springer nature singapore okt 2017 (315 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book employs a qualitative analysis of Chinäs publicly financed construction sector, taking the system design as its point of departure and applying comprehensive evaluation techniques to create an index system for this type of construction ¿ which in turn serves as a basis for quantitatively evaluating Chinäs publicly financed construction sector. Given the fact that Chinäs publicly financed construction sector is a very complex field of systems engineering involving multiple subsystems, as an important indicator of Chinäs fiscal innovations since its reform and opening, publicly financed construction is now shifting from theory to practice, demonstrating that China has entered an era of fully publicly financed construction.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is a distinctive collection on transcultural encounters in knowledge production and consumption, which are situated at the heart of pursuit for cognitive justice. It uniquely represents transcultural dialogues between academics of Australia, China and Malaysia, located on the borders of different knowledge systems. The uniqueness of this volume lies in the convergence of transcultural perspectives, which bring together diverse disciplines as cultural studies, education, media, translation theory and practice, arts, musicology, political science and literature. Each chapter explores the possibility of decolonising the knowledge production space as well as research methodologies. The chapters engage with ¿Chinese¿ and ¿western¿ thought on transcultural subjects and collectively articulate a new politics of difference, de-centring the dominant epistemologies and research paradigms in the global academia. Refracted through transcultural theories and practices, adapted to diversetraditions, histories and regional affiliations, and directed toward an international transcultural audience, the volume demonstrates expansive possibilities in knowledge production and contributes to the understanding of and between research scholarship which deals with collective societal and cultural challenges within the globalised world we live in. It would be of interest to researchers engaged with current critical debates in general and global scholars in transcultural and intercultural studies in specific.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book addresses major aspects of inequity, such as access, financing, financial risk protection, gender, service delivery and utilization, in the healthcare sector in India, Further, it discusses various measures for defining inequity in each of these aspects, and employs different indices for each dimension of inequity, which include financing, utilization, region, health outcomes, caste and class, and gender. The book covers both theoretical and empirical issues, examining fifteen major Indian States, as well as selected case studies at the district level. Combining quantitative and qualitative analyses, the book provides an overall view of the outcomes attributable to both economic development and policy changes per se. While providing essential data and insights for policymakers and researchers alike, the book also outlines further feasible policy changes that could potentially mitigate the current inequities in Indian healthcare. As such, it offers a valuable resource forupper graduate-level students in health economics, as well as for researchers and policymakers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book by eminent author Jasbir Jain explores the many ways the diaspora remembers and reflects upon the lost homeland, and their relationship with their own ancestry, history of the homeland, culture and the current political conflicts. Amongst the questions this book asks is, ¿how does the diaspora relate to their home, and what is the homeland's relationship to the diaspora as representatives of the contemporary homeland in another country ¿. The last is an interesting point of discussion since the 'present' of the homeland and of the diaspora cannot be equated. The transformations that new locations have brought about as migrants have travelled through time and interacted with the politics of their settled lands---Africa, Fiji, the Caribbean Islands, the UK, the US, Canada, as well as the countries created out of British India, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh---have altered their affiliations and perspectives.This book gathers multiple dispersions of emigrant writers and artistes from South Asia across time and space to the various homelands they relate to now. The word ¿write¿ is used in its multiplicity to refer to creative expression, as an inscription, as connectivity, and remembrance. Writing is also a representation and carries its own baggage of poetics and aesthetics, categories which need to be problematised vis-à-vis the writer and his/her emotional location.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the National Conference of Theoretical Computer Science, NCTCS 2017, held in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in October 2017.The 25 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 84 submissions. They present relevant trends of current research in the area of algorithms and complexity, software theory and method, data science and machine learning theory.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 380 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The book is focused on measurement automation, specifically using the LabView tool. It explains basic measurements in a simplified manner with appropriate step-by-step explanations and discussions of instrument capabilities. It touches upon aspects of measurement science, microwave measurements and software development for measurement. The book can be used as a guide by technicians, researchers and scientists involved in metrology laboratories to automate measurements. The book explains the development process for automation of measurement systems for every step of the software development lifecycle. It covers system design and automation policy creation. The book uses a top-down approach which enables the reader to relate their own problems and develop a system with their own analysis. The book includes many examples, illustrations, flowcharts, measurement results and screenshots of a worked-out automation software for microwave measurement. The book includes discussions on microwave measurements-attenuation, microwave power and E-field strength. The contents of this book will be of interest to students, researchers and scientists working in the field of electromagnetism, antennas, communication and electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 60 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This volume constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 3rd Joint China-Dutch Workshop on Game Theory and Applications and the 7th China Meeting on Game Theory and Applications, GTA 2016, held in Fuzhou, China, in November 2016.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 388 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book looks at how the multiplicity of formal and informal normative systems that actualize the post-disaster recovery goals of the country¿s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 has resulted in the inadequate housing and relocation of Typhoon Ketsana victims in the Philippines. Using the sociological and normative pluralist perspectives and the case study method, it evaluates the level of conformity of the components of the housing project according to international conventions and legal standards. It highlights the negative unintended consequences caused by the complex normative regimes of various competing stakeholders, rigid real estate regulation, and the unscrupulous involvement of powerful and ¿corrupt¿ real estate developers and housing groups as largely contributing to the project¿s deviation from the law¿s proactive objectives. This book attempts to promote the socio-legal perspectives which have long been overlooked in disaster research. Finally, it invites policymakers to enact a comprehensive disaster law and create a one-stop disaster management agency to improve the long-term rehabilitation of disaster victims in developing countries such as the Philippines.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book comprehensively reviews the cyber security and privacy issues in transportation cyber-physical systems (TCPSs). It examines theories and various state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies. Starting with a survey of the latest solutions in TCPSs, it introduces a smart-transport-system architecture design based on cyber-physical systems. It then discusses in detail the principles and metrics of evaluating safety and privacy in TCPSs and elaborates the verification and analysis of secure, robust and trustworthy TCPSs. Moreover, it demonstrates the advanced and novel tools commonly used in practice by several researchers. Lastly it provides an exhaustive case study on the authentication and attestation in TCPSs. This book is of interest not only to readers in the field of TCPSs, but also to those in interdisciplinary fields, such as energy, healthcare, bio-engineering etc.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book discusses one of the most noticeable and significant transformations in China over the past three decades is the rapid and massive urbanization of the country, which has brought shifts in political culture of Chinese urbanites. This book is a systematic and empirical study of political culture in urban China. The book covers various aspects of political culture such as political regime support, political interest, democratic values, political trust, and environmental attitudes and sub-political culture of Chinese urban Christians. This book will be of immense value to urban scholars, sinologists, and those wishing to get a closer look at the issues that affect the political future of a rising world power.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 160 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.This book analyzes issues in human rights law from a variety of perspectives by eminent European and Asian professors of constitutional law, international public law, and European Union law.As a result, their contributions collected here illustrate the phenomenon of cross-fertilization not only in Europe (the EU and its member states and the Council of Europe), but also between Europe and Asia. Furthermore, it reveals the influence that national and foreign law, EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights, and European and Asian law exert over one another.The various chapters cover general fundamental rights and human rights issues in Europe and Asia as well as specific topics regarding the principles of nondiscrimination, women¿s rights, the right to freedom of speech in Japan, and Chinäs Development Banks in Asia.Protection of human rights should be guaranteed in theinternational community, and research based on a comparative law approach is useful for the protection of human rights at a higher level. As the product of academic cooperation between ten professors of Japanese, Taiwanese, German, Italian, and Belgian nationalities, this work responds to such needs.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This text addresses the Philippines¿ historical and contemporary reproductive politics, offering a timely insight into the rich reproductive lives of Filipinos. It critically explores stories of sexuality, religiosity, and reproductive livelihoods during the immediate aftermath of the passing of the ¿Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act¿ of 2012 after more than fifteen years of opposition by the Philippine Catholic Church. Commonly called the ¿RH Law¿, it aims to provide public access to reproductive and family planning services for Filipino women and men, especially those from poorer communities who often experience unwanted pregnancies, complications from illegal abortions, and exacerbated economic hardship. This book explores the intimate and urban after-effects of globalization, and how they shape the ¿reproductive dilemmas¿ of Filipinos in Metropolitan ¿Metro¿ Manila. It constructs a balanced portrait of the country¿s reproductive politics within Metro Maniläs rapidly changing terrains, showing how ¿reproductive dilemmas¿ are produced within a context that is at once fraught by conservative religious discourse and also rapidly globalizing, and where aspects of intimate lives have become both transnational and fragmented.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book reviews the development of Chinäs social security system from 1949 onwards and analyzes its features in each stage. By emphasizing the role of the social security system in regulating income distribution, it points out some problems in the current social security framework that are becoming apparent as the income gap continues to grow. It proposes various measures such as intensifying the reform of the social insurance fund, expanding old age insurance coverage, promoting health equality, and establishing a new rural medical security system that could be employed to improve the system¿s equitability, sustainability, and inclusivity.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book offers an essential introduction for all graduate students and researchers who are working on or interested in mechanotransduction using fruit flies as their model organisms. Designed for accessibility, it follows a simple five-chapter structure, beginning with a general introduction to mechanotransduction in physiology (Chapter 1) and some basic considerations on the principles behind mechanotransduction processes (Chapter 2).In turn, Chapters 3, 4 and 5 focus on mechanoreceptors inDrosophila melanogaster. Chapter 3 explains how the fly¿s mechanosensitive cells (i.e. mechanoreceptors) contribute to its daily life, while Chapter 4 explores the ultrastructural and mechanical basis for the working mechanisms of various fly mechanoreceptors. Lastly, Chapter 5 elaborates on the structure, function and physiology of mechanosensitive molecules in fly mechanoreceptors.Accordingly, the book provides an overall framework, helping readers understand mechanosensory transduction, from the physiological level to the molecular level.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 92 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8thInternational Symposium on Parallel Architecture, Algorithm and Programming, PAAP 2017, held in Haikou, China, in June 2017.The 50 revised full papers and 7 revised short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 192 submissions. The papers deal with research results and development activities in all aspects of parallel architectures, algorithms and programming techniques.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 648 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The two volume set CCIS 775 and 776 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Communications, and Business Analytics, CICBA 2017, held in Kolkata, India, in March 2017.The 90 revised full papers presented in the two volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 276 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on data science and advanced data analytics; signal processing and communications; microelectronics, sensors, intelligent networks; computational forensics (privacy and security); computational intelligence in bio-computing; computational intelligence in mobile and quantum computing; intelligent data mining and data warehousing; computational intelligence.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 664 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is a do-it-yourself guide for clinicians who wish to set up and run a telemedicine facility of their own. The contents are largely based on the understanding and experience gained by the author as a practising physician, management post-graduate (capstone thesis was on telemedicine) and as a business architect for digital health systems over more than thirty years.Full of management techniques, tricks and tips written in an easy-to-follow manner, this book provides sufficient information to clinicians looking to leverage telemedicine to augment their range of service offerings that would lead to increased levels of patient satisfaction. Various aspects related to definitions, technology, infrastructure, methodologies and legal issues for setting up and running telemedicine services have been dealt with to sufficient depths for the readers to help grasp the issues involved. Sections on privacy, confidentiality and data integrity have been provided to help allay the many concerns the readers might have in those regards. Additionally, financial evaluations based on realistic-enough figures have been used to demonstrate that telemedicine is a viable option financially.Although meant primarily for medical doctors, any care provider including institutional will be able to use the contents to plan, design, set up and run telemedicine services that they feel would benefit those who receive their care.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 148 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is a quick reference guide to the radiology of head & neck tumors for busy clinicians. With the wide range of imaging modalities currently available and frequent upgrades in technology and image resolution, selecting the best modality for individual cases is not always easy. Balancing benefits of the investigation ordered with the costs incurred and inconvenience/risks as well as the clinician¿s familiarity with that particular imaging modality can be a daunting task. To aid in these decisions, this clearly written book includes case studies and focuses on the two most frequently used imaging modalities for head & neck tumors ¿ CT and MR, presenting illustrations of clinical conditions, and where possible showing CT and MR images side-by-side for comparison.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is a direct and empirical response to the mounting official interest in citizenship education, increasing dynamics between state and society, and growing citizenship awareness and practice in society in contemporary China. Placing the focus on society, the book investigates the meaning of the Chinese term gongmin ¿ equivalent to ¿citizen¿ ¿ in non-official media discourses and in university students¿ and migrant workers¿ perceptions, through the constructed analytical lens of Western citizenship conception. By laying out the complex details of how the meaning of the term resembles and deviates in and between collective social discourses and individual citizens¿ understandings with reference to state discourses, the book makes clear that there is discrepancy in the meaning of gongmin between state and society and that the meaning varies in contemporary Chinese society.Cutting across multiple topics, this book is a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in Chinese citizenship, East-West citizenship, citizenship education, the media, university students and migrant workers in China.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book concerns two focus particles (jiu, dou) and wh-expressions (shenme = ¿what¿, na geren = ¿which person¿) in Mandarin Chinese. These items are systematically ¿ambiguous¿ and have played important roles in various aspects of Mandarin grammar. An idea based on alternatives and varieties of alternatives in particular ¿ following Chierchiäs 2013 analysis of the polarity system ¿ is pursued to account for the systematic ambiguities. The unambiguous semantics of jiu, dou and wh-expressions are maintained and ¿ambiguity¿ explained through varieties of alternatives interacting with other independently motivated aspects of the structure they occur in. By examining these aspects in detail, the book will help readers gain a better understanding of a broad range of phenomena that involve these items ¿ including exhaustivity, distributivity, questions and conditionals.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 196 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book provides useful insights into quality issues in secondary education in India and addresses the important questions of why there is need to improve the quality of education; how onecanmeasure the quality of education; and the ways to improve quality. The analysis in this book is conceptually designed at three levels: national level performance and linkages; state level progress, disparities and linkages; and determinants of quality education at school level for measuring students learning outcomes and efficient teaching practices.The authors have used both quantitative and qualitative methods to probe into the various issues related to the quality of secondary education at micro and macro levels. This book provides a methodological framework to scholars attempting to measure and evaluate the quality of secondary education under various settings. It provides interesting insights into the identification of factors determining quality outcomes. The chapters discussissues related to quality concepts, research methodologies, comparative analysis, key challenges, socio-economic linkages of secondary education, quality of education from students' and teachers' perspectives, quality measurement and policy suggestions.This is a valuable resource for researchers and students in the area of economics of education, education planning and administration, development studies and economics. This book is also useful for educational administrators and policy makers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This is the first book to focus on the theoretical and practical issues of export control. It combines the points of view of Japanese and French academics and practitioners, including personnel at several governmental institutions and private companies. Presenting the results of a collaboration between Japanese and French academics, it contributes to the development of a new debate on export control. Although export control has been discussed within the framework of international law in terms of peace and security, its scope has now been expanded to international economic law (i.e., WTO law and international investment law). This means that in order to discuss export control appropriately, the two areas of law have to be combined. At the same time, this topic is not only academic and theoretical but touches upon very real and practical aspects of trade, export, and foreign investment. When we tighten embargos and economic sanctions for anti-terrorism or anti-nuclearization purposes,we encounter more and more cases of conflict between security and the liberalization of economic relations in the world. For this reason, a wide range of collaborative work is needed in this area. This timely book addresses various aspects of the current export control debate.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book highlights what is now achievable in terms of materials characterization with the new generation of cold-field emission scanning electron microscopes applied to real materials at high spatial resolution. It discusses advanced scanning electron microscopes/scanning- transmission electron microscopes (SEM/STEM), simulation and post-processing techniques at high spatial resolution in the fields of nanomaterials, metallurgy, geology, and more. These microscopes now offer improved performance at very low landing voltage and high -beam probe current stability, combined with a routine transmission mode capability that can compete with the (scanning-) transmission electron microscopes (STEM/-TEM) historically run at higher beam accelerating voltageSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 152 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book draws on the extensive literature on populism, democracy, and emerging markets as well as interviews with senior government officials, experts, and journalists in the Philippines and beyond, This book is the first to analyze the significance and implications of the rise of Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte within a rapidly-changing Asia Pacific region. As China's power in the Pacific grows rapidly, nations that have traditionally been US allies, such as the Phillipines, are experiencing political convulsions; Duterte's open willingness to realign towards China (at the expense of America) in exchange for infrastructure investment is one of the clearest indicators of what China's rise might look like for nations around the world. Timely, precise, accessible and fast-paced, this book will be of value to scholars, journalists, policy-makers, and China watchers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 152 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Starting from a history of new media, this book presents the development of network technology and media applications in China, while also examining the relationship between new media and politics, economy, culture, lifestyle, traditional media, law, knowledge, etc. As of 2014, China had been connected to the Internet for 20 years. During those two decades, China has witnessed drastic changes, from its national makeup to people¿s daily lives. The book analyzes the changes in China brought about by the new media on the basis of large-scale data. Further, through comparisons with international trends in new media development, it seeks to clarify the new media development in China and comprehensively demonstrate the revolution and brand-new faces of Chinese society over the past two decades in the wake of new media. As such, it outlines the bright future of new media by revisiting and summarizing the developmental courses of new media and Chinese society.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Symposium, KSS 2017, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2017.The21 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions.This year KSS 2017 provides opportunities for presenting interesting new research results, facilitating interdisciplinary discussions, and leading to knowledge transfer under the theme of 'Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems for Knowledge, Technology and Service Management'.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 288 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book serves as a guide to strategic management accounting. It introduces new and useful concepts on how to collect, analyse, and evaluate options to enable managers to steer corporate directions and write strategic plans for the long-term success of the corporation. Starting with basic techniques and the latest strategic management approaches, the book then presents cases that show the techniques employed step by step. By demonstrating how easily the ideas can be translated into action, it is a valuable resource for business practitioners, as well as for students taking advanced management accounting courses.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book examines the globalisation of technology and innovation in the modern world. Enterprises globalise in several ways, e.g. by exporting, sourcing components and materials from other countries (B2B commerce), outsourcing, licensing their technologies and production, and foreign direct investments (FDI). Transaction costs and location advantages play a crucial role in selecting the best mode of globalisation. A number of important questions ¿ like what are the pull and push factors contributing to FDI, does outward FDI from a developing country like India contribute to participation in international production networks, and does FDI mitigate business cycle co-movements ¿ keep cropping up in the growing body of knowledge on the globalisation of technology. This book addresses these issues, as well as the consequences of FDI ¿ in particular, with regard to technology, productivity, and R&D spillovers. Issues related to innovations, R&D, intra-industry trade, and knowledge management are also discussed.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -After first analysing the economic development processes of emerging Asian economies in general, this book explores the development implications of Indiäs seventy years (1947-2017) of socio-economic policy regimes. It discusses structural dualism and the digital divide, which it identifies as the major socio-economic structural elements of the Indian economy, along with the external forces of globalisation. Since the adoption of comprehensive economic reforms in 1991, India has been liberalising its economy, due in part to the rising pressures of globalisation. However, critics have argued that Indian liberalisation policy has aggravated unemployment, regional inequality and poverty, and also increased Indiäs external vulnerability.This book tests the validity of these arguments, and provides readers a deeper understanding of the structural and institutional elements of the articulation of Indian society. It also examines the paradoxical political and economic effects ofthe information and communication (ICT ) industry in India, due to the economic disparities between the beneficiaries of the ICT windfall and those unable to reap those benefits. Lastly, by investigating the integration of key traditional sectors into modern sectors, the book provides policy suggestions for tackling the sectoral and segmental disarticulation that currently characterises Indian society.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book focuses on global financial systems. After summarising historical financial institutions, it subsequently uses economic and econometrical models to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of these institutions and their role in the history. Readers, especially international readers, will be introduced to prominent Chinese scholars¿ ideas and views on these issues. The perspective of this book is, of course, a Chinese one. As such, readers will learn how Chinese people view global financial systems, even those dominated by the West, what they think about future global finance, etc. As such, the book offers intriguing and revealing insights for researchers and a broader readership alike.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.