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The German pension system was the first formal pension system in the world, designed by Bismarck nearly 120 years ago. It has been very successful in providing high and reliable pension levels at reasonable contribution rates. While the generosity of the German pension system is considered a great social achievement, negative incentive effects of past reforms in the 1970s and 1980s and population aging are threatening the very core of the system. This has led to fundamental pension reforms since 1992. Based on a detailed simulation model of the German pension system, this book provides a thorough assessment of the system and its reforms. It shows that the latest reforms have put the system back onto a stable path and moved it from the old monolithic towards a multi-pillar system.

This book introduces the Aristotelian-Thomistic view of the human person to a contemporary audience, and reviews the ways in which this view could provide a philosophically sound foundation for modern psychology. The book presents the current state of psychology and offers critiques of the current philosophical foundations. In its presentation of the fundamental metaphysical commitments of the Aristotelian-Thomistic view, it places the human being within the broader understanding of the world. Chapters discuss the Aristotelian-Thomistic view of human and non-human cognition as well as the relationship between cognition and emotion. In addition, the book discusses the Aristotelian-Thomistic conception of human growth and development, including how the virtue theory relates to current psychological approaches to normal human development, the development of character problems that lead to psychopathology, current conceptions of positive psychology, and the place of the individual in the social world. The book ends with a summary of how Aristotelian-Thomistic theory relates to science in general and psychology in particular. The Human Person will be of interest to psychologists and cognitive scientists working within a number of subfields, including developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, and clinical psychology, and to philosophers working on the philosophy of psychology, philosophy of mind, and the interaction between historical philosophy and contemporary science, as well as linguists and computer scientists interested in psychology of language and artificial intelligence.

Social life of bacteria is in the focus of recent research. Bacteria are simple enough to be accessible by science, but still complex enough to show cooperation, division of labor, bet-hedging, cross-talk and synchronized activities, and a rich variety of social traits. A central question of evolutionary theory is the explanation why this social life did develop, and why these systems are evolutionary stable. This book introduces the reader into the theory of evolution, covering classical models and as well as recent developments. The theory developed is used to represent the up-to-date understanding of social bacteria.This book will be useful for students and lecturers interested in mathematical evolutionary theory, as well as for researchers as a reference.

Christina Smolke, who recently developed a novel way to churn out large quantities of drugs from genetically modified brewer's yeast, is regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in biomedical engineering. In this handbook, she brings together pioneering scientists from dozens of disciplines to provide a complete record of accomplishment in metab

Following a decade of U.S. bombing campaigns that obliterated northern Vietnam, East Germany helped Vietnam rebuild in an act of socialist solidarity. In Building Socialism Christina Schwenkel examines the utopian visions of an expert group of Vietnamese and East German urban planners who sought to transform the devastated industrial town of Vinh into a model socialist city. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research in Vietnam and Germany with architects, engineers, construction workers, and tenants in Vinh’s mass housing complex, Schwenkel explores the material and affective dimensions of urban possibility and the quick fall of Vinh’s new built environment into unplanned obsolescence. She analyzes the tensions between aspirational infrastructure and postwar uncertainty to show how design models and practices that circulated between the socialist North and the decolonizing South underwent significant modification to accommodate alternative cultural logics and ideas about urban futurity. By documenting the building of Vietnam’s first planned city and its aftermath of decay and repurposing, Schwenkel argues that underlying the ambivalent and often unpredictable responses to modernist architectural forms were anxieties about modernity and the future of socialism itself.

Now in its fifth edition, the book has been updated to include more detailed descriptions of new or more commonly used techniques since the last edition as well as remove those that are no longer used, procedures which have been developed recently, ionization constants (pKa values) and also more detail about the trivial names of compounds. In addition to having two general chapters on purification procedures, this book provides details of the physical properties and purification procedures, taken from literature, of a very extensive number of organic, inorganic and biochemical compounds which are commercially available. This is the only complete source that covers the purification of laboratory chemicals that are commercially available in this manner and format. * Complete update of this valuable, well-known reference * Provides purification procedures of commercially available chemicals and biochemicals * Includes an extremely useful compilation of ionisation constants

Apply a systematic pattern recognition method to achieve more accurate diagnoses with Practical Breast Pathology: A Diagnostic Approach. Using a practical, pattern-based organization, this volume in the Pattern Recognition series guides you efficiently and confidently through the evaluation of even the most challenging neoplastic and non-neoplastic specimens in breast pathology, and also highlights patterns crucial to radiologic diagnosis. Consult this title on your favorite e-reader with intuitive search tools and adjustable font sizes. Elsevier eBooks provide instant portable access to your entire library, no matter what device you're using or where you're located. Compare specimens to commonly seen patterns, categorize them accordingly, and turn directly to in-depth diagnostic guidance using the unique, pattern-based Visual Index at the beginning of the book. Assess key pathologic and clinical aspects of both neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions with over 530 high-quality, full-color images that help you evaluate and interpret biopsy samples. Apply the latest techniques and advances in the field, including optimal processing of breast specimens for early detection of breast cancer, the latest molecular diagnosis in breast pathology, and the use of radiology in optimizing detection of breast lesions. Progress logically from the histological pattern, through the appropriate work-up, around the pitfalls, and to the best diagnosis. Find the information you’re looking for quickly and easily with patterns color-coded to specific entities in the table of context and text and key points summarized in tables, charts, and graphs. Review all the information essential for completing a sign-out report: clinical findings, pathologic findings, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. View key diagnostic features associated with less common conditions in a visual encyclopedia of unusual patterns at the end of the book.

Julia Daecke untersucht das Konzept der interaktiven Wertschöpfung zwischen Unternehmen und Kunden. Sie überprüft, was das neuartige Phänomen der internetbasierten 3D-Welten in diesem Zusammenhang leisten kann.

Die Medien, die Öffentlichkeit und die Politik gehen seit vielen Jahren von einer demografischen Entwicklung aus, die für Deutschland nichts Gutes verheißt. Die Alterung der Bevölkerung bedroht die sozialen Sicherungssysteme, führt zu Fachkräftemangel und zu verdorrten Landschaften - so viele wissenschaftsbasierte Vorhersagen. Kann man diesen Prognosen vertrauen? Der Band zeigt auf, wie wichtig eine differenzierte Betrachtung ist: Ausgewählt wurden Beispiele aus der Arbeitsmarktprognostik, Bildungspolitik und Regionalentwicklung, mit einigen überraschenden Befunden zur Migration, zu Wohnungsbedarfen und zu kommunalen Wachstumsstrategien. Beiträge zum demografischen Wandel in Europa erweitern den Blickwinkel und lassen Rückschlüsse auf künftige Entwicklungen in Deutschland zu.