springer netherlands springer apr 2012 (308 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -EXCEPT for chapter 8, an editorial foot-bridge across the con fused years which separate the Dutch Republic from the King dom of the Netherlands, the essays collected in this volume were originally read and discussed at meetings of Dutch and British historians held between 22 and 27 September 1969 in a number of delightful comers of Groningen and Friesland. That this con ference took place at all was due in the first instance to the initiative and organizing genius of the Instituut voor Geschiedenis of the University of Groningen: particular thanks are due to the Rector Magnificus and his colleagues of that illustrious place of learning. On behalf of those fortunate enough to take part, we also wish to place on record our deep gratitude for the benevolent assistance of the Netherlands Ministerie van Onderwijs, of the H. S. Kammingafonds and of the Groninger Universiteitsfonds. As our sub-title strives to hint, the conference papers were commissioned with a view to stimulating historical awareness of a problem which is increasingly forcing itself on the attention of contemporary statesmen, administrators, sociologists and others - indeed of all who value local character and the human scale in the age of mass communications and socialized government.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -After the launching of the first artificial satellites preceding interplanetary vehicles, celestial mechanics is no longer a science of interest confined to a small group of astronomers and mathematicians; it becomes a special engineering technique. I have tried to set this book in this new perspective, by severely limiting the choice of examples from classical celestial mechanics and by retaining only those useful in calculating the trajectory of a body in space. The main chapter in this book is the fifth, where a detailed solution is given of the problem of motion of an artificial satellite in the Earth's gravitational field, using the methods of Von Zeipel and of Brouwer. It is shown how Lagrange's equations can be applied to this problem. The first four chapters contain proofs of the main results useful for these two methods: the elliptical solution of the two-body problem and the basic algebra of celestial mechanics; some theorems of analytical mechanics; the Delaunay variables and the Lagrangian equations of variation of elements; the expansion of the disturbing function and the Bessel functions necessary for this expansion. The last two chapters are more descriptive in character. In them I have summarized briefly some of the classical theories of celestial mechanics, and have tried to show their distinctive characteristics without going into details.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 140 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Thisbirefs examines mortality among young children in the period from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. It does so using several types and sources of informationfrom the census unit England and Wales, and from Ireland. The sources of information used in this study include memoirs, diaries, poems, church records and numerical accounts. They offer descriptions of the quality of life and child mortality over the three centuries under study. Additional sources for the nineteenth century are two census-derived numerical indexes of the quality of life. They are the VICQUAL index for England and Wales, and the QUALEIRE index for Ireland. Statistical procedures have been applied to the numbers provided by the sources with the aim to identify effects of and associations between such variables as gender, age, and social background. Thebriefs examines the results to consider the impact ofchildren¿s deaths upon parents and families, and concludes that there are differences andcontinuities across the centuries.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 100 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Nutrient Indicator Models for Determining Biologically Relevant Levels: A case study based on the Corn Belt and Northern Great Plain Nutrient Ecoregion is the first book to provide answers to the management of nutrients based on changes in biological communities. The text describes a case study that is the result of a large scale project in the Corn Belt and Great Plains Nutrient Ecoregion. This study is the first to identify relationships between fish assemblages and nutrient concentrations by Nitrogen species. Species optima based on sensitivity and tolerance to nutrients is modeled. Nutrient Biotic indices calibrated for application are based on the results of years of biological indicator development. Test response intervals and Shift response intervals are formulated and validated against relevant biological assemblage shifts. This case study is the first to suggest recommended values for the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle with identifiable shifts caused in biological assemblages. This will provide watershed and environmental managers with the information needed to manage the inputs into the world¿s dead zones. ¿Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 76 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Handbook of Recording Engineering is a logical outgrowth of the first two editions of Sound Recording. The ten years since the first edition have seen no slackening in the development of recording technology, and they have wit nessed an almost phenomenal growth in the teaching of recording and audio engineering at all academic levels. The earlier editions of Sound Recording have been widely used as texts at all educational levels, and it is the author's intent in the Handbook of Recording Engineering to produce a book which is even more suited to these purposes. At the same time, the book has been organized as a true handbook, which presents of reference material in easily accessible form. a broad array The organization of the book is unique in that it progresses as the signal transmission chain itself does-from the recording venue on through the micro phone, transmission channel, and finally to the listening environment. The first six chapters thus form a logical sequence, and the author recommends that in structors using the Handbook follow them accordingly. Chapter One presents a discussion of acoustical fundamentals, including an introduction to some basic psychoacoustical considerations having to do with performance spaces. Chapter Two covers the basic operating principles of mi crophones, while Chapter Three extends the discussion of microphones to cover the entire range of stereophonic imaging phenomena.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 416 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Blood-sucking insects are the vectors of many of the most debilitating parasites of man and his domesticated animals. In addition they are of considerable direct cost to the agricultural industry through losses in milk and meat yields, and through damage to hides and wool, etc. So, not surprisingly, many books of medical and veterinary entomology have been written. Most of these texts are organized taxonomically giving the details of the life-cycles, bionomics, relationship to disease and economic importance of each of the insect groups in turn. I have taken a different approach. This book is topic led and aims to discuss the biological themes which are common in the lives of blood-sucking insects. To do this I have concentrated on those aspects of the biology of these fascinating insects which have been clearly modified in some way to suit the blood-sucking habit. For example, I have discussed feeding and digestion in some detail because feeding on blood presents insects with special problems, but I have not discussed respiration because it is not affected in any particular way by haematophagy. Naturally there is a subjective element in the choice of topics for discussion and the weight given to each. I hope that I have not let my enthusiasm for particular subjects get the better of me on too many occasions and that the subject material achieves an overall balance.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The most critical part of the modern switching-mode power supply is the regulated dc/dc converter. Its dynamic behavior directly determines or influences four of the important characteristics of the power supply: ¿ Stability of the feedback loop ¿ Rejection of input-voltage ripple and the closely-related transient re sponse to input-voltage perturbation ¿ Output impedance and the closely-related transient response to load perturbation ¿ Compatibility with the input EMI filter Due to the complexity of the operation of the converter, predicting its dynamic behavior has not been easy. Without accurate prediction, and depending only on building the circuit and tinkering with it until the operation is satisfactory, the engineering cost can easily escalate and schedules can be missed. The situation is not much better when the circuit is built in the computer, using a general-purpose circuit-simulation program such as SPICE. (At the end of this book is a form for obtaining information on a computer program especially well suited for dynamic analysis of switching-mode power converters: DYANA, an acronym for 'DYnamic ANAlysis. ' DYANA is based on the method given in this book. ) The main goal of this book is to help the power-supply designer in the prediction of the dynamic behavior by providing user-friendly analytical tools, concrete results of already-made analyses, tabulated for easy application by the reader, and examples of how to apply the tools provided in the book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 428 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is intended for the use of final-year undergraduates and first-year postgraduates. The aim has been to concentrate on the 'Standard Model' and the gauge symmetries because these form the core of the subject. Leptons, quarks and forces are introduced at the beginning of the book, with a minimum of detail; then follow the experimental techniques. After this introduction the gauge theories are dealt with in order of increasing complexity. Attention is then focused on the hadrons. Deep inelastic scattering ofhadrons is dealt with first, then hadron spectroscopy and finally hadron interactions. Current developments beyond the standard model appear in a last chapter. The appendices contain mathematical detail and other material not included in the main text. These appendices cover kinematic, cross-section and decay-rate formulae; Breit-Wigner resonances; some Clebsch-Gordan coefficient tables; a table of particle properties; a set of exercises and detailed answers; and the Dirac equation. One appendix is devoted to calculating the scattering amplitudes for fermion + fermion going to fermion + fermion, which is, if anything, the 'basic' process. The appendices, apart from tabulations, are mainly intended for the postgraduate, though the interested undergraduate may also find them valuable. Up-to-date references are given at the end of the book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Architectural stress is the inability of a system design to respond to new market demands. It is an important yet often concealed issue in high tech systems. In From scientific instrument to industrial machine, we look at the phenomenon of architectural stress in embedded systems in the context of a transmission electron microscope system built by FEI Company. Traditionally, transmission electron microscopes are manually operated scientific instruments, but they also have enormous potential for use in industrial applications. However, this new market has quite different characteristics. There are strong demands for cost-effective analysis, accurate and precise measurements, and ease-of-use. These demands can be translated into new system qualities, e.g. reliability, predictability and high throughput, as well as new functions, e.g. automation of electron microscopic analyses, automated focusing and positioning functions.From scientific instrument to industrial machine takes a pragmatic approach to the problem of architectural stress. In particular, it describes the outcomes of the Condor project, a joint endeavour by a consortium of industrial and academic partners. In this collaboration an integrated approach was essential to successfully combine various scientific results and show the first steps towards a new direction. System modelling and prototyping were the key techniques to develop better understanding and innovative solutions to the problems associated with architectural stress.From scientific instruments to industrial machine is targeted mainly at industrial practitioners, in particular system architects and engineers working on high tech systems. It can therefore be read without particular knowledge of electron microscope systems or microscopic applications. The book forms a bridge between academic and applied science, and high tech industrial practice. By showing the approaches and solutions developed for the electron microscope, it is hoped that system designers will gain some insights in how to deal with architectural stress in similar challenges in the high tech industry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 124 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This title focuses on the many aspects of the interaction between plants and heavy metals. Not only it describes the effects of heavy metal toxicity on the plant cell and its organs but it also examines the mechanisms that plants adopt to scavenge heavy metals at cellular, physiological, and metabolic level. Plants and Heavy Metals also analyses Hyperaccumulator plants and shows their potential role in phytoremediation technologies in light of the recent research results.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 100 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In order to analyse the challenges posed by the quest for sustainability, Green Technologies for Wastewater treatment: Energy Recovery and Emerging Compounds Removal evaluates water management together with energy use. The strong effects that the release of emerging pollutants such as endocrine disruptors (EDCs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have in wastewater reuse applications are examined, as well as the need to optimize the energy consumption in wastewater treatment.More specifically, this volume focuses on: Presenting the advantages linked to the application of chemically assisted primary sedimentation (CAPS) that enables energy optimization of wastewater treatment plants and points to the possibility of wastewater as a possible resource; Discussing the analytical problems related to the analytical detection of emerging pollutants and of their transformation products; Comparing the efficiency of MBR plants for removing trace pollutants with conventional systems; Evaluating the application of Wet Oxidation (WO) for the treatment of aqueous effluents to remove trace pollutants; Reviewing the application of Photo-Fenton process and complementary treatment systems (H2O2/UV-C and Fenton¿s reagent) for the degradation of two industrial pollutant categories with significant endocrine disrupting properties: alkyl phenols (nonyl and octyl phenols) and bisphenol A.Green Technologies for Wastewater treatment: Energy Recovery and Emerging Compounds Removal will be of great interest to students, technicians, and academics alike who are interested in evaluating and selecting the technologies that lead to better and more sustainable treatment of these huge classes of pollutants.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 112 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Addressing students and researchers as well as Computational Fluid Dynamics practitioners, this book is the most comprehensive review of high-resolution schemes based on the principle of Flux-Corrected Transport (FCT). The foreword by J.P. Boris and historical note by D.L. Book describe the development of the classical FCT methodology for convection-dominated transport problems, while the design philosophy behind modern FCT schemes is explained by S.T. Zalesak. The subsequent chapters present various improvements and generalizations proposed over the past three decades.In this new edition, recent results are integrated into existing chapters in order to describe significant advances since the publication of the first edition. Also, 3 new chapters were added in order to cover the following topics: algebraic flux correction for finite elements, iterative and linearized FCT schemes, TVD-like flux limiters, acceleration of explicit and implicit solvers, mesh adaptation, failsafe limiting for systems of conservation laws, flux-corrected interpolation (remapping), positivity preservation in RANS turbulence models, and the use of FCT as an implicit subgrid scale model for large eddy simulations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 472 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume is an exercises and solutions manual that complements the book 'Particles and Fundamental Interactions' by Sylvie Braibant, Giorgio Giacomelli, and Maurizio Spurio. It aims to give additional intellectual stimulation for students in experimental particle physics.It will be a helpful companion in the preparation of a written examination, but also it provides a means to gaining a deeper understanding of high energy physics. The problems proposed are sometimes true and important research questions, which are described and solved in a step-by-step manner. In addition to the problems and solutions, this book offers fifteen Supplements that give further insight into topical subjects related to particle accelerators, signal and data acquisition systems and computational methods to treat them.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The inspiration for translating this classic text came during a sabbatical year spent at the University of Karlsruhe in 1974. Under the leadership of the late Professor Hans Rumpf, the Institut fUr Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik, Karlsruhe, from the early 1960s onwards, by extensive research and advanced teaching had promoted the discipline of mechanical process technology, a branch of process engineering which had been rather neglected, especially in many chemical engineering depart ments of universities in the English-speaking world. There is a need for texts of this kind, particularly for the more specialized teaching that has to be done during the later stages of engineering courses. This work, which is really a monograph, serves as a concise and compact introduction, albeit at an advanced level, to all those functions of process engineering that have to do with the handling and treatment of particulate matter and bulk solids. Much of this information has previously been scattered around journals and other books and not brought together in one work. Furthermore, Rumpf has emphasized the physical and theoretical foundations of the subject and avoided a treatment that is simply empirical.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This briefs summarizes the research on positive well-being in children, with a particular focus on their happiness. It starts with a discussion of the constructs of positive psychology (i.e., well-being, happiness and life satisfaction), and then outlines the research that shows the importance of studying well-being. Next, it explores how researchers measure happiness and what these measures tell us about whether children are happy and how their happiness differs from adults. Following this, it discusses current positive psychology theories with the aim of suggesting their promise in understanding children¿s well-being. Next, it examines the importance of individual differences, including culture and temperament. Because studies have only recently identified several of the factors associated with children¿s happiness, the book ends with a discussion of how we might enhance children¿s well-being and suggests directions for future research.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 100 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The brief presents a model for happiness based on current knowledge in evolutionary biology and neurobiology. Briefly, the primary purpose of nervous systems is to direct an animal toward behaviour relevant for survival and procreation. In primitive animals actions are based on reflexes, while in humans the modules directing behaviour engage positive and negative affect (good and bad feelings), and they are swayed by cognitive processes. The reason why evolution opted for this strategy was the improved flexibility in response ¿ i.e., we learn from previous experiences. The human capacity for happiness is an accidental consequence.An array of brain modules has evolved to care for various pursuits, but recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits designed to generate positive and negative mood. Happiness can be construed as the net output of the relevant modules. The briefs suggests a strategy for how to avoid having negative feelings (such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain) dominate the mind, and how to exercise positive feelings. In short, the book offers both a deeper understanding of what happiness is about, and a framework for improving well-being.An array of brain modules has evolved to care for various pursuits, but recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits designed to generate positive and negative mood. Happiness can be construed as the net output of the relevant modules. The book suggests a strategy for how to avoid having negative feelings (such as anxiety, depression and chronic pain) dominate the mind, and how to exercise positive feelings. In short, the book offers both a deeper understanding of what happiness is about, and a framework for improving well-being.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 120 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The first in a series initiated by the Foundation for European Fiscal Studies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. It contains papers by scholars who gave their recommendations and conclusions of the Ruding Committee at a seminar on 22 May 1992.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -People¿s transnational ties and activities are acquiring ever greater importance and topicality in today¿s world. The focus of this book lies in the complex and multi-level processes of migrant transnationalism in four transnational spaces: India-UK, Morocco-France and Turkey-Germany and Estonia-Finland. The main question is, how people¿s activities across national borders emerge, function, and change, and how are they related to the processes of governance in increasingly complex and interconnected world The book is based on the findings of a three-year research project TRANS-NET which brough together internationally acknowledged experts from Europe, Asia and Africa. As no single discipline could investigate all the components of the topic in question, the project adopted a multi-disciplinary approach: among the contributors, there are sociologists, policy analysts, political scientists, social and cultural anthropologists, educational scientists, and economists.The chapters show that people¿s transnational linkages and migration across national boundaries entail manifold political, economic, social, cultural and educational implications. Although political-social-economic-educational transformations fostered by migrant transnationalism constitute the main topic of the book, the starting assumption is that the large-scale institutional and actor-centred patterns of transformation come about through a constellation of parallel processes. 244 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Two questions could not be avoided in the avant-propos of this book; (i) what is the importance to man of ruminant livestock, and (ii) what results of practical relevance in the growing mountain of scientific verbiage could be found in the Proceedings of this Symposium. Herbivores are an integral and critical part of the natural ecosystem which must be preserved because of their impact on human welfare. Wh at makes ruminants especially important to man is that they can thrive on fibrous forage and are thus the only viable enterprise over much of the earth's surface where crop growing is impracti cable. They contribute a wide array of products in addition to 50000 000 tonnes ofmeat (1977) and represent a 'capital reserve' that can be drawn upon in times of emergency: milk for example (450000000 tonnes) can make the difference between subsistence and starvation. About 60% of the world's meat and 80 % of the milk are produced by one third of the world ruminant population in the developed regions and as much as 99 % of the power for agriculture is provided by the ruminant population in developing countries. For the next two decades, a probable increase by 30 % for . cattle and buffalo and more than 40 % for sheep and goats is expected by improving health, fertility, nutrition and genetic potential rather than feed resources.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 884 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Recent economic development and the financial and economic crisis require a change in our approach to business and finance. This book combines theology, economy and philosophy in order to examine in detail the idea that the functioning of a free market economy depends upon sound cultural and ethical foundations.The free market is a cultural achievement, not only an economic phenomenon subject to technical rules of trade and exchange. It is an achievement which lives by and depends upon the values and virtues shared by the majority of those who engage in economic activity. It is these values and virtues that we refer to as culture. Trust, credibility, loyalty, diligence, and entrepreneurship are the values inherent in commercial rules and law. But beyond law, there is also the need for ethical convictions and for global solidarity with developing countries. This book offers new ideas for future sustainable development and responds to an increasing need for a new sense of responsibility for the common good in societal institutions and good leadership.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Navigating Time and Space in Population Studies presents innovative approaches to long-standing questions about the diffusion of population and demographic behavior across space and over time. This collection utilizes newly-available historical data along with spatially and temporally explicit analytical methods to evaluate and refine core demographic theories and to pose new questions about mortality and fertility transitions, migration, urbanization, and social inequality. It adds a spatial dimension to the analysis of temporal processes and a temporal element to spatial processes. Chapters cover a broad range of geographical settings, including the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Islamic world, and span time periods from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Contributors from a variety of disciplines reveal the complexity of factors involved in population processes that spread across space and unfold over time, and demonstrate a rich set of tools with which to explore, analyze, and test the spatial and temporal dynamics of these phenomena. The theories, methods, and substantive findings presented here provide new lenses through which to view time and space in population studies, offering useful models and valuable insights to demographers and other social scientists exploring both historical and contemporary questions about population dynamics anywhere in the world.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Globalisation turns out to be untenable because it does not guarantee minimum social equity, peace and respect for the environment, and therefore does not guarantee the effective accomplishment of human rights. This book analyzes this issue and raises proposals for a new perspective. The first part describes the soft threats to human rights, derived from the devaluation of the politics and the productive economy with regard to the finance. It entails the concealment of the reality in the shape of exploitation as the tax havens and in the shape of marginalization of the persons with different abilities. The second part include a study of hard threats to human rights and examines two cases of failed states: Afghanistan and Somalia, in which the violence has supplanted the politics and the economy. In view of these situations it is necessary to rethink the force of classic ius gentium and the humanitarian right.The third part presents the European Union as a legal and political space in which conditions of a worthy life are better defended by means of the Primacy of Practical Reason and Social State of Law, and by the requirement of peace as the main rule of international relations. 264 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Powder technology is a subject in its own right, and powder characterization is central to an understanding of this discipline. In the eight years since the printing of the third edition of Particle Size Measurement there have been two big changes in my life. After thirty years of academia I have returned to industry, and after a lifetime in Great Britain I have emigrated to the United States. In industry the initial demand is to relate powder properties to product performance and then to maintain powder consistency. This requires on-line or rapid off-line analysis which, in turn, has led to the demand for a whole range of new instruments whose primary function is process monitoring. Historically, chemical engineering courses have concentrated on the be haviour of fluids, and engineers enter industry relatively unschooled in the subject of powder behaviour . Yet, when my colleagues Reg Davies and John Boughton surveyed three thousand Dupont products, they discovered that 80% involved powder at some stage of their manufacture. The results of this survey illustrate the need for more training in this key subject. This edition reflects the changing image of powder characterization towards in-process size analysis. Hence the chapter covering on-line analysis has been largely re-written. Apart from this, I have expanded certain sections and describe the new instruments that have been introduced since the last edition.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 836 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Yeasts are the active agents responsible for three of our most important foods - bread, wine, and beer - and for the almost universally used mind/ personality-altering drug, ethanol. Anthropologists have suggested that it was the production of ethanol that motivated primitive people to settle down and become farmers. The Earth is thought to be about 4. 5 billion years old. Fossil microorganisms have been found in Earth rock 3. 3 to 3. 5 billion years old. Microbes have been on Earth for that length of time carrying out their principal task of recycling organic matter as they still do today. Yeasts have most likely been on Earth for at least 2 billion years before humans arrived, and they playa key role in the conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Early humans had no concept of either microorganisms or fermentation, yet the earliest historical records indicate that by 6000 B. C. they knew how to make bread, beer, and wine. Earliest humans were foragers who col lected andate leaves, tubers, fruits, berries, nuts, and cereal seeds most of the day much as apes do today in the wild. Crushed fruits readily undergo natural fermentation by indigenous yeasts, and moist seeds germinate and develop amylases that produce fermentable sugars. Honey, the first con centrated sweet known to humans, also spontaneously ferments to alcohol if it is by chance diluted with rainwater. Thus, yeasts and other microbes have had a long history of 2 to 3.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 468 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Shortly, this book is the written up-graded version of the topics discussed during the Small Meeting of the 2nd International School Congress: Natural Resources, Sustainability and Humanity, held in Braga, Portugal, 5-8 May 2010 with the diverse participation of scientists, educators and governmental representatives.The Earth hosts an immense ecosystem, colonized by millions of species for billions of years but only for a few tens of thousands of years by humans. Environmental history tells though that it was humankind that shaped the environment as no other species. History, geography, religion and politics among other reasons have differentiated populations with respect to access to safe food and water, education, health, and to space and natural resource utilization. The globalization era of trade, information and communication is shortening distances and increasing overall wealth, but, as is pointed out in this book, it is also contributing to the propagation of diseases, and to the modification or even destruction of native ecosystems by exotic invasive species.Man is the only species that has the perception of its history, evolution, of the consequences of its decisions, and that there is a future ahead. It is also the only species that has the potential to change it. This awareness can be a source of anxiety and contradictory behaviours, but it is also the key to changing attitudes towards the construction of a common sustainable home, by committed education, interdisciplinary approaches, mobilization and empowerment of people and political consonant actions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It¿s the new rock and roll. It¿s the new black. Sustainability is trendy, and not just among hipsters and pop stars. The uncool chemical sector helped pioneer it, and today, companies inside and outside the sector have embraced it. But what have they embraced Surely not the Brundtland definition of meeting ¿the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.¿Sustainability describes a change in the chemical industry¿s approach to the external world: to regulators, to greens, to neighbors, to investors and to the general public. Displacing the adversarialism of the 1970s-80s, sustainability is a new approach to social/political conflict, and an attempt to rebuild the industry¿s long-suffering public image. In practice, it consists of:A ¿stakeholder¿ approach to communications and external relationsA rebranding of regulatory compliance and risk management, with the emphasis on their benefits to stakeholdersRecognition (and even celebration) of the opportunities, not just the costs, of environmental and social protectionThe core of this book is a survey of the world¿s 29 largest chemical companies: how they put sustainability into action (six of the 29 do not), and the six ¿sustainability brands¿ they have created. It begins with a history of stakeholders conflict, before looking at various definitions of sustainability ¿ by academics, by the public and by investors. After the survey and analysis, the book covers sustainability and ¿greenwash¿ plus the ROI of sustainability, and it gives five recommendations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The book focuses on the use of inelastic analysis methods for the seismic assessment and design of bridges, for which the work carried out so far, albeit interesting and useful, is nevertheless clearly less than that for buildings. Although some valuable literature on the subject is currently available, the most advanced inelastic analysis methods that emerged during the last decade are currently found only in the specialised research-oriented literature, such as technical journals and conference proceedings.Hence the key objective of this book is two-fold, first to present all important methods belonging to the aforementioned category in a uniform and sufficient for their understanding and implementation length, and to provide also a critical perspective on them by including selected case-studies wherein more than one methods are applied to a specific bridge and by offering some critical comments on the limitations of the individual methods and on their relative efficiency.The book should be a valuable tool for both researchers and practicing engineers dealing with seismic design and assessment of bridges, by both making the methods and the analytical tools available for their implementation, and by assisting them to select the method that best suits the individual bridge projects that each engineer and/or researcher faces.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 236 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The intellectual renaissance of human geography has included a widespread engagement between its economic and cultural subdisciplines. This volume adopts a variety of conceptual and empirical perspectives on the encounters between economic and cultural geographers. It offers an introduction and 10 chapters by authors in a variety of national contexts to explicate issues such as the cultural turn in economic geography, the cultural construction of economic geographic thought, consumption, gender, everyday life, commodity chain analysis, trust, networks, the creative economy, and tourism. The volume contains empirical analyses utilizing both quantitative and qualitative approaches at spatial scales ranging from the individual to the global economy. In illustrating how human geographers can ill afford to subscribe to the analytically false dichotomy between ¿culture¿ and ¿the economy,¿ the book explicates how cultural and economic geography can be seamlessly integrated , bringing theminto a creative tension to their mutual benefit.¿Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The book consists of multiple chapters by leading experts on the different aspects in the unique relationship between arthropods and plants, the underlying mechanisms, realized successes and failures of interactions and application for IPM, and future lines of research and perspectives. Interesting is the availability of the current genomes of different insects, mites and nematodes and different important plants and agricultural crops to bring better insights in the cross talk mechanisms and interacting players. This book will be the first one that integrates all this fascinating and newest (from the last 5 years) information from different leading research laboratories in the world and with perspectives from academia, government and industry. 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book attempts to set communicable diseases and the efforts to control them in a social and historical context. The primary focus is on England with its particular history, culture and traditions. The timescale covered is extensive and ambitious, and the many strands that came together in the nineteenth century to form the English public health service are clearly highlighted. However the main emphasis of the narrative is on developments from the Second World War onwards, in some of which the author has had a degree of personal involvement as a schoolchild, medical student, hospital doctor, Army doctor and public health physician.The work as a whole reveals the persisting nature of communicable diseases throughout history and strongly argues that, although the relevant importance of individual infections may vary over time, man¿s struggle against the microbiological world can never be relaxed. How England has been affected is described in detail and evidence is put forward to suggest that complacency (or at least misjudgement) concerning the ever-present risks of emerging and re-emerging infections, led unwisely to the dismantling in 1974 of its established arrangements for their control, along with the subsequent need, frequently repeated, to create new structures for this purpose.This book will appeal strongly to all students and practitioners of public health along with those interested in English social history.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.