springer netherlands okt 2010 (Oltre 1.900 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -One of the goals of the Journal of Elasticity: The Physical and Ma- ematical Science of Solids is to identify and to bring to the attention of the research community in the physical and mathematical sciences extensive expositions which contain creative ideas, new approaches and currentdevelopmentsinmodellingthebehaviourofmaterials. Fracture has enjoyed a long and fruitful evolution in engineering, but only in - cent years has this area been considered seriously by the mathematical science community. In particular, while the age-old Gri th criterion is inherently energy based, treating fracture strictly from the point of view of variational calculus using ideas of minimization and accounting for the singular nature of the fracture elds and the various ways that fracture can initiate, is relatively new and fresh. The variational theory of fracture is now in its formative stages of development and is far from complete, but several fundamental and important advances have been made. The energy-based approach described herein establishes a consistent groundwork setting in both theory and computation. While itisphysicallybased,thedevelopmentismathematicalinnatureandit carefully exposes the special considerations that logically arise rega- ing the very de nition of a crack and the assignment of energy to its existence. The fundamental idea of brittle fracture due to Gri th plays a major role in this development, as does the additional dissipative feature of cohesiveness at crack surfaces, as introduced by Barenblatt. Thefollowinginvited,expositoryarticlebyB. Bourdin,G. Francfort and J. -J. Marigo represents a masterful and extensive glimpse into the fundamentalvariationalstructureoffracture.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Twenty years ago, the objectives of the rst edition of this book were numerous and ambitious:todemystifytheprocessofwellloganalysis;toexaminethephysicalbasis of the multitude of geophysical measurements known collectively as well logging; to clearly lay out the assumptions and approximations routinely used to extract pet- physical information from these geophysical measurements; to expose the vast range of well logging instrumentation and techniques to the larger geophysical community. Finally,therewastheimportantgoalofprovidingatextbookforuniversityandgra- atestudents inGeophysics andPetroleum Engineering, wherenone suitablehad been available before. What¿s different twenty years later First of all, Well Logging for Earth Scientists is long out of print. The petroleum industry, the major consumer of the geophysical information known as well logging, has changed enormously: technical staffs have been slashed, and hydrocarbons have become increasingly harder to locate, quantify, and produce. In addition, new techniques of drilling high deviation or horizontal wells have engendered a whole new family of measurement devices incorporated into the drilling string that may be used routinely or in situations where access by traditional ¿wireline¿ instruments is dif cult or impossible. Petroleum deposits are becoming scarce and demand is steadily increasing. Massive corporate restructuring and the ¿graying¿ of the workforce have caused the technical competence involved in the search and exploitation of petroleum to become scarce. Although we are only attempting to address this latter scarcity with our textbook, the objectives are still ambitious.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 728 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Mathematical modelling is an essential tool in present-day ecological research. Yet for many ecologists it is still problematic to apply modelling in their research. In our experience, the major problem is at the conceptual level: proper understanding of what a model is, how ecological relations can be translated consistently into mathematical equations, how models are solved, steady states calculated and interpreted. Many textbooks jump over these conceptual hurdles to dive into detailed formulations or the mathematics of solution. This book attempts to fill that gap. It introduces essential concepts for mathematical modelling, explains the mathematics behind the methods, and helps readers to implement models and obtain hands-on experience. Throughout the book, emphasis is laid on how to translate ecological questions into interpretable models in a practical way.The book aims to be an introductory textbook at the undergraduate-graduate level, but will also be useful to seduce experienced ecologists into the world of modelling. The range of ecological models treated is wide, from Lotka-Volterra type of principle-seeking models to environmental or ecosystem models, and including matrix models, lattice models and sequential decision models. All chapters contain a concise introduction into the theory, worked-out examples and exercises. All examples are implemented in the open-source package R, thus taking away problems of software availability for use of the book. All code used in the book is available on a dedicated website.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 388 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Cancer genetics is a field of daunting breadth and depth. The literature describes hundreds of genes and genetic alterations that are variably associated with again as many disease states and risk factors. Integrating these disparate pieces of highly specialized information is challenging for the professional scientist and student alike. Prinicples of Cancer Genetics consolidates the main concepts of the cancer gene theory, and provides a framework for understanding the genetic basis of cancer.Focused on the most highly representative genes that underlie the most common cancers, Principles of Cancer Genetics is aimed at advanced undergraduates who have completed introductory courses in genetics, biology and biochemistry, medical students, and house medical house staff preparing for board examinations. Primary attention is devoted to the origins of cancer genes and the application of evolutionary theory to explain why the cell clones that harbor cancer genes tend to expand. The many points of controversy in cancer research are avoided, in favor of firmly established concepts. This book does not delve into tumor pathobiology beyond what is required to understand the role of genetic alterations in neoplastic growth. For students with a general interest in cancer, this book will provide a highly accessible overview. For students contemplating future study in the fields of oncology or cancer research, this book will be useful as a primer.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In this fresh translation of five lectures delivered in 1907 at the University of Göttingen, Edmund Husserl lays out the philosophical problem of knowledge, indicates the requirements for its solution, and for the first time introduces the phenomenological method of reduction. For those interested in the genesis and development of Husserl's phenomenology, this text affords a unique glimpse into the epistemological motivation of his work, his concept of intentionality, and the formation of central phenomenological concepts that will later go by the names of `transcendental consciousness', the `noema', and the like. As a teaching text, The Idea of Phenomenology is ideal: it is brief, it is unencumbered by the technical terminology of Husserl's later work, it bears a clear connection to the problem of knowledge as formulated in the Cartesian tradition, and it is accompanied by a translator's introduction that clearly spells out the structure, argument, and movement of the text.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 80 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The signi cance of ¿spirituality in management¿ is acquiring considerable international recognition. It is one of the ¿hottest¿ emerging elds in management. A number of recent events underscore this development. In February 2000 the Indian Institute of Management organized a ¿Corporate Reputation for Competitive Advantage¿ workshop in Calcutta, which focused on spirituality, ethics and leadership. The conference ¿Business, Religion and Spirituality¿ was held at the University of Notre Dame in April th 2000. In April 2001 the International Academy of Business Disciplines held its 13 annual meeting in Orlando, Florida and had a track on Spirituality in Organizations. In April 2002 a world conference was organized in New York entitled ¿Spirit in Business: Ethics, Mindfulness and the Bottom Line. ¿ These and other important scienti c events clearly show that spirituality is no longer considered to be purely a matter of individual search, and is becoming more and more recognized in management and business ethics circles. Our ¿Spirituality in Management¿ workshop was held in July 1¿3, 2001 in Szeged, Hungary. It was jointly organized by the Business Ethics Center of the Budapest University of Economic Sciences, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and the Department for the Study of Religion of the University of Szeged. Scholars and practitioners from 13 countries represented disciplines as diverse as economics, business, management studies, philosophy, theology, sociology, and medical anthropology. Participants included PETER PRUZAN, Copenhagen Business School (Denmark); S. K. 236 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is written for members of the scholarly research community, and for persons involved in research evaluation and research policy. More specifically, it is directed towards the following four main groups of readers: ¿ All scientists and scholars who have been or will be subjected to a quantitative assessment of research performance using citation analysis. ¿ Research policy makers and managers who wish to become conversant with the basic features of citation analysis, and about its potentialities and limitations. ¿ Members of peer review committees and other evaluators, who consider the use of citation analysis as a tool in their assessments. ¿ Practitioners and students in the field of quantitative science and technology studies, informetrics, and library and information science. Citation analysis involves the construction and application of a series of indicators of the ¿impact¿, ¿influence¿ or ¿quality¿ of scholarly work, derived from citation data, i.e. data on references cited in footnotes or bibliographies of scholarly research publications. Such indicators are applied both in the study of scholarly communication and in the assessment of research performance. The term ¿scholarly¿ comprises all domains of science and scholarship, including not only those fields that are normally denoted as science ¿ the natural and life sciences, mathematical and technical sciences ¿ but also social sciences and humanities.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The central aim of many studies in population research and demography is to explain cause-effect relationships among variables or events. For decades, population scientists have concentrated their efforts on estimating the ¿causes of effects¿ by applying standard cross-sectional and dynamic regression techniques, with regression coefficients routinely being understood as estimates of causal effects. The standard approach to infer the ¿effects of causes¿ in natural sciences and in psychology is to conduct randomized experiments. In population studies, experimental designs are generally infeasible. In population studies, most research is based on non-experimental designs (observational or survey designs) and rarely on quasi experiments or natural experiments. Using non-experimental designs to infer causal relationships¿i.e. relationships that can ultimately inform policies or interventions¿is a complex undertaking. Specifically, treatment effects can be inferred from non-experimental data with a counterfactual approach. In this counterfactual perspective, causal effects are defined as the difference between the potential outcome irrespective of whether or not an individual had received a certain treatment (or experienced a certain cause). The counterfactual approach to estimate effects of causes from quasi-experimental data or from observational studies was first proposed by Rubin in 1974 and further developed by James Heckman and others. This book presents both theoretical contributions and empirical applications of the counterfactual approach to causal inference.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Economic analysis of law is an interesting and challenging attempt to employ the concepts and reasoning methods of modern economic theory so as to gain a deeper understanding of legal problems. According to Richard A. Posner it is the role of the law to encourage market competition and, where the market fails because transaction costs are too high, to simulate the result of competitive markets. This would maximize economic efficiency and social wealth.In this work, the lawyer and economist Klaus Mathis critically appraises Posner¿s normative justification of the efficiency paradigm from the perspective of the philosophy of law. Posner acknowledges the influences of Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham, whom he views as the founders of normative economics. He subscribes to Smith¿s faith in the market as an ideal allocation model, and to Bentham¿s ethical consequentialism. Finally, aligning himself with John Rawls¿s contract theory, he seeks to legitimize his concept of wealth maximization with a consensus theory approach.In his interdisciplinary study, the author points out the possibilities as well as the limits of economic analysis of law. It provides a method of analysing the law which, while very helpful, is also rather specific. The efficiency arguments therefore need to be incorporated into a process for resolving value conflicts. In a democracy this must take place within the political decision-making process. In this clearly written work, Klaus Mathis succeeds in making even non-economists more aware of the economic aspects of the law.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 236 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Otto Neurath (1882-1945) was a highly unorthodox thinker both in philosophy and economics. He proposed a radically expanded scope of economic analysis that would facilitate a comparative and systematic study of the impact of a great variety of economic and political measures on a population¿s well-being. Neurath regarded the controversial and widely misunderstood concept of calculation in kind as an indispensable instrument for anyone (economist or politician) who sought to analyze economic relationships from a wider perspective than that of price formation under market conditions. What is the impact of alternative (economic, political or organisational) measures on living conditions What are the appropriate methods to compare and to rationally choose among alternative measures In Neurath¿s opinion, answers to these questions are crucial for every democratic government.The contributions to this sparkling new book conclude that Neurath touched on many of the most criticalproblems of economic theory during its formative years as a modern discipline; his economics provides insights into the foundational problems of modern economics and should encourage contemporary economic theorists to critically reflect their own hidden presumptions. Neurath¿s arguments continue to challenge the foundations of today¿s neo-liberal approach to political-economy. They have also been rediscovered by researchers in the fields of ecological economics and of sustainable development as visionary and original. His comprehensive theory of life conditions and life quality anticipated the questions development economists and the general public meet today.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book by Lev M. Blinov is ideal to guide researchers from their very first encounter with liquid crystals to the level where they can perform independent experiments on liquid crystals with a thorough understanding of their behaviour also in relation to the theoretical framework. Liquid crystals can be found everywhere around us. They are used in virtually every display device, whether it is for domestic appliances of for specialized technological instruments. Their finely tunable optical properties make them suitable also for thermo-sensing and laser technologies. There are many monographs written by prominent scholars on the subject of liquid crystals. The majority of them presents the subject in great depth, sometimes focusing on a particular research aspect, and in general they require a significant level of prior knowledge. In contrast, this books aims at an audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics, chemistry and materials science. The book consists of three parts: the first part, on structure, starts from the fundamental principles underlying the structure of liquid crystals, their rich phase behaviour and the methods used to study them; the second part, on physical properties, emphasizes the influence of anisotropy on all aspects of liquid crystals behaviour; the third, focuses on electro-optics, the most important properties from the applications standpoint. This part covers only the main effects and illustrates the underlying principles in greater detail. Professor Lev M. Blinov has had a long carrier as an experimentalist. He made major contributions in the field of ferroelectric mesophases. In 1985 he received the USSR state prize for investigations of electro-optical effects in liquid crystals for spatial light modulators. In 1999 he was awarded the Frederiks medal of the Soviet Liquid Crystal Society and in 2000 he was honoured with the G. Gray silver medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society. He has held many visiting academic positions in universities and laboratories across Europe and in Japan.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 460 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is the first comprehensive documentation and interpretation of modern neritic carbonate sediments on the southern Australian continental margin, the largest cool-water carbonate depositional system on the globe.The approach is classical but the information is new.A brief chapter of introduction is followed by a section that describes the setting of the continental margin in terms of the regional geology, its evolution through time, the climate, and the complex oceanography.The setting is further explored in chapter 3 that outlines the Pleistocene history of sedimentation in this region. This is particularly important since many of the surficial sediments have a partial older history.The following section on the carbonate factory describes in detail the nature of the animals and plants that determine the nature of the sediments and the environmental conditions that control their distribution. The shelf itself cannot be discussed in isolation and thus a short chapter on the marginal marine environment is presented.The core of the book comprises two chapters that document the suite of depositional facies and their composition and then the suite of depositional environments where these sediments are found.The variety of deposits in this vast area is such that three chapters are devoted to the character of the materials on the southwestern shelf the south Australian sea and the southeastern shelf.The diagenesis that affects these sediments is tackled in a chapter after all the attributes are documented because they are intimately linked to different controls.The book finishes with a summary chapter that also addresses the various controls on sedimentation and models the effects to be expected when these are changed outside those present in the current realm.Audience:The book is an invaluable source of information about this vast region and will be a critical reference forresearchers, graduate students, and professionals engaged in marine and environmental research.It will be of particular importance for geologists interpreting the ancient rock record.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Liquid Crystal Display Drivers deals with Liquid Crystal Displays from the electronic engineering point of view and is the first expressively focused on their driving circuits. After introducing the physical-chemical properties of the LC substances, their evolution and application to LCDs, the book converges to the examination and in-depth explanation of those reliable techniques, architectures, and design solutions amenable to efficiently design drivers for passive-matrix and active-matrix LCDs, both for small size and large size panels. Practical approaches regularly adopted for mass production but also emerging ones are discussed. The topics treated have in many cases general validity and found application also in alternative display technologies (OLEDs, Electrophoretic Displays, etc.).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Introduction in Reconfigurable Computing provides a comprehensive study of the field Reconfigurable Computing. It provides an entry point to the novice willing to move in the research field reconfigurable computing, FPGA and system on programmable chip design. The book can also be used as teaching reference for a graduate course in computer engineering, or as reference to advance electrical and computer engineers. It provides a very strong theoretical and practical background to the field of reconfigurable computing, from the early Estrin¿s machine to the very modern architecture like coarse-grained reconfigurable device and the embedded logic devices. Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the main chapter of the book are the following:Architecture of reconfigurable systems, which presents the technology and the architecture used in fined-grained and those used in coarse-grained reconfigurable devices.Design and implementation: This section deals with the implementation on reconfigurable system. It briefly covers the steps needed to implement application on today's FPGAs. And focus on the logic synthesis for FPGA, in particular LUT technology mapping.High-Level Synthesis for Reconfigurable Devices: The high-level synthesis for reconfigurable systems, also known as temporal partitioning is presented here. Several temporal partitioning techniques are presented and explained.Temporal placement: This section considers stand alone reconfigurable systems. Its assume that a kind of operating systems for reconfigurable systems is in charge of managing the resources of a given system and allocate space on a device for the computation of incoming tasks., and therefore presents several temporal placement approaches for off-line as well as on-line placement.On-line and Dynamic Interconnection: This chapter reviews andexplains the different approaches for allowing communication between modules dynamically placed at run-time on a given device.Designing a reconfigurable application on Xilinx Virtex FPGA: In this section, the different design approaches of partial reconfigurable systems on the Xilinx FPGAs that are one of the few one on the market with this feature, is explained.System on programmable chip: System on programmable chip is a hot topic in reconfigurable computing. This is mainly the integration of a system made upon some peripheral (UART, Ethernet, VGA, etc.), but also computational (Coding, filter, etc.) hardware modules on one programmable chip. The current usable solutions are presented: The book furthermore focusses on the development of adaptive multiprocessors on chip, i.e. systems consisting of a set of Processors and exchangeable hardware accelerators.Applications: This part covers the use of reconfigurable system in computer architecture (rapid prototyping, reconfigurable supercomputer, reconfigurable massively parallel computers) and algorithm better adapted for reconfigurable systems (distributed arithmetic, network packet processing, etc.)Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 388 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the context of increasing international concern for food and environmental quality, use of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) for reducing chemical inputs in agriculture is a potentially important issue. PGPR are root-colonizing bacteria that exert beneficial effects on plant growth and development, but they can be also employed in the control of plant pathogens, for enhancing the efficiency of fertilizers, and for degrading xenobiotic compounds. This book provides an update by renowned international experts on the most recent advances in the ecology of these important bacteria, the application of innovative methodologies for their study, their interaction with the host plant, and their potential application in agriculture.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book represents a compendium of fundamental problem formulations of analog design centering and sizing. It provides a differentiated knowledge about the tasks of analog design centering and sizing. In particular the wor- case problem will be formulated. It stands at the interface between process technology and design technology. This book wants to point out that and how both process and design technology are required for its solution. Algorithms based on the presented material are for instance available in the EDA tool WiCkeD [88]. The intention is to enable analog and mixed-signal designers to assess CAD solution methods that are presented to them. On the other side, the intention is to enable developers of analog CAD tools to formulate and develop solution approaches for analog design centering and sizing. The structure of the book is geared towards a combination of a reference book and a textbook. The presentation goes from general topics to the more speci c details, preceding material is usually a prerequisite for succeeding material. The formulations of tasks and solution approaches by mathematical means makes the book suitable as well for students dealing with analog design and design methodology. The contents is structured as follows: Chapter1sketchestheroleofanalogcircuitsandanalogdesigninintegrated circuits. Anoverviewofanalogsizingtasksandthecorrespondingterminology is introduced. Chapter 2 illustrates analog sizing and yield optimization/design centering with the simplest example of an RC circuit. Chapter 3 describes the basic input and output quantities of analog sizing.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The truth is, few people know the first thing about clinical research. The public reads about a medical research project that announces unbelievable results for a miraculous drug. Some years later, another investigation completely wipes out those initial favorable findings. Hormones Cut Women¿s Risk of Heart Disease (San Francisco Chronicle, 1994) Hormones Don¿t Protect Women from Heart Disease, Study Says (Washington Post, 2001) The people are confused because we do not understand the process behind these conflicting results. Our health, and in fact, our very lives are dependent on clinical trials, but we know little about them. This book explains the issues the public needs to be aware of when it comes to clinical research. It uncovers the problems in medical investigations that can not be overcome no matter how much care and diligence medical researchers bring to a research project. The basic premise that drives the writing is that it is impossible for medical researchers to guarantee that they can get all the right answers from a single study. No matter how good the investigators are, no matter how well a study is planned, no matter how carefully the plans are executed and no matter how conscientiously the results are analyzed and interpreted ¿ the answer may still be wrong. The deck is stacked against medical researchers and the public ¿ you ¿ should be skeptical of the results no matter how impressive they seem on the surface.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The International Symposium on Defect and Material Mechanics (ISDMM09) was the fourth international meeting of a series, following the workshops held at Kaiserslautern (2003), Symi (2005) and Aussois (2007), and was held in the alpine city of Trento, Italy, from July 6 to 9, 2009.The Symposium brought together researchers in the areas of the mechanics of defects, in a broad sense: cracks, dislocations, inclusions, precipitates, phase boundaries, and shape optimization.A select number of contributions based on the presentations given at the symposium are collected in this volume, which provides a reference source of the present state of development in the field of the mechanics of defects.Previously published in the International Journal of Fracture 166:1-2 (2010).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book came into being inthe form oflecture notes for thesubject Infor- tion technology management (IT management) at the Twente University inthe Netherlands. Since 1995 this subject is part of the Master¿s degree of the course Business Management and Information Technology. Over a decade of teaching, this bookdevelopedinto what it istoday. The book gives an idea of how organizations should organize their - formationandcommunicationtechnologyfacilitiesinordertobeabletosay¿IT does not matter.¿ Management and the organization of IT are only conveniences within day-to-day operations and enablers, for organizations that want to supply other products and services. The book has the following starting points: (a) The IT support of products and services of organizations makes fu- tional and performance demandsontheIT facilities. In order to beable tomeettheserequirementsoptimally,anITarchitectureisrequired.The IT services and products are supplied within this architecture. (b) Controlling IT is part of normal operational management. This means that: ¿at setting up the IT facilities the principles of logistics and operations management apply; ¿the information, neededfor controlling a process, makes demandson the set-up of the information service process. The question is: ¿whether someone is authorized to supplythe data; ¿whether the data correspondswith thephysically present objects and ¿whether the given data is correct and complete. (c) A distinction is made between both the IT demand and the IT supply organization. Both organizations have to be set up. Methods indicate, xi xii Preface which processes have to be in place in these organizations and each of these processes has nancial, personnel, legal and security aspects.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 640 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume is a compilation of studies on interactions of land-cover/land-use change with climate in a region where the climate warming is most pronounced compared to other areas of the globe. The climate warming in the far North, and in the Arctic region of Northern Eurasia in particular, affects both the landscape and human activities, and hence human dimensionsare an important aspect of the topic. Environmental pollution together with climate warming may produce irreversible damages to the current Arctic ecosystems. Regional land-atmosphere feedbacks may have large global importance. Remote sensing is a primary tool in studying vast northern territories where in situ observations are sporadic. State-of-the-art methods of satellite remote sensing combined with GIS and models are used to tackle science questions and provide an outlook of current land-cover changes and potential scenarios for the future.Audience: The book is a truly international effort involving U.S. and European scientists. It is directed at the broad science community including graduate students, academics and other professionals in this field.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Lakes and coastal wetlands all over the world are ideal places for human habitation, fisheries, industries, shipping and recreation. Habitat environments of lakes and coastal wetlands are deteriorating due to their exploitative use and improper management. As rapid development and population growth continue in coastal areas, environmental degradation and over exploitation will further erode the biodiversity and undermine the productivity of these unique ecosystems.Lakes and coastal wetlands are transitional areas between dry terrestrial and permanent aquatic ecosystems and are recognised as highly productive. Their importance in socio-economic frontiers has been increasingly felt. Over 200 rivers and lakes in the world are shared by two or more countries. This envisages their international importance. Various efforts are currently underway to develop technologies and systems for successful management of lakes and coastal wetlands both at national and international levels. However, conflicting interests in the use of their resources have led to further worsening of the problems facing lakes and coastal wetlands. Therefore, an earnest attempt has been made in the present book to find ways for restoration, conservation and management of lakes and coastal wetlands.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Systems biology is defined for the purpose of this study as the understanding of biological network behaviors, and in particular their dynamic aspects, which requires the utilization of mathematical modeling tightly linked to experiment. This involves a variety of approaches, such as the identification and validation of networks, the creation of appropriate datasets, the development of tools for data acquisition and software development, and the use of modeling and simulation software in close linkage with experiment. All of these are discussed in this volume. Of course, the definition becomes ambiguous at the margins, but at the core is the focus on networks, which makes it clear that the goal is to understand the operation of the systems, rather than the component parts.It was concluded that the U.S. is currently ahead of the rest of the world in systems biology, largely because of earlier investment by funding organizations and research institutions. This is reflected in a large number of active research groups, and educational programs, and a diverse and growing funding base. However, there is evidence of rapid development outside the U.S., much of it begun in the last two to three years. Overall, however, the picture is of an active field in the early stages of explosive growth.This volume is aimed at academic researchers, government research agency representatives and graduate students.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 280 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Supermanifolds and Supergroups explains the basic ingredients of super manifolds and super Lie groups. It starts with super linear algebra and follows with a treatment of super smooth functions and the basic definition of a super manifold. When discussing the tangent bundle, integration of vector fields is treated as well as the machinery of differential forms. For super Lie groups the standard results are shown, including the construction of a super Lie group for any super Lie algebra. The last chapter is entirely devoted to super connections. The book requires standard undergraduate knowledge on super differential geometry and super Lie groups.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 432 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Interest in regularization methods for ill-posed nonlinear operator equations and variational inequalities of monotone type in Hilbert and Banach spaces has grown rapidly over recent years. Results in the field over the last three decades, previously only available in journal articles, are comprehensively explored with particular attention given to applications of regularization methods as well as to practical methods used in computational analysis.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 428 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Recent advances in nanoscience have demonstrated that fundamentally new physical phenomena are found when systems are reduced to sizes comparable to the fundamental microscopic length scales of the material investigated. There has been great interest in this research due, in particular, to its role in the development of spintronics, molecular electronics and quantum information processing. The contributions to this volume describe new advances in many of these fundamental and fascinating areas of nanophysics, including carbon nanotubes, graphene, magnetic nanostructures, transport through coupled quantum dots, spintronics, molecular electronics, and quantum information processing.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Issues related to gender and sexual diversity in schools can generate a lot of controversy, with many educators and youth advocates under-prepared to address these topics in their school communities. This text offers an easy-to-read introduction to the subject, providing readers with definitions and research evidence, as well as the historical context for understanding the roots of bias in schools related to sex, gender, and sexuality. Additionally, the book offers tangible resources and advice on how to create more equitable learning environments. Topics such as working with same-sex parented families in elementary schools; integrating gender and sexual diversity topics into the curriculum; addressing homophobic bullying and sexual harassment; advising gay-straight alliances; and supporting a transgender or gender non-conforming student are addressed. The suggestions offered by this book are based on recent research evidence and legal decisions to help educators handle the various situations professionally and from an ethical and legally defensible perspective.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 168 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -At about the age of 13 I began to realise that my formal education was separating itself off from my philosophical education. Of course, at the time I did not know it in this way. I experienced it as a split between what I was being taught and my experience of what I was being taught. It was, I now know, the philosophical experience of formal schooling. It was not until beginning the study of sociology at 16 that I came across the idea of dualisms¿pairs of opposites that always appeared together but were never reconciled. In sociology it was the dualism of the individual and society. The question most asked in our classes was always regarding which aspect of the dualism dominated the other. The answer we always leaned towards was that both were mutually affected by the other. The answer seemed to lie somewhere in the middle. It was only at university, first as an undergraduate and then as a postgraduate, that I came across the idea of the dialectic. Slowly I began to recognise that the dualisms which plagued social theory¿I and we, self and other, good and evil, modernity and post-modernity, autonomy and heteronomy, freedom and nature, truth and relativism, and so many more¿were not only dialectical in being thought about, but also that the thought of them being dialectical had an even stranger quality. It was the same experience as being at school.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 224 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The distinction between the contexts of discovery and justification has had a turbulent career in philosophy of science. At times celebrated as the hallmark of philosophical approaches to science, at times condemned as ambiguous, distorting, and misleading, the distinction dominated philosophical debates from the early decades of the twentieth century to the 1980s. Until today, it informs our conception of the content, domain, and goals of philosophy of science. It is due to this fact that new trends in philosophy of experimentation and history and sociology of science have been marginalized by traditional scholarship in philosophy. To acknowledge properly this important recent work we need to re-open the debate about the nature, development, and significance of the context distinction, about its merits and flaws. The contributions to this volume provide close readings and detailed analyses of the original textual sources for the context distinction. They revise those accounts of ¿forerunners¿ of the distinction that have been written through the lens of Logical Empiricism. They map, clarify, and analyse the derivations and mutations of the context distinctions as we encounter them in current history and philosophy of science. The re-evaluation of the distinction helps us deal with the philosophical challenges that the New Experimentalism and historically, socio-politically and economically oriented science studies have placed before us. This volume thus clears the ground for the productive and fruitful integration of these new developments into philosophy of science.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 256 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Rethinking a Sustainable Society Alan Mayne The world has already passed the midway point for achieving by 2015 the eight Millennium Development Goals for a ¿more peaceful, prosperous and just world¿ that were set by the United Nations in the wake of its inspirational Millennium Dec- 1 laration in 2000. These goals range from combating poverty, hunger, and disease, to empowering women, and ensuring environmental sustainability. However Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, conceded in 2007 that progress to date has been mixed. During 2008 the head of the United Nations World Food P- gramme cautioned that because of the surge in world commodity prices the program had insuf cient money to stave off global malnutrition, and the World Health Or- nization warned of a global crisis in water and sanitation. Depressing news accounts accumulate about opportunities missed to achieve a fairer world order and ecolo- calsustainability:themanipulationofelectionresultsinAfrica,humanrightsabuses in China, 4000 Americans dead and another nation torn apart by a senseless and protracted war in Iraq, and weasel words by the world¿s political leadership in the lead-up to negotiations for a climate change deal in 2009 that is supposed to stabilize global carbon dioxide emissions. It is clear that the parameters of the debates that drive progressive policy change urgently require repositioning and energizing. As is shown by the contributors to Rethinking work and learning, experts in the humanities and social sciences (HASS) couldhaveanimportantroletoplayinthisprocess.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Nelson Goodman¿s disparate writings are often written about only within their own particular discipline, such that the epistemology is discussed in contrast to others¿ epistemology, the aesthetics is contrasted with more traditional aesthetics, and the ontology and logic is viewed in contrast to both other contemporary philosophers and to Goodman¿s historical predecessors. This book argues that that is not an adequate way to view Goodman. The separate disciplines of ontology, epistemology, and aesthetics should be viewed as sequential steps within his thought, such that each provides the ground rules for the next section and, furthermore, providing the reasons for limitations on the terms available to the subsequent writing(s). This is true not merely because this is the general chronology of his writing, but more importantly because within his metaphysics lies Goodman¿s basic nominalist ontology and logic, and it is upon those principles that he builds his epistemology and, furthermore, it is the sum of both the metaphysics and the epistemology, with the nominalist principle as the guiding force, which constructs the aesthetics. At the end of each section of this book, the consequent limitations imposed on his terms and concepts available to him are explicated, such that, by the end of the book, the book delineates the constraints imposed upon the aesthetics by both the metaphysics and the epistemology.This book will benefit not only the professionals in the field of philosophy, but will also help both graduate and upper level undergraduate students understand Goodman¿s disparate writings within their proper context, and hopefully will also encourage them to view philosophical thinking in a less truncated and departmentalized way.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.