SQL Built-In Functions And Stored Procedures

This is the fourth and final volume in a series which presents a complete corpus of all the church buildings that were built, rebuilt or simply in use in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem between the capture of Jerusalem by the First Crusade in 1099 and the loss of Acre in 1291. This volume deals with the major coastal cities of Acre and Tyre, which were both in Frankish hands for almost two centuries, and also contains addenda and corrigenda to volumes 1–3. It describes and discusses some 120 churches and chapels that are attested by documentary or surviving evidence, accompanied where possible by plans, elevation drawings and photographs. This is an indispensable work of reference to all those concerned with the medieval archaeology of the Holy Land, the history of the Church in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the art and architecture of the Latin East.

What was it like to be a practitioner of Pyrrhonist skepticism? This important volume brings together for the first time a selection of Richard Bett's essays on ancient Pyrrhonism, allowing readers a better understanding of the key aspects of this school of thought. The volume examines Pyrrhonism's manner of self-presentation, including its methods of writing, its desire to show how special it is, and its use of humor; it considers Pyrrhonism's argumentative procedures regarding specific topics, such as signs, space, or the Modes; and it explores what it meant in practice to live as a Pyrrhonist, including the kind of ethical outlook which Pyrrhonism might allow and, in general, the character of a skeptical life - and how far these might strike us as feasible or desirable. It also shows how Pyrrhonism often raises questions that matter to us today, both in our everyday lives and in our philosophical reflection.

What was it like to be a practitioner of Pyrrhonist skepticism? This important volume brings together for the first time a selection of Richard Bett's essays on ancient Pyrrhonism, allowing readers a better understanding of the key aspects of this school of thought. The volume examines Pyrrhonism's manner of self-presentation, including its methods of writing, its desire to show how special it is, and its use of humor; it considers Pyrrhonism's argumentative procedures regarding specific topics, such as signs, space, or the Modes; and it explores what it meant in practice to live as a Pyrrhonist, including the kind of ethical outlook which Pyrrhonism might allow and, in general, the character of a skeptical life - and how far these might strike us as feasible or desirable. It also shows how Pyrrhonism often raises questions that matter to us today, both in our everyday lives and in our philosophical reflection.

This is the first book to promote the use of stochastic, or random, processes to understand, model and predict our climate system. One of the most important applications of this technique is in the representation of comprehensive climate models of processes which, although crucial, are too small or fast to be explicitly modelled. The book shows how stochastic methods can lead to improvements in climate simulation and prediction, compared with more conventional bulk-formula parameterization procedures. Beginning with expositions of the relevant mathematical theory, the book moves on to describe numerous practical applications. It covers the complete range of time scales of climate variability, from seasonal to decadal, centennial, and millennial. With contributions from leading experts in climate physics, this book is invaluable to anyone working on climate models, including graduate students and researchers in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences, numerical weather forecasting, climate

Why does secularization proceed differently in otherwise similar countries? Secular Conversions demonstrates that the institutional structure of the state is a key factor shaping the course of secularization. Drawing upon detailed historical analysis of religious education policy in the United States and Australia, Damon Mayrl details how administrative structures, legal procedures, and electoral systems have shaped political opportunities and even helped create constituencies for secular policies. In so doing, he also shows how a decentralized, readily accessible American state acts as an engine for religious conflict, encouraging religious differences to spill into law and politics at every turn. This book provides a vivid picture of how political conflicts interacted with the state over the long span of American and Australian history to shape religion's role in public life. Ultimately, it reveals that taken-for-granted political structures have powerfully shaped the fate of religio

Why does secularization proceed differently in otherwise similar countries? Secular Conversions demonstrates that the institutional structure of the state is a key factor shaping the course of secularization. Drawing upon detailed historical analysis of religious education policy in the United States and Australia, Damon Mayrl details how administrative structures, legal procedures, and electoral systems have shaped political opportunities and even helped create constituencies for secular policies. In so doing, he also shows how a decentralized, readily accessible American state acts as an engine for religious conflict, encouraging religious differences to spill into law and politics at every turn. This book provides a vivid picture of how political conflicts interacted with the state over the long span of American and Australian history to shape religion's role in public life. Ultimately, it reveals that taken-for-granted political structures have powerfully shaped the fate of religio

This is the first book to promote the use of stochastic, or random, processes to understand, model and predict our climate system. One of the most important applications of this technique is in the representation of comprehensive climate models of processes which, although crucial, are too small or fast to be explicitly modelled. The book shows how stochastic methods can lead to improvements in climate simulation and prediction, compared with more conventional bulk-formula parameterization procedures. Beginning with expositions of the relevant mathematical theory, the book moves on to describe numerous practical applications. It covers the complete range of time scales of climate variability, from seasonal to decadal, centennial, and millennial. With contributions from leading experts in climate physics, this book is invaluable to anyone working on climate models, including graduate students and researchers in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences, numerical weather forecasting, climate

The transformation of mathematics from ancient Greece to the medieval Arab-speaking world is here approached by focusing on a single problem proposed by Archimedes and the many solutions offered. In this trajectory Reviel Netz follows the change in the task from solving a geometrical problem to its expression as an equation, still formulated geometrically, and then on to an algebraic problem, now handled by procedures that are more like rules of manipulation. From a practice of mathematics based on the localized solution (and grounded in the polemical practices of early Greek science) we see a transition to a practice of mathematics based on the systematic approach (and grounded in the deuteronomic practices of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages). With three chapters ranging chronologically from Hellenistic mathematics, through late Antiquity, to the medieval world, Reviel Netz offers an alternate interpretation of the historical journey of pre-modern mathematics.

The transformation of mathematics from ancient Greece to the medieval Arab-speaking world is here approached by focusing on a single problem proposed by Archimedes and the many solutions offered. In this trajectory Reviel Netz follows the change in the task from solving a geometrical problem to its expression as an equation, still formulated geometrically, and then on to an algebraic problem, now handled by procedures that are more like rules of manipulation. From a practice of mathematics based on the localized solution (and grounded in the polemical practices of early Greek science) we see a transition to a practice of mathematics based on the systematic approach (and grounded in the deuteronomic practices of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages). With three chapters ranging chronologically from Hellenistic mathematics, through late Antiquity, to the medieval world, Reviel Netz offers an alternate interpretation of the historical journey of pre-modern mathematics.

This book brings together in a single coherent framework a research programme begun by the author in the forties. The main model around which the analysis is built is Hicksian in character, having been drawn in large part from John Hicks's Value and Capital. The model is extended so as to include money and securities. In respect of the theory of the firm the model focuses on demand and supply plans, on inputs and outputs, on inventories, and on dependencies between them. The stability of temporary equilibrium is discussed for linear and non-linear cases. Because the concept of structural stability is important for understanding non-linear cases, it is defined and applied to the case of economic motion generated from the temporary equilibrium analysis. The addenda focus on developments in economic theory following the publication of the main model.

This book brings together in a single coherent framework a research programme begun by the author in the forties. The main model around which the analysis is built is Hicksian in character, having been drawn in large part from John Hicks's Value and Capital. The model is extended so as to include money and securities. In respect of the theory of the firm the model focuses on demand and supply plans, on inputs and outputs, on inventories, and on dependencies between them. The stability of temporary equilibrium is discussed for linear and non-linear cases. Because the concept of structural stability is important for understanding non-linear cases, it is defined and applied to the case of economic motion generated from the temporary equilibrium analysis. The addenda focus on developments in economic theory following the publication of the main model.

Images and image cycles with genealogical content were everywhere in the high and later Middle Ages. They represent families related by blood as well as successive office holders and appear as family trees and lineages of single figures in manuscripts, on walls and in stained glass, and in sculpture and metalwork. Yet art historians have hardly remarked on the frequency of these images. Considering the physical contexts and functions of these works alongside the goals of their patrons, this volume examines groups of figural genealogies ranging across northern Europe and dating from the mid-twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century. Joan A. Holladay considers how they were used to legitimize rulers and support their political and territorial goals, to reinforce archbishops' rights to crown kings, to cement relationships between families of founders and their monastic foundations, and to commemorate the dead. The flexibility and legibility of this genre was key to its widespread use.

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and holistic analysis of the socio-psychological dynamics of intractable conflicts. Daniel Bar-Tal's original conceptual framework is supported by evidence drawn from different disciplines, including empirical data and illustrative case studies. His analysis rests on the premise that intractable conflicts share certain socio-psychological foundations, despite differences in context and other characteristics. He describes a full cycle of intractable conflicts - their outbreak, escalation and reconciliation through peace building. Bar-Tal's framework provides a broad theoretical view of the of the socio-psychological repertoire that develops in the course of long-term and violent conflicts, outlines the factors affecting its formation, demonstrates how it is maintained, points out its functions and describes its consequences. The book also elaborates on the contents, processes and other factors involved in the peace building process.

State-of-the-art analysis of geological structures has become increasingly quantitative but traditionally, graphical methods are used in teaching. This innovative lab book provides a unified methodology for problem-solving in structural geology using linear algebra and computation. Assuming only limited mathematical training, the book begins with classic orientation problems and progresses to more fundamental topics of stress, strain and error propagation. It introduces linear algebra methods as the foundation for understanding vectors and tensors, and demonstrates the application of geometry and kinematics in geoscience without requiring students to take a supplementary mathematics course. All algorithms are illustrated with a suite of online MATLAB functions, allowing users to modify the code to solve their own structural problems. Containing 20 worked examples and over 60 exercises, this is the ideal lab book for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students. It will also p

State-of-the-art analysis of geological structures has become increasingly quantitative but traditionally, graphical methods are used in teaching. This innovative lab book provides a unified methodology for problem-solving in structural geology using linear algebra and computation. Assuming only limited mathematical training, the book begins with classic orientation problems and progresses to more fundamental topics of stress, strain and error propagation. It introduces linear algebra methods as the foundation for understanding vectors and tensors, and demonstrates the application of geometry and kinematics in geoscience without requiring students to take a supplementary mathematics course. All algorithms are illustrated with a suite of online MATLAB functions, allowing users to modify the code to solve their own structural problems. Containing 20 worked examples and over 60 exercises, this is the ideal lab book for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students. It will also p

Wireless entrepreneurs are transforming the way people live and work around the globe. In the process they have created some of the fastest-growing companies on the planet. This book tells the story of the birth and explosion of cellular and wireless communications as seen through the eyes of one of the industry's pioneers, Sam Ginn. As deregulation and privatisation swept the globe, Ginn and his team at Air Touch Communications fought for and won licenses on several continents. They built an amazingly successful business using strategic partnerships and joint ventures. In the process they demonstrated a new model for global entrepreneurship in a high-tech, information-based economy. The combination of Air Touch with Vodafone in 1999, and Vodafone with Mannesmann in Europe in 2000 created the largest wireless business in the world. Vodafone also formed a joint venture with Bell Atlantic to create the largest wireless company in America.

The intense and polemical debate over the legality and morality of weapons systems to which human cognitive functions are delegated (up to and including the capacity to select targets and release weapons without further human intervention) addresses a phenomena which does not yet exist but which is widely claimed to be emergent. This groundbreaking collection combines contributions from roboticists, legal scholars, philosophers and sociologists of science in order to recast the debate in a manner that clarifies key areas and articulates questions for future research. The contributors develop insights with direct policy relevance, including who bears responsibility for autonomous weapons systems, whether they would violate fundamental ethical and legal norms, and how to regulate their development. It is essential reading for those concerned about this emerging phenomenon and its consequences for the future of humanity.

The intense and polemical debate over the legality and morality of weapons systems to which human cognitive functions are delegated (up to and including the capacity to select targets and release weapons without further human intervention) addresses a phenomena which does not yet exist but which is widely claimed to be emergent. This groundbreaking collection combines contributions from roboticists, legal scholars, philosophers and sociologists of science in order to recast the debate in a manner that clarifies key areas and articulates questions for future research. The contributors develop insights with direct policy relevance, including who bears responsibility for autonomous weapons systems, whether they would violate fundamental ethical and legal norms, and how to regulate their development. It is essential reading for those concerned about this emerging phenomenon and its consequences for the future of humanity.

This book evaluates and compares risk regulation and safety management for offshore oil and gas operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Australia. It provides an interdisciplinary approach with legal, technological and sociological perspectives on efforts to assess and prevent major accidents and improve safety performance. Presented in three parts, it begins with a review of the factors involved in designing, implementing and enforcing a regulatory regime for industrial safety. It then evaluates the four regimes exploring the contextual factors that influence their design and implementation, their reliance on industrial expertise and standards, and the use of performance indicators. Finally the book assesses the resilience of the Norwegian regime, its capacity to keep pace with new technologies and emerging risks, respond to near miss incidents, encourage safety culture, incorporate vested rights of labor, and perform inspection and self-audit functions. This b

This book evaluates and compares risk regulation and safety management for offshore oil and gas operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Australia. It provides an interdisciplinary approach with legal, technological and sociological perspectives on efforts to assess and prevent major accidents and improve safety performance. Presented in three parts, it begins with a review of the factors involved in designing, implementing and enforcing a regulatory regime for industrial safety. It then evaluates the four regimes exploring the contextual factors that influence their design and implementation, their reliance on industrial expertise and standards, and the use of performance indicators. Finally the book assesses the resilience of the Norwegian regime, its capacity to keep pace with new technologies and emerging risks, respond to near miss incidents, encourage safety culture, incorporate vested rights of labor, and perform inspection and self-audit functions. This b

Astronomy has become data-driven in ways that are both quantitatively and qualitatively different from the past: data structures are not simple; procedures to gain astrophysical insights are not obvious; and the informational content of the data sets is so high that archival research and data mining are not merely convenient, but obligatory, as researchers who obtain the data can only extract a small fraction of the science enabled by it. IAU Symposium 325 took place at a crucial stage in the development of the field, when many efforts have carried significant achievements, but the widespread groups have just begun to effectively communicate across specialties, to gather and assimilate their achievements, and to consult cross-disciplinary experts. Bringing together astronomers involved in surveys and large simulation projects, computer scientists, data scientists, and companies, this volume showcases their fruitful exchange of ideas, methods, software, and technical capabilities.

Written as a response to the increasing utilization of minimally invasive procedures in children, this state-of-the-art book provides a comprehensive review of pediatric cytopathology with histopathologic correlation, focusing particularly on those entities unique to the pediatric population and highlighting differences between children and adult patients. As most pathologic diagnoses require knowledge of clinical presentation and/or imaging features, these are integral parts of the work-up in each chapter. This comprehensive guide provides optimal use of the newest diagnostic techniques (including molecular, genetic and immunohistochemical studies) to help overcome diagnostic challenges. The book is illustrated with more than 1000 high-quality color images and a password in each copy of the book provides the reader with full electronic access to all text and images. This book will provide a practical resource for practicing pediatric pathologists and cytopathologists, and a valuable e

The IBP, as a worldwide programme seeking to expand and co-ordinate biological research, needed to provide for the protection of sites and species for future scientific study. The IBP 'check-sheet' survey was therefore devised as a tool for gathering information, allowing areas to be evaluated on a comparative basis. In this was it was possible to examine the extent to which scientifically adequate samples of the main types of natural biological systems were already protected, for example in national parks and nature reserves. The method chosen used a questionnaire approach but on an enormous scale, creating an extremely valuable report on the procedure of biological surveying, the successes and shortcomings of which are examined critically. This 1980 volume explains the procedures adopted in the check-list survey and the problems of securing adequate descriptions of types of vegetation and soil and suitable methods of information storage and retrieval.

This book starts from the premise that methodology - the procedures for obtaining an 'objective' knowledge of the past - has always dominated archaeology to the detriment of broader social theory. It argues that social theory is archaeological theory, and that past failure to recognise this has resulted in disembodied archaeological theory and weak disciplinary practice. Ideology, Power and Prehistory therefore seeks to reinstate the primacy of social theory and the social nature of the past worlds that archaeologists seek to understand. The contributors to this book argue that past peoples, the creators of the archaeological records, should be understood as actively manipulating their own material world to represent and misrepresent their own and others' interests. Thus the concepts of ideology and power, long discussed in social and political science yet largely ignored by archaeologists, must henceforward play a central role in our understanding of the past as a social creation. Arc

This book presents a balanced account not only of the theoretical framework and legal complexities of the law of treason in later medieval France, but also of the extent and political context of that law's enforcement. By shedding some light on a larger issue - the interplay of law and politics, authority and power - the book contributes to our understanding of the French monarchy's efforts in the crucial fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to protect, extend and enforce its authority. The crown needed virtually all its judicial resources to cope with treason. Summary judgement and judgement by notoriety had largely given way by the fifteenth century to institutionalized procedures; special mention is made of trial by commission and the trial of peers. In the last five chapters the prosecution of treason is treated narratively to illuminate the policies of individual kings. Throughout the book comparisons are made with the English law.

Americans often complain about the operation of their government, but scholars have never developed a complete picture of people's preferred type of government. In this provocative and timely book, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, employing an original national survey and focus groups, report the governmental procedures Americans desire. Contrary to the prevailing view that people want greater involvement in politics, most citizens do not care about most policies and therefore are content to turn over decision-making authority to someone else. People's wish for the political system is that decision makers be empathetic and, especially, non-self-interested, not that they be responsive and accountable to the people's largely nonexistent policy preferences or, even worse, that the people be obligated to participate directly in decision making. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse conclude by cautioning communitarians, direct democrats, social capitalists, deliberation theorists, and all those who think that

Americans often complain about the operation of their government, but scholars have never developed a complete picture of people's preferred type of government. In this provocative and timely book, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, employing an original national survey and focus groups, report the governmental procedures Americans desire. Contrary to the prevailing view that people want greater involvement in politics, most citizens do not care about most policies and therefore are content to turn over decision-making authority to someone else. People's wish for the political system is that decision makers be empathetic and, especially, non-self-interested, not that they be responsive and accountable to the people's largely nonexistent policy preferences or, even worse, that the people be obligated to participate directly in decision making. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse conclude by cautioning communitarians, direct democrats, social capitalists, deliberation theorists, and all those who think that

Interventional oncology has emerged as an important specialty within cancer care, providing targeted therapy and palliative benefits without the side effects of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Covering the principles of current and emerging interventional oncology techniques and detailed diagnosis, staging and treatment algorithms, this book outlines the ways in which these image-guided therapies can inform cancer management strategies. Access to the most current information is vital in this rapidly growing and evolving area of practice. This new edition reflects the most recent clinical data on interventional oncology procedures. Chapters on image guidance and targeting, tumor ablation, embolotherapy, and response assessment have been updated to reflect major technological advances, and new material on microwave ablation and irreversible electroporation has been added. This invaluable resource for interventional radiologists provides essential education and guidance on the full r

This book is a theoretical and completely rigorous analysis of voting in committees that provides mathematical proof of the existence of democratic voting systems, which are immune to the manipulation of preferences of coalitions of voters. The author begins by determining the power distribution among voters that is induced by a voting rule, giving particular consideration to choice by plurality voting and Borda's rule. He then constructs, for all possible committees, well-behaved representative voting procedures which are not distorted by strategic voting, giving complete solutions for certain important classes of committees. The solution to the problem of mass elections is fully characterised.

The Judge, the Judiciary and the Court is aimed at anyone interested in the Australian judiciary today. It examines the impact of the individual on the judicial role, while exploring the collegiate environment in which judges must operate. This professional community can provide support but may also present its own challenges within the context of a particular court's relational dynamic and culture. The judge and the judiciary form the 'court', an institution grounded in a set of constitutional values that will influence how judges and the judiciary perform their functions. This collection brings together analysis of the judicial role that highlights these unique aspects, particularly in the Australian setting. Through the lenses of judicial leadership, diversity, collegiality, dissent, style, technology, the media and popular culture, it analyses how judges work individually and as a collective to protect and promote the institutional values of the court.

This innovative exploration of the recurring use of particular objects in Samuel Beckett's work is the first study of the material imagination of any single modern author. Across five decades of aesthetic and formal experimentation in fiction, drama, poetry and film, Beckett made substantial use of only fourteen objects - well-worn not only where they appear within his works but also in terms of their recurrence throughout his creative corpus. In this volume, Bates offers a striking reappraisal of Beckett's writing, with a focus on the changing functions and impact of this set of objects, and charts, chronologically and across media, the pattern of Beckett's distinctive authorial procedure. The volume's identification of the creative praxis that emerges as an 'art of salvage' offers an integrated way of understanding Beckett's writing, opens up new approaches to his work, and offers a fresh assessment of his importance and relevance today.

This innovative exploration of the recurring use of particular objects in Samuel Beckett's work is the first study of the material imagination of any single modern author. Across five decades of aesthetic and formal experimentation in fiction, drama, poetry and film, Beckett made substantial use of only fourteen objects - well-worn not only where they appear within his works but also in terms of their recurrence throughout his creative corpus. In this volume, Bates offers a striking reappraisal of Beckett's writing, with a focus on the changing functions and impact of this set of objects, and charts, chronologically and across media, the pattern of Beckett's distinctive authorial procedure. The volume's identification of the creative praxis that emerges as an 'art of salvage' offers an integrated way of understanding Beckett's writing, opens up new approaches to his work, and offers a fresh assessment of his importance and relevance today.

This book examines the functions of sculpture during the Preclassic period in Mesoamerica and its significance in statements of social identity. Julia Guernsey situates the origins and evolution of monumental stone sculpture within a broader social and political context and demonstrates the role that such sculpture played in creating and institutionalizing social hierarchies. This book focuses specifically on an enigmatic type of public, monumental sculpture known as the 'potbelly' that traces its antecedents to earlier, small domestic ritual objects and ceramic figurines. The cessation of domestic rituals involving ceramic figurines along the Pacific slope coincided not only with the creation of the first monumental potbelly sculptures, but with the rise of the first state-level societies in Mesoamerica by the advent of the Late Preclassic period. The potbellies became central to the physical representation of new forms of social identity and expressions of political authority during

In 1920–1924 Jacob Wackernagel (1853–1938), Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Basel, published two volumes of lectures on Greek, Latin and German syntax based on his 1918–1919 courses for beginning undergraduates (who would already have studied all three languages at school). Wackernagel introduces the principles of grammatical functions and cross-linguistic work, and provides a foundation for the understanding of comparative syntax. The book remained in print for many decades thanks to its lively style and well-chosen examples from classical texts. The Sanskritist Louis Renou (1896–1966), writing on Wackernagel in 1938, asserted that 'no linguist could possibly afford to ignore this book', and it remains of interest to historical linguists and scholars of classical languages today. In this, the first volume, Wackernagel outlines the history of syntactic theory from ancient times to the present, and provides a detailed treatment of the verb.

Algebraic geometry is a central subfield of mathematics in which the study of cycles is an important theme. Alexander Grothendieck taught that algebraic cycles should be considered from a motivic point of view and in recent years this topic has spurred a lot of activity. This 2007 book is one of two volumes that provide a self-contained account of the subject. Together, the two books contain twenty-two contributions from leading figures in the field which survey the key research strands and present interesting new results. Topics discussed include: the study of algebraic cycles using Abel-Jacobi/regulator maps and normal functions; motives (Voevodsky's triangulated category of mixed motives, finite-dimensional motives); the conjectures of Bloch-Beilinson and Murre on filtrations on Chow groups and Bloch's conjecture. Researchers and students in complex algebraic geometry and arithmetic geometry will find much of interest here.

Algebraic geometry is a central subfield of mathematics in which the study of cycles is an important theme. Alexander Grothendieck taught that algebraic cycles should be considered from a motivic point of view and in recent years this topic has spurred a lot of activity. This book is one of two volumes that provide a self-contained account of the subject as it stands. Together, the two books contain twenty-two contributions from leading figures in the field which survey the key research strands and present interesting new results. Topics discussed include: the study of algebraic cycles using Abel-Jacobi/regulator maps and normal functions; motives (Voevodsky's triangulated category of mixed motives, finite-dimensional motives); the conjectures of Bloch-Beilinson and Murre on filtrations on Chow groups and Bloch's conjecture. Researchers and students in complex algebraic geometry and arithmetic geometry will find much of interest here.

Calculations on lens systems are often marred by the unjustifiable use of the small-angle approximation. This book describes in detail how the ray and wave pictures of lens behaviour can be combined and developed into a theory capable of dealing with the large angles encountered in real optical systems. A distinct advantage of this approach is that Fourier optics appears naturally, in a form valid for arbitrarily large angles. The book begins with extensive reviews of geometrical optiks, eikonal functions and the theory of wave propagation. The propagation of waves through lenses is then treated by exploiting the close connection between eikonal function theory and the stationary phase approximation. Aberrations are then discussed, and the book concludes with various applications in lens design and analysis, including chapters on laser beam propagation and diffractive optical elements. Throughout, special emphasis is placed on the intrinsic limitations of lens performance. The many pra

Soil has generally been regarded as something of a 'black box' by ecologists. The importance of soil is obvious: it provides physical support for plants, and both the living and non-living components contribute to a variety of important environmental functions. Soil is a species-rich habitat, but many questions about the ecological significance of the soil's biological diversity, and in particular how it affects ecosystem function, have never been asked. The linkages between above-ground ecology, which is rich in ecological theory, and below-ground ecology, where investigation has been restricted by methodological difficulties, have not been made. Technical developments, including isotopic and molecular methods as well as experimental and modelling approaches, have led to a renaissance in soil biodiversity research. The key areas are reflected in this exciting volume which brings together many leading contributors to explore the role and importance of soil biota.

Calculations on lens systems are often marred by the unjustifiable use of the small-angle approximation. This book describes in detail how the ray and wave pictures of lens behaviour can be combined and developed into a theory capable of dealing with the large angles encountered in real optical systems. A distinct advantage of this approach is that Fourier optics appears naturally, in a form valid for arbitrarily large angles. The book begins with extensive reviews of geometrical optiks, eikonal functions and the theory of wave propagation. The propagation of waves through lenses is then treated by exploiting the close connection between eikonal function theory and the stationary phase approximation. Aberrations are then discussed, and the book concludes with various applications in lens design and analysis, including chapters on laser beam propagation and diffractive optical elements. Throughout, special emphasis is placed on the intrinsic limitations of lens performance. The many pra

Between 1940 and 1970 pioneers in the new field of cell biology discovered the operative parts of cells and their contributions to cell life. They offered mechanistic accounts that explained cellular phenomena by identifying the relevant parts of cells, the biochemical operations they performed, and the way in which these parts and operations were organised to accomplish important functions. Cell biology was a revolutionary science but in this book it also provides fuel for yet another revolution, one that focuses on the very conception of science itself. Laws have traditionally been regarded as the primary vehicle of explanation, but in the emerging philosophy of science it is mechanisms that do the explanatory work. Bechtel emphasises how mechanisms were discovered, focusing especially on the way in which new instruments made these inquiries possible. He also describes how new journals and societies provided institutional structure to this new enterprise.