Introducing mobile humanoid robots into human environments requires the systems to physically interact and execute multiple concurrent tasks. The monograph at hand presents a whole-body torque controller for dexterous and safe robotic manipulation. This control approach enables a mobile humanoid robot to simultaneously meet several control objectives with different pre-defined levels of priorit…
This book introduces inclusive-cost-effective (ICE) approaches that have the potential to transform all aspects of daily lives of people at the base of the pyramid in the economic scale, who represent more than 75% of the world population. ICE means that the approaches must meet the affordability level at the base of the pyramid. This includes mobile banking and financial service technologies, …
This book provides an in-depth analysis of the demand for PhDs on the labor markets of twelve countries. The authors analyze the role of PhDs in the creation of innovation in a knowledge-based economy and examine economic issues such as the return on investment for the education and training of doctoral graduates. To provide a more comprehensive picture of the employment patterns, career paths …
At the crossroads of various disciplines, this collective work examines the possibility of a new end-user “engagement” in ongoing digital/technological products and services development. It provides an overview of recent research specifically focused on the user’s democratic participation and empowerment. It also enables readers to better identify the main opportunities of participatory d…
Now that supply chain operations are facing new challenges due to the necessity of reducing costs and CO2 emissions, companies are increasingly leveraging cooperation from companies from other supply chains as a source of competitive advantage. Horizontal Collaboration has been proved an efficient tool for cutting logistic costs up to 49%. Zaragoza Logistics Center, member of the MIT-Scale N…
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Business Intelligence for the Real-Time Enterprise, BIRTE 2013, held in Riva del Garda, Italy, in August 2013 and of the 8th International Workshop on Business Intelligence for the Real-Time Enterprise, BIRTE 2014, held in Hangzhou, China, in September 2014, in conjunction with VLDB 2013 an…
In this book, a number of long-term energy scenarios are developed for Nigeria considering the impact of vital factors that may influence energy policies in the country’s future energy system. The energy scenarios were developed through the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) model. The model identified the future energy demand and supply pattern using a least-cost combinati…
In view of the increasing quest for environmental management in businesses, this book provides a good reference to firms to understand how they may manage their supply chains to improve business and environmental performance. The book consists of six chapters covering such topics as environmental management, environmental management practices with supply chain efforts, collaborative environment…
Examining the challenges of integrated management, this book explores the importance and potential benefits of using an integrated approach as a cross-functional concept of management. It covers not only standardized management systems (e.g. International Organization for Standardization), but also models of self-assessment, as well as different types of integration. Furthermore, it demonstrate…
Challenges to security and human rights involving extractive and other industries are addressed in a framework known as business and human rights (BHR), which shares many challenges and goals with SSR. This paper describes the grounds where BHR and SSR coincide in principles, actors and activities and which synergies can be built on that base. Opportunities for bridging BHR and SSR are drawn fr…