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Life-Cycle Management of Machines and Mechanisms (Mechanisms and Machine Science #90)
by Jörg Niemann Adrian PislaThis book contains the description of machines and systems as investments goods in production. These machines have a technological and economical life cycle over the time used. By explaining the paradigms of life cycle management, the book describes how the life cycle of such investment goods can be designed, operated and optimized to deliver maximum benefit in industrial environment. Additional examples from industry including case studies and calculations demonstrate practical applications and deliver benefit not only for academic or educational purpose but also for industrial practitioners.
Life Cycle of Clusters in Designing Smart Specialization Policies (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Giuseppe PronestìThis book investigates cluster-life-cycle (CLC) analysis to inform the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP), in order to support the effectiveness of the smart specialization strategy (S3). It focuses on the evolutionary analysis of clusters’ development stages (emergence, development, maturity, decline/transformation), highlighting how different phases of the CLC have a different role in informing S3-policy-making and identifying regions’ potentials to specialize. In so doing, it offers an original conceptual model that explains what information can be provided by CLC analysis in the effective design and implementation of S3 and EDP, systematizes clusters' stage-specific features, and unveils the role played by each CLC stage. It contributes to the emerging academic debate on the role of the CLC concept in policy-making, by highlighting the importance of CLC analysis in dynamically investigating regional contexts and tailoring development policies such as S3. The book is an invaluable resource for academics and regional policy makers, providing them with guidance and recommendations on how to effectively approach the design and implementation of S3 and EDP, by fully tapping the potential of CLC analysis.
Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes)
by Subramanian Senthilkannan MuthuEnvironmental Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA) that was developed about three decades ago demands a broadening of its scope to include lifecycle costing and social aspects of life cycle assessment as well, drawing on the three-pillar or ‘triple bottom line’ model of sustainability, which is the result of the development of the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). LCSA refers to the evaluation of all environmental, social and economic negative impacts and benefits in decision-making processes towards more sustainable products throughout their life cycle. Combination of environmental and social life cycle assessments along with life cycle costing leads to life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA). This book highlights various aspects of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA).
The Life Cyclists
by Colin ReadRead addresses the contributions of significant individuals to our understanding of financial decisions and markets. Great financial theorists created the basis for what we now know as personal finance and this volume describes four great minds in finance that forever established the role of the rate of return and life cycle decision-making.
Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa
by Debora L. Spar Nicholas BartlettIn the final years of the 20th century, the world was hit by a plague of epidemic proportions--AIDS, a life-threatening disease that remained stubbornly immune to any cure or vaccine. In the developed nations of the West, AIDS was slowly brought under control through a combination of education, prevention, and cutting-edge medicines. But in the developing world, where health care expenditures were often paltry, AIDS continued to rampage. By the year 2000, 25 million people in Africa alone were infected with the disease. Millions had already died. Nearly all of the medicines that treated AIDS had been developed--at great expense--by the major western pharmaceutical firms. These medicines were expensive to produce and often difficult to administer. They demanded levels of income and structures of distribution that often were sorely lacking in the developing world. Increasingly, activist groups were demanding that the pharmaceutical companies respond to the AIDS epidemic with drastic measures, giving their drugs away for free or abandoning the patent rights that had long protected their intellectual property. The pharmaceutical firms needed to respond to their critics. The question was, how?
Life Engineering: Machine Intelligence and Quality of Life
by Hubert OsterleMachine Intelligence is changing every aspect of our lives. Internet traffic and sensors in households, cars, and wearables provide data that oligopolistic companies collect and use to extract patterns of human behavior. Further, active digital assistants are taking over more and more of our everyday decisions. Humanity is on the verge of an evolutionary leap and it is time to determine if this development will benefit people’s wellbeing or will just mean the accumulation of capital and power with no regard for quality of life. This book integrates the perspectives of various disciplines that are striving to establish resilient foundations – computer science, economics and social sciences, political science, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, ethics and religion – in order to clarify a number of positions and, as a result, objectify the discussions. Written by Hubert Osterle, a researcher working at the interface of these disciplines, the book promotes debate on the future of man and machine, on happiness and evolution and on the major changes brought about by digital technology. Last but not least, it is a manifesto calling for a new – integrated – discipline to be founded: life engineering.
Life Engineering: Mehr Lebensqualität dank maschineller Intelligenz?
by Hubert ÖsterleMaschinelle Intelligenz verändert unser Leben. Der Datenverkehr im Internet, digitale Assistenten sowie Sensoren in Haushalten, Autos und Wearables liefern Daten, die von Unternehmen gesammelt und genutzt werden, um Muster des menschlichen Verhaltens zu extrahieren. Es ist an der Zeit, zu entscheiden, ob diese Entwicklung dem Wohle der Menschen zugutekommt oder nur zur Ansammlung von Kapital und Macht ohne Rücksicht auf die menschliche Lebensqualität führt.Dieses Buch integriert die Perspektiven verschiedener Disziplinen – Informatik, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Politikwissenschaft, Psychologie, Philosophie, Neurowissenschaften, Ethik und Religion. Hubert Österle fördert damit die Debatte über die Zukunft von Mensch und Maschine, über Glück und Evolution sowie über die großen Veränderungen, die die digitale Technologie mit sich bringt. Das Buch ist ein Manifest, das zur Gründung einer neuen –integrierten – Disziplin aufruft: Life Engineering.Der InhaltLeben mit maschineller IntelligenzLebensassistenz im Jahre 2030Maschinelle Intelligenz im Jahre 2030LebensqualitätEvolution mit LebensqualitätKonsequenzen für Individuen, Unternehmen und GesellschaftDisziplin Life EngineeringAgenda für das Life EngineeringStimmen zum BuchDie maschinelle Intelligenz ist eine Herausforderung für Menschen, Unternehmen und Politik. Das Buch liefert eine gründliche Analyse der technologischen Trends und ihrer Chancen und Gefahren für die Lebensqualität. Ausgehend von der Maxime des Glücks des Homo Digitalis formuliert Österle teilweise außerordentlich provokative Fragen wie etwa nach dem Wert der Privatheit. Gerade derartige Fragen und die vom Mainstream abweichenden Antworten auf Basis nachvollziehbarer Überlegungen machen es zur Pflichtlektüre.Thomas Hess, Professor und Direktor des Instituts für Wirtschaftsinformatik und neue Medien der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Sprecher des Internet Business ClustersDieses Buch ist eine äußerst realistische Aufarbeitung technologischer Trends und ihrer Konsequenzen für die Lebensqualität der Menschen. Die aufgeworfenen Fragen und die Versuche rationaler Antworten widersprechen vielen der heute breit akzeptierten Ansichten, insbesondere zur Autonomie des Menschen. Ob man zustimmt oder nicht, den Herausforderungen für das Individuum, die Unternehmen, die Politik und die Zivilgesellschaft müssen wir uns stellen.Henning Kagermann, ehemaliger CEO der SAP AG sowie Vorsitzender der Nationalen Plattform Elektromobilität, des Arbeitskreises Industrie 4.0 und des Fachforums Autonome Systeme
Life Entrepreneurs
by Christopher Gergen Gregg Vanourek"An inspirational and practical guide for anyone who wants to incorporate the dynamic skills of entrepreneurs into their own lives and work.A new generation of "life entrepreneurs" is emerging: people who apply their vision, talents, creativity, and energy not only to their work but to their entire lives, changing the world for themselves and those around them. In this book, successful entrepreneurs Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek draw on numerous interviews with fifty-five leading entrepreneurs worldwide as well as the wisdom of multiple thought leaders to provide vivid examples, moving vignettes, concrete frameworks, and practical strategies for revving up our work and play through entrepreneurial leadership. This book starts by providing strategies for integrating life, work, and purpose and ends by capturing the implications of the current entrepreneurial boom for our workplaces, learning institutions, communities, and families.Christopher Gergen (Washington, D.C.) is a founding partner of New Mountain Ventures, co-founder and chairman of SMARTHINKING, Adjunct Professor and Director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative at Duke University, and a life-long entrepreneur,Gregg Vanourek (Thornton, CO) is a founding partner of New Mountain Ventures, former CEO of Vanourek Consulting Solutions, and former Senior Vice President of School Development for K12 Inc."
Life Equity: Realize Your True Value and Pursue Your Passions at Any Stage in Life
by Marsha BlackburnThe life you've led has prepared you for the life you dream of.For too long and for too many, the word leadership has had a masculine ring to it. Because women are such natural team players and consensus builders, many may simply view a strong desire to lead as, well, a bit rude. What we've failed to realize is if you define leadership as the art of getting a group of people working together effectively toward a common goal?then women bring some mighty powerful leadership skills to the table. So why don't we jump in?We long to dive into the challenges and make a difference, but holding us back are questions and self doubt:Do I have anything left to offer after my kids are grown?What if I fall on my face?Will anyone recognize what I have to offer?Do I have what it takes to make a real difference?How do I break into, or get around, the good ol' boy network?Whether you're a new college graduate, an empty nester, a divorceé starting life on your own (again), or a discontented cubical worker, Congressman Marsha Blackburn says you are an amazing, talented woman:Here is exciting news: there is a key truth that will unlock extraordinary possibilities for you. The simple but powerful truth is that your accumulated skills go with you. The ordinary, everyday tasks you have been performing are actually the foundation for getting you where you want to go. In even the most unglamorous roles, you have built real leadership ability that has prepared you for bigger things. Today, more than ever, the world needs leaders for jobs big and small, and women have been training for these tasks their whole lives. They can make a difference in their own lives and in our culture?and you can too.
Life Expectancy and Income Convergence in the World: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis
by Kenichi UedaA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Life Expectations of the People: A Comparative Sociological Analysis of China and Russia (Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path)
by Peilin Li M. K. GorshkovThis book compares the Chinese and Russian dreams, focusing on eight aspects: prosperity, affluence, family harmony, fairness and justice, diversity, green beauty, honesty and uprightness, and happiness. Based on large-scale survey data combined with the corresponding sociological theory for analysis, it presents detailed information, compelling arguments, and well-founded conclusions, offering insights into the commonalities and differences between these two countries' dreams.
Life Finds a Way: What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity
by Andreas WagnerHow the principles of biological innovation can help us overcome creative challenges in art, business, and scienceIn Life Finds a Way, biologist Andreas Wagner reveals the deep symmetry between innovation in biological evolution and human cultural creativity. Rarely is either a linear climb to perfection--instead, "progress" is typically marked by a sequence of peaks, plateaus, and pitfalls. For instance, in Picasso's forty-some iterations of Guernica, we see the same combination of small steps, incessant reshuffling, and large, almost reckless, leaps that characterize the way evolution transformed a dinosaur's grasping claw into a condor's soaring wing. By understanding these principles, we can also better realize our own creative potential to find new solutions to adversity.Ultimately, Life Finds a Way offers a new framework for the nature of creativity, enabling us to better adapt, grow, and change in art, business, or science--that is, in life.
The Life-Giving Leader: Learning to Lead from Your Truest Self
by Tyler Reagin Craig Groeschel Andy StanleyThe president of Catalyst Leader believes that the most impactful and most influential leaders are the ones who lead from who they truly are, not who they pretend or wish to be.With clear biblical teaching and personal accounts, Tyler Reagin not only demonstrates the necessity of life-giving leadership, but also provides the steps you'll need to begin knowing and leading from your truest self. From his experiences in high-impact leadership roles at some of our nation's largest churches and ministries, Reagin has learned firsthand the importance of identity-based leadership. His desire is to help each reader become an empowered, confident leader that brings life and vibrancy to every room they enter. Whether you've got the corner office or you're just getting started, Reagin gives you the tools you need to become an impactful and unique influencer right where you are!
Life-Giving Leadership: A Woman's Toolbox for Leading
by Julia MateerAs women called to lead in the local church, we must first lead ourselves to wholeness and strength. Julia comes alongside you, giving you the tools to become emotionally and spiritually healthy so you can provide life-giving leadership to women in your communities, your ministries, and your world. A strange dichotomy is occurring in the American church. Never before have women been so key to helping churches grow and mature. At the same time, fifty thousand women per year are leaving the church. The purpose of this book is to provide women who are leading a team in ministry, church, or in a Christian non-profit the strategies necessary to develop life-giving atmospheres where women will be equipped to live out their God-given passions to affect change in their families, communities, and, ultimately, the world. This book will help redefine women’s ministry and equip women who are actively involved in making a difference in the lives of others.
A Life in Error: From Little Slips to Big Disasters
by James ReasonThis succinct but absorbing book covers the main way stations on James Reason’s 40-year journey in pursuit of the nature and varieties of human error. In it he presents an engrossing and very personal perspective, offering the reader exceptional insights, wisdom and wit as only James Reason can. The journey begins with a bizarre absent-minded action slip committed by Professor Reason in the early 1970s - putting cat food into the teapot - and continues up to the present day, conveying his unique perceptions into a variety of major accidents that have shaped his thinking about unsafe acts and latent conditions. A Life in Error charts the development of his seminal and hugely influential work from its original focus into individual cognitive psychology through the broadening of scope to embrace social, organizational and systemic issues. The voyage recounted is both hugely entertaining and educational, imparting a real sense of how James Reason’s ground-breaking theories changed the way we think about human error, and why he is held in such esteem around the world wherever humans interact with technological systems. This book is essential reading for students, academics and safety professionals of all kinds who are interested in avoiding breakdowns that can cause serious damage to people, assets and the environment.
A Life in Our Times
by John Kenneth GalbraithThe chapters on his ambassadorship to India during the Sino-Indian war, on the Vietnam war, and on Lyndon Johnson will provide historians with some new footnotes. Without Galbraith the political literature of our time would be far drearier.
Life in Science: Stories, Opinions and Advice for a New Generation of Scientists
by Diego Breviario Jack A. TuszynskiThis book is a collection of stories, reflections and advice written by proficient scientists. They address the question of what doing science means to them, and describe attitudes and working practices that have proved effective and rewarding. The book is aimed in particular at young people who are attracted by science or already undertaking undergraduate studies, and who are considering making science their long-term profession. It will also be helpful and revealing to early-career scientists who are searching for their own best route to success. The book serves as a platform for experienced scientists to describe their original inclination, how that subjective disposition found its expression in their way of doing science, whether their expectations were met, and what achievements they can claim. But it is not restricted to success: contributors also share details of the limitations and failures they have encountered. Last but not least they describe how they see science now, how they think it will be in the near future, and what advice they would give to the their much younger colleagues. Readers will appreciate the diversity of the individual paths shaped by different education, motivation, ambition, inclination, intuition, feeling, belief and eligibility. At the same time the stories confirm that science relies on a translation of this subjective level into an objective level, one that is shared and accepted by the international scientific community, and whose results are produced with a commonly accepted and fully rational scientific method of investigation.
Life in the Financial Markets
by Daniel LacalleAn accessible and thorough review of the internationalfinancial marketsLife in the Financial Markets--How They Really Work AndWhy They Matter To You offers the financial servicesprofessional, and anyone interested in knowing more about theprofession, an entertaining and comprehensive analysis of thefinancial markets and the financial services industry. Written byDaniel Lacalle--a noted portfolio manager with EcoFin andwell-known media personality--the book goes beyond a simplesummary and offers solid advice on the future of the globalfinancial markets. This great resource also includes a review ofeffective strategies and forecasts the trends that representpotential opportunities for investors.The book reviews the recent history of the financial crisis andincludes information on hot topics such as derivatives and highfrequency trading. An in-depth section on investment banking iswritten from the perspective of a successful practitioner andprovides clarity on several complex and overly politicized elementsof the banking system. The author gives an expert's perspective onthe debt markets, monetary policies, and quantitative easing, andhelps explain the various issues surrounding sovereign debt, theEuro crisis, and austerity versus growth policies. Comprehensive inscope, this resource also offers an analysis of investment styles,from hedge funds to "long only" investments, as well as an in-depthlook at corporate communication and its impact on markets andinvestments.Offers an engaging and comprehensive analysis of the financialservices industryIncludes information on the workings of the global financialsystem following the economic crisisContains a review of complex banking systemsAnalyzes the various investment styles and answers the mostcommon questions pertaining to investing
Life in the Studio: Inspiration and Lessons on Creativity
by Frances Palmer&“Roll-up-your-sleeves advice on throwing pottery, growing dahlias, cooking her tried-and-true recipes, and everything in between.&”—Martha Stewart Living&“Guaranteed to, as its title insists, inspire. . . . Demands to be viewed again and again and again.&” —Booklist, starred review To step into potter Frances Palmer&’s world is to be surrounded by the trappings of a life that has been intentionally—and painstakingly—built to maximize creativity. A light-filled, airy studio in which to make her pottery, with a corner always at the ready for her daily photo shoots. Cutting gardens overflowing with flowers to be snipped as inspiration strikes. Shelves of cookbooks to peruse as she plans the menu of her next dinner party, and museum catalogs and art books to pore over when it&’s time to imagine a new vessel. After 30 years as an artist and entrepreneur, Palmer has learned how to cultivate a life that brings out her best. Those years have been at once rewarding and challenging, fruitful and fraught, and through it all, she has discovered the things that matter most: determination, routine, prioritization, perseverance, and perspective. She has distilled these hard-won lessons, and more, into her debut book, a manual for current and aspiring creatives. The book is loosely arranged chronologically, beginning with Palmer&’s background in art history and the foundations of her pottery practice through to the day-to-day of running her successful business and tending to her ever-evolving gardens, and culminating in the continuous exploration and collaboration she is engaged in today. Along the way, readers are brought behind the scenes with hundreds of gorgeous photographs (of her ceramics, her beautiful flower arrangements, her gardens, and more), and even step-by-step instructions for her most cherished techniques and recipes. It all adds up to a one-of-a-kind portrait and handbook for a creative life, well-lived.
Life in Treaty Port China and Japan
by Stephanie Villalta Puig Donna BruneroThis edited volume moves beyond the traditional examination of the treaty ports of China and Japan as places of cultural interaction. It moves ‘beyond the Bund’, presenting instead the history of material culture, the everyday life of the residents of the treaty ports beyond the symbology of Shanghai's waterfront. Bringing for the first time together scholars of China and Japan, museum curators, legal, economic and architectural historians, it studies the treaty ports not only as sites of cultural exchange, but also as sites of social contestation, accommodation and mobility, covering topics as varied as day to day life itself, such as family, property and law, health and welfare, travel, visual culture and memory. The call of this volume is to peel the multiple layers of the encounter between East and West in the treaty ports of China and Japan.
Life Inc.: How The World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back
by Douglas Rushkoff* Something has gone terribly wrong. We are deep in the thrall of a system that no one really likes, no one remembers asking for, yet no one can escape. It just is. And the minute it seems as if we can put our finger on what's happening to us or how it came to be this way, the insight disappears, drowned out by the more immediately pressing demands by everyone and everything on our attention. What did they just say? My phone is vibrating . * In Life Inc Douglas Rushkoff offers a timely, provocative and urgent look at the origins and nature of the modern corporate system, a world in which everything can be commodified, a closed system that conquers not through exclusion but total inclusion. Under current conditions market forces have achieved a nightmarish triumph everything, including dissidence, is assimilated. * Life Inc tells the story of how we got here and, more importantly, how this value system now perpetuates itself. Rushkoff reveals the process through which media conglomerates conceive and assimilate everything from teen icons to online communities, and replace anything resembling civic engagement with yet another consumer choice. His goal is nothing less than to give us the view from outside of the hermetically sealed shopping mall in which we spend our lives.
Life Insurance in Asia
by Joseph Luc Ngai Stephan BinderAn incisive look at the war for market share in the Asian life insurance marketAlthough the life insurance industry in Asia has emerged from the financial crisis stronger than ever, it has not escaped unchanged. As the general focus of insurance companies across the continent moves towards profitability beyond growth, tightening regulatory measures, shifts in consumer preferences, and risk tolerance, battle lines have been drawn between local incumbents, attackers, and foreign players. Life Insurance in Asia: Winning in the Next Decade, Second Edition looks at the ways in which small local agencies and multinational companies alike are seizing control of as much of the market as they can by aggressively recruiting new agents, leveraging new channels, and selling new products to cash in on the explosive Asian markets.Thoroughly revised and updated, this new edition offers a comprehensive introduction to the booming Asian life insurance markets and outlines exactly what it takes to capture the opportunities that are emerging. Drawing on the research and experience of the McKinsey Asia financial services team, it includes everything you need to know about the battle for the life insurance market in Asia.Looks at how China and India are becoming increasingly important players on the international life insurance sceneGoes behind the scenes of the Asian life insurance industry and the contentious battle for market shareOutlines the steps to successfully entering, and prospering, in the Asian marketThe life insurance industry in Asia is changing like never before. What the future holds, no one knows, but with Life Insurance in Asia in hand, you'll have a clear idea of the factions in play and the rules of the game.
Life Insurance in Europe: Risk Analysis and Market Challenges (Financial and Monetary Policy Studies #50)
by Marta Borda Simon Grima Ilona KwiecieńThis book examines the challenges for the life insurance sector in Europe arising from new technologies, socio-cultural and demographic trends, and the financial crisis. It presents theoretical and applied research in all areas related to life insurance products and markets, and explores future determinants of the insurance industry’s development by highlighting novel solutions in insurance supervision and trends in consumer protection. Drawing on their academic and practical expertise, the contributors identify problems relating to risk analysis and evaluation, demographic challenges, consumer protection, product distribution, mortality risk modeling, applications of life insurance in contemporary pension systems, financial stability and solvency of life insurers. They also examine the impact of population aging on life insurance markets and the role of digitalization. Lastly, based on an analysis of early experiences with the implementation of the Solvency II system, the book provides policy recommendations for the development of life insurance in Europe.
Life Insurance In India: Opportunities, Challenges and Strategic Perspective (Response Books)
by Hira SadhakThis first-of-its-kind book reflects on life insurance in the current context of globalization and economic reforms and traces the interdependence of life insurance and macro economic factors. It focuses on structural change, market potential and emerging challenges for the Indian Life Insurance industry and also covers the global life insurance industry, regulatory regime, and market friendly practices abroad. Thus it provides a powerful insight into emerging trends in the Life Insurance industry as a whole. Life Insurance in India: Opportunities, Challenges and Strategic Perspective presents a detailed analysis of several strategic and managerial issues such as product-market relationship, distribution, marketing strategies and funds management and focuses specially on the changing contours of risk management in life insurance. Primary concerns for the post-liberalized industry like structural changes in economy and financial sectors, information explosion, need for competitive management efficiency, etc., have been discussed with suggestive guidelines. A supplement on analysis of macro economic indicators and their impact on stock market investment make this book a ready manual for any practicing manager. Apart from the general reader, it will also be very useful for regulators and students of Insurance Management and training programmes of Life Insurance companies.
The Life Insurance Industry in India
by Tapas Kumar Parida Debashis AcharyaThis book traces the development and analyses the performance of life insurance industry in India, since inception of this sector, using different business indicators over the years. It discusses the evolution and changing features of the Indian insurance industry in 3 phases: phase I from 1818 to 1956, phase II from 1956 to 2000 (known as the nationalisation period) and phase III post 2000 (called the post reform period). The book also measures the relative efficiency and productivity of the life insurance industry in India for the post-reform period, by employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Despite the fact that the life insurance sector recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% in terms of total premiums and 21% in terms of new business premium collections during the post reform period, the insurers continue to grapple with the issue of profitability. Against this background, the book presents results on the factors determining profitability of the life insurance companies using measures of efficiency and competition. By helping regulatory authorities determine the future course of action in the context of entry of foreign insurers and also in establishing a level playing field, the book has important policy implications.