Springer sep 2005 (15 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Developing and maintaining a VR system is a very difficult task, requiring in-depth knowledge in many disciplines. The difficulty lies in the complexity of having to simultaneously consider many system goals, some of which are conflicting.This book is organized so that it follows a spiral development process for each stage, describing the problem and possible solutions for each stage. Much more hands-on than other introductory books, concrete examples and practical solutions to the technical challenges in building a VR system are provided.Part 1 covers the very basics in building a VR system and explains various technical issues in object modeling and scene organization. Part 2 deals with 3D multimodal interaction, designing for usable and natural interaction and creating realistic object simulation. Primarily written for first level graduates, advanced undergraduates and IT professionals will also find this a valuable guide.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The eleven interconnected essays of this book penetrate the dense historical knots binding terror, power and the aesthetic sublime and bring the results to bear on the trauma of September 11 and the subsequent War on Terror. Through rigorous critical studies of major works of post-1945 and contemporary culture, the book traces transformations in art and critical theory in the aftermath of Auschwitz and Hiroshima. Critically engaging with the work of continental philosophers, Theodor W. Adorno, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-Francois Lyotard and of contemporary artists Joseph Beuys, Damien Hirst, and Boaz Arad, the book confronts the shared cultural conditions that made Auschwitz and Hiroshima possible and offers searching meditations on the structure and meaning of the traumatic historical 'event'. Ray argues that globalization cannot be separated from the collective tasks of working through historical genocide. He provocatively concludes that the current US-led War on Terror must be grasped as a globalized inability to mourn.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book re-evaluates the perception of 'courtly love' in Old French verse. Adams traces how these verses explore the emotional trials of amour and propose coping methods for the lovelorn.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - nalog circuits are fascinating artifacts. They manipulate signals whose informa- Ationcontentisrichcomparedtodigitalsignalsthatcarryminimalamountofinf- mation;theyaredelicateinthatanyperturbationduetoparasiticelements,todelays,to interactionswithotherelementsandwiththeenvironmentmaycauseasigni cantloss ofinformation. Thedif cultyindealingwiththeseartifactsistoprotectthemfromall possibleattacks, evenminorones, fromthephysicalworld. Theironyisthattheyare oftenusedtofunnelinformationfromandtothephysicalworldtoandfromtheabstr- tionofthedigitalworldandforthisfunction, theyareirreplaceable. Nowonderthen that analog designers form a club of extraordinary gentlemen where art (or magic ) ratherthanscienceisthesharedtrade. Theyaredif culttotrainsinceexperienceand intuitionarethetraitsthat characterize them. Andthey have dif cultiesinexplaining what is the process they use to reach satisfactory results. Tools used for design (s- ulation) are mainly replacing the test benches of an experimental lab. However, the growing complexity of the integrated systems being designed today together with the increasing fragility of analog components brought about by shrinking geometries and reducedpowerconsumptionisposingseverechallengestotraditionalanalogdesigners to produce satisfactory results in a short time. At the same time, the need for expe- enced analog designers has increased constantly since almost all designs, because of integration,docontainanalogcomponents. Thissituationhascreatedastronginterest in developing design methodologies and supporting tools that are based on rigorous, mathematically literate, approaches. Doing so will make it possible to leverage the expertiseofseasonedanalogdesignersandtotrainnewgenerationsfasterandbetter. Inthepast, severalattemptshavebeenmadeinacademia andindustrytocreatethese methodologies and to extend the set of tools available. They have had questionable acceptance in the analog design community. However, recently, a urry of start-ups andincreasedinvestmentbyEDAcompaniesinnoveltoolssignalasigni cantchange inmarketattentiontotheanalogdomain. Ipersonallybelievethattosubstantially- prove quality and design time, tools are simply insuf cient. A design methodology based on a hierarchy of abstraction layers, successive re nement between two ad- cent layers, and extensive veri cation at every layer is necessary. To do so, we need to build theories and models that have strong mathematical foundations. The analog design technology community is as strong as it has ever been.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - st t At the dawn of the 21 century, the impact of human beings on the environment continues to provide cause for concern. For some, what matters is the loss of so much that is beautiful and valuable in its own right. For others, the concern is with the effects of environmental degradation on human health and well-being. Whatever one's view, humans, like all living species, are remarkably adaptive. While this message should be familiar, all too many of the participants in the environmental debate seem unaware of 1 it. (David Pearce ) 1. BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH Today, farmers' role in society is subject to many debates. This research is motivated by the need to have more insight into the changing character and the role of agriculture. It is clear that today's agriculture has a much broader significance for society than the mere provision of food and renewable resources. The achievement of sustainable forms of agriculture as well as its multifunctional role are now widely recognised. Promoting the positive environmental effects of agriculture and avoiding negative ones, has become one of the central issues of agricultural policy, both in the European context, in international negotiations (WTO) and at national level (manure action plan, sustainability, peri-urban agriculture). Recently, multifunctionality appeared very high on the political agenda. In the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, the concept of multifunctionality contributes to the current debate about agricultural protection.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Developed, developing and emerging economies worldwide are collectively contributing multiple stresses on aquatic ecosystems by the release of numerous contaminants. This in turn demands that basic toxicological information on their potential to harm living species be available. Hence, environmental protection programs aimed at preserving water quality must have access to comprehensive toxicity screening tools and strategies that can be applied reliably and universally. While a good number of toxicity testing procedures and hazard assessment approaches have been published in the scientific literature over the past decades, many are wanting in that insufficient detail is available for users to be able to fully understand the test method or scheme and to be able to reproduce it successfully. Even standardized techniques published in recognized international standard organization documents are often lacking in thoroughness and minutiae. Paucity of information relating to biological test methods may be consequent and trigger several phenomena including generation of invalid data and resulting toxicity measurements, erroneous interpretation and decision-taking with regards to a particular chemical or environmental issue, or simply abandonment of testing procedures. Clearly, improperly documented toxicity testing methods can be detrimental to their promotion and use, as they open the doorway to unnecessary debate and criticism as to their raison d'être. Furthermore, this situation can indirectly contribute to delaying, minimizing or eliminating their application, thereby curtailing the important role toxicity testing plays in the overall protection and conservation of aquatic ecosystems.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The fast-developing information technology industry is driving a need for new materials in order to facilitate the development of more reliable microelectronic products. Materials for Information Technology is an up-to-date overview of current developments and R&D activities in the field of materials used for information technology with a focus on future applications. Included are:materials for silicon-based semiconductor devices (including high-k gate dielectric materials); materials for nonvolatile memories; materials for on-chip interconnects and interlayer dielectrics (including silicides, barrier materials, low-k and ultra low-k dielectric materials); and materials for assembly and packaging The latest results in materials science and engineering as well as applications in the semiconductor industry are covered including the synthesis of blanket and patterned thin film materials, their properties, constitution, structure and microstructure. Computer modelling and analytical techniques to characterise thin film structures are also included to give a comprehensive survey of materials for the IT industry.The Engineering Materials and Processes series focuses on all forms of materials and the processes used to synthesise and formulate them as they relate to the various engineering disciplines. The series deals with a diverse range of materials: ceramics; metals (ferrous and non-ferrous); semiconductors; composites, polymers, biomimetics etc. Each monograph in the series is written by a specialist and demonstrates how enhancements in materials and the processes associated with them can improve performance in the field of engineering in which they are used.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - September 11, 2001 in the U.S., March 11, 2004 in Madrid - just two examples of a series of major terror attacks against NATO member states on both sides of the Atlantic. We now know that international terrorism is capable of transboundary planning and military style execution of attacks, resulting in several thousand dead and wounded. In the future even larger terror attacks can no longer be ruled out, including the deployment of weapons of mass destruction. This new form of catastrophic terrorism poses a major challenge to the first responder community in their search and rescue operations, since these new threats represent an unprecedented risk for their health, possibly even questioning their own survival. Since the first responders are the first line of defence of every community in the aftermath of such a terror attack, it is essential for every community to ensure that its first responders are able to provide their valuable services even in such extreme situations.In this important new book a group of experts represents the current knowledge on the various terrorism threats to first responders resulting from the novel use of conventional weapons, as well radiological, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Also, the current situation in selected countries of different sizes and practical experience with terrorism countermeasures (Austria, Israel, Slovenia, Russia, U.S.) is reviewed, focusing on the national operational logistics and the individual needs for improving the present situation. Finally, this book offers innovative solutions to strengthen the level of protection of the first responders, culminating in fifty-one practically applicable recommendations.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The mental ray series of handbooks is conceived to provide concise and up to date general and technical information about the commercially available rendering software mental ray. The series addresses the needs of professional and non-professional users of the software as well as of software developers who intend to integrate the stand-alone version of mental ray or the mental ray component software into applications that require interactive photorealistic and high image quality programmable rendering. In addition, the series provides comprehensive information to students and researchers in computer graphics. mental ray is a valuable tool for teaching and demonstrating the fundamental concepts of photorealistic and programmable rendering as well as a benchmark and catalyst for further research. The rendering software mental ray and many of its unique underlying concepts are the result of ongoing research and development at the company mental images since its incorporation in 1986. Leading vendors of 3D digital content creation and 3D CAD and product design software have made mental ray their rendering software of choice for all purposes of high end visualization and image synthesis ranging from digital special effects and 3D animation for motion picture, video lm, and games production to 3D mechanical and architectural CAD and to industrial product design and automotive styling.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Section I examines historical philosophical understandings of expertise in order to situate the current institution of bioethics. Section II focuses on philosophical analyses of the concept of expertise, asking, among other things, how it should be understood, how it can be acquired, and what such expertise warrants. Finally, section III addresses topics in bioethics and how ethics expertise should or should not be brought to bear in these areas, including expertise in the court room, in the hospital room, in the media, and in making policy. 2. A GUIDED HISTORICAL TOUR As Scott LaBarge points out, Plato's dialogues can be viewed as an extended treatment of the concept of moral expertise, so it is fitting to begin the volume with an examination of 'Socrates and Moral Expertise'. Given Socrates' protestations (the Oracle at Delphi notwithstanding) that he knows nothing, LaBarge observes that it would be interesting to determine both what a Socratic theory of moral expertise might be and whether Socrates qualified as such an expert. Plato's model of moral expertise is what LaBarge calls 'demonstrable expertise', which is concerned mainly with the ability to attain a goal and to explain how one did it. The problem with this account is that when one tries to solve the various problems in the model - for example, allowing that moral expertise is not an all-or-nothing skill - then one is immediately faced with the 'credentials problem'. As LaBarge puts it, '. . .…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Active specific immunotherapy is a promising but investigational modality in the management of cancer patients. Currently, several different cancer vaccine formulations such as peptides, proteins, antigen-pulsed dendritic cells, whole tumor cells, etc. in combination with various adjuvants and carriers are being evaluated in clinical trials (1-3). To determine the optimal cancer vaccine strategy, a surrogate immunological end-point that correlates with clinical outcome needs to be defined, since it would facilitate the rapid comparison of these various formulations. Traditional immunological assays such as ELISA, proliferation and cytotoxicity assays can detect immune responses in vaccinated patients but are not quantitative. In contrast, novel assays such as enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay, intracellular cytokine assay and tetramer assay can quantitate the frequency of antigen-specific T cells. Of these, the ELISPOT assay has the 5 lowest detection limit with 1/10 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and has been determined to be one of the most useful assays to evaluate immune response to cancer vaccines (4). However, the IFN- ELISPOT assay is not an exclusive measure of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity as non-cytotoxic cells can also secrete IFN- . Additionally, CTL with lytic activity do not always secrete IFN- (5). A more relevant approach to assess functional activity of cytotoxic lymphocytes would be to measure the secretion of molecules that are associated with lytic activity. One of the major mechanisms of cell-mediated cytotoxicity involves exocytosis of cytoplasmic granules from the effector toward the target cell.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 2.1 E-Government: e-Governance and e-Democracy The term Electronic Government (e-Government), as an expression, was coined after the example of Electronic Commerce. In spite of being a relatively recent expression, e-Government designates a field of activity that has been with us for several decades and which has attained a high level of penetration in many countries2. What has been observed over the recent years is a shift on the broadness of the e-Government concept. The ideas inside e-Governance and e- Democracy are to some extent promising big changes in public administration. The demand now is not only simply delivering a service - line. It is to deliver complex and new services, which are all citizen-centric. Another important demand is related to the improvement of citizen's participation in governmental processes and decisions so that the governments' transparency and legitimacy are enforced. In order to fulfill these new demands, a lot of research has been done over the recent years (see Section 3) but many challenges are still to be faced, not only in the technological field, but also in the political and social aspects.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The principal aim of this NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) 'Nanostructured and Advanced Materials for Applications in Sensor, Optoelectronic and Photovoltaic Technology' was to present a contemporary overview of the field of nanostructured and advanced electronic materials. Nanotechnology is an emerging scientific field receiving significant worldwide attention. On a nanometer scale, materials or structures may possess new and unique physical properties. Some of these are now known to the scientific community, but there may well be many properties not yet known to us, rendering it as a fascinating area of research and a suitable subject for a NATO ASI. Yet another aspect of the field is the possibility for creating meta-stable phases with unconventional properties and the ultra-miniaturization of current devices, sensors, and machines. Such nanotechnological and related advanced materials have an extremely wide range of potential applications, viz. nanoscale electronics, sensors, optoelectronics, photonics, nano-biological systems, na- medicine, energy storage systems, etc. This is a wide-ranging subject area and therefore requires the formation of multi-disciplinary teams of physicists, chemists, materials scientists, engineers, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, and others to work together on the synthesis and processing of materials and structures, the understanding of their physical properties, the design and fabrication of devices, etc. Hence, in formulating our ASI, we adopted an int- disciplinary approach, bringing together recognised experts in the various fields while retaining a level of treatment accessible to those active in specific individual areas of research and development.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The principal aim of this NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) 'Nanostructured and Advanced Materials for Applications in Sensor, Optoelectronic and Photovoltaic Technology' was to present a contemporary overview of the field of nanostructured and advanced electronic materials. Nanotechnology is an emerging scientific field receiving significant worldwide attention. On a nanometer scale, materials or structures may possess new and unique physical properties. Some of these are now known to the scientific community, but there may well be many properties not yet known to us, rendering it as a fascinating area of research and a suitable subject for a NATO ASI. Yet another aspect of the field is the possibility for creating meta-stable phases with unconventional properties and the ultra-miniaturization of current devices, sensors, and machines. Such nanotechnological and related advanced materials have an extremely wide range of potential applications, viz. nanoscale electronics, sensors, optoelectronics, photonics, nano-biological systems, na- medicine, energy storage systems, etc. This is a wide-ranging subject area and therefore requires the formation of multi-disciplinary teams of physicists, chemists, materials scientists, engineers, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, and others to work together on the synthesis and processing of materials and structures, the understanding of their physical properties, the design and fabrication of devices, etc. Hence, in formulating our ASI, we adopted an int- disciplinary approach, bringing together recognised experts in the various fields while retaining a level of treatment accessible to those active in specific individual areas of research and development.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Das eingeführte Handbuch der Mess- und Automatisierungstechnik wird fortgeführt und erweitert um einen Band mit Spezialwissen für den Bereich Fahrzeugtechnik. Dieses Themenfeld hat sich schnell von der mechanischen zur elektronischen Technologie entwickelt, es ist bei modernen Fahrzeugen zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil geworden. Das Buch liefert Informationen über Bauelemente der Automatisierungstechnik und deren Einsatz in der Fahrzeugtechnik. Für den Überblick wie zur schnellen Information zu einzelnen Elementen findet der Leser mit diesem Handbuch den richtigen Einstieg. Mit einem detaillierten Abkürzungsverzeichnis der gängigen Fachbegriffe wird das Buch abgerundet.…