Megatrends in International Business


Book Description

The Academy of International Business (UK and Ireland Chapter) Published in association with the UK and Ireland Chapter of the Academy of International Business. This book presents the main trends in International Business, with special emphasis on how these trends can shape and help propel the field forward. Covering a variety of timely topics, from AI to the belt and road initiative, the book enhances our understanding of how and why technology, funding, policies, managerial decisions, cultural differences, and changes in subsidiaries can affect businesses that operate in foreign markets. A valuable resource for scholars and students in international business, this book provides fresh perspectives into the changing global business environment.




Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming


Book Description

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems, CPAIOR 2017, held in Padua, Italy, in June 2017. The 32 full papers presented together with 6 abstracts were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The conference brings together interested researchers from constraint programming, artificial intelligence, and operations research to present new techniques or applications in the intersection of these fields and provides an opportunity for researchers in one area to learn about techniques in the others, and to show how the integration of techniques from different fields can lead to interesting results on large and complex problems.




Computing and Combinatorics


Book Description

Thepapersinthisvolumewereselectedforpresentationatthe10thInternational Computing and Combinatorics Conference (COCOON 2004), held on August 17–20, 2004 in Jeju Island, Korea. Previous meetings were held in Xi’an (1995), HongKong(1996),Shanghai(1997),Taipei(1998),Tokyo(1999),Sydney(2000), Guilin (2001), Singapore (2002), and Big Sky (2003). In response to the call for papers, 109 extended abstracts were submitted from 23 countries, of which 46 were accepted. The submitted papers were from Belgium (1), Canada (5), China (6), France (1), Germany (6), Hong Kong (8), India (6), Iran (1), Ireland (1), Israel (4), Italy (2), Japan (17), Korea (23), Mexico (3), New Zealand (1), Poland(1), Russia (1), Singapore (5), Sweden (2), Switzerland (3), Taiwan (2), the UK (1), and the USA (9). Each paper was evaluated by at least three program committee members, with the assistance of referees, as indicated by the referee list found in these proceedings. There were many more acceptable papers than there was space available in the conference schedule, and the program committee’s task was extremely di?cult. In addition to selected papers, the conference also included threeinvitedpresentationsbyLarsArge,JeongHanKim,andKokichiSugihara. We thank all program committee members and their referees for their - cellent work, especially given the demanding time constraints; they gave the conference its distinctive character. We thank all who submitted papers for c- sideration: they all contributed to the high quality of the conference. Finally,wethankallthepeoplewhoworkedhardtoputinplacethelogistical arrangements of the conference — our colleagues and our graduate students. It is their hard work that made the conference possible and enjoyable.




Computational Logic in Multi-Agent Systems


Book Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Computational Logic for Multi-Agent Systems, CLIMA VII, held in Hakodate, Japan, in May 2006. It was an associated event of AAMAS 2006, the main international conference on autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. The series of workshops presents current work on application of general and declarative theories.




Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2002


Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, CP 2002, held in Ithaca, NY, USA in September 2002. The 38 revised full papers and 6 innovative application papers as well as the 14 short papers presented toghether with 25 abstracts from contributions to the doctoral program were carefully reviewed and selected from 146 submissions. All current issues in constraint processing are addressed, ranging from theoretical and foundational issues to application in various fields.




Advanced Artificial Intelligence


Book Description

'Advanced Artificial Intelligence' consists of 16 chapters. The content of the book is novel, reflects the research updates in this field, and especially summarises the author's scientific efforts over many years.




Personnel Economics in Imperfect Labour Markets


Book Description

Table of Contents 1 Personnel economics and non-competitive labour markets 1 2 The optimal skill ratio 11 3 The hours-employment trade-off 27 4 Temporary or permanent? 45 5 Managing adverse selection in recruiting 62 6 Optimal compensation schemes : foundation 82 7 Pay for performance with wage constraints 107 8 Relative compensation and efficiency wage 132 9 Training and human capital investment 152 10 Training investment in imperfect labour markets 171 11 Job destruction 187 12 Further issues in employment protection legislation 202 13 Teams of group incentives 218 App. A Labour demand at the firm level 232 App. B Constrained optimization 238.




Motivation and Punishment of Referees in Non-professional Football


Book Description

Making people act the way oneself wishes is a challenging task in private and professional life. Scientific literature proposes two basic approaches to make people comply with one's interests in this context. One way is to foster the persons' intrinsic motivation or to offer extrinsic rewards. The other method is to punish misbehaviour by removing something pleasant or presenting something aversive to a person. Regardless which approach is chosen, the measures taken have to be oriented towards the persons' characters and the existing circumstances to be effective. This work answers the question of how problems resulting from a constellation in which someone acts on behalf of another person can be reduced or even solved. This type of interaction between two parties is referred to as 'Principal-Agent Theory' in literature and represents the theoretical basis of the work. As a practical example, the case of football referees in the district of Guetersloh, Germany, is consulted. In order to back up the findings from the Principal-Agent Theory, an empirical analysis delivers further solution mechanisms. Basing on this case, the author shows which motivational aspects influence human behaviour and provides practical recommendations to make people act in accordance with one's own interests. In this regard, the role of punishment is also evaluated and it is shown how this form of negative enforcement has to be set up to be effective. The work therefore offers guidance and tools for people who have to manage others and helps to understand why people act the way they do.




Intelligent Agents VIII


Book Description

This volume is the eighth in the Intelligent Agents series associated with the ATAL workshops. These workshops on “Agent Theories, Architectures, and L- guages” have established themselves as a tradition, and play the role of small but internationally well-known conferences on the subject, where besides theory per se also integration of theory and practice is in focus. Speci?cally, ATAL - dresses issues of theories of agency, software architectures for intelligent agents, methodologies and programming languages for realizing agents, and software tools for applying and evaluating agent-based systems. ATAL 2001 featured two special tracks in which both the more theoretical / formal and the more practical aspects were present, viz. “Formal Theories of Negotiation”, organized by Frank Dignum, and “Agents for Hand-Held, Mobile, or Embedded Devices”, organized by Tim Finin. There was also an extra session on RoboCup Rescue, organized and presented by Satoshi Tadokoro and Ranjit Nair. ATAL 2001 attracted 68 papers from over 20 countries all over the world, of which 30 were selected for presentation at the workshop and publication in this volume. We invited two outstanding speakers: Fausto Giunchiglia (Trento, Italy) and Tom Dean (Brown, USA).




7th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (PAAMS'09)


Book Description

PAAMS, the International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems is an evolution of the International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. PAAMS is an international yearly tribune to present, to discuss, and to disseminate the latest developments and the most important outcomes related to real-world applications. It provides a unique opportunity to bring multi-disciplinary experts, academics and practitioners together to exchange their experience in the development of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. This volume presents the papers that have been accepted for the 2009 edition. These articles capture the most innovative results and this year’s trends: Assisted Cognition, E-Commerce, Grid Computing, Human Modelling, Information Systems, Knowledge Management, Agent-Based Simulation, Software Development, Transports, Trust and Security. Each paper has been reviewed by three different reviewers, from an international committee composed of 64 members from 20 different countries. From the 92 submissions received, 35 were selected for full presentation at the conference, and 26 were accepted as posters.