springer netherlands sep 2006 (98 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Coherence is a burgeoning topic of research. Diverse methodologies have been applied to shed light on the topic and its relevance to fundamental questions throughout philosophy. The collection brings together the full scope of this research in a single volume. The first group of essays attack the core topic of the book: coherence. Authors in this section take up the challenging and controversial task of measuring the coherence of an information set, while others criticize this endeavor. The second group of papers in the collection relate this foundational research to a wide array of epistemological and metaphysical challenges. For example, some papers consider the relationship between truth and coherence. Is coherence truth conducive, and if yes, under which conditions A related issue taken up in this volume is the connection between coherence and testimony. Are we justified in believing coherent reports by independent, though only partially reliable witnesses more than a single report If yes, under which conditions does this claim hold true By the end of the book, the reader should have a comprehensive understanding of the topic of coherence, the controversy surrounding it, and its implications across the discipline of philosophy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -1. RELIGION AND THE DECLINE OF FERTILITY IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES: THE EMERGENCE OF A RESEARCH ISSUE During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, almost all European countries began to experience a decline in their fertility level. This transition was recognized as crucial almost from its inception, and provided a strong stimulus for the scientific study of fertility: until then there had been no apparent trend toward a decline in fertility (with the exception of France) and differentials in fertility had not been very conspicuous (Lorimer 1959: 142). Handbooks and articles on population ¿ mainly of a statistical demographic nature ¿ took up the question of falling birth rates and its causes. The bases for these studies were the routinely-collected population statistics that made it possible to observe fertility trends for administrative regions. By identifying administrative regions that differed in the timing and extent of the fertility decline, researchers hoped to find explanations for the fertility transition. Municipal statistical offices in larger cities such as Berlin, Vienna, Budapest and Amsterdam were able to obtain more diversified data than were generally collected by national agencies, and offered social scientists the opportunity to carry out more intensive investigations of ¿differential fertility,¿ that is of variations in fertility of socially defined subpopulations, or categories defined by occupation or rural/urban residence. Somewhat later, the national statistical agencies started to collect and publish comparable data at the national level.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Anyone reflecting on the methodology of legal reasoning faces a difficult task. The number of methodological theories in jurisprudence and the vast literature on the subject are not the only problems that have to be taken into account. Perhaps the most striking difficulty concerning the methodology of legal argument is the heated debate between jurists, legal theorists and philosophers of law that has been recurring since at least nineteenth century. Therefore a justification is needed for writing yet another book c- cerning the methods of legal reasoning; a book that aims to cover a lot of what has already been proposed in legal theory. We believe that there is such a justification. First, the perspective that we adopt in the present book is unique, at least in some respects. We venture to look at the methodology of legal reasoning ¿from the outside¿, i.e. from a more g- eral, philosophical perspective, while taking into account the ¿hard re- ity¿ of law. This perspective enables us to ask questions about the justification for the methods of legal argument presented. Second, we do not want to defend one, paradigmatic conception of legal reasoning. On the contrary, we put forward the thesis that there is a plurality of argumentative methods. The plurality, however, does not lead to relativism in legal decision-making. Third, we reject any hierarchy of the methods of legal reasoning, and take the view that one can speak only of the precision and flexibility of different methodologies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Ad-hoc Networks, Fundamental Properties and Network Topologiesprovides an original graph theoretical approach to the fundamental properties of wireless mobile ad-hoc networks. This approach is combined with a realistic radio model for physical links between nodes to produce new insights into network characteristics like connectivity, degree distribution, hopcount, interference and capacity.This book clearly demonstrates how the Medium Access Control protocols impose a limit on the level of interference in ad-hoc networks. It hasbeen shown that interference is upper bounded, and a new accurate method for the estimation of interference power statistics in ad-hoc and sensor networks is introduced here. Furthermore, this volume shows how multi-hop traffic affects the capacity of the network. In multi-hop and ad-hoc networks there is a trade-off between the network size and the maximum input bit rate possible per node. Large ad-hoc or sensor networks, consisting of thousands of nodes, can only support low bit-rate applications.This work provides valuable directives for designing ad-hoc networks and sensor networks. It will not only be of interest to the academic community, but also to the engineers who roll out ad-hoc and sensor networks in practice.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 168 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -These proceedings contain the presentations of a NATO-Russian - vanced Research Workshop (ARW) held at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) near Karlsruhe, Germany, attended also by most of the members of the ¿Explosive Detection Working Group¿ (EDWG) of the ¿Advisory Panel on Security-Related Civil Science and Technology¿. The ARW, approved by the NATO Science Committee, is the fth NATO- Workshop during the last 3 years dealing with the detection of explosives in connection with counter-terrorism. The special goal of this workshop was the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the special eld of ¿Stand-Off Detection¿ and to x the ¿State of the Art¿ in this eld of research. At the end of the workshop proposals of Research & Development were presented (but not included in the proceedings), which were eva- ated by the present members of the EDWG during the following day of the workshop. One of the rst measures to counter the threat will be to stop the transport of illicit materials, that means in our case to detect explosive charges before they are initiated by terrorists.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -These proceedings contain the presentations of a NATO-Russian - vanced Research Workshop (ARW) held at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) near Karlsruhe, Germany, attended also by most of the members of the ¿Explosive Detection Working Group¿ (EDWG) of the ¿Advisory Panel on Security-Related Civil Science and Technology¿. The ARW, approved by the NATO Science Committee, is the fth NATO- Workshop during the last 3 years dealing with the detection of explosives in connection with counter-terrorism. The special goal of this workshop was the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the special eld of ¿Stand-Off Detection¿ and to x the ¿State of the Art¿ in this eld of research. At the end of the workshop proposals of Research & Development were presented (but not included in the proceedings), which were eva- ated by the present members of the EDWG during the following day of the workshop. One of the rst measures to counter the threat will be to stop the transport of illicit materials, that means in our case to detect explosive charges before they are initiated by terrorists.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) held at Geilo, Norway, 11-21 April 2005, the eighteenth ASI in a series held every two years since 1971. The objective of this ASI was to identify and discuss areas where synergism between modern physics and biology may be most fruitfully applied to the study of bioprocesses for molecular recognition, and of networks for converting molecular reactions into usable signals and appropriate responses. Many fields of research are confronted with networks. Genetic and metabolic networks describe how proteins, substrates and genes interact in a cell; social networks quantify the interactions between people in the society; the Internet is a complex web of computers; ecological systems are best described as a web of species. In many cases, the interacting networks manifest so-called emergent properties that are not possessed by any of the individual components. This means that the detailed knowledge of the components is insufficient to describe the whole system. Recent work has indicated that networks in nature have so-called scale-free characteristics, and the associated dynamic network modelling shows unexpected results such as an amazing robustness against accidental failures, a property that is rooted in their inhomogeneous topology. Understanding these phenomena and turning them to use in chemical and biological threat detection and response will require exploring a wide range of network structures as well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) held at Geilo, Norway, 11-21 April 2005, the eighteenth ASI in a series held every two years since 1971. The objective of this ASI was to identify and discuss areas where synergism between modern physics and biology may be most fruitfully applied to the study of bioprocesses for molecular recognition, and of networks for converting molecular reactions into usable signals and appropriate responses. Many fields of research are confronted with networks. Genetic and metabolic networks describe how proteins, substrates and genes interact in a cell; social networks quantify the interactions between people in the society; the Internet is a complex web of computers; ecological systems are best described as a web of species. In many cases, the interacting networks manifest so-called emergent properties that are not possessed by any of the individual components. This means that the detailed knowledge of the components is insufficient to describe the whole system. Recent work has indicated that networks in nature have so-called scale-free characteristics, and the associated dynamic network modelling shows unexpected results such as an amazing robustness against accidental failures, a property that is rooted in their inhomogeneous topology. Understanding these phenomena and turning them to use in chemical and biological threat detection and response will require exploring a wide range of network structures as well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the market of wireless communication, high data-rate transmission and high spectral efficiency have been the trend. The IEEE 802.11 a/g standards working at 5GHz/2.4GHz ISM bands can support data rate up to 54Mbits/s using OFDM modulation. The newly proposed 802.11n technology now uses 64-QAM to achieve higher spectral efficiency. The DVB and many other systems will also use QAM for its data transmission.The cost of achieving this higher spectral efficiency using higher order QAM is that the transmitter and receiver requires a higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) with the same level of error rate performance (relative to a baseline BPSK, QPSK and other systems). One of the dominant vectors on SNR degradation is I/Q image rejection (I/Q gains and phases imbalance).There are a lot of factors that degrade the matching of gains and phases between I/Q signals: the instinct layout mismatch, the random mismatch of the devices, the different temperatures over the I/Q signal paths. IQ Calibration Techniques For CMOS Radio Transceivers describes a fully-analog compensation technique without baseband circuitry to control the calibration process. This book will use an 802.11g transceiver design as an example to give a detailed description on the I/Q gains and phases imbalance auto-calibration mechanism.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 104 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The central question that I will pursue in this study concerns the universality of the human sentence processing mechanism. It will be explored whether there are cross-linguistic differences in parsing by p- senting psycholinguistic evidence from Greek. Empirical data collected from both native speakers and second language learners of Greek will be used to assess various parsing models and to investigate parsing mechanisms employed in Greek. The results from the L2 learners will be additionally used to shed light on the nature of sentence processing in a second language. Moreover, a supplementary objective of this study is to provide insights into the question of whether discourse biases guide initial parsing choices. The goal of any theory of sentence processing is to determine how people arrive at the desired interpretation of a given sentence, attem- ing thus to investigate the very nature of the human language processor. Sentence processing is a rapid and automatic process, one which ¿is closely linked in time to the input¿ (Garrett, 1990: 136, Pickering, 1999). This means that sentence processing proceeds in an incremental fashion, once each word is encountered, it is integrated to the sentence analysis. Sentence processing necessarily involves a syntactic analysis of the sentence, usually referred to as parsing, which allows the reader or listener to identify the syntactic role of words within each sentence, and an analysis which involves the use of semantic and pragmatic information to arrive at a plausible interpretation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is based on a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Bern in thesummerof2002. Researchonthethesiswasmadepossiblethroughagrant provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) from 2000 to 2002 foraprojectonthehistoryandepistemologyofscienti cillustrations(Project No. 1152-059499). Gerd Graßho headed this programme at the University of Bern and made my reworking of the thesis into a book in English possible. He also provided the funding for the services of a professional copy editor (Margareta Simons, Bern). The ndingspresentedinthisbookarecloselyrelatedtothegeneralresults of the SNF project, which are published elsewhere: the source material can be 1 consultedinanearliermonographandinanelectroniceditionontheinternet; thetheoreticalapproachwillbemorethoroughlyinvestigatedinatextbookon the analysis of scienti c illustrations. In addition, this study has made use of theoretical concepts developed by Gerd Graßho , which, in their latest form, have yet to be published; these concern primarily the model concept discussed in Chapter 3. The criteria put forward for optimizing scienti c illustrations, which are dealt with in Chapter 7, were also originally proposed by Gerd Graßho ; they were re ned and elaborated in the SNF project. Some of the material on the copying links presented in this book was rst published in 2 an article in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science; Part C; while some of the material in Chapter 5 on the hand-colouring of illustration was 3 published prior to this book in the Annals of Science. Iwasabletoaccesssourcematerialforthisstudyfromseveralarchivesand 4 institutions. Most of the images that I examined originated from copies held in the University Library Göttingen, while the remainingillustrations came 1 See Nickelsen (2000), Nickelsen & Graßho (2001) and Graßho et al. (2001).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Environmental policy in its broadest context has been significantly revitalized and renewed during the last two decades. That observation is nothing new, attested to by the number of publications, conferences and both private and public projects that have been initiated. However, our understanding of the dynamics of this renewal has generally been informed by studies on single policies and projects, leaving us with a limited understanding of what the ¿newness¿ consists of in terms of an integrated perspective.This book presents fresh analyses of a number of well-known cases, but does so from one comprehensive view, the so-called policy arrangement approach. Cases discussed range over organic farming, integrated water management, nature policy, cultural heritage policy, integrated region-oriented policy, corporate environmental management and target group policy, always in search of the commonality of experience and conclusions to be drawn in understanding the past and in formulating future perspectives.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Environmental policy has long been determined by a dichotomy between technology and behavior. Some approaches stress the importance of technology and technological innovation, while others focus on behavioral change. Each approach has its limitations, however, since technology and behavior often appear so closely intertwined. Human behavior results not only from intentions and deliberate decisions, but also from its interaction with technological artifacts. In the area of traffic safety, for instance, people¿s driving behavior is determined as much by curves, speed bumps and the power of their motors as by considerations of safety and responsibility. How can we best describe and understand these interactions between behavior and technology What conceptual frameworks and empirical studies are available, and how can they be integrated And how can we bring these interactions to bear on product design and policy making The book User Behavior and Technology Development explores these relationships between technology and behavior from an interdisciplinary perspective. This includes contributions from cognitive psychology, industrial design, public administration, marketing, sociology, ergonomics, science and technology studies, and philosophy. The book aims to create a conceptual basis for analyzing interactions between technology and behavior, and to provide insights that are relevant to technology design and environmental policy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 432 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Based on the recent NATO Advanced Study Institute 'Chaotic Worlds: From Order to Disorder in Gravitational N-Body Dynamical Systems', this state of the art textbook, written by internationally renowned experts, provides an invaluable reference volume for all students and researchers in gravitational n-body systems. The contributions are especially designed to give a systematic development from the fundamental mathematics which underpin modern studies of ordered and chaotic behaviour in n-body dynamics to their application to real motion in planetary systems. This volume presents an up-to-date synoptic view of the subject.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 360 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Microfluidics-based biochips, also known as lab-on-a-chip or bio-MEMS, are becoming increasingly popular for DNA analysis, clinical diagnostics, and the detection/manipulation of bio-molecules. As the use of microfluidics-based biochips increases, their complexity is expected to become significant due to the need for multiple and concurrent assays on the chip, as well as more sophisticated control mechanisms for resource management. Time-to-market and fault tolerance are also expected to emerge as design considerations. As a result, current full-custom design techniques will not scale well for larger designs. There is a need to deliver the same level of CAD support to the biochip designer that the semiconductor industry now takes for granted.Design Automation Methods and Tools for Microfluidics-Based Biochips deals with all aspects of design automation for microfluidics-based biochips. Experts have contributed chapters on various aspects of biochip design automation. Topics include device modeling; adaptation of bioassays for on-chip implementations; numerical methods and simulation tools; architectural synthesis, scheduling and binding of assay operations; physical design and module placement; fault modeling and testing; reconfiguration methods.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 416 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -By now, most people have become familiar with the basic functionality and interfaces of computers. However, developing new or modified applications that effectively support users' goals still requires considerable expertise in programming that cannot be expected from most people. Thus, one fundamental challenge for the coming years is to develop environments that allow users who do not have background in programming to develop or modify their own applications, with the ultimate aim of empowering people to flexibly employ advanced information and communication technologies.The present book is an effort to make many important aspects of the international discussion on End-User Development (EUD) available to a broader audience. It provides a unique set of contributions from various research institutes in various countries addressing relevant issues and proposing original solutions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 512 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Solar Journey: The Significance of Our Galactic Environment for the Heliosphere and Earth lays the foundation for an interdisciplinary study of the influence of interstellar material on the solar system and Earth as we travel through the Milky Way Galaxy. The solar wind bubble responds dynamically to interstellar material flowing past the Sun, regulating interstellar gas, dust, and cosmic particle fluxes in the interplanetary medium and the Earth. Cones of interstellar gas and dust focused by solar gravity, the magnetospheres of the outer planets, and cosmic rays at Earth all might yield the first hints of changes in our galactic environment.Twelve articles from leading experts in diverse fields discuss the physical changes expected as the heliosphere adjusts to its galactic environment. Topics include the interaction between the solar wind and interstellar dust and gas, cosmic ray modulation, magnetospheres, temporal variations in the solar environment, and the cosmic ray isotope record preserved in paleoclimate data.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 440 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Most of the world¿s population lives close to the coast and is highly dependent on coastal resources, which are being exploited at unsustainable rates. These resources are being subject to further pressures associated with population increase and the globalization of coastal resource demand. This is particularly so for the Asia-Pacific region which contains almost two thirds of the world¿s population and most of the world¿s coastal megacities. The region has globally important atmospheric and oceanic phenomena, which affect world climate such as the Asian Monsoon and the El-Niño Southern Oscillation phenomena. The Asia-Pacific region also has highly significant marine diversity but over the last few decades, coastal resources such as mangroves, coral reefs and fisheries have experienced large-scale depletion. The need to find appropriate management solutions to these and other coastal issues is made more complex by the need to take account of international scientific predictions for global climate change and sea-level rise which will further impact on these coasts. The idea for this book arose from a meeting of coastal scientists in Kobe, Japan in May 2003. The meeting was organized by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), an inter-governmental network, comprising 21 member countries, for the promotion of global change research and links between science and policy making in the region.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Carbon and carbon dioxide always played an important role in the geobiosphere that is part of the Earth¿s outer shell and surface environment. The book¿s eleven chapters cover the fundamentals of the biogeochemical behavior of carbon near the Earth¿s surface, in the atmosphere, minerals, waters, air-sea exchange, and inorganic and biological processes fractionating the carbon isotopes, and its role in the evolution of inorganic and biogenic sediments, ocean water, the coupling to nutrient nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and the future of the carbon cycle in the Anthropocene.This book is mainly a reference text for Earth and environmental scientists; it presents an overview of the origins and behavior of the carbon cycle and atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the human effects on them. The book can also be used for a one-semester course at an intermediate to advanced level addressing the behavior of the carbon and related cycles.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 428 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The importance of habitat conservation for the protection of birds has become widely acknowledged and accepted by natural resource managers and the general public. Papers presented in this volume further our understanding of the important role that limnology has in determining habitat suitability for waterbirds. Long-term population monitoring of waterbirds is an important tool in our quest to understand the role waterbirds play in their environment. Continued population declines of many species of aquatic birds indicate the need for additional understanding of how human activities negatively impact water quality and bird populations and what mitigative actions can be taken.The main objective of the Working Group on Aquatic Birds of the International Limnological Society (SIL) is to integrate waterbirds into hydrobiology and treat waterbird studies in a limnological context.This book is international in scope and presents information on species as diverse as common loon, harlequin duck, and semi-palmated sandpiper, and locations ranging from Iceland to Japan.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 360 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Computer Applications in Sustainable Forest Management presents state-of-the-art computer applications in a variety of specialty areas of forestry, including inventory, remote sensing, information management, modelling and visualization, biometrics, forest and harvest planning, bioeconomics and marketing, and decision science for management. This book emphasizes integration, or collaborative use, of computer technologies across different disciplines through interdisciplinary research and development in North America, China, and Europe. It also offers important new insights on how to continue advancing computational technologies in forest management to better achieve the basic goal of sustainable forest management. Case studies demonstrate integration of, or collaboration among, multiple computer applications for sustainable forest management.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Maritime canals dissolve natural barriers to the dispersal of marine organisms, providing novel opportunities for natural dispersal, as well as for shipping-mediated transport. This book is the first to assess the impacts of the world¿s three principal maritime canals ¿ the Kiel, the Panama, the Suez ¿ as invasion corridors for alien biota. These three canals differ in their hydrological regimes, the types of biotas they connect, and in their permeability to invasions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Reading Bohr: Physics and Philosophy offers a new perspective on Niels Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics as complementarity, and on the relationships between physics and philosophy in Bohr's work, which has had momentous significance for our understanding of quantum theory and of the nature of knowledge in general. Philosophically, the book reassesses Bohr's place in the Western philosophical tradition, from Kant and Hegel on. Physically, it reconsiders the main issues at stake in the Bohr-Einstein confrontation and in the ongoing debates concerning quantum physics. It also devotes greater attention than in most commentaries on Bohr to the key developments and transformations of his thinking concerning complementarity.Most significant among them were those that occurred, first, under the impact of Bohr's exchanges with Einstein and, second, under the impact of developments in quantum theory itself, both quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. The importance of quantum field theory for Bohr's thinking has not been adequately addressed in the literature on Bohr, to the considerable detriment to our understanding of the history of quantum physics. Filling this lacuna is one of the main contributions of the book, which also enables us to show why quantum field theory compels us to move beyond Bohr without, however, simply leaving him behind.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -CLIFFORD K. HOAND STEPHEN W. WEBB Sandia National Laboratories, P. O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA Gas and vapor transport in porous media occur in a number of important applications includingdryingofindustrialandfoodproducts,oilandgasexploration,environm- tal remediation of contaminated sites, and carbon sequestration. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms and processes of gas and vapor transport in porous media allows models to be used to evaluate and optimize the performance and design of these systems. In this book, gas and vapor are distinguished by their available states at stan- dard temperature and pressure (20 C, 101 kPa). If the gas-phase constituent can also exist as a liquid phase at standard temperature and pressure (e. g. , water, ethanol, toluene, trichlorothylene), it is considered a vapor. If the gas-phase constituent is non-condensable at standard temperature and pressure (e. g. , oxygen, carbon di- ide, helium, hydrogen, propane), it is considered a gas. The distinction is important because different processes affect the transport and behavior of gases and vapors in porous media. For example, mechanisms specific to vapors include vapor-pressure lowering and enhanced vapor diffusion, which are caused by the presence of a g- phase constituent interacting with its liquid phase in an unsaturated porous media. In addition, the ¿heat-pipe¿ exploits isothermal latent heat exchange during evaporation and condensation to effectively transfer heat in designed and natural systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 456 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Based on the recent NATO Advanced Study Institute 'Chaotic Worlds: From Order to Disorder in Gravitational N-Body Dynamical Systems', this state of the art textbook, written by internationally renowned experts, provides an invaluable reference volume for all students and researchers in gravitational n-body systems. The contributions are especially designed to give a systematic development from the fundamental mathematics which underpin modern studies of ordered and chaotic behaviour in n-body dynamics to their application to real motion in planetary systems. This volume presents an up-to-date synoptic view of the subject.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book origins from a symposium we organized in May 2005 at a joint meeting of the Biocontrol Network of Canada and the International Organization for Biological Control in Magog, Québec, Canada. During this symposium, we discussed concepts of direct and indirect interactions among natural enemies of herbivores in natural and agricultural ecosystems ¿ a field of growing interest in ecology and biological control. Natural enemies of herbivores exist in nature as an assemblage of species that interact with one another and may transcend trophic levels. The community embracing a natural enemy can be complex and includes taxonomically dissimilar species of pathogens, parasitoids, and predators. These interactions involve predation and competition processes and share the typical characteristics of resource-consumer relationships where the resource species is killed and consumed by the other. Although they are mostly viewed as primary carnivores (developing on herbivores), natural enemies can also be secondary carnivores (when they attack other natural enemies), hosts, prey, or even herbivores, as several species may also feed on and acquire energy from plant resources.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book contains the best papers of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2005), held in Miami (USA) and organized by INSTICC (Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Communication and Control) in collaboration with FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, who hosted the event. Following the route started in 1999, ICEIS has become a major point of contact between research scientists, engineers and practitioners on the area of business applications of information systems. This conference, which is now one of the largest annual conferences in the Information Systems area, has received an increased interest every year, especially from the international academic community. This year, five simultaneous tracks were held, covering different aspects related to enterprise computing, including: ¿Databases and Information Systems Integration¿, ¿Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support Systems¿, ¿Information Systems Analysis and Specification¿, ¿Software Agents and Internet Computing¿ and ¿Human-Computer Interaction¿. The sections of this book reflect the conference tracks. ICEIS 2005 received 459 paper submissions from 41 different countries, in all continents. 89 papers were published and orally presented as full papers, i.e. completed work, 110 position papers reflecting work-in-progress were accepted for short presentation and another 90 for poster presentation. These numbers, leading to a ¿full-paper¿ acceptance ratio below 20%, show the intention of preserving a high quality forum.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 280 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Sabkha Ecosystems Volume I: The Arabian Peninsula and Adjacent Countries was published in 2002. It was the first comprehensive volume dealing with the subject of sabkha research, and sabkha environmental management. Valuable new information was provided for the sabkha of numerous countries on and adjacent to the Arabian Peninsula. This new volume now follows up on this important process, and provides data and information on salt desert ecosystems of numerous West and Central Asian countries, including many of which are located in the Arabian Peninsula. The information provided assists the reader to better understand sabkha geology, hydrology, geomorphology, zoology, botany, ecology, ecosystem functioning, as well as sabkha conservation, utilisation, and development. The volume is paramount literature for anyone dealing with sabkha research and development.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 280 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Decentralization and Education: Asian Experiences and Conceptual Contributions examines the specific ways in which decentralization policies have affected the structure and delivery of education in eleven Asian nations. Written by top scholars in the field, the case studies provide detailed and rich empirical evidence documenting the tensions as well as synchronisms between the ideas that form the basis of decentralization policy and the contexts into which they are introduced. The high quality of this collection of essays and the careful attention to local contexts for implementation will make this book a must read for academics, policy planners, practitioners, and students of Asia.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -RF Power Amplifiers for Mobile Communications fits in the quest for fully integrated CMOS transceivers. The book tackles both high efficiency and high linearity PA design in low-voltage CMOS, and has a strong emphasis on theory, design and implementation. The book is conceived as a design guide for those actively involved in the design of CMOS wireless transceivers.RF Power Amplifiers for Mobile Communications starts from the basic theory of power amplification from the viewpoint of CMOS integration. The design of switching RF power amplifiers in CMOS is explored and CMOS PA design at low supply voltage using parallel amplification is discussed. Combining both efficiency and linearity is one of the major issues in CMOS PA design for wireless and mobile communications and is subsequently tackled. Different linearization techniques and approaches are discussed and polar modulation is clarified in greater detail. Finally, two CMOS PAimplementations are thoroughly covered.RF Power Amplifiers for Mobile Communications offers the reader an intuitive insight in Power Amplification as well as the necessary mathematical background. The book is essential reading for RF design engineers and researchers in the field and is also suitable as a text book for an advanced course on the subject.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.