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Elsevier

Books in Information and uncertainty

  • Sexual Reproduction of Tree Crops

    • 1st Edition
    • M. Sedgley + 1 more
    • English
    Research into the reproductive biology of crop plants has expanded greatly in recent years and has lead to an increasing awareness of the importance of flowering, pollination, and fruit set in crop productivity. This book focuses specifically on tree cultivation. It deals with the basic biology of sexual reproduction and relates this to the practical aspects of tree crop breeding and orchard management for fruit and seed production, in both temperate and tropical species.It is aimed at both students and research scientists in horticulture, forestry, and pollination ecology as well as those working in tree breeding, tree cultivation, and orchard management. The conservation problems of rainforest regeneration in the tropics and subtropics and of changing land use priorities in Europe and North America also make this book of value to those concerned with tree species preservation and survival.

  • Semiotic Mediation

    Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives
    • 1st Edition
    • Elizabeth Mertz
    • English
    Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives provides the theoretical and empirical direction toward the synthesis of the subjective, developmental, or cognitive aspects of semiotic processes in a psychological context, and the historical, institutional, and ideological grounding of sign systems in sociocultural contexts. The book is divided into three sections that show the theoretical rationale and empirical consequences of cross-disciplinary research into semiotic processes. Part I provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation, with analysis and exegesis of work on semiotic mediation by theorists such as Peirce, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Whorf, Saussure, and Frege. Part II presents empirical case studies that range across the fields of developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, and history of religion. Linking together these diverse data bases and research methodologies are crosscutting concerns with four dimensions of semiotic mediation. The third part is a section comprised of commentaries on the organization and themes of metasemiotic representation. The concluding chapter sketches the philosophical history of the notion of semiotic mediation and then synthesizes the volume's empirical studies in terms of directions for future research. Anthropologists, psycholinguists, psychosociologists, and linguistics experts will find the book invaluable.

  • Engine Testing

    Theory and Practice
    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Engine Testing: Theory and Practice brings together the information on both the theory and practice of engine testing that engineers in this field must have available. Organized into 19 chapters, this book begins with a description of the engine test cell, including the salient features of its main types. Subsequent chapters deal with the other main components of an engine testing installation: the control room and the ventilation systems. Other chapters discuss the essential features of a test installation fuel supply system, as well as the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of the various types of dynamometer. The measurements of torque, power, speed, fuel consumption, air consumption, heat loss, and mechanical loss are also explained. Other topics of significance include the process of combustion, exhaust emissions, data logging, and statistical analysis. This material will be very useful to practicing test engineers and students.

  • Role Theory

    Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors
    • 1st Edition
    • Bruce J. Biddle
    • English
    Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors presents the applications of role concepts for education, social work, and clinical practice. This book examines the advantages as well as the shortcomings of the role stance. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of behaviors that are characteristics of persons within contexts and the various processes that are employed to explain and predict those behaviors. This text then examines the concepts of the role field and discovers their applications to social problems of pressing concern. Other chapters consider the empirical evidence that has been developed within the role orientation concerning social problems. This book discusses as well the behavioral comparability, behavior linkage, behavioral effects, and complex linking concepts for behaviors. The final chapter discusses how contexts may affect the behaviors of persons and how those behaviors may have subsequent functions. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists, sociologists, and social psychologists.

  • Corruption

    A Study in Political Economy
    • 1st Edition
    • Susan Rose-Ackerman
    • English
    Corruption: A Study in Political Economy focuses on the problem of corruptions in political economy and functional bribery. This book is organized into four parts encompassing 11 chapters. Chapters 2 to 4 deal with the fundamental relationship among voters, legislators, and interest groups, as well as the role of the government bureaucracy in shaping legislative choices. Chapters 5 illustrates the basic relationships with an analysis of a monopolistic government official charged with allocating a benefit through a queuing system, while Chapter 6 retains the assumption of a single official with monopoly power but moves beyond the queuing model to consider alternative sanctioning strategies, a wider variety of bureaucratic tasks, and bribers who may be competitively or monopolisticly organized. Chapters 7 and 8 explore the potential of a system where officials are permitted to compete with one another in processing applications for governmental benefits. Under this system, an individual or firm rejected by one official can seek the benefit from other bureaucrats. Chapter 9 introduces a final administrative variable into the analysis, while Chapter 10 discusses the governmental corruption to analogous corrupt activities entirely within the private sector. Lastly, Chapter 11 looks into the relation between corruption and democratic theory, the possibility of reforming corrupt bureaucracies, and the link between economics and morality. This book will be of value to public servants, legislators, economists, sociologists, and researchers.

  • Oxidative Stress

    • 1st Edition
    • Helmut Sies
    • English
    Oxidative Stress is intended as an in-depth account of knowledge and problems in the field of oxygen-related damage in biological systems. The topics range from an assessment of molecular events in in vitro model systems to complex problems in clinical medicine. Organized into two parts with a total of 18 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to oxidative stress, elucidating specific topics on reactive oxygen species, detoxification system, and nature of oxidative damage. The first part focuses on models used with cells and tissues in the study of oxidative stress, whereas the second part describes the processes elicited by oxidative stress.

  • Volcanic Hazards

    A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions
    • 1st Edition
    • R. J. Blong
    • English
    Volcanic Hazards: A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions provides a comprehensive discussion of volcanic eruptions and their effects. This volume provides background data on volcanic activity with attention directed specifically at those types of activity and those characteristics which are hazardous. It establishes the direct effects of volcanic eruptions on humans in terms of death and injuries, and social aspects such as perception of eruption hazards, evacuation, panic, looting, and religious beliefs. It discusses the indirect consequences of volcanic eruptions for humans by illustrating the effects on buildings, utilities, communication networks and machinery, agriculture, and commercial activity. This book should be of interest to planners, engineers, city administrators, agriculturalists, and emergency services personnel who must deal with the effects of volcanic hazards; to volcanologists and geologists who did not know eruptions affected so many things; to geographers, environmentalists, and natural hazard scientists who are interested in the interrelatedness of phenomena; and to citizens who have experienced, or might yet experience, some of these effects.

  • Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry

    • 1st Edition
    • Eldor Paul
    • English
    Soil Microbiology and Biochemsitry enconmpasses the broad spectrum of soil organisms and the dynamic processes carried on by them, including ecological relationships in the biota, the dynamics of the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and microbe-driven reactions involving sulfu, phosphorous, and metals. This reference source will prove invaluable to anyone involved in the study of agricultural and nonagricultural soils.

  • Practical Microwave Electron Devices

    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Practical Microwave Electron Devices provides an understanding of microwave electron devices and their applications. All areas of microwave electron devices are covered. These include microwave solid-state devices, including popular microwave transistors and both passive and active diodes; quantum electron devices; thermionic devices (including relativistic thermionic devices); and ferrimagnetic electron devices. The design of each of these devices is discussed as well as their applications, including oscillation, amplification, switching, modulation, demodulation, and parametric interactions. Numerous design examples and case studies are presented throughout the book. For each microwave electron device covered, typical design examples or case studies are presented as well as qualitative or quantitative explanations. The fundamental theory of each device is summarized along with the underlying principles of the design. Each summary is presented so that the design techniques can be applied to other specific cases, designs, and applications. Review questions are included with each chapter to stimulate creative thinking and enhance the acquisition of knowledge and design skills. This book is written for engineers, scientists, and technicians seeking practical knowledge on microwave electron devices and their applications through self-study. It is also suitable for use as a college textbook in upper-division courses for seniors and first-year graduate students in electrical engineering.

  • Working Models of Human Perception

    • 1st Edition
    • Ben A.G. Elsendoorn
    • English
    This book devotes attention to both theoretical and applied problems simultaneously. Many applied problems turn out to be very difficult and they often need deep theoretical insight in order to get solved. In fact, applied problems often serve as a source of inspiration for theoretical work, since they usually are beyond reach of present theories and may show us in what direction theories need to be developed.The layout of the book is a reflection of the three main areas of research at the Institute for Perception Research: Hearing and Speech, Vision and Reading, Cognition and Communication. Following the set-up of the workshop, the organization of the papers is in pairs, such that the odd-numbered chapters are generally reactions to the even-numbered chapters.