springer berlin heidelberg nov 2008 (249 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book could have been entitled ¿Analysis and Geometry.¿ The authors are addressing the following issue: Is it possible to perform some harmonic analysis on a set Harmonic analysis on groups has a long tradition. Here we are given a metric set X with a (positive) Borel measure and we would like to construct some algorithms which in the classical setting rely on the Fourier transformation. Needless to say, the Fourier transformation does not exist on an arbitrary metric set. This endeavor is not a revolution. It is a continuation of a line of research whichwasinitiated,acenturyago,withtwofundamentalpapersthatIwould like to discuss brie y. The rst paper is the doctoral dissertation of Alfred Haar, which was submitted at to University of Gottingen ¿ in July 1907. At that time it was known that the Fourier series expansion of a continuous function may diverge at a given point. Haar wanted to know if this phenomenon happens for every 2 orthonormal basis of L [0,1]. He answered this question by constructing an orthonormal basis (today known as the Haar basis) with the property that the expansion (in this basis) of any continuous function uniformly converges to that function.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains the proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems (SSS), held November 21¿23, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan USA. SSS started as the Workshop on Self-Stabilizing Systems (WSS), which was rst held at Austin in 1989. From the second WSS in Las Vegas in 1995, the - rum was held biennially, at Santa Barbara(1997),Austin (1999), Lisbon (2001), San Francisco (2003) and Barcelona (2005). The title of the forum changed to the Symposium on Self-Stabilizing Systems (SSS) in 2003. Since 2005, SSS was run annually, and in 2006 (Dallas) the scope of the conference was extended to cover all safety and security-related aspects of self-\* systems. This extension followed the demand for self-stabilization in various areas of distributed c- puting including peer-to-peer networks, wireless sensor networks, mobile ad-hoc networks, robotic networks. To re ect this change, the name of the symposium changed to the International Symposium on Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems (SSS). This year we received 43 submissions from 13 countries. Most submissions were from the USA and France. Each submission was carefully reviewed by three to six Program Committee members with the help of external reviewers. For the rst time a rebuttal phase allowed the authors to react to the reviews beforethediscussionofthepaperswithintheProgramCommittee. Outofthe43 submissions,17excellentpaperswereselectedforpresentationatthesymposium, whichcorrespondsto anacceptancerateof40%. Itcanbenotedthatthehighest acceptance rate was for papers with keywordssensor networks (86%),MANETs (67%),andsecurityof sensorandmobile networksprotocols (67%).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -ways in which the magnetic interaction between neutrons and magnetic moments can yield information on the magnetization densities of thin lms and multilayers. I commend the organizers for having organized a group of expert lecturers to present this subject in a detailed but clear fashion, as the importance of the subject deserves. Argonne, IL S. K. Sinha Contents 1 The Interaction of X-Rays (and Neutrons) with Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 F. de Bergevin 1. 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 2 Generalities and De nitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1. 3 From the Scattering by an Object to the Propagation in a Medium . 14 1. 4 X-Rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 1. 5 X-Rays: Anisotropic Scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 1. A Appendix: the Born Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 2 Statistical Aspects of Wave Scattering at Rough Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 A. Sentenac and J. Daillant 2. 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 2. 2 Description of Randomly Rough Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2. 3 Description of a Surface Scattering Experiment, Coherence Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 2. 4 Statistical Formulation of the Diffraction Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 2. 5 Statistical Formulation of theScattered Intensity Under the Born Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 3 Specular Re ectivity from Smooth and Rough Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 A. Gibaud and G. Vignaud 3. 1 The Re ected Intensity from an Ideally Flat Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 3. 2 X-Ray Re ectivity in Strati ed Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 3. 3 From Dynamical to Kinematical Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 3. 4 In uence of the Roughness on the Matrix Coef cients . . . . . . . . . . 111 3. A Appendix: The Treatment of Roughness in Specular Re ectivity . . 113 3. B Appendix: Inversion of re ectivity data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains scientific papers and case studies presented at Interactive Sto- telling ¿08: The First Joint International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS), held November 26¿29, 2008, in Erfurt, Germany. Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) is a cross-disciplinary topic, which explores new uses of interactive technologies for creating and experiencing narratives. IDS is also a huge step forward in games and learning. This can be seen through its ability to enrich virtual characters with intelligent behavior, to allow collaboration of humans and machines in the creative process, and to combine narrative knowledge and user activity in interactive artifacts. IDS involves concepts from many aspects of Computer Science, above all from Artificial Intelligence, with topics such as narrative intelligence, automatic dialogue and drama management, and smart graphics. In order to process stories in real time, traditional storytelling needs to be formalized into computable models by drawing from narratological studies. As it is currently hardly accessible for creators and e- users, there is a need for new authoring concepts and tools supporting the creation of such dynamic stories, allowing for rich and meaningful interaction with the content.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 348 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Keywords Spin ¿ Electromagnetic radiation ¿ Resonance ¿ Nucleus ¿ Hydrogen ¿ Proton ¿ Certain atomic nuclei possess inherent magnetic Let us summarize the MRI procedure. Te patient properties called spin, and can interact with electro- is placed in a magnetic feld and becomes temporarily 1 magnetic (EM) radiation through a process called magnetized. Resonance is achieved through the - resonance. When such nuclei absorb EM energy they plication of specifc pulses of EM radiation, which is proceed to an excited, unstable confguration. Upon absorbed by the patient. Subsequently, the excess - return to equilibrium, the excess energy is released, ergy is liberated and measured. Te captured signal producing the MR signal. Tese processes are not is processed by a computer and converted to a gray random, but obey predefned rules. scale (MR) image. Te simplest nucleus is that of hydrogen (H), con- Why do we need to place the patient in a m- sisting of only one particle, a proton. Because of its net Because the earth¿s magnetic feld is too weak to abundance in humans and its strong MR signal, H be clinically useful; it varies from 0. 3¿0. 7 Gauss (G). is the most useful nucleus for clinical MRI. Tus, foC r urrent clinical MR systems operate at low, mid or our purposes, MRI refers to MRI of hydrogen, and for h igh feld strength ranging from 0. 1 to 3.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Thermodynamics is not the oldest of sciences. Mechanics can make that claim. Thermodynamicsisaproductofsomeofthegreatestscienti cmindsofthe19thand 20th centuries. But it is suf ciently established that most authors of new textbooks in thermodynamics nd it necessary to justify their writing of yet another textbook. I nd this an unnecessary exercise because of the centrality of thermodynamics as a science in physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. I do acknowledge, however, that instruction in thermodynamics often leaves the student in a confused state. My attempt in this book is to present thermodynamics in as simple and as uni ed a form as possible. As teachers we identify the failures of our own teachers and attempt to correct them. Although I personally acknowledge with a deep gratitude the appreciation for thermodynamics that I found as an undergraduate, I also realize that my teachers did not convey to me the sweeping grandeur of thermodynamics. Speci cally the s- plicity and the power that James Clerk Maxwell found in the methods of Gibbs were not part of my undergraduate experience. Unfortunately some modern authors also seem to miss this central theme, choosing instead to introduce the thermodynamic potentials as only useful functions at various points in the development.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 420 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Security, IWSEC 2008, held in Kagawa, Japan, in November 2008. The 18 revised full papers presented together with 1 invited talk were carefully reviewed and selected from 94 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on cryptography, signature and signcryption, software security, privacy protection and contents protection, authentication and access control, as well as implementation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed joint post-workshop proceedings of three international workshops held in conjunction with the 10th Asia-Pacific Web Conference, APWeb 2008, in Shenyang, China, in April 2008 (see LNCS 4976).The 15 revised full papers presented together with 4 invited papers and 4 keynote lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. Topics addressed by the workshops are business intelligence and data mining (BIDM 2008), health data management (IWHDM 2008), and data engineering and Web technology research (DeWeb 2008). The papers focus on issues such as Web searching, Web services, database, data mining, bioinformatics, and business intelligence.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -1. Objectives and Plan of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3. Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Part I. Multilateral Debt Relief for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 A. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 1. Concessional Assistance to Low-Income Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2. The HIPC Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2. 1. The Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative of 1996 . . . . . . . . 33 2. 2. The Cologne G-8 Summit of 1999 and HIPC II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2. 3. Eligibility and Implementation under the Enhanced HIPC Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 3. What kind of debt is addressed by HIPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 4. HIPC Funding and Finances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 4. 1. The PRGF-HIPC Trust of the IMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4. 2. The World Bank HIPC Trust Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4. 3. The IDA Debt Reduction Facility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 4. 4. HIPC Financing through Multilateral Creditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4. 5. Conclusion: Trust Fund Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 5. HIPC Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 B. Debt Relief under the G-8: The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 1. MDRI as Operational Successor of HIPC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 2. Subsequent Changes in Lending Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 C. Case Study: The Contemporary History of Debt Relief in Ghana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 1. Ghana's History with Economic Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 2. Ghana's Reform Process under HIPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 X Table of Content 2. 1. Implementation of the HIPC Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 2. 1. 1. Preliminary Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 2. 1. 2. Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 2. 1. 3. Decision Point Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 2. 1. 4. Ghana's Completion Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 2. 2. Donor Coordination under the Multi Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 380 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -PRIMA 2008 was the 11th in a series of conferences gathering researchers - voted to developing intelligent agents and multi-agent technologies from Asia and the Paci c regions. From its rst incarnation over a decade ago, PRIMA has emerged as a signi cant international forum, facilitating the exchange and dissemination of innovative research from around the globe. PRIMA 2008 was held in Vietnam, a tribute to this country¿s emerging s- enti c vitality and importance as a developing innovation center. The Program Committee received 56 submissions from 20 countries. Many of these papers are the work of PhD or Masters students from Asian countries including - rea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, India, and Vietnam. In accordance with the rules, each submission was carefully peer-reviewed by three Program C- mittee referees. Only 19 submissions were accepted as regular papers, with a competitive rate of 33%. Additionally, the Program Committee decided to accept 22 short papers mainly written by graduate students, allowing our young colleagues an opp- tunity to present their work and new perspectives. These fresh perspectives enhanced our experienced of the conference and complemented the high quality of the professional papers submitted.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 420 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Workgroup Human¿Computer Interaction & Usability Engineering (HCI&UE) of the Austrian Computer Society (OCG) serves as a platform for interdisciplinary - change, research and development. While human¿computer interaction (HCI) tra- tionally brings together psychologists and computer scientists, usability engineering (UE) is a software engineering discipline and ensures the appropriate implementation of applications. Our 2008 topic was Human¿Computer Interaction for Education and Work (HCI4EDU), culminating in the 4th annual Usability Symposium USAB 2008 held during November 20¿21, 2008 in Graz, Austria (usab-symposium.tugraz.at). As with the field of Human¿Computer Interaction in Medicine and Health Care (HCI4MED), which was our annual topic in 2007, technological performance also increases exponentially in the area of education and work. Learners, teachers and knowledge workers are ubiquitously confronted with new technologies, which are available at constantly lower costs. However, it is obvious that within our e-Society the knowledge acquired at schools and universities ¿ while being an absolutely necessary basis for learning ¿ may prove insufficient to last a whole life time. Working and learning can be viewed as parallel processes, with the result that li- long learning (LLL) must be considered as more than just a catch phrase within our society, it is an undisputed necessity. Today, we are facing a tremendous increase in educational technologies of all kinds and, although the influence of these new te- nologies is enormous, we must never forget that learning is both a basic cognitive and a social process ¿ and cannot be replaced by technology.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 508 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Establishing a new concept of local Lyapunov exponents the author brings together two separate theories, namely Lyapunov exponents and the theory of large deviations.Specifically, a linear differential system is considered which is controlled by a stochastic process that during a suitable noise-intensity-dependent time is trapped near one of its so-called metastable states. The local Lyapunov exponent is then introduced as the exponential growth rate of the linear system on this time scale. Unlike classical Lyapunov exponents, which involve a limit as time increases to infinity in a fixed system, here the system itself changes as the noise intensity converges, too.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains the post-proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Critical Information Infrastructure Security (CRITIS 2007), that was held during October 3¿5, 2007 in Benalmadena-Costa (Malaga), Spain, and was hosted by the University of Malaga, Computer Science Department. In response to the 2007 call for papers, 75 papers were submitted. Each paper was reviewed by three members of the Program Committee, on the basis of significance, novelty, technical quality and critical infrastructures relevance of the work reported therein. At the end of the reviewing process, only 29 papers were selected for pres- tation. Revisions were not checked and the authors bear full responsibility for the content of their papers. CRITIS 2007 was very fortunate to have four exceptional invited speakers: Adrian Gheorghe (Old Dominion University, USA), Paulo Veríssimo (Universidade de L- boa, Portugal), Donald Dudenhoeffer (Idaho National Labs, USA), and Jacques Bus (European Commission, INFSO Unit 'Security'). The four provided a high added value to the quality of the conference with very significant talks on different and int- esting aspects of Critical Information Infrastructures. In 2007, CRITIS demonstrated its outstanding quality in this research area by - cluding ITCIP, which definitively reinforced the workshop. Additionally, the solid involvement of the IEEE community on CIP was a key factor for the success of the event. Moreover, CRITIS received sponsorship from Telecom Italia, JRC of the European Commission, IRRIIS, IFIP, and IABG, to whom we are greatly indebted. 376 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The principal aim of the book is to give a comprehensive account of the variety of approaches to such an important and complex concept as Integrability. Dev- oping mathematical models, physicists often raise the following questions: whether the model obtained is integrable or close in some sense to an integrable one and whether it can be studied in depth analytically. In this book we have tried to c- ate a mathematical framework to address these issues, and we give descriptions of methods and review results. In the Introduction we give a historical account of the birth and development of the theory of integrable equations, focusing on the main issue of the book ¿ the concept of integrability itself. A universal de nition of Integrability is proving to be elusive despite more than 40 years of its development. Often such notions as ¿- act solvability¿ or ¿regular behaviour¿ of solutions are associated with integrable systems. Unfortunately these notions do not lead to any rigorous mathematical d- inition. A constructive approach could be based upon the study of hidden and rich algebraic or analytic structures associated with integrable equations. The requi- ment of existence of elements of these structures could, in principle, be taken as a de nition for integrability. It is astonishing that the nal result is not sensitive to the choice of the structure taken; eventually we arrive at the same pattern of eq- tions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Workshop on Biosurveillance and Biosecurity, BioSecure 2008, held in Raleigh, NC, USA, in December 2008. The 18 revised full papers presented together with one invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on informatics infrastructure and policy considerations; network-based data analytics; biosurveillance models and outbreak detection; model assessment and case studies; environmental biosurveillance and case studies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 196 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Globalization requires effective international and cross-cultural collaboration. When project teams from Western cultures first come into contact with colleagues from the Indian IT and BPO industry, prejudices against the new and unknown are typically amplified. This book is a start on the journey of cultural appreciation for managers, project leaders, and offshore coordinators working together with Indians. It is also a resource for business managers and company strategists seeking to understand the softer aspects behind the headlines that the Indian IT and BPO industry so frequently creates. Being both academically well researched and an account of the author¿s many years of personal experience in India, the book opens with a description of cultural dimensions that help to break down culturally driven matters. It provides background information about India as a country and a social system. Examining the development and current status of Indiäs IT and BPO industry, it moves on to describe the dynamics of its workforce. The book then provides practical information on how to communicate, negotiate, and interact with Indian colleagues, and intelligently utilize expatriates. It closes by formulating recommendations for a more effective collaboration.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Theory and Application of Cryptology and Information Security, ASIACRYPT 2008, held in Melbourne, Australia, in December 2008. The 33 revised full papers presented together with the abstract of 1 invited lecture were carefully reviewed and selected from 208 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on muliti-party computation, cryptographic protocols, cryptographic hash functions, public-key cryptograhy, lattice-based cryptography, private-key cryptograhy, and analysis of stream ciphers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 588 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Entanglement and (de-)coherence arguably define the central issues of concern in present day quantum information theory. Entanglement being a consequence of the quantum mechanical superposition principle for composite systems, a better understanding of the environment-induced destruction of coherent superposition states is required to devise novel strategies for harvesting quantum interference phenomena.The present book collects a series of advanced lectures on the theoretical foundations of this active research field, from mathematical aspects underlying quantum topology to mesoscopic transport theory.All lectures start out from an elementary level and proceed along a steep learning curve. This makes the material particularly suitable for student seminars on the more fundamental theoretical aspects of quantum information, and equally useful as supplementary reading for advanced lectures on this topic.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 3rd Asian Semantic Web Conference, ASWC 2008, held in Bankok, Thailand, in December 2008. The 37 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 118 submissions. The papers address the latest results in the research and applications of Semantic Web technologies and cover topics including: scalable reasoning and logic, ontology mapping, ontology modelling and management, ontologies and tags, human language technologies and machine learning, querying, semantic Web services and semantic Web applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 576 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This softcover edition of a very popular two-volume work presents a thorough first course in analysis, leading from real numbers to such advanced topics as differential forms on manifolds, asymptotic methods, Fourier, Laplace, and Legendre transforms, elliptic functions and distributions. Especially notable in this course is the clearly expressed orientation toward the natural sciences and its informal exploration of the essence and the roots of the basic concepts and theorems of calculus. Clarity of exposition is matched by a wealth of instructive exercises, problems and fresh applications to areas seldom touched on in real analysis books.The first volume constitutes a complete course on one-variable calculus along with the multivariable differential calculus elucidated in an up-to-day, clear manner, with a pleasant geometric flavor.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 596 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book covers the results obtained in the Tera op Workbench project during a four years period from 2004 to 2008. The Tera op Workbench project is a colla- ration betweenthe High PerformanceComputingCenter Stuttgart (HLRS) and NEC Deutschland GmbH (NEC-HPCE) to support users to achieve their research goals using high performance computing. The Tera op Workbench supports users of the HLRS systems to enable and - cilitate leading edge scienti c research. This is achieved by optimizing their codes and improving the process work ow which results from the integration of diff- ent modules into a ¿hybrid vector system¿. The assessment and demonstration of industrial relevance is another goal of the cooperation. The Tera op Workbench project consists of numerous individual codes, grouped together by application area and developed and maintained by researchers or c- mercial organizations. Within the project, several of the codes have shown the ab- ity to reach beyond the TFlop/s threshold of sustained performance. This created the possibility for new science and a deeper understanding of the underlying physics. The papers in this book demonstrate the value of the project for different scienti c areas.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Covering an area of over 130 million km2 spanning the Mediterranean, equator and tropics, the African continent features a spectacular geographic diversity. Consequently, it is characterised by extremely variable climatic, edaphic and ecological conditions, associated with a wide range of natural vegetation and wildlife, as well as human population density, crops and livestock.In this book, Henry Le Houérou presents his bioclimatic and biogeographic classification of Africa. The extensive data provide the basis for comparisons between various African regions, and with regions on other continents such as Latin America or the Indian subcontinent. The results constitute a rational basis for national, regional and sub-regional rural development planning, and for agricultural research dealing with aspects such as plant and animal introductions, the extrapolation or interpolation of experimental or developmental findings, and ecosystems dynamics. Possible problems of applications are also examined.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 256 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A modern information retrieval system must have the capability to find, organize and present very different manifestations of information ¿ such as text, pictures, videos or database records ¿ any of which may be of relevance to the user. However, the concept of relevance, while seemingly intuitive, is actually hard to define, and it's even harder to model in a formal way.Lavrenko does not attempt to bring forth a new definition of relevance, nor provide arguments as to why any particular definition might be theoretically superior or more complete. Instead, he takes a widely accepted, albeit somewhat conservative definition, makes several assumptions, and from them develops a new probabilistic model that explicitly captures that notion of relevance. With this book, he makes two major contributions to the field of information retrieval: first, a new way to look at topical relevance, complementing the two dominant models, i.e., the classical probabilistic model and the language modeling approach, and which explicitly combines documents, queries, and relevance in a single formalism; second, a new method for modeling exchangeable sequences of discrete random variables which does not make any structural assumptions about the data and which can also handle rare events.Thus his book is of major interest to researchers and graduate students in information retrieval who specialize in relevance modeling, ranking algorithms, and language modeling.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The editors and authors dedicate this book to Bernhard Korte on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. We, the editors, are happy about the overwhelming feedback to our initiative to honor him with this book and with a workshop in Bonn on November 3¿7,2008.Althoughthiswouldbeareasontolookback,wewouldratherliketolook forward and see what are the interesting research directions today. This book is written by leading experts in combinatorial optimization. All - pers were carefully reviewed, and eventually twenty-three of the invited papers were accepted for this book. The breadth of topics is typical for the eld: combinatorial optimization builds bridges between areas like combinatorics and graph theory, submodular functions and matroids, network ows and connectivity, approximation algorithms and mat- matical programming, computational geometry and polyhedral combinatorics. All these topics are related, and they are all addressed in this book. Combi- torial optimization is also known for its numerous applications. To limit the scope, however, this book is not primarily about applications, although some are mentioned at various places. Most papers in this volume are surveys that provide an excellent overview of an activeresearcharea,butthisbookalsocontainsmanynewresults.Highlightingmany of the currently most interesting research directions in combinatorial optimization, we hope that this book constitutes a good basis for future research in these areas.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 584 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -bosonisation, parastatistics, parabosonic and parafermionic algebras, orthoalgebas and root systems in quantum mechanics;Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Honey bee colonies demonstrate robust adaptive efficient agent-based communications and task allocations without centralized controls ¿ desirable features in network design. This book introduces a multipath routing algorithm for packet-switched telecommunication networks based on techniques observed in bee colonies. The algorithm, BeeHive, is dynamic, simple, efficient, robust and flexible, and it represents an important step towards intelligent networks that optimally manage resources.The author guides the reader in a survey of nature-inspired routing protocols and communication techniques observed in insect colonies. He then offers the design of a scalable framework for nature-inspired routing algorithms, and he examines a practical application using real networks of Linux routers. He also utilizes formal techniques to analytically model the performance of nature-inspired routing algorithms. In the last chapters of the book, he introduces an immune-inspired security framework for nature-inspired algorithms, and uses the wisdom of the hive for routing in ad hoc and sensor networks. Finally, the author provides a comprehensive bibliography to serve as a reference for nature-inspired solutions to networking problems.This book bridges the gap between natural computing and computer networking. What sets this book apart from other texts on this subject is its natural engineering approach in which the challenges and objectives of a real-world system are identified before its solution, nature-inspired or otherwise, is discussed. This balanced exposition of the book makes it equally suitable for telecommunication network designers and theorists, and computer science researchers engaged with artificial intelligence, agents, and nature-inspired techniques.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 328 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It is with greatpleasure that we present the proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC 2008) in Las Vegas, Nevada. ISVC o ers a common umbrella for the four main areas of visual computing including vision, graphics, visualization, and virtual reality. Its goal is to provide a forum for researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world to present their latest research ndings, ideas, developments and applications in the broader area of visual computing. This year,ISVC grew signi cantly; the programconsisted of 15 oralsessions, 1 poster session, 8 special tracks, and 6 keynote presentations. The response to the call for papers was very strong; we received over 340 submissions for the main symposium from which we accepted 102 papers for oral presentation and 70 papers for poster presentation. Special track papers were solicited separately through the Organizing and Program Committees of each track. A total of 56 papers were accepted for oral presentation and 8 papers for poster presentation in the special tracks. All papers were reviewed with an emphasis on potential to contribute to the state of the art in the eld. Selection criteria included accuracy and originality of ideas, clarity and signi cance of results, and presentation quality. The review process was quite rigorous, involving two to three independent blind reviews followed by several days of discussion. During the discussion period we tried to correct anomalies and errors that might have existed in the initial reviews. 1296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It is with greatpleasure that we present the proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC 2008) in Las Vegas, Nevada. ISVC o ers a common umbrella for the four main areas of visual computing including vision, graphics, visualization, and virtual reality. Its goal is to provide a forum for researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world to present their latest research ndings, ideas, developments and applications in the broader area of visual computing. This year,ISVC grew signi cantly; the programconsisted of 15 oralsessions, 1 poster session, 8 special tracks, and 6 keynote presentations. The response to the call for papers was very strong; we received over 340 submissions for the main symposium from which we accepted 102 papers for oral presentation and 70 papers for poster presentation. Special track papers were solicited separately through the Organizing and Program Committees of each track. A total of 56 papers were accepted for oral presentation and 8 papers for poster presentation in the special tracks. All papers were reviewed with an emphasis on potential to contribute to the state of the art in the eld. Selection criteria included accuracy and originality of ideas, clarity and signi cance of results, and presentation quality. The review process was quite rigorous, involving two to three independent blind reviews followed by several days of discussion. During the discussion period we tried to correct anomalies and errors that might have existed in the initial reviews.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 1264 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Welcome to the proceedings of 9th Pacific-Rim Conference on Multimedia (PCM 2008) held at the National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan during Dec- ber 9¿13, 2008. The first PCM was held in Sydney in 2000. Since then, it has been held successfully around the Pacific Rim, including Beijing in 2001, Hsinchu in 2002, Singapore in 2003, Tokyo in 2004, Jeju in 2005, Zhejiang in 2006, Hong Kong in 2007 and finally Tainan. PCM is a major annual international conference bringing together researchers, developers, and educators in the field of multimedia from around the world. It covers a wide spectrum of multimedia research, from state-of-the-art theoretical breakthroughs to the practical systems of multimedia analysis and processing. PCM 2008 featured a comprehensive program including tutorials, keynote talks, regular oral presentations, special sessions, and poster sessions. This year, we - cepted 79 papers out of 210 submissions, giving an acceptance rate of 37%. In addition, 39 papers were accepted for poster presentation. The submissions were categorized into five different tracks: multimedia compression, communication and networking, multimedia processing, analysis and retrieval, multimedia databases, systems, and applications, multimedia human¿computer interfaces, multimedia security and digital right management, with a total of 210 submissions from 18 countries and regions. Among the five tracks, ¿multimedia analysis and retrieval¿ received the most submissions (34% of the submissions). We kindly appreciate the great effort made by the Program Committee members and the additional reviewers in the reviewing of submissions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 968 pp. Englisch.