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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 Bilateral Arbitral Tribunals and Investment Courts to a Multilateral Investment Court : Options Regarding the Institutionalization of Investor-State Dispute Settlement
This book considers the potential setup for a future Multilateral Investment Court (MIC). The option of an MIC was first discussed by the EU Commission in 2016 and has since been made an official element of the EU Common Commercial Policy. In 2017, UNCITRAL also decided to discuss the possibility of an MIC, and on 20 March 2018, the Council of the EU gave the EU Commission the mandate to negotiate the creation of an MIC. The “feasibility study” presented here is intended to contribute to a broader discussion on the options for a new international court specialized in investment protection.
From Assessing to Conserving Biodiversity : Conceptual and Practical Challenges
This book despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so? The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation actions imply. But this is not the whole story. This book develops a different perspective on the problem by exploring the conceptual challenges and practical defiance posed by conserving biodiversity, namely: on the one hand, the difficulties in defining what biodiversity is and characterizing that “thing” to which the word ‘biodiversity’ refers to; on the other hand, the reasons why assessing biodiversity and putting in place effective conservation actions is arduous.
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.
Frobenius Splitting Methods in Geometry and Representation Theory
The theory of Frobenius splittings has made a significant impact in the study of the geometry of flag varieties and representation theory. This work, unique in book literature, systematically develops the theory and covers all its major developments.
Fringe 2005 ; The 5th International Workshop on Automatic Processing of Finge Patterns
In 1993 new prin- ples of optical shape measurement, setup calibration, phase unwr- ping and nondestructive testing were the focus of discussion, while in 1997 new approaches in multi-sensor metrology, active measu- ment strategies and hybrid processing technologies played a central role.
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 Microplastics : Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
Focuses on microscopic plastic debris, also referred to as microplastics, which have been detected in aquatic environments around the globe and have accordingly raised serious concerns. The book explores whether microplastics represent emerging contaminants in freshwater systems, an area that remains underrepresented to date.Given the complexity of the issue, the book covers the current state-of-research on microplastics in rivers and lakes, including analytical aspects, environmental concentrations and sources, modelling approaches, interactions with biota, and ecological implications. To provide a broader perspective, the book also discusses lessons learned from nanomaterials and the implications of plastic debris for regulation, politics, economy, and society. In a research field that is rapidly evolving, it offers a solid overview for environmental chemists, engineers, and toxicologists, as well as water managers and policy-makers.
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.
Fresh Dialogue ; Vol.5 : New Voices in Graphic Design
This book is a documentation wide range of disciplines and experience, looking of an inspiring evening of design and discussion.
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-Convective Heat Transfer : With Many Photographs of Flows and Heat Exchange
Free Convective Heat Transfer is a thorough survey of various kinds of free-convective flows and heat transfer. Reference data are accompanied by a large number of photographs originating from different optical visualization methods illustrating the different types of flow. The formulas derived from numerical and analytical investigations are valuable tools for engineering calculations. They are written in their most compact and general form in order to allow for an extensive range of different variants of boundary and initial conditions, which, in turn, leads to a wide applicability to different flow types. Some specific engineering problems are solved in the book as exemplary applications of these formulas.
Free Surface Flows under Compensated Gravity Conditions
Considers the behavior of fluids in a low-gravity environment with special emphasis on application in PMD (propellant management device) systems . This book treats three different flow problems with analytical, numerical and experimental means: the transient contour change between two static surface configurations (free surface oscillations), the capillary rise in tubes (capillary rise), and the flow through open capillary channels (choking).
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 Energy and Self-Interacting Particles
This book examines a system of parabolic-elliptic partial differential eq- tions proposed in mathematical biology, statistical mechanics, and chemical kinetics. In the context of biology, this system of equations describes the chemotactic feature of cellular slime molds and also the capillary formation of blood vessels in angiogenesis. There are several methods to derive this system. One is the biased random walk of the individual, and another is the reinforced random walk of one particle modelled on the cellular automaton. In the context of statistical mechanics or chemical kinetics, this system of equations describes the motion of a mean field of many particles, interacting under the gravitational inner force or the chemical reaction
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.
