springer springer nov 2002 (470 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - For the past 25 years, the Geometrization Program of Thurston has been a driving force for research in 3-manifold topology. This has inspired a surge of activity investigating hyperbolic 3-manifolds (and Kleinian groups), as these manifolds form the largest and least well- understood class of compact 3-manifolds. Familiar and new tools from diverse areas of mathematics have been utilized in these investigations, from topology, geometry, analysis, group theory, and from the point of view of this book, algebra and number theory. This book is aimed at readers already familiar with the basics of hyperbolic 3-manifolds or Kleinian groups, and it is intended to introduce them to the interesting connections with number theory and the tools that will be required to pursue them. While there are a number of texts which cover the topological, geometric and analytical aspects of hyperbolic 3-manifolds, this book is unique in that it deals exclusively with the arithmetic aspects, which are not covered in other texts. Colin Maclachlan is a Reader in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland where he has served since 1968. He is a former President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. Alan Reid is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a former Royal Society University Research Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and winner of the Sir Edmund Whittaker Prize from The Edinburgh Mathematical Society. Both authors have published extensively in the general area of discrete groups, hyperbolic manifolds and low-dimensional topology.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - A new economy is emerging. An economy that is transforming the fundamental rules of business. An economy based on exploiting knowledge and innovation. An economy where knowledge is the main source of wealth for regions, nations, enter prises and people. This new economy is based on economic values far removed from those of the industrial economy. Value has shifted towards intangibles and in particular towards increasing value by incorporating knowledge into services and products. The advent of this new economy is rapidly changing the role and structure of global business. Winning enterprises are those best able to harness the benefits and opportunities of information and communication technology, capitalize on their knowledge base and move at the speed of the market. Knowledge management lies at the heart of the European Community's competi tiveness strategy. The European Commission facilitates and supports applied research in knowledge management through its Information Society Technologies (1ST) programme, a major theme of research and technological development within the European Union's Research and Technology Development Framework Programme. Specifically, the New Methods of Work and Electronic Commerce action of the 1ST programme supports long-term applied research in areas combin ing technological innovation with new work practices and advanced business and work models.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Feature-based technology is the key factor towards meeting the increasingly high demands of improving and speeding up the product development process from concept to customer feedback, and is therefore expected to be able to provide for a better approach to integrate the complete product design process chain. Feature Based Product Life-Cycle Modelling is dedicated to exploring the progress towards an integrated solution for the product creation process based on feature technology. Hence, it encompasses significant phases of the product creation process, from conceptual design to recycling, including the following topics: \*Life-phases modelling; \*Knowledge based engineering; \*Multiple-view geometric modelling; \*Technological links among assemblies; \*Manufacturing process cost estimation; \*Manufacturing modelling; \*Machining preparation; \*Product deterioration prediction; \*Product recovery estimation. For each topic, a state of the art, theoretic bases, tentative solutions and illustrative examples are detailed, demonstrating the successful application of feature technology to the modelling of innovative products and the efficient control of their design. The book is a selection of proceedings from the International Conference on Feature Modelling in Advanced Design-for-the-Life-Cycle Systems (FEATS 2001), which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in Valenciennes, France in June 2001.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The last few decades have witnessed tremendous developments in nonlinear control theory. One of the most important of these is the model-based method of feedback linearisation in which a nonlinear system is transformed into a linear system by means of state feedback and nonlinear transformations. After feedback linearisation, a system can be dealt with by linear controller design. The extension of these techniques to include MIMO systems allows for the further simplification of controller design by decoupling the system. Strategies for Feedback Linearisation demonstrates this powerful technique in the light of research on neural networks which allow the identification of nonlinear models without the complicated and costly development of models based on physical laws. Dynamic or recurrent neural networks have inherent properties that allow them to approximate nonlinear dynamic systems. Strategies for the identification of nonlinear systems using such neural networks are presented in this monograph together with the use of such models for the design and application of input-output linearisation and decoupling methods. Strategies for Feedback Linearisation is written to serve academic and industrial researchers in non-linear control and system identification and practising control engineers interested in their application to real-world industrial systems. The reader will gain a balanced view of theoretical and practical issues: relevant mathematical proofs are provided as are case studies illustrating design and application issues.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptors (PPARs) attract great attention in light of the wide spectrum of genes of biological and medical relevance identified as under their control. As a consequence, our knowledge of the role of these receptors in physiology and pathology continues to grow at a fast pace and PPARs have become an interesting target for the treatment of many pathological conditions, including diabetes and atherosclerosis. This volume provides an authoritative view of the current clinical and scientific developments within this evolving area of study.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - This book is a work of historical critical exegesis. It aims to establish the influence ofG.W.F. Hegel's Science of Logic (SL) on the Grundrisse of Karl Marx. I demonstrate that the Hegelian logic guided Marx's doctrinal development, and that the ordering of economic categories in the Grundrisse reflects the ordering ofthe logical categories in the SL. A historical critical exegesis can establish the influences on an author only in terms of probability. The exegesis can establish a particular influence with varying degrees of probability, but rarely with certitude. Thus, historical critical exegeses are limited in scope. This fact has advantages and disadvantages. Historical critical exegesis confines us to the particular texts under consideration and avoids the complexity often associated with other forms of textual exegesis, for example, structural exegesis. It must on occasion rely on such dubious evidence as phraseology. Moreover, when one text is allegedly found in another as a subtext, the exegesis focuses on the subtext prescinding from all other content. This narrow focus poses a danger, because such an exercise is naturally reductive. It can appear to reduce the entire work under consideration to the subtext. This particular danger is heightened when the work under consideration was not published by the author, but is a series of manuscripts-a kind of laboratory. Because my exegesis focuses on the subtext, the Grundrisse appears smoother and more complete than it actually is. These manuscripts are more complete than is sometimes supposed, but they are nevertheless manuscripts.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The NATO ARW in Irkutsk was an excellent occasion for the coming together of Eastern and Western scientists who are involved in tropospheric science; the workshop has greatly contributed to the scientific and social understanding among the participants from the many different countries. Many new personal contacts were made which will help to strengthen future collaborations. In particular, the Lake Baikal area and the Limnological Institute offer splendid opportunities for environmental research which, in part, is already on going. For most participants it was the first time to see the impressive nature of the Lake Baikal region. Hopefully, there will be a chance for a follow-up event in Siberia where researchers from the East and West can again meet and engage in fruitful scientific dialogue. The book contains extended abstracts of the lectures and the poster presentations presented at the NATO ARW 'Global Atmospheric Change and its Impact on Regional Air Quality' Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Russian Federation, August 21-27, 2001. The ARW was composed of 22 oral presentations by key lecturers and 6 additional shorter oral presentations from participants. In a special poster session the 36 poster contributions were presented and discussed. Unfortunately not all contributors submitted extended abstracts, however, to compensate two contributions have been added from 2 participants who were originally invited but were unable to attend.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - This book addresses a part of a problem. The problem is to determine the architecture of cognition, that is, the basic structures and mechanisms underlying cognitive processing. This is a multidimensional problem insofar as there appear to be many distinct types of mechanisms that interact in diverse ways during cognitive processing. Thus, we have memory, attention, learning, sensation, perception, and who knows what else, interacting to produce behavior. As a case in point, consider a bit of linguistic behavior. To tell a friend that I think Greg won a stunning victory, I must evidently rely on various bits of information stored in my memory, including who my friends are, who Greg is, what he won, and what natural languages I share with my friend. I must sense and perceive that my friend is within hearing distance, how loud I need to speak, how loud I am speaking, and whether my friend is paying attention. I must avail myself of what I know about the language I share with my friend, along with innumerable principles about human 'folk psychology. ' This book does not address the full range of contemporary theorizing about cognitive architecture, but only a part. It addresses theories of cognitive architecture that hypothesize that there exist cognitive representations, then begins to explore the possible structure of these representations. One of the leading hypotheses concerning the structure of cognitive representations is that it is akin to that found in symbolic logic.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Taking Stock in Delinquency is the comprehensive synthesis of the empirical findings of seven important ongoing longitudinal studies of delinquency. The seven projects included in this volume represent much of the diversity found in individual-based panel studies of antisocial behavior. Individually and collectively, the results of these investigations have been published in a wide range of disciplinary outlets, thus making it difficult to identify common themes and general principles. This volume intends to provide a comprehensive and unified picture of empirical results, both within these studies and across them. One of the fundamental purposes of Taking Stock in Delinquency is to examine the extent to which these studies answer the basic question of the origins of delinquent and criminal careers despite their varying guiding theories, methods, and settings.Taking Stock in Delinquency is an important resource for criminologists, psychologists, sociologists, and upper-level students on juvenile delinquency, criminology, developmental psychology, and deviant behavior.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Multimedia Mining: A Highway to Intelligent Multimedia Documents brings together experts in digital media content analysis, state-of-art data mining and knowledge discovery in multimedia database systems, knowledge engineers and domain experts from diverse applied disciplines.Multimedia documents are ubiquitous and often required, if not essential, in many applications today. This phenomenon has made multimedia documents widespread and extremely large. There are tools for managing and searching within these collections, but the need for tools to extract hidden useful knowledge embedded within multimedia objects is becoming pressing and central for many decision-making applications. The tools needed today are tools for discovering relationships between objects or segments within multimedia document components, such as classifying images based on their content, extracting patterns in sound, categorizing speech and music, and recognizing and tracking objects in video streams.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - This textbook takes as a premise that, in order to make intelligent diagnosis and provide a rational treatment in disorders of the nervous system, it is necessary to develop the capacity to answer the basic questions of clinical neurology:(1) Where is the disease process located (2) What is the nature of the disease process The purpose of this textbook is to enable the medical student to acquire the basic information of the neurosciences and neurology and most importantly the ability to apply that information to the solution of clinical problems. The authors also suggest that hospital trips be a part of any Clinical Neurosciences Course so that the student can put into actual practice what he has learned in the classroom.We believe that this textbook will be of value to the student throughout the four years of the medical school curriculum. Medical, psychiatry and neurology residents may also find this text of value as an introduction or review.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The purpose ofthis book isto provide acritical appraisal oftheconcept thatschizophreniacan becaused by viralinfections. The ability of viruses to cause psychiatric symptoms is not in question - the mental depression following a bout with mononucleosis or hallucinations associated with herpesencephalitisarewell-described examples. However,aviraloriginfor chronic disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, is another matter. The claim of an infectious etiology for these disorders has beenmetinthemainstream scientific community byavagueskepticism that occasionally erupts into stringent criticism. Too often, however, the viral hypotheses of these disorders is simply disregarded; marginalized with the hopethat itwillgoaway sothatthe 'serious' researchaimed atuncovering therealcauseoftheseillnesses willnotloseitsfocus.This beingsaid,much of the criticism is valid, and as a researcher with formal training in both neuroscience and viral immunology, I view the proposed viral etiology of thesedisorderswithaskepticaleye. Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the growing number of well-performed studies pointing to the role of viral infections as important antecedents of schizophreniaand other disorders inthe schizophreniaspectrum. Inthe last 30 years there have been hundreds of articles in peer-reviewed journals presenting evidenceorpositingtheoriestosuggestthatatleastsomecasesof schizophrenia have a viral origin. Moreover, many schizophrenia experts have been calling for the recognition that schizophrenia isa heterogeneous group of disorders that may have different causes. This idea of disease heterogeneity is reaching a crescendo, and there is undoubtedly a place for viruses among alternative etiologies; but we have to look. The intellectual climate tolooknowisbetterthanitwas20yearsago,inpartbecause inthe last 2 decades a number of chronic diseases of unknown etiology (e.g. gastric ulcers, Kaposi's sarcoma, hepatocellular carcinoma) have been ascribedtoinfectiouscauses.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - 'One cannot talk about mathematics in the 16th and 17th centuries without seeing a Jesuit at every corner,' George Sarton observed in 1940. \* Sarton, of course, was not the first to recognize the disproportionate representation of members of the Society of Jesus in the scientific enterprise of the early modern period. However, unlike many historians who belittled the discernible numerical strength of the Jesuits on the grounds that they lacked originality and were generally hostile to new ideas, Sarton correlated numerical strength with significance. Hence his plea for collecting the papers of that industrious historian of Jesuit science, Henri Bosmans, was quite refreshing. Yet Sarton's appeal went unheeded, and not only with respect to Bosmans' papers. The perception of the Jesuits as plodding pedagogues and obscurantists remained as ingrained as ever, virtually sanctioning the disregard of their activities. Such neglect meant that the exact nature of the Jesuit contribution to the Scientific Revolution remained sketchy at best; only recently - owing to a long-overdue examination of the Order's archives and of published texts - have new contours begun to emerge. Striking in this reassessment is a more nuanced appreciation of the Jesuits' interaction with 'modernity' and a far greater recognition of the Jesuit contribution to the two poles of modern science: the mathematization of natural philosophy and experimental science.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Over the past 20 years, the field of information systems has grown dramatically in theoretical diversity and global reach. This growth is reflected in the language that policy makers and organizational stakeholders use when they talk about their IT plans. As information technology penetrates further into organizational and global life, it becomes ever more important to articulate assumptions embedded in the discourse. This will help to clarify the complex and yet conceptually improvised or pasted-up worldview that becomes embodied in systems. The assumptions point to particular domains of discourse. The discourse sets up conventions and boundaries. It thus shapes what can or cannot legitimately be talked about, researched, addressed, or solved within the scope of IT. A number of practical and theoretical topics are discussed in detail, including: \*Globalization, development, and space; \*Mobilization of power; \*ERP systems; \*IS planning and projects; \*Critical research and the study of discourse; \*Public institutions; \*Analytical frameworks. This book contains the selected proceedings of the Working Conference on Global and Organizational Discourse About Information Technology, sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in Barcelona, Spain in December 2002.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The literature on equilibrium behavior of customers and servers in queuing systems is rich. However, there is no comprehensive survey of this field. Moreover, what has been published lacks continuity and leaves many issues uncovered. One of the main goals of this book is to review the existing literature under one cover. Other goals are to edit the known results in a unified manner, classify them and identify where and how they relate to each other, and fill in some gaps with new results. In some areas we explicitly mention open problems. We hope that this survey will motivate further research and enable researchers to identify important open problems. The models described in this book have numerous applications. Many examples can be found in the cited papers, but we have chosen not to include applications in the book. Many of the ideas described in this book are special cases of general principles in Economics and Game Theory. We often cite references that contain more general treatment of a subject, but we do not go into the details. we have highlighted the results For each topic covered in the book, that, in our opinion, are the most important. We also present a brief discussion of related results. The content of each chapter is briefly de scribed below. Chapter 1 is an introduction. It contains basic definitions, models and solution concepts which will be used frequently throughout the book.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Is there only one bioethics Is a global bioethics possible Or, instead, does one encounter a plurality of bioethical approaches shaped by local cultural and national traditions Some thirty years ago a field of applied ethics emerged under the rubric `bioethics'. Little thought was given at the time to the possibility that this field bore the imprint of a particular American set of moral commitments. This volume explores the plurality of moral perspectives shaping bioethics. It is inspired by Kazumasa Hoshino's critical reflections on the differences in moral perspectives separating Japanese and American bioethics. The essays include contributions from Hong Kong, China, Japan, Texas, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The volume offers a rich perspective of the range of approaches to bioethics. It brings into question whether there is unambiguously one ethics for bioethics to apply.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - I am very pleased to have been asked by Rod Gerber to provide a preface to such a book. Not least because of the twenty-four chapters, eight are written by former students or colleagues with whom I have worked in the past and whom I still meet at conferences on geographical education. It is with a certain pride and joy that I note the progress which has been made in geographical education both in its day to day teaching and in research, in the twenty years following the end of my term of office as Chair of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union (CGEIUG). My successors, Joe Stoltman, Hartwig Haubrich, Rod Gerber and now Lea Houtsonen, have done much and are continuing to work hard, to foster the development of geographical education. This book is proof, if proof were needed, that the international collaboration in this field, is alive and well, with contributions coming from all the continents (except Antarctica!). It would be a moribund subjectthat remained unaffected in one way or another by developments on the 'great world stage', as Fairgrieve (1926) would have put it. And, as Rod Gerber shows, the issues of globalisation, of cultural encounters, of differing value systems, of new technologies, of variable economic development and of environmental quality, all feature as topics which influence and are influenced by, geographical education.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Africa, the cradle of many old civilizations, is the second largest world continent, and the homeland of nearly one-eighth of the world population. Despite Africa's richness in natural resources, the average income per person, after excluding a few countries, is the lowest all over the world, and the percentage of inhabitants infected with contagious diseases is the highest. Development of Africa to help accommodate the ever-increasing population and secure a reasonable living standard to all inhabitants, though an enormous challenge is extremely necessary. Water is the artery of life, without it all living creatures on earth cannot survive. As such, a thorough knowledge of the meteorological and hydrological processes influencing the yield and quality of the water resources, surface and subsurface, and their distribution and variability in time and space is unavoidable for the overall development of any part of the world. It is highly probable that the said knowledge is at present a top priority to Africa, a continent that has been for so long-and probably still-devastated by the endless ambitions of colonial powers not to forget the corruption and destruction practiced by the internal powers, at least in some countries. The present book 'Hydrology and Water Resources of Africa' is written with the aim of bringing together in one volume a fair amount of knowledge any professional involved in hydrology and water resources of Africa needs to know.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - L'intervento chirurgico rappresenta la tecnica elettiva per il trattamento delle fratture della regione trocanterica. Gli Autori pertanto presentano le metodiche di sintesi più utilizzate descrivendone, con ampia iconografia, le tecniche chirurgiche.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Based on a graduate course given by the author at Yale University this book deals with complex analysis (analytic capacity), geometric measure theory (rectifiable and uniformly rectifiable sets) and harmonic analysis (boundedness of singular integral operators on Ahlfors-regular sets). In particular, these notes contain a description of Peter Jones' geometric traveling salesman theorem, the proof of the equivalence between uniform rectifiability and boundedness of the Cauchy operator on Ahlfors-regular sets, the complete proofs of the Denjoy conjecture and the Vitushkin conjecture (for the latter, only the Ahlfors-regular case) and a discussion of X. Tolsa's solution of the Painlevé problem. 140 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book provides readers with the tools needed to understand the physical basis of special relativity and will enable a confident mathematical understanding of Minkowski's picture of space-time. It features a large number of examples and exercises, ranging from the rather simple through to the more involved and challenging. Coverage includes acceleration and tensors and has an emphasis on space-time diagrams. 208 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -What was British imperialism and was it an important element of modern globalization Were economic, political or military factors paramount in imperial expansion Do post-colonial theories assist or mislead historians How have histories of imperialism changed, and are current analyses satisfactory Robert Johnson's invaluable guide offers a succint, easy-to-follow introduction to the key issues and historiography of British imperialism from its origins to the conversion to the Commonwealth. British Imperialism- provides concise introductions to key questions and debates- takes a question-based approach to analysis of the material- offers an assessment of the significance of economic, military and political factors in imperial expansion and decolonization- presents critical appraisals of the most recent controversies including neo-colonialism, cultural imperialism, post-colonial theory, and gender and imperialism- includes a useful guide to further readingUsing vivid examples, Johnson clearly explains the nature of British imperialism and enables the reader to understand the causes, course and immediate consequences of the British-colonial encounter on a world-wide scale. His book is an essential starting point for all those new to the subject and a helpful introduction to more recent debates. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book presents the revised version of seven tutorials given at the NETWORKING 2002 Conference in Pisa, Italy in May 2002.The lecturers present a coherent view of the core issues in the following areas:- peer-to-peer computing and communications- mobile computing middleware- network security in the multicast framework- categorizing computing assets according to communication patterns- remarks on ad-hoc networking- communication through virtual technologies- optical networks. 208 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Phase transformations in solids typically lead to surprising mechanical behaviour with far reaching technological applications. The mathematical modeling of these transformations in the late 80s initiated a new field of research in applied mathematics, often referred to as mathematical materials science, with deep connections to the calculus of variations and the theory of partial differential equations. Thisvolume gives a brief introduction to the essential physical background, in particular for shape memory alloys and a special class of polymers (nematic elastomers).Then the underlying mathematical concepts are presented with a strong emphasis on the importance of quasiconvex hulls of sets for experiments, analytical approaches, and numerical simulations. 228 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This challenging work develops a radical theory of the new world order to argue that as the globalization of power intensifies, so too do globalized forms of resistance. Stephen Gill explains how the dialectic of power and resistance involves issues of governance, economy and culture. This struggle is reflected in the questions of American supremacy, the power of capital, market civilization and surveillance power. Thus new forms of political agency and collective action are emerging to challenge dominant powers. 238 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book examines convergent trends in asylum regimes around the world. It covers the main regions of the world where asylum is a critical problem: Europe, Africa and Central America. It also looks at the major issues: human rights; non-governmental organisation involvement; gender; return; comprehensive policy; European Union harmonisation; international intervention and temporary protection. 224 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This is the most thorough treatment of normal forms currently existing in book form. There is a substantial gap between elementary treatments in textbooks and advanced research papers on normal forms. This book develops all the necessary theory 'from scratch' in just the form that is needed for the application to normal forms, with as little unnecessary terminology as possible. 524 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book provides an overview of interfaces to social information spaces, illustrated by several contemporary systems including Usenet News and CoWebs. Beginning with a general outline of those systems and a history of Usenet News, it looks at the problems of exploring virtual communities and distributed information systems, and of finding information in electronic environments. It outlines the successes and failures of traditional approaches like information filtering, collaborative filtering and information retrieval, and assesses new approaches such as visualisations of social processes and social navigation.Among the key questions covered are:- What aspects of an online group are important to its participants - How can the specific characteristics of a social information space be used to improve the design of the interface From Usenet to CoWebs will be essential reading for practitioners working on information spaces, conferencing systems, virtual communities and innovative interfaces to information spaces. It will also provide useful background reading for anyone studying or researching in these areas. 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -John Sherman is the only work of realistic fiction Yeats ever completed. The novelette contains many biographical elements and is of interest for its treatment of Yeats's recurring themes. It examines the debate between nationality and cosmopolitan and looks at the conflict between the self and the Anti-self. Dhoya depicts a liaison between a mortal and a fairy, a motif that recurs in Yeats's poetry and other works. The texts are supplemented by an introduction and detailed explanatory notes by the editor, Richard Finneran. 105 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is a synthetic historiography of present-day international relations theory, a critical analysis of the continuing diversity and complexity of enduring themes through a sustained focus on the analysis of the empirical evidence accumulated by social scientists. Special attention is given to key historical changes in theoretical approaches over the past half-century with full recognition of the contestation over state-based theory, and the changing fortunes of contemporary approaches. The book suggests that viable theories must transcend current intellectual fashion, and attempts to bring together theory and practice while demonstrating the difficulty of assessing competing theories. It addresses multiple strands of thought and assumes that their development cannot be understood in isolation from each other. 317 pp. Englisch.