springer international publishing springer international publishing jan 2016 (548 resultados)

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This booklet provides a practical introduction to the practice of peer reviewing. Although it mainly focuses on paper reviewing for scientific events in computer science and business informatics, many of the principles, tips, tricks and examples can also be applied to journal reviewing and other scientific domains. Some can also be used when reviewing proposals for research projects or grants. In addition, many aspects of the book will benefit authors of scientific papers, who will gain deeper insights into how papers are reviewed and hence what to pay attention to when writing their own papers.The book is divided into three chapters, the first of which presents a brief overview of why peer reviewing is considered to be an important quality control instrument for scientific papers. In turn, the second chapter elaborates on the main principles a good reviewer should adhere to, including the most important aspects of personal attitude s/he should pay attention to when writinghis/her review. Lastly, the third chapter features a series of (anonymized) real life examples of actual reviewing practice, thus illustrating practical tips and tricks regarding the most common ¿dös¿ and ¿don¿ts¿ of peer reviewing.The book offers a structured introduction and practical reference guide, including good and bad examples, for junior researchers in computer science and business informatics in particular, as well as for anyone interested in peer reviewing in general.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 68 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -enthusiastic, and yet fallible, individuals, the story portrays the fascinating world of top-levelscience. It illuminates motivations behind disastrous events that can emerge whenambitions clash with the way science is supposed towork.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 204 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book offers a comprehensive review of innovative measurement and monitoring solutions based on time domain reflectometry (TDR). This technique has numerous applications in several fields, ranging from the characterization of electronic devices to quality control of vegetable oils. However, most of the well-established TDR-based monitoring solutions rely on local or punctual probes; therefore, typically, to monitor large areas/volumes, a high number of probes must be employed, with the consequent maintenance and management requirements. On such bases, in the last few years, the authors have carried out extensive research on the use of diffused wire-like sensing elements to be used as probes for TDR measurements. The basic idea has been to extend the principles of punctual TDR-based monitoring to multi-purpose networks of diffused, sensing elements (SE's), embedded permanently within the systems to be monitored (STBM's). These SEs can be tens of meters long, and can follow any desired path inside the STBM.; in fact, they are inactive inside the STBM. Additionally, these SE's are passive (i.e., they do not require batteries) and their sensing ability is activated, by the TDR signal, when they are connected to the measurement instrument. In addition to this, these SE's are completely maintenance-free.Starting from these considerations, this book addresses the use of low-cost, passive, flexible, wire-like SE's to be used in conjunction with TDR.This book also provides several application test cases, with hints for practical implementation of the described monitoring systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 100 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -After addressing strange cosmological hypotheses in Weird Universe, David Seargent tackles the no-lessbizarre theories closer to home.Alternate views on the Solar System's formation, comet composition, andthe evolution of life on Earth are only some of the topics he addresses in this new work.Although these ideasexist onthe fringe of mainstream astronomy, they can still shed light on the origins of life and the evolution of the planets. Continuing the author's series of bookspopularizingstrange astronomy facts and knowledge, Weird Astronomical Theoriespresents an approachable exploration ofthe still mysterious questions about the origin of comets, the pattern of mass extinctions onEarth, and more.The alternative theories discussed here do not come from untrained amateurs. The scientists whose work iscovered includes the mid-20th century Russian S. K. Vsekhsvyatskii, cosmologist Max Tegmark, Britishastronomers Victor Clube and William Napier, and American Tom Van Flandern, a specialist in celestial mechanics who held a variety of unusual beliefs about the possibility of intelligent life having come from elsewhere. Despite being outliers, their work reveals how much astronomical understanding is still evolving.Unconventional approaches have also pushed our scientific understanding for the better, as with R.W. Mandl's approaching Einstein with regard to gravitational lensing. Even without full substantiation (and some theories are hardly credible), their hypotheses allow for a new perspective onhow the Solar System became what it is today.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The current social and economic context increasingly demands open data to improve scientific research and decision making. However, when published data refer to individual respondents, disclosure risk limitation techniques must be implemented to anonymize the data and guarantee by design the fundamental right to privacy of the subjects the data refer to. Disclosure risk limitation has a long record in the statistical and computer science research communities, who have developed a variety of privacy-preserving solutions for data releases. This Synthesis Lecture provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of privacy in data releases focusing on the computer science perspective. Specifically, we detail the privacy models, anonymization methods, and utility and risk metrics that have been proposed so far in the literature. Besides, as a more advanced topic, we identify and discuss in detail connections between several privacy models (i.e., how to accumulate the privacy guaranteesthey offer to achieve more robust protection and when such guarantees are equivalent or complementary); we also explore the links between anonymization methods and privacy models (how anonymization methods can be used to enforce privacy models and thereby offer ex ante privacy guarantees). These latter topics are relevant to researchers and advanced practitioners, who will gain a deeper understanding on the available data anonymization solutions and the privacy guarantees they can offer.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 140 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -In this book, the author describes in simple, non-technical terms the adventures he has experienced during his work as an earth scientist in some of the remote parts of the arid and semi-arid world. His aim in writing this concise account of some of the work he has been involved in over the past fifty years is to try to convey to the non-specialist some of the excitement and fun involved in fieldwork in the drier regions of the world. His studies of the soils, landforms and the recent geological history of arid and semi-arid regions have taken Martin Williams to some remarkable places in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Not only are the landscapes themselves often stunningly beautiful, but the contact with people from quite different backgrounds and cultures has been an enriching experience. His work has taken him to places far off the beaten track, whether it be the rugged mountains of Ethiopia and northern China, the sandy deserts of the Sahara and Rajasthan, or the great river valleys of Somalia, central India and the Nile. The chapters that follow are not intended to form a coherent chronological narrative, although they do appear in rough chronological order. They should rather be viewed as vignettes or brief evocative descriptions, much as in the discursive tradition of the wandering Irish storytellers. Acting on the principle that it is not necessary to be solemn to be serious, the author aims to entertain as well as to instruct.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This textbook introduces the vast array of features and powerful mathematical functions of Mathematica using a multitude of clearly presented examples and worked-out problems. Each section starts with a description of a new topic and some basic examples. The author then demonstrates the use of new commands through three categories of problems the first category highlights those essential parts of the text that demonstrate the use of new commands in Mathematica whilst solving each problem presented; the second comprises problems that further demonstrate the use of commands previously introduced to tackle different situations; and the third presents more challenging problems for further study.The intention is to enable the reader to learn from the codes, thus avoiding long and exhausting explanations.While based on a computer algebra course taught to undergraduate students of mathematics, science, engineering and finance, the book also includes chapters on calculus and solving equations, and graphics, thus covering all the basic topics in Mathematica. With its strong focus upon programming and problem solving, and an emphasis on using numerical problems that do not need any particular background in mathematics, this book is also ideal for self-study and as an introduction to researchers who wish to use Mathematica as a computational tool.This new edition has been extensively revised and updated, and includes new chapters with problems and worked examples.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 344 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book provides a tutorial introduction to modern techniques for representing and reasoning about qualitative preferences with respect to a set of alternatives. The syntax and semantics of several languages for representing preference languages, including CP-nets, TCP-nets, CI-nets, and CP-theories, are reviewed. Some key problems in reasoning about preferences are introduced, including determining whether one alternative is preferred to another, or whether they are equivalent, with respect to a given set of preferences. These tasks can be reduced to model checking in temporal logic. Specifically, an induced preference graph that represents a given set of preferences can be efficiently encoded using a Kripke Structure for Computational Tree Logic (CTL). One can translate preference queries with respect to a set of preferences into an equivalent set of formulae in CTL, such that the CTL formula is satisfied whenever the preference query holds. This allows us to use a model checker toreason about preferences, i.e., answer preference queries, and to obtain a justification as to why a preference query is satisfied (or not) with respect to a set of preferences. This book defines the notions of the equivalence of two sets of preferences, including what it means for one set of preferences to subsume another, and shows how to answer preferential equivalence and subsumption queries using model checking. Furthermore, this book demontrates how to generate alternatives ordered by preference, along with providing ways to deal with inconsistent preference specifications. A description of CRISNER¿an open source software implementation of the model checking approach to qualitative preference reasoning in CP-nets, TCP-nets, and CP-theories is included, as well as examples illustrating its use.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -In this set of lecture notes, the author includes some of the latest research on the theory of Morrey Spaces associated with Harmonic Analysis. There are three main claims concerning these spaces that are covered: determining the integrability classes of the trace of Riesz potentials of an arbitrary Morrey function; determining the dimensions of singular sets of weak solutions of PDE (e.g. The Meyers-Elcart System); and determining whether there are any ¿full¿ interpolation results for linear operators between Morrey spaces.This book will serve as a useful reference to graduate students and researchers interested in Potential Theory, Harmonic Analysis, PDE, and/or Morrey Space Theory.Springer Basel AG in Springer Science + Business Media, Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin 144 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book presents a variety of techniques for solving ordinary differential equations analytically and features a wealth of examples. Focusing on the modeling of real-world phenomena, it begins with a basic introduction to differential equations, followed by linear and nonlinear first order equations and a detailed treatment of the second order linear equations. After presenting solution methods for the Laplace transform and power series, it lastly presents systems of equations and offers an introduction to the stability theory.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 224 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This concise pocketbook will provide readers with an overview and background of meningococcal disease, treatment options and emerging therapies, and methods of prevention. The book was originally commissioned due to recent developments in vaccinations to prevent meningococcal disease. This book reviews the disease progression and associated risk factors; its pathogenesis and diagnosis; methods of treatment and prevention, both current and emerging; and the future directions of meningococcal disease management. The book is ideal for busy healthcare professionals, as it covers all aspects of the disease and its treatment in a condensed and manageable format, whilst including the most up-to-date treatment guidelines and algorithms.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 136 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Enterprise Applications and Services in the Finance Industry, FinanceCom 2014, held in Sydney, Australia, on December 12, 2014.The workshop spans multiple disciplines, including technical, service, economic, sociological, and behavioral sciences. It reflects on technologically enabled opportunities, implications, and changes due to the introduction of new business models or regulations related to the financial services industry and the financial markets.The nine papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 152 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Lightweight Cryptography for Security and Privacy, LightSec 2015, held in Bochum, Germany, in September 2015.The 9 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 17 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: cryptanalysis, lightweight constructions, implementation challenges. 176 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughlyrefereed post-conference proceedings of the 10th International Symposium onTrustworthy Global Computing, TGC 2015, held in Madrid, Spain, in August/September2015.The 10 revised full papers presentedwere carefully reviewed and selected from 19 submissions. The Symposium onTrustworthy Global Computing focuses on frameworks, tools, algorithms, andprotocols for open-ended, large-scale systems and applications, and on rigorousreasoning about their behavior and properties.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 176 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Thisbook constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conferenceon Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management, heldin Barcelona, Spain, in April 2015.The10 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 45submissions. The papers address new challenges in geo-spatial datasensing, observation, representation, processing, visualization, sharing andmanaging. They concern information and communications technology (ICT) as wellas management of information and knowledge-based systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 180 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Hospital medicine has expanded beyond the practice of internal medicine to co-manage patients in the fields of orthopedics, neurosurgery and general surgery. This concise guide covers the evolution and expanding scope of hospital medicine and the variety of clinical, ethical and administrative situations a Hospitalist encounters. 500 questions on inpatient care, co-management of patients and hospital system management are provided with the goal of assessing clinical and academic competency. Questions feature actual cases with evidence-based solutions. Useful to physicians, house staff and advanced nurse practitioners, this up-to-date referenced learning text encompasses all aspects of hospital care.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the proceedings of the SecondInternational Conference on E-Learning, E-Education, and Online Training, eLEOT2015, held in Novedrate, Italy, in September 2015.The 26 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewedand selected from 52 submissions. They focus on e-learning and distanceeducation in science, technology, engineering and math.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughly refereedpost-conference proceedings of the First COST Action IC1302 InternationalKEYSTONE Conference on semantic Keyword-based Search on Structured Data SourcesIKC 2015, held in Coimbra, Portugal, in September 2015.The 13 revised full papers, 3 revised short papers, and 2 invited papers werecarefully reviewed and selected from 22 initial submissions. The paper topicscover techniques for keyword search, semantic data management, social Web andsocial media, information retrieval, benchmarking for search on big data.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 224 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughly referred post-workshop proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Hybrid Systems biology, HSB 2015, held as part of the Madrid Meet 2015 event, in Madrid, Spain in September 2015. The volume presents 13 full papers together with 2 abstracts of invited sessions from 18 submissions. The scope of the HSB workshop is the general area of dynamical modelsin Biology with an emphasis on hybrid approaches ¿ by no meansrestricted to a narrow class of mathematical models ¿ and takingadvantage of techniques developed separately in different areas.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 264 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the thoroughly refereedpost-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Security forInformation Technology and Communications, SECITC 2015, held in Bucharest, Romaniain June 2015.The 17 revised full papers were carefully reviewed andselected from 36 submissions. In addition with 5 invited talks the papers covertopics such as Cryptographic Algorithms and Protocols, Security Technologiesfor IT&C, Information Security Management, Cyber Defense, and DigitalForensics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th D-A-CH Conference on Energy Informatics, D-A-CH EI 2015, held in Karlsruhe, Germany, in November 2015.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 236 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Thisbook constitutes the post-proceedings of the 7th InternationalConference on Mobile Networks and Management, MONAMI 2015, held inSantander, Spain, in September 2015.The 16 full papers were carefullyreviewed and selected from 24 submissions. In addition there appears oneshort and 5 invited papers. These are organized thematically in fiveparts starting with Cellular Network Management andSelf-Organizing Networks in Part I. Radio Resource Management in LTEand 5G Networks aspects are discussed in Part II. Part III presentsnovel Techniques and Algorithms for Wireless Networks, while Part IVdeals with Video Streaming over Wireless Networks.Part V includespapers presenting avant-garde research on applicationsand services and, finally, Part VI features two papers introducing novelarchitectural approaches for Wireless Sensor Networks.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 308 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book investigates at both the micro- and macroeconomic levels the impact of mobile phones on poverty and inequality in developing countries. To gauge the effects of mobile phones on these aspects, the author refers to the standard concept of technology adoption and also analyses the actual utilization of mobile phones as a means of communication and the degree to which they have supplanted fixed-line phones. Readers will learn why the substitution effect is stronger among poor than rich users and why the benefits of some mobile phone projects are confined to the local or village level, while in other projects the gains can be felt throughout theeconomy as a whole.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 104 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This is the first book to show the capabilities of Microsoft Excel to teach educational and psychological statistics effectively. It is a step-by-step exercise-driven guide for students and practitioners who need to master Excel to solve practical problems in education and psychology. If understanding statistics isn¿t your strongest suit, you are not especially mathematically-inclined, or if you are wary of computers, this is the right book for you.Excel, a widely available computer program for students and practitioners, is also an effective teaching and learning tool for quantitative analyses in statistics courses. Its powerful computational ability and graphical functions make learning statistics much easier than in years past. However, Excel 2013 for Educational and Psychological Statistics: A Guide to Solving Practical Problems is the first book to capitalize on these improvements by teaching students and practitioners how to apply Excel to statistical techniques necessary in their courses and work.Each chapter explains statistical formulas and directs the reader to use Excel commands to solve specific, easy-to-understand problems in education and psychology. Practice problems are provided at the end of each chapter with their solutions in an appendix. Separately, there is a full Practice Test (with answers in an Appendix) that allows readers to test what they have learned.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book focuses on one part of the judicial system: the criminal justice chain. This involves all the activities and actors dealing with policing, prosecution, judgment, and sanctioning of crimes. In the last decades, reforms have been implemented in several European countries. In Belgium, for example, there was the so-called Octopus reform in 1998. The police was restructured, leading to an integration of the police forces on a national and local level. New steering instruments were introduced, such as regional security plans. With regard to the sanctioning of crimes, a new institution was installed, called the sentence implementation court. This book evaluates these reforms and discusses the current reform on the reorganization of the judicial landscape. In addition, it examines the relation between trust and distrust and the application to the judicial system. It discusses the human capital aspect of the system, by means of a study on the prosopography of the Belgian magistrates that analyses the Magistracy as socio-professional group, and focuses on situations of system building, transformations under constraint (occupations), and transfers (colonial experience). Lastly, the book presents a comparative study of Belgium and France regarding the new techniques and instruments that are needed to accelerate the judicial response time and to ensure that the judicial system delivers its services on time.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book is a comprehensive, yet concise text that brings together all aspects of SME banking theories and empirical studies in one text. The book contains the latest policy debates on money creation and credit rationing and the relative role of demand-side and supply-side factors affecting SME financing. Readers will understand the borrower-specific, lender-specific and business environment drivers of bank finance for SMEs as well as the determinants of loan contract terms, particularly the risk premium and collateral. Readers will also understand how loan officers acquire proprietary information on SMEs and apply various lending techniques, such as financial statement lending, relationship lending and credit scoring to the loan underwriting process. In addition, the book also features recent trends on the rise of alternative finance intermediaries such as online peer-to-peer lenders and the competitive implications for traditional banks providing loans to SMEs. Findings from this work will thus be of particular interest to commercial bankers, bank-dependent small business borrowers as well as policy makers, and researchers in central banks, development banks, development agencies and international financial institutions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 108 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book analyzes the family and residential trajectories of men and women across the twentieth century, which are placed in a long-term generational perspective and in the historical context where they played out. It brings together a set of studies based on data from the Biographies et Entourage (Life Event Histories and Entourage) survey conducted by the Institut National d¿Etudes Démographiques (INED) on a representative sample of nearly 3,000 residents of the Paris region born between 1930 and 1950.Inside, readers will discover an insightful analysis of the family that moves away from such traditional concepts as the household or main residence and proposes new ones like the entourage and the residential system. This innovative approach to the family network describes an affective and residential proximity that takes into account the relatives and close friends who have played or continue to play a role in an individual's life.The book first presents a detailed analysis of theBiographies et Entourage survey respondents' parental universe and proposes a practical approach to the notion of parenthood that reveals the family and non-family resources available to individuals. Next, it describes the evolution of the respondents' family networks, both in and beyond the household, and details how these family circles shape their subjective judgments during childhood, adolescence, and adult life. Coverage then goes on to examine the family ties of older adults, the role of grandparents and step-families, the importance of family spaces including often frequented places, and inter-generational family solidarity.Families extend well beyond the walls of the home. Interpersonal relations are constructed throughout the life course and in all the settings where they play out. This book takes this new family reality into account and traces its dynamics across time and space. It provides essential tools for researchers looking to conduct life event history surveys and todevelop innovative areas of research in the social sciences.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 208 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book reveals the story of how the first large learning organization was formed. Emerging around 1870, it involved an organizational transformation that followed a disaster some 60 years earlier. The great success of this process was the introduction of a totally new approach to leadership ¿ a competitive edge that would go undetected for another 100 years.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 344 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The book is a comprehensive narration of the use of expertise in international criminal trials offering reflection on standards concerning the quality and presentation of expert evidence. It analyzes and critiques the rules governing expert evidence in international criminal trials and the strategies employed by counsel and courts relying upon expert evidence and challenges that courts face determining its reliability. In particular, the author considers how the procedural and evidentiary architecture of international criminal courts and tribunals influences the courts¿ ability to meaningfully incorporate expert evidence into the rational fact-finding process.The book provides analysis of the unique properties of expert evidence as compared with other forms of evidence and the challenges that these properties present for fact-finding in international criminal trials. It draws conclusions about the extent to which particularizedevidentiary rules for expert evidence in international criminal trials is wanting. Based on comparative analyses of relevant national practices, the book proposes procedural improvements to address some of the challenges associated with the use of expertise in international criminal trials.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This brief emphasizes the ways in which introductory economics textbooks incorrectly rely on assumptions about the free market, the rational agent model, market fundamentalism, and standard long-standing assumptions in economics, and in doing so disregard the effects of incomplete and asymmetric information on choice and on allocation, and maintain a general but flawed belief that competitive markets can always provide efficient solutions automatically. In other words, the standard economics principles textbook is anachronistic, they assume that tastes are exogenous, they overlook interdependencies and externalities not only in production but in consumption of goods, and they overlook the fact that path-dependence is a major hindrance to optimization. Mainstream principles of economics textbooks distort our worldview with immense political and cultural consequences. Students of these principles deserve a more complete perspective, and this brief critiques that conventional worldviewand provides an alternative perspective, with an emphasis on free-market economics wherein the human element should be paramount and moral judgments should override market outcomes. In other words, what is important is not GNP as much as the quality of life, not institutions but how people live and fare in them. This brief argues that economics cannot be a science; it has too manyideological aspects, and in many ways conventional textbooks are not providinga true-to-life depiction of the economy. This Brief will be a reference orsupplemental text for college and university students enrolled in such appliedundergraduate and graduate courses and seminars in economics and economictheory.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 108 pp. Englisch.