Springer netherlands okt 1994 (70 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Written specifically for small business managers, this book gives a practical step-by-step guide to the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). It will assist all small businesses from the recently established entrepreneur-based company employing a handful of people to businesses of 100 staff and above with an established management structure and position within the market place. This book will give practical help and early results and includes actual case studies of successful TQM implementation from a broad cross-section of small businesses. 240 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In December 1993, ISNAR, in collaboration with International Consortium for Application of Systems Approaches, organized a three-day workshop on systems approaches and modelling for agricultural development. Sponsored by the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation, the workshop was attended by participants from 12 national agricultural research systems (NARS), nine international agricul tural research centers (lARCs), and five advanced research organizations (AROs). Although application of systems approaches in agricultural research and resource management is a rather new field, there is already increasing demand for implemen tation of these approaches. This will require a critical mass of specialists in the NARS and IARCs. Before this critical mass can be obtained, however, the experience that has been gained in this area needs to be evaluated, further possibilities need to be explored, and new objectives and targets need to be set. This book, which contains the papers presented at the workshop, assesses the state of the art of systems approaches in agricultural research, resource management, and rural planning. It also gives an impression of the evolution of this interdisciplinary field and its use in national and international research centers. Another, less tangible, outcome of the workshop was its contribution toward strengthening the network of NARS, lARCs, and AROs. It gave participants and organizers a chance to develop contacts, and provided an opportunity to make the first proposals for collaborative programs. Special thanks are due to Peter Goldsworthy and Luc Boerboom for their crucial role in making the workshop a success in this regard. 384 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book covers a wide range of technical issues relating to lightwave technologies using high coherence lightwaves. Electromagnetic wave communication started when the first wireless system was invented by Marconi in 1895. However, we had to wait about one hundred years to realize a similar technology in the lightwave frequency region. The invention of lasers in 1960 and two technology innovations in 1970 -low loss silica fiber and semiconductor lasers operating at room temperature - promoted the development of fiber-optic transmission systems. The deployment of high-speed long-haul fiber-optic transmission systems has led to the formation of domestic and international trunk networks. The installed fiber cables in local loop plants provide multimedia communication services including broadband video. However, present lightwave communication systems do not fully utilize the fruitful potential oflightwaves, namely the capacity of extremely high frequency electromagnetic information carrier waves. The frequency oflightwaves used for fiber-optic transmission is about 200 THz 14 (2 x 10 Hz), and the frequency bandwidth of the fiber low loss region is about 13 20 THz (2 x 10 Hz). Recent developments of narrow spectrum width semiconduc tor laser and planar optical waveguide devices offer us the possibilities for a new generation of lightwave-based communication systems. This book focuses on system aspects ofthe new generation lightwave communi cation technologies such as optical frequency division multiplexing and coherent detection. Chapter 1 overviews lightwave communication system technology. 276 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Written specifically for small business managers, this book gives a practical step-by-step guide to the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). It will assist all small businesses from the recently established entrepreneur-based company employing a handful of people to businesses of 100 staff and above with an established management structure and position within the market place. This book will give practical help and early results and includes actual case studies of successful TQM implementation from a broad cross-section of small businesses.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -In December 1993, ISNAR, in collaboration with International Consortium for Application of Systems Approaches, organized a three-day workshop on systems approaches and modelling for agricultural development. Sponsored by the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation, the workshop was attended by participants from 12 national agricultural research systems (NARS), nine international agricul tural research centers (lARCs), and five advanced research organizations (AROs). Although application of systems approaches in agricultural research and resource management is a rather new field, there is already increasing demand for implemen tation of these approaches. This will require a critical mass of specialists in the NARS and IARCs. Before this critical mass can be obtained, however, the experience that has been gained in this area needs to be evaluated, further possibilities need to be explored, and new objectives and targets need to be set. This book, which contains the papers presented at the workshop, assesses the state of the art of systems approaches in agricultural research, resource management, and rural planning. It also gives an impression of the evolution of this interdisciplinary field and its use in national and international research centers. Another, less tangible, outcome of the workshop was its contribution toward strengthening the network of NARS, lARCs, and AROs. It gave participants and organizers a chance to develop contacts, and provided an opportunity to make the first proposals for collaborative programs. Special thanks are due to Peter Goldsworthy and Luc Boerboom for their crucial role in making the workshop a success in this regard.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Applied Industrial Organization offers a perspective on the richness of empirical industrial organization studies. Some papers derive empirical implications from theoretical models, but other papers start from empirical evidence and construct a theory. Three major topics are explored: the role of innovation, the evolution of market structure and firms, and the determinations of performance. As the central force of market economies, innovation is the essence of competition and results in changes to market structures. Other forces driving the evolution of markets and firms are also analyzed. Finally, the determinants of profitability are investigated. In particular, characteristics such as price flexibility, successful lenders and monopoly regulation are examined. Contributors include F.M. Scherer, Paul Geroski, John Hey, David Audretsch, Manfred Neumann, among others. 260 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Numbers . , natural, rational, real, complex, p-adic . What do you know about p-adic numbers Probably, you have never used any p-adic (nonrational) number before now. I was in the same situation few years ago. p-adic numbers were considered as an exotic part of pure mathematics without any application. I have also used only real and complex numbers in my investigations in functional analysis and its applications to the quantum field theory and I was sure that these number fields can be a basis of every physical model generated by nature. But recently new models of the quantum physics were proposed on the basis of p-adic numbers field Qp. What are p-adic numbers, p-adic analysis, p-adic physics, p-adic probability p-adic numbers were introduced by K. Hensel (1904) in connection with problems of the pure theory of numbers. The construction of Qp is very similar to the construction of (p is a fixed prime number, p = 2,3,5, . ,127, . ). Both these number fields are completions of the field of rational numbers Q. But another valuation 1 . Ip is introduced on Q instead of the usual real valuation 1 . I We get an infinite sequence of non isomorphic completions of Q : Q2, Q3, . , Q127, . , IR = Qoo These fields are the only possibilities to com plete Q according to the famous theorem of Ostrowsky. 284 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Electric utilities throughout the world continue to face new challenges involving ownership, market structure, and regulation. There are three related issues at hand. First, should ownership be private or public Second, what operations should be integrated and where is competition feasible Third, where is regulation necessary and can it be made more efficient This volume bears directly upon these concerns. The book contains two sections. The first six articles discuss the British electricity experiment that has privatized and disintegrated the nation's generation, transmission, and distribution companies, introduced market competition for power purchases, and implemented incentive regulation for monopolized transmission and distribution grids. The remaining articles focus on the theater in which significant microeconomic issues will continue to emerge, most immediately in the U.K. and U.S.A. -- the coordination and pricing of transmission. 300 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book introduces the reader to the principles of terrrane analysis, and describes how accretion tectonics relates to classic plate tectonics theory and what this represents in terms of mountain building and continental growth processes. A forensic-like investigation of continental geology is detailed, integrating many different sub-disciplines of the Earth Sciences. The concepts outlined have a practical bent and help to explain the nature and occurrences of petroleum and metallic mineral deposits. 262 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A wide variety of problems are associated with the flow of shallow water, such as atmospheric flows, tides, storm surges, river and coastal flows, lake flows, tsunamis. Numerical simulation is an effective tool in solving them and a great variety of numerical methods are available. The first part of the book summarizes the basic physics of shallow-water flow needed to use numerical methods under various conditions. The second part gives an overview of possible numerical methods, together with their stability and accuracy properties as well as with an assessment of their performance under various conditions. This enables the reader to select a method for particular applications. Correct treatment of boundary conditions (often neglected) is emphasized. The major part of the book is about two-dimensional shallow-water equations but a discussion of the 3-D form is included. The book is intended for researchers and users of shallow-water models in oceanographic and meteorological institutes, hydraulic engineering and consulting. It also provides a major source of information for applied and numerical mathematicians. 276 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is about the microbial species that inhabit the human body, and the consequences of the intimate relationships that we share with them. It is intended that the book will provide an introduction to the normal microflora for those studying disciplines within the health sciences, and for those in the food industry where interest in the microbiology of the digestive tract, especially with respect to lactic acid bacteria, is topical. 128 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Electric utilities throughout the world continue to face new challenges involving ownership, market structure, and regulation. There are three related issues at hand. First, should ownership be private or public Second, what operations should be integrated and where is competition feasible Third, where is regulation necessary and can it be made more efficient This volume bears directly upon these concerns.The book contains two sections. The first six articles discuss the British electricity experiment that has privatized and disintegrated the nation's generation, transmission, and distribution companies, introduced market competition for power purchases, and implemented incentive regulation for monopolized transmission and distribution grids. The remaining articles focus on the theater in which significant microeconomic issues will continue to emerge, most immediately in the U.K. and U.S.A. -- the coordination and pricing of transmission.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -A wide variety of problems are associated with the flow of shallow water, such as atmospheric flows, tides, storm surges, river and coastal flows, lake flows, tsunamis. Numerical simulation is an effective tool in solving them and a great variety of numerical methods are available. The first part of the book summarizes the basic physics of shallow-water flow needed to use numerical methods under various conditions. The second part gives an overview of possible numerical methods, together with their stability and accuracy properties as well as with an assessment of their performance under various conditions. This enables the reader to select a method for particular applications. Correct treatment of boundary conditions (often neglected) is emphasized. The major part of the book is about two-dimensional shallow-water equations but a discussion of the 3-D form is included.The book is intended for researchers and users of shallow-water models in oceanographic and meteorological institutes, hydraulic engineering and consulting. It also provides a major source of information for applied and numerical mathematicians.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -This book is about the microbial species that inhabit the human body, and the consequences of the intimate relationships that we share with them. It is intended that the book will provide an introduction to the normal microflora for those studying disciplines within the health sciences, and for those in the food industry where interest in the microbiology of the digestive tract, especially with respect to lactic acid bacteria, is topical.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 128 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -This book introduces the reader to the principles of terrrane analysis, and describes how accretion tectonics relates to classic plate tectonics theory and what this represents in terms of mountain building and continental growth processes. A forensic-like investigation of continental geology is detailed, integrating many different sub-disciplines of the Earth Sciences. The concepts outlined have a practical bent and help to explain the nature and occurrences of petroleum and metallic mineral deposits.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 262 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Provides a thorough introduction to the biology of fishes, covering basic diversity, biology and physiology. Detailed coverage of environmental aspects relating to fish biology is a key feature of this book which will be of great use to students and individuals in fish biology, fisheries, aquaculture and environmental sciences.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 474 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A partially ordered group is an algebraic object having the structure of a group and the structure of a partially ordered set which are connected in some natural way. These connections were established in the period between the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. It was realized that ordered algebraic systems occur in various branches of mathemat ics bound up with its fundamentals. For example, the classification of infinitesimals resulted in discovery of non-archimedean ordered al gebraic systems, the formalization of the notion of real number led to the definition of ordered groups and ordered fields, the construc tion of non-archimedean geometries brought about the investigation of non-archimedean ordered groups and fields. The theory of partially ordered groups was developed by: R. Dedekind, a. Holder, D. Gilbert, B. Neumann, A. I. Mal'cev, P. Hall, G. Birkhoff. These connections between partial order and group operations allow us to investigate the properties of partially ordered groups. For exam ple, partially ordered groups with interpolation property were intro duced in F. Riesz's fundamental paper [1] as a key to his investigations of partially ordered real vector spaces, and the study of ordered vector spaces with interpolation properties were continued by many functional analysts since. The deepest and most developed part of the theory of partially ordered groups is the theory of lattice-ordered groups. In the 40s, following the publications of the works by G. Birkhoff, H. Nakano and P. 420 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Provides a thorough introduction to the biology of fishes, covering basic diversity, biology and physiology. Detailed coverage of environmental aspects relating to fish biology is a key feature of this book which will be of great use to students and individuals in fish biology, fisheries, aquaculture and environmental sciences. 474 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The encounter, in the late seventies, between the theory of triangular norms, issuing frorn stochastic geornetry, especially the works of Menger, Schweizer and Sklar, on the one band, and the theory of fuzzy sets due to Zadeh, 10n the other band has been very fruitful. Triangular norms have proved to be ready-rnade mathematical rnodels of fuzzy set intersections and have shed light on the algebraic foundations of fuzzy sets. One basic idea behind the study of triangular norms is to solve functional equations that stern frorn prescribed axioms describing algebraic properties such as associativity. Alternative operations such as rneans have been characterized in a similar way by Kolmogorov, for instance, and the rnethods for solving functional equations are now weil established thanks to the efforts of Aczel, among others. One can say without overstaternent that the introduction of triangular norms in fuzzy sets has strongly influenced further developrnents in fuzzy set theory, and has significantly contributed to its better acceptance in pure and applied rnathematics circles. The book by Fodor and Roubens systematically exploits the benefits of this encounter in the- analysis of fuzzy relations. The authors apply functional equation rnethods to notions such as equivalence relations, and various kinds of orderings, for the purpose of preference rnodelling. Centtal to this book is the rnultivalued extension of the well-known result claiming that any relation expressing weak preference can be separated into three cornponents respectively describing strict preference, indifference and incomparability. 276 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Models and Experiments in Risk and Rationality presents original contributions to the areas of individual choice, experimental economics, operations and analysis, multiple criteria decision making, market uncertainty, game theory and social choice. The papers, which were presented at the FUR VI conference, are arranged to appear in order of increasing complexity of the decision environment or social context in which they situate themselves. The first section `Psychological Aspects of Risk-Bearing', considers choice at the purely individual level and for the most part, free of any specific economic or social context. The second section examines individual choice within the classical expected utility approach while the third section works from a perspective that includes non-expected utility preferences over lotteries. Section four, `Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Under Uncertainty', considers the more specialized but crucial context of uncertain choice involving tradeoffs between competing criteria -- a field which is becoming of increasing importance in applied decision analysis. The final two sections examine uncertain choice in social or group contexts. 456 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -We dedicate this book to professor C. T. de Wit (1924 - 1993) who initiated Production Ecology as a school of thought at the Wageningen Agricultural Univer sity (see Rabbinge et at. , 1990). To acknowledge the leading role of C. T. de Wit, a recently formed graduate school at this university in Production Ecology was named after him. Production Ecology is the study of ecological processes, with special attention to flows of energy and matter as factors that determine the productivity of ecological systems. Agro-ecosystems are a special case of ecosystems which are much better suited for the productivity approach than natural ecosystems are. This is the reason for the strong role of agricultural research in production ecology. On the other hand, it must be recognized that the spatial heterogeneity of natural ecosys tems and their species richness may alter some ecophysiological relationships. However, the basic physical, chemical and physiological processes will be the same. De Wit introduced the state variable approach as the basis for simulation mod elling. In this approach the floating character of nature is schematized into a series of snapshots over time in which the states are frozen at each separate moment. The current state determines how the rates of change will lead to the next snapshot. This way of thinking enables a clear and workable representation of interacting simul taneous processes, without compromising on the mathematics. 252 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Recent advances in our understanding of instabilities in galactic type systems have led to an unravelling of some of the mysteries of what determines the form galaxies take. This book focuses on the mathematical development of the subject, assuming no prior knowledge of it, with a strong emphasis on the underlying physical interpretation. This framework is used to discuss the most relevant instabilities which are believed to be closely involved in the way galaxies are formed, in a model independent manner. The relevant observed properties of galaxies that may be used to establish the role of these physical mechanisms are discussed. The book also includes a chapter discussing numerical simulation techniques, with attention paid to their limitations and to recent advances in this approach. It is demonstrated that recent developments in computer hardware enable a detailed comparison of simulations with analysis. Thus the simulations extend our physical understanding beyond the limitations of the analysis. The book is intended for use by postgraduate students and researchers in the areas of cosmology, extragalactic astronomy and dynamics. 364 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Groundwater quality monitoring and testing is of paramount importance both in the developed and developing world. This book presents a series of papers illustrating the varied nature of current research into groundwater quality. Urban and rural supplies are covered through a case history approach, and the importance of remedial action to prevent deterioration is emphasized. 226 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Increasingly, the mind is being treated as a fit subject for scientific inquiry. As cognitive science and empirical psychology strive to uncover the mind's secrets, it is fitting to inquire as to what distinctive role is left for philosophy in the study of mind. This collection, which includes contributions by some of the leading scholars in the field, offers a rich variety of perspectives on this issue. Topics addressed include: the place of a priori inquiry in philosophy of mind, moral psychology, consciousness, social dimensions of intentionality, the relation of logic to philosophical psychology, objectivity and the mind, and privileged access. 340 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In a crisp, original style the author approaches the crucial question of moral theory, the `is--ought' problem via communicative argumentation. Moving to the end of Habermas's conception of the communicative action, he introduces the concept of `radical choice' as the key to the transition from the descriptive to the normative. Phenomenological subjectivity of the intersubjective life-world is being vindicated as the `arch-value' of all derivative values, or the first principle for all normative precepts. With exceptional acumen and mastery of the philosophical argument, the author -- a young native Chinese lately trained in a Western university -- delineates a fascinating route along which the philosophical question of justification raised in the analytic tradition can be answered on the basis of phenomenology. A noteworthy contribution to the interplay between the Anglo--American and Continental schools of philosophy. 212 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews. These cover a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. 460 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This work is a revised and enlarged edition of a book with the same title published in Romanian by the Publishing House of the Romanian Academy in 1989. It grew out of lecture notes for a graduate course given by the author at the University if Ia~i and was initially intended for students and readers primarily interested in applications of optimal control of ordinary differential equations. In this vision the book had to contain an elementary description of the Pontryagin maximum principle and a large number of examples and applications from various fields of science. The evolution of control science in the last decades has shown that its meth ods and tools are drawn from a large spectrum of mathematical results which go beyond the classical theory of ordinary differential equations and real analy ses. Mathematical areas such as functional analysis, topology, partial differential equations and infinite dimensional dynamical systems, geometry, played and will continue to play an increasing role in the development of the control sciences. On the other hand, control problems is a rich source of deep mathematical problems. Any presentation of control theory which for the sake of accessibility ignores these facts is incomplete and unable to attain its goals. This is the reason we considered necessary to widen the initial perspective of the book and to include a rigorous mathematical treatment of optimal control theory of processes governed by ordi nary differential equations and some typical problems from theory of distributed parameter systems. 276 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Models and Experiments in Risk and Rationality presents original contributions to the areas of individual choice, experimental economics, operations and analysis, multiple criteria decision making, market uncertainty, game theory and social choice. The papers, which were presented at the FUR VI conference, are arranged to appear in order of increasing complexity of the decision environment or social context in which they situate themselves.The first section `Psychological Aspects of Risk-Bearing', considers choice at the purely individual level and for the most part, free of any specific economic or social context. The second section examines individual choice within the classical expected utility approach while the third section works from a perspective that includes non-expected utility preferences over lotteries. Section four, `Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Under Uncertainty', considers the more specialized but crucial context of uncertain choice involving tradeoffs between competing criteria -- a field which is becoming of increasing importance in applied decision analysis. The final two sections examine uncertain choice in social or group contexts.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 456 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -The encounter, in the late seventies, between the theory of triangular norms, issuing frorn stochastic geornetry, especially the works of Menger, Schweizer and Sklar, on the one band, and the theory of fuzzy sets due to Zadeh, 10n the other band has been very fruitful. Triangular norms have proved to be ready-rnade mathematical rnodels of fuzzy set intersections and have shed light on the algebraic foundations of fuzzy sets. One basic idea behind the study of triangular norms is to solve functional equations that stern frorn prescribed axioms describing algebraic properties such as associativity. Alternative operations such as rneans have been characterized in a similar way by Kolmogorov, for instance, and the rnethods for solving functional equations are now weil established thanks to the efforts of Aczel, among others. One can say without overstaternent that the introduction of triangular norms in fuzzy sets has strongly influenced further developrnents in fuzzy set theory, and has significantly contributed to its better acceptance in pure and applied rnathematics circles. The book by Fodor and Roubens systematically exploits the benefits of this encounter in the- analysis of fuzzy relations. The authors apply functional equation rnethods to notions such as equivalence relations, and various kinds of orderings, for the purpose of preference rnodelling. Centtal to this book is the rnultivalued extension of the well-known result claiming that any relation expressing weak preference can be separated into three cornponents respectively describing strict preference, indifference and incomparability.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -This book was conceived to mark the Silver Jubilee of the British Butterfly Conservation Society. Interest in the conservation of butterflies has increased so rapidly that it is difficult to relate to the situation 25 years ago. Butterflies were on the decline in Britain, Europe and elsewhere but we lacked data on the extent of the decline and the underlying reasons, leaving us unable to implement effective conservation measures. An early recognition of the plight of British butterflies and moths led to the foundation of the society by a small group of conservationists in 1968. Today the society has over 10000 members, owns a number of reserves and sponsors research, conservation and monitoring activities at the local and national level. As part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations an international symposium was held at Keele University in September 1993 entitled 'Ecology and Conservation of Butterflies'. This symposium clearly showed how much important work has been done in recent years and also gave me the impression that the subject had reached a watershed. This was not because the decline of butterflies has stopped or even slowed down, far from it, the threat to our butterflies continues to increase from habitat destruction and intensification of land use. The watershed is in our understanding of the relationship between butterflies and their habitat.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 382 pp. Englisch.…