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From Biological Control to Invasion : the Ladybird Harmonia axyridis as a Model Species
Harmonia axyridis has been described as the "most invasive ladybird on Earth". It has a long history of use as a classical biological control agent in the USA and more recently in Europe. This beetle has been effective at controlling pest insects in a variety of crop systems but it poses unacceptable risks by impacting on non-target species as both an intraguild predator and competitor.Written by renowned scientists, this book is a synthesis of recent research on H. axyridis and provides informative insights into current perspectives and future directions. Biological control is an essential component of sustainable agriculture but the distinction between a successful biological control agent and an invasive species can be narrow. We hope that lessons can be learnt from H. axyridis.
From Animals to Animats 9 ; 9th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2006, Rome, Italy, September 25-29, 2006, Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2006. The 35 revised full papers and 35 revised poster papers presented are organized in topical sections on the animat approach to adaptive behaviour, perception and motor control, action selection and behavioral sequences, navigation and internal world models, learning and adaptation, evolution, collective and social behaviours, applied adaptive behavior and more.
From Animals to Animats 10 ; 10th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2008, Osaka, Japan, July 7-12, 2008. Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2008, held in Osaka, Japan in July 2008.The 30 revised full papers and 21 revised poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 110 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on the animat approach to adaptive behaviour, evolution, navigation and internal world models, perception and control, learning and adaptation, cognition, emotion and behaviour, collective and social behaviours, adaptive behaviour in language and communication, and applied adaptive behaviour.
From Adolescence to Adulthood in the Vietnam Era
Children born during the post-WWII era of peace and prosperity entered history at a time dominated by I-Like-Ike politics and domestic security. As they approached adolescence, however, their world was shaken by major cultural, economic, social, and political upheaval. And although it was time of great innovation and progress, a sense of chaos and bitterness began to envelop the country. It was the ‘60s. For many Americans, a mere mention of this decade evokes an extraordinary time and place in the country’s - and their own - history.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) : Economy and Society
Until now, Friedrich Nietzsche’s influence on the development of modern social sciences has not been well documented. This volume reconsiders some of Nietzsche’s writings on economics and the science of state and in doing so pioneers a line of research not previously available in English.
Freshwater Governance for the 21st Century
The objective of this book is to broadly illustrate the key aspects of water governance, mapping the spectrum of decision-making from techno-centric and eco-centric approaches, to hybrid concepts and people-centric approaches. Topics covered include the challenges for water-governance models, the polycentric model, the integration challenge, water in the decision-making hierarchy, and the rise of water-sensitive design, while also taking into account interdependencies between stakeholders, as well as the issue of scale.
Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment
The Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment gives a state of the art assessment of the diversity and distribution of Metazoa in the continental waters of the world. The project deals with all major animal groups plus the macrophytes, and encompasses the complete array of terrestrial aquatic ecosystems. It is the most comprehensive study of species- and genus-level diversity and chorology of the global freshwater fauna to date, and is the first to present comparable data on the different faunal groups concerned. The project draws from the collected expertise of numerous world-renowned taxonomic experts that have bundled efforts to produce this outstanding volume. The result is invaluable to all scientists, managers and conservationists interested in non-marine aquatic animals.
Free-Radical-Induced DNA Damage and Its Repair : A Chemical Perspective
Understanding of the molecular basis of DNA damage and its repair has increased dramatically in recent years, and substantial knowledge now exists concerning the products arising from free-radical attack on DNA. Free-radical DNA damage may lead to mutations, cancer, and cell death. Free radicals have various sources, notably ionizing radiation and oxidative stress. In radiotherapy for cancer and with some anticancer drugs, use is made of cell death by excessive DNA damage. The mechanisms leading to products of free-radical attack which have been studied in models and with small double-stranded DNA fragments are discussed in detail, and the basics of the underlying free-radical chemistry are dealt with in separate chapters.
Freedom and Value : Freedom’s Influence on Welfare and Worldly Value
Freedom of the sort implicated in acting freely or with free will is important to the truth of different sorts of moral judgment, such as judgments of moral responsibility and those of moral obligation. Little thought, however, has been invested into whether appraisals of good or evil presuppose free will. The central aim of this book is to dispute this assumption by arguing for the relevance of free will to the truth of two sorts of such judgment: welfare-ranking judgments or judgments of personal well-being (when is one's life intrinsically good for the one who lives it?), and world-ranking judgments (when is a possible world intrinsically better than another?). The book also examines free will’s impact on the truth of such judgments for central issues in moral obligation and in the free will debate.
Free Energy Calculations : Theory and Applications in Chemistry and Biology
This volume sets out to present a coherent and comprehensive account of the concepts that underlie different approaches devised for the determination of free energies. The reader will gain the necessary insight into the theoretical and computational foundations of the subject and will be presented with relevant applications from molecular-level modelling and simulations of chemical and biological systems. Both formally accurate and approximate methods are covered using both classical and quantum mechanical descriptions. A central theme of the book is that the wide variety of free energy calculation techniques available today can be understood as different implementations of a few basic principles.
Free Convection Film Flows and Heat Transfer
This book presents recent developments in systematic studies of hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer in laminar free convection, accelerating film boiling and condensation of Newtonian fluids, as well as accelerating film flow of non-Newtonian power-law fluids (FFNF). A novel system of analysis models is provided with a developed velocity component method, instead of traditional Falkner-Skan type transformation, and a system of models for treatment of variable thermophysical properties is presented with an innovative temperature parameter method that makes it easier to similarly treat related governing differential equations for consideration of fluid variable thermophysical properties. A pseudo-similarity method is applied for dealing with thermal boundary layer of FFNF, furthermore, with an induced local Prandtl number, which greatly simplifies the heat-transfer analysis and numerical calculation.
Framing in Sustainability Science : Theoretical and Practical Approaches
This book offers both conceptual and empirical descriptions of how to “frame” sustainability challenges. It defines “framing” in the context of sustainability science as the process of identifying subjects, setting boundaries, and defining problems. The chapters are grouped into two sections: a conceptual section and a case section.
Framing global mathematics : The international mathematical union between theorems and politics
This book is about the shaping of international relations in mathematics over the last two hundred years. It focusses on institutions and organizations that were created to frame the international dimension of mathematical research. Today, striking evidence of globalized mathematics is provided by countless international meetings and the worldwide repository ArXiv. The text follows the sinuous path that was taken to reach this state, from the long nineteenth century, through the two wars, to the present day. International cooperation in mathematics was well established by 1900, centered in Europe. The first International Mathematical Union, IMU, founded in 1920 and disbanded in 1932, reflected above all the trauma of WW I. Since 1950 the current IMU has played an increasing role in defining mathematical excellence, as is shown both in the historical narrative and by analyzing data about the International Congresses of Mathematicians. For each of the three periods discussed, interactions are explored between world politics, the advancement of scientific infrastructures, and the inner evolution of mathematics. Readers will thus take a new look at the place of mathematics in world culture, and how international organizations can make a difference. Aimed at mathematicians, historians of science, scientists, and the scientifically inclined general public.
Fragmented Intimacy : Addiction in a Social World
Fragmented Intimacy transcends familiar concepts of addiction by focusing not on addicts in isolation but on the social contexts that are disrupted and on the struggle that affects all those involved as they attempt to regroup and initiate change. Applicable to drugs, alcohol, and gambling, this engagingly written book offers both innovative theory and practice-strengthening interventions.
Fragmentation in Semi-Arid and Arid Landscapes : Consequences for Human and Natural Systems
Exploring the concept of fragmentation, the ecological processes interrupted by fragmentation, and the social consequences of fragmented landscapes, this book presents a timely synthesis on the effects of fragmentation on arid and semi-arid pastoral systems throughout the world. the authors examine how fragmentation occurs, the patterns that result, and the consequences of fragmentation for ecosystems and the people who depend on them. The book will provide a valuable reference for students and researchers in rangeland ecology, park and natural resource management, environmental and ecological anthropology, economics and agriculture.
Fragile Families and the Marriage Agenda
Some social sciences contend that marriage is the solution to many of the problems associated with single-parent families. Other experts believe that government programs designed to raise marriage rates may cause more problems than they solve,The proposed volume will explore issues related to fragile families from many different perspectives on the causes and consequences of this issue. This book is divided up into sections covering legal and theoretical perspectives, causes and consequences of offspring wellbeing, and the aspect of father’s importance to the "fragile families".
Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics ; Active Materials, Nanoscale Materials, Composites, Glass, and Fundamentals
The 8th International Symposium on fracture mechanics of ceramics was held in on the campus of the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA, on February 25-28, 2003. With the natural maturing of the fields of structural ceramics, this symposium focused on nano-scale materials, composites, thin films and coatings as well as glass. The symposium also addressed new issues on fundamentals of fracture mechanics and contact mechanics, and a session on reliability and standardization.
Fractional calculus—theory and applications
Fractional calculus has led to tremendous progress in various areas of science and mathematics. New definitions of fractional derivatives and integrals have been uncovered, extending their classical definitions in various ways. Moreover, rigorous analysis of the functional properties of these new definitions has been an active area of research in mathematical analysis. Systems considering differential equations with fractional-order operators have been investigated thoroughly from analytical and numerical points of view, and potential applications have been proposed for use in sciences and in technology. The purpose of this Special Issue is to serve as a specialized forum for the dissemination of recent progress in the theory of fractional calculus and its potential applications.
Fractals in Biology and Medicine : Beyond Planting Trees
This volume it highlights the potential that fractal geometry offers for elucidating and explaining the complex make-up of cells, tissues and biological organisms either in normal or in pathological conditions, including the structural changes that occur in tumours. It helps develop the concepts, questions and methods required in research on fractal biology and natural phenomena and to evidence the pitfalls of a too simplistic application of these principles in investigating topical subjects of biology and medicine. It discusses present and future applications of fractal geometry, bringing together cellular and molecular biology, engineering, mathematics, physics, medicine and other disciplines and allowing an interdisciplinary vision.
Fractal Dimensions of Networks
The goal of the book is to provide a unified treatment of fractal dimensions of sets and networks. Since almost all of the major concepts in fractal dimensions originated in the study of sets, the book achieves this goal by first clearly presenting, with an abundance of examples and illustrations, the theory and algorithms for sets, and then showing how the theory and algorithms have been applied to networks. For example, the book presents the classical theory and algorithms for the box counting dimension for sets, and then presents the box counting dimension for networks. All the major fractal dimensions are studied, e.g., the correlation dimension, the information dimension, the Hausdorff dimension, the multifractal spectrum, as well as many lesser known dimensions. Algorithm descriptions are accompanied by worked examples, with many applications of the methods presented.
