springer netherlands jul 1998 (33 results)

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Heidegger holds that our age is dominated by the ambition of reason to possess the world. And he sees in Leibniz the man who formulated the theorem of our modern age: nothing happens without a reason. He calls this attitude `calculating thought' and opposes to it a kind of thought aimed at preserving the essence of things, which he calls `meditating thought'. Cristin's book ascribes great importance to this polarity of thinking for the future of contemporary philosophy, and thus compares the basic ideas of the two thinkers. Leibniz announces the conquest of reason; Heidegger denounces the dangers of reason. Their diversity becomes manifest in the difference between the idea of reason and the image of the path. But is Leibniz's thought really only `calculating' And do we not perhaps also encounter the traces of reason along Heidegger's path With these questions in mind we may begin to redefine the relation between the two thinkers and between two different conceptions of reason and philosophy. The hypothesis is advanced that Heidegger's harsh judgment of Leibniz may be mitigated, but it also becomes clear that Heidegger's rewriting of the code of reason is an integral part of our age, in which many signs point to new loci of rationality. With his original interpretation, aware of the risks he is taking, Renato Cristin offers a new guide to the understanding of reason: he shows forth Leibniz as one who defends the thought of being in the unity of monadology, and Heidegger as a thinker who preserves the sign of reason in his meditating thought. 164 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This is the second volume in the series Nutrients in Ecosystems. Sulphur as an essential plant nutrient has received little attention. This is explained by the facts that sulphur was obviously in sufficient supply from the atmosphere, from soil and as a by-product in mineral fertilizers. Increases in the yield potential and thus in the nutrient requirement of modern crops, however, as well as remarkable changes in SO2 emissions by private households, power stations and industry, associated with legislative measures to reduce air and water pollution, have altered the situation to a large extent. In particular the public concerns about forest decline and pollution-induced climatic changes have initiated extensive research programs on the physiological functions of sulphur in plants, on the occurrence and plant availability of sulphur in agricultural and forest soils and on the chemistry of sulphur compounds in the tropo- and stratosphere. This book cannot be an encylcopedia of sulphur in all the media mentioned nor in all ecozones of the globe. However, it aims to give an overview of our present knowledge with a special focus on the sulphur situation in agrosystems of industrialised Western Europe. The ecological trends for sulphur observed in this region during recent decades are likely to be mirrored wherever industrialisation and urbanisation take place and where an increasing standard of living demands clean air, good drinking water and nutritious food. Agricultural production systems, therefore, require well-founded information on the actual sulphur nutrition and potential sulphur-fertilizer requirement of crops and soils respectively. It is hoped that this book will provide this information and will encourage further research where open questions still exist. 236 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This NATO Advanced Research Workshop was devoted to a specialized topic in molten salt chemistry and was held in an exotic location (as far as Westerners were concerned) well within the Arctic Circle. It nevertheless facilitated a fruitful week, both ofscience and ofhuman contacts. The 42 oral presentations and posters from nine countries enabled the 59 participants to learn a great deal about many areas of recent research in the molten salt chemistry of refractory metals, while making new contacts as well as renewing old friendships. The time ofinformal contact ledto the beginningofa numberofnew research cooperations with interchangeofpersonnel. Thus the twin aimsofadvancing science and improving East-West understanding were both amply fulfilled. Indeed a warm and happy family atmosphere was very tangible doth during the scientific sessions and the social events, which participants, accompanying persons and local staffall enjoyed. This opportunity of living for a short time within the Arctic Circle was a novelty for most Westerners, who generally appreciated the very warm weather (the hottest for 20 years according to some residents), as well as the beautiful surroundings ofvery green birch/pine forest, rushing rivers,vast lakes and rounded mountains,frequently illuminated by wonderful sunsets. The evening barbeque beside Lake Imandra (100 km long) and the coach tour beside the beautiful White Sea dotted with islands in the Kandalaksha Recreational Area (National Park), to sample Pomor culture, dancing and fresh salmon soup, were high spots ofthe social programme. 292 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -When the socialist regime in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was overthrown around the end of the eighties, beginning of the nineties, an overall transforma tion of whole societies started. Not only the political and the economic systems of these countries, but all societal sectors underwent deep changes. These changes presented opportunities, but they also spelled trouble. On one hand, getting rid of stifling political control and excessive bureaucratic regulation was something which most members of these societies desired. On the other, it be came apparent very soon that the necessary and long hoped-for rebuilding of the economy, education, health care, the mass media, and science, too, was strongly restricted by the scarcity of financial resources. After a short period, during which opportunities were energetically taken up in a spirit of hope, came a long and still lasting time of growing troubles and despondency. Only in a few of the CEE countries have some glimpses of hope become visible recently; and it re mains to be seen whether these signals are reliable. Until now, therefore, the transformation dynamics of all societal sectors in all of the CEE countries have primarily been troublesome. This is surely true for the post-socialist research systems. I The demise of the communist party's abso lute rule over society has allowed researchers the public expression and the pur suit of goals whose common denominator has been a greater self-regulation of scientific research according to its own criteria and logic. 192 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Diese Untersuchung zeigt, daß es zwischen der singulären Wahrnehmung von Gegenständen und der objektiven und kommunizierbaren Erkenntnis ein `Mittleres' gibt, d.h. eine bereits beständige und spezifische Vorform von Erkenntnis, die weder nur Wahrnehmung ist noch schon Erkenntnis darstellt. Husserl war der erste, der explizit die Eigenständigkeit der vorprädikativen Erfahrung behauptet hat. Dennoch zeigt sich, daß die Sache und die erkenntnisermöglichende Funktion der vorprädikativen Erfahrung bereits von Hume und Kant untersucht wurden. Auf dem Grund des gleichen Sachinteresses ist es möglich, ihre Ergebnisse mit großem Gewinn in die phänomenologische Theorie der Erkenntnis einzugliedern. Ferner wird die transzendentale Funktion dieser erfahrungsgegründeten und bereits spezifischen Vorformen von Erkenntnis für die Ermöglichung eben dieser Erkenntnis aufgewiesen. Die Analysen der Formen vorprädikativer Erfahrung in Erfahrung und Urteil sind somit die entscheidenden Schlußstücke der genetisch-phänomenologischen Erkenntnistheorie, die sich hiermit zugleich als tragfähig und konsistent erweist. 324 pp. Deutsch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A profound and frank analysis of the problems arising from the impact of free market globalization in CIS countries. Possible new solutions are presented and discussed, especially those based on the key role of innovation. A new, original proposal is made for the development of a `common technological language', starting from a European standardization of computer aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM). 144 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Husserl's phenomenology has often been criticized for its Cartesian, fundamentalistic, idealistic and solipsistic nature. Today, this widespread interpretation must be regarded as being outdated, since it gives but a very partial and limited picture of Husserl's thinking. The continuing publication of Husserl's research manuscripts has disclosed analyses which have made it necessary to revise and modify a number of standard readings. This anthology documents the recent development in Husserl research. It contains contributions from a number of young phenomenologists, who have all defended their dissertation on Husserl in the nineties, and it presents a new type of interpretation which emphasizes the dimensions of facticity, passivity, alterity and ethics in Husserl's thinking. 240 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Mind Out of Matter aims to transform the way we think about consciousness and the physical world. Unlike many contemporary volumes, it develops a robust and philosophically satisfying account of the mind/body relationship without doing violence to fundamental physics. It expunges popular but ludicrous assumptions about the `in principle' capabilities of cognizers and, with the help of tools from mathematics and scientific fields, supplants flawed notions of representation, function, and mental state with objective and physically grounded alternatives. It debunks quantum theories of consciousness, constructs a simple zombie recipe, and evaluates recent research on chaotic analogue networks. This book is indispensable for readers in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence, and for mathematicians applying complexity theory or information theory to biological cognition. Audience: General academic/university libraries, plus university departmental libraries in philosophy, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and computer science. Researchers and specialists in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, artificial life, complexity theory, and information theory. Researchers in the telecommunications industry. 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -When we ask whether something exists, we expect a yes or no answer, not a further query about what kind of existence, how much of it, whether we mean existence for you or existence for me, or whether we are asking about some property which it might have. In this book, this simple requirement is defended and pursued into its various and sometimes surprising implications. In the course of this pursuit, such questions arise as `Do appearances exist ' `Do unknowable things exist ' `Do past and future exist ' `Does God necessarily exist ' This novel and non-technical approach to important philosophical questions will be of interest to senior students of philosophy and, indeed, to all general readers with philosophical interests. 210 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This volume covers a broad spectrum of research into the role of events in grammar. It addresses event arguments and thematic argument structure, the role of events in verbal aspectual distinctions, events and the distinction between stage and individual level predicates, and the role of events in the analysis of plurality and scope relations. It is of interest to scholars and students of theoretical linguistics, philosophers of language, computational linguists, and computer scientists. 396 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Jurgen Schulte and Christian Endler met in 1990 at an international conference on the Structure of Water held in the Lecture Halls of the University of Graz (Austria). Disappointed by the lack of a systematic strategy of research into the physics of homoeopathy Jurgen Schulte started to work on the establishment of scientifically acceptable research standards in physics of homoeopathy and encouraged academic researchers to establish a coordinated and focused research strategy. In 1994, with the help of major representatives of the international research community, they edited one of the fIrst academic interdisciplinary books on Ultra High Dilution and homoeopathy that underwent a rigorous scientific international referee process before publishing. Due to the dedicated help of the prominent referees (BD Josephson, Nobel Laureate, Cavendish Lab. , Cambridge; M Bastide, Fac de Pharmacy, University Montpellier; RG Jahn, Aerospace Science, Princeton University), the book 1994 was quickly considered a mile stone and turning point for the scientific approach of research into Ultra High Dilution and homoeopathy. Since then the academic research community has grown considerably and many international conferences have been held. Today, research into homoeopathy is to be accepted by the European Union as part of the academic sciences, worthy to be funded at European Union level; an effort that took many years of research coordination and research strategy development. Excerpts of the Research Strategy of the European Committee for Homoeopathy (ECH) have been included in this book. 280 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The idea for this book was born at the June 1996 meeting of the IDEAL Steering Committee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We had just completed a successful and stimulating special symposium during the annual meeting of the American Society for Limnology and Oceanography, and enthusiasm was running high for the production of a volume that could assemble in one place the scientific findings that were starting to emerge from East Africa. IDEAL, an International Decade for the East African Lakes, had ended one round of field investigations, many of which had been centered on Lake Victoria. As the climatologists, geologists, paleolimnologists, and biologists displayed their results and debated interpretations, it appeared that some paradigms were shifting, and that new explanations of climate history and modem processes were taking shape. The Steering Committee endorsed the production of a volume that would draw together the different research results that were emerging and which would be representative of the scope of science issues that exist within IDEAL. This book follows in the spirit of The Limnology, Climatology, and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes, published in 1996, but has a somewhat different purpose. The previous publication also included original science results, but it was conceived to review the state of knowledge, identify critical problems, and point to new paths of inquiry. It accompanied the development of our first Science and Implementation Plan for the East African Lakes. 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This is the first book in healthcare ethics addressing the moral issues regarding ownership of the human body. Modern medicine increasingly transforms the body and makes use of body parts for diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive purposes. The book analyzes the concept of body ownership. It also reviews the ownership issues arising in clinical care (for example, donation policies, autopsy) and biomedical research. Societies and legal systems also have to deal with issues of body ownership. A comparison is made between specific legal arrangements in The Netherlands and France, as examples of legal approaches. In the final section of the book, different theoretical perspectives on the human body are analyzed: libertarian, personalist, deontological and utilitarian theories of body ownership. 252 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -More than ten million `poison gas' shells, mortar bombs, etc., lie hidden in Europe, many of them relics from World War I. Some were fired and failed to detonate, others were abandoned in old ammunition dumps. Most retain their load of chemical warfare (CW) agents. They are turned up daily in the course of farming and construction. Many European nations have permanent departments concerned with their collection and destruction. Old munitions, when discovered, are usually heavily corroded and difficult to identify. Is it a CW munition Or an explosive If CW, what agent does it contain Once identified, one has to select a destruction method. Some of the methods that have been proposed are less than perfect, and are often complicated by the presence of extraneous chemicals, either mixed with the CW agents during manufacture or formed over decades in the ground. Of particular interest are the insiders' reports on the German CW programmes of both World Wars, and the current status of Russian chemical armaments. 224 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The Rhizobiaceae, Molecular Biology of Model Plant-Associated Bacteria. This book gives a comprehensive overview on our present molecular biological knowledge about the Rhizobiaceae, which currently can be called the best-studied family of soil bacteria. For many centuries they have attracted the attention of scientists because of their capacity to associate with plants and as a consequence also to specifically modify plant development. Some of these associations are beneficial for the plant, as is the case for the Rhizobiaceae subgroups collectively called rhizobia, which are able to fix nitrogen in a symbiosis with the plant hosts. This symbiosis results in the fonnation of root or stem nodules, as illustrated on the front cover. In contrast, several Rhizobiaceae subgroups can negatively affect plant development and evoke plant diseases. Examples are Agrobacterium tumefaciens andA. rhizogenes which induce the formation of crown galls or hairy roots on the stems of their host plants, respectively (bottom panels on front cover). In addition to the obvious importance of studies on the Rhizobiaceae for agronomy, this research field has resulted in the discovery of many fundamental scientific principles of general interest, which are highlighted in this book. To mention three examples: (i) the discovery of DNA transfer of A. 592 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The nitrogen-containing ring structures are at the hub of metabolism and include ATP, nucleic acids, many coenzymes, metabolic regulators and integrators such as adenosine and GTP, signalling compounds such as cyclic nucleotides and plant cytokinins and biochemically functional pigmets of which haemoglobin, the cytochromes and chlorophyll are examples. This important book collates and integrates current knowledge of all the biologically important N-heterocyclic compounds, covering the relationship between their chemical structures and physiological functions within this key group of compounds. Few biochemical reaction sequences do not involve one of these compounds as a substrate, product or coenzyme and a full understanding of the interrelationship between their structure and function is vital for all those woorking in the field of biochemistry. Professor Eric Brown who has a huge wealth of experience in teaching and research on these compounds has written a very comprehensible and thorough book which will be of great value for advanced students and researchers in biochemistry and those at the interfacing subject areas of chemistry, biology and pharmacology including all those employed in researching biological function within pharmaceutical companies. 260 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Each year, roughly a million new cases of cancer appear in the US, and more than 500,000 Americans die annually of premature death. Although medical progress has slowed cancer mortality, its incidence is increasing roughly six times faster than cancer mortality is decreasing. Breast cancer, in particular, has been increasing about one percent each year since 1973. At least two of the factors responsible for this surge in breast cancer are women's use of medically-prescribed synthetic hormones and the exposure of the entire population to chemicals such as dioxin. Both exposures increase the likelihood of breast cancer. Although many ethicists worry about involuntary societal imposition of chemicals such as dioxin, through industrial and agricultural processes, allegedly voluntary exposures also constitute both, a public-health problem and a biomedical-ethics difficulty. Physicians recommend synthetic hormones, for example, to women who apparently take them voluntarily. In the case of in vitro fertilization, doctors prescribe hormones to induce egg production and to increase the chances of reproduction for couples who are unable to have children. Despite the benefits of medical technologies such as hormone stimulation and in vitro fertilization, they also carry great risks. The price that childless women pay, for their opportunity to have children through in vitro fertilization, may be their own increased risk of diseases - such as breast cancer - that are hormone dependent. 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The Upper Adriatic Sea basin comprises a very precarious coastal environment subject to continuous changes which prove appreciable not only over the geological scale but also in historical and modern times. According to some Authors the Venice Lagoon was formed 2000-3000 years ago, and other lagoons (e. g. the Grado Lagoon in the northernmost part of the Adriatic) are even more recent. In addition to lagoons, the Upper Adriatic coastal area includes salt and fresh-water marshes and reclaimed land separated by several watercourses originating from the Alpine and Apennine ranges with a ground elevation not exceeding in many places 2 m above the mean sea l. evel (msl). A significant fraction of this lowland is already now below msl because of natural and anthropogenic land subsidence, land reclamation and sea level rise occurred over the last century. Natural land subsidence is still under way as a result of deep downward tec tonic movement and consolidation of soils deposited in the most recent time. An thropogenic subsidence is primarily due to groundwater pumping for agricultural, industrial, civil, and tourist use, and to gas withdrawal from a large number of gas fields scattered through the Upper Adriatic basin, and may still continue, al though at a reduced rate, in the years to come. At the same time msl is expected to rise in the next century due to global climate change, mainly because of the greenhouse effect. 364 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Supply of sufficient clean drinking water is often taken for granted, but it requires a considerable technical and financial effort to ensure reliable and economic water supply. This volume presents an up-to-date overview of water supply management and aims at efficient management of water supply schemes rather than design of new works. Various chapters of the book are devoted to water demands, management of reservoirs and conjunctive use of alternative sources. Asset management and loss control are also considered. Water quality and provision of water to developing communities are also discussed. Water supply management is of concern to developed urban environments as well as developing communities. The book will be equally valuable to the practising water engineer and the newcomer or graduate student in the subject. 324 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware 420 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -With the end of the Cold War, new opportunities for interaction have opened up between the United States and the countries of the Former Soviet Union. Many of these important initiatives involve the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy (MINA TOM). Currently, collaboration is under way which involves reactor safety, the disposition of fissile materials from the weapons program, radioactive waste disposal, and the safety of nuclear warheads. Another fruitful area of interchange resulted from the radiochemical storage tank accident at the site of the Siberian Chemical Compound at Tomsk-7 in 1993. DOE and MINATOM agreed to meet and exchange information about the accident for the purposes of improving safety. A meeting on the Tomsk tank accident was held in Hanford, Washington in 1993, followed by a second meeting in st. Petersburg, Russia in 1994 in which the agenda expanded to include radiochemical processing safety. A third exchange took place in 1995 in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and additional papers were presented on nonreactor nuclear safety. Following a planning session in 1996 in Seattle, Washington, it was decided to hold a fourth technical exchange on the broader subject of nuclear materials safety management. Through a grant from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Disarmament Programme, the meeting took place on March 17- 21, 1997, in Amarillo, Texas as a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) through grant no. DISRM 961315. 400 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In her Introduction, Tymieniecka states the core theme of the present book sharply: Is culture an excess of nature's prodigious expansiveness - an excess which might turn out to be dangerous for nature itself if it goes too far - or is culture a 'natural', congenial prolongation of nature-life If the latter, then culture is assimilated into nature and thus would lose its claim to autonomy: its criteria would be superseded by those of nature alone. Of course, nature and culture may both still be seen as being absorbed by the inner powers of specifically human inwardness, on which view, human being, caught in its own transcendence, becomes separated radically in kind from the rest of existence and may not touch even the shadow of reality except through its own prism. Excess, therefore, or prolongation And on what terms The relationship between culture and nature in its technical phase demands a new elucidation. Here this is pursued by excavating the root significance of the 'multiple rationalities' of life. In contrast to Husserl, who differentiated living types according to their degree of participation in the world, the phenomenology of life disentangles living types from within the ontopoietic web of life itself. The human creative act reveals itself as the Great Divide of the Logos of Life - a divide that does not separate but harmonizes, thus dispelling both naturalistic and spiritualistic reductionism. 440 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The 12 lectures presented in Representation Theories and Algebraic Geometry focus on the very rich and powerful interplay between algebraic geometry and the representation theories of various modern mathematical structures, such as reductive groups, quantum groups, Hecke algebras, restricted Lie algebras, and their companions. This interplay has been extensively exploited during recent years, resulting in great progress in these representation theories. Conversely, a great stimulus has been given to the development of such geometric theories as D-modules, perverse sheafs and equivariant intersection cohomology. The range of topics covered is wide, from equivariant Chow groups, decomposition classes and Schubert varieties, multiplicity free actions, convolution algebras, standard monomial theory, and canonical bases, to annihilators of quantum Verma modules, modular representation theory of Lie algebras and combinatorics of representation categories of Harish-Chandra modules. 470 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This Special Issue of Water, Air, and Soil Pollution offers original contributions from BIOGEOMON, The Third International Symposium on Ecosystem Behavior, which was held on the campus ofVillanova University from June 21-25, 1997. Previous meetings were held in Prague in 1987 and again in 1993. The BIOGEOMON series was initiated in 1987 when a group of researchers from the Czech Geological Survey organized a conference called GEOMON, Geochemical Monitoring in Representative Basins. GEOMON was fairly narrowly focused on monitoring of element pools and fluxes on a small watershed scale. As signalled by the change in name to BIOGEOMON, the second conference explicitly recognized that assessment of anthropogenic effects on ecosystem processes requires a combination of geochemical monitoring with other approaches, including watershed-level manipulations, use of radioactive and stable isotopic tracers, and both empirical and process modeling. The 1997 BIOGEOMON conference was the largest, with over 240 participants from 28 countries on five continents in attendance, and broadest in scope. The conference featured a plenary speaker, six keynote speakers, 35 invited speakers, over 60 oral contributed presentations, and over 75 poster presentations. 520 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The idea of this book started at approximately 33.000 feet, somewhere above the Alps. On our way to a workshop in Venice we had the opportunity of appreciating the different types of landscapes and the complex patchwork of urban areas, agriculture, forests, rivers and lakes that can be seen from an aircraft. The complexity of this puzzle, and the complex task of managing its evolution, became the topic of conversation for the rest of the flight. It also became the topic of this book. Land-use management and multicriteria analysis offer countless opportunities for mutual reinforcement. These two fields have developed largely independently, but a trend towards the exploration of their synergies is now emerging. This is clear from the recent literature on land-use management, spatial analysis and spatial planning, which increasingly includes references to multicriteria methodologies and decision analysis. At the same time, a growing share of multicriteria applications now focus on environmental and land-use issues. This book includes contributions from authors coming from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. All together they highlight current issues in multicriteria analysis and land-use management from theoretical, methodological and practical perspectives. 384 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -1. The Workshop and this Tome In the excellent bucolic setting of SchloB Ringberg in Upper Bavaria, over 50 scientists assembled during the week of 23-28 September 1996 to discuss recent results, both theoretical and observational in nature, on the large scale structure of the Universe. Such a topic is perhaps nowadays far too encompassing, and is essentially all of what we used to call 'observational cosmology. ' The original philosophy of the organization of this meeting was deliber ated aimed at the younger community and their contributions. As a conse quence, the content of the presentations was refreshingly new, as it should be. In spite of the deficiences caused by the lack of certain key researchers in this field, for one reason or another, the final result was rewarding to all. Although the conference was held in Fall 1996, the contributions contained herein were submitted as late as Spring 1998, thus the content maintains some degree of trendiness. Originally the current volume was to be a 'proceedings. ' This refers to the usual archival tome that fills one's shelf and is rarely consulted, except to see the canonical group photo, which by the way, we also have. Nevertheless, I wanted something more than that. Although the field is rapidly changing, with so-called facts in a state ofconstant volubility, now is a good time for reflection prior to the commencement ofthe Sloan Survey, presumably the definitive large-scale program of low- to moderate-redshift galaxies in our lifetime. 444 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The present decade is opening new frontiers in high-energy astrophysics. After the X-ray satellites in the 1980's, including Einstein, Tenma, EXOSAT and Ginga, several satellites are, or will soon be, simultaneously in orbit offering spectacular advances in X-ray imaging at low energies (ROSATj Yohkoh) as well as at high energies (GRANAT), in spectroscopy with increased bandwidth (ASCAj SAX), and in timing (XTE). While these satellites allow us to study atomic radiation from hot plasmas or energetic electrons, other satellites study nuclear radiation at gamma-ray energies (CGRO) associated with radioactivity or spallation reactions. These experiments show that the whole universe is emitting radiation at high energies, hence we call it the 'hot universe. ' The hot universe, preferentially emitting X- and gamma-rays, provides us with many surprises and much information. A symposium 'The Hot Universe' was held in conjunction with the XXIIIrd General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, at Kyoto on August 26-30 in 1997. The proceedings are organized as follows. Synthetic view of 'the hot universe' is discussed in Section 1, 'Plasma and Fresh Nucleosynthesis Phenomena'. Timely discussions on the strategy for future missions 'Future Space Program' are found in Section 2. Then the contents are divided into two major subjects: the compact objects and thin hot diffuse plasmas. Section 3 is devoted to the category of compact objects which includes white dwarfs, neutron stars, and gravitationally collapsed objects: stellar mass black holes or active galactic nuclei. 496 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Climate change represents one of the most alarming long-term threats to ecosystems the world over. This new collection of papers provides, for the first time, an overview of the potentially serious impact that climate change may have on tropical forests. The authors, a multi-disciplinary group of leading experts in climatology, forestry, ecology and conservation biology, present a state-of-knowledge snapshot of how tropical forests are likely to react to the changes being wrought on our planet's atmosphere and climate. Tropical forests represent extraordinary harbours for biological diversity, and yet as deforestation and degradation continue apace, they are under greater pressure from human impacts than ever before. Climate change adds yet another threat to these valuable ecosystems, and this volume demonstrates just how significant a problem this may really be. The authors identify certain types of forest, including tropical montane cloud forest that may be particularly vulnerable. They also show the strong likelihood of global warming aggravating problems in already fragmented forest areas. 470 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -After a decade or longer, approximately one-third of individuals with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes commence a downhill course in which decreasing renal function and failing vision define a Renal-Retinal Syndrome, dominating all aspects of life and presaging early death. Only a generation ago, survival after onset of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in diabetes was limited because rehabilitation was preempted by blindness, limb amputation, stroke, and heart disease. By 1998, however, team management has improved the outlook, with preserved sight and return to work and home responsibilities, usually for a decade or longer, following kidney transplantation and laser photocoagulation. Recognition of the critical requirement for blood pressure regulation and metabolic control are central themes in management. In this unique book, the accomplishments of ophthalmologists, nephrologists, diabetologists, transplant surgeons, and basic scientists are blended into a strategic approach that may be readily applied by all those caring for diabetic patients. Each of twenty-one presentations suitable for primary care physicians, as well as for subspecialists concerned with macrovascular and microvascular complications of diabetes, is placed in perspective by an introductory editorial analysis. Promising near-term innovative therapies, including insertion of genetically engineered beta cells or polymer-coated islets of Langerhans, interdiction of kinins that promote retinal angiogenesis, and prevention of synthesis of advanced glycosylated endproducts (AGEs), are presented in detail. While comprehensive care of diabetic patients reflects multiple incremental advances that in sum afford major benefit, this text envisions further remarkable changes likely to suppress and possibly entirely prevent the Diabetic Renal-Retinal Syndrome. 304 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Hiroya Kawanabe (HK) was born in Kyoto on 10 May 1932. His father, Osamu Kawanabe, was a teacher of Japanese literature and also a Buddhist priest, who died in 1934 at an early age. His mother, Tsuya Fujii-Kawanabe, was a teacher of the tea cer emony and of flower arrangement, and had given birth to him at age 38. He attended elementary school from 1938 to 1945, junior high school from 1945 to 1948, and Kyoto City's Ohki High School, from 1948 to 1951. In March 1945, military requisi tion of the Kawanabe property, which was situated in downtown Kyoto, and the subsequent demolition of the family home necessitated the tearful and hasty removal of only a fraction of the family's be longings in a cart (HK 490; numbers refer to the subsequent 'Lifetime list of publications by Hiroya Kawanabe'). He and his mother were able to save only a portion of his father's books; his passion for reading may be due to the influence of his father. Interestingly enough, during his junior high school and high school years, Kawanabe tried to improve the method used to catalogue the books in his school libraries, though he subsequently learned Figure 1. Hiroya Kawanabe during his convocation address on that the NDC (Nihon Decimal Classification) was the occassion of receiving Doctor of Science honoris causa at the the most convenient cataloguing method in com University of Guelph, 5 October 1995. Photograph by M. mon use. Schwalbe. 408 pp. Englisch.