MPEG-4 is the multimedia standard for combining interactivity, natural and synthetic digital video, audio and computer-graphics. Typical applications are: internet, video conferencing, mobile videophones, multimedia cooperative work, teleteaching and games. With MPEG-4 the next step from block-based video (ISO/IEC MPEG-1, MPEG-2, CCITT H.261, ITU-T H.263) to arbitrarily-shaped visual objects is taken. This significant step demands a new methodology for system analysis and design to meet the considerably higher flexibility of MPEG-4. Motion estimation is a central part of MPEG-1/2/4 and H.261/H.263 video compression standards and has attracted much attention in research and industry, for the following reasons: it is computationally the most demanding algorithm of a video encoder (about 60-80% of the total computation time), it has a high impact on the visual quality of a video encoder, and it is not standardized, thus being open to competition. Algorithms, Complexity Analysis, and VLSI Architectures for MPEG-4 Motion Estimation covers in detail every single step in the design of a MPEG-1/2/4 or H.261/H.263 compliant video encoder: Fast motion estimation algorithms Complexity analysis tools Detailed complexity analysis of a software implementation of MPEG-4 video Complexity and visual quality analysis of fast motion estimation algorithms within MPEG-4 Design space on motion estimation VLSI architectures Detailed VLSI design examples of (1) a high throughput and (2) a low-power MPEG-4 motion estimator. Algorithms, Complexity Analysis and VLSI Architectures for MPEG-4 Motion Estimation is an important introduction to numerous algorithmic, architectural and system design aspects of the multimedia standard MPEG-4. As such, all researchers, students and practitioners working in image processing, video coding or system and VLSI design will find this book of interest.

MPEG-4 is the multimedia standard for combining interactivity, natural and synthetic digital video, audio and computer-graphics. Typical applications are: internet, video conferencing, mobile videophones, multimedia cooperative work, teleteaching and games. With MPEG-4 the next step from block-based video (ISO/IEC MPEG-1, MPEG-2, CCITT H.261, ITU-T H.263) to arbitrarily-shaped visual objects is taken. This significant step demands a new methodology for system analysis and design to meet the considerably higher flexibility of MPEG-4. Motion estimation is a central part of MPEG-1/2/4 and H.261/H.263 video compression standards and has attracted much attention in research and industry, for the following reasons: it is computationally the most demanding algorithm of a video encoder (about 60-80% of the total computation time), it has a high impact on the visual quality of a video encoder, and it is not standardized, thus being open to competition. Algorithms, Complexity Analysis, and VLSI Architectures for MPEG-4 Motion Estimation covers in detail every single step in the design of a MPEG-1/2/4 or H.261/H.263 compliant video encoder: Fast motion estimation algorithms Complexity analysis tools Detailed complexity analysis of a software implementation of MPEG-4 video Complexity and visual quality analysis of fast motion estimation algorithms within MPEG-4 Design space on motion estimation VLSI architectures Detailed VLSI design examples of (1) a high throughput and (2) a low-power MPEG-4 motion estimator. Algorithms, Complexity Analysis and VLSI Architectures for MPEG-4 Motion Estimation is an important introduction to numerous algorithmic, architectural and system design aspects of the multimedia standard MPEG-4. As such, all researchers, students and practitioners working in image processing, video coding or system and VLSI design will find this book of interest.

In this note a short introduction to the project "Employment Effects of Entrepreneurs" is presented. First, we describe the purpose of the project; second, we present the background; third, we briefly describe the three papers that constitute the output of the project, and fourth, we discuss two important qualifications for the understanding of the contributions and results established in the project.

What are the characteristics of jobs in entrepreneurial firms as compared to jobs in incumbent firms? Even though this question has been addressed by many researchers before us, we provide new evidence to the field since we measure the entrepreneur as the organic new firm. In the literature, the majority of studies have focused on entrepreneurs as measured by small or new firms. By organic new firms, we mean new firms that are not the result of restructurings or organizing existing or additional activities in a formally new firm. Moreover, we distinguish entrepreneurial firms by different types and distinguish between growing and declining industry-region clusters. Our results differ from the findings in the existing literature. Specifically, we find that compared to incumbents, entrepreneurial firms have higher total factor productivity, are more skill intensive, and pay higher wages. The differences are more pronounced in growing clusters. Moreover, the results show important differences between different types of entrepreneurial firms. Specifically, spin-offs are found to enjoy the largest productivity advantage. The wage and skill premiums at the firm level disappear at the job level, as larger incumbents are both more skill intensive and pay higher wages than smaller incumbents.

We study whether entrepreneurial spinoffs are important drivers of industry dynamics. More precisely, we investigate whether the quality of jobs in spinoff entrepreneurs are higher than for other entrepreneurs. We distinguish spinoff firms by different types and distinguish between growing and declining industry-region clusters. We find that spinoffs on average have higher wages, are more skill intensive, have higher sales per worker and are more productive than non-spinoff entrepreneurial firms. The differences are more pronounced in growing clusters. The results even hold when we control for worker heterogeneity and industry and region clusters characteristics. An important feature of the analysis is that we measure the entrepreneur as the organic new firm. By organic new firm, we mean new firms that are not the result of restructurings or organising existing or additional activities in a formally new firm.

The discovery and introduction of the internal combustion engine has resulted in a very rapid development in machines utilizing the action of a piston. Design has been limited by the internal components of the engine, which has been subjected to ever increasing thermal and mechanical stresses, Of these internal engine components, the piston and piston rings are of particular importance and the momentary position of engine development is not seldom dependent upon the development of both of the components, The piston ring is a well-known component and has been used in its present shape in the steam engine of the last century, Corresponding to its importance, the piston ring has been a rich field for creative activity and it is noteworthy that in spite of this the ring has maintained its shape through the many years. From the many and complicated designs which have been suggested as a packing between piston and cylinder wall hardly one suggestion has remained which does not resemble the original design of cast iron rectangular ring.

We extend earlier analyses of the job creation of start-ups vs. established firms by taking into consideration the educational content of the jobs created and destroyed. We define education-specific measures of job creation and job destruction at the firm level, and we use these to construct a measure of "surplus job creation" defined as jobs created on top of any simultaneous destruction of similar jobs in incumbent firms in the same region and industry. Using Danish employer-employee data from 2002-7, which identify the start-ups and which cover almost the entire private sector, these measures allow us to provide a more nuanced assessment of the role of entrepreneurial firms in the job-creation process than previous studies. Our findings show that while start-ups are responsible for the entire overall net job creation, incumbents account for more than a third of net job creation within high-skilled jobs. Moreover, start-ups "only" create around half of the surplus jobs, and even less of the high-skilled surplus jobs. Finally, our approach allows us to characterize and identify differences across industries, educational groups and regions.

A middle-school principal is given one hour to choose between risking the entire school or selecting twenty students to leave on a bus. His decision puts students in danger and his career in trouble. The twenty students spend several days in an abandoned mansion until one boy plans to save them all. If his plan works, parents will see their children again and the crooks involved will learn that crime really doesn't pay.

From the memories of everyday experience, "Living Atlanta" vividly recreates life in the city during the three decades from World War I through World War II--a period in which a small, regional capital became a center of industry, education, finance, commerce, and travel. This profusely illustrated volume draws on nearly two hundred interviews with Atlanta residents who recall, in their own words, "the way it was"--from segregated streetcars to college fraternity parties, from moonshine peddling to visiting performances by the Metropolitan Opera, from the growth of neighborhoods to religious revivals. The book is based on a celebrated public radio series that was broadcast in 1979-80 and hailed by Studs Terkel as "an important, exciting project--a truly human portrait of a city of people." "Living Atlanta" presents a diverse array of voices--domestics and businessmen, teachers and factory workers, doctors and ballplayers. There are memories of the city when it wasn't quite a city: "Back in those young days it was country in Atlanta," musician Rosa Lee Carson reflects. "It sure was. Why, you could even raise a cow out there in your yard." There are eyewitness accounts of such major events as the Great Fire of 1917: "The wind blowing that way, it was awful," recalls fire fighter Hugh McDonald. "There'd be a big board on fire, and the wind would carry that board, and it'd hit another house and start right up on that one. And it just kept spreading." There are glimpses of the workday: "It's a real job firing an engine, a darn hard job," says railroad man J. R. Spratlin. "I was using a scoop and there wasn't no eight hour haul then, there was twelve hours, sometimes sixteen." And there are scenes of the city at play: "Baseball was the popular sport," remembers Arthur Leroy Idlett, who grew up in the Pittsburgh neighborhood. "Everybody had teams. And people--you could put some kids out there playing baseball, and before you knew a thing, you got a crowd out there, watching kids play." Organizing the book around such topics as transportation, health and religion, education, leisure, and politics, the authors provide a narrative commentary that places the diverse remembrances in social and historical context. Resurfacing throughout the book as a central theme are the memories of Jim Crow and the peculiarities of black-white relations. Accounts of Klan rallies, job and housing discrimination, and poll taxes are here, along with stories about the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, early black forays into local politics, and the role of the city's black colleges. Martin Luther King, Sr., historian Clarence Bacote, former police chief Herbert Jenkins, educator Benjamin Mays, and sociologist Arthur Raper are among those whose recollections are gathered here, but the majority of the voices are those of ordinary Atlantans, men and women who in these pages relive day-to-day experiences of a half-century ago.

In May 1914, workers walked off their jobs at Atlanta's Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, launching a lengthy strike that was at the heart of the American Federation of Labor's first major attempt to organize southern workers in over a decade. In its celebrity, the Fulton Mills strike was the regional contemporary of the well-known industrial conflicts in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Ludlow, Colorado. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the strike was an important episode in the development of the New South, and as Clifford Kuhn demonstrates, its story sheds light on the industrialization, urbanization, and modernization of the region.

Drawing on an extraordinary collection of sources--including reports from labor spies and company informants, photographs, federal investigations, oral histories, and newly uncovered records from the old mill's vaults--Kuhn vividly depicts the strike and the community in which it occurred. He also chronicles the struggle for public opinion that ensued between management, workers, union leaders, and other interested parties. Finally, Kuhn reflects on the legacy of the strike in southern history, exploring its complex ties to the evolving New South.

Le campagne di informazione sulla droga sono spesso troppo semplificate e sbilanciate verso atteggiamenti di preconcetta condanna o assoluzione, basati piu su criteri di tipo ideologico che di tipo scientifico. Ma le persone, in particolare gli adolescenti che si trovano ad affrontare il problema, vogliono capire prima di decidere: non "basta dire di no" (come suggeriva la moglie del presidente Reagan negli anni '80), c'e bisogno di sapere come stanno le cose per fare delle scelte consapevoli.

Questa edizione italiana di Buzzed, grande successo editoriale internazionale, rappresenta una fonte comprensibile ed essenziale per capire come agiscono le droghe e quali sono i loro effetti sull'organismo e sul comportamento. Scientificamente accurato e facile da leggere, il libro fornisce dati equilibrati, oggettivi e aggiornati sulle sostanze piu usate e abusate - dall'alcol alla caffeina, dalla nicotina all'eroina, all'ecstasy, alla metamfetamina. Arricchito da indici che velocizzano la ricerca delle informazioni e da capitoli di approfondimento, il volume spiega come le droghe si muovono nell'organismo e descrive i loro effetti immediati e a lungo termine, il tipo di "sballo" che provocano, le circostanze in cui possono essere molto pericolose. Forse unico nel panorama dei libri sulla droga, presta inoltre una particolare attenzione agli effetti spesso insidiosi che alcune droghe esercitano sul cervello ancora in sviluppo dell'adolescente.

Questa edizione e stata calata nella realta italiana attraverso la completa riscrittura di alcuni capitoli, l'aggiunta di moltissime note sulla situazione in Italia e, soprattutto, attraverso il coinvolgimento di studenti liceali, ai quali e stato chiesto di valutare e commentare il testo.

Insomma, un libro per capire, per dire, all'occorrenza, "lo so.""

Berthold M. Kuhn and Dimitrios L. Margellos present a thoroughly reflected analysis of global trends shaping our future. Key megatrends include climate change and sustainability, digitalization, growing inequalities, urbanization and smart cities, the progression toward a green economy, and sustainable finance. Addressing geopolitical shifts and the future of multilateralism, the authors also discuss new trends in democracy and governance, migration, and health and nutrition, as well as civilizational developments like demography, diversity, identity politics, individualization, and shifting gender norms. Based on their own research and a series of interviews with leading analysts and researchers from different world regions, the authors present cutting-edge content on the future of humanity.

Understanding the phenomenon of long-lasting vulnerability to addiction is essential to developing successful treatments. Written by an international team of authorities in their respective fields, Advances in the Neuroscience of Addiction provides an excellent overview of the available and emerging approaches used to investigate the biologic mechanisms of drug addiction. It also delineates the promising research discoveries being made in relapse prevention. The book begins with current animal models of addiction, which mimic the state of humans entering treatment: recently-abstinent animals that receive common triggers for relapse (classical conditioning, stress, and neuroadaptive dysregulation). Coverage then shifts to the use of electrophysiologic approaches, which enable researchers to characterize the discharge patterns of single neurons during drug self-administration. After exploring advances in voltammetry and enzyme-linked biosensors for measuring glutamate, the book discusses the theoretical background and results of neuroimaging studies related to neuronal networks that are activated by drug-specific cues. It then describes modern genetic approaches to manipulate target proteins that influence addictive behavior. The book rounds out its coverage by illustrating how a neuroeconomic approach can inform studies of reward processing in general and addiction in particular. It is a comprehensive introduction to the methodologies of the field for students and beginning researchers and an essential reference source for established investigators.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Grundlich Erprobte Anweisung Zur Holz-Cultur Und Wie Die Verosigten oden Platze Wiederum Mit Wald-Saamen Anzubauen: Dann Wie Von Allerley Arten Laub- Und Nadel-Saame Gesammlet Und In Den Boden Gebracht Wird 2 Johann M. Kuhn Felecker, 1764

Understanding the phenomenon of long-lasting vulnerability to addiction is essential to developing successful treatments. Written by an international team of authorities in their respective fields, Advances in the Neuroscience of Addiction provides an excellent overview of the available and emerging approaches used to investigate the biologic mechanisms of drug addiction. It also delineates the promising research discoveries being made in relapse prevention. The book begins with current animal models of addiction, which mimic the state of humans entering treatment: recently-abstinent animals that receive common triggers for relapse (classical conditioning, stress, and neuroadaptive dysregulation). Coverage then shifts to the use of electrophysiologic approaches, which enable researchers to characterize the discharge patterns of single neurons during drug self-administration. After exploring advances in voltammetry and enzyme-linked biosensors for measuring glutamate, the book discusses the theoretical background and results of neuroimaging studies related to neuronal networks that are activated by drug-specific cues. It then describes modern genetic approaches to manipulate target proteins that influence addictive behavior. The book rounds out its coverage by illustrating how a neuroeconomic approach can inform studies of reward processing in general and addiction in particular. It is a comprehensive introduction to the methodologies of the field for students and beginning researchers and an essential reference source for established investigators.