springer netherlands springer netherlands apr 2003 (84 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book grew out of our lectures given in the Oberseminar on 'Cod ing Theory and Number Theory' at the Mathematics Institute of the Wiirzburg University in the Summer Semester, 2001. The coding the ory combines mathematical elegance and some engineering problems to an unusual degree. The major advantage of studying coding theory is the beauty of this particular combination of mathematics and engineering. In this book we wish to introduce some practical problems to the math ematician and to address these as an essential part of the development of modern number theory. The book consists of five chapters and an appendix. Chapter 1 may mostly be dropped from an introductory course of linear codes. In Chap ter 2 we discuss some relations between the number of solutions of a diagonal equation over finite fields and the weight distribution of cyclic codes. Chapter 3 begins by reviewing some basic facts from elliptic curves over finite fields and modular forms, and shows that the weight distribution of the Melas codes is represented by means of the trace of the Hecke operators acting on the space of cusp forms. Chapter 4 is a systematic study of the algebraic-geometric codes. For a long time, the study of algebraic curves over finite fields was the province of pure mathematicians. In the period 1977 - 1982, V. D. Goppa discovered an amazing connection between the theory of algebraic curves over fi nite fields and the theory of q-ary codes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 160 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -At present environmental chemistry is becoming an increasingly popular subject in both under graduate and graduated education in the whole World and especially in all Asian countries. Different courses in ecology, chemistry, environmental science, public health, geography, biology, and environmental engineering all include this subject in their curriculum. Many textbooks have appeared in recent years aiming to fulfill these requirements; however, most of these books operate mainly with examples from developed countries of Europe, USA and Canada. Taking into account the geographic boundaries of environmental pollution that is especially pronounced in Asia and the specific peculiarities of pollution in developing countries, this textbook is supposed to close the gap by providing regionally oriented knowledge in basic and applied environmental chemistry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 488 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book, in some sense, began to be written by the first author in 1983, when optional lectures on Abelian groups were held at the Fac ulty of Mathematics and Computer Science,'Babes-Bolyai' University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. From 1992,these lectures were extended to a twosemester electivecourse on abelian groups for undergraduate stu dents, followed by a twosemester course on the same topic for graduate students in Algebra. All the other authors attended these two years of lectures and are now Assistants to the Chair of Algebra of this Fac ulty. The first draft of this collection, including only exercises solved by students as home works, the last ten years, had 160pages. We felt that there is a need for a book such as this one, because it would provide a nice bridge between introductory Abelian Group Theory and more advanced research problems. The book InfiniteAbelianGroups, published by LaszloFuchsin two volumes 1970 and 1973 willwithout doubt last as the most important guide for abelian group theorists. Many exercises are selected from this source but there are plenty of other bibliographical items (see the Bibliography) which were used in order to make up this collection. For some of the problems stated, recent developments are also given. Nevertheless, there are plenty of elementary results (the so called 'folklore') in Abelian Group Theory whichdo not appear in any written material. It is also one purpose of this book to complete this gap.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 366 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Contributors.- 1. An Unplanned Journey Into Higher Education.- 2. Student Motivation And Self-Regulated Learning In The College Classroom.- 3. College Students' Degree Aspirations: A Theoretical Model And Literature Review With A Focus On African American And Latino Students.- 4. Understanding And Using Efficiency And Equity Criteria In The Study Of Higher Education Policy.-. 5. The Policy Shift In State Financial Aid Programs.- 6. Back To The Basics: Regression As It Should Be.- 7. The Evolving Role Of The Community College: Policy Issues And Research Questions.- 8. Reexamining Doctoral Student Socialization And Professional Development: Moving Beyond The Congruence And Assimilation Orientation.- 9. Implementation Analysis In Higher Education.- 10. Academic Careers For The 21st Century: More Options For New Faculty. 512 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Cold War Era left the major participants, the United States and the former Soviet Union (FSU), with large legacies in terms of both contamination and potential accidents. Facility contamination and environmental degradation, as well as the accident vulnerable facilities and equipment, are a result of weapons development, testing, and production. Although the countries face similar issues from similar activities, important differences in waste management practices make the potential environmental and health risks of more immediate concern in the FSU and Eastern Europe. In the West, most nuclear and chemical waste is stored in known contained locations, while in the East, much of the equivalent material is unconfined, contaminating the environment. In the past decade, the U.S. started to address and remediate these Cold War legacies. Costs have been very high, and the projected cost estimates for total cleanup are still increasing. Currently in Russia, the resources for starting such major activities continue to be unavailable.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 396 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -At the beginning of the 21st century, new features have emerged within the field of comparative education. Some of these features result from new technologies, while others reflect political transitions and the forces of globalisation. The field embraces new insights on cultures, and scholars are exploring diverse units of analysis.This book presents perspectives on these changes while noting various continuing traditions. Its contributors come from a wide range of countries and contexts, and present their work within a framework set by the 11th congress of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES). The book makes a valuable methodological as well as a conceptual contribution to the field.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains papers that were presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Nanostructured Materials and Coatings for Biomedical and Sensor Applications held in Kyiv, Ukraine, 4-8 August, 2002. A total of 104 scientists from 14 countries participated in our ARW, making it a really international event. Participants ranged from graduate students to senior researchers. They presented 16 tutorial lectures, 20 short talks and more than 70 posters. Invited speakers, from NATO and Partner countries, presented some of the most recent developments in physics, chemistry and technology of nanosized materials. A broad range of speakers having international standing and representing NATO and partner countries, as well as university, industrial and govemment research laboratories participated in this meeting and wrote papers for this volume. Foregoing ARW gathered together the scientists working in the area of nanosized materials and coatings and their applications in biomedicine and sensors. The first objective of this AR W was to discuss the current research covering a wide range of physical and chemical properties of biomaterials and their use. Active discussion of oral presentations and posters, and the round table discussion gave a good opportunity to researchers from academia and industry to discuss the achievements in this field and outline future directions in terms of technological developments and product commercialisation in the fields of biomedicine and sensors. Particularly, advanced ceramics and nanostructured carbons were covered in many presentations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 412 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is written to conclude the NATO Advanced Research Workshop 'Quantum Noise in Mesoscopic Physics' held in Delft, the Netherlands, on June 2-4, 2002. The workshop was co-directed by M. Reznikov of Israel Institute of Technology, and me. The members of the organizing committee were Yaroslav Blanter (Delft), Chirstopher Glattli (Saclay and ENS Paris) and R. Schoelkopf (Yale). The workshop was very successful, and we hope that the reader will be satisfied with the scientific level of the present book. Before addressing scientific issues I find it suitable to address several non-scientific ones. The workshop was attended by researchers from many countries. Most of them perform their activities in academic institutions, where one usually finds the necessary isolation from the problems and sores of the modem world. However, there was a large group of participants for which such isolation was far from perfect. War, hatred, and violence rage just several miles away of their campuses and laboratories, poisoning everyday life in the land of Israel.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 540 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Among the many significant features of this volume is the dedication to the late Don Willower, Professor of Education at Pennsylvania State University. It is significant in light of Willower¿s long record of major contributions to the empirical literature in Educational Administration and his mentorship of many students steeped in the tradition of the so-called science of administration. These include scholars like Wayne Hoy and Peter Cistone who readily acknowledge their personal and intellectual debt to Willower. How is it, then, that Willower, a colleague of the giants of Educational Administration in the 60s and 70s, people such as Dan Griffiths, Jack Culbertson, and Roald Campbell, to name just a few, came to associate himself with this relatively upstart group of academics and practitioners interested in values, of all things As an inheritor of the mantle thrown down by Getzels and Guba all those years ago, it might seem strange to see Willower consorting with people who argue about the distinction between fact and value. It is true, of course, that Willower majored in philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo as an undergraduate. So the language and the ways of thinking among many of those interested in values and ethics were not all that foreign to him. He could certainly hold his own in debate with his friend, Chris Hodgkinson, the foremost philosopher of Educational Administration in the field today, and a contributor to this volume.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 258 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This is an extremely important book containing a wealth of ideas and insights and raising important questions for discussion and further exploration. In a lucid and cogently argued analysis, the author both challenges dominant ideas and interp- tations and provides some alternative innovatory perspectives. These include, the making and meaning of policy; the varied and complex ways in which inclusion and exclusion can be understood; the nature and function of categorisation, labelling and discursive practices within official discourse and procedures and the position and relationship between space, place and identities in relation to the experience of marginalized people including disabled children and young people. Drawing on concepts and insights from social and cultural geography Armstrong is able to seriously examine and discuss daily activities within institutional and social settings in England and France from several different angles. In sensitive, thoughtful and imaginative ways the micro-politics of social settings and encounters are explored through a process of deconstruction and reconstruction. Subtle, overt and contradictory features of interactions are carefully identified and critically discussed. This covers how meanings, decisions and outcomes of such encounters are developed, challenged and changed. Both in relation to discussions of the history of special education and her cri- cal self-reflections on the research process, the author challenges homogeneous conceptions and sanitized accounts of what, she argues, is an essentially messy process. It is the unevenness, discontinuities and contradictions of social conditions and relations that are depicted in insightful and disturbing ways.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 206 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Among the many significant features of this volume is the dedication to the late Don Willower, Professor of Education at Pennsylvania State University. It is significant in light of Willower¿s long record of major contributions to the empirical literature in Educational Administration and his mentorship of many students steeped in the tradition of the so-called science of administration. These include scholars like Wayne Hoy and Peter Cistone who readily acknowledge their personal and intellectual debt to Willower. How is it, then, that Willower, a colleague of the giants of Educational Administration in the 60s and 70s, people such as Dan Griffiths, Jack Culbertson, and Roald Campbell, to name just a few, came to associate himself with this relatively upstart group of academics and practitioners interested in values, of all things As an inheritor of the mantle thrown down by Getzels and Guba all those years ago, it might seem strange to see Willower consorting with people who argue about the distinction between fact and value. It is true, of course, that Willower majored in philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo as an undergraduate. So the language and the ways of thinking among many of those interested in values and ethics were not all that foreign to him. He could certainly hold his own in debate with his friend, Chris Hodgkinson, the foremost philosopher of Educational Administration in the field today, and a contributor to this volume.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 258 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Diffraction 2002, International Workshop on Diffraction in High-Energy Physics and NATO Advanced Research Workshop, was held in Alushta (Crimea, Ukraine) from August 31 to September 5, 2002, in a beautiful resort 'Dubna' near the Black Sea. The Workshop was the second of the series 'Diffraction' started two years earlier in Cetraro, Italy. The Workshop was organized by an International Committee including the organizers of Diffraction 2000 coming from Universita della Calabria (Italy) and 'local' organizers from Dubna, Kiev and Novosibirsk research institutions. There were 46 participants, coming from 14 countries. The purpose of the Workshop was to review the experimental and theo retical aspects of Diffraction in high-energy physics and to discuss the new developments. There were talks devoted to Diffraction in hadron-hadron collisions, in lepton-hadron collisions and in Quantum Chromodynamics. This volume contains the written version of 29 talks, that arrived before the deadline and ordered, somewhat arbitrarily, as experimental, phenomeno logical and theoretical ones. We thank all the speakers and attendees for their contribution to the scientific success of the Workshop. The Secretariat of the Workshop was admirably held by AlIa Borisenko, Tania Korzhinskay, Elena Rusakovich, Olga Ugrumova and Zoya Vakhnenko, whom we thank for their invaluable assistance. We also thank the stuff of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Physics and in particular Prof. P.N. Bogolyubov for his professional performance in orga nizing and managing the computer service. The invaluable financial support of NATO, grant ARW 977335, is grate fully acknowledged.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -From the foreword by Thomas Huang:'During the past decade, researchers in computer vision have found that probabilistic machine learning methods are extremely powerful. This book describes some of these methods. In addition to the Maximum Likelihood framework, Bayesian Networks, and Hidden Markov models are also used. Three aspects are stressed: features, similarity metric, and models. Many interesting and important new results, based on research by the authors and their collaborators, are presented.Although this book contains many new results, it is written in a style that suits both experts and novices in computer vision.'Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Photonics concerns the generation, transport, processing and detection of light. It underlies a large amount of industrial activity, mainly devoted to information technology, telecommunications, environmental monitoring, biomedical science and instrumentation.The field has received a powerful impetus recently with the introduction of nanoscale concepts. Moreover, organic materials now appear as key components in photonic devices such as light-emitting diodes, integrated lasers, or photovoltaic cells. Organic molecular systems offer unique opportunities in nanophotonics since both top-down and bottom-up strategies can be pursued towards the nanoscale.This book gathers the proceedings of the NATO advanced research workshop on 'Organic Nanophotonics', held in Aix-en-Provence, France, August 25-29, 2002. It constitutes a snapshot of the state of the art in the novel, emerging research area of nanophotonics based on organic molecules and materials. 520 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Nanometer scale physics is progressing rapidly: the top-down approach of semiconductor technology will soon encounter the scale of the bottom-up approaches of supramolecular chemistry and spatially localized excitations in ionic crystals. Advances in this area have already led to applications in optoelectronics. More may be expected.This book deals with the role of structure confinement in the spectroscopic characteristics of physical systems. It examines the fabrication, measurement and understanding of the relevant structures. It reports progress in the theory and in experimental techniques, starting with the consideration of fundamental principles and leading to the frontiers of research. The subjects dealt with include such spatially resolved structures as quantum wells, quantum wires, quantum dots, and luminescence, in both theoretical and practical terms.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 772 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It is a truism of science that the more fundamental the subject, the more universally applicable it is. Neverthelens, it is important to strike a level of 'fundamentalness' appropriate to the task in hand. For example, an in-depth study of the mechanics of motor cars would tell one nothing about the dynamics of traffic. Traffic exists on a different 'level' - it is dependent upon the existence of motor vehicles but the physics and mathematics of traffic can be adequately addressed by considering motor vehicles as mobile 'blobs', with no consideration of how they become mobile. To start a discourse on traffic with a consideration of the mechanics of motor vehicles would thus be inappropropriate. In writing this volume, I have wrestled with the question of the appropriate level at which to address the physics underlying many of the techniques used in protein isolation. I have tried to strike a level as would be used by a mechanic (with perhaps a slight leaning towards an engineer) - i.e. a practical level, offering appropriate insight but with minimal mathematics. Some people involved in biochemical research have a minimal grounding in chemistry and physics and so I have tried to keep it as simple as possible.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -At present environmental chemistry is becoming an increasingly popular subject in both under graduate and graduated education in the whole World and especially in all Asian countries. Different courses in ecology, chemistry, environmental science, public health, geography, biology, and environmental engineering all include this subject in their curriculum. Many textbooks have appeared in recent years aiming to fulfill these requirements; however, most of these books operate mainly with examples from developed countries of Europe, USA and Canada. Taking into account the geographic boundaries of environmental pollution that is especially pronounced in Asia and the specific peculiarities of pollution in developing countries, this textbook is supposed to close the gap by providing regionally oriented knowledge in basic and applied environmental chemistry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 488 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume inc1udes a selection of papers presented at the second European Research Conference (EURESCO) on 'The International Dimension of Environmental Policy' held in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, in October 2001. We thank those who made this conference possible: the European Science Foundation (ESF), which provided financial and organizational support; the European Commission EURESCO Programme; the Fondazione ENI Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Milan; and GLOBUS, Tilburg University. The European Science Foundation (ESF), the EURESCO Programme, FEEM and GLOBUS cannot be held responsible for the contents and/or opinions expressed in this volume. Our gratitude also goes to the people who assisted us in editing this volume: the papers' referees, the authors, our publisher Kluwer, and especially to Stefan Jost in Rostock who handled the manuscript with maximum care during the process of copy-editing. None of these persons bears any responsibilities for remaining errors or shortcomings. Laura Marsiliani, Michael Rauscher, and Cees Withagen [Marsiliani, L., Rauscher, M. and Withagen, c.] (eds.), [Environmental Policy in an International Perspective], xi. 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Introduction a C Laura Marsiliani , Michael Rauscherb and Cees Withagen a University 0/ Rochester and University 0/ Durham, b University 0/ Rostock, C Free University Amsterdam and Ti/burg University 1. THE ISSUES Nowadays, the proteetion of the environment is one of the most debated issues in the international are~a. Because of the transboundary nature of pollution and the characteristic of the environment as aglobaI public good, international co operation is highly desirable.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -EQ-5D from the EuroQol Group is a standardised, non-disease-specific instrument for describing and valuing health. It is in widespread use in many countries and has been applied in many different settings. EQ-5D is now an integral feature of many clinical trials and is increasingly used in population health surveys. This book reports on the results of the European Union-funded EQ-net project which furthered the development of EQ-5D in the key areas of valuation, application and translation. The primary effort concentrated on harmonising and integrating the results of the various EuroQol valuation projects. Most importantly, the book includes a set of VAS-based preference weights for all the EQ-5D health states based on cross-European EQ-5D data. This book provides the most comprehensive account to date of the EuroQol Group endeavour. It will appeal to clinicians, nurses, health services researchers, health economists, those responsible for audit and quality assurance, public health specialists and managers in health care institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the years since the publication of Susumu Ohno's 1970 landmark book Evolution by gene duplication tremendous advances have been made in molecular biology and especially in genomics. Studies of genome structure and function prerequisite to testing hypotheses of genome evolution were all but impossible until recent methodological advances.This book evaluates newly generated empirical evidence as it pertains to theories of genomic evolutionary patterns and processes. Tests of hypotheses using analyses of complete genomes, interpreted in a phylogenetic context, provide evidence regarding the relative importance of gene duplication. The alternative explanation is that the evolution of regulatory elements that control the expression of and interactions among genes has been a more important force in shaping evolutionary innovation.This collection of papers will be of interest to all academic and industry researchers working in the fields of molecular biology, biotechnology, genomics and genome centers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 256 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -M. C. Roco and W.S. Bainbridge In the early decades of the 21st century, concentrated efforts can unify science based on the unity of nature, thereby advancing the combination of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and new technologies based in cognitive science. With proper attention to ethical issues and societal needs, converging in human abilities, societal technologies could achieve a tremendous improvement outcomes, the nation's productivity, and the quality of life. This is a broad, cross cutting, emerging and timely opportunity of interest to individuals, society and humanity in the long term. The phrase 'convergent technologies' refers to the synergistic combination of four major 'NBIC' (nano-bio-info-cogno) provinces of science and technology, each of which is currently progressing at a rapid rate: (a) nanoscience and nanotechnology; (b) biotechnology and biomedicine, including genetic engineering; (c) information technology, including advanced computing and communications; (d) cognitive science, including cognitive neuroscience. Timely and Broad Opportunity. Convergence of diverse technologies is based on material unity at the nanoscale and on technology integration from that scale.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 492 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The problems and issues of natural hazards and disasters, both globally and in Canada, are becoming increasingly important since the costs of extreme natural events have been escalating, and significant vulnerabilities exist in Canadian society. Without thoughtful and effective mitigation, these costs and human suffering are likely to continue to increase. An assessment of knowledge, research, and practice in risk, hazards and disasters fields is a fundamental step towards the goal of prevention and mitigation. This book on natural hazards and disasters in Canada is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary publication on this subject, and is the result of a national assessment on this topic. A variety of papers from the physical and social sciences explores both the risks associated with these hazards, and adaptive strategies that can be used to reduce those risks. Audience: This excellent collection of papers is intended for academics, professionals and practitioners involved in hazard reduction activities who wish to obtain a better understanding of Canadian natural hazards.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 392 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A goal of mine ever since becoming an educational researcher has been to help construct a sound theory to guide instructional practice. For far too long, educational practice has suffered because we have lacked firm instructional guidelines, which in my view should be based on sound psychological theory, which in turn should be based on sound neurological theory. In other words, teachers need to know how to teach and that 'how-to-teach' should be based solidly on how people learn and how their brains function. As you will see in this book, my answer to the question of how people learn is that we all learn by spontaneously generating and testing ideas. Idea generating involves analogies and testing requires comparing predicted consequences with actual consequences. We learn this way because the brain is essentially an idea generating and testing machine. But there is more to it than this. The very process ofgenerating and testing ideas results not only in the construction of ideas that work (i. e. , the learning of useful declarative knowledge), but also in improved skill in learning (i. e. , the development of improved procedural knowledge).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 306 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -According to a long tradition in philosophy of science, a clear cut distinction can be traced between a context of discovery and a context of justification. This tradition dates back to the birth of the discipline in connection with the Circles of Vienna and Berlin, in the twenties and thirties of last century. Convicted that only the context of justification is pertinent to philosophy of science, logical empiricists identified its goal with the ¿rational reconstruction¿ of scientific knowledge, taken as the clarification of the logical structure of science, through an analysis of its language and methods. Stressing justification as the proper field of application of philosophy of science, logical empiricists intended to leave discovery out of its remit. The context of discovery was then discarded from philosophy of science and left to sociology, psychology and history. The distinction between context of discovery and context of justification goes hand in hand with the tenet that the theoretical side of science can ¿ and should ¿ be kept separate from its observational and experimental components. Further, the final, abstract formulation of theories should be analysed apart from the process behind it, resulting from a tangle of context-dependent factors. This conviction is reflected by the distinction between theoretical and observational sentences underpinning the Hempelian view of theories as nets, whose knots represent theoretical terms, floating on the plane of observation, to which it is anchored by rules of interpretation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 372 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In 1950 Alan Turing (1912-1954) published his famous article, 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence' in the journal Mind. This article is arguably the most influential and widely read article in the philosophy of artificial intelligence. Indeed, most of the debate in the philosophy of artificial intelligence over the last fifty years concerns issues that were raised and discussed by Turing. Turing's genius was not only in developing the theory of computability but also in understanding the impact, both practical and philosophical, that computing machinery would have. Turing believed that computers, if properly designed and educated, could exhibit intelligent behavior, even behavior that would be indistinguishable from human intelligent behavior. His vision of the possibility of machine intelligence has been highly inspiring and extremely controversial. In this classic article Turing presented his well known imitation game and predicted that about the year 2000 'an average interrogator will not have more than 70 per cent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning' in the imitation game. Based on the results of the Loebner 2000 contest and the accomplishments in the field of AI, as impressive as they are, Turing's prediction remains unfulfilled.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 288 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In 1950 Alan Turing (1912-1954) published his famous article, 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence' in the journal Mind. This article is arguably the most influential and widely read article in the philosophy of artificial intelligence. Indeed, most of the debate in the philosophy of artificial intelligence over the last fifty years concerns issues that were raised and discussed by Turing. Turing's genius was not only in developing the theory of computability but also in understanding the impact, both practical and philosophical, that computing machinery would have. Turing believed that computers, if properly designed and educated, could exhibit intelligent behavior, even behavior that would be indistinguishable from human intelligent behavior. His vision of the possibility of machine intelligence has been highly inspiring and extremely controversial. In this classic article Turing presented his well known imitation game and predicted that about the year 2000 'an average interrogator will not have more than 70 per cent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning' in the imitation game. Based on the results of the Loebner 2000 contest and the accomplishments in the field of AI, as impressive as they are, Turing's prediction remains unfulfilled.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Diffraction 2002, International Workshop on Diffraction in High-Energy Physics and NATO Advanced Research Workshop, was held in Alushta (Crimea, Ukraine) from August 31 to September 5, 2002, in a beautiful resort 'Dubna' near the Black Sea. The Workshop was the second of the series 'Diffraction' started two years earlier in Cetraro, Italy. The Workshop was organized by an International Committee including the organizers of Diffraction 2000 coming from Universita della Calabria (Italy) and 'local' organizers from Dubna, Kiev and Novosibirsk research institutions. There were 46 participants, coming from 14 countries. The purpose of the Workshop was to review the experimental and theo retical aspects of Diffraction in high-energy physics and to discuss the new developments. There were talks devoted to Diffraction in hadron-hadron collisions, in lepton-hadron collisions and in Quantum Chromodynamics. This volume contains the written version of 29 talks, that arrived before the deadline and ordered, somewhat arbitrarily, as experimental, phenomeno logical and theoretical ones. We thank all the speakers and attendees for their contribution to the scientific success of the Workshop. The Secretariat of the Workshop was admirably held by AlIa Borisenko, Tania Korzhinskay, Elena Rusakovich, Olga Ugrumova and Zoya Vakhnenko, whom we thank for their invaluable assistance. We also thank the stuff of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Physics and in particular Prof. P.N. Bogolyubov for his professional performance in orga nizing and managing the computer service. The invaluable financial support of NATO, grant ARW 977335, is grate fully acknowledged.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The question of inclusive education is one which many societies are attempting to address. It is a fundamentally serious and complex issue raising challenges that cover conceptual, organizational, pedagogical, curricular and socio-economic concerns and questions. In this edited collection of papers the reader is confronted with these challenges through, on the one hand, a critical informative analysis of some of the key existing ideas and, on the other, a series of alternative insights and questions requiring further exploration and debate. Adding to the overall qu- ity of the book is the much needed cross-cultural dimension in terms of insights, knowledge, understanding and difficult questions. This is an important book in which new research and interpretations are reported on and discussed. Overall, the papers provide a serious critique of such factors as: the limitations of existing definitions of inclusive education; the narrowness of the focus within which inclusive issues are too often presented; the negative impacts of marketisation, performativity and the standards agenda on the realisation of inclusive values and practice and the constraints of significant socio-economic inequalities and disadvantages within and between communities and schools. These raise serious questions concerning the extent to which schools can make a positive difference in the lives of many pupils.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In comparison to Husserl and Heidegger, Max Scheler's philosophy of time as first presented here, is considerably wider in scope. Using posthumous manuscripts, Frings shows that Scheler conceived the origin of time in the self-activating center of individual and universal life as threefold 'absolute' time of a four-dimensional expanse. This serves as a basis for establishing the phenomenon of objective time in multiple steps of constitutionality, including the physical field theory and theory of relativity.For Scheler, objective time, even though anchored in absolute time, deserves 'maximum attention' in a technological society. Frings focuses here with Scheler on time experience of values and among social groups, time experiences in the mind-set of capitalism, in politics and morals, in population dynamics, and time experiences in the process of aging, all of which were signposts in Scheler's thought before his early demise.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The effects of light pollution on flora, fauna -including humans and their widely varying night-time activities- are often subtle and need extensive field studies to be quantified in a sensible manner.Some of the highlights were:The presentation of the 1st world atlas of artificial night sky brightness (Cinzano et al.); the article by the International Darksky Association on their world-wide efforts to curb light pollution (Alvarez del Castillo et al.); the laws controlling light pollution implemented in Spain (Diaz et al.) and Chile (Sanhueza et al.), an overview of the work on radio frequency protection of sites (Cohen et al.) and the excellent introduction to the topic from the Chilean point of view (Daud).Related topics in the book are light pollution education, aircraft contrails, space advertising (with an added document provided by the relevant UN commission), and an experiment on involving the population of an entire country in measuring sky brightness, by using the internet and the media.The text is aimed at professionals from a wide range of disciplines related to lighting and its effects on the night-time environment in the broadest sense of the word. Lay persons interested in this emerging multi-disciplinary field can also find much of interest in this book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.