Is everything in a university for sale if the price is right? In this book, one of America's leading educators cautions that the answer is all too often "yes." Taking the first comprehensive look at the growing commercialization of our academic institutions, Derek Bok probes the efforts on campus to profit financially not only from athletics but increasingly, from education and research as well. He shows how such ventures are undermining core academic values and what universities can do to limit the damage. Commercialization has many causes, but it could never have grown to its present state had it not been for the recent, rapid growth of money-making opportunities in a more technologically complex, knowledge-based economy. A brave new world has now emerged in which university presidents, enterprising professors, and even administrative staff can all find seductive opportunities to turn specialized knowledge into profit. Bok argues that universities, faced with these temptations, are jeopardizing their fundamental mission in their eagerness to make money by agreeing to more and more compromises with basic academic values. He discusses the dangers posed by increased secrecy in corporate-funded research, for-profit Internet companies funded by venture capitalists, industry-subsidized educational programs for physicians, conflicts of interest in research on human subjects, and other questionable activities. While entrepreneurial universities may occasionally succeed in the short term, reasons Bok, only those institutions that vigorously uphold academic values, even at the cost of a few lucrative ventures, will win public trust and retain the respect of faculty and students. Candid, evenhanded, and eminently readable, Universities in the Marketplace will be widely debated by all those concerned with the future of higher education in America and beyond.

Interviews met ruim twintig Nederlandse leidinggevenden op het hoogste niveau uit het bedrijfsleven, de media, politiek, sport, zorg en nongouvernementele organisaties.

Hét antwoord op 'Dit kan niet waar zijn'. 0Persoonlijke drama's, knallende strijd, withete frustratie, ongekende euforie en gedrevenheid. Vanuit een anti-kraakkantoorpand in Amsterdam Sloterdijk wil een stel jonge honden de wereld veranderen. Hun doel: oprichting van de eerste onafhankelijke bank in decennia. Lukt het ze om met passie en nieuwe technologie een heel ander soort bank te beginnen? Eentje zonder risico's, die zijn geld louter verdient met steengoede diensten? Zou dat kunnen in Nederland, vóórdat de grote jongens in Amerika hen voor zijn? Elke dag weer is een achtbaanrit met onzekere uitkomst. "Met z'n allen wisten we op elk moment van de dag en nacht één ding zeker: hier gebeurt het. Het lukt of het lukt niet, maar het gebeurt hier wél!"

Ideeën van toonaangevende Nederlanders over oplossingen van maatschappelijke problemen, samengebracht rond thema's als samenleving, onderwijs, overheid, maatschappelijk ondernemen en media.

Neurologische visie op aankoopgedrag van consumenten en de rol van de hersenen daarbij.

Ervaringen en inzichten van de succesvolle Britse ondernemer, oprichter van de Virgin Group.

Analyse van de veranderingen die het gevolg zijn van internet en die mogelijk zullen leiden tot een nieuwe netwerksamenleving.

The ever tighter linking of our food, water, and energy systems in the context of a changing climate is leading to increasing turbulence in the world. As a consequence, it becomes ever more crucial to develop cities, regions, and economies with resilience in mind. Because of multinational corporations’ global reach, substantial resources, and information-driven leadership structures, these entities can play a major, constructive role in improving our understanding and design of resilient systems. This volume is the product of the Resilience Action Initiative, a collaboration among Dow, DuPont, IBM, McKinsey, Shell, Siemens, Swiss Re, Unilever, and Yara designed to explore possible corporate contributions to global resilience, especially at the nexus of water, food, and energy. Aggressively forward-thinking and consistent with an enlightened self-interest, the ideas considered here represent a corporate perspective on the broad collaborations required for a more resilient world.

Something remarkable is happening in the cognitive sciences. After a quarter of a century of cognitive models that were inspired by the metaphor of the digital computer, the newest cognitive models are inspired by the properties of the brain itself. Variously referred to as connectionist, parallel distributed processing, or neutral network models, they explore the idea that complex intellectual operations can be carried out by large networks of simple, neuron-like units. The units themselves are identical, very low-level and 'stupid'. Intelligent performance is derived from the pattern of connection strengths between units, and the fundamental cognitive activity is pattern recognition and completion. Connectionism and the Mind provides an introduction to this newly emerging approach to understanding the mind. The first few chapters focus on network architecture, offering accessible treatment of the equations that describe learning and the propagation of activation (including a glossary for reference). Furthermore, the reader is walked step-by-step through the activities of networks engaged in pattern recognition, learning, and cognitive tasks such as memory retrieval and prototype formation. The remainder of the book addresses the implications of connectionism for theories of the mind, both philosophical and psychological. Foe example: What Role is played by pattern recognition and completion as basic as cognitive functions? Connectionist models have particular strength in learning and pattern recognition; should they be limited to those functions, or can they provide an overall account of cognitive functioning? In particular, can connectionist models provide an adequate account of the ability to employ linguistic and other symbol systems, or must an adequate system incorporate symbol processing as a basic cognitive capacity? Finally, Connectionism and the Mind examines the relation of connectionist models to philosophical accounts of propositional attitudes, and to a variety of other inquiries in cognitive psychology, linguistics, developmental psychology, artificial intelligence and neuroscience.