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Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Matrix-Based Multigrid introduces and analyzes the multigrid approach for the numerical solution of large sparse linear systems arising from the discretization of elliptic partial differential equations. Special attention is given to the powerful matrix-based-multigrid approach, which is particularly useful for problems with variable coefficients and nonsymmetric and indefinite problems.This book can be used as a textbook in courses in numerical analysis, numerical linear algebra, and numerical PDEs at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels in computer science, math, and applied math departments. The theory is written in simple algebraic terms and therefore requires preliminary knowledge only in basic linear algebra and calculus.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Hidden from human view, accessible only to sensitive receivers attached to huge radio telescopes, giant versions of backyard satellite dishes, the invisible universe beyond our senses continues to fascinate and intrigue our imaginations. We cannot really comprehend what it means to say that a galaxy is exploding, yet that is the nature of some of the distant radio sources in the furthest reaches of space. Closer to home, in the Milky Way galaxy, radio astronomers listen patiently to the ticking of pulsars that tell of star death and states of matter of awesome densities. And between the stars, radio emission from a host of over 120 complex molecules radiate outward to reveal a tale about chemical processes that produce the very stuff of life. And all of this happens out there in the universe hidden from our eyes, even when aided by the Hubble Space Telescope.This is the story of radio astronomy, of how radio waves are generated by stars, supernova, quasars, colliding galaxies, and by the very beginnings of the universe itself. In The Invisible Universe, you learn what astronomers are doing with those huge dishes in the New Mexico desert, in a remote valley in Puerto Rico, in the green Pocahontas Valley in West Virginia, as well as dozens of other remote sites around the world. With each of these observatories, the scientists collect and analyze their data, 'listening' to the radio signals from space, in order to learn what is out there, and perhaps even if someone else may be listening as well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -[the text below needs editing and we must be careful not to say things about Dan Brown's book that could get Springer in legal trouble]Dan Brown¿s novel, The Da Vinci Code, was first published in 2003; its sales have reached 40 million worldwide. The book mixes a small spice of fact into a large dollop of fiction to create an entertaining novel of intrigue, adventure, romance, danger and conspiracy, which have been imaginatively worked together to cook up the successful bestseller.Most interest in the book¿s origins has centred on the sensational religious aspects. Dan Brown has written: ¿All of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact.¿ This gives an air of authenticity to the book. Brown has, however, made up the religious doctrines, or based them on questionable accounts by others.The locations of the actions of The Da Vinci Code are not, however, made up. The present book is the scientific story behind the scene of several of the book¿s actions that take place on the axis of France that passes through Paris.The Paris Meridian is the name of this location. It is the line running north-south through the astronomical observatory in Paris. One of the original intentions behind the founding of the Paris Observatory was to determine and measure this line. The French government financed the Paris Academy of Sciences to do so in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. It employed both astronomers ¿ people who study and measure the stars ¿ and geodesists ¿ people who study and measure the Earth. This book is about what they did and why. It is a true story behind Dan Brown¿s fiction.This is the first English language presentation of this historical material. It is attractively written and it features the story of the community of scientists who created the Paris Meridian. They knew each other well ¿ some were members of the same families, in one caseof four generations. Like scientists everywhere they collaborated and formed alliances; they also split into warring factions and squabbled. They travelled to foreign countries, somehow transcending the national and political disputes, as scientists do now, their eyes fixed on ideas of accuracy, truth and objective, enduring values ¿ save where the reception given to their own work is concerned, when some became blind to high ideals and descended into petty politics.To establish the Paris Meridian, the scientists endured hardship, survived danger and gloried in amazing adventures during a time of turmoil in Europe, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War between France and Spain. Some were accused of witchcraft. Some of their associates lost their heads on the guillotine. Some died of disease. Some won honour and fame. One became the Head of State in France, albeit for no more than a few weeks. Some found dangerous love in foreign countries. One scientist killed in self defence when attacked by a jealous lover, another was himself killed by a jealous lover, a third brought back a woman to France and then jilted her, whereupon she joined a convent.The scientists worked on practical problems of interest to the government and to the people. They also worked on one of the important intellectual problems of the time, a problem of great interest to their fellow scientists all over the world, nothing less than the theory of universal gravitation. They succeeded in their intellectual work, while touching politics and the affairs of state. Their endeavours have left their marks on the landscape, in art and in literature.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 208 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Many scientific papers and popular articles have been written on the topic of space tourism, describing everything from expected market sizes to the rules of 3-dimensional microgravity football. But what would it actually feel like to be a tourist in space, to be hurled into orbit on top of a controlled explosion, to float around in a spacecraft, and to be able to look down on your hometown from above the atmosphere Space tourism is not science fiction anymore, Michel van Pelt tells us, but merely a logical step in the evolution of space flight. Space is about to be opened up to more and more people, and the drive behind this is one of the most powerful economic forces: tourism. Van Pelt describes what recreational space travel might look like, and explains the required space technology, the medical issues, astronaut training, and the possibilities of holidays to destinations far, far away.This is a book for everyone who has ever dreamed of traveling to space: a dream which, according to van Pelt, may not be so far from becoming a reality.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Over the last 15 years or so there has been a huge increase in the popularity of astrophotography with the advent of digital SLR cameras and CCD imagers. These have enabled astronomers to take many images and, indeed, check images as they scan the skies. Processing techniques using computer software have also made ¿developing¿ these images more accessible to those of us who are ¿chemically challenged!¿ And let¿s face it ¿ some of the pictures you see these days in magazines, books, and on popular web forums are, frankly, amazing! So, why bother looking through the eyepiece you ask Well, for one thing, setting up the equipment is quicker. You just take your ¿scope out of the garage or, if yoüre lucky enough to own one, open the roof of your observatory, align the ¿scope and off you go. If you have an equatorial mount, yoüll still need to roughly polar align, but this really takes only a few moments. The ¿imager¿ would most likely need to spend more time setting up. This would include very accurate polar alignment (for equatorial mounts), then finding a guide star using his or her finder, checking the software is functioning properly, and c- tinuous monitoring to make sure the alignment is absolutely precise throu- out the imaging run. That said, an imager with a snug ¿obsy¿ at the end of the garden will have a quicker time setting up, but then again so will the ¿visual¿ observer.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 448 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -From reviews of the first edition:'In the world of mathematics, the 1980's might well be described as the 'decade of the fractal'. Starting with Benoit Mandelbrot's remarkable text The Fractal Geometry of Nature, there has been a deluge of books, articles and television programmes about the beautiful mathematical objects, drawn by computers using recursive or iterative algorithms, which Mandelbrot christened fractals. Gerald Edgar's book is a significant addition to this deluge. Based on a course given to talented high- school students at Ohio University in 1988, it is, in fact, an advanced undergraduate textbook about the mathematics of fractal geometry, treating such topics as metric spaces, measure theory, dimension theory, and even some algebraic topology.the book also contains many good illustrations of fractals (including 16 color plates).'Mathematics Teaching'The book can be recommended to students who seriously want to know about the mathematical foundation of fractals, and to lecturers who want to illustrate a standard course in metric topology by interesting examples.'Christoph Bandt, Mathematical Reviews'.not only intended to fit mathematics students who wish to learn fractal geometry from its beginning but also students in computer science who are interested in the subject. Especially, for the last students the author gives the required topics from metric topology and measure theory on an elementary level. The book is written in a very clear style and contains a lot of exercises which should be worked out.'H.Haase, ZentralblattAbout the second edition: Changes throughout the text, taking into account developments in the subject matter since 1990; Major changes in chapter 6. Since 1990 it has become clear that there are two notions of dimension that play complementary roles, so the emphasis on Hausdorff dimension will be replaced by the two: Hausdorff dimension and packing dimension. 6.1 will remain, but a new section on packing dimension will follow it, then the old sections 6.2--6.4 will be re-written to show both types of dimension; Substantial change in chapter 7: new examples along with recent developments; Sections rewritten to be made clearer and more focused.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Blending algebra, analysis, and topology, the study of compact Lie groups is one of the most beautiful areas of mathematics and a key stepping stone to the theory of general Lie groups. Assuming no prior knowledge of Lie groups, this book covers the structure and representation theory of compact Lie groups. Included is the construction of the Spin groups, Schur Orthogonality, the Peter-Weyl Theorem, the Plancherel Theorem, the Maximal Torus Theorem, the Commutator Theorem, the Weyl Integration and Character Formulas, the Highest Weight Classification, and the Borel-Weil Theorem. The necessary Lie algebra theory is also developed in the text with a streamlined approach focusing on linear Lie groups.Key Features are: - Provides an approach that minimizes advanced prerequisites; - Self-contained and systematic exposition requiring no previous exposure to Lie theory; -Advances quickly to the Peter-Weyl Theorem and its corresponding Fourier theory; - Streamlined Lie algebra discussion reduces the differential geometry prerequisite and allows a more rapid transition to the classification and construction of representations - Exercises sprinkled throughout.This beginning graduate level text, aimed primarily at Lie Groups courses and related topics, assumes familiarity with elementary concepts from group theory, analysis, and manifold theory. Students, research mathematicians, and physicists interested in Lie theory will find this text very useful.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This book represents the compilation of efforts by researchers across the country, each of whom is dedicated not only to the prevention and elimination of HIV infection, but also to the conduct of research according to the highest ethical pr- ciples. The authors of the case studies have graciously agreed to share their ex- riences in conducting research, which raised questions for them and will motivate us to further inquiry and examination. The views that are presented in this text are diverse and readers may or may not agree with the analyses of the editor-authors or the authors of the case studies. We do not aim for agreement among readers, but rather, the studied analysis of the ethical issues raised in the conduct of HIV research. We clearly emphasize the protection of the individuals participating in such research, as well as their communities, and view research not as an enterprise undertaken by researchers, but rather as a negotiated exchange between researchers, participants, and c- munities that also involves interplay with funding sources, ancillary partners, and governments.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This edited volume has been compiled to present the latest developments in the field of social dilemma research. Social dilemmas are situations when there is a conflict between self-interest and collective interest. Research in this area has gained interest in the last twenty years in disciplines such as sociology, psychology, and economics. It also has wide applications to numerous real-world issues such as environmental degradation, organizational management, and societal public good.The main aim of this work was to investigate under what circumstances people make decisions that are inline with the collective interest as well as investigating what can increase the likelihood of cooperation. There will be three man sections mirroring the different levels of analysis: individual, group, and societal.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 300 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Conics and Cubics is an accessible introduction to algebraic curves. Its focus on curves of degree at most three keeps results tangible and proofs transparent. Theorems follow naturally from high school algebra and two key ideas, homogeneous coordinates and intersection multiplicities.By classifying irreducible cubics over the real numbers and proving that their points form Abelian groups, the book gives readers easy access to the study of elliptic curves. It includes a simple proof of Bezout¿s Theorem on the number of intersections of two curves.The book is a text for a one-semester course. The course can serve either as the one undergraduate geometry course taken by mathematics majors in general or as a sequel to college geometry for prospective or current teachers of secondary school mathematics. The only prerequisite is first-year calculus.The new edition additionally discusses the use of power series to parametrize curves and analyze intersection multiplicities and envelopes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Set-valued analysis is an essential tool for the mathematical formulation of many real-life situations, e.g., equilibrium theory in mathematical economics. This work offers the first comprehensive treatment in book form of the fairly new subdiscipline of enlargements of maximal monotone operators, including several important new results in the field. In the last decades, with the development of nonsmooth optimization, effective algorithms have been developed to solve these kinds of problems, such as nonsmooth variational inequalities. Several of these methods, such as bundle methods for variational problems, are fully developed and analyzed in this book.The first chapters provide a self-contained review of the basic notions and fundamental results in set-valued analysis, including set convergence and continuity of set-valued mappings together with many important results in infinite-dimensional convex analysis, leading to the classical fixed point results due to Ekeland, Caristi and Kakutani. Next, an in-depth introduction to monotone operators is developed, emphasizing results related to maximality of subdifferentials and of sums of monotone operators. Building on this foundational material, the second part of the monograph contains new results (all of them established during the last decade) on the concept of enlargements of monotone operators, with applications to variational inequalities, bundle-type methods, augmented Lagrangian methods, and proximal point algorithms.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -How to solve partial differential systems by completing the square. This could well have been the title of this monograph as it grew into a project to develop a s- tematic approach for associating suitable nonnegative energy functionals to a large class of partial differential equations (PDEs) and evolutionary systems. The minima of these functionals are to be the solutions we seek, not because they are critical points (i. e. , from the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations) but from also - ing zeros of these functionals. The approach can be traced back to Bogomolnyi¿s trick of ¿completing squares¿ in the basic equations of quantum eld theory (e. g. , Yang-Mills, Seiberg-Witten, Ginzburg-Landau, etc. ,), which allows for the deri- tion of the so-called self (or antiself) dual version of these equations. In reality, the ¿self-dual Lagrangians¿ we consider here were inspired by a variational - proach proposed ¿ over 30 years ago ¿ by Brezis ¿ and Ekeland for the heat equation and other gradient ows of convex energies. It is based on Fenchel-Legendre - ality and can be used on any convex functional ¿ not just quadratic ones ¿ making them applicable in a wide range of problems. In retrospect, we realized that the ¿- ergy identities¿ satis ed by Leray¿s solutions for the Navier-Stokes equations are also another manifestation of the concept of self-duality in the context of evolution equations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 368 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Authoritative Communities: The Scientific Case for Nurturing the Whole Child introduces innovative solutions based firmly in the children¿s mental health and resilience literature and in the hypothesis that humans are 'hardwired to connect.' These 'authoritative communities' consist of such individuals and institutions as parents, teachers, coaches, elders, and a variety of organizations that are committed to each other¿s well-being over the long-term and who instill children with prosocial values such as empathy and compassion. Living within these communities enables children and youth to develop a consistent sense of purpose and meaning, so that they, in turn, are able to grow up to be responsible, productive, and nurturing adults.The comprehensive coverage in this volume bring new insights and evidence to the nature/nurture debate from developmental, attachment, neurobiological, spiritual, and community perspectives, including:Nurturing as a protective factor against genetic predispositions.Counteracting the adverse influence of the media on children.Promoting a sense of community in disadvantaged youth.Spiritual approaches, from the Buddhist 'minding children with mindfulness' to traditional young men¿s rites of passage.Adolescent development, from psychobiology to the formation of conscience.Dispatches from the civil society movement, the School Development Program, and the motherhood movement.This volume is essential reading for researchers and practitioners as well as graduate-level students in developmental, clinical, and social psychology as well as related fields such as sociology, social work, education, and religious studies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 412 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Most children master emotion regulation skills during their early childhood, though, increasingly, many enter school with mild or serious deficits that may not be addressed effectively or early enough. Practitioner¿s Guide to Emotion Regulation in School-Aged Children presents in-depth background and practical information on the subject to enable school professionals to craft interventions that are developmentally appropriate, relevant, and timely.In this volume, variables that contribute to emotional regulation are identified, complex relationships between emotions, stress, and temperament are explored, and challenges to competence at school (e.g., test anxiety, bullying) and at home (e.g., punishment for 'wrong' emotions) are examined. Strategies for recognizing specific skill deficiencies or more general needs are provided, along with emotion coaching techniques, cognitive-behavioral methods, anger management programs, empathy training, and other interventions. Dozens of worksheets and handouts included in the book can be reproduced or fine-tuned to fit age and ability levels.Featured topics include:Emotion dysregulation as a risk factor for mental disorders, including anxiety, depressive disorders, and the autism spectrum.The biology of emotion regulation, and its potential in designing interventions.Strengthening parenting skills to reinforce children¿s emotional skills.Working with teachers to improve the emotional climate in the classroom.The peer group: translating self-regulation into social contexts.Step by step intervention processes.With targeted training at the classroom, home, and peer levels, children can better attain the vital skills they need for a lifetime of social interactions. This volume is an essential resource for school psychologists and other school-based mental health professionals.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -The theory of elliptic curves is distinguished by its long history and by the diversity of the methods that have been used in its study. This book treats the arithmetic approach in its modern formulation, through the use of basic algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry. Following a brief discussion of the necessary algebro-geometric results, the book proceeds with an exposition of the geometry and the formal group of elliptic curves, elliptic curves over finite fields, the complex numbers, local fields, and global fields. Final chapters deal with integral and rational points, including Siegels theorem and explicit computations for the curve Y = X + DX, while three appendices conclude the whole: Elliptic Curves in Characteristics 2 and 3, Group Cohomology, and an overview of more advanced topics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 536 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Macroeconomic policy is an applications-oriented text designed for individuals who desire a hands-on approach to analyzing the effects of fiscal and monetary policies. MBA and Executive MBA students who appreciate the importance of monetary and fiscal analysis will find this text to be right on target. Financial analysts and individual investors who need to strip away economic myths and jargon and systematically examine and understand the effects of macro policies on variables such as inflation, output, employment and interest rates, will also find the book extremely useful.A unique feature of this book is the extensive use of specially written 'newspaper' articles designed to simulate current macroeconomic news. Each chapter contains exercises that enable the reader to relate specific underlined passages in these articles to the theory presented in preceding chapters. This distinctive approach ensures real-world applicability, and supporting diagrams further enable the reader to relate current economic news to the theoretical material discussed.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Ian Maxwell applies decades of research and application to present a novel approach to innovation, with an emphasis on sustainable and renewable practices that benefit many, and not just a handful of executives and shareholders. Featuring examples from a wide range of innovators around the world, from Google to Genentech to the Masdar ¿clean¿ city initiative in Abu Dhabi, Maxwell argues that organizations that embrace structured innovation management systems and drive a ¿top down¿ innovation culture will achieve sustainable high growth and strong shareholder returns. Countries that provide the right physical, financial and human resource infrastructure to support a highly innovative macro-economic environment will experience both strong GPD growth and high living standards. Those companies and countries that fail to support innovation will struggle to compete and raise living standards, respectively. Maxwell considers the cases of China and India, whose low-cost innovation strategies are posing a serious competitive threat to established multinationals in the developed world, and considers the impact of innovation on such timely issues as climate change, environmental pollution, fossil fuel shortages, third world poverty, rising healthcare costs and ageing populations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Studying Human Populations is a textbook for graduate students and research workers in social statistics and related subject areas. It follows a novel curriculum developed around the basic statistical activities of sampling, measurement and inference. Statistics is defined broadly as making decisions in the presence of uncertainty that arises as a consequence of limited resources available for collecting information. A connecting link of the presented methods is the perspective of missing information, catering for a diverse class of problems that include nonresponse, imperfect measurement and causal inference. In principle, any problem too complex for our limited analytical toolkit could be converted to a tractable problem if some additional information were available. Ingenuity is called for in declaring such (missing) information constructively, but the universe of problems that we can address is wide open, not limited by a discrete set of procedures.The monograph aims to prepare the reader for the career of an independent social statistician and to serve as a reference for methods, ideas for and ways of studying human populations: formulation of the inferential goals, design of studies, search for the sources of relevant information, analysis and presentation of results. Elementary linear algebra and calculus are prerequisites, although the exposition is quite forgiving, especially in the first few chapters. Familiarity with statistical software at the outset is an advantage, but it can be developed concurrently with studying the text.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 496 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -This volume will be the only existing single-authored book offering a science-based breeder¿s manual directed at breeding for water-limited environments. Plant breeding is characterized by the need to integrate information from diverse disciplines towards the development and delivery of a product defines as a new cultivar. Conventional breeding draws information from disciplines such as genetics, plant physiology, plant pathology, entomology, food technology and statistics. Plant breeding for water-limited environments and the development of drought resistant crop cultivars is considered as one of the more difficult areas in plant breeding while at the same time it is becoming a very pressing issue. This volume is unique and timely in that it develops realistic solutions and protocols towards the breeding of drought resistant cultivars by integrating knowledge from environmental science, plant physiology, genetics and molecular biology.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -In this text, integral geometry deals with Radon¿s problem of representing a function on a manifold in terms of its integrals over certain submanifolds¿hence the term the Radon transform. Examples and far-reaching generalizations lead to fundamental problems such as: (i) injectivity, (ii) inversion formulas, (iii) support questions, (iv) applications (e.g., to tomography, partial di erential equations and group representations). For the case of the plane, the inversion theorem and the support theorem have had major applications in medicine through tomography and CAT scanning. While containing some recent research, the book is aimed at beginning graduate students for classroom use or self-study. A number of exercises point to further results with documentation. From the reviews: ¿Integral Geometry is a fascinating area, where numerous branches of mathematics meet together. the contents of the book is concentrated around the duality and double vibration, which is realized through the masterful treatment of a variety of examples. the book is written by an expert, who has made fundamental contributions to the area.¿ ¿Boris Rubin, Louisiana State UniversitySpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Principles of Mathematics in Operations Research is a comprehensive survey of the mathematical concepts and principles of industrial mathematics. Its purpose is to provide students and professionals with an understanding of the fundamental mathematical principles used in Industrial Mathematics/OR in modeling problems and application solutions.All the concepts presented in each chapter have undergone the learning scrutiny of the author and his students. The conceptual relationships within the chapter material have been developed in the classroom experience working with the students' level of understanding. The illustrative material throughout the book (i.e., worked-out problems and examples of the mathematical principles) was refined for student comprehension as the manuscript developed through its iterations, and the chapter exercises are refined from the previous year's exercises. In sum, the author has carefully developed a pedagogically strong survey textbook of OR and Industrial Mathematics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 312 pp. Englisch.

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

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -PROCESS OPTIMIZATION: A Statistical Approach is a textbook for a course in experimental optimization techniques for industrial production processes and other 'noisy' systems where the main emphasis is process optimization. The book can also be used as a reference text by Industrial, Quality and Process Engineers and Applied Statisticians working in industry, in particular, in semiconductor/electronics manufacturing and in biotech manufacturing industries.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A majority of the chapters in this book first saw the light of day as talks at a conference organised and held at Queen¿s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in April 2001. This small, invitational meeting, tellingly entitled Beauty and the Mathematical Beast, brought together a range of academics int- ested in and committed to exploring connections between mathematics and aesthetics. The enthusiastic response of participants at this gathering enco- aged the presenters to expand upon their initial contributions and persuaded the organisers to recruit further chapters in order to bring a greater balance to the whole. The timing of this event was not arbitrary. The preceding decade had seen a resurgence in serious writing dealing with deeper relations between mathematics (and science) and ¿the beautiful¿. In many ways, we the editors of this volume found these contributions to the literature were revisiting and drawing on themes that had been prominent over two thousand five h- dred years ago, in certain writings of the Pythagoreans. While not intending to offer a historical reappraisal of these ancient thinkers here, we have none the less chosen to invoke this profound interweaving of the mathematical and the aesthetic to which this reputedly secretive philosophical sect was ext- sively attuned. This book is divided into three sections comprising three chapters each, each with its own short introduction discussing the particular chapters within.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Although the rst decades of the 20th century saw some strong debates on set theory and the foundation of mathematics, afterwards set theory has turned into a solid branch of mathematics, indeed, so solid, that it serves as the foundation of the whole building of mathematics. Later generations, honest to Hilbert¿s dictum, ¿No one can chase us out of the paradise that Cantor has created for us¿ proved countless deep and interesting theorems and also applied the methods of set theory to various problems in algebra, topology, in nitary combinatorics, and real analysis. The invention of forcing produced a powerful, technically sophisticated tool for solving unsolvable problems. Still, most results of the pre-Cohen era can be digested with just the knowledge of a commonsense introduction to the topic. And it is a worthy e ort, here we refer not just to usefulness, but, rst and foremost, to mathematical beauty. In this volume we o er a collection of various problems in set theory. Most of classical set theory is covered, classical in the sense that independence methods are not used, but classical also in the sense that most results come fromtheperiod,say,1920¿1970.Manyproblemsarealsorelatedtoother elds of mathematics such as algebra, combinatorics, topology, and real analysis. We do not concentrate on the axiomatic framework, although some - pects, such as the axiom of foundation or the role ¿ of the axiom of choice, are elaborated.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 528 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -On several occasions I and colleagues have found ourselves teaching a o- semester course for students at the second year of graduate study in ma- ematics who want to gain a general perspective on Jordan algebras, their structure, and their role in mathematics, or want to gain direct experience with nonassociative algebra. These students typically have a solid grounding in rst¿year graduate algebra and the Artin¿Wedderburn theory of assoc- tive algebras, and a few have been introduced to Lie algebras (perhaps even Cayley algebras, in an o hand way), but otherwise they have not seen any nonassociative algebras. Most of them will not go on to do research in non- sociative algebra, so the course is not primarily meant to be a training or breeding ground for research, though the instructor often hopes that one or two will be motivated to pursue the subject further. This text is meant to serve as an accompaniment to such a course. It is designed rst and foremost to be read by students on their own without assistance by a teacher. It is a direct mathematical conversation between the author and a reader whose mind (as far as nonassociative algebra goes) is a tabula rasa. In keeping with the tone of a private conversation, I give more heuristicandexplanatorycommentthanisusualingraduatetextsatthislev el (pep talks, philosophical pronouncements on the proper way to think about certain concepts, historical anecdotes, mention of some mathematicians who have contributed to our understanding of Jordan algebras, etc.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 592 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -A book on any mathematical subject above textbook level is not of much value unless it contains new ideas and new perspectives. Also, the author may be encouraged to include new results, provided that they help the reader gain newinsightsandarepresentedalongwithknownoldresultsinaclearexposi tion. Itis with this philosophy that Iwrite this volume. The two subjects, Dirichlet series and modular forms, are traditional, but I treat them in both orthodox and unorthodox ways. However, I try to make the book accessible to those who are not familiar with such topics, by including plenty of expository material. More speci c descriptions of the contents will be given in the Introduction. To some extent, this book has a supplementary nature to my previous book Introduction to the Arithmetic Theory of Automorphic Functions, published by Princeton University Press in 1971, though I do not write the present book with that intent. While the 1971 book grew out of my lectures in various places, the essential points of this new book have never been presented publicly or privately. I hope that it will draw an audience as large as that of the previous book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Digital Signal Processing for Measurement Systems: Theory and Applications covers the theoretical as well as the practical issues which form the basis of the modern DSP-based instruments and measurement methods. It covers the basics of DSP theory before discussing the critical aspects of DSP unique to measurement science.Key Features:Approaches signal processing through a unique measurement science perspectiveCovers both theory and state-of-the-art applications, from the sampling theorem to the design of FIR/IIR filtersIncludes important topics, for example, problems that arise when sampling periodic signals and the relationship between the sampling rate and the SNRSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Banach algebras are Banach spaces equipped with a continuous multipli- tion. In roughterms,there arethree types ofthem:algebrasofboundedlinear operators on Banach spaces with composition and the operator norm, al- bras consisting of bounded continuous functions on topological spaces with pointwise product and the uniform norm, and algebrasof integrable functions on locally compact groups with convolution as multiplication. These all play a key role in modern analysis. Much of operator theory is best approached from a Banach algebra point of view and many questions in complex analysis (such as approximation by polynomials or rational functions in speci c - mains) are best understood within the framework of Banach algebras. Also, the study of a locally compact Abelian group is closely related to the study 1 of the group algebra L (G). There exist a rich literature and excellent texts on each single class of Banach algebras, notably on uniform algebras and on operator algebras. This work is intended as a textbook which provides a thorough introduction to the theory of commutative Banach algebras and stresses the applications to commutative harmonic analysis while also touching on uniform algebras. In this sense and purpose the book resembles Larsen¿s classical text [75] which shares many themes and has been a valuable resource. However, for advanced graduate students and researchers I have covered several topics which have not been published in books before, including some journal articles.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 368 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condizione: Neu. Neuware -Just over ten years ago when the first drafts of this book were being written, and even more so a few years after that as it was making its way through the publication process, alpine skiing was experiencing what eventually became a complete revolution in equipment and tech nique: 'shaped' or 'parabolic' skis completely took over the market, and even relatively beginning skiers expected to carve graceful turns as they schussed down the slopes. Re-reading our work with an eye to revision, we have been surprised to see how our focus on the physics of skiing in the first edition al lowed us to recognize the fundamental importance of what were then quite novel changes in equipment and technique. The essence of the enhancement offered by shaped skis is their greater sidecut radius. Our original discussion (then and now in Chapters 3 and 4) of the crucial role that a ski's sidecut plays in carving a turn caused us to write, for the most part, as if the shaped ski had always been in existence. Sim ilarly, our interest in the geometry ofthe sidecut allowed us to discuss snowboards in some detail as well, for the key to their ability to 'shred' down the mountain is their deep sidecut.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 288 pp. Englisch.