The city of gold is in a death spiral.

Award-winning journalist, inner-city activist, and municipal civil servant Nickolaus Bauer takes a deep dive into how Africa’s economic hub has reached the brink of collapse and what it will take to rescue Joburg.

For local and international readers interested in tracking the collapse and possible resurrection of one of Africa’s greatest cities.

For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios.

Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected.

A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.

Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

Big Data and Smart Service Systems presents the theories and applications regarding Big Data and smart service systems, data acquisition, smart cities, business decision-making support, and smart service design. The rapid development of computer and Internet technologies has led the world to the era of Big Data. Big Data technologies are widely used, which has brought unprecedented impacts on traditional industries and lifestyle. More and more governments, business sectors, and institutions begin to realize data is becoming the most valuable asset and its analysis is becoming the core competitiveness.

In the first decade of the 21st century, five rising powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) formed an exclusive and informal international club, the BRICS. Although neither revolutionaries nor extreme revisionists, the BRICS perceive an ongoing global power shift and contest the West's pretensions to permanent stewardship of the existing economic order. Together they have exercised collective financial statecraft, employing their expanding financial and monetary capabilities for the purpose of achieving larger foreign policy goals. This volume examines the forms and strategies of such collective financial statecraft, and the motivations of each individual government for collaborating through the BRICS club. Their cooperative financial statecraft takes various forms, ranging from pressure for "inside reforms" of either multilateral institutions or global markets, to "outside options" exercised through creating new multilateral institutions or jointly pushing for new realities in international financial markets. To the surprise of many observers, the joint actions of the BRICS are largely successful. Although each member has its unique rationale for collaboration, the largest member, China, controls resources that permit it the greatest influence in intra-club decision-making. The BRICS cooperate due to both common aversions (for example, resentment over being perennial junior partners in global economic and financial governance and resistance to infringements on their autonomy due to U.S. dollar dominance and financial power) and common interests (such as obtaining greater voice in international institutions, as the IMF). The group seeks reforms, influence, and enhanced leadership roles within the liberal capitalist global system. Where blocked, they experiment with parallel multilateral institutions in which they are the dominant rule-makers. The future of the BRICS depends not only on their bargaining power and adjustment to market players, but also on their ability to overcome domestic impediments to sustainable economic growth, the basis for their international influence.

Prior to 1979, China had a bifurcated and geographically-dispersed industrial structure made up of a relatively small number of large-scale, state-owned enterprises in various industries alongside numerous small-scale, energy-intensive and polluting enterprises. Economic reforms beginning in 1979 led to the rapid expansion of these small-scale manufacturing enterprises in numerous energy-intensive industries such as aluminum, cement, iron and steel, and pulp and paper. Subsequently, the government adopted a new industrial development strategy labeled "grasp the large, let go the small." The aims of this new policy were to close many of the unprofitable, small-scale manufacturing plants in these (and other) industries, create a small number of large enterprises that could compete with OECD multinationals, entice these larger enterprises to engage in high-speed technological catch-up, and save energy. China's Technological Catch-Up Strategy traces the impact of this new industrial development strategy on technological catch-up, energy use, and CO2 emissions. In doing so, the authors explore several detailed, enterprise-level case studies of technological catch-up; develop industry-wide estimates of energy and CO2 savings from specific catch-up interventions; and present detailed econometric work on the determinants of energy intensity. The authors conclude that China's strategy has contributred to substantial energy and CO2 savings, but it has not led to either a peaking of or a decline in CO2 emissions in these industries. More work is needed to cap and reduce China's CO2 emissions.

The United Africa Company (UAC), formed in 1929 by the fusion of the Niger Company and the African and Eastern Corporation, was by far the largest single commercial organization in West and Equatorial Africa, and thus central to modern African economic history. This is the first detailed account to be published and one which fills a serious gap in the literature. It was not commissioned by the company (now reabsorbed into Unilever) but the author had full access to all confidential material in the UAC and Unilever archives and complete freedom in what he wrote. The book is not intended to be primarily a company history but uses the UAC as a focal point for detailed study of how the role of foreign merchant capital changed in response to economic and political developments in Black Africa during this critical half century.

This book charts the early days of Hampton, the fourth of Peterborough's new townships,1 from the time when, as the 'Brickpits', much of it was an area of complete desolation only considered suitable for landfilling, until it emerged as the largest development of its kind since Welwyn Garden City, in the 1930s. Along the way it will explain the challenges, many of them unique to this unusual site, which were faced by the very small team of pioneers tasked with creating a viable project in the most unpromising circumstances. By 2018 more than 5,000 homes have been erected at Hampton and more than 12,500 people now live there. How it came about that a company, which had no history of property development, should become involved in creating such a project with all its complexities is a matter of continuing interest especially at a time of national housing shortage. It does seem that, if we are to have any success in addressing our housing needs, we should learn the lessons of putting together a project on this s

Mounting global competition, rapid technological change, and skyrocketing research costs are changing the arM's-length relationships between industry and universities toward closer and more direct cooperation. Yet, many companies remain unsure how to proceed in establishing effective alliances with the right universities and faculty investigators. Many books and articles describe features and benefits of the diverse forms of cooperation between the two communities, usually from the academic viewpoint. Based on his experiences in directing many (successful) collaborations between Du Pont and research universities, Carboni offers fresh insights and practical guidelines for planning, organizing, and conducting effective bilateral research initiatives, from the corporate perspective. Strategies and techniques are outlined, which enable managers and technical professionals to deal with major issues and problems throughout every phase of the undertaking.

A historical analysis helps the reader to understand the forces and events that have shaped the changing relationships between industry, academia, and government since World War II. The advantages and pitfalls of major types of industry-university research interactions are described so that the reader may evaluate and choose the best options for his or her company's needs and circumstances. The reader is shown how to analyze the key technical issues and gaps of his or her company as a basis for selecting a balanced portfolio of university projects. Factors to be considered in choosing suitable faculty investigators are discussed. For less experienced managers, the book offers suggestions for obtaining executive and in-house support, negotiating research agreements, and evaluating and transferring key scientific and technological findings to the organization for exploitation. This book is a valuable desk-side resource for corporate executives and technical staffs who seek fresh insights and information concerning the role, conduct, and potential impact of university collaborations on the company missions. The treatise enables academic and government scientists, research administrators, and consultants to acquire a deeper understanding of corporate needs, values, and expectations from these alliances.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

BEST OF THE 2022 RUSA Book & Media AWARDS One of Biblioracle's 8 favorite nonfiction books of 2021 in the Chicago Tribune The New York Post's BEST BOOKS OF 2021 USA Today's 5 BOOKS NOT TO MISS Alexander nimbly and grippingly translates the byzantine world of American health care into a real-life narrative with people you come to care about. --New York Times Takes readers into the world of the American medical industry in a way no book has done before. --Fortune By following the struggle for survival of one small-town hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its doors, The Hospital takes readers into the world of the American medical industry in a way no book has done before. Americans are dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no plan will solve America's health crisis until the deeper causes of that crisis are addressed. Bryan, Ohio's hospital, is losing money, making it vulnerable to big health systems seeking domination and Phil Ennen, CEO, has been fighting to preserve its independence. Meanwhile, Bryan, a town of 8,500 people in Ohio's northwest corner, is still trying to recover from the Great Recession. As local leaders struggle to address the town's problems, and the hospital fights for its life amid a rapidly consolidating medical and hospital industry, a 39-year-old diabetic literally fights for his limbs, and a 55-year-old contractor lies dying in the emergency room. With these and other stories, Alexander strips away the wonkiness of policy to reveal Americans' struggle for health against a powerful system that's stacked against them, but yet so fragile it blows apart when the pandemic hits. Culminating with COVID-19, this book offers a blueprint for how we created the crisis we're in.

"When economy and ecology are seamlessly enmeshed, then the economy will revolve at optimum speed. When they are not, then friction between them will slow both their cycles, grind down bio mass and release wasted economic heat." "Bio fuels have a greater atmospheric CO2 effect than fossil fuels. If we burn life, we add to atmospheric CO2, but also reduce the mass of CO2 absorbing life. If we burn fossil fuels, we add to atmospheric CO2, but the mass of life continues to live and breathe." (From the Lost Coefficient of Time) The Lost Coefficient of Time sets out to refute the assumption quoted below, which has informed the Carbon audits of the IPCC, carbon trading schemes, carbon footprint calculations, most university departments and in particular, the Zero Carbon Britain 2030 report by the Centre for Alternative Technology. "If biomass is burned, the chemistry is more or less reversed, and the original energy and raw material (CO2 and water) are released. There is then no net gain or loss of CO2, which is why biological fuels are considered to be "Carbon neutral." Patrick Noble is an organic farmer of over thirty years experience.

Public private partnerships (PPPs) have been a controversial approach to procuring public infrastructure services. Against a background of recent trenchant criticism of PPPs, Mervyn K. Lewis, a leading scholar in the area, re-examines their utility. He questions what PPPs can and cannot do, why governments choose this route and whether PPPs can ever be good value for money. The author analyses the extensive use of PPPs for hospitals and transport megaprojects and outlines the key challenges to implementing them, shaping the future direction of the PPP model. Exploring the psychological influences on decision-making, the book also puts a new focus on the people delivering the project; it is not only a matter of selecting the right model. Professor Lewis concludes that, although the PPP model remains problematic, if chosen appropriately every procurement approach has its place in good policy. Providing an in-depth exploration of the features of PPPs and the complexities of megaprojects, Rethinking Public Private Partnerships will be of considerable interest to academics and students of public policy, economic regulation and governance, and public finance. Its re-assessment of the field will also prove invaluable for government procurers, advisory firms and PPP experts.

A unique and comprehensive source of information, this book is the only international publication providing economists, planners, policymakers and business people with worldwide statistics on current performance and trends in the manufacturing sector. The Yearbook is designed to facilitate international comparisons relating to manufacturing activity and industrial development and performance. It provides data which can be used to analyse patterns of growth and related long term trends, structural change and industrial performance in individual industries. Statistics on employment patterns, wages, consumption and gross output and other key indicators are also presented.

The international financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 and the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have had a great impact on many firms' financial needs. Simultaneously, several emerging countries have bet on boosting private initiatives as a way to diversify their economies and create jobs and wealth for their populations. New forms of financing have appeared that have impacted the firm's capital structure, cost of capital, and access to finance by underprivileged communities that are normally outside the formal economy. The Handbook of Research on Acceleration Programs for SMEs provides and shares knowledge on the financial mix, alternative forms of finance, capital structure, and more. It calls attention to relevant challenges, financial institutions, and governments to guarantee funds and economic and social development with new competencies, innovations, new ways of investing, entrepreneurship, and business models with new public policies. Covering topics such as earnings management, capital structure, and foreign exchange, this major reference work is an essential resource for government officials, business leaders and executives, economists, sociologists, students and faculty of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.