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The present English edition is not a mere translation of the German original. Many new problems have been added and there are also other changes, mostly minor. Yet all the alterations amount to less than ten percent of the text. We intended to keep intact the general plan and the original flavor of the work. Thus we have not introduced any essentially new subject matter, although the mathematical fashion has greatly changed since 1924. We have restricted ourselves to supplementing the topics originally chosen. Some of our problems first published in this work have given rise to extensive research. To include all such developments would have changed the character of the work, and even an incomplete account, which would be unsatisfactory in itself, would have cost too much labor and taken up too much space. We have to thank many readers who, since the publication of this work almost fifty years ago, communicated to us various remarks on it, some of which have been incorporated into this edition. We have not listed their names; we have forgotten the origin of some contributions, and an incomplete list would have been even less desirable than no list. The first volume has been translated by Mrs. Dorothee Aeppli, the second volume by Professor Claude Billigheimer. We wish to express our warmest thanks to both for the unselfish devotion and scrupulous conscientiousness with which they attacked their far from easy task.

The biota of the earth is being altered at an unprecedented rate. We are witnessing wholesale exchanges of organisms among geographic areas that were once totally biologically isolated. We are seeing massive changes in landscape use that are creating even more abundant succes- sional patches, reductions in population sizes, and in the worst cases, losses of species. There are many reasons for concern about these trends. One is that we unfortunately do not know in detail the conse- quences of these massive alterations in terms of how the biosphere as a whole operates or even, for that matter, the functioning of localized ecosystems. We do know that the biosphere interacts strongly with the atmospheric composition, contributing to potential climate change. We also know that changes in vegetative cover greatly influence the hydrology and biochemistry ofa site or region. Our knowledge is weak in important details, however. How are the many services that ecosystems provide to humanity altered by modifications of ecosystem composition? Stated in another way, what is the role of individual species in ecosystem function? We are observing the selective as well as wholesale alteration in the composition of ecosystems. Do these alterations matter in respect to how ecosystems operate and provide services? This book represents the initial probing of this central ques- tion. It will be followed by other volumes in this series examining in depth the functional role of biodiversity in various ecosystems of the world.

Again rapid advances in the brain sciences have made it necessary, after only a few years, to issue a revised edition of this text. All the chapters have been reviewed and brought up to date, and some have been largely rewritten. The major revision has occurred in the chap- ters on the autonomic nervous system and the integrative functions of the central nervous system. But in the discussion of the motor systems and other subjects as well, recent insights have necessitated certain conceptual modifications. In the description of the autonomic nervous system, the role of the intestinal innervation has been brought out more clearly than before. In addition, there is a new presentation of the physiology of smooth muscle fibers, and more attention has been paid to the postsynaptic adrenergic receptors, because of the increasing therapeutic signifi- cance of the at f3 receptor concept. A substantial section on the genital reflexes in man and woman, including the extragenital changes during copulation, has also been added. The text on the integrative functions of the central nervous system has been expanded to include, for the first time, material on brain metabolism and blood flow and their dependence on the activity of the brain. Reference is also made to recent results of research on split- brain and aphasic patients and on memory, as well as on the physiol- ogy of sleeping and dreaming.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics has been called the most important law of nature: It is the law that gives a direction to processes that is not inherent in the laws of motion, that says the state of the universe is driven to thermal equilibrium.

Quantum Optics gives a comprehensive coverage of developments in quantum optics over the past twenty years. These are applied in the later chapters to problems such as squeezed states of light, resonance fluorescence, laser theory, quantum theory of four-wave mixing, quantum non-demolition measurements, Bell's inequalities, and atom optics.

My goal in writing this book was to present an account of this development that is accessible, not solely to students of the history of mathematics, but to the wider mathematical community for which my exposition is more specifically intended, including those who study, teach, and use calculus.

From the reviews: "The book has a broad and general coverage of both the mathematics and the numerical methods well suited for graduate students." Computer programs are also included for many problems together with a separate chapter dealing with the application of computer programs to heat transfer problems.

In this book we present a summary account of hazards which nowadays are usually classified as geological: earthquakes, faulting, tsunamis, seiches, vol canoes, avalanches, rock and soil slides, differential settlement and liquefaction of soil, and inundation.

In 1963, the first edition of Chemistry of Viruses was published as a contribution to the series on viruses sponsored by Protoplasmatologia.

This reference provides information on the cellular and subcellular targets of neurotoxins and their mode of action on the level of ion-channels, receptors and neurotransmitters. It concentrates on the use of bacterial toxins as a tool in neuroscientific research.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Fundamental Algorithms for Computer Graphics" held at Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, March 30 - April 12, 1985

Although it may have been in spired by the curiosity of a few, it has always been the concern of all, because preventing or curing disease has meant survival not only of individuals, but of entire nations, not only of humans, but of fellow living creatures.

The present English edition is not a mere translation of the German original. To include all such developments would have changed the character of the work, and even an incomplete account, which would be unsatisfactory in itself, would have cost too much labor and taken up too much space.

This little book was assembled from the authors' lectures to medical students and was originally published as one volume in the series Human Physiology, edited by O. We have included here only material that we feel is necessary for medical students to know in order to understand kidney function in health and, by later extrapolation, in disease.

Granted, cancer is, literally, a deadly serious matter, and cancer research is primarily a part of medicine with Hippocrates in its back ground.