Springer new york dez 2011 (419 risultati)

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The more we learn about bees, the more extraordinary they seem. They have five eyes and beat their wings at almost 200 cycles per second. And to communicate with each other bees do make sounds but also dance. This book, packed with over 30 figures, gives a fascinating insight into the extraordinary complex and highly organised world of bees. The author, K. Weiss, explains the critical role that bees and bee-keeping play for human society, and offers advice for those interested in raising bees. 172 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Here's a conundrum: the U.S. health care system is the largest sector in the biggest economy in the world, and the US spends significantly more per capita on health care than any other country. Yet it ranks last among comparison nations on the major health indicators. Robert Kaplan attempts to tackle these anomalies head-on by taking the controversial position that mass markets have been created for services that may offer little or no benefit to patients. Kaplan forcefully argues that the overuse of medications and tests runs up the costs of health care, and offers potential solutions for policy makers and for patients. 208 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is an attempt to share some of the fascinating and exciting ideas of modern theoretical physics with a non-mathematical audience. I also hope to give some appreciation of the exceptionally creative people who have generated these ideas. I had no intention of writing a comprehen sive history of these ideas, however; I apologize to those physicists whose important contributions I may have omitted. Several people have contributed directly to the writing of this book, and I would like to take this chance to thank them. Clive Horwood of Praxis Publishing and Paul Farrell of Copernicus Books have both been supportive of the project. Anna Painter has been an exceptionally thorough editor and has provided invaluable advice. Dr John Mason and Lyman Lyons both offered constructive criticism of an early draft. The errors that remai- and errors and misinterpretations are inevitable in any attempt to explain the subtle ideas of theoretical physics without the aid of mathematics - are my sole responsibility. I would like to thank Ron, Ronnie, Peter, Jackie, Emily, and Abigail for their support. And, most importantly, I would like to thank Heike and Jessica for their patience. Stephen Webb Milton Keynes, April 2004 1X FIGURE CREDITS I would like to acknowledge the following sources and copyright holders for granting permission to use their images. Figure 8 is from the Wilson A. Bentley collection. Figure 14 is courtesy ofNASA. 324 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Features 25 different scientists and the ideas which may not have made them famous, but made history.Typically, we remember our greatest scientists from one single invention, one new formula or one incredible breakthrough. This narrow perspective does not give justice to the versatility of many scientists who also earned a reputation in other areas of science. James Watt, for instance, is known for inventing the steam engine, yet most people do not know that he also invented the copier. Alexander Graham Bell of course invented the telephone, but only few know that he invented artificial breathing equipment, a prototype of the 'iron lung'. Edmond Halley, whose name is associated with the comet that visits Earth every 75 years, produced the first mortality tables, used for life insurances. This entertaining book is aimed at anyone who enjoys reading about inventions and discoveries by the most creative minds. Detailed illustrations of the forgotten designs and ideas enrich the work throughout. 180 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Where were the amino acids, the molecules of life, created: perhaps in a lightning storm in the early Earth, or perhaps elsewhere in the cosmos This book argues that at least some of them must have been produced in the cosmos, and that the fact that the Earthly amino acids have a specific handedness provides an important clue for that explanation. The book discusses several models that purport to explain the handedness, ultimately proposing a new explanation that involves cosmic processing of the amino acids produced in space. The book provides a tour for laypersons that includes a definition of life, the Big Bang, stellar nucleosynthesis, the electromagnetic spectrum, molecules, and supernovae and the particles they produce. 228 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -'Interplanetary Outpost' follows the mission architecture template of NASA's plan for Human Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE), which envisions sending a crew to the moon Callisto to conduct exploration and sample return activities. To realize such a mission, the spacecraft will be the most complex interplanetary vehicle ever built, representing the best technical efforts of several nations. A wealth of new technologies will need to be developed, including new propulsion systems, hibernation strategies, and revolutionary radiation shielding materials. Step by step, the book will describe how the mission architecture will evolve, how crews will be selected and trained, and what the mission will entail from launch to landing. However, the focus of 'Interplanetary Outpost' is on the human element. The extended duration, logistical challenges, radiation concerns, communication lag times, isolation, and deleterious effects on the human body will conspire to not only significantly impair human performance but also affect the behavior of crewmembers. This book addresses each of these issues in detail while still providing the reader with a background to the necessary elements comprising such a mission. 284 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In this exciting story of the Galileo mission to investigate Jupiter, noted astronomer Daniel Fischer weaves together the many disparate facts learned about this most fascinating planet and its satellites. Fischer tells the entire story of Galileo: a behind-the-scenes look at its difficult course from idea to reality; its launch; the problems it encountered early on and how these were resolved; and finally, what will become of the probe. Along the way, the author describes what we have learned about Jupiter, including what the Jovian atmosphere is really like, and the peculiar reality of the planets magnetic field. The story of the journey to Jupiter is combined with interesting details about Galileos capacities and a graphic description of the solar system, with an episode on how Galileo would judge the chances of finding life on Earth. The book concludes with a look at the future, closing on the Cassini probe to Saturn. Beautifully illustrated and well written, Mission Jupiter shows us space exploration at its best and clearly and vividly conveys the essential science. 368 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Great Health Care is enlightening and entertaining. It's a must read for physicians, patients, health policymakers and administrators, and the interested public---anyone who wants to understand what great health care is, and how we might build it together. The authors share their stories and motivations and the methods they have used to transform care for their own patients within their own practices and health systems. They thoughtfully explore how we got into this mess, how we can get out of it, and the barriers to making it happen.'It is not only the impact of chronic diseases on our health and economy that draws us to this subject. It is the intriguing and rewarding potential for improving the status quo through redesigning how chronic disease care is provided and paid for.' (Timothy Harrington, MD) 'You can't do things differently until you see things differently.' (Eric Newman, MD)'We start people on the road to recovery, but the 12 weeks of cardiac rehabilitation is just the warm-up period. The really important part is what happens afterward.' (Richard Lueker, MD, Beth McCormick, MS)'We believe the extra-ordinary efforts of our program coordinators are key to our clients' wellbeing and our unusually low readmission rate.' (Kathi Farrell, RN, BSN, PHN, Kathleen Sullivan, RN, MSN)'In real life, we are not usually given the chance to have a do-over. But we are given the chance to continuously improve. With the right skill sets, and the right partners, we can transform.' (Eric Newman, MD) 272 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Increasingly, physicians are leveraging their medical training and expertise to pursue careers in non-traditional arenas. Their goals are diverse: Explore consulting as a way to improve patient care Lay the foundation for a career in academic medicine Provide leadership in healthcare Strengthen ties between a clinic and the community Broaden one's experience as a medical student As a journalist or writer, open a window onto medicine for non-experts Some physicians will pursue another degree, while others may not, in anticipation of moving into public service, business, education, law, or organized medicine. Their common ground is the desire to enhance their professional fulfillment. Drs. Urman and Ehrenfeld's book features individual chapters on the wide array of non-traditional careers for physicians, each one written by an outstanding leader in medicine who him- or herself has successfully forged a unique career path. A final chapter brings together fascinating brief profiles - 'case studies' - of physicians who have distinguished themselves professionally outside of traditional settings. Suitable for readers at any point in their medical career - practitioners, fellows, residents, and medical students - who want to explore possibilities beyond traditional medical practice, the book also sets out common-sense advice on topics such as work-life balance, mentorship, and the relationship between personality and job satisfaction. 404 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Before the arrival of penicillin in the 1940s, phage therapy was one of the few weapons doctors had against bacterial infections. It saved the life of Hollywood legend Tom Mix before being abandoned by Western science. Now, researchers and physicians are rediscovering the treatment, which pits phage viruses against their natural bacterial hosts, as a potential weapon against antibiotic-resistant infections.The Forgotten Cure traces the story of phages from Paris, where they were discovered in 1917; to Tbilisi, Georgia, where one of phage therapy's earliest proponents died at the hands of Stalin; to the Nobel podium, where prominent scientists have been recognized for breakthroughs stemming from phage research. Today, a crop of biotech startups and dedicated physicians is racing to win regulatory approval for phage therapy before superbugs exhaust the last drug in the medical arsenal. Will they clear the hurdles in time 148 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Topology is a relatively young and very important branch of mathematics, which studies the properties of objects that are preserved through deformations, twistings, and stretchings. This book deals with the topology of curves and surfaces as well as with the fundamental concepts of homotopy and homology, and does this in a lively and well-motivated way. This book is well suited for readers who are interested in finding out what topology is all about. Topology is a relatively young and very important branch of mathematics. It studies properties of objects that are preserved by deformations, twistings, and stretchings, but not tearing. This book deals with the topology of curves and surfaces as well as with the fundamental concepts of homotopy and homology, and does this in a lively and well-motivated way. There is hardly an area of mathematics that does not make use of topological results and concepts. The importance of topological methods for different areas of physics is also beyond doubt. They are used in field theory and general relativity, in the physics of low temperatures, and in modern quantum theory. The book is well suited not only as preparation for students who plan to take a course in algebraic topology but also for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduates interested in finding out what topology is all about. The book has more than 200 problems, many examples, and over 200 illustrations. 156 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -I wrote this book because I wanted to learn more about interstel lar flight. Not the Star Trek notion of tearing around the Galaxy in a huge spaceship-that was obviously beyond existing tech nology-but a more realistic mission. In 1989 I had videotaped Voyager 2's encounter with Neptune and watched the drama of robotic exploration over and over again. I started to wonder whether we could do something similar with Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. Everyone seemed to agree that manned flight to the stars was out of the question, if not permanently then for the indefinitely foreseeable future. But surely we could do something with robotics. And if we could figure out a theoretical way to do it, how far were we from the actual technology that would make it happen In other words, what was the state of our interstellar technology today, those concepts and systems that might translate into a Voyager to the stars Finding answers meant talking to people inside and outside of NASA. I was surprised to learn that there is a large literature of interstellar flight. Nobody knows for sure how to propel a space craft fast enough to make the interstellar crossing within a time scale that would fit the conventional idea of a mission, but there are candidate systems that are under active investigation. Some of this effort begins with small systems that we'll use near the Earth and later hope to extend to deep space missions. 320 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, Volume I is the first of two volumes presenting topics from mathematics (mostly discrete mathematics) which have proven relevant and useful to computer science. This volume treats basic topics, mostly of a set-theoretical nature (sets, functions and relations, partially ordered sets, induction, enumerability, and diagonalization) and illustrates the usefulness of mathematical ideas by presenting applications to computer science. Readers will find useful applications in algorithms, databases, semantics of programming languages, formal languages, theory of computation, and program verification. The material is treated in a straightforward, systematic, and rigorous manner. The volume is organized by mathematical area, making the material easily accessible to the upper-undergraduate students in mathematics as well as in computer science and each chapter contains a large number of exercises. The volume can be used as a textbook, but it will also be useful to researchers and professionals who want a thorough presentation of the mathematical tools they need in a single source. In addition, the book can be used effectively as supplementary reading material in computer science courses, particularly those courses which involve the semantics of programming languages, formal languages and automata, and logic programming. 444 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Koechner's well-known 'bible' on solid-state laser engineering is now available in an accessible format at the graduate level. Numerous exercises with hints for solution, new text and updated material where needed make this text very accessible. 424 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The main purpose of this book is to show how ideas from combinatorial group theory have spread to two other areas of mathematics: the theory of Lie algebras and affine algebraic geometry. Some of these ideas, in turn, came to combinatorial group theory from low-dimensional topology in the beginning of the 20th Century. 328 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Springer Book Archives 224 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The oceans cover about 72 percent of our planet (which is named for the remaining 28 percent). These oceans have fascinated and challenged the human race for centuries. In the past, the ocean had been used first as a source of food and later as a means of transportation. However, the oceans have recently become very important-they may offer a solution to many of our modern problems. For example, refuse from land is to be dumped into the ocean never to be seen again; fish and other biological resources are to be caught and used to meet the protein deficiency of the world; oil and gas from the continental shelf and perhaps deeper areas will eventually solve our energy problems. None ofthese examples is completely possible, and the at source offood and later as a means of transportation. However, the oceans social, and ecological problems in the marine environment. Countries are al ready planning how the oceans can be divided up, so that they will get their 'fair share'. Economists, politicians, and others are producing almost daily, optimistic or pessimistic views (depending upon your own viewpoint) about the ocean and its resources. Equally loud reports come from environ mentalists, conservationists, government sources, and oil companies con cerning the pollution and potential destruction of the ocean. 336 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The ancient Chinese scholars are fond of applying the Yin and Yang diagram to correlate almost everything. This book continues that tradition and uses the model to study other non-'dialectical' theories and models. The major finding qua contribution in this publication is to point out that the four diagrams are equivalent to the BaGua or BaGuaTu (BG), a set of eight ancient China symbolic notations/gossip. Another finding is that dialectical/crab and frog motion remark is just the opposite of a non-dialectical/crab and frog motion (usually deductive, linear, or cause and effect) remark, or, at best, they must meet half-way.The two major tasks of this book are to, first, apply the author's one-dot theory, which is shored up by the crab and frog motion model, to convert other theories and models as well as studies and, second, apply his theory and model to reinvent some well-known western-derived theories and models and studies, such as game theory. The attempt is to narrow down the gap between the East and the West scholarship/XueShu, broadly defined, making the book of interest to Eastern and Western philosophers and scholars alike. 128 pp. Englisch. …

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -'The trend is your friend'is a practical principle often used by business managers, who seek to forecast future sales, expenditures, and profitability in order to make production and other operational decisions. The problem is how best to identify and discover business trends and utilize trend information for attaining objectives of firms.This book contains an Excel-based solution to this problem, applying principles of the authors' 'profit system model' of the firm that enables forecasts of trends in sales, expenditures, profits and other business variables. The program, called FIRM, which runs on Windows with Microsoft Excel 2010, useshistorical time series of total sales, total costs, and total assets of the firm from its financial statements (income statements and balance sheets), estimates relationships among these variables, and then employs the estimated relationships to forecasts trends in these vital business variables. Featuring step-by-step case examples, the goal is to equip business managers and students with easy-to-use tools for understanding and forecasting trends in important business variables, thereby empowering them to make better business decisions. 60 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In most developed countries, the epidemiological disease profile has changed from infectious to degenerative, causing major alterations in epidemiological thinking and public health policies. Less developed nations have to deal with a more complex situation, because social disparities create highly unequal health conditions, the affluent being afflicted by degenerative conditions, whereas the poorer social segments continue to suffer infectious diseases, but also begin to feel the effects of chronic illness. At the turn of the 21st century, equity in health care is not being served, and social justice has lost credibility as a conceptual driving force of public health policies. Rampant injustice confirms that theories, reality and suggested practices of just social orders are flawed, leaving the needy without help or hope in a world of flagrant ethical inadequacy. And yet, mainstream bioethics loses meaning and relevance as it clings to the principle of justice and hails such concepts as global justice and universal health-care equity, misleadingly focusing on justice as a desideratum. This book pleads for an urgent turn towards directly addressing injustice as a reality that requires pressingly needed arguments and proposals to inspire realistic public health policies and programs based on an ethics of protection. Ever since Hobbes, all shades of political philosophy accept that the basic obligation of the ruling power is to protect its subjects. The ethics of protection emphasizes aiding the needy and the disempowered in obtaining access to basic goods and services related to health-care. Public health is called upon to fulfill protective obligations to guarantee disease prevention and medical services to the population, taking special care to safeguard those unable to cover their health-care needs in market-oriented medical services and institutions. The bioethics of protection developed in this text presents specific and explicit guide-lines to assure that protective public health actions be efficacious (problem-solving), efficient (sustainable cost/benefit relation) and ethically sound (respecting human rights and the common weal). These guide-lines are designed to give ethical support and justification to public health policies even when they require some unavoidable limitations of individual autonomy to promote social health benefits. 116 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Creating New Medical Ontologies for Image Annotation focuses on the problem of the medical images automatic annotation process, which is solved in an original manner by the authors. All the steps of this process are described in detail with algorithms, experiments and results. The original algorithms proposed by authors are compared with other efficient similar algorithms. In addition, the authors treat the problem of creating ontologies in an automatic way, starting from Medical Subject Headings (MESH). They have presented some efficient and relevant annotation models and also the basics of the annotation model used by the proposed system: Cross Media Relevance Models. Based on a text query the system will retrieve the images that contain objects described by the keywords. 120 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Inequalities of Ostrowski and Trapezoidal Type for Functions of Selfadjoint Operators on Hilbert Spaces presents recent results concerning Ostrowski and Trapezoidal type inequalities for continuous functions of bounded Selfadjoint operators on complex Hilbert spaces. The first chapter recalls some fundamental facts concerning bounded Selfadjoint operators on complex Hilbert spaces. The generalized Schwarz's inequality for positive Selfadjoint operators as well as some results for the spectrum of this class of operators are presented. The author also introduces and explores the fundamental results for polynomials in a linear operator, continuous functions of selfadjoint operators that will play a central role throughout the book. The following chapter is devoted to the Ostrowski's type inequalities, which provide sharp error estimates in approximating the value of a function by its integral mean and can be used to obtain a priory error bounds for different quadrature rules in approximating the Riemann integral by different Riemann sums. The author also presents recent results extending Ostrowski inequality in various directions for continuous functions of selfadjoint operators in complex Hilbert spaces. The final chapter illustrates recent results obtained in extending trapezoidal type inequality in various directions for continuous functions of selfadjoint operators in complex Hilbert spaces. Applications for mid-point inequalities and some elementary functions of operators as also provided. This book is intended for use by researchers in various fields of Linear Operator Theory and Mathematical Inequalities. As well as postgraduate students and scientists applying inequalities in their specific areas. 124 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Methodological advances in consumer behavior are increasing rapidly. We can characterize these advances by work in two logically separate but functionally related areas: (a) the philosophical underpinnings of our methods, and (b) the analytic strategies for examining the phenomena of interest in the field. An important aspect in communicating these advances is the demonstration of their use on focal problems in consumer behavior. Current research strategies and analytic techniques in the field of consumer research reflect the dominant logical empiricist epistemology. The develop ment of new epistemologies (e.g., scientific relativism, hypothetical realism), however, is likely to modify the dominant logical empiricist approach and is also likely to influence the analytic strategies used to conduct research. For instance, with the increased awareness of scientific relativism and hypothet ical realism, greater emphasis is anticipated for idiographic rather than nomo thetic designs, for observational rather than experimental designs, for process rather than static analyses, and for more sophisticated techniques for summariz ing findings across studies. The major theme underlying this volume is that conceptual, analytic, and sub stantive diversity are essential for consumer behavior research to advance. Col lectively, the chapters we present in this volume are a diverse set of perspectives for the study of consumer behavior. This volume is organized into three parts: (1) philosophical orientations toward consumer behavior research, (2) analytic strategies for consumer behavior research, and (3) applications of these orientations and strategies to current research areas. 301 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -More than 1200 diterpenes have been identified from approximately 550 Compo sitae taxa (Figure 1 [pp. 219-384], Tables 1-3 [pp. 7-218]). The annual output of such reports rose sharply during the past several years, a trend that was also reflected by other major lipophilic constituents of the Compositae: acetylenes (63, 465), sesquiterpene lactones (266, 458), and benzofurans and chromenes (429). Unlike these other natural products, no review of the diterpene chemistry of the Compositae has been published. Given the bulk of data currently on hand, a review of this topic is clearly overdue. Several major goals influenced the preparation of this review. The first was to provide a useful reference to guide terpenoid chemists to the literature of known compounds. The published reports for 1200 structures provide a sizable body of spectroscopic data applicable to the investigation of new compounds. The study of diterpenes has been hampered by the absence of an all-inclusive nomenclature and classification system for the various skeletal types. Conse quently, a second goal was to organize structural data into a classification scheme designed to group compounds by biogenetic homology, and to standardize such features as diterpene nomenclature and numbering. Pursuant to this goal, the published names (Table 1) and numbering systems (Table 2) for all compounds are included. 648 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Developed and developing economies alike face increased resource scarcity and competitive rivalry. In this context, science and technology appear as an essential source of competitive and sustainable advantage at national and regional levels. However, the key determinant of their efficacy is the quality and quantity of entrepreneurship-enabled innovation that unlocks and captures the benefits of the science enterprise in the form of private, public or hybrid goods. Linking basic and applied research with the market, via technology transfer and commercialization mechanisms, including government-university-industry partnerships and capital investments, constitutes the essential trigger mechanism and driving force of sustainable competitive advantage and prosperity. In this volume, the authors define the terms and principles of knowledge creation, diffusion, and use, and establish a theoretical framework for their study. In particular, they focus on the 'Quadruple Helix' model, through which government, academia, industry, and civil society are seen as key actors promoting a democratic approach to innovation through which strategy development and decision making are exposed to feedback from key stakeholders, resulting in socially accountable policies and practices. 72 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Distributed service networks encompass various facilities with which we have daily contact. In the public sector they include, for instance, ambulance, fire, and police services; in the business sector they include maintenance and repair services, road services, courier services, and the like. Policy making problems in distributed service networks can be clearly classified into a number of hierarchical levels. The levels are distinguished by the time horizon of the problem, by the amount of cost involved in the implementation of a solution, and by the political implications of the solution. This top-down classification is typical of what is known as the 'systems approach,' advocating that the direction of the analysis of complex systems should be from the whole to the details. The top-down classification consists of the following categories of policies: 1. Zoning: How should a network be partitioned into subzones 2. Station location: Where should service stations or service units be located 3. Resource allocation: What amount of resources should be allocated to the stations vii viii Preface 4. Dispatching, routing, and repositioning: What is the optimal dis patching policy, what are the optimal routes for nonbusy units, and under what circumstances is it worthwhile to reposition a certain idle unit A top-down approach implies that each of the problems is solved separately; however, the solution of a higher-level problem sets constraints on problems at lower levels. 312 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Personality and Roles: Sources of Regularities in Social Behavior For behavioral scientists, whether they identify primarily with the science of psychology or with that of sociology, there may be no challenge greater than that of discovering regularities and consistencies in social behavior. After all, it is such regularities and consistencies that lend predictability to the behavior of individuals in social contexts-in particular, to those events that constitute dyadic interactions and group processes. In the search for behavioral consistencies, two theoretical constructs have emerged as guiding principles: personality and roles. The theoretical construct of personality seeks to understand regularities and consistencies in social behavior in terms of relatively stable traits, enduring dispositions, and other propensities (for example, needs, motives, and attitudes) that are thought to reside within individuals. Because it focuses primarily on the features of individuals, the construct of personality is fundamentally psychological in nature. By contrast, the theoretical construct of roles seeks to understand regularities and consistencies in social behavior in terms of the directive influence of coherent sets of rules and prescriptions that are provided by the interpersonal, occupational, and societal categories of which individuals are continuing members. Because it focuses primarily on features of social structures, the construct of roles is fundamentally sociological in nature. 384 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This text is designed to provide a comprehensive guide to students, researchers, or consultants who wish to carry out and to interpret analyses of economic performance, with an emphasis on productivity growth. The text includes an overview of standard productivity growth measurement techniques and adaptations, and data construc tion procedures. It goes further, however, by expanding the tradition al growth accounting (index number) framework to allow consider ation of how different aspects of firm behavior underlying productivity growth are interrelated, how they can be measured con sistently in a parametric model, and how they permit a well-defined decomposition of standard productivity growth measures. These ideas are developed by considering in detail a number of underlying theoretical results and econometric issues. The impacts of various production characteristics on productivity growth trends are also evaluated by overviewing selected methodological extensions and em pirical evidence. More specifically, in the methodological extensions, emphasis is placed on incorporation of cost and demand characteristics, such as fixity and adjustment costs, returns to scale, and the existence of market power, into analyses of productivity growth. These character istics, generally disregarded in such analyses, can have very important impacts on production structure and firm behavior, and thus on economic performance. They also provide the conceptual basis for vii viii PREFACE measures that are often used independently as indicators of economic performance, such as investment, capacity utilization, and profit measures. 316 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -From the preface: 'History has dealt the juvenile court (and, more broadly, the juvenile justice system) a cruel blow. What began as a promising social experiment has disappointed nearly everyone. Inevitably, disillusionment has weakened the mandate of the juvenile justice system. Conflicts in philosophy, once held at bay by general enthusiasm for the enterprise, have now surfaced with great urgency. What, in fact, is the purpose of the juvenile justice system Is it to protect the community from youth crime, or to help children grow up Is it primarily a court dominated by concerns for justice Or, is it more fundamentally a social service agency concerned with structuring the environments of children Is the court an independent institution that stands apart from the community and administers justice in a fair and impartial way Or, is the court an agent of the community in the sense that it establishes norms of conduct and draws both public and private agencies to the tasks of socializing children ' 220 pp. Englisch. …

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The multivariate normal distribution has played a predominant role in the historical development of statistical theory, and has made its appearance in various areas of applications. Although many of the results concerning the multivariate normal distribution are classical, there are important new results which have been reported recently in the literature but cannot be found in most books on multivariate analysis. These results are often obtained by showing that the multivariate normal density function belongs to certain large families of density functions. Thus, useful properties of such families immedi ately hold for the multivariate normal distribution. This book attempts to provide a comprehensive and coherent treatment of the classical and new results related to the multivariate normal distribution. The material is organized in a unified modern approach, and the main themes are dependence, probability inequalities, and their roles in theory and applica tions. Some general properties of a multivariate normal density function are discussed, and results that follow from these properties are reviewed exten sively. The coverage is, to some extent, a matter of taste and is not intended to be exhaustive, thus more attention is focused on a systematic presentation of results rather than on a complete listing of them. 288 pp. Englisch.…