v ------------------ Foreword It is now over twenty years since the first efforts were made to interconnect computers for the exchange of data. In the 1970s proprietary networking architectures, such as IBM's SNA, were developed and installed at many customer sites worldwide. At the same time the ARPANET in the United States became a research vehicle providing many new insights, in particular into packet switching technology and routing algorithms. In the 1980s the Interconnection of heterogeneous eqUipment was a domi nating issue: ISO published the Reference Model for Open Systems Intercon...

J iirgen N ehmer Load distribution is a very important concept for distributed systems in order to achieve better performance, resource utilization and response times. Providing effi- cient mechanisms for the transparent support of load distribution has proven to be an extremely difficult undertaking. As a matter of fact, there is no commercially avail- able system which provides transparent load distribution right now. The monograph by D. Milojicic presents a novel load distribution scheme based on modern microker- nel architectures. The remarkable results of D. MilojiCiC's approach show...

This book is concerned with conceptual modeling, design and specification of in formation systems. Conventional information systems design starts with separating data from op erations, designing each with its own collection of concepts, methods, tools - and people: conceptual modeling for the imformation structure, and program design for the application programs. The separation carries through until the final implemen tation: data are collected in databases and managed with database management systems, and application programs are implemented with programming languages. This approach tends to...

Harmonic maps are maps between Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which extremize a natural energy integral. They have found many applications, for example, to the theory of minimal and constant mean curvature suface. In physics they arise as the non-linear sigma and chiral models of particle physics. Recently, there has been an explosion of interest in applying the methods to ingrable systems to find and study harmonic maps. Bringing together experts in the field of harmonic maps and integrable systems to give a coherent account of this subject, this book starts with introductory...