springer netherlands jul 1995 (93 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Near-Rings and Near-Fields opens with three invited lectures on different aspects of the history of near-ring theory. These are followed by 26 papers reflecting the diversity of the subject in regard to geometry, topological groups, automata, coding theory and probability, as well as the purely algebraic structure theory of near-rings.Audience: Graduate students of mathematics and algebraists interested in near-ring theory.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is devoted to a new branch of experimental design theory called simulation experimental design. There are many books devoted either to the theory of experimental design or to system simulation techniques, but in this book an approach to combine both fields is developed. Especially the mathematical theory of such universal variance reduction techniques as splitting and Russian Roulette is explored. The book contains a number of results on regression design theory related to nonlinear problems, the E-optimum criterion and designs which minimize bias.Audience: This volume will be of value to readers interested in systems simulation, applied statistics and numerical methods with basic knowledge of applied statistics and linear algebra.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Invariant, or coordinate-free methods provide a natural framework for many geometric questions. Invariant Methods in Discrete and Computational Geometry provides a basic introduction to several aspects of invariant theory, including the supersymmetric algebra, the Grassmann-Cayler algebra, and Chow forms. It also presents a number of current research papers on invariant theory and its applications to problems in geometry, such as automated theorem proving and computer vision.Audience: Researchers studying mathematics, computers and robotics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 346 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Augustine's christianization of Plato and Thomas Aquinas's of Aristotle provided the two main foundations of medieval Judeo- Christian philosophy. In The Christianization of Pyrrhonism, José R. Maia Neto shows that Greek scepticism played a similar role in the development of a major strand of modern religious thought. From the Jansenist reaction of Molinism in the early 17th century to Shestov's resistance to the arrival of Kantian enlightenment in Russia in the late 19th century, Greek scepticism was reconstructed in terms of Christian doctrines and used against major secular philosophers who posed threats to religion. At the same time, the ancient sceptics' practical stance was attacked in order that it does not constitute a viable alternative to the modern secular philosophies. The resulting Christianized Pyrrhonism would be the basis for a genuine Christian or Biblical thought, for the first time emancipated from the rationalist assumptions and methods of Greek philosophy. The Christianization of Pyrrhonism is extremely valuable for those interested in the modern developments of ancient scepticism, in the relations between religious and philosophical ideas in modernity, and for scholars and the general public interested in Pascal, Kierkegaard and Shestov.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Marc R. Tool, both through his writings and his editorship of the Journal of Economic Issues, has had a profound influence on institutional economics. Tool's efforts, in his own words, 'has been to keep values on the agenda of economic inquiry,' which is another way of saying 'keep economic inquiry relevant. ' Tool's work on the theory of social value and instrumental valuation has helped to keep institutional economics focused on the core economic and social issues facing society, providing both a perspective from which to analyze the economy and a criteria for evaluating outcomes. This collection of essays is a testament to this legacy. Although these 15 chapters cover a wide and diverse range of topics, it is the common themes which are most striking: the inescapable necessity of values in economic discourse; the central role of valuation in economic activity; and most importantly, the requirement of democratic participation to achieve 'efficient' solutions to the economic problem. These essays are offered to honor a body of work, a set of ideas, but mostly a man who, by directing economic inquiry to these core issues, has promoted 'the continuity of human life and the noninvidious recreation of community through the instrumental use of knowledge.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Agora, Academy, and the Conduct of Philosophy offers extremely careful and detailed criticisms of some of the most important assumptions scholars have brought to bear in beginning the process of (Platonic) interpretation. It goes on to offer a new way to group the dialogues, based on important facts in the lives and philosophical practices of Socrates - the main speaker in most of Plato's dialogues - and of Plato himself. Both sides of Debra Nails's arguments deserve close attention: the negative side, which exposes a great deal of diversity in a field that often claims to have achieved a consensus; and the positive side, which insists that we must attend to what we know of these philosophers' lives and practices, if we are to make a serious attempt to understand why Plato wrote the way he did, and why his writings seem to depict different philosophies and even different approaches to philosophizing.From the Preface by Nicholas D. Smith.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Modernity dissolves absolute certainties; late modernity dissolves them absolutely. In the modern world system there appears to be no firm, unchallenged ground on which to construct a meaningful canopy. But around the world, many individuals and groups long for a kind of cultural coherence that they believe once existed. They search for fundamentals. While these may be sought in religious traditions, many also aspire to new secular certainties. In their various new forms and contexts the contemporary quests for meaning in turn transform the societies in which they occur. The rich comparative examples in The Search for Fundamentals are used to analyze the sources and consequences of several cultural movements. The book also offers theoretical reflections on the difficulties they experience and on the message they carry for students of modernity.Audience: A broad readership of scholars and advanced students in the social sciences and humanities.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 298 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In this collection we finally find the philosophy of technology, a young and rapidly developing area of scholarly interest, making contact with history of science and technology, and mainstream epistemological and metaphysical issues. The sophistication of these papers indicates the maturity of the field as it moves away from the advocacy of anti-technology ideological posturing toward a deeper understanding of the options and restraints technological developments provide.The papers presented here take us over a threshold into the real world of complicated social and technological interactions where science and art are shown to be integral to our understanding of technological change, and technological innovations are seen as configuring our knowledge of the world and opening up new possibilities for human development. With its rich historical base, this volume will be of interest to all students concerned about the interactions among technology, society, and philosophy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Ceramic Processing is the first comprehensive, stand alone, multi-authored book on advanced ceramic processing. It provides an overview of the important processing steps involved in the fabrication of advanced ceramics for structural and functional applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 236 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -For a naturalist and limnologist, the Pantanal has the extreme fascination of an 'ultima Thule' ofundisturbed and little known wilderness. The scientific world at large is almost unaware of its richness. In an age when scientific research is overstretched because of lack of funds and the hands are full of urgentconservationtasks, it is the amateurtourist who unveils the beauty and the interestof this largest wetland ofthe world. I had the privilege of an outsider, well enough familiarized with Brazil, its language and scientific life, but independent enough of the daily chores of a local academic career. For nearly 20 years I have been a faithful sci entific tourist to this subcontinent. My academic liberty gave me the unique opportunity to try to synthesize in English the knowledge about Brazilian environments little known abroad. My first suchendeavourhas been'Soore tama - the Atlantic Rain Forest of Brazil'. Dealing now with the Pantanal, I wish to pay tribute to the many Brazilian colleagues who under dire and often precarious conditions have advanced the knowledge related to the Pan tanal. By reviewing their many reports and papers written in Portuguese and bringing them to the knowledge of the international scientific community, I believe that I am doing a useful service. First of all, I have to thank Prof. Vera Lucia Imperatriz Fonseca, the Head of the Department of General Ecology at the University of Sao Paulo, for providingme during the years, the academic basefrom which I couldoperate.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Data envelopment analysis develops a set of nonparametric and semiparametric techniques for measuring economic efficiency among firms and nonprofit organizations. Over the past decade this technique has found most widespread applications in public sector organizations. However these applications have been mostly static. This monograph extends this static framework of efficiency analysis in several new directions. These include but are not limited to the following: (1) a dynamic view of the production and cost frontier, where capital inputs are treated differently from the current inputs, (2) a direct role of the technological progress and regress, which is so often stressed in total factor productivity discussion in modem growth theory in economics, (3) stochastic efficiency in a dynamic setting, where reliability improvement competes with technical efficiency, (4) flexible manufacturing systems, where flexibility of the production process and the economies of scope play an important role in efficiency analysis and (5) the role of economic factors such as externalities and input interdependences. Efficiency is viewed here in the framework of a general systems theory model. Such a view is intended to broaden the scope of applications of this promising new technique of data envelopment analysis. The monograph stresses the various applied aspects of the dynamic theory, so that it can be empirically implemented in different situations. As far as possible abstract mathematical treatments are avoided and emphasis placed on the statistical examples and empirical illustrations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Agroforestry research is central to developing methods for the sustainable use of natural renewable resources, evolving to address the needs of the coming century. It is now necessary to consolidate the scientific gains now being made in process-oriented research and to develop a policy framework to encourage the adoption of sustainable land use practices. Agroforestry plays an important role in conserving forest resources, reducing the need for deforestation. Further, if `forest' is broadly defined as tree cover, agroforestry will also increase the proportion of woody biomass in farming landscapes.The papers selected for inclusion in Agroforestry: Science, Policy, and Practice establish agroforestry as an interdisciplinary science focused on the practical imperative of assisting farmers, forest dwellers and landscape-level planners to achieve sustainable food, fuel and timber production into the 21st century.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Many, perhaps most textbooks of quantum mechanics present a Copenhagen, single system angle; fewer present the subject matter as an instrument for treating ensembles, but the two methods have been silently coexisting since the mid-Thirties. This lingering dichotomy of purpose for a major physical discipline has much shrouded further insights into the foundations of quantum theory.Quantum Reprogramming resolves this long-standing dichotomy by examining the mutual relation between single systems and ensembles, assigning each its own tools for treating the subject at hand: i.e., Schrödinger-Dirac methods for ensembles versus period integrals for single systems.A unified treatment of integer and fractional quantum Hall effects and a finite description of the electron's anomalies are mentioned as measures of justification for the chosen procedure of resolving an old-time dichotomy. The methods of presentation are, in part, elementary, with repetitive references needed to delineate differences with respect to standard methods. The parts on period integrals are developed with a perspective on elementary methods in physics, thus leading up to some standard results of de Rham theory and algebraic topology.Audience: Students of physics, mathematics, philosophers as well as outsiders with a general interest in the conceptual development of physics will find useful reading in these pages, which will stimulate further inquiry and study.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -After his failure to replace metaphysics by a linguistic approach, Ludwig Boltzmann came to identify the philosophy of science with methodology which, in turn, he considered to be part of science itself, and thus not part of philosophy at all. His definition of philosophy as metaphysics meant that, from his point of view, all philosophers were metaphysicians, himself included.Boltzmann the philosopher was advised on the improvement of his Weltanschauung by Franz Brentano; to such effect that, by the summer of 1905, Boltzmann appeared to be close to a form of critical realism. However, the stronger this realism became, the more inconsistent it seemed to be with his `Mach plus pictures' methodology of science. During this period, he planned to write a book, first on metaphysics and then later on what he called `A priori probability' and what he considered to be its shortcomings. Apparently, the book was never completed.All know Boltzmann the great physicist. Much less widely known is that he was an original philosopher: one who had a great impact on early 20th Century Viennese philosophy, beginning with Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle and extending even to Popper and Feyerabend. Blackmore's delving into Boltzmann's correspondence, coupled with his unparalleled knowledge of Boltzmann's final years, allows him to present Boltzmann in an entirely new light to readers in the English language.For physicists, philosophers and historians.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the near future the world will need to convert to a suitable, clean energy supply: one that will meet the demands of an increasing population while giving few environmental problems. One such possible supply is hydrogen. Hydrogen Energy System describes the present status of hydrogen as an energy supply, as well as its prospect in the years to come. It covers the transition to hydrogen-based, sustainable energy systems, the technology of hydrogen production, its storage and transport, and current and future hydrogen utilisation. Economic analyses of the hydrogen energy system, together with case studies, are also presented.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 354 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A significant part of understanding how people use geographic information and technology concerns human cognition. This book provides the first comprehensive in-depth examination of the cognitive aspects of human-computer interaction for geographic information systems (GIS). Cognitive aspects are treated in relation to individual, group, behavioral, institutional, and cultural perspectives. Extensions of GIS in the form of spatial decision support systems and SDSS for groups are part of the geographic information technology considered.Audience: Geographic information users, systems analysts and system designers, researchers in human-computer interaction will find this book an information resource for understanding cognitive aspects of geographic information technology use, and the methods appropriate for examining this use.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 452 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book represents a milestone in the progression of Data Envelop ment Analysis (DEA). It is the first reference text which includes a comprehensive review and comparative discussion of the basic DEA models. The development is anchored in a unified mathematical and graphical treatment and includes the most important modeling ex tensions. In addition, this is the first book that addresses the actual process of conducting DEA analyses including combining DEA and 1 parametric techniques. The book has three other distinctive features. It traces the applications driven evolution and diffusion of DEA models and extensions across disciplinary boundaries. It includes a comprehensive bibliography to serve as a source of references as well as a platform for further develop ments. And, finally, the power of DEA analysis is demonstrated through fifteen novel applications which should serve as an inspiration for future applications and extensions of the methodology. The origin of this book was a Conference on New Uses of DEA in 2 Management and Public Policy which was held at the IC Institute of the University of Texas at Austin on September 27-29, 1989. The conference was made possible through NSF Grant #SES-8722504 (A. Charnes and 2 W. W. Cooper, co-PIs) and the support of the IC Institute.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 532 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book represents a milestone in the progression of Data Envelop ment Analysis (DEA). It is the first reference text which includes a comprehensive review and comparative discussion of the basic DEA models. The development is anchored in a unified mathematical and graphical treatment and includes the most important modeling ex tensions. In addition, this is the first book that addresses the actual process of conducting DEA analyses including combining DEA and 1 parametric techniques. The book has three other distinctive features. It traces the applications driven evolution and diffusion of DEA models and extensions across disciplinary boundaries. It includes a comprehensive bibliography to serve as a source of references as well as a platform for further develop ments. And, finally, the power of DEA analysis is demonstrated through fifteen novel applications which should serve as an inspiration for future applications and extensions of the methodology. The origin of this book was a Conference on New Uses of DEA in 2 Management and Public Policy which was held at the IC Institute of the University of Texas at Austin on September 27-29, 1989. The conference was made possible through NSF Grant #SES-8722504 (A. Charnes and 2 W. W. Cooper, co-PIs) and the support of the IC Institute.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 532 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Polymers are ubiquitous and pervasive in industry, science, and technology. These giant molecules have great significance not only in terms of products such as plastics, films, elastomers, fibers, adhesives, and coatings but also less ob viously though none the less importantly in many leading industries (aerospace, electronics, automotive, biomedical, etc.). Well over half the chemists and chem ical engineers who graduate in the United States will at some time work in the polymer industries. If the professionals working with polymers in the other in dustries are taken into account, the overall number swells to a much greater total. It is obvious that knowledge and understanding of polymers is essential for any engineer or scientist whose professional activities involve them with these macromolecules. Not too long ago, formal education relating to polymers was very limited, indeed, almost nonexistent. Speaking from a personal viewpoint, I can recall my first job after completing my Ph.D. The job with E.I. Du Pont de Nemours dealt with polymers, an area in which I had no university training. There were no courses in polymers offered at my alma mater. My experience, incidentally, was the rule and not the exception.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 492 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Stochastic programming - the science that provides us with tools to design and control stochastic systems with the aid of mathematical programming techniques - lies at the intersection of statistics and mathematical programming. The book Stochastic Programming is a comprehensive introduction to the field and its basic mathematical tools. While the mathematics is of a high level, the developed models offer powerful applications, as revealed by the large number of examples presented. The material ranges form basic linear programming to algorithmic solutions of sophisticated systems problems and applications in water resources and power systems, shipbuilding, inventory control, etc.Audience: Students and researchers who need to solve practical and theoretical problems in operations research, mathematics, statistics, engineering, economics, insurance, finance, biology and environmental protection.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 620 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Collapsing engineering soils are a formidable hazard around the world. These difficult materials also include some of the world's most fertile agricultural soils, fostering dense human populations which are therefore increasingly at risk. Despite an impressive literature on the engineering aspects of collapsing soils, these materials are coming under increasing scrutiny by scientists in other fields. This is most evidently the case with soil scientists, stratigraphers and sedimentologists. Past earth surface conditions have a direct influence on the detailed behaviour of collapsible soils: as a complement, these materials also provide detailed data on changing global climates. The selected papers presented here highlight the common ground between three scientific groups with a vested interest in a better understanding of collapsible soils.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 428 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Our rationale for the second edition remains the same as for the first edition, which appeared over twenty years ago. This is to offer simplified, useful and easily understood methods for dealing with the creep of components operating under conditions met in practice. When the first edition was written, we could not claim that the methods which were introduced were well-tried. They were somewhat conjectural, although firmly based, but not sufficiently well devel oped. Since that time, the Reference Stress Methods (RSM) introduced in the book have received much scrutiny and development. The best recognition we could have of the original methods is the fact that they are now firmly embedded in codes of practice. Hopefully, we have now gone a long way towards achieving our original objectives. There are major additions to this second edition which should help to justify our claims. These include further clarification regarding Reference Stress Methods in Chapter 4. There are also new topics which depend on RSM in varying degrees: ¿ Creep fracture is covered in Chapter 7, where methods for assessing creep crack initiation and crack growth are fully described. This chapter starts with a review of the basic concepts of fracture mechanics and follows with useful, approximate methods, compatible with the needs of design for creep and the availability of standard data. ¿ Creep/fatigue interactions and environmental effects appear in Chapter 8.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 444 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book covers in detail the development and use of the electric sense in fishes. Contents include coverage of taxonomy of the species involved, electric organs and electroreception, hormones and behaviour and the role of other sensory systems in conjunction with the electric sense. The book will be of great value to fish biologists, physiologists, evolutionary scientists, animal behaviourists and aquatic scientists.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 612 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Near-Rings and Near-Fields opens with three invited lectures on different aspects of the history of near-ring theory. These are followed by 26 papers reflecting the diversity of the subject in regard to geometry, topological groups, automata, coding theory and probability, as well as the purely algebraic structure theory of near-rings. Audience: Graduate students of mathematics and algebraists interested in near-ring theory. 292 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Astrometry is on the threshold of great changes due to the fact that this decade, alone, is witnessing an improvement of stellar positions equivalent to the total improvement of the previous two centuries. The Hipparcos Satellite has concluded its observations, and the catalog is in preparation. Preliminary results assure that the Hipparcos catalog will provide positions, parallaxes and annual proper motions for over 100,000 stars with accuracies of 1.5 milliarcseconds. In addition, the Tycho catalog will provide positions of about 30 milliarcseconds accuracy for over 1 million stars, and annual proper motions with 3 milliarcsecond accuracy will subsequently be ob tained by means of first epoch positions from the Astrographic Catalog. Optical interferometers on the ground are beginning operation, and these instruments can provide observational accuracies of approximately one milliarcsecond. Also, the traditional reference frame based on the Fun damental Catalog of bright stars is being replaced by the extragalactic ref erence frame, based on radio sources with accuracies of one milliarcsecond. Thus, astrometry will change from a fundamental reference frame defined in terms of the dynamical reference frame of the solar system with accuracies of 100 milliarcseconds to a space-fixed, extragalactic reference frame with accuracies of one milliarcsecond. Future astrometric observations should be in the 1 -100 milliarcsecond accuracy range. There are a number of concepts for future astrometric instruments in space. Most of these can provide sub-milliarcsecond astrometric accuracies. 460 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Augustine's christianization of Plato and Thomas Aquinas's of Aristotle provided the two main foundations of medieval Judeo- Christian philosophy. In The Christianization of Pyrrhonism, José R. Maia Neto shows that Greek scepticism played a similar role in the development of a major strand of modern religious thought. From the Jansenist reaction of Molinism in the early 17th century to Shestov's resistance to the arrival of Kantian enlightenment in Russia in the late 19th century, Greek scepticism was reconstructed in terms of Christian doctrines and used against major secular philosophers who posed threats to religion. At the same time, the ancient sceptics' practical stance was attacked in order that it does not constitute a viable alternative to the modern secular philosophies. The resulting Christianized Pyrrhonism would be the basis for a genuine Christian or Biblical thought, for the first time emancipated from the rationalist assumptions and methods of Greek philosophy. The Christianization of Pyrrhonism is extremely valuable for those interested in the modern developments of ancient scepticism, in the relations between religious and philosophical ideas in modernity, and for scholars and the general public interested in Pascal, Kierkegaard and Shestov. 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Marc R. Tool, both through his writings and his editorship of the Journal of Economic Issues, has had a profound influence on institutional economics. Tool's efforts, in his own words, 'has been to keep values on the agenda of economic inquiry,' which is another way of saying 'keep economic inquiry relevant. ' Tool's work on the theory of social value and instrumental valuation has helped to keep institutional economics focused on the core economic and social issues facing society, providing both a perspective from which to analyze the economy and a criteria for evaluating outcomes. This collection of essays is a testament to this legacy. Although these 15 chapters cover a wide and diverse range of topics, it is the common themes which are most striking: the inescapable necessity of values in economic discourse; the central role of valuation in economic activity; and most importantly, the requirement of democratic participation to achieve 'efficient' solutions to the economic problem. These essays are offered to honor a body of work, a set of ideas, but mostly a man who, by directing economic inquiry to these core issues, has promoted 'the continuity of human life and the noninvidious recreation of community through the instrumental use of knowledge. 300 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Invariant, or coordinate-free methods provide a natural framework for many geometric questions. Invariant Methods in Discrete and Computational Geometry provides a basic introduction to several aspects of invariant theory, including the supersymmetric algebra, the Grassmann-Cayler algebra, and Chow forms. It also presents a number of current research papers on invariant theory and its applications to problems in geometry, such as automated theorem proving and computer vision. Audience: Researchers studying mathematics, computers and robotics. 346 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Agora, Academy, and the Conduct of Philosophy offers extremely careful and detailed criticisms of some of the most important assumptions scholars have brought to bear in beginning the process of (Platonic) interpretation. It goes on to offer a new way to group the dialogues, based on important facts in the lives and philosophical practices of Socrates - the main speaker in most of Plato's dialogues - and of Plato himself. Both sides of Debra Nails's arguments deserve close attention: the negative side, which exposes a great deal of diversity in a field that often claims to have achieved a consensus; and the positive side, which insists that we must attend to what we know of these philosophers' lives and practices, if we are to make a serious attempt to understand why Plato wrote the way he did, and why his writings seem to depict different philosophies and even different approaches to philosophizing. From the Preface by Nicholas D. Smith. 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Modernity dissolves absolute certainties; late modernity dissolves them absolutely. In the modern world system there appears to be no firm, unchallenged ground on which to construct a meaningful canopy. But around the world, many individuals and groups long for a kind of cultural coherence that they believe once existed. They search for fundamentals. While these may be sought in religious traditions, many also aspire to new secular certainties. In their various new forms and contexts the contemporary quests for meaning in turn transform the societies in which they occur. The rich comparative examples in The Search for Fundamentals are used to analyze the sources and consequences of several cultural movements. The book also offers theoretical reflections on the difficulties they experience and on the message they carry for students of modernity. Audience: A broad readership of scholars and advanced students in the social sciences and humanities. 298 pp. Englisch.