springer new york dez 2007 (135 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This is Volume II of a two-volume introductory text in classical algebra. The text moves methodically with numerous examples and details so that readers with some basic knowledge of algebra can read it without difficulty. It is recommended either as a textbook for some particular algebraic topic or as a reference book for consultations in a selected fundamental branch of algebra. The book contains a wealth of material. Amongst the topics covered in Volume are the theory of ordered fields and Nullstellen Theorems. Known researcher Lorenz also includes the fundamentals of the theory of quadratic forms, of valuations, local fields and modules. What's more, the book contains some lesser known or nontraditional results - for instance, Tsen's results on the solubility of systems of polynomial equations with a sufficiently large number of indeterminates. 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -My Heavens! charts the progress of the author¿s own substantial observatory (with additional material from amateur constructors of large observatories elsewhere) from conception, through design, planning and construction, to using an observatory of the kind that all amateur astronomers would aspire to own.This book tells the ¿warts and all¿ story of small beginnings in amateur astronomy, leading to the construction of a ¿top of the range¿ observatory at a house on the edge of a country village between Oxford and London. The author is a qualified building surveyor, and looks at building the observatory from his own professional perspective. There were of course many errors, problems, technical and organizational difficulties along the way, and the author never shies away from admitting his mistakes ¿ and in doing so he reduces the chances of others falling into the same traps. Comparisons are made with similar large projects in the USA, taking a look at the differences and similarities in planning and building regulations, and in construction methods on both sides of the Atlantic.Eventually an observatory materialized, set up to facilitate the taking of very high quality images of the deep sky on those special days of best seeing.The story doesn¿t end with the construction of the observatory, but goes on to describe the author¿s choice of equipment, setting it up, and his own techniques for obtaining superb astronomical images like the ones he shows in his book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 200 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -1 An Initial Assignment I haven¿t taught the history of mathematics that often, but I do rather like the course. The chief drawbacks to teaching it are that i. it is a lot more work than teaching a regular mathematics course, and ii. in American colleges at least, the students taking the course are not mathematics majors but e- cation majors¿ and and in the past I had found education majors to be somewhat weak and unmotivated. The last time I taught the course, however, themajorityofthestudentsweregraduateeducationstudentsworkingtoward their master¿s degrees. I decided to challenge them right from the start: 1 Assignment. In An Outline of Set Theory, James Henle wrote about mat- matics: Every now and then it must pause to organize and re ect on what it is and where it comes from. This happened in the sixth century B. C. when Euclid thought he had derived most of the mathematical results known at the time from ve postulates. Do a little research to nd as many errors as possible in the second sentence and write a short essay on them. Theresponsesfarexceededmyexpectations. Tobesure,someoftheund- graduates found the assignment unclear: I did not say how many errors they 2 were supposed to nd. But many of the students put their hearts and souls 1 MyapologiestoProf. Henle,atwhoseexpenseIpreviouslyhadalittlefunonthis matter. I used it again not because of any animosity I hold for him, but because I was familiar with it and, dealing with Euclid, it seemed appropriate for the start of my course.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Human rights issues are shaping the modern world. They define the expectations by which nations are judged and affect the policy of governments, corporations, and foundations. They have set the agenda in prosecutions at the International Criminal Court at the Hague, funding decisions by the International Monetary Fund, and corporate expansion programs by multinationals.Statistics is central to the modern perspective on human rights. It allows researchers to measure the effect of health care policies, the penetration of educational opportunity, and progress towards gender equality. The new wave of entrepreneurial charities demands impact assessments and documentation of milestone achievement. Non-governmental organizations need statistics to build cases, conduct surveys, and target their efforts.This book describes the statistics that underlie the social science research in human rights. It includes case studies, methodology, and research papers that discuss the fundamental measurement issues. It is intended as an introduction to applied human rights research.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains an ¿unsystematic account¿ of my past work; it is not intended to be an autobiography in the conventional meaning of the term. It is not even remotely a scholarly description of the momentous devel- ments in which I was able to participate; rather it is a recital of ¿memorable¿ episodes, borrowing from the ¿compulsory preface¿ of a facetious British 1 history: ¿History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. ¿ Thus this volume suffers from many ¿sins of omission,¿ including full att- bution of deserved credits, but, it is hoped, only few ¿sins of commission. ¿ The author is greatly indebted to his colleagues and his wife, Adele, who kindly reviewed many segments of the manuscript describing shared expe- ences. They are Sidney Drell, Greg Loew, Ed Lofgren, Harvey Lynch, Richard B. Neal, Richard Panofsky, and Burt Richter. But the author, ne- less to say, is responsible for any errors. Because of the multitude of topics into which I was drawn concurrently, a strictly chronological account would prove unreadable. Accordingly the book is divided into chapters, each of which covers a limited period of engagement in a coherent subject matter; an approach clearly again unsystematic but hopefully more conducive to conveying the substance of the work. This account does not include a description of my family life.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Based on European health initiatives on reducing workplace risks and promoting workplace health, Promoting Health for Working Women focuses on issues that predominantly or exclusively affect women, or have gender-specific implications because of differences or special circumstances that exist at the workplace. The editors and their twenty collaborators combine theoretical, research, and practical perspectives to create a framework for studying female workers¿ health issues and risks. The methodology for organizing on-site health promotion interventions at the workplace is presented in detail, taking into consideration the key issues women face. Among the topics covered:¿ Legal foundations for workers¿ safety, in general and by gender.¿ Occupational hazards, musculoskeletal injuries, communicable diseases.¿ Work-life balance issues, including stress, burnout, and depression.¿ Violence, bullying, and sexual harassment on the job.¿ Special focus on pregnancy and breastfeeding.¿ Screening at the workplace.¿ Smoking cessation, alcohol awareness, diet/exercise, and other lifestyle concerns.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The Laboratory Manual is intended to accompany the Textbook to permit teaching radioanalytical chemistry to seniors and graduate students in a program that will train radiochemists, who are badly needed at this time. The manual will be used in conjunction with the textbook to teach a 3-hour lecture course and a 6-hour laboratory. The experiments address a range of practical aspects in the radiochemistry laboratory: use of laboratory and radiation detection equipment, performing specific analyses for radio-iodine, radio-strontium, uranium, and plutonium, and developing the skill of selecting and testing new procedures.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book introduces a new theory in Computer Vision yielding elementary techniques to analyze digital images. These techniques are a mathematical formalization of the Gestalt theory. From the mathematical viewpoint the closest field to it is stochastic geometry, involving basic probability and statistics, in the context of image analysis. The book is mathematically self-contained, needing only basic understanding of probability and calculus. The text includes more than 130 illustrations, and numerous examples based on specific images on which the theory is tested. Detailed exercises at the end of each chapter help the reader develop a firm understanding of the concepts imparted.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 288 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is about using interactive and dynamic plots on a computer screen as part of data exploration and modeling, both alone and as a partner with static graphics and non-graphical computational methods. The area of int- active and dynamic data visualization emerged within statistics as part of research on exploratory data analysis in the late 1960s, and it remains an active subject of research today, as its use in practice continues to grow. It now makes substantial contributions within computer science as well, as part of the growing elds of information visualization and data mining, especially visual data mining. The material in this book includes: ¿ An introduction to data visualization, explaining how it di ers from other types of visualization. ¿ Adescriptionofourtoolboxofinteractiveanddynamicgraphicalmethods. ¿ An approach for exploring missing values in data. ¿ An explanation of the use of these tools in cluster analysis and supervised classi cation. ¿ An overview of additional material available on the web. ¿ A description of the data used in the analyses and exercises. The book¿s examples use the software R and GGobi. R (Ihaka & Gent- man 1996, RDevelopment CoreTeam2006) isafreesoftware environment for statistical computing and graphics; it is most often used from the command line, provides a wide variety of statistical methods, and includes high¿quality staticgraphics.RaroseintheStatisticsDepartmentoftheUniversityofAu- land and is now developed and maintained by a global collaborative e ort.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 208 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A few years ago, one of us was approached by a student who asked if we really knew anything about human behavior from environmental archaeology. This student was taking an environmental archaeology course in which taphonomy and the biases of the techniques and methods used by environmental archae- ogists figured prominently. The goal was to train students to be informed users of environmental data. But the student, quite rightly, wanted to know if beyond taphonomy, recovery biases, and analytical biases, there was anything envir- mental archaeologists could say about the human condition. Her question was the stimulus for the first edition of this volume and continued to guide us as we edited this second edition. Our purpose is to show students and scholars, through a series of case studies, that there are things environmental archaeologists do know about the human-environmental relationship; many of which defy conventional archaeological expectations. To do so, however, we must break with the t- ditional organization of environmental archaeology along disciplinary lines. Environmental archaeology is intrinsically interdisciplinary. The demands of each discipline often mean, however, that specialists become further speci- ized in a very limited technical focus. While almost every environmental technique and method is represented in this edition, they are used as tools, not as ends in themselves.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In 2004, the discipline of sociology celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Sociological Association. In 2005, the Section on Medical Sociology celebrated 50 years since the formation of the Committee on Medical Sociology within the ASA. And, in 2003, the Section on the Sociology of Mental Health celebrated ten years since its founding within the American branch of the discipline. This brief accounting marks the American-based or- nizational landmarks central to concerns about how social factors shape the mental health problems individuals face as well as the individual and system responses that follow. This history also lays a trail of how the focus on mental health and illness has narrowed from a general concern of the discipline to a more intense, substantively-focused community of scholars targeting a common set of specific theoretical and empirical questions. While mental health and illness figured prominently in the writings of classical sociologists, contem- rary sociologists often view research on mental health as peripheral to the ¿real work¿ of the discipline. The sentiment, real or perceived, is that the sociology of mental health, along with its sister, medical sociology, may be in danger of both losing its prominence in the discipline and losing its connection to the ma- stream core of sociological knowledge (Pescosolido & Kronenfeld, 1995).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 496 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A few years ago, one of us was approached by a student who asked if we really knew anything about human behavior from environmental archaeology. This student was taking an environmental archaeology course in which taphonomy and the biases of the techniques and methods used by environmental archae- ogists figured prominently. The goal was to train students to be informed users of environmental data. But the student, quite rightly, wanted to know if beyond taphonomy, recovery biases, and analytical biases, there was anything envir- mental archaeologists could say about the human condition. Her question was the stimulus for the first edition of this volume and continued to guide us as we edited this second edition. Our purpose is to show students and scholars, through a series of case studies, that there are things environmental archaeologists do know about the human-environmental relationship; many of which defy conventional archaeological expectations. To do so, however, we must break with the t- ditional organization of environmental archaeology along disciplinary lines. Environmental archaeology is intrinsically interdisciplinary. The demands of each discipline often mean, however, that specialists become further speci- ized in a very limited technical focus. While almost every environmental technique and method is represented in this edition, they are used as tools, not as ends in themselves.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -From Math Reviews: This is Volume II of a two-volume introductory text in classical algebra. The text moves carefully with many details so that readers with some basic knowledge of algebra can read it without difficulty. The book can be recommended either as a textbook for some particular algebraic topic or as a reference book for consultations in a selected fundamental branch of algebra. The book contains a wealth of material. Amongst the topics covered in Volume II the reader can find: the theory of ordered fields (e.g., with reformulation of the fundamental theorem of algebra in terms of ordered fields, with Sylvester's theorem on the number of real roots), Nullstellen-theorems (e.g., with Artin's solution of Hilbert's 17th problem and Dubois' theorem), fundamentals of the theory of quadratic forms, of valuations, local fields and modules. The book also contains some lesser known or nontraditional results; for instance, Tsen's results on solubility of systems of polynomial equations with a sufficiently large number of indeterminates. These two volumes constitute a very good, readable and comprehensive survey of classical algebra and present a valuable contribution to the literature on this subject.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Solving Problems in Food Engineering is a step by step workbook intended to enhance students' understanding of complicated concepts and to help them practice solving food engineering problems. The book covers problems in fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer, and the most common unit operations that have applications in food processing, such as thermal processing, cooling and freezing, evaporation, psychrometrics and drying. Included are theoretical questions in the form of true or false, solved problems, semi-solved problems, and problems solved using a computer. The semi-solved problems guide students through the solution. Some of the problems progress from elementary level increasing difficulty so that the book is useful to food science as well as food engineering students.Aus den Rezensionen:'¿ Das Buch ist mit Sicherheit eine Bereicherung für alle, die mit dem Vermitteln von Verständnis für lebensmitteltechnische Berechnungen in ihrer ganzen Bandbreite befasst sind. Auf der dem Buch beiliegenden CD sind einige komplexere Beispiele in Microsoft Excel zu finden - wenn auch mit etwas gewöhnungsbedürftiger Farbgestaltung .' (Prof. Dr. Harald Rohm, in: Lebensmitteltechnik, 2008, Vol. 40, Issue 6, S. 65)Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Although there has been an increasing public interest in minority men who have sex with men (MSM), much of that attention has focused on HIV risk and has been concerned with lurid details of people's sex lives. Relatively little attention has addressed the multiple health issues confronting this population, the risks that are associated with various health conditions (apart from HIV), or the innovative strategies that have been developed to address them.Each section of this edited book will be devoted to a particular health issue affecting minority MSM. Each section will consist of one or more scholarly chapters that address the particular issue, followed by a chapter or short piece from an individual associated with a nonprofit organization or public health department. In addition, each section will contain one or more writings from minority MSM regarding their experiences and/or perspective on the issue at hand. This book uniquely focuses on both gay/queer-self-identified men from diverse minority communities (African American, Latino, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander) and men of these ethnic communities who have sex with men but are not gay/queer-self-identified.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Nanocrystalline materials exhibit the outstanding properties and represent a new class of structural materials having a wide range of applications. In particular, there is considerable interest in developing nanocrystalline materials to be used as functional materials in aerospace applications, automotive industry, wear applications, MEMS, etc. The future progress in these high technological applications of nanocrystalline materials crucially depends on development of new methods of their fabrication and understanding of the underlying nano-scale and interface effects causing their unique mechanical properties.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The abstract concept of 'information' can be quantified and this has led to many important advances in the analysis of data in the empirical sciences. This text focuses on a science philosophy based on 'multiple working hypotheses' and statistical models to represent them. The fundamental science question relates to the empirical evidence for hypotheses in this set-a formal strength of evidence. Kullback-Leibler information is the information lost when a model is used to approximate full reality. Hirotugu Akaike found a link between K-L information (a cornerstone of information theory) and the maximized log-likelihood (a cornerstone of mathematical statistics). This combination has become the basis for a new paradigm in model based inference. The text advocates formal inference from all the hypotheses/models in the a priori set-multimodel inference.This compelling approach allows a simple ranking of the science hypothesis and their models. Simple methods are introduced for computing the likelihood of model i, given the data; the probability of model i, given the data; and evidence ratios. These quantities represent a formal strength of evidence and are easy to compute and understand, given the estimated model parameters and associated quantities (e.g., residual sum of squares, maximized log-likelihood, and covariance matrices). Additional forms of multimodel inference include model averaging, unconditional variances, and ways to rank the relative importance of predictor variables.This textbook is written for people new to the information-theoretic approaches to statistical inference, whether graduate students, post-docs, or professionals in various universities, agencies or institutes. Readers are expected to have a background in general statistical principles, regression analysis, and some exposure to likelihood methods. This is not an elementary text as it assumes reasonable competence in modeling and parameterestimation.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Dialogue as a Collective Means of Design Conversation is the second volume edited by Patrick M. Jenlink and Bela H. Banathy to offer a cross-disciplinary approach to examining dialogue as a communicative medium. In this Compendium, the contributing authors set forth their ideas, experiences, and perspectives as the path of a learning journey¿a journey of new meaning, of new understanding, and of becoming self-aware of design conversation as future creating and consciousness evolving. In particular, this volume comes at a time when we as a global society are faced with the question of how we shape our actions and in turn shape our future, through conversation that is focused on resolving global conflict and fostering world peace. The volume evokes in the reader a realization that our greatest potential rests, in no small measure, with our collective capacity for cultural creativity and in our capacity to achieve new levels of consciousness through dialogue and design conversation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 404 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In the last decade, there has been a burgeoning of activity in the design and implementation of algorithms for algebraic geometric compuation. Some of these algorithms were originally designed for abstract algebraic geometry, but now are of interest for use in applications and some of these algorithms were originally designed for applications, but now are of interest for use in abstract algebraic geometry.The workshop on Algorithms in Algebraic Geometry that was held in the framework of the IMA Annual Program Year in Applications of Algebraic Geometry by the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications on September 18-22, 2006 at the University of Minnesota is one tangible indication of the interest. One hundred ten participants from eleven countries and twenty states came to listen to the many talks; discuss mathematics; and pursue collaborative work on the many faceted problems and the algorithms, both symbolic and numberic, that illuminate them.This volume of articles captures some of the spirit of the IMA workshop.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In North America Juniperus woodlands occupy approximately 55 million hectares, an area larger than the state of Texas. Various species of Juniperus have been increasing in density and are expanding into associated grasslands, reducing the size of the grasslands. The reason for the Juniperus expansion is highly debated, but has important implications for global change and fire regime studies.Western North American Juniperus Communities addresses various aspects of the biology, ecology, and management of Juniperus woodlands and savannas, by synthesizing past, current, and proposed future research. The book will provide professionals with a solid background in Juniperus ecosystems, enabling them to manage the communities for maximum sustained productivity and diversity. Although the book focuses on Juniperus communities in North America, a discussion of other regions and larger research implications is included as well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Most of practically-used turbulence closure models are based on the concept of downgra- ent transport. Accordingly the models express turbulent uxes of momentum and scalars as products of the mean gradient of the transported property and the corresponding turbulent transport coef cient (eddy viscosity, K , heat conductivity, K , or diffusivity, K ). Fol- M H D lowing Kolmogorov (1941), turbulent transport coef cients are taken to be proportional to the turbulent velocity scale, u , and length scale, l : T T K K K u l . (1) M H D T T 2 Usually u is identi ed with the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) per unit mass, E ,and K T is calculated from the TKE budget equation using the Kolmogorov closure for the TKE dissipation rate: E /t , (2) K K T where t l /u is the turbulent dissipation time scale. This approach is justi ed when it T T T is applied to neutral stability ows, where l can be taken to be proportional to the distance T from the nearest wall. However, this method encounters dif culties in strati ed ows (both stable and uns- ble). The turbulent Prandtl number Pr = K /K exhibits essential dependence on the T M H strati cation and cannot be considered as constant.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 252 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The theory of series in the 17th and 18th centuries poses several interesting problems to historians. Indeed, mathematicians of the time derived num- ous results that range from the binomial theorem to the Taylor formula, from the power series expansions of elementary functions to trigonometric series, from Stirling¿s series to series solution of di erential equations, from theEuler¿MaclaurinsummationformulatotheLagrangeinversiontheorem, from Laplace¿s theory of generating functions to the calculus of operations, etc. Most of these results were, however, derived using methods that would be found unacceptable today, thus, if we look back to the theory of series priortoCauchywithoutreconstructinginternalmotivationsandtheconc- tual background, it appears as a corpus of manipulative techniques lacking in rigor whose results seem to be the puzzling fruit of the mind of a - gician or diviner rather than the penetrating and complex work of great mathematicians. For this reason, in this monograph, not only do I describe the entire complex of 17th- and 18th-century procedures and results concerning series, but also I reconstruct the implicit and explicit principles upon which they are based, draw attention to the underlying philosophy, highlight competing approaches, and investigate the mathematical context where the series t- ory originated. My aim is to improve the understanding of the framework of 17th- and 18th-century mathematics and avoid trivializing the complexity of historical development by bringing it into line with modern concepts and views and by tacitly assuming that certain results belong, in some unpr- lematic sense, to a uni ed theory that has come down to us today.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 408 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Biometrics is becoming increasingly common in establishments that require high security such as state security and financial sectors. The increased threat to national security by terrorists has led to the explosive popularity of biometrics. A number of biometric devices are now available to capture biometric measurements such as fingerprints, palm, retinal scans, keystroke, voice recognition and facial scanning. However, the accuracy of these measurements varies, which has a direct relevance on the levels of security they offer. With the need to combat the problems related to identify theft and other security issues, society will have to compromise between security and personal freedoms.Securing Biometrics Applications investigates and identifies key impacts of biometric security applications, while discovering opportunities and challenges presented by the biometric technologies available.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 208 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Clustered survival data are encountered in many scientific disciplines including human and veterinary medicine, biology, epidemiology, public health and demography. Frailty models provide a powerful tool to analyse clustered survival data. In contrast to the large number of research publications on frailty models, relatively few statistical software packages contain frailty models.It is demanding for statistical practitioners and graduate students to grasp a good knowledge on frailty models from the existing literature. This book provides an in-depth discussion and explanation of the basics of frailty model methodology for such readers. The discussion includes parametric and semiparametric frailty models and accelerated failure time models. Common techniques to fit frailty models include the EM-algorithm, penalised likelihood techniques, Laplacian integration and Bayesian techniques. More advanced frailty models for hierarchical data are also included.Real-lifeexamples are used to demonstrate how particular frailty models can be fitted and how the results should be interpreted. The programs to fit all the worked-out examples in the book are available from the Springer website with most of the programs developed in the freeware packages R and Winbugs. The book starts with a brief overview of some basic concepts in classical survival analysis, collecting what is needed for the reading on the more complex frailty models.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -First in a new series on economic issues in the context of health care policy, Health Technology Assessments by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence examines Britain¿s highly acclaimed approach to cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), and its international potential.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been regarded as a role model for the implementation of CEA, and is being closely watched by health care policy makers throughout Europe, and in the United States. This volume dissects the robustness of the agency¿s technology appraisal processes as NICE evaluates innovative methods for diagnosis and intervention. Given the unique features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)¿starting with it being diagnosed mainly in children and adolescents, its high comorbidity with other psychiatric conditions, and its considerable economic impact¿the disorder is a perfect focal point for discussion.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Polymeric materials of the 21st century often contain atoms that are not present in traditional polymers. Polymers containing nontraditional atoms are now of interest because of their unique properties. This book demonstrates the breadth of these properties and some of the specialized analytical techniques that have been developed to characterize them. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 emphasize the emerging special properties of mate- als dealing with the transmission of light for the purpose of communication, as well as other efforts. Later chapters deal with the use of materials in treating a variety of disease-causing microbes¿including viruses responsible for pandemic herpes and the common cold (Chapter 8), cancers (Chapter 11), and bacterial infections (Chapter 17). The interaction of these materials for future biological investigations is investigated in Chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 12 provides a comprehensive review of the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to metal-containing polymers and Chapter 13 reviews the application of a new mass spectrometry technique. The use of metal-containing polymers as catalysts is described in Chapters 1, 9, and 10. Their use as precursors for advanced ceramics (Chapter 14), high temperature materials (Chapter 15), and flame reta- ants (Chapter 16) is also discussed. The unusual property of selected materials to spontaneously form fibers is described in Chapter 18.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 488 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Optical networks have been in commercial deployment since the early 1980s as a result of advances in optical, photonic, and material technologies. Although the initial deployment was based on silica ber with a single wavelength modulated at low data rates, it was quickly demonstrated that ber can deliver much more bandwidth than any other transmission medium, twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, or wireless. Since then, the optical network evolved to include more exciting technologies, gratings, optical lters, optical multiplexers, and optical ampli ers so that today a single ber can transport an unprecedented aggregate data rate that exceeds Tbps, and this is not the upper limit yet. Thus, the ber optic network has been the network of choice, and it is expected to remain so for many generationsto come, for both synchronousand asynchronouspayloads; voice, data, video, interactive video, games, music, text, and more. In the last few years, we have also witnessed an increase in network attacks as a result of store andforwardcomputer-basednodes. These attackshave manymaliciousobjectives:harvestsomeone else¿s data, impersonate another user, cause denial of service, destroy les, and more. As a result, a new eld in communicationis becomingimportant,communicationnetworksand informationse- rity. In fact, the network architect and system designer is currently challenged to include enhanced features such as intruder detection, service restoration and countermeasures, intruder avoidance, and so on. In all, the next generation optical network is intelligent and able to detect and outsmart malicious intruders.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -An earlier book by Rodrick Wallace entitled Consciousness: A Mathematical Treatment of the Global Neuronal Workspace Model, introduced a formal information-theoretic approach to individual consciousness implementing approaches developed previously by the cognitive scientist Bernard Baars and the philosopher Fred Dretske.This book takes a more formal 'groupoid' perspective and generalizes the results of that book to processes of 'distributed cognition' characteristic of large institutions that can entertain several, sometimes many, simultaneous 'global workspaces' which must compete for resources while communicating and cooperating.Equivalence classes of 'states' produce a network of language-analogs characterizing interacting cognitive modules which entertain multiple workspaces. Equivalence classes of these language-analogs produce dynamical manifolds describing temporal processes carried out by multiple-workspace institutions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 216 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Ecology of the Golden Mouse will interest students and professionals in ecology, conservation biology, mammalogy, and wildlife management. The golden mouse is used as a model to explore conceptual issues in ecology across all levels of organization from organism to landscape, integrating reductionist and holistic ecological science. Through intensive study of a single species, the authors demonstrate biological and ecological information applicable to many fields, including conservation and resource management.At the individual level, the authors discuss topics such as natural history, systematics, behavior, nest construction, home range, and movements, as well as the unique bioenergetic strategy of the golden mouse, their population dynamics, growth, and genetics. At the community level, coexistence with sympatric species, competitive interactions, mutualism, parasitism, and the benefits of semi-arboreal living are discussed. Chapters also provide direction for further research by including questions yet to be addressed, intended to promote future integrative studies across levels of organization.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Breast MRI has emerged as a valuable adjunct to the conventional imaging modalities in the detection of primary and recurrent breast cancer. Yet, most radiologists who rely on MRI do not have knowledge of the fundamentals so essential to achieving and maintaining high image quality.With a focus on the basic imaging principles of breast MRI rather than on mathematical equations, this book takes a practical approach to imaging protocols that helps radiologists increase their diagnostic effectiveness. The text walks the reader through the basics of MRI, making it especially accessible to beginners. From a detailed outline of equipment prerequisites for obtaining high quality breast MRI to instructions on how to optimize image quality, expanded discussions on how to obtain optimized dynamic information, and explanations of good and bad imaging techniques, the book covers the topics that are most relevant to performing breast MRI.By presenting the key aspects of breast MRI in straightforward terms and with clear images, this practical book benefits all practitioners seeking to increase their working knowledge and competence in breast MRI. It fills an important gap in the literature and is also of value to residents preparing for the diagnostic radiology boards.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.