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Competition on the Internet (MPI Studies on Intellectual Property and Competition Law #23)
by Gintarė SurblytėUndeniably widespread and powerful as it is, the Internet is not almighty: it can reach as high as the skies (cloud computing), but it cannot escape competition. Yet, safeguarding competition in “the network of networks” is not without challenges: not only are competitive processes in platform-based industries complex, so is competition law analysis. The latter is often challenged by the difficulties in predicting the outcome of competition, in particular in terms of innovation. Do the specific competition law issues in a digital environment presuppose a reconsideration of competition law concepts and their application? Can current competition law tools be adjusted to the rush pace of dynamic industries? To what extent could competition law be supplemented by regulation – is the latter a foe or rather an ally? This book provides an analysis of recent developments in the most relevant competition law cases in a digital environment on both sides of the Atlantic (the EU and the US) and assesses platform competition issues from a legal as well as an economic point of view.
Competition for the Mobile Internet
by Dan Steinbock Eli M. NoamIn recent years, billions of dollars (and euros, yen, and other currencies) have been spent by wireless services providers to acquire the radio frequency spectrum needed to offer so-called "Third Generation" (3G) mobile services. These services include high-speed data, mobile Internet access and entertainment such as games, music and video programs. Indeed, as voice communications are substituted by data communications, software -rather than terminals or networks- has become the driver of the wireless industry. Meanwhile, services are becoming increasingly specialized. Why has the road to multimedia cellular been so difficult? These benefits of the mobile Internet have come with the costs of a massive transition that has coincided with the bust of stock markets and the technology segments worldwide, controversial and costly license auctions in several lead markets, dated or mistaken regulatory policies, the clash between the early hype and the pioneering realities of the mobile Internet. But these are generalities that barely scratch the surface. The devil is in the details. And it is these details that Competition for the Mobile Internet addresses.
Competition for Scarce Groundwater in the Sana'a Plain, Yemen. A study of the incentive systems for urban and agricultural water use.
by Mohammed I. Al-HamdiThe efficient management of water supply becomes even more important in arid areas where supply is at best erratic. This book looks at a range of issues connected to urban and agricultural water use in the Sana'a Plain area, including engineering and logisical problems, environmental and climatic influences on groundwater, legal and political wrangles, economic considerations and options for waste water re-use.
Competition for Scarce Groundwater in the Sana'a Plain, Yemen. A study of the incentive systems for urban and agricultural water use.
by Mohammed I. Al-HamdiThe efficient management of water supply becomes even more important in arid areas where supply is at best erratic. This book looks at a range of issues connected to urban and agricultural water use in the Sana'a Plain area, including engineering and logisical problems, environmental and climatic influences on groundwater, legal and political wrangles, economic considerations and options for waste water re-use.
Competition-Based Neural Networks with Robotic Applications (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Shuai Li Long JinFocused on solving competition-based problems, this book designs, proposes, develops, analyzes and simulates various neural network models depicted in centralized and distributed manners. Specifically, it defines four different classes of centralized models for investigating the resultant competition in a group of multiple agents. With regard to distributed competition with limited communication among agents, the book presents the first distributed WTA (Winners Take All) protocol, which it subsequently extends to the distributed coordination control of multiple robots.Illustrations, tables, and various simulative examples, as well as a healthy mix of plain and professional language, are used to explain the concepts and complex principles involved. Thus, the book provides readers in neurocomputing and robotics with a deeper understanding of the neural network approach to competition-based problem-solving, offers them an accessible introduction to modeling technology and the distributed coordination control of redundant robots, and equips them to use these technologies and approaches to solve concrete scientific and engineering problems.
Competition and Investment in Air Transport: Legal and Economic Issues
by Ruwantissa AbeyratneThis book addresses emerging legal and economic issues in competition and investment in air transport, against the backdrop of the role governments and airlines should play in avoiding protectionism and encouraging innovation and creativity. It evaluates current trends in air transport and the direction the industry is taking in the twenty first century. There are discussions on key aspects of air transport, such as safety assurance and environmental protection, as they are impacted by competition. The rapid evolution of aerospace transport and its effect on competition in air transport is also examined. A recurring theme of the book is the influence of creative destruction and disruptive innovation on air transport. This is addressed through an in-depth study of the contentious areas of law relating to the abuse of dominant positions and state aid, as reflected in the ongoing claim by the three largest US carriers against Gulf carriers such as Emirates Airlines, Etihad and Qatar Airways. The US carriers claim that Emirates and Etihad – which operate air services into the United States by virtue of an open-skies agreement between the US and The United Arab Emirates - are using generous subsidies given to them by their governments to illegally capture the “legitimate” market belonging to the US carriers. These issues are clarified in the book using analyses of competition law and investment law as they apply to air transport, free-trade-agreement analogies and an open-skies case study.
Competition and Efficiency in International Food Supply Chains: Improving Food Security (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by John WilliamsWhy have food crises seemingly become more frequent in recent years, compared to the last few decades? This book examines an array of different issues and distortions that are causing food supply chain dysfunction in many countries, particularly for staple non-perishable foods such as grains, oilseeds, pulses and sugar. It outlines the underlying changes that are currently occurring, which will have an influence on the direction of future food supply chains, and provides some solutions to current food security problems. Based on an analysis of total regulation in the 1950s-60s through to deregulation during the 1980-90s, as well as post-deregulation, it focuses on liberal trade and deregulation as a more successful solution to creating efficiencies in food supply chains and distribution. The author highlights a common thread of either farmers using government for vested-interest intervention, or autocratic governments seeking market and supply-chain power. The book examines the role of government after 70 years of food supply chain intervention. It discusses the role of commercial ‘trade’ markets and cluster industries and how these can quickly disintegrate when price distortions occur. The author studies both food importing and exporting countries and concludes that comingled commoditization of food has led to increased hoarding, corruption, and dependence on food aid. He argues that a competitive food supply chain that has minimum intervention is more likely to provide future food security. In conclusion the book emphasizes that adequate rewards, competition, and striving for supply chain efficiencies are the essences of sustainable food security.
Competition and Efficiency in International Food Supply Chains: Improving Food Security (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by John WilliamsWhy have food crises seemingly become more frequent in recent years, compared to the last few decades? This book examines an array of different issues and distortions that are causing food supply chain dysfunction in many countries, particularly for staple non-perishable foods such as grains, oilseeds, pulses and sugar. It outlines the underlying changes that are currently occurring, which will have an influence on the direction of future food supply chains, and provides some solutions to current food security problems. Based on an analysis of total regulation in the 1950s-60s through to deregulation during the 1980-90s, as well as post-deregulation, it focuses on liberal trade and deregulation as a more successful solution to creating efficiencies in food supply chains and distribution. The author highlights a common thread of either farmers using government for vested-interest intervention, or autocratic governments seeking market and supply-chain power. The book examines the role of government after 70 years of food supply chain intervention. It discusses the role of commercial ‘trade’ markets and cluster industries and how these can quickly disintegrate when price distortions occur. The author studies both food importing and exporting countries and concludes that comingled commoditization of food has led to increased hoarding, corruption, and dependence on food aid. He argues that a competitive food supply chain that has minimum intervention is more likely to provide future food security. In conclusion the book emphasizes that adequate rewards, competition, and striving for supply chain efficiencies are the essences of sustainable food security.
Competition and Cooperation in Social and Political Sciences: Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, Depok, Indonesia, November 7-9, 2016: Topics in Social and Political Sciences
by Isbandi Rukminto Adi Rochman AchwanThe book contains essays on current issues in Social and Political Sciences, such as the issues of governance and social order; social development and community development; global challenges and inequality; civil society and social movement; IT-based community and social transformation; poverty alleviation and corporate social responsibility; and gender issues. Asia and the Pacifi c are the particular regions that the conference focuses on as they have become new centers of social and political development. Therefore, this book covers areas that have been traditionally known as the social and political areas such as communication studies, political studies, governance studies, criminology, sociology, social welfare, anthropology and international relations.
Competition and Cooperation in Social and Political Sciences: Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, Depok, Indonesia, November 7-9, 2016: Topics in Social and Political Sciences
by Isbandi Rukminto Adi Rochman AchwanThe book contains essays on current issues in Social and Political Sciences, such as the issues of governance and social order; social development and community development; global challenges and inequality; civil society and social movement; IT-based community and social transformation; poverty alleviation and corporate social responsibility; and gender issues. Asia and the Pacifi c are the particular regions that the conference focuses on as they have become new centers of social and political development. Therefore, this book covers areas that have been traditionally known as the social and political areas such as communication studies, political studies, governance studies, criminology, sociology, social welfare, anthropology and international relations.
Competition and Conflicts on Resource Use (Natural Resource Management and Policy #46)
by Susanne Hartard Wolfgang LiebertThis book reflects on the causes of resource-based conflicts and competition, and presents solutions for safely and sustainably providing resources with a focus on material flow management. The contributions from different disciplines highlight issues such as safe access to resources, conflicts over water and energy supplies, waste of strategic mineral resources, sustainable resource consumption, and renewable energy technologies.
Competing Through Supply Chain Management: Creating Market-Winning Strategies Through Supply Chain Partnerships
by David F. RossSCM is one of the hottest topics in manufacturing and distribution, and like JIT and TQC it requires a corporate commitment. This book provides both fundamental principles of SCM as well as a set of guidelines to assist in practical application of SCM. It will be one of the first books on the market that deals exclusively with SCM and its application. Readers in the academic, management sciences, sales, marketing and government environments will find this book of particular interest.
Competing Interactions and Microstructures: Proceedings of the CMS Workshop, Los Alamos, New Mexico, May 5–8, 1987 (Springer Proceedings in Physics #27)
by Richard LeSar Alan Bishop Robert HeffnerMany macroscopic properties of materials are determined primarily by inhomogeneous structures and textures. These intermediate-scale structures often arise from competing interactions operating on different length scales within the material. Our understanding of such phenomena has increased substantially with the identification and theoretical description of solid-state materials with incommensurate and long-period modulated phases, such as ferroelectrics, charge-density-wave compounds, epitaxial layers and polytypes. Experimental diagnosis of inhomogeneous ground states and metastable phases has advanced so far that these are now well-accepted phenomena. These proceedings bring together the work of physicists and materials scientists to review developments in this area and to examine possible future directions, such as how the microscopic understanding emerging in bench-top solid-state systems can be applied in materials science.
Competing Discourses on Japan’s Nuclear Power: Pronuclear versus Antinuclear Activism (Routledge Studies in Environmental Communication and Media)
by Etsuko KinefuchiThis book examines the discursive formation of nuclear power in Japan to provide insights into the ways this technology has been both promoted and resisted, constituting and being constituted by Japan’s sociocultural landscape. Each chapter pays close attention to a particular discursive site, including newspaper editorials, public relations campaigns, local site fights, urban antinuclear activism, and post-Fukushima pronuclear and antinuclear articulations. The book also raises the question of democracy and sustainability through the examination of nuclear power discourses. It demonstrates the power of discourse in shaping nuclear power by creating knowledge, influencing decisions, relationships, identity, and community. Readers will gain a range of insights from the book: prominent articulations on nuclear power discourse, state and corporate strategies for enticing consent for controversial facilities and technologies, the power of the media in framing public knowledge, the role of social movements and activisms in civic society, the power of community, and nuclear power as a problematic in representative democracy and sustainability. This book will appeal to students and scholars interested in social discourse, social movements, Japanese society, cultural studies, environmental communication, media analysis, energy and sustainability, and democracy, among others.
Competing Discourses on Japan’s Nuclear Power: Pronuclear versus Antinuclear Activism (Routledge Studies in Environmental Communication and Media)
by Etsuko KinefuchiThis book examines the discursive formation of nuclear power in Japan to provide insights into the ways this technology has been both promoted and resisted, constituting and being constituted by Japan’s sociocultural landscape. Each chapter pays close attention to a particular discursive site, including newspaper editorials, public relations campaigns, local site fights, urban antinuclear activism, and post-Fukushima pronuclear and antinuclear articulations. The book also raises the question of democracy and sustainability through the examination of nuclear power discourses. It demonstrates the power of discourse in shaping nuclear power by creating knowledge, influencing decisions, relationships, identity, and community. Readers will gain a range of insights from the book: prominent articulations on nuclear power discourse, state and corporate strategies for enticing consent for controversial facilities and technologies, the power of the media in framing public knowledge, the role of social movements and activisms in civic society, the power of community, and nuclear power as a problematic in representative democracy and sustainability. This book will appeal to students and scholars interested in social discourse, social movements, Japanese society, cultural studies, environmental communication, media analysis, energy and sustainability, and democracy, among others.
Competency-Based Education in Aviation: Exploring Alternate Training Pathways
by Suzanne K. Kearns Timothy J. Mavin Steven HodgeWhether a trainee is studying air traffic control, piloting, maintenance engineering, or cabin crew, they must complete a set number of training 'hours' before being licensed or certified. The aviation industry is moving away from an hours-based to a competency-based training system. Within this approach, training is complete when a learner can demonstrate competent performance. Training based on competency is an increasingly popular approach in aviation. It allows for an alternate means of compliance with international regulations - which can result in shorter and more efficient training programs. However there are also challenges with a competency-based approach. The definition of competency-based education can be confusing, training can be reductionist and artificially simplistic, professional interpretation of written competencies can vary between individuals, and this approach can have a high administrative and regulatory burden. Competency-Based Education in Aviation: Exploring Alternate Training Pathways explores this approach to training in great detail, considering the four aviation professional groups of air traffic control, pilots, maintenance engineers, and cabin crew. Aviation training experts were interviewed and have contributed professional insights along with personal stories and anecdotes associated with competency-based approaches in their fields. Research-based and practical strategies for the effective creation, delivery, and assessment of competency-based education are described in detail.
Competency-Based Education in Aviation: Exploring Alternate Training Pathways
by Suzanne K. Kearns Timothy J. Mavin Steven HodgeWhether a trainee is studying air traffic control, piloting, maintenance engineering, or cabin crew, they must complete a set number of training 'hours' before being licensed or certified. The aviation industry is moving away from an hours-based to a competency-based training system. Within this approach, training is complete when a learner can demonstrate competent performance. Training based on competency is an increasingly popular approach in aviation. It allows for an alternate means of compliance with international regulations - which can result in shorter and more efficient training programs. However there are also challenges with a competency-based approach. The definition of competency-based education can be confusing, training can be reductionist and artificially simplistic, professional interpretation of written competencies can vary between individuals, and this approach can have a high administrative and regulatory burden. Competency-Based Education in Aviation: Exploring Alternate Training Pathways explores this approach to training in great detail, considering the four aviation professional groups of air traffic control, pilots, maintenance engineers, and cabin crew. Aviation training experts were interviewed and have contributed professional insights along with personal stories and anecdotes associated with competency-based approaches in their fields. Research-based and practical strategies for the effective creation, delivery, and assessment of competency-based education are described in detail.
Competencies in Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership in the Digital Age: Papers from CELDA 2014
by J. Michael Spector Dirk Ifenthaler Demetrios G. Sampson Pedro IsaiasThis book makes a contribution to a global conversation about the competencies, challenges, and changes being introduced as a result of digital technologies. This volume consists of four parts, with the first being elaborated from each of the featured panelists at CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2014.Part One is an introduction to the global conversation about competencies and challenges for 21st-century teachers and learners. Part Two discusses the changes in learning and instructional paradigms. Part Three is a discussion of assessments and analytics for teachers and decision makers. Lastly, Part Four analyzes the changing tools and learning environments teachers and learners must face.Each of the four parts has six chapters. In addition, the book opens with a paper by the keynote speaker aimed at the broad considerations to take into account with regard to instructional design and learning in the digital age. The volume closes with a reflective piece on the progress towards systemic and sustainable improvements in educational systems in the early part of the 21st century.
Competencies and (Management and Industrial Engineering)
by Carolina MachadoThis book covers the main issues on the study of competencies and talent management in modern and competitive organizations. The chapters show how organizations around the world are facing (global) talent management challenges and give the reader information on the latest research activity related to that. Innovative theories and strategies are reported in this book, which provides an interdisciplinary exchange of information, ideas and opinions about the workplace challenges.
Compete and Win in Telecom Sales: A Step-by -Step Guide for Successful Selling
by Philip Max KayFor anyone ready to launch a successful career in sales for telecom equipment, services and technologies, or for veterans ready to break through to a higher level, this book provides a practical eight-step program for successful selling. The rapidly chang
Compensation Systems for Low Temperature Applications
by Balzej T. SkoczenThe present monograph is mainly focused on the behaviour of ductile ma terials at cryogenic temperatures, stability issues concerning application of corrugated shells at cryogenic conditions and reliability oriented parametric optimisation of compensation systems containing the corrugated bellows. As there are relatively few publications on combined material and structural be haviour at very low temperatures, the monograph aims at filling this gap. It is worth pointing out that within the class of publications dedicated to low temperature behaviour of materials and structures the majority is based on testing down to the temperature of liquid nitrogen (77 K). Rare publications deal with the analysis of material and structural response at the temperature of liquid helium (4. 5 K) or superfluid helium (below the point T>. , = 2. 17 K). This can be explained by the fact that an (by its nature complex) installation for testing at such low temperatures is very expensive. Only the large research centres and universities, working in the domain of superconductivity, cryogen ics or developing superconducting magnets for particle accelerators, can afford such installations. A significant part of the present monograph is dedicated to the analy sis of the phenomena associated with plastic yielding in stainless steels at cryogenic temperatures. Generally, three phenomena are distinguished: plas tic strain induced phase transformations, serrated yielding and evolution of ductile damage.
Compensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery
by Floris ErnstCompensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery outlines the techniques needed to accurately track and compensate for respiratory and pulsatory motion during robotic radiosurgery. The algorithms presented within the book aid in the treatment of tumors that move during respiration. In Chapters 1 and 2, the book introduces the concept of stereotactic body radiation therapy, motion compensation strategies and the clinical state-of-the-art. In Chapters 3 through 5, the author describes and evaluates new methods for motion prediction, for correlating external motion to internal organ motion, and for the evaluation of these algorithms’ output based on an unprecedented amount of real clinical data. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a brief introduction into currently investigated, open questions and further fields of research. Compensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery targets researchers working in the related fields of surgical oncology, artificial intelligence, robotics and more. Advanced-level students will also find this book valuable.
Compendium to Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists: 300 Problems and Solutions
by Ervin B. PodgorsakThis exercise book contains 300 typical problems and exercises in modern physics and radiation physics with complete solutions, detailed equations and graphs. This textbook is linked directly with the textbook "Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists", Springer (2010) but can also be used in combination with other related textbooks. For ease of use, this textbook has exactly the same organizational layout (14 chapters, 128 sections) as the "Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists" textbook and each section is covered by at least one problem with solution given. Equations, figures and tables are cross-referenced between the two books. It is the only large compilation of textbook material and associated solved problems in medical physics, radiation physics, and biophysics.
Compendium on Gradient Materials
by Albrecht BertramThis book offers frameworks for the material modeling of gradient materials both for finite and small deformations within elasticity, plasticity, viscosity, and thermomechanics. The first chapter focuses on balance laws and holds for all gradient materials. The next chapters are dedicated to the material modeling of second and third-order materials under finite deformations. Afterwards the scope is limited to the geometrically linear theory, i.e., to small deformations. The next chapter offers an extension of the concept of internal constraints to gradient materials. The final chapter is dedicated to incompressible viscous gradient fluids with the intention to describe, among other applications, turbulent flows, as already suggested by Saint-Venant in the middle of the 19th century.
A Compendium of Unique and Rare Spices: Global Economic Potential
by Kodoth Prabhakaran NairThis book is a compendium of rare and unique spices, which have been least researched but hold immense economic potential on a global scale. They are Aniseed, Shallot, Saffron, Caraway or Siah Zira, European or Indian Dill, Poppy, Star Anise and Japanese Star Anise, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme, Calamus or Sweet Flag, Horse Radish, Galangal, and Long Pepper or Pipli. Some of these are seed spices and others, like Saffron, are grown in the hills of Jammu and Srinagar, India and have varied uses, ranging from being very popular food flavorants to being used for religious purposes. Even within India, the country of the origin for most of the spices listed, many Indians are simply unaware of their immense economic potential. This is also the case with other countries, like Iran, where some spices, like Saffron, is widely used as a food flavorant. The book aims to be a unique compendium of these rare and unique spices to primarily enable researchers to tap into their great economic potential and, on a wider scale, help developmental agencies to tap into their immense potential in global spice trade. The book provides a cross-sectoral multi-scale assessment of developmental possibilities, globally, for rare and unique spices of immense economic importance.