springer apr 2000 (14 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Material processing techniques that employ severe plastic deformation have evolved over the past decade, producing metals, alloys and composites having extraordinary properties. Variants of SPD methods are now capable of creating monolithic materials with submicron and nanocrystalline grain sizes. The resulting novel properties of these materials has led to a growing scientific and commercial interest in them. They offer the promise of bulk nanocrystalline materials for structural; applications, including nanocomposites of lightweight alloys with unprecedented strength. These materials may also enable the use of alternative metal shaping processes, such as high strain rate superplastic forming. Prospective applications for medical, automotive, aerospace and other industries are already under development.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Youth have nearly always exhibited behaviors that frustrate adults. It can be diffi cult to understand why young people engage in risky or destructive behavior, and it is challenging to develop strategies to encourage more healthy and responsible behavior among our youth. However, it is helpful to realize that despite the fact that large numbers of youth engage in frightful and destructive behaviors for pe riods of time during adolescence and early adulthood, a large proportion of youth find a way not only to survive but also to bounce back and contribute significantly to the furtherance of human development. We are not the first generation of adults to experience the pain, fear, and frustration of dealing with our youth. More important, we recognize that we are not helpless when faced with the problems youth experience. While it is true that adolescents have always exhibited problem behaviors, a number of effective tools and approaches have always been at our disposal to assist with appropriate youth development. Of course, the most effective approaches require a tremendous amount of focused time and energy.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - As the dedication ofthis book suggests, the genesis ofthis book arises from my association with Cha'im Perelman. Because I was one of the few Americans to comment on his TraUe de l' argumentation: la nouvelle rhetorique, before it was translated into English, I was invited to a conference celebrating the translation ofthat monumental work into English that was held in August 1970 in Santa Barbara, Califomia at the Center for the Study ofDemocratic Institutions, which was then under the directorship of the late Robert M. Hutchins. From that beginning, Professor Perelman and I developed a strong and warm friendship which was cemented when Professor Perelman and his wife, Fela, came to North Carolina in 1979 as a fellow at the National Humanities Center. I enjoyed the occasions on which I was able to participate in the activities of the Centre National de Recherehes de Logique which had been established, under Professor Perelman's aegis, in Belgium. A trip to Brussels was always somethingto which I looked forward. Since Professor Perelman's sudden and untimely death in January 1984, shortly after he had been singularly honored by being made a baron by King Baudouin, I have benefited greatly from my participation in the programs of the Perelman Foundation which was established through the generosity and efforts ofBaronne Fela Perelman; a remarkable woman in her own right who has now sadly also passed away.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - During the last three decades, interest has increased significantly in the representation and manipulation of imprecision and uncertainty. Perhaps the most important technique in this area concerns fuzzy logic or the logic of fuzziness initiated by L. A. Zadeh in 1965. Since then, fuzzy logic has been incorporated into many areas of fundamental science and into the applied sciences. More importantly, it has been successful in the areas of expert systems and fuzzy control. The main body of this book consists of so-called IF-THEN rules, on which experts express their knowledge with respect to a certain domain of expertise. Fuzzy IF-THEN Rules in Computational Intelligence: Theory and Applications brings together contributions from leading global specialists who work in the domain of representation and processing of IF-THEN rules. This work gives special attention to fuzzy IF-THEN rules as they are being applied in computational intelligence. Included are theoretical developments and applications related to IF-THEN problems of propositional calculus, fuzzy predicate calculus, implementations of the generalized Modus Ponens, approximate reasoning, data mining and data transformation, techniques for complexity reduction, fuzzy linguistic modeling, large-scale application of fuzzy control, intelligent robotic control, and numerous other systems and practical applications. This book is an essential resource for engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists working in fuzzy sets, soft computing, and of course, computational intelligence.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Field-Programmable Custom Computing Technology: Architectures, Tools, and Applications brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this fast-moving area. In seven selected chapters, the book describes the latest advances in architectures, design methods, and applications of field-programmable devices for high-performance reconfigurable systems. The contributors to this work were selected from the leading researchers and practitioners in the field. It will be valuable to anyone working or researching in the field of custom computing technology. It serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most challenging issues being examined today.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Labelled deduction is an approach to providing frameworks for presenting and using different logics in a uniform and natural way by enriching the language of a logic with additional information of a semantic proof-theoretical nature. Labelled deduction systems often possess attractive properties, such as modularity in the way that families of related logics are presented, parameterised proofs of metatheoretic properties, and ease of mechanisability. It is thus not surprising that labelled deduction has been applied to problems in computer science, AI, mathematical logic, cognitive science, philosophy and computational linguistics - for example, formalizing and reasoning about dynamic `state oriented' properties such as knowledge, belief, time, space, and resources.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Molecular Histochemical Techniques presents detailed protocols for analyzing DNA strand breaks, specific RNA/DNA expressions, and DNA binding proteins such as transcription factors at the individual cell level. In situ nick translation and TUNEL are described in detail, along with radioactive and nonradioactive methods for in situ hybridization. Of special significance is the description of Southwestern histochemistry, a new development in molecular histochemistry, which makes it possible to analyze the expression of transcription regulatory factors in individual cells. This volume provides an overview of the current status of molecular histochemistry along with practical how-to-do-it details. Methodology is set forth step-by-step in easy-to-follow language by leading scientists who are working in the field today. The book serves as both a rich source of the latest information and a practical lab manual.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - We are honoured to present this collection of selected papers from the International Conference on Mixing and Crystallization, held at the Tioman Island, Malaysia in April, 1998. We are grateful to the editorial board comprising five eminent researchers in the field of mixing and crystallization for their thoughtful review and suggestions. In order to make this book as current as possible some of the papers have been thoroughly revised, which caused some delay in bringing out this edited version. We received necessary support from the Institute of Post Graduate Studies and Research, the University of Malaya and the Special Research Centre for Multiphase Processes, and the University of Newcastle, Australia in organizing this conference. We are indebted to the Institute of Chemical Engineers, United Kingdom, and the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia for their sponsorship. We would like to thank K.C. Lim, Dr. C. Ramakanth and Ms. Zubaidah for their help at the various stages of editing. We would also like to express our gratitude to Professor Mohd. Ali Hashim and Dr. Nafis Ahmed for their help and encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank Kluwer Academic Publishers for publishing this book. Bhaskar Sen Gupta Shaliza Ibrahim University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur xi CFD MODELLING OF HYDRODYNAMIC CONDITIONS WITHIN THE WAKE OF MIXING IMPELLER BLADES 1 G.D. RIGByl., G. LANE . AND G.M. EVANSl.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms is a new initiative to promote explicitly researches and publications in the field of the History of TMM (Theory of Machines and Mechanisms). It was held at the University of Cassino, Italy, from 11 to 13 May 2000. The Symposium was devoted mainly to the technical aspects of historical developments and therefore it has been addressed mainly to the IFToMM Community. In fact, most the authors of the contributed papers are experts in TMM and related topics. This has been, indeed, a challenge: convincing technical experts to go further in-depth into the background of their topics of expertise. We have received a very positive response, as can be seen by the fact that these Proceedings contain contributions by authors from all around the world. We received about 50 papers, and after review about 40 papers were accepted for both presentation and publishing in the Proceedings. This means also that the History of TMM is of interest everywhere and, indeed, an in-depth knowledge of the past can be of great help in working on the present and in shaping the future with new ideas. I believe that a reader will take advantage of the papers in these Proceedings with further satisfaction and motivation for her or his work (historical or not). These papers cover the wide field of the History of Mechanical Engineering and particularly the History of TMM.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Video segmentation is the most fundamental process for appropriate index ing and retrieval of video intervals. In general, video streams are composed 1 of shots delimited by physical shot boundaries. Substantial work has been done on how to detect such shot boundaries automatically (Arman et aI. , 1993) (Zhang et aI. , 1993) (Zhang et aI. , 1995) (Kobla et aI. , 1997). Through the inte gration of technologies such as image processing, speech/character recognition and natural language understanding, keywords can be extracted and associated with these shots for indexing (Wactlar et aI. , 1996). A single shot, however, rarely carries enough amount of information to be meaningful by itself. Usu ally, it is a semantically meaningful interval that most users are interested in re trieving. Generally, such meaningful intervals span several consecutive shots. There hardly exists any efficient and reliable technique, either automatic or manual, to identify all semantically meaningful intervals within a video stream. Works by (Smith and Davenport, 1992) (Oomoto and Tanaka, 1993) (Weiss et aI. , 1995) (Hjelsvold et aI. , 1996) suggest manually defining all such inter vals in the database in advance. However, even an hour long video may have an indefinite number of meaningful intervals. Moreover, video data is multi interpretative. Therefore, given a query, what is a meaningful interval to an annotator may not be meaningful to the user who issues the query. In practice, manual indexing of meaningful intervals is labour intensive and inadequate.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Digital elements such as signal processors, microcontrollers or industrial PCs are widely used for filtering and control of continuous-time processes or plants. Because of the serial operation mode of these digital elements the continuous time processes cannot be served continuously. That is why continuous-time and discrete-time signals occur simultaneously in systems of this kind. The continuous (real) time also contains the discrete time instants - therefore, a complete and accurate description of such systems in continuous time is pos sible. However, this description proves to be more complicated, because the hybrid system becomes time-variable, also in cases, where all continuous-time processes and all digital elements are time invariant. Often digital elements operate with a fixed time period T, that leads to a periodically time-variable system. Besides the time sampling the use of analogue to digital and digital to analogue converters together with the finite numerical precision of the processors also results in amplitude quantization of the measuring and control signals. Taking into account these effects would lead to nonlinear models. Because these effects are often of minor influence but difficult in handling, in theory and practice it is generally accepted to consider mainly the pure time-quantization effect. Systems containing both continuous-time and discrete-time signals are usually called sampled-data systems (SD systems).

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Membrane fusion and targeting processes are tightly regulated and coordinated. Dozens of proteins, originating from both the cytoplasm and membranes are involved. The discovery of homologous proteins from yeast to neurons validates a unified view. Although much is known about the interfering proteins, the events occurring when two lipid bilayers actually fuse are less clear. It should be remembered that lipid bilayers behave like soap-bubbles fusing when meeting each other. In this respect interfering proteins should be considered as preventing undesirable and unnecessary fusion and eventually directing the biological membrane fusion process (when, where, how, and overcoming the activation energy). In this latest volume in the renowned Subcellular Biochemistry series, some aspects of fusion of biological membranes as well as related problems are presented. Although not complete, there is a lot of recent information including on virus-induced membrane fusion. The contributors of the chapters are all among the researchers who performed many of the pioneering studies in the field.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Internet and the World Wide Web are deeply affecting the way things are traditionally done. E-commerce is changing businesses; the stock market is accessible to individuals; digitized journals, up-to-date databases, and newsgroups are changing the lives of researchers. Is it reasonable to think that learning will remain unaffected Nevertheless, universities, with their blend of teaching and research, have much to offer to those who wish to learn more than simple skills: judgment, initiative, and fair competition for research positions. Over the years, universities have acquired invaluable resources in the form of laboratories and libraries with specially trained staff. How can they evolve to take advantage of the many possibilities of the Internet and broadband communication Many institutions of higher education are trying to integrate new information and communications technologies into current curricula or to develop new learning paradigms for learning. Because it is still so early in the game they are eager to compare their efforts and results to the achievements of others and are willing to learn from them. The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a multi national federation of professional and technical organizations, founded in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO, whose mission is to assist in the development, exploitation, and application of Information Technology for the benefit of all peoples. Given this scope of activity, IFIP seemed the appropriate body to give an international dimension to such a forum.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Woody plants belong to various taxonomic groups, which are heterogeneous in morphology, physiology, and geographic distribution. OtheJWise, they have neither strong evolutionruy relationships nor share a conunon habitat. They are a primaIy source of fiber and timber, and also include many edible fruit species. Their unique phenotypic behavior includes a perennial habit associated with extensive secondary growth. Additional characteristics of woody plants include: developmental juvenility and maturity with respect to growth habit, flowering time, and morphogenetic response in tissue cultures; environmental control of bud dormancy and flowering cycles; variable tolerance to abiotic stresses, wounding and pathogens; and long distance transport of water and IRltrients. Woody plants, particularly tree species, have been the focus of numerous physiological studies to understand their specialized functions, however, only recently they have become the target of molecular studies. Recent advances in our understanding of signal transduction pathways for environmental responses in herbaceous plants, including the identification and cloning of genes for proteins involved in signal transduction. should provide useful leads to undertake parallel studies with woody plants. Molecular mapping techniques, coupled with the availability of cloned genes from herbaceous plants, should provide shortcuts to cloning relevant genes from woody plants. The unique phenotypes of these plants can then be targeted for improvement through genetic engineering.