springer netherlands sep 2014 (222 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This unique book is concerned with the general principles and theories of population ecology, based on the idea that the rules governing the dynamics of populations are relatively simple, and that the rich behavior we observe in nature is a consequence of the structure of the system rather than of the complexity of the underlying rules. From this perspective, the dynamic behavior of single-species populations is examined and an elementary feedback model of the population system is developed. This single-species model is refined and generalized by examining the mechanisms of population regulation. 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Ranging from Alan Turing's seminal 1936 paper to the latest work on Kolmogorov complexity and linear logic, this comprehensive new work clarifies the relationship between computability on the one hand and constructivity on the other. The authors argue that even though constructivists have largely shed Brouwer's solipsistic attitude to logic, there remain points of disagreement to this day.Focusing on the growing pains computability experienced as it was forced to address the demands of rapidly expanding applications, the content maps the developments following Turing's ground-breaking linkage of computation and the machine, the resulting birth of complexity theory, the innovations of Kolmogorov complexity and resolving the dissonances between proof theoretical semantics and canonical proof feasibility. Finally, it explores one of the most fundamental questions concerning the interface between constructivity and computability: whether the theory of recursive functions is needed for a rigorous development of constructive mathematics.This volume contributes to the unity of science by overcoming disunities rather than offering an overarching framework. It posits that computability's adoption of a classical, ontological point of view kept these imperatives separated. In studying the relationship between the two, it is a vital step forward in overcoming the disagreements and misunderstandings which stand in the way of a unifying view of logic. 228 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The Olduvai Bed I archaeological sites have been at the epicenter of the debate on how early humans behaved. This book presents a new analytical approach that has produced unexpected results: the association of stone tools and faunal remains at most Olduvai Bed I sites is accidental and not related to hominid behavior. This revolutionary analysis shows that current models of reconstruction of human behavior are wrong. 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Synthetic Biology (SB) is a revolutionary discipline with a vast range of practical applications, but is SB research really based on engineering principles Does it contributing to the artificial synthesis of life or does it utilise approaches sufficiently advanced to fall outside the scope of biotechnology or metabolic engineering This volume reviews the development of SB and includes the major milestones of the discipline, the 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' approaches towards the construction of an artificial cell and the development of the 'iGEM' competition. We conclude that SB is an emerging field with extraordinary technological potential, but that most research projects actually are an extension of metabolic engineering since the complexity of living organisms, their tight dependence on evolution and our limited knowledge of the interactions between the molecules, actually make life difficult to engineer. 92 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Knowledge is not merely everything we have come to know, but also ideas we have pondered long enough to know in which way they are related, and 1 how these ideas can be put to practical use. Modern aviation has been made possible as a result of much scienti c - search. However, the very rst useful results of this research became ava- able a considerable length of time after the aviation pioneers had made their rst ights. Apparently, researchers were not able to nd an adequate exp- nation for the occurrence of lift until the beginning of the 21st century. Also, for the fundamentals of stability and control, there was no theory available that the pioneers could rely on. Only after the rst motorized ights had been successfully made did researchers become more interested in the science of aviation, which from then on began to take shape. In modern day life, many millions of passengers are transported every year by air. People in the western societies take to the skies, on average, severaltimes a year. Especially in areas surrounding busy airports, travel by plane has been on the rise since the end of the Second World War. Despite becoming familiar with the sight of a jumbo jet commencing its ight once or twice a day, many nd it astonishing that such a colossus with a mass of several hundred thousands of kilograms can actually lift off from the ground. 552 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The papers that comprise this book could hardly been conceived of 10 years ago. The idea of commercial republics having a positive impact on peaceful international relations was, of course, not new. Kant and Montesquieu argued for the idea and the idea that trade and peace might be linked has been standard political rhetoric in the west for decades. These were macro-level analyses of commerce and peace. This remains a field in its infancy and this book provides a foundation for further in-depthanalysis and inquiry.Previously published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 89 Supplement 4, 2009 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The focus of the book is on different ways of knowing: the western scientific way (reductionist, dualistic and materialist) versus the indigenous approach (holistic, non-dualistic, and spiritual). It discusses both science and medicine in the context of the challenges experienced in introducing science and medicine into Africa through imperialism, colonization, and globalization. It looks at selected indigenous African paradigms, the dominant western paradigms, and the practitioners that represent these practices. The book deals with questions concerning compatibility and incompatibility of different ways of knowing and delves into epistemological stances, and the assumptions underlying these epistemologies. The volume investigates whether, and how a person can accommodate different epistemologies, and the nature of such accommodations. 172 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Arising from a scientific conference marking the 100th anniversary of her birth, this book honors the life and work of the social scientist and diplomat Ester Boserup, who blazed new trails in her interdisciplinary approach to development and sustainability. 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Turbulence is a dangerous topic which is often at the origin of serious ghts in the scienti c meetings devoted to it since it represents extremely di erent points of view, all of which have in common their complexity, as well as an inability to solve the problem. It is even di cult to agree on what exactly is the problem to be solved. Extremely schematically, two opposing points of view had been adv- ated during these last thirty years: the rst one was 'statistical', and tried to model the evolution of averaged quantities of the ow. This community, which had followed the glorious trail of Taylor and Kolmogorov, believed in the phenomenology of cascades, and strongly disputed the possibility of any coherence or order associated to turbulence. On the other bank of the river standed the 'coherence among chaos' community, which considered turbulence from a purely deterministic point of view, by studying either the behaviour of dynamical systems, or the stability of ows in various situations. To this community were also associated the experimentalists and computer simulators who sought to identify coherent vortices in ows. Situation is more complex now, and the existence of these two camps is less clear. In fact a third point of view pushed by people from the physics community has emerged, with the concepts of renormalization group theory, multifractality, mixing, and Lagrangian approaches. 604 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Stress Field of the Earth's Crust is based on lecture notes prepared for a course offered to graduate students in the Earth sciences and engineering at University of Potsdam. In my opinion, it will undoubtedly also become a standard reference book on the desk of most scientists working with rocks, such as geophysicists, structural geologists, rock mechanics experts, as well as geotechnical and petroleum en- neers. That is because this book is concerned with what is probably the most pe- liar characteristic of rock - its initial stress condition. Rock is always under a natural state of stress, primarily a result of the gravitational and tectonic forces to which it is subjected. Crustal stresses can vary regionally and locally and can reach in places considerable magnitudes, leading to natural or man-made mechanical failure. P- existing stress distinguishes rock from most other materials and is at the core of the discipline of 'Rock Mechanics', which has been developed over the last century. Knowledge of rock stress is fundamental to understanding faulting mechanisms and earthquake triggering, to designing stable underground caverns and prod- tive oil fields, and to improving mining methods and geothermal energy extraction, among others. Several books have been written on the subject, but none has atte- ted to be as all-encompassing as the one by Zang and Stephansson. 344 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Environmental Modeling and Health Risk Analysis (ACTS/RISK) The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with an integrated perspective on several elds. First, it discusses the elds of environmental modeling in general and multimedia (the term 'multimedia' is used throughout the text to indicate that environmental transformation and transport processes are discussed in association with three environmental media: air, groundwater and surface water pathways) environmental transformation and transport processes in particular; it also provides a detailed description of numerous mechanistic models that are used in these elds. Second, this book presents a review of the topics of exposure and health risk analysis. The Analytical Contaminant Transport Analysis System (ACTS) and Health RISK Analysis (RISK) software tools are an integral part of the book and provide computational platforms for all the models discussed herein. The most recent versions of these two software tools can be downloaded from the publisher's web site. The author recommends registering the software on the web download page so that users can receive updates about newer versions of the software. 484 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware 676 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Arising from a scientific conference marking the 100th anniversary of her birth, this book honors the life and work of the social scientist and diplomat Ester Boserup, who blazed new trails in her interdisciplinary approach to development and sustainability.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -The papers that comprise this book could hardly been conceived of 10 years ago. The idea of commercial republics having a positive impact on peaceful international relations was, of course, not new. Kant and Montesquieu argued for the idea and the idea that trade and peace might be linked has been standard political rhetoric in the west for decades. These were macro-level analyses of commerce and peace.This remains a field in its infancy and this book provides a foundation for further in-depthanalysis and inquiry.Previously published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 89 Supplement 4, 2009Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Plio-Pleistocene sites are a rare occurrence in same sites. This combination of factors is the archaeological record. When they are unique in East African Plio-Pleistocene uncovered, the faunal materials so crucial to archaeology and has stimulated much debate unlocking their behavioral meaning are often over the socioeconomic function of early sites. poorly preserved. For example, at Koobi Fora, Influential models of early hominid behavior Kenya, a prolific region that preserves several in the late 1960s and early 1970s were based classic Plio-Pleistocene sites, many bones are exclusively on information from Olduvai affected by poor cortical surface preservation Gorge (Leakey, 1971). Although Isaac¿s (e. g. , (Isaac, 1997). Such taphonomic vagaries limit 1978) work at Koobi Fora expanded their the range of questions that can be addressed application, the subsequent critiques, modi- with these assemblages. In other instances, cations, and reformulations of these models access to materials can be limited due to local were based almost solely on studies from politics or rivalries between individual Olduvai (Binford, 1981, 1984; Bunn, 1981; research teams. As a result, many important Potts, 1982, 1988; Bunn and Kroll, 1986; assemblages either remain unstudied or have Blumenschine, 1995; Rose and Marshall, been interpreted without the advantage of a 1996; Domínguez-Rodrigo, 1997a, 2002; fully developed taphonomic framework, a sit- Plummer, 2004). Having said that, it is also uation that all but guarantees stagnant inter- clear that continued work at Koobi Fora and pretations.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - Print on Demand Titel. Neuware -Synthetic Biology (SB) is a revolutionary discipline with a vast range of practical applications, but is SB research really based on engineering principles Does it contributing to the artificial synthesis of life or does it utilise approaches sufficiently advanced to fall outside the scope of biotechnology or metabolic engineering This volume reviews the development of SB and includes the major milestones of the discipline, the ¿top-down¿ and ¿bottom-up¿ approaches towards the construction of an artificial cell and the development of the ¿iGEM¿ competition. We conclude that SB is an emerging field with extraordinary technological potential, but that most research projects actually are an extension of metabolic engineering since the complexity of living organisms, their tight dependence on evolution and our limited knowledge of the interactions between the molecules, actually make life difficult to engineer.Springer-Verlag KG, Sachsenplatz 4-6, 1201 Wien 92 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The book examines applications in two disparate fields linked by the importance of valuing information: public health and space. Researchers in the health field have developed some of the most innovative methodologies for valuing information, used to help determine, for example, the value of diagnostics in informing patient treatment decisions. In the field of space, recent applications of value-of-information methods are critical for informing decisions on investment in satellites that collect data about air quality, fresh water supplies, climate and other natural and environmental resources affecting global health and quality of life. 332 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The focus of this volume is comprised of the fundamentals, models, and information technologies (IT) methods and tools for disaster prediction and mitigation. A more detailed list of topics includes mathematical and computational modeling of processes leading to or producing disasters, modeling of disaster effects, IT means for disaster mitigation, including data mining tools, knowledge-based and expert systems for use in disaster circumstances, GIS-based systems for disaster prevention and mitigation and equipment for disaster-prone areas. A specific type or class of disasters (natural or human-made), however will not be part of the main focus of this work. Instead, this book was conceived to offer a comprehensive, integrative view on disasters, seeking to determine what various disasters have in common. Because disaster resilience and mitigation involve humans, societies and cultures, not only technologies and economic models, special attention was paid in this volume to gain a comprehensive view on these issues, as a foundation of the IT tool design. 360 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book addresses the problem of justifying the institution of criminal punishment. It examines the 'paradox of retribution': the fact that we cannot seem to reject the intuition that punishment is morally required, and yet we cannot (even after two thousand years of philosophical debate) find a morally legitimate basis for inflicting harm on wrongdoers. The book comes at a time when a new 'abolitionist' movement has arisen, a movement that argues that we should give up the search for justification and accept that punishment is morally unjustifiable and should be discontinued immediately. This book, however, proposes a new approach to the retributive theory of punishment, arguing that it should be understood in its traditional formulation that has been long forgotten or dismissed: that punishment is essentially a defense of the honor of the victim. Properly understood, this can give us the possibility of a legitimate moral justification for the institution of punishment. 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Nonlinear differential or difference equations are encountered not only in mathematics, but also in many areas of physics (evolution equations, propagation of a signal in an optical fiber), chemistry (reaction-diffusion systems), and biology (competition of species).This book introduces the reader to methods allowing one to build explicit solutions to these equations. A prerequisite task is to investigate whether the chances of success are high or low, and this can be achieved without any a priori knowledge of the solutions, with a powerful algorithm presented in detail called the Painlevé test. If the equation under study passes the Painlevé test, the equation is presumed integrable. If on the contrary the test fails, the system is nonintegrable or even chaotic, but it may still be possible to find solutions.The examples chosen to illustrate these methods are mostly taken from physics. These include on the integrable side the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (continuous and discrete), the Korteweg-de Vries equation, the Hénon-Heiles Hamiltonians, on the nonintegrable side the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (encountered in optical fibers, turbulence, etc), the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation (phase turbulence), the Kolmogorov-Petrovski-Piskunov equation (KPP, a reaction-diffusion model), the Lorenz model of atmospheric circulation and the Bianchi IX cosmological model.Written at a graduate level, the book contains tutorial text as well as detailed examples and the state of the art on some current research. 284 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The book takes a holistic approach to sustainability. Acknowledging the Brundtland definition, that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, the book is specifically concerned with the ethics of contemporary social and environmental sustainability activity and thinking. It is concerned with the role of institutions-both local and global in achieving sustainability initiatives. All twelve chapters extend sustainability-conceptually, empirically and theoretically, and in doing so provide insights into linking local and global sustainability. The book refocuses sustainability as a series of interwoven and dynamic relationships, backed by just ethical decision-making, which begin locally, and reach out to impact the global level. 244 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The basic concepts and building blocks for the design of Fine- (or FPGA) and Coarse-Grain Reconfigurable Architectures are discussed in this book. Recently-developed integrated architecture design and software-supported design flow of FPGA and coarse-grain reconfigurable architecture are also described. 400 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Land use decisions in karst terrains can have immediate and serious impacts on the local landscape and groundwater resources. The existing literature on karst and land use can be very difficult to locate in the journals of any of a half-dozen different disciplines. This book brings the interdisciplinary knowledge together in one place, in a format that academics and professionals alike will find accessible, informative and useful.Based on an examination of existing regulations, the experiences and opinions of planners and land use professionals, and quantitative analysis of publicly-available data, the book explores how human settlement patterns and urban systems in karst terrains are affected by land use regulations intended to protect karst resources. The book pays particular attention to the questions of whether these regulations will have a noticeable impact on density and on opportunities for economic growth and development in communities that choose to implement them. This analysis serves as the basis for a regulatory framework that may be used to understand the workings of land use regulations in karst terrains, and to aid in the development of such regulations in the future. 200 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -New Frontiers in Angiogenesis starts with a comprehensive overview of the field and continues with topics that have been minimally explored. The topics deal with dynamics of vasculogenesis using imaging techniques, bone marrow-derived endothelial cell precursors as potential therapeutic tools, regulation of post-angiogenic vessel regression, vascular mimicry, design and construction of artificial vessels, bioengineering of angiogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis recapitulating angiogenesis in health and disease states. Each chapter is written by leading experts of the subjects. It is hoped that this volume will challenge all of us interested in the field of angiogenesis and cardiovascular biology, in particular those in academia and industries, to think 'outside the box' and explore angiogenesis from a fresh angle. It is hoped that New Frontiers in Angiogenesis is thought provoking and serve as a road map for discovering new findings to help betterments of human health. 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book presents the findings of the study, and offers analysis of both its methodological and policy-related implications. On the methodology side, it assesses and validates the valuation workshop approach; appraises the effect of distance on willingness to pay and the influence of the respondents' ability to pay. From a policy perspective, the book examines the attitudes and preference of respondents on trade-offs between economic growth and ecological use. 252 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Across the EU, populations are shrinking and ageing. An increasing burden is being placed on a smaller working population to generate the taxes required for pensions and care costs. Welfare states are weakening in many countries and across Europe, households are being increasingly expected to plan for their retirement and future care needs within this risky environment. At the same time, the proportion of people buying their own home in most countries has risen, so that some two-thirds of European households now own their homes. Housing equity now considerably exceeds total European GDP. This book discusses questions like: to what extent might home ownership provide a potential cure for some of the consequences of ageing populations by realizing housing equity in order to meet the consumption needs of older people What does this mean for patterns of inheritance and longer-term inequalities across Europe And to what extent are governments banking on their citizens utilising their housing wealth now and in the future 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Most people value to have children still highly. But what is the optimal moment to have the first The decision on having children or not and if yes on the timing of the first is one of the most difficult ones to make, also because it more or less coincides with various other heavy decisions on shaping the life course (like on union formation, labour market career, housing accommodation, etc.). People realise that having children will fundamentally change their life and in order to fit this unknown and irreversible adventure perfectly into their life course postponement of the first birth is an easy way out as long as doubts continue and partners try to make up their mind. Modern methods of birth control are of course a very effective help in that period. What is the best moment to have the first child And to what moment is postponement justified There are no easy answers to these questions. Best solutions vary per person as they depend on personal circumstances and considerations (the partner may have conflicting ideas; housing accommodation; job; income; free time activities). Existing parental leave and child care arrangements are weighted as well. Unfortunately the biological clock ticks further. And, also unfortunately, assisted reproductive technology (IVF etc.) is unable to guarantee a successful outcome. Several couples end up without children involuntarily and that may lead to sorrow and grief. This interdisciplinary book overviews the process of postponement and its backgrounds in modern Western societies holistically, both at the personal and the societal level. Contributions come from reproductive, evolutionary biological and neurological sciences, as well as from demography, economy, sociology and psychology. It holds not only at women but also at men becoming first time fathers. The discussion boils down to a new policy approach for motherhood and emancipation on how to shape work and family life It is argued that a public window where one can compose a 'cafeteria'-like set of supportive arrangements according to personal preferences could lead to a break in the rising age at first motherhood. 236 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -To aid in unraveling the complexities of the causation of congenital malformations, various influences on their frequency are considered in this book. And of course the known and possible environmental bases of their occurrence are fully described. An introductory record of the history of perinatal mortality in the last three centuries gives foundation for the discussion of death in contemporary decades. 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Large-scale winds and currents tend to balance Coriolis and pressure gradient forces. The time evolution of these winds and currents is the subject of the quasi-geostrophic theory.Chapter 1 presents concepts and equations of classical inertial fluid mechanics.Chapter 2 deals with the equations of thermodynamics that close the governing equations of the fluids. Then, the motion is reformulated in a uniformly rotating reference frame.Chapter 3 deals with the shallow-water model and the homogeneous model of wind-driven circulation. The chapter also describes a classical application of the Ekman layer to the atmosphere.Chapter 4 considers the two-layer model, as an introduction to baroclinic flows, together with the concept of available potential energy.Chapter 5 takes into account continuously stratified flows in the ocean and in the atmosphere. 400 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Our brain is the source of everything that makes us human: language, creativity, rationality, emotion, communication, culture, politics. The neurosciences have given us, in recent decades, fundamental new insights into how the brain works and what that means for how we see ourselves as individuals and as communities. Now - with the help of new advances in nanotechnology - brain science proposes to go further: to study its molecular foundations, to repair brain functions, to create mind-machine interfaces, and to enhance human mental capacities in radical ways. This book explores the convergence of these two revolutionary scientific fields and the implications of this convergence for the future of human societies. In the process, the book offers a significant new approach to technology assessment, one which operates in real-time, alongside the innovation process, to inform the ways in which new fields of science and technology emerge in, get shaped by, and help shape human societies. 412 pp. Englisch.