This work argues for the adoption of sociotechnology as a unified concept where both social and technical aspects are approached simultaneously.

Hydroinformatics addresses cross-disciplinary issues ranging from technological and sociological to more general environmental concerns, including an ethical perspective. It covers the application of information technology in the widest sense to problems of the aquatic environment. This two-volume publication contains about 250 high quality papers contributed by authors from over 50 countries. The proceedings present many exciting new findings in the emerging subjects, as well as their applications, such as: data mining, data assimilation, artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and genetic programming, chaos theory and support vector machines, geographic information systems and virtual imaging, decision support and management systems, Internet-based technologies. This book provides an excellent reference to researchers, graduate students, practitioners, and all those interested in the field of hydroinformatics.

In 1997 disastrous flooding running through the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany took the lives of a great number of people and caused economic damage estimated in tens of billions of dollars. Flooding of the Yangtze river in 1998 killed more than 3000 people, dislocated 230 million souls, and caused direct damage of more than $ 45 billion. Both the general public and the experts are asking what we can learn from these recent events to reduce loss of life and flood damage. The 1997 floods were dealt with by experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, who presented timely reports on combatting floods, both success stories and shortcomings. This experience is further extended by reports from experts drawn from 13 other countries, developing a broad overview of flood risk management, covering the ecosystem approach to flood management, including socioeconomic issues, flood impacts on water quality, human health, and natural ecosystems.

Fluvial Hydrosystems provides a unified approach to the study of running waters and aims to provide a scientific basis for sustainable management of rivers. It differs from traditional texts in viewing rivers as structured, four-dimensional systems and integrating ecological and geomorphological approaches to provide a holistic perspective on river dynamics. Advanced students of geomorphology, ecology, environmental science, land use and civil engineering will all benefit from this wide-ranging and stimulating textbook.

From its early beginnings in the fifties and sixties, the field of neural networks has been steadily developing to become one of the most interdisciplinary areas of research within computer science. This volume contains a selection of papers from WIRN Vietri-99, the 11th Italian Workshop on Neural Nets. This annual event, sponsored, amongst others, by the IEEE Neural Networks Council and the INNS/SIG Italy, brings together the best of research from all over the world. The papers cover a range of topics within neural networks, including pattern recognition, signal and image processing, mathematical models, neuro-fuzzy models and economics applications.