springer japan aug 2016 (156 results)

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is an introduction to singularities for graduate students and researchers.It is said that algebraic geometry originated in the seventeenth century with the famous work Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences by Descartes. In that book he introduced coordinates to the study of geometry. After its publication, research on algebraic varieties developed steadily. Many beautiful results emerged in mathematicians' works. Most of them were about non-singular varieties. Singularities were considered 'bad' objects that interfered with knowledge of the structure of an algebraic variety. In the past three decades, however, it has become clear that singularities are necessary for us to have a good description of the framework of varieties. For example, it is impossible to formulate minimal model theory for higher-dimensional cases without singularities. Another example is that the moduli spaces of varieties have natural compactification, the boundaries of which correspond to singular varieties. A remarkable fact is that the study of singularities is developing and people are beginning to see that singularities are interesting and can be handled by human beings. This book is a handy introduction to singularities for anyone interested in singularities. The focus is on an isolated singularity in an algebraic variety. After preparation of varieties, sheaves, and homological algebra, some known results about 2-dimensional isolated singularities are introduced. Then a classification of higher-dimensional isolated singularities is shown according to plurigenera and the behavior of singularities under a deformation is studied. 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book contains the proceedings of the International Symposium on the Mechanisms of Sexual Reproduction in Animals and Plants, where many plant and animal reproductive biologists gathered to discuss their recent progress in investigating the shared mechanisms and factors involved in sexual reproduction. This now is the first book that reviews recent progress in almost all fields of plant and animal fertilization. It was recently reported that the self-sterile mechanism of a hermaphroditic marine invertebrate (ascidian) is very similar to the self-incompatibility system in flowering plants. It was also found that a male factor expressed in the sperm cells of flowering plants is involved in gamete fusion not only of plants but also of animals and parasites. These discoveries have led to the consideration that the core mechanisms or factors involved in sexual reproduction may be shared by animals, plants and unicellular organisms. This valuable book is highly useful for reproductive biologists as well as for biological scientists outside this field in understanding the current progress of reproductive biology. 492 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A lot of economic problems can be formulated as constrained optimizations and equilibration of their solutions. Various mathematical theories have been supplying economists with indispensable machineries for these problems arising in economic theory. Conversely, mathematicians have been stimulated by various mathematical difficulties raised by economic theories. The series is designed to bring together those mathematicians who are seriously interested in getting new challenging stimuli from economic theories with those economists who are seeking effective mathematical tools for their research. 152 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The appearance of weakly wandering (ww) sets and sequences for ergodic transformations over half a century ago was an unexpected and surprising event. In time it was shown that ww and related sequences reflected significant and deep properties of ergodic transformations that preserve an infinite measure.This monograph studies in a systematic way the role of ww and related sequences in the classification of ergodic transformations preserving an infinite measure. Connections of these sequences to additive number theory and tilings of the integers are also discussed. The material presented is self-contained and accessible to graduate students. A basic knowledge of measure theory is adequate for the reader. 168 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book presents an overview of material-specific factors that influence Tc and give rise to diverse Tc values for copper oxides and iron-based high- Tc superconductors on the basis of more than 25 years of experimental data, to most of which the author has made important contributions. The book then explains why both compounds are distinct from others with similar crystal structure and whether or not one can enhance Tc, which in turn gives a hint on the unresolved pairing mechanism. This is an unprecedented new approach to the problem of high-temperature superconductivity and thus will be inspiring to both specialists and non-specialists interested in this field. Readers will receive in-depth information on the past, present, and future of high-temperature superconductors, along with special, updated information on what the real highest Tc values are and particularly on the possibility of enhancing Tc for each member material, which is important for application. At this time, the highest Tc has not been improved for 20 years, and no new superconductors have been discovered for 5 years. This book will encourage researchers as well as graduate-course students not to give up on the challenges in the future of high- Tc superconductivity. 104 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -- Motivation It is our dream to understand the principles of animals' remarkable ability for adaptive motion and to transfer such abilities to a robot. Up to now, mechanisms for generation and control of stereotyped motions and adaptive motions in well-known simple environments have been formulated to some extentandsuccessfullyappliedtorobots.However,principlesofadaptationto variousenvironmentshavenotyetbeenclari ed,andautonomousadaptation remains unsolved as a seriously di cult problem in robotics. Apparently, the ability of animals and robots to adapt in a real world cannot be explained or realized by one single function in a control system and mechanism. That is, adaptation in motion is induced at every level from thecentralnervoussystemtothemusculoskeletalsystem.Thus,weorganized the International Symposium on Adaptive Motion in Animals and Machines(AMAM)forscientistsandengineersconcernedwithadaptation onvariouslevelstobebroughttogethertodiscussprinciplesateachleveland to investigate principles governing total systems. - History AMAM started in Montreal (Canada) in August 2000. It was organized by H. Kimura (Japan), H. Witte (Germany), G. Taga (Japan), and K. Osuka (Japan), who had agreed that having a small symposium on motion control, with people from several elds coming together to discuss speci c issues, was worthwhile. Those four organizing committee members determined the scope of AMAM as follows. 312 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The author successfully developed novel anti-HIV PD 404182 derivatives that exhibited submicromolar inhibitory activity against both HIV-1 and HIV-2. His thesis is in three parts. The first part expounds efficient methods for the synthesis of tricyclic heterocycles related to PD 404182 based on the sp2-carbon-heteroatom bond formations. Starting from arene or haloarene, C-O, C-N, or C-S bonds were formed by simply changing the reactants. These synthetic methods provide powerful approaches for the divergent preparation of pyrimido-benzoxazine, -quinazoline, or -benzothiazine derivatives. The second part explains SAR studies of PD 404182 for the development of anti-HIV agents. Through optimization studies of the central 1,3-thiazin-2-imine core, the benzene and cyclic amidine ring parts, 3-fold more potent inhibitors were obtained compared with the lead compound. The author also reveals by a time-of-drug-addition experiment that PD 404182 derivatives impaired HIV replication at the binding or fusion stage. The third part of the thesis elucidates the development of photoaffinity probes for the target identification of PD 404182. By the photolabeling experiment of HIV-1-infected H9 cells using these probes, the author detected proteins specifically bound to PD 404182. These new anti-HIV agents may be promising agents for anti-HIV therapy because their mechanisms of action differ from those of the currently approved anti-HIV agents. 164 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The idea of the Gröbner basis first appeared in a 1927 paper by F. S. Macaulay, who succeeded in creating a combinatorial characterization of the Hilbert functions of homogeneous ideals of the polynomial ring. Later, the modern definition of the Gröbner basis was independently introduced by Heisuke Hironaka in 1964 and Bruno Buchberger in 1965. However, after the discovery of the notion of the Gröbner basis by Hironaka and Buchberger, it was not actively pursued for 20 years. A breakthrough was made in the mid-1980s by David Bayer and Michael Stillman, who created the Macaulay computer algebra system with the help of the Gröbner basis. Since then, rapid development on the Gröbner basis has been achieved by many researchers, including Bernd Sturmfels.This book serves as a standard bible of the Gröbner basis, for which the harmony of theory, application, and computation are indispensable. It provides all the fundamentals for graduate students to learn the ABC's of the Gröbner basis, requiring no special knowledge to understand those basic points.Starting from the introductory performance of the Gröbner basis (Chapter 1), a trip around mathematical software follows (Chapter 2). Then comes a deep discussion of how to compute the Gröbner basis (Chapter 3). These three chapters may be regarded as the first act of a mathematical play. The second act opens with topics on algebraic statistics (Chapter 4), a fascinating research area where the Gröbner basis of a toric ideal is a fundamental tool of the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Moreover, the Gröbner basis of a toric ideal has had a great influence on the study of convex polytopes (Chapter 5). In addition, the Gröbner basis of the ring of differential operators gives effective algorithms on holonomic functions (Chapter 6). The third act (Chapter 7) is a collection of concrete examples and problems for Chapters 4, 5 and 6 emphasizing computation by using various software systems. 492 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book explores recent experiences in the effort to bring about a Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The chapters focus on rice and maize, which are promising and strategic smallholder crops. Significantly, we find that an African Rice Revolution has already begun in many irrigated areas, using Asian-type modern varieties, chemical fertilizer, and improved management practices. Further, we find that the same technological package significantly increases the productivity and profitability of rice farming in rainfed areas as well. We also find evidence that that management training, when done well, can boost productivity on smallholder farms. This suggests that African governments can accelerate the pace of Africa's Rice Revolution by strengthening extension capacity.The story for maize is wholly different, where most farmers use local varieties, apply little chemical fertilizer, and obtain very low yields. However, in the highly populated highlands of Kenya, a number of farmers have adopted high-yielding hybrid maize varieties and chemical fertilizer, as was the case in the Asian Green Revolution, apply manure produced by stall-fed cows, as was the case during the British Agricultural Revolution, and keep improved cows or cross-breeds from European cows and local stock, as was the case of the Indian White Revolution. We conclude that while rice in Africa has benefited from an Asian Green Revolution strategy that emphasizes modern seeds, inputs, and focused knowledge transfers, the success of Africa's Maize Revolution will require a different system approach based on hybrid maize, chemical and organic fertilizers, and stall-fed cross-bred cows. 232 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This proceedings is a collection of 46 selected papers that were presented at the 12th International Wheat Genetics Symposium (IWGS). Since the launch of the wheat genome sequencing project in 2005, the arrival of draft genome sequences has marked a new era in wheat genetics and genomics, catalyzing rapid advancement in the field. This book provides a comprehensive review of the forefront of wheat research, across various important topics such as germplasm and genetic diversity, cytogenetics and allopolyploid evolution, genome sequencing, structural and functional genomics, gene function and molecular biology, biotic stress, abiotic stress, grain quality, and classical and molecular breeding. Following an introduction, 9 parts of the book are dedicated to each of these topics. A final, 11th part entitled 'Toward Sustainable Wheat Production' contains 7 excellent papers that were presented in the 12th IWGS Special Session supported by the OECD. With rapid population growth and radical climate changes, the world faces a global food crisis and is in need of another Green Revolution to boost yields of wheat and other widely grown staple crops. Although this book focuses on wheat, many of the newly developed techniques and results presented here can be applied to other plant species with large and complex genomes. As such, this volume is highly recommended for all students and researchers in wheat sciences and related plant sciences and for those who are interested in stable food production and food security. 464 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is the result of a joint venture between Professor Akio Kawauchi, Osaka City University, well-known for his research in knot theory, and the Osaka study group of mathematics education, founded by Professor Hirokazu Okamori and now chaired by his successor Professor Tomoko Yanagimoto, Osaka Kyoiku University. The seven chapters address the teaching and learning of knot theory from several perspectives. Readers will find an extremely clear and concise introduction to the fundamentals of knot theory, an overview of curricular developments in Japan, and in particular a series of teaching experiments at all levels which not only demonstrate the creativity and the professional expertise of the members of the study group, but also give a lively impression of students' learning processes. In addition the reports show that elementary knot theory is not just a preparation for advanced knot theory but also an excellent means to develop spatial thinking. The book can be highly recommended for several reasons: First of all, and that is the main intention of the book, it serves as a comprehensive text for teaching and learning knot theory. Moreover it provides a model for cooperation between mathematicians and mathematics educators based on substantial mathematics. And finally it is a thorough introduction to the Japanese art of lesson studies-again in the context of substantial mathematics. 204 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book is devoted to innovative medicine, comprising the proceedings of the Uehara Memorial Foundation Symposium 2014. It remains extremely rare for the findings of basic research to be developed into clinical applications, and it takes a long time for the process to be achieved. The task of advancing the development of basic research into clinical reality lies with translational science, yet the field seems to struggle to find a way to move forward. To create innovative medical technology, many steps need to be taken: development and analysis of optimal animal models of human diseases, elucidation of genomic and epidemiological data, and establishment of 'proof of concept'. There is also considerable demand for progress in drug research, new surgical procedures, and new clinical devices and equipment. While the original research target may be rare diseases, it is also important to apply those findings more broadly to common diseases. The book covers a wide range of topics and is organized into three complementary parts. The first part is basic research for innovative medicine, the second is translational research for innovative medicine, and the third is new technology for innovative medicine. This book helps to understand innovative medicine and to make progress in its realization. 352 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Developments of International Trade Theory offers the life-long reflections of a distinguished Japanese scholar who pioneered the application of general equilibrium theory to international trade. Written in a style that makes it easily accessible to scholars and students, the book combines standard topics on international trade with a discussion of the evolution of the theory and as well as recent discussions on topics such as immiserizing growth.This book consists of two parts. Part I examines the historical progression of international trade theory, and Part II addresses the modern theory and recent developments of international trade. In this way the book offers a comprehensive evaluation of the non-monetary problems of international economics.Taking advantage of the publication of this new edition, the author includes two new chapters, 'Adam Smith and Disequilibrium Economic Theory' and 'Complete Specialization in Classical Economics,' which readers will profit from reading after they have studied the basic theories of international trade in the main part of the book. 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This volume presents the first of two proceedings from the International Conference on the Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans, which took place in Tokyo in November 2012. Focussing on a highly innovative working hypothesis called the 'learning hypothesis', which attempts to explain the replacement as a result of differences in the learning abilities of these two hominid populations, the conference served as the latest multidisciplinary discussion forum on this intriguing Palaeoanthropological issue. The present volume reports on outcomes of the conference in three major sections. Part 1 provides an archaeological overview of the processes of replacement/assimilation of Neanderthals by modern humans. Part 2 consists of archaeological and ethnographic case studies exploring evidence of learning behaviours in prehistoric and modern hunter-gatherer societies. Part 3 presents a collection of papers that directly contributes to the definition, validation and testing of the learning hypothesis in terms of population biology and evolutionary theory. A total of 18 papers in this volume make available to readers unique cultural perspectives on mechanisms of the replacement/assimilation of Neanderthals by modern humans and suggested relationships between these mechanisms and different learning strategies. 288 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book presents recent work in the physics and economics of management through the developmental theory and practice of management science/operations research (MS/OR) that goes beyond the author's earlier book on the same subject. (Volume 125 in Springer's MS/OR series) This current work makes a useful contribution to the next-generation discrete system of science and management for a better society.The scope of the book is focused on the science and management of the 3M&I-Time system in the discrete world, where that system is a complex class consisting of humans, material/machine, money and time. The system is treated by a stochastic/intelligence (medium) approach. The science of this system is the interdisciplinary science of physics, management, economics and related fields and is based on synthesis and intelligence in the new discrete world. Here, this domain is referred to as a discrete and complex science (of physics and economics) in industry and society.Another domain, which is referred to as higher management science and operations in this book, stems from the change in traditional management to higher management driven by the power of information and communications technology (ICT) in the cloud computing/global age. This domain exists to meet the needs of logic for real-time/systematic decisions and management in a changeable, speeded-up, and risk environment. 168 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book investigates the reasons for persistent public deficits and delayed fiscal reform in Japan, placing a special emphasis on political economy aspects. Japan is confronted with the need to pursue fiscal discipline for fiscal consolidation and implement structural reforms for reorganizing fiscal expenditures. Focusing on particular policy fields including social security, female labor supply, public works, and intergovernmental transfer schemes, the book clarifies economic and political elements that have hindered effective steps toward these two goals. Facing population aging and a business downturn, the Japanese government was urged to increase social security expenditures and the budget for Keynesian stimulus policies. As elucidated in the book, the institutional design has worked to over-represent the demands of elderly generations and local interest groups and to expand these expenditures. Rigorous theoretical and numerical analyses reported throughout the book consequently provide readers with insights into incentive designs and institutional reforms necessary for fiscal consolidation, also presenting points of view for public policy and public debate. 212 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book takes a comprehensive look at Japanese firms engaging in export and foreign direct investment (FDI) and develops new methods and data to investigate the internationalization of firms, which is a focus issue in international trade. Using micro-level data, the book provides an introduction to theoretical and statistical analysis of internationalization modes of Japanese firms with productivity heterogeneity. It makes clear that although the productivity of internationalized Japanese firms is higher on average than that of firms serving only the domestic market, the difference in productivity between exporters and FDI firms is not as obvious in comparison with that of their counterparts in the United States and Europe. Focusing on this point, the book analyzes not only productivity heterogeneity among firms, but also the differences in firm-specific factors other than productivity: industry-specific factors, market-specific factors such as market size and variable and fixed costs for export, and FDI in destination countries. This in-depth investigation reveals how those factors make the modes of Japanese firms' internationalization different from those in the United States and Europe. Further analysis focuses on the effects of match quality, organizational and institutional factors in the market on firms' exports, and FDI. As an approach to the current trends in international trade, this book is unique in using detailed firm-level panel data drawn from Japanese government statistics. 184 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The present volume illustrates a rich and promising research field in service, service systems sciences, by combining and fusing two strands of sciences: the science of service systems and systems sciences of service. The scale, complexity, and interdependence of today's service systems have been driven to an unprecedented level by globalization, demographic changes, and technology developments, so that it is absolutely necessary now for us to cultivate a new frontier of service research. In response, service science has emerged during the past decade as a transdisciplinary research field that aims to clarify, analyze, and design the structure and process of service systems. Service science is strongly motivated to prove the science of service systems. To deal with complexity, interactions, and the network of, in, and among service systems, we need to take a more systemic view. Because systems sciences offers a way of thinking in relationships and interaction and theories and models to address complexity, it is legitimate to develop systems sciences of service by explicitly focusing on systemic properties of service and service systems. As a volume of the Translational Systems Sciences series, this book emphasizes, in particular, a translational systems sciences perspective when the authors are approaching service, service systems, and service innovation. Indeed, the book employs systems sciences as a common framework or language not only to approach service in a holistic way but also to take a translational approach aiming to explain, analyze, design, and support service systems and their evolution. 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Selecting a suitable production control policy is a challenging task for managers because the superiority of one control over the other is controversial. This book analyzes pull production systems and provides a guideline to choose and implement a proper control policy in production processes. By employing a proper control policy the maximum possible throughput of the production system can be achieved with the minimum work-in-process inventory. Kanban, CONWIP, and base-stock as wellknown pull control policies are analyzed and analytical comparisons among them in multistage serial and assembly production processes are presented. Illustrated by carefully chosen examples and supported by analytical solutions, discussions provided in the book clarify the complexity of the comparisons that show there is no general superiority among the control systems. Th e book explains which structural parameters decide the superiority of one control scheme to the others, and how they are related. Given a confi guration of parameters, such as processing times and number of cards employed in the system, the superior control policy can be selected. 128 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book integrates diversified methodologies of area studies, regional economic development, regional science, and related fields to draw up a strategy for forming the 'regional food industrial cluster' in Northeast Asia. This is done by assigning 'innovation' to a core concept, with the basic problem of food security as the horizontal axis and the areas of Northeast Asia as the vertical axis. Specifically, the principle of 'collaborative advantage' as a key factor is extracted from case studies on food industrial clustering in each area. As a final objective, a practical policy recommendation is presented while the theorization of the industrial cluster is developed. Therefore it is also a challenge to the old and new issue of food security which has been argued until now. 296 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book assesses the achievements of the software engineering discipline as represented by IT vendors in Japan in order to deepen understanding of the mechanisms of how software engineering capabilities relate to IT vendors' business performance and business environment from the perspective of innovation and engineering management. Based on the concepts of service science and science for society, the volume suggests how to improve the sophistication of services between the demand side, i.e., IT user companies, and the supply side, i.e., IT vendors, simultaneously.The author and his colleagues developed a structural model including innovational paths, such as service innovation, product innovation and process innovation, and a measurement model including the seven software engineering capabilities: deliverables, project management, quality assurance, process improvement, research and development, human resource development and customer contact. Then they designed research on software engineering excellence and administered it with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Information-Technology Promotion Agency. Through statistical analyses of the results, they found that human resource development and R&D are significant fundamental conditions to improve the quality of the deliverables and that IT firms with high levels of deliverables, derived from high levels of human resource development, quality assurance, project management and process improvement, tend to sustain high profitability. In addition, they developed a measurement model based on Porter's five forces and Barney's resource-based view. A regression tree analysis suggested that manufacturer spin-off vendors tend to expand business with well-resourced R&D, whereas user spin-off vendors tend to depend heavily on parent company demand. 188 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Whether a natural event turns into a disaster depends on the severity of the hazard as well as the condition of the social sphere of its potential victims, i.e., vulnerability. We focus on regional vulnerability considering the fact that regional socioeconomic conditions determine the aspects of the damage and thus the risk management policy. This book provides the theory and methodology to understand and cope with regional vulnerability through an interdisciplinary approach. The fields mainly included in this work are welfare and environmental economics, the planning and management area of civil engineering, and risk management. In particular, we focus on hazard and vulnerability surrounding water issues and provide readers with knowledge of how the regional analysis is incorporated into the vulnerability analysis. Also considered is what risk management should be when the diversified regional background of the vulnerability is taken into account. A feature of this book is that it provides contrastive regional coverage: the vulnerability of a developed country-urban and regional areas of Japan-and that of a developing country, Bangladesh. The contents consist of three parts: (1) Socioeconomic Vulnerability in a Regional Perspective, (2) Evaluation of Regional Vulnerability, and (3) Coping with Regional Vulnerability. This book is highly recommended to researchers who need an up-to-date and interdisciplinary approach to deal with risk management where regional vulnerability plays an important role. 388 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This is the first book to provide readers with a theoretical and empirical analysis of sustainable economic growth in Asian countries. Recently, most Asian countries have achieved rapid economic growth and their existence cannot be ignored in the world economy. However, these countries now face the serious problems that have confronted more developed countries such as environmental problems, social security and unemployment. Rapid economic growth has brought environmental pollution, regional disparities, and serious congestion due to insufficient infrastructure. Thus, it is necessary to understand the background economic mechanism in order to find the prescription for each problem. This book is intended not only for the researcher but also for the policy maker, for both of whom it provides the basic methods for analyzing regional problems from the points of view of endogenous economic growth theory, environmental economics, and spatial economics. This work presents theoretical as well as empirical analyses. Particularly, we cite the examples of Asian countries: Japan, China, Korea, Thailand and others. The aim is for readers to apply the theories in this book to the above-mentioned problems in Asian countries as an aid in policy making. The authors are specialists in macroeconomics, public economics, environmental economics, transportation economics and spatial economics, all of which are important aspects of regional science. 292 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -With motivated human resources and a rich natural bounty, Myanmar is expected to take off with sustained growth and eventually attain a unique welfare state. On the basis of the authors' field surveys and innumerable dialogues with public officials, private professionals, scholars, and others, in addition to intensive desk studies since around 2000, the present volume lays out the essential ingredients for drawing a roadmap to realise the above-mentioned objective. That goal is, specifically, financial development, adequate social capital, indigenous modern manufactures and closer international tie-ups, among others, but above all, sound agrarian development. An effort has been made to place the required ingredients in their historical contexts, as historical experiences constitute an important sociopolitical condition in which development takes place. Myanmar nationals and readers concerned with the country's economic progress are encouraged to give serious, sustained thought to coming up with a socially supportable roadmap for the country's development path. The present volume provides valuable hints for that purpose. 256 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Following the Fukushima nuclear accident, a large volume of monitoring data has been collected about the soil, air, dust, and seawater, along with data about an immense number of foods supplied to the market. Little is known, however, about the effect of radioactive fallout on agriculture, information about which is vital. Although more than 80% of the damaged area is related to agriculture, in situ information specifically for agriculture is scarce. This book provides data about the actual movement and accumulation of radioactivity in the ecological system-for example, whether debris deposited on mountains can be a cause of secondary contamination, under what conditions plants accumulate radioactive cesium in their edible parts, and how radioactivity is transferred from hay to milk. Because agriculture is so closely related to nature, many specialists with different areas of expertise must be involved in answering these questions. In the case of rice, researchers in rice cultivation as well as in soil, hydrology, and radioactivity measurement are working together to reveal the paths or accumulation of radioactivity in the field. For this purpose, the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences of The University of Tokyo has diverse facilities available throughout Japan, including farmlands, forests, and meadowlands. Many academic staff members have formed groups to conduct on-site research, with more than 40 volunteers participating. This book presents the data collected from the only project being systematically carried out across Japan after the Fukushima accident. 216 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book offers a systematic introduction to the optimal stochastic control theory via the dynamic programming principle, which is a powerful tool to analyze control problems.First we consider completely observable control problems with finite horizons. Using a time discretization we construct a nonlinear semigroup related to the dynamic programming principle (DPP), whose generator provides the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation, and we characterize the value function via the nonlinear semigroup, besides the viscosity solution theory. When we control not only the dynamics of a system but also the terminal time of its evolution, control-stopping problems arise. This problem is treated in the same frameworks, via the nonlinear semigroup. Its results are applicable to the American option price problem.Zero-sum two-player time-homogeneous stochastic differential games and viscosity solutions of the Isaacs equations arising from such games are studied via a nonlinear semigroup related to DPP (the min-max principle, to be precise). Using semi-discretization arguments, we construct the nonlinear semigroups whose generators provide lower and upper Isaacs equations.Concerning partially observable control problems, we refer to stochastic parabolic equations driven by colored Wiener noises, in particular, the Zakai equation. The existence and uniqueness of solutions and regularities as well as Itô's formula are stated. A control problem for the Zakai equations has a nonlinear semigroup whose generator provides the HJB equation on a Banach space. The value function turns out to be a unique viscosity solution for the HJB equation under mild conditions.This edition provides a more generalized treatment of the topic than does the earlier book Lectures on Stochastic Control Theory (ISI Lecture Notes 9), where time-homogeneous cases are dealt with. Here, for finite time-horizon control problems, DPP was formulated as a one-parameter nonlinear semigroup, whose generator provides the HJB equation, by using a time-discretization method. The semigroup corresponds to the value function and is characterized as the envelope of Markovian transition semigroups of responses for constant control processes. Besides finite time-horizon controls, the book discusses control-stopping problems in the same frameworks. 268 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book serves as an introductory reference on clinical aspects of glaucoma and myopia, providing essential guidelines for diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma progression in patients, especially those with high myopias. Many clinical studies are presented by leading experts in the field in an accessible style, making the content suitable not only for ophthalmologists but also for optometrists and certified orthoptists as well as for students.The relation between myopia and glaucoma has been the subject of many clinical trials and population-based studies. Most of the data has suggested that moderate to high myopia is associated with increased risk of primary open-angle glaucoma, normal tension glaucoma, and ocular hypertension. There are several factors involved in the diagnosis of glaucoma, but it is often difficult to determine the presence of glaucoma in myopic eyes.A myopic eye, especially in cases of moderate to high myopia, tends to have a thin retina and choroid and to appear thinner than normal. Even with new imaging technologies with improved sensitivity and specificity for detecting glaucoma, each technology presents some challenges when assessing myopic eyes.This book furnishes an overview of these diagnostic challenges with reference to the growing prevalence and severity of myopia in various parts of the world, providing many valuable hands-on reports and clinical studies by authoritative authors. This knowledge will help to do away with the vague area between high myopia and glaucoma faced by clinicians. 124 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -This book reports the recent progress in gene and cell therapy through the liver and aims to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the current aspects and future prospects from basic research to clinical therapies. Edited by pioneering researchers, this volume presents extensive information to principal investigators, researchers, postdocs and clinicians for examining the wide varieties of pathological conditions both inside and outside the liver.Providing not only the basic and clinical aspects of therapy, this volume is special in that it focuses on the administrative and regulatory difficulties of actual clinical application and legal regulations in different parts of the globe. By indicating the advantages and limitations of the most promising gene and cell therapies targeting the liver, this book will inspire readers to develop a feasible treatment in the next generation. 196 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The purpose of this monograph is to present the current status of a rapidly developing part of several complex variables, motivated by the applicability of effective results to algebraic geometry and differential geometry. Highlighted are the new precise results on the L extension of holomorphic functions.In Chapter 1, the classical questions of several complex variables motivating the development of this field are reviewed after necessary preparations from the basic notions of those variables and of complex manifolds such as holomorphic functions, pseudoconvexity, differential forms, and cohomology. In Chapter 2, the L method of solving the d-bar equation is presented emphasizing its differential geometric aspect. In Chapter 3, a refinement of the Oka-Cartan theory is given by this method. The L extension theorem with an optimal constant is included, obtained recently by Z. Blocki and by Q.-A. Guan and X.-Y. Zhou separately. In Chapter 4, various results on the Bergman kernel are presented, including recent works of Maitani-Yamaguchi, Berndtsson, and Guan-Zhou. Most of these results are obtained by the L method. In the last chapter, rather specific results are discussed on the existence and classification of certain holomorphic foliations and Levi flat hypersurfaces as their stables sets. These are also applications of the L method obtained during these 15 years. 208 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Channels and transporters are multi-functional proteins that mediate substrate transport and signal transmission and simultaneously act as regulators for other proteins and biosensors for environmental materials. Patch clamping is an epoch-making technique that allows researchers to perform real-time measurements of electrogenic channel/transporter functions at the single/multiple molecular level. This book describes not only the conventional patch clamp techniques but also their newly developed variations or applications, such as perforated patch, slice patch, blind patch, in vivo patch, imaging patch, smart patch, and automated patch clamping. These patch clamp techniques are now essential and are extensively used across the life sciences and in related industries. With plain and practical descriptions of patch clamping and how to carry it out, especially for beginners, the book also shows how widely and exquisitely the patch clamp techniques can be applied by expert electrophysiologists. This work serves as a useful guide for young researchers and students in training and laboratory courses as well as for senior researchers who wish to extend their repertoire of techniques. 452 pp. Englisch.