springer netherlands jul 2002 (122 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In this monograph, the authors present a compact, thorough, systematic, and self-contained oscillation theory for linear, half-linear, superlinear, and sublinear second-order ordinary differential equations. An important feature of this monograph is the illustration of several results with examples of current interest. This book will stimulate further research into oscillation theory.This book is written at a graduate level, and is intended for university libraries, graduate students, and researchers working in the field of ordinary differential equations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 692 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The plant hormone auxin plays a fundamental role in the growth and development of plants. Researchers from across the globe are currently attempting to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which auxin controls such diverse processes as cell division, cell elongation, and differentiation. Research questions on auxin action are being addressed using state-of-the-art techniques that are available to cell biologists, geneticists, molecular biologists, biochemists, and physiologists.This text highlights many of the major topics that were covered in a recent workshop that was specifically focused on research into the mechanisms of auxin action. The articles in this text give a current update of the research findings on auxin biosynthesis, metabolism and transport; evolutionary patterns; auxin perception, signal transduction and physiology; auxin-regulated gene expression and protein degradation pathway in auxin responses; and cross-talk between auxin and other plant signalling pathways.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The genesis of this volume was the participation of the editors in an ACMlSIGIR (Association for Computing Machinery/Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval) workshop entitled 'Beyond Word Relations' (Hetzler, 1997). This workshop examined a number of relationship types with significance for information retrieval beyond the conventional topic-matching relationship. From this shared participation came the idea for an edited volume on relationships, with chapters to be solicited from researchers and practitioners throughout the world. Ultimately, one volume became two volumes. The first volume, Relationships in the Organization of Knowledge (Bean & Green, 200 I), examines the role of relationships in knowledge organization theory and practice, with emphasis given to thesaural relationships and integration across systems, languages, cultures, and disciplines. This second volume examines relationships in a broader array of contexts. The two volumes should be seen as companions, each informing the other. As with the companion volume, we are especially grateful to the authors who willingly accepted challenges of space and time to produce chapters that summarize extensive bodies of research. The value of the volume clearly resides in the quality of the individual chapters. In naming this volume The Semantics of Relationships: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, we wanted to highlight the fact that relationships are not just empty connectives. Relationships constitute important conceptual units and make significant contributions to meaning.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Cartagena of Indias, Columbia, September 13-19, 1998Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 164 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the main, studies of organized crime rely on police or judicial sources, or the accounts of retired criminals and informants. In contrast, this study is based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork with Colombian drug traffickers (traquetos) in The Netherlands and Colombia. By spending long hours in salsa bars, churches, prisons, and prostitution streets, the author has uncovered the social world of traquetos: how and why they get involved in illicit activities, the nature of their work, the manner in which they relate to one another, and lastly how they organize their businesses.The result is a lively, theoretically grounded study that defies common clichés on `cartels' and leadership by legendary Mr Bigs. Instead, it highlights the complex, flexible, and heterogeneous nature of cocaine enterprises.This book will not only be valued by criminologists, social scientists, drug researchers, policy makers, and organized crime scholars, but it will also be avidly read by those interested in Colombia, in the problems of Latino immigrants in Europe, and in the international cocaine business.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the main, studies of organized crime rely on police or judicial sources, or the accounts of retired criminals and informants. In contrast, this study is based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork with Colombian drug traffickers (traquetos) in The Netherlands and Colombia. By spending long hours in salsa bars, churches, prisons, and prostitution streets, the author has uncovered the social world of traquetos: how and why they get involved in illicit activities, the nature of their work, the manner in which they relate to one another, and lastly how they organize their businesses.The result is a lively, theoretically grounded study that defies common clichés on `cartels' and leadership by legendary Mr Bigs. Instead, it highlights the complex, flexible, and heterogeneous nature of cocaine enterprises.This book will not only be valued by criminologists, social scientists, drug researchers, policy makers, and organized crime scholars, but it will also be avidly read by those interested in Colombia, in the problems of Latino immigrants in Europe, and in the international cocaine business.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The main subject of this book is the rather fascinating link between an acceptable concept of political whole and its legal and moral implications. When we face this problem, we find that widespread categories like `happiness' and 'friendship' are at the same time necessary and dangerous, crucial and elusive. In order to make the case against the so-called Legal Enforcement of Morals, and to grasp the complex relationship between law and morality from a liberal point of view, it is not enough to reject a pattern of happiness, or of human flourishing, from which to draw normative instructions for men and women - it must be recognized that integration of individuals in the comprehensive groups, as well as in the political whole itself, is not the only valuable option. The fragile value of a relative lack of integration, a 'right to unhappiness', turns out to be, eventually, what makes the weak, but decisive, moral primacy of liberal societies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 160 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Cusco, Peru, September 9-14, 1996Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is a historical-epistemological study of one of the most consequential breakthroughs in the history of celestial mechanics: Robert Hooke's (1635-1703) proposal to 'compoun[d] the celestial motions of the planets of a direct motion by the tangent & an attractive motion towards a centrat body' (Newton, The Correspondence li, 297. Henceforth: Correspondence). This is the challenge Hooke presented to Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in a short but intense correspondence in the winter of 1679-80, which set Newton on course for his 1687 Principia, transforming the very concept of 'the planetary heavens' in the process (Herivel, 301: De Motu, Version III). 1 It is difficult to overstate the novelty of Hooke 's Programme ¿ The celestial motions, it suggested, those proverbial symbols of stability and immutability, werein fact a process of continuous change: a deflection of the planets from original rectilinear paths by 'a centraU attractive power' (Correspondence, li, 313). There was nothing necessary or essential in the shape of planetary orbits. Already known to be 'not circular nor concentricall' (ibid. ), Hooke claimed that these apparently closed 'curve Line[ s ]' should be understood and calculated as mere effects of rectilinear motions and rectilinear attraction. And as Newton was quick to realize, this also implied that 'the planets neither move exactly in ellipse nor revolve twice in the same orbit, so that there are as many orbits to a planet as it has revolutions' (Herivel, 301: De Motu, Version III).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Dieses Buch ist vielleicht nicht das Beste, aber vielleicht doch das Äußerste, was ich gegen Ende eines (gewiß nicht nur) philosophischen Lebens noch zu geben ver mag: einen Hinweis auf die Frage, womit wir uns eigentlich befassen sollten; als eine Frage, die jedermann schon im alltäglichen Leben angeht, und zugleich als die Frage einer ,Philosophie'. Das Alleräußerste wäre dann ein Versuch, auch diese Frage selber noch zu be antworten. Einen solchen Versuch habe ich aber längst schon zuvor unternommen: in meinem Entwurf einer Kritik der Grundlagen des Zeitalters (1974). (Die vorliegende Topik nennt nur die Frage, worauf jene ,Kritik' eine Antwort geben wollte.) In einer Abhandlung über Ökonomie und Metaphysik, an der ich noch arbeite, mache ich noch einen wiederholten Versuch, jene Frage nach Möglichkeit noch deutlicher zu beantworten. Bislang habe ich nur vier ,Werke' zustande gebracht: eines über Das Grundle gende und das Wesentliche (1965), von dem ich bis heute noch zehre, die erwähnte Kritik der Grundlagen des Zeitalters, eine Tragik (2001) und die vorliegende Topik. (Der Rest sind nur Aufsatzsammlungen, Vorlesungen, Editionen und Übersetzun gen.) Doch habe ich (nebst dem oben erwähnten noch in Arbeit befindlichen Ver such über ,Ökonomie und Metaphysik') noch zwei weitere Werke anzubieten: eine Politik (für die ich bis heute noch keinen Verleger gefunden habe) und eine in den siebziger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts geschriebene und unvollendet gebliebene Dialektik (die wohl nur nach meinem Tode einer Veröffentlichung fähig ist).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -1. OUTLINE German has the three main perfect constructions which are illustrated in (1. 1). 1 In each of these constructions, the verb appears in the past participial form and is combined with an auxiliary - in this case, haben ('have'); other verbs form their perfect constructions with the auxiliary sein ('be'). 2 The auxiliary can then be com bined with a tense -Le. the present tense as in (Ua), the past tense as in (b), or the future tense as in (c). 3 (1. 1) a. PRESENT PERFECT: Die Eule hat die Schule verlassen. the owl has the school left b. PAST PERFECT: Die Eule hatte die Schule verlassen. the owl had the school left c. FUTURE PERFECT: Die Eule wird die Schule verlassen haben. the owl will the school left have As will shortly become clear, the present perfect is the most intricate of the perfect constructions in German. It has been investigated intensely in the past, with the result that today there is little doubt about what the core problems concerning its semantics are.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 412 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The aim of this volume is to offer a balanced overview of molecular Rydberg spectroscopy as it has developed over recent decades. Recent evolution has split Rydberg spectroscopy into two apparently distinct fields: the one concerns the low (n=3-5) Rydberg states, the other the very high (typically n>150) Rydberg states. The former is aimed at spectral levels where Rydberg, valence-shell, and intermediate-type states interact, with a variety of photochemical consequences. The latter considers states extremely close to the ionization limit, from whereionization is possible with a very slight amount of additional energy. Recently developed techniques make it possible to produce ions in well-defined electronic, vibrational and rotational states, including states resulting from spin-orbit or Jahn-Teller splitting. It is then possible to study the structure and reactions of such state-selected ions as well as those of the corresponding neutral molecules. These techniques amount to badly needed high resolution photoelectron spectroscopy. 540 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Guillaume Wunsch, Michel Mouchart, Josianne Duchene This book is an outcome of the activities of the Working Group on Health, Morbidity, and Mortality Differentials of the European Association for Population Studies, which was chaired for some years by one of the present editors (G. Wunsch). In collaboration with the Institute of Statistics and the Institute of Demography of the University of Louvain, this Working Group held a workshop in Louvain-Ia-Neuve a few years ago on the use of life tables in Europe, taking into account problems of data collection, methods, and models. Some of the participants in the workshop were then invited by the present editors to improve, develop, or in some cases thoroughly modify their papers in order to transform them into chapters of a book on life tables. Though life tables are one of the oldest tools in demography, and every textbook on demographic methods deals with the topic of life table construction, few books have dealt with the subject in depth. It is the hope of the editors that the present volume will fulfill to some extent this need. Though primarily written by and for demographers, this book will also be of use to actuaries working in life insurance, and to epidemiologists dealing with morbidity and cause of death. Furthermore, a topic such as competing risks theory should also be of interest to statisticians.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 322 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This is a monograph about logic. Specifically, it presents the mathe matical theory of the logic of bunched implications, BI: I consider Bl's proof theory, model theory and computation theory. However, the mono graph is also about informatics in a sense which I explain. Specifically, it is about mathematical models of resources and logics for reasoning about resources. I begin with an introduction which presents my (background) view of logic from the point of view of informatics, paying particular attention to three logical topics which have arisen from the development of logic within informatics: ¿ Resources as a basis for semantics; ¿ Proof-search as a basis for reasoning; and ¿ The theory of representation of object-logics in a meta-logic. The ensuing development represents a logical theory which draws upon the mathematical, philosophical and computational aspects of logic. Part I presents the logical theory of propositional BI, together with a computational interpretation. Part II presents a corresponding devel opment for predicate BI. In both parts, I develop proof-, model- and type-theoretic analyses. I also provide semantically-motivated compu tational perspectives, so beginning a mathematical theory of resources. I have not included any analysis, beyond conjecture, of properties such as decidability, finite models, games or complexity. I prefer to leave these matters to other occasions, perhaps in broader contexts.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 344 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) is increasingly recognised as a distinguished tool of environmental management. It helps to integrate a company's environmental and business interests, whereby enhancing corporate eco-efficiency in terms of reducing environmental costs or making one's product more competitive.This book gives a comprehensive coverage of the state of the art. It presents a number of EMA frameworks that companies can take as a basis for implementing their own specific EMA structures. Besides discussing environmental accounting issues within conventional management accounting, it gives a detailed picture of materials flow (cost) accounting as an alternative way of looking at the ecology-economy relationships at the corporate level. A fascinating case study shows how a large company (Siemens) applies materials flow accounting and what benefits it entails.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Enzyme Kinetics and Mechanisms takes the reader through the experimental techniques and the logic by which the mechanisms of enzyme-catalyzed reactions can be elucidated by the results of steady-state kinetics and related experiments. It is meant to make these investigations both satisfying and effective. In distinction to other available descriptions, the descriptions in enzyme Kinetics and Mechanisms are limited to more commonly utilized and useful models and techniques. The logic relating the chemical models to the mathematical models and the logic of relating the mathematical models to data is presented in rather concise text, figures and equations. The development of mathematical models from chemical models is done by a unique algorithm that is both simple and quick, and the same concept are utilized to develop models for the effects of a variety of reaction conditions on the initial velocity. In addition, the various relationships of data, mathematical models and the chemical models is illustrated with examples from the scientific literature.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Despite a long history of almost 180 years stretching back to the times of Carnot and, later, Clausius and Lord Kelvin, amongst others following him, the subject of thermodynamics has not as yet seen its full maturity, in the sense that the theory of irreversible processes has remained incomplete. The works of L. Onsager, J. Meixner, I. Prigogine on the thermodyn- ics of linear irreversible processes are, in effect, the early efforts toward the desired goal of giving an adequate description of irreversible processes, but their theory is confined to near-equilibrium phenomena. The works in recent years by various research workers on the extension of the aforem- tioned thermodynamic theory of linear irreversible processes are further efforts toward the goal mentioned. The present work is another of such efforts and a contribution to the subject of generalizing the thermodyn- ics of reversible processes, namely, equilibrium thermodynamics, to that of irreversible processes¿non-equilibrium thermodynamics, without being restricted to linear irreversible processes. In this context the terms ¿far - moved from equilibrium¿ is often used in the literature, and such states of macroscopic systems and non-linear irreversible phenomena in them are the objects of interest in this work. The thermodynamics of processes, either reversible or irreversible, is a continuum mechanical theory of matter and energy and their exchange between different parts of the system, and as such it makes no direct r- erence to the molecules constituting the substance under consideration.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -¿The Frontiers of Knowhledge (to coin a phrase) are always on the move. - day¿s discovery will tomorrow be part of the mental furniture of every research worker. By the end of next week it will be in every course of graduate lectures. Within the month there will be a clamour to have it in the undergraduate c- riculum. Next year, I do believe, it will seem so commonplace that it may be assumed to be known by every schoolboy. ¿The process of advancing the line of settlements, and cultivating and c- ilizing the new territory, takes place in stages. The original papers are p- lished, to the delight of their authors, and to the critical eyes of their readers. Review articles then provide crude sketch plans, elementary guides through the forests of the literature. Then come the monographs, exact surveys, mapping out the ground that has been won, adjusting claims for priority, putting each fact or theory into its place¿ (J. M. Ziman, Principles of the Theory of Solids (Cambridge University Press, 1972) p.v). The main purpose of the book is to present the mechanism of - perconductivity discovered in 1986 by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Müller, and to discuss the physics of superconductors. The last chapter of the book presents analysis of tunneling measurements in cuprates. The book is - dressed to researchers and graduate students in all branches of exact sciences.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume, the fourteenth in the Space Sciences Series of ISS/, is dedicated to the matter in the universe, which was the topic of a workshop organized by ISSI from 19 to 22 March 2001 in Bern. The aim of the meeting was to gather ac tive researchers from various fields (cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear and particle physics as well as space science) to asses the exciting new developments in the search for abundant and yet unknown forms of matter in the universe. Due to the importance of the field and the rapid developments which are taking place ISSI decided to organize a workshop on matter in the universe and invited nine convenors, John Ellis, Johannes Geiss, Philippe Jetzer, Heinrich Leutwyler, Klaus Pretzl, Rafael Rebolo, Norbert Straumann, Gustav Andreas Tammann and Rudolf von Steiger, who formulated the aims and goals of the meeting. The work shop was organized such as to have only plenary sessions with typically half hour presentations and ample time for discussions. The last day was devoted to conclusions and future objectives. The knowledge of the amount and nature of matter present in the universe is undoubtedly one of the most relevant topics oftoday's astrophysics and cosmology.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Plant conservation is increasingly recognised as an outstanding global priority, yet despite considerable efforts over the last few decades, the number of threatened species continues to rise. The practice of plant conservation has for too long been a rather hit-or-miss mixture of methods. While microorganisms have been recognised as a crucial and essential element in supporting the lifecycles of plant species, there has been limited recognition of the relationships between macro level conservation facilitating ecosystem functioning at the micro level.This book addresses the role of microorganisms in conservation - both their support functions and deleterious roles in ecosystem processes and species survival. Importantly, a number of authors highlight how microbial diversity is, itself, now under threat from the many and pervasive influences of man. What is clear from this volume is that like many contemporary treatments of plant and animal conservation, the solution to mitigate the erosion of biodiversity is not simple. This book represents an attempt to bring to the fore the ecological underwriting provided by microorganisms. 396 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It was at the end of the 19th century that a Swiss biologist, Karl Nageli first proposed the existence of hereditary organelles that carried information from parent to offspring. Ensuing decades experienced vigorous studies that led to the development of discovery that chromosomes are indeed the carriers of genetic information. Subsequent studies, especially by Morgan and Bridges, established unequivocally the chromosome theory of inheritance. Today, the structure of chromosome is well established. At the physical level, eukaryotic chromosomes are composed of a single, linear, double helix of DNA. The elementary helical structure involves nucleosomes, comprised of histones around which the DNA is wrapped. A hierarchy of higher order of chromosomal architecture may possibly be responsible for the regulation of gene helical structures expression. The localized condensations of DNA constitute chromomeres. Uncoiled structures sometimes extending from chromomeres, which form loops, is the result of discontinuities in the regular coiling of the DNA in the chromosome.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 252 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 14-20, 1997Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 514 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Thanks to enormous scientific efforts of the last decades, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro production (IVP) have now been introduced successfully in the practice of human infertility treatment and cattle breeding programs. This comprehensive book allows us to bridge the knowledge from both biomedical and veterinary fields of research.For the first time, studies concerning the human embryo as well as embryos from domestic species are brought together. The central theme of the book is 'the assessment of mammalian embryo quality'. In 15 chapters, written by well-known scientists, different aspects of the assessment of mammalian embryo quality are summarized. Non-invasive and invasive techniques to evaluate embryo quality are separated in two parts.In addition the book is provided with appendices on practical aspects and, thus, the book should be present in each laboratory for IVF and IVP.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 440 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The physics of strongly correlated fermions and bosons in a disordered envi ronment and confined geometries is at the focus of intense experimental and theoretical research efforts. Advances in material technology and in low temper ature techniques during the last few years led to the discoveries of new physical of atomic gases and a possible metal phenomena including Bose condensation insulator transition in two-dimensional high mobility electron structures. Situ ations were the electronic system is so dominated by interactions that the old concepts of a Fermi liquid do not necessarily make a good starting point are now routinely achieved. This is particularly true in the theory of low dimensional systems such as carbon nanotubes, or in two dimensional electron gases in high mobility devices where the electrons can form a variety of new structures. In many of these sys tems disorder is an unavoidable complication and lead to a host of rich physical phenomena. This has pushed the forefront of fundamental research in condensed matter towards the edge where the interplay between many-body correlations and quantum interference enhanced by disorder has become the key to the understand ing of novel phenomena.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 412 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Saline land is a resource capable of significant production. Recent advances in research in breeding for salt tolerance in wheat, biotechnology in rice, and selection and rehabilitation of salt-tolerant plants are of economic importance in arid/saline conditions.This book gives some practical approaches for saline agriculture and afforestation, and describes examples of cultivating salt-tolerant/halophytic plants for commercial interest on salt-affected land or with highly salinized water in Australia, China, Central Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Russia. It also explores the possibilities of arid/saline agriculture and afforestation in UAE.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Spontaneous self-cloning or clonality is a widespread phenomenon in the plant kingdom, and has a wide array of ecological and evolutionary implications. This volume is the outcome of an international workshop on clonal plant biology aimed at illustrating current progress and recent developments in the scientific study of clonality in plants. The first section of this book includes a collection of original research articles which demonstrate the wide variety of approaches and scientific challenges linked to clonality in plants. The topics covered in this section include ecological and evolutionary implications of sexual versus asexual propagation, including life-history evolution and sex-ratio dynamics, the importance of internal resource transport and remobilization of storage products for the invasiveness and competitiveness of clonal plants, a survey of clonal growth forms in grassland communities, and studies on the interactions between clonal plants and animals and fungi. The approaches used range from experimental studies on a broad variety of systems to mathematical modeling of clonal growth and its consequences. The second part features discussion and review papers on a diverse array of subjects, ranging from developmental considerations of clonality, principles of selection and evolution in clonal plants, a survey of clonality in algae, to potential implications of clonality for plant mating, and beyond. This part of the volume aims at presenting novel ideas and hypotheses, and at summarizing existing knowledge in previously under-researched areas, thereby providing directions for future research initiatives.This book captures ongoing cutting-edge research in the field of clonal plant ecology and evolution. It is directed to anyone from the undergraduate to specialist level who is interested in the biology of the intriguing phenomenon of asexual propagation in plants.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 386 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Salvelinus species are one of the most thoroughly studied groups of fishes. Many reasons explain this intense interest in charr biology. Charrs have a Holarctic distribution encompassing many Asian, North American, and European countries and occupy diverse marine and freshwater environments. Furthermore, the current distribution of charr includes areas that were directly influenced by climate and topographic change associated with the many Pleistocene glaciations. Undoubtedly, these conditions have promoted much of the tremendous morphological, ecological, and genetic variability and plasticity within Salvelinus species and they make charr very good models to study evolutionary processes 'in action'. Many charr species also exhibit demographic characteristics such as slow growth, late maturity, and life in extreme environments, that may increase their susceptibility to extinction from habitat changes and overexploitation, especially in depauperate aquatic habitats. This vulnerability makes understanding their biology of great relevance to biodiversity and conservation. Finally, charr are of great cultural, commercial, and recreational significance to many communities, and their intimate linkage with human societies has stimulated much interest in this enigmatic genus. This volume comprises a selection of papers presented at the fourth International Charr Symposium held in Trois-Rivières (Québec, Canada), from 26 June to 1 July 2000. It includes 31 papers on ecological interactions and behaviour, trophic polymorphism, movement and migration, ecophysiology and evolutionary genetics, ecological parasitology, environmental stress and conservation. These studies cannot cover all recent developments in the ecology, behaviour and conservation of Salvelinus species, but collecting them into a special volume should bring attention to current research on this important genus and stimulate further work onSalvelinus species.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This issue is the final report from the International SCOPE Project on Nitrogen Transport and Transformations: A Regional and Global Analysis. SCOPE (the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, ICSU) authorized the Nitrogen Project as an 8-year effort between 1994 and 2002 because of the need to better understand how humans have altered nitrogen cyc1ing globally and at the scale of large regions. Human activity has more than doubled the rate of formation of reactive nitrogen on the land surface of the earth, and the nitrogen cyc1e continues to accelerate. The distribution of this reactive nitrogen is not uniform, though, and some regions such as Europe and Asia have seen massive increases in reactive nitrogen, while other regions have seen little change. The SCOPE Nitrogen Project has synthesized detailed information on the nature of the human alteration of the nitrogen cyc1e through aseries of workshops over the past 8 years. These cumulatively have involved over 250 of previous workshops scientists from over 20 different nations. The results have been published in aseries of special journal issues and reports that synthesize information on nitrogen in the North Atlantic Ocean and its water sheds (Howarth 1996), nitrogen cycling in Asia (Hong-Chi Lin et al. 1996; Mosier et al.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 532 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book on electromagnetic resonance phenomena describes a general approach to physical problems, ways to solve them, and properties of the solutions obtained. Attention is given to the discussion and interpretation of formal and experimental data and their links to global atmospheric conditions such as the dynamics of global thunderstorm activity, variations of the effective height of the lower ionosphere, etc.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 396 pp. Englisch.