springer nov 2000 (376 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Control of nonlinear systems, one of the most active research areas in control theory, has always been a domain of natural convergence of research interests in applied mathematics and control engineering. The theory has developed from the early phase of its history, when the basic tool was essentially only the Lyapunov second method, to the present day, where the mathematics ranges from differential geometry, calculus of variations, ordinary and partial differential equations, functional analysis, abstract algebra and stochastic processes, while the applications to advanced engineering design span a wide variety of topics, which include nonlinear controllability and observability, optimal control, state estimation, stability and stabilization, feedback equivalence, motion planning, noninteracting control, disturbance attenuation, asymptotic tracking. The reader will find in the book methods and results which cover a wide variety of problems: starting from pure mathematics (like recent fundamental results on (non)analycity of small balls and the distance function), through its applications to all just mentioned topics of nonlinear control, up to industrial applications of nonlinear control algorithms.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This work offers an outlook on the derivation and interpretation of control constructions. From data and observations, it argues that obligatory control comes in two varieties: exhaustive or partial control, the latter obtaining when PRO properly includes the controller. This distinction, arguably universal, is tightly linked to the tense specification of the infinitive. Non-obligatory control, on the other hand, is structurally conditioned, obtaining only in VP-external infinitives. A detailed investigation of how control interacts with super-equi constructions and psychological predicates sheds new light on issues such as extraposition, argument structure, and semantic selection. This book clears up some common misconceptions about the nature of control, as well as sharpening the empirical challenges that face any comprehensive theory in this domain. Regardless of theoretical framework, scholars of syntax and semantics interested in these topics, should find this book a major contribution to the field.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Biochemistry And Genetics of RecQ-Helicases provides a background into the role of helicases in general and RecQ helicases specifically in DNA repair. Helicases- enzymes which break down hydrogen bonds between nucleic acid strands in a nucleoside triphosphate-dependent manner-are ubiquitous in biology, participating in processes as diverse as replication, repair, recombination, transcription, and translation. The RecQ-family helicases are a group of helicases which have important roles in the maintenance of genomic stability in many organisms. In humans, mutations in three RecQ-family helicases lead to disease. This book thoroughly examines these helicases. Mutations in the BLM gene lead to Bloom syndrome, a disorder characterized by a susceptibility to many types of cancer. Mutations in the WRN gene cause Werner syndrome, a disease which in some respects resembles premature aging. Finally, mutations in a newly characterized RecQ-family member, RECQ4, may lead to the very rare recessive disorder Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, a condition characterized by developmental abnormalities and some aging-like manifestations. This book is intended for any researchers invested in these particular disorders, or with a general interest in DNA.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - A long-standing unsolved problem in economic theory is how economic equilibria are attained. Price Dynamics in Equilibrium Models: The Search for Equilibrium and the Emergence of Endogenous Fluctuations considers a number of adjustment processes in different economic models and investigates their dynamical behaviour. Two important themes arising in this context are `bounded rationality' and `nonlinear dynamics'. Important sub-themes of the book are the following: how do boundedly rational agents interact with their environment and does this interaction in some sense lead to rational outcomes (which may or may not correspond to equilibria) The second sub-theme deals with the consequences of the nonlinear dynamical nature of many adjustment processes. The results presented in this volume indicate that endogenous fluctuations are the rule rather than the exception in the search for equilibrium. The book uses the theory of nonlinear dynamics to analyze the dynamics of the different economic models. Due to the complexity of most of the models, an important role is played by computational methods. In particular, at regular instances the models are analyzed by numerical simulations and some computer-assisted proofs are provided. It also covers a wide range of dynamical models from economic theory. Most of these models merge the theory of nonlinear economic dynamics with the theory of bounded rationality. The book is written for anyone with an interest in economic theory in general and bounded rationality and endogenous fluctuations in particular. It is entirely self-contained and accessible to readers with only a limited knowledge of economic theory.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Eastern Enlargement of the EU identifies the major fiscal challenges facing Central European countries on the road to European Union accession. The Introduction and three other chapters are on broad macro-economic issues, and four `sectoral' chapters follow these on such questions as the fiscal impact of pensions, health reform, taxation and agricultural policies. A comprehensive analysis of tax systems and of the major elements of public social expenditures (pensions and health care systems) is presented. This analysis helps to identify the key factors determining the present size of governments and the need for, and prospects of, fiscal adjustment. In addition, a comparison of fiscal policy is carried out, followed by a long-term fiscal projection until year 2010. The book is relevant to academics in macroeconomics, European studies and transition economics, as well as in public finance and public policy sciences. It should also appeal to a significant professional audience. Policy makers and economists interested in the accession process in EU countries - at ministries, National Banks, research departments of banks, international organizations (the EU Commission, World Bank, IMF, OECD) - will have a strong interest in this book.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book is a collection of extended versions of the papers presented at the Symposium on Next Generation Wireless Networks, May 26, 2000, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ. Each chapter includes, in addition to technical contributions, a tutorial of the corresponding area. It has been a privilege to bring together these contributions from researchers on the leading edge of the field. The papers were submitted in response to a call for papers aiming to concentrate on the applications and services for the 'next generation,' deliberately omitting the numeric reference so that the authors' vision of the future would not be limited by the definitive requirements of a particular set of standards. The book, as a result, reflects the top-down approach by focusing on enabling technologies for the applications and services that are the defining essentials for future wireless networks. This approach strikes a balance between the academia and the industry by addressing new wireless network architectures enabling mobility and location enhanced applications and services that will give wireless systems the competitive edge over others. The main theme of the book is the advent of wireless networks as an irreplaceable means of global communication as opposed to a mere substitute for, or a competitor of, wireline networks. Geolocation emerges as the facilitator of mobility and location sensitive services. The fields of geolocation and wireless communications have been forced to merge, following the Federal Commission of Communications' (FCC) ruling that obliges wireless providers with emergency caller geolocation.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Essential to anyone involved in the planning, design, construction, operation or finance of infrastructure assets, this innovative work puts project delivery, finance, and operation together in a practical new formulation of how both public and private owners can better manage their entire collection of infrastructure facilities. Principles of Public and Private Infrastructure Delivery traces the history of infrastructure development and finance in the United States, and meticulously ties America's historical success in infrastructure to the simultaneous use of Design-Bid- Build, Design-Build, Design-Build-Operate, and Design-Build-Finance-Operate to deliver both public and private infrastructure collections. This historical background provides the basis for a new, integrated strategy for managing infrastructure assets in the 21st century. Principles of Public and Private Infrastructure Delivery provides the logic and practical tools that public and private decision-makers need to make better strategic choices in the application of scarce resources to infrastructure facilities. New tools are presented that permit simple comparisons of different project delivery and finance strategies. Practical approaches are provided that allow owners to quickly compare capital program alternatives for entire collections of infrastructure facilities. Practical legislative strategies for organizing the delivery of public infrastructure are presented and described. Principles of Public and Private Infrastructure Delivery provides a practical framework that owners can apply to implement a competitive infrastructure strategy and a principled framework that private sector firms can use to effectively reposition themselves in this changing market. It puts infrastructure asset management in an entirely new and more productive light, and establishes a new paradigm for steady improvement in the quality and cost performance of public and private infrastructure networks. Audience: This book will be an essential reference tool for infrastructure managers throughout the public and private sectors, including: Public Works Officials; Corporate Officials Responsible for Asset Management; State Legislators and Executive Officials; State Agencies and Regional Authorities Responsible for Transportation, Water Supply and Treatment; City Mayors, Town Managers, and Other Local Officials; Private Infrastructure Developers and Operators; Procurement and Project Counsel; Design-Builders; Constructors; Design Professionals; Management Consultants; Program Managers; and Financial Institutions.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - It is a pleasure to write a foreword for Professor Tore Wessel-Berg's book, 'Electromagnetic and Quantum Measurements: A Bitemporal Neoclassical Theory.' This book appeals to me for several reasons. The most important is that, in this book, Wessel-Berg breaks from the pack. The distinguished astrophysicist Thomas Gold has written about the pressures on scientists to move in tight formation, to avoid having their legs nipped by the sheepdogs of science. This book demonstrates that Wessel-Berg is willing to take that risk. I confess that I do not sufficiently understand this book to be able to either agree or disagree with its thesis. Nevertheless, Wessel-Berg makes very cogent arguments for setting out on his journey. The basic equations of physics are indeed time-reversible. Our experience, that leads us to the concept of an 'arrow of time,' is derived from macro scopic phenomena, not from fundamental microscopic phenomena. For this reason, it makes very good sense to explore the consequences of treating microscopic phenomena on the assumption that forward time and backward time are equal.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Arabinogalactan-proteins are distributed throughout the plant kingdom and are present in leaves, stems, roots, floral parts, and seeds. At the subcellular level, AGPs are localized on the plasma membrane, in the cell wall, in secretory and endocytotic pathway organelles, in stylar and root secretions and in the medium of cultured cells. The widespread distribution of AGPs indicates that they perform important functions. An expansion of knowledge regarding AGPs has been initiated and sustained through new experimental approaches, including the development of monoclonal antibody probes and cloning of cDNAs corresponding to core polypeptides. Regulated expression and other evidence points to the involvement of AGPs in plant reproductive development, pattern formation, and somatic embryogenesis, as well as in the processes of cell division, cell expansion, and cell death. AGPs also have an importance to industry. One example is gum arabic, an exudate from Acacia senegal, a mixture of AGPs and polysaccharides which has unique viscosity and emulsifying properties that have led to many uses in the food as well as other industries.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Modern Solid Mechanics considers phenomena at many levels, ranging from nano size at atomic scale through the continuum level at millimeter size to large structures at the tens of meter scale. The deformation and fracture behavior at these various scales are inextricably related to interdisciplinary methods derived from applied mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering mechanics. This book, in honor of James R. Rice, contains articles from his colleagues and former students that bring these sophisticated methods to bear on a wide range of problems. Articles discussing problems of deformation include topics of dislocation mechanics, second particle effects, plastic yield criterion on porous materials, hydrogen embrittlement, solid state sintering, nanophases at surfaces, adhesion and contact mechanics, diffuse instability in geomaterials, and percolation in metal deformation. In the fracture area, the topics include: elastic-plastic crack growth, dynamic fracture, stress intensity and J-integral analysis, stress-corrosion cracking, and fracture in single crystal, piezoelectric, composite and cementitious materials. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers in modern solid mechanics and can be used as reference or supplementary text in mechanical and civil engineering, applied mechanics, materials science, and engineering graduate courses on fracture mechanics, elasticity, plasticity, mechanics of materials or the application of solid mechanics to processing, and reliability of life predictions.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The complex relationships between alcohol use and human health represent an area of increasing interest to specialists interested in preventive cardiology. The inverse relationship between alcohol consumption and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, especially myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke, has in fact gained sound scientific support in recent years. This book, based in an international symposium on the topic held in Venice, October 30-31, 1999, analyzes in depth the epidemiological association between alcohol consumption and human diseases and discusses the possible mechanisms involved in alcohol-associated protection from atherosclerotic diseases. The oxidative effects of different amounts of alcohol intake and of various alcoholic beverages in the production of these effects - subjects of considerable debate - are also analyzed. This book will be of interest to clinicians and researchers active in the areas of atherosclerosis, public health, preventive medicine, and preventive cardiology. It is intended to specifically help practising clinicians provide their patients with evidence-based answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding alcohol use.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Apologetic Value of Human Holiness begins by providing the first comprehensive account of the model of human holiness developed by the leading theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. In so doing, the book also provides the first detailed explication of his Christocentric philosophical anthropology. Part 2 argues that von Balthasar anticipates some key developments in late twentieth-century Anglo-American analytical philosophy, and that certain of these developments - in particular, the `internal realism' of Hilary Putnam - provide powerful support for von Balthasar's theological philosophy. The final part elucidates von Balthasar's core intuition that human holiness is of immense apologetic value for religious faith, and concludes with a new, `internalist' theory of religious pluralism. The Apologetic Value of Human Holiness will be seen as an important and original contribution to both Philosophy of Religion and Theology, and is likely to prove essential reading in upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses in both subjects.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Design reuse is not just a topic of research but a real industrial necessity in the microelectronic domain and thus driving the competitiveness of relevant areas like for example telecommunication or automotive. Most companies have already dedicated a department or a central unit that transfer design reuse into reality. All main EDA conferences include a track to the topic, and even specific conferences have been established in this area, both in the USA and in Europe. Virtual Components Design and Reuse presents a selection of articles giving a mature and consolidated perspective to design reuse from different points of view. The authors stem from all relevant areas: research and academia, IP providers, EDA vendors and industry. Some classical topics in design reuse, like specification and generation of components, IP retrieval and cataloguing or interface customisation, are revisited and discussed in depth. Moreover, new hot topics are presented, among them IP quality, platform-based reuse, software IP, IP security, business models for design reuse, and major initiatives like the MEDEA EDA Roadmap.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The Annual Bibliography of the History of the Printed Book and Libraries aims at recording articles of scholarly value which relate to the history of the printed book, to the history of arts, crafts, techniques and equipment, and of the economic social and cultural environment, involved in its production, distribution, conversation and description.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Genetics of Diabetes Mellitus is intended to be a resource for both researchers in the field as well as endocrinologists, diabetologists, and geneticists who seek to learn more about this rapidly changing and important field. The text contains chapters from experts in the area who review aspects of the genetics of both type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus as well as various syndromic forms of diabetes. The chapters are approachable for those who are not experts in the field of genetics but also comprehensive, so as to serve as an important resource for researchers interested in the genetics of diabetes mellitus. A description of basic concepts of the genetics of complex diseases like type 1 and type 2 diabetes is provided as background. Type 1 diabetes is addressed in chapters exploring genetic determinants that affect the autoimmune process characteristic of type 1 diabetes, the role of the insulin gene in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and additional genes that may impact upon the risk of type 1 diabetes. The impact of genetic determinants on the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes is covered, as are chapters that address specific genes that are important for the development of type 2 diabetes. Finally, syndromic forms of diabetes, including Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young and mitochondrial diabetes, and the insight that these disorders provide into more common forms of diabetes are reviewed. Thus, this comprehensive and up-to-date text will serve as an important resource for those actively engaged in research in this area and clinicians treating these patients to provide an up-to-date entrée for those seeking to become more knowledgeable in the area.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In the next couple of years the human genome will be fully sequenced. This will provide us with the sequence and overall function of all human genes as well as the complete genome for many micro-organisms. Subsequently it is hoped, by means of powerful bioinformatic tools, to determine the gene variants that contribute to various multifactorial diseases and genes that exist in certain infectious agents but not humans. As a consequence, this will allow us to define the most appropriate levels for drug intervention. It can be expected that the number of potential drug targets will increase, possibly by a factor of 10 or more. Nevertheless, sequencing the human genome or, for that matter, the genome of other species will only be the starting point for the understanding of their biological function. Structural genomics is a likely follow-up, combined with new techniques to validate the therapeutic relevance of such newly discovered targets. Accordingly, it can be expected that in the near future we will witness a substantial increase in novel putative targets for drugs. To address these new targets effectively, we require new approaches and innovative tools. At present, two alternative, yet complementary, techniques are employed: experimental high-throughput screening (HTS) of large compound libraries, increasingly provided by combinatorial chemistry, and computational methods for virtual screening and de novo design. As kind of status report on the maturity of virtual screening as a technique in drug design, the first workshop on new approaches in drug design and discovery was held in March 1999, at Schloß Rauischholzhausen, near Marburg in Germany. More than 80 scientists gathered and discussed their experience with the different techniques. The speakers were invited to summarize their contributions together with their impressions on the present applicability of their approach. Several of the speakers followed this requestwhich is summarized in this publication.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The gastrointestinal tract has a number of unique features. Its extensive surface is formed by a single layer of rapidly renewing cells, the intestinal epithelial cells. These cells are in contact with a number of other cell populations, including the largest part of the immune system, and with an excessive luminal antigen load, including vast numbers of bacteria. Furthermore two more organs, namely liver and pancreas, are part of the system. The rapid renewal of the epithelial layer, the interactions of different cell types, and the balance between cell proliferation and death, have been fascinating subjects of studies in recent years. Much has been learned, and cytokines have emerged as important mediators for all these interactions and homeostatic systems. This book, the proceedings of the Falk Symposium 113 on `Cytokines and Cell Homeostasis in the Gastrointestinal Tract', held in Regensburg, Germany, 16-18 September 1999, provides a forum for basic scientists and interested clinicians to exchange ideas, to discuss concepts and to plan further studies.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In the summer of 1999, an international group of experts convened in Jerusalem, Israel, in order to define the major environmental challenges facing humanity at the dawn of the new millennium and - where possible - propose ways of addressing them. Almost 50 selected articles are collected in the present book, which constitutes a striking interdisciplinary combination of state-of-the-art science with the latest views on environmental law, education, and international cooperation. Whilst a major fraction of the book is devoted to water-related issues (water quality monitoring, water and wastewater treatment, water-based international cooperation, and more), other sections deal with timely topics relating to air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, and education. The book is intended for environmental scientists, professionals, and students of all disciplines.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Growth Hormone and the Heart endeavors to bring together knowledge that has been accumulated in the area of GH and the heart, from basic to clinical studies, by research groups working on this topic throughout the world. Lessons from different experimental models and from several human diseases (acromegaly, adult GH deficiency, heart failure) suggest to endocrinologists and cardiologists that GH may not only have a role in the physiology and pathophysiology of heart function, but that GH itself may have a place in the treatment of primary heart diseases (such as dilated cardiomyopathy) or of cardiac complications of hypopituitarism. Growth Hormone and the Heart will be a useful update of the research produced in the field of cardiovascular endocrinology. The Editors also hope that this book will serve as the primary step in the recognition of the wide physiological and clinical significance of GH and heart interactions.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Cancer cells dedifferentiate with repect to cell function; their vascularity is more leaky, but perfusion is heterogenerously reduced, and interstitial fluid pressure is high, severely retarding delivery of agents from the blood. Targeted imaging is designed to produce a detectable difference between tissue that is visualized with single photon and positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, or ultrasonography. This book uniquely reports strategies for the application of molecular targeted imaging agents such as antibodies, peptides, receptors and contrast agents in the biologic grading of tumors, differential diagnosis of tumors, prediction of therapeutic response and monitoring tumor response to treatment. This book also describes updated information about the imaging of tumor angiogenesis, hypoxia, apoptosis and gene delivery as well as expression in the understanding and utility of tumor molecular biology for better cancer management.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In modernity, an individual identity was constituted from civil society, while in a globalized network society, human identity, if it develops at all, must grow from communal resistance. A communal resistance to an abstract conceptualised world, where there is no possibility for perception and experience of power and therefore no possibility for human choice and action, is of utmost importance for the constituting of human choosers and actors. This book therefore sets focus on those human choosers and actors wishing to read and enjoy the papers as they are actually perceiving and experiencing their lives in a diversity of social and cultural contexts. In so doing, the book tries to imagine in what kind of networks humans may choose and act based on the knowledge and empirical evidence presented in the papers. The topics covered in the book include: People and Their Changing Values. Citizens in a Network Society. The Individual and Knowledge Based Organisations. Human Responsibility and Technology. Exclusion and Regeneration. This valuable new book contains the edited proceedings of the Fifth World Conference on Human Choice and Computers (HCC-5), which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1998. Since the first HCC conference in 1974, IFIP's Technical Committee 9 has endeavoured to set the agenda for human choices and human actions vis-à-vis computers.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The fourth meeting in the very successful series Helicobacter pylori: Basic Mechanisms to Clinical Cure was held on the island of Bermuda in late March 2000. This was only some two years after the third meeting in San Diego and it seemed hardly possible that there would be so much new information. However, as the contributions in this volume testify, there was plenty of exciting new information with important implications for both understanding this infection and for clinical management. Some of this information was of a fundamental nature, such as the role of the acid sensitive urel channel in regulating the influx of urea and the formation of ammonia transported back in the microbial periplasmic space to neutralize acid; the observation of genetic polymorphism of the IL-1~ gene as an explanation of achlorhydria and gastric cancer risk in the first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients; and the peculiar biochemical and physio logical consequences of the genome of the microorganisms. The format of the meeting, with short fifteen-minute state-of-the-art pre sentations by world experts closely involved in Helicobacter research fol lowed by ample time for panel discussions, was again followed this year. Traditional aspects included detailed study of the microbial characteristics, the novel Helicobacters, the interaction with the human host, the peculiarities of the inflammatory immune response, the short and long-term mucosal consequences, the effects on acid secretion, the problem of gastric malignancy and the therapeutic possibilities.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The enormous and varied role of calcium in living systems is now widely appreciated by both cell biologists and clinicians. The identification and characterisation of new calcium binding proteins and regulatory pathways is matched by the recognition of the involvement of calcium binding proteins in a growing number of disease states. This book is intended to introduce clinicians to fundamental biological research, whilst at the same time attracting researchers to the clinical world. The publication of the book coincides with the elucidation of the complete Human Genomic Sequence. As a result of this, scientists now have access to an unprecedented array of data, from which new calcium binding proteins and hence new regulatory pathways will undoubtedly be discovered. It is a further aim of this book to provide a `key' to open the door to the new postgenomic era. The book is in three parts. The first section introduces the reader to the role of calcium in cell biology, providing an appreciation of how this small, simple, non-metabolisable agent can move rapidly and silently through the different cellular compartments, thereby influencing and controlling the fate of the cell. This section also illustrates and dissects the often-complex interplay between calcium and numerous agents in muscle and endocrine cells, neurons, hepatocytes, and platelets. In the second section the reader will discover the role of calcium and its partners in common diseases such as migraine and drug dependence. New classes of diseases such as annexinopathies, channelopathies, calcium-sensing disorders, and citrullinemia are discussed, and the authors give many new insights into the molecular mechanisms of the diseases, thereby explaining how and why they occur. Such information is clearly of primary importance for the pharmaceutical industry. New ideas and concepts of neurodegenerative diseases are introduced, which should stimulate new approaches.Clinicians will also have access, in a comprehensive and authoritative yet highly readable chapter, to data from recent large-scale clinical studies on the numerous and widely prescribed calcium antagonists. The final section gives information on new methods and devices for calcium imaging, and illustrates how calcium movement and change can be monitored and ingeniously utilised as a fast, cheap, and accurate drug screening instrument.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Leitthema des vorliegenden Tagungsbandes ist die Eignung von LINUX für Echtzeit-Aufgaben. Dieser Frage wird zunächst in einem Grundsatz-Beitrag nachgegangen, gefolgt von anspruchsvollen Erfahrungsberichten. Ergänzt werden sie durch Untersuchungen zur Zusammenarbeit mit digitalen Signalprozessoren. Vervollständigt wird der LINUX-Schwerpunkt durch traditionelle Themen aus der Echtzeitprogrammierung. Echtzeit-Betriebssysteme und Anwendungsberichte runden den Band ab.

Buch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -'The Little Book of Stars answers, in the clearest language, the questions anyone might have about our heavenly canopy. How are stars born How do they die Why do they shine How long do they shine Is our star, the Sun, dying How can you tell time from the stars Or navigate What are the measures of stars Can we ever travel to other stars In this engagingly written and concise book, the second in the Little Book series, noted astronomer James B. Kaler shows us 'the significance that the stars have had in human life, how we have used them to tell our stories, and how we use them to find who and where we are.' 184 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Geometry is probably the most accessible branch of mathematics, and can provide an easy route to understanding some of the more complex ideas that mathematics can present. This book is intended to introduce readers to the major geometrical topics taught at undergraduate level, in a manner that is both accessible and rigorous. The author uses world measurement as a synonym for geometry - hence the importance of numbers, coordinates and their manipulation - and has included over 300 exercises, with answers to most of them. The text includes such topics as:- Coordinates- Euclidean plane geometry- Complex numbers- Solid geometry- Conics and quadratic surfaces- Spherical geometry- QuaternionsIt is suitable for all undergraduate geometry courses, but it is also a useful resource for advanced sixth formers, research mathematicians, and those taking courses in physics, introductory astronomy and other science subjects. 328 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The multi-national Habsburg empire has never lost its fascination since its fall in 1918. Robin Okey's book shows how the Habsburg peoples experienced the same social, economic and political processes as most other Europeans, in ways that cast interesting light on these processes from both the European and the Habsburg angle. Opposing views that the national problem was therefore subordinate to underlying socio-economic backwardness, Okey argues for the inextricable entanglement of the two themes, as nationalism emerged from a process of social mobilisation which threatened the position of dominant Austro-Germans and Magyars. Robin Okey brings a distinctive approach to an intriguing subject, in a comprehensive study based on wide reading in most of the Monarchy's languages. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Globalisation is normally associated with expanded international trade in goods and services. In view ofhigh and persistent unemploymentin European countries during the last two decades opponents of globali sation argue that increased import competition, particularly from low wage countries,influences the domestic labour markets adversely. How ever, the advocates of open markets stress that this is a misconception about the impact offoreign trade;their view is that the employment ef fects depend to a large extent on the degree offlexibility ofthe domestic labour markets. This debate has induced Pia WeiB to examine the unemployment prob lem in an open economy within a rigorously theoretical framework. The focus is on the mismatch between labour demand andlabour supply. For that purpose, new modelsin labour economics concerningthe searchand matching theory are used. It is shown that an increased competition on the world goods markets leads to an increase inthe industrialised coun try's unemployment rate only ifthe wages are not fully flexible. At the same time, it is demonstrated that changes on the world markets may help to explain the observed development ofthe unemployment vacancy ratio. The study provides valuable insights which might enrich the subjects taught at undergraduate courses. Scholars interested in the interaction of foreign trade and employment may find in the study suggestions for future research. The research forthis studyhasbeenundertakenatthe Institutfur Wirt- VIII Preface schaftspolitik (Institute of Political Economy), University of Cologne. 244 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This volume contains all the papers presented at the Eleventh International C- ference on Algorithmic Learning Theory (ALT 2000) held at Coogee Holiday Inn, Sydney,Australia,11 13 December 2000. The conference was sponsored by the School of Computer Science and Engineering,University of New South Wales, and supported by the IFIP Working Group 1.4 on Computational Learning T- ory and the Computer Science Association (CSA) of Australia. In response to the call for papers 39 submissions were received on all aspects of algorithmic learning theory. Out of these 22 papers were accepted for p- sentation by the program committee. In addition,there were three invited talks by William Cohen (Whizbang Labs),Tom Dietterich (Oregon State Univeristy), and Osamu Watanabe (Tokyo Institute of Technology). This year s conference is the last in the millenium and eleventh overall in the ALT series. The rst ALT workshop was held in Tokyo in 1990. It was merged with the workshop on Analogical and Inductive Inference in 1994. The conf- ence focuses on all areas related to algorithmic learning theory,including (but not limited to) the design and analysis of learning algorithms,the theory of machine learning,computational logic of/for machine discovery,inductive inf- ence,learning via queries,new learning models,scienti c discovery,learning by analogy,arti cial and biological neural networks,pattern recognition,statistical learning,Bayesian/MDL estimation,inductive logic programming,data m- ing and knowledge discovery,and application of learning to biological sequence analysis. In the current conference there were papers from a variety of the above areas,refelecting both the theoretical as well as practical aspects of learning. 360 pp. Englisch.