springer netherlands aug 2000 (82 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It became more and more usual, from, say, the 1970s, for each book on Module Theory, to point out and prove some (but in no more than 15 to 20 pages) generalizations to (mostly modular) lattices. This was justified by the nowadays widely accepted perception that the structure of a module over a ring is best understood in terms of the lattice struc ture of its submodule lattice. Citing Louis H. Rowen 'this important example (the lattice of all the submodules of a module) is the raison d'etre for the study of lattice theory by ring theorists'. Indeed, many module-theoretic results can be proved by using lattice theory alone. The purpose of this book is to collect and present all and only the results of this kind, although for this purpose one must develop some significant lattice theory. The results in this book are of the following categories: the folklore of Lattice Theory (to be found in each Lattice Theory book), module theoretic results generalized in (modular, and possibly compactly gen erated) lattices (to be found in some 6 to 7 books published in the last 20 years), very special module-theoretic results generalized in lattices (e. g. , purity in Chapter 9 and several dimensions in Chapter 13, to be found mostly in [27], respectively, [34] and [18]) and some new con cepts (e. g.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book brings together three great motifs of the network society: the seeking and using of information by individuals and groups; the creation and application of knowledge in organizations; and the fundamental transformation of these activities as they are enacted on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Of the three, the study of how individuals and groups seek information probably has the longest history, beginning with the early 'information needs and uses' studies soon after the Second World War. The study of organizations as knowledge-based social systems is much more recent, and really gained momentum only within the last decade or so. The study of the World Wide Web as information and communication media is younger still, but has generated tremendous excitement, partly because it has the potential to reconfigure the ways in which people seek information and use knowledge, and partly because it offers new methods of analyzing and measuring how in fact such information and knowledge work gets done. As research endeavors, these streams overlap and share conceptual constructs, perspectives, and methods of analysis. Although these overlaps and shared concerns are sometimes apparent in the published research, there have been few attempts to connect these ideas explicitly and identify cross-disciplinary themes. This book is an attempt to fill this void. The three authors of this book possess contrasting backgrounds and thus adopt complementary vantage points to observe information seeking and knowledge work.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In delivering lectures and writing books, we were most often forced to pay absolutely no attention to a great body of interesting results and useful algorithms appearing in numerous sources and occasionally encountered. It was absolutely that most of these re sults would finally be forgotten because it is impossible to run through the entire variety of sources where these materials could be published. Therefore, we decided to do what we can to correct this situation. We discussed this problem with Ershov and came to an idea to write an encyclopedia of algorithms on graphs focusing our main attention on the algorithms already used in programming and their generalizations or modifications. We thought that it is reasonable to group all graphs into certain classes and place the algo rithms developed for each class into a separate book. The existence of trees, i. e. , a class of graphs especially important for programming, also supported this decision. This monograph is the first but, as we hope, not the last book written as part of our project. It was preceded by two books 'Algorithms on Trees' (1984) and 'Algorithms of Processing of Trees' (1990) small editions of which were published at the Computer Center of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The books were distributed immediately and this made out our decision to prepare a combined mono graph on the basis of these books even stronger.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 452 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It is well known that contemporary mathematics includes many disci plines. Among them the most important are: set theory, algebra, topology, geometry, functional analysis, probability theory, the theory of differential equations and some others. Furthermore, every mathematical discipline consists of several large sections in which specific problems are investigated and the corresponding technique is developed. For example, in general topology we have the following extensive chap ters: the theory of compact extensions of topological spaces, the theory of continuous mappings, cardinal-valued characteristics of topological spaces, the theory of set-valued (multi-valued) mappings, etc. Modern algebra is featured by the following domains: linear algebra, group theory, the theory of rings, universal algebras, lattice theory, category theory, and so on. Concerning modern probability theory, we can easily see that the clas sification of its domains is much more extensive: measure theory on ab stract spaces, Borel and cylindrical measures in infinite-dimensional vector spaces, classical limit theorems, ergodic theory, general stochastic processes, Markov processes, stochastical equations, mathematical statistics, informa tion theory and many others.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG) is a classical autoimmune disease, for which the target antigen, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, has been cloned, sequenced and biochemically characterized. Antibodies to acetylcholine receptors destroy acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction, thus leading to defective neuromuscular transmission, muscle fatigue, and weakness.In the last few years, rapid advances have been made in unraveling the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of MG, both in the animal model, experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG), and in human MG. Significant advances are being made in characterizing the cells and molecules involved in the autoimmune response to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). These advances are leading to the development of specific methods of immunointervention in EAMG. Further understanding of the intricate involvement of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non-MHC genes, T cell receptors (TCR), costimulator molecules, and specific cytokines in the afferent and efferent autoimmune response of AChR should pave the way to future antigen/clone-specific therapy of MG.This book is the outcome of the MG workshop proceedings in Mysore, India, 1998. The majority of the chapters in this book are contributed by world-renowned authors and their students. The book not only contains a timely review of specific topics, but also up-to-date findings. Immunologists and neurologists will find, in this volume, the latest in MG/EAMG cutting-edge research. Clinicians will be interested in the applications of the various immunointervention strategies into clinical trials in MG patients. Finally, students will not only be interested in reading the latest in EAMG/MG research, but will also find information to help them develop a future strategy to unravel the precise mechanism of disease.To summarize, in this book, the readers should find up-to-date information related to immunological mechanisms involved in MG pathogenesis and various modalities for possible approaches to immunointervention to treat MG.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In A Theodicy of Hell Charles Seymour tackles one of the most difficult problems facing the western theistic tradition: to show the consonance between eternal punishment and the goodness of God. Medieval theology attempted to resolve the dilemma by arguing that any sin, no matter how slight, merits unending torment. Contemporary thinkers, on the other hand, tend to eliminate the retributive element from hell entirely. Combining historical breadth with detailed argumentation, the author develops a novel understanding of hell which avoids the extremes of both its traditional and modern rivals. He then surveys the battery of objections ranged against the possibility of eternal punishment and shows how his `freedom view of hell' can withstand the attack. The work will be of particular importance for those interested in philosophy of religion and theology, including academics, students, seminarians, clergy, and anyone else with a personal desire to come to terms with this perennially challenging doctrine.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The present monograph analyses the FitzHugh-Nagumo (F-N) model Le. , the Cauchy problem for some generalized Van der Pol equation depending on three real parameters a, band c. This model, given in (1. 1. 17), governs the initiation of the cardiac impulse. The presence of the three parameters leads to a large variety of dy namics, each of them responsible for a specific functioning of the heart. For physiologists it is highly desirable to have aglobai view of all possible qualitatively distinct responses of the F-N model for all values of the pa rameters. This reduces to the knowledge of the global bifurcation diagram. So far, only a few partial results appeared and they were spread through out the literature. Our work provides a more or less complete theoretical and numerical investigation of the complex phase dynamics and bifurca tions associated with the F-N dynamical system. This study includes the static and dynamic bifurcations generated by the variation of a, band c and the corresponding oscillations, of special interest for applications. It enables one to predict all possible types of initiations of heart beats and the mechanism of transformation of some types of oscillations into others by following the dynamics along transient phase space trajectories. Of course, all these results hold for the F-N model. The global phase space picture enables one to determine the domain of validity of this model.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 252 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Sustainable development has been the basic goal of the European Union since the Treaty of Amsterdam. After an in-depth analysis of the concept, the book goes on to translate the concept into practicable and tangible opportunities for urban and regional sustainable development. Extensive lists of criteria and indicators have been developed for additional explanation and support. An entirely new and innovative system for sustainability planning is presented, based on the interdependence of the cities and their `hinterlands' and on the conviction that the development of one or more key sectors usually has a better potential for success than striving for overall sustainability planning right from the start.Although the approach itself is fundamental, it has been guided throughout by practical applicability and realism. It has been tested in case studies in a number of European regions, with agriculture and forestry, small and medium sized industries, and tourism as key sectors. Detailed guidelines are given on how to apply the methodology in practice, how to embed existing practices within it, and how to manage the indispensable stakeholder participation. The chapter on European Union policies, activities and possible sources of funding completes the work.Readership: Required reading for all those involved in urban and regional sustainable development.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It is only with the ending of the Cold War that the issue of environmental hazards at many former nuclear testing sites around the world has attracted international scientific interest. This book discusses the environmental, ecological, and health problems associated with nuclear testing. Topics treated include dose assessment, risk, speciation and transport of radionuclides, measurement and separation of radionuclides, and remedial options. The nuclear test sites examined include the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (Kazakhstan), the Nevada test Site (USA), the Pacific atolls, and the Maralinga Test Site (Australia). The volume also discusses the additional release sites of Chelyabinsk (Russia), Chernobyl (Ukraine), Palomares (Spain), Los Alamos (USA), and others.A valuable compendium of radiological problems for a wide spectrum of readers, from non-specialist to expert.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 280 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Dass Edmund Husserl am Problem der Intersubjektivität gescheitert ist, gilt als ausgemacht - und ebenso, welche Konsequenzen daraus zu ziehen sind. Entgegen dem allenthalben pauschal erklärten `Abschied vom Subjekt' spricht aber vieles dafür, dass es in der gegenwärtigen Sozialtheorie eher um eine Reformulierung transzendentaler Subjektivität geht. Diese Interpretationsthese wirft ein neues Licht auf den sozialtheoretischen Diskurs, der im deutschen Sprachraum in den vergangenen dreissig Jahren vom Gegensatz von Jürgen Habermas' und Niklas Luhmanns Theorien bestimmt war: `Diskurs' und `System' erscheinen als gegensätzliche Versuche, `Subjektivität' und `Interität' in ein theoretisch befriedigendes Verhältnis zu setzen. Wenn aber - so die kritische These dieses Buches - weder die Reformulierung von Subjektivität als `Interität' noch die Reformulierung von Subjektivität ohne `Interität' das Problem der Intersubjektivität überzeugend löst, ist dies ein Grund, neuerlich in eine direkte Auseinandersetzung mit Husserls Theorie transzendentaler Subjektivität einzutreten. Dabei stellt sich heraus, dass Husserls vielkritisierter und -skandalisierter Versuch, den Sinn `Anderer' im `Eigenen' zu fundieren, in der transzendentalphänomenologischen Subjekttheorie durch ein umgekehrtes Begründungsverhältnis konterkariert wird. Bei aller Problematik dieser Theorieanlage - welche nur in Gegenwendung zu den Gewohnheiten der Husserl-Interpretation, vor allem aber auch zu Husserls Selbstinterpretation in den Blick kommt - zeigt sich, dass der phänomenologische Begriff des transzendentalen Subjekts seinen Reformulierungen als Diskurs und als System in mancher Hinsicht überlegen ist.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -One of the major challenges of sustainable development is the interdisciplinary nature of the issues involved. To this end, a team of conservation biologists, hunters, tourist operators, ranchers, wildlife and land managers, ecologists, veterinarians and economists was convened to discuss whether wildlife outside protected areas in Africa can be conserved in the face of agricultural expansion and human population growth. They reached the unequivocal - if controversial - conclusion that wildlife can be an economic asset, especially in the African savannas, if this wildlife can be sustainably utilized through safari hunting and tourism.Using the African savannas as an example, Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use shows that in many instances sustainable wildlife utilization comprises an even better form of land use than livestock keeping. Even when population pressure is high, as in agricultural areas or in humid zones, and wild animal species can pose a serious cost to agriculture, these costs are mainly caused by small species with a low potential for safari hunting.Although ranching has a very low rate of return and is hardly ever profitable, the biggest obstacle to the model of sustainable wildlife use outlined in Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use is from unfair competition from the agricultural sector, such as subsidies and lack of taxation, resulting in market distortion for wildlife utilization. This book thus gives valuable evidence for a different way of working, providing arguments for removing such distortions and thereby facilitating financially sound land use and making it a rationally sound choice to conserve wildlife outside protected areas.The expert team of authors, most of whom came together at a workshop to thrash out the ideas that were then developed into the various chapters, has written a superb account of recent research on this complex subject, resulting in a book that is a major contribution to our understanding of sustainable use of land. The important conclusion is that wildlife conservation can be possible for landholders and local communities if they have a financial interest in protecting wildlife on their lands.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 516 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the twentieth century, dyes, pharmaceuticals, photographic products, explosives, insecticides, fertilizers, synthetic rubber, fuels, and fibers, plastics, and other products have flowed out of the chemical industry and into the consumer economies, war machines, farms, and medical practices of industrial societies. The German chemical industry has been a major site for the development and application of the science-based technologies that gave rise to these products, and has had an important role as exemplar, stimulus, and competitor in the international chemical industry.This volume explores the German chemical industry's scientific and technological dimension, its international connections, and its development after 1945. The authors relate scientific and technological change in the industry to evolving German political and economic circumstances, including two world wars, the rise and fall of National Socialism, the post-war division of Germany, and the emergence of a global economy. This book will be of interest to historians of modern Germany, to historians of science and technology, and to business and economic historians.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 488 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study In stitute held at Geilo, Norway, April 6 -16 1999. The ASI was the fifteenth in a series held biannually on topics related to cooperative phenomena and phase transitions, in this case applied to soft condensed matter and its configurations, dynamics and functionality. It addressed the current experimental and theoretical knowledge of the physical properties of soft condensed matter such as polymers, gels, complex fluids, colloids, granular materials and biomaterials. The main purpose of the lectures was to obtain basic understanding of important aspects in relating molecular configurations and dynamics to macroscopic properties and biological functionality. To our knowledge, the term Soft Condensed Matter was actually coined and used for the first time in 1989 at Geilo and some selected topics of soft matter were also given at Geilo in 1991, 1993 and 1995. A return to this subject 10 years after its instigation thus allowed a fresh look and a possibility for defining new directions for research. 312 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Modern approaches to microbial classification and identification, particularly those based on nucleic acid analysis, have raised the awareness and interest of microbiologists in systematics during the past decade. The extended scope of the subject has revolutionized microbial ecology with the demonstration of uncultivable microorganisms as a major component of the biosphere and evolution, with the ribosomal RNA phylogenetic tree as the basis of current classifications. However, advances in microbial systematics have also had enormous impact on other, diverse aspects of microbiology such as animal pathogenicity, plant-microbe interactions and relationships with food.In this book, we survey and discuss in depth the contribution of modern taxonomic approaches to our understanding of the microbiology of these various systems. The book does not concentrate on methods - these have been well reported elsewhere - instead it provides a unique insight into the application and value of modern systematics in diverse branches of microbiology. It will be of value to microbiologists at both research and technical levels who need to appreciate the range of organisms with which they work and the diversity within them. It will also be of value to teachers and students of microbiology courses who want to understand how systematics can enhance microbiology beyond the routine of classification, nomenclature, and identification.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 496 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Increasingly companies' stakeholders require organisations to observe international standards prescribed by international laws, treaties, conventions, recommendations, and/or codes of conduct. The papers selected for this volume explore 1) the ethical pressures on international business to meet the challenges of diversity, 2) suggested methods of coping with diversity, and 3) the challenges required to overcome corporate self-interest in the search for new instruments. Collectively these articles reflect scholarly insights and corporate responses to diversity in international business, a topic of wide interest in contemporary business ethics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Today we have more control over how we live and how we die than we ever had before. This fact has produced many ethical problems. While much about life is biologically determined, much else is determined by the social circumstances surrounding it. Unfortunately, little energy is spent dealing with the social and psychological factors within which the medical/biological factors are imbedded. In this volume the authors examine some of the medical social and psychological conditions which affect the way we die.Important topics covered include attitudes toward death; suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia; hospice and pain management. This volume will be of interest to all who work with terminally ill patients.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Today we have more control over how we live and how we die than we ever had before. This fact has produced many ethical problems. While much about life is biologically determined, much else is determined by the social circumstances surrounding it. Unfortunately, little energy is spent dealing with the social and psychological factors within which the medical/biological factors are imbedded. In this volume the authors examine some of the medical social and psychological conditions which affect the way we die. Important topics covered include attitudes toward death; suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia; hospice and pain management. This volume will be of interest to all who work with terminally ill patients. 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Increasingly companies' stakeholders require organisations to observe international standards prescribed by international laws, treaties, conventions, recommendations, and/or codes of conduct. The papers selected for this volume explore 1) the ethical pressures on international business to meet the challenges of diversity, 2) suggested methods of coping with diversity, and 3) the challenges required to overcome corporate self-interest in the search for new instruments. Collectively these articles reflect scholarly insights and corporate responses to diversity in international business, a topic of wide interest in contemporary business ethics. 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The modern Persian word for cosmology is 'Keyhan-shenakht', which is also the title of a Persian book written more than 800 years ago. The same term can also be found in Old Persian. In spite of this old tradition, modern cosmology is a new~omer within the scientific disciplines in Iran. The cosmology community' is small and not yet well established. Given the spectacular recent advances in observational and theoretical cosmology, the large amount of new observational data which will become available in the near future, and the rapid expansion of the international cosmology community, it was realized that Iran should play a more active role in the exciting human endeavour which cosmology constitutes. This was the main motivation to establish a School on Cosmology in Iran. The plan is to hold a cosmology school every three years somewhere in Iran. The focus of this First School on Cosmology was chosen to be structure formation, a rapidly evolving cornerstone of modern cosmology. The topics of the school were selected in order to give both a broad overview of the current status of cosmological structure formation, and an in-depth dis cussion of the key issues theory of cosmological perturbations and analysis of cosmic microwave anisotropies. The lectures by Blanchard and Sarkar give an overview of homogeneous cosmological models and standard big bang cosmology. In his contribution, Padmanabhan presents a comprehen sive discussion of the growth of cosmological perturbations. 392 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -It is well known that contemporary mathematics includes many disci plines. Among them the most important are: set theory, algebra, topology, geometry, functional analysis, probability theory, the theory of differential equations and some others. Furthermore, every mathematical discipline consists of several large sections in which specific problems are investigated and the corresponding technique is developed. For example, in general topology we have the following extensive chap ters: the theory of compact extensions of topological spaces, the theory of continuous mappings, cardinal-valued characteristics of topological spaces, the theory of set-valued (multi-valued) mappings, etc. Modern algebra is featured by the following domains: linear algebra, group theory, the theory of rings, universal algebras, lattice theory, category theory, and so on. Concerning modern probability theory, we can easily see that the clas sification of its domains is much more extensive: measure theory on ab stract spaces, Borel and cylindrical measures in infinite-dimensional vector spaces, classical limit theorems, ergodic theory, general stochastic processes, Markov processes, stochastical equations, mathematical statistics, informa tion theory and many others. 324 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Cardiovascular diseases are the most important causes of death in the world today. In adults, the most frequent heart disease is acute myocardial infarction, which can lead to sudden death. To prevent these diseases we need to fight against their main risk factors, which include smoking, lipid disorders, hypertension, diabetes and a sedentary life-style, among others. It has been demonstrated that physical exercise or sports at any age provide notable benefits and can help to decrease other risk factors and reduce the incidence of cardio vascular diseases. Exercise can be simply walking or cycling. Aerobic exercise con tributes to weight loss and also helps to control blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. It therefore plays an important role in prevention of heart diseases. Sports for young people are of great value and advisable not only because they con tribute to physical fitness but also because they help in psychological well-being. Young people should be encouraged to include general exercise, and particularly sports, into their daily activities. The following points however, should be kept in mind: I. Although winning at a sport is important, this is only so if it is achieved in natural physical conditions and with the correct training. Therefore, it is advisable to keep well away from any type of activity which artificially increases physical performance, that is, drug taking. 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In delivering lectures and writing books, we were most often forced to pay absolutely no attention to a great body of interesting results and useful algorithms appearing in numerous sources and occasionally encountered. It was absolutely that most of these re sults would finally be forgotten because it is impossible to run through the entire variety of sources where these materials could be published. Therefore, we decided to do what we can to correct this situation. We discussed this problem with Ershov and came to an idea to write an encyclopedia of algorithms on graphs focusing our main attention on the algorithms already used in programming and their generalizations or modifications. We thought that it is reasonable to group all graphs into certain classes and place the algo rithms developed for each class into a separate book. The existence of trees, i. e. , a class of graphs especially important for programming, also supported this decision. This monograph is the first but, as we hope, not the last book written as part of our project. It was preceded by two books 'Algorithms on Trees' (1984) and 'Algorithms of Processing of Trees' (1990) small editions of which were published at the Computer Center of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The books were distributed immediately and this made out our decision to prepare a combined mono graph on the basis of these books even stronger. 452 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In industrialized countries, HIV/AIDS is now increasingly perceived as a chronic condition. Yet initially, before combination therapy became available, this pandemic was widely associated with premature or even imminent death. Receiving the diagnosis typically led to a dramatic biographical disruption. This highly original book turns this basic feature of life with HIV into the vantage point for a fascinating analysis of Western subjectivity. Combining a host of empirical observations with the debate on the modern self, the author argues that the self-construction of people with HIV highlights the precarious yet indispensable status of the self in contemporary Western society. Constructing one's biography in terms of self-actualization is in fact a manifestation of nihilism: it evokes a standard of certainty which, on closer examination, cannot be sustained. Written in a lucid style, this unique book will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, social theory and philosophy, as well as anybody interested in the relationship between the self and society or the experience of living with HIV/AIDS. 264 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In A Theodicy of Hell Charles Seymour tackles one of the most difficult problems facing the western theistic tradition: to show the consonance between eternal punishment and the goodness of God. Medieval theology attempted to resolve the dilemma by arguing that any sin, no matter how slight, merits unending torment. Contemporary thinkers, on the other hand, tend to eliminate the retributive element from hell entirely. Combining historical breadth with detailed argumentation, the author develops a novel understanding of hell which avoids the extremes of both its traditional and modern rivals. He then surveys the battery of objections ranged against the possibility of eternal punishment and shows how his `freedom view of hell' can withstand the attack. The work will be of particular importance for those interested in philosophy of religion and theology, including academics, students, seminarians, clergy, and anyone else with a personal desire to come to terms with this perennially challenging doctrine. 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book brings together three great motifs of the network society: the seeking and using of information by individuals and groups; the creation and application of knowledge in organizations; and the fundamental transformation of these activities as they are enacted on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Of the three, the study of how individuals and groups seek information probably has the longest history, beginning with the early 'information needs and uses' studies soon after the Second World War. The study of organizations as knowledge-based social systems is much more recent, and really gained momentum only within the last decade or so. The study of the World Wide Web as information and communication media is younger still, but has generated tremendous excitement, partly because it has the potential to reconfigure the ways in which people seek information and use knowledge, and partly because it offers new methods of analyzing and measuring how in fact such information and knowledge work gets done. As research endeavors, these streams overlap and share conceptual constructs, perspectives, and methods of analysis. Although these overlaps and shared concerns are sometimes apparent in the published research, there have been few attempts to connect these ideas explicitly and identify cross-disciplinary themes. This book is an attempt to fill this void. The three authors of this book possess contrasting backgrounds and thus adopt complementary vantage points to observe information seeking and knowledge work. 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -It became more and more usual, from, say, the 1970s, for each book on Module Theory, to point out and prove some (but in no more than 15 to 20 pages) generalizations to (mostly modular) lattices. This was justified by the nowadays widely accepted perception that the structure of a module over a ring is best understood in terms of the lattice struc ture of its submodule lattice. Citing Louis H. Rowen 'this important example (the lattice of all the submodules of a module) is the raison d'etre for the study of lattice theory by ring theorists'. Indeed, many module-theoretic results can be proved by using lattice theory alone. The purpose of this book is to collect and present all and only the results of this kind, although for this purpose one must develop some significant lattice theory. The results in this book are of the following categories: the folklore of Lattice Theory (to be found in each Lattice Theory book), module theoretic results generalized in (modular, and possibly compactly gen erated) lattices (to be found in some 6 to 7 books published in the last 20 years), very special module-theoretic results generalized in lattices (e. g. , purity in Chapter 9 and several dimensions in Chapter 13, to be found mostly in [27], respectively, [34] and [18]) and some new con cepts (e. g. 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Combinatorics as a branch of mathematics studies the arts of counting. Enumeration occupies the foundation of combinatorics with a large range of applications not only in mathematics itself but also in many other disciplines. It is too broad a task to write a book to show the deep development in every corner from this aspect. This monograph is intended to provide a unified theory for those related to the enumeration of maps. For enumerating maps the first thing we have to know is the sym metry of a map. Or in other words, we have to know its automorphism group. In general, this is an interesting, complicated, and difficult problem. In order to do this, the first problem we meet is how to make a map considered without symmetry. Since the beginning of sixties when Tutte found a way of rooting on a map, the problem has been solved. This forms the basis of the enumerative theory of maps. As soon as the problem without considering the symmetry is solved for one kind of map, the general problem with symmetry can always, in principle, be solved from what we have known about the automorphism of a polyhedron, a synonym for a map, which can be determined efficiently according to another monograph of the present author [Liu58]. 428 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG) is a classical autoimmune disease, for which the target antigen, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, has been cloned, sequenced and biochemically characterized. Antibodies to acetylcholine receptors destroy acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction, thus leading to defective neuromuscular transmission, muscle fatigue, and weakness. In the last few years, rapid advances have been made in unraveling the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of MG, both in the animal model, experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG), and in human MG. Significant advances are being made in characterizing the cells and molecules involved in the autoimmune response to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). These advances are leading to the development of specific methods of immunointervention in EAMG. Further understanding of the intricate involvement of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and non-MHC genes, T cell receptors (TCR), costimulator molecules, and specific cytokines in the afferent and efferent autoimmune response of AChR should pave the way to future antigen/clone-specific therapy of MG. This book is the outcome of the MG workshop proceedings in Mysore, India, 1998. The majority of the chapters in this book are contributed by world-renowned authors and their students. The book not only contains a timely review of specific topics, but also up-to-date findings. Immunologists and neurologists will find, in this volume, the latest in MG/EAMG cutting-edge research. Clinicians will be interested in the applications of the various immunointervention strategies into clinical trials in MG patients. Finally, students will not only be interested in reading the latest in EAMG/MG research, but will also find information to help them develop a future strategy to unravel the precise mechanism of disease. To summarize, in this book, the readers should find up-to-date information related to immunological mechanisms involved in MG pathogenesis and various modalities for possible approaches to immunointervention to treat MG. 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The present monograph analyses the FitzHugh-Nagumo (F-N) model Le. , the Cauchy problem for some generalized Van der Pol equation depending on three real parameters a, band c. This model, given in (1. 1. 17), governs the initiation of the cardiac impulse. The presence of the three parameters leads to a large variety of dy namics, each of them responsible for a specific functioning of the heart. For physiologists it is highly desirable to have aglobai view of all possible qualitatively distinct responses of the F-N model for all values of the pa rameters. This reduces to the knowledge of the global bifurcation diagram. So far, only a few partial results appeared and they were spread through out the literature. Our work provides a more or less complete theoretical and numerical investigation of the complex phase dynamics and bifurca tions associated with the F-N dynamical system. This study includes the static and dynamic bifurcations generated by the variation of a, band c and the corresponding oscillations, of special interest for applications. It enables one to predict all possible types of initiations of heart beats and the mechanism of transformation of some types of oscillations into others by following the dynamics along transient phase space trajectories. Of course, all these results hold for the F-N model. The global phase space picture enables one to determine the domain of validity of this model. 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -The volume deals with several aspects of the chemistry of both synthetic and natural organic compounds related to flavours and fragrances. It presents very recent results, some of them previously unpublished, and findings related to the chemistry of flavours and fragrances. It is organized in four sections: flavours and fragrances of foodstuffs, essential oils and other natural products from plants, applied aspects of flavour and fragrance production and detection, analytical aspects of flavour and fragrance isolation and identification.It should be of interest to academic and applied scientists in the field of organic chemistry, phytochemistry, analytical chemistry and food science.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.