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This book gathers outstanding papers presented at the China SAE Congress 2023, featuring contributions mainly from China, the biggest carmaker as well as most dynamic car market in the world. The book covers a wide range of automotive-related topics and the latest technical advances in the industry. Many of the approaches in the book help technicians to solve practical problems that affect their daily work. In addition, the book offers valuable technical support to engineers, researchers, and postgraduate students in the field of automotive engineering.

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic. The Handbook focuses on a comprehensive set of central areas of study in higher education that encompasses the salient dimensions of scholarly and policy inquiries undertaken in the international higher education community. Each annual volume contains chapters on current important issues pertaining to college students and faculty, organization and administration, curriculum and instruction, policy, diversity issues, economics and finance, history and philosophy, community colleges, advances in research methodology and other key aspects of higher education administration. The series is fortunate to have attracted annual contributions from distinguished scholars throughout the world.

This edited volume records the critical historical developments in thermal physiology and makes them accessible to new and senior thermal biologists and scientists in related fields. Readers will discover how the discipline developed all over the world. Contributions from 14 different countries recollect all prominent discoveries, starting in the 18th century. Like other volumes of the Perspectives in Physiology series, this book reveals the people behind these discoveries. The authors also set the scenes in which the research was conducted in their countries. From geopolitical frameworks to new technologies and extraordinary personalities - this volume shows that scientific progress is influenced by many, often unforeseeable, factors. The history of thermal physiology not only is a story about individual outstanding scientists, but a testament for open collaboration and international comradery.

The advent of X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) as a tool for the soil sciences almost 40 years ago has revolutionised the field. Soil is the fragile, thin layer of material that exists above earth's geological substrates upon which so much of life on earth depends. However a major limitation to our understanding of how soils behave and function is due to its complex, opaque structure that hinders our ability to assess its porous architecture without disturbance. X-ray imagery has facilitated the ability to truly observe soil as it exists in three dimensions and across contrasting spatial and temporal scales in the field in an undisturbed fashion. This book gives a comprehensive overview of the “state of the art” in a variety of application areas where this type of imaging is used, including soil water physics and hydrology, agronomic management of soils, and soil-plant-microbe interactions. It provides the necessary details for entry level readers in the crucial areas of sample preparation, scanner optimisation and image processing and analysis. Drawing on experts across the globe, from both academia and industry, the book covers the necessary “dos and don'ts”, but also offers insights into the future of both technology and science. The wider application of the book is provided by dedicated chapters on how the data from such imagery can be incorporated into models and how the technology can be interfaced with other relevant technical applications. The book ends with a future outlook from the four editors, each of whom has over 20 years of experience in the application of X-ray CT to soil science.

The multi-authored, multi-institutional, and multi-specialty-based text is designed as a valuable resource for surgeons working on the maxillofacial region. Meant to be a clinically based history of the past, the present, and the future of the field, this is a one-of-a-kind text that will cater to a variety of professions: from oral & maxillofacial surgeons, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, otolaryngologists – head and neck surgeons, cosmetic surgeons and the general dental practitioner. The History of Maxillofacial Surgery: An Evidence-Based Journey is divided into three sections for ease of understanding: The first section gives an overview of the early history; the second section provides a discussion of conventional procedures; and the third section gives a history of advanced procedures and techniques. By understanding the fundamental procedures and techniques of the field, practitioners can continue to further the field by building upon thepast. Including historic case studies paired with real patient photos, this text details why professionals do what they do today with insight directly from the clinic. To provide a unique perspective the book is edited by three individuals at different stages of their careers. Each chapter is authored by a young surgeon paired with a seasoned surgeon.

This book integrates research in positive psychology, Islamic psychology, and Muslim wellbeing in one volume, providing a view into the international experiential and spiritual lives of a religious group that represents over 24% of the world's population. It incorporates Western psychological paradigms, such as the theories of Jung, Freud, Maslow, and Seligman with Islamic ways of knowing, while highlighting the struggles and successes of minoritized Muslim groups, including the LGBTQ community, Muslims with autism, Afghan Shiite refugees, and the Uyghur community in China.It fills a unique position at the crossroad of multiple social science disciplines, including the psychology of religion, cultural psychology, and positive psychology. By focusing on the ways in which spirituality, struggle, and social justice can lead to purpose, hope, and a meaningful life, the book contributes to scholarship within the second wave of positive psychology (PP 2.0) that aims to illustrate a balance between positive and negative aspects of human experience. While geared towards students, researchers, and academic scholars of psychology, culture, and religious studies, particularly Muslim studies, this book is also useful for general audiences who are interested in learning about the diversity of Islam and Muslims through a research-based social science approach.

The book Heat Shock Proteins in Cancer Therapeutics provides the most comprehensive review on contemporary knowledge on the role of HSP in various types of cancer therapeutics. Using an integrative approach, the contributors provide a synopsis of the most current updates on the state of HSP in cancer therapeutics.The heat shock response pathway is a highly conserved cellular process. Heat shock factors are a master transcriptional regulator responsible for expression of several important heat shock proteins, which can effectively protect critical client proteins from misfolding and degradation, thus maintaining intracellular integrity under stressed conditions. Recent studies have demonstrated the direct connections between heat shock response players and tumor cell survival, validating heat shock response players as novel molecular targets in anticancer treatment. Although many hurdles in clinical application still need to be effectively addressed, such as undesirable drug toxicity and off target effects; narrow therapeutic window; poor PK/PD profiles, etc. Recent reports on synergistic drug combination, advanced prodrug design, smart nanoparticle packaging, and RNA aptamer selection offer promising solutions to overcome these challenges. Future advancements in this fast-growing area can potentially lead to the next generation of cancer therapeutics.Key basic and clinical research laboratories from major universities, academic medical hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical laboratories around the world have contributed chapters that review present research activity and importantly project the field into the future. The book is a must read for graduate students. medical students, basic science researchers and postdoctoral scholars in the fields of Cancer Biology, Oncology, Translational Medicine, Clinical Research, Biotechnology, Cell & Molecular Medicine, Pharmaceutical Scientists and Researchers involved in Drug Discovery.

This book firstly analyzes the status and characteristics of rural long tail public service and its unbalance in detail. In all, based on the long tail theory, mechanism design theory and resource dependence theory, this book makes an empirical study and basic judgment on the matching of supply and demand of rural long tail public services in China and explores the mechanism of the efficiency of supply and demand affecting the imbalance. This book presents a correction mechanism of rural long tail public demand based on the division of different response subjects and puts forward corresponding policy suggestions. By putting the rural public demand in the “embedded” economic and social system and the development process, this book analyzes its future trend and response path. Then, based on the difference of governance efficiency, this book analyzes the general causes of the unbalance of supply and demand of rural long tail public service. Especially for the representative field of rural public service (e.g., special education, old-age caring, medical care), this book carries out empirical studies (seemingly unrelated regression) to analyze the factors, internal mechanism and basic path of the imbalance of rural long tail public service. Thirdly, through the construction of the imbalance index of rural long tail public service, this book makes an empirical calculation of the severity of this imbalance. This book further puts forward the design of the correction mechanism for the imbalance of rural long tail public service and carries on the reasonable and orderly division for different supply subjects. In the end, this book puts forward the balanced “Internet + NGO” model for rural long tail public service and takes JD.com as an example to expound the operation of the network platform of the correction mechanism.

This book addresses the ways in which clinical psychologists ought to conceptualize and respond to the prejudice and oppression that their clients experience. Thus, the link between prejudice and oppression to psychopathology is explored. Basic scientific information about prejudice is reviewed, and the current status of the major minority groups is explored. Chapters examine the role of prejudice and oppression in institutional structures such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and professional organizations. The discussion addresses ways to assess these phenomena in individual cases and how to intervene in psychotherapy. The book ventures to evaluate the status of the profession of psychology with respect to prejudice, stigmatization, and oppression by critically examining evidence that the profession has responded adequately to these social problems. These issues are hard to talk about and are not well talked about in the field. This book is a push in the right direction.

This two-volume set of LNCS 11871 and 11872 constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning, IDEAL 2019, held in Manchester, UK, in November 2019. The 94 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 149 submissions. These papers provided a timely sample of the latest advances in data engineering and machine learning, from methodologies, frameworks, and algorithms to applications. The core themes of IDEAL 2019 include big data challenges, machine learning, data mining, information retrieval and management, bio-/neuro-informatics, bio-inspired models (including neural networks, evolutionary computation and swarm intelligence), agents and hybrid intelligent systems, real-world applications of intelligent techniques and AI.

This book deals with in-cylinder pressure measurement and its post-processing for combustion quality analysis of conventional and advanced reciprocating engines. It offers insight into knocking and combustion stability analysis techniques and algorithms in SI, CI, and LTC engines, and places special emphasis on the digital signal processing of in-cylinder pressure signal for online and offline applications. The text gives a detailed description on sensors for combustion measurement, data acquisition, and methods for estimation of performance and combustion parameters. The information provided in this book enhances readers'basic knowledge of engine combustion diagnostics and serves as a comprehensive, ready reference for a broad audience including graduate students, course instructors, researchers, and practicing engineers in the automotive, oil and other industries concerned with internal combustion engines.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. As such, both the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP 25) recommendations call for action not only from government, but also from various stakeholders. Apart from the knowledge offered by modeling and forecasts, which allows the readers to understand the problem and how it is likely to develop in the future, the book highlights approaches, methods and tools that can help readers cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by climate change. In other words, the book's goal is to accelerate developments in the field of climate change adaptation. This book gathers papers presented at the “2nd World Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation”, a joint initiative by the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management”at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP). The book is truly interdisciplinary, covering various key areas in the field of climate change adaptation. Its focus is on “integrative approaches to implementing climate change adaptation”, and is expected to contribute to the further development of this fast-growing field.

The book is a collection of peer-reviewed scientific papers submitted by active researchers in the International Conference on Industry Interactive Innovation in Science, Engineering and Technology (I3SET 2016). The conference is a collective initiative of all departments and disciplines of JIS College of Engineering (an autonomous institution), Kalyani, West Bengal, India. The primary objective of the conference is to strengthen interdisciplinary research and encourage innovation in a demand-driven way as desired by the industry for escalating technology for mankind.A galaxy of academicians, professionals, scientists, industry people and researchers from different parts of the country and abroad shared and contributed their knowledge. The major areas of I3SET 2016 include nonconventional energy and advanced power systems; nanotechnology and applications; pattern recognition and machine intelligence; digital signal and image processing; modern instrumentation, control, robotics and automation; civil engineering and structural design; real-time and embedded systems, communication and devices; advanced optimization techniques; biotechnology, biomedical instrumentation and bioinformatics; and outcome based education.

This book presents Social Dialogue as a social innovation strategy for managing diversity at any step of the human resource circle. It showcases empirical research on how to improve open dialogue and constructive negotiations between management, trade unions and employee representatives using multi-disciplinary perspectives from psychology, business, law, gender studies, sociology and management. This book delivers the latest research to promote a change of attitudes, behaviors and competences on diversity and social inclusion, and develop effective organizational responses in terms of policies and procedural aspects to improve inclusion of vulnerable groups at work. The authors and editors explain effective development tools for an inclusive workplace through Social Dialogue, showing that it is possible to achieve this by integrating values, policies and practices at organizational level. The diversity of contributions from different organizational contexts, countries and cultures results in this being a valuable book for a wide range of scientists, researchers, students and human resource managers as they seek to shape inclusive workplaces through Social Dialogue.

This book examines the intricate challenges faced by women and families during the transition to motherhood. It presents unique theoretical and methodological approaches to studying women's transition from being employees to working mothers. Its focus is on the impact of work on the transition to motherhood, and the impact of motherhood on women's working arrangements, work attitudes, work experiences and perspectives. Special attention is given to intervention research that can enhance the health and well-being of mothers and employers as they reconcile demands of the family-work interface.Integrating theoretical framework development and methodological considerations, this book provides an in-depth introduction to the topic. It brings together researchers and experts on the work-family interface, on workplace discrimination during pregnancy and early motherhood, and well-being.

Over the last decade workforce diversity has attracted much scientific attention. Given the shortage of literature on issues related to homosexual, bisexual and transgender employees, compared to other facets of workforce diversity, this book opens up new perspectives on this issue. Emphasis is placed on the equal consideration of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. Thus the predominance of lesbian and gay issues in LGBT research (and practice), will be contrasted by an explicit consideration of the unique experiences, stressors and related needs of bisexual and transgender employees. Contributions provide deeper insights into the differing experiences the whole spectrum of LGBT employees make in the workplace in different national and occupational contexts. Furthermore, the collection offers contextualized insights for evaluating and conceptualizing organizational initiatives aiming at a higher level of inclusion for LGBT employees.

Das Handbuch liefert in zwei Bänden einen Überblick über den Diskussionsstand zum Thema Diversity Kompetenz und bündelt dabei Wissen aus Theorie, Forschung und Praxis. Im vorliegenden ersten Band werden konzeptuelle sowie gesellschaftliche Grundlagen aufgearbeitet und ausgewählte Anwendungsfelder näher betrachtet. Das Handbuch ist interdisziplinär aufgebaut und vereint Beiträge aus Psychologie, Kulturwissenschaft, Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Pädagogik, Soziologie, Sexualwissenschaft, Sozialer Arbeit, Medizin, Theologie, Politikwissenschaft und Rechtswissenschaft.

Focusing on the most rapidly changing areas of mechatronics, this book discusses signals and system control, mechatronic products, metrology and nanometrology, automatic control & robotics, biomedical engineering, photonics, design manufacturing and testing of MEMS. It is reflected in the list of contributors, including an international group of 302 leading researchers representing 12 countries. The book is intended for use in academic, government and industry R&D departments, as an indispensable reference tool for the years to come. Thid volume can serve a global community as the definitive reference source in Mechatronics. The book comprises carefully selected 93 contributions presented at the 11th International Conference Mechatronics 2015, organized by Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, on September 21-23, in Warsaw, Poland.

Current Ornithology publishes authoritative, up-to-date, scholarly reviews of topics selected from the full range of current research in avian biology. Topics cover the spectrum from the molecular level of organization to population biology and community ecology. The series seeks especially to review (1) fields in which an abundant recent literature will benefit from synthesis and organization, or (2) newly emerging fields that are gaining recognition as the result of recent discoveries or shifts in perspective, or (3) fields in which students of vertebrates may benefit from comparisons of birds with other classes. All chapters are invited, and authors are chosen for their leadership in the subjects under review.

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

The general theme of MEDICON 2013 is'Research and Development of Technology for Sustainable Healthcare'. This decade is being characterized by the appearance and use of emergent technologies under development. This situation has produced a tremendous impact on Medicine and Biology from which it is expected an unparalleled evolution in these disciplines towards novel concept and practices. The consequence will be a significant improvement in health care and well-fare, i.e. the shift from a reactive medicine to a preventive medicine. This shift implies that the citizen will play an important role in the healthcare delivery process, what requires a comprehensive and personalized assistance. In this context, society will meet emerging media, incorporated to all objects, capable of providing a seamless, adaptive, anticipatory, unobtrusive and pervasive assistance. The challenge will be to remove current barriers related to the lack of knowledge required to produce new opportunities for all the society, while new paradigms are created for this inclusive society to be socially and economically sustainable, and respectful with the environment. In this way, these proceedings focus on the convergence of biomedical engineering topics ranging from formalized theory through experimental science and technological development to practical clinical applications.

Internal combustion engines still have a potential for substantial improvements, particularly with regard to fuel efficiency and environmental compatibility. These goals can be achieved with help of control systems. Modeling and Control of Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) addresses these issues by offering an introduction to cost-effective model-based control system design for ICE. The primary emphasis is put on the ICE and its auxiliary devices. Mathematical models for these processes are developed in the text and selected feedforward and feedback control problems are discussed. The appendix contains a summary of the most important controller analysis and design methods, and a case study that analyzes a simplified idle-speed control problem. The book is written for students interested in the design of classical and novel ICE control systems.

This is the proceedings of the seventh annual workshop held by the Glasgow Functional Programming Group. The purpose of the workshop is to provide a focus for new research, to foster research contacts with other functional language researchers, and to provide a platform for research students to develop their presentation skills. As in previous years, we spent three days closeted together in a pleasant seaside town, isolated from normal work commitments. We were joined by colleagues from other universities (both UK and abroad) and from industry. Workshop participants presented a short talk about their current research work, and produced a paper which appeared in a draft proceedings. These papers were then reviewed and revised in the light of discussions at the workshop and the referees'comments. A selection of those revised papers (the majority of those presented at the workshop) appears here in the published proceedings. The papers themselves cover a wide span, from theoretical work on algebras and bisimilarity to experience with a real-world medical applica­ tion. Unsurprisingly, given Glasgow's track record, there is a strong emphasis on compilation techniques and optimisations, and there are also several papers on concurrency and parallelism.

After travel through Alaska during the Second World War, in 1947 I went to Barrow with a very lively group of biologists. From their productive research developed the Arctic Research Laboratory. While we examined the rather surpris­ ingly modest metabolic rates of arctic warmblooded animals in cold, PER SCHO­ LANDER proposed and then carried out measurements of metabolism of some tropi­ cal animals in Panama. The differences could be formulated to show the basis of adaptation to arctic cold and to tropical warmth. Imagination and logic were required to formulate the comparison so that it could become a part of science, but the essential measurements were derived from animals and plants in their own arctic and tropical environments. Characteristics that adapt the forms of life to climatic conditions of various environments appear clear in the large dimensions of extremely differing climates. At the time of my arrival in Alaska many of the arctic Eskimos were still largely dependent on natural resources of their immediate and local environment, in which great seasonal changes in temperature and solar radiation appeared as dominant factors. The living environment on which they subsisted was also mar­ kedly affected by the changes of the seasons, in particular by the change in state of water to ice that terminated summer and by the melting that brought the late transition from winter to summer.

This volume is concerned with the control and dynamics of time delay systems; a research field with at least six-decade long history that has been very active especially in the past two decades. In parallel to the new challenges emerging from engineering, physics, mathematics, and economics, the volume covers several new directions including topology induced stability, large-scale interconnected systems, roles of networks in stability, and new trends in predictor-based control and consensus dynamics. The associated applications/problems are described by highly complex models, and require solving inverse problems as well as the development of new theories, mathematical tools, numerically-tractable algorithms for real-time control. The volume, which is targeted to present these developments in this rapidly evolving field, captures a careful selection of the most recent papers contributed by experts and collected under five parts: (i) Methodology: From Retarded to Neutral Continuous Delay Models, (ii) Systems, Signals and Applications, (iii): Numerical Methods, (iv) Predictor-based Control and Compensation, and (v) Networked Control Systems and Multi-agent Systems.

This volume contains selected papers presented at the Symposium on'Recent Developments in Non-linear Oscillations of Mechanical Systems', held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 2 - 5 March 1999. This Symposium was initiated and sponsored by the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (lUI AM) and organised in conjunction with Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Ihe purpose of the Symposium was to bring together scientists active in different fields of oscillations with the aim to review the recent progress in theory of oscillations and engineering applications and to outline the prospects in its further achievements to then co-ordinate and direct research in this field to further co-operation between scientists and various scientific institutions. An International Scientific Committee was appointed by the Bureau of IUI AM with the following members: Nguyen Van Dao (Vietnam, Co-Chairman) E.J. Kreuzer (Germany, Co-Chairman) D.H. van Campen (The Netherlands) F.L. Chernousko (Russia) A.H. Nayfeh (U.S.A) Nguyen Xuan Hung (Vietnam) W.O. Schiehlen (Germany) J.M.T. Thompson (U.K) Y. Veda (Japan). This Committee selected the participants to be invited and the papers to be presented at the Symposium. As a result of this procedure, 52 active scientists from 16 countries responded to the invitation, and 42 papers were presented in lecture and poster discussion sessions.

Dramatic shortfalls in crop production in various regions of the world have led some people to question the relatively inefficient use of cereal grains for feeding meat animals instead of their direct use for human food. There is no doubt, however, that meat offers a nutritionally valuable, attractive and widely accepted food, the world demand for which increases daily. Thus it is not enough simply to condemn the consumption of meat as an irresponsible extravagance; rather it is preferable to examine how the demand for meat can be met most efficiently and effectively, which requires a fundamental enquiry into how meat is'grown'. The importance of fat, for instance, both to the growing animal and to the consumer, needs to be established in view of the'expense'involved in its deposition by the animal and the extent to which it is discarded at many points in the chain from the slaughterhouse to the consumer. We were aware that there existed a wealth of information on the physiology of growth which, because of its having been collected as part of investigations in many other disciplines and the inevitable communication gap, had not been incorporated into the science of animal production. Similarly there were principles and teChniques of animal husbandry which, if known in other disciplines, might enable more pertinent questions to be asked. The biochemical and physiological pathways by which animals utilise feed to produce body protein, fat and other components are intriguing problems which are receiving considerable attention.

If it is still true that more than 80% of the ornithologists in North America are primarily interested or engaged in ecological studies on birds (J. R. King and W. J. Bock, Final Report of the Workshop on a National Plan For Ornithology, 1978), then Volume 3 of Current Orni­ thology is preadapted for their consideration. All but one article in this volume are somehow concerned with the ecological aspects of the bi­ ology of birds. Variation in the scope of topical coverage is relatively broad, and includes conservation, reproduction, behavior, community structure, and evolutionary ecology. Three reviews concern the pervasive effects of man and industry on various bird populations of the world. Risebrough provides a de­ tailed description of the relationships between pesticides and bird pop­ ulations. Morrison ass es ses aspects of bird population numbers as in­ dicators of environmental change, and Temple outlines current research on endangered species. The broad spectrum of reproductive ecology of birds is variously treated in this volume. Jehl and Murray explore sexual selection and some of the resulting complexities in the evolution of sexual size di­ morphism, primarily in shorebirds. Lawton and Lawton are concerned with the relationships between social behavior and breeding systems in which variation is found in the age at which reproduction is first undertaken. Oring examines the wide-ranging variation in polyandrous breeding systems in birds, while Rohwer is concerned with adoption versus infanticide in birds, and their relationships to reproductive fit­ ness.

The Functional Programming Group at the University of Glasgow was started in 1986 by John Hughes and Mary Sheeran. Since then it has grown in size and strength, becoming one of the largest computing science research groups at Glasgow and earning an international reputation. The first Glasgow Functional Programming Workshop was organised in the summer of 1988. Its purpose was threefold: to provide a snapshot of all the research going on within the group, to share research ideas between Glaswegians and colleagues in the U.K. and abroad, and to introduce research students to the art of writing and presenting papers at a semi-formal (but still local and friendly) conference. The success of the first workshop has led to an annual series: Rothesay (1988), Fraserburgh (1989), Ullapool (1990). Portree (1991), Ayr (1992), and the workshop reported in these proceedings: Ayr (1993). Most participants wrote a paper that appeared in the draft proceedings (distributed at the workshop), and each draft paper was presented by one of the authors. The papers were all refereed by several other participants at the workshop, both internal and external, and the programme committee selected papers for these proceedings. Most papers have been revised twice, based firstly on feedback at the workshop, and secondly using the referee reports.

Polymers and polymer based composites have gained increasingly larger applications in medicine and surgery. Presently, most biomaterials applications rely on industrial substances that were initially developed by industry for non-medical purposes. Moreover, polymers have been often used regardless of their peculiar characteristics which can be viceversa and very attractive for some specific applications. In the past years we have assisted to a significative and faster development of polymer science as well as of medicine and surgery. The assistance of computer aided apparatus, the use of always more advanced instruments, the larger interest of the academic and industrial world, bring continuously new contributions to the research on biomedical and parmaceutical use of polymers. The need of a forum where these specific researchs can be presented and discussed, and the success of the 1st Conference on Polymers in Medicine, held in Porto Cervo in 1982, have encouraged the Editors to plana periodical meeting, focused on polymers and composites, to be held every odd year. This book contains papers selected by an International Scientific Committee among those presented at the 2nd International Conference on Polymers in Medicine, Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications, held in Capri, Italy, 3-7 June, 1985. In addition to contributed papers, several Authors were invited to present the'state of the art'as well as their personal contibution on specific key arguments. The level of all contributions was high, the participation well qualified, and the meeting interesting and hopefully pleasant.

The thirty nine papers accepted for pub1 ication in the First International Conference on'Interfaces in Medicine & Meehani cs'at Swansea in Apri 1, 1988 represent the current state of the art in the science of implant surgery. This initial venture was planned and undertaken when the present editors and their colleagues realised the need for a closer interaction and dialogue between the clinician and. those basic scientists working in the area of implant surgery. Thi s interface, together with the real interface at the material/tissue borders, thus forms the basis of the present conference. These two ideas, we felt, were nicely and effectively captured in the drawing by Edgar Rubins (1915), a perception psycho 1 ogi st, used on the book cover and elsewhere in our 1 iterature. The Proceedings were planned with some difficulty, due to the wi de scope of the conference. However, we felt the best format was to follow the logical progression of implant development. The introductory papers and talks therefore demonstrate the scope of surgical implants in current use. The development of an implant starts with modelling of the proposed implant and its potential environment and the proceedings follow the same format. Following this, materials in current use are discussed.

The Laser Spectroscopy Conference held at Vail, Colorado, June 25-29, 1973 was in certain ways the first meeting of its kind. Var­ ious quantum electronics conferences in the past have covered non­ linear optics, coherence theory, lasers and masers, breakdown, light scattering and so on. However, at Vail only two major themes were developed - tunable laser sources and the use of lasers in spectro­ scopic measurements, especially those involving high precision. Even so, Laser Spectroscopy covers a broad range of topics, making possible entirely new investigations and in older ones orders of magnitude improvement in resolution. The conference was interdisciplinary and international in char­ acter with scientists representing Japan, Italy, West Germany, Canada, Israel, France, England, and the United States. Of the 150 participants, the majority were physicists and electrical engineers in quantum electronics and the remainder, physical chemists and astrophysicists. We regret, because of space limitations, about 100 requests to attend had to be refused.

'Models are often the only way of interpreting measurements to in­ vestigate long-range transport, and this is the reason for the emphasis on them in many research programs'. B. E. A. Fisher:'A review of the processes and models of long-range transport of air pollutants', Atmospheric Environment, 17(1983), p. 1865. Mathematical models are (potentially, at least) powerful means in the efforts to study transboundary transport of air pollutants, source-receptor relationships and efficient ways of reducing the air pollution to acceptable levels. A mathematical model is a complicated matter, the development of which is based on the use of (i) various mechanisms describing mathematically the physical and chemical properties of the studied phenomena, (ii) different mathematical tools (first and foremost, partial differenti­ al equations), (iii) various numerical methods, (iv) computers (especially, high-speed computers), (v) statistical approaches, (vi) fast and efficient visualization and animation techniques, (vii) fast methods for manipulation with huge sets of data (input data, intermediate data and output data).

Functional Programming is a relatively new area of computer science. These proceedings contain 25 papers representing an excellent snapshot of the current state of functional programming and are written by the leading computer scientists in this aera. In some universities, a functional programming language is used as the introductory teaching language and computer architectures are being designed and investigated to support functional languages.

Internal combustion engines (ICE) still have potential for substantial improvements, particularly with regard to fuel efficiency and environmental compatibility. In order to fully exploit the remaining margins, increasingly sophisticated control systems have to be applied. This book offers an introduction to cost-effective model-based control-system design for ICE. The primary emphasis is put on the ICE and its auxiliary devices. Mathematical models for these processes are developed and solutions for selected feedforward and feedback control-problems are presented. The discussions concerning pollutant emissions and fuel economy of ICE in automotive applications constantly intensified since the first edition of this book was published. Concerns about the air quality, the limited resources of fossil fuels and the detrimental effects of greenhouse gases exceedingly spurred the interest of both the industry and academia in further improvements. The most important changes and additions included in this second edition are: restructured and slightly extended section on superchargers, short subsection on rotational oscillations and their treatment on engine test-benches, complete section on modeling, detection, and control of engine knock, improved physical and chemical model for the three-way catalytic converter, new methodology for the design of an air-to-fuel ratio controller, short introduction to thermodynamic engine-cycle calculation and corresponding control-oriented aspects.

Glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid-derived lipid mediators facilitate the transfer of messages not only from one cell to another but also from one subcellular organelle to another. These molecules are not only components of neural membranes but also storage depots for lipid mediators. Information on the generation and involvement of lipid mediators in neurological disorders is scattered throughout the literature in the form of original papers and reviews. This book will provide readers with a comprehensive description of glycerophospholipid, sphingolipid and cholesterol-derived lipid mediators and their involvement in neurological disorders.

The 4th European Congress of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Federation was held in Antwerp, November 2008. The scientific discussion on the conference and in this conference proceedings include the following issues: Signal & Image Processing ICT Clinical Engineering and Applications Biomechanics and Fluid Biomechanics Biomaterials and Tissue Repair Innovations and Nanotechnology Modeling and Simulation Education and Professional

These proceedings continue the series edited in the framework of the traditional triennial International Conference on El- trical Bio-Impedance (ICEBI), the most important platform for presenting recent scientific achievements in the area of el- th nd trical bio-impedance. The XIII ICEBI was held from Aug. 29 – Sept. 02 2007 at the Graz University of Technology in Graz, Austria. The organizers received 285 abstracts 264 of which were accepted for presentation. The authors of these - pers came from 34 different nations. Due to the kind support by the International Federation for Biomedical Engineering (IFMBE) the proceedings were p- lished by Springer in the proceedings series of the IFMBE. The editors would like to thank the IFMBE for this kind of s- vice which makes the results of the bioimpedance community visible on a very important publishing platform. According to the quality requirements of the IFMBE each paper had to pass a thorough two-stage review by two independent members of the scientific board. As a result 204 papers were selected for being printed in this issue. As already in previous years the ICEBI was held together with the Conference on Electrical Impedance Tomography, the annual meeting for biomedical impedance imaging. Consequently, the proceedings also contain many contributions from this very important and challenging branch of bioimpedance research.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 26th IFIP WG 6.1 International Conference on Formal Techniques for Networked and Distributed Systems, FORTE 2006, held in Paris, France, in September 2006. The 26 revised full papers and 4 short papers presented together with 3 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 177 submissions. The papers focus on the construction of middleware and services using formalised and verified approaches.

Glycerophospholipids in Brain: Phospholipases A2 in Neurological DisordersAkhlaq A. Farooqui and Lloyd A. Horrocks Glycerophospholipids in Brain: Phospholipases A2 in Neurological Disorders provides a synthesis of material on the metabolism of phospholipids in the brain which has previously only been available in a scattered number of original papers and reviews. Here, the research of over 25 years is collected in one volume from two of the leading researchers in the field— Akhlaq A. Farooqui and Lloyd A. Horrocks Glycerophospholipids in Brain: Phospholipases A2 in Neurological Disorders comprehensively describes: metabolism in brain of glycerophospholipids, including those containing a vinyl ether group (plasmalogens) cutting-edge information on the properties and roles of phospholipases A2 in the central nervous system release by phospholipases A2 of second messengers (arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and lysophospholipid) from neural membrane phospholipids and their neurochemical effects on brain metabolism and function involvement of phospholipases A2 in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, and the use of phospholipase A2 inhibitors for the treatment of diseases associated with altered phospholipid metabolism methods for the assays of phospholipases A2 and their clinical significance This unique volume will be invaluable not only to those interested in biochemical properties of phospholipases A2, but also their involvement in neurological disorders. Students will benefit from it as a supplement for a range of neuroscience courses. Clinicians will find it invaluable as well for understanding molecular aspects of neurodegeneration in acute neural trauma(stroke) and neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer disease) that are mediated by phospholipases A2. The information in Glycerophospholipids in Brain: Phospholipases A2 in Neurological Disorders is presented in a lively manner that has never been attempted until now in this specialized format. It will be the essential text for the authoritative research in the field. About the Authors Akhlaq A. Farooqui and Lloyd A. Horrocks are leaders in the fields of phospholipid metabolism and phospholipases A2 in brain. They have published cutting edge research on phospholipases A2 and their involvement in neurological disorders in brain tissue. In collaboration with Dr. Yutaka Hirashima, they have discovered a plasmalogen-selective phospholipase A2 in brain. They have also studied phospholipids composition of neural membranes and activities of phospholipases A2 in neural membranes. Lloyd A. Horrocks is the founding editor of Molecular and Chemical Neuropathology and has edited seven books.

Fiber-optic communication systems have revolutionized our telecommunication infrastructures – currently, almost all telephone land-line, cellular, and internet communications must travel via some form of optical fibers. In these transmission systems, neither the phase nor frequency of the optical signal carries information – only the intensity of the signal is used. To transmit more information in a single optical carrier, the phase of the optical carrier must be explored. As a result, there is renewed interest in phase-modulated optical communications, mainly in direct-detection DPSK signals for long-haul optical communication systems. When optical amplifiers are used to maintain certain signal level among the fiber link, the system is limited by amplifier noises and fiber nonlinearities. Phase-Modulated Optical Communication Systems surveys this newly popular area, covering the following topics: - The transmitter and receiver for phase-modulated coherent lightwave systems - Method for performance analysis of phase-modulated optical signals - Direct-detection DPSK signal with fiber nonlinearities, degraded by nonlinear phase noise and intrachannel effects - Wavelength-division-multiplexed direct-detection DPSK signals - Multi-level phase-modulated optical signals, such as the four-phase DQPSK signal. Graduate students, professional engineers, and researchers will all benefit from this updated treatment of an important topic in the optical communications field.