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Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Goals of Data Collection and Its Statistical Treatment in the Earth Sciences The earth sciences are characterised by loose and complex relationships between variables, and the necessity to understand the geographical dis tribution of observations as well as their frequency distribution. Our fre quency distributions and the looseness of relationships reflect the com plexity and intrinsic natural variation in nature, more than measurement error. Furthermore, earth scientists cannot design experiments according to statistical recommendation because the availability and complexity of data are beyond our control. Usually, the system we are studying cannot be isolated into discrete independent variables. These factors influence the first steps of research, how and where to collect specimens or observations. Some issues are particularly troublesome and common in earth science, but are rarely handled in an undergraduate statistics course. These include spatial-sampling methods, orientation data, regionalised variables, time se ries, identification of cyclicity and pattern, discrimination, multivariate systems, lurking variables and constant-sum data. It is remarkable that most earth-science students confront these issues without formal training or focused consideration.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Most of the interesting and difficult problems in statistical mechanics arise when the constituent particles of the system interact with each other with pair or multi particle energies. The types of behaviour which occur in systems because of these interactions are referred to as cooperative phenomena giving rise in many cases to phase transitions. This book and its companion volume (Lavis and Bell 1999, referred to in the text simply as Volume 2) are princi pally concerned with phase transitions in lattice systems. Due mainly to the insights gained from scaling theory and renormalization group methods, this 1 subject has developed very rapidly over the last thirty years. In our choice of topics we have tried to present a good range of fundamental theory and of applications, some of which reflect our own interests. A broad division of material can be made between exact results and ap proximation methods. We have found it appropriate to include some of our discussion of exact results in this volume and some in Volume 2. The other main area of discussion in this volume is mean-field theory leading to closed form approximations. Although this is known not to give reliable results close to a critical region, it often provides a good qualitative picture for phase dia grams as a whole. For complicated systems some kind of mean-field method is often the only tractable method available.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Technology Assessment processes can be taken as a paradigm for interdisciplinary research. It is expected that interdisciplinary Technology Assessment is able to find solutions for actual sociopolitical problems that go beyond those expected from one individual scientific discipline alone. The common notion, that for tasks like this different disciplinary perspectives should be brought together, confronts the fact that there is no common notion on how interdisciplinary research should be done. In the present volume European experts of Technology Assessment present their perspectives on interdisciplinary research. Many focus on methodology, policy consulting, and participation of stakeholders, non-experts and citizens. Others present concrete case studies concerning climate change and health care. Each contribution is commented by an other scientist. The result is a discussion-like examination of the connection between interdisciplinarity and the main subjects of Technology Assesment.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -S-Cube¿s Foundations for the Internet of Services Today¿s Internet is standing at a crossroads. The Internet has evolved from a source of information to a critical infrastructure which underpins our lives and economies. The demand for more multimedia content, more interconnected devices, more users, a richer user experience, services available any time and anywhere increases the pressure on existing networks and service platforms. The Internet needs a fundamental rearrangement to be ready to meet future needs. One of the areas of research for the Future Internet is the Internet of S- vices, a vision of the Internet where everything (e. g. , information, software, platforms and infrastructures) is available as a service. Services available on the Internet of Services can be used by anyone (if they are used according to the policies de ned by the provider) and they can be extended with new services by anyone. Advantages of the Internet of Services include the p- sibility to build upon other people¿s e orts and the little investment needed upfront to develop an application. The risk involved in pursuing new business ideas is diminished, and might lead to more innovative ideas being tried out in practice. It will lead to the appearance of new companies that are able to operate in niche areas, providing services to other companies that will be able to focus on their core business.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 392 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In this comprehensive and stimulating text and reference, the authors have succeeded in combining experimental data with current hypotheses and theories to explain the complex physiological functions of plants. For every student, teacher and researcher in the plant sciences it offers a solid basis for an in-depth understanding of the entire subject area, underpinning up-to-date research in plant physiology. The authors vividly explain current research by references to experiments, they cite original literature in figures and tables, and, at the end of each chapter, list recent references that are relevant for a deeper analysis of the topic. In addition, an abundance of detailed and informative illustrations complement the text.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 640 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This revised and extended edition of the book Fields, Symmetries, and Quarks, originally published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, Hamburg, 1989, contains a new chapter on electroweak interactions which has also grown out of lectures that I have given in the meantime. In addition, a number of changes, mainly in the metric used, in the discussion of the theory of strong interactions, QCD, and in the chapter on hadron physics, have been made and errors have been corrected. The motivation for this book, however, is still the same as it was 10 years ago: This is a book on quantum field theory and our present understanding of leptons and hadrons for advanced students and the non-specialists and, in particular, the experimentalists working on problems of nuclear and hadron physics. I am grateful to Dr. S. Leupold for a very careful reading of the revised manuscript, many corrections, and helpful suggestions and to C. Traxler for producing the figures and for constructive discussions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Most of the interesting and difficult problems in statistical mechanics arise when the constituent particles of the system interact with each other with pair or multipartiele energies. The types of behaviour which occur in systems because of these interactions are referred to as cooperative phenomena giving rise in many cases to phase transitions. This book and its companion volume (Lavis and Bell 1999, referred to in the text simply as Volume 1) are princi pally concerned with phase transitions in lattice systems. Due mainly to the insights gained from scaling theory and renormalization group methods, this subject has developed very rapidly over the last thirty years. ' In our choice of topics we have tried to present a good range of fundamental theory and of applications, some of which reflect our own interests. A broad division of material can be made between exact results and ap proximation methods. We have found it appropriate to inelude some of our discussion of exact results in this volume and some in Volume 1. Apart from this much of the discussion in Volume 1 is concerned with mean-field theory. Although this is known not to give reliable results elose to a critical region, it often provides a good qualitative picture for phase diagrams as a whole. For complicated systems some kind of mean-field method is often the only tractable method available. In this volume our main concern is with scaling theory, algebraic methods and the renormalization group.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 444 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Systematic investigations of the structure, mechanics, and dynamics of biological surfaces help us understand more about biological processes taking place at cell and bacteria surfaces. Presented here is a study of the role membrane-bound saccharides play in the modulation of interactions between cells/bacteria and their environments. In this thesis, membrane structures were probed perpendicular and parallel to the surface, and sophisticated planar models of biomembranes composed of glycolipids of various structural complexities were designed. Furthermore, specular and off-specular X-ray and neutron scattering experiments were carried out. This research has led to the development of several new methods for extracting information on the structure and mechanics of saccharide-rendered biomembranes from the measured scattering signals. In fact, more is now known about the influence of the saccharide structure. These results demonstrate that the study of planar model systems with X-ray and neutron scattering techniques can provide comprehensive insight into the structure and mechanics of complex biological surfaces.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 144 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is an excellent introduction to density functional theory for electrons. Largely written in review style, it will also serve as an excellent overview of recent developments.Nonrelativistic and relativistic approaches are discussed and conventional ground-state as well as polarization density functional and time-dependent density functional formalisms are introduced. A careful discussion of the exchange-correlation functional and approximations is presented and a chapter is devoted to an analysis of hybrid wavefunction/density-functional approximations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Computer Architecture: Complexity and Correctness develops, at the gate level, the complete design of a pipelined RISC processor with delayed branch, forwarding, hardware interlock, precise maskable nested interrupts, caches, and a fully IEEE-compliant floating point unit. In contrast to other design approaches applied in practice and unlike other textbooks available, the design presented here are modular, clean and complete up to the construction of entire complex machines. The authors' systematically basing their approach on rigorous mathematical formalisms allows for rigorous correctness proofs, accurate hardware costs determination, and performance evaluation as well as, generally speaking, for coverage of a broad variety of relevant issues within a reasonable number of pages. The book is written as a text for classes on computer architecture and related topics and will serve as a valuable source of reference for professionals in hardware design.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 568 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The first edition of this book has found great interest among scientists and en gineers dealing with pattern recognition and among psychologists working on psychophysics or Gestalt psychology. This book also proved highly useful for graduate students of informatics. The concept of the synergetic computer offers an important alternative to the by now more traditional neural nets. I just mention a few advantages: There are no ghost states so that time-consuming methods such as simulated annealing can be avoided; the synaptic strengths are explicitly determined by the prototype patterns to be stored, but they can equally well be learned, and the learning procedure allows a classification. Also a precise meaning and function can be attributed to 'hidden variables'. The synergetic computer has found a number of important practical applications in industry. I use the opportunity of this second edition to include a new section on transfor mation properties of the equations of the synergetic computer and on the invariance properties of its order parameter equations. A new section is devoted to the problem of stereopsis that is dealt with by the basic concept of the synergetic computer. Finally, attention is paid to a recent de velopment, namely to the use of pulse-coupled neural nets for pattern recognition.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Software is rarely built completely from scratch. To a great extent, existing software documents (source code, design documents, etc.) are copied and adapted to fit new requirements. Yet we are far from the goal of making reuse the standard approach to software development. Software reuse is the process of creating software systems from existing software rather than building them from scratch. Software reuse is still an emerging discipline. It appears in many different forms from ad-hoc reuse to systematic reuse, and from white-box reuse to black-box reuse. Many different products for reuse range from ideas and algorithms to any documents that are created during the software life cycle. Source code is most commonly reused; thus many people misconceive software reuse as the reuse of source code alone. Recently source code and design reuse have become popular with (object-oriented) class libraries, application frameworks, and design patterns. Software components provide a vehicle for planned and systematic reuse. The software community does not yet agree on what a software component is exactly. Nowadays, the term component is used as a synonym for object most of the time, but it also stands for module or function. Recently the term component-based or component-oriented software development has be come popular. In this context components are defined as objects plus some thing. What something is exactly, or has to be for effective software develop ment, remains yet to be seen. However, systems and models are emerging to support that notion.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This is a book about representing symmetry in quantum mechanics. The book is on a graduate and/or researcher level and it is written with an attempt to be concise, to respect conceptual clarity and mathematical rigor. The basic structures of quantum mechanics are used to identify the automorphism group of quantum mechanics. The main concept of a symmetry action is defined as a group homomorphism from a given group, the group of symmetries, to the automorphism group of quantum mechanics. The structure of symmetry actions is determined under the assumption that the symmetry group is a Lie group. The Galilei invariance is used to illustrate the general theory by giving a systematic presentation of a Galilei invariant elementary particle. A brief description of the Galilei invariant wave equations is also given.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 124 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Capital theory is a cornerstone of modern economics. Its ideas are fundamental for dynamic equilibrium theory and its concepts are applied in many branches of economics like game theory, resource and environmental economics, although this may not be recognized on a first glance. In this monograph, an approach is presented, which allows to derive important results of capital theory in a coherent and readily accessible framework. A special emphasis is given on infinite horizon and overlapping generations economics. Irreversibility of time, or the failure of the market system appear in a different light if an infinite horizon framework is applied. To bridge the gap between pure and applied economic theory, the structure of our theoretical approach is integrated in a computable general equilibrium model.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Europäische Akademie Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH is concerned with the scientific study ofthe consequences of scientific and technological advance for the individual, society and the natural environment and, therefore, not least with the study of consequences of recent developments in life-sciences and medical disci plines. The Europäische Akademie intends to contribute to find a rational way for society to deal with the consequences of scientific progress. This aim is mainly realised by proposing recommendations for options of action with long-term social acceptance. The work of the Europäische Akademie mostly takes place in tempo rary interdisciplinary project groups, whose members are recognised scientists from European universities and other independent institutes. In the light of recent discussions on the validity of scientific assumptions con cerning the extrapolation ofharmful effects into the low-dose range the Europäis che Akademie set up a project on 'Lew-Dose Exposures in the Environment their Risk Assessments and Regulatory Processes' in January 2001. Experts ofradiobi ology, toxicology, medical epidemiology, modelling,jurisprudence, psychology and philosophy from different European countries wcre brought together to discuss cur rent scientific developments in environmental standard setting and risk evaluation of substances and ionising radiation at very low doses in order to ensure rational, efficient, and fair decisions. I am glad that by means ofthis memorandum, that continues our work on envi ronmental standards and after our recommendations with respect to the regulation ofcombined agents we can now focus on the effects and the regulation ofharmful agents in the very low-dose range.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 492 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A completely revised and updated version of this book was published in 2015 under the title 'The Strategy Planning Process'.A company's strategies define its future direction, specifying not only target market positions for many years to come, but also the key competitive advantages both at the level of market offers and of resources. Developing future strategies is an important and complex task, which is the core issue in this book. After a short introduction to strategic planning, a heuristic process for determining future strategies is presented. This process is divided into eight steps, and for each of these steps, detailed recommendations for problem-solving are provided and illustrated through many concrete examples. The new edition is improved.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Europaische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-techni scher Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH (european academy) is con cerned with the scientific study of the consequences of scientific and technological advance for the individual and social life and for the natural environment. The main focus is to examine foreseeable mid-and long-term processes that are especially influenced by natural-and engineering sciences and the medical disciplines. The academy fulfills this task by organizing interdisciplinary expert discussions. Another important issue of the work of the Europaische Akademie concerns the methodology of Technology Assessment as a general issue. This is the main reason that the european academy organized during the past two years a project funded by the European Commission on Technology Assessment. Methods and Impact (TAMI). Together with partners from all over Europe a common understanding of what Tech nology Assessment (TA) is supposed to do was developed. Most importantly it was acknowledged that the core of any TA activity has to be a sound scientific under standing of the relevant phenomena. Communication then is of cordial importance to reach the relevant decision makers as well as the general public. It is true that this phase of the TA process has been treated with too little attention for many years. The communication processes between scientific advisers and policy makers have hence to be further scrutinized.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Database technology and entity-relationship (ER) modeling have meanwhile reached the level of an established technology. This book presents the achievements of research in this field in a comprehensive survey. It deals with the entity-relationship model and its extensions with regard to an integrated development and modeling of database applications and, consequently, the specification of structures, behavior and interaction. Apart from research on the ER model and the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of database modeling the book also presents techniques for the translation of the ER model into classical database models and languages such as relational, hierarchical, and network models and languages, and also into object-oriented models. The book is of interest for all database theoreticians as well as practitioners who are provided with the relevant foundations of database modeling.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 640 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Statistics and hypothesis testing are routinely used in areas (such as linguistics) that are traditionally not mathematically intensive. In such fields, when faced with experimental data, many students and researchers tend to rely on commercial packages to carry out statistical data analysis, often without understanding the logic of the statistical tests they rely on. As a consequence, results are often misinterpreted, and users have difficulty in flexibly applying techniques relevant to their own research ¿ they use whatever they happen to have learned. A simple solution is to teach the fundamental ideas of statistical hypothesis testing without using too much mathematics.This book provides a non-mathematical, simulation-based introduction to basic statistical concepts and encourages readers to try out the simulations themselves using the source code and data provided (the freely available programming language R is used throughout). Since the code presented in the text almost always requires the use of previously introduced programming constructs, diligent students also acquire basic programming abilities in R.The book is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in any discipline, although the focus is on linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. It is designed for self-instruction, but it can also be used as a textbook for a first course on statistics. Earlier versions of the book have been used in undergraduate and graduate courses in Europe and the US.¿Vasishth and Broe have written an attractive introduction to the foundations of statistics. It is concise, surprisingly comprehensive,self-contained and yet quite accessible. Highly recommended.¿Harald Baayen, Professor of Linguistics, University of Alberta, Canada¿By using the text students not only learn to do the specific things outlined in the book, they also gain a skill set that empowers them to explore new areas that lie beyond the book¿s coverage.¿Colin Phillips, Professor of Linguistics, University of Maryland, USASpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 196 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The terms groupware and CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work) have received significant attention in computer science and related disciplines for quite some time now. This book is a revised and extended version of the 2nd edition of the German textbook 'Rechnergestützte Gruppenarbeit: Eine Einführung in verteilte Anwendungen'. It has two main objectives: first, to outline the meaning of both terms, and second, to point out both the numer ous opportunities for users of groupware and the risks of applying such sys tems. The book intends to introduce an area of distributed systems, namely the computer support of individuals trying to solve a common problem in cooperation with each other but not necessarily having identical work pi aces or working times. Computer-supported cooperative work is an interdisciplinary application domain. It can be viewed as a synergism between the areas of distributed sys tems and (multimedia-) communication on the one hand and between those of information science and socio-organizational theory on the other hand. Thus, the book is meant to help students of aH these disciplines, as weH as users and developers of systems which have communication and cooperation within groups as top priorities.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 548 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This laboratory handbook offers clear guidelines and tips for the practical everyday application of viscosimetry, as well as supplying a comprehensive companion for the interpretation of viscosimetric data from simple to complex polymer solutions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 140 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Hysteresis effects occur in science and engineering: plasticity, ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity are well-known examples. Modelling and mathematical analysis of hysteresis phenomena have been addressed by mathematicians only recently, but are now in full development.This volume provides a self-contained and comprehensive introduction to the analysis of hysteresis models, and illustrates several new results in this field. First the classical models of Prandtl, Ishlinskii, Preisach and Duhem are formulated and studied, using the concept of 'hysteresis operator'. A new model of discontinuous hysteresis is introduced. Several partial differential equations containing hysteresis operators are studied in the framework of Sobolev spaces.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 428 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Multimedia Systems discusses the basic characteristics of multimedia operating systems, networking and communication, and multimedia middleware systems. The overall goal of the book is to provide a broad understanding of multimedia systems and applications in an integrated manner: a multimedia application and its user interface must be developed in an integrated fashion with underlying multimedia middleware, operating systems, networks, security, and multimedia devices.Fundamental characteristics of multimedia operating and distributed communication systems are presented, especially scheduling algorithms and other OS supporting approaches for multimedia applications with soft-real-time deadlines, multimedia file systems and servers with their decision algorithms for data placement, scheduling and buffer management, multimedia communication, transport, and streaming protocols, services with their error control, congestion control and other Quality ofService aware and adaptive algorithms, synchronization services with their skew control methods, and group communication with their group coordinating algorithms and other distributed services.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Program analysis concerns static techniques for computing reliable approximate information about the dynamic behaviour of programs. Applications include compilers (for code improvement), software validation (for detecting errors in algorithms or breaches of security) and transformations between data representation (for solving problems such as the Y2K problem). This book is unique in giving an overview of the four major approaches to program analysis: data flow analysis, constraint based analysis, abstract interpretation, and type and effect systems. The presentation demonstrates the extensive similarities between the approaches; this will aid the reader in choosing the right approach and in enhancing it with insights from the other approaches. The book covers basic semantic properties as well as more advanced algorithmic techniques. The book is aimed at M.Sc. and Ph.D. students but will be valuable also for experienced researchers and professionals.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 476 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Today, our world increasingly is conceived of as being molecular. An ever widening range of phenomena are described logically in terms of molecular properties and molecular interactions. The majority ofknown molecules are heterocyclic and heterocycles dominate the fields ofbiochemistry, medicinal chemistry, dyestuffs, photographic science and are of increasing importance in many others, including polymers, adhesives, and molecular engmeenng. Thus, the importance of heterocyclic chemistry continues to increase and this three volume work by Drs. R. R. Gupta, Mahendra Kumar and Vandana Gupta is a welcome addition to the available guides on the subject. Its scope places it in a useful niche between the single-volume texts and monographs ofheterocyclic chemistry and the multivolume treatises. The authors have retained the well tried classical approach but have succeeded in placing their own individual spin on their arrangement. They have put together a well selected range from among the most important ofthe vast array of facts available. This factual material is ordered in a clear and logical fashion over the three volumes. The present work should be of great value to students and practitioners ofheterocyclic chemistry at all levels from the advanced undergraduate upwards. It will be of particular assistance in presenting a clear and modem view of the subject to those who use heterocycles in a variety of other fields and we wish it well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 656 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In this book the basic principles of continuum mechanics and thermodynam ics are treated in the tradition of the rational framework established in the 1960s, typically in the fundamental memoir 'The Non-Linear Field Theories of Mechanics' by Truesdell and Noll. The theoretical aspect of constitutive theories for materials in general has been carefully developed in mathemati cal clarity - from general kinematics, balance equations, material objectivity, and isotropic representations to the framework of rational thermodynamics based on the entropy principle. However, I make no claim that the subjects are covered completely, nor does this book cover solutions and examples that can usually be found in textbooks of fluid mechanics and linear elasticity. However, some of the interesting examples of finite deformations in elastic materials, such as biaxial stretching of an elastic membrane and inflation of a rubber balloon, are discussed. In the last two chapters of the book, some recent developments in ther modynamic theories are considered. Specifically, they emphasize the use of Lagrange multipliers, which enables the exploitation of the entropy principle in a systematic manner for constitutive equations, and introduce some basic notions of extended thermodynamics. Although extended thermodynamics is closely related to the kinetic theory of ideal gases, very limited knowledge of kinetic theory is needed.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Information and knowledge play an increasingly important role in the implementation of public policies, in particular those of the Central and Eastern European Countries. They are involved in many respects in the elaboration of scientific programs. They are more and more present in the political decision making process and as topic for scientific conferences. They are often at the centre of international discussions on related topics, for example, differences in approaches to produce and apply knowledge or different responses to social function of information. A major lesson of these past years applies to democracy. Europeans demand more involvement in decisions that concern them. This demand goes weH beyond decision making. For public action to be acceptable and efficient, the whole process should become more democratic, from the defmition of the problems, to the implementation and the evaluation of solutions. In the context of conducting research on the consequences of scientific and technological advance, the Europäische Akademie Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in Germany and the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic organised a conference on the relationship between 'democracy-participation-technology assessment' in February 1999. The objective of the workshop was to express and to the problems of transition 'from exchange various viewpoints and attitudes information society to knowledge society. ' The great response given to the international conference underlines the need not only for Central and Eastern European Countries to take into consideration more common projects like this for the future.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The eld of nuclear physics is entering the 21st century in an interesting and exciting way. On the one hand, it is changing qualitatively since new experim- tal developments allow us to direct radioactive and other exotic probes to target nuclei as well as to sparko extremely energetic nuclear collisions. In parallel, detector systems are of an impressive sophistication. It is di cult to envisage all the discoveries that will be made in the near future. On the other hand, the app- cations of nuclear science and technology are broadening the limits in medicine, industry, art, archaeology, and the environmental sciences, etc. This implies that the public perception of our eld is changing, smoothly but drastically, in c- trast to former times where nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants were the dominant applications perceived by citizens. Both aspects, scienti c dynamism and popular recognition, should lead the eld to an unexpected revival. One of the consequences of the former could be that many brilliant students consider nuclear physics as an excellent eld in which to acquire professional expertise. Therefore, one of the challenges of the international nuclear physics community is to try to make the eld attractive. That means simply being pedagogic and enthusiastic. Thus, as organisers of an already established summer school, our contribution was to put an emphasis in this session on pedagogy and enthusiasm.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Evolutionary Computing is the collective name for a range of problem-solving techniques based on principles of biological evolution, such as natural selection and genetic inheritance. These techniques are being increasingly widely applied to a variety of problems, ranging from practical applications in industry and commerce to leading-edge scientific research.This book presents the first complete overview of this exciting field aimed directly at lecturers and graduate and undergraduate students. It is also meant for those who wish to apply evolutionary computing to a particular problem or within a given application area. To this group the book is valuable because it presents EC as something to be used rather than just studied.Last, but not least, this book contains quick-reference information on the current state-of-the-art in a wide range of related topics, so it is of interest not just to evolutionary computing specialists but to researchers working in other fields.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The success of the first edition of this broad appeal book prompted the prepa ration of an updated and expanded second edition. The field of surface anal ysis is constantly changing as it answers the need to provide more specific and more detailed information about surface composition and structure in advanced materials science applications. The content of the second edition meets that need by including new techniques and expanded applications. Newcastle John O'Connor Clayton Brett Sexton Adelaide Roger Smart January 2003 Preface to the First Edition The idea for this book stemmed from a remark by Philip Jennings of Mur doch University in a discussion session following a regular meeting of the Australian Surface Science group. He observed that a text on surface anal ysis and applications to materials suitable for final year undergraduate and postgraduate science students was not currently available. Furthermore, the members of the Australian Surface Science group had the research experi ence and range of coverage of surface analytical techniques and applications to provide a text for this purpose. A list of techniques and applications to be included was agreed at that meeting. The intended readership of the book has been broadened since the early discussions, particularly to encompass industrial users, but there has been no significant alteration in content.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 616 pp. Englisch.