The Final Service

The Final Service

Author: Gary W. Moore

Publisher: Savas Beatie

Published: 2016-05-19

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1611212952

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A father and daughter, a secret past, and a search for redemption drive this haunting novel that “celebrates the complexities of love” (Joyce Faulkner). Sandy Richards is a music teacher, wife, and mother living a comfortable life in a small Midwestern town. But her warm smile and easy laugh hide a heavy burden. During her childhood, she was inseparable from her larger-than-life father, a World War II hero she adored. Sandy followed him everywhere, hung on his every word, and loved him with all her heart. Until, for reasons Sandy never understood, their relationship shattered—left broken to the day he died. With grief, regret, and anger, Sandy sorts through her father’s belongings to learn what went wrong, and to deal with all the unresolved pain of the past. Then, as if by providence, a stranger enters Sandy life. And everything changes once more. Exploring the forces in nature that are more powerful than ourselves, The Final Service is “a compelling and endearing” novel about the need for forgiveness and to forgive, and to embrace what matters most in life while it’s still within reach (James Riordan, New York Times–bestselling author).


Routledge Handbook of Ecosystem Services

Routledge Handbook of Ecosystem Services

Author: Marion Potschin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-01-22

Total Pages: 929

ISBN-13: 1317687035

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The idea that nature provides services to people is one of the most powerful concepts to have emerged over the last two decades. It is shaping our understanding of the role that biodiverse ecosystems play in the environment and their benefits for humankind. As a result, there is a growing interest in operational and methodological issues surrounding ecosystem services amongst environmental managers, and many institutions are now developing teaching programmes to equip the next generation with the skills needed to apply the concepts more effectively. This handbook provides a comprehensive reference text on ecosystem services, integrating natural and social science (including economics). Collectively the chapters, written by the world's leading authorities, demonstrate the importance of biodiversity for people, policy and practice. They also show how the value of ecosystems to society can be expressed in monetary and non-monetary terms, so that the environment can be better taken into account in decision making. The significance of the ecosystem service paradigm is that it helps us redefine and better communicate the relationships between people and nature. It is shown how these are essential to resolving challenges such as sustainable development and poverty reduction, and the creation of a green economy in developing and developed world contexts.


Coastal Zones Ecosystem Services

Coastal Zones Ecosystem Services

Author: R. Kerry Turner

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-06-10

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 331917214X

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This book applies the ‘ecosystem services’ framework to coastal environments, showing how it could facilitate an adaptive management strategy. The contributors describe a decision support system (DSS) based on the 3 Ps – pluralism, pragmatism and precaution – that leads to a more flexible, ‘learn by doing’ approach to the stewardship of coastal environments. The book lays out a “Balance Sheets Approach” to formatting, interrogating and presenting data and findings. The opening chapter defines coastal zones, their characteristics and natural resources, and describes their complex and dynamic nature. The chapter shows that large-scale trends and pressures have led to a global loss of 50% of marshes, leading to significant declines in biodiversity and habitat. Part I presents a conceptual framework, describes natural science techniques for coastal and shelf modeling, and describes valuation of ecosystem services. Part II outlines practical ecosystem indicators for coastal and marine ecosystem services, reviews literature on valuation of coastal and marine ecosystem services, explores scenarios, outlines marine and coastal ecosystem services data and offers tools for incorporating data into decision-making. PART III offers case studies including one linking the ecosystem services of Marine Protected Areas to benefits in human wellbeing; and another on valuing blue carbon captured by oceans and coastal ecosystems. Also included are a study of managed realignments and the English coastline and their value estimate transferability; and studies of the impact of jellyfish blooms on recreation in the UK and on fisheries in Italy.


Water Ecosystem Services

Water Ecosystem Services

Author: Julia Martin-Ortega

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-03-26

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1316300811

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This comprehensive volume describes how ecosystem services-based approaches can assist in addressing major global and regional water challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and water security in the developing world, by integrating scientific knowledge from different disciplines, such as hydrological modelling, environmental economics, psychology and international law. Empirical assessments at the national, catchment and regional levels are used to critically appraise this systemic approach, and the merits and potential limitations are presented. The practicalities of this approach with regard to water resources management, nature conservation, and sustainable business practices are discussed, and the role of society in underpinning the concept of ecosystem services is explored. Presenting new insights and perspectives on how to shape future strategies, this contributory volume is a valuable reference for researchers, academics, students and policy makers, in environmental studies, hydrology, water resource management, ecology, environmental law, policy and economics, and conservation biology.


Designing Service Processes to Unlock Value, Third Edition

Designing Service Processes to Unlock Value, Third Edition

Author: Joy M. Field

Publisher: Business Expert Press

Published: 2020-12-16

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1953349277

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Designing Service Processes to Unlock Value explores how service processes can be designed to leverage the expanding range of opportunities for service providers and customers to co-create value. The service process design landscape is changing, with many of the previous limitations disappearing on how and by whom services are delivered. Opportunities for new service design configurations are being supported, to a large extent, by technology-enabled innovations; many tasks previously performed by the service provider may now be performed by either the customer or the service provider. As a result, customers are playing a more active role in the service process, not only through self-service but also by providing information to the service provider to create a more personalized service experience. Designing Service Processes to Unlock Value explores how service processes can be designed to leverage the expanding range of opportunities for service providers and customers to co-create value. Readers will learn about frameworks for value co-creation and models for designing all types of service processes, as well as the unique challenges of designing knowledge-intensive services. And with the growing number of alternatives for designing service processes and determining who performs the various service tasks, service performance outcomes are increasingly dependent on the knowledge, skills, and abilities—that is, capabilities—of both service providers and customers. Thus, the book concludes with approaches to unlock these capabilities–and further boost value co-creation.


Smart Digital Service Ecosystems

Smart Digital Service Ecosystems

Author: Youakim Badr

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-05-16

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 3031279263

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This book provides a holistic overview of the major advances that have been made in the context of Service Science with a focus on IT-enabled services. To address challenges in collaborative, social-centric, ad-hoc, dynamic and open environments, the book studies IT-enabled service systems from two distinct but complementary research perspectives: service engineering and service computing. From a service engineering view, the book shows how to apply a systemic approach to tackle social problems from holistic and multi-disciplinary perspectives by focusing on service systems and developing a service design framework, including socio-technical aspects, the service reference model, data-driven collaboration processes, the incremental design method, requirement propagation, and system adaptability with feedback loops. From a service computing view, the book introduces a service-oriented aided infrastructure to support IT-enabled service systems in ICT-facilitated environments and provide access to tangible and intangible resources in a trustworthy environment. The book offers a valuable companion and comprehensive reference guide for undergraduate and graduate students who want to learn about current concepts for designing and implementing service systems; and for researchers who want to identify future directions in build smart digital service ecosystems, integrating Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cyber-security. The book also appeals to developers who need to implement advanced services and want to capitalize on corresponding business models, customer-driven interaction, and scalable architectures.


Code of Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13:

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Special edition of the Federal Register, containing a codification of documents of general applicability and future effect ... with ancillaries.