This book is a guide for the world of Pervasive Computing. It describes a new class of computing devices which are becoming omnipresent in every day life. They make information access and processing easily available for everyone from anywhere at any time. Mobility, wireless connectivity, di- versity, and ease-of-use are the magic keywords of Pervasive Computing. The book covers these front-end devices as well as their operating systems and the back-end infrastructure which integrate these pervasive components into a seamless IT world. A strong emphasis is placed on the underlying technologies and standards applied when building up pervasive solutions. These fundamental topics include commonly used terms such as XML, WAP, UMTS, GPRS, Bluetooth, Jini, transcoding, and cryptography, to mention just a few. Besides a comprehensive state-of-the-art description of the Pervasive Computing technology itself, this book gives an overview of today's real-life applications and accompanying service offerings. M-Commerce, e-Business, networked home, travel, and finance are exciting examples of applied Pervasive Computing.
This second edition provides a comprehensive view of consolidated and innovative concepts, in terms of both diagnosis and treatment. Written by leading international physicians and investigators, this book emphasizes the necessity of combining local and systemic treatments to achieve the objective of yielding higher cure rates and lower toxicities. Heavily updated from the previous edition, it highlights new surgery and radiotherapy techniques, disease awareness, patient quality of life, and comprehensive management. Head-and-neck cancers are a complex clinical entity and their response to treatment is also known to vary markedly in function of host-related factors. Notwithstanding the impressive progresses observed in the field of imaging, head and neck cancers are often diagnosed at a late stage and the presence of locally advanced disease in a significant number of patients implies the use of aggressive treatments in order to both ensure local disease control and reduce distant metastasis risks. In comparison with the first edition, Head and Neck Cancer, Second Edition provides a detailed update of innovative concepts in chemo- and bio-radiation, viral infection impact on tumor growth and response to treatment, and impact of tumor- and host-related factors on treatment outcome.
Crystalline semiconductors in the form of thin films are crucial materials for many modern, advanced technologies in fields such as microelectronics, optoelectronics, display technology, and photovoltaic technology. Crystalline semiconductors can be produced at surprisingly low temperatures (as low as 120C) by crystallization of amorphous semicon