Interest in social innovation continues to rise, from governments setting up social innovation 'labs' to large corporations developing social innovation strategies. Yet theory lags behind practice, and this hampers our ability to understand social innovation and make the most of its potential. This collection brings together work by leadi...
This book presents a comprehensive analysis of biofuel use strategies from an interdisciplinary perspective using sustainability science. This interdisciplinary perspective (social science-natural science) means that the strategies and policy options proposed will have significant impacts on the economy and society alike. Biofuels are expected to c...
This book is a must-have for anyone serious about rendering in real time. With the announcement of new ray tracing APIs and hardware to support them, developers can easily create real-time applications with ray tracing as a core component. As ray tracing on the GPU becomes faster, it will play a more central role in real-time rendering. Ray Tracing...
By shedding light on EULEX - the EU mission to Kosovo – this book investigates the EU's peacebuilding activities in that country, in the light of the normative power theory in the post-conflict setting and peacebuilding theory. Ten years after the massive engagement of the EU in the country torn by war, the authors critically assess the effe...
This topical survey provides an overview of the current state of the art in technology use in mathematics education, including both practice-oriented experiences and research-based evidence, as seen from an international perspective. Three core themes are discussed: Evidence of effectiveness; Digital assessment; and Communication and collaboration....
This book modifies and revitalizes the concept of the 'developmental state' to understand the politics of emerging economy through nuanced analysis on the roles of human agency in the context of structural transformation. In other words, there is a revived interest in the 'developmental state' concept. The nature of the 'em...
The book uses an economic lens to identify the main features of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), its likely impact, and the challenges associated with its implementation. Drawing upon theory and concepts from agricultural development, institutional, and resource economics, this book expands and formalizes the conceptual foundations of CSA. Focusing...
Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are set to become the main computers that virtually all people will own and carry with them at all times. And yet,mobile devices are not yet used for all computing tasks. A project at Microsoft Research was created to answer a simple question: "It is possible to create interesting apps directly on...
This book chronicles the rise of a new scientific paradigm offering novel insights into the age-old enigmas of existence. Over 300 years ago, the human mind discovered the machine code of reality: mathematics. By utilizing abstract thought systems, humans began to decode the workings of the cosmos. From this understanding, the current scientific pa...
This book examines how China can increase the share of natural gas in its energy system. China's energy strategy has global ramifications and impact, and central to this strategy is the country's transition from coal to gas. The book presents the culmination of a two-year collaboration between the Development Research Center of the State ...
This book examines the role of citizens in sustainable energy transitions across Europe. It explores energy problem framing, policy approaches and practical responses to the challenge of securing clean, affordable and sustainable energy for all citizens, focusing on households as the main unit of analysis. The book revolves around ten contributions...
This book covers essential aspects of transmutation technologies, highlighting especially the advances in Japan. The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has caused us to focus attention on a large amount of spent nuclear fuels stored in NPPs. In addition, public anxiety regarding the treatment and disposal of high-level radi...
This book is a must-read for students of and beginners in soil science. In a well-organized and easy-to-follow manner, it provides basic outlines of soil minerals, new methods and recent developments in the field, with a special focus on visual aids. The chapters on primary minerals, secondary minerals, non-crystalline inorganic constituents and ...
This book provides a holistic, interdisciplinary overview of offshore wind energy, and is a must-read for advanced researchers. Topics, from the design and analysis of future turbines, to the decommissioning of wind farms, are covered. The scope of the work ranges from analytical, numerical and experimental advancements in structural and fluid mech...
Higher education has thrived in Europe for the last three decades supported by the powerful policy narratives of the European construction and knowledge society. The two together called for better-integrated societies with higher economic competitiveness, superior employment, and social cohesion. Extraordinary developments in higher education durin...
This book addresses the challenge of analyzing and understanding the evolutionary dynamics of complex biological systems at the genomic level, and elaborates on some promising strategies that would bring us closer to uncovering of the vital relationships between genotype and phenotype. After a few educational primers, the book continues with sectio...
The aim of this book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of effective integrated groundwater management (IGM). Groundwater management is a formidable challenge, one that remains one of humanity's foremost priorities. It has become a largely non-renewable resource that is overexploited in many parts of the world. I...
This book provides answers to key open questions concerning competition policy in emerging economies, with a focus on South Eastern Europe. The contributions address two major issues. One is the design of competition policy and the national competition authorities that enforce it, including the topics of competition advocacy and state aid control; ...
This book constitutes the proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2019, held in Montreal, QC, Canada, in May 2019.
XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a hybrid forum where agile researchers, academics, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and...
This book provides insight into what it takes to actively involve teachers in the curriculum design process. It examines different aspects of teacher involvement in collaborative curriculum design, with specific attention to its implications for sustainable curriculum innovation and teacher learning. Divided into six sections, the book starts out b...
Quantitative models are omnipresent - but often controversially discussed - in todays risk management practice. New regulations, innovative financial products, and advances in valuation techniques provide a continuous flow of challenging problems for financial engineers and risk managers alike. Designing a sound stochastic model requires findin...
This book builds on the European Union's (EU) Horizon 2020 project 'Financial and Institutional Reforms for an Entrepreneurial Society' (FIRES). The authors outline how Europe can move towards more inclusive, innovative and sustainable growth through reforms that will rekindle its entrepreneurial spirit. Based on decades of research ...
This book addresses the issue of how a country, which was incorporated into the world economy as a periphery, could make a transition to the emerging state, capable of undertaking the task of economic development and industrialization. It offers historical and contemporary case studies of transition, as well as the international background under wh...
This book brings together a range of ideas and theories to arrive at a deeper understanding of inequality in Latin America and its complex realities. To so, it addresses questions such as: What are the origins of inequality in Latin America? How can we create societies that are more equal in terms of income distribution, gender equality and opportu...
This free book represents one of the key milestones of DESIGNSCAPES, an H2020 CSA (Coordination and Support Action) research project funded by the European Commission under the Call "User-driven innovation: value creation through design-enabled innovation". The book demonstrates that adopting design allows us to embed innovation within th...
At present, how to develop industries is a burning issue in Africa, where population growth remains high and economic development has thus far failed to provide sufficient jobs for many, especially young people and women. The creation of productive jobs through industrial development ought to be a central issue in steering economic activity across ...
Designed as an easy-to-use, practical guide to tumors of the eye, lids, and orbit, this book comprehensively addresses surgical treatment and management of diseases related to ophthalmic oncology. Surgical Ophthalmic Oncology: A Collaborative Open Access Reference is an ideal reference for general ophthalmologists, surgeons, fellows and trainees ar...
This book shares revealing insights into the development of mathematics education research in Germany from 1976 (ICME 3 in Karlsruhe) to 2016 (ICME 13 in Hamburg). How did mathematics education research evolve in the course of these four decades? Which ideas and people were most influential, and how did German research interact with the internation...
Beginning with an overview of data and concepts developed in the EU-project HABIT-CHANGE, this book addresses the need for sharing knowledge and experience in the field of biodiversity conservation and climate change. There is an urgent need to build capacity in protected areas to monitor, assess, manage and report the effects of climate change and...
This edited volume presents a comprehensive and coherent interdisciplinary analysis of challenges and possibilities for sustainable governance of the Baltic Sea ecosystem by combining knowledge and approaches from natural and social sciences. Focusing on the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) and associated multi-level, multi-sector and multi-a...
Why should people - and economies - save? This book on the savings problem in Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, while saving to survive the bad times is important, saving to thrive in the good times is what really counts. People must save to invest in health and education, live productive and fulfilling lives, and make the most of thei...
This book analyses the strategies of migration intermediaries from the public and private sectors in Switzerland to select, attract, and retain highly skilled migrants who represent value to them. It reveals how state and economic actors define "wanted immigrants" and provide them with privileged access to the Swiss territory and labour m...