الصفحة 3
الصفحة 3
New Perspectives in the Study of Mesoamerican Primates : Distribution, Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation
The purpose of this volume is to present a comprehensive overview of recent advances in primate field research, ecology, and conservation biology in Mesoamerica. The overall goal of each contribution is to integrate newly collected field data with theoretical perspectives drawn from evolutionary biology, socioecology, biological anthropology, and conservation to identify how our current knowledge of primate behavior and ecology has moved beyond more traditional approaches. A corollary to this, and an important goal of the volume is to identify geographical regions and species for which we continue to lack sufficient information, to develop action plans for future research, and to identify areas for immediate conservation action. Despite many decades of primate research in Mesoamerica, much is still unknown concerning the basic ecology and behavior of these species, demography, current distribution, and conservation status of local populations, and the effectiveness of conservation policies on primate survivorship. Four major areas of research are the focus of the volume: Evolutionary Biology and Biogeography; Population Demography and Ecology; Behavior; and Conservation and Management Policies.
Nearest Neighbor Search : A Database Perspective
Modern applications are both data and computationally intensive and require the storage and manipulation of voluminous traditional (alphanumeric) and nontraditional data sets (images, text, geometric objects, time-series). Examples of such emerging application domains are: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Multimedia Information Systems, CAD/CAM, Time-Series Analysis, Medical Information Sstems, On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), and Data Mining. These applications pose diverse requirements with respect to the information and the operations that need to be supported. From the database perspective, new techniques and tools therefore need to be developed towards increased processing efficiency. This monograph explores the way spatial database management systems aim at supporting queries that involve the space characteristics of the underlying data, and discusses query processing techniques for nearest neighbor queries. It provides both basic concepts and state-of-the-art results in spatial databases and parallel processing research, and studies numerous applications of nearest neighbor queries.
Multimedia Database Retrieval : A Human-Centered Approach
Multimedia Database Retrieval: A Human-Centered Approach presents the latest development in user-centered methods and the state-of-the-art in visual media retrieval. It includes discussion on perceptually inspired non-linear paradigm in user-controlled interactive retrieval (UCIR) systems. It also features a coherent approach which focuses on specific topics within content/concept-based retrievals via audio-visual information modeling of multimedia. Highlights include: * Exploring an adaptive machine that can learn from its environment * Optimizing the learning system by incorporating self-organizing adaptation into the retrieval process * Demonstrating state-of-the-art applications within small, medium, and large databases
Molecular Biology in Plant Pathogenesis and Disease Management : Disease Management ; Vol.3
Exclusion and eradication of plant pathogens by rapid and precise detection and identification of microbial pathogens in symptomatic and asymptomatic plants and planting materials by employing molecular methods has been practiced extensively by quarantines and certification programs with a decisive advantage. Identification of sources of resistance genes, cloning and characterization of desired resistance genes and incorporation of resistance gene(s) into cultivars and transformation of plants with selected gene(s) have been successfully performed by applying appropriate molecular techniques. Induction of resistance in susceptible cultivars by using biotic and abiotic inducers of resistance is a practical proposition for several crops whose resistance levels could not be improved by breeding or transformation procedures. The risks of emergence of pathogen strains less sensitive or resistant to chemicals have been reduced appreciably by rapid identification of resistant strains and monitoring the occurrence of such strains in different geographical locations.
Modelling Land-Use Change : Progress and Applications
land-use change simulation modelling is a relatively new and dynamic field of study and this book provides a full overview of the topic, a wide range of applications (both geographically and thematically), a mix of theory and practice, a synthesis of recent research progress, and educational material for students and teachers.
Mobilities of Knowledge
This collection of essays examines how spatial mobilities of people and practices, technologies and objects, knowledge and ideas have shaped the production, circulation, and transfer of knowledge in different historical and geographical contexts. Targeting an interdisciplinary audience, Mobilities of Knowledge combines detailed empirical analyses with innovative conceptual approaches. The first part scrutinizes knowledge circulation, transfer, and adaption, focussing on the interpersonal communication process, early techniques of papermaking, a geographical text, indigenous knowledge in exploration, the genealogy of spatial analysis, and different disciplinary knowledges about the formation of cities, states, and agriculture.
Migration to and from Welfare States : Lived Experiences of the Welfare–Migration Nexus in a Globalised World
This book explores the role of family, public, market and third sector welfare provision for individual and households’ decisions regarding geographical mobility. It challenges the state-centred approach in research on welfare and migration by emphasising migrants’ own reflections and experiences.
Methods and Models in Transport and Telecommunications : Cross Atlantic Perspectives
One aspect of the new economy is a transition to a networked society, and the emergence of a highly interconnected, interdependent and complex system of networks to move people, goods and information. An example of this is the in creasing reliance of networked systems (e. g. , air transportation networks, electric power grid, maritime transport, etc. ) on telecommunications and information in frastructure. Many of the networks that evolved today have an added complexity in that they have both a spatial structure , they are located in physical space but also an a spatial dimension brought on largely by their dependence on infor mation technology. They are also often just one component of a larger system of geographically integrated and overlapping networks operating at different spatial levels. An understanding of these complexities is imperative for the design of plans and policies that can be used to optimize the efficiency, performance and safety of transportation, telecommunications and other networked systems. In one sense, technological advances along with economic forces that encourage the clustering of activities in space to reduce transaction costs have led to more efficient network structures.
Medicinal plants : From farm to pharmacy
Discuss current research on medicinal plants that connects traditionally accumulated botanical wisdom with current bioprospecting trends and (pre-clinical studies Provide an account of recent research activities on select medicinal plants from various phytogeographical regions all over the world Cater to the interest of a wide range of readers including lay enthusiasts, traditional practitioners as well as research and clinical professionals
Integration of Information for Environmental Security : Environmental Security - Information Security - Disaster Forecast and Prevention - Water Resources Management
Currently the necessary information exists in a multitude of forms and formats geographically and physically scattered over different countries, institutes and organisations, and are subject to widely different data policies and management schemes. Moreover, there is no complete and updated overview of the existing information, e.g. in the form of a metadata catalogue. As a result, integration of this information in case of emergencies has proven to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Although in some cases, interesting and impressive "demonstrations" have been shown of the possibilities of the integration of information, for a number of reasons these have reached the "operational" stage.
Institutions, Equilibria and Efficiency: Essays in Honor of Birgit Grodal
Competition and efficiency is at the core of economic theory. This volume collects papers of leading scholars, which extend the conventional general equilibrium model in important ways: Efficiency and price regulation are studied when markets are incomplete and existence of equilibria in such settings is proven under very general preference assumptions. The model is extended to include geographical location choice, a commodity space incorporating manufacturing imprecision and preferences for club-membership, schools and firms.
Inside/outside Islamic art and architecture: a cartography of boundaries in and of the field
When we walk into a gallery, we have a fairly good idea where the building begins and ends; and inside, while observing a painting, we are equally confident in distinguishing between the painting-proper and its frame and borders. Yet, things are often more complicated. A building defines an exterior space just as much as an interior, and what we perceive to be ornamental and marginal to a given painting may in fact be central to what it represents. In this volume, a simple question is presented: instead of dichotomous separations between inside and outside, or exterior and interior, what other relationships can we think of? The first book of its kind to grapple with this question, Inside/Outside Islamic Art and Architecture focuses on a wide spectrum of mediums and topics, including painted manuscripts, objects, architectural decoration, architecture and urban planning, and photography. Bringing together scholars with diverse methodologies-who work on a geographical span stretching from India to Spain and Nigeria, and across a temporal spectrum from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century-this original book also poses engaging questions about the boundaries of the field.
Insect Conservation and Islands
A series of original papers and reviews dealing with the peculiarities of island insects and their conservation in many parts of the world. Contributions to this special issue of Journal of Insect Conservation range from biogeographical analyses andecological features of island insects and their evolution to the variety of concerns for their wellbeing, and practical conservation through a variety of, sometimes novel, approaches. They provide a valuable and up-to-date resource for entomologists and conservation practitioners.
Information Technology in Languages for Specific Purposes : Issues and Prospects
The purpose of this volume is to offer an overview of an ample variety of applications of IT in the field of LSP. It is addressed to a wide audience that includes LSP teachers and researchers, although the contents may also be relevant to applied linguists working in other fields. This book contains research studies as well as educational experiences and proposals, presented from different perspectives and backgrounds (both geographical and cultural), all of which are theoretically grounded and with a clear and sound rationale. Thus, the reader will find a variety of educational projects and research studies situated in specific educational contexts and in particular geographical locations.
Information Fusion and Geographic Information Systems ; Proceedings of the Third International Workshop
This volume contains the papers presented at the International Workshop “Inf- mation Fusion and Geographical Information Systems” (IF&GIS’07) held in St. Petersburg, Russia, 2007. Research in the Geosciences field interprets the concept of Information Fusion as a synonym of an approach that permits research into all the problems and issues which program-makers and scientific researchers are faced with. Thus, topics that are to be covered during the workshop relate to issues such as harmonization, - tegration and information fusion. At the same time the spectrum of problems - der discussion exceeds the current bounds of developing GIS applications. This is a significant modern trend since GIS technology is more often used as an interface in support and decision making systems. As a result, it is difficult to consider Geoinformation Science without considering related scientific directions such as Ontology, Artificial Intelligent Systems and Situation Management.
Home
Develops the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of a critical geography of home, drawing on key feminist, postcolonial, and housing thinkers as well as contemporary methodological currents in non-representational thinking and performance. The book’s chapters consider the making and unmaking of home across the domestic scale – house-as-home; the urban – city-as-home; national – nation-as-home; and homemaking in relation to transnational migration and diaspora. Each chapter includes illustrative examples from diverse geographical contexts and historical time periods. Chapters also address some of the key cross-cutting dimensions of home across these scales, including digital connectivity, art and performance, more-than-human constructions of home, and violence and dispossession.
Headway in Spatial Data Handling ; 13th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling
For sustainable development, climate change or more simply resource sharing and economic development, this information helps to - cilitate human activities and to foresee the impact of these activities in space as well as, inversely, the impact of space on our lives. The Inter- tional Symposium on Spatial Data Handing (SDH) is a primary research forum where questions related to spatial and temporal modelling and analysis, data integration, visual representation or semantics are raised.
Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship
Providing an important and timely overview of research in the field of entrepreneurship in biotechnology, The Handbook of Bioentrepreneurship examines one of the most promising industries of the 21st century. While genetically engineered foods and biopharmaceuticals have made biotechnology part of our everyday lives, launching a bioventure is among the most complex and risky entrepreneurial undertakings, given long development cycles, high levels of technological and market uncertainty, and extraordinary capital requirements. Featuring unparalleled, in-depth analysis from experts around the world, the Handbook sheds light on emerging business models and strategies, geographical and regional networks, cooperation between firms and universities, legal frameworks, and policy issues that influence the context in which biotech ventures are established and the conditions under which they may flourish. biotechnology.
Growth, Trade and Economic Institutions
Endogenous growth is examined from the viewpoint of economic history, institutions and international trade. The main results are the following. The variance in institutional quality can be explained by historical differences in biogeographical potential for early agriculture. The expansion of output can lead to dis-agglomeration. The patterns of growth are sensitive to the technology parameters of the capital-good industry. With capital intensive industries, the balanced growth path can exhibit local indeterminacy. Economies integrate, if the productivity of R&D does not vary too much for them. Other aspects examined are the equilibrium of a dynamic multi-sector economy, the political economy of employment protection and the relationship between technological change and the demand for skill-intensive activities.
Governance of Communication Networks : Connecting Societies and Markets with IT
The articles collected in this book shed light on several aspects that are crucial for the success of global communication networks: they range from an appropriate framework for regulation and suitable strategies of firms that act as international players, to the inclusion of customers in defining product and service strategies, and from problems of access to advanced technology and networks for all groups in society regardless of their social status or geographical location to the role of new technologies in facilitating universal communication.
