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Elsevier

Elsevier Science

  • Water and Peace in the Middle East

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 58
    • J. Isaac + 1 more
    • English
    The volume serves as an important mile-stone in the process called "second track" dialogue and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian academics on crucial shared problems, the resolution of which is vital to the peace process. The book contains forty-one original papers dealing with almost all aspects of the Middle-Eastern water problems, and should serve as a useful reference to students, scholars and policy makers all over the world interested in understanding the complexities of the Middle-Eastern water conflicts.

  • Automation Based Creative Design - Research and Perspectives

    • 1st Edition
    • A. Tzonis + 1 more
    • English
    Computer technology has revolutionized many aspects of building design, such as drafting, management, construction - even building with robots. This revolution has expanded into the field of design creativity. Presented in this book is an up-to-date, comprehensive picture of research advances in the fast-growing field of informatics applied to conceptual stages in the generation of artifacts - in particular, buildings. It addresses the question how far and in what ways creative design can be intelligently automated.Among the topics covered are: the use of precedents; the relations between case-based, rule-based, and principle-based architectural design reasoning; product typology; artifact thesauruses; the inputting and retrieval of architectural knowledge; the visual representation and understanding of existing or projected built forms; empirical and analytical models of the design process and the design product; desktop design toolkits; grammars of shape and of function; multiple-perspective building data structures; design as a multi-agent collaborative process; the integration of heterogeneous engineering information; and foundations for a systematic approach to the development of knowledge-based design systems.The papers provide a link between basic and practical issues: - fundamental questions in the theory of artifact design, artifical intelligence, and the cognitive science of imagination and reasoning; - problems in the computerization of building data and design facilities; - the practical tasks of building conception, construction and evaluation. The automation of creative design is itself considered as an engineering design problem. The implications of current and future work for architectural education and research in architectural history, as well as for computer-integrated construction and the management of engineering projects are considered.

  • Damage Mechanics of Composite Materials

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 9
    • Ramesh Talreja
    • English
    Damage mechanics is concerned with mechanics-based analyses of microstructural events in solids responsible for changes in their response to external loading. The microstructural events can occur as cracks, voids, slipped regions, etc., with a spatial distribution within the volume of a solid. If a solid contains oriented elements in its microsctructure, e.g. fibers, the heterogeneity and asisotropy aspects create situations which form a class of problems worthy of special treatment. This book deals with such treatments with particular emphasis on application to technological composite materials.Chapter one describes the basic principles underlying both the micromechanics approach and the continuum damage mechanics approach. It also reviews the relevant statistical concepts. The next three chapters are devoted to developments of the continuum damage mechanics approach related to characterization of damage with internal variables, evolution of damage and its coupling with other inelastic effects such as plasticity. Chapter 5 describes observations of damage from notches in composite laminates and puts forward some pragmatic modelling ideas for a complex damage configuration. The next two chapters form the bulk of the micromechanics approach in this volume. The first one deals with microcracking and the other with interfacial damage in composite materials.

  • Time-Varying Image Processing and Moving Object Recognition

    Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop Florence, Italy, June 10-11, 1993
    • 1st Edition
    • V. Cappellini
    • English
    In the area of Digital Image Processing the new area of "Time-Varying Image Processing and Moving Oject Recognition" is contributing to impressive advances in several fields. Presented in this volume are new digital image processing and recognition methods, implementation techniques and advanced applications such as television, remote sensing, biomedicine, traffic, inspection, and robotics. New approaches (such as digital transforms, neural networks) for solving 2-D and 3-D problems are described. Many papers concentrate on motion estimation and recognition i.e. tracking of moving objects. Overall, the book describes the state-of-the-art (theory, implementation, applications) of this developing area, together with future trends. The work will be of interest not only to researchers, professors and students in university departments of engineering, communications, computers and automatic control, but also to engineers and managers of industries concerned with computer vision, manufacturing, automation, robotics and quality control.

  • Neurotransmitter Receptors

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 24
    • F. Hucho
    • English
    This comprehensive compilation provides a wealth of information on receptor sequences produced by recombinant DNA techniques used in combination with classical biochemistry. To minimize redundancies in this wealth of information, only a few receptors (some of which are typical for a whole group of similar receptors, others which are presently of special interest) are dealt with in a full-size chapter. Others are represented in the TIPS Receptor Nomenclature Supplement which is included as a special feature in this book, making this volume more useful as a receptor handbook.

  • Textile Processing and Properties

    Preparation, Dyeing, Finishing and Performance
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 11
    • T.L. Vigo
    • English
    The type and amount of textile products have greatly proliferated over the last decade. Concomitant textile processing to improve the properties and ultimate performance has also undergone dramatic changes. Ready availability of instrumentation, computers, lasers and integration of these advances with similar progress in polymer/material science have led to the need for a unified discussion on these topics.The current book concisely discusses all aspects of textile processing, modification and performance for four major topics: preparation (by fiber type), dyeing and printing (dye type, theory and synthesis; dye classification by structure and application), improving functional and aesthetic textile properties (physical, chemical and physicochemical processes and concepts), and performance (chemical analysis, instrumental methods; physical, chemical, biological, multiple influences and standard tests). A detailed and logical progression from the initial purification of textiles to their performance and care is described. The book will be useful as a text for textile/polymer courses at undergraduate and graduate levels and as a comprehensive source of information for textile scientists, engineers, manufacturers, retailers and others with an interest in textile products.

  • Biology of the Cancer Cell

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 7
    • G.H. Heppner
    • English
    With the current emphasis in cancer research on oncogenes and suppressor genes, and on autocrine factors and their receptors, it is easy to conclude that the "whole story"can be read in the cancer cell per se. No one would deny that the tremendous recent advances in describing the molecular and cellular alterations in cancer cells have greatly added to our understanding of neoplasia. But, learning how to translate the meaning of these alterations into ways of treating and, better yet, preventing cancer will require at least as deep an understanding of the context in which it develops. The topics of this volume were selected to lead the reader through the complex series of events by which cancer cells and their "environment"interac... to produce malignant disease. Underlying themes are the diversity in the pathways that can lead to malignancy and the basic heterogeneity of neoplastic cell populations. As has often been said, in cancer no generalizations are always true (including this one). Thus, the various chapters must be viewed as examples of possible processes and mechanisms, not as universally applicable laws.

  • Environmental Statistics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 12
    • G.P. Patil
    • English
    The question of what environmental statistics is about is particularly important when it comes to the formulation of relevant research and training, whether in academia, agencies, or industries. This volume aims to give a new perception on the subject with some examples that are of concern and interest today. Environmental statistics is in a take-off stage both for reasons of societal challenge and statistical opportunity, and is demanding more and more from non-traditional and innovative statistical approaches. The chapters in this volume, which are specially prepared by several outstanding professionals involved in statistics and the environment, discuss the current state of the art in diverse areas of environmental statistics. The volume provides new perspectives and problems for future research, training, policy and regulation. It will be valuable to researchers, teachers, consultants and graduate students in statistics, environmental statistics, statistical ecology, and quantitative environmental sciences in academia, industries, governmental agencies, laboratories and libraries.

  • Free Radical Damage and its Control

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 28
    • C.A. Rice-Evans + 1 more
    • English
    This book provides a comprehensive treatise on the chemical and biochemical consequences of damaging free radical reactions, the implications for the pathogenesis of disease and how this might be controlled endogenously and by radical scavenging drugs. Oxidative stress may be influenced by exogenous agents of oxidative stress, radiation, trauma, drug activation, oxygen excess, or by exogenous oxidative stress which is associated with many pathological states including chronic inflammatory disorders, cardiovascular disease, injury to the central nervous system, and connective tissue damage. This and many other such aspects are presented clearly and in depth.The development of antioxidant drugs depends on the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the generation of excessive free radicals in vivo, the factors controlling their release and the site of their action. This excellent volume presents an up-to-date account of the current state of knowledge in these areas.

  • Bacterial Cell Wall

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 27
    • J.-M. Ghuysen + 1 more
    • English
    Studies of the bacterial cell wall emerged as a new field of research in the early 1950s, and has flourished in a multitude of directions. This excellent book provides an integrated collection of contributions forming a fundamental reference for researchers and of general use to teachers, advanced students in the life sciences, and all scientists in bacterial cell wall research.Chapters include topics such as: Peptidoglycan, an essential constituent of bacterial endospores; Teichoic and teichuronic acids, lipoteichoic acids, lipoglycans, neural complex polysaccharides and several specialized proteins are frequently unique wall-associated components of Gram-positive bacteria; Bacterial cells evolving signal transduction pathways; Underlying mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.

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