Page 1
Page 1
Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child : An Analysis of Attributes
This book presents a discussion on human rights-based attributes for each article pertinent to the substantive rights of children, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It provides the reader with a unique and clear overview of the scope and core content of the articles, together with an analysis of the latest jurisprudence of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. For each article of the UNCRC, the authors explore the nature and scope of corresponding State obligations, and identify the main features that need to be taken into consideration when assessing a State’s progressive implementation of the UNCRC. This analysis considers which aspects of a given right are most important to track, in order to monitor States' implementation of any given right, and whether there is any resultant change in the lives of children.
Molecular Imaging ; An Essential Tool in Preclinical Research, Diagnostic Imaging, and Therapy
The continuous progress in the understanding of molecular processes of disease formation and progression attributes an increasing importance to biomedical molecular imaging methods. The purpose of this workshop was to discuss and overview multiple applications and emerging technologies in the area of diagnostic imaging including its fundamental capabilities in preclinical research, the opportunities for medical care, and the options involving therapeutic concepts. The book provides the reader with state-of-the-art information on the different aspects of diagnostic imaging, illuminating new developments in molecular biology, imaging agents and molecular probe design, and therapeutic techniques.
Molecular Biology in Plant Pathogenesis and Disease Management : Microbial Plant Pathogens ; Vol.1
Studies on molecular biology of pathogens, infection process and disease resistance, have provided information essentially required to understand the vulnerable stages at which the pathogens can be tackled effectively and to adopt novel strategies to incorporate disease resistance genes from diverse sources and /or to induce resistance of cultivars with desirable agronomic attributes using biotic or abiotic agents. The nature of interaction between the gene products of the pathogen and plant appears to determine the outcome of the interaction resulting in either disease progression or suppression. Transgenic plants with engineered genes show promise for effective exploitation of this approach for practical application. Research efforts during the recent years to sequence the whole genomes of the pathogens and plants may lead to development of better ways of manipulating disease resistance mechanisms enabling the grower to achieve higher production levels and the consumer to enjoy safer food and agricultural products. Experimental protocols included in appropriate chapters will be useful for researchers and graduate students.
Microwave Engineering : Concepts and Fundamentals
Covers everything from wave propagation to reflection and refraction, guided waves, and transmission lines, providing a comprehensive understanding of the underlying principles at the core of microwave engineering. This encyclopedic text not only encompasses nearly all facets of microwave engineering, but also gives all topics—including microwave generation, measurement, and processing—equal emphasis. Packed with illustrations to aid in comprehension. Describes the mathematical theory of waveguides and ferrite devices, devoting an entire chapter to the Smith chart and its applications Discusses different types of microwave components, antennas, tubes, transistors, diodes, and parametric devices Examines various attributes of cavity resonators, semiconductor and RF/microwave devices, and microwave integrated circuits
Methods in Gut microbial ecology for ruminants
As a result of various human activities, such as increase in human population,decrease in arable land due to soil degradation, urbanization, industrialization and associated increase in the demand for livestock products, dramatic changes are occurring in the global ruminant livestock sector. These changes includeshift inthesize of regional livestock populations and in the types of management and feeding systems under which ruminant livestock are held, and increased demand of a wider range of quality attributes from animal agriculture, not just of the products themselves but also of the methods used in their production. The livestock sector will need to respond to new challenges of increasing live stock productivity while protecting environment and human health and conservingbiodiversity and natural resources. The micro-organisms in the digestive tracts of ruminant livestock have a profound in?uence on the conversion offeedinto end products, which can impact on the- imal and theenvironment. As the livestock sector grows particularly in developing countries, there will be an increasing need to understand these processes for b- ter management and use ofbothfeed and other natural resources that underpinthe development of sustainable feeding systems.
Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice
From grading and preparing harvested vegetables to the tactile probing of a patient’s innermost recesses, mechatronics has become part of our way of life. The addition of senses and computing intelligence to blend with mechanical actuation gives rise to a breed of new machines with all the best attributes of a robot.
Inter-Municipal Cooperation in Europe
This book presents an overview of inter-municipal cooperation in eight European countries. Each country study sketches its attendant forms, their institutional design, the tasks and competencies attributed to joint authorities of municipalities and the way inter-municipal cooperation operates in practice. Both performance and democratic aspects of cooperation are recurring topics. The last chapter of the book presents a comparative analysis and reflects on the future of inter-municipal cooperation.
Information and its role in nature
Infromation and Its Role in Nature presents an in-depth interdisciplinary discussion of the concept of information and its role in the control of natural processes. After a brief review of classical and quantum information theory, the author addresses numerous central questions, including: Is information reducible to the laws of physics and chemistry? Does the Universe, in its evolution, constantly generate new information? Or are information and information-processing exclusive attributes of living systems, related to the very definition of life? If so, what is the role of information in classical and quantum physics? In what ways does information-processing in the human brain bring about self-consciousness? Accessible to graduate students and professionals from all scientific disciplines, this stimulating book will help to shed light on many controversial issues at the heart of modern science.
Image Analysis and Recognition ; Vol. 4142 ; 3rd International Conference, ICIAR 2006, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal, September 18-20, 2006, Proceedings, Part II
ICIAR 2006, the International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition, was the third ICIAR conference, and was held in P´ ovoa de Varzim, Portugal. ICIARisorganizedannually,andalternatesbetweenEuropeandNorthAmerica. ICIAR 2004 was held in Porto, Portugal and ICIAR 2005 in Toronto, Canada. The idea of o?ering these conferences came as a result of discussion between researchers in Portugal and Canada to encourage collaboration and exchange, mainlybetweenthesetwocountries,butalsowiththeopenparticipationofother countries, addressing recent advances in theory, methodology and applications. The response to the call for papers for ICIAR 2006 was higher than the two previous editions. From 389 full papers submitted, 163 were ?nally accepted (71 oral presentations, and 92 posters). The review process was carried out by the Program Committee members and other reviewers; all are experts in various image analysis and recognition areas. Each paper was reviewed by at least two reviewers, and also checked by the conference Co-chairs. The high quality of the papers in these proceedings is attributed ?rst to the authors, and second to the quality of the reviews provided by the experts.
Image Analysis and Recognition ; Vol. 3656 ; 2ond International Conference, ICIAR 2005, Toronto, Canada, September 28-30, 2005, Proceedings
ICIAR 2005, the International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition, was the second ICIAR conference, and was held in Toronto, Canada. ICIAR is organized annually, and alternates between Europe and North America. ICIAR 2004 was held in Porto, Portugal. The idea of o?ering these conferences came as a result of discussion between researchers in Portugal and Canada to encourage collaboration and exchange, mainly between these two countries, but also with the open participation of other countries, addressing recent advances in theory, methodology and applications. TheresponsetothecallforpapersforICIAR2005wasencouraging.From295 full papers submitted, 153 were ?nally accepted (80 oral presentations, and 73 posters). The review process was carried out by the Program Committee m- bers and other reviewers ; all are experts in various image analysis and recognition areas. Each paper was reviewed by at least two reviewers, and also checked by the conference co-chairs. The high quality of the papers in these proceedings is attributed ?rst to the authors,and second to the quality of the reviews provided by the experts. We would like to thank the authors for responding to our call, andwewholeheartedlythankthe reviewersfor theirexcellentwork,andfortheir timely response. It is this collective e?ort that resulted in the strong conference program and high-quality proceedings in your hands.
Growing Modular : Mass Customization of Complex Products, Services and Software
The Time for Mass Customization Has Arrived Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.In the work of mass customization are significant rewards to customer responsiveness, service, and financial performance of any organization. Aiming at the goal of driving lean manufacturing, companies are finding that the strategies that looked like the hardest work, dressed in overalls as Edison would say, are delivering the biggest impact on the financial statements of the companies that boldly take on serving customers in entirely new ways. Driving costs of organizations through more accuracy in orders, assuring that highly configured products are actually what a customer has ordered, and making the many product attributes in complex products accessible for the creation of entirely new production workflows and products, is real and is delivering costs savings while driving up margins.
Graduate Attributes, Learning and Employability
In these complex and challenging times, students, teachers and employers are all interested in the development of generic abilities as these typically make the difference between good and indifferent employees, successful and unsuccessful learners. This book explains why generic capacities have become so important and argues that the process of acquiring them is both lifelong and developmental. By using case studies and theoretical analyses the authors collectively provide a comprehensive and contemporary coverage of the issues concerning generic abilities.
Geographic information metadata for spatial data infrastructures : Resources, interoperability and information retrieval
Metadata play a fundamental role in both DLs and SDIs. Commonly defined as "structured data about data" or "data which describe attributes of a resource" or, more simply, "information about data", it is an essential requirement for locating and evaluating available data. Therefore, this book focuses on the study of different metadata aspects, which contribute to a more efficient use of DLs and SDIs. The three main issues addressed are: the management of nested collections of resources, the interoperability between metadata schemas, and the integration of information retrieval techniques to the discovery services of geographic data catalogs (contributing in this way to avoid metadata content heterogeneity).
Fuzzy multi-criteria decision making : Theory and applications with recent developments
In trying to make a satisfactory decision when imprecise and multicriteria situations are involved, a decision maker has to use a fuzzy multicriteria decision making method. Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) presents fuzzy multiattribute and multiobjective decision-making methodologies by distinguished MCDM researchers. In summarizing the concepts and results of the most popular fuzzy multicriteria methods, using numerical examples, this work examines all the fuzzy multicriteria methods recently developed, such as fuzzy AHP, fuzzy TOPSIS, interactive fuzzy multiobjective stochastic linear programming, fuzzy multiobjective dynamic programming, grey fuzzy multiobjective optimization, fuzzy multiobjective geometric programming, and more.
From web to social web : Discovering and deploying user and content profiles ; Workshop on Web Mining, WebMine 2006, Berlin, Germany, September 18, 2006
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Workshop on Web Mining, WebMine 2006, held in Berlin, Germany, September 2006. Topics included are data mining based on analysis of bloggers and tagging, web mining, XML mining and further techniques of knowledge discovery.
FPGA Implementations of Neural Networks
During the 1980s and early 1990s there was signi?cant work in the design and implementation of hardware neurocomputers. Nevertheless, most of these efforts may be judged to have been unsuccessful: at no time have have ha- ware neurocomputers been in wide use. This lack of success may be largely attributed to the fact that earlier work was almost entirely aimed at developing custom neurocomputers, based on ASIC technology, but for such niche - eas this technology was never suf?ciently developed or competitive enough to justify large-scale adoption. On the other hand, gate-arrays of the period m- tioned were never large enough nor fast enough for serious arti?cial-neur- network (ANN) applications.
Foundations of C++/CLI : The Visual C++ Language for .NET 3.5
Foundations of C++/CLI: The Visual C++ Language for .NET 3.5 introduces C++/CLI, Microsoft's extensions to the C++ syntax that allow you to target the common language runtime, the key to the heart of the .NET Framework 3.5. This book gives you a small, fast–paced primer that will kick–start your journey into the world of C++/CLI. In 13 no–fluff chapters, Microsoft insiders take readers into the core of the C++/CLI language and explain both how the language elements work and how Microsoft intends them to be used. This book is a beginner's guide, but it assumes a familiarity with programming basics. And it concentrates on explaining the aspects of C++/CLI that make it the most powerful and fun language of the .NET Framework. As such, this book is ideal if you're thinking of migrating to C++/CLI from another language.
Forensic Genetics in the Governance of Crime
This book uses a critical sociological perspective to explore contemporary ways of reformulating the governance of crime through genetics. Through the lens of scientific knowledge and genetic technology, Machado and Granja offer a unique perspective on current trends in crime governance. They explore the place and role of genetics in criminal justice systems, and show how classical and contemporary social theory can help address challenges posed by social processes and interactions generated by the uses, meanings, and expectations attributed to genetics in the governance of crime
Food nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is increasingly being utilized within the food industry to create innovative products with new or improved properties. This book introduces the history of nanotechnology applications in the food industry. It then discusses the key physicochemical and structural characteristics of the different kinds of nanoparticles found in foods, as well as showing how these characteristics lead to their unique functional attributes. Applications of nanotechnology in the food and agricultural industries are then covered, including the creation of nanopesticides, nanofertilizers, nutrient delivery systems, functional ingredients, smart packaging materials, nanofilters, and sensors, as well as for the conversion of waste materials into value-added products. Finally, the potential toxicity of both organic and inorganic nanoparticles found in foods is critically assessed. The author is a Distinguished Professor of food science who uses physics, chemistry, and biology to improve the quality, safety, and healthiness of foods. He has published over a thousand scientific articles and numerous books in this area and is currently the most highly cited food scientist in the world. He has won numerous awards for his scientific achievements.
Environments for Multi-Agent Systems ; 1st International Workshop, E4MAS, 2004, New York, NY, July 19, 2004, Revised Selected Papers
The modern ?eld of multiagent systems has developed from two main lines of earlier research. Its practitioners generally regard it as a form of arti?cial intelligence (AI). Some of its earliest work was reported in a series of workshops in the US dating from1980,revealinglyentitled,“DistributedArti?cialIntelligence,”andpioneers often quoted a statement attributed to Nils Nilsson that “all AI is distributed. ” The locus of classical AI was what happens in the head of a single agent, and much MAS research re?ects this heritage with its emphasis on detailed modeling of the mental state and processes of individual agents. From this perspective, intelligenceisultimatelythepurviewofasinglemind,thoughitcanbeampli?ed by appropriate interactions with other minds. These interactions are typically mediated by structured protocols of various sorts, modeled on human conver- tional behavior. But the modern ?eld of MAS was not born of a single parent. A few - searchershavepersistentlyadvocatedideasfromthe?eldofarti?ciallife(ALife). These scientists were impressed by the complex adaptive behaviors of commu- ties of animals (often extremely simple animals, such as insects or even micro- ganisms). The computational models on which they drew were often created by biologists who used them not to solve practical engineering problems but to test their hypotheses about the mechanisms used by natural systems. In the ar- ?cial life model, intelligence need not reside in a single agent, but emerges at the level of the community from the nonlinear interactions among agents. - cause the individual agents are often subcognitive, their interactions cannot be modeled by protocols that presume linguistic competence.
