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Thinking about Life : The History and Philosophy of Biology and Other Sciences
Our previous book, About Life, concerned modern biology. We used our present-day understanding of cells to ‘define’ the living state, providing a basis for exploring several general-interest topics: the origin of life, extraterrestrial life, intelligence, and the possibility that humans are unique. The ideas we proposed in About Life were intended as starting-points for debate – we did not claim them as ‘truth’ – but the information on which they were based is currently accepted as ‘scientific fact’. What does that mean? What is ‘scientific fact’ and why is it accepted? What is science – and is biology like other sciences such as physics (except in subject m- ter)? The book you are now reading investigates these questions – and some related ones. Like About Life, it may particularly interest a reader who wishes to change career to biology and its related subdisciplines. In line with a recommendation by the British Association for the Advancement of Science – that the public should be given fuller information about the nature of science – we present the concepts underpinning biology and a survey of its historical and philosophical basis.
Thin Films of Soft Matter
A detailed overview and comprehensive analysis of the main theoretical and experimental advances on free surface thin film and jet flows of soft matter is given. At the theoretical front the book outlines the basic equations and boundary conditions and the derivation of low-dimensional models for the evolution of the free surface. Such models include long-wave expansions and equations of the boundary layer type and are analyzed via linear stability analysis, weakly nonlinear theories and strongly nonlinear analysis including construction of stationary periodic and solitary wave and similarity solutions. At the experimental front a variety of very recent experimental developments is outlined and the link between theory and experiments is illustrated. Such experiments include spreading drops and bubbles, imbibitions, singularity formation at interfaces and experimental characterization of thin films using atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and contact angle measurements and analysis of patterns using Minkowski functionals.
Theory of Evolutionary Computation : Recent Developments in Discrete Optimization
Reports on recent developments in the theory of evolutionary computation, or more generally the domain of randomized search heuristics. It starts with two chapters on mathematical methods that are often used in the analysis of randomized search heuristics, followed by three chapters on how to measure the complexity of a search heuristic: black-box complexity, a counterpart of classical complexity theory in black-box optimization; parameterized complexity, aimed at a more fine-grained view of the difficulty of problems; and the fixed-budget perspective, which answers the question of how good a solution will be after investing a certain computational budget. The book then describes theoretical results on three important questions in evolutionary computation: how to profit from changing the parameters during the run of an algorithm; how evolutionary algorithms cope with dynamically changing or stochastic environments; and how population diversity influences performance. Finally, the book looks at three algorithm classes that have only recently become the focus of theoretical work: estimation-of-distribution algorithms; artificial immune systems; and genetic programming.
Théorie élémentaire et pratique de la commande par les régimes glissants = Elementary theory and practice of sliding regime control
This work proposes to apply the Sliding Regimes (RG) algorithms to industrial regulation and servo loops controlled to date by traditional PIDs (analog or digital) and their variants (RST, etc.). The real system to be controlled can be very diverse in nature, have parts that are poorly or not modeled, be subject to disturbances. These robust numerical algorithms XVS (X: Classic or Generalized; VS: structure variable) generate a command having a discontinuous component and give an evolution of the operating point of the looped system on (or around) the sliding surface (the dynamics of the system loop then becomes the dynamic defined by the surface equation). For each ordering methodology, in order to facilitate its application, we have chosen the context of initial training and continuing training: elementary theory, diagram - block, summary table, temporal diagrams, differential equations, Laplace formalism, numerical simulation , control by computer.
The World Market for Natural Gas : Implications for Europe
The World Market for Natural Gas – Implications for Europe analyses the main issues for the gas industry: reserves, production, demand, infrastructures, prices, market leaders and regulation. After an introductory chapter, the book analyses the evolution of gas reserves and production from world and regional perspectives with a focus on rising and declining countries. Past and future trends of world and regional gas demand are explained with a focus on the European power sector. The most important pipelines, regasification and liquefaction infrastructures are discussed in detail. Natural gas prices are examined with respect to the oil linkage, the role of speculation, and the impact of taxation. After a discussion of market leaders and clusters, the book ends with some conclusions about gas regulation in Europe and possible reforms.
The welfare of horses
This book describes the development of horse behaviour, and the way in which the management of horses today affects their welfare. Horses for sport, companionship and work are considered and ways of improving their welfare by better training and management is described. The book assesses welfare, nutrition, and behaviour problems with horses.
The Web of Data
This book concisely brings together the key standards and best practices relating to modelling, querying, validating and linking machine-readable data and semantics on the Web. Alongside practical examples and formal definitions, the book shows how these standards contribute to – and have been used thus far on – the "Web of Data": a machine readable evolution of the Web marked by increased automation, enabling powerful Web applications capable of discovering, cross-referencing, and organising data from numerous websites in a matter of seconds.
The Variational Approach to Fracture
This approach views crack growth as the result of a competition between bulk and surface energy, treating crack evolution from its initiation all the way to the failure of a sample. The authors model crack initiation, crack path, and crack extension for arbitrary geometries and loads.
The Urban Mosaic of Post-Socialist Europe : Space, Institutions and Policy
The book explores urban dynamics in post-socialist Europe 15 years after the fall of communism. The ‘urban mosaic’ metaphor expresses the complexity, diversity and uniqueness of the processes and spatial outcomes in post-socialist cities. The book examines the urban development and the policy and planning processes that have resulted from the socio-economic, political, and institutional transformations characterizing the move to markets and democracy.
The Universe Before the Big Bang : Cosmology and String Theory
Terms such as "expanding Universe", "big bang", and "initial singularity", are nowadays part of our common language. The idea that the Universe we observe today originated from an enormous explosion (big bang) is now well known and widely accepted, at all levels, in modern popular culture. But what happens to the Universe before the big bang? And would it make any sense at all to ask such a question? In fact, recent progress in theoretical physics, and in particular in String Theory, suggests answers to the above questions, providing us with mathematical tools able in principle to reconstruct the history of the Universe even for times before the big bang.
The Thermodynamic Machinery of Life
Living organisms are open thermodynamic systems whose functional structure has developed and been kinetically frozen during the historical process of biological evolution. A thermodynamics of both nonequilibrium and complex systems is needed for their description. In this book, the foundations of such a thermodynamics are presented. Biological processes at the cellular level are considered as coupled chemical reactions and transport processes across internal and the cytoplasmic membrane. All these processes are catalyzed by specific enzymes hence the kinetics of enzymatic catalysis and its control are described here in detail. The coupling of several processes through a common enzyme is considered in the context of free energy or signal transduction. Special attention is paid to evidence for a rich stochastic internal dynamics of native proteins and its possible role in the control of enzyme activity and in the action of biological molecular machines.
The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians
This edited volume mainly focuses on this practice in both North and South America. The editors and contributors examine the evidence and causes of Amerindian trophy taking as reflected in osteological, archaeological, ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts.
The Strength of Nonstandard Analysis
This book reflects the progress made in the forty years since the appearance of Robinson’s revolutionary book Nonstandard Analysis: in the foundations of mathematics and logic, number theory, statistics and probability, in ordinary, partial and stochastic differential equations and in education. The contributions are clear and essentially self-contained.
The state of the art in endodontics
Nowadays, we use the term “modern endodontics” thanks to new technologies, novel materials, and revolutionary techniques. Various equipment is available to facilitate and improve our endodontic treatments, such as operating microscopes, ultrasounds, lasers, modern alloys for rotary files, powerful irrigation systems, new materials for filling root canals, 3D radiology, and several more. With the aid of the previously mentioned advances, complex endodontic treatments can be carried out safely, hence guaranteeing patients a high level of care and, above all, saving teeth that would otherwise be doomed for extraction. This Special Issue will focus on modern endodontics regarding all the recent updates.
The state of economics, the state of the world
The book begins with three sweeping essays by Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow (in one of his last published works), Amartya Sen, and Joseph Stiglitz that offer a summary of the theoretical foundations of modern economics—the twin pillars of general equilibrium theory and welfare economics. Contributors then turn to macroeconomic stabilization and growth and, finally, new areas of research that depart from traditional theory, methodology, and concerns: climate change, behavioral economics, and evolutionary game theory.
The Square Kilometre Array : An Engineering Perspective
This volume is an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the engineering of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a revolutionary instrument which will be the world’s largest radio telescope. Expected to be completed by 2020, the SKA will be a pre-eminent tool in probing the Early Universe and in enhancing greatly the discovery potential of radio astronomy in many other fields. This book, containing 36 refereed papers written by leaders in SKA engineering, has been compiled by the International SKA Project Office and is the only contemporary compendium available. It features papers dealing with pivotal technologies such as antennas, RF systems and data transport. As well, overviews of important SKA demonstrator instruments and key system design issues are included. Practising professionals, and students interested in next-generation telescopes, will find this book an invaluable reference.
The Spina Bifida : Management and Outcome
The evolution of technology has made new surgical techniques available for the treatment of diseases associated with the spina bifida malformation, and this is especially true in hydrocephalus and fetal surgery. The progress in this last field and in prenatal diagnosis have raised the significant problem of the effectiveness and usefulness of in utero surgical treatment of the malformation, that are extensively discussed in this volume. Also the clinical situations that can be seen in adolescents or young adults with spina bifida, including sexuality and pregnancy, are highlighted. Aim of this book is to promote a multidisciplinary approach to spina bifida, providing the three main specialists’ categories involved - neurosurgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and urologists - with an updated overview of surgical approaches and with a concise reference that explains the main clinical problems to be faced in everyday clinical practice.
The Social Metabolism of Spanish Agriculture, 1900–2008 : The Mediterranean Way Towards Industrialization
Provides a panoramic view of the evolution of Spanish agriculture from 1900 to the present, offering a more diverse picture to the complex and multidimensional reality of agrarian production.
The smile stealers : The Fine and foul art of dentistry
A comprehensive review of the development of the trade and discipline of dentistry. Follows the evolution of dentistry throughout the world from the Bronze Age to the present day, presenting captivating and grim illustrations of the tools and techniques of dentistry through the ages.
The Semantic Web ; 3rd Asian Semantic Web Conference, ASWC 2008, Bangkok, Thailand, December 8-11, 2008. Proceedings.
Address the latest results in the research and applications of Semantic Web technologies and cover topics including: scalable reasoning and logic, ontology mapping, ontology modelling and management, ontologies and tags, human language technologies and machine learning, querying, semantic Web services and semantic Web applications.
