This first volume of the "Handbook of Agricultural Economics" presents work on topics central to the economics of agriculture: the quantitative representation of technology; market expectations; household production behaviour; consumer behaviour with uncertain quality and safety of goods; and issues of imperfect competition in food marketing. Volume 1A treats issues in agricultural production, representing the consequences of decades of work deepening and widening the original focus of agricultural economics on farm management. In addition to the theory and estimation of production and supply behaviour in agriculture, chapters are devoted to topics on which major advancements have been made: technological change; returns to agricultural research; the industrial structure of agriculture, land institutions and markets; and human capital and finance. Two chapters are further specialized to rural labour and household issues: migration and the role of women in developing countries.

This volume introduces a unified, self-contained study of linear discrete parabolic problems through reducing the starting discrete problem to the Cauchy problem for an evolution equation in discrete time. Accessible to beginning graduate students, the book contains a general stability theory of discrete evolution equations in Banach space and gives applications of this theory to the analysis of various classes of modern discretization methods, among others, Runge-Kutta and linear multistep methods as well as operator splitting methods.

Key features:

* Presents a unified approach to examining discretization methods for parabolic equations.
* Highlights a stability theory of discrete evolution equations (discrete semigroups) in Banach space.
* Deals with both autonomous and non-autonomous equations as well as with equations with memory.
* Offers a series of numerous well-posedness and convergence results for various discretization methods as applied to abstract parabolic equations; among others, Runge-Kutta and linear multistep methods as well as certain operator splitting methods.
* Provides comments of results and historical remarks after each chapter.
. Presents a unified approach to examining discretization methods for parabolic equations.
. Highlights a stability theory of discrete evolution equations (discrete semigroups) in Banach space.
. Deals with both autonomous and non-autonomous equations as well as with equations with memory.
. Offers a series of numerous well-posedness and convergence results for various discretization methods as applied to abstract parabolic equations; among others, Runge-Kutta and linear multistep methods as well as certain operator splitting methods as well as certain operator splitting methods are studied in detail.
.Provides comments of results and historical remarks after each chapter."

Throughout its history, Understanding Telephone Electronics has been, by far, one of the most popular books on telecommunication electronics in the trade, electronic distribution, and educational markets because of its very simple, direct approach to the technology. In keeping with the distinguished tradition of its predecessors, Understanding Telephone Electronics, Fourth Edition covers conventional telephone fundamentals, including both analog and modern digital communication techniques, and provides basic information on the functions of each telephone system component, how electronic circuits generate dial tones, and how the latest digital transmission techniques work.
This new edition of Stephen Bigelow's well-known, widely used text on telephone electronics offers comprehensive coverage of the latest developments in fiber optic technology, the convergence of telecommunications, cable-TV and Internet services, and CTI (computer telephony integration). The authors have made extensive revisions in these and other essential areas, such as business systems, voice mail, phone networking, enhanced services, satellite communications, wireless paging systems, digital communications, and much more to ensure that topics covered are current with the most recent advances in technology. The original Understanding Telephone Electronics has been a "gold standard" reference and training staple for years. Likewise, Understanding Telephone Electronics, Fourth Edition will serve as an essential and invaluable resource for technicians, engineers, students at major universities and corporations, and anyone with an enthusiasm for telecommunication electronics.
Provides comprehensive coverage of telephone system functions and the role of the Internet in telephony
Updates encompass the trends and advances of the booming telecommunications field, with new chapters on fiber optic technology and the Internet

As the visual effects industry has diversified, so too have the books written to serve the needs of this industry. Today there are hundreds of highly specialized titles focusing on particular aspects of film and broadcast animation, computer graphics, stage photography, miniature photography, color theory, and many others.
Visual Effects in a Digital World offers a much-needed reconsolidation of this knowledge. All of the industry's workers frequently need to understand concepts from other specialties, and this book-the only one of its kind-lets them look up and grasp the basics of any visual effects concept in a matter of seconds. It's a great way for everyone, regardless of experience, to find their way through the jargon and learn what they need to know.
* Authoritative coverage from a winner visual effects expert-winner of a British Academy Award and two Emmys.
* Cover topics such as computer graphics, digital compositing, live action, stage, and miniature photography, and a wide range of computer and Internet concepts.
* Offers job descriptions for positions found throughout the industry.
* Demystifies the jargon used by practitioners in every subspecialty.

Newnes Telecommunications Pocket Book is a unique pocket reference written by an engineer for engineers. The information in this book covers the data, methods, standards and fundamentals needed in a wide range of work situations. The practical focus of the book makes it essential for all telecommunications professionals and managers, and also for students who want to find the key information quickly.
The scope of this book encompasses signal sources, radio propagation and modulation, cabling, high speed data systems, switching, LANs and WANs, multiplexing, and the whole range of telecomms equipment: telephone systems, mobile phones, pagers, modems, fax, private mobile radio...
Review of the previous edition
'There is something relevant to all practising telecommunications engineers and the book will be particularly valuable to those looking for a basic but sound appreciation of fields outside their particular speciality. In short an excellent book.' BT Engineering Journal

All sections have been thoroughly updated to cover the latest developments in technology and standards, including ITU regulations, WAP, GSM1800, HDSL2, wireless local loops and wireless broadband, optical fibre amplifiers and the latest submarine cable systems.
A practical engineer's reference that puts the key information at your fingertips
Covers essential data, techniques and working practice
This update includes the latest international regulations

This is the third edition of an established and successful university textbook. The original structure and philosophy of the book continue in this new edition, providing a genuine synthesis of modern ecological and physiological thinking, while entirely updating the detailed content. New features include a fresh, unified treatment of toxicity, emphasizing common features of plant response to ionic, gaseous, and other toxins, explicit treatment of issues relating to global change, and a section on the role of fire in plant physiology and communities. The illustrations in the text are improved over previous editions, including color plates for the first time, and the authors' continuing commitment to providing wide citation of the relevant literature has further improved the reference list. This revision of Environmental Physiology of Plants will ensure the reputation of this title as a useful and relevant text well into the 21st century.
Key Features
* Includes enhanced illustrations, now with color plates
* Examines new molecular approaches which can be harnessed to solve problems in physiology
* Features new topics such as the unified treatment of toxicity, an explicit treatment of the issues relating to global change, and a section on the role of fire

This volume contains the papers presented at the Third International Conference on Thin-Walled Structures, Cracow, Poland on June 5-7, 2001.
There has been a substantial growth in knowledge in the field of Thin-Walled Structures over the past few decades. Lightweight structures are in widespread use in the Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautical, Automobile, Chemical and Offshore Engineering fields. The development of new processes, new methods of connections, new materials has gone hand-in-hand with the evolution of advanced analytical methods suitable for dealing with the increasing complexity of the design work involved in ensuring safety and confidence in the finished products.
Of particular importance with regard to the analytical process is the growth in use of the finite element method. This method, about 40 years ago, was confined to rather specialist use, mainly in the aeronautical field, because of its requirements for substantial calculation capacity. The development over recent years of extremely powerful microcomputers has ensured that the application of the finite element method is now possible for problems in all fields of engineering, and a variety of finite element packages have been developed to enhance the ease of use and the availability of the method in the engineering design process.

In 1912 Victor Franz Hess made the revolutionary discovery that ionizing radiation is incident upon the Earth from outer space. He showed with ground-based and balloon-borne detectors that the intensity of the radiation did not change significantly between day and night. Consequently, the sun could not be regarded as the sources of this radiation and the question of its origin remained unanswered. Today, almost one hundred years later the question of the origin of the cosmic radiation still remains a mystery.
Hess' discovery has given an enormous impetus to large areas of science, in particular to physics, and has played a major role in the formation of our current understanding of universal evolution. For example, the development of new fields of research such as elementary particle physics, modern astrophysics and cosmology are direct consequences of this discovery. Over the years the field of cosmic ray research has evolved in various directions: Firstly, the field of particle physics that was initiated by the discovery of many so-called elementary particles in the cosmic radiation. There is a strong trend from the accelerator physics community to reenter the field of cosmic ray physics, now under the name of astroparticle physics. Secondly, an important branch of cosmic ray physics that has rapidly evolved in conjunction with space exploration concerns the low energy portion of the cosmic ray spectrum. Thirdly, the branch of research that is concerned with the origin, acceleration and propagation of the cosmic radiation represents a great challenge for astrophysics, astronomy and cosmology. Presently very popular fields of research have rapidly evolved, such as high-energy gamma ray and neutrino astronomy. In addition, high-energy neutrino astronomy may soon initiate as a likely spin-off neutrino tomography of the Earth and thus open a unique new branch of geophysical research of the interior of the Earth. Finally, of considerable interest are the biological and medical aspects of the cosmic radiation because of it ionizing character and the inevitable irradiation to which we are exposed.

This book is a reference manual for researchers and students of cosmic ray physics and associated fields and phenomena. It is not intended to be a tutorial. However, the book contains an adequate amount of background materials that its content should be useful to a broad community of scientists and professionals. The present book contains chiefly a data collection in compact form that covers the cosmic radiation in the vicinity of the Earth, in the Earth's atmosphere, at sea level and underground. Included are predominantly experimental but also theoretical data. In addition the book contains related data, definitions and important relations. The aim of this book is to offer the reader in a single volume a readily available comprehensive set of data that will save him the need of frequent time consuming literature searches.

"Spatial Databases" is the first unified, in-depth treatment of special techniques for dealing with spatial data, particularly in the field of geographic information systems (GIS). This book surveys various techniques, such as spatial data models, algorithms, and indexing methods, developed to address specific features of spatial data that are not adequately handled by mainstream DBMS technology.

The book also reviews commercial solutions to geographic data handling: ArcInfo, ArcView, and Smallworld GISs; and two extensions to the relational model, PostgreSQL and Oracle Spatial. The authors examine these underlying GIS technologies, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and consider specific uses for which each product is best suited.
* Examines the strengths of various query languages and approaches to query processing.
* Explains the use of computational geometry in spatial databases GISs, providing necessary background and an in-depth look at key algorithms.
* Covers spatial access methods, including the R-tree and several space-driven structures, and is filled with dozens of helpful illustrations.

This book provides an introduction to the analysis of chaos and chaos theory as it relates to agricultural science. With clear explanations of chaos theory and principles, the first part of the book offers some basic facts, the fundamental terminology, and the concepts of deterministic chaos.

The second part of this volume contains rich applications of the theory as applied to real agricultural systems. Applications include a wide area such as alternate bearing in tree crops, weed control and tillage, nonlinear vibrations in agricultural tractors, and piglet pricing analysis.

Readers will find useful tools for calculating the order, rules and theory behind complex phenomena observed in arable land.

This comprehensive overview of chassis technology presents an up-to-date picture for vehicle construction and design engineers in education and industry. The book acts as an introduction to the engineering design of the automobile's fundamental mechanical systems. Clear text and first class diagrams are used to relate basic engineering principles to the particular requirements of the chassis. In addition, the 2nd edition of 'The Automotive Chassis' has a new author team and has been completely updated to include new technology in total vehicle and suspension design, including platform concept and four-wheel drive technology.

This volume is the outcome of an international symposium held in Berlin, FRG, which brought together researchers in the field of infant development. The contributors are from Europe and North America, and have as their primary professional interest either pediatrics, biology or psychology. These fields, in spite of common involvement and large overlap, still have to overcome communication problems and differences in scientific approaches. The emphasis of this book is on the efforts of the participants towards reaching a mutual understanding. In spite of disciplinary diversity, the papers in this book complement each other, and set the scene for future multidisciplinary research and exchange in the field of infant development.

Some well-known age-related neurological diseases include Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, deafness, and blindness. Even more common are the problems of aging which are not due to disease but to more subtle impairments in neurobiological systems, including impairments in vision, memory loss, muscle weakening, and loss of reproductive functions, changes in body weight, and sleeplessness. As the average age of our society increases, diseases of aging continue to become more common, and conditions associated with aging need more attention by doctors and researchers. In 1991, patients over the age of 65 saw their doctors an average of eight times per year. Research funding is provided by the Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging (NNA) Program, which is run by the National Institute on Aging. This book offers a comprehensive overview of all topics related to functional impairments which are related to the aging brain and nervous system. It is organized according to four general functions: movement, senses, memory, and neuroendocrine regulation. Written by the leading researchers in the field, this comprehensive work addresses both impairments associated with diseases and not associated with diseases, making it easier to understand the mechanisms involved. Functional Neurobiology of Aging is an important reference for professionals and students involved in aging research, as well as physicians who need to recognize and understand age-related impairments.
Key Features
* Organized by function, making it easy to find and understand the material
* Addresses impairments both associated with diseases and not associated with diseases
* Written by leading researchers in the field
* Most comprehensive source of information on the neurobiology of aging

This book is not only an essential read for every professional working with antique radio and gramophone equipment, but also dealers, collectors and valve technology enthusiasts the world over.
The emphasis is firmly on the practicalities of repairing and restoring, so technical content is kept to a minimum, and always explained in a way that can be followed by readers with no background in electronics. Those who have a good grounding in electronics, but wish to learn more about the practical aspects, will benefit from the emphasis given to hands-on repair work, covering mechanical as well as electrical aspects of servicing. Repair techniques are also illustrated throughout.
This book is an expanded and updated version of Chas Miller's classic Practical Handbook of Valve Radio Repair. Full coverage of valve amplifiers will add to its appeal to all audio enthusiasts who appreciate the sound quality of valve equipment.
A practical manual for collectors, owners, dealers and service engineers
Essential information for all radio and audio enthusiasts
Valve technology is a hot topic

In this book there are entire chapters devoted to the most widely used bird counting techniques, and attempts to amalgamate other counting methodologies into major groups were made. Examples of the use of methods are provided wherever possible and the relative value of various approaches for answering specific questions is also addressed.
Key Features
* A newly revised edition of the immensely successful Bird Census Techniques
* An entirely new chapter covering the census methods recommended for tropical habitats
* Provides a concise guide to various census techniques and their opportunities and pitfalls

In the thirty-seven years that have gone by since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published, optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of specialisation for many science and engineering students and numerous research workers and engineers throughout the world. Some of the advances in these fields have been recognized by awarding Nobel prizes to seven physicists in the last twenty years. The volumes in this series which have appeared up to now contain nearly 190 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments. They have helped optical scientists and optical engineers to stay abreast of their fields. There is no sign that developments in optics are slowing down or becoming less interesting. We confidently expect that, just like their predecessors, future volumes of Progress in Optics will faithfully record the most important advances that are being made in optics and related fields.

As a relatively new subdiscipline of economics, health economics has made many contributions to areas of the main discipline, such as insurance economics. This volume provides a survey of the burgeoning literature on the subject of health economics.

Considerable evidence exists that visual sensory information is analyzed simultaneously along two or more independent pathways. In the past two decades, researchers have extensively used the concept of parallel visual channels as a framework to direct their explorations of human vision. More recently, basic and clinical scientists have found such a dichotomy applicable to the way we organize our knowledge of visual development, higher order perception, and visual disorders, to name just a few. This volume attempts to provide a forum for gathering these different perspectives.

This fully illustrated text explains the basic measurement techniques, describes the commercially available instruments and provides an overview of the current perception of 3-D topography analysis in the academic world and industry, and the commonly used 3-D parameters and plots for the characterizing and visualizing 3-D surface topography.
It also includes new sections providing full treatment of surface characterization, filtering technology and engineered surfaces, as well as a fully updated bibliography.

This book covers a wide range of measurement techniques broadly referred to as Optical Metrology, with emphasis on their applications to nondestructive testing. If we look separately at each of the two terms making the generic name Optical Metrology, we find a link to two of the most distinctive aspects of humans: a particularly well developed sense of vision and a desire to classify things using numbers and rules.
Of all our five senses, vision is certainly the most developed and the closest to the rational part of our brain. It can be argued that our memory is strongly dependent on images and the brain is particularly good at processing the stimuli received from these images to extract information. Measuring, sizing and counting are, on the other hand, among the fundamental building blocks of modern society. The use of abstract quantities like size, value or intensity has simplified the description of complex enquiry and is the basis of modern science and economy. Hence, it would seem natural that the combination of two such basic aspects should result in the birth of a new field of science. However, it is known that his has not been the case. Optical Metrology remains classified as a group of special techniques used mainly in niche applications. Optical Metrology may be rightly described as an ensemble of techniques in which fields such as physics, electrical and mechanical engineering, and computer science merge and blend in new ways.
This book is intended as a tribute to the career of Professor Leopold Pflug. By looking back at his lifelong commitment to the application of optical metrology to the service of engineering sciences, more particularly devoted to the observation of the real behavior of structural components, one can retrace the major revolutions that have taken place in this domain. Starting his activity in 1971 as the head of the Laboratory for Stress Analysis at the EPFL in Switzerland, he first employed photoelasticity as a tool to improve the understanding of the real behavior of complex structures. However he soon recognized the necessity of working with the real materials used to build these structures instead of on replicas made of optically birefringent materials. He then focussed on the use of moire techniques which sparked his fascination with laser-based holography and speckle-based methods. The advent of information technology led him to open up to the use of ESPI and digital image processing techniques. Finally, in the mid 1990s he became interested in the use of optical fibers as a tool for sensing deformations inside structures, not only on their surfaces as in the case of whole-field methods. It is interesting to note the parallel in the evolution of optical metrology vis a vis developments in other fields: the development of lasers led to holographic interferometry, the availability of frame-grabbers led to ESPI and the emergence of fiber optic communications opened the way to the development of fiber optic sensors. This puts in sharp perspective the strong dependence of optical metrology on the latest technology for its development. Also interesting to note is that all fields in optical metrology touched upon by Professor Pflug are still of great relevance, as shown by the contributions in this volume.
This book is, however, not intended as a commemoration, rather as an occasion to review the trends and undercurrents that are driving the field of optical metrology, with emphasis on nondestructive testing. All the authors were asked to summarize the recent achievements in their respective fields and to speculate about the future. As a result it has become apparent that it is difficult although not impossible to spot general trends in these disparate fields. Optical metrology has considerably benefited from some of the most important innovations of the recent past: lasers, computers and fiber optics communication, all of which found their direct inspiration from the developments in the world of electronics.
In recent years we have also witnessed a shift of power from states to corporations. This has created the need to produce quick results useful to industry. Optical nondestructive testing has certainly adapted to this evolution, and several contributions in this book show that the researchers in this field understand the importance of developing technology that can be used by the industry to solve specific problems. We should also not forget that optical nondestructive testing is essentially a "service technology" and should as such not only focus on serving its clients in the best possible way, but also should continually emphasize, extend and enhance its services to new users still unaware of its potential. Hopefully this book will help in spreading awareness of the potentials of optical metrology and in focusing on the challenges of the future.

This book is a continuation of 'Acoustic and Elastic Wave Fields in Geophysics, Part I' published in 2000. The second volume is dedicated to propagation of linear plane, spherical and cylindrical acoustic waves in different media. Chapter 1 is devoted to principles of geometric acoustic in plane wave approximation. The eikonal and transport equations are derived. Ray tracing and wavefront construction techniques are explained. Chapter 2 deals with dynamic properties of wave fields. The behavior of pressure and displacements amplitudes in zero approximation is analysed in two ways: using Poynting vector and solving the transport equation. This chapter contains several examples related to shadow zones and caustics. In Chapter 3 using the results of analysis of high-frequency wave kinematics and dynamics some fundamental aspects of Kirchhoff migration are described. Chapters 4 and 5 are devoted to propagation of plane waves in media with flat boundaries in the case of normal and oblique incidence. Special attention is paid to the case when an incident angle exceeds the critical angles. Formation of normal modes in the waveguide is discussed. Chapter 6 deals with a spherical wave reflection and refraction. The steepest descent method is introduced to describe the behavior of reflected, transmitted, head and evanescent waves. In Chapter 7 propagation of stationary and transient waves in a waveguide formed by a flat layer with low velocity are investigated. Normal modes and waves related to the branch points of integrands under consideration are studied. Dispersive properties of normal modes are discussed. Chapter 8 describes wave propagation inside cylinder in acoustic media. Several appendices are added to help the reader understand different aspects of mathematics used in the book.

The present volume is the first in the advances in oncobiology series. It is meant to be useful not only to clinical and non-clinical oncologists but also to graduate students and medical students. The individual chapters are presented as self-contained summaries of current knowledge rather than as reviews. The last chapter deals with the subject of chemotherapy.

This is a guide for the system designers and installers faced with the day-to-day issues of achieving EMC, and will be found valuable across a wide range of roles and sectors, including process control, manufacturing, medical, IT and building management. The EMC issues covered will also make this book essential reading for product manufacturers and suppliers - and highly relevant for managers as well as technical staff.
The authors' approach is thoroughly practical - all areas of installation EMC are covered, with particular emphasis on cabling and earthing. Students on MSc and CPD programmes will also find in this book some valuable real-world antidotes to the academic treatises.
The book is presented in two parts: the first is non-technical, and looks at the need for EMC in the context of systems and installations, with a chapter on the management aspects of EMC. The second part covers the technical aspects of EMC, looking at the various established methods which can be applied to ensure compatibility, and setting these in the context of the new responsibilities facing system builders.

EMC for Systems and Installations is designed to complement Tim Williams' highly successful EMC for Product Designers.
Practical guide to EMC design issues for those involved in systems design and installation.
Complementary title to Williams' bestselling EMC for Product Designers.
Unique guidance for installers on EMC topics.

The book presents a systematic and compact treatment of the qualitative theory of half-linear
differential equations. It contains the most updated and comprehensive material and represents the first attempt to present the results of the rapidly developing theory of half-linear differential equations in a unified form. The main topics covered by the book are oscillation and asymptotic theory and the theory of boundary value problems associated with half-linear equations, but the book also contains a treatment of related topics like PDE s with p-Laplacian, half-linear difference equations and various more general nonlinear differential equations.
- The first complete treatment of the qualitative theory of half-linear differential equations.
- Comparison of linear and half-linear theory.
- Systematic approach to half-linear oscillation and asymptotic theory.
- Comprehensive bibliography and index.
- Useful as a reference book in the topic.

"Advanced RenderMan: Creating CGI for Motion Pictures" is precisely what you and other RenderMan users are dying for. Written by the world's foremost RenderMan experts, it offers thoroughly updated coverage of the standard while moving beyond the scope of the original "RenderMan Companion" to provide in-depth information on dozens of advanced topics. Both a reference and a tutorial, this book will quickly prove indispensable, whether you're a technical director, graphics programmer, modeler, animator, or hobbyist.
Explore the Power of RenderMan
* Use the entire range of geometric primitives supported by RenderMan.
* Understand how and when to use procedural primitives and level of detail.
* Master every nuance of the Shading Language.
* Write detailed procedural shaders using texture, displacement, pattern generation, and custom reflection models.
* Write shaders for special effects relating to volumes, custom lighting, and non-photorealistic media.
* Use antialiasing to ensure that your shaders are free of artifacts.
* Minimize the expense of rendering scenes by optimizing input.
Other Features from Advanced RenderMan
* Offers expert advice and instruction applicable to any RenderMan-compliant renderer.
* Filled with technical illustrations and many full-color representations of effects supported by the RenderMan standard.
* Includes a chapter reviewing key math and computer graphics concepts.