springer international publishing sep 2013 (203 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The year is 2035, and the crew from the first expedition to Mars is returning to Earth. The crewmembers are anxious to get home, and ennui pervades the ship. The mood is broken by a series of mysterious events that jeopardize their safety. Someone or something is threatening the crew. Is it an alien being A psychotic crewmember A malfunctioning computer The truth raises questions about the crewmembers¿ fate and that of the human race.In this novel, the intent is to show real psychological issues that could affect a crew returning from a long-duration mission to Mars. The storyline presents a mystery that keeps the reader guessing, yet the issues at stake are based on the findings from the author¿s research and other space-related work over the past 40+ years. The novel touches on actual plans being discussed for such an expedition as well as notions involving the search for Martian life and panspermia.The underlying science, in particular the psychological, psychiatric, and interpersonal elements, are introduced and discussed by the author in an extensive appendix.Nick Kanas is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, where he directed the group therapy training program. For over 20 years he conducted research on group therapy, and for nearly 20 years after that he was the Principal Investigator of NASA-funded research on astronauts and cosmonauts. He is the co-author of Space Psychology and Psychiatry, which won the 2004 International Academy of Astronautics Life Science Book Award, and the author of Humans in Space: The Psychological Hurdles, which won the 2016 International Academy of Astronautics Life Science Book Award.Dr. Kanas has presented talks on space psychology and on celestial mapping at several regional and Worldcon science fiction conventions. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (London), he has been an amateur astronomer for over 50 years and is an avid reader of science fiction. He is also the author of two non-fiction books (Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography and Solar System Maps: From Antiquity to the Space Age) and two science fiction novels (The New Martians andThe Protos Mandate), all published by Springer.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book deals with Private Information Retrieval (PIR), a technique allowing a user to retrieve an element from a server in possession of a database without revealing to the server which element is retrieved. PIR has been widely applied to protect the privacy of the user in querying a service provider on the Internet. For example, by PIR, one can query a location-based service provider about the nearest car park without revealing his location to the server. The first PIR approach was introduced by Chor, Goldreich, Kushilevitz and Sudan in 1995 in a multi-server setting, where the user retrieves information from multiple database servers, each of which has a copy of the same database. To ensure user privacy in the multi-server setting, the servers must be trusted not to collude. In 1997, Kushilevitz and Ostrovsky constructed the first single-database PIR. Since then, many efficient PIR solutions have been discovered. Beginning with a thorough survey of single-database PIR techniques,this text focuses on the latest technologies and applications in the field of PIR. The main categories are illustrated with recently proposed PIR-based solutions by the authors. Because of the latest treatment of the topic, this text will be highly beneficial to researchers and industry professionals in information security and privacy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 116 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Large surface computing devices (wall-mounted or tabletop) with touch interfaces and their application to collaborative data analysis, an increasingly important and prevalent activity, is the primary topic of this book. Our goals are to outline the fundamentals of surface computing (a still maturing technology), review relevant work on collaborative data analysis, describe frameworks for understanding collaborative processes, and provide a better understanding of the opportunities for research and development. We describe surfaces as display technologies with which people can interact directly, and emphasize how interaction design changes when designing for large surfaces. We review efforts to use large displays, surfaces or mixed display environments to enable collaborative analytic activity. Collaborative analysis is important in many domains, but to provide concrete examples and a specific focus, we frequently consider analysis work in the security domain, and in particular the challenges security personnel face in securing networks from attackers, and intelligence analysts encounter when analyzing intelligence data. Both of these activities are becoming increasingly collaborative endeavors, and there are huge opportunities for improving collaboration by leveraging surface computing. This work highlights for interaction designers and software developers the particular challenges and opportunities presented by interaction with surfaces. We have reviewed hundreds of recent research papers, and report on advancements in the fields of surface-enabled collaborative analytic work, interactive techniques for surface technologies, and useful theory that can provide direction to interaction design work. We also offer insight into issues that arise when developing applications for multi-touch surfaces derived from our own experiences creating collaborative applications. We present these insights at a level appropriate for all members of the software design and developmentteam. Table of Contents: List of Figures / Acknowledgments / Figure Credits / Purpose and Direction / Surface Technologies and Collaborative Analysis Systems / Interacting with Surface Technologies / Collaborative Work Enabled by Surfaces / The Theory and the Design of Surface Applications / The Development of Surface Applications / Concluding Comments / Bibliography / Authors' BiographiesSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The book collects over 120 exercises on different subjects of Mathematical Finance, including Option Pricing, Risk Theory, and Interest Rate Models. Many of the exercises are solved, while others are only proposed. Every chapter contains an introductory section illustrating the main theoretical results necessary to solve the exercises. The book isintended as an exercise textbook to accompany graduate courses in mathematical finance offered at many universities as part of degree programs in Applied and Industrial Mathematics, Mathematical Engineering, and Quantitative Finance.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This authored monograph presents an unconventional approach to an important topic in economic theory. The author is an expert in the field of viability theory and applies this theory to analyze how an economy should be dynamically endowed so that it is economically viable. Economic viability requires an assumption on the joint evolution of transactions, fluctuations of prices and units of numeraire goods: the sum of the ¿transactions values¿ and the ¿impact of price fluctuations¿ should be negative or equal to zero. The book presents a computation of the minimum endowment which restores economic viability and derives the dynamic laws that regulate both transactions and price fluctuations.The target audience primarily comprises open-minded and mathematically interested economists but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 164 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -These texts by Samir Amin have been selected for the purpose of encouraging readers to learn more about his work to trace the historical trajectory of capitalism, which has consistently produced polarization at the global level. Thus the dominated peripheries cannot hope to catch up with the social organization prevailing in the dominant centres and the impossibility of global capitalism becoming stabilized in its peripheries has resulted in the long decline of capitalism, coinciding with successive waves of active involvement by the peoples of the South to shape a new world, potentially embarking on the long journey to socialism. Amin presents this major conflict of the 20th century and identifies the new challenges that the system now faces in the 21st century. His analysis is conducted in terms of historical materialism and should be a useful tool for activists struggling for socialism. Their progress is linked to the emancipation of the Asian, African and Latin American peoples.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The term 'Soil Security' is used in the context of maintaining the quality and quantity of soil needed in order to ensure continuous supplies of food and fresh water for our society. Topics in this unique book on the management of soil sustainability in the Mediterranean region include: soil information, land degradation, land desertification, pedoenvironments, and the carbon cycle and sequestration. One main focus of the book is the description of new approaches that have been adapted with regards to interdisciplinary soil ecosystem management to combat and mitigate desertification. The contributing authors are renowned experts in their fields which cover the subjects on traditional as well as innovative land use and management.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Aimed toward researchers, postgraduate students, and scientists in linear operator theory and mathematical inequalities, this self-contained monograph focuses on numerical radius inequalities for bounded linear operators on complex Hilbert spaces for the case of one and two operators. Students at the graduate level will learn some essentials that may be useful for reference in courses in functional analysis, operator theory, differential equations, and quantum computation, to name several. Chapter 1 presents fundamental facts about the numerical range and the numerical radius of bounded linear operators in Hilbert spaces. Chapter 2 illustrates recent results obtained concerning numerical radius and norm inequalities for one operator on a complex Hilbert space, as well as some special vector inequalities in inner product spaces due to Buzano, Goldstein, RyffandClarke as well as some reverse Schwarz inequalities and Grüss type inequalities obtained by the author. Chapter 3 presents recent results regarding the norms and the numerical radii of two bounded linear operators. The techniques shown in this chapterare elementary but elegant and may be accessible to undergraduate students with a working knowledge of operator theory.A number of vector inequalities in inner product spaces as well as inequalities for means of nonnegative real numbers are also employed in this chapter. All the results presented are completely proved and the original references are mentioned.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services, GECON 2013, held in Zaragoza, Spain, in September 2013.The 20 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: business models, energy consumption, resource allocation, work in progress on resource allocation, work in progress on pricing, quality of service, work in progress on utility and ROI modeling.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Traditional procedures in the statistical forecasting of time series, which are proved to be optimal under the hypothetical model, are often not robust under relatively small distortions (misspecification, outliers, missing values, etc.), leading to actual forecast risks (mean square errors of prediction) that are much higher than the theoretical values. This monograph fills a gap in the literature on robustness in statistical forecasting, offering solutions to the following topical problems: developing mathematical models and descriptions of typical distortions in applied forecasting problems; evaluating the robustness for traditional forecasting procedures under distortions; obtaining the maximal distortion levels that allow the ¿safe¿ use of the traditional forecasting algorithms;creating new robust forecasting procedures to arrive at risks that are less sensitive to definite distortion types.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 372 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the proceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Computer Algebra in Scientific Computing, CASC 2013, held in Berlin, Germany, in September 2013. The 33 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this book. The papers address issues such as polynomial algebra; the solution of tropical linear systems and tropical polynomial systems; the theory of matrices; the use of computer algebra for the investigation of various mathematical and applied topics related to ordinary differential equations (ODEs); applications of symbolic computations for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) in mathematical physics; problems arising at the application of computer algebra methods for finding infinitesimal symmetries; applications of symbolic and symbolic-numeric algorithms in mechanics and physics; automatic differentiation; the application of the CAS Mathematica for the simulation of quantum error correction in quantum computing; the application of the CAS GAP for the enumeration of Schur rings over the group A5; constructive computation of zero separation bounds for arithmetic expressions; the parallel implementation of fast Fourier transforms with the aid of the Spiral library generation system; the use of object-oriented languages such as Java or Scala for implementation of categories as type classes; a survey of industrial applications of approximate computer algebra.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 460 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Lázlo Zechmeister was one of the pioneers in chromatology. He recognized the potential of the chromatographic method and made extensive use of it for his research about natural products. In 1938 he founded the book series 'Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products' which includes review articles on contemporary research by masters in their fields of expertise. This text casts light on his life and his pioneering role in chromatography and provides more detailed insight on the book series.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 72 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This brief presents the challenges and solutions for VANETs¿ security and privacy problems occurring in mobility management protocols including Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6), Proxy MIPv6 (PMIPv6), and Network Mobility (NEMO). The authors give an overview of the concept of the vehicular IP-address configurations as the prerequisite step to achieve mobility management for VANETs, and review the current security and privacy schemes applied in the three mobility management protocols. Throughout the brief, the authors propose new schemes and protocols to increase the security of IP addresses within VANETs including an anonymous and location privacy-preserving scheme for the MIPv6 protocol, a mutual authentication scheme that thwarts authentication attacks, and a fake point-cluster based scheme to prevent attackers from localizing users inside NEMO-based VANET hotspots. The brief concludes with future research directions. Professionals and researchers will find the analysis and new privacy schemes outlined in this brief a valuable addition to the literature on VANET management.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 116 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book presents four mathematical essays which explore the foundations of mathematics and related topics ranging from philosophy and logic to modern computer mathematics. While connected to the historical evolution of these concepts, the essays place strong emphasis on developments still to come.The book originated in a 2002 symposium celebrating the work of Bruno Buchberger, Professor of Computer Mathematics at Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Among many other accomplishments, Professor Buchberger in 1985 was the founding editor of the Journal of Symbolic Computation; the founder of the Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC) and its chairman from 1987-2000; the founder in 1990 of the Softwarepark Hagenberg, Austria, and since then its director.More than a decade in the making, Mathematics, Computer Science and Logic - A Never Ending Story includes essays by leading authorities, on such topics as mathematical foundations from the perspective of computer verification; a symbolic-computational philosophy and methodology for mathematics; the role of logic and algebra in software engineering; and new directions in the foundations of mathematics. These inspiring essays invite general, mathematically interested readers to share state-of-the-art ideas which advance the never ending story of mathematics, computer science and logic.Mathematics, Computer Science and Logic - A Never Ending Story is edited by Professor Peter Paule, Bruno Buchberger¿s successor as director of the Research Institute for Symbolic Computation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 124 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval, SPIRE 2013, held in Jerusalem, Israel, in October 2013. The 18 full papers, 10 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 60 submissions. The program also featured 4 keynote speeches. The following topics are covered: fundamentals algorithms in string processing and information retrieval; SP and IR techniques as applied to areas such as computational biology, DNA sequencing, and Web mining.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -¿The book addresses the topic of on-line implementation of structural and mechanical design criteria as an explicit part of optimal control schemes. The intention of the present research monograph is to reflect recent developments within this area. Examples of application of relevant control algorithms are included to illustrate their practical implementation. These examples are mainly taken from the area of marine technology with the multi-component external loading being represented as both varying in time and with magnitudes that are represented as statistical quantities. The relevant target group will be mechanical and structural engineers that are concerned with ¿smart components and structures¿ where optimal design principles and control actuators are combined. The book is also relevant for engineers e.g. involved in mechatronics and control applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 104 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software Language Engineering, SLE 2013, held in Indianapolis, IN, USA, in October 2013. The 17 technical papers presented together with 2 tool demonstration papers and one keynote were carefully reviewed and selected from 56 submissions. SLE¿s foremost mission is to encourage, synthesize and organize communication between communities that have traditionally looked at software languages from different and yet complementary perspectives. The papers are organized in topical sections on domain-specific languages; language patterns and evolution; grammars; tools; language analysis; andmeta- and megamodelling.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 400 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The papers included in the volume look at how language awareness affects the outcomes of foreign and second language acquisition in advanced learners. The book focuses on questions such as how much linguistic knowledge is open to the learner¿s conscious experience, what should and should not be considered the knowledge of language, how language awareness can be enhanced in the classroom, and, most crucially, what effects language awareness has on attained proficiency. Some papers in the volume also address methodological challenges of researching language awareness, such as the difficulty of defining and measuring awareness with sufficient precision.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The basics of computer algebra and the language of Mathematica are described in this textbook, leading towards an understanding of Mathematica that allows the reader to solve problems in physics, mathematics, and chemistry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Empirical research has clearly demonstrated that animal abuse in childhood is associated with family violence and violent behavior towards humans in general. Such abuse is accordingly of increasing interest within human services and the criminal justice system.This handbook will serve as an ideal resource for therapists in social work, psychology, psychiatry, and allied fields who work with children who have abused animals. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to assess, develop appropriate treatment plans for, and treat children who commit animal abuse, based on the AniCare model developed by the Animals and Society Institute. Exercises cover the identification and expression of feelings, the development of empathy, self-management skills, and working with parents. Careful consideration is also paid to the effects of witnessing animal abuse. The theoretical framework is eclectic, encompassing cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic, and attachment theories. A number of illustrative case studies are included, along with excerpts from treatment sessions. Accompanying electronic supplementary material demonstrates role-played assessment and treatment and includes workshop presentations of pedagogic material.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Since research is best learned by doing, this book emphasizes a hands-on, do-it yourself approach. The readers have many opportunities to see how business researches affect and support management decision. The book used a case study approach for all the chapters with interactive videos. The book gave emphasis to quantitative data analysis using a software program, IBM SPSS 20.0. The data analysis chapters illustrate in detail each step in running the software programs. The software programs files are provided for all data sets: outputs, demonstration movies, and screen captures are on the Website. This book provides students most extensive help available to learn quantitativedata analysis using SPSS. Thus, the authors prepared this textbook and all the additional materials to help the students to understand the functional principles of business research and how to apply them in real-life situations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Every ten years ICAO holds a worldwide air transport conference. The most recent such event - the 6th Worldwide Air Transport Conference (ATConf/6) - was held in Montreal from 18 to 22 March 2013. The questions posed by this book are: are the ¿clerical and administrative tasks¿ for ICAO which were decided on by ATConf/6 (and other preceding conferences) sufficient to meet the needs of the people of the world for safe, regular, economical and efficient air transport Should ICAO not think outside of its 67-year-old box and become a beacon to air transport regulators In other words, shouldn¿t the bottom line of ICAO¿s meaning and purpose in the field of air transport be to analyze trends and guide the air transport industry instead of continuing to merely act as a forum for global practitioners to gather and update information on their respective countries¿ policies for air transport Shouldn¿t ICAO provide direction, as do other agencies of the United Nations This book addresses ICAO¿s inability, unlike most other specialized agencies in their missions, to make a tangible difference in air transport development, through a discussion of key issues affecting the air transport industry. It also inquires into the future of air transport regulation. ¿Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -With this book, distinguished and notable contributors wish to honor Professor Charles S. Tapierös scientific achievements. Although it covers only a few of the directions Professor Tapiero has taken in his work, it presents important modern developments in theory and in diverse applications, as studied by his colleagues and followers, further advancing the topics Tapiero has been investigating. The book is divided into three parts featuring original contributions covering the following areas: general modeling and analysis; applications to marketing, economy and finance; and applications to operations and manufacturing.Professor Tapiero is among the most active researchers in control theory; in the late sixties, he started to enthusiastically promote optimal control theory along with differential games, successfully applying it to diverse problems ranging from classical operations research models to finance, risk and insurance, marketing, transportation and operations management, conflict management and game theory, engineering, regional and urban sciences, environmental economics, and organizational behavior. Over the years, Professor Tapiero has produced over 300 papers and communications and 14 books, which have had a major impact on modern theoretical and applied research. Notable among his numerous pioneering scientific contributions are the use of graph theory in the behavioral sciences, the modeling of advertising as a random walk, the resolution of stochastic zero-sum differential games, the modeling of quality control as a stochastic competitive game, and the development of impulsive control methods in management. Charles Tapierös creativity applies both in formulating original issues, modeling complex phenomena and solving complex mathematical problems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This text collates and examines the jurisprudence that currently exists in respect of blood-tied genetic connection, arguing that the right to identity often rests upon the ability to identify biological ancestors, which in turn requires an absence of adult-centric veto norms. It looks firstly to the nature and purpose of the blood-tie as a unique item of birthright heritage, whose socio-cultural value perhaps lies mainly in preventing, or perhaps engendering, a feared or revered sense of ¿otherness.¿ It then traces the evolution of the various policies on ¿telling¿ and accessing truth, tying these to the diverse body of psychological theories on the need for unbroken attachments and the harms of being origin deprived. The ¿law¿ of the blood-tie comprises of several overlapping and sometimes conflicting strands: the international law provisions and UNCRC Country Reports on the child¿s right to identity, recent Strasbourg case law, and domestic case law from a number of jurisdictions on issues such as legal parentage, vetoes on post-adoption contact, court-delegated decision-making, overturned placements and the best interests of the relinquished child. The text also suggests a means of preventing the discriminatory effects of denied ancestry, calling upon domestic jurists, legislators, policy-makers and parents to be mindful of the long-term effects of genetic ¿kinlessness¿ upon origin deprived persons, especially where they have been tasked with protecting this vulnerable section of the population.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 320 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This lecture notesbook presents how enhanced structural information of biomolecular ionscan be obtainedfrom interaction with photons of specific frequency - laser light. The methods described in the book 'Laser photodissociation and spectroscopy of mass-separated biomolecular ions' make use of the fact that the discrete energy and fast time scale of photoexcitation can provide more control in ion activation. This activation is the crucial process producing structure-informative product ions that cannot be generated with more conventional heating methods, such as collisional activation. The book describes how the powerful separation capabilities and sensitivity of mass spectrometry (MS) can be combined with the structural insights from spectroscopy by measuring vibrational and electronic spectra of trapped analytes. The implementation of laser-based photodissociation techniques in MS requires basic knowledge of tunable light sources and ion trapping devices. This book introduces the reader to key concepts and approaches in molecular spectroscopy, and the light sources and ion traps employed in such experiments. The power of the methods is demonstrated by spectroscopic interrogation of a range of important biomolecular systems, including peptides, proteins, and saccharides, with laser light in the ultraviolet-visible, and infrared range. The book 'Laser photodissociation and spectroscopy of mass-separated biomolecular ions' isan indispensable resource for students and researchers engaged or interestedin this emerging field. It provides the solid background of key concepts and technologies for the measurements, discusses state-of-the-art experiments, and provides an outlook on future developments and applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book contains mainly the selected papers of the First International Workshop on Medical and Service Robots, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2012. The high quality of the scientific contributions is the result of a rigorous selection and improvement based on the participants¿ exchange of opinions and extensive peer-review. This process has led to the publishing of the present collection of 16 independent valuable contributions and points of view and not as standard symposium or conference proceedings.The addressed issues are: Computational Kinematics, Mechanism Design, Linkages and Manipulators, Mechanisms for Biomechanics, Mechanics of Robots, Control Issues for Mechanical Systems, Novel Designs, Teaching Methods, all of these being concentrated around robotic systems for medical and service applications.The results are of interest to researchers and professional practitioners as well as to Ph.D. students in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering.This volume marks the start of a subseries entitled ¿New Trends in Medical and Service Robots¿ within the Machine and Mechanism Science Series, presenting recent trends, research results and new challenges in the field of medical and service robotics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Tin (Sn) whiskers are electrically conductive, single crystal eruptions that grow from Sn film surfaces. Their high aspect ratio presents reliability problems for the electronics industry due to bridging and metal arcing, leading to malfunctions and catastrophic failures in many electronic systems (including satellite and defense sectors). Due to legislation in the EU, Japan, and the U.S., mandating a gradual shift from lead (Pb)-based to lead-free solders and board finishes, there has been a reemergence of Sn whiskers. Continuing reports of Sn whisker induced failures coupled with the lack of an industry-accepted understanding of whisker growth and/or test methods to identify whisker prone products has made pure/high Sn substitutes a risky proposition in high reliability systems.This thesis is designed to clarify and control the fundamental mechanisms that govern whisker formation. The research focuses on reproducible 'laboratory' created whiskers under a variety of rigorously controlled environmental factors such as film thickness, film stress, substrate material, gas environment, and humidity exposure, which are known to play a significant role in whisker production. The ultimate question of how to impede and/or prevent whisker growth is also addressed and shows that whisker prevention is possible via hard metal capping films, which are impenetrable by whiskers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 148 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book provides a comprehensive overview of modern networks design, from specifications and modeling to implementations and test procedures, including the design and implementation of modern networks on chip, in both wireless and mobile applications. Topical coverage includes algorithms and methodologies, telecommunications, hardware (including networks on chip), security and privacy, wireless and mobile networks and a variety of modern applications, such as VoLTE and the internet of things.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 184 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Tools and methods from complex systems science can have a considerable impact on the way in which the quantitative assessment of economic and financial issues is approached, as discussed in this thesis. First it is shown that the self-organization of financial markets is a crucial factor in the understanding of their dynamics. In fact, using an agent-based approach, it is argued that financial markets¿ stylized facts appear only in the self-organized state. Secondly, the thesis points out the potential of so-called big data science for financial market modeling, investigating how web-driven data can yield a picture of market activities: it has been found that web query volumes anticipate trade volumes. As a third achievement, the metrics developed here for country competitiveness and product complexity is groundbreaking in comparison to mainstream theories of economic growth and technological development. A key element in assessing the intangible variables determining the success of countries in the present globalized economy is represented by the diversification of the productive basket of countries. The comparison between the level of complexity of a country's productive system and economic indicators such as the GDP per capita discloses its hidden growth potential.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 236 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This thesis breaks new ground in the physics of photonic circuits for quantum optical applications. The photonic circuits are based either on ridge waveguides or photonic crystals, with embedded quantum dots providing the single qubit, quantum optical emitters. The highlight of the thesis is the first demonstration of a spin-photon interface using an all-waveguide geometry, a vital component of a quantum optical circuit, based on deterministic single photon emission from a single quantum dot. The work makes a further important contribution to the field by demonstrating the effects and limitations that inevitable disorder places on photon propagation in photonic crystal waveguides, a further key component of quantum optical circuits. Overall the thesis offers a number of highly novel contributions to the field; those on chip circuits may prove to be the only means of scaling up the highly promising quantum-dot-based quantum information technology.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 148 pp. Englisch.