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This book will help policy makers, university students, and the general public understand how the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is intended to work, and how it can be used to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to combat global warming. Unlike all other books on NEPA, this book focuses on the global warming problem in terms of thermodynamics and entropy. It explains how NEPA can help combat global warming by operationalizing the “energy requirements and conservation potential” analysis requirement in the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, 40 CFR 1502.16 (a)(7), and it puts the past, present, and future of the NEPA statute, the CEQ regulations, and energy analysis requirements all in one easy to find, portable place. It will be an excellent resource for university students and teachers, policy analysts, and those members of the public that want to know all about the NEPA Process. As a third edition, the book contains new analysis on the amended NEPA statute (2023) and revised CEQ regulations (2024), CEQ's January 9, 2023 interim guidance on how to incorporate GHG emissions into NEPA documents, the social costs of carbon, the long-term strategy of the United States to get to net-zero GHG by 2050, assessing climate risk in NEPA reviews, and the link between energy requirements analysis required by 40 CFR 1502.16 (a) (7) and reduced GHG emissions.

This book highlights a comprehensive coverage of X­‐ray and Gamma‐ray astrophysics. The first and the second parts discuss, respectively, X-ray and Gamma-ray experimental techniques and observatories. The third part is devoted to science, including galactic and extragalactic sources. The fourth and last parts are dedicated to analysis techniques in X-ray and Gamma-ray astronomy: spectral analysis, imagining analysis, timing analysis, and polarimetric analysis. Presenting the state of the art in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, this is both a valuable book for students and an important reference resource for researchers in the field.

This handbook is a comprehensive, systematic source of modern nuclear physics. It aims to summarize experimental and theoretical discoveries and an understanding of unstable nuclei and their exotic structures, which were opened up by the development of radioactive ion (RI) beam in the late 1980s. The handbook comprises three major parts. In the first part, the experiments and measured facts are well organized and reviewed. The second part summarizes recognized theories to explain the experimental facts introduced in the first part. Reflecting recent synergistic progress involving both experiment and theory, the chapters both parts are mutually related. The last part focuses on cosmo-nuclear physics—one of the mainstream subjects in modern nuclear physics. Those comprehensive topics are presented concisely. Supported by introductory reviews, all chapters are designed to present their topics in a manner accessible to readers at the graduate level. The book therefore serves as a valuable source for beginners as well, helping them to learn modern nuclear physics.

Societal Stress and Law draws attention to the social side effects of law by developing the sociological concept of society-level stress, a corollary of the concept of individual-level stress in the biological sciences. To encourage interest in societal stress, the book looks at (1) instances of law adopted by American states that the U.S. Supreme Court held unconstitutional and (2) actions by American states with regard to a proposal to amend the federal Constitution. The Court rulings and the proposed constitutional amendment were capable of producing societal stress because they were seen by a sizeable segment of the U.S. public as being incompatible with significant American traditions. In original studies that apply logistic regression to state-level statistical data, the book identifies sociological variables that predict state differences in the adoption of this law and state differences in actions on the proposed constitutional amendment. Because these variables represent societal agents that affected whether a state experienced social stress from the rulings and proposal, the book blends theory with empirical research and illustrates how each can support the other in law-focused scholarship.

This book offers a distinctive approach to the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. Over the last decade, the entry into force of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance has brought to the forefront of legal discussion the need to effectively address the practice of disappearance. Yet, there are still obstacles to combatting it, which are in part due to a limited understanding of the right's underlying concept, content and scope.This book examines the phenomenon and definition of enforced disappearance and sheds new light on the right against disappearance. Presenting a doctrinal appraisal of the norm's legal value, it suggests that the right against enforced disappearance holds a customary value, while also arguing that it has since attained a jus cogens status. Lastly, it examines in detail the rights to truth and reparation and how regional and national courts have interpreted these norms. It assesses the UN Convention's dynamics and considers whether the lack of a right against disappearance embedded in regional human rights systems affects individuals'protection.The book provides an overview of key jurisprudence on disappearances, making it of benefit to both practitioners and theorists of international law.

This book provides a unique, comprehensive, and up-to-date overview of the various NADPH oxidases and narrates the history of their discovery, biochemical characteristics, genetics, molecular structure, and multiple functions in health and disease. It covers the subject in a manner that serves both the expert and the novice researcher in the field.The book starts with an overview of the major milestones in the discovery of the archetypical NADPH oxidase, known as cytochrome b558, and its cytosolic regulators. This is followed by personal recollections by pioneers of the field, descriptions of the work of the major figures of the past by their followers, and a rendering of the history of the discovery of the Nox family. The central section of the book consists of chapters devoted specifically to an in depth description of the individual members of the Nox family, and is followed by chapters focused on the modulators of their function. A subsequent section comprises chapters dealing with methodologies of Nox research, interaction with other proteins, and Nox inhibitors. A distinct section of the book deals with non-mammalian Noxs, from amoeba to zebrafish. Subsequent chapters focus on Nox structure, a field in which extraordinary progress was made in recent years. The volume ends with chapters on Chronic Granulomatous Disease, the consequence of Nox loss-of-function, and its treatment by gene therapy. The coda is a crystal ball perspective of the hopes for the clinical translation of basic Nox research. Written for biochemists, cell biologists, molecular biologists, and clinicians, this book is aimed at both senior scientists and young investigators in the field.

This book is intended to provide an overview for the identification and establishment of biodiversity islands. It presents examples and case studies where the biodiversity islands approach is being used in a variety of locations and contexts worldwide. It will contribute to design parameters on appropriate sizing and spatial distribution of biodiversity islands in order to be effective in conservation and regeneration across the landscape, using integrated landscape management approaches. This book is essential given the current worldwide trend of habitat destruction and the need to preserve biodiversity and its values. The chapters are organized in five sections. The first section provides the introduction. Section 2,3 and 4 discuss the challenges and alternatives of establishment and management, case studies across the globe, safeguarding of the environmental, economic, and social benefits, and the final section offers a conclusion. The contributing authors present views from the academic, the practitioner and the policymaker perspectives, offering alternatives and suggestions for promoting strategies that support biodiversity conservation through intentionally designed frameworks for sustainable forest landscapes. Readers will discover suggestions and concrete examples that can be used by a variety of stakeholders in various settings throughout the world. This book is useful to researchers, farmers, foresters, landowners, land managers, city planners, and policy makers alike.

This book covers all the technical aspects of flow cytometry needed to set-up the instrument, solve problems encountered in daily work, or necessary for exam preparation. It provides the reader with an in-depth look at the device and its applications. Each component and its function is described in an easy-to-understand manner, giving the reader a sound basic knowledge of this instrument. The practical examples given, simplify and enhance the learning process. This book is a unique resource of knowledge for biomedical engineers and biotechnologists, flow cytometry operators, laboratory technicians and biomedical researchers, both biologists as well as medical doctors, and can also be a helpful tool for companies and manufacturers.

This book provides an overview of the US laws that affect clinical practice for healthcare professionals with no legal background.Divided into thirteen sections, each chapter starts with a summary of the chapter's content and relevant legal concepts in bullet points before discussing the topics in detail. An application section is provided in many chapters to clarify essential issues by reflecting on clinically relevant case law or clinical vignette(s). Filling a crucial gap in the literature, this comprehensive guide gives healthcare professionals an understanding or a starting point to legal aspects of healthcare.

This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2019. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe's leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance.The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

This book reflects the state of the art of our understanding of the WNT signaling system, which comprises a network of signaling pathways initiated by the secreted WNT lipoglycoproteins, which are crucial for embryonal development, stem cell regulation, tissue homeostasis and repair. Dysfunction of this evolutionarily conserved signaling system leads to many diseases including developmental disorders, diverse forms of cancer, fibrosis, neurodegenerative disease and many more. The WNT signaling system is built upon 19 mammalian, secreted WNT lipoglycoproteins that interact with a plethora of distinct receptors, such as the G protein-coupled receptors called Frizzleds (FZD1-10), LDL receptor-like proteins (LRP5/6), receptor tyrosine kinases (ROR1, 2, RYK and PTK7). In addition, WNT pathways are tightly regulated by many secreted and cell-intrinsic negative regulators, such as soluble FZD-related proteins (SFRPs), Dickkopfs (DKKs), WNT-inhibitory proteins, TIKI, RNF43 and more. Understanding the basic mechanism in terms of receptor-ligand interaction, receptor selectivity, signal initiation and desensitization remain poorly understood, even though substantial advances have been made the recent years. Due to the involvement of the WNT signaling system in human disease, it appears obvious to target diverse branches pharmacologically and therapeutically. However, given the complexity of the system and its importance for stem cell regulation and tissue maintenance, therapy comes with obvious risks for severe side effects. The field is addressing the challenge to identify suitable targets and selective compounds for therapy allowing disease-selective therapeutic effects and balancing unwanted side effects. This book summarizes the current understanding of the basic and applied pharmacology in the WNT signaling system and bridges disciplines such as pharmacology, physiology, neurosciences, oncology and drug development.

This edited collection brings together voices of the strongest thought leaders on diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of statistics and data science, with the goal of encouraging and steering the profession into the regular practice of inclusive and humanistic leadership. It provides futuristic ideas for promoting opportunities for equitable leadership, as well as tested approaches that have already been found to make a difference. It speaks to the challenges and opportunities of leading successful research collaborations and making strong connections within research teams. Curated with a vision that leadership takes a myriad of forms, and that diversity has many dimensions, this volume examines the nuances of leadership within a workplace environment and promotes storytelling and other competencies as critical elements of effective leadership. It makes the case for inclusive and humanistic leadership in statistics and data science, where there often remains a dearth of womenand members of certain racial communities among the employees. Titled and non-titled leaders will benefit from the planning, evaluation, and structural tools offered within to contribute inclusive excellence in workplace climate, environment, and culture.

This comprehensive, twelve volume reference work reflects the interdisciplinary influences on evolutionary psychology and serves as a major resource for its history, scientific contributors and theories.It draws on biology, cognitive science, anthropology, psychology, economics, computer science and paleoarchaeology to provide a multifaceted picture of behavioral adaptation in humans and how it adds to our academic and clinical understanding. Edited by a noted figure in evolutionary psychology, with many seminal and renowned contributors, this encyclopedia offers the full breadth of an area that is the forefront of behavioral thinking and investigation.

This book discusses in detail the recent advances in the management of endometrial cancer, including the latest therapies and diagnostic methods. The book focuses on treatment-oriented topics such as the role of lymphadenectomy and sentinel node dissection, surgical complications, radiation techniques, and chemotherapy in endometrial cancer, and also explores treatment options in advanced disease stages, including hormonal therapy and targeted therapy. Providing insights into the evidence-based management guidelines for endometrial cancer, this book is a valuable resource for students, trainees and practitioners in the field of gynecology and gyne-oncology.

This book presents a collection of focused review papers on the advances in topics in modern astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and planetary science. The chapters are written by expert members of an EU-funded ERASMUS+ program of strategic partnership between several European institutes.The 13 reviews comprise the topics: Space debris, optical measurementsMeteors, light from comets and asteroidsExtrasolar enigmas: from disintegrating exoplanets to exo-asteroidsPhysical conditions and chemical abundances in photoionized nebulae from optical spectraObservational Constraints on the Common Envelope PhaseA modern guide to quantitative spectroscopy of massive OB starsExplosion mechanisms of core-collapse supernovae and their observational signaturesLow-mass and substellar eclipsing binaries in stellar clustersGlobular cluster systems and Galaxy FormationHot atmospheres of galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxiesThe establishment of the Standard Cosmological Model through observationsExploiting solar visible-range observations by inversion techniques: from flows in the solar subsurface to a flaring atmosphereStarburst galaxies The book is intended for the general astronomical community as well as for advanced students who could use it as a guideline, inspiration and overview for their future careers in astronomy.

This book presents a comprehensive study on how twenty-three countries have approached the issue of company groups. In addition to detailed profiles of each country's legislation, written by some of the most respected experts in the field, the book also presents a general overview and offers readers an in-depth, up-to-date and highly practical comparative analysis of the company group phenomenon in connection with national legal regimes. As such, the book is a must-read for all those seeking a deeper understanding of how company groups are viewed and regulated around the globe.

This fully indexed, 2-volume book covers all aspects of gynecologic and obstetric pathology. It focuses on practical issues in each chapter by demonstrating pitfalls of diagnosis in addition to general criteria needed for each disease entity. As a reference book on gynecologic and obstetric pathology, it is targeted for practicing pathologists, pathology residents, gynecologic pathology and oncology fellows, clinicians, healthcare providers, and biomedical researchers and is intended for use as a bench or scope side reference, resource for studying for board examinations or to satisfy any interest in certain topics within the field of gynecologic pathology. Volume 2 contains 17 chapters covering disease entities of the uterine myometrium, ovary, fallopian tube, peritoneum, placenta, gestational trophoblastic diseases, and gynecology related cytology. It covers all the recognized recent advances within the field. Key diagnostic and differential diagnosis related points are illustrated in numerous tables. In addition, plenty of high quality pictures are presented for the vast majority of entities to facilitate both learning and teaching.

This comprehensive and timely textbook covers all aspects of the evidence-based management of genitourinary cancers and explains the fundamental principles underlying the available diagnostic and treatment approaches, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and surgery. For each type of cancer – prostate, bladder, renal, testicular, and penile, plus rare urologic malignancies – clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment strategies are described in detail and information is provided on etiology, epidemiology, risk factors, and pathology, including TNM classification. Careful attention is also devoted to the complications that may be encountered when treating urologic malignancies and to the management of these complications. The text is complemented by the inclusion of numerous high-definition photographs and illustrations. Urologic Oncology will be a valuable reference and source of guidance for all oncologists, urologists and practitioners in related disciplines who treat patients with urologic cancers.

This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2018. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe's leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance.The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

This comprehensive volume provides exhaustive interpretations of surgery for gynecologic cancer. In these chapters, expert authors expound the history, principles and indications, preoperative evaluations, techniques, morbidity, and the future prospects for each surgical procedure. Also included are comparisons of the training systems of gynecologic surgeons in Japan and the USA.Recently, minimally invasive surgeries such as laparoscopic and robotic approaches have been introduced into the gynecologic oncology field. Readers will be interested to know the history, advances, and current status of gynecologic surgery in Japan. This collection methodically broadens understanding of new surgical methods with quality assurance aimed at saving the cancer patient's life, from the point of view of gynecologic oncologists. Thus the book benefits not only experienced gynecologists, but also young physicians and all medical oncologists who are involved in gynecologic cancers.

The ability to measure and monitor cancer biomarkers in “body fluid biopsy” should greatly impact oncologic practice. “Biomarkers in Proximal Fluids”, the third of the “Cancer Biomarkers in Body Fluids” series details cancer signatures in none or minimally circulating body fluids including saliva, sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, exhaled breath condensate, nipple aspirate fluid, gastric and pancreatic juice, stool, urine, and prostatic, peritoneal and cerebrospinal fluid. These fluids are enriched with biomarkers, especially those emanating from cells of the proximal tissue. Chapter 1 examines the global burden of cancer and the need for regional efforts at primary prevention, early detection and patient care. Chapters 2-12 address tissue-specific biomarkers in associated body fluids. The tumor interstitial fluid as a microenvironment rich in cancer biomarkers is detailed in chapter 13, while chapter 14 looks at the human body fluid microbiome and itsevolving role in cancer. Commercially available assays using proximal fluids are examined at the end of the respective chapters. This book complements its predecessors and is equally useful to oncologists, cancer researchers, clinicians, medical students, nurses, diagnostic laboratory and pharmaceutical industry personnel.

This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2017. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe's leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance.The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

In the last 25 years, minimally invasive surgery techniques have had a great impact on all gynecologic surgery areas, becoming the technique of choice in most leading health centers around the world. Nowadays, due to such developments, the employment of minimally invasive techniques is a feature for every gynecological surgery service, being part of their daily routine. To the same extent, it is a requirement for every gynecological surgeon to be aware and up to date regarding these techniques and their uses. The book describes and discusses minimally invasive techniques in gynecological surgery by means of an evidence-based analysis, providing clinical correlations for a practical purpose. Techniques covered include vaginal radical trachelectomy, laparoscopic radical hysterectomy, robotic surgery in gynecological cancer, hysteroscopic myomectomy, LESS surgery, deep endometriosis surgery, and laparoscopic supra cervical hysterectomy. Some of the most renowned internationalreferences in minimally invasive surgery are included in this title, making Minimally Invasive Gynecology: an Evidence Based Approach fundamental reading for all gynecologists and gynecological surgeons.

Dieses Buch führt den Leser praxisnah durch die ganze Bandbreite der geburtshilflichen und gynäkologischen Sonografie. Informieren Sie sich zu physiologischen Grundlagen, machen Sie sich mit den neuesten Ultraschalltechnologien vertraut, sehen Sie hilfreiche und exzellente Bilder zu allen Organsystemen, finden Sie Tipps und Tricks zu vermeidbaren Fehlern und vieles mehr. Alle Kapitel wurden für die 2. Auflage sorgfältig aktualisiert und sind auf dem neuesten Stand der klinischen Forschung. So erhalten Sie ein umfassendes Nachschlagewerk für den optimalen Einsatz der Sonografie.

This book is not only a compilation of the knowledge and experiences of the best robotic surgeons around the world, but it has also incorporated the recent advances and updates in Gynaecological surgery. It is designed to provide a detailed guide to common robotic Gynaecologic procedures for the purpose of helping novice surgeons in their transition to robotic surgery and seasoned robotic surgeons to refine their surgical technique and expand their repertoire of robotic procedures. The descriptive, step-by-step, text is complimented by figures, intraoperative photographs and videos detailing the nuances of each procedure. Emphasis is placed on operative setup, instrument and equipment needs and surgical techniques for both the primary surgeon as well as the operative assistant. This volume will provide unique insights into robotic Gynaecologic surgery and reduce the learning curve of accomplishing these increasingly popular procedures.

The Commentary on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties provides an in-depth article-by-article analysis of all of the Vienna Convention's provisions. Each provision's analysis consists of (I) Purpose and Function of the Article, (II) Historical Background with Negotiating History, (III) Elements of the Article and finally (IV) Treaties of International Organizations. In short, the present Commentary contains a comprehensive legal analysis of all aspects of the international law of treaties. Furthermore, where the law of treaties reaches into other fields of international law, e.g. the law of state responsibility, the relevant interfaces are discussed and contextualized. With its focus on international practice, the Commentary is an invaluable reference for both academia and practitioners of international law.

The book analyses how subsequent agreements and subsequent practice as defined in articles 31 and 32 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties have been applied in interpretative reality. Based on the jurisprudence of domestic courts, it elucidates the distribution of power between the parties to a treaty and other actors. To start with, the book traces the origins of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice and places them in their broader legal context. Next, it explores the legal status and effects of subsequent agreements and subsequent practice, explains why such agreements are only rarely used, and defines the relevance of non-party practice in the interpretative process. In closing, it critically examines how domestic courts have approached the normative heart of subsequent practice, i.e. the notion of ‘agreement'. Thus, this book ultimately challenges the traditional assumption that the parties are the joint masters of the treaty.

Biodiversity observation systems are almost everywhere inadequate to meet local, national and international (treaty) obligations. As a result of alarmingly rapid declines in biodiversity in the modern era, there is a strong, worldwide desire to upgrade our monitoring systems, but little clarity on what is actually needed and how it can be assembled from the elements which are already present. This book intends to provide practical guidance to broadly-defined biodiversity observation networks at all scales, but predominantly the national scale and higher. This is a practical how-to book with substantial policy relevance. It will mostly be used by technical specialists with a responsibility for biodiversity monitoring to establish and refine their systems. It is written at a technical level, but one that is not discipline-bound: it should be intelligible to anyone in the broad field with a tertiary education.

The three-volume set LNCS 9913, LNCS 9914, and LNCS 9915 comprises the refereed proceedings of the Workshops that took place in conjunction with the 14th European Conference on Computer Vision, ECCV 2016, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in October 2016. 27 workshops from 44 workshops proposals were selected for inclusion in the proceedings. These address the following themes: Datasets and Performance Analysis in Early Vision; Visual Analysis of Sketches; Biological and Artificial Vision; Brave New Ideas for Motion Representations; Joint Imagenet and MS Coco Visual Recognition Challenge; Geometry Meets Deep Learning; Action and Anticipation for Visual Learning; Computer Vision for Road Scene Understanding and Autonomous Driving; Challenge on Automatic Personality Analysis; BioImage Computing; Benchmarking Multi-Target Tracking: MOTChallenge; Assistive Computer Vision and Robotics; Transferring and Adapting Source Knowledge in Computer Vision; Recovering 6D Object Pose; Robust Reading; 3D Face Alignment in the Wild and Challenge; Egocentric Perception, Interaction and Computing; Local Features: State of the Art, Open Problems and Performance Evaluation; Crowd Understanding; Video Segmentation; The Visual Object Tracking Challenge Workshop; Web-scale Vision and Social Media; Computer Vision for Audio-visual Media; Computer VISion for ART Analysis; Virtual/Augmented Reality for Visual Artificial Intelligence; Joint Workshop on Storytelling with Images and Videos and Large Scale Movie Description and Understanding Challenge.

This book presents a unique combination of chapters that together provide a practical introduction to multiscale modeling applied to nanoscale materials mechanics. The goal of this book is to present a balanced treatment of both the theory of the methodology, as well as some practical aspects of conducting the simulations and models. The first half of the book covers some fundamental modeling and simulation techniques ranging from ab-inito methods to the continuum scale. Included in this set of methods are several different concurrent multiscale methods for bridging time and length scales applicable to mechanics at the nanoscale regime. The second half of the book presents a range of case studies from a varied selection of research groups focusing either on a the application of multiscale modeling to a specific nanomaterial, or novel analysis techniques aimed at exploring nanomechanics. Readers are also directed to helpful sites and other resources throughout the book where the simulation codes and methodologies discussed herein can be accessed. Emphasis on the practicality of the detailed techniques is especially felt in the latter half of the book, which is dedicated to specific examples to study nanomechanics and multiscale materials behavior. An instructive avenue for learning how to effectively apply these simulation tools to solve nanomechanics problems is to study previous endeavors. Therefore, each chapter is written by a unique team of experts who have used multiscale materials modeling to solve a practical nanomechanics problem. These chapters provide an extensive picture of the multiscale materials landscape from problem statement through the final results and outlook, providing readers with a roadmap for incorporating these techniques into their own research.

This book elucidates how genetic, biological and medical information can be applied to the development of personalized healthcare, medication and therapies. Focusing on aspects of the development of evidence-based approaches in bioinformatics and computational medicine, including data integration, methodologies, tools and models for clinical and translational medicine, it offers an essential introduction to clinical bioinformatics for clinical researchers and physicians, medical students and teachers, and scientists working with human disease-based omics and bioinformatics. Dr. Xiangdong Wang is a distinguished Professor of Medicine. He is Director of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics, Director of Fudan University Center for Clinical Bioinformatics, Deputy Director of Shanghai Respiratory Research Institute, Director of Biomedical Research Center, Fudan University Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, China; Dr. Christian Baumgartner is a Professor of Health Care and Biomedical Engineering at Institute of Health Care Engineering with European Notified Body of Medical Devices, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria; Dr. Denis Shields is a Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics at Conway Institute, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland; Dr. Hong-Wen Deng is a Professor at Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, USA; Dr. Jacques S Beckmann is a Professor and Director of Section of Clinical Bioinformatics, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Switzerland.

This book discusses affirmative action or positive discrimination, defined as measures awarding privileges to certain groups that have historically suffered discrimination or have been underrepresented in specific social sectors. The book's underlying rationale is that one cannot place at the same starting point people who have been treated differently in the past because in this way one merely perpetuates a state of difference and, in turn, social gaps are exaggerated and social cohesion is endangered. Starting out with an introduction on the meaning and typology of affirmative action policies, the book goes on to emphasise the interaction of affirmative action with traditional values of liberal state, such as equality, meritocracy, democracy, justice, liberalism and socialism. It reveals the affirmative action goals from a legal and sociological point of view, examining the remedial, cultural, societal, pedagogical and economy purposes of such action. After applying an institutional narrative of the implementation of affirmative action worldwide, the book explains the jurisprudence on the issue through syntheses and antitheses of structural and material variables, such as the institutional recognition of the policies, the domains of their implementation and their beneficiaries. The book eventually makes an analytical impact assessment following the implementation of affirmative action plans and the judicial response, especially in relation to the conventional human rights doctrine, by establishing a liaison between affirmative action and social and group rights.. The book applies a multi-disciplinary and comparative methodology in order to assess the ethical standing of affirmative action policies, the public interests involved and their effectiveness towards actual equality. In the light of the above analysis, the monograph explains the arguments considering affirmative action as a theology for substantive equality and the arguments treating thispolicy as anathema for liberalism. A universal discussion currently at its peak.

This book provides a unique comparative and global analysis of the regulation of disclosure in financial (securities) markets. It is written by two authors who represent both the new world (Australia) and the old world (Germany). The authors present their research in the global business context, with legal and regulatory perspectives including some references from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.After every “boom” and “bust”, legislators pass new disclosure legislation, often in a heated environment fuelled by politics and the media. Little regard is paid to existing regulation or the lessons learned from earlier regulation. The result is the continuing enactment of redundant and overlapping disclosure laws. Since financial markets are often described as markets for information, the failure to ensure disclosure is at the heart of financial services regulation. This book argues that the solution to the failure of disclosure is a brief, easily understood, principles-based, plain English safety-net amendment to statute law such as “you must keep the financial market fully informed”, a measure that would support effective mandatory continuous disclosure of information to financial markets.This book examines the reasons for disclosure regulation, and how the efficient operation of financial markets is dependent on disclosure. It examines the adequacy of common law and civil law concerning broker/client disclosure, and concludes that industry licensing in itself fails to keep the market informed. While recognizing the failures of securities commissions to achieve good disclosure in financial markets, it confirms the effectiveness of coregulation of disclosure by a commission with the support of the financial markets (such as the stock exchange). Coregulation builds on financial market self-regulation, and is best described in the words of one-time SEC Chairman William O. Douglas, who, in the 1930s, described it as ashotgun behind the door.

A few decades ago a monograph on the legal aspects of population control would have looked mainly at legal prohibitions. The salient legal problems were restriction of the use of birth control and dissemination of information about it. The assumption in such an approach would have been that effective population control is legally affected only by the clearly stated restrictions in the law. In other respects, the law could be assumed to be neutral. Judicial and legislative changes have eliminated practically all restrictions on the means of contraception. This development, how­ ever, has not freed population from its relation to the law; on the contrary, it has exposed the importance of law as a motivating force for and against population control. Although much applied work in population control is directed toward the distribution of contracep­ tives, concentration on the means of population control has shown itself to be of doubtful value. From many sides the primary impor­ tance of motivation has been recognized, along with the need to influence motivation and to analyze the conditions under which motivational change is possible. At this point the role of the law ix X FOREWORD becomes apparent, along with the recognition that law has not been neutral in this issue-that, in fact, it cannot be neutral. Larry Barnett has undertaken a pioneering effort in identifying the areas of law important to changing people's motivations in regard to population control and to a reduction in individual family size.

Plessy v Ferguson (1897) established racial segregation in American constitutional law for over fifty years and its moral and political legacy lives on, despite attempts in the United States to counter its devastating effects during the last half century. Ironically, in the current debate over affirmative action, Justice Harlan's eloquent dissent has been used to justify attacks on government affirmative action programs. In this book, five distinguished philosophers and constitutional theorists, working from very different theoretical positions, take a fresh critical look at the moral and political principles underlying this historic decision and Harlan's dissent. They also explore the nature and extent of law's complicity in perpetuating Plessy's racialist aims. Emerging from their varied but complementary analyses is a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the social injustice of racial segregation in its historic and contemporary forms and of resources of the law to reverse it.

This book covers topics that are at the intersection of business ethics and governance as they pertain to entrepreneurship and finance. It is the first focused work that links entrepreneurship and finance to governance and business ethics, rather than explore them separately. The chapters highlight with empirical data the strong interplay between ethics in organizational efficiency and financial activity, and the role of legal settings and governance in facilitating ethical standards. They discuss novel and timely topics, particularly given the recent financial crisis and discussions on regulating ethical behaviour. This book will encourage future scholars to investigate the role of law and governance in mitigating corruption and facilitating integrity in entrepreneurship and finance.

Statistical Models for Strategic Management offers practical guidance in the use of statistical models for empirical research in strategic management. The contributions in this edited volume come from distinguished researchers in the field of Strategic Management, and provide illustration of most statistical models that are relevant for strategy research. The book is divided into four major topical areas: Strategic Analysis and Firm Strategies; The Resource-Based View of the Firm; Transaction Costs, Agency Theory, and the Boundaries of the Firm; and Corporate Alliances, Acquisitions and Networks.

Sexual mutilation is a global problem that affects 15. 3 million children and young adults annually. In terms of gender, 13. 3 million boys and 2 million girls are involuntarily subjected to sexual mutilation every year. While it is tempting to quantify and compare the amount of tissue removed from either gender, no ethical justification can be made for removing any amount of flesh from the body of another person. The violation of human rights implicit in sexual mutilation is identical for any gender. The violation occurs with the first cut into another person's body. Although mutilation is a strong term, it precisely and accurately describes a condi­ tion denoting'any disfigurement or injury by removal or destruction of any conspicuous or essential part of the body.'While such terms as'circumcision'and'genital cutting'are less threatening to our sensitivities, they ultimately do a disservice by masking the fact of what is actually being done to babies and children. Although the courageous example of the survivors of sexual mutilation indicates that humans can certainly live and even re­ produce without all of their external sexualorgans, this biological phenomenon does not, however, justify subjecting a person to sexual mutilation. The remarkable resilience of the human body is a testament to the importance nature places on reproduction rather than a vindication for surgical practices that compromise this function.

At present, there is an increasing interest in the prediction of properties of classical and new materials such as substitutional alloys, their surfaces, and metallic or semiconductor multilayers. A detailed understanding based on a thus of the utmost importance for fu­ microscopic, parameter-free approach is ture developments in solid state physics and materials science. The interrela­ tion between electronic and structural properties at surfaces plays a key role for a microscopic understanding of phenomena as diverse as catalysis, corrosion, chemisorption and crystal growth. Remarkable progress has been made in the past 10-15 years in the understand­ ing of behavior of ideal crystals and their surfaces by relating their properties to the underlying electronic structure as determined from the first principles. Similar studies of complex systems like imperfect surfaces, interfaces, and mul­ tilayered structures seem to be accessible by now. Conventional band-structure methods, however, are of limited use because they require an excessive number of atoms per elementary cell, and are not able to account fully for e.g. substitu­ tional disorder and the true semiinfinite geometry of surfaces. Such problems can be solved more appropriately by Green function techniques and multiple scattering formalism.

This volume provides an overview of United States federal and state law governing business organizations. The chapters take the reader through a step-by-step exposition of the most basic sole proprietorships to the most complex multi-tiered conglomerates. Among the business organizations treated are partnerships with their various modalities (general partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships), corporations (including closely held corporations, public corporations and other variations) and limited liability companies. The case law and statutes governing the full menu of business organizations are systematically analyzed and presented. Leading cases at both the federal and state level as well as model legislation such as the Uniform Partnership Act and enacted legislation are further examined. Other topics covered include Agency and partnerships, Accounting, taxation and finance, Startup corporations and venture capital, Fiduciary duties and shareholder control, Mergers and acquisitions.

Since the publication of Neurobiology of Cerebrospinal Fluid 1 in 1980, that text has become the definitive reference concerning cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for both basic scientists and clinicians involved in the investigation of degenerative, convulsive, cerebrovascular, traumatic, immunological, demyelinating, inflammatory, neoplastic, neuroendocrine, and psychiatric disorders. That initial volume began a tradition of detailed topic reviews written by international authorities with first-hand expertise in their respective fields of CSF research. Neurobiology of Cerebrospinal Fluid 2 represents a hefty collection of extensively refer­ enced and illustrated chapters covering topics not discussed in Vol. 1. More specifically, these chapters contain ample charts of original data, summary charts, and anatomical diagrams. Detailed illustrations of experimental and clinical techniques have been in­ cluded to facilitate their practical application. Each chapter in this multidisciplinary text has been critically reviewed by two experts in the respective field, and the appropriate revisions have been made. Recently published references and text modifications have been added at the proof stage in an effort to provide the most up-to-date review chapters possible.