springer us nov 2000 (126 risultati)

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book emerged from teaching a graduate level course in propagation and smart antennas at the Naval Postgraduate School. In its present form, it is suitable not only as a graduate level text, but also as a reference book for industry and research use. The area of radiowave propagation and smart antennas is highly interdisciplinary, extracting material from electromagn- ics, communications, and signal processing. This book is useful to workers in electromagnetics who would like to supplement their background with relevant communicational aspects and to workers in communications who would like to supplement their background with relevant electromagnetic aspects. Anyone with a basic understanding of probability, wave propagation, digital com- nications, and elementary signal processing should be able to appreciate the contents of the book. The book consists of nine chapters with several worked out examples d- persed throughout. Chapter 1 covers the basics of cellular communications. Chapter 2 covers the basic principles of electromagnetic wave propagation relevant to path loss predictions in wireless communications. Students with little prior background in electromagnetics should find the first few sections of Chapter 2 self-sufficient. Empirical path loss models that are used in system design are treated in Chapter 3. The chapter includes the traditional models as well as some of the newer models. Chapter 4 has a thorough discussion on the causes and characterization of small scale fading. The topic of spatial c- relation that is very important for antenna arrays is discussed there in detail.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 334 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -lengths, that could not be captured with univariate linear filters. Exam ples of research in both directions can be found in Sims (1977), Lahiri and Moore (1991), Stock and Watson (1993), and Hamilton (1994) and (1989). Although the first approach is known to present serious limitations,the new and more sophisticated methods developed in the second approach (most notably, multivariate and nonlinear extensions) are at an early stage, and have proved still unreliable, displaying poor behavior when moving away from the sample period . Despite the fact that business cycle estimation is basic to the conduct of macroeconomic policy and to monitoring of the economy, many decades of attention have shown that formal modeling of economic cycles is a frustrating issue. As Baxter and King (1999) point out, we still face at present the same basic question 'as did Burns and Mitchell fifty years ago: how should one isolate the cyclical component of an eco nomic time series In particular, how should one separate business-cycle elements from slowly evolving secular trends, and rapidly varying seasonal or irregular components ' Be that as it may, it is a fact that measuring (in some way) the busi ness cycle is an actual pressing need of economists, in particular of those related to the functioning of policy-making agencies and institutions, and of applied macroeconomic research.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Held December 16-919, 1999, this proceedings is derived from the Global Foundation Inc.'s Orbis Scientiae 1999. Topics include: cosmological parameters, unifying elementary particle physics, cosmology, superstrings, and black holes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book is a collection of extended versions of the papers presented at the Symposium on Next Generation Wireless Networks, May 26, 2000, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ. Each chapter includes, in addition to technical contributions, a tutorial of the corresponding area. It has been a privilege to bring together these contributions from researchers on the leading edge of the field. The papers were submitted in response to a call for papers aiming to concentrate on the applications and services for the ¿next generation,¿ deliberately omitting the numeric reference so that the authors¿ vision of the future would not be limited by the definitive requirements of a particular set of standards. The book, as a result, reflects the top-down approach by focusing on enabling technologies for the applications and services that are the defining essentials for future wireless networks. This approach strikes a balance between the academia and the industry by addressing new wireless network architectures enabling mobility and location enhanced applications and services that will give wireless systems the competitive edge over others. The main theme of the book is the advent of wireless networks as an irreplaceable means of global communication as opposed to a mere substitute for, or a competitor of, wireline networks. Geolocation emerges as the facilitator of mobility and location sensitive services. The fields of geolocation and wireless communications have been forced to merge, following the Federal Commission of Communications¿ (FCC) ruling that obliges wireless providers with emergency caller geolocation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Coding and Modulation for Digital Television presents a comprehensive description of all error control coding and digital modulation techniques used in Digital Television (DTV). This book illustrates the relevant elements from the expansive theory of channel coding to how the transmission environment dictates the choice of error control coding and digital modulation schemes. These elements are presented in such a way that both the `mathematical integrity' and `understanding for engineers' are combined in a complete form and supported by a number of practical examples. In addition, the book contains descriptions of the existing standards and provides a valuable source of corresponding references.Coding and Modulation for Digital Television also features a description of the latest techniques, providing the reader with a glimpse of future digital broadcasting. These include the concepts of soft-in-soft-out decoding, turbo-coding and cross-correlated quadrature modulation, all of which will have a prominent future in improving efficiency of the next generation DTV systems.Coding and Modulation for Digital Television is essential reading for all undergraduate and postgraduate students, broadcasting and communication engineers, researchers, marketing managers, regulatory bodies, governmental organizations and standardization institutions of the digital television industry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Any numerical subsurface model is comprised of three components: a theoretical basis to translate our understanding phenomena into partial differential equations and boundary conditions, a numerical method to approximate these governing equations and implement the boundary conditions, and a computer implementation to generate a generic code for research as well as for practical applications. Computational Subsurface Hydrology: Reactions, Transport, and Fate is organized around these themes.The fundamental processes occurring in subsurface media are rigorously integrated into governing equations using the Reynolds transport theorem and interactions of these processes with the surrounding media are sophisticatedly cast into various types of boundary conditions using physical reasoning. A variety of numerical methods to deal with reactive chemical transport are covered in Computational Subsurface Hydrology: Reactions, Transport, and Fate with a particular emphasis on the adaptive local grid refinement and peak capture using the Lagrangian-Eulerian approach. The topics on coupled fluid flows and reactive chemical transport are unique contributions of this book. They serve as a reference for research as well as for practical applications with a computer code that can be purchased from the author.Four computer codes to simulate vertically integrated horizontal solute transport (LEMA), contaminant transport in moving phreatic aquifers in three dimensions (3DLEMA), solute transport in variably saturated flows in two dimensions (LEWASTE), and solute transport under variably saturated flows in three dimensions (3DLEWASTE) are covered. These four computer codes are designed for generic applications to both research and practical problems. They could be used to simulate most of the practical, real-world field problems.Reactive chemical transport and its coupling with fluid flows are unique features in this book. Theories, numerical implementations, and example problems of coupled reactive transport and flows in variably saturated media are presented. A generic computer code, HYDROGEOCHEM 3.0, is developed. A total of eight example problems are used to illustrate the application of the computational model. These problems are intended to serve as examples for setting up a variety of simulations that one may encounter in research and field-site applications.Computational Subsurface Hydrology: Reactions, Transport, and Fate offers practicing engineers and scientists a theoretical background, numerical methods, and computer codes for modeling contaminant transport in subsurface media. It also serves as a textbook for senior and graduate course on reactive chemical transport in subsurface media in disciplines such as civil and environmental engineering, agricultural engineering, geosciences, soil sciences, and chemical engineering.Computational Subsurface Hydrology: Reactions, Transport, and Fate presents a systematic derivation of governing equations and boundary conditions of subsurface contaminant transport as well as reaction-based geochemical and biochemical processes. It discusses a variety of numerical methods for moving sharp-front problems, expounds detail procedures of constructing Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element methods, and describes precise implementation of computer codes as they are applied to subsurface contaminant transport and biogeochemical reactions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 348 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Probabilistic and percentile/quantile functions play an important role in several applications, such as finance (Value-at-Risk), nuclear safety, and the environment. Recently, significant advances have been made in sensitivity analysis and optimization of probabilistic functions, which is the basis for construction of new efficient approaches. This book presents the state of the art in the theory of optimization of probabilistic functions and several engineering and finance applications, including material flow systems, production planning, Value-at-Risk, asset and liability management, and optimal trading strategies for financial derivatives (options).Audience: The book is a valuable source of information for faculty, students, researchers, and practitioners in financial engineering, operation research, optimization, computer science, and related areas.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In When Work Disappears, Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson (1996) notes that African Americans in Chicago who attended Catholic schools are viewed more favorably by employers than African Americans who attended public schools. Such findings corroborate a widely though not univer sally-held view that Catholic schools succeed in boosting mobility for children of less-privileged families. Can its success bebroadened Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Fogel (2000) drawing upon the research by Wilson and oth ers suggests that Catholic schools might play a larger role in promoting an egalitarian society, if grants were made available to poor students that could be used in the parochial school sector. Nobel-prize winning economists Milton Friedman (1962) and Gary Becker (1989) also make strong cases for education vouchers and for more competition in primary and secondary education in the United States. From a different perspective, Archbishop of Chicago Francis Cardinal George argues that Catholic 'education that is faith-based, that pro vides values and discipline, that is Jesus-centered, has the potential to trans form the world' (Archdiocese of Chicago, 2000b). Despite such opinions, there is controversy concerning the measured effects of Catholic schooling on educational attainment, academic achieve ment, and other tangible outcomes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 164 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The modern electronic testing has a forty year history. Test professionals hold some fairly large conferences and numerous workshops, have a journal, and there are over one hundred books on testing. Still, a full course on testing is offered only at a few universities, mostly by professors who have a research interest in this area. Apparently, most professors would not have taken a course on electronic testing when they were students. Other than the computer engineering curriculum being too crowded, the major reason cited for the absence of a course on electronic testing is the lack of a suitable textbook. For VLSI the foundation was provided by semiconductor device techn- ogy, circuit design, and electronic testing. In a computer engineering curriculum, therefore, it is necessary that foundations should be taught before applications. The field of VLSI has expanded to systems-on-a-chip, which include digital, memory, and mixed-signalsubsystems. To our knowledge this is the first textbook to cover all three types of electronic circuits. We have written this textbook for an undergraduate ¿foundations¿ course on electronic testing. Obviously, it is too voluminous for a one-semester course and a teacher will have to select from the topics. We did not restrict such freedom because the selection may depend upon the individual expertise and interests. Besides, there is merit in having a larger book that will retain its usefulness for the owner even after the completion of the course. With equal tenacity, we address the needs of three other groups of readers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 712 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -It is a real pleasure to write the Foreword for this book, both because I have known and respected its author for many years and because I expect this book¿s publication will mark an important milestone in the continuing worldwide development of microsystems. By bringing together all aspects of microsystem design, it can be expected to facilitate the training of not only a new generation of engineers, but perhaps a whole new type of engineer ¿ one capable of addressing the complex range of problems involved in reducing entire systems to the micro- and nano-domains. This book breaks down disciplinary barriers to set the stage for systems we do not even dream of today. Microsystems have a long history, dating back to the earliest days of mic- electronics. While integrated circuits developed in the early 1960s, a number of laboratories worked to use the same technology base to form integrated sensors. The idea was to reduce cost and perhaps put the sensors and circuits together on the same chip. By the late-60s, integrated MOS-photodiode arrays had been developed for visible imaging, and silicon etching was being used to create thin diaphragms that could convert pressure into an electrical signal. By 1970, selective anisotropic etching was being used for diaphragm formation, retaining a thick silicon rim to absorb package-induced stresses. Impurity- and electrochemically-based etch-stops soon emerged, and 'bulk micromachining' came into its own.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 720 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Based on a comprehensive review of human and societal evolution the book develops an approach to conscious, self-guided evolution.In the course of the evolutionary journey of our species, there have been three seminal events. The first happened some seven million yeas ago, when our humanoid ancestors entered on the evolutionary scene. Their journey toward the second crucial event lasted over six million years when - as the greatest event of our evolutionary history - homo sapiens sapiens, started the revolutionary process of cultural evolution. Today, we have arrived at the threshold of the third major event, `the revolution of conscious evolution,' when it becomes our responsibility to enter into the evolutionary design space and guide the evolutionary journey of our species.The book tells the story of the first six million years of the journey in just enough detail to understand how evolution had worked in times when it was primarily biological, driven by natural selection. With the human revolution some fifty thousand years ago, with the emergence of self-reflective consciousness, the evolutionary process transformed from biological into cultural. From this point on, the book follows the journey with detailed attention, in order to learn how cultural evolution works. The book is organized in three parts. Part One commences with an exposition of a brief history of the evolutionary idea through time with a focus on a review of the science of general evolution and specifically social and societal evolution. Next, the book unfolds the `evolutionary story' of our species from the time when the first humanoids entered the evolutionary scene to our current era. Part Two develops a systems view of evolution, explores the ways and means of how evolution works, characterizes evolutionary consciousness and develops the idea of conscious evolution. Part Three builds upon the knowledge developed in the first two parts and sets forth the key conditions of conscious, self-guided evolution, elaborating the core condition, which is the acquisition of evolutionary competence through evolutionary learning. The focus of this part is on an approach to the design of evolutionary guidance systems that our families, neighborhoods, communities, organizations, social and societal systems can use to design the future they aspire to attain.The work is set aside from other statements in three important ways. It provides: (1) a comprehensive review of how evolution has worked with a focus on socio-cultural evolution, (2) an explanation of evolutionary consciousness and the conditions of engaging in conscious evolution, and (3) most significantly, it develops a detailed approach and a methodology to the design of evolutionary guidance systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 444 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -1. 1 Motivations Deciding is a very complex and difficult task. Some people even argue that our ability to make decisions in complex situations is the main feature that distinguishes us from animals (it is also common to say that laughing is the main difference). Nevertheless, when the task is too complex or the interests at stake are too important, it quite often happens that we do not know or we are not sure what to decide and, in many instances, we resort to a decision support technique: an informal one-we toss a coin, we ask an oracle, we visit an astrologer, we consult an expert, we think-or a formal one. Although informal decision support techniques can be of interest, in this book, we will focus on formal ones. Among the latter, we find some well-known decision support techniques: cost-benefit analysis, multiple criteria decision analysis, decision trees, . . . But there are many other ones, sometimes not presented as decision support techniques, that help making decisions. Let us cite but a few examples. ¿ When the director of a school must decide whether a given student will pass or fail, he usually asks each teacher to assess the merits of the student by means of a grade. The director then sums the grades and compares the result to a threshold. ¿ When a bank must decide whether a given client will obtain a credit or not, a technique, called credit scoring, is often used.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Nonlinear Assignment Problems (NAPs) are natural extensions of the classic Linear Assignment Problem, and despite the efforts of many researchers over the past three decades, they still remain some of the hardest combinatorial optimization problems to solve exactly. The purpose of this book is to provide in a single volume, major algorithmic aspects and applications of NAPs as contributed by leading international experts.The chapters included in this book are concerned with major applications and the latest algorithmic solution approaches for NAPs. Approximation algorithms, polyhedral methods, semidefinite programming approaches and heuristic procedures for NAPs are included, while applications of this problem class in the areas of multiple-target tracking in the context of military surveillance systems, of experimental high energy physics, and of parallel processing are presented.Audience: Researchers and graduate students in the areas of combinatorial optimization, mathematical programming, operations research, physics, and computer science. 332 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book describes the theory and design of high-accuracy CMOS smart temperature sensors. The major topic of the work is the realization of a smart temperature sensor that has an accuracy that is so high that it can be applied without any form of calibration. Integrated in a low-cost CMOS technology, this yields at the publication date of this book one of the most inexpensive intelligent general purpose temperature sensors in the world. The first thermometers could only be read by the human eye. The industrial revolution and the following computerization asked for more intelligent sensors, which could easily communicate to digital computers. This led to the development of integrated temperature sensors that combine a bipolar temperature sensor and an A-to-D converter on the same chip. The implementation in CMOS technology reduces the processing costs to a minimum while having the best-suited technology to increase the (digital) intelligence. The accuracy of conventional CMOS smart temperature sensors is degraded by the offset of the read-out electronics. Calibration of these errors is quite expensive, however, dynamic offset-cancellation techniques can reduce the offset of amplifiers by a factor 100 to 1000 and do not need trimming. Chapter two gives an elaborate description of the different kinds of dynamic offset-cancellation techniques. Also a new technique is introduced called the nested chopper technique. An implementation of a CMOS nested-chopper instrumentation amplifier shows a residual offset of less than lOOn V, which is the best result reported to date.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Consumption of food products based on or containing fruit is increasing as consumers in the developed world seek a diet which they perceive to be healthy. At the same time, developing countries are increasing their volumes of value-added fruit processing in order to earn important foreign currency. This book provides a concise, thorough and authoritative coverage of the technology of fruit processing from a worldwide perspective. Detailed coverage of the use of fruit by-products, environmental issues, quality assurance and hygiene reflect the importance of these topics. New chapters cover biochemistry and implications for processing, packaging, and quality management systems and HACCP. Food technologists, production managers and technical staff in the fruit processing industry and its equipment suppliers will find the book an important information source, while those in academic and research establishments will use it as a key reference.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The intrinsic or natural fluorescence of proteins is perhaps the most complex area of biochemical fluorescence. Fortunately the fluorescent amino acids, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan are relatively rare in proteins. Tr- tophan is the dominant intrinsic fluorophore and is present at about one mole % in protein. As a result most proteins contain several tryptophan residues and even more tyrosine residues. The emission of each residue is affected by several excited state processes including spectral relaxation, proton loss for tyrosine, rotational motions and the presence of nearby quenching groups on the protein. Additionally, the tyrosine and tryptophan residues can interact with each other by resonance energy transfer (RET) decreasing the tyrosine emission. In this sense a protein is similar to a three-particle or mul- particle problem in quantum mechanics where the interaction between particles precludes an exact description of the system. In comparison, it has been easier to interpret the fluorescence data from labeled proteins because the fluorophore density and locations could be controlled so the probes did not interact with each other. From the origins of biochemical fluorescence in the 1950s with Prof- sor G. Weber until the mid-1980s, intrinsic protein fluorescence was more qualitative than quantitative. An early report in 1976 by A. Grindvald and I. Z. Steinberg described protein intensity decays to be multi-exponential. Attempts to resolve these decays into the contributions of individual tryp- phan residues were mostly unsuccessful due to the difficulties in resolving closely spaced lifetimes. 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - As genetic algorithms (GAs) become increasingly popular, they are applied to difficult problems that may require considerable computations. In such cases, parallel implementations of GAs become necessary to reach high-quality solutions in reasonable times. But, even though their mechanics are simple, parallel GAs are complex non-linear algorithms that are controlled by many parameters, which are not well understood. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms is about the design of parallel GAs. It presents theoretical developments that improve our understanding of the effect of the algorithm's parameters on its search for quality and efficiency. These developments are used to formulate guidelines on how to choose the parameter values that minimize the execution time while consistently reaching solutions of high quality. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms can be read in several ways, depending on the readers' interests and their previous knowledge about these algorithms. Newcomers to the field will find the background material in each chapter useful to become acquainted with previous work, and to understand the problems that must be faced to design efficient and reliable algorithms. Potential users of parallel GAs that may have doubts about their practicality or reliability may be more confident after reading this book and understanding the algorithms better. Those who are ready to try a parallel GA on their applications may choose to skim through the background material, and use the results directly without following the derivations in detail. These readers will find that using the results can help them to choose the type of parallel GA that best suits their needs, without having to invest the time to implement and test various options. Once that is settled, even the most experienced users dread the long and frustrating experience of configuring their algorithms by trial and error. The guidelines contained herein will shorten dramatically the time spent tweaking the algorithm, although some experimentation may still be needed for fine-tuning. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - A long-standing unsolved problem in economic theory is how economic equilibria are attained. Price Dynamics in Equilibrium Models: The Search for Equilibrium and the Emergence of Endogenous Fluctuations considers a number of adjustment processes in different economic models and investigates their dynamical behaviour. Two important themes arising in this context are `bounded rationality' and `nonlinear dynamics'. Important sub-themes of the book are the following: how do boundedly rational agents interact with their environment and does this interaction in some sense lead to rational outcomes (which may or may not correspond to equilibria) The second sub-theme deals with the consequences of the nonlinear dynamical nature of many adjustment processes. The results presented in this volume indicate that endogenous fluctuations are the rule rather than the exception in the search for equilibrium. The book uses the theory of nonlinear dynamics to analyze the dynamics of the different economic models. Due to the complexity of most of the models, an important role is played by computational methods. In particular, at regular instances the models are analyzed by numerical simulations and some computer-assisted proofs are provided. It also covers a wide range of dynamical models from economic theory. Most of these models merge the theory of nonlinear economic dynamics with the theory of bounded rationality. The book is written for anyone with an interest in economic theory in general and bounded rationality and endogenous fluctuations in particular. It is entirely self-contained and accessible to readers with only a limited knowledge of economic theory.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Essential to anyone involved in the planning, design, construction, operation or finance of infrastructure assets, this innovative work puts project delivery, finance, and operation together in a practical new formulation of how both public and private owners can better manage their entire collection of infrastructure facilities. Principles of Public and Private Infrastructure Delivery traces the history of infrastructure development and finance in the United States, and meticulously ties America's historical success in infrastructure to the simultaneous use of Design-Bid- Build, Design-Build, Design-Build-Operate, and Design-Build-Finance-Operate to deliver both public and private infrastructure collections. This historical background provides the basis for a new, integrated strategy for managing infrastructure assets in the 21st century. Principles of Public and Private Infrastructure Delivery provides the logic and practical tools that public and private decision-makers need to make better strategic choices in the application of scarce resources to infrastructure facilities. New tools are presented that permit simple comparisons of different project delivery and finance strategies. Practical approaches are provided that allow owners to quickly compare capital program alternatives for entire collections of infrastructure facilities. Practical legislative strategies for organizing the delivery of public infrastructure are presented and described. Principles of Public and Private Infrastructure Delivery provides a practical framework that owners can apply to implement a competitive infrastructure strategy and a principled framework that private sector firms can use to effectively reposition themselves in this changing market. It puts infrastructure asset management in an entirely new and more productive light, and establishes a new paradigm for steady improvement in the quality and cost performance of public and private infrastructure networks. Audience: This book will be an essential reference tool for infrastructure managers throughout the public and private sectors, including: Public Works Officials; Corporate Officials Responsible for Asset Management; State Legislators and Executive Officials; State Agencies and Regional Authorities Responsible for Transportation, Water Supply and Treatment; City Mayors, Town Managers, and Other Local Officials; Private Infrastructure Developers and Operators; Procurement and Project Counsel; Design-Builders; Constructors; Design Professionals; Management Consultants; Program Managers; and Financial Institutions.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - The consecutive-k system was first studied around 1980, and it soon became a very popular subject. The reasons were many-folded, includ ing: 1. The system is simple and natural. So most people can understand it and many can do some analysis. Yet it can grow in many directions and there is no lack of new topics. 2. The system is simple enough to become a prototype for demonstrat ing various ideas related to reliability. For example, the interesting concept of component importance works best with the consecutive-k system. 3. The system is supported by many applications. Twenty years have gone and hundreds of papers have been published on the subject. This seems to be a good time for retrospect and to sort the scattered material into a book. Besides providing our own per spective, the book will also serve as an easy reference to the numerous ramifications of the subject. It is hoped that a summary of work in the current period will become the seed of future break-through.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Biochemistry And Genetics of RecQ-Helicases provides a background into the role of helicases in general and RecQ helicases specifically in DNA repair. Helicases- enzymes which break down hydrogen bonds between nucleic acid strands in a nucleoside triphosphate-dependent manner-are ubiquitous in biology, participating in processes as diverse as replication, repair, recombination, transcription, and translation. The RecQ-family helicases are a group of helicases which have important roles in the maintenance of genomic stability in many organisms. In humans, mutations in three RecQ-family helicases lead to disease. This book thoroughly examines these helicases. Mutations in the BLM gene lead to Bloom syndrome, a disorder characterized by a susceptibility to many types of cancer. Mutations in the WRN gene cause Werner syndrome, a disease which in some respects resembles premature aging. Finally, mutations in a newly characterized RecQ-family member, RECQ4, may lead to the very rare recessive disorder Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, a condition characterized by developmental abnormalities and some aging-like manifestations. This book is intended for any researchers invested in these particular disorders, or with a general interest in DNA.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Reprint of Winery Utilities: Planning, Design and Operation. This is the first reference to integrate the basic planning, design and operational function of the many support systems that make a winery operate successfully. The author, an expert on wineries, gathers the essential elements of the major energy, water, wastewater, communication, solid waste, fuel, and fire protection groups and each other of their important subcategories, into one solid source. Comprehensive, easy-to-use chapters in this book provide winery principles with: The necessary tools on how to avoid regulatory agency problems when obtaining use permits and meeting building code requirements at the planning stage. Useful guidelines for designing utilities for eventual expansion to meet anticipated production measures or for checking options for system upgrading or improvement. Helpful comparisons of utility systems or subsystems that work against those that do not and why. Contemporary environmental constraints and methods for minimizing environmental disruption in the design of utilities.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 460 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Systems Thinking is a new paradigm set to revolutionize management practice in the 21st century. Systems Approaches to Management is the most comprehensive guide available to the application of this new paradigm in the field of management. ItTraces the emergence of holistic thinking in disciplines such as biology, control engineering, sociology and the natural sciencesDetails and provides a critique, based upon social theory, of the range of systems approaches, methodologies, models and methodsOffers numerous case studies to illustrate systems thinking applied to managementIntroduces critical systems thinking' as a coherent framework that brings unity to the diversity of different systems approaches and advises managers, consultants, scholars and students on their useProvides an accessible source of inspiration for managers, management consultants, scholars and students £/LIST£ Covers chaos and complexity theory, the learning organization, system dynamics, living systems theory, soft systems methodology, interactive management, interactive planning, total systems intervention, autopoiesis, management cybernetics, the viable system model, operations research (hard and soft), systems analysis, systems engineering, general system theory, sociotechnical systems thinking, the fifth discipline, social systems design, team syntegrity, postmodern systems thinking, critical systems thinking, and much more.Considers the work of Ackoff, Banathy, Beer, Capra, Checkland, Churchman, Eden, Emery, Flood, Forrester, Friend, Freire, Jackson, Jantsch, Linstone, Luhmann, Mason, Maturana, Miller, Mitroff, Prigonine, Rosenhead, Senge, Stacey, Trist, Ulrich, Varela, Vickers, von Bertalanffy, Warfield, Wheatley, Wiener, and many more.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 470 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book was stimulated by the enthusiasm shown by attendees at the meetings in Saxon River, VT, sponsored by the Federation ofAmerican Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), on the subject of the intestinal processing of lipids. When these meetings were first started in 1990, the original organizers, two of whom are editors ofthis volume (CMM and PT), had two major goals. The first was to bring together a diverse group ofinvestiga tors who had the common goal of gaining a better understanding of how the intestine ab sorbs lipids. The second was to stimulate the interest of younger individuals whom we wished to recruit into what we believed was an exciting and fruitful area ofresearch. Since that time, the field has opened up considerably with new questions being asked and new an swers obtained, suggesting that our original goals for the meetings were being met. In the same spirit, it occurred to us that there has not been a recentbook that draws to gethermuch ofthe informationavailableconcerninghow the intestineprocesses lipids. This book is intended to reach investigators with an interest in this area and their pre- and post doctoral students. The chapters are written by individuals who have a long-term interest in the areas about which they write, and many have been speakers at the subsequent FASEB conferences that have followed on the first.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 460 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Data Quality provides an exposé of research and practice in the data quality field for technically oriented readers. It is based on the research conducted at the MIT Total Data Quality Management (TDQM) program and work from other leading research institutions. This book is intended primarily for researchers, practitioners, educators and graduate students in the fields of Computer Science, Information Technology, and other interdisciplinary areas. It forms a theoretical foundation that is both rigorous and relevant for dealing with advanced issues related to data quality. Written with the goal to provide an overview of the cumulated research results from the MIT TDQM research perspective as it relates to database research, this book is an excellent introduction to Ph.D. who wish to further pursue their research in the data quality area. It is also an excellent theoretical introduction to IT professionals who wish to gain insight into theoretical results in the technically-oriented data quality area, and apply some of the key concepts to their practice.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) has been one of the fastest growing problem areas in many disciplines. The central problem is how to evaluate a set of alternatives in terms of a number of criteria. Although this problem is very relevant in practice, there are few methods available and their quality is hard to determine. Thus, the question `Which is the best method for a given problem ' has become one of the most important and challenging ones.This is exactly what this book has as its focus and why it is important. The author extensively compares, both theoretically and empirically, real-life MCDM issues and makes the reader aware of quite a number of surprising `abnormalities' with some of these methods. What makes this book so valuable and different is that even though the analyses are rigorous, the results can be understood even by the non-specialist.Audience: Researchers, practitioners, and students; it can be used as a textbook for senior undergraduate or graduate courses in business and engineering.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Systems Thinking is a new paradigm set to revolutionize management practice in the 21st century. Systems Approaches to Management is the most comprehensive guide available to the application of this new paradigm in the field of management. ItTraces the emergence of holistic thinking in disciplines such as biology, control engineering, sociology and the natural sciencesDetails and provides a critique, based upon social theory, of the range of systems approaches, methodologies, models and methodsOffers numerous case studies to illustrate systems thinking applied to managementIntroduces critical systems thinking' as a coherent framework that brings unity to the diversity of different systems approaches and advises managers, consultants, scholars and students on their useProvides an accessible source of inspiration for managers, management consultants, scholars and students £/LIST£ Covers chaos and complexity theory, the learning organization, system dynamics, living systems theory, soft systems methodology, interactive management, interactive planning, total systems intervention, autopoiesis, management cybernetics, the viable system model, operations research (hard and soft), systems analysis, systems engineering, general system theory, sociotechnical systems thinking, the fifth discipline, social systems design, team syntegrity, postmodern systems thinking, critical systems thinking, and much more.Considers the work of Ackoff, Banathy, Beer, Capra, Checkland, Churchman, Eden, Emery, Flood, Forrester, Friend, Freire, Jackson, Jantsch, Linstone, Luhmann, Mason, Maturana, Miller, Mitroff, Prigonine, Rosenhead, Senge, Stacey, Trist, Ulrich, Varela, Vickers, von Bertalanffy, Warfield, Wheatley, Wiener, and many more.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 472 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book focuses on a specific engineering problem that is and will continue to be important in the forth-coming information age: namely, the need for highly integrated radio systems that can be embedded in wireless devices for various applications, including portable mobile multimedia wireless communications, wireless appliances, digital cellular, and digital cordless. Traditionally, the design of radio IC¿s involves a team of engineers trained in a wide range of fields that include networking, communication systems, radio propagation, digital/analog circuits, RF circuits, and process technology. However as radio IC¿s become more integrated, the need for a diverse skill set and knowledge becomes essential for professionals as well as students to broaden beyond their trained area of expertise and to become proficient in related areas. The key to designing an optimized, economical solution for radio systems on a chip hinges on the designer¿s thorough understanding of the complex trade-offs from communication systems down to circuits. To acquire the insight and understanding of the complex system and circuit trade-offs, a designer must digest volumes of books covering diverse topics, such as communications theory, radio propagation, and digital/analog/RF circuits. While books are available today that cover the individual areas, they tend to be narrowly focused and do not provide the necessary insight in the specific problem of integrating a complete radio system on a chip.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 540 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Growth Hormone and the Heart endeavors to bring together knowledge that has been accumulated in the area of GH and the heart, from basic to clinical studies, by research groups working on this topic throughout the world. Lessons from different experimental models and from several human diseases (acromegaly, adult GH deficiency, heart failure) suggest to endocrinologists and cardiologists that GH may not only have a role in the physiology and pathophysiology of heart function, but that GH itself may have a place in the treatment of primary heart diseases (such as dilated cardiomyopathy) or of cardiac complications of hypopituitarism. Growth Hormone and the Heart will be a useful update of the research produced in the field of cardiovascular endocrinology. The Editors also hope that this book will serve as the primary step in the recognition of the wide physiological and clinical significance of GH and heart interactions.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware - Genetics of Diabetes Mellitus is intended to be a resource for both researchers in the field as well as endocrinologists, diabetologists, and geneticists who seek to learn more about this rapidly changing and important field. The text contains chapters from experts in the area who review aspects of the genetics of both type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus as well as various syndromic forms of diabetes. The chapters are approachable for those who are not experts in the field of genetics but also comprehensive, so as to serve as an important resource for researchers interested in the genetics of diabetes mellitus. A description of basic concepts of the genetics of complex diseases like type 1 and type 2 diabetes is provided as background. Type 1 diabetes is addressed in chapters exploring genetic determinants that affect the autoimmune process characteristic of type 1 diabetes, the role of the insulin gene in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and additional genes that may impact upon the risk of type 1 diabetes. The impact of genetic determinants on the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes is covered, as are chapters that address specific genes that are important for the development of type 2 diabetes. Finally, syndromic forms of diabetes, including Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young and mitochondrial diabetes, and the insight that these disorders provide into more common forms of diabetes are reviewed. Thus, this comprehensive and up-to-date text will serve as an important resource for those actively engaged in research in this area and clinicians treating these patients to provide an up-to-date entrée for those seeking to become more knowledgeable in the area.