springer jan 2003 (28 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Although everybody is familiar with the dodo bird, very few people know its history. Yet this history is compelling when read as a fable of the negative impact of humans on Earth's ecosystems. The author describes the complexity of the factors involved in animal extinction. Although we think of ourselves as more ecologically aware than our ancestors, we are propelling extinction to alarming rates.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In Chapter One we review the foundations of statistieal physies and frac tal functions. Our purpose is to demonstrate the limitations of Hamilton's equations of motion for providing a dynamical basis for the statistics of complex phenomena. The fractal functions are intended as possible models of certain complex phenomena; physical.systems that have long-time mem ory and/or long-range spatial interactions. Since fractal functions are non differentiable, those phenomena described by such functions do not have dif ferential equations of motion, but may have fractional-differential equations of motion. We argue that the traditional justification of statistieal mechan ics relies on aseparation between microscopic and macroscopie time scales. When this separation exists traditional statistieal physics results. When the microscopic time scales diverge and overlap with the macroscopie time scales, classieal statistieal mechanics is not applicable to the phenomenon described. In fact, it is shown that rather than the stochastic differential equations of Langevin describing such things as Brownian motion, we ob tain fractional differential equations driven by stochastic processes.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Intended for advanced students of physics, chemistry, and related disciplines, this text treats the quantum theory of atoms and ions within the framework of self-consistent fields. It treats the structure and spectra of atoms and ions, their behavior in external fields, and their interactions, including collisions. Data needed for the analysis of collisions and other atomic processes are also included, making the book useful as a reference for researchers as well as students. In the main text, simple and convincing methods are used to explain the fundamental properties of atoms, molecules, and clusters; details and more advanced aspects of these topics are treated in the problems at the end of each chapter. The first part of the book is devoted to properties of atoms and ions considered as quantum systems of electrons orbiting a heavy Coulomb center. Self-consistent fields and the shell model give a logical and consistent picture, and provide reliable models for the analysis of atomic properties. The second part deals with interactions and collisions of particles -- including bound systems, such as molecules, clusters, and solids. The aim here is to relate the internal structure of the atoms to the interactions between them, providing useful insights for applications; the accompanying data in tables, charts, and spectra complement the theoretical discussion.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Both experimental and theoretical investigations make it clear that mesoscale materials, that is, materials at scales intermediate between atomic and bulk matter, do not always behave in ways predicted by conventional theories of shock compression. At these scales, shock waves interact with local material properties and microstructure to produce a hierarchy of dissipative structures such as inelastic deformation fields, randomly distributed lattice defects, and residual stresses. A macroscopically steady planar shock wave is neither plane nor steady at the mesoscale. The chapters in this book examine the assumptions underlying our understanding of shock phenomena and present new measurements, calculations, and theories that challenge these assumptions. They address such questions as: - What are the experimental data on mesoscale effects of shocks, and what are the implications - Can one formulate new mesoscale theories of shock dynamics - How would new mesoscale theories affect our understanding of shock-induced phase transitions or fracture - What new computational models will be needed for investigating mesoscale shocks.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book presents a collection of 17 papers by authors from eight different countries from diverse fields dealing with multi disciplinary research on the Patagonian Icefields. The main emphasis is glaciology, climatology and paleoclimatology, with contributions in glacier ecology, microbiology and aerosols. The volume is the proceedings of a meeting held on board a Chilean Navy ship, which sailed along the fjords, where the participants had the opportunity of actually setting foot on the Southern Patagonia Icefield.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - MEMORY SEED My introduction to teaching art began in September 1971 when I took up a post as art teacher in a secondary school in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Apart from my desire to survive and establish myself amongst students and staff I remember holding firm ideas about what I should be teaching. In relation to drawing and painting I had clear expectations concerning practice and representation. Students' art work which did not correspond to these I rather naively) considered as weak and in need of correction. I assumed wrongly that when students were making paintings and drawings from observation of objects, people or landscape, they should be aiming to develop specific representational skills associated with the idea of 'rendering' a reasonable likeness. I was reasonably familiar with the development of Western art and different forms of visual representation and expression and I knew, for example, that the projection system perspective is only one and not the correct rep- sentational system for mapping objects and their spatial relations as viewed from a particular point into corresponding relations in a painting or drawing. Nevertheless I still employed this mode of projection as an expectation or a criterion of judgement when teaching my students.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Cities form one of the principal arenas in which globalization processes are manifest. Much of the interest in the urban outcomes of globalization is focused on a limited number of iconic 'global' or 'world' cities. Most places however will never attain that status. They are more likely to play limited and specialized roles in a world economy increasingly dominated by flows. Emerging Nodes in a Global Network looks at the temporal and volatile ways in which two such cities, Frankfurt and Tel Aviv, engage the global economy. The central thesis of the book contends that the current round of globalization is characterized by places selectively functioning as nodes within global networks. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative empirical studies of leading sectors in Frankfurt and Tel Aviv (financial and business services, high technology, air transportation, tourism and cultural industries), the process of network formation is systematically analyzed andthe role of national and regional policy is highlighted. Audience: This book will be of major interest to academics, researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the areas of urban and economic geography, public policy and economic development. It also provides valuable material for government officials and regional and national agencies involved in metropolitan planning and development.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. M. Shelley (1818) Genomic analysis of aquatic species has long been overshadowed by the superb activity of the human genome project. However, aquatic genomics is now in the limelight as evidenced by the recent accomplishment of fugu genome sequencing, which provided a significant foundation for comparative fish genomics. Undoubt edly, such progress will provide an exciting and unparalleled boost to our knowl edge of the genetics of aquatic species. Thus, aquatic genomics research has become a promising new research field with an impact on the fishery industry. It is notewor thy that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has projected that current global fisheries production will soon become insufficient to supply the increasing world population and that aquaculture has a great potential to fulfill that demand. This book, Aquatic Genomic. ~: Steps Toward a Great Future, was designedas a collection of advanced knowledge in aquatic genomics and biological sciences. It covers a variety of aquatic organisms including fish, crustaceans, and shellfish, and describes various advanced methodologies, including genome analysis, gene map ping, DNA markers, and EST analysis. Also included are discussions of many sub jects such as regulation of gene expression, stress and immune responses, sex differ entiation, hormonal control, and transgenic fishes.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This will serve primarily as a hardcover, library purchase with a short shelf life of 6 months and will also add to the exposure of other works by Jean-Louis Vincent, the Update in Intensive Care Medicine series, which was repackaged to suit the North American market. This book compiles the most recent, widespread developments of experimental and clinical research and practice in one comprehensive reference book. The chapters are written by well recognized experts in the field of intensive care and emergency medicine. It is addressed to everyone involved in internal medicine, anesthesia, surgery, pediatrics, intensive care and emergency medicine.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The digital information revolution has brought about profound changes in our society and our life. New devices and powerful software have made it possible for consumers worldwide to create, manipulate, share, and enjoy the multimedia information. Internet and wireless networks offer ubiquitous channels to deliver and to exchange multimedia information for such pur poses as remote collaboration, distant learning, and entertainment. With all these advances in multimedia coding and communication technologies over the past decade, the major hurdle for allowing much broader access of multimedia assets and deployment of multimedia services no longer lies with bandwidth-related issues, but with how to make sure that content is used for its intended purpose by its intended recipients. The core issue then be comes the development of secure management of content usage and delivery across communication networks. Data hiding and digital watermarking are promising new technologies for multimedia information protection and rights management. Secondary data can be embedded imperceptibly in digital multimedia signals for a variety of applications, including ownership protection, authentication, access con trol, and annotation. Data hiding can also be used to send side information in multimedia communication for providing additional functionalities or for enhancing performance. The extraction of the embedded data mayor may not need knowledge of the original host media data. In addition to im perceptibility, robustness against moderate processing such as compression is also an important consideration.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - It is evident that biochemical control is not strictly hierarchical and that intermediary metabolism can contribute to control of regulatory pathways. Metabolic studies are therefore increasingly important in gene function analyses, and an increased interest in metabolites as biomarkers for disease progression or response to therapeutic intervention is also evident in the pharmaceutical industry. This book offers guidelines to currently available technology and bioinformatics and database strategies now being developed. Evidence is presented that metabolic profiling is a valuable addition to genomics and proteomics strategies devoted to drug discovery and development, and that metabolic profiling offers numerous advantages.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Ecology and economics have Greek roots in oikos for 'household', logos for 'study', and nomics for 'management'. Thus, ecology and economics should have complemented one another for a proper growth and development without destruction, but, unfortunately, rapid industrialization, lure for fast financial gains, and commercialization activities have led to a widespread surge in pollution load, environmental degradation, habitat destruction, rapid loss ofbiodiversity, sudden rise in rate ofextinction ofmany wildlife and wild relatives of domesticated animals and cultivated cereals and other plants, global climate changes creating global rise in temperature, and CO levels and increased ultraviolet B at ground 2 level. Although these threats to human health have led us to look to ecology for their solutions and guidance for sustainable development without destruction, the industrial and technology houses are looking for alternative methods of development and resource use methods. The two global conferences of the United Nations in 1972 and 1992, and international programs of Man and the Biosphere (MAB), International Biological Program (IBP), International Geosphere, Biosphere program (lGBP), and World Conser vation Union (IUCN), of different commissions, United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) efforts, Ramsar Conventions (for wetlands), and World Wide fund for Nature (WWF) (for nature in general and wildlife in particular) have focused attention of ecologists, naturalists, governments and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) toward better conservation.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - What essentially is a garden Is it a small plot of land that we put aside to cultivate our favourite vegetables or to grow flowers for our personal enjoyment Or is it a symbol, a mirror, a reflection of our human passions Within the context of phenomenology/ontopoiesis-of-life, we find the significance of the garden inscribed within the web of the Human Condition, creatively unfurling its form from the vital basis to its loftiest swings of the period. The aesthetic synthesis of our passions is carried by the logoic promise of life - its infinite renewal and infinite response. The topic of the present volume is the mysterious ways in which Imaginatio Creatix plays within the human ingrowness in natural life, transposing dreams, nostalgias, and enchantments.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In this book the authors relate and discuss the idea that perceptual processes can be considered at many levels. A phenomenon that appears at one level may not be the same as a superficially similar phenomenon that appears at a different level. For example 'induced motion' can be analyzed in terms of eye movements or at the retinal level or at a much higher cognitive level: how do these analyses fit together The concept of levels also makes us think of the flow of information between levels, which leads to a consideration of the roles of top-down and bottom-up (or feed-forward, feed-back) flow. There are sections devoted to vestibular processing, eye movement processing and processing during brightness perception. The final section covers levels of processing in spatial vision. All scientists and graduate students working in vision will be interested in this book as well as people involved in using visual processes in computer animations, display design or the sensory systems of machines.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs), in particular HIV-1, are the causative agent responsible for the current worldwide epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A major effort has thus been underway over the past two decades to understand and control this pathogen. During this time, an enormous knowledge base has accumulated regarding the role of viral factors in the HIV-1 life cycle, and the interaction of HIV-1 with the host cell is becoming increasingly understood. Certain features of HIV, for example its ability to infect non-dividing cells, are being exploited in the development of novel gene therapy vehicles. This volume provides an overview of the current information regarding the HIV replication cycle and will serve as an introduction to subsequent chapters that address specific aspects of lentiviral-based gene therapy.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The knowledge base in the domains of quality of life, well-being, and subjective well-being is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. In light of this growth, and the interest it reflects on the part of scholars, practitioners, and policy makers internationally, this book will play an important role in bringing scholars and students up to date on diverse topics and promoting and encouraging research in the field of quality-of-life (QOL) studies. Unlike most other similar publications quality of life studies is broadly construed to involve all of the social and health sciences. This volume has much to offer the reader. The papers reflect a diversity of disciplinary and methodological perspectives, it contains material on (a) the monitoring, assessing, and modelling of quality of life, (b) matters of policy, finance, marketing, and business, and (c) papers devoted to the determinants and correlates of well-being and quality of life.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Policy issues relating to forestry have been the subject of much debate in recent years, and many countries and international agencies have recently, or are currently in the process, of revising their policies for forestry. Much of this debate has implied that previous policies have failed or been much less successful than had been hoped. There is a tendency to think of policy as a matter for governments, but it is now more widely appreciated that all shareholders in the forestry sector have a legitimate interest in both the policy objectives and the means that will be used to implement it. This book is mainly concerned with the process of developing policy and the subsequent implementation, than in specific content, though many of the important issues which policies must address are discussed. It is based on a review of many case studies with which the author has been personally involved over the past 40 years.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Foldable Flex and Thinned Silicon Multichip Packaging Technology presents newly emerging methods used to make stacked chip packages in the so-called 2-1/2 D technology (3-D in physical format, but interconnected only through the circuits on folded flex). It is also being used in single chip packages where the thinness of the chips and the flex substrate made packages significantly thinner than through any other means.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Stuart Wolf This book originated as a series of lectures that were given as part of a Summer School on Spintronics in the end of August, 1998 at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. It has taken some time to get these lectures in a form suitable for this book and so the process has been an iterative one to provide current information on the topics that are covered. There are some topics that have developed in the intervening years and we have tried to at least alert the readers to them in the Introduction where a rather complete set of references is provided to the current state of the art. The field of magnetism, once thought to be dead or dying, has seen a remarkable rebirth in the last decade and promises to get even more important as we enter the new millennium. This rebirth is due to some very new insight into how the spin degree of freedom of both electrons and nucleons can play a role in a new type of electronics that utilizes the spin in addition to or in place of the charge. For this new field to mature and prosper, it is important that students and postdoctoral fellows have access to the appropriate literature that can give them a sound basis in the funda mentals of this new field and I hope that this book is a very good start in this direction.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Coded Modulation Systems is an introduction to the subject of coded modulation in digital communication. It is designed for classroom use and for anyone wanting to learn the ideas behind this modern kind of coding. Coded modulation is signal encoding that takes into account the nature of the channel over which it is used. Traditional error correcting codes work with bits and add redundant bits in order to correct transmission errors. In coded modulation, continuous time signals and their phases and amplitudes play the major role. The coding can be seen as a patterning of these quantities. The object is still to correct errors, but more fundamentally, it is to conserve signal energy and bandwidth at a given error performance. The book divides coded modulation into three major parts. Trellis coded modulation (TCM) schemes encode the points of QAM constellations; lattice coding and set-partition techniques play major roles here. Continuous-phase modulation (CPM) codes encode the signal phase, and create constant envelope RF signals. The partial-response signaling (PRS) field includes intersymbol interference problems, signals generated by real convolution, and signals created by lowpass filtering. In addition to these topics, the book covers coding techniques of several kinds for fading channels, spread spectrum and repeat-request systems. The history of the subject is fully traced back to the formative work of Shannon in 1949. Full explanation of the basics and complete homework problems make the book ideal for self-study or classroom use.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This is a major revision of a classic, best selling reference book. Originally published by the American Institute of Physics under the title 'Physics Vade Mecum' in 1981, and then the second edition in 1989 with the new title 'A Physicist's Desk Reference', this third edition has been completely updated and modernized to reflect current modern physics. The book is a concise compilation of the most frequently used physics data and formulae with their derivations. This revision has six more chapters than the second edition, outdated chapters dropped, and new chapters added on atmospheric physics, electricity and magnetism, elementary particle physics, fluid dynamics, geophysics, nonlinear physics, particle accelerators, polymer physics, and quantum theory. There is a new last chapter on practical laboratory data. The references and bibliographies have been updated.This book is an indispensable tool for the researcher, professional and student in physics as well as other scientists who use physics data. The editors of this volume are Richard Cohen, author of the first two chapters of PDR and the 'Physics Quick Reference Guide'; David Lide, one of the editors of the previous two editions and the editor of the 'CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry'; and George Trigg, editor of the 'Encyclopedia of Physics' and the 'Encyclopedia of Applied Physics' (VCH). The market for this classic reference book includes the practicing scientist, including engineers, chemists, and biologists; and students.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Chemical education is essential to everybody because it deals with ideas that play major roles in personal, social, and economic decisions. This book is based on three principles: that all aspects of chemical education should be associated with research; that the development of opportunities for chemical education should be both a continuous process and be linked to research; and that the professional development of all those associated with chemical education should make extensive and diverse use of that research. It is intended for: pre-service and practising chemistry teachers and lecturers; chemistry teacher educators; chemical education researchers; the designers and managers of formal chemical curricula; informal chemical educators; authors of textbooks and curriculum support materials; practising chemists and chemical technologists. It addresses: the relation between chemistry and chemical education; curricula for chemical education; teaching and learning about chemical compounds and chemical change; the development of teachers; the development of chemical education as a field of enquiry. This is mainly done in respect of the full range of formal education contexts (schools, universities, vocational colleges) but also in respect of informal education contexts (books, science centres and museums).

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Cellular signaling in cardiac muscle refers to the myriad of stimuli and responses that direct and control the physiological operation of this organ. Our understand ing of these complex signaling cascades has increased dramatically over the past few decades with the advent of molecular tools for their dissection. Moreover, this infor mation is beginning to provide tangible targets towards manipulating cardiac func tion in the setting of cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms and factors that regulate cardiac cell growth are of particular interest as both adaptive and maladaptive responses can occur during cardiac hypertrophy. Cardiac hypertrophy describes the increase in individual cardiac myocyte size that is accomplished through the series and/or parallel addition of sarcomeres. The ability of cardiac muscle to increase in size through hyperplasia becomes highly restricted or negligible shortly after birth. Consequently, the increase in heart size associated with development and growth of an individual occurs through hypertrophy. In response to a chronic increase in workload, cardiac muscle cells can dramatically increase in size to face their increasing contractile demands. While this plasticity is clearly a ben eficial response under many conditions, it can be highly deleterious and inappropri ate under others. For example, cardiac hypertrophy associated with endurance exercise clearly enhances athletic performance. In contrast, the hypertrophy associated with chronic hypertension, stenotic or regurgitant heart valves, or following a myocardial infarction often continues far beyond the period where this adaptive response is ben eficial.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The quantity and quality of astronomical data has increased by orders of magnitude in recent years; similarly, statistical methodologies have also made great strides recently. This volume shows how powerful synergies emerge when astronomers and statisticians join in examining astrostatistical problems and approaches. Its principal theme is the statistical methods needed to model fundamental characteristics of the early universe on its largest scales.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The emphasis in degradable polymers has changed since the first edition of this book. Biomedical and agricultural applications remain important topics of scientific and commercial interest in the second edition. However, an increased emphasis on composting as a means of recovering value from wastes has led to a new impetus to understand how plastics degrade in the environment and the implication of this for international standards. Polymers based on renewable resources are also a major topic in this edition but the debate continues about their long-term sustainability and ecological advantages over degradable man-made polymers. Degradable Polymers will be of interest not only to academic and industrial scientists working on packaging, agricultural and medical applications of plastics but also to students of environmental science and legislators concerned with the effects of man-made materials in the environment.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This is a major revision of a classic, best selling reference book. Originally published by the American Institute of Physics under the title 'Physics Vade Mecum' in 1981, and then the second edition in 1989 with the new title 'A Physicist's Desk Reference', this third edition has been completely updated and modernized to reflect current modern physics. The book is a concise compilation of the most frequently used physics data and formulae with their derivations. This revision has six more chapters than the second edition, outdated chapters dropped, and new chapters added on atmospheric physics, electricity and magnetism, elementary particle physics, fluid dynamics, geophysics, nonlinear physics, particle accelerators, polymer physics, and quantum theory. There is a new last chapter on practical laboratory data. The references and bibliographies have been updated.This book is an indispensable tool for the researcher, professional and student in physics as well as other scientists who use physics data. The editors of this volume are Richard Cohen, author of the first two chapters of PDR and the 'Physics Quick Reference Guide'; David Lide, one of the editors of the previous two editions and the editor of the 'CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry'; and George Trigg, editor of the 'Encyclopedia of Physics' and the 'Encyclopedia of Applied Physics' (VCH). The market for this classic reference book includes the practicing scientist, including engineers, chemists, and biologists; and students. TOC:Symbols, Units, and Nomenclature.- Mathematical Basics.- Acoustics.- Astronomy.- Astrophysics and Cosmology.- Atomic and Molecular Collision Processes.- Atomic Spectroscopy.- Biological Physics.- Crystallography.- Earth, Ocean and Atmosphere Physics.- Electricity and Magnetism.- Elementary Particles.- Fluid Dynamics.- Geophysics and Geodesy.- Mechanics.- Medical Physics.- Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure.- Nonlinear Physics and Complexity.- Nuclear Physics.- Optics.- Particle Accelerators and Storage Rings.- Plasma Physics.- Polymer Physics.- Quantum Theory.- Solid State Physics.- Surfaces and Films.- Thermodynamics and Thermophysics.- Practical Lab Data. 888 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Over the past thirty-five years, a substantial amount of theoretical and empirical scholarly research has been developed across the discipline domains of Transportation. This research has been synthesized into a systematic handbook that examines the scientific concepts, methods, and principles of this growing and evolving field. The Handbook of Transportation Science outlines the field of transportation as a scientific discipline that transcends transportation technology and methods. Whether by car, truck, airplane - or by a mode of transportation that has not yet been conceived - transportation obeys fundamental properties. The science of transportation defines these properties, and demonstrates how our knowledge of one mode of transportation can be used to explain the behavior of another. Transportation scientists are motivated by the desire to explain spatial interactions that result in movement of people or objects from place to place. Its methodologies draw from physics, operations research, probability and control theory.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Magnetic resonance techniques are especially interesting in the study of colloids and interfaces due to their unique ability to elucidate structure, dynamics and function at the atomic and molecular level. This book illustrates the most up to date applications of innovative NMR and EPR techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging and microscopy, to gas-solid and liquid-solid interfaces, organic and biological surfaces, microemulsions, liquid crystals, membranes, structure and dynamics of polymers and micellar systems, and diffusion in heterogeneous systems. A compendium of advanced NMR and EPR techniques and a state of the art description of the power of advanced new methodologies for the study of molecular dynamics and interfaces.