Despite efforts to increase renewables, the global energy mix is still likely to be dominated by fossil-fuels in the foreseeable future, particularly gas for electricity and oil for land, air and sea transport. The reliance on depleting conventional oil and natural gas resources  and the geographic distribution of these reserves can have...

Christian A. Ullrich investigates the optimization potential of integrated supply chain scheduling approaches. Considering a company-internal supply chain, the author´s first research question is whether the results of integrating machine scheduling and vehicle routing are significantly better than those of classic decomposition...

The approximation of functions by linear positive operators is an important research topic in general mathematics and it also provides powerful tools to application areas such as computer-aided geometric design, numerical analysis, and solutions of differential equations. q-Calculus is a generalization of many subjects, such as...

This book is intended for researchers who are interested in investigating the nanomechanical properties of materials using advanced instrumentation techniques. The chapters of the book are written in an easy-to-follow format, just like solved examples. The book comprehensively covers a broad range of materials such as polymers, ceramics,...

This concise tutorial provides the bachelor student and the practitioner with a short text on quantum physics that allows them to understand a wealth of quantum phenomena based on a compact, well readable, yet still concise and accurate description of nonrelativistic quantum theory. This “quadrature of the circle” is achieved by...

     Designed to provide a highly visual reference for surgeons and other members of the patient management team, Atlas of Intestinal Stomas is based on the 1967 gold standard text, Turnbull and Weakly’s Atlas of Intestinal Stomas.  Additions include chapters on anatomy and physiology, biliary stomas,...

Global Overshoot is a multidisciplinary analysis (including history and pre-history) from an ecological and evolutionary perspective of the contemporary world system.  This book compares and critiques attitudes held by people with different world views to the hypothetical prospect of large widespread falls in quality of life. It...

This book reports on state-of-art research and applications in the field of databases and information systems. It includes both fourteen selected short contributions, presented at the East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS 2013, September 1-4, Genova, Italy), and twenty-six papers from ADBIS 2013...

​This book will gather current research in early childhood mathematics education. A special focus will be the tension between instruction and construction of knowledge. The book includes research on the design of learning opportunities, the development of mathematical thinking, the impact of the social setting and the...

The book comprehensively describes current status, trends...

IgG4-related disease is a new systemic disease that has only recently been identified and characterized. However, most clinical practitioners are not yet familiar with it and thus are likely to misdiagnose it. The purpose of this book is to raise awareness of this disease and its diagnostic pitfalls. A wealth of radiological and...