Open Access Books

This report analyses the EIB Group’s activity in cohesion regions in 2022. This year’s edition focuses on the Group’s contribution towards innovation for an inclusive, green and digital transition in line with the Innovation, Digital & Human Capital (IDHC) Orientation 2021-2027. The report starts with a review of recent economic trends in cohesion regions and their investments in innovation, followed by a presentation of the EIB Group’s activities in these regions in 2022. The Group’s support for economic, social and territorial cohesion is presented in relation to policy objectives, activity sectors, countries, contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sector-specific project results. A number of case studies are used to illustrate the Group’s activities and impact. The wider macroeconomic impact of the Group in cohesion regions is then discussed through the lens of a recent academic study. Finally, the role of digitalisation and innovation in cohesion regions is presented along with the range of tools deployed by the Group to support these policy objectives in cohesion regions.

Written by two nationally recognized experts in information strategy, Information Strategies for Communicators leads students step-by-step through the information search and evaluation process for news and strategic communication message production. The book includes a conceptual model of the information strategy process, case studies to illustrate the process in action and links to current examples throughout. The definitive text for the information search and evaluation process as practiced by news and strategic communication message producers. Currently used at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication; JOUR 3004W/V, Information for Mass Communication.

In all civilized nations, attempts are made to define and buttress human rights. The core of the concept is the same everywhere: Human rights are the rights that one has simply because one is human. They are universal and equal. The following pubilcation gives an overview of human rights across the globe.

Human Resources in the Food Services and Hospitality Industry is one of a series of Culinary Arts open textbooks developed to support the training of students and apprentices in British Columbia’s foodservice and hospitality industry. Although created with the Professional Cook, Baker and Meatcutter programs in mind, these have been designed as a modular series, and therefore can be used to support a wide variety of programs that offer training in foodservice skills.

The typical introductory real analysis text starts with an analysis of the real number system and uses this to develop the definition of a limit, which is then used as a foundation for the definitions encountered thereafter. While this is certainly a reasonable approach from a logical point of view, it is not how the subject evolved, nor is it necessarily the best way to introduce students to the rigorous but highly non-intuitive definitions and proofs found in analysis.This book proposes that an effective way to motivate these definitions is to tell one of the stories (there are many) of the historical development of the subject, from its intuitive beginnings to modern rigor. The definitions and techniques are motivated by the actual difficulties encountered by the intuitive approach and are presented in their historical context. However, this is not a history of analysis book. It is an introductory analysis textbook, presented through the lens of history. As such, it does not simply insert historical snippets to supplement the material. The history is an integral part of the topic, and students are asked to solve problems that occur as they arise in their historical context.This book covers the major topics typically addressed in an introductory undergraduate course in real analysis in their historical order. Written with the student in mind, the book provides guidance for transforming an intuitive understanding into rigorous mathematical arguments. For example, in addition to more traditional problems, major theorems are often stated and a proof is outlined. The student is then asked to fill in the missing details as a homework problem.

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning With Python is an introduction to programming using Python.

Design for the New World aims to introduce a new paradigm in design and design thinking, by shifting our approach from a human perspective that is primarily focused on human scales, needs, and desires, to a planet perspective, in which design is guided by the ambition to create a balanced coexistence between humans and the other species that make up the global ecosystem.
The book intervenes in current discussions within design research about what role design can play in the sustainable transition, by offering new methods and mindset to handle the giant-scale complexity of the climate and environmental crisis, as well as specific tools to turn these theoretical reflections into a transformative practice.
Essential reading for researchers, students, and practitioners in the fields of design, innovation, development, entrepreneurship, leadership, art, and creativity. The book is structured so that it can be easily used in an educational context, both at under- and postgraduate level and in courses of business, innovation, or management training. The practical suggestions and process-management tools can be used to facilitate sustainable transformations in in commercial businesses, organizations, and political networks.
Written in an accessible and clear style, where all technical terms are fully introduced and unpacked. The chapters can be read in order or independently, and the practical tools for facilitating processes of change are supplemented with additional questions for reflection and further development.

Industrialized housing has been a common phenomenon in the building industry since the industrial revolution; the casting of iron components enabled Victorian iron casters to prefabricate entire buildings and to export them to all British colonies. It got a second boost from Modernist architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Konrad Wachsmann; and a third boost in the US when the soldiers came back from the Second World War in 1945 and wanted to buy a ready-made house.In the later decades of the 20th century, composite prototypes were built. Timber frame houses are extremely popular in low density areas worldwide. For densely populated areas housing is now firmly attached to reinforced concrete. The contracting industries have developed efficient building methods for the concrete structures on which separate systems of claddings are fixed to form a house.However, in the coming decades, designers, builders and scientists also have to keep the environment in mind, working with a minimal amount of materials and for minimizing embodied energy and energy use. In the coming age minimal embodied energy and low ecological footprints are renewed values that will be added to energy-positive housing and that will have an influence on the building technology of the future. This will lead to a reformation of the building vocabulary. Other materials will have to be chosen and developed to function in building elements and components.

You’ve probably had moments as a writing student when you’ve said to yourself, “I know what I think about this topic; I just can’t get it down on paper.” This frustration comes from the notion that writing comes after thinking, that it merely represents or translates thoughts that are already fully formed in your head. But what if the act of writing helps sharpen your thinking? What if the act of putting thoughts into words changes those thoughts for the better? Are there ways to make that transformation happen consistently enough so that writing becomes not an end but a beginning, not a chore but a revelation?

The purpose of this book is to help boards of directors of nonprofit organizations improve their performance after completing the online board self-assessment tool found at www.boardcheckup.com. However, it can also be used as a stand-alone resource for any board seeking to enhance its effectiveness in that it also contains the diagnostic questions on which the online tool is based. The approach taken here is similar to that which lies behind health checkups for individuals. Doctors usually begin by asking us to review a lengthy list of many possible health issues and we check those about which we have concerns. The doctor and patient then focus their discussions on these issues. The typical process proceeds through the following three stages: Understanding the symptoms. The doctor and patient begin by trying to define the issues more clearly. Diagnosis. Effort is made to understand the causes of the problems through tests and further examination. Treatment. Once the problem has been properly diagnosed, a treatment program to remedy it is begun. While the Board Check-Up survey on which this book is based does not pretend to be as scientifically rigorous as a medical examination, it is based on the same logic. It begins by having those who belong to, or relate to, boards provide their perceptions of how well the board is working by guiding them through a list of potential “health issues,” i.e. statements of possible problems, issues or challenges that boards might encounter in their work. These statements have been derived from comments made by those who serve on boards or interact with them as well as from the work of researchers and consultants who have studied boards over the past 30 years. Once issues (symptoms) have been identified, they become the focal point for discussions that explore how serious they are, what might be causing them (diagnosis) and what can be done to resolve them (treatment). As noted above, this book is intended to help boards assess performance and make decisions to improve the effectiveness of the governance process. Each chapter deals with one of the nine dimensions of governance effectiveness. It starts with the items dealing with that dimension on the Board Performance Self-Assessment Questionnaire. These items represent the symptoms that indicate possible issues, problems or challenges faced by the board. This is followed by a discussion of possible reasons that such symptoms might exist (diagnosis). The third part of each chapter looks at what might be done to alleviate the symptoms once a diagnosis is made (treatment). Included in this final part of the chapter are references to websites, books and articles that provide additional advice and assistance on how to deal with the issues raised.

Mayer, Warner, Siedel and Lieberman’s Government Regulation and the Legal Environment of Business is an up-to-date textbook that covers legal issues that students must understand in today’s highly regulated business environment. The text is organized to permit instructors to tailor the materials to their particular approach. The authors take special care to engage students by relating law to everyday events with their clear, concise and readable style.After introductory chapters covering the legal environment of business, Government Regulation and the Legal Environment of Business provides students with context and essential legal concepts relating to contracts, consumer credit transactions, bankruptcy, intellectual property, securities regulation, regulation of real estate, antitrust, unfair trade practices, employment law and labor relations. The text provides the vocabulary and legal savvy they will need to talk in an educated way to customers, suppliers, employees, creditors, shareholders, government regulators and other stakeholders—and to their own lawyers.

This textbook provides an innovative, internationally oriented approach to the teaching of corporate social responsibility (C.S.R.) and business ethics. Drawing on case studies involving companies and countries around the world, the textbook explores the social, ethical, and business dynamics underlying C.S.R. in such areas as global warming, genetically modified organisms (G.M.O.) in food production, free trade and fair trade, anti-sweatshop and living-wage movements, organic foods and textiles, ethical marketing practices and codes, corporate speech and lobbying and social enterprise. The book is designed to encourage students and instructors to challenge their own assumptions and prejudices by stimulating a class debate based on each case study.

This book is part of a small project by Andy Schmitz to archive copies of all the books which were made available online from a specific publisher at the end of 2012 in order to preserve their status as Creative Commons-licensed textbooks and therefore remain free to access and use. Schmitz explains why there are no authors, publisher names or descriptions: The books are licensed under the Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 license, which typically requires attributing the source of the work (author, title, and URI). Initially, then, these books were attributed to the authors and publisher who made them available. However, in March 2013, I was contacted by the publisher, who, acting as the licensor of the works, asked me to remove the Creative Commons attribution to the original authors and publisher from the collection of books. They also indicated that, in situations where I was required to attribute the work, they wished the works to be attributed to anonymous authors. While I find this turn of events disappointing because it doesn’t give the publisher or the original authors very much credit for for making the books available, I have obliged by removing the original attribution I had added for Creative Commons, and by not specifying the publisher’s name in my templates for the books. What about the titles? In August 2013, I was contacted again by the publisher, who requested that I remove the books’ original titles as well. Under the understanding that the books republished here are a Collection, and that the title in the book URIs could be considered part of the Section 4(d) attribution, I have retitled all of the books hosted in this collection. Care has been taken to ensure that links to the old names in this collection will redirect to the book’s new location, and to the same content. Further, the publisher requested that I remove their “corporate trademarks” from the books. I have therefore also replaced the publisher’s name with the phrase “Unnamed Publisher” and a link to this page. And the citations? A number of the  books in this archive had citations to other books from the publisher, or other resources that the publisher was hosting. As part of the publisher’s requests, they asked to have these citations and links removed as well. Because it did not appear as though the removal of the citations was likely to impact the books’ usability, where I have found citations to books from the publisher, I have removed those citations as well.

This book is part of a small project by Andy Schmitz to archive copies of all the books which were made available online from a specific publisher at the end of 2012 in order to preserve their status as Creative Commons-licensed textbooks and therefore remain free to access and use. Schmitz explains why there are no authors, publisher names or descriptions: The books are licensed under the Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 license, which typically requires attributing the source of the work (author, title, and URI). Initially, then, these books were attributed to the authors and publisher who made them available. However, in March 2013, I was contacted by the publisher, who, acting as the licensor of the works, asked me to remove the Creative Commons attribution to the original authors and publisher from the collection of books. They also indicated that, in situations where I was required to attribute the work, they wished the works to be attributed to anonymous authors. While I find this turn of events disappointing because it doesn’t give the publisher or the original authors very much credit for for making the books available, I have obliged by removing the original attribution I had added for Creative Commons, and by not specifying the publisher’s name in my templates for the books. What about the titles? In August 2013, I was contacted again by the publisher, who requested that I remove the books’ original titles as well. Under the understanding that the books republished here are a Collection, and that the title in the book URIs could be considered part of the Section 4(d) attribution, I have retitled all of the books hosted in this collection. Care has been taken to ensure that links to the old names in this collection will redirect to the book’s new location, and to the same content. Further, the publisher requested that I remove their “corporate trademarks” from the books. I have therefore also replaced the publisher’s name with the phrase “Unnamed Publisher” and a link to this page. And the citations? A number of the  books in this archive had citations to other books from the publisher, or other resources that the publisher was hosting. As part of the publisher’s requests, they asked to have these citations and links removed as well. Because it did not appear as though the removal of the citations was likely to impact the books’ usability, where I have found citations to books from the publisher, I have removed those citations as well.

This book is part of a small project by Andy Schmitz to archive copies of all the books which were made available online from a specific publisher at the end of 2012 in order to preserve their status as Creative Commons-licensed textbooks and therefore remain free to access and use. Schmitz explains why there are no authors, publisher names or descriptions: The books are licensed under the Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 license, which typically requires attributing the source of the work (author, title, and URI). Initially, then, these books were attributed to the authors and publisher who made them available.  However, in March 2013, I was contacted by the publisher, who, acting as the licensor of the works, asked me to remove the Creative Commons attribution to the original authors and publisher from the collection of books. They also indicated that, in situations where I was required to attribute the work, they wished the works to be attributed to anonymous authors.  While I find this turn of events disappointing because it doesn’t give the publisher or the original authors very much credit for for making the books available, I have obliged by removing the original attribution I had added for Creative Commons, and by not specifying the publisher’s name in my templates for the books. What about the titles? In August 2013, I was contacted again by the publisher, who requested that I remove the books’ original titles as well. Under the understanding that the books republished here are a Collection, and that the title in the book URIs could be considered part of the Section 4(d) attribution, I have retitled all of the books hosted in this collection. Care has been taken to ensure that links to the old names in this collection will redirect to the book’s new location, and to the same content.  Further, the publisher requested that I remove their “corporate trademarks” from the books. I have therefore also replaced the publisher’s name with the phrase “Unnamed Publisher” and a link to this page. And the citations? A number of the  books in this archive had citations to other books from the publisher, or other resources that the publisher was hosting. As part of the publisher’s requests, they asked to have these citations and links removed as well. Because it did not appear as though the removal of the citations was likely to impact the books’ usability, where I have found citations to books from the publisher, I have removed those citations as well.

Chronology is the backbone of history, and there is a wise saying stating there is no history without a chronology. Earths evolutionary history is built up by geochronology, i.e. time benchmarks upon which the geological history is built up step by step over its total time period of about 4.5 billion years. The first marker in this history is the Jack Hills zircon from Australia dated at about 4.4 GA. The most detailed records come from seasonal changes within annual varves. Stratigraphy provides the basic chronological ordering of layers by layers, units by units, fossil assemblage by assemblage, varves by varves, growth zone by growth zone, etc. The radiometric techniques implied the introduction of absolute age determinations. This book includes a combination of methodological presentations and related case studies, from where we learn about practical problems and achievements. Therefore, the book should be of basic interest both for scientists in their practical in field and laboratory, as well as for general educational purpose.