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Books in Information and uncertainty

Analytical Methods For Geochemical Exploration
1st Edition
J. C. Van Loon + 1 more
English
Written for the practicing analyst, Analytical Methods for Geochemical Exploration offers thoroughly tested chemical analysis methods for determining what base or precious metals are in geochemical exploration samples, such as rocks, soil, or sediment. Theory is kept to a minimum and complete procedures are provided so that no additional sources are needed to conduct analyses.
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.
Supersymmetries and Infinite-Dimensional Algebras
1st Edition
Volume 3
N. H. March
English
Recent devopments, particularly in high-energy physics, have projected group theory and symmetry consideration into a central position in theoretical physics. These developments have taken physicists increasingly deeper into the fascinating world of pure mathematics. This work presents important mathematical developments of the last fifteen years in a form that is easy to comprehend and appreciate.
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.
Communication Theory
Eastern and Western Perspectives
1st Edition
D.Lawrence Kincaid
English
Communication Theory: Eastern and Western Perspectives focuses on the processes, methodologies, principles, and approaches involved in communication theory. The selection first elaborates on Asian perspectives on communication theory; Chinese philosophy and contemporary human communication theory; communication in Chinese narrative; and contemporary Chinese philosophy and political communication. Discussions focus on the structure and function of China's political communication system; philosophical principles of Chinese communism; embodiment of reason in experience; and dialectic completion of relative polarities. The text then examines Korean philosophy and communication, practice of Uye-Ri in interpersonal relationships, and the teachings of Yi Yulgok. The publication examines the double-swing model of intercultural communication between the East and the West; interpersonal cognition, message goals, and organization of communication; and the convergence theory of communication, self-organization, and cultural evolution. The book also ponders on the practice of Antyodaya in agricultural extension communication in India and communication within Japanese business organizations. The selection is a valuable reference for researchers interested in the Eastern and Western perspectives of communication theory.
Preferred Orientation in Deformed Metal and Rocks
An introduction to Modern Texture Analysis
1st Edition
Hans Rudolf Wenk
English
This volume provides an introduction to the texture analysis of deformed materials and explores methods of determining and interpreting the preferred orientation of crystals in deformed polycrystalline aggregates.**The book reviews: 1) the techniques, procedures, and theoretical basis for the accumulation and analysis of orientation data; 2)the processes by which polycrystals deform and the microstructural mechanisms responsible for the development of the preferred orientation; 3) the textures in specific systems and application of principles to the solution of specific problems.**With a combination of metallurgic and geologic applications, Preferred Orientation in Deformed Metals and Rocks: An Introduction to Modern Texture Analysis will be an important source book for students and researchers in materials science, solid state physics, structural geology, and geophysics.**FROM THE PREFACE: Determination and interpretation of the preferred orientation of crystals in deformed polycrystalline aggregates (in this volume also referred to as texture) has been of longstanding concern to both materials scientists and geologists. A similar theoretical background--such as the dislocation theory of crystal plasticity--has been the basis of understanding flow in metals and rocks; and similar determinative techniques--includin... microscopy and x-ray diffraction--have been used to study textures and microstructures. Whereas many of the fundamental principles have been established early this century by scientists such as Jeffery, Sachs, Sander, Schmid, Schmidt, and Taylor, only in recent years has knowledge reached a level that provides a quantitative framework which has replaced a largely phenomenological approach. This is expressed in the sudden new emphasis on textural studies, as documented by the large number of recent publications.**This volume contains material to serve as an introduction for those who wish to enter this field as well as reviews for those who are already engaged in advanced research....**The book is divided into three parts. The first (Chapters 2*b17) deals with techniques, procedures, and theoretical bases for the accumulation and analysis of orientation data. The second (Chapters 8*b112) introduces processes by which polycrystals deform and the microstructural mechanisms responsible for the development of the preferred orientation. All those chapters emphasize basic principles and apply to metals as well as to minerals. The third part (Chapters 13*b126) illustrates textures in specific systems and the application of the principles set out in the earlier chapters to the solution of specific problems. Readers of these chapters will quickly become aware that metals have been more exhaustively studied than minerals; but they will also realize that, because of their structural symmetry, metals are in general much simpler than rocks and that the intepretation of metal textures is less involved. An extensive list of relevant references provides access to much of the original literature on textures....
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.
Metals and Micronutrients
Uptake and Utilization By Plants
1st Edition
D.A. Robb
English
Metals and Micronutrients: Uptake and Utilization by Plants contains the contributions of invited speakers at 1981 Easter meeting of the Phytochemical Society of Europe. The meeting brings together chemists, biochemists, physiologists, and agronomists to discuss aspects of phytometallurgy-how plants extract,accumulate, and use metals. The order of chapters in this book is meant to emphasize stages in the sequence, that is, uptake-incorporation... This book first describes the process of absorption of metals and micronutrients in plants, as well as the influences of the environment. This text then talks about the aspects of the movement and storage of iron and its incorporation into prosthetic groups. Some ways in which metals are involved in physiological and metabolic processes in plants are explained. This reference material will be valuable to senior undergraduates and postgraduates in this field of interest.
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.
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.