Springer nature dez 2010 (314 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - This exploration of the newly emerging, diverse, and controversial area of animal lawpresents a basic survey of the laws designed to protect animals, analyzing and critiquing them, and proposing a future where the legal regime properly recognizes and protects the inherent worth of all animals.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The subject of wave phenomena is well-known for its inter-disciplinary nature. Progress in this field has been made both through the desire to solve very practical problems, arising in acoustics, optics, radiophysics, electronics, oceanography, me teorology and so on, and through the development of mathematical physics which emphasized that completely different physical phenomena are governed by the same (or similar) equations. In the immense literature on physics of waves there is no lack of good presentations of particular branches or general textbooks on mathematical physics. But if one restricts the attention to pulse propagation phenomena, one no tices that many useful facts are scattered among the various books and journals, and their connections are not immediately apparent. For example, the problems involv ing acoustic pulse propagation in bubbly liquids and those related to electromagnetic pulses in resonant media are usually treated without much cross reference in spite of their obvious connections. The authors of this book have attempted to write a coherent account of a few pulse propagation problems selected from different branches of applied physics. Although the basic material on linear pulse propagation is included, some topics have their own unique twists, and a comprehensive treatment of this body of material can hardly be found in other sources. First of all, the problem of pulse propagation in non equilibrium media (unstable or admitting attenuation) is far more delicate than it is apparent at a first glance.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - This volume includes in its special part recent contributions to the philosophy of science from a historical point of view and of the highest topicality: the range of the topics is covering all fields in the philosophy of the science provided by authors from Europe, America and around the world focussing on ancient , modern and contemporary periods in the development of the science philosophy. It represents a distinguished selection of the 'Third Biennial Meeting of the History of Philosophy of Science Working Group' in Vienna (HOPOS 2000), which was jointly organised by Vienna Circle Institute at the University of Vienna. The audience of this proceedings is the scientific community and students at graduate level as well as postdocs in this interdisciplinary field of research.The general part contains as usual a report/document section with special highlights - contributions on American philosophers (by Gerald Holton) and on Wittgenstein (David Stern) - as well as review articles and review related new publications and short documentation of Vienna Circle Institute's activities.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Any Chainnan of the British Post Office dwells in the shadow of Rowland Hill, and, if he were an honest man, he probably from time to time, while singing the praises of Rowland Hill, as is his due, thinks a silent thought of sympathy for his predecessor Colonel Maberly, the head of the Post Office, the Champion of established orthodoxy, the leader of the Professionals, who had to endure the irresistible force of Hill's arguments combined with his skills as a pamphleteer, agitator, and political propagandist. My favorite passage of the book Royal Mail by Martin Daunton (1985) shows how much the Post Office of the day needed a Rowland Hill to challenge Colonel Maberly and all that he stood for. I quote from a passage describing how the Colonel, when he arrived at about 11:00 a.m. and while enjoying his breakfast, listened to his private secretary reading the morning's correspondence. Daunton records: The Colonel, still half engaged with his private correspondence, would hear enough to make him keep up a rumring commentary of disparaging grunts, 'Pooh! stuff! upon my soul!' etc.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Constructibility and complexity play central roles in recent research in computer science, mathematics and physics. For example, scientists are investigating the complexity of computer programs, constructive proofs in mathematics and the randomness of physical processes. But there are different approaches to the explication of these concepts. This volume presents important research on the state of this discussion, especially as it refers to quantum mechanics. This `foundational debate' in computer science, mathematics and physics was already fully developed in 1930 in the Vienna Circle. A special section is devoted to its real founder Hans Hahn, referring to his contribution to the history and philosophy of science. The documentation section presents articles on the early Philipp Frank and on the Vienna Circle in exile. Reviews cover important recent literature on logical empiricism and related topics.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Information on future mortality trends is essential for population forecasts, public health policy, actuarial studies, and many other purposes. Realising the importance of such needs, this volume contains contributions to the theory and practice of forecasting mortality in the relatively favourable circumstances in developed countries of Western Europe. In this context techniques from mathematical statistics and econometrics can provide useful descriptions of past mortality. The naive forecast obtained by extrapolating a fitted model may give as good a forecast as any but forecasting by extrapolation requires careful justification since it assumes the prolongation of historical conditions. On the other hand, whilst it is generally accepted that scientific and other advances will continue to impact on mortality, perhaps dramatically so, it is impossible to quantify more than the outline of future consequences with a strong degree of confidence. The decision to modify an extrapolation of a model fitted to historical data (or conversely choosing not to modify it) in order to obtain a forecast is therefore strongly influenced by subjective and judgmental elements, with the quality of the latter dependent on demographic, epidemiological and indeed perhaps more general considerations. The thread running through the book reflects therefore the necessity of integrating demographic, epidemiological, and statistical factors to obtain an improvement in the prediction of mortality.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Pluralities begins with a concise introduction to recent theories of the semantics of plurals. The author argues, contrary to many of those theories, that plural discourse involves entities corresponding to sets of individuals but nothing corresponding to higher order sets. In the course of the book, the reader will become acquainted with the linguistics data that lies at the heart of this debate including extensive discussion of reciprocals and of collectives (such as the committee). In addition, a unique account of distributivity is proposed in which collective/distributive ambiguities are analyzed in pragmatic terms. The account capitalizes on the idea that the universe may be partitioned differently at different points in a discourse. Pluralities should be accessible to those with an introductory level background in model-theoretic semantics.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Maximum entropy and Bayesian methods have fundamental, central roles in scientific inference, and, with the growing availability of computer power, are being successfully applied in an increasing number of applications in many disciplines. This volume contains selected papers presented at the Thirteenth International Workshop on Maximum Entropy and Bayesian Methods. It includes an extensive tutorial section, and a variety of contributions detailing application in the physical sciences, engineering, law, and economics. Audience: Researchers and other professionals whose work requires the application of practical statistical inference.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - It is now twenty years since the concept of rent-seeking was first devised by Gordon Tullock, though he was not responsible for coining the phrase itself. His initial insight has burgeoned over two decades into a major research program which has had an impact not only on public choice, but also on the related disciplines of economics, political science, and law and economics. The reach of the insight has proved to be universal, with relevance not just for the democracies, but also, and arguably more important, for all forms of autocracy, irrespective of ideological com plexion. It is not surprising, therefore, that this volume is the third edited publication dedicated specifically to scholarship into rent-seeking behavior. The theory of rent-seeking bridges normative and positive analyses of state action. In its normative dimension, rent-seeking scholarship has expanded, enlivened, in some respects turned on its head, the traditional welfare analyses of such features of modern economics as monopoly, externalities, public goods, and trade protection devices. In its positive dimension, rent-seeking contributions have provided an important analy tical perspective from which to understand and to predict the behavior of politicians, interest groups and bureaucrats, the media and the academy within the political market place. This bridge between normative and positive elements of analysis is invaluable in facilitating an understanding of and evaluating the costs of state activity within a consistent paradigm.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Ethical rational, facts, and center techniques for choosing kidney donors all in one volume. This is the first book of its kind, devoted solely to preoperative issues for living kidney donors and those who counsel them. The eight chapters are devoted to vital areas that are comprehensively addressed by experienced professionals. The book presents a unified ethical and factual approach that is essential for all transplant centers to understand. It is a readable and understandable ethical foundation for living kidney donation that is free of jargon. It includes balanced, hard to find factual summaries that are essential for acceptable kidney donor counseling. As transplant centers increasingly turn to living kidney donors, this book is an essential step forward in the field. The book will appeal to transplant physicians and surgeons, transplant coordinators and social workers, nephrologists who have patients on dialysis or who evaluate potential living kidney donors and to potential living kidney donors and their recipients. As a practical application of medical ethics to an important field, it will be of interest to medical ethicists as well.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - In the thirty years since the invention of the CO2 gas laser, the major design issue has shifted from how to obtain the desired power level to how to achieve reliable operation. At the same time, the opening of many laser development facilities in the Former Soviet Union has allowed their achievements and design approaches to be understood and appreciated for the first time. Further, the industrial laser user community has identified a number of emerging applications at higher power levels (15-20 kW) than are attainable by most commercial devices. In High Power Lasers - Science and Engineering, the designers, developers and users of high-power gas laser systems discuss design approaches, methods of enhancing performance, new applications, and user requirements.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The design and implementation of programming languages, from Fortran and Cobol to Caml and Java, has been one of the key developments in the management of ever more complex computerized systems. Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages gives the reader the means to discover the tools to think, design, and implement these languages.It proposes a unified vision of the different formalisms that permit definition of a programming language: small steps operational semantics, big steps operational semantics, and denotational semantics, emphasising that all seek to define a relation between three objects: a program, an input value, and an output value. These formalisms are illustrated by presenting the semantics of some typical features of programming languages: functions, recursivity, assignments, records, objects, . showing that the study of programming languages does not consist of studying languages one after another, but is organized around the features that are present in these various languages. The study of these features leads to the development of evaluators, interpreters and compilers, and also type inference algorithms, for small languages. 96 pp. Englisch. …

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This textbook is a systematic guide to the steps in setting up a Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) improvement initiative. Readers will learn the project management practices necessary to deliver high-quality software solutions to the customer on time and on budget. The text also highlights how software process improvement can achieve specific business goals to provide a tangible return on investment. Topics and features: supplies review questions, summaries and key topics for each chapter, as well as a glossary of acronyms; describes the CMMI model thoroughly, detailing the five maturity levels; provides a broad overview of software engineering; reviews the activities and teams required to set up a CMMI improvement initiative; examines in detail the implementation of CMMI in a typical organization at each of the maturity levels; investigates the various tools that support organizations in improving their software engineering maturity; discusses the SCAMPI appraisal methodology. 252 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The book contains chapters of structured approach to problem solving in mathematical analysis on an intermediate level. It follows the ideas of G.Polya and others, distinguishing between exercises and problem solving in mathematics.Interrelated concepts are connected by hyperlinks, pointing toward easier or more difficult problems so as to show paths of mathematical reasoning. Basic definitions and theorems can also be found by hyperlinks from relevant places. Problems are open to alternative formulations, generalizations, simplifications, and verification of hypotheses by the reader; this is shown to be helpful in solving problems.The book presents how advanced mathematical software can aid all stages of mathematical reasoning while the mathematical content remains in foreground. The authors show how software can contribute to deeper understanding and to enlarging the scope of teaching for students and teachers of mathematics. 247 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -These notes were first used in an introductory course team taught by the authors at Appalachian State University to advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates. The text was written with four pedagogical goals in mind: offer a variety of topics in one course, get to the main themes and tools as efficiently as possible, show the relationships between the different topics, and include recent results to convince students that mathematics is a living discipline. This book covers a wide variety of topics in combinatorics and graph theory. It includes results and problems that cross subdisciplines, emphasizing relationships between different areas of mathematics. In addition, recent results appear in the text, illustrating the fact that mathematics is a living discipline.The second edition includes many new topics and features: New sections in graph theory on distance, Eulerian trails, and Hamiltonian paths. New material on partitions, multinomial coefficients, and the pigeonhole principle. Expanded coverage of Pólya Theory to include de Bruijn s method for counting arrangements when a second symmetry group acts on the set of allowed colors. Topics in combinatorial geometry, including Erdos and Szekeres development of Ramsey Theory in a problem about convex polygons determined by sets of points. Expanded coverage of stable marriage problems, and new sections on marriage problems for infinite sets, both countable and uncountable. Numerous new exercises throughout the book.About the First Edition:'. . . this is what a textbook should be! The book is comprehensive without being overwhelming, the proofs are elegant, clear and short, and the examples are well picked.' Ioana Mihaila, MAA Reviews 381 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Pro Oracle SQL unlocks the power of SQL in the Oracle Database one of the most potent SQL implementations on the market today. To master it requires a three-pronged approach: learn the language features, learn the supporting features that Oracle provides to help use the language effectively, and learn to think and work in sets.Karen Morton and her team help you master powerful aspects of Oracle SQL not found in competing databases. You ll learn analytic functions, the MODEL clause, and advanced grouping syntax features that will help in creating good queries for reporting and business intelligence applications. Pro Oracle SQL also helps you minimize parsing overhead, read execution plans, test for correct results, and exert control over SQL execution in your database. You ll learn when to create indexes, how to verify that they make a difference, how to use SQL Profiles to optimize SQL in packaged applications, and much more. You ll also understand how SQL is optimized for working in sets, and that the key to getting accurate results lies in making sure that queries ask clear and precise questions.What s the bottom-line Pro Oracle SQL helps you work at a truly professional level in Oracle dialect of SQL. You ll master the language, the tools to work effectively with the language, and the right way to think about a problem in SQL. Pro Oracle SQL helps you rise above the crowd to provide stellar service in your chosen profession.Endorsed by the OakTable Network, a group of Oracle technologists well-known for their rigorous and scientific approach to Oracle Database performance Comprehensive goes beyond the language with a focus on what you need to know to write successful queries and data manipulation statements. 600 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The IFIP series encourages education and the dissemination and exchange of information on all aspects of computing. This particular volume presents the most up-to-date research findings from leading experts from around the world on information security education. 148 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Cellular Genetic Algorithms defines a new class of optimization algorithms based on the concepts of structured populations and Genetic Algorithms (GAs). The authors explain and demonstrate the validity of these cellular genetic algorithms throughout the book with equal and parallel emphasis on both theory and practice. This book is a key source for studying and designing cellular GAs, as well as a self-contained primary reference book for these algorithms. 248 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is a monograph on unitals embedded in nite projective planes. Unitals are an interesting structure found in square order projective planes, and numerous research articles constructing and discussing these structures have appeared in print. More importantly, there still are many open pr- lems, and this remains a fruitful area for Ph.D. dissertations. Unitals play an important role in nite geometry as well as in related areas of mathematics. For example, unitals play a parallel role to Baer s- planes when considering extreme values for the size of a blocking set in a square order projective plane (see Section 2.3). Moreover, unitals meet the upper bound for the number of absolute points of any polarity in a square order projective plane (see Section 1.5). From an applications point of view, the linear codes arising from unitals have excellent technical properties (see 2 Section 6.4). The automorphism group of the classical unitalH =H(2,q ) is 2-transitive on the points ofH, and so unitals are of interest in group theory. In the eld of algebraic geometry over nite elds,H is a maximal curve that contains the largest number of F -rational points with respect to its genus, 2 q as established by the Hasse-Weil bound. 196 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book reveals how advances in computer science and human-computer interaction impact Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environments. The underlying theme of the contributions is the social affordances of physical objects. The collaborative situations illustrated in the book are not necessarily learning situation in a school sense. In summary, this book illustrates a turn in the field of CSCL and emphasizes an important message for a generation of CSCL users. 174 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This text presents a theoretical and practical examination of the latest developments in Information Retrieval and their application to existing systems. By starting with a functional discussion of what is needed for an information system, the reader can grasp the scope of information retrieval problems and discover the tools to resolve them. The book takes a system approach to explore every functional processing step in a system from ingest of an item to be indexed to displaying results, showing how implementation decisions add to the information retrieval goal, and thus providing the user with the needed outcome, while minimizing their resources to obtain those results.The text stresses the current migration of information retrieval from just textual to multimedia, expounding upon multimedia search, retrieval and display, as well as classic and new textual techniques. It also introduces developments in hardware, and more importantly, search architectures, such as those introduced by Google, in order to approach scalability issues.About this textbook:A first course text for advanced level courses, providing a survey of information retrieval system theory and architecture, complete with challenging exercisesApproaches information retrieval from a practical systems view in order for the reader to grasp both scope and solutionsFeatures what is achievable using existing technologies and investigates what deficiencies warrant additional exploration 305 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Drug therapy as an alternative to surgical intervention is becoming increasingly common. In the past five years, new anti-glaucoma agents have becoming increasingly effective. This edition will include new information on off-label prescribing and cap colors where they are mandated by the FDA (pink/white for steroid drops, grey for topical NSAIDS, etc.) There are now several new pharmaceutical agents being used to treat retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (Macugen, Lucentis, Visudyne), while other drugs formerly prescribed have now been shown to be less effective. Intraocular infections are primarily treated with intravitreal medications. Additionally, the anti-allergy and dry eye markets continue to grow, with a new formulation of Allergan's Acular 0.5% (ketorolac tromethamine) and Elestat ophthalmic solution, its new antihistamine-mast cell stabilizer. 138 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This volume of Annals of Information Systems will acknowledge the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the International Society for Decision Support Systems (ISDSS) by documenting some of the current best practices in teaching and research and envisioning the next twenty years in the decision support systems field. The volume is intended to complement existing DSS literature by offering an outlet for thoughts and research particularly suited to the theme of describing the next twenty years in the area of decision support.Several subthemes are planned for the volume. One subtheme draws on the assessments of internationally known DSS researchers to evaluate where the field has been and what has been accomplished. A second subtheme of the volume will be describing the current best practices of DSS research and teaching efforts. A third subtheme will be an assessment by top DSS scholars on where the DSS discipline needs to focus in the future. The tone of this volume is one of enthusiasm for the potential contributions to come in the area of DSS; contributions that must incorporate an understanding of what has been accomplished in the past, build on the best practices of today, and be be integrated into future decision making practices.The primary questions raised by this volume are:What will information systems-based decision support entail in twenty years What research is needed to realize the envisioned future of information systems-based decision support How will the teaching of information systems-based decision support change over the next twenty years What are the best practices of teaching in the decision support area that can be leveraged to best disseminate DSS knowledge advances to students and practitioners 224 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A path player game is a new innovative type of game which considers network flow problems from the viewpoint of network owners. This strategy enables modeling real-world problems and has many practical applications.Key features:\* Presents a rigorous exposition of the theoretical foundations of the concept of a path player game;\* Suggests 18 practical open problems for future research in such areas as traffic planning, computation of equilibria, and optimization;\* Examines potentials for games on polyhedra as well as integer versions of generalized Nash equilibria.Written clearly, with well-presented mathematics, this book is intended for graduate students, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists. 168 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Political institutions profoundly shape political life and are also gendered. This groundbreaking collection synthesises new institutionalism and gendered analysis using a new approach - feminist institutionalism - in order to answer crucial questions about power inequalities, mechanisms of continuity, and the gendered limits of change. 232 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Written as a hybrid between a research monograph and a textbook the first half of this book is concerned with basic concepts for the study of Banach algebras that, in a sense, are not too far from being commutative. Essentially, the algebra under consideration either has a sufficiently large center or is subject to a higher order commutator property (an algebra with a so-called polynomial identity or in short: Pl-algebra). In the second half of the book, a number of selected examples are used to demonstrate how this theory can be successfully applied to problems in operator theory and numerical analysis.Distinguished by the consequent use of local principles (non-commutative Gelfand theories), PI-algebras, Mellin techniques and limit operator techniques, each one of the applications presented in chapters 4, 5 and 6 forms a theory that is up to modern standards and interesting in its own right.Written in a way that can be worked through by the reader with fundamental knowledge of analysis, functional analysis and algebra, this book will be accessible to 4th year students of mathematics or physics whilst also being of interest to researchers in the areas of operator theory, numerical analysis, and the general theory of Banach algebras. 383 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The world's governments are overwhelmed with climate change, war and unrest, the global financial crisis and poverty but there is a promising invention in Global Action Networks (GANs). GANs mobilize resources, bridge divides and promote the long-term deep change and innovation work that is needed to address the global challenges. 244 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Captures the insights of leading academics and practitioners based on decades of research around the globe on factors of success and failures of private wealth, over time. It presents a deep and broad approach to understanding why and how wealth is created, managed and preserved over generations. 157 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -As investors, managers, or in our various capacities, we learn from experience to deal with everyday financial problems and to respond rationally to the ever-changing economic environment. However, to optimize our decision-making, we need more than 'rules of thumb'. We need to understand our choices, and the reasons market players behave the way they do. The cost of capital is a topic of particular interest in the current financial tumultuous times. In this book Dr Porras provides a comprehensive overview of the subject, contextualizing the relationship between risk, return and the cost of capital by relating it to the needs of investors and borrowers, the historical evidence and theories of choice and behaviour. The content spans financial theory, its empirical tests and applications to real-world contemporary financial problems. The applied focus of this book provides answers to the questions most managers might have, in an entertaining style. It includes simple numerical examples and graphs to help understanding of the concepts. The relationship between risk, return and the cost of capital is contextualized by relating it to the needs of investors and borrowers, the historical evidence, and theories of choice and behavior. 246 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The current financial crisis highlights the need to rethink business leadership and the role of business schools in helping firms develop the leaders of the future. This book brings together the perspectives of deans of top international business schools, and the views of CEOs and senior business leaders. 328 pp. Englisch.…