springer berlin heidelberg feb 2005 (123 resultados)

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume collects revised versions of some of the papers presented at the S- ond IST/FET International Workshop on Global Computing held in Rovereto, Italy (9¿12 March, 2004). The workshop involved all the thirteen projects funded under the IST/FET proactive initiative on GLOBAL COMPUTING: AGILE; CRESCCO; DART; DBGLOBE;DEGAS;FLAGS;MIKADO;MRG;MYTHS;PEPITO;PROFUN- DIS; SECURE; SOCS. The rst aim of the GLOBAL COMPUTING initiative is the development of paradigms for building exible, dependable, secure, robust and e cient systems. Primaryresearchconcernsaretheco-ordination,interaction,security,reliability, robustness, and risk control of the entities in the global system. The ultimate goaloftheresearchactionistoprovideasolidscienti cfoundationforthedesign of such systems, and to lay the groundwork for achieving e ective principles for building and analysing them. Theworkshopcoveredtopicsrelatedtoprogrammingenvironments,dynamic recon guration, resource guarantees, peer-to-peer networks, analysis of systems and resources, resource sharing, and security, as well as foundational calculi for mobility. The present collection o ers a rich sample of research results on the above subjects. We acknowledge the Dipartimento di Informatica e Telecomunicazioni of the University of Trento for partially funding the workshop, and the Events and Meetings O ce of the University of Trento for the valuable collaboration.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -By presenting state-of-the-art research results on various aspects of formal and visual modeling of software and systems, this book commemorates the 60th birthday of Hartmut Ehrig. The 24 invited reviewed papers are written by students and collaborators of Hartmut Ehrig who are established researchers in their fields. Reflecting the scientific interest and work of Hartmut Ehrig, the papers fall into three main parts on graph transformation, algebraic specification and logic, and formal and visual modeling.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 448 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book is about knowledge, it is about the externalization of human kno- edge and about all the attempts we are undertaking to access what we have externalized before. Thus, the book should be of interest to a wide audience. Ontheotherhand,therear Elektronisches Buchaboutknowledge,knowledgemanagement and the like galore. There is an even larger ood of journal articles, conference papers andtechnicalreports,but it is rumoredthatmostare notreadby anyone at all. So, why read the present book or, at least, some of its papers In my opinion, it is the idea of memetics which makes these proceedings special. Not every contribution deals with memetics, but Tanakäs work and his current projects are carving out the pro le of what you nd in the book. Let¿s have a closer look. Richard Dawkins in his book The Sel sh Gene, 1976 coined the term meme; thetermisestablishednow.TheOxfordEnglish Dictionarysays:¿meme(mi:m), n. Biol. (shortened from mimeme . that which is imitated, after GENE n.) An element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp. imitation¿. Yuzuru Tanaka has seized upon Dawkin¿s suggestion and extended it - wardsconceptsand implementationsthat setthe stagefor non-geneticevolution in computer and network environments. He has coined the term meme media. His comprehensive book Meme Media and Meme Market Architectures, 2003 summarizes the current state of a airs from the perspecive of information and communication technologies.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The modern eld of multiagent systems has developed from two main lines of earlier research. Its practitioners generally regard it as a form of arti cial intelligence (AI). Some of its earliest work was reported in a series of workshops in the US dating from1980,revealinglyentitled,¿DistributedArti cialIntelligence,¿andpioneers often quoted a statement attributed to Nils Nilsson that ¿all AI is distributed. ¿ The locus of classical AI was what happens in the head of a single agent, and much MAS research re ects this heritage with its emphasis on detailed modeling of the mental state and processes of individual agents. From this perspective, intelligenceisultimatelythepurviewofasinglemind,thoughitcanbeam pli ed by appropriate interactions with other minds. These interactions are typically mediated by structured protocols of various sorts, modeled on human conver- tional behavior. But the modern eld of MAS was not born of a single parent. A few - searchershavepersistentlyadvocatedideasfromthe eldofarti ciallife(ALife). These scientists were impressed by the complex adaptive behaviors of commu- ties of animals (often extremely simple animals, such as insects or even micro- ganisms). The computational models on which they drew were often created by biologists who used them not to solve practical engineering problems but to test their hypotheses about the mechanisms used by natural systems. In the ar- cial life model, intelligence need not reside in a single agent, but emerges at the level of the community from the nonlinear interactions among agents. - cause the individual agents are often subcognitive, their interactions cannot be modeled by protocols that presume linguistic competence. 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Research in the eld of gene regulation is evolving rapidly in an ever-changing s- enti c environment. Microarray techniques and comparative genomics have enabled more comprehensive studies of regulatory genomics and are proving to be powerful tools of discovery. The application of chromatin immunoprecipitation and microarrays (chIP-on-chip) to directly study the genomic binding locations of transcription factors has enabled more comprehensive modeling of regulatory networks. In addition, c- plete genome sequences and the comparison of numerous related species has dem- strated that conservation in non-coding DNA sequences often provides evidence for cis-regulatory binding sites. That said, much is still to be learned about the regulatory networks of these sequenced genomes. Systematic methods to decipher the regulatory mechanism are also crucial for c- roboratingthese regulatorynetworks.Thecoreof thesemethodsarethe motifdiscovery algorithms that can help predict cis-regulatory elements. These DNA-motif discovery programsarebecomingmoresophisticatedandare beginningto leverageevidencefrom comparative genomics (phylogenetic footprinting) and chIP-on-chip studies. How to use these new sources of evidence is an active area of research.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 126 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -E-learning is still in its infancy. This can be seen both in the limited pedagogical quality and lack of portability of e-learning content, and in the lack of user-friendly tools to exploit the opportunities offered by current technologies. To be successful, e-learning must offer effective and attractive courses and programmes to learners, while at the same time providing a pleasant and effective work environment for staff members who have the task to develop course materials, plan the learning processes, provide tutoring, and assess performance.To overcome these deficiencies, the IMS Global Learning Consortium Inc. released the Learning Design Specification in 2003. With Learning Design it is possible to develop and present advanced, interoperable e-learning courses embracing educational role and game playing methods, problem-based learning, learning community approaches, adaptivity and peer coaching and assessment methods.In this handbook Koper and Tattersall have put together contributions from members of the 'Valkenburg Group', consisting of 33 experts deeply involved in e-learning and more specifically learning design. The result is a rich and lasting source of information for both e-learning course and tool developers, providing information about the specification itself, how to implement it in practice, what tools to use, and what pitfalls to avoid. The book not only reports first experiences, but also goes beyond the current state of the art by looking at future prospects and emerging applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 444 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -We are happy to present to you the proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Digital Watermarking, IWDW 2004. Since its modern reappearance in the academic community in the early 1990s, great progress has been made in understanding both the capabilities and the weaknesses of digital watermarking. On the theoretical side, we all are now well aware of the fact that digital watermarking is best viewed as a form of communication using side information. In the case of digital watermarking the side information in question is the document to be watermarked. This insight has led to a better understanding of the limits of the capacity and robustness of digital watermarking algorithms. It has also led to new and improved watermarking algorithms, both in terms of capacity and imperceptibility. Similarly, the role of human perception, and models thereof, has been greatly enhanced in the study and design of digital watermarking algorithms and systems. On the practical side, applications of watermarking are not yet abundant. The original euphoria on the role of digital watermarking in copy protection and copyright protection has not resulted in widespread use in practical systems. With hindsight, a number of reasons can be given for this lack of practical applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 320 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -TheAsiaInformationRetrievalSymposium(AIRS)wasestablishedbytheAsian information retrieval community after the successful series of Information - trieval with Asian Languages (IRAL) workshops held in six di erent locations in Asia, starting from 1996. While the IRAL workshops had their focus on inf- mation retrieval problems involving Asian languages, AIRS covers a wider scope of applications, systems, technologies and theory aspects of information retrieval in text, audio, image, video and multimedia data. This extension of the scope re ects and fosters increasing research activities in information retrieval in this region and the growing need for collaborations across subdisciplines. We are very pleased to report that we saw a sharp increase in the number of submissions and their quality, compared to the IRAL workshops. We received 106papersfromninecountriesinAsiaandNorthAmerica,fromwhich28papers (26%) were presented in oral sessions and 38 papers in poster sessions (36%). It was a great challenge for the Program Committee to select the best among the excellent papers. The low acceptance rates witness the success of this year¿s conference. After a long discussion between the AIRS 2004 Steering Committee and Springer, the publisher agreed to publish our proceedings in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series, which is SCI-indexed. We feel that this strongly attests to the excellent quality of the papers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 356 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains the Proceedings of ICFCA 2005, the 3rd International Conference on Formal Concept Analysis. The ICFCA conference series aims to be the premier forum for the publication of advances in applied lattice and order theory, and in particular scienti c advances related to formal concept analysis. Formal concept analysis is a eld of applied mathematics with its mat- matical root in order theory, in particular in the theory of complete lattices. Researchers had long been aware of the fact that these elds have many - tential applications. Formal concept analysis emerged in the 1980s from e orts to restructure lattice theory to promote better communication between lattice theorists and potential users of lattice theory. The key theme was the mathe- tization of concept and conceptual hierarchy. Since then, the eld has developed into a growing research area in its own right with a thriving theoretical com- nity and an increasing number of applications in data and knowledge processing, including data visualization, information retrieval, machine learning, data an- ysis and knowledge management. ICFCA2005re ectedbothpracticalbene tsandprogressinthefoundational theory of formal concept analysis. Algorithmic aspects were discussed as well as e orts to broaden the eld. All regular papers appearing in this volume were refereed by at least two, in most cases three independent reviewers. The nal decision to accept the papers was arbitrated by the Program Chairs based on the referee reports. It was the involvement of the Program Committee and the Editorial Board that ensured the scienti c quality of these proceedings.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 436 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Applied Fuzzy Arithmetic provides a well-structured compendium that offers both a deeper knowledge about the theory of fuzzy arithmetic and an extensive view on its applications in the engineering sciences, making it a resource for students, researchers, and practical engineers. The first part of the book gives an introduction to the theory of fuzzy arithmetic, which aims to present the subject in a well-organized and comprehensible form. The derivation of fuzzy arithmetic from the original fuzzy set theory and its evolution towards a successful implementation is presented with existing formulations of fuzzy arithmetic included and integrated in the overall context. The second part of the book presents a diversified exposition of the application of fuzzy arithmetic, addressing different areas of the engineering sciences, such as mechanical, geotechnical, biomedical, and control engineering.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume contains the nal proceedings for the 2004Computer Music Mod- ing and Retrieval Symposium (CMMR 2004). This event was held during 26¿29 May 2004 in Esbjerg, Denmark on the joint campus area of Aalborg University Esbjerg and the University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg. CMMR is an annual event focusing on important aspects of computer music. CMMR 2004 is the s- ond event in this series. CMMR 2003, which was held in Montpellier, France in May 2003, was a great success and attracted high-quality papers and prominent researchers from the eld of computer music. The CMMR 2003 postsymposium proceedingswaspublishedbySpringerintheLectureNotesinComputerScience series (LNCS 2771). CMMR 2004 was jointly organized by Aalborg University Esbjerg in Denmark and LMA, CNRS, Marseille in France (in cooperation with ACM SIGWEB). The use of computers in music is well established. CMMR 2004 provided a unique opportunity to meet and interact with peers concerned with the cro- in uence of the technological and creative in computer music. The eld of c- putermusicisinterdisciplinarybynatureandcloselyrelatedtoanumberofc- puter science and engineering areas such as information retrieval, programming, human computer interaction,digital libraries,hypermedia, arti cialintelligence, acoustics, signal processing, etc. The event gathered many interesting people (researchers, educators, composers, performers, and others). There were many high-qualitykeynoteandpaperpresentations,thatfosteredinspiringdiscussions. I hope that you nd the work presented in these proceedings as interesting and exciting as I have.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 388 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -message sequence charts annotated with security properties.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -What is computer graphics and what are the conceptual tasks of research in this area To the average person the term still conveys more or less the design of - gos and the manipulation of pictures with the help of image-editing programs. However, during the past four decades, computer graphics has evolved into an innovative multifaceted eld of research and computing that affects many other sciences. In many areas and for many problems we can best convey an und- standing through images that trigger our sense with the highest capability: our eye. And, what is more, aside from algorithms, formulas, and tables, the c- puter graphics scientist often is able to create beauty. Though it is a beauty of its own, it often fascinates the viewer, especially when complex aesthetic images emerge from simple mathematical concepts. Also, there are only a few other areas that advance as dynamically as inf- matics and especially computer graphics. While CPU capacity still increases and is almost doubled every 18 months, the rendering speed and ef ciency of graphics boards has increased even more during recent years. Today, images can be rendered in real time that some years ago still required several hours of computing. Parallel to the rapid improvement of computer hardware, many newalgorithms weredevelopedthattoday form the basis for some fundamental changes and achievements in graphics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -A man may imagine he understands something, but still not understand anything in the way that he ought to. (Paul of Tarsus, 1 Corinthians 8:2) Calling this a ¿practical theory¿ may require some explanation. Theory and practice are often thought of as two di erent worlds, governed bydi erentideals,principles, andlaws.DavidLorgeParnas, forinstance,who hascontributedmuchtoourtheoreticalunderstandingofsoftwareengineering and also to sound use of theory in the practice of it, likes to point out that ¿theoretically¿ is synonymous to ¿not really¿. In applied mathematics the goal is to discover useful connections between these two worlds. My thesis is that in software engineering this two-world view is inadequate, and a more intimate interplay is required between theory and practice. That is, both theoretical and practical components should be integrated into a practical theory. It should beclearfrom theabovethattheintended readership of this book is not theoreticians. They would probably have di culties in appreciating a book on theory where the presentation does not proceed in a logical sequence from basic de nitions to theorems and mathematical proofs, followed by - plication examples. In fact, all this would not constitute what I understand by a practical theory in this context.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 444 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -In this book, we present a collection of papers around the topic of agent com- nication. The communication between agents has been one of the major topics of research in multiagent systems. The current work can therefore build on a number of previous Workshops of which the proceedings have been published in earlier volumes in this series. The basis of this collection is formed by the accepted submissions of the Workshop on Agent Communication held in c- junction with the AAMAS Conference in July 2004 in New York. The workshop received 26 submissions of which 14 were selected for publication in this v- ume. Besides the high-quality workshop papers we noticed that many papers on agent communication found their way to the main conference. We decided therefore to invite a number of authors to revise and extend their papers from this conference and to combine them with the workshop papers. We believe that the current collection comprises a very good and quite complete overview of the state of the art in this area of research and gives a good indication of the topics that are of major interest at the moment. The papers can roughly be divided over the following ve themes: ¿ social commitments ¿ multiparty communication ¿ content languages ¿ dialogues and conversations ¿ speech acts Although these themes are of course not mutually exclusive they indicate some main directions of research. We therefore have arranged the papers in the book according to the topics indicated above.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 280 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -¿Network¿ is a heavily overloaded term, so that ¿network analysis¿ means different things to different people. Specific forms of network analysis are used in the study of diverse structures such as the Internet, interlocking directorates, transportation systems, epidemic spreading, metabolic pathways, the Web graph, electrical circuits, project plans, and so on. There is, however, a broad methodological foundation which is quickly becoming a prerequisite for researchers and practitioners working with network models.From a computer science perspective, network analysis is applied graph theory. Unlike standard graph theory books, the content of this book is organized according to methods for specific levels of analysis (element, group, network) rather than abstract concepts like paths, matchings, or spanning subgraphs. Its topics therefore range from vertex centrality to graph clustering and the evolution of scale-free networks.In 15 coherent chapters, this monograph-like tutorial book introduces and surveys the concepts and methods that drive network analysis, and is thus the first book to do so from a methodological perspective independent of specific application areas.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 488 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The 12th International Symposium on Graph Drawing (GD 2004)was held d- ing September 29¿October 2, 2004, at City College, CUNY, in the heart of Harlem, New York City. GD 2004 attracted 94 participants from 19 countries. In response to the call for papers, the program committee received 86 re- larsubmissionsdescribingoriginalresearchand/orsystemdemonstrations.Each submissionwasreviewedbyatleastthreeprogramcommitteemembersandc- ments were returned to the authors. Following extensive e-mail discussions, the program committee accepted 39 long papers (11 pages each in the proceedings) and 12 short papers (6 pages each). In addition, 4 posters were displayed and discussed in the conference exhibition room (2 pages each in the proceedings). Theprogramcommittee ofGD 2004invitedtwo distinguishedlecturers.P- fessorPaulSeymourfromPrincetonUniversitypresenteda newcharacterization ofclaw-freegraphs(jointworkwithMariaChudnovsky).ProfessorErikDemaine from MIT reported on his joint work with Fedor Fomin, MohammadTaghi - jiaghayi and Dimitrios Thilikos, concerning fast (often subexponential) x- parameter algorithms and polynomial approximation schemes for broad classes of NP-hard problems in topological graph theory. A survey of the subject by Professors Demaine and Hajiaghayi is included in this volume. As usual, the annual graph drawing contest was held during the conference. This time the contest had two distinct tracks: the graph drawing challenge and the freestyle contest. A report is included in the proceedings.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 556 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The standard textbooks on aerodynamics usually omit any discussion of un steady aerodynamics or, at most, consider it only in a single chapter, based on two justifications. The first is that unsteady aerodynamics should be regarded as a specialized subject required 'only' in connection with understanding and an alyzing aeroelastic phenomena such as flutter and gust response, and therefore should be dealt with in related specialist books. The second reason appears to be reluctance to discuss aerodynamics with the inclusion of the time-dependent terms in the conservation equations and the boundary conditions for fear that added complications may discourage the reader. We take the opposite view in this book and argue that a full understanding of the physics of lift generation is possible only by considering the unsteady aerody namics of the starting vortex generation process. Furthermore, certain 'steady' flows are inherently unsteady in the presence of flow separation, as for example the unsteady flow caused by the Karman vortex shedding downstream of a cylin der and 'static' airfoil stall which is an inherently unsteady flow phenomenon. Therefore, it stands to reason that a unified treatment of aerodynamics that yields steady-state aerodynamics as a special case offers advantages. This rea soning is strengthened by the developments in computational fluid dynamics over the past forty years, which showed that accurate steady-state solutions can be obtained efficiently by solving the unsteady flow equations. 240 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Economic application of nonlinear dynamics, microscopic agent-based modelling, and the use of artificial intelligence techniques as learning devices of boundedly rational actors are among the most exciting interdisciplinary ventures of economic theory over the past decade. This volume provides us with a most fascinating series of examples on 'complexity in action' exemplifying the scope and explanatory power of these innovative approaches.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 344 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The book brings together research communities from different disciplines and countries, and offers an exchange about theoretical frameworks and practical experiences to guide research and policy 'towards environmental innovation systems'. The contributions selected explore new directions of research at the borderline between two established research traditions: systems of innovation and environmental innovations. For this purpose, the book draws on recent conceptual and empirical insights as well as on policy-oriented analyses. It is structured according to the four main areas of interest with respect to environmental innovation systems: conceptual foundations, empirical experiences, strategic approaches, and experiences with policy instruments.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 364 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Speed as a factor for success Our modern industrial society lives life in the fast lane. The catchwords ¿faster¿, ¿shorter¿, ¿more powerful¿ reflect what we experience in almost all aspects of our lives. Whether at home or at work, we are constantly on the move and in a rush. In our private lives we find rapid exchange of inf- mation most entertaining and we are fascinated by the wide range of inf- mation that pours in on us from all around the world, mainly via the new media. It gives us the feeling of being a part of the action everywhere and all the time. Seldom are we aware that the only reason this flood of inf- mation, often referred to as ¿overstimulation¿, does not lead to overkill is that we manage to organize our time effectively. There are many parallels to this in the business world. Here too, a great deal of time pressure is exerted from outside; goals are set ever higher and deadlines become tighter. In other words, demands on our time demand faster reaction. Crucial information travels around the globe ¿ across all time zones ¿ in a matter of seconds. In fact, instead of CET or CEST, it would make sense to have a single time zone for the worldwide network called GST for Global Simultaneous Time. In business more so than in p- vate life, we are almost constantly online.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 576 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series contains the p- ceedings of the 3rd Conference on Numerical Analysis and Its Applications, which was held at the University of Rousse, Bulgaria, June 29¿July 3, 2004. The conference was organized by the Department of Numerical Analysis and Statistics at the University of Rousse with the support of the Department of Mathematics of North Carolina State University. This conference continued the tradition of the two previous meetings (1996, 2000 in Rousse) as a forum where scientists from leading research groups from the ¿East¿ and ¿West¿ are provided with the opportunity to meet and exchange ideasandestablishresearchcooperations.Morethan100scientistsfrom28co- tries participated in the conference. A wide range of problems concerning recent achievements in numerical an- ysis and its applications in physics, chemistry, engineering, and economics were discussed. An extensive exchange of ideas between scientists who develop and studynumericalmethodsandresearcherswhousethemforsolvingreal-lifepr- lems took place during the conference. We thank the plenary lecturers, Profs. R. Lazarov and V. Thome, and the key lecturers and the organizers of the minisymposia, T. Boyadjiev, T. Donchev, E. Farkhi, M. Van Gijzen, S. Nicaise, and M. Todorov, for their contributions. We recognize the e ort required to prepare these key lectures and organize the minisymposia. We appreciate your sharing your knowledge of modern hi- performancecomputingnumericalmethodswiththeconferenceparticipants.We also thank I. Brayanov for the help in putting together the book. The 4th Conference on Numerical Analysis and Its Applications will take place in 2008.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 652 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Simulating Fuzzy Systems demonstrates how many systems naturally become fuzzy systems and shows how regular (crisp) simulation can be used to estimate the alpha-cuts of the fuzzy numbers used to analyze the behavior of the fuzzy system. This monograph presents a concise introduction to fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, fuzzy estimation, fuzzy probabilities, fuzzy systems theory, and fuzzy computation. It also presents a wide selection of simulation applications ranging from emergency rooms to machine shops to project scheduling, showing the varieties of fuzzy systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -It became clear in the early days of fusion research that the effects of the containment vessel (erosion of 'impurities') degrade the overall fusion plasma performance. Progress in controlled nuclear fusion research over the last decade has led to magnetically confined plasmas that, in turn, are sufficiently powerful to damage the vessel structures over its lifetime. This book reviews current understanding and concepts to deal with this remaining critical design issue for fusion reactors. It reviews both progress and open questions, largely in terms of available and sought-after plasma-surface interaction data and atomic/molecular data related to these 'plasma edge' issues.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 484 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Mountain ecosystems belong to the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Especially, the treeline ecotone acts as an indicator for environmental change. However, ecological processes in the treeline ecotone are not yet completely understood. The studies provided in this book may contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between vegetation, climate, fauna, and soils in the treeline ecotone. An introductory chapter is given on plants living under extreme conditions, climate change aspects, and methods for characterization of alpine soils. The following articles focus on mountainous areas in America, Europe and Asia. The Working Group on Mountain and Northern Ecosystems at the Insti- te of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster (Germany), has been working on topics related to the treeline ecotone for several decades. This period under the chairmanship of Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier has come to an end now when he retired in 2004. He initiated numerous studies in high mountains and in the North. Many of his students, who became infected by the ¿mountain virus¿, will continue these investigations on ecological processes in the altitudinal and northern treeline ecotones. With this compilation of studies in mountain ecosystems we want to thank Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier for his excellent guidance in these cold and fascinating environments.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 380 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the very interdisciplinary eld of CMOS technology-based chemical microsensor systems. It is, on the one hand, targeted at scientists and engineers interested in getting rst - sights in the eld of chemical sensing since all necessary fundamental kno- edgeisincluded.Ontheotherhand,italsoaddressesexpertsinthe eldsince it provides detailed information on all important issues related to realizing chemicalmicrosensorsand,speci cally,chemicalmicrosensorsinCMOSte- nology. A large number of sensor and integrated-sensor-system implemen- tionsillustratethecurrentstateoftheartandhelptoidentifythepossibilitie s for future developments. Since microsensors produce ¿microsignals¿, sensor miniaturization without sensor integration is in many cases prone to failure. This book will help to reveal the bene ts of using integrated electronics and CMOS-technology for developing chemical microsensor systems and, in p- ticular, the advantages that result from realizing monolithically integrated sensor systems comprising transducers and associated circuitry on a single chip. After a brief introduction, the fundamentals of chemical sensing are laid out,includingashortexcursionintotherelatedthermodynamicsandkinet ics. Fabrication and processing steps that are commonly used in semiconductor industry are then abstracted. These more fundamental sections are followed by a short description of microfabrication techniques and the CMOS s- strateandmaterials.Thereafter,acomprehensiveoverviewofsemiconduct- based and CMOS-based transducer structures for chemical sensors is given.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Eugeniawaspassionatelyinterestedinunderstandingthemolecular- sisofdevelopmentandchoseashermodelsystemthedevelopmentofB andTlymphocytes. Shebeganbystudyingthetranscriptionalregulation oftheTcell-specificgene,Thy-1,asagraduatestudentinFrankGrosveld s labatMillHill,London. Thereafter,sheturnedherattentiontothetopicof V(D)Jrecombination,firstasapostdoctoralfellowwithDavidBaltimore attheWhiteheadInstituteinCambridge,Massachusettsandsubsequently inherownlaboratoryatMountSinaiSchoolofMedicineinNewYorkCity. Eugeniamadefundamentaldiscoveriesconcerningthebiochemicalme- anismofthisreaction,andhowdefectsinitscentralenzymaticcom- nents,RAG1andRAG2,canleadtoahumanseverecombinedimmuno- ficiencydisorder,knownasOmennsyndrome. Atthetimeof herdeath, shehadbeenaHowardHughesMedicalInstituteinvestigatorforlessthan ayear,buthadalreadyassembledalaboratoryof15peopleworkingonan extensivearrayoftopicsinearlylymphocytedevelopmentandV(D)J- combination. Eugenialivedeachmomentofherlifewithanintensityfittingforthe cityinwhichshelived. LikeManhattan,shesleptlittle. Sheexpectedagreat dealofherself,andonlyalittlelessfromthosewithwhomsheworked. - geniaalsohadhighexpectationsforthescientificprocessandwasouts- keninherpraiseorcondemnationofthosewhometorfellshortofthose expectations. Shewasquicktoformanopinionanddevotedherselffe- ciouslytofriendshipsandhypotheses. PerhapsthegreatesttestimonytoEugeniaistheaffectionandreverence feltforherby themembersof herlab. Whilethisstemmedinnosmall partfrompredictablesources¿herkeenmindandbroadknowledge¿it founditsdeepestsourceinEugenia sabilitytotransmit,byexampleand word,her love of a life of learning and exploration. SandroSantigata,a graduatestudentinEugenia slab,capturedthiseloquentlyatthememorial serviceforEugeniaandAndrew,whenhesaid: VIII Obituary ¿Ifyouhaveeverbeenspellboundbyagreatstatue,enrapturedbyits strengthandvitality,enthralledbyitspurity,purposeandgraceandupli- edbythesenseofhopethatitsparkswithinyoursoul,thenyouhave- readyunderstoodwhyIadoredEuSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Ferroelectric thin films continue to attract much attention due to their developing applications in memory devices, FeRAM, infrared sensors, piezoelectric sensors and actuators. This book, aimed at students, researchers and developers, gives detailed information about the basic properties of these materials and the associated device physics. The contributing authors are acknowledged experts in the field.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Metal carbene complexes have made their way from organometallic curiosities to valuable reagents and catalysts. They offer novel synthetic opportunities in carbon-carbon bond formation based on either carbene-centered reactions or on metal-templated processes which makes them indispensable in modern synthetic methodology. The most prominent metal carbenes are now either commercially available or easy to synthesize and handle with modern laboratory techniques. This volume organized in eight chapters written by the leading scientists in the field illustrates the theoretical background, non-classical nucleophilic and cycloaddition patterns, chromium-templated benzannulation and photo-induced reactions, rhodium-catalyzed carbene transfer as well as the principles and applications of olefin metathesis which has coined the progress in synthetic methodology over the past decade. Designed for researchers in academia and industry as well as graduate students it presents the state-of-the-art potential of carbene complexes in modern organic synthesis.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 192 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -P.B. Dervan, A.T. Poulin-Kerstien, E.J. Fechter, B.S. Edelson: Regulation of Gene Expression by Synthetic DNA-Binding Ligands.- J.B. Chaires: Structural Selectivity of Drug-Nucleic Acid Interactions Probed by Competition Dialysis.- B.A. Armitage: Cyanine Dye-DNA Interactions: Intercalation, Groove Binding and Aggregation.- L.D. Williams: Between Objectivity and Whim: Nucleic Acid Structural Biology.- N. Dias, H. Vezin, A. Lansiaux, C. Bailly: Topoisomerase Inhibitors of Marine Origin and Their Potential Use as Anticancer Agents.- C. Escudé, J.-S. Sun: DNA Major Groove Binders: Triple Helix-Forming Oligonucleotides, Triple Helix-Specific DNA Ligands and Cleaving Agents.- D.P. Arya: Aminoglycoside-Nucleic Acid Interactions: The Case for Neomycin.- D.S. Pilch, M. Kaul, C.M. Barbieri: Ribosomal RNA Recognition by Aminoglycoside Antibiotics. 224 pp. Englisch.