springer springer nov 2010 (Más de 7.100 resultados)

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This is an excellent introduction for graduate students and nonspecialists to the field of mathematical and computational neurosciences. The book approaches the subject via pulsed-coupled neural networks, which have at their core the lighthouse and integrate-and-fire models. These allow for highly flexible modeling of realistic synaptic activity, synchronization and spatio-temporal pattern formation. The more advanced pulse-averaged equations are discussed. 348 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Matrix-Based Multigrid introduces and analyzes the multigrid approach for the numerical solution of large sparse linear systems arising from the discretization of elliptic partial differential equations. Special attention is given to the powerful matrix-based-multigrid approach, which is particularly useful for problems with variable coefficients and nonsymmetric and indefinite problems.This book can be used as a textbook in courses in numerical analysis, numerical linear algebra, and numerical PDEs at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels in computer science, math, and applied math departments. The theory is written in simple algebraic terms and therefore requires preliminary knowledge only in basic linear algebra and calculus.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Companies' decision-making and planning systems find themselves in a constant tug of war between strategic and financial considerations. The authors analyze these two opposing currents in business thinking, dissecting their differences and identifying their best practices. They also develop an approach that reconciles the two conflicting schools of thought ¿ without watering down their differences. Schwenker und Spremann argue that both strategic and financial perspectives can serve as a compass in management's decision-making processes: Which perspective to choose depends on the phase of business. The authors distinguish four phases in the company lifecycle ¿ phases in which the business must find the proper position, develop, grow and, ultimately, earn. In the first two phases, strategic considerations should take priority; in the latter two phases, financial considerations rule the day.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Hidden from human view, accessible only to sensitive receivers attached to huge radio telescopes, giant versions of backyard satellite dishes, the invisible universe beyond our senses continues to fascinate and intrigue our imaginations. We cannot really comprehend what it means to say that a galaxy is exploding, yet that is the nature of some of the distant radio sources in the furthest reaches of space. Closer to home, in the Milky Way galaxy, radio astronomers listen patiently to the ticking of pulsars that tell of star death and states of matter of awesome densities. And between the stars, radio emission from a host of over 120 complex molecules radiate outward to reveal a tale about chemical processes that produce the very stuff of life. And all of this happens out there in the universe hidden from our eyes, even when aided by the Hubble Space Telescope.This is the story of radio astronomy, of how radio waves are generated by stars, supernova, quasars, colliding galaxies, and by the very beginnings of the universe itself. In The Invisible Universe, you learn what astronomers are doing with those huge dishes in the New Mexico desert, in a remote valley in Puerto Rico, in the green Pocahontas Valley in West Virginia, as well as dozens of other remote sites around the world. With each of these observatories, the scientists collect and analyze their data, 'listening' to the radio signals from space, in order to learn what is out there, and perhaps even if someone else may be listening as well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 172 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -[the text below needs editing and we must be careful not to say things about Dan Brown's book that could get Springer in legal trouble]Dan Brown¿s novel, The Da Vinci Code, was first published in 2003; its sales have reached 40 million worldwide. The book mixes a small spice of fact into a large dollop of fiction to create an entertaining novel of intrigue, adventure, romance, danger and conspiracy, which have been imaginatively worked together to cook up the successful bestseller.Most interest in the book¿s origins has centred on the sensational religious aspects. Dan Brown has written: ¿All of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact.¿ This gives an air of authenticity to the book. Brown has, however, made up the religious doctrines, or based them on questionable accounts by others.The locations of the actions of The Da Vinci Code are not, however, made up. The present book is the scientific story behind the scene of several of the book¿s actions that take place on the axis of France that passes through Paris.The Paris Meridian is the name of this location. It is the line running north-south through the astronomical observatory in Paris. One of the original intentions behind the founding of the Paris Observatory was to determine and measure this line. The French government financed the Paris Academy of Sciences to do so in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. It employed both astronomers ¿ people who study and measure the stars ¿ and geodesists ¿ people who study and measure the Earth. This book is about what they did and why. It is a true story behind Dan Brown¿s fiction.This is the first English language presentation of this historical material. It is attractively written and it features the story of the community of scientists who created the Paris Meridian. They knew each other well ¿ some were members of the same families, in one caseof four generations. Like scientists everywhere they collaborated and formed alliances; they also split into warring factions and squabbled. They travelled to foreign countries, somehow transcending the national and political disputes, as scientists do now, their eyes fixed on ideas of accuracy, truth and objective, enduring values ¿ save where the reception given to their own work is concerned, when some became blind to high ideals and descended into petty politics.To establish the Paris Meridian, the scientists endured hardship, survived danger and gloried in amazing adventures during a time of turmoil in Europe, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War between France and Spain. Some were accused of witchcraft. Some of their associates lost their heads on the guillotine. Some died of disease. Some won honour and fame. One became the Head of State in France, albeit for no more than a few weeks. Some found dangerous love in foreign countries. One scientist killed in self defence when attacked by a jealous lover, another was himself killed by a jealous lover, a third brought back a woman to France and then jilted her, whereupon she joined a convent.The scientists worked on practical problems of interest to the government and to the people. They also worked on one of the important intellectual problems of the time, a problem of great interest to their fellow scientists all over the world, nothing less than the theory of universal gravitation. They succeeded in their intellectual work, while touching politics and the affairs of state. Their endeavours have left their marks on the landscape, in art and in literature.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 208 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Displaying multiple levels of data visually has been proposed to address the challenge of limited screen space. Although many previous empirical studies have addressed different aspects of this question, the information visualization research community does not currently have a clearly articulated consensus on how, when, or even if displaying data at multiple levels is effective.To shed more light on this complex topic, we conducted a systematic review of 22 existing multi-level interface studies to extract high-level design guidelines. To facilitate discussion, we cast our analysis findings into a four-point decision tree: (1) When are multi-level displays useful (2) What should the higher visual levels display (3) Should the different visual levels be displayed simultaneously, or one at a time (4) Should the visual levels be embedded in a single display, or separated into multiple displays Our analysis resulted in three design guidelines: (1) the number of levels in display anddata should match; (2) high visual levels should only display task-relevant information; (3) simultaneous display, rather than temporal switching, is suitable for tasks with multi-level answers.Table of Contents: Introduction / Terminology / Methodology / Summary of Studies / Decision 1: Single or Multi-level Interface / Decision 2: How to Create the High-Level Displays / Decision 3: Simultaneous or Temporal Displays of the Multiple Visual Levels / Decision 4: How to Spatially Arrange the Visual Levels, Embedded or Separate / Limitations of Study / Design Recommendations / Discussion and Future WorkSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 120 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Among the search tools currently on the Web, search engines are the most well known thanks to the popularity of major search engines such as Google and Yahoo! While extremely successful, these major search engines do have serious limitations. This book introduces large-scale metasearch engine technology, which has the potential to overcome the limitations of the major search engines. Essentially, a metasearch engine is a search system that supports unified access to multiple existing search engines by passing the queries it receives to its component search engines and aggregating the returned results into a single ranked list. A large-scale metasearch engine has thousands or more component search engines. While metasearch engines were initially motivated by their ability to combine the search coverage of multiple search engines, there are also other benefits such as the potential to obtain better and fresher results and to reach the Deep Web. The following major components of large-scale metasearch engines will be discussed in detail in this book: search engine selection, search engine incorporation, and result merging. Highly scalable and automated solutions for these components are emphasized. The authors make a strong case for the viability of the large-scale metasearch engine technology as a competitive technology for Web search. Table of Contents: Introduction / Metasearch Engine Architecture / Search Engine Selection / Search Engine Incorporation / Result Merging / Summary and Future ResearchSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 132 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Recent innovations in modern radar for designing transmitted waveforms, coupled with new algorithms for adaptively selecting the waveform parameters at each time step, have resulted in improvements in tracking performance. Of particular interest are waveforms that can be mathematically designed to have reduced ambiguity function sidelobes, as their use can lead to an increase in the target state estimation accuracy. Moreover, adaptively positioning the sidelobes can reveal weak target returns by reducing interference from stronger targets. The manuscript provides an overview of recent advances in the design of multicarrier phase-coded waveforms based on Bjorck constant-amplitude zero-autocorrelation (CAZAC) sequences for use in an adaptive waveform selection scheme for mutliple target tracking. The adaptive waveform design is formulated using sequential Monte Carlo techniques that need to be matched to the high resolution measurements. The work will be of interest to both practitionersand researchers in radar as well as to researchers in other applications where high resolution measurements can have significant benefits. Table of Contents: Introduction / Radar Waveform Design / Target Tracking with a Particle Filter / Single Target tracking with LFM and CAZAC Sequences / Multiple Target Tracking / ConclusionsSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 112 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Information is essential to all human activity, and information in electronic form both amplifies and augments human information interactions. This lecture surveys some of the different classical meanings of information, focuses on the ways that electronic technologies are affecting how we think about these senses of information, and introduces an emerging sense of information that has implications for how we work, play, and interact with others. The evolutions of computers and electronic networks and people's uses and adaptations of these tools manifesting a dynamic space called cyberspace. Our traces of activity in cyberspace give rise to a new sense of information as instantaneous identity states that I term proflection of self. Proflections of self influence how others act toward us. Four classical senses of information are described as context for this new form of information. The four senses selected for inclusion here are the following: thought and memory, communication process,artifact, and energy. Human mental activity and state (thought and memory) have neurological, cognitive, and affective facets.The act of informing (communication process) is considered from the perspective of human intentionality and technical developments that have dramatically amplified human communication capabilities. Information artifacts comprise a common sense of information that gives rise to a variety of information industries. Energy is the most general sense of information and is considered from the point of view of physical, mental, and social state change. This sense includes information theory as a measurable reduction in uncertainty. This lecture emphasizes how electronic representations have blurred media boundaries and added computational behaviors that yield new forms of information interaction, which, in turn, are stored, aggregated, and mined to create profiles that represent our cyber identities. Table of Contents: The Many Meanings of Information / Information asThought and Memory / Information as Communication Process / Information as Artifact / Information as Energy / Information as Identity in Cyberspace: The Fifth Voice / Conclusion and DirectionsSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 108 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This concise treatment embraces, in four parts, all the main aspects of theoretical physics. Recent topics such as holography and quantum cryptography are included. The book summarizes what a graduate student, physicist working in industry, or a physics teacher should master during his or her degree course. It will also be useful for deepening one¿s insight and it adds new dimensions to understanding of these elemental concepts.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book, together with Linear Algebra, constitutes a curriculum for an algebra program addressed to undergraduates. The separation of the hnear algebra from the other basic algebraic structures fits all existing tendencies affecting undergraduate teaching, and I agree with these tendencies. I have made the present book self contained logically, but it is probably better if students take the linear algebra course before being introduced to the more abstract notions of groups, rings, and fields, and the systematic development of their basic abstract properties. There is of course a little overlap with the book Lin ear Algebra, since I wanted to make the present book self contained. I define vector spaces, matrices, and linear maps and prove their basic properties. The present book could be used for a one-term course, or a year's course, possibly combining it with Linear Algebra. I think it is important to do the field theory and the Galois theory, more important, say, than to do much more group theory than we have done here. There is a chapter on finite fields, which exhibit both features from general field theory, and special features due to characteristic p. Such fields have become important in coding theory.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Calibrating the Cosmos describes hard science, but is gently written. It explains in clear, non-mathematical language the measurements and the interpretation of the resulting data that have led to the current understanding of the origin, evolution and properties of our expanding Big Bang universe.Many people have a sketchy idea of the work of cosmologists, but Professor Levin¿s experience in teaching both scientific and liberal arts students has enabled him to impart much of our current thinking without resorting to difficult mathematics. Theoretical concepts are emphasized, in particular the symmetries of homogeneity and isotropy enjoyed by our universe on the largest scales, how these symmetries lead to only one quantity being needed to describe the growth of the universe from its infancy to the present time, and how the so-called parameters of the universe are the ingredients used to construct the model universes to which ours ¿ the real thing ¿ is compared.Levin includes the 2003 results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and the 2003 and 2004 results of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to ensure that the book is up to date. He explains the relevance of the discoveries done by the new physics Nobel laureates Smoot and Mather!Background material is provided in the first four chapters; the current picture and how it was attained are discussed in the next four chapters; and some unsolved problems and conjectured solutions are explored in the final chapter.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Terms such as 'expanding Universe', 'big bang', and 'initial singularity', are nowadays part of our common language. The idea that the Universe we observe today originated from an enormous explosion (big bang) is now well known and widely accepted, at all levels, in modern popular culture. But what happens to the Universe before the big bang And would it make any sense at all to ask such a question In fact, recent progress in theoretical physics, and in particular in String Theory, suggests answers to the above questions, providing us with mathematical tools able in principle to reconstruct the history of the Universe even for times before the big bang.In the emerging cosmological scenario the Universe, at the epoch of the big bang, instead of being a 'new born baby' was actually a rather 'aged' creature in the middle of its possibly infinitely enduring evolution. The aim of this book is to convey this picture in non-technical language accessibile also to non-specialists. The author, himself a leading cosmologist, draws attention to ongoing and future observations that might reveal relics of an era before the big bang.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This monograph presents the Timed Input/Output Automaton (TIOA) modeling framework, a basic mathematical framework to support description and analysis of timed (computing) systems. Timed systems are systems in which desirable correctness or performance properties of the system depend on the timing of events, not just on the order of their occurrence. Timed systems are employed in a wide range of domains including communications, embedded systems, real-time operating systems, and automated control. Many applications involving timed systems have strong safety, reliability, and predictability requirements, which make it important to have methods for systematic design of systems and rigorous analysis of timing-dependent behavior. The TIOA framework also supports description and analysis of timed distributed algorithms -- distributed algorithms whose correctness and performance depend on the relative speeds of processors, accuracy of local clocks, or communication delay bounds. Such algorithms arise, for example, in traditional and wireless communications, networks of mobile devices, and shared-memory multiprocessors. The need to prove rigorous theoretical results about timed distributed algorithms makes it important to have a suitable mathematical foundation. An important feature of the TIOA framework is its support for decomposing timed system descriptions. In particular, the framework includes a notion of external behavior for a timed I/O automaton, which captures its discrete interactions with its environment. The framework also defines what it means for one TIOA to implement another, based on an inclusion relationship between their external behavior sets, and defines notions of simulations, which provide sufficient conditions for demonstrating implementation relationships. The framework includes a composition operation for TIOAs, which respects external behavior, and a notion of receptiveness, which implies that a TIOA does not block the passage of time. The TIOA framework also defines the notion of a property and what it means for a property to be a safety or a liveness property. It includes results that capture common proof methods for showing that automata satisfy properties. Table of Contents: Introduction / Mathematical Preliminaries / Describing Timed System Behavior / Timed Automata / Operations on Timed Automata / Properties for Timed Automata / Timed I/O Automata / Operations on Timed I/O Automata / Conclusions and Future WorkSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 140 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -This book concerns peer-to-peer applications and mechanisms operating on the Internet, particularly those that are not fully automated and involve significant human interaction. So, the realm of interest is the intersection of distributed systems and online social networking. Generally, simple models are described to clarify the ideas. Beginning with short overviews of caching, graph theory and game theory, we cover the basic ideas of structured and unstructured search. We then describe a simple framework for reputations and for iterated referrals and consensus. This framework is applied to a problem of sybil identity management. The fundamental result for iterated Byzantine consensus for a relatively important issue is also given. Finally, a straight-forward epidemic model is used to describe the propagation of malware on-line and for BitTorrent-style file-sharing.This short book can be used as a preliminary orientation to this subject matter. References are given for the interested student to papers with good survey and tutorial content and to those with more advanced treatments of specific topics. For an instructor, this book is suitable for a one-semester seminar course. Alternatively, it could be the framework for a semester's worth of lectures where the instructor would supplement each chapter with additional lectures on related or more advanced subject matter. A basic background is required in the areas of computer networking, probability theory, stochastic processes, and queueing.Table of Contents: Networking overview / Graphs / Games / Search in structured networks / Search in unstructured networks / Transactions, reputations, and referrals / False Referrals / Peer-to-peer file sharing / Consensus in dynamical belief systems / Byzantine consensus / EpidemicsSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -When I became the producer of the Sky at Night in 2002, I was given some friendly advice: ¿It¿s a quiet little programme, not much happens in astronomy.¿ How wrong they were! It¿s been a hectic and enthralling time ever since:, with missions arriving at distant planets; new discoveries in our Universe; and leaps in technology, which mean amateurs can take pictures as good as the Hubble Space Telescope. What a privilege it is to work on a programme with such a huge heritage! I am constantly amazed looking back at the flotilla of excellent programmes which have gone out over the past five decades. The Sky at Night has always been at the sharp end of science broadcasting, whether it¿s showing the first view from the far side of the Moon or pictures of a new comet which has swept into our sky. Viewers can depend on Sir Patrick to tell them the latest news and explain what it means. It¿s an outstanding achievement and Sir Patrick still holds the world record for being the same presenter on the longest running TV programme. Our guests love coming down to Farthings, Sir Patrick¿s home. For them, me- ing him is like meeting their astronomical hero. Over the past five decades, the Sky at Night has managed to talk to the space scientists and astronomers making the landmark discoveries. No matter how busy they are, they make room for Sir Patrick.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -A. Blaquière: Quelques aspects géométriques des processus optimaux.- C. Castaing: Quelques problèmes de mesurabilité liés à la théorie des commandes.- L. Cesari: Existence theorems for Lagrange and Pontryagin problems of the calculus of variations and optimal control of more-dimensional extensions in Sobolev space.- H. Halkin: Optimal control as programming in infinite dimensional spaces.- C. Olech: The range of integrals of a certain class vector-valued functions.- E. Rothe: Weak topology and calculus of variations.- E.O. Roxin: Problems about the set of attainability.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 376 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Lectures: A. Jeffrey: Lectures on nonlinear wave propagation.- Y. Choquet-Bruhat: Ondes asymptotiques.- G. Boillat: Urti.- Seminars: D. Graffi: Sulla teoria dell¿ottica non-lineare.- G. Grioli: Sulla propagazione del calore nei mezzi continui.- T. Manacorda: Onde nei solidi con vincoli interni.- T. Ruggeri: 'Entropy principle' and main field for a non linear covariant system.- B. Straughan: Singular surfaces in dipolar materials and possible consequences for continuum mechanics 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -I have spent many wonderful nights observing at a variety of places around the world, but many of my fondest memories come from those made at the Custer Observatory in Southold on Long Island, where I grew up. I was only perhaps a dozen years old when I started out, and now more than three decades later I have logged millions of miles on the various telescopes there. Some of the best memories are of observing and discussing astronomical topics with the many really terrific people who make up Custer. It truly holds a special place in my heart. Star clusters were always among my favorite objects to observe and discuss there. This book is the result of the exposure to these objects, many of which I observed for the first time at Custer. The Custer Institute Observatory was founded in the 1920s by local resident Charles W. Elmer of Perkin-Elmer Corp. fame. The original crew met at his house in Cedar Beach a few miles down the road from the institute. In the 1930s the group built an observatory complete with Mr. Elmer¿s donated 5¿ Alvan Clark refractor. Later the observatory expanded to include a 6¿ Clark refractor and other even larger instruments.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Global engineering offers the seductive image of engineers figuring out how to optimize work through collaboration and mobility. Its biggest challenge to engineers, however, is more fundamental and difficult: to better understand what they know and value qua engineers and why. This volume reports an experimental effort to help sixteen engineering educators produce ''personal geographies'' describing what led them to make risky career commitments to international and global engineering education. The contents of their diverse trajectories stand out in extending far beyond the narrower image of producing globally-competent engineers. Their personal geographies repeatedly highlight experiences of incongruence beyond home countries that provoked them to see themselves and understand their knowledge differently. The experiences were sufficiently profound to motivate them to design educational experiences that could provoke engineering students in similar ways.For nine engineers, gaining new international knowledge challenged assumptions that engineering work and life are limited to purely technical practices, compelling explicit attention to broader value commitments. For five non-engineers and two hybrids, gaining new international knowledge fueled ambitions to help engineering students better recognize and critically examine the broader value commitments in their work.A background chapter examines the historical emergence of international engineering education in the United States, and an epilogue explores what it might take to integrate practices of critical self-analysis more systematically in the education and training of engineers. Two appendices and two online supplements describe the unique research process that generated these personal geographies, especially the workshop at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in which authors were prohibited from participating in discussions of their manuscripts.Table of Contents: Communicating Across Cultures: Humanities in the International Education of Engineers (Bernd Widdig) / Linking Language Proficiency and the Professions (Michael Nugent) / Language, Life, and Pathways to Global Competency for Engineers (and Everyone Else) (Phil McKnight) / Bridging Two worlds (John M. Grandin) / Opened Eyes: From Moving Up to Helping Students See (Gayle G. Elliott) / What is Engineering for A Search for Engineering beyond Militarism and Free-markets (Juan Lucena) / Location, Knowledge, and Desire: From Two Conservatisms to Engineering Cultures and Countries (Gary Lee Downey) / Epilogue - Beyond Global Competence: Implications for Engineering Pedagogy (Gary Lee Downey)Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 248 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Global engineering offers the seductive image of engineers figuring out how to optimize work through collaboration and mobility. Its biggest challenge to engineers, however, is more fundamental and difficult: to better understand what they know and value qua engineers and why. This volume reports an experimental effort to help sixteen engineering educators produce ''personal geographies'' describing what led them to make risky career commitments to international and global engineering education. The contents of their diverse trajectories stand out in extending far beyond the narrower image of producing globally-competent engineers. Their personal geographies repeatedly highlight experiences of incongruence beyond home countries that provoked them to see themselves and understand their knowledge differently. The experiences were sufficiently profound to motivate them to design educational experiences that could challenge engineering students in similar ways. For nine engineers, gainingnew international knowledge challenged assumptions that engineering work and life are limited to purely technical practices, compelling explicit attention to broader value commitments. For five non-engineers and two hybrids, gaining new international knowledge fueled ambitions to help engineering students better recognize and critically examine the broader value commitments in their work. A background chapter examines the historical emergence of international engineering education in the United States, and an epilogue explores what it might take to integrate practices of critical self-analysis more systematically in the education and training of engineers. Two appendices and two online supplements describe the unique research process that generated these personal geographies, especially the workshop at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in which authors were prohibited from participating in discussions of their manuscripts. Table of Contents: The Border Crossers: Personal Geographies of International and Global Engineering Educators (Gary Lee Downey) / From Diplomacy and Development to Competitiveness and Globalization: Historical Perspectives on the Internationalization of Engineering Education (Brent Jesiek and Kacey Beddoes) / Crossing Borders: My Journey at WPI (Rick Vaz) / Education of Global Engineers and Global Citizens (E. Dan Hirleman) / In Search of Something More: My Path Towards International Service-Learning in Engineering Education (Margaret F. Pinnell) / International Engineering Education: The Transition from Engineering Faculty Member to True Believer (D. Joseph Mook) / Finding and Educating Self and Others Across Multiple Domains: Crossing Cultures, Disciplines, Research Modalities, and Scales (Anu Ramaswami) / If You Don't Go, You Don't Know (Linda D. Phillips) / A Lifetime of Touches of an Elusive ''Virtual Elephant'': Global Engineering Education (Lester A. Gerhardt) / Developing Global Awareness in a College of Engineering (Alan Parkinson) / The Right Thing to Do: Graduate Education and Research in a Global and Human Context (James R. Mihelcic) / Author BiographiesSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 284 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Over the last 15 years or so there has been a huge increase in the popularity of astrophotography with the advent of digital SLR cameras and CCD imagers. These have enabled astronomers to take many images and, indeed, check images as they scan the skies. Processing techniques using computer software have also made ¿developing¿ these images more accessible to those of us who are ¿chemically challenged!¿ And let¿s face it ¿ some of the pictures you see these days in magazines, books, and on popular web forums are, frankly, amazing! So, why bother looking through the eyepiece you ask Well, for one thing, setting up the equipment is quicker. You just take your ¿scope out of the garage or, if yoüre lucky enough to own one, open the roof of your observatory, align the ¿scope and off you go. If you have an equatorial mount, yoüll still need to roughly polar align, but this really takes only a few moments. The ¿imager¿ would most likely need to spend more time setting up. This would include very accurate polar alignment (for equatorial mounts), then finding a guide star using his or her finder, checking the software is functioning properly, and c- tinuous monitoring to make sure the alignment is absolutely precise throu- out the imaging run. That said, an imager with a snug ¿obsy¿ at the end of the garden will have a quicker time setting up, but then again so will the ¿visual¿ observer.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 448 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -From reviews of the first edition:'In the world of mathematics, the 1980's might well be described as the 'decade of the fractal'. Starting with Benoit Mandelbrot's remarkable text The Fractal Geometry of Nature, there has been a deluge of books, articles and television programmes about the beautiful mathematical objects, drawn by computers using recursive or iterative algorithms, which Mandelbrot christened fractals. Gerald Edgar's book is a significant addition to this deluge. Based on a course given to talented high- school students at Ohio University in 1988, it is, in fact, an advanced undergraduate textbook about the mathematics of fractal geometry, treating such topics as metric spaces, measure theory, dimension theory, and even some algebraic topology.the book also contains many good illustrations of fractals (including 16 color plates).'Mathematics Teaching'The book can be recommended to students who seriously want to know about the mathematical foundation of fractals, and to lecturers who want to illustrate a standard course in metric topology by interesting examples.'Christoph Bandt, Mathematical Reviews'.not only intended to fit mathematics students who wish to learn fractal geometry from its beginning but also students in computer science who are interested in the subject. Especially, for the last students the author gives the required topics from metric topology and measure theory on an elementary level. The book is written in a very clear style and contains a lot of exercises which should be worked out.'H.Haase, ZentralblattAbout the second edition: Changes throughout the text, taking into account developments in the subject matter since 1990; Major changes in chapter 6. Since 1990 it has become clear that there are two notions of dimension that play complementary roles, so the emphasis on Hausdorff dimension will be replaced by the two: Hausdorff dimension and packing dimension. 6.1 will remain, but a new section on packing dimension will follow it, then the old sections 6.2--6.4 will be re-written to show both types of dimension; Substantial change in chapter 7: new examples along with recent developments; Sections rewritten to be made clearer and more focused.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -L. Cesari: Non-linear analysis.- J.K. Hale: Oscillations in neutral functional differential equations.- M. Jean: Eléments de la théorie des équations différentielles avec commandes.- J. Mawhin: Un aperçu des recherches belges en théorie des equations différentielles ordinaires dans le champ réel entre 1967 et 1972.- Yu A. Mitropol¿skii: Certains aspects des progrès de la methode de centrage.- Th. Vogel: Quelques problèmes non linéaires en physique mathématique.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 400 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Blending algebra, analysis, and topology, the study of compact Lie groups is one of the most beautiful areas of mathematics and a key stepping stone to the theory of general Lie groups. Assuming no prior knowledge of Lie groups, this book covers the structure and representation theory of compact Lie groups. Included is the construction of the Spin groups, Schur Orthogonality, the Peter-Weyl Theorem, the Plancherel Theorem, the Maximal Torus Theorem, the Commutator Theorem, the Weyl Integration and Character Formulas, the Highest Weight Classification, and the Borel-Weil Theorem. The necessary Lie algebra theory is also developed in the text with a streamlined approach focusing on linear Lie groups.Key Features are: - Provides an approach that minimizes advanced prerequisites; - Self-contained and systematic exposition requiring no previous exposure to Lie theory; -Advances quickly to the Peter-Weyl Theorem and its corresponding Fourier theory; - Streamlined Lie algebra discussion reduces the differential geometry prerequisite and allows a more rapid transition to the classification and construction of representations - Exercises sprinkled throughout.This beginning graduate level text, aimed primarily at Lie Groups courses and related topics, assumes familiarity with elementary concepts from group theory, analysis, and manifold theory. Students, research mathematicians, and physicists interested in Lie theory will find this text very useful.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Of what use is mathematics Hasn¿t everything in mathematics already been disc- ered Thesearenaturalquestionsoftenaskedbyundergraduates. Theanswersprovided by their professors are often quite brief. Most university courses, pressed for time and rigidly structured, o er little opportunity to present and study actual applications and real-world examples. Evenmorehigh-schoolstudentsaskthesamequestionswithmoreinsistence. Tea- ers in these schools generally work under even tighter constraints than university prof- sors. If they are able to competently respond to these questions it is probably because they received good answers from their teachers and professors. And if they do not have the answers, then whose fault is it The genesis of this text It is impossible to introduce this text without rst discussing the course in which it originated. The course ¿Mathematics and Technology¿ was created at the Universit¿ e de Montr¿ eal and taught for the rst time in the winter semester of 2001. It was created after observing that most courses in the department neglect to present real applications. Sinceitscreationthecoursehasbeenopentobothundergraduatemathematicsstudents and future high-school teachers. Since no appropriate text or manual for the course we envisioned existed, we were led to write our own course notes, from which we taught. We got so caught up in writing these notes that they quickly grew to the size of a textbook, containing much more material than could possibly be taught in one semester. Despite the two of us being career mathematicians, we must admit that we both knew little or nothing about most of the applications presented in the following chapters.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 596 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The theory of elliptic curves is distinguished by its long history and by the diversity of the methods that have been used in its study. This book treats the arithmetic approach in its modern formulation, through the use of basic algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry. Following a brief discussion of the necessary algebro-geometric results, the book proceeds with an exposition of the geometry and the formal group of elliptic curves, elliptic curves over finite fields, the complex numbers, local fields, and global fields. Final chapters deal with integral and rational points, including Siegels theorem and explicit computations for the curve Y = X + DX, while three appendices conclude the whole: Elliptic Curves in Characteristics 2 and 3, Group Cohomology, and an overview of more advanced topics.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 536 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -Firms that operate in a market economy often depend upon innovations in order to achieve competitive advantages that sustainably secure their survival. Business ethics is thus largely concerned with questions about the decisional freedoms involved in innovation processes. Innovations oftentimes raise novel questions about the role of the state or the structure of society. Business ethics needs to provide a framework for balancing the different perspectives, values, and interests at stake. This balance must be achieved at the level of the firm in order to facilitate adequate long term decisions, but it should also be sought at higher, including regulatory, levels. Achieving this balance will require an ethical framework for entrepreneurial action. The particular disciplines engaged in generating innovations as well as all relevant fields of applied ethics should be involved in the balancing process. Business Ethics of Innovation is thus necessarily an interdisciplinary endeavour. This volume assesses general questions of how business ethics can help to structure innovations and specifically discusses pharmaceutical innovations as well as innovations in the IT sector.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -¿Enabling Social Europe¿ examines how the paradigm of the ¿enabling welfare state¿ might offer a new perspective for European social policy in the decades to come. The ¿enabling¿ concept is perceived as going beyond that of mere ¿activation¿, thus also embracing policies aimed at increasing personal autonomy, individual responsibility and social inclusion by endowing individuals with the resources and capabilities needed to manage and balance their life courses in a better way. The study is distinguished by a unique collaboration of social and economic policy experts coming from a wide range of disciplines: economics, law, sociology, political science, and philosophy. The authors seek to shed new light on whether European social policy ought to play a role in the future and, if so, what sort of role that could be. They convincingly argue that despite an implicit normative consensus on the ¿European social model¿, there is still room for a multifaceted world in which welfare regimes can maintain their own path-dependent ways of achieving a fair and just society with a high level of welfare for all. The empirical part of the book contains an appraisal of policies and reforms with a view to the ¿enabling welfare state¿ approach in four important policy areas: health care, old-age security, family policy, and poverty prevention. Within each sector, the authors compare the policies and practices of two countries attributable to different regime types: Germany and the United Kingdom, Poland and Germany, Finland and Estonia, and Belgium and Denmark. This book is highly recommendable not only for scholars and policymakers active in this field, but also for students of welfare and labour economics, sociology, social policy, political science and law.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 412 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condición: Neu. Neuware -The complexity of Information Technology (IT) systems has been steadily incre- ing in the past decades. In October 2001, IBM released the ¿Autonomic Computing Manifestö observing that current applications have reached the size of millions of lines of code, while physical infrastructures include thousands of heterogeneous servers requiring skilled IT professionals to install, con gure, tune, and maintain. System complexity has been recognized as the main obstacle to the further advan- ment of IT technology. The basic idea of Autonomic Computing is to develop IT systems that are able to manage themselves, as the human autonomic nervous system governs basic body functions such as heart rate or body temperature, thus freeing the conscious brain¿ IT administrators¿from the burden of dealing with low-level vital functions. Autonomic Computing systems can be implemented by introducing autonomic controllers which continuously monitor, analyze, plan, and execute (the famous MAPE cycle) recon guration actions on the system components. Monitoring acti- ties are deployed to measure the workload and performance metrics of each running component so as to identify system faults. The goal of the analysis activities is to determine the status of components from the monitoring data, and to forecast - ture conditions based on historical observations. Finally, plan and execute activities aim at deciding and actuating the next system con guration, for example, deciding whether to accept or reject new requests, determining the best application to servers assignment, in order to the achieve the self-optimization goals.Springer Basel AG in Springer Science + Business Media, Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin 184 pp. Englisch.