springer berlin heidelberg springer mai 2005 (137 résultats)

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Context-awareness is one of the drivers of the ubiquitous computing paradigm. Well-designed context modeling and context retrieval approaches are key p- requisites in any context-aware system. Location is one of the primary aspects of all major context models ¿ together with time, identity and activity. From the technical side, sensing, fusing and distributing location and other context information is as important as providing context-awareness to applications and services in pervasive systems. Thematerialsummarizedinthisvolumewasselectedforthe1stInternational Workshop on Location- and Context-Awareness (LoCA 2005) held in coope- tion with the 3rd International Conference on Pervasive Computing 2005. The workshop was organized by the Institute of Communications and Navigation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfa enhofen, and the Mobile and Distributed Systems Group of the University of Munich. During the workshop, novel positioning algorithms and location sensing te- niques were discussed, comprising not only enhancements of singular systems, like positioning in GSM or WLAN, but also hybrid technologies, such as the integration of global satellite systems with inertial positioning. Furthermore, - provements in sensor technology, as well as the integration and fusion of sensors, were addressed both on a theoretical and on an implementation level. Personal and con dential data, such as location data of users, have p- found implications for personal information privacy. Thus privacy protection, privacy-oriented location-aware systems, and how privacy a ects the feasibility and usefulness of systems were also addressed in the workshop.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 396 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -We wish to extend a warm welcome to the reader of this extended postp- ceedings publication of SAG 2004, the 1st International Workshop on Scienti c Applications on Grid Computing. This workshop was held in September 2004, in conjunction with the 2004 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Joint Conference on Web Intelligence (WI 2004) and Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT 2004). The WI and IAT conferences have provided, for several years, a leading - ternational forum to bring together researchers and practitioners from diverse elds,suchascomputerscience,informationtechnology,business,education, - man factors, systems engineering, and robotics, to explore the fundamental roles as well as practical impacts of arti cial intelligence (AI) (e.g., knowledge r- resentation, planning, knowledge discovery, and data mining, intelligent agents and social network intelligence) and advanced information technology (IT) (e.g., wireless networks, ubiquitous devices, social networks, the Wisdom Web, and data/knowledge grids), and to examine the design principles and performance characteristics of various approaches in intelligent agent technology.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -2 TheaimoftheannualW GIS workshop is to provide an up-to-date review of advances on recent development of Web and wireless geographical information systems, and new challenges and opportunities for researchers, developers and 2 users in the GIS community. The main topic of the W GIS workshop is theor- ical and technical issues of Web and wireless geographical information systems. This workshop followed the successful 2001, 2002 and 2003 editions, held in - oto, Singapore and Rome, respectively. The 2004 edition was held in Goyang, Korea. 2 In its 4th year, W GIS reached new heights of recognition as a quality wo- shopforthedisseminationanddiscussionofnewwaysofaccessingandanalyzing geospatial information. This year, 39 papers were submitted from 15 countries, and 20 papers were accepted from 11 countries. Similarly, the Program C- mittee consisted of 39 members from 16 countries. We had the privilege of having three distinguished invited talks: ¿Eliciting User Preferences in Web Urban Spaces,¿ Yanwu Yang and Christophe Cla- munt, Naval Academy Research Institute, France; ¿Discovering Regional Inf- mation from Web: Localness and Landmark Computation,¿ Katsumi Tanaka, Department of Social Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto U- versity, Japan; and ¿Towards Knowing, Always and Everywhere, Where - erything Is, Precisely,¿ Christian S. Jensen, Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University, Denmark.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 272 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This volume contains the papers presented at the International Workshop ¿Autonomous Intelligent Systems: Agents and Data Mining¿ (AIS-ADM 2005) held in St. Petersburg, Russia, during June 6¿8, 2005. The workshop was - ganized by the St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPIIRAS) in cooperation with Binghamton U- versity (SUNY, USA) and the Web Intelligence Consortium. Autonomous Intelligent Systems (AIS) constitute an emerging class of int- ligent information systems integrating recent advances in various technologies of Arti cial Intelligence. Modern AIS incorporate multi-agent and data mining systemsprovidinganewdimensionforfurtherprogressinintelligentinformation technology. AIS-ADM 2005 provided an international forum to multi-agent and data mining researchers. A total of 29 papers from 15 countries relating to various aspects of both theory and applications of multi-agent systems, data mining and their joint area were submitted to AIS-ADM 2005. Out of them 17 were selected as regular presentations. Three technical sessions were organized, namely: In- gration of Multi-agent and Data Mining Techniques; Ontology Issues and Web Mining; and Applications and Case Studies of the Integrated Technology. The panel discussion was devoted to the mutual enrichment and challenging pr- lems emerging in the joint area of research. The AIS-ADM 2005 program was enriched by six distinguished invited speakers: Nick Jennings, Chengqi Zhang, Mircea Negoita, Pericles Mitkas, Hai Zhuge and Leonid Perlovsky.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This volume contains selected and thoroughly revised papers plus contributions from invited speakers presented at the First International Workshop on C- straint Solving and Language Processing, held in Roskilde, Denmark, September 1¿3, 2004. Constraint Programming and Constraint Solving, in particular Constraint Logic Programming, appear to be a very promising platform, perhaps the most promising present platform, for bringing forward the state of the art in natural language processing, this due to the naturalness in speci cation and the direct relation to e cient implementation. Language, in the present context, may - fer to written and spoken language, formal and semiformal language, and even general input data to multimodal and pervasive systems, which can be handled in very much the same ways using constraint programming. The notion of constraints, with slightly di ering meanings, apply in the ch- acterization of linguistic and cognitive phenomena, in formalized linguistic m- els as well as in implementation-oriented frameworks. Programming techniques for constraint solving have been, and still are, in a period with rapid devel- ment of new e cient methods and paradigms from which language processing can pro t. A common metaphor for human language processing is one big c- straintsolvingprocessinwhichthedi erent(-lyspeci ed)linguisticandcognitive phases take place in parallel and with mutual cooperation, which ts quite well with current constraint programming paradigms. 220 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The organization of traditional mutual funds as Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) produced revolutionary changes in the fund industry. These changes, and the subsequent events to which they led, have greatly - creased the practical way of trading funds. Traditional mutual fund m- kets were fragmented, and transactions were both costly and from time to time difficult to arrange. Investments in emerging markets for example were anything but efficient. As a consequence of establishing ETF funds market segments, the efficiency of transactions has been broadly increased as well as transaction costs dramatically reduced. All this changed in the early Nineties with the introduction of the first ETF for the purpose of trading funds. Exchange Traded Funds ¿ Structure, Regulation and Application of a New Fund Class is a comprehensive summary of articles covering all aspects of the Exchange Traded Fund industry. Similar to several publications of the last few years this book includes articles form academia as well as the banking, investment, and insurance industry, this combining theoretical evolution and practical implementation of Exchange Trades Funds. The present book is divided into four parts: The opening part, containing ETFs ¿ A Leading Financial Innovation and From Continent to Sectors: Challenges and Uses of ETFs in Europe, is - signed to give the reader broad insight into the industry, developments and trends. Further, the article Spiders: Where Are the Bugs examine the characteristics and performance of these instruments from an academic point of view.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Information systems can be complex due to numerous factors including scale, decentralization, heterogeneity, mobility, dynamism, bugs and failures. Depl- ing, operating and maintaining such systems can be not only very di cult, but also very costly. A urry of recent activity has been directed at this pr- lem, and future information systems are envisioned as self-con guring, se- organizing,self-managingandself-repairing.Collectively,wecalltheseproperties self- properties. This book is a ¿spin-o ¿ of a by-invitation-only Bertinoro workshop on se- propertiesincomplexsystemswhichwasheldinsummer2004inBertinoro,Italy. The Self-star workshop brought together researchers and practitioners from d- ferent disciplines and with di erent backgrounds to discuss complex information systems.Thethemeoftheworkshopwastoidentifytheconceptualandpractical foundationsformodeling,analyzingandachievingself- propertiesindistributed and networked systems. Partly based on these discussions, we solicited papers from the workshop participants and a set of invitees for this book. We sought original contributions in which authors explicitly take a position concerningrequirements,usefulness,potentialandlimitations oftechnologies for self- properties of complex systems. This position needed to be founded on - search results that were put clearly in context with respect to the position sta- ment. We strongly encouraged visionary statements, thought-provoking ideas, and exploratory results that will help the reader form her or his own opinions on the importance of self- properties in current and future complex information systems.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 464 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This volume, like the symposium CSP25 which gave rise to it, commemorates the semi-jubilee of Communicating Sequential Processes. 1 Tony Hoare¿s paper ¿Communicating Sequential Processes¿ is today widely regarded as one of the most in uential papers in computer science. To comm- orate it, an event was organized under the auspices of BCS-FACS (the British Computer Society¿s Formal Aspects of Computing Science specialist group). CSP25 was one of a series of such events organized to highlight the use of formal methods, emphasize their relevance to modern computing and promote their wider application. BCS-FACS is proud that Tony Hoare presented his original ideas on CSP at one of its rst meetings, in 1978. The two-day event, 7¿8 July 2004, was hosted by London South Bank U- versity¿s Institute for Computing Research, Faculty of Business, Computing and Information Management. The intention was to celebrate, re ect upon and look beyondthe rstquarter-centuryofCSP¿scontributionstocomputerscience. The meeting examined the impact of CSP on many areas stretching from semantics (mathematical models for understanding concurrency and communications) and logic(forreasoningaboutbehavior),throughthedesignofparallelprogramming languages (i/o, parallelism, synchronization and threads) to applications va- ing from distributed software and parallel computing to information security, Web services and concurrent hardware circuits. It included a panel discussion with panelists Brookes, Hoare, de Roever and Roscoe (chaired by Je Sanders), poster presentations by PhD students and others, featured a re alarm (requ- ing evacuation in the rain!) and concluded with the presentation of a fountain pen to Prof. Sir C. A. R. Hoare. 344 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -E-commerce services are su ering abuse by programs (bots, spiders, etc.) m- querading as legitimate human users. E orts to defend against such attacks have, over the past several years, stimulated investigations into a new family of security protocols ¿ ¿Human Interactive Proofs¿ (HIPs) ¿ which allow a person to authenticate herself as a member of a given group: e.g., as a human (vs. a machine), as herself (vs. anyoneelse), as an adult (vs. a child). Most commercial usesofHIPstodayareCAPTCHAs,¿CompletelyAutomaticPublicTuringt ests to tell Computers and Humans Apart,¿ which exploit the gap in ability between humans and machine vision systems in reading images of text. HIP challenges can also be non-graphical, e.g., requiring recognition of speech, solving puzzles, etc. Wearepleasedtopresentthe rstrefereedandarchivallypublishedcollection of state-of-the-art papers on HIPs and CAPTCHAs. Each paper was reviewed by three members of the Program Committee, judged by the Co-chairs to be of su cient relevance and quality, and revised by the authors in response to the referees¿ suggestions. The papers investigate performance analysis of novel CAPTCHAs, HIP - chitectures, and the role of HIPs within security systems. Kumar Chellapilla, Kevin Larson, Patrice Simard, and Mary Czerwinski describe user trials of a CAPTCHA designed to resist segmentation attacks, including a systematic evaluation of its tolerance by human users. Henry Baird, Michael Moll, and Sui- Yu Wang analyze data from a human legibility trial of another segmentati- resistantCAPTCHAandlocateahighlylegibleengineeringregime.AmaliaRu su and Venu Govindaraju describe research towards CAPTCHAs based on reading synthetically damaged images of real images of unconstrained handwritten text.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -It is fairly easy for a Finnish Jurist to understand German Company law. On the other hand, UK Company law seems very confusing. What is even more confusing is that the UK corporate govemance model is often regarded as one of the best in the World. Clearly German law cannot be as bad as it is often said to be. This books results from these kinds of thoughts and an interest in comparative law, Company law and securities markets law. I wanted to find out whether the functional method would give anything new to say about the regulation of corpo rate govemance in Germany and the UK. As I have been lecturing on Company law and corporate govemance myself, I also wanted to write a book that I could use as a textbook in my courses. For this reason, I focused on one of the key questions in corporate govemance: the regula tion of shareholder activism.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 460 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The objective of this book is to provide an up-to-date comprehensive descr- tion of the KamimuräSuwa model, which is the rst of the present rep- sentative two-component theories in high temperature superconductivity. In 1986 George Bednorz and Karl Alex Muller ¿ made the remarkable discovery ofsuperconductivitywithanunbelievinglyhighvalueofT = 35K,bysubs- c 2+ 3+ tuting Ba ions for La ions in the antiferromagnetic insulator La CuO . 2 4 Soon after this discoveryT rose to 90K by synthesizing YBa Cu O with c 2 3 7 ade citinoxygen. Furtherexplorationfornewcopperoxidesuperconducting materials with higherT led to the discovery of Bi¿Sr¿CäCu¿O, Tl¿BäCä c Cu¿O and Hg¿BäCäCu¿O compounds in subsequent years. The new class of copper oxide compounds mentioned above is called ¿cuprates¿. At present T = 135K under ambient pressure andT = 164K under 31 GPa observed c c in HgBa Ca Cu O are the highest value so far obtained. The Kamimurä 2 2 3 8 Suwa model, which was originally developed in 1993, is a theory of these real copper oxide superconducting materials. Since undoped La CuO is a 2 4 Mott¿Hubbard antiferromagnetic insulator, its electronic structure can not beexplained bytheordinaryone-electron energybandtheory. Inthiscontext the important role of electron-correlation was pointed out. 2+ On theother hand, ad-hole state in each Cu ion in theligand eld with octahedral symmetry is orbitally doubly-degenerate so that it is subject to strong Jahn¿Teller interaction in La CuO. Asaresult,aCuO octahedron 2 4 6 in La CuO is elongated along thec-axis due to the Jahn¿Teller distortion.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 228 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Intelligence and security informatics (ISI) can be broadly defined as the study of the development and use of advanced information technologies and systems for national and international security-related applications, through an integrated technological, organizational, and policy-based approach. In the past few years, ISI research has experienced tremendous growth and attracted substantial interest from academic researchers in related fields as well as practitioners from both government agencies and industry. The first two meetings (ISI 2003 and ISI 2004) in the ISI symposium and conference series were held in Tucson, Arizona, in 2003 and 2004, respectively. They provided a stimulating intellectual forum for discussion among previously disparate communities: academic researchers in information technologies, computer science, public policy, and social studies; local, state, and federal law enforcement and intelligence experts; and information technology industry consultants and practitioners. Building on the momentum of these ISI meetings and with sponsorship by the IEEE, we held the IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI 2005) in May 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to the established and emerging ISI research topics covered at past ISI meetings, ISI 2005 included a new track on Terrorism Informatics, which is a new stream of terrorism research leveraging the latest advances in social science methodologies, and information technologies and tools. ISI 2005 was jointly hosted by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; the University of Arizona (UA); and the Georgia Institute of Technology (GATECH).Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 696 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware 596 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -IbPRIA 2005 (Iberian Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis) was the second of a series of conferences jointly organized every two years by the Portuguese and Spanish Associations for Pattern Recognition (APRP, AERFAI), with the support of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). This year, IbPRIA was hosted by the Institute for Systems and Robotics and the Geo-systems Center of the Instituto Superior Tecn ¿ ico and it was held in Estoril, Por- gal. It provided the opportunity to bring together researchers from all over the world to discuss some of the most recent advances in pattern recognition and all areas of video, image and signal processing. There was a very positive response to the Call for Papers for IbPRIA 2005. We - ceived 292 full papers from 38 countries and 170 were accepted for presentation at the conference. The high quality of the scienti c program of IbPRIA 2005 was due rst to the authors who submitted excellent contributions and second to the dedicated colla- ration of the international Program Committee and the other researchers who reviewed the papers. Each paper was reviewed by two reviewers, in a blind process. We would like to thank all the authors for submitting their contributions and for sharing their - search activities. We are particularly indebted to the Program Committee members and to all the reviewers for their precious evaluations, which permitted us to set up this publication. 736 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The therapeutic options for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative and traumatic diseases such as spinal cord injury, Alzheimer¿s, Parkinson¿s disease, etc. , have undergone enormous progress over recent years. Despite these encouraging developments, available therapies are only partially effective, and the ultimate goal is still far from being attained. Improved understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and demyelination has led to a variety of new therapeutic targets and approaches. In addition to modulation of the in ammatory process (MS) and cl- sical neuroprotection (stroke, AD), therapeutic approaches focussing on active remyelinization and neuronal regeneration have become incre- ingly important. Based on current concepts, this book summarizes new therapeutic approaches. Although it was once thought that the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals was incapable of substantial recovery from injury, it is now clear that the adult CNS remains responsive to various substances that can promote cell survival and stimulate axonal growth. Among these substances are growth factors, including the neurotrophins and cytokines. Stem cell therapies for the induction of remyelinization and neuroregeneration are reviewed. The potential role of a protective - munity in the induction of remyelination and neuroregeneration is also discussed. Different gene therapy approaches for the treatment of MS VI Preface and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer¿s disease and spinal cord injury, etc. , are also summarized.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 208 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Includes a rich variety of exercises to accompany the exposition of Coxeter groupsCoxeter groups have already been exposited from algebraic and geometric perspectives, but this book will be presenting the combinatorial aspects of Coxeter groupsSpringer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Maluf, Davide Martinenghi, Stan Matwin, Natasha Noy, Werner Nutt, James Peters, Jean-Marc Petit, Vijay Raghavan, Jan Rauch, Gilbert Ritschard, Erik Rosenthal, Marie-Christine Rousset, Nahid Shahmehri, Andrzej Skowron, Dominik Slezak, Nicolas Spyratos, V. S.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 720 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -IbPRIA 2005 (Iberian Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis) was the second of a series of conferences jointly organized every two years by the Portuguese and Spanish Associations for Pattern Recognition (APRP, AERFAI), with the support of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). This year, IbPRIA was hosted by the Institute for Systems and Robotics and the Geo-systems Center of the Instituto Superior Tecn ¿ ico and it was held in Estoril, Por- gal. It provided the opportunity to bring together researchers from all over the world to discuss some of the most recent advances in pattern recognition and all areas of video, image and signal processing. There was a very positive response to the Call for Papers for IbPRIA 2005. We - ceived 292 full papers from 38 countries and 170 were accepted for presentation at the conference. The high quality of the scienti c program of IbPRIA 2005 was due rst to the authors who submitted excellent contributions and second to the dedicated colla- ration of the international Program Committee and the other researchers who reviewed the papers. Each paper was reviewed by two reviewers, in a blind process. We would like to thank all the authors for submitting their contributions and for sharing their - search activities. We are particularly indebted to the Program Committee members and to all the reviewers for their precious evaluations, which permitted us to set up this publication.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 764 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In the past ve decades considerable attention has been devoted to comp- ite materials. A number of expressions have been suggested by which mac- scopic properties can be predicted when the properties, geometry, and volume concentrations of the constituent components are known. Many expressions are purely empirical or semi-theoretical. Others, however, are theoretically well founded such as the exact results from the following classical boundary studies: Bounds for the elastic moduli of composites made of perfectly coherent homogeneous, isotropic linear elastic phases have been developed by Paul [1] and Hansen [2] for unrestricted phase geometry and by Hashin and Shtrikman [3] for phase geometries, which cause macroscopic homogeneity and isotropy. The composites dealt with in this book are of the latter type. For two speci c situations (later referred to), Hashin [4] and Hill [5] derived exact - lutionsforthebulkmodulusofsuchmaterials.Hashinconsideredtheso-called Composite Spheres Assemblage (CSA) consisting of tightly packed congruent composite elements made of spherical particles embedded in concentric - trix shells. Hill considered materials in which both phases have identical shear moduli. In the eld of predicting the elastic moduli of homogeneous isotropic c- posite materials in general the exact Hashin and Hill solutions are of th- retical interest mainly. Only a few real composites have the geometry de ned by Hashin or the sti ness distribution assumed by Hill. The enormous sign- icance, however, of the Hashin/Hill solutions is that they represent bounds which must not be violated by sti ness predicted by any new theory claiming to consider geometries in general.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 276 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The1stand2ndInternationalConferencesonFunctionalImagingandModelling of the Heart (FIMH) were held in Helsinki, Finland, in November 2001, and in Lyon, France, in June 2003. These meetings were born through a fruitful sci- ti c collaboration between France and Finland that outreached to other groups and led to the start of this biennial event. The FIMH conference was the rst attempt to agglutinate researchers from several complementary but often i- lated elds: cardiac imaging, signal and image processing, applied mathematics and physics, biomedical engineering and computer science, cardiology, radi- ogy, biology, and physiology. In the rst two editions, the conference received an enthusiastic acceptance by experts of all these communities. FIMH was ori- nally started as a European event and has increasingly attracted more and more people from the US and Asia. This edition of FIMH received the largest number of submissions so far with a result of 47 papers being accepted as either oral presentations or posters. There were a number of submissions from non-EU institutions which con rms the growing interest in this series of meetings. All papers were reviewed by up to four reviewers. The accepted contributions were organized into 8 oral sessions and 3 poster sessions complemented by a number of invited talks. This year we tried to allocate as many papers as possible as oral presentations to facilitate more active participation and to stimulate multidisciplinary discussions. 508 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Members of the phylum Echinodermata are among the most familiar marine invertebrates. Forms such as the sea star have become virtually a symbol of sea life. Used in ancient oriental medicine as a source of bioactive compounds, sea cucumbers, sea stars and sea urchins are now used for the extraction and purification of cytotoxic, haemolytic, antiviral, antifungal, antifouling, antimicrobial and even anti-tumoural activities. In addition, of the five extant classes, sea urchins and sea cucumbers are important economic resources for current fishery and aquaculture. Molecular and cell biological techniques described in this book are, on the one hand, indicative of the improvements made over the years and, on the other, stress the need of their further exploitation for the sustainable production of bioactive compounds and their application in biomedicine.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 304 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 376 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Writing or editing a book on a very topical field of science is always a great challenge,since by the time the book is published some of the newest and latest findings might be obsolete compared with results reported in the most current issues of various high-level journals. Nevertheless,stimulating good books describe complicated systems and int- relationships and provide a broad spectrum of material for talented researchers who may find new inspiration from a joint presentation of correlated data. Of course,an editor cannot rank his own book. However,in this case,the contrib- ing authors have high scientific standards and well-known achievements which speak for themselves. Transmembrane signaling has many different forms and biochemical and biophysical details. However,the final outcome of transmembrane signaling at the cellular level elucidates some cellular functions, which are at the center of se- defense, alimentation, escape reactions, etc. Transmembrane signaling can be studied best in the immune system,in particular in lymphocytes,the main cel- lar carriers of immune defense. The different chapters are independent studies, written by well-known experts in their particular fields. Some chapters include the authors¿ very recent data, generalized, on the one hand, to provide und- standable material for those who are interested in the field but not experts. On the other hand,the current data and novel efforts to unify biochemical and bioph- ical events in a physiological description provide interesting reading for experts as well.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book is devoted to reporting innovative and significant progress in fuzzy system engineering. Given the maturation of fuzzy logic, this book is dedicated to exploring the recent breakthroughs in fuzziness and soft computing in favour of intelligent system engineering. This monograph presents novel developments of the fuzzy theory as well as interesting applications of the fuzzy logic exploiting the theory to engineer intelligent systems. 242 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In today¿s increasingly complex and uncertain business environment, financial analysis is yet more critical to business managers who tackle problems of an economic or business nature. Knowledge based on formal logic and even experience becomes less sufficient. This volume systematically sets out the basic elements on which to base financial analysis for business in the new century. It incorporates a previous work that can serve as the basis and foundation for the new contributions that are now being made in the field of financial economy and intend to provide business with instruments and models suitable for dealing with the new economic context. In dealing with rapid and unpredictable changes in technological and business conditions, it postulates a growing reliance on the opinions of experts instead of past data or probabilistic forecasts, which is a radical change but may yield fruitful results. For this reason, much emphasis is devoted to the problem of aggregation of the opinion of experts in the financial field, with the object of limiting, wherever possible, the subjective component of the opinions and making sure that the decisions have the best guarantee of reaching the desired objectives.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 468 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Although software engineering can trace its beginnings to a NATO conf- ence in 1968, it cannot be said to have become an empirical science until the 1970s with the advent of the work of Prof. Victor Robert Basili of the University of Maryland. In addition to the need to engineer software was the need to understand software. Much like other sciences, such as physics, chemistry, and biology, software engineering needed a discipline of obs- vation, theory formation, experimentation, and feedback. By applying the scientific method to the software engineering domain, Basili developed concepts like the Goal-Question-Metric method, the Quality-Improvement- Paradigm, and the Experience Factory to help bring a sense of order to the ad hoc developments so prevalent in the software engineering field. On the occasion of Basili¿s 65th birthday, we present this book c- taining reprints of 20 papers that defined much of his work. We divided the 20 papers into 6 sections, each describing a different facet of his work, and asked several individuals to write an introduction to each section. Instead of describing the scope of this book in this preface, we decided to let one of his papers, the keynote paper he gave at the International C- ference on Software Engineering in 1996 in Berlin, Germany to lead off this book. He, better than we, can best describe his views on what is - perimental software engineering.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 448 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -This book presents the proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Soft Computing as Transdisciplinary Science and Technology (WSTST '05), May 25-27, 2005, Muroran, Japan. It brings together the original work of international soft computing/computational intelligence researchers, developers, practitioners, and users. This proceedings provide contributions to all areas of soft computing including intelligent hybrid systems, agent-based systems, intelligent data mining, decision support systems, cognitive and reactive distributed artificial intelligence (AI), internet modelling, human interface, and applications in science and technology.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Decision makers in many areas, from industry to engineering and the social sector, face an increasing need to consider multiple, conflicting objectives in their decision processes. In many cases these real world decision problems can be formulated as multicriteria mathematical optimization models. The solution of such models requires appropriate techniques to compute so called efficient, or Pareto optimal, or compromise solutions that - unlike traditional mathematical programming methods - take the contradictory nature of the criteria into account. This book provides the necessary mathematical foundation of multicriteria optimization to solve nonlinear, linear and combinatorial problems with multiple criteria. Motivational examples illustrate the use of multicriteria optimization in practice. Numerous illustrations and exercises as well as an extensive bibliography are provided.In the new edition a chapter on optimality conditions has been added. The linear programming part has been extended and includes new developments. Moreover, motivational examples are now introducing the majority of chapters.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 340 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In this book, tumour growth is perceived as a deviation from the normal development of the human organism. The molecular, cellular, and tissue determinants of different tumours are discussed showing that each is a different disease, often corresponding to a particular developmental stage. The natural history of several cancers illustrates how clinical incidence can be just the visible part of the iceberg, while the first changes at the tissue level sometimes occur several years before tumour growth becomes manifest. Several mechanisms are proposed to explain the distribution of cancers during the human life span and the decline of the incidence of cancers during human senescence.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In recent decades, the use of neuroimaging techniques has resulted in outstanding progress in the diagnosis and management of neurological diseases, and this is particularly true of those diseases that affect the white matter of the brain and spinal cord. This book, written by internationally acclaimed experts, comprises a series of comprehensive and up-to-date reviews on the use of MR imaging in these major neurological conditions. The diverse available MR techniques, such as magnetization transfer MRI, diffusion-weighted MRI, MR spectroscopy, functional MRI, cell-specific MRI, perfusion MRI, and microscopic imaging with ultra-high field MRI, offer an extraordinarily powerful means of gaining fundamental in vivo insights into disease processes. The strengths and weaknesses of all these techniques in the study of multiple sclerosis and other relevant diseases are extensively considered. After an introductory section on neuroimaging technology, subsequent sections address disorders of myelination, demyelinating diseases, immune-mediated disorders, and white matter disorders related to aging and other conditions. This book provides a valuable summary of the state of the art in the field, and defines important areas for future research.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 496 pp. Englisch.