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This book explores the fascinating and intimate relationship between music and physics. Over millennia, the playing of, and listening to music have stimulated creativity and curiosity in people all around the globe. Beginning with the basics, the authors first address the tonal systems of European-type music, comparing them with those of other, distant cultures. They analyze the physical principles of common musical instruments with emphasis on sound creation and particularly charisma. Modern research on the psychology of musical perception - the field known as psychoacoustics - is also described. The sound of orchestras in concert halls is discussed, and its psychoacoustic effects are explained. Finally, the authors touch upon the role of music for our mind and society. Throughout the book, interesting stories and anecdotes give insights into the musical activities of physicists and their interaction with composers and musicians.
This volume offers a look at the fundamental issues of present and future AI, especially from cognitive science, computer science, neuroscience and philosophy. This work examines the conditions for artificial intelligence, how these relate to the conditions for intelligence in humans and other natural agents, as well as ethical and societal problems that artificial intelligence raises or will raise. The key issues this volume investigates include the relation of AI and cognitive science, ethics of AI and robotics, brain emulation and simulation, hybrid systems and cyborgs, intelligence and intelligence testing, interactive systems, multi-agent systems, and super intelligence. Based on the 2nd conference on "Theory and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence" held in Oxford, the volume includes prominent researchers within the field from around the world.
Given the centrality of political parties in modern democracies, most research on these systems either directly address their internal functioning and activities or question their critical role. Political science has moved from describing institutions to the thorough analysis of behavior within these institutions and the interactions between them. The inevitable consequences of the maturing and institutionalization of the discipline of political science in many countries include the forming of sub-fields and specialized research communities. At the same time the number of democracies has vastly increased since the 1980s and although not each attempt at democratization was eventually successful, more heterogeneous systems with some form of party competition exist than ever before. As a consequence, the literature addressing the large issues of party democracy spreads over many research fields and has become difficult to master for individual students of party democracy and party governance. The present volume sets out to review the behavior and larger role of political parties in modern democracies. In so doing the book takes its departure from the idea that the main contribution of political parties to the working of democracy is their role as vehicles of political competition in systems of government. Consequently the focus is not merely in the internal functioning of political parties, but rather their behavior the electoral, legislative, and governmental arenas. Thus several chapters address how political parties perform within the existing institutional frameworks. One more chapter looks at the role of political parties in building and adapting these institutions. Finally, two chapters explicitly address the party contributions to democracy in established and new democracies, respectively.
This book reports on the results of the third edition of the premier conference in the field of philosophy of artificial intelligence, PT-AI 2017, held on November 4 - 5, 2017 at the University of Leeds, UK. It covers: advanced knowledge on key AI concepts, including complexity, computation, creativity, embodiment, representation and superintelligence; cutting-edge ethical issues, such as the AI impact on human dignity and society, responsibilities and rights of machines, as well as AI threats to humanity and AI safety; and cutting-edge developments in techniques to achieve AI, including machine learning, neural networks, dynamical systems. The book also discusses important applications of AI, including big data analytics, expert systems, cognitive architectures, and robotics. It offers a timely, yet very comprehensive snapshot of what is going on in the field of AI, especially at the interfaces between philosophy, cognitive science, ethics and computing.
Can we make machines that think and act like humans or other natural intelligent agents? The answer to this question depends on how we see ourselves and how we see the machines in question. Classical AI and cognitive science had claimed that cognition is computation, and can thus be reproduced on other computing machines, possibly surpassing the abilities of human intelligence. This consensus has now come under threat and the agenda for the philosophy and theory of AI must be set anew, re-defining the relation between AI and Cognitive Science. We can re-claim the original vision of general AI from the technical AI disciplines; we can reject classical cognitive science and replace it with a new theory (e.g. embodied); or we can try to find new ways to approach AI, for example from neuroscience or from systems theory. To do this, we must go back to the basic questions on computing, cognition and ethics for AI. The 30 papers in this volume provide cutting-edge work from leading researchers that define where we stand and where we should go from here.
All of us are confronted with complex phenomena occurring in daily life and in the living and inanimate nature surrounding us. Our scientific curiosity strives to unravel the mechanisms at work to create such complexity. Among various approaches to solve this problem, the field of synergetics, developed by Hermann Haken, has proven very successful as a general and interdisciplinary concept for describing and explaining complex phenomena that appear in systems under non-equilibrium conditions. These comprise dynamical states in evolving systems, spatial structure-forming processes, synchronization of states and regulatory mechanisms, and many other examples. The encompassing concepts have been applied to many disciplines, like physics, chemistry, biology, and beyond those also from synergetics to information theory, brain science, economics, and others. Starting from basic methods of complexity research and synergetics, this volume contains thirty contributions on complex systems that exhibit spontaneous pattern formation far from thermal equilibrium. Written by international experts and young researchers assembled under one roof, this volume reflects state of the art research from a variety of scientific fields and disciplines where complexity theory and synergetics are important or even indispensable tools today and in the future.
Concepts of nonlinear physics are applied to an increasing number of research disciplines. With this volume, the editors offer a selection of articles on nonlinear topics in progress, ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and some applications of social science. The book covers quantum optics, electron crystallization, cellular or flow patterns in fluids and in granular media, biological systems, and the control of brain structures via neuronal excitation. Chemical patterns are looked at both in bulk solutions and on surfaces in heterogeneous systems. From regular structures, the authors turn to the more complex behavior in biology and physics, such as hydrodynamical turbulence, low-dimensional dynamics in solid-state physics, and gravity.
"An exploration of how the theme of Anti-Americanism was employed by influential sections of the West German media to oppose the modernisation of the Federal Republic of Germany during the long 1950s. In the public battle over the future direction of Germany, America stood as a symbol of social, political and economic corruption"--Provided by publisher.
In the decades the of the formation of structures past subject spontaneous in far from has into a branch of - systems equilibrium major physics grown search with ties to It has become evident that strong neighboring disciplines. a diverse of can be understood within a common mat- phenomena range matical framework which has been called nonlinear of continuous dynamics This name the close to the field of nonlinear systems. emphasizes relationship of with few of freedom which has evolved into a dynamics systems degrees mature in the recent features mathematically subject past. Many dynamical of continuous be described reduction few can a to a systems actually through of freedom and of the latter of continue to degrees properties type systems of continuous the inspire study systems. The of this book is to demonstrate the numerous goal through examples that exist for the of nonlinear the opportunities study phenomena through tools of mathematical and use of common analyses dynamical interpretations. Instead of overview of the a providing comprehensive rapidly evolving field, the contributors to this book are to communicate to a wide scientific trying audience the of what have learnt about the formation of essence they spon- neous structures in continuous and about the dissipative systems competition between order and chaos that characterizes these It is that systems. hoped the book will be even to those scientists whose not helpful are disciplines the authors.
This book presents the general concepts of self-organized spatio-temporal ordering processes. These concepts are demonstrated via prototypical examples of recent advances in materials science. Particular emphasis is on nano scale soft matter in physics, chemistry, biology and biomedicine. The questions addressed embrace a broad spectrum of complex nonlinear phenomena, ranging from self-assembling near the thermodynamical equilibrium to dissipative structure formation far from equilibrium. Their mutual interplay gives rise to increasing degrees of hierarchical order. Analogues are pointed out, differences characterized and efforts are made to reveal common features in the mechanistic description of those phenomena.
This book gathers contributions from the fourth edition of the Conference on "Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence" (PT-AI), held on 27-28th of September 2021 at Chalmers University of Technology, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It covers topics at the interface between philosophy, cognitive science, ethics and computing. It discusses advanced theories fostering the understanding of human cognition, human autonomy, dignity and morality, and the development of corresponding artificial cognitive structures, analyzing important aspects of the relationship between humans and AI systems, including the ethics of AI. This book offers a thought-provoking snapshot of what is currently going on, and what are the main challenges, in the multidisciplinary field of the philosophy of artificial intelligence.
If the intelligence of artificial systems were to surpass that of humans, humanity would face significant risks. The time has come to consider these issues, and this consideration must include progress in artificial intelligence (AI) as much as insights from AI theory. Featuring contributions from leading experts and thinkers in artificial intelligence, Risks of Artificial Intelligence is the first volume of collected chapters dedicated to examining the risks of AI. The book evaluates predictions of the future of AI, proposes ways to ensure that AI systems will be beneficial to humans, and then critically evaluates such proposals. The book covers the latest research on the risks and future impacts of AI. It starts with an introduction to the problem of risk and the future of artificial intelligence, followed by a discussion (Armstrong/Sokala/OhEigeartaigh) on how predictions of its future have fared to date. Omohundro makes the point that even an innocuous artificial agent can easily turn into a serious threat for humans. T. Goertzel explains how to succeed in the design of artificial agents. But will these be a threat for humanity, or a useful tool? Ways to assure beneficial outcomes through 'machine ethics' and 'utility functions' are discussed by Brundage and Yampolskiy. B. Goertzel and Potapov/Rodionov propose 'learning' and 'empathy' as paths towards safer AI while Kornai explains how the impact of AI may be bounded. Sandberg explains the implications of human-like AI via the technique of brain emulation. Dewey discusses strategies to deal with the 'fast takeoff' of artificial intelligence and, finally, Bishop explains why there is no need to worry because computers will remain in a state of 'artificial stupidity'. Sharing insights from leading thinkers in artificial intelligence, this book provides you with an expert-level perspective of what is on the horizon for AI, whether it will be a threat for humanity, and how we might counteract this threat.
The overarching aim of Finance, Innovation and Geography: Harnessing Knowledge Dynamics in German Biotechnology is to explore linkages between geographies of finance and relational geographies of innovation. This is achieved by questioning how investment activities affect the unfolding of innovations and in turn are affected by it. This book focuses on biotechnology innovation processes from the perspective of relational economic geography. It reconstructs the unfolding in time and space of eight innovations in German biotechnology. Each one is represented in a qualitative case study. The analysis focuses on the relational work of building, transforming, ending and replacing of collaborative relationships and organizational arrangements surrounding emergent innovations including investment relations and relational work by investors. In this way, the contribution of investors to unfolding innovations is studied with sensitivity to context and situated interactions. The geography of these dynamics is conceptualized by drawing on the recent literature on relational proximity and distance as well as ideas of materiality and space. This book provides a unique perspective, and shows that innovation paths are strongly interwoven with local and temporary opportunities as well as crises, and that investment is embedded in these dynamics. This is essential reading for students and academics of both economics and innovation.
Leaders of political parties often have to choose between conflicting objectives, such as influence on policy, control of the government, and support among the voters. This book examines the behaviour of political parties in situations where they experience conflict between two or more important objectives. The volume contains a theoretical introduction and case studies of party leaders in Germany, Italy, France and Spain as well as six smaller European democracies. Each case focuses on the behaviour of one of several parties in situations of goal conflict, such as the 'historic compromise' in Italy, the 1982 Wende in West Germany, the making of the new Swedish constitution in the 1970s, and the termination of the Austrian 'black-red' grand coalition. In their conclusions, the editors discuss how such leadership decisions can be understood and examine the causes of different choices among party leaders.
Traditional comparative studies of parliaments have focused on
constitutional and organizational characteristics of parliaments,
or differences in the historical contexts, in which legislative
assemblies have developed. The motivations of individual Members of
Parliament have been neglected.
This book reports on the results of the third edition of the premier conference in the field of philosophy of artificial intelligence, PT-AI 2017, held on November 4 - 5, 2017 at the University of Leeds, UK. It covers: advanced knowledge on key AI concepts, including complexity, computation, creativity, embodiment, representation and superintelligence; cutting-edge ethical issues, such as the AI impact on human dignity and society, responsibilities and rights of machines, as well as AI threats to humanity and AI safety; and cutting-edge developments in techniques to achieve AI, including machine learning, neural networks, dynamical systems. The book also discusses important applications of AI, including big data analytics, expert systems, cognitive architectures, and robotics. It offers a timely, yet very comprehensive snapshot of what is going on in the field of AI, especially at the interfaces between philosophy, cognitive science, ethics and computing.
This volume offers a look at the fundamental issues of present and future AI, especially from cognitive science, computer science, neuroscience and philosophy. This work examines the conditions for artificial intelligence, how these relate to the conditions for intelligence in humans and other natural agents, as well as ethical and societal problems that artificial intelligence raises or will raise. The key issues this volume investigates include the relation of AI and cognitive science, ethics of AI and robotics, brain emulation and simulation, hybrid systems and cyborgs, intelligence and intelligence testing, interactive systems, multi-agent systems, and super intelligence. Based on the 2nd conference on "Theory and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence" held in Oxford, the volume includes prominent researchers within the field from around the world.
Innovate your business by incorporating design thinking Organizations that can innovate have an advantage over competitors who stick to old processes, models, and products. Design Thinking For Dummies walks would-be intrapreneurs through the steps of incorporating design thinking principles into their organizations. Written by a recognized expert in the field of design thinking, the book guides readers through the steps of adapting to a design thinking culture, identifying customer problems, creating and testing solutions, and making innovation an ongoing process. The book covers the crucial and central topics in design thinking, including: Adopting a design thinking mindset Building creative environments Facilitating design thinking workshops Working through the design thinking cycle Implementing your solutions And many more Design Thinking For Dummies is a great starting place for people joining design-oriented teams and organizations, as well as small businesses and start-ups seeking to take advantage of the same methods and techniques that large firms have used to grow and succeed.
Coalition government among different political parties is the way most European democracies are governed. Traditionally, the study of coalition politics has been focused on Western Europe. Coalition governance in Central Eastern Europe brings the study of the full coalition life-cycle to a region that has undergone tremendous political transformation, but which has not been studied from this perspective. The volume covers Bulgaria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It provides information and analyses of the coalition life-cycle, from pre-electoral alliances to coalition formation and portfolio distribution, governing in coalitions, the stages that eventually lead to government termination, and the electoral performance of coalition parties. In Central Eastern Europe, few single-party cabinets form and there have been only a few early elections. The evidence provided shows that coalition partners in the region write formal agreements (coalition agreements) to an extent that is similar to the patterns that we find in Western Europe, but also that they adhere less closely to these contracts. While the research on Western Europe tends to stress that coalition partners emphasize coalition compromise and mutual supervision, there is more evidence of 'ministerial government' by individual ministers and their parties. There are also some systems where coalition governance is heavily dominated by the prime minister. No previous study has covered the full coalition life-cycle in all of the ten countries with as much detail. Systematic information is presented in 10 figures and in more than one hundred tables. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu. The series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Political Science, University of Houston.
This book presents the general concepts of self-organized spatio-temporal ordering processes. These concepts are demonstrated via prototypical examples of recent advances in materials science. Particular emphasis is on nano scale soft matter in physics, chemistry, biology and biomedicine. The questions addressed embrace a broad spectrum of complex nonlinear phenomena, ranging from self-assembling near the thermodynamical equilibrium to dissipative structure formation far from equilibrium. Their mutual interplay gives rise to increasing degrees of hierarchical order. Analogues are pointed out, differences characterized and efforts are made to reveal common features in the mechanistic description of those phenomena.
Given the centrality of political parties in modern democracies, most research on these systems either directly address their internal functioning and activities or question their critical role. Political science has moved from describing institutions to the thorough analysis of behavior within these institutions and the interactions between them. The inevitable consequences of the maturing and institutionalization of the discipline of political science in many countries include the forming of sub-fields and specialized research communities. At the same time the number of democracies has vastly increased since the 1980s and although not each attempt at democratization was eventually successful, more heterogeneous systems with some form of party competition exist than ever before. As a consequence, the literature addressing the large issues of party democracy spreads over many research fields and has become difficult to master for individual students of party democracy and party governance. The present volume sets out to review the behavior and larger role of political parties in modern democracies. In so doing the book takes its departure from the idea that the main contribution of political parties to the working of democracy is their role as vehicles of political competition in systems of government. Consequently the focus is not merely in the internal functioning of political parties, but rather their behavior the electoral, legislative, and governmental arenas. Thus several chapters address how political parties perform within the existing institutional frameworks. One more chapter looks at the role of political parties in building and adapting these institutions. Finally, two chapters explicitly address the party contributions to democracy in established and new democracies, respectively.
If the intelligence of artificial systems were to surpass that of humans, humanity would face significant risks. The time has come to consider these issues, and this consideration must include progress in artificial intelligence (AI) as much as insights from AI theory. Featuring contributions from leading experts and thinkers in artificial intelligence, Risks of Artificial Intelligence is the first volume of collected chapters dedicated to examining the risks of AI. The book evaluates predictions of the future of AI, proposes ways to ensure that AI systems will be beneficial to humans, and then critically evaluates such proposals. The book covers the latest research on the risks and future impacts of AI. It starts with an introduction to the problem of risk and the future of artificial intelligence, followed by a discussion (Armstrong/Sokala/OhEigeartaigh) on how predictions of its future have fared to date. Omohundro makes the point that even an innocuous artificial agent can easily turn into a serious threat for humans. T. Goertzel explains how to succeed in the design of artificial agents. But will these be a threat for humanity, or a useful tool? Ways to assure beneficial outcomes through 'machine ethics' and 'utility functions' are discussed by Brundage and Yampolskiy. B. Goertzel and Potapov/Rodionov propose 'learning' and 'empathy' as paths towards safer AI while Kornai explains how the impact of AI may be bounded. Sandberg explains the implications of human-like AI via the technique of brain emulation. Dewey discusses strategies to deal with the 'fast takeoff' of artificial intelligence and, finally, Bishop explains why there is no need to worry because computers will remain in a state of 'artificial stupidity'. Sharing insights from leading thinkers in artificial intelligence, this book provides you with an expert-level perspective of what is on the horizon for AI, whether it will be a threat for humanity, and how we might counteract this threat.
Can we make machines that think and act like humans or other natural intelligent agents? The answer to this question depends on how we see ourselves and how we see the machines in question. Classical AI and cognitive science had claimed that cognition is computation, and can thus be reproduced on other computing machines, possibly surpassing the abilities of human intelligence. This consensus has now come under threat and the agenda for the philosophy and theory of AI must be set anew, re-defining the relation between AI and Cognitive Science. We can re-claim the original vision of general AI from the technical AI disciplines; we can reject classical cognitive science and replace it with a new theory (e.g. embodied); or we can try to find new ways to approach AI, for example from neuroscience or from systems theory. To do this, we must go back to the basic questions on computing, cognition and ethics for AI. The 30 papers in this volume provide cutting-edge work from leading researchers that define where we stand and where we should go from here.
Local and global spatial coupling mechanisms form the basis of transport processes that are of fundamental importance for the occurrence and the dynamic evolution of patterns on a mesoscopic and macroscopic scale. The present volume deals with these concepts and investigates applications in the fields of biophysics and chemistry.
Concepts of nonlinear physics are applied to an increasing number of research disciplines. With this volume, the editors offer a selection of articles on nonlinear topics in progress, ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and some applications of social science. The book covers quantum optics, electron crystallization, cellular or flow patterns in fluids and in granular media, biological systems, and the control of brain structures via neuronal excitation. Chemical patterns are looked at both in bulk solutions and on surfaces in heterogeneous systems. From regular structures, the authors turn to the more complex behavior in biology and physics, such as hydrodynamical turbulence, low-dimensional dynamics in solid-state physics, and gravity. |
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