• Utilizes historical examples to illustrate individual theories throughout
• Includes an analysis of theories of civil wars...

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of eight international workshops held in Ulm, Germany, in conjunction with the 7th International Conference on Business Process Management, BPM 2009, in September 2009. The eight workshops were on Empirical Research in Business Process Management (ER-BPM 2009), Reference...

The complex behavior of systems in nature is rooted in intricate mechanisms of interaction that often supersede human-made systems in terms of reliability, power efficiency, and computational capacity. Researchers have begun to realize that natural systems are a great source of inspiration for novel algorithms in computation and communication...

Unlike other books on wireless sensors networks, this unique reference focuses on methods of application, validation and testing based on real deployments of sensor networks in the clinical and home environments. Key topics include healthcare and wireless sensors, sensor network applications, designs of experiments using sensors, data...

Written by an immunologist, this book traces the concept of immunity from ancient times up to the present day, examining how changing concepts and technologies have affected the course of the science. It shows how the personalities of scientists and even political and social factors influenced both theory and practice in the field. With...

The manned mission is seen as a first step towards a Mars surface exploration base-station and, later, establishing permanent settlement. The location and use of Mars’s natural resources is vital to enable cost-effective long-duration human exploration and exploitation missions as well as subsequent human colonization. Planet resources...

Ecologists sometimes have a less-than-rigorous background in quantitative methods, yet research within this broad field is becoming increasingly mathematical. Written in a step-by-step fashion, Fractals and Multifractals in Ecology and...

The core arguments of this book’s chapters were written before September 11, 2001. This preface was written shortly afterwards. For us, the tragedy of 9–11 makes an international perspective even more important than before, and that perspective is exactly what this book provides. Deaf communities, like all communities, have...

People may not always remember the specifics of a conversation, but they do remember their overall impressions of the other person, as well as how well they felt the conversation proceeded. For example, they may recall whether or not they felt the other person was cooperative, and whether or not the other person was friendly, polite,...

The Rhetorical Nature of XML is the first volume to combine rhetoric, XML, and knowledge management in a substantive manner. It serves as a primer on XML and XML-related technologies, illustrating how the naming of XML elements can be understood as a rhetorical act, and detailing the essentials of knowledge management practices that...

The utilisation of renewable energies is not at all new; in the history of mankind renewable energies have for a long time been the primary possibility of generating energy. This only changed with industrial revolution when lignite and hard coal became increasingly more important. Later on, also crude oil gained importance. Offering the...