This open access book provides an essential guide to value sets for anyone working with EQ-5D-5L data. The EQ-5D-5L is one of the most widely used health related quality of life questionnaires around the world, with applications in clinical trials, population health surveys and routine outcomes measurement. In addition to providing a concise, generic way of describing health, the EQ-5D-5L f…
This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the…
This open access book provides a theoretical framework and case studies on decision science for regional sustainability by integrating the natural and social sciences. The cases discussed include solution-oriented transdisciplinary studies on the environment, disasters, health, governance and human cooperation. Based on these case studies and comprehensive reviews of relevant works, including l…
There are several unique features of this book on the spiritual well-being of Chinese older adults. First, based on qualitative methodology, a conceptual model of spiritual well-being was proposed. Besides, through a Delphi study, different dimensions of spiritual well-being were identified. Conceptually, such effort is important because there is a general lack of well-articulated models of spi…
This open access book shares the experiences of Tropical Legumes III (TLIII) project in facilitating access to seed of improved legume varieties to smallholder farmers through innovation platforms. It highlights practices and guiding principles implemented in eight developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This book details key processes that respective teams employed to create…
This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. By 2050, human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. The demand for increased food production needs to be met from ever reducing resources of land, water and other environmental constraints. Rice remains the staple food source for a majority of the global populations, but especially in Asia where ninety percent of rice is grown and con…
This open access book offers a comprehensive overview of the role and potential of microorganisms in the degradation and preservation of cultural materials (e.g. stone, metals, graphic documents, textiles, paintings, glass, etc.). Microorganisms are a major cause of deterioration in cultural artefacts, both in the case of outdoor monuments and archaeological finds. This book covers the mic…
In diesem Open-Access-Buch kritisiert Philipp Schäfer die Entwicklung der Circular Economy hin zu einem Selbstzweck. Um den Beitrag der Circular Economy zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung zu gewährleisten, muss sie stets Mittel zum Zweck sein und bedarf daher konkreter Zielsetzungen. Anhand eines ausführlichen Exkurses in die Fachliteratur zeigt der Autor, dass das primäre Ziel der Circular …
This open access book examines how families and other social institutions interact to shape outcomes over the life course. It considers how to use research evidence to reduce social disadvantage through translation of evidence to support public policies and programs. The chapters focus on key life course stages such as early child development, adolescence, emerging adulthood, parenting, marriag…
This open access book presents the findings of the author’s 3 decades of studying China’s evolving anti-poverty strategies. It argues that much of the billions that nations spend yearly on economic aid is used inefficiently or to treat the symptoms but not the root causes of poverty. China, however, has evolved an effective sustainable alternative by providing the means for self-reliance to…