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The Newtonian concept of time has been changed by Einsteinian insight. Yet the Einsteinian world view might make it difficult to appreciate traditional concepts of eschatology, like heaven and hell, death and immortality, life after death and resurrection, last day and final judgments, because these expressions presuppose a pre-Einsteinian view of the universe. Since theology cannot remain unaffected by the new research in concepts of time, "Eternity and Eternal Life" tries to express the eschatological faith of the Church by using the time language of our age. To achieve this it provides an overview on the research in the nature of time done in geology, cosmology, physics, biology, psychology, sociology, history and philosophy and proposes a notion of time for "timely" Christology and for "timely" eschatology. By using the singularity event as literary form, Horvath scrutinizes how Christ's time can lead to the times of all existing realities, through death to "eternity." This is a pioneering work, one that needs to be tested in the community of interested readers. It is a communal search for an understanding of life, death and eternal life, not only in the light of abstract ideas and cultural linguistic doctrines in the world of religions, but also in the light of science and especially of a person as the horizon of understanding for both time and eternity. Christ as the eschatological union of time and eternity becomes the work's unifying focus and its paradigm, which solves recognized problems and opens our minds to new ones.
This proceeding book of Nostradamus conference (http://nostradamus-conference.org) contains accepted papers presented at this event in 2012. Nostradamus conference was held in the one of the biggest and historic city of Ostrava (the Czech Republic, http://www.ostrava.cz/en), in September 2012. Conference topics are focused on classical as well as modern methods for prediction of dynamical systems with applications in science, engineering and economy. Topics are (but not limited to): prediction by classical and novel methods, predictive control, deterministic chaos and its control, complex systems, modelling and prediction of its dynamics and much more.
Science fiction films, from the original "Frankenstein" and "The Fly" to "Blade Runner" and "The Terminator," traditionally have been filled with aliens, spaceships, androids, cyborgs, and all sorts of robotic creatures along with their various creators. The popular appeal of these characters is undeniable, but what is the meaning of this generation of creatures? What is the relationship of mad scientist to subject, of human to android, of creature to creator? "Androids, Humanoids, and Other Folklore Monsters" is a profound investigation of this popular cultural form. Starting his discussion with the possible source of these creatures, anthropologist and writer Per Schelde identifies the origin of these critters in the folklore of past generations. Continuing in the tradition of ancient folklore, contends Schelde, science fiction film is a fictional account of the ongoing battle between nature and culture. With the advance of science, the trolls, dwarves, pixies, nixies, and huldres that represented the unknown natural forces of the world were virtually killed off by ever-increasing knowledge and technology. The natural forces of the past that provided a threat to humans were replaced by the danger of unknown scientific experiments and disasters, as represented by their offspring: science fiction monsters. As the development of genetics, biomedical engineering, and artificial intelligence blur the lines between human and machine in the real world, thus invading the natural landscape with the products of man's techno-culture, the representation of this development poses interesting questions. As Per Schelde shows, it becomes increasingly difficult in science fiction film to define the humans from their creations, and thus increasingly difficult to identify the monster. Unlike science fiction literature, science fiction film has until now been largely neglected as a genre worthy of study and scholarship. "Androids, Humanoids, and Other Folklore Monsters" explores science fiction (sf) film as the modern incarnation of folklore, emblematic of the struggle between nature and culture--but with a new twist. Schelde explains how, as science conquered the forests and mountains of the wild, the mythic creatures of these realms--trolls, elves, and ogres--were relegated to cartoons and children's stories. Technology and outer space came to represent the modern wild, and this new unknown came alive in the popular imagination with the embodiments of our fears of that unknown: androids, cyborgs, genetics, and artificial intelligence gone awry. Implicit in all of these is a fear, and an indictment, of the power of science to invade our minds and bodies, replacing the individual soul with a mechanical, machine-made one. Focusing his analysis on sixty-five popular films, from "Frankenstein" and "Metropolis" to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Terminator, " and "Blade Runner, " Per Schelde brings his command of traditional folklore to this serious but eminently readable look at SF movies, decoding their curious and often terrifying images as expressions of modern man's angst in the face of a rapidly advancing culture he cannot control. Anyone with an interest in popular culture, folklore, film studies, or science fiction will enjoy this original and comprehensive study.
Prof. Dr. Egon Krause Aerodynamisches Institut, RWTH Aachen Wiillnerstr. 5 u. 7, D-52062 Aachen Prof. Dr. Willi Jager Interdisziplinares Zentrum fiir Wissenschaftliches Rechnen Universitat Heidelberg 1m Neuenheimer Feld 368, D-69120 Heidelberg High Performance Computing is progressing as a discipline providing im- portant tools for research and development in science and industry. The High- Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) is not only providing the facilities, hard- and software for a growing community of researchers and developers, but it also promotes the know-how to use supercomputers effi- ciently. Regular exchange of information, of ideas and methods is essential in improving the proper use of the facilities,and their performance as well as the application of algorithms and of simulation techniques. A Second Result and Review Workshop on High-Performance Computing in Science and Engineering, (October 4 -6,1999) was organized by the HLRS in order to give an overview of the scientific work carried out during the past year and to demonstrate the state of the art in the various fields. In 1998 the Land Baden-Wiirttemberg decided to extend the responsibilities of the Steering Committee of the HLRS and therewith also the rules of access to its Scientific Supercomputing Center (SSC) Karlsruhe. That center was recently upgraded with the IBM RS 6000 SP, thereby significantly increasing the attractivity of the two centers, since the joint portfolio of computer- architectures now covers most of the application-profile of their users.
Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) * at Purdue University in 1 957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all con cerned if the printing and distribution of the volumes were handled by an interna tional publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Cor poration of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 29 (thesis year 1984) a total of 12,637 theses titles from 23 Canadian and 202 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 29 reports theses submitted in 1984, on occasion, certain univer sities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time."
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Large-Scale Scientific Computations, LSSC 2011, held in Sozopol, Bulgaria, in June 2011. The 74 revised full papers presented together with 3 plenary and invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on robust multigrid, multilevel and multiscale, deterministic and stochastic methods for modeling highly heterogeneous media, advanced methods for transport, control and uncertain systems, applications of metaheuristics to large-scale problems, environmental modelling, large scale computing on many-core architectures, multiscale industrial, enviromental and biomedical problems, efficient algorithms of computational geometry, high performance Monte Carlo simulations, voxel based computations and contributed papers.
Excitable media comprise a class of models for a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological systems that exhibit spontaneous formation of spatial patterns. Patterns in Excitable Media: Genesis, Dynamics, and Control explores several aspects of the dynamics of such patterns-in particular their evolution upon interaction with structural and functional heterogeneities in the system. The book provides readers with an introduction to recent developments in the interdisciplinary field of dynamics and control of patterns in nonlinear biological systems described by excitable media models. It also discusses low-amplitude control schemes for eliminating such patterns from an excitable medium which has direct clinical relevance in view of the close connection to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia.
Ernest Barnes was invited to Aberdeen as Gifford Lecturer (1927-1929) to deliver lectures under the title of 'Scientific Theory and Religion'. The lectures were originally published in 1933 and sought to bring Christian doctrines together with the possibility of life on other planets. The magnitude of the universe, accompanied with some basic observations on biological development within it, makes speculation about the possibility of intelligent life in distant galaxies reasonable. Barnes believed that the Creation was made precisely for the higher forms of' consciousness. The scope of the background to scientific theory and religious ideas of creation presented here is extensive and covers topics including Jewish cosmology as the basis for later Christian thought to early quantum mechanics and evolutionary biology. However, as Barnes himself noted of this scope in his lectures, 'Wide as is their range, they have an inner coherence. I trust that they express the attitude of the modern man of science who, as he hopefully makes theories, is aware of the limitations of his knowledge and also, in part because of his loyalty to truth, bears in mind the reality and the claims of the spiritual world.'
Non-linear stability problems formulated in terms of non-linear partial differential equations have only recently begun to attract attention and it will probably take some time before our understanding of those problems reaches some degree of maturity. The passage from the more classical linear analysis to a non-linear analysis increases the mathematical complexity of the stability theory to a point where it may become discouraging, while some of the more usual mathematical methods lose their applicability. Although considerable progress has been made in recent years, notably in the field of fluid mechanics, much still remains to be done before a more permanent outline of the subject can be established. I have not tried to present in this monograph an account of what has been accomplished, since the rapidly changing features of the field make the periodical literature a more appropriate place for such a review. The aim of this book is to present one particular line of research, originally developed in a series of papers published in 'Journal de Mecanique' 1962-1963, in which I attempted to construct a mathematical theory for certain classes of non-linear stability problems, and to gain some understanding of the non-linear phenomena which are involved. The opportunity to collect the material in this volume has permitted a more coherent presentation, while various points of the analysis have been developed in greater detaiL I hope that a more unified form of the theory has thus been achieved.
This volume is aimed at all those who wonder about the mechanisms and effects of the disclosure of knowledge. Whether they have a professional interest in understanding these processes generally, or they wish to conduct targeted investigations in the PCST field, it will be useful to anyone involved in science communication, including researchers, academics, students, journalists, science museum staff, scientists high public profiles, and information officers in scientific institutions.
For an increasing number of hospitals and universities the institutional review board (lRB) has become a way of life. Spurred into existence by public outcries about the unethical nature of certain modern scientific experiments, the IRB represents the most visible evidence of institutional commitment to ethical review of clinical research. However, this exponential growth of IRB activities has not occurred without growing pains. Like the Environmental Protection Agency, IRBs have had to develop procedures and standards without a clear consensus as to what would be optimal for science and society. Each IRB has perforce devised its own modus operandi, subject to general principles and guidelines laid down by others but still relatively free to stipulate the details of its functioning. Thus one can applaud the general idea as well as the overall performance of IRBs without asserting that the millenium has arrived. The composition, philosophy, efficiency, responsibilities, and powers of IRBs remain topics suit able for debate. It is still possible (and appropriate) for IRB members to worry both about the propriety of their decisions and the personal costs of their service."
I was asked recently to prepare an independent background report on the subject of priority assessment in science and technology policy for the Australian Science and Technology Council. The Council (while not necessarily endorsing this book) suggested that a wider audience could be interested in the type of material contained in my report and kindly gave me permission to publish the material in my own right. The present book contains this and other material, some of which was presented at a seminar on National Science Policy: Implications for Government Departments arranged by the Department of Science and the Environment. Additional ideas were developed in response to comments on the manuscript by referees, as a result of discussions with Professor John Metcalfe and Dr Peter Stubbs of Manchester University, a conversation with Dr Keith Hartley of the University of York and in the wake of a communication from Dr Ken Tucker, Assistant Director, Bureau of Industry Economics, Australia. Science and technology policy affects and concerns everyone of us if for no other reason than we cannot escape in this interdependent world from the economic, social and environmental overs pills generated by science and technology. We must face the problems and promises inherent in new and existing science and technology whether we like it or not. Not surprisingly this book finds that all industrialized countries seem to be facing similar economic and social problems.
David Courtnay Marr was born on January 19, 1945 in Essex, England. He went to the English public school, Rugby, on scholarship and between 1963 and 1966 studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge University where he obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees. Rather than pursue a Ph.D. in math- ematics he preferred to switch to neurophysiology under Giles Brindley. His education involved training in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Marr's Ph.D. work resulted in a theory of the cerebel- lar cortex, the essence of which became "A Theory of the Cerebellar Cortex," reproduced in Chapter 1 of this volume with a commentary by Thomas Thach. He wrote a short paper subsequently with Stephen Blomfield, "How the Cere- bellum May Be Used," (Chapter 2 in this volume with commentary by Jack Cowan). After obtaining his Ph.D., David Marr accepted an appointment to the scientific staff of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge in the division of Cell Biology under Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick. Two other major studies, "Simple Memory: A Theory of the Archicortex" (Chapter 3 in this volume, commented on by Bruce McNaughton and David Willshaw) and "A Theory for Cerebral Neocortex" (Chapter 4 in this volume and commented on by Jack Cowan) followed the cerebellum study.
Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) has become the accepted methodology to solve complex control problems related to process industries. The main motivation behind "explicit "NMPC is that an "explicit "state feedback law avoids the need for executing a numerical optimization algorithm in real time. The benefits of an "explicit "solution, in addition to the efficient on-line computations, include also verifiability of the implementation and the possibility to design embedded control systems with low software and hardware complexity. This book considers the multi-parametric Nonlinear Programming (mp-NLP) approaches to "explicit "approximate NMPC of constrained "nonlinear "systems, developed by the authors, as well as their applications to various NMPC problem formulations and several case studies. The following types of "nonlinear "systems are considered, resulting in different NMPC problem formulations: O "Nonlinear "systems described by first-principles models and "nonlinear "systems described by black-box models; - "Nonlinear "systems with continuous control inputs and "nonlinear "systems with quantized control inputs; - "Nonlinear "systems without uncertainty and "nonlinear "systems with uncertainties (polyhedral description of uncertainty and stochastic description of uncertainty); - "Nonlinear "systems, consisting of interconnected "nonlinear "sub-systems. The proposed mp-NLP approaches are illustrated with applications to several case studies, which are taken from diverse areas such as automotive mechatronics, compressor control, combustion plant control, reactor control, pH maintaining system control, cart and spring system control, and diving computers. "
Mountaineers, Rock Climbers, and Science Educators Around the 1920s, rock climbing separated from mountaineering to become a separate sport. At that time European climbers developed new equipment and techniques, enabling them to ascend mountain faces and to climb rocks, which were considered unassailable up to that time. American climbers went further by expanding and improving on the equipment. They even developed a system of quantification where points were given for the degree of difficulty of an ascent. This system focused primarily on the pitch of the mountain, and it even calculated up to de- mals to give a high degree of quantification. Rock climbing became a technical system. Csikszentmihaly (1976) observed that the sole interest of rock climbers at that time was to climb the rock. Rock climbers were known to reach the top and not even glance around at the scenery. The focus was on reaching the top of the rock. In contrast, mountaineers saw the whole mountain as a single "unit of perc- tion. " "The ascent (to them) is a gestalt including the aesthetic, historical, personal and physical sensations" (Csikszentmihaly, 1976, p. 486). This is an example of two contrasting approaches to the same kind of landscape and of two different groups of people. Interestingly, in the US, Europe, and Japan a large segment of the early rock climbers were young mathematicians and theoretical physicists, while the mountaineers were a more varied lot.
The perception of symmetry in art and in nature has been appreciated since antiquity, with development of the underlying laws tracing back at least to Pythagorean times. By the end of the eighteenth century it was realized that the immense variety of natural crystal shapes could be accounted for on the basis of a rather small number of symmetry operations, of which some were equally applicable to biological systems. The mathematical theory of symmetry continued to mature throughout the last century, culminating in the independent discoveries in Russia, Germany, and England that a total of only 230 independent ways exist in which the operations of rotation, reflection, and translation can be combined to transform three-dimensional geometrical objects into themselves. Derivation of the 230 space groups depends ultimately on restricting the meaning of symmetry to that of a property of purely geometrical figures. A. V. Shubnikov and his collaborators, over the past three decades, expanded this concept of symmetry to include the sign of transformation operations.
In Japanese culture the concept of katachi has special significance, connoting relationships and connectedness. Although katachi cannot be translated precisely, it corresponds most closely to "form," "shape," "pattern," or "Gestalt." The contemporary study of katachi is interdisciplinary and encompasses virtually all scientific and aesthetic endeavors. Katachi research seeks to bridge the gap between cultures - whether the "two cultures" of C.P. Snow or the contrasting cultures of East and West. To help achieve this aim and to foster international cooperation, the interdisciplinary symposium titled "Katachi "U" Symmetry" was convened in Tsukuba, Japan, November 21 - 25, 1994. With many participants from differing backgrounds and cultural perspectives, the symposium was the culmination of 15 years of work in the field. Like-minded researchers and philosophers came together from two movements in interdisciplinary studies of katachi and symmetry that arose in the 1980s, one in Japan, the other in Hungary. The proceedings of the symposium will stimulate and provoke the interest of scientists and mathematicians, engineers and architects, philosophers and semioticians - indeed, all those with a lively sense of curiosity and a wide-ranging intellect.
"Scientists in Search of Their Conscience" is the edited proceedings of the European Symposium on the effects of science on society held in Brussels in 1971. Organised by The European Committee of The Weizmann Institute, Israel, the Conference gave scientists from varied disciplines and many countries the platform from which to explore in depth the dilemma facing them. The dilemma is the responsibility of scientists for society's use of scientific findings. Though no hard and fast conclusions were reached-in fact quite the contrary-the discussions left no doubt that scientists were becoming aware that they can no longer claim that the pursuit of knowledge is divorced from its use. Yet should they begin to face the responsibility for the application of their work, it is clear that their freedom will be impaired. The loss of freedom is of course part of the dilemma of science. Contents Official Opening, Monday, June 28, 1971 1 Chairman: Albert B. Sabin 3 Speakers: Theo Lefevre . 7 Altiero Spinelli . 11 Morning Session, Monday, June 28, 1971 13 Chairman: John C. Kendrew 15 Speakers: Friedrich Cramer "Can our Society meet the Challenge of a Technological Future?" . . . 19 Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky "A Scientist's - proach to Human Values" . 33 Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Afternoon Session, Monday, Jtme 28, 1971 . . . . . . . . 61 Chairman: Hendrik B. G. Casimir . . . . . . . . . . 61 Speakers: Leon Van Hove" Physical Science in Relation to Human Thought and Action" . . . . . . 63 Chaim L. Pekeris "The Impact of Physical Sciences on Society" 73 Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The impulse which led to the writing of the present book has emerged from my many years of lecturing in special courses for selected students at the College of Civil Engineering of the Tech nical University in Prague, from experience gained as supervisor and consultant to graduate students-engineers in the field of applied mathematics, and - last but not least - from frequent consultations with technicians as well as with physicists who have asked for advice in overcoming difficulties encountered in solving theoretical problems. Even though a varied combination of problems of the most diverse nature was often in question, the problems discussed in this book stood forth as the most essential to this category of specialists. The many discussions I have had gave rise to considerations on writing a book which should fill the rather unfortunate gap in our literature. The book is designed, in the first place, for specialists in the fields of theoretical engineering and science. However, it was my aim that the book should be of interest to mathematicians as well. I have been well aware what an ungrateful task it may be to write a book of the present type, and what problems such an effort can bring: Technicians and physicists on the one side, and mathematicians on the other, are often of diametrically opposing opinions as far as books con ceived for both these categories are concerned.
This annually published Bibliography provides an overview of cartographical literature published around the world. Each annual volume lists approximately 2,000 monographs and articles published in some 400 periodicals. These are all analysed by an international group of collaborating experts. Among the topics covered are the history of cartography, cartographic personalities and institutions, the making of maps, areas such as topographical or atlas cartography, or maps for the blind, film and screen maps and the use of maps. Titles are listed in their original language and can be looked up either in the Author Index or in the English, French or German list of contents.
This book sketches the history of higher education, in parallel with the development of science. Its goal is to draw attention to the historical tensions between the aims of higher education and those of science, in the hope of contributing to improving the contemporary university. A helpful tool in analyzing these intellectual and social tensions is Karl Popper's philosophy of science demarcating science and its social context. Popper defines a society that encourages criticism as "open," and argues convincingly that an open society is the most appropriate one for the growth of science. A "closed society," on the other hand, is a tribal and dogmatic society. Despite being the universal home of science today, the university, as an institution that is thousands of years old, carries traces of different past cultural, social, and educational traditions. The book argues that, by and large, the university was, and still is, a closed society and does not serve the best interests of the development of science and of students' education.
The Yearbook addresses the overriding question: what are the effects of the 'opening up' of science to the media? Theoretical considerations and a host of empirical studies covering different configurations provide an in-depth analysis of the sciences' media connection and its repercussions on science itself. They help to form a sound judgement on this recent development.
Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Data Analysis and Synthesis (CINDAS) * at Purdue University in 1957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all con cerned if the printing and distribution of the volume were handled by an international publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Cor poration of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 26 (thesis year 1981) a total of 11,048 theses titles from 24 Canadian and 21 8 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 26 reports theses submitted in 1981, on occasion, certain univer sities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time." |
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