springer netherlands jan 2012 (284 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The study of quality of life refers to the material environment (social welfare) and psychosocial environment (wellbeing). It has been defined as a concept that implies the objective and subjective dimension that Cummins (1997) first studied in seven domains. The use of domains in the quality of life study allows a more precise measurement than the one that could have been reached through simple questions, since psychometric scales are used and if the addition of domains is equivalent to the totality of life satisfaction, then the group of domains is a valid measure of quality of life. In the case of young people, it has been observed that even if they live in negative physical, social and contextual conditions, they can nevertheless experience a relatively positive experience in relation to their quality of life, depending on the strategies and capabilities that they generate in relation to the context. Similarly, young people that live in favorable socioeconomic conditions and with a trouble free psychological situation may experience a relatively poor evaluation of their position in life (Patrick et al). oung people do not form a homogenous group and, in this sense, it is not possible to generalize about youth; they interact with the environment in which they live and they are a product of the history they happen to live, in this way they transit different vital scenarios in daily life that affect their quality of life. The social representations about youth that each population has, in each historical moment, are embedded in the social context in which young people live and develop, conditioning every-day life and /or creating related stereotypes. The concept of youth is a social construction built conjointly by all members of society in the historical moment in which they live. Young people interact with the environment in which they live and they are a product of the history they happen to live. Authors like Urresti (1999) define youth from a point of view that takes into account the living together of different generations in different societies, thus being impossible to compare young people of today with those of two or three decades ago; in addition, he states that it is necessary to situate the understanding of youth within the historical and social moment in which they live. Nowadays the predominant adult model is based in individualism, and even if an intergenerational dialogue is necessary, it is difficult for young people to achieve this kind of communication with adults that, in some cases, are living 'stages of youth' or that need to be 'forever young'. Young people live in uncertainty, with a limited perspective for future action, assigning their own meaning to events and facts, according to their fundamental concerns that are significantly different from those of their parents' generation. In the other side the process of globalization and the protagonist social role of the new informational and communicational technologies, produce that the possibilities to expand individual freedoms increase, but not all young people can manage with it (Lechner, 2002). What young people need in order to construct their citizenship and feel satisfied, varies according to the different societies, especially considering that most of them live a fragile situation. As Cortina (2003:7-9) states, the idea of citizenship always transcends individualism, because the citizen is somebody that exists together with others, and those others are equal to him before the city, is somebody that deliberates with others, that acts with others conjointly, that assumes the protagonist role of his own life, in this way citizen is not only that who the law protects, but that who participates in the public issues. Speaking about young people we propose to recognize them from their equal dignity because 'recognition is not only a courtesy that we owe others: it is an essential human need' (Taylor, 1993:46). This recognition is based in human dign 68 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The US is currently well ahead of the rest of the world in the development and application of SB and its principles especially as they pertain to basic medical research and development. This lead is largely due to its earlier start in the academic arena. However, there is evidence of rapid development in both the UK/EU and Japan, and the gap is narrowing, particularly in the UK. From an industrial point of view, the Pharmaceutical Industry based in the US and UK can capitalize on these opportunities and gain the benefits of this technology. Many educational institutions (particularly their medical divisions) at present are heavily business-oriented, realize that in this particular industrial environment, that every dollar counts. Systems Biology (SB) is a suite of technologies and methodologies that resulted, conceptually from the merging of two basic paradigms, reductionism and holism. It represents a combination of reductionist and holistic approaches to the relationships among the elements of a system, with the goal of identifying its emergent properties and defining, quantitatively, molecular, cellular, tissue, organ and whole body processes. One manifestation of SB is as a tool for hypothesis generation about a system that is typically too large and complex to understand by simple reasoning. 148 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This highly detailed study maps four decades of evolution of the concept of what constitutes effective school leadership. It analyses the theoretical background to these developments and advocates the utility of thinking of a 'lean' form of school leadership that is comparable to the concept of 'meta-control'. A wide-ranging survey of the empirical research literature on leadership effects includes the presentation of results from earlier meta-analyses as well as a new meta-analysis on some 25 studies carried out between 2005 and 2010. This survey demonstrates that older reviews and meta-analyses were predominantly based on so-called 'direct effect' studies, while more recent studies have tried to quantify the indirect effects of leadership, mediated by other school variables.While acknowledging the relatively small total effect of leadership on student outcomes, the study does identify promising intermediary factors which, stimulated by specific leadership behaviours, impact on student performance. The book ends by drawing out wider implications for educational practice and policy, presented under headings such as 'schools need leadership', 'the toolkit of the school leader as a meta-controller', 'the special case of turning around failing schools' and 'efficiency of school leadership'. In passing, the authors make several suggestions about potentially fruitful next steps in researching the effects of school leadership. 164 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The chapters of this book are a selection of papers presented at a joint conference on Law, Ethics and Finance was held at the York University Schulich School of Business, 16-18 September, 2010. This book highlights with empirical data the strong interplay on ethics in organisational efficiency and entrepreneurial activity, and the role of legal settings and governance in facilitating ethical standards. It is hoped these papers encourage future scholars to continue to investigate the role of law and corporate governance in mitigating corruption and facilitating integrity in management,entrepreneurship and finance. Previously published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 95 Supplement 2, 2010 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Grass is a very important world crop. In some countries, for example the UK, Australia and New Zealand, animal products from grassland make a greater contribution to the value of agricultural production than does any other crop. Yet research being undertaken to further our understanding of the factors affecting the growth and productivity of grasslands has trailed in the shadow of the determined efforts made to improve our knowledge of cereals and, to a somewhat lesser extent, legumes. However, in spite of its low profile, grassland research has resulted in considerable advances in our knowledge in the last 20 years, and we feel that this book provides a timely opportunity to bring together some of this work in a review of what is primarily the ecophysiology of the temperate grass crop. Unlike other crops grown for their grain or vegatative parts, grass and grassland products are used almost entirely for the feeding of ruminant animals; the interaction of the sward and the animal thus adds an extra dimension to investigations of the productivity of grassland. No one author could adequately encompass the breadth of work covered in the book. Acknowledged experts have therefore been selected as contributors to provide an up-to-date review of their own specialized areas. Whilst multi author texts can cause problems of lack of uniformity of approach, each contributor has been made aware of the contents of the other chapters in an attempt both to provide continuity and to prevent glaring overlaps. 388 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Over the past decade, mathematics has made a considerable impact as a tool with which to model and understand biological phenomena. In return, biology has confronted the mathematician with a variety of challenging problems which have stimulated developments in the theory of nonlinear differential equations. This book is the outcome of the need to introduce undergraduates of mathematics, the physical and biological sciences to some of those developments. It is primarily directed towards students with a mathematical background up to and including that normally taught in a first-year physical science degree of a British university (sophomore year in a North American university) who are interested in the application of mathematics to biological and physical situations. Chapter 1 is introductory, showing how the study of first-order ordinary differential equations may be used to model the growth of a population, monitoring the administration of drugs and the mechanism by which living cells divide. In Chapter 2, a fairly comprehensive account of linear ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients is given. Such equations arise frequently in the discussion of the biological models encountered throughout the text. Chapter 3 is devoted to modelling biological pheno mena and in particular includes (i) physiology of the heart beat cycle, (ii) blood flow, (iii) the transmission of electrochemical pulses in the nerve, (iv) the Belousov-Zhabotinskii chemical reaction and (v) predator-prey models. 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In this book, the author Joy Cumming draws on knowledge of law, assessment and measurement to provide an original analysis of the inclusion of students with impairment in educational accountability assessments in the U.S., England and Australia. Equitable education of students with impairment is worldwide policy. Educational accountability for improvement of educational outcomes is also a worldwide phenomenon. The U.S., England and Australia are well placed economically and politically to pursue best educational practice for students with impairment and well advanced in both provision and educational accountability systems. Examining these three systems enables an analysis of possible optimal practices to guide other countries. The book identifies three models of impairment in place in legislation, policy and enacted practice for educational accountability with students with impairment. Intentions of legislation and policy reflect a social model of impairment-while an individual has an impairment, social practice creates the barrier that leads to a disability. In implementation, legislation and policy rely on a medical model of disability-categorizing disability in medical or specialist terms. In educational accountability practices, it is argued in this book, a third model of disability is created-a psychometric model, with impairment constructed through overemphasis on standardization of assessment processes. Eight explicit and implicit assumptions that underpin the ways students with impairment are valued in educational accountability are identified and discussed. Three recommendations are made to promote equitable inclusive educational accountability practices for students with impairment, to inform future policy and practice in all countries. 104 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Ce volume propose une étude articulée de Husserl et de Merleau-Ponty qui prend comme perspective la dimension épistémologique de leur philosophie relativement à la biologie. Chacun à sa manière, ils se sont penchés sur le statut ambigu de la biologie et sur l'épineuse question du naturalisme, à savoir : dans quelle mesure les êtres vivants peuvent-ils être appréhendés comme des ensembles de processus physiques et chimiques La confrontation de leurs deux contributions à la question offre un éclairage qui a conservé toute sa pertinence, alors que le développement de la biologie moléculaire et des neurosciences contemporaines a amené un retour du paradigme naturaliste en biologie. L'étude débouche sur une mise en perspective avec la théorie biologique de l'autopoïèse élaborée par F. Varela et H. Maturana. L'enjeu final est de proposer une théorie de la biologie qui respecte son irréductibilité tout en tenant compte du rôle de plus en plus important que les approches physico-chimiques jouent dans notre compréhension des êtres vivants. 236 pp. Französisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Antioxidants are present naturally in virtually all food commodities, providing them with a valuable degree of protection against oxidative attack. When food commodities are subjected to processing, such natural antioxidants are often depleted, whether physically, from the nature of the process itself, or by chemical degradation. In conse quence, processed food products usually keep less well than do the commodities from which they originated. Ideally, food producers would like them to keep better. This objective can often be achieved by blending natural products rich in antioxidants with processed foods, or by using well recognised antioxidants as food additives. In order to understand their action, and hence to apply antioxidants intelligently in food product formulation, some knowledge of the mechanisms by which they function is necessary. This is complex and of antioxidative may rely on one or more of several alternative forms intervention. Accordingly, the various mechanisms that may be relevant are discussed in Chapter 1, in each case including the 'intervention' mechanism. When present in, or added to, foods antioxidants are functional in very small quantities, typically, perhaps, at levels of 0 01 % or less. 332 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Jaakko Hintikka was born on January 12th, 1929. He received his doctorate from the University of Helsinki under the supervision of Professor G. H. von Wright at the age of 24 in 1953. Hintikka was appointed Professor of philosophy at the University of Helsinki in 1959. Since the late 50s, he has shared his time between Finland and the U.S.A. He was appointed Professor of philosophy at Stanford University in 1964. As from 1970 Hintikka has been permanent research professor of the Academy of Finland. He has published 13 books and about 200 articles, not to mention the various editorial and organizational activities he has played an active role in. The present collection of essays has been edited to honour Jaakko Hintikka on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. By dedicating a Festschrift to Jaakko Hintikka, the contributors wish to pay homage to this remarkable man whom they see not only as a scholar of prodigious energy and insight, but as a friend, colleague and former teacher. The contributors hope the essays collected here will bring pleasure to the man they are intended to honour. All of the essays touch upon topics Hintikka has taken an direct or indirect interest in, ranging from technical problems of mathematical logic and applications of formal methods through philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and history of philosophy to philosophical aesthetics. 412 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Crystal oscillators have been in use now for well over SO years-one of the first was built by W. G. Cady in 1921. Today, millions of them are made every year, covering a range of frequencies from a few Kilohertz to several hundred Mega hertz and a range of stabilities from a fraction of one percent to a few parts in ten to the thirteenth, with most of them, by far, still in the range of several tens of parts per million.Their major application has long been the stabilization of fre quencies in transmitters and receivers, and indeed, the utilization of the frequency spectrum would be in utter chaos, and the communication systems as we know them today unthinkable,'without crystal oscillators. With the need to accommodate ever increasing numbers of users in a limited spectrum space, this traditional application will continue to grow for the fore seeable future, and ever tighter tolerances will have to be met by an ever larger percentage of these devices. 260 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -`Are there other planetary systems like ours Other planets like ours Is there life elsewhere in the Universe ' So asks Dr. Lew Allen Jr. in the Foreword. In December of 1992, theorists, observers, and instrument builders gathered at the California Institute of Technology to discuss the search for answers to these questions. The International Conference, entitled `Planetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection' and supported through NASA's newly formed TOPS (Toward Other Planetary Systems) program, was the first of a series of conferences uniting researchers across disciplines and political boundaries to share thoughts and information on planetary systems. The conference was sponsored by NASA, hosted by JPL at Caltech, and endorsed by the 1992 International Space Year Association. These proceedings include discussions of topics ranging from stellar, disk, and planetary formation to new ways of searching for other stellar systems containing planets. The authors represent a wide range of nationalities, disciplines, and points of view. The second international conference took place in December of 1993. 504 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book contains the texts of the lectures which were givenat the Nato Advanced Study Institute on Advanced Heat Pumns which was heldat Espinho, Portugal in September 1980. Aprevious NATO Advanced Study Institute on the topic of heat pumps had been held in 1975. The significance of heat pumps with respect to energy conservation was the main topic of this Institute. In 1980it was felt that considerable research had to be done in order to be able to produce more energy efficient, less costly and more widely ap~licableheat ~umos. This requires a good understanding of the functioning of the types of heat pumps available. The simultaneous coverage of the basic funda mentals of heat pumps of different drive in one lecture series therefore was the goal of the 1980 Advanced Study Institute. Only a few lectures were devoted to heat pump applications. The lectures on heat pump applications were intended to ~ive only a short overview. They were supplemented by lectures on the latest developments on vapour compression as well as sorption systems. 576 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In the last few years, derivatives of L-carnitine, such as acetyl-L-carnitine and propionyl-L-carnitine, have been made available to doctors for treatment of specific pathologies. The effects of this family of related carnitine compounds on cardiovascular systems and diseases constitute the major issue addressed in this volume. Although several books on carnitine have been published, a treatise focusing on experimental and clinical aspects of the carnitine family and cardiovascular diseases was lacking. The present book provides the reader with a concise update in this field. The information collected from experts on various aspects of the fascinating compound, carnitine, will be useful for both clinicians and basic scientists. 416 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A 'science of cities and regions' is critical for meeting future challenges. The world is urbanising: huge cities are being created and are continuing to grow rapidly. There are many planning and development issues arising in different manifestations in countries across the globe. These developments can, in principle, be simulated through mathematical computer models which provide tools for forecasting and testing future scenarios and plans. These models can represent the functioning of cities and regions, predicting the spatial demography and the economy, the main flows such as journey to work or to services, and the mechanisms of future evolution. In this book, the main principles involved in the design of this range of models are articulated, providing an account of the current state of the art as well as future research challenges.Alan Wilson has over forty years working with urban and regional models and has contributed important discoveries. He has distilled this experience into what serves as both an introduction and a review of the research frontier. Topics covered include the Lowry model, the retail model, principles of account-based models and the methods rooted in Boltzmann-style statistical modelling and the Lotka-Volterra approach to system evolution. Applications range from urban and regional planning to wars and epidemics. 116 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Both 'land-use regulation' and 'territorial collective services' have traditionally been accomplished in cities through coercive efforts of public administrations. Recently, land-use regulation and collective service provision regimes have emerged within 'contractual communities:' territory-based organisations (usually, but not exclusively residential) such as homeowners' associations. This book examines the problems and opportunities of contractual communities, avoiding both the alarmism and unwarranted apologies found in much of the literature on contractual communities.The central notion is that cases in which coercive action by a public agency was deemed indispensable have been unjustly overstated, while the potential benefits of voluntary self-organising processes have been seriously understated. The authors propose a revised notion of the state role that allows ample leeway for contractual communities of all forms. 108 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The beneficial impact of the European communities involvement in scientific research and technology is wide-ranging and pervasive. There are high hopes of major advances in scientific knowledge and technological processes, while the emergence of a genuine tradition of collaborative research holds out great and continuing promise for the future. Close, frequent and long-term cooperation between universities, research centres and industry is already generating new synergies, forging a truly European scientific community. Many of tomorrows industrial developments, destined to be determinant for our economic success and prosperity, will spring from this research. The Concerted European Action on Magnets - CEAM - project is a prime example of collaborative research and development. Financed from the Communities STIMULATION action and implemented with the help of EURAM, the advanced materials programme, CEAM will bestow great benefits on European industrial competitiveness, providing a channel for high quality basic research to find its way into commercial products. This remarkable cooperative enterprise brought t~gether 58 laboratories and more than 120 scientists and englneers in a sustained thirty month effort. It spanned every aspect of new iron-based high performance magnets from theoretical modelling of their intrinsic magnetic properties to the design and construction of novel electrical devices and machines. Besides adding a new European dimension to advanced magnetic technology, CEAM also ensured that a whole new generation of young researchers and technicians have been trained in applied magnetism. 948 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In the course of the last century a considerable amount of scientific work has been carried out in the Cayman Islands. The results of this (outlined in Chapter 1) are widely distributed in unpublished reports, university theses, various scientific publications and books, many of these sources being difficult to find and some now unobtainable. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to bring all this scattered information together and to present a coherent account of the biogeography and ecology of the Islands, as an easily available reference source and as a foundation on which future work can be based. 628 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -One service mathematics has rendered the 'Et moi, . si Javait so comment en revenir. je n'y serais point alle.' human race. It has put common sense back Jules Verne where it belongs, on the topmost shelf next to the dusty canister labelled 'discarded non- The series is divergent; therefore we may be sense'. Eric T. Bell able to do something with it. o. Heaviside Mathematics is a tool for thought. A highly necessary tool in a world where both feedback and non linearities abound. Similarly, all kinds of parts of mathematics serve as tools for other parts and for other sciences. Applying a simple rewriting rule to the quote on the right above one finds such statements as: 'One service topology has rendered mathematical physics . .'; 'One service logic has rendered com puter science . .'; 'One service category theory has rendered mathematics . .'. AIl arguably true. And all statements obtainable this way form part of the raison d'etre of this series. 280 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The growing body of information on bacteria pathogenic for humans, mammals and plants generated within the past ten years has shown the interesting conservation of newly identified genes that playa direct role in the pathogenic mechanism. In addition to these genes, there are also genes that confer host specificities and other traits important in pathogenesis on these pathogens. In this volume, we have organized the subject areas to best fit the concept on the way bacterial pathogens recognize, interact and invade the host, on the regulation of genes involved in virulence, on the genes involved in the elaboration of toxins and other pathogenic components such as iron sequestering proteins, and on the mechanisms of circumventing the host defense systems. These areas are divided into Sections. Section I covers the first step when the pathogen seeks its host, and Sections II through VI cover subsequent steps leading to pathogenesis while avoiding host defenses. We conclude this work with a chapter summarizing information on examples of virulence mechanisms that are highly conserved. 704 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The aim of this book is to conduct a critical survey of the main tools devised for the synthetic measurement of globalization processes. To this end, the first part of the book discusses the meaning of the concept considered, highlighting the different and often contradictory interpretations put forward in its regard in the literature. Subsequently analysed are the passages and issues that must be addressed when constructing an instrument intended to measure a social phenomenon of such complexity as globalization. Stressed in particular is that the researcher's subjectivity is repeatedly involved in these passages, so that no instrument can have objective validity. Given these premises, the book presents the principal tools employed in attempts to measure globalization, starting with those whose unit of analysis is the state. In this regard, particular space is devoted to indexes which take a multidimensional approach to the concept of globalization. There follows a comparison among the results obtained using these indexes, and criticisms are made of the ways in which the latter have been constructed. A limitation, or if one wishes a paradox, concerning such tools is that they measure in relation to states a process which has as one of its principal features the fact that it extends beyond the confines of states. For this reason, the final chapter considers whether globalization can be measured with different units of analysis - in particular people and cities. The books concludes with discussion of the general limitations of globalization indexes. 152 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The third Chinese Peptide Symposium, held in Beijing, China on June 13-17, 1994, attracted 156 delegates representing 11 countries. Nobel Laureate Professor Bruce R. Merrifield was among the 51 international participants, which included many other eminent peptide scientists. Our goal for CPS-94 was to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge, cooperation and friendship between the international and Chinese scientific communities, and I believe this goal was met. The program consisted of 10 sessions, with 43 oral and 42 poster presentations. Topics included synthetic methods, molecular diversity and peptide library, design of neuroactive and other active peptides, conformation and protein modeling, peptide immunology and challenging problems in peptides. There were 75 articles selected for publication in these proceedings. CPS-94 was hosted by the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Beijing Medical University. Professor James Tam, Professor Meng-shen Cai and I were honored to serve as Vice-chairmen and Chairperson, respectively, as recommended by the Program Committee of the CPS-92. The enthusiastic cooperation and excellent contributions were gratifying, and the active response of the invited speakers guaranteed the success of the symposium. The presentations were of excellent caliber and represented the most current and significant aspects of peptide science. 312 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The reinforcement of materials such as mud and clay by hair, straw and vegetable fibres has been long established in man's history, enabling him to improve his buildings and extend his engineering abilities. With the advent of modern synthetic polymers it was rapidly realised that the addition of fibres, flakes and particulate materials to polymer matrices could improve mechanical properties significantly. Fibres and flakes are the most effective and have enabled several polymers with limited properties to compete with long-established metallic materials, reSUlting in cost, weight and processing economies. This is increasingly apparent in the selection of materials for aerospace and road vehicle applications as well as in a multitude of domestic products. Reinforced plastics, both thermosets and thermoplastics, are used in increasingly harsh environments involving elevated temperatures and aggressive conditions. Fibre reinforcement of thermoplastics dominates, and a pattern of increasing replacement of fibre reinforced thermosets by reinforced thermoplastics is emerging. This trend is encouraged by the development of continuous fibre reinforced grades of the newer high-temperature engineering thermoplastics such as polyether ether ketone. The first part of this book reviews the mechanical properties and theories of short fibre reinforcement. The principal reinforcements are reviewed and a separate chapter is devoted to the uses of natural fibres as reinforcements for thermoplastics. This is an interesting and commercially important area, especially for Third World countries v vi Preface where these fibres are grown but are facing severe competition from synthetic fibres in traditional applications such as ropes and matting. 340 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The present study attempts to deduce the levels of air-pollution from its effects on epiphytic lichens in the Miinsterland caused by the emission source of the Ruhrgebiet adjacent in the South to the investigated area. For the collection and determination of the values the author has used the lAP-method developed by De Sloover & Le Blanc (I968). A distribution map has been constructed by examin ing the lichen flora of 117 sites located all over an area encompassing about 2 3000 km . Since Malus domestica is relatively abundant in the territory and as it frequent ly stands isolated in the fields, the author decided to study the lichen-flora of this tree species only. At most stations data recorded during the careful examination of 10 trees were considered sufficient to give an adequate picture of the lichen vegetation. The tree boles were investigated at a height of 0.50 m up to 1.50 m in four directions (NW, SW, SE, NE). Basing on the lAP-values the author found it possible to distinguish five zones of atmospheric purity proceeding from South to North and extending from East to West. In some places of the Miinsterland Zone 1 with a pollution maxima has an expansion of 25 km. Only a total of 16 species of epiphytic lichens was recorded in the area investigation while 90 had still been found in 1898. 104 pp. Deutsch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In a new era of global health diplomacy, the most important tool for decision-making is negotiation. Globalization is binding countries, issues and people together as never before. In the domain of public health, traditional international concerns like the spread of infectious diseases have been joined by new concerns and challenges in managing the health impacts of trade and intellectual property rights, and by new opportunities to create effective global public health agreements and programs. To address the major health crises of today and to prevent or mitigate them in the future, countries must seek collective agreement and action within and across their borders. However, the world of international negotiation is not the world in which health decision-makers reside or are most comfortable. The goal of this guide is to provide health policy-makers with practical information and negotiation tools, to help them create better international health agreements and programs.'This is the best book I know to help health professionals develop the negotiation skills necessary to meet the challenges of global health diplomacy. It is filled with wise advice and invaluable tools for success.' Professor Jeswald W. Salacuse, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University 200 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -1. Nekton as an ecomorphological type of biont The term nekton was suggested and used for the first time in 1890 by E. Haeckel in his book Plankton-Studien. Etymologically the word nekton derives from the Greek VTJKTTJP, i.e. swimming. As Haeckel defined it, nekton describes collectively all swimming animals that are 'free to choose their path', i.e. can resist a strong current of water and, distinct from planktonic animals, go where they wish. While giving a general idea of the dividing line between plankton and nekton, Haeckel's definition, which has played an important role in shaping our ideas about nekton, today no longer provides a sufficient basis for ecological and functional morphological investigations, since it affords no possibility of quantitatively assessing either the boundary between plankton and nekton or that between nekton and other ecomorphological types of biont. Thus Parin (1968), proceeding from Haeckel's principle, believes that in the epipelagic zone of the ocean the minimum size of nektonic fishes with a well-developed capacity for active swimming may be between 15 and 30 cm, as fishes shorter than 15 cm are unable to counter oceanic currents. Meanwhile young Leucaspius (Leucaspius delineatus) only 1.5 cm long, observed by this writer in ponds near Moscow proved capable of active horizontal migrations across the entire body of water, which, if Haeckel's definition is accepted, brings the border between planktonic and nektonic fish in this case to between 1.5 and 2.0 cm. 444 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The literature of starch has proliferated in the last ten years at an almost geometric rate and a number of important changes and developments in the technology of starch and its derivatives have taken place which make it highly desirable to review these in some depth. The immensity of the subject determined the writer to seek the assistance of a number of prominent workers throughout the world. Where older work contains factual information of present value it has been retained, generally in the form of Additional References. These are brief abstracts which will help specialised searches in a branch of the subject to complete the information given in the text. Inclusion of dis jointed information can often lead to the loss of coherence and clarity, and the device of the Additional References, whilst allowing smooth presentation, also allows the inclusion of up-to-the-minute material appearing after the main text has been written. The rewarding techniques of transmission and scanning electron microscopy have been dealt with for the first time in a book of this nature. 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -N January 30, 1944, Bela Bart6k, writing from Asheville, North O Carolina, where he had gone to regain his strength after a long period of ill-health in 1943, commented, Here I have started on a very interesting (and, as usual, lengthy) work, the kind I have never done before. Properly speaking, it is not a musical work: I am arranging and writing out fair copies of Rumanian folksong texts'! Although the date has not as yet been established, the first draft of the Rumanian folk texts as texts per se was written-if an apparent age of the MS. can be considered a clue-sometime before Bartok had emigrated to the United States in 1940. This draft (see description below) had been forwarded for etymological data, according to the non-Bart6kian autography appearing thereon. The identity of the informant or informants involved and the circumstances surrounding this matter remain unknown at the present writing. After Bart6k had made offset prints of the music examples of the 2 first two volumes of Rumanian F olk Music in 1940, the printed but incomplete draft of Vol. II (Vocal Melodies)-comprising 304 of the ultimate total of 659 pages-was sent to Nicholas Vama~escu, then di rector of 'The Romanian Radio Hour' (Station W. ]. L. B. , Detroit, 3 Michigan), for correction of the texts, in April, 1941. 1 Letter to Joseph Szigeti, in Bartok Bela levelei (ed. Janos Demeny; Budapest: Miivelt Nep Konyvkiado, 1951), p. 184. 772 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Geomorphology can be defined simply as the study of landforms. Landforms are the result of the interaction between what Ritter (1978) has called the driving and resisting forces. The driving forces or processes are the methods by which energy is exerted on earth materials and include both surface, geomorphological or exogenous processes and subsurface, geological or endogenous processes. The resisting forces are the surface materials with their inherent resistances determined by a complex combination of rock properties. Stated in these simple terms it would be expected that both sides of the equation be given equal weight in syntheses of landform evolution. However, this has not been the case. Until about the 1950s, geomorphology was mainly descriptive and concerned with producing time-dependent models of landscape evolution. Although the form of the land was the main focus, there was little detailed mention of process and scant attention to the properties of surface materials. There were, of course, exceptions. In the late 19th century G.K. Gilbert was stressing the equilibrium between landforms and processes. Many hydrologists were examining the detailed workings of river 'systems and drainage basins, culminating in the classic paper of Horton (1945). 336 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In two earlier volumes, entitled The Logico-Algebraic Approach to Quan tum Mechanics (hereafter LAA I, II), I have presented collections of research papers which trace out the historical development and contem porary flowering of a particular approach to physical theory. One might characterise this approach as the extraction of an abstract logico-algebraic skeleton from each physical theory and the reconstruction of the physical theory as construction of mathematical and interpretive 'flesh' (e. g. , measures, operators, mappings etc. ) on this skeleton. The idea is to show how the specific features of a theory that are easily seen in application (e. g. , 'interference' among observables in quantum mechanics) arise out of the character of its core abstract structure. In this fashion both the deeper nature of a theory (e. g. , in what precise sense quantum mechanics is strongly statistical) and the deeper differences between theories (e. g. clas sical mechanics, though also a 'mechanics', is not strongly statistical) are penetratingly illuminated. What I would describe as the 'mainstream' logico-algebraic tradition is captured in these two collections of papers (LAA I, II). The abstract, structural approach to the characterisation of physical theory has been the basis of a striking transformation, in this century, in the understanding of theories in mathematical physics. There has emerged clearly the idea that physical theories are most significantly characterised by their abstract structural components. 356 pp. Englisch.