The book provides fresh look at the issues of sustainable development, degradation of natural resources and vulnerability to climate change in Small Island developing states (SIDS). It documents the deteriorating state of SIDS and adaptation efforts made to address the impending crisis of unsustainable economic growth with international, national and community support. Authors have discussed issues like macroeconomic trends, vulnerability, resilience capability, and SIDS-specific strategies focusing on sectors like trade and tourism. Discussion continues with the examination of democracy, social capital, quality of life, and health concerns. Climate change and natural resource challenges are analyzed using case studies. The book also discusses diplomatic complexities of international climate agreements, collective action and institutional quality constitute the analysis of global environment and sustainable development.

This book examines the emerging trends in vanishing borders of urban local government finance due to uncertain local tax and expenditure regimes. It analyzes the global developments with illustrations from state budgetary operations of the Indian federation. This trend has gained momentum due to concentration of population in cities and big towns as a consequence of globalization, leading to enhanced environmental vulnerability due to climate change. Expanding expenditure needs have not been corresponded by revenue regimes and transfers. Moreover, involving corporate sector in local area preference initiatives through mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an interesting development. It is expected to work as a local fiscal additionality to supplement locally provided civic and infrastructure services. This additionality may also evolve into public private partnerships at the local level. Such development however has the potential of displacing local government operations. The focus of the book hinges around critically examining setbacks to fiscal decentralization and challenges in improving the status of urban local finances to enhance fiscal autonomy of these governments, particularly in Indian scenario. The book also explores the possibility of an expanded role of local fiscal policy in the context of globalization and climate change, besides addressing the conventional responsibilities with respect to quality of civic services.

Learn the ins and outs of the Industrial Internet of Things through subjects ranging from its history and evolution, right up to what the future holds. About This Book * Define solutions that can connect existing systems and newer cloud-based solutions to thousands of thousands of edge devices and industrial machines * Identify, define, and justify Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) projects, and design an application that can connect to and control thousands of machines * Leverage the power and features of a platform to monitor, perform analytics, and maintain the Industrial Internet Who This Book Is For Architects who are interested in learning how to define solutions for the Industrial Internet will benefit immensely from this book. Relevant architect roles include enterprise architects, business architects, information architects, cloud solution architects, software architects, and others. The content is also relevant for technically inclined line of business leaders investing in these solutions. What You Will Learn * Learn the history of the Industrial Internet and why an architectural approach is needed * Define solutions that can connect to and control thousands of edge devices and machines * Understand the significance of working with line of business leadership and key metrics to be gathered * Connect business requirements to the functional architecture * Gain the right expectation as to the capabilities of Industrial Internet applications and how to assess them * Understand what data and analytics components should be included in your architecture solution * Understand deployment trade-offs, management and security considerations, and the impact of emerging technologies In Detail The Industrial Internet or the IIoT has gained a lot of traction. Many leading companies are driving this revolution by connecting smart edge devices to cloud-based analysis platforms and solving their business challenges in new ways. To ensure a smooth integration of such machines and devices, sound architecture strategies based on accepted principles, best practices, and lessons learned must be applied. This book begins by providing a bird's eye view of what the IIoT is and how the industrial revolution has evolved into embracing this technology. It then describes architectural approaches for success, gathering business requirements, and mapping requirements into functional solutions. In a later chapter, many other potential use cases are introduced including those in manufacturing and specific examples in predictive maintenance, asset tracking and handling, and environmental impact and abatement. The book concludes by exploring evolving technologies that will impact IIoT architecture in the future and discusses possible societal implications of the Industrial Internet and perceptions regarding these projects. By the end of this book, you will be better equipped to embrace the benefits of the burgeoning IIoT. Style and approach This book takes a comprehensive approach to the Industrial Internet, thoroughly acquainting the reader with the concepts and philosophy of the IIoT. It provides a basis for defining an IIoT solution in a thoughtful manner and creating what will be viewed as a successful project.