lap lambert academic publishing mai 2009 (148 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The book discusses the transaction costs affecting entrepreneurs in Tanzania. It intends to inform the policy makers, investors and law makers about problems that emanate from laxity of law enforcement. It also try to inform the readers on what affects the businesses and investments in Africa, Tanzania being a case. Entrepreneurs need institutional support. The book borrow from the Coase's parable on 'the problems of social cost'. The social cost of not governing transaction costs is persisting poverty in Africa. In this case, if property rights are not well allocated and contracts are nor enforceable, it is not easy to enforce contracts. Women in the batik industry of Dar es Salaam exemplify this. The women in batik industry failed to benefit from African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) because of existing transaction costs in the market exchange. The lesson learned from this book may shed the light to the African leaders and investors on what should be done. The entrepreneurs need economic organization, contract and property rights laws enforcement. Those are the rules of the game that lessen transaction costs.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 84 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The study analyses the dynamics of productivity growth at the micro level in Finnish manufacturing industries. It is shown that productivity-enhancing restructuring (so-called ¿creative destruction¿) has played a crucial role especially since the mid-1980s. Empirical evidence is provided that R&D efforts and exposure to global competition through imports and exports have affected positively with a few years¿ lag. The results for R&D are in accordance with the views that innovations and technological progress entail experimentation, selection and reallocation of resources at the micro level that are important for economic development. An increase in productivity divergence seems to precede increases in creative destruction. However, at the same time creative destruction also compresses productivity dispersion by cleansing low productivity units. The positive effect of international trade, in turn, points to the importance of product market competition which is emphasised in the recent theoretical literature. Finally, the main part of productivity-enhancing restructuring can be attributed to newly established plants, which indicates the importance of entrants to creative destruction.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 240 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The research was conducted in Africa where the Companion Modeling (ComMod) approach was adopted in order to facilitate water allocation strategies for a limited water resource in a complex catchment with competing water users.Through ComMod the model KatAWARE and its related role-playing game was developed by having contact with local stakeholders.Results show that (1) new knowledge was acquired, which allowed stakeholders to have a broad understanding of a catchment system. (2) Awareness was created about complex systems and enabled stakeholders to see an individual action into to the broader system. (3) Strong interrelationships were fostered amongst different water users, which allowed stakeholders to share their view points.the outcome of the study shows that the ComMod process was useful in helping the Kat River Water Users Association (KRWUA) stakeholders develop negotiating skills regarding water allocation strategies for the development of the Catchment Management Plan.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 120 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Traumatic patellar dislocations are considered to be a consequence of active lifestyle and defined as acute ligamentous knee injury. The management of a primary traumatic patellar dislocation has been controversial. The medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) has been recognized as the primary medial stabilizer of the patella. This thesis book investigates the incidence, risk factors initial management of primary traumatic patellar dislocation, the long-term results of MPFL reconstruction and the clinical significance of the MPFL injury in primary traumatic patellar dislocation. The results of the studies of this thesis disclosed that primary traumatic patellar dislocation is a common knee injury. To explore the clinical significance of the MPFL injury location, the magnetic resonance imaging evaluation proved that a femoral avulsion of the MPFL predicted subsequent instability and lower return to preinjury level of activity than other MPFL injury locations.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 120 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Non-Markovian (memory function) chemical kinetics formalism -Integral Encounter Theory (IET) is a common approach to study the kinetics of chemical reaction beyond conventional mass-action formalism. This work summarizes a general formalism of IET and its application to study two types of photochemical reaction systems. For the first application, the biexcitonic photoionization with short lived (singlet) excitations , the non-Markovian kinetics derived from IET was shown to be more accurate and detailed than its oversimplified Markovian analog. Only for long lived (triplet) excitations the non-Markovian and Markovian results are similar, provided that the rate constants are properly defined. For the second application, photooxidation competing with energy quenching was studied. We obtained the stationary concentration of the free carriers, with account of their geminate recombination before separation, as well as the stationary rate of singlet oxygen generation, affected by preliminary quenching of nearest excitations in the course of ionization.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 68 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Recommender systems already exist in a variety of item domains: entertainment, commerce, news and more. One should expect these systems to become more useful and essential as knowledge volume rapidly grows. The book describes a unique research, demonstrating that the likelihood that users of a social collaborative system would accept recommendations from recommender systems depends on the type of group that made the recommendations and on the users' involvement in the formation of that group. A longitudinal analysis indicates a positive learning curve for experienced users, who acquire a tendency to prefer 'friends group' over 'neighbors group' as their experience with the system increases. Also, users chose their own group to participate in the advising group significantly more than other groups. The main implication of these findings for the development of future recommender systems is to enhance the involvement of recommendation seekers in the process of forming the advising group. Also, developers of recommender systems should consider increasing users' control over relevant characteristics of the members of this group.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The first chapter is a summary of recent publications about the effect of HNO in the cardiovascular system, detection of HNO in vitro, and physiological reactivity of HNO. The second chapter provides synthetic details of a newly developed method of a synthesis of HNO-Mb of high purity (> 95%). The transient absorbance studies of HNO-Mb revealed completely different results than that of other myoglobin adducts such as MbO2 and NO- Mb. Formation of the Mb-Fe(III)/HNO- geminate pair was confirmed by analyses of transient absorbance spectra at 395 nm. In the third chapter rate constants of the reaction of HNO with Mb-Fe(II), Mb- Fe(III), HNO-Mb, and HNO-Mb with oxygen and nitric oxide were determined using the computational software React for Windows. In addition to the computational method, a direct method of comparison of the rates of the reaction of HNO with proteins was developed. In the last chapter synthesis of HNO adduct of hemoglobin is reported. UV-vis, EPR, and 1H NMR spectroscopic techniques were used to identify and differentiate the hydride peaks of HNO subunits of hemoglobin.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 108 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This monograph describes the development of novel NT and DpT series aroylhydrazone and thiosemicarbazone iron chelators for the treatment of cancer. It neatly reviews the role of iron in cancer and the development of chelators for cancer treatment before describing the synthesis and biological activity of the NT and DpT series of chelators in both in-vitro and in-vivo models of cancer. The authors conclude that the DpT series, in particular, may be clinical potential in the treatment of cancer.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book focuses on IS specialists¿ future visions and opens what kinds of predispositions they include. Predispositions are unquestionable assumptions, beliefs that are taken for granted, common sense and normal ways of behaviour. As IS specialists design and mediate IS and ICT and so they influence the working environment of others in significant ways, it is important to understand what kind of predispositions guide they hold. This study is based on the analysis of two text sets: Essays which are published in the Communications of the ACM and interviews of 24 Finnish IS specialists. The text sets portray the future from a technology-centred perspective; e.g., technology is presented as the most important driving force of development. Furthermore, the text sets include a masculine world view, in which women are presented as problems. In any case, the text sets portray a one-sided view of people. The results not only describe the individuals' predispositions but also the predispositions of the community of IS specialists and the IS field, as well.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 116 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book examines the actors' power relations in the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Support Programme (RWSSSP) in Nepal, often cited among the most prominent successes of Finnish development aid. I study this case through analysing actors' conceptions, roles and motivations as well as conflicts related to the programme. This work delves into the roles and power relations of different actors, local, national and international, in the programme. It seeks to answer questions like: Was there donor domination or were the consultants dictating the practices and the representation of the programme What about the roles of local people and local government, often regarded less powerful but much promoted in the development debate and stated principles during the last few decades This work also analyses the different actors¿ conceptions of development and of success of a development programme. This analysis should help development researchers and professionals to better understand the roles and power relations in aid and to improve their conceptions and practices. The books should also be of interest to anyone concerned with development issues and Nepal.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 152 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Over the last few years, the use of friction stir welding as a manufacturing tool has grown to include many industries. These include the aerospace, land transportation, and marine industries to name a few. In this work an in situ heat treatment is purposed by welding the coupon in water. The objective of this research was to experimentally quantify the material properties as well as the forces unique to immersed friction stir welding as compared to conventional friction stir welding performed in air on AA6061. Two experiments were preformed at the Vanderbilt Welding Automation Laboratory using different tools and weld coupons for conventional friction stir welds and immersed friction stir welds. The results include comparison of planar and axial forces, moments or torques, welding temperatures, optical microscopy of the weld zone, and ultimate tensile strength at optimal welding conditions. A steady-state three dimensional model of the FSW tool was also developed for the purpose of understanding the contribution of quench rates on temperature distribution. This analysis shows that in situ heat treatment achieves greater weld strengths for industries using FSW.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 88 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This paper empirically examines the determinants and the credit market implication of firms¿ decision to classify noncontrolling interests in the liability versus mezzanine section of the balance sheet. I hypothesize and find that firms with greater exposure to litigation risk from noncontrolling shareholders and firms with more serious information asymmetry problems are more likely to conservatively classify noncontrolling interests as a liability to mitigate agency costs. However, consistent with more serious agency conflicts due to controlling ownership, I predict and find that family firms are more likely to adopt the mezzanine classification. After controlling for the endogeneity of firms¿ classification choice, I find that firms adopting liability classification have higher credit ratings. This is consistent with my hypothesis that creditors are more likely to favorably assess the credit risk of companies that conservatively classify claims on their balance sheet.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 72 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Over the last few years, the white supremacist movement in the United States has grown significantly, and now incorporates previously ignored segments of the population into it's membership. This book presents the findings of a theory based literature examination of organized racist groups and the related concepts of masculinity, whiteness, and feminism. It explores intersecting themes throughout the literature, as well as examining the roles various members play in the white supremacy movement. Literature was chosen based it¿s relevance to the white supremacy movement and supporting theoretical constructs. The findings support the claim that white supremacy groups are actively recruiting women into their groups, and also that these women occupy roles that can be considered feminist. Further, the findings indicate that this gendered inclusion is reconstituting the movement¿s conception of masculinity and whiteness. This book may be of interest to those in the social science field, or others who are interested in the studies of race and gender.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 100 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The study has demonstrated and explored on the employment situation and changing masculinity in intra-household relation under the condition of unemployment and the effects of changing masculinity on the household relation and sexual behavior. The study shows that people from 12 provinces in Cambodia migrate to Poipet in order to make better household economic. Otherwise with the attraction of border by working in Thailand which they are hoping to get better employment over there. After migrating to Poipet those migrants were trapped at the border with facing the loss of employment opportunity. A large movement of people and unemployment are seen with the affect of border with massive human trafficking, violence, corruption and other vices that come with being a casino playground for Thai tourists and a major international border crossing. In the last part of this study shows the effects of masculinity changes into domestic violence of intra- household relation of husband to wife and father to children and sexual dominance of husband to wife.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 108 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Mitigation techniques are currently being sought to ensure public safety in the event of intentional or accidental explosions. Building material fragmentation is a major cause of human injury during such events. One of the most common methods of construction in buildings is the use of masonry walls however; these walls are extremely vulnerable to blast pressure resulting in collapse, fragmentation, and severe injury to occupants. Blast tests and computational finite element models have shown significant improvement in the behavior of these walls when retrofitted with polymer or metallic membranes. But the cost of blast tests and high fidelity computational models make them impractical for day-to-day design. The research presented in this book developed resistance functions for three different scenarios of membrane retrofit unreinforced concrete masonry walls to lateral pressure. These functions were further coupled with single degree of freedom systems to predict the wall response to blast loads. This book provides a practical tool for the design of membrane retrofit masonry walls exposed to lateral pressures such as wind and blast.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 72 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This paper applies multivariate and econometric techniques on cross-sectional data for Malawi to identify development pathways for poverty reduction, investigates their determinants and welfare implications. The study identifies three pathways:- non-farm/non-food, forestry/livestock and tobacco pathways. Non-farm/non-food pathway is associated with lower landholdings and close proximity to output markets. This pathway increases income inequality but no effect on household welfare. Forestry/livestock pathway is associated with the poor and older households in remote areas with limited market access. Although this pathway reduces the overall welfare, it reduces income inequality among households. Tobacco pathway is associated with male-headed, richer households with credit access, in highly populated areas closer to forests. This pathway increases both welfare and income inequality among households. From the policy perspective, these results proposes forestry/livestock pathway as a pro-poor, rural development strategy. This calls for the promotion of integrated forestry/livestock systems and market development for forestry and livestock products.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 92 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The books assesses quality of HIV/AIDS health information system (IS) in developing countries using a Tanzanian case. It is revealed that the system, practised in Tanzania is not robust enough to fulfil the criterion of effectiveness in providing information that should be used in some socioeconomic decision making. The book recommends that an elaborate information systems to collect quality HIV/AIDS data be put in place from the national level to village level. For without quality HIV/AIDS information systems there is a danger of mis-estimating the degree of the epidemic. For example, relying on the current antenatal surveillance information may not be a tenable strategy because the sample used is not representative of the population to a good extent. This emanates from the fact that the women used in the sample should have participated in non- protective sex to become pregnant.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 88 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The Semantic Web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web in which web content can be expressed not only in natural language, but also in a format that can be read and used by software agents, thus permitting them to find, share and integrate information more easily. To achieve the goals of the Semantic Web that is considered as the new generation of World Wide Web, there is a need for its implementation in new projects and in new areas. One of the promising areas is cultural heritage preservation. Among its many applications, the Web can serve not only as a tool for the preservation of cultural heritage, but also a tool for the display of 'cultural heritage items' and a tool for the design of new learning environments. The advantages of the Semantic Web were used in the current research for designing an interactive system named Virtual Expeditions, for the creation and explorations of cultural heritage items. The main objective of this study was to develop a system design, based on the Virtual Expeditions' methodology, and assess its usability and impact on users' dispositions towards open-mindedness.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 104 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The state of the art in integrated optics comprises planar waveguides that are limited to two dimensions. Multiphoton photosensitivity induced by focused ultrashort laser pulses deep into the bulk of transparent materials is an effective tool to make guided wave optics in these media, therefore promising true 3-D guided wave optic capability. In the past decade, various amorphous media were used as the target material in these investigations, but little attention was paid to crystalline media. This book presents in-depth studies of two optically important crystals, namely lithium niobate and silicon. It presents a three-step picture for the process of bulk ultrafast laser matter interaction, which will be affected by parameters of a 7-D space. This interpretation leads to recognizing the importance of three parameters, namely wavelength, polarization and pulse width that were mostly overlooked previously. Having had control over this 7-D parameter space, ultrafast laser written waveguides in lithium niobate exhibiting losses as low as 0.6 dB/cm and formed at a rate of 46 mm/s, a 500-fold improvement of fabrication speed over concurrent studies, are presented.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 116 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The simple three-node plate bending element using Moving Least Square (MLS) shape functions is developed to model Mindlin plate problems. Using MLS, the shape functions are no longer tied to the element structure that otherwise limits the global smoothness of the approximate fields. In addition, in the case of extremely thin plates, using MLS allows a perfect match of the fields of the displacement derivative and the normal rotation, thus having an innate capability to satisfy Kirchhoff¿s hypothesis exactly. With this field matching strategy, numerical tests demonstrate a complete absence of shear locking. In addition, the method provides exceptionally accurate results for both displacement and stress distributions over a wide range of plate aspect ratios.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 68 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -In recent years, the knowledge-based economy has exhibited a pervasive and ever-increasing demand for innovative ways of delivering education, which has led to dramatic changes in learning technology and organizations. These radical changes in learning needs and technology are fueling a transition in modern learning in the era of the Internet, commonly referred to as e-learning. E-learning can be defined as technology-based learning in which learning materials are delivered electronically to remote learners via a computer network.The purpose of the study is to develop an educational resource that helps in teaching and learning one of key features of object-oriented programming, Polymorphism mechanism in Java and C++. The students can start from any part of the system, depending on his or her basic knowledge in the scope of the system. But it is recommended that the user go through the tutorial sequentially. The system has two main parts, Java and C++ Polymorphism Mechanism. The friendly application with visualization approach is used for the better understanding of students.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 80 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -In the last three decades or so, children¿s welfare has generated new interest. There has been a global outcry to revisit issues such as children¿s safety, children¿s rights and children¿s education. This increased consciousness has stemmed mainly from child abuse, child neglect and child exploitation that loom large around us. This book therefore makes a significant contribution to global concerns about children¿s welfare. It highlights the importance of oral literature in children¿s social and psychological development. The role of oral literature in the inculcation of moral and cultural values is underpinned. The author concludes by arguing that oral literature can be used to expose children to issues of ethical nature; thereby contributing to the moulding of future generations into individuals of moral integrity.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 48 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Due to the constrained bandwidth and storage capacity, medical images must be compressed before transmission and storage most of the time. However, the compression will reduce the image fidelity, especially when the image is compressed at low bit rate, which cannot be tolerated in medical field. In this book, the compression performance of the newer JPEG2000 and the conventional JPEG is compared. Image quality are measured both objectively and subjectively. Generally, there are two kind of compression ¿ lossless and lossy. Here, the controversial lossy compression is used although lossless compression has always been preferred in telemedicine. The results presented in this book for the lossy compression have been quite promising. Four types of medical images are used in this study ¿ X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound and computed tomography (CT). Overall, the study shows convincing results where by up to a certain degree without significant loss in image quality, lossy compression is acceptable from the medical perspective.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 144 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -South America was an insular continent for most of the Tertiary, but it has the highest species diversity for many organismal groups. Since early explorations, biologists have been asking why South America has high biodiversity and how organisms got there during long periods of isolation. I address these questions of evolution using sheath-tailed bats (family Emballonuridae) as a study group. A molecular phylogeny was produced based on a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences from unlinked loci from the 4 components of genetic transmission found in mammals. Optimization of areas suggests that the ancestor of New World emballonurids had its origin in Africa. Divergence times were estimated with a relaxed clock approach and primary diversification in South America occurred during the Miocene. A study of historical biogeography indicated that the ancestral area was the Northern Amazon. Character mapping indicated a correlation of ear morphology with echolocation call design and foraging behaviour, which suggests a phylogenetic basis to the evolution of these character systems. These results will be of interest to biologists researching systematic biology, evolution, and biogeography.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 144 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The book is devoted to delve in the nature, motives, models, contribution and benefits of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in health service delivery in 1 Municipal and 1 District Council in Tanzania by using the stakeholder theory within the PPP analytical framework. The emerging conclusions are that: the nature and motives for PPPs are centred on the need to share scarce resources in order to improve public health through models ranging from simple collaborations to joint ventures. However despite limitations in the initiation and management of collaborations, the results of PPPs are significantly positive for all stakeholders. The establishment of strong regulatory framework, a unit for technical support, more decentralisation of resources, and push for more advanced models of PPPs are some of the future challengesBooks on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Public management and quality in the public sector have a number of unique conditions in comparison with the private sector. They presume basic preconditions, common to socio-political and administrative culture: legitimacy, the rule of law and ethical behaviour based on common values and principles such as openness, accountability, participation, diversity, equity, social justice, solidarity, collaboration and partnerships. Public policy is implemented in and by government agencies; this is the very place where the concept of good governance gets promoted first. The case study describes how qualitative performance evaluation is linked to dissemination of good governance, comparing more generally Asia with Europe in its pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Government agencies in the Republic of China and Estonia differ from historic viewpoint but share the path of democratization, offering original research for comparative analysis. The study defines and contextualizes good governance by using a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and evaluates its application in administrative agencies in respective small states.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The revealed lived experiences of African American men indicated five factors impacting social deprivation, which is often linked with the economic status of individuals. The factors identified could empower or incapacitate individuals in their efforts to improve their lives. The stereotypical image of what has been conveyed as a 'dead-beat dad' may in fact be a 'dead-broke dad.' The structural context of isolation and limited opportunities within communities tend to perpetuate feelings of hopelessness. In some instances, social deprivation is evoked when public governmental officials in positons to assist withhold vital information such as benefits and programs that could enhance the likelihood of self-sufficiency. Greater dependency is created when resources and opportunities are not accessible to aid in the acquisition of skills and training that would lead to gainful employment. Both success and failure are recognized as being the direct result of the actions one assumes for his or her own life. Consensus is that the minimization of social deprivation happens when the accessibility of resources subsist in tandem with self.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 144 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Tourism is an activity which cuts across conventional sectors its required inputs of economic, social, cultural and environmental nature (L. Lickorish and C.Jenkins 1997) many countries in the developing world are embracing tourism as a result of economic benefits. It¿s a vital source of income for many countries. Hence Cameroon needs to enjoyed this phenomenon and for the past five years the government have lunched a marketing campaign to convert the country into one of Africäs tourism hot spots by attracting half a million visitors a year. The southwest province of Cameroon is one of those areas mostly visited by tourists and tourists¿ circuit to Cameroon ends here. In other to maintain the products that attracts visitors, understanding the needs and reaction of the locals and balancing the ratio of visitors visiting the country, an impacts study of this province is vital, since this province is the backbone of Cameroon tourism potentialBooks on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Slowness of movement (¿bradykinesiä) is the most important deficit in Parkinson¿s disease (PD). Current clinical rating of bradykinesia in PD does not separate the dimensions of slowness and amplitude reduction. We categorized patterns of movement in PD patients on a biaxial classification of speed and amplitude using an electromagnetic tracking device (Polhemus) seeking to determine whether these categories may differentially contribute to motor impairment and disability. Motor impairment was worst in patients with very impaired amplitude and best in patients with normal amplitude. Categories of speed impairment did not show a similar relationship. The Schwab & England disability scale decreased with higher severity levels of the amplitude category but not of speed. Agreement (unweighted kappa) between clinician and Polhemus-derived speed-amplitude classification were moderate for speed and amplitude classifications. Our observations suggest that amplitude and speed impairments might behave differentially in PD and may deserve consideration in a biaxial classification system.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -In order to gain higher productivity and profitability, the competition between demand and supply of land for different activities plays crucial role in land use morphology that challenges urban and peri-urban land use planners and managers. The transformation of conventional agricultural areas to modern cash crops and urban areas is a current trend in peri-urban Hanoi. The land assessment framework for sustainable peri-urban agriculture was a result of the combined techniques of Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) integrated with local knowledge. The whole framework identifies the urban sprawl dynamics and directions over the last decade, the land use patterns, and the linkages between peri-urban and urban areas, and it prepares a spatial decision scenario for the peri-urban agriculture at different levels of suitability. This empirical framework provides a cost effective, rapid land evaluation framework which can be easily propagated to other areas and may help policy makers, urban and regional planners, and researchers working in developing countries.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 124 pp. Englisch.