springer international publishing springer nature switzerland sep 2022 (602 results)

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book explores the PhD experience as never before and provides a ¿survival guide¿ for current and prospective PhD students. The book investigates why mental health issues are so common among the postgraduate population, going beyond the statistics, looking at lived experience of both the author and as well as current PhD students, who have found balancing mental wellness with the PhD endeavour challenging.The author discusses tips and tricks she wished she had known at the start of her PhD process for managing mental health, such as managing imposter feelings, prioritising workload, and self-care strategies to help others throughout their own journey.The book goes beyond typical mental health discussions (where the focus for improving mental health is placed on PhD students to become ¿more resilient¿) and explores some of the often unspoken environmental factors that can impact mental health. These include the PhD student-supervisor relationship, the pressure to publish, and deep systemic problems in academia, such as racism, bullying and harassment.Finally, the book is a call to action, providing tangible improvements from the author¿s perspective that university institutions can make to ensure that academia is a place for all to thrive.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book is a critical introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, but it also advances an argument about the novel in the context of Tolkien's larger literary and philosophical project. Notwithstanding its canonical place in the fantasy genre, The Hobbit is ultimately a historical novel. It does not refer directly to any 'real' historical events, but it both enacts and conceptualizes history in a way that makes it real. Drawing on Marxist literary criticism and narrative theory, this book examines the form and content of Tolkien's work, demonstrating how the heroic romance is simultaneously employed and subverted by Tolkien in his tale of an unlikely hero, 'quite a little fellow in a wide world,' who nonetheless makes history. First-time readers of Tolkien, as well as established scholars and fans, will enjoy this engaging and accessible study of The Hobbit.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 124 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book is a study of the history, role and significance of copying art. Copies have enjoyed a different status from authentic artworks and though often acknowledged, very rarely have they been considered collectively as a genre in their own right. This volume showcases a variety of examples¿from copies of famous artworks made and used as props in movies to those made innocently by student artists as part of their training. Examining the motivations for making copies, and reflecting on the reception of copies, is central to this book. Copies have historically filled voids in collections, where some sadly languish, and have become a curatorial burden. In other cases, having a copy assists in conservation projects and fills the place of a lost work. Ultimately by interrogating a copy¿s role and intent we might ask ourselves if viewing a copy changes our experience and perception of an artwork.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This open access book provides an overview and analysis of the causes and consequences of the massive and highly consequential transition in reproductive behaviour that occurred in Asia, Latin America, and Africa since the mid-20th century. In the 1950s contraceptive use was rare and women typically spend most of their reproductive years bearing and rearing children. By 2020 fertility and contraceptive use in Asia and Latin America reached levels commonly observed in the developed world. Africäs fertility is still high, but transitions have started in all countries. This monograph is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of these trends and their determinants, covering changes in reproductive behaviour (e.g., use of contraception and abortion), preferences (e.g., desire to limit and space births) and the role of socioeconomic development (e.g., education). The role of government policies and in particular family planning programs is discussed in depth. Particular attention isgiven to provide a balanced assessment of several political and scientific controversies that have beset the field. As such this book provides an interesting read for a wide audience of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and public health policy makers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book propagates a new way of thinking about managing our resources by integrating the perspectives of complex systems theory and social psychology. By resources, the authors mean objects, such as cell phones and cars, and human resources, such as family members, friends, and the small and large communities they belong to. As we all face the 'replace or repair' dichotomy, readers will understand how to repair themselves, their relationships, and communities, accept the 'new normal,' and contribute to repairing the world. The book is offered to Zoomers, growing up in a world where it seems everything is falling apart; people in their 30s and 40s, who are thinking about how to live a fulfilling life; people from the Boomers generation, who are thinking back on life and how to repair relationships. The Reader will enjoy the intellectual adventure of connecting the natural and social worlds and understanding the transition's pathways from a 'throwaway society' to a 'repair society.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This open access book is an outcome of several years of research, practice, and teaching experience of the authors on the challenges that underpin the successful switch to services for manufacturing firms. Ideal for a student as well as a practitioner, the book describes the industrial services ecosystem, the barriers and challenges, and a roadmap for building service excellence. Curated cases are used to describe the current approaches in practice to overcome the barriers. The book also provides several tools, each with a short introduction, that the authors have used successfully in projects to help overcome the servitization barriers. Many of these tools are from management, design thinking, or service design. The service excellence roadmap is based on the development methodology and helps current and future business leaders to create their own individual roadmaps.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 224 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management, EKAW 2022, held in Bolzano, Italy, in September 2022. The 11 full papers presented together with 5 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 57 submissions The previous event in the series, EKAW 2020, introduced a special theme related to 'Ethical and Trustworthy Knowledge Engineering.' This theme is still very relevant in 2022, and thus has remained one of the core topics of the conference.The conference concerned with all aspects about eliciting, acquiring, modeling and managing knowledge, and the construction of knowledge-intensive systems and services for the semantic web, knowledge management, e-business, natural language processing, intelligent information integration, and much more.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -The life and death, but also the creative work of famous musicians is closely linked to their personal medical histories. In 'Famous Composers ¿ Diseases Reloaded' these case histories are vividly reconstructed on the basis of authentic biographical testimonies and closely linked to the personalities of the musicians. The latest research findings on the pathophysiology of these composers will be woven into the overall picture. Was Paganini's 'devilishness' caused by a hereditary disease Did Scarlatti have strange signs of illness on his fingers What did Bach really die of How did 'Christel' from a dubious milieu change Schumann's entire life What aggravated Ravel's underlying illness so that he did not complete a single composition in the last five years before his death How did Tárrega manage to play the guitar again after his stroke with hemiplegia Did the Brazilian Villa-Lobos' worldwide reputation help him live longer thanks to the best treatment available to him Andreas Otte, physician and musician, has incorporated the latest medical history research into the composers' pathographies. This book is an exciting and 'well-tempered' reading experience not only for physicians, music lovers, musicologists and musicians, but for all readers who want to develop a basic understanding of the pathophysiology and life scores of these great masters under current conditions from today's perspective.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 196 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This open access book gives both a theoretical and practical overview of several important aspects of additive manufacturing (AM). It is written in an educative style to enable the reader to understand and apply the material. It begins with an introduction to AM technologies and the general workflow, as well as an overview of the current standards within AM. In the following chapter, a more in-depth description is given of design optimization and simulation for AM in polymers and metals, including practical guidelines for topology optimization and the use of lattice structures. Special attention is also given to the economics of AM and when the technology offers a benefit compared to conventional manufacturing processes. This is followed by a chapter with practical insights into how AM materials and processing parameters are developed for both material extrusion and powder bed fusion. The final chapter describes functionally graded AM in various materials and technologies. Throughout the book, a large number of industrial applications are described to exemplify the benefits of AM.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This open access book is a pedagogical, examples-based guide to using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP®) code for nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation applications. The MCNP code, general-purpose software for particle transport simulations, is widely used in the field of nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation for numerous applications including detector design and calibration, and the study of scenarios such as measurement of fresh and spent fuel. This book fills a gap in the existing MCNP software literature by teaching MCNP software usage through detailed examples that were selected based on both student feedback and the real-world experience of the nuclear safeguards group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. MCNP input and output files are explained, and the technical details used in MCNP input file preparation are linked to the MCNP code manual. Benefiting from the authors¿ decades of experience in MCNP simulation, this book is essential reading for students, academic researchers, and practitioners whose work in nuclear physics or nuclear engineering is related to non-proliferation or nuclear safeguards.Each chapter comes with downloadable input files for the user to easily reproduce the examples in the text.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -Modern money, having now become a key tool of government economic policy and a source of massive tax revenues, has strayed far from its original purpose. This is doubly regrettable, as the better money functions at an individual level in satisfying demand for quality, the better it is for economic prosperity and freedom.This book presents how modern money works both in the domestic economy and globally, outlining the essence of what makes good money. How does modern money differ from this ideal By focusing on the dichotomy between globalization on the one hand and modern money¿s base in the nation state (or group of states) on the other hand, the book demonstrates how US dominance in determining monetary conditions globally has grown since the mid-1990s. The book then discusses the adverse consequences, many of which are camouflaged, of present money doctrines now so widely and radically applied, presenting novel research on how the US by pursuing bad monetary policies has been the catalyst to deepening geo-political danger.The book continues by setting out how the illusions of asset inflation will fade, most likely in the midst of economic and financial tumult. The forces which bring about that income emanate in part from the long-run costs of growing mal-investment and monopolization which occur under monetary inflation especially in the context of a digitalization revolution. Apologists for the present monetary regime rest much of their case on these illusions and on the contention that the bill for the costs comes only in the long run. This book dismantles that case. A Guide to Good Money provides readers with the sight of a pathway to a promised land of real prosperity founded on sound money beyond those lost illusions, and will be of interest to academics, students, practitioners, and central bankers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book revolves around the concept of financial risk tolerance and its role in financial markets. Bridging different literatures and reviewing in detail the impact of European regulation on the evolution of risk tolerance assessment, this book discusses the intersection of scholarly research, practitioner experience and current and likely normative developments.In particular, the book focuses on the evolution of the debate on the suitability questionnaire ¿ a key tool introduced with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) and further developed with MiFID¿s successor - comparing it with empirical evidence on financial risk tolerance determinants, spanning from sociodemographic to behavioral components and life events.The book also looks at the future evolution of the normative framework post MiFID2 addressing in detail two key trends that are already affecting the way in which risk tolerance is dealt with in European financial markets ¿ sustainable development and fintech and roboadvisory.The book includes an original survey run with financial market experts to assess the perceptions regarding these two trends and includes commentaries by a professional financial advisor on the key topics discussed.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book examines desistance from offending amongst men in County Cork ¿ the largest county in the Republic of Ireland. It examines the bigger picture of desistance, namely how offending and recovery from addiction are inseparable processes. It draws on in-depth interviews with 40 men who had engaged with the criminal justice system, and the chapters which follow trace the participants¿ life histories: from the hardships they endured as children through their recollection of their reckless teenage years into active addiction and their often numerous attempts at recovery and eventually, for most, full recovery. It challenges some of the dominant assumptions that exist around desistance, and discusses topics such as toxic masculinity. It offers a practice friendly account of the academic work on desistance and a multidisciplinary holistic account of the process of doing desistance.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book provides a comprehensive overview of the rich and diverse tradition of social thought in Chile over the last century. The authors emphasize the close relationship between sociology and society, and address large issues such as the institutionalization of sociology in the face of an open modernization process following WWII, the key role played by Chile in the regionalization and internationalization of sociology and social sciences in Latin America from the late 1950s until the 1973 Coup d'état, and the radicalization of sociology and the boom of dependency theories during that time. The analysis extends to independent academic centers that kept sociological thought, social intervention and the democratic dream alive within an authoritarian context, and the role of academic and professional sociology since the return to democracy, which has been attentive to accompanying and interpreting the development of a changing Chilean society.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This edited volume examines how opportunities to realise children¿s rights and the experience of childhood itself have been changed by the pandemic. It brings together the voices of leading scholars, policy advisors, psychologists, charities engaged in empowering children, and children and young people themselves. By exposing children¿s own perspectives and ideas for change, the book aims to suggest ways in which children could be better supported during this crisis. Chapters connect the experiences of under-represented groups, including children with disabilities and housing-distressed children. Authors illuminate ways to see and hear children more clearly and enable children¿s participation during and beyond COVID-19.This book is part of a mini-series that explores the effects of COVID-19 on children¿s education, rights and participation. These books will expose and connect the struggles faced by particularly vulnerable children, including children with disabilities, housing-distressed children, and refugee and displaced children. They will explore how best to listen to and support children in diverse situations, in order to enable them to realise their rights more effectively.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -Typically, business tenets advise: never go into business with your family. This book proposes that this discrepancy may actually be at the core of modern problems: social harm and environmental problems are largely related to advancements focused on current dualistic metaphors that value only the business dimension and devalue the family.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book analyzes the EU¿s responses to the sovereign debt crisis that hit the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 2010. After reviewing the events that led to the crisis, it examines two case studies. The first assesses the short-term policy changes by drawing on a new mechanism, contingent learning. The second case study revolves around the long-term EMU reforms passed during the period 2010-2013. More specifically, it assesses these responses in relation to the institutional scientific publications of the European Central Bank and the DG ECFIN of the Commission. By analyzing both the short and long-term responses to the sovereign debt crisis, the book elucidates how policy learning can be an effective engine for deeper European integration. It will be of interest to scholars and students of EU integration, the EMU, policy learning, and supranational bureaucracies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book analyses two key aspects of network management in the public sector: leadership and performance. It investigates what integrative leadership is, and how it differentiates from leadership in single-agency structures. It also examines the performance of public interest networks by proposing an analytical framework that highlights which factors lead to high performance networks. This book is of interest to scholars and students of public management and public administration, as well as public managers and practitioners acting through networks and partnerships.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 160 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book investigates the role of climate-induced innovation and climate change mitigation technologies in reducing the negative impact of climate change. Through original case studies and analysis, frameworks to both reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and respond to the impacts of a changing climate are explored. Particular attention is given to biotechnology patents and innovations for small farm agriculture.This book aims to provide new insight into the relationship between climate change and innovation, highlighting the problems and opportunities posed by the transition to an environmentally sustainable society. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in environmental and innovation economics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book is of interest to all of you willing to gain perspective both in time and in depth about the global environmental crises we are facing in the Anthropocene as well as pondering potential solutions. Humans are dominating the Earth¿s environment and causing global changes in the most recent geologic time called the Anthropocene. Global changes are caused by both natural events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans like global warming and pollution of air, water, and soil. The author documents all types of global changes, beyond climate change, pointing out the risks for humanity when all these changes combine in time. Hans Nelson describes global changes while traveling through an earth scientist¿s 60-year global journey. Throughout his memoirs, the author provides many humorous examples of adventures taking place during the scientific studies on land and at sea. He makes suggestions for a sustainable planet and shows that humans worldwide in the past,and can in the future, work together on solutions for global change problems.Students can use this book to learn about the many aspects of global change and methods that marine geologists use to obtain data on geologic hazards, resources, and environmental changes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book presents a model (HUNE) that assists in the insertion of human aspects in the product development process (PDP), at the beginning of a project, at the analyzed information, during its development and post-development, evaluating its suitability for human beings. The model proved to be actual with respect to the existing ones, dynamic and flexible, because it does not replace any model, but can be applied to other models, methods, or structures of PDPs, and enables scope, replication, and future improvements. Its applications brought satisfactory results, and it was very well evaluated by the participants in the application, by external experts and also through scientific publications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 104 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book analyses the challenges and opportunities faced by art-based social enterprises (ASEs) engaging young creatives in education and training and supporting their pathways to the creative industries. In doing so, it addresses the complex intersecting issues of marginality and entrepreneurship, particularly in relation to young creatives from socially, economically and culturally diverse backgrounds. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with twelve key organisations, and three in-depth case studies in Australia, the book offers a detailed analysis of using enterprise to engage with the structural challenges of marginality.The book explores the local and global contexts through which art-based social enterprises (ASEs) operate and within which they attempt ¿ often successfully ¿ to improve access to education and work for emerging creatives. It also attends to the findings generated through engaging with the lived experiences of the staff and young creatives involved in our ASE case studies, in order to understand both the challenges and impacts of the ASE model on young people¿s education, training, and employment pathways.The book focuses on three broad themes; precarious youth and digital futures, material practice and sustainable economies, and cultural citizenship in the urban fringe. In exploring these themes, the book contributes to debates about the limits, possibilities and challenges that attach to, and emerge from, an ASE model and highlights the ways in which these models can contribute to young people¿s well-being, engagement, education and training, and work pathways. More broadly, it examines the possibilities of art as a means of social and cultural engagement. In the context of the precarious future of the creative industries, this book emphasise the ways in which young artists are building alternative economic and cultural models that support both individual pathways and collective change.This bookwill move the field forward with a critical lens that engages closely with experience and the lived realities of juggling multiple priorities of social, economic and artistic goals.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book examines the ways in which a writer¿s presentation of self can achieve or impede access to power. Conversations about written voice and style have traditionally revolved around the aesthetics of stylistic choice. These choices, while they help establish a writer¿s presence in a text, too often ignore the needs of written identity as it crosses genres, disciplines, and rhetorical purposes. In contrast to stylistic investigations of a writer¿s 'voice' and its various components¿diction, detail, imagery, syntax, and tone, for example¿this book focuses on language variation and the linguistic features of a writer¿s presence in a text, as well as the establishment of a writer¿s social, cultural, and personal identity in a given text. The author attempts to explain the methods by which writers present themselves to their audiences. This book will be of particular interest to students and teachers of rhetoric and composition studies, as well as writers more broadly.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 156 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book investigates how education in the Global North is adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapters draw together academic research and insights into the practical work being done to protect and enrich children's lives. How are students and teachers shaping new modes of learning What kinds of stories are most successful in communicating with children about the pandemic What should be the priorities of education during this period of change and in the long term Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -Social media initiatives, when effectively used and correctly monetized, can engage customers better and provide higher ROI rates than traditional marketing and sales initiatives. This book presents a selection of monetization strategies that can help companies benefit from social media initiatives and overcome the current challenges in connection with generating and growing revenues. Using cases and examples covering several social media platforms, the authors describe a variety of strategies and holistic solutions for companies. In addition, the book highlights the latest social media innovations, best business practices, successful monetization cases, and strategic trends in future social media monetization.Top executives need to read this book to have a big picture of corporate-wide ¿social strategy,¿ form a ¿social mindset,¿ and infuse a ¿social gene¿ into their company¿s culture, strategy, and business processes. Armed with these social elements, companies can gain confidence, effectively introduce social media tools, and invest in major social media initiatives. Due to changing consumer behavior, social media is also ideal for building and sustaining quality relationships with customers ¿ which is why it is becoming an indispensable element in today¿s business.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 256 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book unpacks policy and politics for health, equity, and wellbeing. With a critical realist lens, the book provides a methodology for sophisticated health focussed policy analysis which situates public health within complex political processes and systems. The application of that lens is demonstrated with insights from a decade of research into urban and regional planning.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book is about the importance of nuclear disarmament and the work pursued by Alva Myrdal, a pioneering social activist, diplomat, cabinet minister, and disarmament negotiator. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 together with Alfonso García Robles 'for their work for disarmament and nuclear and weapon-free zones'. Prominent academics, politicians and practitioners have contributed reflections on Myrdal¿s achievements and their impact on the world today. Furthermore, a sample of Myrdal¿s own writings on nuclear disarmament are included, as well as significant speeches and a bibliography of her publications on nuclear matters.Alva Myrdal was born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1902, graduated from college in Stockholm in 1924, and continued higher education at Uppsala University in the 1930s. She was a prolific author and reformer, specializing in social affairs, women¿s roles and nuclear disarmament. She was Sweden¿s Ambassador to India in the 1950s, for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1960s and 1970s, and a member of the Cabinet 1967-1973. Her most well-known works are 'The Game of Disarmament' (1976), 'Nation and Family' (1941), and 'Women's Two Roles' (1956, with Viola Klein). Her book 'The Game of Disarmament' (1976) is a key work in disarmament.The Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament was set up at Uppsala University in 2021 to contribute new ideas and concrete measures towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. Both editors are associated with the Centre, Professor Peter Wallensteen as a member of the board and leader of one of its working groups, and Dr. Armend Bekaj as a researcher. This book is relevant for students of international relations and policy-makers on issues of peace and conflict. It provides background documentation on the difficulties in achieving disarmament. It illustrates the significant role women can play to infuse new ideas into a men¿s world. It displays the importance of persistence, rationality, ingenuity and knowledge in furthering nuclear disarmament. It shows that Alva Myrdal¿s efforts can be an inspiration for new generations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book demonstrates how leaders can use research from positive psychology to increase work engagement and wellbeing, improve relationships, and increase performance and productivity in the workplace. Specifically, it teaches leaders how to use psychology to understand their own contributions to their leadership style as well as to understand how their employees are being motivated to increase their engagement and productivity. Suitable for leaders, human resource personnel, consultants and coaches, this book gives research-based theory and insight into how leaders¿ own attitudes, mind-sets and authenticity are influencing their employees level of performance, emotions and creativity. Readers learn how to motivate, bring meaning into the workplace, improve communication and relationships as well as how to use strength-based leadership. The book features examples from successful companies like Microsoft, Google and Disney and provides practical interventions and techniques in every chapter that can immediately be implemented into the workplace.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 140 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book provides a blend of quantitative and qualitative approaches to decision making, while also bridging the gap between the theory of how to make good decisions versus how people actually make decisions. The authors present the tools and techniques of decision analysis to learn how to become a FOCCUSSED decision maker:Identify and properly Frame the decision or problem at handSpecify the goals, Objectives, and values that you are trying to achieveDevelop creative, meaningful Choices from among which you can chooseEvaluate the Consequences of selecting each alternative using your goals, objectives, and valuesThink about the key Uncertainties that could impact the decisionUnderstand the Swaps and trade-offs that you are willing to makeDevelop an approach for implementing your SolutionElicit the data yoüll need from a variety of sourcesand Disseminate and communicate your decisions to others.The authors define a decision as the choice among alternatives, based on how we value and trade-off their pros and cons, made in the face of uncertainty about what will actually happen. The decision-making process is presented as having three pillars to support the decision maker: Preferences¿what we prefer, what meets our goals and objectives, and the recognition that preferences are personal to the one making the decision; Alternatives¿the choices, options, or courses of action that we have, and over which we have some degree of control; and Information¿what we know about the situation, what we don¿t know, how we connect choices to outcomes, and how we deal with uncertainty. Key components of good decision-making include how to define your goals and objectives, how to incorporate uncertainties that we all face, and how to develop better alternatives, all of which are discussed. Sophisticated techniques are presented in a way that is accessible to the average decision maker. Probability theory is utilized to improve decisions, and uncertainties are captured in decision trees. Risk avoidance, risk transfer, and risk mitigation are also discussed. Readers will gain a clear understanding of how to articulate the goals and objectives that should be the focal point of any decision.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 168 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware -This book deals with the important topic of policies for sustainable agriculture, since food insecurity is a growing concern for policy makers and will affect the quality of life and well-being of generations to come. The authors provide a theoretical background to the concept of sustainable agriculture including its recent developments; monitor the current state of sustainability in agriculture in different regions of the world; and evaluate current agricultural policies to propose new solutions. They show practical ways of sustainability measurement that could be applied to different regions. The book takes into account sustainability indicators based on economic, social and environmental aspects and discusses the trade-offs between these three dimensions. It also answers the question of whether current agricultural policies contribute to balancing between the goals of agriculture---that of not just providing food but of contributing to the greater good---and how policies differ and have evolved across the world. Finally, it puts together the best practices of sustainability for the use of policymakers. The book pays particular attention to least developed countries where hunger and malnutrition are high, but where productivity should not come at the expense of environmental and social goals.This book is of use to a wide readership of policy makers, professionals and academics in the social and environmental sciences interested in the improvement of human life through sustainable agricultural policy implementation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.