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Engineering Polymer Systems for Improved Drug Delivery

Polymers have played a critical role in the rational design and application of drug delivery systems that increase the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of new and conventional therapeutics. Beginning with an introduction to the fundamentals of drug delivery, Engineering Polymer Systems for Improved Drug Delivery explores traditional drug delivery techniques as well as emerging advanced drug delivery techniques. By reviewing many types of polymeric drug delivery systems, and including key points, worked examples and homework problems, this book will serve as a guide to for specialists and non-specialists as well as a graduate level text for drug delivery courses.

Associative Democracy and the Crises of Representative Democracies (Critiques and Alternatives to Capitalism)

The familiar problems of democratic capitalism have given way to a deep crisis challenging the basic forms of governance introduced around the late 18th century and then gradually expanded and developed until the late 20th century. Associative Democracy and the Crises of Representative Democracies argues that we are in urgent need of normative guidelines and a strong understanding of a broad range of institutional options and innovative experiments in associative democracy in order to address the structural problems that existing institutional arrangements are confronted with whilst maintaining and strengthening democratic forms of government and governance. The argument is developed against the background of a thorough survey of empirical social scientific studies on the crises of capitalisms and representative democracies. This book focuses primarily on democratic alternatives, though it also works out principles and institutions of democratic socialism as alternatives to capitalism. After introducing the theoretical approach, the book illustrates the ways this framework of analysis can be of use, with particular focus on three issues that are highly topical when it comes to the challenges our institutions are confronted with: democratic governance in relation to ecological crises and uncertainty; the threats to democracy raised by the crisis of political parties and representative party-democracy, and the challenges related to privatization and marketization of public services, particularly in healthcare. The book concludes by exploring opportunities to democratize the economy, locating viable alternatives to capitalism in the tradition of democratic socialism. This urgent and thought-provoking book will be of great interest to academics and students in various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including political science, sociology, and economics.

Associative Democracy and the Crises of Representative Democracies (Critiques and Alternatives to Capitalism)

The familiar problems of democratic capitalism have given way to a deep crisis challenging the basic forms of governance introduced around the late 18th century and then gradually expanded and developed until the late 20th century. Associative Democracy and the Crises of Representative Democracies argues that we are in urgent need of normative guidelines and a strong understanding of a broad range of institutional options and innovative experiments in associative democracy in order to address the structural problems that existing institutional arrangements are confronted with whilst maintaining and strengthening democratic forms of government and governance. The argument is developed against the background of a thorough survey of empirical social scientific studies on the crises of capitalisms and representative democracies. This book focuses primarily on democratic alternatives, though it also works out principles and institutions of democratic socialism as alternatives to capitalism. After introducing the theoretical approach, the book illustrates the ways this framework of analysis can be of use, with particular focus on three issues that are highly topical when it comes to the challenges our institutions are confronted with: democratic governance in relation to ecological crises and uncertainty; the threats to democracy raised by the crisis of political parties and representative party-democracy, and the challenges related to privatization and marketization of public services, particularly in healthcare. The book concludes by exploring opportunities to democratize the economy, locating viable alternatives to capitalism in the tradition of democratic socialism. This urgent and thought-provoking book will be of great interest to academics and students in various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including political science, sociology, and economics.

Ungleichheiten: Protheorie sozialer Ungleichheit und kollektiven Handelns

Theories of Industrial Society (Routledge Library Editions: Social Theory)

The concept of industrial society plays a dominant role in the social sciences. The ‘Great Divide’ between pre-industrial and industrial societies is commonly assumed to be the main bridge separating modern societies from the past, and distinguishing ‘developed’ from ‘undeveloped’ states in the present era. In history, economics, politics and sociology the concept of industrial society underlies a wide variety of discussions, particularly those relating to economic development and social progress. Outside academic writing, too, the concept exerts a great deal of influence. In the developing world, there is a widespread concern to ‘industrialise’, whilst in the developed world there is growing uneasiness as to whether ‘industrialisation’ is beneficial or not, but still the concept is central. This book examines critically the concept of industrial society, its pervasiveness and influence. It reviews all the major theories of industrial society and the research into the changing character of post-industrial societies. It argues that the decision to use the concept severely restricts the social imagination, and that the concept becomes increasingly less useful as criticism of the equating of industrialisation with social progress grows.

Theories of Industrial Society (Routledge Library Editions: Social Theory)

The concept of industrial society plays a dominant role in the social sciences. The ‘Great Divide’ between pre-industrial and industrial societies is commonly assumed to be the main bridge separating modern societies from the past, and distinguishing ‘developed’ from ‘undeveloped’ states in the present era. In history, economics, politics and sociology the concept of industrial society underlies a wide variety of discussions, particularly those relating to economic development and social progress. Outside academic writing, too, the concept exerts a great deal of influence. In the developing world, there is a widespread concern to ‘industrialise’, whilst in the developed world there is growing uneasiness as to whether ‘industrialisation’ is beneficial or not, but still the concept is central. This book examines critically the concept of industrial society, its pervasiveness and influence. It reviews all the major theories of industrial society and the research into the changing character of post-industrial societies. It argues that the decision to use the concept severely restricts the social imagination, and that the concept becomes increasingly less useful as criticism of the equating of industrialisation with social progress grows.

Ironies of Organizational Change: Introduction to Change Management and Organizational Theory (Elgar Introductions to Management and Organization Theory series)

This unique book provides a novel and challenging framework for understanding and influencing organizational change. It reimagines managing and leading change as the mindful mobilization of maps, masks and mirrors.The book challenges overly rational views of change management and leadership. Addressing the gaps, paradoxes and ironies of organizational change, it exposes how deep the faults of traditional change management lie. The authors successfully bridge the divide between scholarly treatises and textbooks on leading change. Summarizing and integrating the diverse literatures on change, this dynamic book is an invaluable resource for change researchers and specialists. Abundant with popular imagery, stories, case studies and reflective activities, Ironies of Organizational Change is the perfect companion and guide for lecturers and advanced students of business and organization studies. It also serves as a research based pragmatic handbook for practitioners looking to manage change more effectively.

Information, Communication and Computing Technology: 5th International Conference, ICICCT 2020, New Delhi, India, May 9, 2020, Revised Selected Papers (Communications in Computer and Information Science #1170)

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Information, Communication and Computing Technology, ICICCT 2020, held in New Delhi, India*, in May 2020.The 24 full papers and one short paper presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 220 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on data communication & networking; advanced computing using machine learning.*The conference was held virutally due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operational Excellence in the New Digital Era (Analytics and Control)

Operational excellence, as a quest in the prevailing digital era, is predicated on a systems view of the operating environments in business, industry, government, academia, and other organizational entities. This book uses a systems-based approach to show how operational excellence can be pursued, achieved, and sustained. It offers a systems perspective for operational excellence and discusses the evolution of products from the classical operation era to present day digital operations. It covers the role of global markets on domestic operations, presents operational work design and ergonomics, and combines industrial engineering, advanced research, and practical experience. This book is a useful guide for scholars, practitioners and those involved in engineering, management, and business fields.

Operational Excellence in the New Digital Era (Analytics and Control)

Operational excellence, as a quest in the prevailing digital era, is predicated on a systems view of the operating environments in business, industry, government, academia, and other organizational entities. This book uses a systems-based approach to show how operational excellence can be pursued, achieved, and sustained. It offers a systems perspective for operational excellence and discusses the evolution of products from the classical operation era to present day digital operations. It covers the role of global markets on domestic operations, presents operational work design and ergonomics, and combines industrial engineering, advanced research, and practical experience. This book is a useful guide for scholars, practitioners and those involved in engineering, management, and business fields.

Human Factors - Psychologie sicheren Handelns in Risikobranchen

In Luftfahrt, Kernkraft, chemischer Industrie, Medizin und Militär arbeiten Menschen mit komplexen technischen Systemen. Doch in kritischen Situationen entscheidet der Mensch, nicht die Maschine – und das häufig unter Zeitdruck und hohem Risiko. Dabei können Fehler dramatische Konsequenzen haben. „Risikobranchen" benötigen deshalb Konzepte, die Fehlerquellen minimieren, sicheres Handeln fördern und den „Faktor Mensch" effektiver einsetzen. Im ersten Buchteil erklären Wissenschaftler Konzepte zu Sicherheit, Fehlern und menschlichem Handeln. Im zweiten Teil stellen erfahrene Praktiker aktuelle Herausforderungen einzelner Branchen vor und präsentieren Lösungsansätze: Wie werden Prozesse und Systeme sicherer und Kommunikation effektiver gestaltet? Wie kann Komplexität reduziert werden? Welche Rolle spielen Personalführung oder neue Formen der Zusammenarbeit? Wie kann Teamarbeit trainiert werden? Sicherheitsbeauftragte, Manager und Personaler in Risikobranchen, Ingenieure, Trainer und Psychologen finden in diesem Buch aktuelle Konzepte der Human-Factors-Psychologie anschaulich erklärt und mit spannenden Fallbeispielen verdeutlicht.

Simulating Humans: Computer Graphics Animation and Control

During the past decade, high-performance computer graphics have found application in an exciting and expanding range of new domains. Among the most dramatic developments has been the incorporation of real-time interactive manipulation and display for human figures. Though actively pursued by several research groups, the problem of providing a synthetic or surrogate human for engineers and designers already familiar with computer-aided design techniques was most comprehensively solved by Norman Badler's computer graphics laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. The breadth of that effort as well as the details of its methodology and software environment are presented in this volume. The book is intended for human factors engineers interested in understanding how a computer-graphics surrogate human can augment their analyses of designed environments. It will also inform design engineers of the state of the art in human figure modeling, and hence of the human-centered design central to the emergent concept of concurrent engineering. In fulfilling these goals, the book additionally documents for the entire computer graphics community a major research effort in the interactive control of articulated human figures.

Living-With Wisdom: Permaculture and Symbiotic Ethics (Multispecies Encounters)

Living-With Wisdom explores the way in which ancient Greek models of philosophy as an attempt to live ‘the good life’ can and should be realised through the practice of permaculture. Following the thought of Plato and Aristotle, the author places the achievement of wisdom and fulfilment at the centre of the good life, identifying these with the achievement of a complex admixture of virtues, which are dependent on an appreciation of goodness itself. The book then examines the manner in which permaculture – or the practice of sustainable farming or ethical gardening – can provide us with the best opportunity to acquire this ‘moral knowledge’ through the close relationships we can have with other living beings and things. A study of the nature of wisdom and a means of ‘living-with philosophy’, Living-With Wisdom: Permaculture and Symbiotic Ethics reveals that it is by appreciating and sharing in the lives of other organisms that we engage with many dilemmas of life and death and have the opportunity to exercise the virtues. As such, it will appeal to scholars of philosophy, social theory and anthrozoology with interests in virtue ethics, environmental ethics, animal ethics and human-animal relations.

Living-With Wisdom: Permaculture and Symbiotic Ethics (Multispecies Encounters)

Living-With Wisdom explores the way in which ancient Greek models of philosophy as an attempt to live ‘the good life’ can and should be realised through the practice of permaculture. Following the thought of Plato and Aristotle, the author places the achievement of wisdom and fulfilment at the centre of the good life, identifying these with the achievement of a complex admixture of virtues, which are dependent on an appreciation of goodness itself. The book then examines the manner in which permaculture – or the practice of sustainable farming or ethical gardening – can provide us with the best opportunity to acquire this ‘moral knowledge’ through the close relationships we can have with other living beings and things. A study of the nature of wisdom and a means of ‘living-with philosophy’, Living-With Wisdom: Permaculture and Symbiotic Ethics reveals that it is by appreciating and sharing in the lives of other organisms that we engage with many dilemmas of life and death and have the opportunity to exercise the virtues. As such, it will appeal to scholars of philosophy, social theory and anthrozoology with interests in virtue ethics, environmental ethics, animal ethics and human-animal relations.

Framing von Terrorismus im Nahostkonflikt: Eine Analyse deutscher und ägyptischer Printmedien (Studies in International, Transnational and Global Communications)

Hanan Badr vergleicht die medialen Terrorismusdiskurse in Deutschland und Ägypten mittels einer Framinganalyse. Die Autorin greift in ihrer Studie auf kommunikations- und politikwissenschaftliche Theorien zurück und erläutert anhand eines umfangreichen Mediensamples die Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten in der Berichterstattung über Terrorismus im israelisch-palästinensischen Konflikt. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf eine sehr unterschiedliche Wahrnehmung von Terrorismus im Westen und der arabischen Welt hin. Die Untersuchungszeitpunkte fokussieren den Beginn des Osloer Friedensprozesses in den frühen 1990er Jahren und die zweite Intifada in den frühen 2000er Jahren. Die Autorin arbeitet den Diskurs sowohl zum Untergrund- als auch zum Staatsterrorismus heraus und deutet die Forschungsergebnisse im Rahmen der kritischen Terrorismusforschung und Theorien aus der Kommunikationswissenschaft.

International Banking and Rural Development: The World Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa (Routledge Revivals)

Published in 1998, this book reviews two of the World Bank's agricultural development projects in southeast Nigeria, and concludes that the objectives of these projects - which include reducing rural poverty and developing indigenous capacity for rural development - have not been fully realized. This book concludes that what these projects have achieved in the past, was the increasing integration of the peasant's political economy into the world's capitalist market with negative consequences. For example, the projects emphasis on export crop production, as opposed to food production, simply led to a diminishing capability among peasant farmers especially in the project areas, to produce food for themselves - while at the same time, reporting increased productivity in export-related production. The end result is widespread poverty amongst the poorest strata of peasant farmers participating in the program. In addition, the book looks at the Bank's structural adjustment programme, which in fact has the potential to reduce whatever benefits its agricultural programs might bring about for peasant producers.

International Banking and Rural Development: The World Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa (Routledge Revivals)

Published in 1998, this book reviews two of the World Bank's agricultural development projects in southeast Nigeria, and concludes that the objectives of these projects - which include reducing rural poverty and developing indigenous capacity for rural development - have not been fully realized. This book concludes that what these projects have achieved in the past, was the increasing integration of the peasant's political economy into the world's capitalist market with negative consequences. For example, the projects emphasis on export crop production, as opposed to food production, simply led to a diminishing capability among peasant farmers especially in the project areas, to produce food for themselves - while at the same time, reporting increased productivity in export-related production. The end result is widespread poverty amongst the poorest strata of peasant farmers participating in the program. In addition, the book looks at the Bank's structural adjustment programme, which in fact has the potential to reduce whatever benefits its agricultural programs might bring about for peasant producers.

Language in a Globalised World: Social Justice Perspectives on Mobility and Contact

This book takes a critical look at the role of language in an increasingly diversified and globalised world, using the new framework of 'sociolinguistics of globalisation' to draw together research from human geography, sociolinguistics, and intercultural communication. It argues that globalisation has resulted in a destabilisation of social and linguistic norms, and presents a ‘language-in-motion’ approach which addresses the inequalities and new social divisions brought by the unprecedented levels of population mobility. This book looks at language on the individual, national and transnational level, and it will be of interest to readers with backgrounds in history, politics, human geography, sociolinguistics and minority languages.

Agrammatismus im Koreanischen (Psycholinguistische Studien)

Jin-Ae Bae präsentiert erstmals ein differenziertes Bild des koreanischen Agrammatismus. Sie erörtert die Erklärungsansätze zum Agrammatismus, wobei sie verschiedene Ansätze der Defizit- und der Strategiehypothese beleuchtet. Im Rahmen des Adaptationsansatzes untersucht sie, ob in der agrammatischen Sprache von Aphasikern sprachlich korrekte Ellipsen verwendet werden oder ob es sich eher um Auslassungen, unvollständige Phrasen und fehlerhafte Ellipsen handelt.

Violence Through Environmental Discrimination: Causes, Rwanda Arena, and Conflict Model (Social Indicators Research Series #2)

Since all-out interstate wars for the time being seem to belong to the past, con­ flict studies focus more and more on domestic conflicts. This is a broad field, not only because the arbitrary line between war and sub-war violence disap­ pears and the analyst is confronted with phenomena reaching from criminal violence and clashes between communities to violent conflicts of long duration and civil wars with massacres and genocides as their characteristics. It is also because there are so many different types of conflicts to be analyzed, so many different types of behavior to be studied, whereas there is often little informa­ tion available on what is really going on. Against the background of internal conflicts, which tend to be as protracted as diffuse in terms of time, intensity, actors, and their goals, this study aims to follow a specific pathway through the current thicket of violent circumstances. It focuses on causation patterns by exploring the causal role of the environ­ mental factor in the genesis of violent conflicts occurring today and probably even more so tomorrow. This approach, which for once does not focus on a specific level of the conflict system, on one area in the conflict geography, or on a specific category of actors, analyzes causation dynamics.

Schlüsselwerke der Systemtheorie

Die Systemtheorie ist ein Versuch, Beschreibungen für Phänomene zu finden, die weder so einfach sind, dass sie kausal, noch so zufällig, dass sie statistisch beschrieben werden können. In der Systemtheorie geht es um Phänomene der Selbstorganisation und um die Frage, wie der Beobachter mit einer Begrifflichkeit ausgestattet werden kann, die es ihm erlaubt, zu begreifen, dass er mit seinen Beschreibungen ein Teil der Welt ist und nicht in einem imaginären Außerhalb agiert. Die 2. Auflage ergänzt die Texte der 1. Auflage um konzeptionelle Beiträge aus der Management- und Organisationslehre sowie um weitere Beiträge aus der allgemeinen Systemtheorie und Kognitionswissenschaft. Überdies sind die Texte nicht mehr nur chronologisch geordnet, sondern bestimmten Themengruppen zugeordnet. Nach wie vor gibt es Beiträge, die Schlüsselwerke würdigen, und Beiträge, die aus Schlüsselwerken Konsequenzen für die eigene Arbeit ziehen.

Schlüsselwerke der Systemtheorie

Die Systemtheorie ist ein Versuch, Beschreibungen für Phänomene zu finden, die weder so einfach sind, dass sie kausal, noch so zufällig, dass sie statistisch beschrieben werden können. In der Systemtheorie geht es um Phänomene der Selbstorganisation und um die Frage, wie der Beobachter mit einer Begrifflichkeit ausgestattet werden kann, die es ihm erlaubt, zu begreifen, dass er mit seinen Beschreibungen ein Teil der Welt ist und nicht in einem unbestimmten Außerhalb agiert.

Schlüsselwerke der Systemtheorie

Die Systemtheorie ist ein Versuch, Beschreibungen für Phänomene zu finden, die weder so einfach sind, dass sie kausal, noch so zufällig, dass sie statistisch beschrieben werden können. In der Systemtheorie geht es um Phänomene der Selbstorganisation und um die Frage, wie der Beobachter mit einer Begrifflichkeit ausgestattet werden kann, die es ihm erlaubt, zu begreifen, dass er mit seinen Beschreibungen ein Teil der Welt ist und nicht in einem unbestimmten Außerhalb agiert.

Parallele Welten der Digitalisierung im Betrieb

Die Digitalisierung der Arbeit im Betrieb ist nicht nur eine Frage technischer Lösungen für bekannte Probleme. Viel weitreichender sind kaum beherrschte Lösungen für noch unklare Probleme. An der Maschine wird Arbeit zum Lernen. Im Betrieb wird Kommunikation zur Methode. Innovation wird zum Versuch, mit agilen Netzwerken Schritt zu halten, die permanent neue Aspekte aufrufen. Datenverarbeitung, so trocken es klingt, wird zum Medium, in dem Arbeit, Lernen und Betrieb neu gedacht werden müssen. Der vorliegende Band macht dazu aus soziologischer und berufspädagogischer Sicht einige Angebote. Der Zeitpunkt ist vermutlich gut gewählt. Internetkonzerne arbeiten an intelligenten Lösungen betrieblicher Prozesse, die diese schon bald zur Infrastruktur einer Gesellschaft werden lassen, die dann längst mit anderen Themen beschäftigt sein wird.

Post-digitales Management: Arbeit an den Schnittstellen einer Produktionsorganisation

Diese Open-Access-Publikation handelt von Digitalisierungsprojekten in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen. Es werden Forschungsergebnisse und Praxisbeobachtungen in Beiträgen, Interviews und Handouts von Wissenschaftlern und Praktikern präsentiert.