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The second decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed a surging interest in personalized medicine with the concomitant promise to enable more precise diagnosis and treatment of disease and illness, based upon an individual’s unique genetic makeup.In this book, my goal is to contribute to a growing body of literature on personalized medicine by tracing and analyzing how this field has blossomed in Asia. In so doing, I aim to illustrate how various social and economic forces shape the co-production of science and social order in global contexts. This book shows that there are inextricable transnational linkages between developing and developed countries and also provides a theoretically guided and empirically grounded understanding of the formation and usage of particular racial and ethnic human taxonomies in local, national and transnational settings.

Solid waste is a major urban challenge worldwide and decisions over which technologies or methods to apply can have beneficial or detrimental long-term consequences. Inappropriate management of solid waste can lead to damaging environmental impacts, particularly in the megacities of the Global South.Urban Recycling Cooperatives explores the multiple narratives and interdisciplinary nature of waste studies, drawing attention to the pressing social, economic and environmental challenges related to waste management. The book asks questions such as: how do we define waste and our relation to it; who is involved in dealing with waste; and what power interactions become manifest over issues of accessing and managing waste? In recent years informal cooperatives have emerged, devoted to recycling household and business waste before reclassifying it and redirecting it to the authorities. Hence, these workers are able to reclaim significant amounts of natural resources and thus contribute to the saving of resources and lessened waste management expenditures.With particular reference to the Brazilian megalopolis of São Paulo, this book describes this paradigm shift in the general understanding of waste as unwanted discard towards the recognition of waste as a resource that must be recovered for reuse or recycling. It would be of interest to students and policy makers working in international development and waste management.

Since the DCMS Creative Industries Mapping Document highlighted the key role played by creative activities in the UK economy and society, the creative industries agenda has expanded across Europe and internationally. They have the support of local authorities, regional development agencies, research councils, arts and cultural agencies and other sector organisations. Within this framework, higher education institutions have also engaged in the creative agenda, but have struggled to define their role in this growing sphere of activities. Higher Education and the Creative Economy critically engages with the complex interconnections between higher education, geography, cultural policy and the creative economy. This book is organised into four sections which articulate the range of dynamics that can emerge between higher education and the creative economy: partnership and collaboration across Higher Education institutions and the creative and cultural industries; the development of creative human capital; connections between arts schools and local art scenes; and links with broader policy directions and work.

Published by OpenStax College, Principles of Economics covers the scope and sequence for a two-semester principles of economics course. The text also includes many current examples, including; discussions on the great recession, the controversy among economists over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the recent government shutdown and the appointment of the United States’ first female Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen. The pedagogical choices, chapter arrangements and learning objective fulfillment were developed and vetted with feedback from educators dedicated to the project. The outcome is a balanced approach to micro and macro economics, to both Keynesian and classical views and to the theory and application of economics concepts. Current events are treated in a politically-balanced way, as well.

Food price volatility is one of the major challenges facing the global agricultural system today. This was most vividly illustrated during the global food crisis of 2007–9 when price spikes occurred for key staple food commodities—such as wheat, rice, maize, and soybeans. Given the variety of reactions by governments of countries experiencing similar food price shocks, the 2007–9 crisis offered an excellent natural experiment for generating knowledge on responses to price volatility in particular and on the political economy of agricultural policy-making more generally. This book contains the wealth of collaborative research by a global team of experts on food price policy—the research was undertaken on a sizeable group of low- and middle-income countries that were highly affected by the 2007–9 food crisis. The central aim of the study is to uncover which political economy factors—ranging from the constellation of different interest groups to the nature of political institutions—explain variations in policy responses across countries. The research output proves valuable for at least three target audiences. First, it can inform international organizations and donors about which types of policy interventions can mitigate price volatility and whether they are feasible given a country’s political economy context. Second, it can help national policy makers better understand the trade-offs of certain policy interventions. Third, it generates much-needed further knowledge about the agricultural policy-making process in developing countries, which remains incredibly scarce despite the importance of agriculture to these countries’ economies.

All is not well with the evaluation of government programs and projects. Resources available to any society are limited. If governments are to increase the well-being of their citizens, they must be able to select and implement the socially most beneficial projects and policies. But many government agencies lack the expertise to carry out a cost-benefit analysis, or even to commission one. Commercial consultants, on the other hand, often have some analytical expertise, but are not immune from adopting approaches that accommodate the proclivities of their client agencies. In order to increase analytical rigour and methodological consistency, this publication urges the adoption of a ‘belts and braces’ set of protocols for use in project evaluation.

development; economics

development; economic policy

Organizational Studies, Economic Sociology; Labor Economics; Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Cape Town, South Africa, 7 Sept. 2016 – 8 Sept. 2016. Theme: Sustainable economies in the information economy. Purpose: To share the quality academic papers presented at the International Conference on Business and Management Dynamics (ICBMD) held from 7 to 8 September 2016 at African Pride Crystal Hotel and Spa in Cape Town. As grey literature, the proceedings are the contributions made by researchers at the conference and are considered the written record of the work that was presented to fellow conference delegates. Methodology: The methodology used varies from researcher to researcher but are suitable for the studies conducted. Thus, on the one hand, studies that were subjective in nature used the interpretive paradigm, where the qualitative approach adopted made used of the interview method to collect data. On the other hand, studies that were objectively inclined adopted the positivist philosophy and used survey questionnaires to collect data. However, there were some academic papers which used mixed methodology because of the nature of the study. Whatever methodology used adhered to the ethos of the philosophies underpinning the methodology. Contribution made to scholarship: The articles come from individual researchers and each article in the proceedings is unique. Mostly, there is no general argument leading from one contribution to the next. However, it is interesting to note that in the area of economic performance it was evident that real exchange rate and net foreign direct investment contribute more towards innovations in economic growth. With regard to human capital development, papers presented evidence that there exists a definite need to explore the phenomenon of personal branding as limited scientific academic research has been done within the field of personal branding or on elements of the topic. Thus, the outcome argues that personal branding has an influence on leadership style which in turn impacts on organisational performance and related hygiene factors. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that current methods or strategies for enforcing institutionalisation of knowledge sharing within an organisation have not been successful, and, as such, new strategies are needed to reinforce efforts to nurture and invigorate the institutionalisation of knowledge sharing within an organisation. With regard to technology and big data impact on organisational performance, it was evident that system performance, memory consumption and CPU utilisation can be used as criteria to compare and evaluate big data technologies to improve organisational performance. Most of the articles’ contribution reemphasised technology education and training as a means of digitising business and improving effectiveness. Target audience: The target readership is academic researchers and business leaders who require access to the latest developments in the fields of economics, information management, business, education, development studies, social sciences and technology. It is also for policymakers and other stakeholders who need a better understanding of the impact of new developments on existing policies and regulations for their review or amendment.

Going green, green business and sustainable business are topics on everyone’s mind. But what does all this mean exactly? A Primer on Sustainable Business answers that question and provides an introduction to the basics you need to know.

One standard definition for economics is the study of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. A second definition is the study of choice related to the allocation of scarce resources. The first definition indicates that economics includes any business, nonprofit organization or administrative unit. The second definition establishes that economics is at the core of what managers of these organizations do.This book presents economic concepts and principles from the perspective of “managerial economics,” which is a subfield of economics that places special emphasis on the choice aspect in the second definition. The purpose of managerial economics is to provide economic terminology and reasoning for the improvement of managerial decisions.

This book covers the basics of project management. This includes the process of initiation, planning, execution, control and close out that all projects share. This book has been adapted by the author as of August 15, 2014. The adaptation includes Canadianized content, PowerPoints, Audio Files and Chapter Questions.

Based on International Financial Reporting Standards, this textbook was written by David Annand, Ed.D., M.B.A., C.P.A., C.A., Professor of Accounting in the Faculty of Business at Athabasca University. It contains 14 chapters on topics such as The Accounting Process, Cash and Receivables and Debt Financing. Each chapter includes questions and comprehension problems for self-study. Solutions are provided. Additional end-of-chapter assignment problems are also included. The second edition has been revised to incorporate minor changes. References to "balance sheet" have been changed to ‘statement of financial position’, to align with preferred I.F.R.S. terminology. References to "income statement" have been changed to "statement of profit and loss." Some issues with page numbering and a few typographic errors have been rectified. The index has been expanded. The text is freely-sharable under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-NC license. The .pdf version of the text is extensively bookmarked for easy access and onscreen reading. Suggested solutions are linked to the appropriate material in this version. Separate .docx and .pdf versions of the text and student solutions manual are available. A 140-item exam bank, and a complete instructor’s solutions manual to all text and exam bank material are available upon request to davida@athabascau.ca. A 900-page student workbook is also available in .pdf or docx formats. The workbook provides formatted outlines to all problems contained in the text and exam bank. Students can print outlines as they need them, and fill in responses manually.

Introductory Business Statistics with Interactive Spreadsheets, 1st Canadian Edition is an adaptation of Thomas K. Tiemann's book, Introductory Business Statistics. In addition to covering basics such as populations, samples, the difference between data and information and sampling distributions, descriptive statistics and frequency distributions, normal and t-distributions, hypothesis testing, t-tests, f-tests, analysis of variance, non-parametric tests and regression basics, the following information has been added: the chi-square test and categorical variables, null and alternative hypotheses for the test of independence, simple linear regression model, least squares method, coefficient of determination, confidence interval for the average of the dependent variable and prediction interval for a specific value of the dependent variable. This new edition also allows readers to learn the basic and most commonly applied statistical techniques in business in an interactive way — when using the web version — through interactive Excel spreadsheets. All information has been revised to reflect Canadian content.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. Set within the context of UK devolution and constitutional change, People, Places and Policy offers important and interesting insights into ‘place-making’ and ‘locality-making’ in contemporary Wales. Combining policy research with policy-maker and stakeholder interviews at various spatial scales (local, regional, national), it examines the historical processes and working practices that have produced the complex political geography of Wales. This book looks at the economic, social and political geographies of Wales, which in the context of devolution and public service governance are hotly debated. It offers a novel ‘new localities’ theoretical framework for capturing the dynamics of locality-making, to go beyond the obsession with boundaries and coterminous geographies expressed by policy-makers and politicians. Three localities – Heads of the Valleys (north of Cardiff), central and west coast regions (Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and the former district of Montgomeryshire in Powys) and the A55 corridor (from Wrexham to Holyhead) – are discussed in detail to illustrate this and also reveal the geographical tensions of devolution in contemporary Wales. This book is an original statement on the making of contemporary Wales from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) researchers. It deploys a novel ‘new localities’ theoretical framework and innovative mapping techniques to represent spatial patterns in data. This allows the timely uncovering of both unbounded and fuzzy relational policy geographies, and the more bounded administrative concerns, which come together to produce and reproduce over time Wales’ regional geography.

An electronic version of this book is available Open Access at www.tandfebooks.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. One of the major challenges of urban development has been reconciling the way cities develop with the mounting evidence of resource depletion and the negative environmental impacts of predominantly urban-based modes of production and consumption. This book aims to re-politicise the relationship between urban development, sustainability and justice, and to explore the tensions emerging under real circumstances, as well as their potential for transformative change. For some, cities are the root of all that is unsustainable, while for others cities provide unique opportunities for sustainability-oriented innovations that address equity and ecological challenges. This book is rooted in the latter category, but recognises that if cities continue to evolve along current trajectories they will be where the large bulk of the most unsustainable and inequitable human activities are concentrated. By drawing on a range of case studies from both the global South and global North, this book is unique in its aim to develop an integrated social-ecological perspective on the challenge of sustainable urban development. Through the interdisciplinary and original research of a new generation of urban researchers across the global South and North, this book addresses old debates in new ways and raises new questions about sustainable urban development. .

Was ist "solidarische Ökonomie"? In der Begegnung mit verschiedenen Akteuren der Bewegung in Berlin identifizieren und thematisieren die Beiträge des Bandes zentrale Fragen und Probleme der solidarischen Ökonomie. Sie vermitteln einen lebendigen Eindruck von der Welt des alternativen Wirtschaftens, ohne dass dabei die theoretische Reflexion zu kurz kommt. Ein Buch, das sowohl zum Nachdenken über alternative Formen des Wirtschaftens als auch zum Nach- und Mitmachen animiert.

Cartels, trusts and agreements to reduce competition between firms have existed for centuries, but became particularly prevalent toward the end of the 19th century. In the mid-20th century governments began to use so called ‘cartel registers’ to monitor and regulate their behaviour. This book provides cases studies from more than a dozen countries to examine the emergence, application and eventual decline of this form of regulation.Beginning with a comparison of the attitudes to regulation that led to monitoring, rather than prohibiting cartels, this book examines the international studies on cartels undertaken by the League of Nations before World War II. This is followed by a series of studies on the context of the registers, including the international context of the European Union, and the importance of lobby groups in shaping regulatory outcomes, using Finland as an example. Section two provides a broad international comparison of several countries’ registers, with individual studies on Norway, Australia, Japan, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. After examining the impact of registration on business behaviour in the insurance industry, this book concludes with an overview of the lessons to be learnt from 20th century efforts to regulate competition. With a foreword by Harm Schroter, this book outlines the rise and fall of a system that allowed nations to tailor their approach to regulating competition to their individual circumstances whilst also responding to the pressures of globalisation that emerged after the Second World War. This book is suitable for those who are interested in and study economic history, international economics and business history.