Springer springer dez 2004 (261 Ergebnisse)

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Autonomy Oriented Computing explores the important theoretical and practical issues in AOC, by analyzing methodologies and presenting experimental case studies. The book serves as a comprehensive reference source for researchers, scientists, engineers, and professionals in all fields concerned with this promising new development in computer science. It can also be used as a main or supplementary text in graduate and undergraduate programs across a broad range of computer-related disciplines, including Robotics and Automation, Amorphous Computing, Image Processing and Computer Vision, Programming Paradigms, Computational Biology, and many others. The first part of the book, Fundamentals, describes the basic concepts and characteristics of an AOC system, and then it enumerates the critical design and engineering issues faced in AOC system development. The second part of the book, AOC in Depth, provides a detailed analysis of methodologies and case studies to evaluate the use of AOC in problem solving and complex system modeling. The final chapter reviews the essential features of the AOC paradigm and outlines a number of possibilities for future research and development.Numerous illustrative examples, experimental case studies, and exercises at the end of each chapter of Autonomy Oriented Computing help particularize and consolidate the methodologies and theories as they are presented.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Fatty liver disease including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) involves the ac- mulation of triglycerides in hepatocytes with necrosis,in ammation,and often b- sis with progression to cirrhosis. The two-hit model summarizes the important early metabolic events leading to hepatocellular necrosis in NASH. In these proceedings, we present various new ndings and a review of NASH. The liver has an important role in nutritional homeostasis, and liver diseases lead to abnormalities in nutrient metabolism and to subsequent malnutrition,especially in patients with liver cirr- sis. Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is a common nding in cirrhotic patients; it may be present in 20% of patients with well-compensated disease and in more than 60% of patients with severe liver insuf ciency. Therefore,special attention is required in the management of those patients; proper nutritional assessment and support for cirrhotic patients is essential. This volume also includes new ndings on the nut- tional aspects of the treatment of liver cirrhosis, which we hope will contribute to a better understanding of NASH and nutritional treatment. We thank Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for their continuing support. Organizing Committee of the Yamaguchi Symposium on Liver Disease Kiwamu Okita,M. D. ,Yamaguchi University,Ube Masamichi Kojiro,M. D. ,Kurume University,Kurume Masao Omata,M. D. ,The University of Tokyo,Tokyo Norio Hayashi,M. D. ,Osaka University,Osaka Takeshi Okanoue,M. D. ,Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine,Kyoto Secretary General Isao Sakaida,M. D. ,Yamaguchi University,Ube V Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V List of Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver (NAFL): Overview S. H. Caldwell,A. Al-Osaimi,C. Chang,C. Davis,E. E.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The idea to start an international investigation into asset management in the social rented sector was triggered by developments that we observed in our own country-the Netherlands. During the nineties, the Dutch government reduced its regulation as well as its nancial support of social landlords. F- thermore, the market share of social rented housing was under threat due to theboomingeconomyandagrowingpreferenceforowner-occupation. These developments lead to a widespread interest among Dutch social landlords in the adaptation of more professional, business-like approaches towards the management of their housing stock. Since similar developments had taken place in other countries as well, we felt it would be interesting to see if these developmentshadasimilarimpactonthesociallandlords,andifthereare- portunitiesforinternationalexchangeofexperiences. However,aliterature- view quickly revealed us that little had been published about this topic-most comparative housing research being focused on national housing policies and systems, often placed in the wider context of the analysis of welfare regimes. So we had two options. The rst was to conduct an investigation into the asset management in various countries ourselves. This would have meant a lot of nice travels, but also a lot of time, money and the risk of not being able to paint a reliable picture because of our unawareness of speci c characteristics of the social housing system, policy and landlords in other countries.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - One of the mathematical challenges of modern physics lies in the development of new tools to efficiently describe different branches of physics within one mathematical framework. This text introduces precisely such a broad mathematical model, one that gives a clear geometric expression of the symmetry of physical laws and is entirely determined by that symmetry. The first three chapters discuss the occurrence of bounded symmetric domains (BSDs) or homogeneous balls and their algebraic structure in physics. The book further provides a discussion of how to obtain a triple algebraic structure associated to an arbitrary BSD; the relation between the geometry of the domain and the algebraic structure is explored as well. The last chapter contains a classification of BSDs revealing the connection between the classical and the exceptional domains.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Privacy, Security and Trust within the Context of Pervasive Computing is an edited volume based on a post workshop at the second international conference on Pervasive Computing. The workshop was held April18-23, 2004, in Vienna, Austria. The goal of the workshop was not to focus on specific, even novel mechanisms, but rather on the interfaces between mechanisms in different technical and social problem spaces. An investigation of the interfaces between the notions of context, privacy, security and trust will result in a deeper understanding to the 'atomic' problems, leading to more complete understanding of the social and technical issues in pervasive computing.Privacy, Security and Trust within the Context of Pervasive Computing is designed for a professional audience composed of practitioners and researchers in industry. This volume is suitable for graduate-level students in computer science as well.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Astranger in academia cannot but be impressed by the apparent uniformity and precision of the methodology currently applied to the measurement of economic relationships. In scores of journal articles and other studies, a theoretical argument is typically presented to justify the position that a certain variable is related to certain other, possibly causal, variables. Regression or a related method is applied to a set of observations on these variables, and the conclusion often emerges that the causa,l variables are indeed 'significant' at a certain 'level,' thereby lending support to the theoretical argument-an argument presumably formulated independently of the observations. A variable may be declared significant (and few doubt that this does not mean important) at, say, the 0. 05 level, but not the 0. 01. The effects of the variables are calculated to many significant digits, and are often accompanied by intervals and forecasts of not quite obvious meaning but certainly of reassuring 'confidence. ' The uniformity is also evident in the many mathematically advanced text books of statistics and econometrics, and in their less rigorous introductory versions for students in economics or business. It is reflected in the tools of the profession: computer programs, from the generaiones addressed to the incidental researcher to the dedicated and sophisticated programs used by the experts, display the same terms and implement the same methodology. In short, there appears no visible alternative to the established methodol ogy and no sign of reservat ions concerning its validity.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The book collects a selection of papers most of which are revised and enriched versions of the contributions presented at the 12th Symposium on Trends of Applications of Mathematics to Mechanics (STAMM) which was sponsored by the International Society for the Interaction between Mathematics and Mechanics (ISIMM) and held in Maiori (Salerno), Italy from September 29th to October 4th, 2002. The Symposium attracted many leading researchers from around the world who are working at the interface between Mathematics and Mechanics. The importance of a close link between these two disciplines have long been recognized and each of them get benefits and stimuli by open problems, methods and results emerging from the other one. The book collects 22 papers which contribute special investigations and more wide presentations of linear and nonlinear problems. It is with the deepest gratitude to the authors that have contributed to the volume and to the publisher, for his highly professional assistance, that the editors submit this book to the international mathematics and mechanics communities.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Increasing system complexity has created a pressing need for better design tools and associated methodologies and languages for meeting the stringent time to market and cost constraints. Platform-centric and platfo- based system-on-chip (SoC) design methodologies, based on reuse of software and hardware functionality, has also gained increasing exposure and usage within the Electronic System-Level (ESL) design communities. The book proposes a new methodology for realizing platform-centric design of complex systems, and presents a detailed plan for its implementation. The proposed plan allows component vendors, system integrators and product developers to collaborate effectively and efficiently to create complex products within budget and schedule constraints. This book focuses more on the use of platforms in the design of products, and not on the design of platforms themselves. Platform-centric design is not for everyone, as some may feel that it does not allow them to differentiate their offering from competitors to a significant degree. However, its proponents may claim that the time-- market and cost advantages of platform-centric design more than compensate for any drawbacks.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) is a unique, non-destructive nuclear analytical method with multi-element capabilities. It is most effective if intense neutron beams (especially cold beams) of nuclear reactors are used to induce the prompt gamma radiation. Based largely on the authors' pioneering research in cold neutron PGAA, the handbook describes the methodology in self-contained manner and reviews recent applications. The library of prompt gamma ray data and spectra for all natural elements is a unique aid to the practitioner. The level is understandable by a broad audience, which facilitates teaching and training.The Handbook of Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis is a comprehensive handbook written for those practising the method, wanting to implement it at a reactor facility, or just looking for a powerful non-destructive method of element analysis. The book is also useful for nuclear physics, chemistry and engineering scientists, scholars and graduate students interested in neutron-induced gamma ray spectroscopy and nuclear analytical methods.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Modeling and simulation are central to a mechanical engineer's activity.Increasingly complex models are being used routinely on a daily basis.This revolution is the result of the extraordinary progress in computer technology in terms of both hardware and software.This work deals with the control of the hypotheses leading from a mechanical model, usually coming from continuum mechanics, to a numerical model, i.e. the mastery of the mechanical computation process itself. Particular attention is given to structural analysis which, in this context, is the most advanced domain.A significant part of this work is dedicated to the application of error estimators to the control of the various parameters involved in a calculation, beginning with the parameters related to the mesh.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware -Der erste Kontakt.- Routenplanung, was ist das - Gestatten, Graph.- Gewicht ist Pflicht.- Eine ungefährliche Explosion.- Kurzstrecke oder nicht Das ist hier die Frage!- Lokal entscheiden, global optimieren.- Am Anfang war der Input.- Negativ ist negativ,- Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten.- Weibliche Intuition.- Die Arbeit vor der Arbeit.- Bäumchen wechsle dich!- Prim, ohne Zahlen.- Nimm, was du kriegen kannst.- Arbor-was .- Studieren geht über flanieren.- Spannung ohne Strom.- Eulersch oder nicht, was für ein Gedicht.- Euler und der Nikolaus.- Heute flaniert die Müllabfuhr.- Paarungszeit.- Post aus China.- Schach-Matt .- Platonische Liebe .- Notorisch Problematisch.- Not eines Handlungsreisenden.- Weniger ist mehr.-150-prozentig.- Bonsai.- Gar nicht so platonisch.- Der Erfolg des Handlungsreisenden.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg Deutsch. …

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -\*Discusses regular expressions in quick, easy manner (Friedl book is exhaustive, and other two books are superficial) \*Teaches by example without exhaustive syntax explanation \*Covers the major open source languages 289 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Palgrave Advances offer a series of innovative books that orientate graduate and upper-level students within the current state of a field of study. Bringing together leading international scholars, each text surveys, questions and pushes the boundaries of the discipline. Foregrounding new research, these books seek to map the future direction of the field and as such are invaluable for students, scholars and lecturers. This book is the first comprehensive study of the historiography of the Renaissance since Wallace Ferguson's The Renaissance in Historical Thought of 1948. Taking its departure both from developments in history-writing during the Renaissance itself, and from Jacob Burckhardt's hugely influential and controversial characterization of the Renaissance of 1860, the collection of essays explores recent developments in understandings of the Renaissance from a range of different but interlocking chronological, geographical and disciplinary perspectives. Written by an international team of experts, this book is the essential guide to the modern Renaissance debate. 317 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Designed as a quick and easy reference, it fits in a lab coat pocket making it perfect for emergency situationsGeared for a urology resident, chapters are organized in a similar structure as clinical board examsMost sections include useful hints and tips at the end of the each chapter 204 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Kolmogorov Equations for Stochastic PDEs gives an introduction to stochastic partial differential equations, such as reaction-diffusion, Burgers and 2D Navier-Stokes equations, perturbed by noise. It studies several properties of corresponding transition semigroups, such as Feller and strong Feller properties, irreducibility, existence and uniqueness of invariant measures. In addition, the transition semigroups are interpreted as generalized solutions of Kologorov equations. 182 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In the last few years, Derrida has gained a great deal of attention from scholars of biblical studies and theology. The contributors to Derrida's Bible explore the relationships between Derrida, theory, and religious studies. Unlike other books on Derrida, this collection is primarily focused on biblical studies, where others are concerned with Derrida and religion in general. 323 pp. Englisch. …

Buch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -It is hard to deny the enormous impact of Wordsworth's writing upon the literary and cultural world that followed him. This new collection of specially-commissioned essays provides the most complete picture yet to be produced of the influence of William Wordsworth's writing upon major American writers of the nineteenth century, such as Thoreau, Fuller, Whitman, Melville, Dickinson and others. In addition to providing a thorough account of Wordsworth's influence on American literature, this collection also seeks to address the poet's influence on American culture, from religious reform to civic humanism, and in so doing hints at a new theory of transatlantic influence that accounts for transnational literary as well as cultural exchange. Contributors include James Butler, Elizabeth Fay, Stephen Gill, Susan Manning and Adam Potkay, amongst others. 248 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -How have the American presidency, the British premiership and the German chancellorship changed over the last half-century Has there been convergence or divergence in the development of political leadership in the United States and in the two largest democracies of Western Europe And what difference can individual leaders make in an ever-more complex political environment Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors addresses these questions by looking at the leadership performance of more than two dozen American presidents, British prime ministers and German chancellors of the post-1945 period. In so doing, it offers a unique perspective on the nature of executive leadership in Western democracies that takes into account both the international and the historical dimension of comparison. 315 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Decentralization and diversity characterized much of the performance of art music in Los Angeles. Decentralization defined the city's growth since the late-nineteenth century, and because the central city did not dominate music culture, as in the East and Midwest, a greater diversification of music emerged in the communities of Greater Los Angeles. Performers and audiencesincluded Latinos, Euro-Americans, Asian Americans, and African Americans, but the notion of diversity goes beyond ethnicity; it also includes 'media diversity', the presentation of music through a variety of media. recording, radio, film media strongly influenced music performance in the city as it grew into the epicenter of entertainment in America. 274 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -From Civil Rights to Armalites traces and analyses the escalation of conflict in Northern Ireland from the first civil rights marches to the verge of full-scale civil war in 1972, focusing on the city of Derry. It explains how a peaceful civil rights campaign gave way to increasing violence, how the IRA became a major political force and how the British army became a major party to the conflict. It provides the essential context for understanding the events of Bloody Sunday and a new chapter brings significant new material to the public debate around the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. 332 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This text serves as an advanced introduction to the field of international history. With contributions from a range of scholars, it maps the current terrain of the sub-discipline through essays that both appraise recent historiography and analyze theoretical, methodological and conceptual issues. The chapters are thematically focused and expansive in their geographical scope, doing full justice both to established core areas of concern and to innovative approaches. The topics covered are: diplomacy and decision-making; economics; strategy and warfare; ideology; intelligence; propaganda, communications and opinion; non-state actors; imperialism and post-colonialism; gender; culture; systems and IR models; and global history. 366 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A new collection that addresses the problematic pathologization of queer youth, this book argues that the majority of educators and youth workers still know little about queer youth's negotiations of identity and community. The contributors examine the dangerous effects of heteronormalizing practices, and look at how young people negotiate labels and stereotypes in and out of school settings. What makes this project unique is that the contributors go beyond the discussions of homophobia young people experience on an everyday basis - the look at how youth subvert these experiences into those of pleasure, power, and confidence. In addition, the contributors look at how youth organize communities and negotiate positive identities in different settings. 250 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Police interviewing is a critical part of the justice process, and more attention is now being paid to training in interview techniques. This new study uses tools drawn from interactional sociolinguistics and conversation analysis for a detailed study of some police questioning of adult suspects, and work undertaken in the training of police in interviewing children - in which quite different approaches seem to be adopted. Critical discourse analytic techniques are used in interpreting the outcome and the implications for training are explored. 229 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -1. 1 Background In this work, we develop a framework for the design of multi-agent systems inspired by (human) organizational principles. Organizations are complex entities formed to ov- come various limitations of individual agencies, such as cognitive, physical, temporal and institutional limitations. There is a parallel between the complexity of organizations and multi-agent systems. Therefore, we explore the use of concepts, methods and techniques from human organizational design as architectural principles for multi-agent systems. Three research lines are presented: organizational modeling and coordination, interop- ability and agent models. Organizational modeling and coordination are concerned with how resources (i. e. agents) can be identi ed and related to each other. In order to have agents cooperate, several issues of interoperability have to be addressed. Agent models deal with the design of individual intelligent software agents, taking into account typical features of agent intelligence. Every (human) activity raises two challenges: division of labor and coordi- tion [Mintzberg, 1993]. Division of labor is the decomposition of work (or goals) into various distinct tasks. Coordination refers to managing relations between these tasks to carry out the work. The patterns of division of labor, responsibilities (people who do the work), clustering of responsibilities into units and coordination between units can be de ned by organizational structures [Galbraith, 1973]. The design of an organization should cover how one or more actors are engaged in one or more tasks, where knowledge, capabilities and resources are distributed. 204 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The international conference on the Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science (FSTTCS) is the longest-running conference on computer science in India, and is organized under the aegis of the Indian As- ciation for Research in Computing Science, IARCS. Since its inception in 1981, the conference (held annually in the month of December) has helped in nurt- ing and creating an environment for the exchange of ideas amongst the research community in the country, by attracting top scientists around the world to the conference. This volume contains the proceedings of the 24th FSTTCS conf- ence held in December 2004. A strong point of the FSTTCS programmes has been excellent invited talks by eminent computer scientists of international renown. Continuing this t- dition, this FSTTCS featured invited talks by Javier Esparza, Piotr Indyk, Pavel A. Pevzner, John C. Reynolds, and Denis Th erien. We thank our invited speakers for readily agreeing to come to FSTTCS, and for providing write-ups for the proceedings. It is our pleasure that IARCS chose to honor Prof. Rani Siromoney at this conference, on the occasion of her 75th birthday. The in uence she has wielded (and the impact she has exerted) in Indian theoretical computer science is tremendous, and the tribute is tting and richly deserved. We thank R.K. Sh- masundar for chairing the special session in her honor, and Kamala Krithivasan and K.G. Subramanian for speaking at the session. 556 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Over recent years, the notion of agency has claimed a major role in de ning the trends of modern research. In uencing a broad spectrum of disciplines such as sociology, psychology, philosophy and many more, the agent paradigm virtually invaded every sub eld of computer science, because of its promising applications for the Internet and in robotics. Multi-agent systems (MAS) are communities of problem-solving entities that can perceive and act upon their environments to achieve their individual goals as well as joint goals. The work on such systems integrates many technologies and concepts in arti cial intelligence and other areas of computing. There is a full spectrum of MAS applications that have been and are being developed: from search engines to educational aids to electronic commerce and trade. Although commonly implemented by means of imperative languages, mainly for reasons of e ciency, the agent concept has recently increased its in uence in the research and development of computational logic-based systems. Computational logic, by virtue of its nature both in substance and method, providesawell-de ned,general,andrigorousframeworkforsystematicallystu- ing computation, be it syntax, semantics, and procedures, or implementations, environments, tools, and standards. Computational logic approaches problems, and provides solutions, at a su cient level of abstraction so that they generalize from problem domain to problem domain, a orded by the nature of its very foundation in logic, both in substance and method, which constitutes one of its major assets. 268 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This work brings together two streams in computer algebra: symbolic integration and summation on the one hand, and fast algorithmics on the other hand. In many algorithmically oriented areas of computer science, theanalysisof- gorithms-placedintothe limelightbyDonKnuth'stalkat the 1970ICM -provides a crystal-clear criterion for success. The researcher who designs an algorithmthat is faster (asymptotically, in the worst case) than any previous method receives instant grati cation: her result will be recognized as valuable. Alas, the downside is that such results come along quite infrequently, despite our best efforts. An alternative evaluation method is to run a new algorithm on examples; this has its obvious problems, but is sometimes the best we can do. George Collins, one of the fathers of computer algebra and a great experimenter,wrote in 1969: 'I think this demonstrates again that a simple analysis is often more revealing than a ream of empirical data (although both are important). ' Within computer algebra, some areas have traditionally followed the former methodology, notably some parts of polynomial algebra and linear algebra. Other areas, such as polynomial system solving, have not yet been amenable to this - proach. The usual 'input size' parameters of computer science seem inadequate, and although some natural 'geometric' parameters have been identi ed (solution dimension, regularity), not all (potential) major progress can be expressed in this framework. Symbolic integration and summation have been in a similar state. 240 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The 7th International Conference on Information Technology (CIT 2004) was held in Hyderabad, India, during December 20-23, 2004. The CIT 2004 was a forum where researchers from various areas of information technology and its applications could stimulate and exchange ideas on technological advancements. CIT, organizedby the Orissa InformationTechnologySociety (OITS), has emerged as one of the major international conferences in India and is fast becoming the premier forum for the presentation of the latest research and development in the critical area of information technology. The last six conferences attracted reputed researchers from around the world, and CIT 2004 took this trend forward. This conference focused on the latest research ndings on all topics in the area of information technology. Although the natural focus was on computer science issues, research results contributed from management, business and other disciplines formed an integral part. We received more than 200 papers from over 27 countries in the areas of com- tational intelligence, neural networks, mobile and adhoc networks, security, databases, softwareengineering,signal andimageprocessing,andInternetandWWW-basedc- puting. The programme committee, consisting of eminent researchers, academicians and practitioners, nally selected 43 full papers on the basis of reviewer grades. This proceedings contains the research papers selected for presentation at the c- ference and this is the rst time that the proceedingshave been published in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. The poster papers are being printed as a separate conference proceedings. 448 pp. Englisch.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Biological and philosophical anthropologies of the 20th century keep emphasising the 'Sonderstellung' of humans among the realm of living beings. However, it is not clear how this particular role should be characterised, how it should be reconciled with biological findings, and which theoretical and practical conclusions should be drawn from it. Partly in opposition to these anthropological views on humankind biological disciplines underline the extensive similarities and common characteristics between humans and other species. Apparently, these biological findings concur with the criticism of anthropocentrism, which is expressed in Western philosophy of nature and by ethicists. To discuss these issues the Europäische Akademie organized the conference 'The Uniqueness of Humankind - Über die Sonderstellung des Menschen'. The proceedings of the conference documented in this volume approached the theoretical and practical concept of the 'Sonderstellung' against the background of present day knowledge in biosciences. Furthermore, by interdisciplinary efforts, an attempt was made to clarify those conceptual problems that arise with the idea of the uniqueness of humankind. The present volume partly takes up and further develops topics that have been raised by volume 15, On Human Nature, that was published in this series in 2002. 144 pp. Englisch.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing is currently attracting enormous public attention, spurred by the popularity of file-sharing systems such as Napster, Gnutella, Morpheus, Kaza, and several others. In P2P systems, a very large number of autonomous computing nodes, the peers, rely on each other for services. P2P networks are emerging as a new distributed computing paradigm because of their potential to harness the computing power and the storage capacity of the hosts composing the network, and because they realize a completely open decentralized environment where everybody can join in autonomously. Although researchers working on distributed computing, multiagent systems, databases, and networks have been using similar concepts for a long time, it is only recently that papers motivated by the current P2P paradigm have started appearing in high quality conferences and workshops. In particular, research on agent systems appears to be most relevant because multiagent systems have always been thought of as networks of autonomous peers since their inception. Agents, which can be superimposed on the P2P architecture, embody the description of task environments, decision-support capabilities, social behaviors, trust and reputation, and interaction protocols among peers. The emphasis on decentralization, autonomy, ease, and speed of growth that gives P2P its advantages also leads to significant potential problems. Most prominent among these are coordination - the ability of an agent to make decisions on its own actions in the context of activities of other agents, and scalability - the value of the P2P systems in how well they self-organize so as to scale along several dimensions, including complexity, heterogeneity of peers, robustness, traffic redistribution, etc.This book brings together an introduction, three invited articles, and revised versions of the papers presented at the Second International Workshop on Agents and Peer-to-Peer Computing, AP2PC 2003, held in Melbourne, Australia, July 2003. 224 pp. Englisch.…