Sustainable Operations Management applies the issues of sustainability to all strategic decisions of operations: capacity management, supply network, process technology, and development and organisation. This book extends the existing literature of operations management that for years has been paramount in creating economic value with little consideration of environment and social dimensions. Whilst based on robust theoretical frameworks, some developed by its own authors, the book is enriched by international case studies and real-world illustrations throughout, to demonstrate how this theory translates to practice. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with a summary, activity, and questions for discussion. Readers will gain a comprehensive and in-depth knowledge on how to manage operations for sustainability. They will learn the ways to formulate a sustainable operations strategy and the elements involved in managing tactical and operational activities to enhance sustainability performance over time. The book covers all aspects of the new business sustainability paradigm from an operations perspective, including sustainable development goals, the circular economy and digital transformation. With international agreements and national policies in place around themes such as climate change, ocean plastic pollution, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity, and zero landfill targets, this book will be a must for any university abiding to the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRIME). The text is suitable mostly for MSc and MBA students on sustainable supply chain and operations management modules as well as broader Operations Management courses, but it can also be used for final-year Undergraduate students as part of advanced operations management modules. Online resources include chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides and a test bank of questions.

This book seeks to establish the meaning of design research, its role in the field, and the characteristics that differentiate research in design from research in other fields. The author introduces a model to explain the relationship between the components of the ontological reality of design: the designed object, the designer, and the user. Addressing design research across disciplines, the author establishes a foundational understanding of research, and research paradigms, for the design disciplines. This will be crucial for the emerging field of design research to find its own identity and move forward, building its own knowledge base as it finds its positioning between science and art. The book will be of interest to scholars working in design history, design studies, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, architecture, fashion design, and service design.

Sustainable Operations Management applies the issues of sustainability to all strategic decisions of operations: capacity management, supply network, process technology, and development and organisation. This book extends the existing literature of operations management that for years has been paramount in creating economic value with little consideration of environment and social dimensions. Whilst based on robust theoretical frameworks, some developed by its own authors, the book is enriched by international case studies and real-world illustrations throughout, to demonstrate how this theory translates to practice. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with a summary, activity, and questions for discussion. Readers will gain a comprehensive and in-depth knowledge on how to manage operations for sustainability. They will learn the ways to formulate a sustainable operations strategy and the elements involved in managing tactical and operational activities to enhance sustainability performance over time. The book covers all aspects of the new business sustainability paradigm from an operations perspective, including sustainable development goals, the circular economy and digital transformation. With international agreements and national policies in place around themes such as climate change, ocean plastic pollution, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity, and zero landfill targets, this book will be a must for any university abiding to the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRIME). The text is suitable mostly for MSc and MBA students on sustainable supply chain and operations management modules as well as broader Operations Management courses, but it can also be used for final-year Undergraduate students as part of advanced operations management modules. Online resources include chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides and a test bank of questions.

This book seeks to establish the meaning of design research, its role in the field, and the characteristics that differentiate research in design from research in other fields. The author introduces a model to explain the relationship between the components of the ontological reality of design: the designed object, the designer, and the user. Addressing design research across disciplines, the author establishes a foundational understanding of research, and research paradigms, for the design disciplines. This will be crucial for the emerging field of design research to find its own identity and move forward, building its own knowledge base as it finds its positioning between science and art. The book will be of interest to scholars working in design history, design studies, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, architecture, fashion design, and service design.

Criminological theory is a core component of the CJ/crim curriculum; a least one course on the topic is typically required for a four-year degree. But theory can be a dry subject, disconnected from the real world and hard for students to understand or relate to. The proposed project offers a new way to teach this material, engaging students with brief, highly visual illustrated texts. The authors propose a series of 13 "comic books," each issue on a particular type of criminological theory. Each fully illustrated volume will trace the development of the theory, placing it in social and political context, and explain how it applies to the real world. As noted by reviewers, the visual nature of the project, along with the focus on real-world relevance, should be appealing to students while still conveying the key concepts instructors need to impart.

This book is the result of long research, which started in early 1983 and aimed at examining Brazil's economic adjustment following the two oil shocks in the period between 1974 and 1981, before the so-called "debt crisis". .

Pocket Prescriber Pulmonary Medicine is a concise, up-to-date prescribing guide containing all the ‘must-have’ information that clinical professionals treating patients with respiratory conditions need to know. This book provides focused information for all health professionals prescribing drugs for or to patients with a respiratory condition and is an essential guide for pulmonologists, intensive care physicians, emergency medicine doctors and general practitioners and nurse prescribers, in training and in practice.

"This book is the result of long research, which started in early 1983 and aimed at examining Brazil's economic adjustment following the two oil shocks of 1973 and 1979. Most of the information and data used in this book was gathered in the period between 1983 and 1987. Therefore, the detailed analysis that this book contains on the economic policies and structural changes implemented in Brazil refers basically to the period between the first oil shock in 1973 and the collapse of the Cruzado Plan early in 1987."

As pension fund systems decrease and dependency ratios increase, risk management is becoming more complex in public and private pension plans. Pension Fund Risk Management: Financial and Actuarial Modeling sheds new light on the current state of pension fund risk management and provides new technical tools for addressing pension risk from an integrated point of view.

Divided into four parts, the book first presents the correct measurement of risk in pension funds, fund dynamics under a performance-oriented arrangement, an attribution model for monitoring the performance and risk of a defined benefit (DB) pension fund, and an optimal investment problem of a defined contribution (DC) pension fund under inflationary risk. It also describes a pension plan from a dynamic optimization viewpoint, the optimal asset allocation of U.S. pension funds, the identification of stakeholders risks, value-at-risk (VaR) methodology, and various effects on the asset allocation of DB pension schemes.

The second section focuses on the effects of uncertainty on employer-provided DB private pension plan liabilities; wage-based lump sum payments by death, retirement, or dismissal by the employer; fundamental retirement changes; occupational pension insurance in Germany; and longevity risk securitization in pension schemes.

In the third part, the book examines employers risks, accountability rules and regulations, useful actuarial analysis instruments, risk-based solvency regime in the Netherlands, and the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on pension participants.

The final part covers DB pension freezes and terminations of plans, the two-pillar social security system of Italy, the Greek social security system, the effect of a company s unfunded pension liabilities on its stock market valuation, and the returns of Spanish balanced pension plans and portfolio performance.

With contributions from well-known, international academics and professionals, this book will assist pension fund executives, risk managers, consultants, and academic researchers in attaining a clear picture of the integration of risks in the pension world. It offers a comprehensive, contemporary account of how to handle the risks involved with pension funds.

Discover Money-Saving Sustainable Living Tips to Save the Planet Looking for easy, budget-friendly ways to reduce your environmental impact and save money? Dive into Sustained, where eco-friendly living expert and environmental journalist Candice Batista takes you on a journey through your home, providing practical, money-saving tips and sustainable solutions for every room. Small changes, big impact. Discover how small changes can lead to sustainable living in this easy-to-implement guide. From green cleaning and conscious clothing to kitchen composting, reducing chemical exposure, and ditching single-use plastics, learn how to make a meaningful difference for our planet without sacrificing your budget. Eco-friendly living made simple. Discover the secrets of green living with tried-and-tested tips, recipes, and current information on top-rated green products for your home. Candice Batista shares extensive advice on kitchen waste management, eco-friendly cleaning, sustainable fashion, and deciphering product labels for informed decision-making. Inside Sustained, you'll find: The most up-to-date information on green living and sustainable living practices Advice for reducing chemical exposure and single-use plastics in your home The best green products for every room in your house, as well as sustainable fashion and conscious clothing options Environmentally-conscious readers of sustainability books like Simply Living Well, The Backyard Homestead Bible, or Sustainable Minimalism will help save the planet with Sustained.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field. The chapter "Mechanochemical Forces as a Synthetic Tool for Zero and One-Dimensional Titanium Oxide-Based Nano-photocatalysts" is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 License via link.springer.com.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field. The chapter "Mechanochemical Forces as a Synthetic Tool for Zero and One-Dimensional Titanium Oxide-Based Nano-photocatalysts" is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 License via link.springer.com.

We all know the way the story goes - the prince saves the princess. But not anymore! This is a world where the tropes are flipped - and princesses train to save a prince. And that can be annoying! In a fairytale world where Queens rule and magic is power, Princess Amaltea is sent on the biggest quest of her life -- to rescue a prince in need and fulfill her duties as a princess. Spoiled, prejudiced and sheltered from the world at large, Amaltea reluctantly sets out on her journey and finds her "lad in distress"... only to find out he's not so willing to join her.

This monograph focuses on modern femtosecond laser microscopes for two photon imaging and nanoprocessing, on laser tweezers for cell micromanipulation as well as on fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) in Life Sciences. The book starts with an introduction by Dr. Wolfgang Kaiser, pioneer of nonlinear optics and ends with the chapter on clinical multiphoton tomography, the novel high resolution imaging technique. It includes a foreword by the nonlinear microscopy expert Dr. Colin Sheppard. Contents Part I: Basics Brief history of fluorescence lifetime imaging The long journey to the laser and its use for nonlinear optics Advanced TCSPC-FLIM techniques Ultrafast lasers in biophotonics Part II: Modern nonlinear microscopy of live cells STED microscopy: exploring fluorescence lifetime gradients for super-resolution at reduced illumination intensities Principles and applications of temporal-focusing wide-field two-photon microscopy FLIM-FRET microscopy TCSPC FLIM and PLIM for metabolic imaging and oxygen sensing Laser tweezers are sources of two-photon effects Metabolic shifts in cell proliferation and differentiation Femtosecond laser nanoprocessing Cryomultiphoton imaging Part III: Nonlinear tissue imaging Multiphoton Tomography (MPT) Clinical multimodal CARS imaging In vivo multiphoton microscopy of human skin Two-photon microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging of the cornea Multiscale correlative imaging of the brain Revealing interaction of dyes and nanomaterials by multiphoton imaging Multiphoton FLIM in cosmetic clinical research Multiphoton microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging for resection guidance in malignant glioma surgery Non-invasive single-photon and multi-photon imaging of stem cells and cancer cells in mouse models Bedside assessment of multiphoton tomography

In a fairytale world where queens rule and magic is power, a defiant young princess is sent on the biggest quest of her life -- to rescue a prince in distress and marry him! But when she finds him, it seems the prince isn't so eager to go along with her queendom's plans. Join Amaltea as she sets out on an epic journey to slay dragons, battle bandits and make princes swoon. This is volume 2 of the series.

After a brief introduction and contextualization on the Internet of Things (IoT) and Web of Things (WoT) paradigms, this timely new book describes one of the first research initiatives aimed at tackling the several challenges involved in building a middleware-layer infrastructure capable of realizing the WoT vision: the SmartSensor infrastructure. It is based on current standardization efforts and designed to manage a specific type of physical devices, those organized to shape a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), where sensors work collaboratively, extracting data and transmitting it to external networks to be further analysed and processed. Middleware Solutions for the Internet of Things describes this infrastructure and its RESTful-based programming model that allows developers create applications without having specific knowledge about physical devices or networking environments. It is also shown, step by step, how to create a Web Mashup application using SmartSensor.

The inspiration from Biology and the Natural Evolution process has become a research area within computer science. For instance, the description of the arti?cial neuron given by McCulloch and Pitts was inspired from biological observations of neural mechanisms; the power of evolution in nature in the diverse species that make up our world has been related to a particular form of problem solving based on the idea of survival of the ?ttest; similarly, - ti?cial immune systems, ant colony optimisation, automated self-assembling programming, membrane computing, etc. also have their roots in natural phenomena. The ?rst and second editions of the International Workshop on Nature Inspired Cooperative Strategies for Optimization (NICSO), were held in Granada, Spain, 2006, and in Acireale, Italy, 2007, respectively. As in these two previous editions, the aim of NICSO 2008, held in Tenerife, Spain, was to provide a forum were the latest ideas and state of the art research related to nature inspired cooperative strategies for problem solving were discussed. The contributions collected in this book were strictly peer reviewed by at least three members of the international programme committee, to whom we are indebted for their support and assistance. The topics covered by the contributionsincludenature-inspiredtechniqueslikeGeneticAlgorithms, Ant Colonies, Amorphous Computing, Arti?cial Immune Systems, Evolutionary Robotics, Evolvable Systems, Membrane Computing, Quantum Computing, Software Self Assembly, Swarm Intelligence, etc

The proper physiological functioning of most eukaryotic cells requires their assembly into multi-cellular tissues that form organized organ systems. Cells of the immune system develop in bone marrow and lymphoid organs, but as the cells mature they leave these organs and circulate as single cells. Antigen receptors (TCRs) of T cells search for membrane MHC proteins that are bound to peptides derived from infectious pathogens or cellular transformations. The detection of such speci?c peptide-MHC antigens initiates T cell activation, adhesion, and immune-effectors functions. Studies of normal and transformed T cell lines and of T cells from transgenic mice led to comprehensive understanding of the mole- lar basis of antigen-receptor recognition and signaling. In spite of these remarkable genetic and biochemical advances, other key physiological mechanisms that par- cipate in sensing and decoding the immune context to induce the appropriate cellular immune responses remain unresolved. TCR recognition is tightly regulated to trigger sensitive but balanced T cell responses that result in the effective elimination of the pathogens while minimizing collateral damage to the host. The sensitivity of TCR recognition has to be properly tempered to prevent unintended activation by self-peptide-MHC complexes that cause autoimmune diseases. It is likely that once the TCR is engaged by a peptide- MHC and TCR signaling begins, additional regulatory mechanisms, involving other receptors, would increase the ?delity of the response.

The proper physiological functioning of most eukaryotic cells requires their assembly into multi-cellular tissues that form organized organ systems. Cells of the immune system develop in bone marrow and lymphoid organs, but as the cells mature they leave these organs and circulate as single cells. Antigen receptors (TCRs) of T cells search for membrane MHC proteins that are bound to peptides derived from infectious pathogens or cellular transformations. The detection of such speci?c peptide-MHC antigens initiates T cell activation, adhesion, and immune-effectors functions. Studies of normal and transformed T cell lines and of T cells from transgenic mice led to comprehensive understanding of the mole- lar basis of antigen-receptor recognition and signaling. In spite of these remarkable genetic and biochemical advances, other key physiological mechanisms that par- cipate in sensing and decoding the immune context to induce the appropriate cellular immune responses remain unresolved. TCR recognition is tightly regulated to trigger sensitive but balanced T cell responses that result in the effective elimination of the pathogens while minimizing collateral damage to the host. The sensitivity of TCR recognition has to be properly tempered to prevent unintended activation by self-peptide-MHC complexes that cause autoimmune diseases. It is likely that once the TCR is engaged by a peptide- MHC and TCR signaling begins, additional regulatory mechanisms, involving other receptors, would increase the ?delity of the response.

The inspiration from Biology and the Natural Evolution process has become a research area within computer science. For instance, the description of the arti?cial neuron given by McCulloch and Pitts was inspired from biological observations of neural mechanisms; the power of evolution in nature in the diverse species that make up our world has been related to a particular form of problem solving based on the idea of survival of the ?ttest; similarly, - ti?cial immune systems, ant colony optimisation, automated self-assembling programming, membrane computing, etc. also have their roots in natural phenomena. The ?rst and second editions of the International Workshop on Nature Inspired Cooperative Strategies for Optimization (NICSO), were held in Granada, Spain, 2006, and in Acireale, Italy, 2007, respectively. As in these two previous editions, the aim of NICSO 2008, held in Tenerife, Spain, was to provide a forum were the latest ideas and state of the art research related to nature inspired cooperative strategies for problem solving were discussed. The contributions collected in this book were strictly peer reviewed by at least three members of the international programme committee, to whom we are indebted for their support and assistance. The topics covered by the contributionsincludenature-inspiredtechniqueslikeGeneticAlgorithms, Ant Colonies, Amorphous Computing, Arti?cial Immune Systems, Evolutionary Robotics, Evolvable Systems, Membrane Computing, Quantum Computing, Software Self Assembly, Swarm Intelligence, etc

This is the ?rst edition of the Latin American Symposium on Dependable C- puting (proceedings of the LADC). LADC is the sole Latin American event dedicated to discussing the many issues related to computer system depen- bility. This symposium succeeded the well established Brazilian Symposium on Fault Tolerant Computers, which was a biennial event that lasted for 20 years. Although the symposium was based in Latin America, the intention was to attractresearchersfromallovertheworld. Therewere46papersubmissionsfrom Europe, and South and North America. The selection process was rigorous, with eachmanuscriptbeingsentoutforreviewtofourProgramCommitteemembers. A total of 19 papers were selected to be included in the proceedings, of which two were experience reports and three were short papers. In addition to these papers, we also invited Henrique Madeira and Eliane Martins to contribute with two papers, and we were very grateful that they accepted our invitation. LADC 2003 was privileged to have a very prestigious and dedicated Program Committee, that embraced an electronic reviewing process that was demanding and time consuming. We would like to thank its members for their dedication and e?ort in helping to put together the ?nal program. The electronic subm- sion and reviewing process was only possible due to the e?orts of Alan Cleber Borim and Lisandro Zambenedetti Granville in installing and maintaining the EDAS conference manager. As part of the technical program, we also included three invited talks and a panel.