springer jul 2010 (409 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -During more than four decades of involvement in amateur astronomy, I have enjoyed the privilege of rubbing shoulders with numberless amateur and professional astr- omers. In so doing I have encountered at first, second, and third hand many of the joys and pitfalls that sky watchers can experience in pursuit of the universe¿s wonders. I have often howled at tall tales that would not disgrace a pirate¿s tavern. Many of these astounding stories have become the kernels of my Dear Steve column items. Learning how to operate the technology for observing and imaging the universe is work enough for any aspiring astronomer; however, many have problems of their own making. Not only do they share these troubles with other astronomers, they are on the receiving end of colleagues and friends doing the same. With all these agonized communications flying about, it is hard to understand how anyone gets any real work done! For the amusement of my peers I have long fondly parodied these imagined literary exchanges. These fantasy ¿¿Agony Aunt¿¿ questions began appearing in the pages of the Loughton Astronomical Society¿s monthly (and Christmas Special) journals about 30 years ago, in the guise of The astronomer¿s problem page. This was by the kind indulgence of the then editor, namely myself. Happily, even when the magazine of the LAS evolved into something much better, under the tender and loving care of those who came after me, these problem letters were still in demand and even now occasionally appear.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Reinforcement learning is a learning paradigm concerned with learning to control a system so as to maximize a numerical performance measure that expresses a long-term objective. What distinguishes reinforcement learning from supervised learning is that only partial feedback is given to the learner about the learner's predictions. Further, the predictions may have long term effects through influencing the future state of the controlled system. Thus, time plays a special role. The goal in reinforcement learning is to develop efficient learning algorithms, as well as to understand the algorithms' merits and limitations. Reinforcement learning is of great interest because of the large number of practical applications that it can be used to address, ranging from problems in artificial intelligence to operations research or control engineering. In this book, we focus on those algorithms of reinforcement learning that build on the powerful theory of dynamic programming. We give a fairly comprehensive catalog of learning problems, describe the core ideas, note a large number of state of the art algorithms, followed by the discussion of their theoretical properties and limitations. Table of Contents: Markov Decision Processes / Value Prediction Problems / Control / For Further ExplorationSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 104 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Dental caries, periodontitis, tooth loss, and bone resorption are considered prevalent health problems that have direct affect on the quality of life. While, advances in stem cell biology and biotechnology have sparked hope for devastating maladies, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc., it also provides a strategy of regenerative therapy for dental tissues. From the prospective of tissue engineering, it is of utmost importance to understand and emulate the complex cell interactions that make up a tissue or organ. Unlike other tissues in the body, dental tissues are unique in their development, function, and even in their maintenance throughout life. The harmonized stimulations of biology and mechanical regulators to promote cellular activities have matured our understanding of the value of regenerative therapy of dental tissue versus the reparative treatment.In this book, we review the current knowledge available to regenerate alveolar bone, periodontal structure, and pulp/dentin complex.The book provides researchers with detailed information about development and functional characteristics of the dental unit with detailed protocols covering a comprehensive range of various approaches to engineer dental tissues: to use isolated cells or cell substitutes as cellular replacement, to use acellular biomaterials capable of inducing tissue regeneration, and/or to use a combination of cells, biomaterial and growth factors. We are well aware, with the concept changes in the field toward in-vitro biomimetics of in-vivo tissue development. The theoretical frame work integrating these concepts of developmental biology and developmental engineering is yet to be emphasized and implemented.Until this happens, we consider this book of regenerative dentistry as a call for scientists to achieve, researchers to innovate, practitioners to apply, and students to learn the art and science of regenerative therapy in dentistry.Table of Contents: Introduction toRegenerative Dentistry / Tissue Engineering Alveolar Bone / Tissue Engineering of the Periodontal Tissues / Dynamics for Pulp-Dentin Tissue Engineering in Operative DentistrySpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The asymptotic behaviour, in particular 'stability' in some sense, is studied systematically for discrete and for continuous linear dynamical systems on Banach spaces. Of particular concern is convergence to an equilibrium with respect to various topologies. Parallels and differences between the discrete and the continuous situation are emphasised.Springer Basel AG in Springer Science + Business Media, Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This volume surveys the research on discourse and education, adopting the broadest definition of ¿discource¿.¿ Discourse as ¿talk-in-interaction¿, commonly espoused in studies of classroom discourse since the 1970s.¿ Discourse as ¿ways of understanding and constituting the social world¿, the critical, post-structuralist view of discourse as a source of power.Several themes resonate across the four sections and the chapters within them:¿ Widening the scope of enquiry, combining approaches to discourse¿ Linking the study of discourse with ethnography¿ Dealing with the changing nature of contemporary patterns of communicationThis is one of ten volumes of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education published by Springer. The Encyclopedia bears testimony to the dynamism and evolution of the language and education field, as it confronts the ever-burgeoning and irrepressible linguistic diversity and ongoing pressures and expectations placed on education around the world.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 448 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Language has too often been studied in isolation from the social and political conditions in which it is used. The late David Corson, the General Editor of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education, held the position that an acute understanding of theory was a necessary prerequisite for action, not an alternative to it, especially if one were hoping to change policies for the better.The contributions in this volume acknowledge the centrality of the politics of language, highlighting the importance of the social and political contexts of language policy and language education.This is one of ten volumes of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education. The Encyclopedia bears testimony to the dynamism and evolution of the language and education field, as it confronts the ever-burgeoning and irrepressible linguistic diversity and ongoing pressures and expectations placed on education around the world.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The 29 chapters in this volume offer insight in the various interdisciplinary approaches to the study of knowledge about language or language awareness. They reflect the breadth of the area and chart its possible development in topics such as:¿ Language awareness in the mother tongue and second and foreign languages¿ Studies aimed at improving the teaching of languages in educational settings¿ Studies of Psycholinguistic processes, explicit and implicit knowledge¿ Bilingualism and multilingualism, in particular metalinguistic awareness¿ Critical language awareness, social practices of language and the role of power and ideology.This is one of ten volumes of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education published by Springer. The Encyclopedia bears testimony to the dynamism and evolution of the language and education field, as it confronts the ever-burgeoning and irrepressible linguistic diversity and ongoing pressures and expectations placed on education around the world.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 464 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -E-learning and digital entertainment techniques, tools and systems are becoming popular and can be found in many real-world educational applications in many co- tries. The driving force behind these technologies is the rapidly growing requirements of edutainment, especially from the perspective of the users. This has led to the increasing interest of researchers in this area. The articles in this issue give a rich overview of how edutainment technologies can be creatively used for training and education purposes. The first 12 articles of this issue represent a selection of outstanding contributions from Edutainment 2010, the 5th International Conference on E-learning and Games, held in Changchun, China, in August 2010. The main purpose of this event is to faci- tate the discussion, presentation, and information exchange on the scientific and te- nological developments in the emerging field of digital entertainment techniques and systems for education. These 12 papers concentrated on three aspects: e-learning s- tem and applications, game techniques for learning, and virtual reality techniques for entertainment. They are closely related to the topics of this journal.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 288 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This volume presents the most recent theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical insights on foreign and second language learning and teaching in diverse educational settings and situations, learner populations, proficiency levels and teaching practices.Five thematic sections each include theoretical and practical approaches to second and foreign language education:¿ Theoretical underpinnings¿ Current approaches¿ International perspectives¿ Teacher preparation and professional development¿ The role of technologyThis is one of ten volumes of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education published by Springer. The Encyclopedia bears testimony to the dynamism and evolution of the language and education field, as it confronts the ever-burgeoning and irrepressible linguistic diversity and ongoing pressures and expectations placed on education around the world.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 444 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Literacy is the second volume of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education, the first attempt to overview an area which has emerged as a coherent and exciting field of study in the last two decades. While forming part of a series of ten volumes, Literacy also stands on its own, drawing on some state-of-the-art reviews of current concerns in the study of literacy prepared by leading writers and researchers.The book is organised in three main sections: Literacies and Social Theory, Literacies and Social Institutions and Living Literacies ¿ Social and Cultural Experience. The approach is multidisciplinary, drawing on insights from fields as diverse as anthropology and computer science, sociolinguistics andpsychology. The international flavour of the volume is reflected not only in the choice of contributors from nine different countries but also in the emphasis throughout on the impact of globalization on our understanding of literacy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 424 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Many electrical and computer engineering projects involve some kind of embedded system in which a microcontroller sits at the center as the primary source of control. The recently-developed Arduino development platform includes an inexpensive hardware development board hosting an eight-bit ATMEL ATmega-family processor and a Java-based software-development environment. These features allow an embedded systems beginner the ability to focus their attention on learning how to write embedded software instead of wasting time overcoming the engineering CAD tools learning curve. The goal of this text is to introduce fundamental methods for creating embedded software in general, with a focus on ANSI C. The Arduino development platform provides a great means for accomplishing this task. As such, this work presents embedded software development using 100% ANSI C for the Arduino's ATmega328P processor. We deviate from using the Arduino-specific Wiring libraries in an attempt to provide the most general embedded methods. In this way, the reader will acquire essential knowledge necessary for work on future projects involving other processors. Particular attention is paid to the notorious issue of using C pointers in order to gain direct access to microprocessor registers, which ultimately allow control over all peripheral interfacing. Table of Contents: Introduction / ANSI C / Introduction to Arduino / Embedded Debugging / ATmega328P Architecture / General-Purpose Input/Output / Timer Ports / Analog Input Ports / Interrupt Processing / Serial Communications / Assembly Language / Non-volatile MemorySpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Effective drug administration is a crucial skill for any practitioner working in the critical care unit. This book, in providing a concise account of the fundamental principles of pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, equips the critical care physician for such a task.In addition to the principles of pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, this volume alerts the reader to factors that affect drug action such as disease, pregnancy and age, and advises on how to adjust drug dosages accordingly. The specialist therapeutics covered comprise drugs targeting the gastro-intestinal tract, sedation, non-opioid analgesia and opiates.A quick and easy reference, this volume will prove a valuable asset for both trainees and fully qualified practitioners in critical care.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 84 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among young people-most notably in the form of forearm- or wrist-cutting-occurs across cultural groups, social strata, and developmental stages, puzzling and repelling adults. Youth engaging in NSSI behaviors are at a higher risk for suicidality as well as other mental health and academic problems. And because NSSI is often first noticed in the school setting (as is the case with many children's disorders), school professionals are being encouraged to take a more proactive role in intervention.The first book specifically geared toward education personnel, Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Self-Injury at School clearly defines NSSI, differentiating it from suicidal, borderline, and other behaviors and analyzing the psychological contexts in which it occurs. This school-based perspective gives readers a practical framework for earlier, more accurate diagnosis; relevant consulting with parents, teachers, and colleagues; and effective, science-based treatment.Included in the coverage: an overview of causes of self-injury, current findings on prevalence and associated conditions, early screening guidelines, including risk factors and warning signs, the latest information on assessment issues and diagnostic methods, a separate chapter on psychoeducational assessment and up-to-date research on interventions for NSSI.Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Self-Injury at School offers a solid foundation for school psychologists and allied educational professionals to understand students with NSSI and address their complex needs. 137 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This is the first book to explore how actors play real people. How do you capture Hitler, Mugabe, or a serial killer How do you portray living monarchs or political leaders Is it possible to embody a genius like Mozart, Woolf or Darwin What are the pressures of performing an icon like Marlene Dietrich Bringing together original conversations with award-winning actors, the line-up includes Jeremy Irons, Dame Eileen Atkins, David Morrissey, Henry Goodman, and Sir Ian McKellen.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This book applies methods from nonlinear dynamics to problems in neuroscience. It uses modern mathematical approaches to understand patterns of neuronal activity seen in experiments and models of neuronal behavior. The intended audience is researchers interested in applying mathematics to important problems in neuroscience, and neuroscientists who would like to understand how to create models, as well as the mathematical and computational methods for analyzing them. The authors take a very broad approach and use many different methods to solve and understand complex models of neurons and circuits. They explain and combine numerical, analytical, dynamical systems and perturbation methods to produce a modern approach to the types of model equations that arise in neuroscience. There are extensive chapters on the role of noise, multiple time scales and spatial interactions in generating complex activity patterns found in experiments. The early chapters require little more than basic calculus and some elementary differential equations and can form the core of a computational neuroscience course. Later chapters can be used as a basis for a graduate class and as a source for current research in mathematical neuroscience. The book contains a large number of illustrations, chapter summaries and hundreds of exercises which are motivated by issues that arise in biology, and involve both computation and analysis. Bard Ermentrout is Professor of Computational Biology and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh. David Terman is Professor of Mathematics at the Ohio State University.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 440 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -In their search for solutions to problems concerning the dynamics of the Earth as a self-gravitating body, the authors have applied the fundamentals found in their book ¿Jacobi Dynamics¿ (1987, Reidel). First, satellite observations have shown that the Earth does not remain in hydrostatic equilibrium, which forms the physical basis of modern geodynamics. Secondly, satellite data have established a relationship between the planet¿s polar moment of inertia and the potential of the Earth¿s outer force field, which proves the most basic point of Jacobi dynamics. This allowed the authors to revise their derivation of the classical virial theorem, introducing the concept of a volumetric force and volumetric moment, and so to obtain a generalized virial theorem in the form of Jacobi¿s equation.The main dynamical effects are: the kinetic energy of oscillation of the interacting particles, which explains the physical meaning and nature of gravitational forces; separation of shells of a self-gravitating body with respect to its mass density; differences in angular velocities of the shell¿s rotation; continuity in variance of the potential of the outer gravitational force field, together with reductions in the envelope of the interacting masses (volumetric center of gravity); the nature of Earth, Moon and satellite precession; the nature and generating mechanism of the planet¿s electromagnetic field; the common nature of gravitational and electromagnetic energy, and other related issues.The work is a logical continuation of the book 'Jacobi Dynamics' and is intended for researchers, teachers and students engaged in theoretical and experimental research in various branches of astronomy, geophysics, planetology and cosmogony, and for students of celestial, statistical, quantum and relativistic mechanics and hydrodynamics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Computational intelligence encompasses a wide variety of techniques that allow computation to learn, to adapt, and to seek. That is, they may be designed to learn information without explicit programming regarding the nature of the content to be retained, they may be imbued with the functionality to adapt to maintain their course within a complex and unpredictably changing environment, and they may help us seek out truths about our own dynamics and lives through their inclusion in complex system modeling. These capabilities place our ability to compute in a category apart from our ability to erect suspension bridges, although both are products of technological advancement and reflect an increased understanding of our world. In this book, we show how to unify aspects of learning and adaptation within the computational intelligence framework. While a number of algorithms exist that fall under the umbrella of computational intelligence, with new ones added every year, all of them focus on the capabilities of learning, adapting, and helping us seek. So, the term unified computational intelligence relates not to the individual algorithms but to the underlying goals driving them. This book focuses on the computational intelligence areas of neural networks and dynamic programming, showing how to unify aspects of these areas to create new, more powerful, computational intelligence architectures to apply to new problem domains.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 128 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -In the present book with the title 'Modern Trends in THA Bearings - Material and Clinical Performance' a notable editor and many worldwide renown experts are contributing to this topic. The surgeons are describing their long-term experience regarding the behaviour and clinical performance of primary and revision hip arthroplasty.Material aspects, indications, surgical techniques as well as problems and recommendations for different bearing couples are extensively discussed. The clinical performance of ceramic bearings is highlighted as well as the recommendations for safe implantation.Altogether, for the experienced surgeon as well as for the resident, this book gives a valuable overview on the state-of-the-art techniques and bearing materials used in hip arthroplasty.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Discrete Mathematics and theoretical computer science are closely linked research areas with strong impacts on applications and various other scientific disciplines. Both fields deeply cross fertilize each other. One of the persons who particularly contributed to building bridges between these and many other areas is László Lovász, whose outstanding scientific work has defined and shaped many research directions in the past 40 years. A number of friends and colleagues, all top authorities in their fields of expertise gathered at the two conferences in August 2008 in Hungary, celebrating Lovász' 60th birthday. It was a real fete of combinatorics and computer science. Some of these plenary speakers submitted their research or survey papers prior to the conferences. These are included in the volume 'Building Bridges'. The other speakers were able to finish their contribution only later, these are collected in the present volume.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 372 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -This monograph originates from my work on the HAPTEX project. In - cember 2004 Prof. Franz-Erich Wolter, the head of the Institute of Man¿ Machine Communication of the Leibniz Universit¿ at Hannover, o ered me the opportunity to participate in that EU funded project. Being a mat- matician I had only very little experience in the eld of haptic simulation in those days, but Prof. Wolter trusted in my ability to become acquainted with new elds of research in a very short time. I am still thankful for the con dence he has shown me. Since then I indeed learned and found out a lot. With this monograph I try to pass on the knowledge I gained. Having a reader in mind whölike me at the beginning of the project¿has no background in psychophysics, neurophysiologyortextileengineeringIwillprovidethenecessarybasics.The skilled reader may safely skip these parts. Nevertheless I presume some basic knowledge in mathematics. I hope that this thesis might help a newcomer to discover the fascinating eld of tactile simulation. This workwouldnot havebeen possible without the funding of the project ¿HAPtic sensing of virtual TEXtiles¿ (HAPTEX) under the Sixth Fra- work Programme (FP6) of the European Union (Contract No. IST-6549).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Themechanicsofspace ightisan olddiscipline.Itstopicoriginallywasthemotion of planets, moons and other celestial bodies in gravitational elds. Kepler¿s (1571 - 1630) observations and measurements have led to probably the rst mathematical description of planet¿s motion. Newton (1642 - 1727) gave then, with the devel- ment of his principles of mechanics, the physical explanation of these motions. Since then man has started in the second half of the 20th centuryto capture ph- ically the Space in the sense that he did develop arti cial celestial bodies, which he brought into Earth¿s orbits, like satellites or space stations, or which he did send to planets or moons of our planetary system, like probes, or by which p- ple were brought to the moon and back, like capsules. Further he developed an advanced space transportation system, the U.S. Space Shuttle Orbiter, which is the only winged space vehicle ever in operation. In the last two and a half decades there were several activities in the world in order to succeed the U.S. Orbiter, like the HERMES project in Europe, the HOPE project in Japan, the X-33, X-34 and X-37 studies and demonstrators in the United States and the joint U.S. - European project X-38. However, all these projects were cancelled. The motion of these vehicles can be described by Newton¿s equation of motion.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Successful transmission electron microscopy in all of its manifestations depends on the quality of the specimens examined. Biological specimen preparation protocols have usually been more rigorous and time consuming than those in the physical sciences. For this reason, there has been a wealth of scienti c literature detailing speci c preparation steps and numerous excellent books on the preparation of b- logical thin specimens. This does not mean to imply that physical science specimen preparation is trivial. For the most part, most physical science thin specimen pre- ration protocols can be executed in a matter of a few hours using straightforward steps. Over the years, there has been a steady stream of papers written on various aspects of preparing thin specimens from bulk materials. However, aside from s- eral seminal textbooks and a series of book compilations produced by the Material Research Society in the 1990s, no recent comprehensive books on thin spe- men preparation have appeared until this present work, rst in French and now in English. Everyone knows that the data needed to solve a problem quickly are more imp- tant than ever. A modern TEM laboratory with supporting SEMs, light microscopes, analytical spectrometers, computers, and specimen preparation equipment is an investment of several million US dollars. Fifty years ago, electropolishing, chemical polishing, and replication methods were the principal specimen preparation me- ods.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -¿This book guides you in the journey of 3D modeling from the theory with elegant mathematics to applications with beautiful 3D model pictures. Written in a simple, straightforward, and concise manner, readers will learn the state of the art of 3D reconstruction and modeling.¿¿Professor Takeo Kanade, Carnegie Mellon UniversityThe computer vision and graphics communities use different terminologies for the same ideas. This book provides a translation, enabling graphics researchers to apply vision concepts, and vice-versa, independence of chapters allows readers to directly jump into a specific chapter of interest, compared to other texts, gives more succinct treatment overall, and focuses primarily on vision geometry.Image-Based Modeling is for graduate students, researchers, and engineers working in the areas of computer vision, computer graphics, image processing, robotics, virtual reality, and photogrammetry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Medical Geology is a rapidly growing field concerned with the relationship between natural geological factors and human and animal health, as well as with improving our understanding of the influence of environmental factors on the geographical distribution of health problems. This book brings together the work of geoscientists and medical/public health researchers, which addresses health problems caused, or exacerbated by geological materials (rocks, minerals, atmospheric dust and water) and processes (including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Among the environmental health problems discussed in this book are: exposure to toxic levels of trace essential and non-essential elements such as arsenic and mercury; trace element deficiencies; exposure to natural dusts and to radioactivity; naturally occurring organic compounds in drinking water; volcanic emissions, etc. The text also deals with the many health benefits of geologic materials and processes.This wide-ranging volume covers issues in medical geology all over the world with each author covering their respective region. It provides examples from different continents as well as a state-of-the-art review of the latest developments in the discipline. The authors are all recognized geoscientific and medical experts working in the field. The book is written for a wide variety of specialists from geologists, geochemists, pathologists and medical doctors to veterinarians and biologists.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 416 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -The main theme of this monograph is ¿comparative statistical inference. ¿ While the topics covered have been carefully selected (they are, for example, restricted to pr- lems of statistical estimation), my aim is to provide ideas and examples which will assist a statistician, or a statistical practitioner, in comparing the performance one can expect from using either Bayesian or classical (aka, frequentist) solutions in - timation problems. Before investing the hours it will take to read this monograph, one might well want to know what sets it apart from other treatises on comparative inference. The two books that are closest to the present work are the well-known tomes by Barnett (1999) and Cox (2006). These books do indeed consider the c- ceptual and methodological differences between Bayesian and frequentist methods. What is largely absent from them, however, are answers to the question: ¿which - proach should one use in a given problem ¿ It is this latter issue that this monograph is intended to investigate. There are many books on Bayesian inference, including, for example, the widely used texts by Carlin and Louis (2008) and Gelman, Carlin, Stern and Rubin (2004). These books differ from the present work in that they begin with the premise that a Bayesian treatment is called for and then provide guidance on how a Bayesian an- ysis should be executed. Similarly, there are many books written from a classical perspective.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -What is commonly called the information age began with a double big bang. It was 1948 and the United States of America was continuing to invest heavily in high-tech research, the rst advantages of which had been reaped during the Second World War. In the Bell Telephone Laboratories, set up in New Jersey, to the south of New York, several teams were set up around brilliant researchers, manyofwhomhadbeentrainedatMIT(MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology). Thatyeartwoexceptionaldiscoveriesweremade,onetechnologicalandtheother theoretical, which were to mark the 20th century. For, a few months apart, and in the same institution John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley invented the transistor while Claude Elwood Shannon established information and digital communications theory. This phenomenal coincidence saw the birth ofnear-twins: thesemi-conductorcomponentwhich, accordingtoits conduction state (on or o ), is able to materially represent binary information ('0' or '1') andtheShannon orbit (shortforbinaryunit), a unit that measuresinformation capacity. Today we can recognize the full importance of these two inventions that - abledthe tremendousexpansionofcomputing andtelecommunications,to name but these two. Since 1948, the meteoric progress of electronics, then of mic- electronics, has providedengineers and researchersin the world of telecommu- cations with a support for their innovations, in order to continually increase the performanceof their systems.Springer-Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 436 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -KES International (KES) is a worldwide organisation that provides a professional community and association for researchers, originally in the discipline of Knowledge Based and Intelligent Engineering Systems, but now extending into other related areas. Through this, KES provides its members with opportunities for publication and beneficial interaction. The focus of KES is research and technology transfer in the area of Intelligent S- tems, i.e. computer-based software systems that operate in a manner analogous to the human brain, in order to perform advanced tasks. Recently KES has started to extend its area of interest to encompass the contribution that intelligent systems can make to sustainability and renewable energy, and also the knowledge transfer, innovation and enterprise agenda. Involving several thousand researchers, managers and engineers drawn from u- versities and companies world-wide, KES is in an excellent position to facilitate - ternational research co-operation and generate synergy in the area of artificial intel- gence applied to real-world ¿Smart¿ systems and the underlying related theory. The KES annual conference covers a broad spectrum of intelligent systems topics and attracts several hundred delegates from a range of countries round the world. KES also organises symposia on specific technical topics, for example, Agent and Multi Agent Systems, Intelligent Decision Technologies, Intelligent Interactive M- timedia Systems and Services, Sustainability in Energy and Buildings and Innovations through Knowledge Transfer. KES is responsible for two peer-reviewed journals, the International Journal of Knowledge based and Intelligent Engineering Systems, and Intelligent Decision Technologies: an International Journal.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures quick, tiny metabolic changes that take place in the brain, providing the most sensitive method currently available for identifying, investigating, and monitoring brain tumors, stroke, and chronic disorders of the nervous system like multiple sclerosis, and brain abnormalities related to dementia or seizures. This overview explains the principles of fMRI, scanning methodlogies, experimental design and data analysis, and outlines challenges and limitations of fMRI. It also provides a detailed neuroanatomic atlas, and describes clinical applications of fMRI in cognitive, sensory, and motor cases, translating research into clinical application.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -In this volume, first we formulate a framework of fuzzy types to represent both partial truth and uncertainty about concept and relation types in conceptual graphs. Like fuzzy attribute values, fuzzy types also form a lattice laying a common ground for lattice-based computationof fuzzy granules. Second, for automated reasoning with fuzzy conceptual graphs, we develop foundations of order-sorted fuzzy set logic programming, extending the theory of annotated logic programs of Kifer and Subrahmanian (1992). Third, we show some recent applications of fuzzy conceptual graphs to modelling and computing with generally quantifiedstatements, approximate knowledge retrieval, and natural language query understanding.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Tommy Bengtsson Population ageing, the shift in age distribution towards older ages, is of immense global concern. It is taking place to a varying degree all over the world, more in Europe and some Asian countries, less on the African continent. The worldwide share of people aged 65 years and above is predicted to increase from 7. 5% in 2005 to 16. 1% in 2050 (UN 2007, p. 11). The corresponding gures for developed countries are 15. 5 and 26. 2% and for developing countries 5. 5 and 14. 6%. While population ageing has been going on for some time in the developed world, and will continue to do so, most of the change is yet to come for the developing world. The change in developing countries, however, is going to be much faster than it has been in the developed world. For example, while it took more than 100 years in France and more than 80 years in Sweden for the population group aged 65 and above to increase from 7 to 14% of the population, the same change in Japan took place over a 25-year period (UN 2007, p. 13). The scenario for the future is very similar for most developing countries, including highly populated countries like China, India and Brazil. While the start and the speed differ, the shift in age structure towards older ages is a worldwide phenomenon, stressing the signi cance of the concept global ageing.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 140 pp. Englisch.