springer nature singapore okt 2008 (4 résultats)

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Mathematical modelling is an essential tool in present-day ecological research. Yet for many ecologists it is still problematic to apply modelling in their research. In our experience, the major problem is at the conceptual level: proper understanding of what a model is, how ecological relations can be translated consistently into mathematical equations, how models are solved, steady states calculated and interpreted. Many textbooks jump over these conceptual hurdles to dive into detailed formulations or the mathematics of solution. This book attempts to fill that gap. It introduces essential concepts for mathematical modelling, explains the mathematics behind the methods, and helps readers to implement models and obtain hands-on experience. Throughout the book, emphasis is laid on how to translate ecological questions into interpretable models in a practical way.The book aims to be an introductory textbook at the undergraduate-graduate level, but will also be useful to seduce experienced ecologists into the world of modelling. The range of ecological models treated is wide, from Lotka-Volterra type of principle-seeking models to environmental or ecosystem models, and including matrix models, lattice models and sequential decision models. All chapters contain a concise introduction into the theory, worked-out examples and exercises. All examples are implemented in the open-source package R, thus taking away problems of software availability for use of the book. All code used in the book is available on a dedicated website. 372 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Combining practical experience with academic analysis this book explores the social and organizational dynamics of performance indicators. It moves beyond the technicalities of measurement and indicators and looks at how performance information is changing the public sector. 277 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book provides a de nition and study of a knowledge representation and r- soning formalism stemming from conceptual graphs, while focusing on the com- tational properties of this formalism. Knowledge can be symbolically represented in many ways. The knowledge representation and reasoning formalism presented here is a graph formalism - knowledge is represented by labeled graphs, in the graph theory sense, and r- soning mechanisms are based on graph operations, with graph homomorphism at the core. This formalism can thus be considered as related to semantic networks. Since their conception, semantic networks have faded out several times, but have always returned to the limelight. They faded mainly due to a lack of formal semantics and the limited reasoning tools proposed. They have, however, always rebounded - cause labeled graphs, schemas and drawings provide an intuitive and easily und- standable support to represent knowledge. This formalism has the visual qualities of any graphic model, and it is logically founded. This is a key feature because logics has been the foundation for knowledge representation and reasoning for millennia. The authors also focus substantially on computational facets of the presented formalism as they are interested in knowledge representation and reasoning formalisms upon which knowledge-based systems can be built to solve real problems. Since object structures are graphs, naturally graph homomorphism is the key underlying notion and, from a computational viewpoint, this moors calculus to combinatorics and to computer science domains in which the algorithmicqualitiesofgraphshavelongbeenstudied,asindatabasesandco nstraint networks. 428 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The transition from hunting and gathering to farming - the Neolithic Revolution - was one of the most signi cant cultural processes in human history that forever changed the face of humanity. Natu an communities (15,100-12,000Cal BP) (all dates in this chapter are calibrated before present) planted the seeds of change, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca. 12,000-ca. 8,350Cal BP) people, were the rst to establish farming communities. The revolution was not fully realized until quite late in the PPN and later in the Pottery Neolithic (PN) period. We would like to ask some questions and comment on a few aspects emphas- ing the linkage between biological and cultural developments during the Neolithic Revolution. The biological issues addressed in this chapter are as follows: × Is there a demographic change from the Natu an to the Neolithic × Is there a change in the overall health of the Neolithic populations compared to the Natu an × Is there a change in the diet and how is it expressed × Is there a change in the physical burden/stress people had to bear with × Is there a change in intra- and inter-community rates of violent encounters From the cultural perspective the leading questions will be: × What was the change in the economy and when was it fully realized × Is there a change in settlement patterns and site nature and organization from Natu an to Neolithic × Is there a change in human activities and division of labor 542 pp. Englisch.