|
Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues
The Principles of Psychology Volume 1, complete with William James'
original notes, illustrations, tables and charts clarifying the
theory described and arguments made. Appearing in 1890, The
Principles of Psychology was a landmark text which established
psychology as a serious scientific discipline. William James'
compiled a convincing, lengthy and broad thesis, devoting detail
and vigorous analysis in every chapter. The text's
comprehensiveness and superb presentation played a pivotal role in
bringing the science of mental health closer toward the scholarly
mainstream. The entire book is set out intuitively: there are two
volumes, each of which has a certain number of chapters. While some
chapters have sub-sections, James is careful not to make his
textbook dry or convoluted in organisation. Each chapter
introduces, discusses and concludes on a particular subject -
whether it be the role of psychology as an academic and medical
discipline, or the various functions of the human brain.
Seduction is not just an end result, but a process - and in
mathematics, both the end results and the process by which those
end results are achieved are often charming and elegant.This helps
to explain why so many people - not just those for whom math plays
a key role in their day-to-day lives - have found mathematics so
seductive. Math is unique among all subjects in that it contains
end results of amazing insight and power, and lines of reasoning
that are clever, charming, and elegant. This book is a collection
of those results and lines of reasoning that make us say, 'OMG,
that's just amazing,' - because that's what mathematics is to those
who love it. In addition, some of the stories about mathematical
discoveries and the people who discovered them are every bit as
fascinating as the discoveries themselves.This book contains
material capable of being appreciated by students in elementary
school - as well as some material that will probably be new to even
the more mathematically sophisticated. Most of the book can be
easily understood by those whose only math courses are algebra and
geometry, and who may have missed the magic, enchantment, and
wonder that is the special province of mathematics.
Aerosol science and engineering is a vibrant field of particle
technology and chemical reaction engineering. The book presents a
timely account of this interdisciplinary topic and its various
application areas. It will be of interest to scientists or
engineers active in aerosol physics, aerosol or colloid chemistry,
atmospheric processes, and chemical, mechanical, environmental
and/or materials engineering.
Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? The
answers will surprise you. Predictably Irrational is an intriguing,
witty and utterly original look at why we all make illogical
decisions. Why can a 50p aspirin do what a 5p aspirin can't? If an
item is "free" it must be a bargain, right? Why is everything
relative, even when it shouldn't be? How do our expectations
influence our actual opinions and decisions? In this astounding
book, behavioural economist Dan Ariely cuts to the heart of our
strange behaviour, demonstrating how irrationality often supplants
rational thought and that the reason for this is embedded in the
very structure of our minds. Predicatably Irrational brilliantly
blends everyday experiences with a series of illuminating and often
surprising experiments, that will change your understanding of
human behaviour. And, by recognising these patterns, Ariely shows
that we can make better decisions in business, in matters of
collective welfare, and in our everyday lives from drinking coffee
to losing weight, buying a car to choosing a romantic partner.
Charles Fort's classic recording of unexplained, paranormal events
and phenomena offer fascinating insights into bizarre occurrences
the author felt had been unjustly damned from formal, scientific
study. The title derives from the author's perception that the
book's subjects were so stigmatized and excluded from ordinary
scientific inquiry that they had become 'damned'. Perhaps
permanently forbade for formal study, the oddities and unexplained
events in this text were felt worthy of attention by the author,
who eventually became an authority on anomalous phenomena. The
topics in Fort's thesis include unexplained disappearances of large
groups of people, frogs and fish suddenly raining from the sky, the
possibility that mythical beasts such as giants exist, UFOs
manifest as glowing and sometimes moving lights in the sky, and
bizarre weather phenomena. Fort attributes credence to many of
these oddities, and argues that science - by dismissing them - has
become a religion in itself.
During the early modern period, regional specified compendia -
which combine information on local moral and natural history, towns
and fortifications with historiography, antiquarianism, images
series or maps - gain a new agency in the production of knowledge.
Via literary and aesthetic practices, the compilations construct a
display of regional specified knowledge. In some cases this display
of regional knowledge is presented as a display of a local cultural
identity and is linked to early modern practices of comparing and
classifying civilizations. At the core of the publication are
compendia on the Americas which research has described as
chorographies, encyclopeadias or - more recently - 'cultural
encyclopaedias'. Studies on Asian and European encyclopeadias,
universal histories and chorographies help to contextualize the
American examples in the broader field of an early modern and
transcultural knowledge production, which inherits and modifies the
ancient and medieval tradition.
The lead singer on Supercell's eponymous first album is Hatsune
Miku-a Vocaloid character created by Crypton Future Media with
voice synthesizers. A virtual superstar, over 100,000 songs,
uploaded mostly by fans, are attributed to her. Supercell is a
Japanese creator music group with the composer Ryo leading ten
artists, who design album illustrations and make music videos.
These videos are uploaded onto Niconico and other video-sharing
sites. By the time Supercell was released in March 2009, the
group's Vocaloid works were already well-known to Niconico users
and fans. This book explores the Vocaloid and DTM (desktop music)
phenomena through the lenses of media and fan studies, looking
closely at online social media platforms, the new technology for
composing, avid fans of the Vocaloid character, and these fans'
performative practices. It provides a sense of how interactive new
media and an empowered fan base combine to engage in the creation
processes and enhance the circulation of DTM works. 33 1/3 Global,
a series related to but independent from 33 1/3, takes the format
of the original series of short, music-basedbooks and brings the
focus to music throughout the world. With initial volumes focusing
on Japanese and Brazilian music, the series will also include
volumes on the popular music of Australia/Oceania, Europe, Africa,
the Middle East, and more.
Electron storage rings play a crucial role in many areas of modern
scientific research. In light sources, they provide intense beams
of x-rays that can be used to understand the structure and behavior
of materials at the atomic scale, with applications to medicine,
the life sciences, condensed matter physics, engineering, and
technology. In particle colliders, electron storage rings allow
experiments that probe the laws of nature at the most fundamental
level. Understanding and controlling the behavior of the beams of
particles in storage rings is essential for the design,
construction, and operation of light sources and colliders aimed at
reaching increasingly demanding performance specifications.
Introduction to Beam Dynamics in High-Energy Electron Storage Rings
describes the physics of particle behavior in these machines.
Starting with an outline of the history, uses, and structure of
electron storage rings, the book develops the foundations of beam
dynamics, covering particle motion in the components used to guide
and focus the beams, the effects of synchrotron radiation, and the
impact of interactions between the particles in the beams. The aim
is to emphasize the physics behind key phenomena, keeping
mathematical derivations to a minimum: numerous references are
provided for those interested in learning more. The text includes
discussion of issues relevant to machine design and operation and
concludes with a brief discussion of some more advanced topics,
relevant in some special situations, and a glimpse of current
research aiming to develop the "ultimate" storage rings.
MRI Atlas of the Infant Rat Brain: Brain Segmentation features an
entirely new coronal, sagittal and horizontal set of tissue cut in
regular 9 m intervals with accompanying photographs of MRI data and
color drawings of selected brain regions in the three planes. The
use of the single brain allows for greater consistency between
sections, while color masking offers advances in manual
segmentation techniques with increased refinement in the definition
of brain areas. Readers will benefit from uniform and consistent
manual tissue segmentation of MRI data in an infant rat brain. This
volume provides readers the first infant rat brain MRI atlas and a
valuable resource in research analyses of the developing brain for
structural and functional MRI analyses.
Technological development is achievable only when a country has the
ability to systematically design and introduce its own new
technologies. In spite of the variety of studies regarding
technology management, there is still a lack of studies concerning
the principle concepts of technology management in the Middle
Eastern/North African (MENA) region's firms. The generally low
level of ICT diffusion in most of the region's countries widens the
gap between MENA countries and the modern world. Private Sector
Innovations and Technological Growth in the MENA Region provides
innovative insights into investments made for the digital
transformation of major cities in the region that have the
potential to become a significant driver for economic development
and job creation. Highlighting topics such as strategic planning,
risk analysis, and customer loyalty, this publication is designed
for policymakers, economists, academicians, researchers, business
professionals, and students interested in the use of ICT
integration for the advancement of the MENA region.
This book describes the framework of a new theory of science.Over
the last hundred years, philosophy of science has developed its
theory based on what philosophers perceived what science is and
what scientists do. It does not address the basic questions that
scientists care about. Thus, this book examines the conventional
theories of philosophy of science from a completely different point
of view and describes the most difficult problems that scientists
are concerned about and how science is conducted.This book is based
on the lecture notes under the same title in Honors College at the
junior level in UMASS Lowell. It is qualified as a required course
in Art and Humanity for science and engineering majors.
Today's "machine-learning" systems, trained by data, are so
effective that we've invited them to see and hear for us-and to
make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Recent
years have seen an eruption of concern as the field of machine
learning advances. When the systems we attempt to teach will not,
in the end, do what we want or what we expect, ethical and
potentially existential risks emerge. Researchers call this the
alignment problem. Systems cull resumes until, years later, we
discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide
bail and parole-and appear to assess Black and White defendants
differently. We can no longer assume that our mortgage application,
or even our medical tests, will be seen by human eyes. And as
autonomous vehicles share our streets, we are increasingly putting
our lives in their hands. The mathematical and computational models
driving these changes range in complexity from something that can
fit on a spreadsheet to a complex system that might credibly be
called "artificial intelligence." They are steadily replacing both
human judgment and explicitly programmed software. In best-selling
author Brian Christian's riveting account, we meet the alignment
problem's "first-responders," and learn their ambitious plan to
solve it before our hands are completely off the wheel. In a
masterful blend of history and on-the ground reporting, Christian
traces the explosive growth in the field of machine learning and
surveys its current, sprawling frontier. Readers encounter a
discipline finding its legs amid exhilarating and sometimes
terrifying progress. Whether they-and we-succeed or fail in solving
the alignment problem will be a defining human story. The Alignment
Problem offers an unflinching reckoning with humanity's biases and
blind spots, our own unstated assumptions and often contradictory
goals. A dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, it takes a hard look
not only at our technology but at our culture-and finds a story by
turns harrowing and hopeful.
|
|