springer us springer us okt 1997 (43 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Jonathan Shimony (illustrator). Neuware -Tibaldo and the Hole in the Calendar is the story of how an eleven-year old boy growing up in 16th century Italy loses his birthday when the Gregorian calendar replaces the Julian calendar in 1582, and how he fights to prevent this loss. The author cleverly weaves elements of the cultural and scientific milieu of his time into an engaging and intelligent tale. Tibaldo's father is a medical assistant, and his sister is a midwife. He grows up learning about current medical practices by watching his father and sister and by listening to the great Professor Turisanus, for whom his father works. Tibaldo is fascinated by medicine and proves himself to be a fast learner, quickly gaining the respect of Professor Turasanus, who becomes a mentor for Tibaldo and sends him to the very best of schools. However, when Tibaldo learns that the Julian calendar is about to be revised, he realizes that he is about to lose his 13th birthday and determines to do something about this. The result is amusing and informative.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 184 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -I am very thankful to Springer-Verlag for publishing a collection of some of my non-mathematical works-I call them political works. in the broad sense of the word political. Three of these have appeared in print: - My article on the Ladd-Lipset sUIvey. which appeared in the New York Review of Books. 18 May 1978; and also in The File (Springer-Verlag. 1981). - My article on the Baltimore case. which appeared in the Jour nal of Ethics and Behavior. February 1993. - My articles on HIV and AIDS. which appeared in the Yale Sci entific (Fall 1994 and Winter 1995). reprinted updated in the book AIDS: Virus-or drug induced Kluwer Academic Pub lishers. 1996. pp. 271-307. The first item. 'Academia. Journalism. and Politics.' is itself a book based on my Huntington file. The 'Background and Motiva tion' section of this sub-book can be used as a foreword for all my 'political' works. and also contains an explanation of how I use the word 'political.' In that section. readers will find a general discussion of the way I process information and some criteria I use in discourse.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 828 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book presents a development of invariant manifold theory for a spe cific canonical nonlinear wave system -the perturbed nonlinear Schrooinger equation. The main results fall into two parts. The first part is concerned with the persistence and smoothness of locally invariant manifolds. The sec ond part is concerned with fibrations of the stable and unstable manifolds of inflowing and overflowing invariant manifolds. The central technique for proving these results is Hadamard's graph transform method generalized to an infinite-dimensional setting. However, our setting is somewhat different than other approaches to infinite dimensional invariant manifolds since for conservative wave equations many of the interesting invariant manifolds are infinite dimensional and noncom pact. The style of the book is that of providing very detailed proofs of theorems for a specific infinite dimensional dynamical system-the perturbed nonlinear Schrodinger equation. The book is organized as follows. Chapter one gives an introduction which surveys the state of the art of invariant manifold theory for infinite dimensional dynamical systems. Chapter two develops the general setup for the perturbed nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Chapter three gives the proofs of the main results on persistence and smoothness of invariant man ifolds. Chapter four gives the proofs of the main results on persistence and smoothness of fibrations of invariant manifolds. This book is an outgrowth of our work over the past nine years concerning homoclinic chaos in the perturbed nonlinear Schrodinger equation. The theorems in this book provide key building blocks for much of that work.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Broadly speaking, analysis is the study of limiting processes such as sum ming infinite series and differentiating and integrating functions, and in any of these processes there are two issues to consider; first, there is the question of whether or not the limit exists, and second, assuming that it does, there is the problem of finding its numerical value. By convention, analysis is the study oflimiting processes in which the issue of existence is raised and tackled in a forthright manner. In fact, the problem of exis tence overshadows that of finding the value; for example, while it might be important to know that every polynomial of odd degree has a zero (this is a statement of existence), it is not always necessary to know what this zero is (indeed, if it is irrational, we may never know what its true value is). Despite the fact that this book has much in common with other texts on analysis, its approach to the subject differs widely from any other text known to the author. In other texts, each limiting process is discussed, in detail and at length before the next process. There are several disadvan tages in this approach. First, there is the need for a different definition for each concept, even though the student will ultimately realise that these different definitions have much in common.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -DISCRETE PROBABILITY is a textbook, at a post-calculus level, for a first course in probability. Since continuous probability is not treated, discrete probability can be covered in greater depth. The result is a book of special interest to students majoring in computer science as well as those majoring in mathematics. Since calculus is used only occasionally, students who have forgotten calculus can nevertheless easily understand the book. The slow, gentle style and clear exposition will appeal to students. Basic concepts such as counting, independence, conditional probability, randon variables, approximation of probabilities, generating functions, random walks and Markov chains are presented with good explanation and many worked exercises. An important feature of the book is the abundance of problems, which students may use to master the material. The 1,196 numerical answers to the 405 exercises, many with multiple parts, are included at the end of the book. Throughout the book, various comments on the history of the study of probability are inserted. Biographical information about some of the famous contributors to probability such as Fermat, Pascal, the Bernoullis, DeMoivre, Bayes, Laplace, Poisson, Markov, and many others, is presented. This volume will appeal to a wide range of readers and should be useful in the undergraduate programs at many colleges and universities.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is the result of a suggestion made to me by Erich Lehmann of the Department of Statistics of the University of California at Berkeley. Throughout the writing of it I have enjoyed his assistance and companion ship and that of his wife, Juliet Shaffer. In the beginning, writing about a man like Neyman, who was alive and still very active, I planned to limit myself to his recollections and records and to my personal observations of him during his eighty-fifth year. It soon became apparent, however, that I would need to supplement these with the recollections of his colleagues and former students. With his consent I consulted them. I am most grateful for the time and effort which so many people expended in talking and writing to me. I would like to mention especially the assistance I received from Lucien Le Cam and Elizabeth Scott and the very friendly cooperation of Egon S. Pearson. Without the latter's careful preservation of Neyman's early letters I would have found it impossible to write in any detail of the years from 1926 to 1938. A number of libraries and archives also provided valuable material. These included the Bancroft Library and the various administrative archives of the University of California, the D.M.S. Watson Library at University College, the National Archives, and the Rockefeller Foundation Archives. The careful work of Kay Kewley, who was responsible for the organization of the Neyman papers, made my own work much easier.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 336 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Chapter 1 The algebraic prerequisites for the book are covered here and in the appendix. This chapter should be used as reference material and should be consulted as needed. A systematic treatment of algebras, coalgebras, bialgebras, Hopf algebras, and represen tations of these objects to the extent needed for the book is given. The material here not specifically cited can be found for the most part in [Sweedler, 1969] in one form or another, with a few exceptions. A great deal of emphasis is placed on the coalgebra which is the dual of n x n matrices over a field. This is the most basic example of a coalgebra for our purposes and is at the heart of most algebraic constructions described in this book. We have found pointed bialgebras useful in connection with solving the quantum Yang-Baxter equation. For this reason we develop their theory in some detail. The class of examples described in Chapter 6 in connection with the quantum double consists of pointed Hopf algebras. We note the quantized enveloping algebras described Hopf algebras. Thus for many reasons pointed bialgebras are elsewhere are pointed of fundamental interest in the study of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation and objects quantum groups.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -David Gabel and David F. Weiman The chapters in this volwne address the related problems of regulating and pricing access in network industries. Interconnection between network suppliers raises the important policy questions of how to sustain competition and realize economic efficiency. To foster rivalry in any industry, suppliers must have access to customers. But unlike in other sectors, the very organization of network industries creates major impediments to potential entrants trying to carve out a niche in the market. In traditional sectors such as gas, electric, rail, and telephone services, these barriers take the form of the large private and social costs necessary to duplicate the physical infrastructure of pipelines, wires, or tracks. Few firms can afford to finance such an undertaking, because the level of sunk costs and the very large scale economies make it extremely risky. In other newer sectors, entrants face less tangible but no less pressing constraints. In the microcomputer industry, for example, high switching costs can prevent users from experimenting with alternative, but perhaps more efficient hardware platforms or operating systems. Although gateway technologies can reduce these barriers, the installed base of an incumbent can create powerful bandwagon effects that reinforce its advantage (such as the greater availability of compatible peripherals and software applications). In the era of electronic banking, entrants into the automated teller machine (A TM) and credit card markets face a similar problem of establishing a ubiquitous presence.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Coalition Formation and Social Choice provides a unified and comprehensive study of coalition formation and collective decision-making in committees. It discusses the main existing theories including the size principle, conflict of interest theory, dominant player theory, policy distance theory and power excess theory. In addition, the book offers new theories of coalition formation in which the endogenous formation of preferences for coalitions is basic. Both simple game theory and social choice theory are extensively applied in the treatment of the theories. This combined application not only leads to new theories but also offers a new and fresh perspective on coalition formation and collective decision-making in committees.The book covers the fundamental concepts and results of social choice theory including Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. Furthermore, it gives a coherent treatment of the theory of simple games. Besides more traditional topics in simple game theory like power indices, it also introduces new aspects of simple games such as the Chow parameter, the Chow vector and the notion of similar games.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Ceramic products are fabricated from selected and consolidated raw materials through the application of thermal and mechanical energy. The complex connec tions between thermodynamics, chemical equilibria, fabrication processes, phase development, and ceramic properties define the undergraduate curriculum in Ceramic Science and Ceramic Engineering. Phase diagrams are usually introduced into the engineering curriculum during the study of physical chemistry, prior to specialization into ceramic engineering. This creates an artificial separation between consideration of the equilibrium description of the chemically heterogeneous system and the engineering and physical processes required for phase, microstructure, and property development in ceramic materials. Although convenient for instructional purposes, the separa tion of these topics limits the effective application of phase diagram information by the ceramic engineer in research and manufacturing problem solving. The nature of oxide phases, which define their useful engineering properties, are seldom linked to the stability of those phases which underlies their reliability as engineered products. Similarly, ceramic fabrication processes are seldom dis cussed within the context of the equilibrium or metastable phase diagram. In this text, phase diagrams are presented with a discussion of ceramics' properties and processing. Particular emphasis is placed on the nature of the oxides themselves-their structural and dielectric properties-which results in unique and stable product performance. Any set of systematic property measurements can be the basis for a phase diagram: every experiment is an experiment in the approach to phase equilibrium.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Over the course of just a few decades, magnetic resonance (MR) has evolved from an analytical tool to a premier imaging mod ality. The ability of MR to provide cross-sectional images, as well as chemical and physiological information, has attracted students from many disciplines. Because applied MR is multidisciplinary, it is generally taught in an informal setting rather than as structured course work. During my years of teach ing the subject, I felt the need for an appropriate text for students from diverse backgrounds. The materials now available are ei ther basic introductions for the lay person or detailed reference resources providing detailed coverage of one or more aspects of MRI. I wrote this book to supplement informal teaching with a text that will provide a detailed conceptual overview. This approach to presenting the concepts will be useful for graduate students in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences who are making the transition to MRI. In addition, medical residents, fellows, and experienced MRI technologists will benefit from this de scriptive approach to MRI, which is briefly summarized in the next paragraph. Chapter I, an introduction to the magnetic resonance phenom enon, is followed by principles of image formation in Chapter 2.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications RANDOM SETS: THEORY AND APPLICATIONS is based on the proceedings of a very successful 1996 three-day Summer Program on 'Application and Theory of Random Sets.' We would like to thank the scientific organizers: John Goutsias (Johns Hopkins University), Ronald P.S. Mahler (Lockheed Martin), and Hung T. Nguyen (New Mexico State University) for their excellent work as organizers of the meeting and for editing the proceedings. We also take this opportunity to thank the Army Research Office (ARO), the Office ofNaval Research (0NR), and the Eagan, MinnesotaEngineering Center ofLockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems, whose financial support made the summer program possible. Avner Friedman Robert Gulliver v PREFACE 'Later generations will regard set theory as a disease from which one has recovered. ' - Henri Poincare Random set theory was independently conceived by D.G. Kendall and G. Matheron in connection with stochastic geometry. It was however G.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 436 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -We hear a lot about dynamical systems theory these days-'chaos dy namics' is the popular idiom-but very little of this abstract discipline is taught in undergraduate or even in graduate school, unless that happens to be one's own field. People may have heard some of the terms, but they may not understand what a dynamicist does. Just what does a dynamicist do Although I've been through the training, I spend much more time talk ing and thinking about dynamics than actually doing it, which is a circum stance that affords me an interesting perspective. Some time after defending my dissertation, when I stopped back by my alma mater on a visit through Boulder, I ran into one of my advisors, a practicing dynamicist, and he was excited to show me his new workstation and its resident software. Hope fully, by relating what I experienced then, I may in part help to answer my opening question. He sat down in front of a very large screen, at least 19 inches across, so closely, that it filled his field of view completely. At his fingertips were the usual mouse and keyboard. He fired up the software and chose a model; I think we were out to explore 'just the standard map. ' As the program began, the screen remained black, except for a small blinking cursor at the middle.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 196 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book is based on several courses taught during the years 1985-1989 at the City College of the City University of New York and at Fudan Univer sity, Shanghai, China, in the summer of 1986. It was originally our intention to present to a mixed audience of electrical engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists at the graduate level a collection of algorithms that would serve to represent the vast array of algorithms designed over the last twenty years for computing the finite Fourier transform (FFT) and finite convolution. However, it was soon apparent that the scope of the course had to be greatly expanded. For researchers interested in the design of new algorithms, a deeper understanding of the basic mathematical concepts underlying algorithm design was essential. At the same time, a large gap remained between the statement of an algorithm and the implementation of the algorithm. The main goal of this text is to describe tools that can serve both of these needs. In fact, it is our belief that certain mathematical ideas provide a natural language and culture for understanding, unifying and implementing a wide range of digital signal processing (DSP) algo rithms. This belief is reinforced by the complex and time-consuming effort required to write code for recently available parallel and vector machines. A significant part of this text is devoted to establishing rules and procedures that reduce and at times automate this task.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Introduction to Hardware-Software Co-Design presents a number of issues of fundamental importance for the design of integrated hardware software products such as embedded, communication, and multimedia systems. This book is a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of hardware/software co-design. Co-design is still a new field but one which has substantially matured over the past few years. This book, written by leading international experts, covers all the major topics including: fundamental issues in co-design;hardware/software co-synthesis algorithms;prototyping and emulation;target architectures;compiler techniques;specification and verification;system-level specification.Special chapters describe in detail several leading-edge co-design systems including Cosyma, LYCOS, and Cosmos.Introduction to Hardware-Software Co-Design contains sufficient material for use by teachers and students in an advanced course of hardware/software co-design. It also contains extensive explanation of the fundamental concepts of the subject and the necessary background to bring practitioners up-to-date on this increasingly important topic.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 418 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Information Technology (IT) - the field that links computer and communications equipment and software - is transforming the way modern business is done. Examples of factors leading these changes are: rapidly decreasing costs of computer hardware, government de-regulation, accelerating global competitiveness, an increasing management awareness, and the knowledge of how to employ Information Technology successfully. These have all led to the increase of IT's effects on existing markets, and, in the process, are creating entirely new markets. This book explores a variety of advances in IT by a group of researchers who are at the cutting edge of this research. Moreover, the book examines these innovative developments in terms of the Information Technology field and its effect on modern business. It is becoming increasingly apparent that IT is critical to success in today's competitive marketplace.As a result, this book examines a host of emerging effects at work in these developments and seeks to make sense out of these counter-acting, sometimes multiplicative, effects which can become obstacles for managers who wish to develop competitive applications of IT. These effects and the development of IT are grouped into four general categories in the book: Future Markets, Inter-Organizational Systems, Focused Applications, and Future Strategies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 224 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -SCM is one of the hottest topics in manufacturing and distribution, and like JIT and TQC it requires a corporate commitment. This book provides both fundamental principles of SCM as well as a set of guidelines to assist in practical application of SCM. It will be one of the first books on the market that deals exclusively with SCM and its application. Readers in the academic, management sciences, sales, marketing and government environments will find this book of particular interest.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 388 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Multilingual Text-to-Speech Synthesis: The Bell Labs Approach is the first monograph-length description of the Bell Labs work on multilingual text-to-speech synthesis. Every important aspect of the system is described, including text analysis, segmental timing, intonation and synthesis. There is also a discussion of evaluation methodologies, as well as a chapter outlining some future areas of research. While the book focuses on the Bell Labs approach to the various problems of converting from text into speech, other approaches are discussed and compared. Thus, this book serves both the function of providing a single reference to an important strand of research in multilingual synthesis, while at the same time providing a source of information on current trends in the field.Chapters in this work were contributed by Richard Sproat, Jan van Santen, Bernd Möbius, Chilin Shih, Joseph Olive, Evelyne Tzoukermann, all of Bell Labs, and Kazuaki Maeda of the University of Pennsylvania.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Ecologists increasingly recognize the importance of scale in our understanding of nature. Landscape ecology in particular emphasizes temporal and spatial scales. While research and management of wildlife has traditionally emphasized studies at smaller scales, it is now acknowledged that larger, landscape-level patterns strongly influence demographic processes in wild animal species. This book is the first to provide the conceptual basis for learning how larger scale patterns and processes can influence the biology and management of wildlife species. It is divided into three sections: \* Underlying Concepts \* Landscape Metrics \* Applications and Large Scale Management Wildlife and Landscape Ecology will be welcomed by scientists and managers with interest in and responsibility for the health of wild populations and their role in ecosystems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 428 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Gregory Tsinker brings his extensive knowledge of structural engineering and geotechnical design to his translation of George E. Lazebnik's work on soil-structure interaction. Monitoring of Soil-Structure Interaction is aimed at professional geotechnical and foundation engineers who deal with soil-foundation interaction, soil pressure distribution, or ground monitoring instruments. This book will incorporate original data and emphasize practical, mathematical models for measuring soil pressure on the foundations of a structure. Readers will be able to compare their calibrated measurements to the data presented in the book.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -A significant advance in climatological scholarship, Tectonic Uplift and Climate Change is a multidisciplinary effort to summarize the current status of a new theory steadily gaining acceptance in geoscience circles: that long-term cooling and glaciation are controlled by plateau and mountain uplift. Researchers in many diverse fields, from geology to paleobotany, present data that substantiate this hypothesis. The volume covers most of the key, dramatic transformations of the Earth's surface.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 564 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Compiler technology is fundamental to computer science since it provides the means to implement many other tools. It is interesting that, in fact, many tools have a compiler framework - they accept input in a particular format, perform some processing and present output in another format. Such tools support the abstraction process and are crucial to productive systems development.The focus of Compiler Technology: Tools, Translators and Language Implementation is to enable quick development of analysis tools. Both lexical scanner and parser generator tools are provided as supplements to this book, since a hands-on approach to experimentation with a toy implementation aids in understanding abstract topics such as parse-trees and parse conflicts. Furthermore, it is through hands-on exercises that one discovers the particular intricacies of language implementation.Compiler Technology: Tools, Translators and Language Implementation is suitable as a textbook for an undergraduate or graduate level course on compiler technology, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners interested in compilers and language implementation.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Refecting what a new generation of conservation biologists is doing and thinking, this vital and far ranging second edition explores where conservation biology is heading. It challenges many conventions of conservation biology by exposing certain weaknesses of widely accepted principles. Combining contributions from both the school and the new breed of conservation biologists, this insightful text focuses primarily on topics the are integral to the daily activities of conservation biologists. Several chapters address ecosystem restoration and biotic invasions as well as the the mechanics of population viability analyses, which are now a routine facet of conservation efforts. A case history approach is implemented throughout the book, with the use of practical real-world examples. Furthermore, an in-depth look at quantitative analyses is presented, allowing for models and mathematical analyses to pinpoint limitations in existing data and guide research toward those aspects of biology that are most likely to be critical to the dynamics of a species or an ecosystem.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 556 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Artifacts linked to projectile technologies traditionally have provided the foundations for time-space systematics and cultural-historic frameworks in archaeological research having to do with foragers. With the shift in archae ological research objectives to processual interpretations, projectile technolo gies continue to receive marked attention, but with an emphasis on the implications of variability in such areas as design, function, and material as they relate to the broader questions of human adaptation. The reason that this particular domain of foraging technology persists as an important focus of research, I think, comes in three parts. A projectile technology was a crucial part of most foragers' strategies for survival, it was functionally spe cific, and it generally was fabricated from durable materials likely to be detected archaeologically. Being fundamental to meat acquisition and the principal source of calo ries, projectile technologies were typically afforded greater time-investment, formal modification, and elaboration of attributes than others. Moreover, such technologies tend to display greater standardization because of con straints on size, morphology, and weight that are inherent to the delivery system. The elaboration of attributes and standardization of form gives pro jectile technologies time-and space-sensitivity that is greater than most other foraging technologies. And such sensitivity is immensely valuable in archae ological research.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 432 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Intelligent Image Databases: Towards Advanced Image Retrieval addresses the image feature selection issue in developing content-based image retrieval systems. The book first discusses the four important issues in developing a complete content-based image retrieval system, and then demonstrates that image feature selection has significant impact on the remaining issues of system design. Next, it presents an in-depth literature survey on typical image features explored by contemporary content-based image retrieval systems for image matching and retrieval purposes. The goal of the survey is to determine the characteristics and the effectiveness of individual features, so as to establish guidelines for future development of content-based image retrieval systems. Intelligent Image Databases: Towards Advanced Image Retrieval describes the Advanced Region-Based Image Retrieval System (ARBIRS) developed by the authors for color images of real-world scenes. They have selected image regions for building ARBIRS as the literature survey suggests that prominent image regions, along with their associated features, provide a higher probability for achieving a higher level content-based image retrieval system. A major challenge in building a region-based image retrieval system is that prominent regions are rather difficult to capture in an accurate and error-free condition, particularly those in images of real-world scenes. To meet this challenge, the book proposes an integrated approach to tackle the problem via feature capturing, feature indexing, and database query. Through comprehensive system evaluation, it is demonstrated how these systematically integrated efforts work effectively to accomplish advanced image retrieval. Intelligent Image Databases: Towards Advanced Image Retrieval serves as an excellent reference and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the topic.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Discretionary Managerial Behavior presents a quantification of the managerial behavior within decentralized organizations. The volume provides practical insights into the internal functioning of the firm, the relationships between the managers at different organizational echelons, and the conditioning effects of the organizational controls and the market environment external to the firm. It forms a basic contribution to the theoretical modeling, methodological and estimation procedures, and empirical insights into the nature and operation of managerial discretion in decentralized organizations. Both theoretical and empirical literature of organizational economics have not come to grips with the decision making process in such organizations. With this in perspective the volume describes four fundamentally new contributions. It presents: an approach to defining proximate objectives of managers at the divisional levels in a decentralized organization and the coordination by managers at higher levels, an approach to developing a modelling framework from a sound theoretical perspective in order to reflect the postulated behavior, an approach to defining an estimation technique to operationalize both (a) and (b) in a specific empirical context, and the richness of empirical insights which remained elusive for over thirty years. As such this study is an important step to make fundamental progress in the area of interface between business policy and microeconomic theory.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Insurance is a concept, a technique, and an economic institution. It is a major tool of risk management, and plays an important role in the economic, social, and political life of all countries. Economic growth throughout the world has even expanded the role of insurance. Theory and Practice of Insurance aims to describe the significance of insurance institutions, the reasons they exist and how they function. The author emphasizes fundamental principles in risk and insurance, using an international frame of reference. This volume begins with an introduction to the concept of risk, then proceeds to cover insurance and its relationship to the economy; the principles of risk management and insurance; and the characteristics and performance of insurance companies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Information systems for very large applications present problems of scale which generate the need for particular software design techniques. The system used by BT for its customer services is usable as a paradigm for any user operating with a large and complex client base. This book will cover some of the more important systems currently deployed by BT to manage its multi-million customer network, the architecture that guides these systems, the evolving technology from which they are built and the future directions in their evolution. Computing Systems for Global Telecommunications is essential reading for software engineers working on all types of large Operational Support Systems; systems designers working for telecommunications providers; advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers studying software engineering.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 372 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Cooperation in Research and Development provides an empirical and theoretical analysis of a distinct form of inter-firm collaboration in Research & Development (R&D): research joint ventures (RJVs). Of all types of cooperation, RJVs have received the most attention in both formal industrial organization and science and technology policy literature. The emerging theoretical economic literature on incentives of firms to join RJVs has not been followed by much empirical work. Cooperation in Research and Development attempts to fill the void caused by this lack of consistent data on the rate of RJV formation, RJV characteristics, and RJV member characteristics.Significant attention is paid to the role of RJVs in facilitating `virtual' firm diversification as necessary to pursue particular technological objectives. An effort is also made to blend the reported theoretical and empirical analyses with conceptual models of the process of technological innovation and models of industrial evolution in order to provide answers beyond the reach of the received economic theory. Cooperation in Research and Development should be of interest to academic economists, policy makers, and business representatives. The microeconomic issues the book deals with overlap significantly with the interests of decision makers both in government and business.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Earth date, August 11, 1997 'Beam me up Scottie!' 'We cannot do it! This is not Star Trek's Enterprise. This is early years Earth.' True, this is not yet the era of Star Trek, we cannot beam captain James T. Kirk or captain Jean Luc Pickard or an apple or anything else anywhere. What we can do though is beam information about Kirk or Pickard or an apple or an insurance agent. We can beam a record of a patient, the status of an engine, a weather report. We can beam this information anywhere, to mobile workers, to field engineers, to a track loading apples, to ships crossing the Oceans, to web surfers. We have reached a point where the promise of information access anywhere and anytime is close to realization. The enabling technology, wireless networks, exists; what remains to be achieved is providing the infrastructure and the software to support the promise. Universal access and management of information has been one of the driving forces in the evolution of computer technology. Central computing gave the ability to perform large and complex computations and advanced information manipulation. Advances in networking connected computers together and led to distributed computing. Web technology and the Internet went even further to provide hyper-linked information access and global computing. However, restricting access stations to physical location limits the boundary of the vision.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.