The ecological literature on marsupials is dominated byde*ive natural history, and there has hitherto been littleattempt at either synthesis or evolutionary interpretation. Thisbook attempts to provide such a synthesis, by drawing on both thede*ive data base and predictions from the burgeoningliterature on behavioural and evolutionary ecology. It documentsthe excellent potential the study of marsupials provides forresolution of theoretical questions of general importance inbiology. It does this in three ways. First, by describing theimpressive diversity of marsupial life history strategies andtrophic roles. Second, by careful comparison with the eutherians,the scope of the marsupial radiation is used to analyse the role ofdevelopmental constraints and adaptive radiation in determining thediversification of higher taxa. Lastly, it is suggested that theaccessibility of marsupial young during their obligatory pouch lifefacilitates measurement, manipulation and assessment of kinship notpossible in other mammalia

How do plant and animal populations change genetically toevolve and adapt to their local environments? How do populationsgrow and interact with one another through competition andpredation? How does behaviour influence ecology and evolution?Introduction to Population Biology covers all these areas and more.Taking a quantitative and Darwinian perspective, the basic theoryof population processes is developed using mathematical models. Toallow students of biology, ecology and evolution to gain a realunderstanding of the subject, key features include: ? step-by-stepinstructions for spreadsheet simulations of many basic equations toexplore the outcomes or predictions of models ? worked examplesshowing how the equations are applied to biological questions ?problem sets together with detailed solutions to help the readertest their understanding ? real-life examples to help the readerrelate the theory to the natural world

In this book, a new approach is pioneered in providing a unifiedtheory in continuum mechanics. General Continuum Mechanics isintended for the beginner, but it develops advanced materialcovering interdisciplinary subjects. With applications ofconvective, Lagrangian, and Eulerian coordinates and the first andsecond laws of thermodynamics, the first-year graduate student willlearn solid mechanics and fluid mechanics as an integrated subject.Electromagnetic continuum and relativistic continuum are included.The conservational properties of mass, momentum, and energy onearth and in the universe constitute the ingredients of this book.They are the monumental contributions of Newton, Maxwell, andEinstein, a panorama of beauty of universal laws that evolved overthe last four centuries. No boundaries are needed to separate them,but rather we integrate them in harmony and place them inperspective. This is the book for interdisciplinary studies tocarry out the modern scientific projects in which engineering,physics, and

Error-correcting codes constitute one of the key ingredients inachieving the high degree of reliability required in modern datatransmission and storage systems. This book introduces the readerto the theoretical foundations of error-correcting codes, with anemphasis on Reed-Solomon codes and their derivative codes. Afterreviewing linear codes and finite fields, the author describesReed-Solomon codes and various decoding algorithms. Cyclic codesare presented, as are MDS codes, graph codes, and codes in the Leemetric. Concatenated, trellis, and convolutional codes are alsodiscussed in detail. Homework exercises introduce additionalconcepts such as Reed-Muller codes, and burst error correction. Theend-of-chapter notes often deal with algorithmic issues, such asthe time complexity of computational problems. While mathematicalrigor is maintained, the text is designed to be accessible to abroad readership, including students of computer science,electrical engineering, and mathematics, from senior-undergraduateto gr

This rigourous and self-contained book describes mathematicaland, in particular, stochastic methods to assess the performance ofnetworked systems. It consists of three parts. The first part is areview on probability theory. Part two covers the classical theoryof stochastic processes (Poisson, renewal, Markov and queuingtheory), which are considered to be the basic building blocks forperformance evaluation studies. Part three focuses on therelatively new field of the physics of networks. This part dealswith the recently obtained insights that many very different largecomplex networks - such as the Internet, World Wide Web, proteins,utility infrastructures, social networks - evolve and behaveaccording to more general common scaling laws. This understandingis useful when assessing the end-to-end quality of communicationsservices, for example, in Internet telephony, real-time video andinteracting games. Containing problems and solutions, this book isideal for graduate students taking courses in performanceanalys

The sustainable exploitation of the marine environment dependsupon our capacity to develop systems of management with predictableoutcomes. Unfortunately, marine ecosystems are highly dynamic andthis property could conflict with the objective of sustainableexploitation. This book investigates the theory that the populationand behavioural dynamics of predators at the upper end of marinefood chains can be used to assist with management. Since thesespecies integrate the dynamics of marine ecosystems across a widerange of spatial and temporal scales, they offer new sources ofinformation that can be formally used in setting managementobjectives. This book examines the current advances in theunderstanding of the ecology of marine predators and willinvestigate how information from these species could be used inmanagement.