springer berlin springer berlin heidelberg springer jul 2014 (324 resultados)

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -What actually is marketing Many people think of marketing as only sales and advertising because every day we are bombarded with TV commercials, flyers, catalogues, sales calls, and commercial e-mail. However, selling and advertising are only one element of marketing. Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale but in a contemporary and holistic sense of satisfying customer needs.In this book the authors develop the Quintessential Marketing Arena by following the logic of the three major steps of the marketing process. Along this process they present the fourteen most important marketing instruments that occur during this process.Having read this book:You will have a basic understanding of marketing and the process of marketing managementYou will know the most important marketing instruments and how they interactYou can develop your own marketing plan based on the Quintessential Marketing ArenaSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 152 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th IFIP WG 6.6 International Conference on Monitoring and Securing Virtualized Networks and Services, AIMS 2014, held in Brno, Czech Republic, in June/July 2014. The 9 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 29 submissions. The volume also includes 13 papers presented at the AIMS Ph.D. workshop. They were reviewed and selected from 27 submissions. The full papers are organized in topical sections on emerging infrastructures for networks and services; experimental studies for security management; and monitoring methods for quality-of-service and security. The workshop papers are organized in topical sections on management of virtualized network resources and functions; security management; SDN and content delivery; monitoring and information sharing.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Edited in collaboration with FoLLI, the Association of Logic, Language and Information this book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st Workshop on Logic, Language, Information and Communication, WoLLIC 2014, held in Valparaiso, Chile, in September 2014. The 15 contributed papers presented together with 6 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 29 submissions. The focus of the workshop was on the following subjects Inter-Disciplinary Research involving Formal Logic, Computing and Programming Theory, and Natural Language and Reasoning.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book gives a systematic exposition of Chinäs logistics development to the English-reading community. The ultimate goal of the book is to present a timely portrayal of Chinäs logistics market growth and the evolution status of Chinäs logistics industry. Being the fourth volume of the ¿Contemporary Logistics in Chinä, the book strives to offer in-depth analysis on some hot issues and dilemmas amid the on going dynamic and multi-faceted development and also a source of reference for interested readers in academic and professional fields.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book discusses the recently introduced concession policy, which is also known as PPP worldwide, on municipal utilities policy in China. In this context, critics have claimed that there is a gap in accountability with regard to concessions. The author utilizes interdisciplinary methods and comparative studies, taking into account the situation in the EU and US to analyze the accountability gap some feel will be created when the policy is implemented. Taking water sector concessions as the subject of discussion, the author distinguishes between three types of accountability: traditional bureaucratic accountability, legal accountability and public accountability. By systematically analyzing the essential problems involved, the book attempts to achieve a better understanding of concession and its application in the context of public utilities and finds that the alleged accountability gap is attributed to traditional bureaucratic accountability in China and the concession system per se.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book explores the environmental competitiveness of 133 countries around the world, presenting an index evaluation system to facilitate a comparative analysis of environmental competitiveness on a global scale. This is a new way to measure competitiveness in the light of the contradiction between world economic development and environmental protection. Global environmental competitiveness covers five aspects: the ecological environment, resources environment, environmental management, environmental impacts and environmental coordination. The authors use longitudinal study and horizontal analysis, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis methods so as to conduct an in-depth study of theoretical, empirical and methodological issues of global environmental competitiveness.The work is presented here in three main parts beginning with the theory, technical road-map and analytical approach used. The second part reports on the countries as evaluation objects, analyzing the development status of global environmental competitiveness as a whole and revealing the strengths and weaknesses of each country¿s environmental competitiveness. Basic paths and strategies to enhance the competitiveness level are presented. In the third part the reader will discover a sub-report and evaluation of the environmental competitiveness for 133 countries around the world, revealing the characteristics and relative differences of countries representing different levels of development, in order to provide an important decision-making reference to those considering environmental economic policies, especially those considering accelerating a green economic transformation and enhancing environmental competitiveness.This book will appeal to scholars and professionals with an interest in environmental issues and environmental competitiveness at a global level, as well as those with an interest in each of the 133 countries analyzed in this text, including environmental policy makers in those countries.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 880 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Pain management is a vast subject and is changing rapidly. Finding a good resource for learning, however, is difficult. This book covers the entire curriculum relating to pain management and will make it easy to learn all aspects of the subject by covering key concepts in a reader-friendly manner. It comprises nine concise and simple chapters that aim to impart the maximum information within a limited space. These chapters address anatomy, assessment of pain, diagnosis of pain, pharmacology, non-pharmacological pain management, acute and chronic pain management, pain management in special groups, and special techniques. Pain Management: Essential Topics for Examinations will be an ideal resource for those who plan to sit for examinations, wherever they are based in the world. In addition, it will be an invaluable reference for higher and advanced pain trainees, residents, and physicians working in chronic pain.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book includes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 17th Annual RoboCup International Symposium, held in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in June 2013. The 20 revised papers presented together with 11 champion team papers, 3 best paper awards, 11 oral presentations, and 19 special track on open-source hard- and software papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 78 submissions. The papers present current research and educational activities within the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence with a special focus to robot hardware and software, perception and action, robotic cognition and learning, multi-robot systems, human-robot interaction, education and edutainment, and applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 704 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 568 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The two volume-set, LNCS 8616 and LNCS 8617, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 34th Annual International Cryptology Conference, CRYPTO 2014, held in Santa Barbara, CA, USA, in August 2014.The 60 revised full papers presented in LNCS 8616 and LNCS 8617 were carefully reviewed and selected from 227 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on symmetric encryption and PRFs; formal methods; hash functions; groups and maps; lattices; asymmetric encryption and signatures; side channels and leakage resilience; obfuscation; FHE; quantum cryptography; foundations of hardness; number-theoretic hardness; information-theoretic security; key exchange and secure communication; zero knowledge; composable security; secure computation - foundations; secure computation - implementations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 552 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This sequel to A Prehistory of Polymer Science begins with the Faraday Discussion of 1935 on Polymerization. Patterson then examines the remarkable rise and establishment of polymer science after 1935 from the perspective of the emergence of strong intellectual leaders. While enough biographical detail is presented to gain an appreciation for the role played by each leader, the emphasis of this volume is on the key concepts associated with each individual and how the community embraced these leaders.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 100 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The fascinating rainbow colors we see in soap film not only delight us; they also help us understand the physical essence of nature. In this dissertation, the author presents his studies on the interactions between flexible bodies and ambient fluids, a topic reflected in nature, in everyday life and in various industrial applications. By investigating this topic, he reveals the mechanism of flow-induced vibration of flexible bodies, the process of energy exchange between flexible bodies and fluids and the way flexible bodies interact with each other in flowing fluids. These studies not only allow us to understand nature better, but can also help us invent new machines and improve existing devices to glean more energy from nature.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 124 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book examines green management practices among top-performing companies operating on the Chinese mainland. It begins with the question: what constitutes a ¿green¿ company Is this definition different when we consider Chinäs sustainability efforts Taken into consideration are such aspects as green management vision, supplier management programs, resource usage and investment in the environment. Through in-depth interviews with sustainability leaders and top executives, this Green Management Book will reveal how to systematically create or improve existing green management strategies in China. It uses actual case studies from domestic and foreign companies to highlight these practices. Over 2 years of extensive research - working with the research board of the Fortune China CSR rankings and China-based CSR strategy platform InnoCSR ¿ contribute to a comprehensive list of companies that are leading the way towards a greener China.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 80 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book examines the historical development of China's collective presidency and identifies five key mechanisms which effectively reduce the asymmetries of knowledge and power. The mechanisms discussed are: group or collective succession, collective division of responsibilities and cooperation, collective learning, collective research and collective decision making. This work presents many facts including historical details showing that the collective presidency of China is a unique and prodigious innovation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China's socialist political system. We see how Chinäs political system stands in contrast to the presidential system that exists in the United States, which can be described as a system of personal responsibility of the president. The author identifies characteristics of the collective presidency and introduces a framework for analysis. Chapters then explore the phases of historical development in detail and examine fundamental features in terms of their historical development, operational characteristics and evaluation. The final chapter summarizes the political advantages of collective presidency, particularly international competitive advantages and readers will discover that the route to success for modern China lies in collective presidency. This book will appeal to anyone who wishes to discover how Chinäs political system works, to explore its political institutions that operate in conjunction with the CPC and the Chinese state or to discover how a collective presidency can work successfully.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 164 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book provides fundamental understanding and practical application of characteristics of flexural motion in the assessment of the weld size and coating thickness. Some formulations of heat transfer and flexural motion are introduced while displacement and load correlation are used to estimate elastic modules and the size of the heat affected zone as well as the coating thickness. The case studies presented give a practical understanding of weld size and coating thickness characterizations.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This volume constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th IFIP WG 11.2 International Workshop on Information Security Theory and Practices, WISTP 2014, held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, in June/July 2014. The 8 revised full papers and 6 short papers presented together with 2 keynote talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 33 submissions. The papers have been organized in topical sections on cryptography and cryptanalysis, smart cards and embedded devices, and privacy.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Standard Conference on Trustworthy Distributed Computing and Services, ISCTCS 2013, held in Beijing, China, in November 2013. The 49 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 267 papers. The topics covered are trustworthy infrastructure; security, survivability and fault tolerance; standards, evaluation and certification; trustworthiness of services.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 424 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the workshop proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, DASFAA 2014, held in Bali, Indonesia, in April 2014. The volume contains papers from 4 workshops, each focusing on hot topics related to database systems and applications: the Second International Workshop on Big Data Management and Analytics, BDMA 2014; the Third International Workshop on Data Management for Emerging Network Infrastructure, DaMEN 2014; the Third International Workshop on Spatial Information Modeling, Management and Mining, SIM 2014, and the DASFAA Workshop on Uncertain and Crowdsourced Data, UnCrowd 2014.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 452 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Digital-Forensics and Watermarking, IWDW 2013, held in Auckland, New Zealand, during October 2013. The 24 full and 13 poster papers, presented together with 2 abstracts, were carefully reviewed and selected from 55 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on steganography and steganalysis; visual cryptography; reversible data hiding; forensics; watermarking; anonymizing and plate recognition.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 548 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Why is it that plants do not need to move How does a nonmotile organism have sex or defend itself Why are some plants virtually immortal What is the mechanism that allows plants to exploit a practically inexhaustible extraterrestrial energy source How do plants regulate the composition of our planet¿s atmosphere Why have there not been mass extinctions among plants as there have been among animals How do plants communicate with one another In the end, are plants intelligent organisms These are some of the questions the author discusses to demonstrate that plants are wrongly considered to be simple organisms lacking specific behaviour and intelligence. This book promises to be as pleasant a surprise as Alice¿s experience in the white rabbit¿s warren, in which she encountered a world very different from ours.The author explains the biology of plants following Einstein's maxim that everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 392 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Like other sciences and engineering disciplines, software engineering requires a cycle of model building, experimentation, and learning. Experiments are valuable tools for all software engineers who are involved in evaluating and choosing between different methods, techniques, languages and tools.The purpose of Experimentation in Software Engineering is to introduce students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners to empirical studies in software engineering, using controlled experiments. The introduction to experimentation is provided through a process perspective, and the focus is on the steps that we have to go through to perform an experiment. The book is divided into three parts. The first part provides a background of theories and methods used in experimentation. Part II then devotes one chapter to each of the five experiment steps: scoping, planning, execution, analysis, and result presentation. Part III completes the presentation with two examples. Assignments and statistical material are provided in appendixes. Overall the book provides indispensable information regarding empirical studies in particular for experiments, but also for case studies, systematic literature reviews, and surveys. It is a revision of the authors¿ book, which was published in 2000. In addition, substantial new material, e.g. concerning systematic literature reviews and case study research, is introduced. The book is self-contained and it is suitable as a course book in undergraduate or graduate studies where the need for empirical studies in software engineering is stressed. Exercises and assignments are included to combine the more theoretical material with practical aspects. Researchers will also benefit from the book, learning more about how to conduct empirical studies, and likewise practitioners may use it as a ¿cookbook¿ when evaluating new methods or techniques before implementing them in their organization.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 260 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -I. M. Vinogradov (1891 - 1983) was one of the creators of modern analytic number theory. He graduated from the University of St. Petersburg, where in 1920 he became a Professor. From 1934 he was a Director of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, a position he held for the rest of his life, except for five years during World War II. This edition includes a selection of articles, chosen by the author himself, which highlight the important stages of his scientific career. In addition to some early works, it contains the initial proofs of many of Vinogradov's basic theorems as well as the later improved versions, and also two substantial monographs.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 412 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Agile teams have been struggling with the concept of continuous improvement since the first Agile frameworks were developed, and still very little has been written about the practice of continuous improvement in Agile environments. Although team retrospectives have been prescribed and some practices have been introduced in order to implement and facilitate them, the truth is that most Agile teams are conducting dull retrospectives that end with a list of things that have been done wrong, just to repeat the same list two weeks later at the next meeting.Instead of listing hundreds of Japanese-labeled tools, this book gives you practical insights into how to spot improvement opportunities, how to plan for improvement and how to engage everyone in your company in the Kaizen process. In addition, it will also provide you with 27 proven practices and 12 bonus activities to introduce into your retrospectives in order to keep them fresh, creative and exciting, so you can promise a team that, in a year¿s time, no two retrospectives will be alike.This book helps you as a manager, team leader, change agent or consultant in any type of organization to unleash the real power of Kaizen cultures ¿ no matter what kind of organization, market, product, technology, vision, goal or size. It provides you with the background, tools and practical hints on how to engage your organization in a process of continuous quest for new and better ways of performing.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -From the German preface of R. Remmert: ¿When kings build their kingdom, there is work for the draymen. Kiyoshi Oka was a king. His kingdom was the function theory of several complex variables. He solved problems which were believed to be unsolvable; he developed methods whose audacity brought the admiration of the mathematical world. Oka gave new life to complex analysis.¿ This book comprises Okäs ten Mémoires with comments by Henri Cartan.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 244 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This textbook teaches particle physics very didactically. It supports learning and teaching with numerous worked examples, questions and problems with answers. Numerous tables and diagrams lead to a better understanding of the explanations. The content of the book covers all important topics of particle physics: Elementary particles are classified from the point of view of the four fundamental interactions. The nomenclature used in particle physics is explained. The discoveries and properties of known elementary particles and resonances are given. The particles considered are positrons, muon, pions, anti-protons, strange particles, neutrino and hadrons. The conservation laws governing the interactions of elementary particles are given. The concepts of parity, spin, charge conjugation, time reversal and gauge invariance are explained. The quark theory is introduced to explain the hadron structure and strong interactions. The solar neutrino problem is considered. Weak interactions are classified into various types, and the selection rules are stated. Non-conservation of parity and the universality of the weak interactions are discussed. Neutral and charged currents, discovery of W and Z bosons and the early universe form important topics of the electroweak interactions. The principles of high energy accelerators including colliders are elaborately explained. Additionally, in the book detectors used in nuclear and particle physics are described. This book is on the upper undergraduate level.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 552 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The world has changed dramatically in recent years and so has the field of economics, but many introductory economics textbooks have remained stuck in the past. This book provides a new beginning for the study of microeconomics, emphasizing current debates and research trends. It is international in outlook and reflects the shift toward empirical methods, as well as the study of institutions and economic behavior. It is also written to fit in with an approach to teaching based on active learning and critical thinking. Mainstream material is still covered, but within a new context, making it more relevant, realistic and responsive to the deeper questions economists are now asking about theory and policy. Economics as a discipline is viewed from a broad perspective that takes into account new developments at the intersections with psychology, political science, the natural sciences and philosophy. Economics as presented in this text is less sure that it has all the answers, but it is more interesting, application-oriented and open to new ideas.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 548 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This textbook explains the experimental basics, effects and theory of nuclear physics. It supports learning and teaching with numerous worked examples, questions and problems with answers. Numerous tables and diagrams help to better understand the explanations. A better feeling to the subject of the book is given with sketches about the historical development of nuclear physics. The main topics of this book include the phenomena associated with passage of charged particles and radiation through matter which are related to nuclear resonance fluorescence and the Moessbauer effect., Gamov¿s theory of alpha decay, Fermi theory of beta decay, electron capture and gamma decay. The discussion of general properties of nuclei covers nuclear sizes and nuclear force, nuclear spin, magnetic dipole moment and electric quadrupole moment. Nuclear instability against various modes of decay and Yukawa theory are explained. Nuclear models such as Fermi Gas Model, Shell Model, Liquid Drop Model, Collective Model and Optical Model are outlined to explain various experimental facts related to nuclear structure. Heavy ion reactions, including nuclear fusion, are explained. Nuclear fission and fusion power production is treated elaborately.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 632 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Hier lernen Sie nicht nur die Grundbegriffe der klassischen Funktionellen Bewegungslehre kennen und verstehen! Das Buch zeigt Ihnen auch Vorgehensweisen und Strategien, wie Sie Ihre Kenntnisse in der modernen physiotherapeutischen Bewegungstherapie praktisch einsetzen. Es vermittelt Studierenden, Auszubildenden, Wiedereinsteigern, aber auch erfahrenen Therapeutendie präzise Beobachtung und Analyse normaler und abweichender Körperhaltung und Bewegung, sowie die Grundlagen FBL-spezifischer Behandlungstechniken und therapeutischer Übungen. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt ist die Patienteninstruktion, die zeigt wie den Patienten die Wahrnehmung für ein optimales Bewegungsverhalten vermittelt werden kann.Anschaulich wird die Darstellung durch viele Beispiele, die die Lerninhalte ergänzen und verdeutlichen, Farbfotos und klare, auf die wesentlichen Komponenten der Bewegung reduzierte Zeichnungen.Die 7. Auflage vermittelt darüber hinaus- gezielt die Grundlagen von Bewegung und Beobachtung-integriert die Morphologie der Bewegung (funktionelles Messen)- vertieft das Verständnis der Bedeutung von Anleitung für das motorische Lernen de FBL- zeigt, wie Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung und Bewegungskompetenz des Patienten mehr berücksichtigt und beeinflusst werden können. 204 pp. Deutsch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Content protection and digital rights management (DRM) are fields that receive a lot of attention: content owners require systems that protect and maximize their revenues; consumers want backwards compatibility, while they fear that content owners will spy on their viewing habits; and academics are afraid that DRM may be a barrier to knowledge sharing. DRM technologies have a poor reputation and are not yet trusted.This book describes the key aspects of content protection and DRM systems, the objective being to demystify the technology and techniques. In the first part of the book, the author builds the foundations, with sections that cover the rationale for protecting digital video content; video piracy; current toolboxes that employ cryptography, watermarking, tamper resistance, and rights expression languages; different ways to model video content protection; and DRM. In the second part, he describes the main existing deployed solutions, including video ecosystems; how video is protected in broadcasting; descriptions of DRM systems, such as Microsoft's DRM and Apple¿s FairPlay; techniques for protecting prerecorded content distributed using DVDs or Blu-ray; and future methods used to protect content within the home network. The final part of the book looks towards future research topics, and the key problem of interoperability.While the book focuses on protecting video content, the DRM principles and technologies described are also used to protect many other types of content, such as Elektronisches Buchs, documents and games. The book will be of value to industrial researchers and engineers developing related technologies, academics and students in information security, cryptography and media systems, and engaged consumers.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Metropolitan commercial real estate markets are highly influenced by global forces, the regionaleconomy, and institutional behaviour. While descriptions of regional commercial real estate markets are well known and widespread in academic literature, this monograph goes beyond that in explaining the dynamics in and variations between European metropolitan markets. By comparing those markets on relevant indicators and through extensive data analysis, a number of explaining factors is revealed. Contributions on specific metropolitan markets with different positions within the real estate cycle illustrate not only the characteristics of the local economy and its institutions, but also urgent issues such as battling vacancy, changing retail hierarchy or managing obsolescence. ¿Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 352 pp. Englisch.