Extensively revised and thoroughly updated, this popular text de-emphasizes high level mathematics in favor of effective, accurate modeling. Real-world examples amplify the theory and show how to use derived equations to model physical problems. Exercises that parallel the examples build readers' confidence and prepare them to confront the more complex situations they encounter as professionals.

Why are most gases invisible, odourless and tasteless? Why do some poison us and others make us laugh? And why do some power our engines while others make drinks fizzy? In It's a Gas, Mark Miodownik masterfully reveals an invisible world through his unique brand of scientific storytelling.

Taking us back to that exhilarating – and often dangerous – moment when scientists tried to work out exactly what they had discovered, Miodownik shows that gases are the formative substances of our modern world, each with its own weird and wonderful personality.

We see how seventeenth-century laughing gas parties led to the first use of anaesthetics in surgery, how the invention of the air valve in musical instruments gave us bicycles, cars and trainers, and how gases made us masters of the sea (by huge steamships) and skies (via extremely flammable balloons). This delight of a book reveals the immense importance of gases to modern civilisation.

This work provides an extensive analysis of one of the major body measures, surface area. It is strictly experimental and descriptive; numerical and graphic methods are used to present major findings.

This monograph systematically presents the fundamentals of theoretical and experimental research into the most important physical characteristics of porous structures. Non-standard behavior of certain physical parameters, such as the breakdown of the electric field of porous substances, is described. The method of calculation of the thermal conductivity coefficient of porous dielectrics, based on the non-equilibrium principle, is illustrated in detail. The present approach may be applied to the investigation of the properties of "disparate" substances such as cellulose matrices, composites, and fibrous structures. The book is intended for physicists, physical chemists and materials scientists at research and postgraduate and undergraduate levels. It may also be helpful for engineers and technical workers in the applied sciences.

For many years it has been assumed that a great gulf exists between science and the humanities, that the writings of science are simply the record of things scientists do and find and are devoid of literary features. Recently this assumption has been challenged by those who regard science and literature as companion endeavors, working side by side to describe, in their respective ways, the world of human experience. Now David Locke, a professor of literature who has also been a scientist, joins the debate, arguing that scientific language can be highly imaginative, expressive, and self-conscious and demonstrating for the first time how the major modes of literary criticism can be keys to the reading of scientific texts. Locke takes up in sequence six critical perspectives on reading. These view literary texts as: essentially representation of the real world; an expression of its author's thoughts and feelings; an activator of response from its readers; a work of art, interesting in its purely formal properties; an artifact situated in a social milieu; or an instrument that brings the world of phenomena into being. Locke applies these perspectives to the reading of a variety of scientific texts, from works by Galileo and Darwin to writings in contemporary molecular biology and theoretical physics. Locke suggests that attention to the literary qualities of scientific discourse will aid in further opening up the literary canon and widening the practice of literary criticism, even as it sharpens science's growing interest in, and understanding of, its own mode of operation.

A goal of mine ever since becoming an educational researcher has been to help construct a sound theory to guide instructional practice. For far too long, educational practice has suffered because we have lacked firm instructional guidelines, which in my view should be based on sound psychological theory, which in turn should be based on sound neurological theory. In other words, teachers need to know how to teach and that "how-to-teach" should be based solidly on how people learn and how their brains function. As you will see in this book, my answer to the question of how people learn is that we all learn by spontaneously generating and testing ideas. Idea generating involves analogies and testing requires comparing predicted consequences with actual consequences. We learn this way because the brain is essentially an idea generating and testing machine. But there is more to it than this. The very process ofgenerating and testing ideas results not only in the construction of ideas that work (i. e. , the learning of useful declarative knowledge), but also in improved skill in learning (i. e. , the development of improved procedural knowledge).

This book takes a fresh look at the problem of unconstrained handwriting recognition and introduces the reader to new techniques for the recognition of written words and characters using statistical and soft computing approaches. The types of uncertainties and variations present in handwriting data are discussed in detail. The book presents several algorithms that use modified hidden Markov models and Markov random field models to simulate the handwriting data statistically and structurally in a single framework. The book explores methods that use fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets for handwriting recognition. The effectiveness of these techniques is demonstrated through extensive experimental results and real handwritten characters and words.

This book seeks to narrow the current gap between educational research and classroom practice in the teaching of physics. It makes a detailed analysis of research findings derived from experiments involving pupils, students and teachers in the field. Clear guidelines are laid down for the development and evaluation of sequences, drawing attention to "critical details" of the practice of teaching that may spell success or failure for the project. It is intended for researchers in science teaching, teacher trainers and teachers of physics.

Frequency Assignment and Network Planning for Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Systems focuses on Digital Audio Broadcasting and Digital Video Broadcasting. The author provides a concise introduction to the subject and presents principles, concepts and commonly accepted methods used in the planning process.
The frequency assignment material focuses on allotment planning while network planning is dealt with mainly from a network optimization perspective. All methods introduced and mathematical tools presented are fully explained. General concepts are illustrated with the help of several planning scenarios both for frequency assignment and network planning.
Frequency assignment and network planning are vital issues throughout most of Europe and North America as a direct consequence of the increasing demand for digital communication systems.

Technologically driven information overloads corporate leaders, managers, and employees alike, forcing them into a reactive mode with little time for reflection or strategic thinking. When the survey is completed, the teleconference over, and the weekend retreat a distant memory, we go back to our jobs unchanged. We hope that our activities contribute to corporate objectives, but we quickly lose sight of the connection between our work and critical outcomes. It doesn't have to be that way. Denton explains how to combine new interactive Intranet Web-based technology with new managerial software to focus on strategic decision making, effective team management, and the big picture.

Along with its companion Web site, www.CIVID3.com, this book provides an innovative solution that integrates and displays your critical information in real time. Condense all the reports received from finance, operations, marketing, and other divisions into a single interactive visual display that's always up to date. Establish two-way communication that allows managers and workers at all levels of the company to participate. This is the first system to graphically display--on a single desktop screen--the status of your key organizational and group performance measures. Combine outcomes and processes. Use subjective as well as objective information. Integrate and display the results in a user-friendly format, in real time. This book's solution allows organizational members to focus on their ultimate purpose and makes it easier to implement strategic or operational decisions.

The years 1760 to 1789 mark the political birth of the United States; simultaneously, an emancipation of American scientific endeavor from the influence of England and Europe was taking place. This is especially evident in the area of natural sciences--the growing frontiers and population of America opened up vast areas to scientific scrutiny. This extensive bibliography commemorates the scholarship that was published in many forms by and about Revolutionary American science from 1760 through the twentieth century. Part one of Katalin Harkanyi's work provides an overview of the natural sciences in the Revolutionary Era. Comprehensive and general sources are listed in the fields of natural history (botany, zoology, agriculture, and geology), natural philosophy (mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, surveying, engineering, and architecture), and medicine (dentistry, pharmacology, and veterinary medicine). Included are journals, documents, biographies, bibliographies, histories, orations, and even travel journals and diaries which create a framework for the study of Revolutionary American science. The second part of this bibliography is devoted to the scientists themselves: the men and women who wrote partial or specific scientific studies. This section of the book shows that these early Americans were capable of remarkable investigations into the natural world, rivaling their European contemporaries. Here are listed the scientists, their extant monographic works, and studies written about them from their age into the twentieth century. Appendices include scientific firsts and special achievements of Revolutionary Americans and a list of scientists arranged by discipline. This book will be a useful guide for historians and scientists, as well as inquiring general readers, who want to know more about the early growth of American science.

This anthology contains selected papers from the 'Science as Culture' conference held at Lake Como, and Pavia University Italy, 15-19 September 1999. The conference, attended by about 220 individuals from thirty countries, was a joint venture of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group (its fifth conference) and the History of Physics and Physics Teaching Division of the European Physical Society (its eighth conference). The magnificient Villa Olmo, on the lakeshore, provided a memorable location for the presentors of the 160 papers and the audience that discussed them. The conference was part of local celebrations of the bicentenary of Alessandro Volta's creation of the battery in 1799. Volta was born in Como in 1745, and for forty years from 1778 he was professor of experimental physics at Pavia University. The conference was fortunate to have had the generous financial support of the Italian government's Volta Bicentenary Fund, Lombardy region, Pavia University, Italian Research Council, and Kluwer Academic Publishers. The papers included here, have or will be, published in the journal Science & Education, the inaugural volume (1992) of which was a landmark in the history of science education publication, because it was the first journal in the field devoted to contributions from historical, philosophical and sociological scholarship. Clearly these 'foundational' disciplines inform numerous theoretical, curricular and pedagogical debates in science education. Contemporary Concerns The reseach promoted by the International and European Groups, and by the journal, is central to science education programmes in most areas of the world.

Clements adroitly strips away the comfortable notion that science and religion can forever be conveniently positioned in their own domains - the world of empirical analysis occupying the former, while spiritual concerns hold the attention of the latter. He effectively illustrates the ways in which those who make knowledge claims in the name of religion foist themselves upon science, while they deny reasonable people the right to challenge, evaluate, or assess the truth of these claims through the use of critical intelligence and accepted methods of verification.Clements offers compelling reasons to support the view that the aims of science - logical compatibility and clarity of explanation based upon observable data and experience - are preferable to religion's reliance on tradition, mystery, parable, and revelation. With wit and insight, Clements exposes the many absurdities inherent in biblical accounts of such concepts as heaven and hell, the fall of man, the soul, Christ's resurrection, the Trinity, and Noah's flood. Fervent fundamentalists are confronted with the unsettling fact that a literal reading of the Bible would result in complete nonsense.

This study of science and technology looks at knowledge systems. Topics covered include: mapping encounters and (en)countering maps - a critical examination of cartographic resistance; the intricacies of technology transfer - travel as mode and method; and science, local knowledge and community.

This collection of essays by America's foremost polymath delves into some of the many fascinating subjects in which Martin Gardner has had an abiding interest.

This book is a collection of twenty-four papers that Michael A. Cremo, who is not a professional scientist, presented at scientific and academic conferences. Versions of some of these papers have appeared in peer-reviewed academic publications. In these papers, Cremo explores the relationship between science and religion, in terms of his specific scientific and religious commitments. Many of the papers in this book deal with archeological evidence for extreme human antiquity, consistent with the Puranic histories. Other papers explore the history of archeology in India. In his book "Human Devolution," Cremo presented a Vedic alternative to the current theory of human origins. Some of the papers in "My Science, My Religion" are related to this topic. This collection will be of interest to theologians, scientists, historians of science, philosophers of science, and scholars of science and religion.

Mesyats' Pulsed Power provides in-depth coverage of the generation of pulsed electric power, electron and ion beams, and various types of pulsed electromagnetic radiation. The electric power that can be produced by the methods described ranges from 106 to 1014W for pulse durations of 10-10-10-7s.

The book consists of nine parts containing 28 chapters, which deal with various aspects of pulsed power and high-power electronics and cover a concise theory of electric circuits as applied to nanosecond pulse technology; physics of fast processes occurring in electrical discharges in vacuum, gases, and liquids; phenomena in long lines; mechanisms of operation and designs of high-power gas-discharge, plasma, and semiconductor closing and opening switches as well as of high-power electric pulse generators using these switches; solid-state (semiconductor and magnetic) methods of production and transformation of nanosecond high-power pulses; and methods of production of high-power pulsed electron and ion beams. The closing part describes methods applied to produce high-power nanosecond pulsed X-rays, laser beams, microwaves, and ultrawideband electromagnetic radiation.

This all-embracing book covers gas, laser, semiconductor, and magnetic circuit elements, the phenomenon of explosive electron emission discovered by the author, diodes of various types, including semiconductor diodes based on the SOS effect discovered with participation of the author, and methods of production of various types of high-power pulsed radiation.