الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
When Puberty is Precocious: Scientific and Clinical Aspects
As research methods and interpretation of data vary between the studies that have attempted to resolve this issue, we are pleased to present the reader with three very different approaches to addressing the same question. We are thrilled to have experts in the field of basic science share the most up-to-date understanding of the mechanisms involved in the complicated interplay of factors that initiate puberty in different species. Also reviewed in the book are the many fascinating causes of precocity and new observations regarding the influence of the in utero environment and the affect of adoption from a developing country on pubertal timing. We have also included cutting edge discussions of endocrine disruptors, and the often overlooked psychosocial ramifications of precocious puberty.
Water on Mars and Life
Growing evidence, based on observations from orbiters, landers and telescopes, indicates that Mars may still have numerous hidden water reservoirs. Moreover, from the point of view of habitability, Mars is a prime target for astrobiologists in search of extant or extinct microbial life because we know that life exists in earth’s permafrost regions, such as parts of Siberia and the Antarctic, which are the closest terrestrial analogues to Mars. "Water on Mars and Life" surveys recent advances made in research into water on Mars together with its astrobiological implications. This volume addresses not only scientists working in the field but also nonspecialists and students in search of a high-level but accessible introduction to this exciting field of research.
Un anno intero sotto il cielo : Guida a 366 notti d’osservazioni = A whole year under the Sky : A guide to 366 nights of observations
There are 365 nights in a year (366 if leap) and for the amateur astronomer there are never two alike. The sky every night offers its own show that has as its protagonists thousands of objects such as stars, constellations, planets, nebulae, to be recognized one by one, to be admired and studied. Sir Patrick Moore - a famous British TV presenter, amateur astronomer and popularizer known throughout the world - wrote this book to suggest to the sky lover which objects of particular interest can be observed on each different night of the year. Easy to interpret star maps are proposed, while the text deals with physics, stars and their history, binary systems, galaxies, the Moon and planets: everything that the celestial vault offers the curious amateur astronomer.
Transport Coefficients of Fluids
Until recently the formal statistical mechanical approach offered no practicable method for computing the transport coefficients of liquids, and so most practitioners had to resort to empirical fitting formulas. This has now changed, as demonstrated in this innovative monograph. The author presents and applies new methods based on statistical mechanics for calculating the transport coefficients of simple and complex liquids over wide ranges of density and temperature. These molecular theories enable the transport coefficients to be calculated in terms of equilibrium thermodynamic properties, and the results are shown to account satisfactorily for experimental observations, including even the non-Newtonian behavior of fluids far from equilibrium.
Trans-Neptunian Objects and Comets : Saas-fee advanced course 35. Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy
In the last two decades of the 20th century, we obtained our first detailed look at a cometary nucleus and detected objects in the Kuiper-Edgeworth Belt for the first time. These two observations have resulted in a major leap forward in our understanding of small bodies in our Solar System. This book attempts to synthesize these new findings in a manner which is readable for new graduate students in the field.
Theatre as a Medium for Children and Young People : Images and Observations
This book is a journey into the dual territory of educational and theatrical settings. It advances the knowledge in these settings by touching upon provocative questions, by dealing with the limitations and challenging the new possibilities of theatre for young people. It is an attempt to bring intellectual rigour and some theoretical perspectives drawn from recent theatre and aesthetic theory to the field of theatre for young people. It fills the gap in the literature on theatre for young audiences. The author poses questions of the work that are penetrating and thought provoking and clearly stem from her own observations of and reflections upon various kinds of children's theatre (CT) and of 'watching children watching' CT over many years. This book is an analysis of images and arguments in theatre for young people. It aims at triggering the reader's interest in this subject as an artistic, educational and cultural phenomenon.
The World of the Seafarer : Qualitative Accounts of Working in the Global Shipping Industry
This book constitutes an ethnographic mosaic which depicts the contextual complexities of the life and work of seafarers who are employed in the international merchant cargo fleet. The collection is based upon the observations and interviews of researchers in multiple disciplines.
The Universe in X-Rays
In the last 45 years, X-ray astronomy has become an integral part of modern astrophysics and cosmology. There is a wide range of astrophysical objects and phenomena, where X-rays provide crucial diagnostics. In particular they are well suited to study hot plasmas and matter under extreme physical conditions in compact objects. This book summarizes the present status of X-ray astronomy in terms of observational results and their astrophysical interpretation. It is written for students, astrophysicists as well a growing community of physicists interested in the field. An introduction including historical material is followed by chapters on X-ray astronomical instrumentation. The next two parts summarize in 17 chapters the present knowledge on various classes of X-ray sources in the galactic and extragalactic realm. While the X-ray astronomical highlights discussed in this book are mainly based on results from ROSAT, ASCA, RXTE, BeppoSAX, Chandra and XMM-Newton, a final chapter provides an outlook on observational capabilities and projects discussed for the future.
The Sun : A User's Manual
The Sun is an account of the many ways in which our nearest star affects our planet, how its influence has changed over the last few centuries and millennia, and the extent to which we can predict its future impact. The Sun's rays foster the formation of Vitamin D by our bodies, but it can also promote skin cancer, cataracts, and mutations in our DNA. Besides providing the warmth and light essential to most animal and plant life, solar energy contributes substantially to global warming. Although the charged particles of the solar wind shield us from harmful cosmic rays, solar storms may damage artificial satellites and cripple communication systems and computer networks. The Sun is the ideal renewable energy source, but its exploitation is still bedevilled by the problems of storage and distribution. Our nearest star, in short, is a complex machine which needs to be treated with caution, and this book will equip every reader with the knowledge that is required to understand the benefits and dangers it can bring.
The Sky at Einsteins Feet
Specifically traces the impact of Einstein's ideas on astronomy, including the way we interpret observations of stars and galaxies. Presents many applications of relativity that have not been shown in earlier popular-level books and illustrates how deeply physics permeates the way we interpret many astronomical phenomena.
The Role of VLBI in Astrophysics, Astrometry and Geodesy
A masterly survey of the last 13 years of Very Long Baseline Interferometry, reviewed in light of the most advanced astronomical observations. Topics covered include: Nonthermal emission from extragalactic radio sources; Principles of synchrotron emission in relation to astrophysics; Theory of relativistic jets; Young, powerful radio sources and their evolution; Scintillation in extragalactic radio sources; Radio and optical interferometry; Radio polarimetry; Unified schemes; Deep fields; Tropospheric and ionospheric phase calibration; Supernovae; VLBI for geodesy and geodynamics.
The Road to Galaxy Formation
The book discusses the beginnings of the process from cosmological observations and calculations, considers the broad features of galaxies that we need to explain and what we know of their later history. The author compares the competing theories for galaxy formation and considers the progress expected from new generations of powerful telescopes both on earth and in space.
The Multi-Messenger Approach to High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources ; 3rd Workshop on the Nature of Unidentified High-Energy Sources
This book provides a theoretical and observational overview of the state of the art of gamma-ray astrophysics, and their impact and connection with the physics of cosmic rays and neutrinos. With the aim of shedding new and fresh light on the problem of the nature of the gamma-ray sources, particularly those yet unidentified, this book summarizes contributions to a workshop that continues with the series initiated by the meeting held at Tonantzintla in October 2000, and Hong-Kong in May 2004. This books will be of interest for all active researchers in the field of high energy astrophysics and astroparticle physics, as well as for graduate students entering into the subject.
The Map of My Life
In this book, the author writes freely and often humorously about his life, beginning with his earliest childhood days. He describes his survival of American bombing raids when he was a teenager in Japan, his emergence as a researcher in a post-war university system that was seriously deficient, and his life as a mature mathematician in Princeton and in the international academic community. Every page of this memoir contains personal observations and striking stories. Such luminaries as Chevalley, Oppenheimer, Siegel, and Weil figure prominently in its anecdotes.
The Heliosphere through the Solar Activity Cycle
Presents the evolution of the heliosphere through an entire solar activity cycle. The last solar cycle (cycle 23) has been the best observed from both the Earth and from a fleet of spacecraft. Of these, the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses probe has provided continuous observations of the state of the heliosphere since 1990 from a unique vantage point, that of a nearly polar orbit around the Sun. Ulysses’ results affect our understanding of the heliosphere from the interior of the Sun to the interstellar medium - beyond the outer boundary of the heliosphere. Written by scientists closely associated with the Ulysses mission, the book describes and explains the many different aspects of changes in the heliosphere in response to solar activity.
The Far Side of the Moon : A Photographic Guide
The photographs show each part of the far side in the most favorable resolution and sun angle. There are many high-altitude oblique photos that provide a feeling of being in space; this book is more like a photographic tour of the far side than an atlas. The striking differences between the near and far side have been a major mystery for astronomers but this book suggests an explanation: a massive early impact on the near side produced the Near Side Megabasin; an impact so large that its rim is on the far side. The floor of this basin established the canvas for the portrait of the Man in the Moon and its ejecta prepared the far side for the rugged array of basins and craters shown in these photos.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum of Neutron Stars
Devoted to the selected lectures presented in the 6th NATO-ASI series entitled "The Electromagnetic Spectrum of Neutron Stars" in Marmaris, Turkey, on 7-18 June 2004. This ASI is devoted to the spectral properties of neutron stars. Spectral observations of neutron stars help us to understand the magnetospheric emission processes of isolated radio pulsars and the emission processes of accreting neutron stars. This volume includes spectral information from the neutron stars in broadest sense, namely neutrino and gravitational radiation along with the electromagnetic spectrum. We believe that this volume can serve as graduate level of text including the broad range of properties of neutron stars.
The Drift of Sea Ice
Presents in The Drift of Sea Ice the fundamental laws of sea ice drift which come from the material properties of sea ice and the basic laws of mechanics. The resulting system of equations is analysed for the general properties of sea ice drift, the free drift model and analytical models for ice drift in the presence of internal friction, and the construction of numerical ice drift models is detailed. The science of sea ice drift through its 100-year history to the present day is explained. The text includes the geophysical theory, observations from field programs, and mathematical models. Topics covered include the science of sea ice drift, forecasting drift velocity based on volume, size and shape, sea ice ridging and remote sensing, modelling of the ice conditions, and finally the role of sea ice drift in research fields in ice-covered seas, oceanography, marine ecology and engineering.
The Beginnings of Piezoelectricity : A Study in Mundane Physics
Employing exceedingly rich material Katzir gains interesting insights into the nature of scientific development from this history. Among the themes raised here are: the sources of a discovery, the interplay between molecular-atomistic and phenomenological approaches and between scientific practice and protagonists’ philosophy of science, the role of thermodynamic formulation, the interaction of different levels of theories with experiment, the use and design of qualitative versus precise quantitative experiments, the employment of symmetry in physics and the role of national and local experimental and theoretical traditions. Observations regarding these and other issues in this book portray an unexpected picture of turn of the century physics.
The Arctic Basin : Results from the Russian Drifting Stations
The authors describe in The Russian North Pole Drifting Stations for the first time the history of establishing drifting stations in the Arctic Basin since 1937. They set out the main aims and goals of the observations made and outline the methods of organizing the drifting stations, gear and equipment for life support and scientific observations at the North Pole drifting stations and during the airborne high-latitudinal expeditions. The main scientific results and the analysis of data obtained during metereological, oceanographic, ice and geophysical observations are presented and the book contains illustrations, maps and tables that can be used by a wide range of specialists investigating the nature of the Arctic region.
