The genus Thymus consists of about 350 species of perennial, aromatic herbs and subshrubs native to Europe and North Africa. Various types of thyme are used all over the globe as condiments, ornamentals and sources of essential oil. Thyme oil (distilled from its leaves) is among the world's top ten essential oils, displaying antibacterial, antimycotic, antioxidative, food preservative and mammalian age-delaying properties. Because of the wide variety of its applications, the demand for thyme oil is growing; hence thyme commands an important place in an expanding world market. Commercial supply of thyme originates mainly from European countries, but recently this increased demand has lead to new winter-hardy, high yield cultivars being developed for commercial cultivation in Canada and North America. This comprehensive volume covers all aspects of the biology, cultivation, pharmacology, chemistry and industrial processing of the genus Thymus. It is the most up to date overview of current knowledge in thyme use, and will be an invaluable reference source to those interested in medicinal plants, natural products, pharmacy, pharmacognosy and agronomy.

This practical book shows the procedure to integrate, in a practical way, empirical propagation methods with geographical information systems (GIS) to obtain the radio coverage in open environments. It includes the theoretical explanation of empirical methods and GIS but as a basis to develop a real tool that combines both aspects to provide the user a suitable method for the wireless network planning in urban areas. The book introduces the empirical propagation methods and their application to wireless network planning. The motivation for combining them with the information obtained from geographical information systems is illustrated as well as their application to real situations. The most important empirical methods used to calculate the propagation in open environments are reviewed. Focus is given to the geometrical information needed to prove the necessity of obtaining some geographical information if these methods must be applied to realistic network planning. A review of the most important GIS is also described. The advantages and disadvantages of every system is analyzed from the point of view of its integration with an empirical propagation method. An application that combines a geographical information system with an empirical propagation method is fully described. The practical features of this integration are completely studied to allow an engineer to use and develop his own tool. Examples are given in each chapter to fully describe and illustrate the process.