triple bottom-line (Planet-People-Profit) performance of businesses, which is critical for their long-term sustainability. It covers topics pertaining to the relationship between business and society, including social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, among others, and draws from real-life case studies on social initiatives.

Topics covered in Discrete Mathematics have become essential tools in many areas of studies in recent years. This is primarily due to the revolution in technology, communications, and cyber security. The book treats major themes in a typical introductory modern Discrete Mathematics course: Propositional and predicate logic, proof techniques, set theory (including Boolean algebra, functions and relations), introduction to number theory, combinatorics and graph theory.An accessible, precise, and comprehensive approach is adopted in the treatment of each topic. The ability of abstract thinking and the art of writing valid arguments are emphasized through detailed proof of (almost) every result. Developing the ability to think abstractly and roguishly is key in any areas of science, information technology and engineering. Every result presented in the book is followed by examples and applications to consolidate its comprehension. The hope is that the reader ends up developing both the abstract reasoning as well as acquiring practical skills.All efforts are made to write the book at a level accessible to first-year students and to present each topic in a way that facilitates self-directed learning. Each chapter starts with basic concepts of the subject at hand and progresses gradually to cover more ground on the subject. Chapters are divided into sections and subsections to facilitate readings. Each section ends with its own carefully chosen set of practice exercises to reenforce comprehension and to challenge and stimulate readers.As an introduction to Discrete Mathematics, the book is written with the smallest set of prerequisites possible. Familiarity with basic mathematical concepts (usually acquired in high school) is sufficient for most chapters. However, some mathematical maturity comes in handy to grasp some harder concepts presented in the book.

The book uses distance functions, a generalization of the more familiar production function, as the theoretical and empirical tools to construct Lerner indexes of market power in both the input and output markets. The use of distance functions enables us to explicitly account for the effects of firm inefficiency and price markups in the evaluation of market power. The book focusses on the theory and provides a menu of applications to construct measures of firm efficiency and market power in the financial and public sectors.

This compendium looks at the current status and practices of teaching and learning facilitated/enabled by digital technologies, reviews challenges/issues associated with classroom teaching, online teaching and hybrid-learning, and discusses success factors and future directions of teaching and learning in the digital era.The book also provides a number of studies at different perspectives of using digital technologies for teaching and learning.This useful reference text benefits teaching staff or administrators at education institutions (especially higher education providers) to update their professional knowledge and skills.

The purpose of this book is to examine the foreign policy of Jacinda Ardern's New Zealand Government between 2020 and early 2023 when the COVID-19 pandemic intersected with an evolving and often tumultuous post-Cold War global environment. This context witnessed the erosion of an international rules-based order and the renewal of great power competition. In particular, the Indo-Pacific has become a contested strategic space, which impacted on New Zealand's foreign policy interests.As a self-proclaimed small state, New Zealand faced distinct challenges: the Ardern Government formulated a distinctive foreign policy that drew on the success of its handling of the pandemic as well as Aotearoa New Zealand's indigenous values, and emphasised the importance of a good international reputation, strong diplomatic networks, and multilateral cooperation to maintain and grow its influence.This interdisciplinary volume brings together academics, policymakers and practitioners and provides essential reading for anyone interested in how relatively small states such as New Zealand can navigate significant foreign policy challenges in an increasingly complex and contested system of international relations.

"Actin, a fundamental building block of intracellular cytoskeletal filaments, holds immense potential as a platform for information processing. In this groundbreaking book, the authors establish a solid theoretical and modelling foundation for the future experimental prototyping of actin-based cytoskeleton computers in laboratory settings. By delving into the mechanisms of signal propagation and perturbations on actin filaments, the authors uncover the underlying principles of information processing at the sub-cellular level. Through their innovative insights, novel principles for information processing emerge, potentially revolutionising the field of future and emergent information technologies and computational biology. The book's theoretical and modelling framework serves as a crucial stepping stone towards the experimental realisation of actin-based cytoskeleton computers. Bridging the gap between theory and practice, researchers and scientists can leverage this knowledge to conduct experiments, validate hypotheses, and explore the practical implications of actin-based computing systems"--

How does social control theory explain the relationships between business firms and organizations? This book aims to answer that question. Providing a comprehensive organizing framework of control (1st, 2nd, and 3rd party control), this book focuses on informal and formal applications of control mechanisms such as contracts, monitoring mechanisms, incentives, and punishments. In doing so, it reviews existing control/governance theories such as transaction cost analysis, agency theory, power/dependence theory, contract theory, incentives theory and others. Social control theory is introduced as a meta-theory of governance and control. The derivation of control, the outcomes of control and, particularly, when and how control might be successful are discussed in detail.The book hypothesizes that the control mode and mechanisms in use are a function of the cost of control to the controller based on its desire to manage the relationship and its outcomes, and the target of control's extent of agreement with the control processes in use. The various components of costs of control are identified and discussed. Drawing on interdisciplinary sources of information, it is a must-read for all who are interested in understanding the mechanisms of control and relationships underpinning business organizations.

The book is a handbook on corporate philanthropy in China, with comparisons to the best practices in Europe, especially Switzerland. It reviews the recent history of corporate philanthropy in China to provide context for representatives of foreign businesses and NGOs who wish to be involved in philanthropic activities in China. It compares the current situation in China with best practices in Europe and Switzerland. The handbook is also meant to assist students of philanthropy and other interested parties in understanding the development of corporate philanthropy in China, and how its development converges with, and diverges from similar trends in other countries.

The humanities (and social science) are the disciplines that study human, which are essential in helping us to understand ourselves and others and the world around us. Since science is the study of everything in the universe and human is a material system consisting of the same atoms that make up other nonhuman systems, humanities are part of science. Thus, understanding correctly what science is about will be helpful in making progress in the humanities. To patch up the gap between the "two cultures" derived from these two branches of knowledge, the best way is to recognize their common root in science and work through humanities-science synthesis, as advocated by Scimat, the new multidiscipline proposed by the author in 2007. Furthermore, raising the scientific level of the humanities, which include decision making, will help to make the world better.Humanities, Science, Scimat details these issues, consisting of three parts. Part I is about Scimat and the new humanities (history, philosophy, art). Part II is on the origin and nature of science, new insights on the life and works of selected scientists, some thoughts on science communication/popularization, and case examples of science innovation - all from the Scimat perspective. While Parts I and II are short essays with no references (with rare exceptions), Part III are longer articles with full references that supplement Parts I and II. Each essay/article starts with a color picture. They are all easy to read - nothing technical.In short, this book contains the basic knowledge about the humanities and science that everyone should know. The aimed readership is anyone, from high school students and laypeople to the professors, who are interested in what the humanities and science are about, and how we can work together to achieve a better humanity.

The purpose of this book is to provide a concise introduction to the mathematical theory of music, opening each chapter to the most recent research. Despite the complexity of some sections, the book can be read by a large audience. Many examples illustrate the concepts introduced. The book is divided into 9 chapters.In the first chapter, we tackle the question of the classification of chords and scales. Chapter 2 is a mathematical presentation of David Lewin's Generalized Interval Systems. Chapter 3 offers a new theory of diatonicity in equal-tempered universes. Chapter 4 presents the Neo-Riemannian theories based on the work of David Lewin, Richard Cohn and Henry Klumpenhouwer. Chapter 5 is devoted to the application of word combinatorics to music. Chapter 6 studies the rhythmic canons and the tessellation of the line. Chapter 7 is devoted to serial knots. Chapter 8 presents combinatorial designs and their applications to music. The last chapter, chapter 9, is dedicated to the study of tuning systems.

Materials science institutions have always been crucial to the development of materials research. Even before materials science emerged as a discipline in the 20th century, these institutions existed in various forms. They provided specialized facilities for research, educated new generations of researchers, drafted policies and funded programs, enabled valuable connections between research groups, or played any other role which were needed to further the progress of materials science.This volume, the third in a series of volumes covering the development and history of materials science, presents illuminating perspectives on material science institutions. Twenty chapters are organized into six comprehensive parts of which each cover a characteristic aspect or historical feature. True to the topic they write about, the contributors to this volume have varied backgrounds. Some are materials scientists and engineers, but others are historians, philosophers of science, sociologists, or even directors of institutions themselves. This comprehensive, unified collection is a valuable resource for undergraduates, graduate students, academics, policymakers and professionals who are actively interested in materials science and its development from the past to the future.

Discover the latest advances in ferroelectric and piezoelectric material sciences with this comprehensive monograph, divided into six chapters, each offering unique insights into the field.Chapter 1 delves into the manufacture and study of new ceramic materials, focusing on complex oxides of various metals (Aurivillius phases). The authors explore layered bismuth titanates and niobates, known for their high Curie temperature, and discuss how varying their chemical composition can lead to significant changes in their electrophysical properties. Chapter 2 explores the fascinating world of ferroelectrics - dielectrics with spontaneous polarization. Mathematical models and approaches of fractional calculus are used to understand the process of polarization switching in these materials, shedding light on the fractality of electrical responses. In Chapter 3, readers gain valuable insights into the inhomogeneous polarization process of polycrystalline ferroelectrics, a crucial stage in creating piezoceramic samples for energy converters. The authors present a comprehensive mathematical model that allows the determination of various characteristics, including dielectric and piezoelectric hysteresis loops and the effect of attenuation processes.Chapter 4 focuses on state-of-the-art piezoelectric energy harvesting, discussing theoretical, experimental, and computer modelling approaches. The authors discuss piezoelectric generators (PEGs) of different types (cantilever, stack and axis) and nonlinear effects arising at their operation. Chapter 5 presents expanded test and finite element models for cantilever-type and axial-type PEGs with active elements. The studies cover various structural and electric schemes of the PEGs with proof mass, bimorph and cylindrical piezoelectric elements, and excitation loads. Finally, Chapter 6 reviews some results in the last five years, obtained in modelling the vibration of devices from piezoactive materials, including five important effects: piezoelectric, flexoelectric, pyroelectric, piezomagnetic and flexomagnetic.As a diverse addition to the literature, this book is a relevant resource for researchers, engineers, and students seeking to expand their knowledge of cutting-edge developments in this exciting field.

This book contends that the housing markets and shadow banking have been involved in a kind of "dance" over the last two decades. It traces this dance to be between the roles of mortgage markets since the 1980s in both the US and China and the developments of securitization and "shadow banks." It gives side-by-side comparisons between the two and suggests that house price dynamics have been similar, but also quite different. Both had booms. The US had a bubble that burst around 2007 - after prices became quite high relative to rents and then crashed. However, Chinese housing markets, which had a similar run-up, did not have a burst bubble. Rather, the rising property values appear to have been from space becoming more valuable as reflected in rent growth. In the US, prices chased prices; in China, prices chased rents.Mortgage markets were more complicated, beginning with the securitization in the US, and the rise of shadow banks that both led and followed. The US used shadow banks to hold pieces of securitization deals and funded them with deposit-like debt. These pieces were fragile and their collapse caused "silent runs," which were instrumental in the ensuing crash. China's shadow banks were more like traditional intermediaries, unattached to securitization. Their liabilities were mostly not short-term, as was the case with US shadow banks. So, runs were not a problem, but getting the market to work efficiently was.The markets have evolved. And while the music has changed, the dance is not over.

Arguably one of the most iconic mega-cities in Asia, Tokyo, the capital of Japan, plays an important economic and cultural role. It has been featured in various media as a liveable city with a well-developed public transport system. Yet, what international media coverage often misses out are its unique neighbourhoods and districts. Known as kaiwai, they are scattered in a mosaic from downtown Tokyo to its suburbs, exemplifying a type of urbanism wholly unique to Asia and foreshadowing a future vision which suggests regional autonomy in a post-COVID-19 world.In this book, the authors thoroughly investigate the city's multi-layered spatial and sociocultural aspects, introducing a side of Tokyo little known to the world at large. Readers who are only familiar with Tokyo's depiction as an ultra-modern city will appreciate the book's insights into the kaiwai phenomenon, the pre-modern urban structure of Edo city, and contemporary Tokyo's Asian urbanism, including traditional community activities such as local festivals, the formation of new communities by old and new residents, and intimate community life using a network of alleys. Combining urban planning, sociological, anthropological and architectural perspectives, the book's interdisciplinary approach looks at Tokyo from the peripherical to the kaiwai-level.

This unique compendium describes the development status and trends of international climate-smart agriculture, research methods and development strategies, monitoring, evaluation and extension, typical cases and their implications for the development of climate-smart agriculture in China.The useful reference text also comprehensively summarizes the relevant achievements and experiences obtained by the Climate-Smart Staple Crop Production Project, and highlights future policy suggestions and technical systems.

This book provides a broad introduction to integrable systems with many degrees of freedom. Within a much larger orbit, discussed are models such as the classical Toda lattice, Calogero fluid, and Ablowitz-Ladik discretized nonlinear Schrödinger equation. On the quantum mechanical side, featured are the Lieb-Liniger delta-Bose gas and the quantum Toda lattice. As a genuinely novel twist, the study deals with random initial data described by generalized Gibbs ensembles with parameters of slow spatial variation. This is the hydrodynamic scale, in spirit similar to the ballistic Euler scale of nonintegrable simple fluids. While integrable microscopic particle models are very diverse, the central theme of this book is to elucidate their structural similarity on hydrodynamic scales.

"Straddling North Africa and Western Asia, the Middle East has been a cradle of civilisation and entrepreneurship - well before the arrival of Islam. In this region, gender roles were traditionally specified by culture, with women often expected to stay within the family environment, while men would trade in society at large. This book contributes to the literature on a highly neglected field of study: women entrepreneurs in the Middle East. Recognising that entrepreneurship does not take place in a vacuum, it focuses on contexts, and the ecosystems of this region with largely patriarchal societies, that are influenced by culture, religion, and colonial experience. This book provides readers with a topical analysis of women entrepreneurs in the Middle East on the context, ecosystems, and future perspectives for the region. Authors have presented the reality of 11 countries from the region based on women entrepreneurs' historical backgrounds, challenges, and achievements, as well as the contribution towards economic development in their local/immediate communities and the Middle East at large. Following the country analysis by the authors of each chapter, the editors provide a general assessment of the future of women entrepreneurs in the region by focusing on the current entrepreneurship policy and strategies of various countries in the region. This volume will be an essential reading for anyone researching or working on projects related to women's entrepreneurship and small businesses in the Middle East"--