Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer Netherlands

This book provides a comprehensive and interactive view of recent advances in the cytology, anatomy, and physiology of roots as presented at the 5th International Symposium on Structure and Function of Roots, held on 31 August-4 September, 1998, in Stara Lesna, Slovakia. This edition differs from previous ones by including some aspects of functional genetics and plant morphogenesis. The book is intended to serve both students and researchers as a valuable source of updated information, ideas, and concepts dealing with the most fundamental questions of development and function of plant roots.

The problem of irreversibility is ubiquitous in physics and chemistry. The present book attempts to present a unified theoretical and conceptual framework for the description of various irreversible phenomena in quantum mechanics. In a sense, this book supplements conventional textbooks on quantum mechanics by including the theory of irreversibilities. However, the content and style of this book are more appropriate for a monograph than a textbook. We have tried to arrange the material so that, as far as possible, the reader need not continually refer elsewhere. The references to the literature make no pretense of completeness. The book is by no means a survey of present theoretical work. We have tried to highlight the basic principles and their results, while the attention has been mainly paid to the problems in which the author himself has been involved. The book as a whole is designed for the reader with knowledge of theoretical physics (especially quantum mechanics) at university level. This book is based on the courses of lectures given at the Chemistry Department of Tel-Aviv University.

Proceedings of the BB Fest 96, a conference held at the University of Cape Town, 15-20 July 1996, on Category Theory and its Applications to Topology, Order and Algebra

Ostracoda (Crustacea) are potentially excellent model organisms for evolutionary studies, because they combine an extensive fossil record with a wide recent distribution and therefore allow studies on both patterns and processes leading to extant diversity. The main scientific domains contributing theories, concepts, and data to evolutionary biology are morphology (including ontogeny), palaeontology, genetics, and ecology, and to all of these aspects ostracods can contribute. This is clearly illustrated by the fifteen papers presented under Theme 3 of the 13th International Symposium on Ostracoda (Chatham, UK) in 1997 which are grouped in the present proceedings, one of three volumes resulting from this meeting. The contributions deal with the evolution of both extant and fossil forms (including most of the Phanaerozoic), ecology of both marine and freshwater taxa, and (developmental) morphology of both soft parts and valves. Although the canvas is wide, each paper clearly shows how studies on Ostracoda can be relevant to general theory on evolutionary biology and ecology.

The complexity of issues requiring rational decision making grows and thus such decisions are becoming more and more difficult, despite advances in methodology and tools for decision support and in other areas of research. Globalization, interlinks between environmental, industrial, social and political issues, and rapid speed of change all contribute to the increase of this complexity. Specialized knowledge about decision-making processes and their support is increasing, but a large spectrum of approaches presented in the literature is typically illustrated only by simple examples. Moreover, the integration of model-based decision support methodologies and tools with specialized model-based knowledge developed for handling real problems in environmental, engineering, industrial, economical, social and political activities is often not satisfactory. Therefore, there is a need to present the state of art of methodology and tools for development of model-based decision support systems, and illustrate this state by applications to various complex real-world decision problems. The monograph reports many years of experience of many researchers, who have not only contributed to the developments in operations research but also succeeded to integrate knowledge and craft of various disciplines into several modern decision support systems which have been applied to actual complex decision-making processes in various fields of policy making. The experience presented in this book will be of value to researchers and practitioners in various fields. The issues discussed in this book gain in importance with the development of the new era of the information society, where information, knowledge, and ways of processing them become a decisive part of human activities. The examples presented in this book illustrate how how various methods and tools of model-based decision support can actually be used for helping modern decision makers that face complex problems. Overview of the contents: The first part of this three-part book presents the methodological background and characteristics of modern decision-making environment, and the value of model-based decision support thus addressing current challenges of decision support. It also provides the methodology of building and analyzing mathematical models that represent underlying physical and economic processes, and that are useful for modern decision makers at various stages of decision making. These methods support not only the analysis of Pareto-efficient solutions that correspond best to decision maker preferences but also allow the use of other modeling concepts like soft constraints, soft simulation, or inverse simulation. The second part describes various types of tools that are used for the development of decision support systems. These include tools for modeling, simulation, optimization, tools supporting choice and user interfaces. The described tools are both standard, commercially available, and nonstandard, public domain or shareware software, which are robust enough to be used also for complex applications. All four environmental applications (regional water quality management, land use planning, cost-effective policies aimed at improving the European air quality, energy planning with environmental implications) presented in the third part of the book rely on many years of cooperation between the authors of the book with several IIASA's projects, and with many researchers from the wide IIASA network of collaborating institutions. All these applications are characterized by an intensive use of model-based decision support. Finally, the appendix contains a short description of some of the tools described in the book that are available from IIASA, free of charge, for research and educational purposes. The experiences reported in this book indicate that the development of DSSs for strategic environmental decision making should be a joint effort involving experts in the subject area, modelers, and decision support experts. For the other experiences discussed in this book, the authors stress the importance of good data bases, and good libraries of tools. One of the most important requirements is a modular structure of a DSS that enhances the reusability of system modules. In such modular structures, user interfaces play an important role. The book shows how modern achievements in mathematical programming and computer sciences may be exploited for supporting decision making, especially about strategic environmental problems. It presents the methodological background of various methods for model-based decision support and reviews methods and tools for model development and analysis. The methods and tools are amply illustrated with extensive applications. Audience: This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the fields of model development and analysis, model-based decision analysis and support, (particularly in the environment, economics, agriculture, engineering, and negotiations areas) and mathematical programming. For understanding of some parts of the text a background in mathematics and operational research is required but several chapters of the book will be of value also for readers without such a background. The monograph is also suitable for use as a text book for courses on advanced (Master and Ph.D.) levels for programs on Operations Research, decision analysis, decision support and various environmental studies (depending on the program different parts of the book may be emphasized).

The main purpose of this handbook is to summarize and to put in order the ideas, methods, results and literature on the theory of random evolutions and their applications to the evolutionary stochastic systems in random media, and also to present some new trends in the theory of random evolutions and their applications. In physical language, a random evolution ( RE ) is a model for a dynamical sys- tem whose state of evolution is subject to random variations. Such systems arise in all branches of science. For example, random Hamiltonian and Schrodinger equations with random potential in quantum mechanics, Maxwell's equation with a random refractive index in electrodynamics, transport equations associated with the trajec- tory of a particle whose speed and direction change at random, etc. There are the examples of a single abstract situation in which an evolving system changes its "e;mode of evolution"e; or "e;law of motion"e; because of random changes of the "e;environment"e; or in a "e;medium"e;. So, in mathematical language, a RE is a solution of stochastic operator integral equations in a Banach space. The operator coefficients of such equations depend on random parameters. Of course, in such generality , our equation includes any homogeneous linear evolving system. Particular examples of such equations were studied in physical applications many years ago. A general mathematical theory of such equations has been developed since 1969, the Theory of Random Evolutions.