springer netherlands springer netherlands apr 1997 (86 résultats)

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -E. KONTIZAS Astronomical Institute National Observatory of Athens P. O. Box 20048 Athens GR-1181O GREECE The international conference on 'Wide-Field Spectroscopy' and its sub ject matter were agreed during the general assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in August 1994 by the Working Group of Com mision 9 'Wi de-Field Imaging'. This meeting gave an opportunity to world experts on this subject to gather in Athens, in order to discuss the cur rent exploitation and the impending opportunities that exist in the area of multi-object spectroscopy, with particular emphasis on: 1. Astronomical instruments, data acquisition, processing and analysis techniques. 2. Astrophysical problems best tackled through wide-field, multi-object spectroscopy. The new fibre optic technology offers an important tool for the advancement of basic research and the development of industrial applications. Astronom ical spectroscopy is a field of astronomy which has contributed much to the advancement of fundamental physics. The spectra of hot stars have been used to determine the well-known Balmer formula for the wavelength of hydrogen lines, in the late 19th century. Since then, spectroscopy has made enormous progress in stellar atmosphere studies, in kinematics, and in the detection of high redshifts in the Universe. The traditional techniques of obtaining wide-field spectroscopic data are based on slitless spectroscopy (objective prism). Several observations, world wide, make use ofthese tech niques in order to obtain information on the spectral properties of objects in large areas of the sky. 436 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In essence, this text is written as a challenge to others, to discover significant uses for Cayley number algebra in physics. I freely admit that though the reading of some sections would benefit from previous experience of certain topics in physics - particularly relativity and electromagnetism - generally the mathematics is not sophisticated. In fact, the mathematically sophisticated reader, may well find that in many places, the rather deliberate progress too slow for their liking. This text had its origin in a 90-minute lecture on complex numbers given by the author to prospective university students in 1994. In my attempt to develop a novel approach to the subject matter I looked at complex numbers from an entirely geometric perspective and, no doubt in line with innumerable other mathematicians, re-traced steps first taken by Hamilton and others in the early years of the nineteenth century. I even enquired into the possibility of using an alternative multiplication rule for complex numbers (in which argzlz2 = argzl- argz2) other than the one which is normally accepted (argzlz2 = argzl + argz2). Of course, my alternative was rejected because it didn't lead to a 'product' which had properties that we now accept as fundamental (i. e. 256 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -IAU Transactions are published as a volume corresponding to each General Assembly. Volume A is produced prior to the Assembly and contains Reports on Astronomy, prepared by each Commission President. The intention is to summarize the astronomical results that have affected the work of the Commission since the production of the previous Reports up to a time which is about one year prior to the General Assembly. Volume B is produced after the Assembly and contains accounts of Commission Meetings which were held, together with other material. The reports included in the present volume range from outline summaries to lengthy compilations and references. Most reports are in English.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 616 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Californium-252 is a neutron emitter with a high specific activity, making it useful in a variety of applications, the most spectacular of which is in brachytherapy for cancer patients. Radiation oncology has exhausted nearly every option for treating radioresistant tumors by photon brachytherapy, and therefore new types of radiation need to be studied to improve the curability of cancer.Audience: Californium brachytherapy is used in only a few radiation therapy centers in the world, so the book will be highly instructive for radiation oncologists, medical physicists and radiobiologists. The nuclear techniques used in clinical applications may also interest nuclear physicists and engineers. 328 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The Relativists and Cosmologists in India organized an international conference in Goa, India, in 1987, known as the International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology (ICGC-87). Encouraged by the success of this conference it was decided to have such a meeting periodically, once in every four years. Accordingly, ICGC- 91 was held at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, India. The third International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology, (ICGC-95) was held at the Inter-University centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, IUCAA, Pune, India during December 13 - 19, 1995. This series of conferences is co-sponsored by the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (lAGRG). The Conference had 16 plenary lectures and five workshops altogether. There were three plenary lectures per day and two workshops running parallel each day. We were fortunate in getting plenary speakers who are leading experts in their respective fields drawn from all over the world. The conference was attended by about 105 persons from India and 55 from abroad. We thank all the contributors who have taken time to write up their lectures amidst their busy schedule. We regret we could not get the contributions of a few plenary speakers. We would also like to thank the members of Organizing Committees who have worked hard to make this conference a success.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -At the beginning we would like to introduce a refinement. The term 'VLSI planarization' means planarization of a circuit of VLSI, Le. the embedding of a VLSI circuit in the plane by different criteria such as the minimum number of connectors, the minimum total length of connectors, the minimum number of over-the-element routes, etc. A connector is designed to connect the broken sections of a net. It can be implemented in different ways depending on the technology. Connectors for a bipolar VLSI are implemented by diffused tun nels, for instance. By over-the-element route we shall mean a connection which intersects the enclosing rectangle of an element (or a cell). The possibility of the construction such connections during circuit planarization is reflected in element models and can be ensured, for example, by the availability of areas within the rectangles where connections may be routed. VLSI planarization is one of the basic stages (others will be discussed below) of the so called topological (in the mathematical sense) approach to VLSI design. This approach does not lie in the direction of the classical approach to automation of VLSI layout design. In the classical approach to computer aided design the placement and routing problems are solved successively. The topological approach, in contrast, allows one to solve both problems at the same time. This is achieved by constructing a planar embedding of a circuit and obtaining the proper VLSI layout on the basis of it.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 196 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The theory of practical rationality does not belong to one academic discipline alone. There are quite divergent philosophical, economical, sociological, psychological and politological contributions. Sometimes the disciplinary boundaries impede theoretical progress. On the other hand it is an indication for the high complexity of the subject that so many divergent paradigms compete with one another, or - what is worse - live separately in a kind of splendid isolation. Decision theory in the broader sense, embracing the theory of games and collective choice theory, can help to understand practical reason in philosophical analysis. But there are interesting aspects which cannot be dealt with adequately within a decision-theoretic conceptual framework. To have both of these convictions justifies to neglect dis ciplinary boundaries and poses a problem for the orthodoxies of either sides. All the essays of this volume focus on the relation between economic rationality and practical reason and discuss different aspects of the same problem, i. e. a basic deficiency in the standard economic theory of practical rationality. But philosophical analysis would not be of much help if it just rejected the economic paradigm. It must rather help to integrate economic aspects into a broader view on practical reason.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 188 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The climate change problem can only be effectively dealt with if global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced substantially. Since the emission of such gases is closely related to the economic growth of countries, a critical problem to be addressed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) is: how will the permissible emission levels be shared between industrialised (ICs) and developing countries (DCs) The thesis of this book is that the long-term effectiveness of the FCCC runs the risk of a horizontal negotiation deadlock between countries and the risk of vertical standstill within countries if there is little domestic support for the domestic implementation of measures being announced in international negotiations. The research question is: Can one observe trends towards horizontal deadlock and vertical standstill and if yes, how can the treaty design be improved so as to avoid such potential future bottlenecks The research focuses on the perspectives of domestic actors on the climate convention and related issues in four developing countries: India, Indonesia, Kenya and Brazil. The following key findings emerge from the research: 1. Handicapped negotiating power: The common theme of the foreign policy of DCs is that ICs are responsible for the bulk of the GHG emissions and need to take appropriate domestic action.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Ethylene is a simple gaseous plant hormone produced by higher plants, bacteria and fungi. Thanks to new tools that have become available in biochemistry and molecular genetics, parts of the ethylene biosynthesis, perception and signal transduction reactions have been elucidated. This knowledge has been applied to enhance the quality of a number of agronomically important crops. In Biology and Biotechnology of the Plant Hormone Ethylene, leading figures in the field provide surveys of the current state of ethylene biosynthesis and action, perception and signal transduction pathways, senescence, biotechnological control, and the involvement of ethylene in pathogenesis and stress.Audience: Indispensable to all academic, industrial and agricultural researchers as well as undergraduates and graduates in plant biology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology and food science.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -. The theory of difference equations, the methods used in their solutions and their wide applications have advanced beyond their adolescent stage to occupy a central position in Applicable Analysis. In fact, in the last five years, the proliferation of the subject is witnessed by hundreds of research articles and several monographs, two International Conferences and numerous Special Sessions, and a new Journal as well as several special issues of existing journals, all devoted to the theme of Difference Equations. Now even those experts who believe in the universality of differential equations are discovering the sometimes striking divergence between the continuous and the discrete. There is no doubt that the theory of difference equations will continue to play an important role in mathematics as a whole. In 1992, the first author published a monograph on the subject entitled Difference Equations and Inequalities. This book was an in-depth survey of the field up to the year of publication. Since then, the subject has grown to such an extent that it is now quite impossible for a similar survey, even to cover just the results obtained in the last four years, to be written. In the present monograph, we have collected some of the results which we have obtained in the last few years, as well as some yet unpublished ones.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 524 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -FOUNDATIONALISM IN PHILOSOPHY n his autobiographical work, The Education of Henry Adams, this I brooding and disillusioned offspring of American presidents confronted, at age sixty, his own perplexity concerning the new scientific world-view that was emerging at the end of the century. He noted that the unity of things, long guaranteed morally by the teachings of Christianity and scientifically by the Newtonian world-view, was being challenged by a newer vision of things that found only incomprehensible multiplicity at the root of the world: What happened if one dropped the sounder into the ab yss-let it go-frankly gave up Unity altogether What was Unity Why was one to be forced to affirm it Here every body flatly refused help. . . . [Adams] got out his Descartes again; dipped into his Hume and Berkeley; wrestled anew with his Kant; pondered solemnly over his Hegel and Scho penhauer and Hartmann; strayed gaily away with his Greeks-all merely to ask what Unity meant, and what happened when one denied it. Apparently one never denied it. Every philosopher, whether sane or insane, naturally af firmed it. I Adams, then approaching with heavy pessimism a new century, felt instinc tively that, were one to attack the notion of unity, the entire edifice of human knowledge would quickly collapse. For understanding requires the unification of apparently different phenomena.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 268 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -An Introduction to Text-to-Speech Synthesis is a comprehensive introduction to the subject. The author treats two areas of speech synthesis: Part I of the book concerns natural language processing and the inherent problems it presents for speech synthesis; Part II focuses on digital signal processing, with an emphasis on the concatenative approach. Both parts of the text guide the reader through the material in a step-by-step easy-to-follow way.This is the first book to treat the topic of speech synthesis from the perspective of two different engineering approaches. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in phonetics and speech communication, in both academia and industry.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 316 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In recent years, interest in the technology of gas cleaning has grown, driven partly by environmental legislation, but also by demands for increases in process efficiency and intensity - notable for power generation and waste incineration. This book, which leads on from our successful Gas Cleaning at High Temperatures, describes the present state of the art and its industrial applications.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 332 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -In the broad field of supramolecular chemistry, the design and hence the use of chemosensors for ion and molecule recognition have developed at an extroardinary rate. This imaginative and creative area which involves the interface of different disciplines, e.g. organic and inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, biology, medicine, environmental science, is not only fundamental in nature. It is also clear that progress is most rewarding for several new sensor applications deriving from the specific signal delivered by the analyte-probe interaction. Indeed, if calcium sensing in real time for biological purposes is actually possible, owing to the emergence of efficient fluorescent receptors, other elements can also be specifically detected, identified and finally titrated using tailored chemosensors. Pollutants such as heavy metals or radionuclides are among the main targets since their detection and removal could be envisioned at very low concentrations with, in addition, sensors displaying specific and strong complexing abilities. Besides, various species of biological interest (or others, the list is large) including sugars and other micellaneous molecules such as oxygen and carbon dioxide can be actually probed with optodes and similar devices. The present volume in which the key lectures of the workshop are collected gives a survey of the main developments in the field. The success of the workshop mainly came from the high quality of the lectures, the invited short talks, the two posters sessions and the many very lively discussions which without doubt will produce positive outcomes.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 274 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Health Information Management: What Strategies contains the Proceedings of the Fifth European Conference on Medical and Health Libraries and gives a full account of the state-of-the-art of European medical librarianship. This book is the fifth in a well-received series of proceedings of the European conferences and together the volumes form a valuable source for medical librarians in Europe. The quality of papers reflects the growth of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) towards maturity and the ongoing professional development of its members. The field of medical and health information has no geographical borders, therefore medical librarianship needs to be an international and multinational cooperation.The book reflects the important developments ongoing in medical informatics and medical information management. These subjects are touched upon as they have a close connection to medical librarianship. The future of medical libraries will be dominated by strong alliances with computer departments and health and hospital management departments. Many contributions deal with the strategies medical librarians can or will develop in order to incorporate the many tools of modern information technology into library policy and practice.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 366 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -One of the central areas of concern in late twentieth-century philosophy is the debate between Realism and anti-Realism. But the precise nature of the issues that form the focus of the debate remains controversial. In Realism and Explanatory Priority a new way of viewing the debate is developed. The primary focus is not on the notions of existence, truth or reference, but rather on independence. A notion of independence is developed using concepts derived from the theory of explanation. It is argued that this approach enables us to clarify the exact nature of the empirical evidence that would be required to establish Realism in any area. The author defends a restricted form of Realism, which he calls Nomic Structuralism.The book will be suitable for professional philosophers of language, science and metaphysics, and their graduate students.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 348 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Edith Stein has become almost a legend in recent years largely because of her heroic personality and her death in Auschwitz at the hands of the Nazis. She is known also as an eminent German-jewish-Christian intellectual and feminist, but more in the realm of the sacred than of the secular. Both are essential to understanding her. To know the real Edith Stein one must have some knowledge of her as philosopher, for philosophy was central to her very being. For this reason the present work is designed to be of interest to the general reader as well as to philosophers. Many of the latter have given evidence of interest in Stein's phenomenology and may welcome an introduction that gives clues to its substance and quality. Those who knew Edith Stein personally and professionally--Edmund Husser!, Roman lngarden, Hedwig Conrad-Martius, Peter Wust, and other friends at the universities of G6ttingen and Freiburg--affirm her genius and her passionate pursuit of truth in philosophy. james Collins, distinguished American historian of philosophy, who discovered some of her works about the time she died, wrote that 'we may expect critical studies on her philosophy to multiply rapidly with the issuance of her collected works and the recognition of her high philosophical genius.'l The fact is that this has not happened, although fourteen of her major works have been published posthumously by Nauwelaerts and Herder, and many are available from other sources.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 220 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Molecules are found in a large variety of astronomical environments, ranging from comets in the solar system to galaxies at high redshift. This book brings together astronomers, physicists and chemists to discuss the use of molecules as probes of astrophysical parameters, explore their role in the evolution of astronomical objects, and study the basic chemical processes that occur in space. The enormous progress in observational techniques is illustrated by studies of the physics and chemistry on scales comparable to the protosolar nebulae around high- and low-mass forming stars and planetary systems. Elegant new experimental techniques for the measurement of gas-phase reactions at low temperatures, the analysis of spectra, and the investigation of surface adsorbates on interplanetary dust particles and meteorites are presented; the importance of accurate quantum chemical calculations is emphasized. Present knowledge of the composition of dust grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is summarized. Other topics include models and observations of jets and outflows, photon- and X-ray-dominated regions, masers in and outside our galaxy, the comet D/Shoemaker-Levy collision with Jupiter, the envelopes and photospheres of late-type stars including brown dwarfs, diffuse and translucent clouds, and external galaxies ranging from the nearby Magellanic Clouds to distant quasar absorption line systems and starburst galaxies at the edge of the Universe.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 604 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -Molecules are found in a large variety of astronomical environments, ranging from comets in the solar system to galaxies at high redshift. This book brings together astronomers, physicists and chemists to discuss the use of molecules as probes of astrophysical parameters, explore their role in the evolution of astronomical objects, and study the basic chemical processes that occur in space. The enormous progress in observational techniques is illustrated by studies of the physics and chemistry on scales comparable to the protosolar nebulae around high- and low-mass forming stars and planetary systems. Elegant new experimental techniques for the measurement of gas-phase reactions at low temperatures, the analysis of spectra, and the investigation of surface adsorbates on interplanetary dust particles and meteorites are presented; the importance of accurate quantum chemical calculations is emphasized. Present knowledge of the composition of dust grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is summarized. Other topics include models and observations of jets and outflows, photon- and X-ray-dominated regions, masers in and outside our galaxy, the comet D/Shoemaker-Levy collision with Jupiter, the envelopes and photospheres of late-type stars including brown dwarfs, diffuse and translucent clouds, and external galaxies ranging from the nearby Magellanic Clouds to distant quasar absorption line systems and starburst galaxies at the edge of the Universe.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 604 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The first chapter deals with idempotent analysis per se . To make the pres- tation self-contained, in the first two sections we define idempotent semirings, give a concise exposition of idempotent linear algebra, and survey some of its applications. Idempotent linear algebra studies the properties of the semirn- ules An , n E N , over a semiring A with idempotent addition; in other words, it studies systems of equations that are linear in an idempotent semiring. Pr- ably the first interesting and nontrivial idempotent semiring , namely, that of all languages over a finite alphabet, as well as linear equations in this sern- ing, was examined by S. Kleene [107] in 1956 . This noncommutative semiring was used in applications to compiling and parsing (see also [1]) . Presently, the literature on idempotent algebra and its applications to theoretical computer science (linguistic problems, finite automata, discrete event systems, and Petri nets), biomathematics, logic , mathematical physics , mathematical economics, and optimizat ion, is immense; e. g. , see [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 , 17, 22, 31 , 32, 35,36,37,38,39 ,40,41,52,53 ,54,55,61,62 ,63,64,68, 71, 72, 73,74,77,78, 79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,88,114,125 ,128,135,136, 138,139,141,159,160, 167,170,173,174,175,176,177,178,179,180,185,186 , 187, 188, 189]. In 1. 2 we present the most important facts of the idempotent algebra formalism . The semimodules An are idempotent analogs of the finite-dimensional v- n, tor spaces lR and hence endomorphisms of these semi modules can naturally be called (idempotent) linear operators on An .Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The present volume is as much a book co-authored by all the contributors as it is an edited collection of their papers. Most of the contributors have been involved in regular discussions over the past years, often inspiring the questions, or some aspects of the proposals, in each other's papers or actually collaborating on co-authored papers. ! For this reason, the contributions make related assumptions and explore highly related issues. The organization of the volume reflects this unity of aims and interests. It starts out with an overview of some of the shared formal background, and the chapters are arranged in a sequence that is intended to invite the reader to proceed from one directly to the next. Nevertheless, there has been no attempt to eliminate individual differences in either assumptions or choice of topic. All the chapters are entirely self-contained, so the reader will find it equally possible to read any of them in isolation. Two members of the UCLA community do not appear in this volume but have been an important source of inspiration for this project: Ed Keenan and Feng-hsi Liu. Many of Keenan's works have drawn attention to the empirically diverse behavior of natural language determiners and developed theoretical tools for studying them. Liu's 1990 dissertation examined the abilities of a representative sample of noun phrases to participate in scopal dependencies and branching, coming up with provocative generalizations and pointing out their significance for then-standard theories in powerful terms.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 496 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -A comprehensive and up to date survey of the science and technology of polymeric dispersions. The book discusses the kinetics and mechanisms of polymerization in dispersed media, examines the processes controlling particle morphology, presents both off-line and on-line methods for the characterization of polymer colloids, considers reactor engineering and control, and covers a wide variety of applications, such as latex paint formulations, encapsulation of inorganic particles, reactive latexes, adhesives, paper coating, and biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.Audience: A valuable resource for scientists and engineers, academic and industrial, who are involved in the manufacture or application of polymeric dispersions.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 588 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -1 More than thirty years after its discovery by Abraham Robinson , the ideas and techniques of Nonstandard Analysis (NSA) are being applied across the whole mathematical spectrum,as well as constituting an im portant field of research in their own right. The current methods of NSA now greatly extend Robinson's original work with infinitesimals. However, while the range of applications is broad, certain fundamental themes re cur. The nonstandard framework allows many informal ideas (that could loosely be described as idealisation) to be made precise and tractable. For example, the real line can (in this framework) be treated simultaneously as both a continuum and a discrete set of points; and a similar dual ap proach can be used to link the notions infinite and finite, rough and smooth. This has provided some powerful tools for the research mathematician - for example Loeb measure spaces in stochastic analysis and its applications, and nonstandard hulls in Banach spaces. The achievements of NSA can be summarised under the headings (i) explanation - giving fresh insight or new approaches to established theories; (ii) discovery - leading to new results in many fields; (iii) invention - providing new, rich structures that are useful in modelling and representation, as well as being of interest in their own right. The aim of the present volume is to make the power and range of appli cability of NSA more widely known and available to research mathemati cians.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 384 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. Neuware -The parasitic Hymenoptera are a highly successful and important group of insects comprising probably over a million species. Despite the vast amount of research that has been carried out on the group over the last 100 years or so, there are still many unexplained aspects of their biology. In recent years interest in the parasitic Hymenoptera has grown as a result of the increasing demand for biological methods for pest control and their possible use as natural enemies. Parasitic wasps are also tremendously important in research on pollution dynamics and on host-parasite interactions.In this unique volume Donald Quicke provides an up-to-date review of the biology of parasitic wasps which focuses primarily on genetics, developmental biology, physiology, anatomy and molecular biology, though many aspects of behaviour and ecology are also covered. Attention is drawn to the importance of both life history strategy an phylogeny to many features of parasitic wasp biology, and exciting new areas of research are highlighted. Parasitic Wasps provides an extensive guide to the relevant literature.The book will prove invaluable to researchers working on this group and to those with broader interests in entomology, physiology, behaviour, ecology and pest control.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 492 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -IAU Transactions are published as a volume corresponding to each General Assembly. Volume A is produced prior to the Assembly and contains Reports on Astronomy, prepared by each Commission President. The intention is to summarize the astronomical results that have affected the work of the Commission since the production of the previous Reports up to a time which is about one year prior to the General Assembly. Volume B is produced after the Assembly and contains accounts of Commission Meetings which were held, together with other material. The reports included in the present volume range from outline summaries to lengthy compilations and references. Most reports are in English. 616 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -E. KONTIZAS Astronomical Institute National Observatory of Athens P. O. Box 20048 Athens GR-1181O GREECE The international conference on 'Wide-Field Spectroscopy' and its sub ject matter were agreed during the general assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in August 1994 by the Working Group of Com mision 9 'Wi de-Field Imaging'. This meeting gave an opportunity to world experts on this subject to gather in Athens, in order to discuss the cur rent exploitation and the impending opportunities that exist in the area of multi-object spectroscopy, with particular emphasis on: 1. Astronomical instruments, data acquisition, processing and analysis techniques. 2. Astrophysical problems best tackled through wide-field, multi-object spectroscopy. The new fibre optic technology offers an important tool for the advancement of basic research and the development of industrial applications. Astronom ical spectroscopy is a field of astronomy which has contributed much to the advancement of fundamental physics. The spectra of hot stars have been used to determine the well-known Balmer formula for the wavelength of hydrogen lines, in the late 19th century. Since then, spectroscopy has made enormous progress in stellar atmosphere studies, in kinematics, and in the detection of high redshifts in the Universe. The traditional techniques of obtaining wide-field spectroscopic data are based on slitless spectroscopy (objective prism). Several observations, world wide, make use ofthese tech niques in order to obtain information on the spectral properties of objects in large areas of the sky. 436 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -In essence, this text is written as a challenge to others, to discover significant uses for Cayley number algebra in physics. I freely admit that though the reading of some sections would benefit from previous experience of certain topics in physics - particularly relativity and electromagnetism - generally the mathematics is not sophisticated. In fact, the mathematically sophisticated reader, may well find that in many places, the rather deliberate progress too slow for their liking. This text had its origin in a 90-minute lecture on complex numbers given by the author to prospective university students in 1994. In my attempt to develop a novel approach to the subject matter I looked at complex numbers from an entirely geometric perspective and, no doubt in line with innumerable other mathematicians, re-traced steps first taken by Hamilton and others in the early years of the nineteenth century. I even enquired into the possibility of using an alternative multiplication rule for complex numbers (in which argzlz2 = argzl- argz2) other than the one which is normally accepted (argzlz2 = argzl + argz2). Of course, my alternative was rejected because it didn't lead to a 'product' which had properties that we now accept as fundamental (i. e. 256 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Californium-252 is a neutron emitter with a high specific activity, making it useful in a variety of applications, the most spectacular of which is in brachytherapy for cancer patients. Radiation oncology has exhausted nearly every option for treating radioresistant tumors by photon brachytherapy, and therefore new types of radiation need to be studied to improve the curability of cancer. Audience: Californium brachytherapy is used in only a few radiation therapy centers in the world, so the book will be highly instructive for radiation oncologists, medical physicists and radiobiologists. The nuclear techniques used in clinical applications may also interest nuclear physicists and engineers. 328 pp. Englisch.

Buch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The Relativists and Cosmologists in India organized an international conference in Goa, India, in 1987, known as the International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology (ICGC-87). Encouraged by the success of this conference it was decided to have such a meeting periodically, once in every four years. Accordingly, ICGC- 91 was held at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, India. The third International Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology, (ICGC-95) was held at the Inter-University centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, IUCAA, Pune, India during December 13 - 19, 1995. This series of conferences is co-sponsored by the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (lAGRG). The Conference had 16 plenary lectures and five workshops altogether. There were three plenary lectures per day and two workshops running parallel each day. We were fortunate in getting plenary speakers who are leading experts in their respective fields drawn from all over the world. The conference was attended by about 105 persons from India and 55 from abroad. We thank all the contributors who have taken time to write up their lectures amidst their busy schedule. We regret we could not get the contributions of a few plenary speakers. We would also like to thank the members of Organizing Committees who have worked hard to make this conference a success. 316 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Etat : Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Based on the author's experience using computers and multimedia in teaching large, multisection courses, this groundbreaking text demonstrates how teaching professionals at all levels of instruction can use `paperless' electronic dialoguing to dramatically improve classroom instruction. The book explains how to employ such tools as: hypertext, animation, morphs, CAD, and virtual reality interactive strategies using of e-mail `self-regulation', a means of enhancing students'independence and efficiency and `intranets', networks that are off the Web but operate on the same basic principle. 240 pp. Englisch.