Given the universal interest in whether extraterrestrial life has developed or could eventually develop, it is vital that an examination of planetary habitability go beyond simple assumptions. This book has resulted from a workshop at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) which brought together experts to discuss the multi-faceted problem of how the habitability of a planet co-evolves with the geology of the surface and interior, the atmosphere, and the magnetosphere.

The public's serious concern about the uncertainties and dangers of the conse quences of human activities on environmental quality demands policies to control the situation and to prevent its deterioration. But far-reaching decisions on the environmental policy are impaired or even made impossible as long as the relevant ecological relations are not sufficiently understood and large-scale quantitative information on the most important parameters is not available in sufficient quality and quantity. The techniques of remote sensing offer new ways of procuring data on natural phenomena with three main advantages - the large distance between sensor and object prevents interference with the environmental conditions to be measured, - the potentiality for large-scale and even global surveys yields a new dimension for the investigations of the environmental parameters, - the extremely wide, spectral range covered by the whole diversity of sensors discloses many properties of the environmental media not detectable within a single wave band (as e.g. the visible). These significant additions to the conventional methods of environmental studies and the particular qualification of several remote sensing methods for quantitative determination of the natural parameters makes this new investigation technique an important tool both to the scientists studying the ecological relationship and the administration in charge of the environmental planning and protection.

This volume is dedicated to understanding the political economy obstacles to trade reform, especially global agricultural trade reform, and how these obstacles can be surmounted. The focus is on the trade reform under the GATT negotiations. New political-economic methodologies are used to assess and evaluate the obstacles and original scholarly analyses have been designed to explain why agriculture - among so many topics - became such a significant problem in the most recent Uruguay Round of the GATT.

One person in four in the industrialized countries suffers from hyperuricemia and is therefore at risk of developing gouty arthritis, nephrolithiasis, or any of the other consequences of urate deposition. At present, far too little is known about urate deposition and the mechanisms by which it occurs, as well as about its clinical consequences, which include formation of toph; over the helix of the ear or in bones close to joints that have never exhibited an attack, development of bursitis, chronic tendovaginitis leading to carpal tunnel syndrome, and gouty paraplegia. Information on these matters is needed to estimate the risks of hyperuricemia and to determine when therapeutic intervention is indicated. The contributions and discussions in this book, resulting from an international symposium held in December 1990 in the Medizinische Poliklinik in Munich, provide an up-to-date source of current knowledge about hyperuricemia in man and its clinical consequences.